Illusions

Everybody leads a busy life.Life has become so complex and yet so simple .It is so complex that one doesn't have time for love(even one's class mate!!) ,for inner peace(what is that ??) ..the typical reactions "Oh!! i don't have time for such petty things in my life.I have higher goals to achieve.I have to get a good job,good degree from a reputed university ,research and research for some few.No time iam sorry,can't talk more". It is so simple in the sense that all one has to do to achieve happiness is just to earn money,certainly the more one has the more one can spend and hence the more one is happy..don't we see all the filmi stars and cricketers happily telling us how much they have achieved in their lives and how happy they are.
First i reject such happy people who have expertise in only one thing,be it the great musicians or star cricketers or super duper mega movie stars.I have to be a complete fool to be an expert in only one field for the whole of my life.Iam not a dick to learn and practice only batting in my life.Such life is a complete slavery to one art or science. Every discipline ,every avenue of a man are to satisy him and not vice versa.I can't dedicate myself to the development of one cause in life.
I come to one conclusion with the complexity and the simplicity not in my life,iam confused.I start to think for what am i doing such acts ? for what purpose am i acting in my life at all? Most of the life is spent in reacting to some cause elsewhere or it is an effect. The way i act and think mostly comprise of such reactions and effects. There is hardly any original cause for which iam the sole origin.
As one starts to think about the objects we see,feel,touch or hear all these sensations are caused by something else and these sensations are just the effects of the cause.We can never know the cause coz we are always lmited by our sensations. How are our senses limited?
the reality which we see in our day to day life is hardly the reality when one thinks for one minute and then be conscious of that thought for ever in his life. The objects we see is the reflected light of the object and we can only see it because it is only in the visible spectrum and the colors which we associate with the object are the combinations of these colors in this spectrum.The world which we hold so dear is not the same for some other animals who are equipped better then human beings .If we wake up some day and realise our knowledge of perception through sight has got confused we would soon become mad with the sudden influx of more information and probably their would be no color and hence the multiferous colors of this diverse nature is lost. The same is the case with our sense of hearing , if it is a little more or a little less every idea of this world changes.If it is less the music which we consider music will become noise and if it becomes more there is always so much to hear that our brains probably have to become double in size. This precision if it is all pointing to some intelligent creation or GOD then why not spend our whole life in his devotion and make our goal in life to reach god rather then becoming powerful by selling water in glass bottles,so frivolous and so stupid that one starts to laugh at our madness and the blinded pursuit. If this is not enough if we accept there is no GOD then certainly we are depending on faulty senses try to go beyond them. All this world is an illusion is a settled matter ,whether there is an eternal world out somewhere or not is matter of debate ,discussion or argument .. but since we argue on this eternal concept naviely conculding that only the world is what i see and hear is plain nincompoopery just like most our goals in life.

From the famous bhajagovindam song written by Adi Sankaracharya some verses which are to the subject of our interest now.

Verse 2:
MOODHA JAHEEHI DHANAAGAMATRISHNAAM
KURU SADBUDHIM MANASI VITRISHNAAM
YALLABHASE NIJAKARMOPAATHAM
VITHAM TENA VINODAYA CHITHAM
(BHAJA GOVINDAM, BHAJA GOVINDAM..........)

Oh, Fool! give up your insatiable desire for earthly possessions;
be sensible and develop serenity and contentment. Be satisfied
and happy with whatever you may earn by the sweat of your brow
and whatever has destiny marked for your lot.

Verse 3:
~~~~~~
NAAREE STHANABHARA NABHEEDESAM
DHRISHTWA MAA GAA MOHAVESAM
YETAN MAAMSAVASAADI VIKAARAM
MANASI VICHINTHAYA VAARAM VAARAM
(BHAJA GOVINDAM, BHAJA GOVINDAM..........)

Enticed by the physical glamour of a woman, do not lose your senses;
the body is nothing but a conglomeration of flesh, do not forget
this any time.

Verse 4:
~~~~~~
NALINEEDALAGATHA JALAMATITHARALAM
TADWAJJEEVITAMATHISHAYA CHAPALAM
VIDDHI VYADHYABHIMAANAGRASTAM
LOKAM SHOKAHATAM CHA SAMASTHAM
(BHAJA GOVINDAM, BHAJA GOVINDAM..........)

The water droplet on the lotus leaf is tremulous and unsteady.
So too is life which is as uncertain. Know the body to be in
the claws of disease, which may swallow it at any moment.
Life is ultimately nothing but worry, misery and grief.

Verse 5:
~~~~~~
YAAVADVITTOPAARJANA SAKTHAH
TAAVANNIJAPARIVAARO RAKTHAH
PASCHAAJJEEVATI JARJARADEHE
VAARTHAM KOPI NA PRICHCHATHI GEHE
(BHAJA GOVINDAM, BHAJA GOVINDAM..........)

As long as you are fit to make an earning, so long will your
kith and kin be solicitous about you, but no sooner your
limbs become infirm and your earnings cease, none will care for
you, not even your own home-folk.

Verse 6:
~~~~~~
YAAVATPAVANO NIVASATI DEHE
TAAVATPRICHCHATI KUSHALAM GEHE
GATAVATI VAAYO DEHAAPAAYE
BHAARYA BIBHYATI TASMINKAAYE
(BHAJA GOVINDAM, BHAJA GOVINDAM..........)

As long as there is life in your body, your people may have
concern for you, but once the life-breath ebbs out of your
body, even your own wife will run away from you.

