Srimad Bhagavatam – day 780
Kamsa’s fears
Kamsa, who eternally thought of himself and who worshipped himself, could not get any sleep that night. Self-centered as he was, he eternally focussed on his greatness and his needs and hence in his mind there was no place for God. Lack of divinity led to emergence of demonic traits. That minute or two when he, with utmost difficulty, drifted into sleep, he was filled with nightmares signalling doom. Inauspicious omens predicted his imminent death.
“When he saw himself in the mirror, the head was missing”.
This was the worst omen! In that era, mirrors were made from polished gold. Through these omens the Lord was signalling the future events to him. Kamsa checked from every direction, in every mirror – nevertheless his head was not visible in the reflected image.
“His trepidation only worsened. Tears caused his vision to blur due to which images appeared doubled”.
Fear totally overtook him and his eyes began to water. In that state wherever he looked he saw two objects in place of one- two beds, two mansions, two chairs and so on
“Moon and other luminary objects were seen in sets of two each”.
In reality, the light from the star reaches long after it has been emanated by the star. Given the distance many such stars remain invisible to the human eye while their light takes millions of years before it reaches earth. Many such galaxies and milky-ways exist in space. Innumerable stars and planets exist within each of these milky-ways. Within this vast creation, in this atom-sized earth we all exist.
The American astronomer Carl Sagan has created a beautiful video – the pale blue dot- which explains how infinitesimal this earth is when compared to the vast space. It fills us with amazement- are millions of living entities truly living in this tiny earth which is no more than the size of a mustard in this infinite space? The truth is that this world is nothing but an illusion. Earth exists purely due to the illusion cast by the Lord. Scientists are unable to decode this illusion, which remains elusive to them. If it takes trillions of years to discover objects within this illusionary creation, then think for yourself- will it ever be possible to discover illusion itself?
This entire universe is the creation of the Lord. We take great pride in discovering objects in this creation, but it is impossible to discover the truth behind the existence of this entire universe.
The person who fetches the flower from distant forest after traversing many lands, crossing many valleys and crossing the seven seas, boasts of his accomplishment, nevertheless, can he ever answer the question as to who created it? Notwithstanding this, we should applaud him for at least successfully discovering the flower. We salute all the scientists who painstakingly strive to discover the objects within this universe. All our efforts are centered around discovering this creation of the Lord, but we are failing in discovering Him.
Through different technological advances, through machines spanning multiple centuries, we have been only discovering newer objects in creation but have not yet been successful in discovering the basis for this creation. We have remained unsuccessful in locating the Lord who is the source for this existence. It is akin to enjoying the taste of the laddoo sweet, but are unable to figure out the process of creating it nor the energy which was responsible for its creation. With our limited capacities, we know only a few of our ancestors but, is it possible for us to know all our ancestors from the inception of this universe?
Understanding the source for this creation is itself Self-knowledge! It arises from trying to understand yourself. Only when you understand your inner Self, you can understand the Lord.
“Kamsa was beleaguered with inauspicious omens irrespective of whether he was awake or asleep. Dreams tormented him and now, when he was awake, he was seeing double-images everywhere. In his shadow, holes were visible”.
Holes in the shadow are considered to be an indicator of impending death. A word of caution- please stay away from checking your shadow every few minutes. This habit itself will create death-like tension.
“Kamsa could no longer hear the buzzing sound that is normally heard when ears are closed”.
Not being able to hear this sound is also considered an indicator of impeding death. This sound is connected to respiration and hence when it stops it signals a message. I once again request you to not get into the habit of checking the sound from the ear every few hours/ minutes. Do not live in fear of death. Kamsa was living in abject fear and hence was checking them out.
“When he looked outside, all the trees appeared in golden hue”.
If at all leaves with golden hue are spotted, please do not consider it a bad omen indicating death. It is natural for leaves to shine at times. it is a natural phenomenon. Kamsa considered these omens to be inauspicious.
“When he looked down, his feet were not visible”.
Being unable to see one’s feet is also considered to signal death. Instead of checking your feet regularly, please engage in chanting divine names.
Srihari Krishna