Sesa/Ananta

[Guest guest]

Dear all,

 

Hare krishna. Regarding the position of Sesa or ananta, there are many interesting explanations. If the members have any further info, it will be nice.

 

a) SB: 3.8.6 says that even Sesa does not know the mAya balam of the Lord.. hence many consider him in the category of Jivatma.

 

b) In LB 1.1.12, Sesha is counted as a jiva and avesa avatara.

jnäna-sakty-ädi-kalayä yaträvishto janärdanah |

ta Avesä nigadyante jIvä eva mahattamäm||18||

 

vaikunthe'pi yathä Sesho näradah sanakädayah |

akrUra-drishtAnte cämI dasame parikIrtitäm ||19||

 

Exalted individual souls (jivas) into whom Lord Janardana enters with a portion of His knowledge-potency and other potencies, are called avesas. Sesa, Narada, and the four Kumaras are examples of them in Vaikuntha. They were seen by Akrura, as described in the Tenth Canto.

 

3) SB 5.25 (whole chapter) glorifies Him to be a kala of the Lord and as the predominating Deity of the material mode of ignorance as well as the false ego of all conditioned souls.5.25.6 calls Him as Adi deva and ananta.he is further glorified in the following verses as the supreme lord.

 

4) The krishna upanishad Ch.2 :

1 From Lord Vasudeva was manifested Lord Sesa, who was also named Sankarsana, and who was the father of all living entities. He desired, "I shall create children. " 2 From Him was born the person named Pradyumna. From Pradyumna was born Aniruddha, who had the names Ahankara and Hiranyagarbha. From Pradyumna were born the ten Prajapatis, beginning with Marici and including Sthanu, Daksa, Kardama, Priyavrata, Uttanapada, and Vayu. In this way from Lord Sesa all living beings were born and into Sesa they enter (at the time of cosmic devastation). 3 Lord Sesa fathered all living beings. He protects them. He created grammar, astrology, and the other sciences. He is worshipped by the sages that yearn for liberation. He holds the entire universe on His head. The sages know His glories. The sages glorify Him with prayers. With His many heads He eclipses Mount Meru's thousand peaks.. He created the ether and false ego. 4 Lord Sesa is the Personality of Godhead.

Yuga after yuga He appears in many forms. He took birth as Laksmana, the son of Sumitra and descendent of King Iksvaku. Learned in the science of archery and weapons, He killed all the demons and protected varnasrama-dharma. 5 Lord Sesa is the Personality of Godhead. At the time of the yuga-sandhya (junction of the yugas) He appeared as Lord Balarama, the son of Vasudeva and Rohini. He was splendid like an autumn cloud. Expert in fighting with a club and other weapons, and yearning to kill the hosts of demon kings, he uprooted the earth's burden.

 

5) Srila BSST in His commentary to CC Adi lila . 5.120-124 writes:

 

The Sesa who is the adhara-sakti (supporter-power) of the bedstead of Visnu (Wielder of the Sarnga bow), is in the category of God (Visnu-tattva).The Sesa who is the bearer of the planets is of the category of Saktyavista jiva-tattva. The Sankarsana of the second catur-vyUha appears as Rama, taking with Him Sesa who bears the global spheres. There are two features of Sesa. One is the bearer of the globes, and the other is the bedstead servitor. The Sesa who bears the globes is an avesa-Avatara (absorption-avatara) of Krsna (or Sankarsana), and therefore He is (also) known as Sankarsana. The bedstead feature of Sesa always considers Himself to be an eternal servitor and friend of the Lord Sarngadhara (wielder of the Sarnga bow). ( Taken from http://www.bvml.org/SBBTM/sba.html)

 

6) I have also read somewhere that sesa who was a jivatma got a boon from lord Brahma to serve the lord by holding the universe on his hoods.(Unable to get the reference)

 

7) LB 2.27:

 

kvacij jIva-viseshatvam harasyoktam vidher iva |

tat tu seshavad evästäm tad-amsatvena kIrtanät ||27||

 

The scriptures explain that, as Brahma is, so Siva is sometimes a jiva soul and sometimes an amsa-avatara like Lord Sesa.

 

So, we have various descriptions of Lord sesa by the acharyas. Do any members have further inputs which explain the postion of the Lord to counter the claim that Sankarsana of SB 2.7.41 is a vibhinnamsa and not a svamsa as quoted by Sri JG.

 

dasa

Narasimhan