Love and Lust

SATYAVATI

Bhiṣma continued, “Satyavati would become a second mother to me. She had been born of a forest sage and a river mermaid then left to die on the banks of the river. The history of this great queen was not fully known to me until later, when it was my duty to continue the dynasty of the Kurus. At that time she confided in me the entire story of how she had met the sage Parashara, and how the island-born Vyāsa, compiler of the Vedas, had been born to her. Now I will tell the story of Satyavati, my father's second wife.

“By the good fortune of Kṛṣṇa and the gods, Satyavati was saved by a fisherman and raised as his daughter.  She was a mere girl who ferried passengers across the Ganges in a small boat, built for the purpose. She was a nubile maid, a child of the river.

Satyavati crossing river.

 “Her father, a crafty fisherman had raised her to ferry passengers across the Ganges. As she lived in a bamboo shack beside the river with her father, she spent every morning cutting and scaling fish. After morning duties, she ran the ferry. 

Now it came to pass that one morning a great saint by the name of Parashara Muni had to cross the river. 

Now Parashara had spent a long time in the mountains meditating on the nature of the absolute and had not seen a woman during his time there. When he came upon this innocent girl, he was stunned by her beauty and determined to lay with her.

 “Satyavati, of course, had never considered herself a great beauty, for everyone insulted her and called her foul-smelling and 'fish-breath'. In truth, her mother had been a beautiful water-sprite of the river, an apsara, a kind of mermaid. How could she understand the attractive power of her beauty and the madness it would provoke in a saint? As the boat entered the smooth waters of the Ganges, Parashara, beholding her nymph-like charms, approached her gently, saying, “Oh divine nymph, come to me. Allow me to embrace you and let us know the joys of mortal love together.”

The young Satyavati was furious at the forest sage whose green eyes had a penetrating and hypnotic stare. She laughed at him and made as if to strike him with an oar if he came any closer.

“Stay away from me,” she said.

Parasara Muni and Satyavati

“I have acquired certain mystic powers by dint of my long years of penances and austerities in the mountains of the Himalayas.” He said. “Tell, me, what is your heart’s desire?”

“No closer.” she said.

“I can grant you a boon or benediction as you wish.” He said. “Don’t be afraid of me.”

“Well, if you really have any mystic powers at all,” she said, softening “Make me fragrant. The fishy smell that permeates me offends all suitors and young men everywhere.  Please help me. I have lived so long in the house of a fisherman that I smell like a fish and no one will touch me.”

“Done.” He said, and her new aroma of sandalwood and roses permeated both sides of the river with a strange and lovely perfume for eight miles in all directions.

“What more do you ask of me,” said the sage, moving closer, with his strange visage and matted hair, dressed as he was in a deerskin. “Come to me.” he gestured to her.

“Satyavati Fault Lines VIII"   Karthika Naïr 

“Well, if we are to know the joys of mortal love, transform yourself into a handsome young man in fine clothes.” she challenged.

Parasara Muni

“Done,” said the mystic and assumed temporarily the aspect of a handsome young man in fine clothes. “So now leave the oars. Come to me.”

“We shall be seen!” she exclaimed, at once alarmed and attracted. “My reputation will be ruined.”

“I’ll see to that.” He said, and so a fine mist began to pervade the atmosphere of the river. Their boat stopped dead in the water, it floated into a vast clump of golden lotus flowers. The fragrance of Satyavati changed with her mood and she now exuded the scent of jasmine flowers in the sunset.

 She smiled, coyly. “If I fall into your embrace,” She said, then I will no longer be a virgin.”

“Then“ the sage smiled, “By the mystic power of the great yogis achieved after long penance and austerities - I shall restore your virginity.”

“Can such a thing be done? What if I am with child?”

“Your child shall be born immediately. We shall leave him on yon island. His name will be Vyāsa and he will be the greatest of sages and the writer of the Vedas. His dynasty shall rule the earth. What more would you ask?”

"She smiled, her objections overcome. They embraced in the cool privacy of the scented mist.

When they reached the other side of the river, the saint Parashara once more assumed his normal appearance, an old man with matted hair in a deerskin. He again retired to the mountains of the Himalayas to pass a long time in meditation."

