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Source: The Hindu (http://www.hinduonnet.com)

Miscellaneous

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Religion

 

 

Merit of listening to God's glory

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHENNAI, JAN. 30. The tradition of listening to the glory and divine deeds of

God in His manifestations has been in vogue since time immemorial. One may

wonder how it is possible to listen to the same stories and anecdotes depicted

in the Puranas and the epics again and again. It is devotion which is the key to

understanding this phenomenon as it is an experience which can never be

satiated. Such is the potency of the Divine name and His glory that devotion

wells up in the heart of the listener which makes him seek this experience.

 

Lord Krishna has explained the difference between His births in the world and

that of human beings very clearly in the Bhagavad Gita. While human birth is the

result of Karma and is an endless cycle until liberation from bondage is

attained, God assumes different forms from time to time out of His will. The

Lord says that a person who understands that His births are divine in nature

will be liberated from bondage. This is not just intellectual knowledge but to

be experienced out of devotion. The Puranas describe the advents of the Lord in

great detail.

 

In his discourse on the Bhagavata Purana, Sri B.Sundar Kumar said this

scriptural text was standing testimony to the truth that it was possible to

realise God through devotion. This Purana is as much a depiction of the glory of

devotion as it is of God, as it narrates the lives of several devotees. The

manner in which it was composed by Veda Vyasa, who is revered as a manifestation

of Lord Vishnu, points to its unique status. He undertook this exclusively to

highlight the Lord's descent as Krishna and the glory of devotion to Him. He

narrated it to his son Suka who excelled him in devotion and wisdom right from

birth. King Pareekshit listened to this Purana from Suka in seven days time,

cursed as he was to die of snake bite.

 

The Bhagavata Purana itself gives insight into Suka's exalted state in the words

of Suta who narrated the following incident to Sage Saunaka and others when they

had expressed the desire to learn the teachings of the scriptures from him

during the performance of a sacrifice in Naimisaranya. Suta said that when Vyasa

saw Suka going away with the intention of leading a life of a recluse when he

was very young, he became greatly disturbed by the thought of separation from

him and called out to him endearingly. It was the trees on the roadside that

responded to his entreaties on behalf of Suka as he had become one with the

universal Spirit and hence oblivious to his body and environs.

 

 

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