This is an article series. Please read all previous articles before reading this article. The URLs for all previous articles are located in the www.special thoughts section. Continuing with the hierarchy of Devata-s, let’s look at the venerable Jeevaatma in Level 14.
Naarada
As explained before, the syllable “Ru” stands for Truth, Fact, Reality. The word “Rushi” means someone who has personally experienced the truth. There are many Rushi-s in level 19 of the Devata hierarchy. And the Sapta Rushi-s of Svaayambhuva Manvantara were also mentioned in a previous article titled “Devatas in Level 16”. There was also an explanation on how Shree Krishna likens Paramaatma to Bhrugu Rushi in the article titled “Devatas in Level 15”. Going further, in Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 10 – Verse 26, Shree Krishna states that among the Deva Rushi-s, Paramaatma is like Naarada.
The Sanskrit etymology of the word “Naarada”:
Ara = fault; Na + Ara à Naara = No faults, faultless; da = someone who gives
Thus, Naarada = someone who gives us the faultless/flawless. Among the sentient, the flawless is Paramaatma. And among the insentient, the flawless is the Veda. So, in other words, Naarada is someone who gives us the flawless knowledge of the flawless Paramaatma. This appears to be true when we review some stories from the Puraana-s.
- Dhruva was just a 5-year-old boy. His father had 2 consorts, namely Suneeti (Dhruva’s mother) and Suruchi. Suruchi wanted to ensure that her son Uttama ascended the throne after his father. To accomplish this goal, she would not even allow Dhruva to sit on his father’s lap. Hurt by this treatment, he asked what he should do for a chance to sit on his father’s lap. To this, Suruchi told Dhruva that he should be born as her son instead. Dhruva went to his mother Suneeti, and asked her what could be done so that he could be born as Suruchi’s son instead. His mom advised him to ask Paramaatma. Determined to accomplish this, Dhruva headed to the forest to see Paramaatma and request him to that he, Dhruva, be born as a son of Suruchi. As the 5-year-old boy wandered off into the forest without caring for his safety, Shree Naarada Muni met him, tested him and when he found the little boy had a great resolve, Naarada Muni mentored him and gave him all the correct knowledge that was necessary for him to succeed. As a result, Dhruva accomplished such remarkable success that it is unthinkable for us mere mortals. Paramaatma came in front of him, ensured that he sat on his father’s lap, and then became his successor and in the end, he created a separate Loka for Dhruva, which is referred to as Shimshumaara Loka or Dhruva Loka. Dhruva is in the 19th level in the hierarchy of Devata-s.
- Prahlaada’s story is even more wonderful. Prahlaada is Avataara of a Devata called Shankhu Karna (who is in the 19th level in the hierarchy). Shankhu Karna incurred a curse as he got delayed brining flowers for Pooja and ended up having to take Avataara-s on earth. This should tell us a few things:
- Swarga is not a place that’s safe for even Devata-s. They too are at risk of falling down from Swarga down to earth to take Avataara
- Devata-s too need to take Avataara and come down to the earth for their Saadhanaa and demonstrate their worthiness
So, the first Avataara of Shankhu Karna was that of Prahlaada, son of Hiranya Kashipu who was an Asura. It should be noted, just like how there is a hierarchy of Devata-s, there’s a hierarchy of Asura-s too. And, in that hierarchy of Asura-s, Hiranya Kashipu is pretty high in the hierarchy. Hiranya Kashipu was already wreaking havoc in the entire universe. Therefore, Indra was extremely concerned about a child being born to such a monster. So, he decided to abort the child even before it was born. This is when Shree Naarada Muni intervened. Though Prahlaada’s father was an Asura, his grandfather was none other than the great Kaashyapa Rushi himself. Rushi Kaashyapa, who is in the 19th level in the hierarchy of Devata-s, had already told his consort Danu that the sons she will give birth to will be evil, but the grandson will be a great Saatvik Jeevaatma. Thus, knowing well about the Jeevaatma that’s about to take an Avataara, Naarada Muni arrived to mentor Prahlaada even though Prahlaada was still in his mother’s womb.
As we know, when we make a phone call… it goes from one phone number to only a specific number that was dialled and no other number. Similarly, from what I’ve learnt, a Guru has the ability to precisely deliver his Tapobala to a specific target and ensure that it reaches no one else. Another important thing to note about the Guru is that the one through whom I am meant to be uplifted will come to me on his/her own. A Shishya (a spiritual seeker) must remain humble and keep searching for his spiritual mentor… but the Guru WILL recognize his/her Shishya and come on his/her own to uplift the Shishya. In the case of Prahlaada, Naarada Muni was that Guru. He came on his own and came precisely when it mattered.