Riverboat,Ganges

"The river-born Vyāsa was left on an island where he was later found and raised by river spirits and mountain sages. Satyavati was now a woman and her beauty famous. Not only were her eyes pure, her form shapely, but her perfume, which changed with her mood, was now redolent of sandalwood, then jasmine, and then the musky aroma of lotuses at sunrise."

From Mahabharata TV Mini Series: Sayantani Ghosh as Satyavati

And so it was that my father, childless and forlorn, having conquered vast lands beyond his own kingdom, met and fell in love with the beautiful Satyavati. Upon crossing the river he was utterly enchanted and lost his wits in the charms of love.

King Shantanu and Satyavati

Changes

Transmigration of the Soul

The other day I saw a revealing video of a young Russian girl on Facebook. Here it is. Stick around and watch the whole thing. This is truly wonderful.

This time-lapse photography was taken a week at a time until the girl reached 15 years of age. It demonstrates remarkably how the body changes imperceptibly.

I've been asked to explain some of the wisdom teachings of the Mahabharata story. The story I am writing is my own personal retelling of Mahabharata, gleaned from different authoritiative sources, notably the Kishari Mohan Ganguli translation. The Ganguli translation is in the public domain, available on the internet at Gutenberg.org, for those interested in source materials. Here's a link  http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Hinduism_(Bookshelf) My retelling is mostly an adaptation from Ganguli which is one of the few complete translations of the entire work, shloka for shloka.

 The Bhagavad-gita spoken by Krishna represents the core of wisdom teachings given in Mahabharata and is justly the most famous.  Here's a verse explaining transmigration of the soul, or re-incarnation.  This is spoken by Krishna to Arjuna, when he is bewildered, facing the awesome responsibility of confronting Bhishma, his grandfather, and Drona, his guru, on the battle field.


Here's the verse with translation and purport from the Bhagagavad-gita As It Is by my guru, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada who initiated me with hari-nama in October of 1976.

TEXT 13

dehino 'smin yatha dehe
kaumaram yauvanam jara
tatha dehantara-praptir
dhiras tatra na muhyati

SYNONYMS

dehinah--of the embodied; asmin--in this; yatha--as; dehe--in the body; kaumaram--boyhood; yauvanam--youth; jara--old age; tatha--similarly; deha-antara--transference of the body; praptih--achievement; dhirah--the sober; tatra--thereupon; na--never;muhyati--deluded.

TRANSLATION

As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.

PURPORT

Since every living entity is an individual soul, each is changing his body every moment, manifesting sometimes as a child, sometimes as a youth, and sometimes as an old man. Yet the same spirit soul is there and does not undergo any change. This individual soul finally changes the body at death and transmigrates to another body; and since it is sure to have another body in the next birth--either material or spiritual--there was no cause for lamentation by Arjuna on account of death, neither for Bhisma nor for Drona, for whom he was so much concerned.

Rather, he should rejoice for their changing bodies from old to new ones, thereby rejuvenating their energy. Such changes of body account for varieties of enjoyment or suffering, according to one's work in life. So Bhisma and Drona, being noble souls, were surely going to have either spiritual bodies in the next life, or at least life in heavenly bodies for superior enjoyment of material existence. So, in either case, there was no cause of lamentation.

Any man who has perfect knowledge of the constitution of the individual soul, the Supersoul, and nature--both material and spiritual--is called a dhira or a most sober man. Such a man is never deluded by the change of bodies. The Mayavadi theory of oneness of the spirit soul cannot be entertained on the ground that the spirit soul cannot be cut into pieces as a fragmental portion. Such cutting into different individual souls would make the Supreme cleavable or changeable, against the principle of the Supreme Soul being unchangeable.

Hegel

Here's the continuation of the talk I gave in the garden on Hegelian Dialectic, the master-slave relationship and its application in self-realization.

Like the idealist philosophers before him, Hegel believes that consciousness of objects necessarily implies some awareness of self, as a subject, which is separate from the perceived object. But Hegel takes this idea of self-consciousness a step further and asserts that subjects are also objects to other subjects. In his books and teachings, Shridhar Maharaja informs us of the Super-subjective world.

