Srimad Bhagavatam – day 675
Self-knowledge dawns on him who totally self-surrenders to the Lord
Narayana Krishna
The wives of Kaliya continued,
“Na nāka-pṛṣṭhaḿ na ca sārva-bhaumaḿ na pārameṣṭhyaḿ na rasādhipatyam
Na yoga-siddhīr apunar-bhavaḿ vā vāñchanti yat-pāda-rajaḥ-prapannāḥ
Devotees who have sought refuge in Your lotus feet do not aspire for positions in heaven, kingdoms on earth, the position of Brahma, the rulership over Pātala (lower planetary system) or even yogic accomplishments. Once the person obtains the dust of Your holy feet, there is nothing in this universe that he ever seeks. O Lord! Your devotees do not seek even that final liberation that is freed from re-births.
O Supreme Lord! Having been born from the traits of ignorance (tamo guna), Kaliya, the leader for all serpents, has succumbed to anger and thus is filled with uncontrollable fury. Even then, he was fortunate to obtain the dust from Your holy feet which otherwise is impossible to obtain”.
Swamiji explains: It is true that he is the worst among sinners. Due to ignorance (tamas) he has committed many sins and is filled with uncontained anger. He has harmed living entities in many ways and has filled them with fear. Despite all these sinful deeds, he was fortunate to be blessed with the dust of Your holy feet. What more can be said of his fortune? To get a chance to obtain the dust from Your holy feet is rarest of the rare fortune. What would have been the meritorious deeds he had performed across his innumerable past births to be blessed with this rare fortune? – Kaliya’s wives were thus praying. They further continued,
“He obtained Your complete grace. If the bonded soul, who rotates in this cycle called repeated re-births, seeks to obtain the dust from Your holy feet, prosperity will automatically reach him.
Namas tubhyaḿ bhagavate puruṣāya mahātmane
Bhūtāvāsāya bhūtāya parāya paramātmane
O Supreme Lord! We offer obeisance to You, who are an embodiment of completeness. O Lord, You are the inner dweller in every living being. You, who are the presiding force behind the existence of every living entity, reside within it in the form of the Self (atma). You are the original being who is devoid of the limitations created by space and time. You, the Supreme Lord, are the sole shelter for all forms of knowledge and experiences. Although You are devoid of traits, Your energy is unsurpassed. In You, who are beyond Nature (prakŗti), no transformations are visible. O Supreme Lord, we offer obeisance to You.
You alone manifest as time. You are the refuge for time-energy. You are the witness for the various divisions of time known as minute, second etc. You who manifest as this universe are the material cause (upādāna kārana) as well as the instrumental/ efficient cause (nimitta kārāna) for this creation. To You who remain an eternal witness for this creation, we offer obeisance.
You manifest as the five gross elements, the five subtle elements, the ten senses, the five life-forces, manas (processing mind), intellect (reasoning capacity of the mind) and chitta (portion of mind which is the storehouse of past impressions). You exist in the form of feelings of ‘I and mine’ (ahamkara) that is visible in these bodies composed of the three attributes (trigunas) and which prevent the experience of Self-realization. To You, O Lord we offer obeisance”.
When the dust from the Lord’s lotus feet fell on the head of their husband, Self-knowledge dawned in them. They had the vision of the Lord from a close angle; they had witnessed the dance performed by Him, due to which all of them obtained purity. After all, a curse had caused them to fall to this level. Now as Self-knowledge dawned upon them, they were uttering astonishing words.
Normally when an ignorant person seeks forgiveness, he will endlessly plead, “O Lord, forgive me, I have sinned. Please forgive my mistake. Please forgive me, I have sinned”. He will repeat this prayer endlessly, for, he cannot explain Self-essence. He cannot aptly describe the Supreme Lord. His only focus is on seeking protection. Seeking forgiveness is the topmost priority.
On the contrary, these women-folk are glorifying the Lord and explaining Self-essence which makes it evident that they are not ignorant. It is now clear that they were Devatas who due to curse took birth as snakes. These wives of Kaliya had also undertaken severe penance in their past births. When their husband was blessed with the dust from the Lord’s feet, it was as good as they had been blessed with it. Self- knowledge dawned in them.
Who is this essence called ‘God’? Who is it that is inflicting punishment? Who is it that is being punished? It is said that when the greatness of the force inflicting punishment is realized, the degree of punishment reduces. Contrary to this, some wrong-doers abuse the person punishing them. There are some who stubbornly refuse to mend their ways despite punishment. Can such persons ever praise the person punishing them? It is impossible. Abusing the person inflicting punishment becomes a norm for them.
The truth is that the person who is punishing us for our mistakes should be praised. Accepting that he is punishing our mistakes we should offer obeisance to him. If we sincerely praise, he will relent and reduce the degree of punishment.
In this instance, it was the Supreme Lord who was punishing. Through the process of punishment, he was uplifting and blessing Kaliya with the dust from His holy feet. Since their husband had obtained that luck of touching the dust from the Lord’s feet, the wives were automatically blessed. Instead of wailing and weeping for their husband, they were begging for his redemption by praising the Lord through their prayer. They were narrating the glory of the Lord. They were explaining the true essence. This is called true Self-surrender.
We presume Self-surrender to only mean prostrating on the floor before the Lord and saying, ‘everything belongs to you’. Here in addition, they were explaining the true essence of the Lord. Only then, it amounts to true self-surrender. It is not enough to simply say, ‘I surrender with my senses, intellect and body. There is nothing apart from You. I do not know any religion. I do not have any thoughts. There is no truth that I know. I surrender to You’. We should understand the greatness of the Lord and then beseech him. When this is done, true Self-knowledge dawns upon the person. If Self-knowledge dawned upon all his family members, how is it possible for Kaliya, on whose hood the Lord was standing, to not obtain Self-knowledge? Needless to say, he also attained realization.
The wives continued, “O Lord, You are endless. You are of subtle existence. You are devoid of any transformation”.
Neither do you have a birth nor death. You have no beginning and no end.
“You are the Universal form. Although being inherently formless, You are the one who manifests with form. You are omniscient. You are the subject of many diverse theories. You manifest as the object in accordance to the theory being debated”.
You are in agreement to all the different theories and philosophies. Every form of theory or debate in this creation holds good for You. You bless every theory by manifesting in the form of the object that is in conformity to the theory.
Narayana Krishna