Self and Consciousness XIV: Evidence, the Bhagavat

Conversations and the Bhagavata

As we have seen, conversations on the soul have illumined mankind since time immemorial. And yet the quality of a conversation is often determined by the level of its participants.

The Bible grew out of the teachings of prophets who wandered the desert in search of truth. Plato’s Greek Academy was based on the idea of holding conversations with the elite young people of Athens, while Jesus held conversations with carpenters and fishermen.

Christ teaching

Mohammed may have conversed with the angel Gabriel, but the teachings of the Koran were pointed at the nomadic Arabic tribes of the 9th century.

The contrast is striking. And while every religion aims at universality, many doctrines revolve around moral and ethical law. These doctrines guide secular society in establishing the principles by which a society is governed. But while religious law gives us a framework by which to judge sin and piety, good and bad, right and wrong, these rules to live by come up short when contemplating the ultimate reality.

Social dharma, or “society consciousness” is an essential component of a healthy civilization, according to Rousseau and others. The Mahābhārata is filled with rules and advice on how we should live. Just as the Bible has Leviticus, which is filled with dietary laws and sexual proscriptions, the Bhishma Parva of Mahābhārata has lengthy passages on rules for living, proper etiquette, and even royal behavior.

The sages of Naimisharanya understood these rules; they knew their place. They knew the value of such laws as “Thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal; honor thy father and thy mother, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife. Do not commit adultery. Do not bear false witness,” and so on.

But these men had no interest in violence. They were not thieves. They didn’t need to be told that honesty was a virtue: they were honest by nature. These great yogis and sages were free from lust; they had spent long years in meditation. They were not enchanted by the objects of the senses: they were already self-satisfied and enlightened. They were interested in a higher teaching, something that transcended laws governing lying, cheating, and stealing.

To take interest in a higher, transcendental truth doesn’t mean that these thinkers were against the laws. As Bhaktivinoda Thakura put it, The great reformers will always assert that they have come out not to destroy the old law, but to fulfill it. Vālmiki, Vyaāsa, Plato, Jesus, Mohammed, Confucius and Caitanya Mahaāprabhu assert the fact either expressly or by their conduct.

As Christ himself said in Matthew 5.17, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” But Christ came not to proclaim law, but to declare as he does in Luke 10.27: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

But what is “Love of God?” How can it be achieved? While Christ proclaims love of God as the highest truth, he doesn’t elaborate on its meaning; rather he speaks in parables.

After all, he is conversing with simple people. His simple message of Love is mixed with an admonishment to follow the law. He had to consider his audience. Even then, for the simple proclamation of love as the new faith, it was considered by the Romans who enforced the law that Jesus was a law-breaker. While Jesus himself claimed not to destroy the law, the Romans found otherwise. Indeed, they tried him and condemned him to death for treason on the basis of his teachings and ministry.

Christ crucified, Diego Velazquez

What would have happened if Christ had lived and taught into his old age? What if he had surrounded himself with souls dedicated to the principles he taught?

What kinds of conversations would he have held?

We’ll never know.

Still, we are left wanting.

But the depth of a spiritual conversation depends on the quality of those who contribute to the dialogue.

The “Dialogues”  are interesting to us not only because Socrates himself leads the discussion, but also because of the participants in the dialogue: leaders of ancient Athens, Socrates' students, Plato himself, Xenophon, and Alcibiades

What if we had access to a dialogue between realized and illuminated saints? What if enlightened beings, free from lust, anger, greed, and the tendency for exploitation conversed on the nature of God, Being and the soul?

Narada, saint among the gods

What would happen if thousands of the greatest yogis and sages that have ever walked the earth gathered together? What kind of conversations would they have? What if there were a meeting of truly “Christ-like” souls who had gathered to consider questions like “What is the absolute good?” and “What is the essence of scriptural knowledge?” What if they had no sectarian agenda and were open to listening, even to a sixteen year old boy?

These conversations are extensively reported in the Bhāgavata Pūrana. The Bhāgavata announces in its first verse that its only purpose is a deep discussion of truth.

The book discards “social dharma” as useful but limited and therefore not a subject worthy of discussion. The Bhāgavata is not a rule-book filled with dietary do’s and don’t. It is a treatise on the very nature of spiritual truth.

