From Sri Ganesan- The FINAL DIALOGUE

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

 

I enclose another scriptural posting from Sri V.Ganesan which he is happy for

me to pass on .

 

Every best wish to all,

 

In His Grace,

 

Alan

 

 

 

 

THE FINAL DIALOGUE

 

 

Sri Suka concluded his teaching to King Parikshit, with these words:

 

"O King, discard the notion born of ignorance ! .

 

Unlike the body, you were not born into this world, having been non-existent

before, nor will you

die.

 

Nor will you, having lived, come into being again in your son, grandson, and so

on, like the

sprout from the seed, since you are different from the body and such like, as is

the fire (from

the log of wood).

 

As one may see in a dream one's own decapitation, so one sees in the waking

state death and

dissolution overtaking the body; and from this one should realize that the Atman

knows neither

birth nor death.

 

As the space within a pot remains the same space, when the pot is broken, as it

had been before

the pot came into existence, so when one is dead to the body, the jiva stands

forth as Brahman

again.

 

It is the mind that creates the bodies, qualities and karmas of the jiva; it is

itself the

creature of Maya; and the jiva owes its transmigratory experience to its being

burdened with all

these vasanas and limiting adjuncts.

 

Light retains the form of the flame of the lamp so long as the correlation of

oil, receptacle,

wick and fire continues; likewise it is the trasmigratory life that is bound up

with the body,

which is brought into being by the modes of operation of sattva, rajas and

tamas, and which

perishes by the same cause; not the Atman, which is eternal.

 

For It is self-luminous and different from the gross and subtle bodies, being

like space, the

ground and support of all phenomena, changeless, eternal, incomparable. You

should, O lord of

men, reflect in this manner on the soul in the body, using your intelligence,

aided by logic and

strengthened by constant meditation on your own immortal Self.

 

ìIt is not you that Takshaka will burn at the Brahmana's bidding. Those things

that cause death

cannot assail the Supreme Lord, the Death of death, I am is the Brahman, the

Supernal Light; That

Brahman, the Supreme Goal, is "I-I'' .

 

Arriving at this Realization and identifying your soul with the Atman that is

free from all

limiting adjuncts, you will see neither Takshaka, licking his chops, as he

seizes your foot with

his poisonous fangs, nor your own body, nor the universe as existing apart from

the Self.

 

I have now told you, my son, all that you wanted to know about the actions of

Hari, the Soul of

the universe. Is there anything else that you would like to hear ?"

 

Having heard this expounded by the Sage, the son of Vyasa, who saw all the

universe in the Self,

and had equal regard for all that existed, King Parikshit touched his holy feet

with his bowed

head; and then, with folded hands, he thus addressed him.

 

The Kind said: "I have attained the supreme end of life, since you, the Soul of

compassion, have

bestowed your Grace on me by yourself imparting to me the Knowledge of Hari, Who

is without

beginning or end.

 

And, to me it is hardly surprising that great souls, who cherish the Lord in

their hearts, should

shed their Grace on the ignorant creatures who suffer the travails of life.

 

For, we have heard from your own lips this collection of ancient legends in

which the exalted and

illustrious Lord is incessantly extolled. I fear not death from Takshaka or

others, O Blessed

One, having entered Brahman, the One Self-existent Spirit that you have shown

me, where fear is

not.

 

Let me with your leave depart this life, stilling the senses and giving my

mind, freed from

instinctive desires, wholly to the Lord. Shown by you the Supreme Good, the

essence of the exalted

Lord and firmly established in Wisdom and Illumination, I have had my ignorance

dispelled."

 

Thus informed, and duly honoured by the King, the Blessed One (Sage Suka) went

his way,

accompanied by the mendicants.

 

Then, King Parikshit, concentrating his mind, by an exercise of will, on the

Self within, held it

steadily in the Paramatman, and was motionless as a tree, all animation

suspended.

 

Seated with his face turned to the North on the bank of Ganga, on darbha grass

placed pointing

towards the East, the great Yogi (King) freed from all attachments and from

doubts, had become one

with the Ultimate.

 

Takshaka, dispatched by the angry son of the Brahmana, bit the King. The body

of the sage-King,

who had become one with the Self, was instantly reduced to ashes by the fiery

poison of the

serpent, even as all men were looking. Forthwith rose the celestial

kettle-drums sound; and, the

gods rained showers of flowers, with joyous cries of "Well done !"

 

----From the SRIMAD BHAGAVATHAM Tr. By N. Raghunathan