I like to mention an incident from my own life. Many years ago, a great scholar and a Yogi came to the USA and were residing in the town we live in. His discourses had been arranged, and I had the great fortune to attend and listen to him. In one of the discourses, he had chided the practice of shaking hands in the western culture. He had said, “I don’t want to shake hands with you, because if I shake hands with you, then I will come to know everything about you. And I don’t want to”. But, when I went to him and did Namaskaara to him after a discourse, the same scholar/Yogi bent down to reach me and rubbed my back with SUCH ENORMOUS Vaatsalya Bhaava which I had NEVER EVER felt before. Back then, I had no clue about what might come out of it. But I believe that the DIVINE TOUCH by such a spiritually enlightened Chetana several years ago is what is making all these articles come out through me today.
- There was a movie, made in 1973 in the Kannada language, titled “Mooroovare Vajragalu”. The story was from the great epic Mahaabhaarata. The storyline, in my opinion, stands as an excellent example for Shree Naarada Muni’s wisdom, skilfulness, compassion for the deserving, and craftiness towards the undeserving.
A King, by name Kritavarma, had lost his kingdom and had become poor and blind. Shree Naarada Muni finds him, advises him to trust in God and tells him the story of Sudhaama, a childhood friend and devotee of Shree Krishna. Sudhaama had become very rich and resourceful through his devotion to Paramaatma. Meanwhile, there was a pious lady by name Satyavati, who was very devout towards Shree Mahaa Lakshmi. One night, Satyavati had seen in her dream that she would marry the man she’ll see at her door the next morning. By the grace of Shree Naarada Muni, Kritavarma arrives at the door of Satyavati. And thus, they get married and, through her devotion to Shree Mahaa Lakshmi, Kritavarma gets his eyesight back and regains his kingdom. But with his eyesight restored, Kritavarma becomes obsessed with his wife Satyavati and neglects his Kingly duties.
Meanwhile, Balaarama is pretending to have become too egotistical about his strength, skill and warfare. Balaraama is Avataara of Aadi Shesha, a symbol of humility and is destined for Moksha. Egocentricity doesn’t befit even those destined for Moksha, and this lesson needs to be taught to the world.
On another side, Duryodhana – a Shishya of Balaraama, and an Avataara of Kali, the most-evil among all Jeevaatma-s and never destined to never attain Moksha because of his evil nature and Karma – is naturally egotistical and disrespectful of even the most venerable ones. He too needs to be humbled.
So, in order to bring the lazy and obsessed Kritavarma back on track, and to teach a lesson that humility is most important, Shree Naarada Muni turns Satyavati to a mare. When Kritavarma realizes his mistake and asks for forgiveness, Shree Naarada Muni tells him that the mare will return to her human form when she’s touched by 3 and a ½ Vajra-s (diamonds). Here Vajra refers to undentable toughness par excellence. Who are these 3 Vajra-s? While Krishna, Bheema, Balaraama are considered 3 Vajra-s, Duryodhana is considered ½ Vajra.
Meanwhile, Satyavati (the mare) escapes and ends up in the kingdom of Subuddhi who was suffering from illnesses that no one had been able to cure. But the arrival of Satyavati in mare form and her devotion to Shree Mahaa Lakshmi cures Subuddhi of his illnesses. To show all the spiritual seekers that even those destined for Moksha should still remain humble, Shree Naarada Muni tells Balaraama that such a great horse with divine healing abilities should be under the custody of the most valiant such as himself. Pretending to be overtaken by egocentricity, Balaraama comes to capture the mare… and so does Duryodhana as he too had heard of the mare and benevolent traits. Not wanting to give up what he considered most auspicious mare, Subuddhi seeks protection from Bheema, the mighty Paandava, who was in the forest nearby. And thus, all the 3 and ½ Vajra-s were brought together.
What we need to learn from the above stories is that, in general, Devarshi Naarada Muni’s timing is always just impeccable. Timing is most important. Don’t we all want to be at the right place at the right time? What happens when you find yourself at the wrong place at the wrong time usually means disaster. For example, for a deer… being at the right place at the right time would mean that it has food to graze on, water to drink, find a mate in the mating season, and be safe. Being at the wrong place would mean that it will be caught by a predator. And, as a corollary to the aforesaid, being at the right place at the right time is important for the predator animal too as it needs to catch the prey to survive, reproduce and contribute its part to the balance of the ecosystem.
What I’ve heard from the wise ones I learnt from is that the above said depends a lot on what is referred to as Intuition. I’ve also heard that Intuition is very strong among animals, but often gets lost in the noise among humans. It is referred to by various terms such as Intuition, Inner Voice, Sixth Sense, Divine Guidance from within and so on.