What sort of a book is the Bhagavata?

निगम-कल्प-तरोर् गलितं फलं

 शुक-मुखाद् अमृत-द्रव-संयुतम्

पिबत भागवतं रसम् आलयम्

 मुहुर् अहो रसिका भुवि भावुकाः

nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalaṁ

 śuka-mukhād amṛta-drava-saṁyutam

pibata bhāgavataṁ rasam ālayam

 muhur aho rasikā bhuvi bhāvukāḥ..

“It is the fruit of the tree of thought (Vedas) mixed with the nectar of the speech of ̧Śukadeva. It is the temple of spiritual love! O! Men of Piety! Drink deep this nectar of Bhaāgavata repeatedly till you are taken from this mortal frame.”

The Garuḍa-purāṇa, another ancient text says:

अर्थो ऽयं ब्रह्म-सूत्राणां

भारतार्थ-विनिर्णयः

गायत्री-भाष्य-रूपो ऽसौ

वेदार्थ-परिबृंहितः

पुराणानां साम-रूपः

साक्षाद्-भगवतोदितः

द्वादश-स्कन्ध-युक्तो ऽयं

शत-विच्छेद-संयुतः

ग्रन्थो ऽष्टादश-साहस्रः

श्रीमद्-भागवताभिधः

artho 'yaṁ brahma-sūtrāṇāṁ

bhāratārtha-vinirṇayaḥ

gāyatrī-bhāṣya-rūpo 'sau

vedārtha-paribṛṁhitaḥ

purāṇānāṁ sāma-rūpaḥ

sākṣād-bhagavatoditaḥ

dvādaśa-skandha-yukto 'yaṁ

śata-viccheda-saṁyutaḥ

grantho 'ṣṭādaśa-sāhasraḥ

śrīmad-bhāgavatābhidhaḥ

'The meaning of the Vedānta-sūtra is present in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The full purport of the Mahābhārata is also there. The commentary of the Brahma-gāyatrī is also there and fully expanded with all Vedic knowledge. Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is the supreme Purāṇa, and it was compiled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His incarnation as Vyāsadeva. There are twelve cantos, 335 chapters and eighteen thousand verses. The Bhågavata is composed of 18,000 ślokas. It contains the best parts of the Vedas and the Vedānta. Whoever has tasted its sweet nectar, will never like to read any other religious book. (Garuda Purana)

Śrī Kṛṣṇa, artists conception, by B.G. Sharma

Bhaktivinoda Ṭhakura says, “The Bhāgavata is preeminently The Book in India. Once enter into it, and you are transplanted, as it were, into the spiritual world where gross matter has no existence. The true follower of the Bhāgavata is a spiritual man who has already cut his temporary connection with phenomenal nature, and has made himself the inhabitant of that region where God eternally exists and loves. This mighty work is founded upon inspiration and its superstructure is upon reflection. 

Bhaktivinoda Thakura

To the common reader it has no charms and is full of difficulty. We are, therefore, obliged to study it deeply through the assistance of such great commentators as Śrīdhara Swāmi and the divine Caitanya and His contemporary followers.”

Śrī Caitanya and his followers

No one can tell how many centuries ago the Bhāgavata was written. Over the centuries, such historical records have been lost. But while no one knows the exact dates of composition of the Bhagavata, the knowledge and wisdom recorded there is eternal.

According to the evidence of the Bhāgavata this greatest series of conversations and dialogues between yogis and sages took place in the ancient place of pilgrimage called Naimisharanya.

Suta, narrating Mahābhārata before the sages of Naimisharanya

There in the sacred forest these advanced seers of the truth had gathered with the purpose of sacrifice. As their spokesman, they had elected Śaunaka, who was the oldest and wisest, to represent them.

Having heard the entire narration of Mahābharata, they had some specific questions for Suta.

While the Mahābhārata dealt with the rules and regulations of a proper human society, it had not penetrated profoundly into the nature of transcendental reality.

These saints were anxious to hear the true secrets of the soul, especially with regard to divine love, the highest state of consciousness. They were desirous to know about the Supreme Godhead, the Person known as Krishna.

What were the reasons for the avataras? Why does God appear and what is the highest teaching?