The Return of Bhishma

महाभरत

Mahābharata

As retold by

Michael Dolan, B.V. Mahāyogi

BHIṢMA RETURNS

            "In this way, I became a man. I was trained in the art of war and ready to rule a kingdom or challenge princes for the hand of a maiden in battle. I payed my respects to my guru and departed his ashrama, wending my way through the mountains and valleys." Bhiṣma continues, “In course of time I grew thirsty and stopped  by the banks of the river for water.  Cupping my hands I drank. When I looked up, I beheld a goddess in shining white. She stood on a lotus floating in the river and smiled at me. And as I focused my eyes, I realized that this goddess was my mother, who had so long ago taken human form to serve my father Shantanu, as wife. She gestured, saying, “Follow me.”

Stream in Himalayas

 So in the company of my mother, the goddess of the river, I traversed the valley, retracing the path through the foothills of the Himalayas that we had taken so many years ago when she had led me to the ashram of the sage Vasistha. 

In this way, we returned to the place where we had abandoned my father so many years ago, where King Shantanu ruled the valley. Many years had passed. At this time, having conquered various lands by force of weapons, my father had become a great king but he lamented the lack of an heir to his dynasty.

            One morning we reached the very spot where my mother had tried to drown me so long ago. There was my father, downriver a ways, a lost soul. He was staring into the waters of the Ganges as if hoping that one day his son would return. 

Shantanu and Gangadevi

I showed off my prowess with the bow by shooting thousands of arrows into the river, constructing a dam that stopped the flow of the water. King Shantanu, seeing the waters of the river stopped by my arrows was astonished. He came before me and asked, "Who are you?" 

Ganga-devi

But before I could reply, my mother appeared to him in all her splendor, four-armed, floating on a lotus. Shantanu was astonished. “O lady,” he said, “or goddess, whoever you may be. I lost a son on this river a long time ago. Pray tell me if you have the power, what became of my son and heir, the fair-haired boy with eyes blue as the ice of the Himalayas?”

Upon hearing these words, Gangadevi appeared before Shantanu once again in mortal form as the maiden he had married, and said, “My lord, don’t you recognize me? I was your wife while you questioned not my actions.”

            Shantanu who had bowed before her, amazed, recognized the fair beauty that had ruled his heart and ran to her and embraced her. “What has become of my only son?” he said. Gangadevi backed away and then waved to me. “Come here my boy” she said. I followed her gesture on my horse and rode up to where my father stood. “Here is your son” she said. “This is Bhiṣma. 

"This is Bhisma. your son."

He will be a great warrior and protect your dynasty. He is expert in the Vedas which he learned from Vasistha and in the art of war which he learned from Paraśurāma.” And so saying my mother once again assumed her form as a great goddess and disappeared on a golden lotus into the mists of the Ganges.

Bhisma continued, “My mother was the goddess of India's most sacred river: the Ganges. Known as Gangadevi, she was cursed by a brahmaṇa to walk the earth. This was long ago. I have already told you the story. At that time she was made to appear as the young daughter of a forest sage, and while she appeared as a mortal girl, she was the fairest of all young maids in great Bharat.

Shantanu and Ganga

“Try to imagine, my child, her black and shiny hair, her lotus-shaped eyes, blue as the ice of the Himalayas, her body curved, her arms lithe as the trunk of any elephant.  While she was shy and gentle, her heart was as passionate as a river that overflows her banks in the early days of the monsoon. My mother was a true goddess. But she disappeared from my life, that day, never to return.  My father was heartbroken, but happy to see me again. He welcomed me with open arms.

"So I was admitted within the palace of Shantanu, as his son, and the royal heir to all the Indias and greater Bharat. I told him of my adventures in the ashram of Paraśurāma and showed him the weapons I had acquired. So we lived in peace until one day, as he was crossing the river my father, Shantanu noticed a beautiful maiden. Now, since Gangadevi had left him he had lived alone and desolate but upon seeing the lovely maiden, Shantanu was charmed. He felt that he had finally found the young girl who could share his days and be the mother of his heirs."

Shantanu and Satyavati

            Now this girl was called Satyavati. She later became the mother of my brothers, Chitrangada and Vichitravirya and she had a history of her own.

Meaning of Paraśurāma Story

महाभरत

Mahābharata

As retold by

Michael Dolan, B.V. Mahāyogi

Commentary

The character and activities of Paraśurāma have been described in the Śanti and Vana Parvas of the Mahabharata. In Bhagavad-gita, (10.31) Kṛṣṇa identifies himself with Paraśurāma, saying, 

  rāmaḥ śastra-bhṛtām aham. 