I can’t define what Intuition exactly is. But here is my take on it. We all have it in us. But the problem is… there are 3 types of “Inner Voice” i.e., Saatvika, Raajasa and Taamasa. Worse yet… if the Saatvik inner voice is 1 decibel (and therefore very feeble), the Raajasik inner voice is more like 10 decibels and the Taamasik inner voice is like 100 decibels. Therefore, the Saatvik inner voice can easily get lost amidst the noise caused by the far louder Raajasik and even louder Taamasik inner voices.
An example for the Saatvik inner voice would be that which urges us to be compassionate, forgive others mistakes, recognize the good, ignore the flaws, value this human life that we’ve received, do something constructive/useful to the society and beneficial for one’s own spiritual upliftment.
But the above Saatvik inner advise goes ignored when we pay attention to that much louder Raajasik inner voice which urges to watch that blockbuster movie, that TV show, that game, that gaming app that everyone’s talking about… or go attend that tomato throwing festival in spain… or any number of those things we do which basically amounts to a waste of this Aayushya we have in human life that is extremely difficult to get. While it is impractical to not do any “fun activity”, one ought to try to gradually reduce the amount of time budgeted for “fun” and increase the time budgeted for spiritual activities. If not, then the “fun” can gradually turn to “not funny” and may even take to cruel hobbies such as fishing, hunting games, gambling, alcohol, contraband drugs and so on. The best example for this is in Mahaabhaarata’s Mausala Parva. The valorous Yaadava’s decided to go en masse on a great picnic to a beach called “Prabhaasa Kshetra”. There, they engaged in some fun sport activities such as running, jumping, wrestling and so on. Pretty soon one accused another of cheating… which resulted in arguments, yelling and pretty soon it came to blows. And in the end, every single one of them had killed each other ending their entire Kula. As had been explained in an earlier article, Raajasik mentality is like the square root of -1 (√-1 or “i” as it is referred to in mathematics, “i” for Indeterminate). When this √-1 gets squared (meaning when the “fun” gets double or so to say), it will only result in a negative number (implying a Taamasik outcome)… and never a positive number (or Saatvik outcome). In other words, excessive “fun” has a high potential to take a negative turn and not so much of a positive turn. We all get sucked in by this much louder Raajasik inner voice. Exercising control over it is necessary.
Lastly, the Taamasik inner voice is that which urges us from within to hit, break, destroy, crash, hurl abusive language and do all things that might cause irreparable damage. Today, we live in societies where there is something called the constitution, the “Rule of Law”, the various surveillance devices, the punishments etc. all of which act as deterrents. And therefore, we end up with much higher restraint these days. Hopefully, the laws prevail and are not overthrown by religious bigotry.
To sum it all up… call it Intuition, call it the Inner Voice, call it the Sixth Sense, call it the Divine Guidance… or call it whatever else you wish to call it… (and I am not even sure if they are all the same or each is different) but, from the discourses I’ve heard from the learned wise ones, this Intuition/Inner Voice/Sixth Sense/Divine Guidance is attributable to Shree Naarada Muni. I’m assuming that they meant Shree Naarada Muni has Abhimaana over our “Saatvik” inner voice, while some other Raajasik Jeevaatma-s have Abhimaana over Raajasik inner voice and Asura-s have Abhimaana over Taamasik inner voice.
Purandara Daasa
This article would be incomplete, in my opinion, without mentioning about a superlatively great Avataara of Shree Naarada Muni namely Shree Purandara Daasa. Most people won’t recognize this name, but most people have heard of Shree Krishna Deva Raaya, the great king of erstwhile Vijaya Nagara empire. His Guru was Shree Vyaasa Teertha, who is considered an Avataara of Shankhu Karna i.e., the same Devata who had incarnated earlier as Prahlaada. And Shree Naarada Muni, as mentioned above, was Prahlaada’s Guru. But, come the current Kali Yuga, the roles seem to have got reversed.
Shree Naarada Muni incarnated as Shreenivaasa, a businessman and financier in the Vijaya Nagara kingdom. Many travelogues have mentioned how rich the Vijaya Nagara empire was. It’s popularly known that precious stones and metals would be sold by the street side like how vegetables and fruits are sold today. Naturally, Shreenivaasa’s business and financing deals grew higher and higher to a point where he wanted to become known as Navakoti Naaraayana (which would be like wanting to become the richest human on earth). This gradually led him to a level of greed for wealth that he started becoming miserly and obnoxious. It is said that at the peak of financial zeal he had accumulated SO much wealth that, in today’s estimates, his total worth was over 43 trillion dollars, which is way more than today’s total Economy of the USA. I encourage you to look up Shree Purandara Daasa’s biography on the internet. While all these acts of great Jeevaatma-s may just be pretentions as per Paramaatma’s will, there came a turning point in Shreenivaasa’s life which made him realize that all his wealth was worthless in comparison to the knowledge of the supreme. And that turning point resulted in an outcome which is truly invaluable.