Verse 7:
~~~~~~
BAALASTAAVAT KREEDAA SAKTHAH
THARUNASTAAVAT THARUNEESAKTHAH
VRIDDHASTAAVAT CHINTHAASAKTHAH
PARASE BRAHMANI KOPI NA SAKTHAH
(BHAJA GOVINDAM, BHAJA GOVINDAM..........)

Childhood skips off on sport and play. Youth flies off in
pursuits of love-making. As one grows older he is drowned
in worry about the security and future of his wife and
children. One's whole life gets spent in some kind of
worry or other. And at no stage does man find time to
lift his thoughts to God.

Verse 8:
~~~~~~
KAA TE KAANTAA KASTE PUTHRAH
SAMSAROYAMATEEVA VICHITRAH
KASYA TWAM KAH KUTHA AAYAATAH
TATWAM CHINTHAYA TADIHA BHARATAH
(BHAJA GOVINDAM, BHAJA GOVINDAM..........)

Who indeed is your beloved and who indeed is your son? Strange
indeed are these family bonds; who belongs to you and to whom you
belong? whence did you come, Oh brother! Reflect on the truth
of it all.

Verse 14:
~~~~~~~
JATILO MUNDI LUNCHITAKESHAH
KAASHAAYAAMBARA BAHUKRITAVESHAH
PASYANNAPI CHA NA PASYATI MOODHO
HIUDARANIMITAM BAHUKRITAVESHAH
(BHAJA GOVINDAM, BHAJA GOVINDAM........)

The ascetic with matted locks, the man with the shaven head or
one with hair pulled out, or the man parading in the ochre robes
-- they all have eyes but yet do not see. All these are but deceptions
for cheating the world, for filling their bellies. ( Renunciation
does not lie in external appearance, but in inward thought, attitude
and feeling).

Verse 23:
~~~~~~~
KASTWAM KOHAM KUTA AAYAATAH
KAA ME JANANEE KO ME TAATAH
ITI PARIBHAVAYA SARVAMASAARAM
VISWAM TYAKTWAA SWAPNAVICHAARAM
(BHAJA GOVINDAM, BHAJA GOVINDAM........)

Who are you ? Who am I ? From Where did I come ? Who is my mother, who is
my father ? -- enquire thus and you will, then realise that the entire
world of experience, all the worries and problems are but a dream, a
mere hallucination, born of imagination and delusion. With such a
realisation, you will be freed from the delusions of the world.

Maya !! Maya !! Illusions everywhere.

Asura Bakthi

Asura’s are the anti creatures for humans. Both belong to the same biological group but when classification is according to the qualities then the distinction of asura and humans come.

One such asura was bakthaasura. He never had long canine teeth or the dark complexion nor the two buffalo horns nor the unkempt hair. He is handsome and fair but an asura.

He watched his parents pray to the idol of god everyday and he never cared to worship. He heard a lot about how god is all merciful and all loving. He never believed in that.Bakthasura when he has attained the age of youth believed in one thing everybody else is a fool especially the people who with blind devotion worship god or the people who satisy their ego by doing charities and who look after the poor. There is no such thing as God so why worship.

One day he picked up an argument with his devotee mother about the topic of god and soon his mother became emotional and said that she never expected his son to become like this and that god will punish him for such cowardly beliefs and his selfishness. This kept him thinking and he left home.

If god really punishes for his mistakes that means god must have to think about him. If god doesn’t like him and even kills him he should face god for such conditions. Once he has confirmed that god exists,then nothing can shake his faith in him so the best way to reach god is by making a lot of mistakes, test god ,test whether he will come to punish him.If he comes well and good else still well and good. Bakthasura then made up his mind that from now on he will only do sinful actions, he will commit all the grevious mistakes and he will indulge in excess in thought ,word and deed. He will have to then sooner or later face god coz he is causing an imbalance and it is god’s duty to restore dharma in the world.

Bakthasura remembered Mahishasura the demon with whom the Mother had to fight with. Should not the demonistic characters be emulated ? This will give a dharshan of Mother in all the forms and who cares if you have to die in the battle, anyway everybody is going to die one day and if one dies in front of the Mother what else can you bargain. Mahishasura became his inspiration.

Bakthasura then wandered in the forests killing every animal in sight just for fun ,slept with countless women and killed thousands of people,tasted every sort of wine.He made an idol of kaali ,since she looks more dangerous then anybody.In front of the idol he did all obscene things and commited some heinous crimes , he used to kill a person and then looked at the idol ..come.. come and kill me..I committed a grave sin. It never responded.

He did everything in the world which is considered sinful and yet god never came to punish him.For years his path was sin and only sin. He never said truth and never been peaceful never helpful. After many years have passed he became tired of killing and in frustration of god not coming to him he started abusing god . He sat under a tree and was feeling tired so closed his eyes and started cursing god with such words then can never be associated with god .He got tired of cursing and then he became calm. He didn’t know what more is left fore him to do in life. He stopped taking food ,stopped doing anything and he sat under the tree all the time with eyes closed..

After a few weeks his body collapsed and the physical body perished, still he was alive. There he was transported to the mother kaali .He shuddered on seeing her terrible form She was not as aggressive and angry as he thought she would be. She was smiling. Kaali Mata was smiling and she said “ My son!! I have never seen anybody more sincere then you in pursuing the path to reach me. In every action and in every thought you were mind was filled with only one idea that is to reach me. You did everything in the world but never possessed or got attatched to any object. Your hate for me was so much you never had to love any other object. You were all preoccupied with me.Sincerity, this is the real important quality of a baktha. The whole of your life was utilized only to reach me. You have attained me my dear son.”

Bakthasura didn’t have any means to visually or verbally express how he felt. He merged with the divine.