                   "Rāma among weapons-bearers, am I." 

This may refer to Rāmachandra, who belongs to a former age, but since the Gīta is spoken around the time of the Kurukṣetra war, according to  the version of Viśvanātha Cakravarti, Rāma refers to Paraśurāma, the greatest weapons-bearer of the Mahabharata era. Paraśurāma is often considered a śaktyaveṣa-avatar, or an "empowered" avatar. Paraśurāma was empowered to do away with tyranny when the earth was overburdened with the weight of militaristic kings. We can see the destruction of despotism as a result of divine intervention. He was given divine weapons to finish the tyranny of the warrior class.

The story of Paraśurāma is difficult for us to interpret, living so many centuries after the Kurukṣetra war. In layman's language, brahmaṇas are the intellectual, philosophical class, where kṣatriyas are the warrior or political class. Long ago there was a rivalry between the brahmaṇas  and the  kṣatriyas and in the story of Paraśurāma, the kṣatriyas are punished for their tyranny.

The intellectual class is often oppressed by the political class for speaking truth to power. 

Still, the story raises some interesting questions. For example, did Renuka deserve a death sentence for her imaginary adultery? Why did Jamadagni ask his sons to kill his wife? How is it possible that Paraśurāma filled so many lakes with their blood? The stories of Mahabharata have many hidden meanings that may remain mysteries if we don't have the proper tools of interpretation.

A Great Book like Mahabharata doesn't always answer all the questions posed by the stories it tells. 

Sometimes there are more questions than answers. We develop important tools for problem-solving by having the  curiosity to delve into deeper questions of interpretation.  

The inner meaning of these stories may sometimes be seen through meditation on their mysteries. 

I make no claim to understand all these mysteries. I am merely a story-teller. 

Stay tuned for the continuation of Mahabharata.

Vyasa and Ganesh

Here's another short clip from interviews I gave while in Thailand. I was asked about Vyasa and the Mahabharata.

One of the books that was highly recommended to my by Shridhar Maharaja was a work by Bhaktivinoda Thakura, entitled, "Sri Krsna Samhita," where an attempt is made to explain the philosophical aspects of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Here's Bhaktivinoda on Vyasadeva:

When the one Veda became greatly expanded, then Vyasadeva, after duly considering the subjects, divided the Veda into four and wrote them in book form. This took place a few years before King Yudhisthira s reign. Then Vyasadeva s disciples divided those words among themselves. Those rsis, who were disciples of Vyasadeva, then divided the four Vedas into different branches so that people could easily study them. It should be now understood that the Rg, Sama, and Yajur Vedas are the most widely respected and quoted. It seems that all the ancient verses were compiled in these three Vedas. But we cannot neglect the Atharva Veda due to considering it modern, because in the Brhad aranyaka Upanisad (0.5.11) the following verse is found: asya mahato bhutasya nisvasitam etad yad rg vedo y-aj ur vedah -sama vedo t-harvangirasa itihasah puranam vidya upanisadah slokah sutranyanuvyakhyananyasyai vaitani sarvani nisvasitani "The Rg Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda, and Atharva Veda, the Itihasas, or histories, the Puranas, the Upanisads, the slokas, or mantras chanted by the brahmanas, the sutras, or accumulations of Vedic statements, as well as vidya, transcendental knowledge, and the explanations of the sutras and mantras are all emanations from the breathing of the great Personality of Godhead." The Brhad aranyaka cannot be considered modern because it was composed before the writings of Vyasadeva. In the above-mentioned verse there is a description of the histories and Puranas, which are both Vedic literatures that contain ancient topics similar to those found in the Vedas. Whatever arguments Jaimini Rsi presented in order to establish the Vedas as eternal are all for the benefit of the neophytes. Swanlike personalities should accept the purport of swanlike Jaimini s teachings. The purport of his teachings is as follows: All truths discovered are related to the Supreme Lord, therefore they are eternal. Those who describe the Vedic truths as temporary by citing the examples kikata, naicasaka, and pramangada are not aspiring to understand the truth. This is Jaimini s conclusion.
(Sri Krsna Samhita, Introduction)