Shreenivaasa became known as Shree Purandara Daasa. He took up a resolution to compose 500,000 poetic hymns in Kannada language. His compositions are in such simple language yet so thought provoking that his own Guru Shree Vyaasa Teertha would keep manuscripts of his compositions on a pedestal and bow down with reverence. To this day, people say that Shree Vyaasa Teertha, who was a scholar par excellence, would do Pradakshina to Shree Purandara Daasa’s home. Such anecdotes make us guess that both Shree Vyaasa Teertha and Shree Purandara Daasa were aware of their previous Janma-s.
Shree Purandara Daasa also set his poetic compositions to music in a unique style. Shree Purandara Daasa is regarded as Karnaataka Shaastreeya Sangeeta Pitaamaha (Grandfather of the Karnaataka classical music art form). He is said to have composed 475,000 hymns and advised his children and Shishya-s to complete the rest of his resolution. We all grew up listening to these songs.
I like to share with you two of my personal experiences in this context.
- When I was an undergraduate student back in the years 1987-91, we would hear some very famous compositions of Shree Purandara Daasa being played on loud speakers from a temple nearby. The artist’s voice and the overall composition was very lilting and soothing that it had left a lasting impression in my mind. Those words would provoke my thoughts often. Many years later, in 2014/15, a thought occurred to me that the message in Shree Purandara Daasa’s poetry should spread to everyone who don’t know the Kannada But how? In thinking through it, I realized that I had seen many prose translations explaining the meaning of some wonderful and popular compositions of Shree Purandara Daasa. But then prose is prose… it won’t have the same impact as poetry. Saying something in prose will last only a few seconds and will be mostly forgotten soon. But poetry is always considered worth preserving.
For example, something as simple and mundane as wishing someone “Happy Birthday”. You wish someone “Happy Birthday. Have a great day and year ahead”. And the recipient of that greeting says “Thank you” and that’s it. But try wishing someone through poetry. See how hard it would be to compose just one verse. Soon you’ll realize that you’ll need to have some command over the language, know something about the person or topic that you like to compose poetry on. I have taken up the habit of composing short poems to wish my childhood friends on their birthday. They’ve always felt great about it and appreciate the effort that someone put in to wish them through poetry.
Anyways… So, I decided to take up a resolution to make an attempt to poetically translate 100 popular compositions of Shree Purandara Daasa to Hindi and offer this to the ones above on the 450th death anniversary of Shree Purandara Daasa in the year 2014. The first one I attempted to translate to Hindi was the famous Bhaagyada Lakshmi Baaramma. As I’m writing this article on a Friday, which is the day we usually do Pooja to Mahaa Lakshmi, I’m offering this Hindi version of this song originally composed by the great Shree Purandara Daasa. Please note that I studied in Kannada medium until 7th Standard and studied Hindi in middle school for only 3 years. And I’ve had absolutely zero training in music. So, I request all the readers and the ones above to kindly accept this humble offering despite all its shortcomings.
I feel immensely fortunate about the above. It will be my legacy. If anyone is interested in collaborating in setting these to music and singing them and releasing it on the internet, please feel free to contact me.
- Coming back to the topic of Shree Naarada Muni being the Abhimaani for the Saatvik intuition/inner voice and that his grace is necessary for us all to be at the right place at the right time… here’s another one of my personal experiences.
I had joined this particular company as a software engineer back in May, 2009. By 2024 I had worked for the same company for 15 years and even though I wasn’t feeling insecure in that company, for reasons that aren’t quite relevant here, I had started to get a feeling that it is time for me to move on to something else. But which company to apply? For many years, while driving to work, I had seen this one company’s name displayed big and very visible from far. I had been wondering what it would be like to work for that company? But as it turned out, I just searched for job opportunities on that company’s website and was surprised to see an opportunity that I liked and considered myself to be a good fit. So, I applied for that position. But I was even more surprised when I was called for an interview. I attended the interview, and really liked the opportunity. But then came the wait. Since it was a government position, the procedural delays were just too long. But I held on… and on… and on… for a whole year. When I had almost given up about hearing back, I was most surprised when I finally got the job offer and that too with the salary I had asked for. This was the ONLY job I had applied for and ended up waiting for a whole year. I accepted the offer and have been in this job for almost 10 months now and I really really love my job. It has a great work and family life balance and gives me plenty of opportunities for all my extra-curricular activities. So, being in the right place at the right time really mattered. I guess I owe a huge amount of gratitude to the ones above, especially Shree Naarada Muni, for this guidance.
Let us all pray that Shree Naarada Muni give us better focus on that feeble Saatvik inner voice and for making someone like me write 7 pages worth of valuable information about him.
Next week, we’ll elaborate on the venerable Devata in Level 13 and up.
