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.
In the previous article, a question was asked. India is also known as Bharata, as it is named after the King Bharata. But which Bharata? How many Bharata-s do you know?
- If you answered Bharata, Shree Rama’s brother, then you were wrong. Shree Rama’s brother Bharata did not sit on the throne. With utmost Bhakti, he waited for his older brother Shree Raama to return. But India is not known as Bharata in honour of this Bharata.
- If you answered Bharata, son of Dushyanta, then you were wrong again. If I remember correctly, this was the response given in the popular reality TV show. This Bharata was certainly a great King, and his Vamsha got the name Bharata Vamsha and almost all descendants of this Vamsha have been referred to as Bhaarata. But India is not known as Bharata in honour of this Bharata either.
- There is a third Bharata. He was the first of 100 sons of Vrushabha avatara of Shree Mahaa Vishnu. This Bharata ruled the entire earth. One of his brothers was Kavi, who gave us the most famous Shloka “kaayena vaachaa manasendriyairvaa…”. This Bharata retired to the forest towards the end of his life, where he tended to an infant deer. At the time of his death, he was very concerned about the future of his pet deer. As a result, he ended up being born as a deer in his next life. This frustrated him as he regretted having wasted an opportunity to attain Moksha, as he ended up thinking about the deer. In the Bhagavad-Gita, too, Shree Krishna has stated that our next Janma depends a lot on what we think of at the time of leaving the body. So, after his life as a deer ended, Bharata was fortunate to be born with a human body one more time. This time, he made sure to focus on Paramatma right from his childhood. On one occasion, he ended up carrying the palanquin of King Rahuguna. When the ride was bouncy, the King spoke sarcastically to Bharata. But Bharata’s response to the King was filled with such supreme wisdom that the King got down from his palanquin and sat down humbly for a detailed discourse. All these have been documented by Shree Vedavyasa in Shreemad Bhagavata Puraana. India is known as Bharata in honour of Bharata. This Bharata is in the 19th level in the hierarchy of Devata-s.
That said, let’s pause on the Devata hierarchy for a bit, and talk about something that might be useful in everyone’s daily lives. We all have problems in our lives… such as work-related stress, marital issues, being unable to conceive children, personal health, children’s health, parents’ health, financial issues, police harassment, court cases, being unable to find a bride/groom, divorce, children getting into bad habits and so on. What most Hindus do when faced with such difficulties is… consult a Jyotishi (astrologer). The Jyotishi will look at the Janma Kundali of the person affected, give you details about his/her dasha-s and antardasha-s and advise some remedies… such as perform a specific Pooja or Homa/Havan at your home. So, they perform the Pooja or Homa/Havan as advised. If the problem subsides, then they end up becoming religious. What I mean is that… they do as advise by the Jyotishi or Pundit every time. And gradually they start becoming orthodox, and start blindly following and/or imitating the Jyotishi/Pundit. If anyone asks them why they do what they are doing… then their only answer would be “the scripture says so” and/or “our Jyotishi/Pundit told us to do so”. And when it comes to their children and grandchildren, they too shall blindly follow, and it becomes a “Tradition”. They won’t bother putting any thought into it.
There is a great story to emphasize the futility of “orthodoxy” and “blind faith” that I heard in a scholar’s discourse. A man wants to do Shraddha Karma on his father’s death anniversary. But there was a pet cat at his home. It was quite playful and mischievous. Therefore, to pre-empt any troubles during Shraddha Karma, the man would put the cat in a crate. His son was not allowed to go near when Shraddha Karma was going on, as is the tradition. So, he never saw his father do Shraddha. But he had noted down that on the day his father did Shraddha Karma, his father would put the cat in the crate. Years later, the man passed away, and so did the cat. Now, it was the son’s turn to do Shraddha on the death anniversary of his father. But there was no cat at his home. So, he went to a friend who had a cat… borrowed the cat for the day, and put it in the crate for some time. Then fed the cat and returned it. So, from then on… Shraddha Karma meant to the son that he has to get a cat home, crate it, feed it, and return it. This, in general, is the result of” Orthodoxy” and “Tradition”.
Anyway, in summary, you are facing some problems. So, you consult a Jyotishi. He/she advises you to do some Pooja/Homa/Havan and you abide by. If the problem subsides, you become orthodox/traditional. If not, you get yelled at and ridiculed by your own family, and everyone loses faith completely. Sound familiar? Been in such a situation? Seen others go through this? I’m sure you have. If yes… then here’s a simple formula that may help you to 1) understand the situation, 2) understand the general premise of Jyotishya Shaastra, 3) understand what you can do to make the most out of the remedy suggested by the Jyotishi… and get some grip over your lives. The famous TV actor, who played the role of Shree Krishna in the popular TV series Mahabharata produced in late 1980s, mentioned this formula (as he had learnt it through his studies past the TV series) in an interview. Upon some contemplation, this made a lot of sense to me.
Prarabdha = Bhagya + Purushaartha
Praarabdha is whatever you are going through “right now”. The word “Now” can be this second, this minute, this hour, day, week, month, year, decade or this current Janma.
Bhaagya has to be understood along with another term, i.e., Punya. There is no equivalent word for Punya in English. Punya is the credit we earn through good Karma. We can think of it as the subtle currency that gets deposited in our invisible account, which is maintained by the ones above. Currencies of this world can become invalid when demonetized. One country’s currency is invalid outside of that country. Factors such as inflation and devaluation may reduce the value of currency. But Punya’s earnt are not affected by any of these factors. Punya earnt is useful in all places at all times.
Punya and Bhaagya are related. Punya is like the money we deposit in the bank for future use. Bhaagya is like the money we withdraw from the ATM when we need it. If the bank balance becomes O, then we won’t be able to withdraw any money from the ATM. Therefore, we have to keep working to earn money and deposit it in the bank account for future use. Similarly, we have to keep earning Punya, through good Karma, so that it can be encashed as Bhaagya in the future.
Purushartha basically refers to the Karma we do. Good Karma earns Punya, which can be encashed as Bhaagya, which is like a positive value in the above equation. Bad Karma earns Paapa, which will get encashed as Durbhaagya, which takes a negative value in the above equation. Also, it’s important to note that all Punya earnt need not be encashable as Bhaagya right away. But any/all Bhaagya that is to be encashed must have been earnt as Punya at some point in the past. Plus, all of us will have earnt both Punya and Paapa… and Paapa will also have to get encashed at some point in time.
Now let’s look at how the above “formula” helps us understand and deal with problems and situations in our lives.
Jyotishya helps us understand what Bhaagya is available for encashment in the present Janma, at different points in time for our entire lifespan. This factor can be, and usually is, positive or negative at different points in time throughout our lifespan. So, when things are not going so well… it means that some Paapa earnt at some point in the past is getting encashed and, chances are, all Punya necessary to offset this negativity has run out. In other words, the Bhaagya factor in the above equation is taking a heavily negative value. Therefore, Prarabdha – what you are going through right now – is becoming negative. Therefore, in order to offset this negativity, the Jyotishi recommends doing a certain Pooja/Homa or some Teertha Yaatra (pilgrimage)… which is basically Purushaartha or Karma with the hope that the Punya earnt in the process will get encashed immediately. But it need not. Why? Possibly 4 reasons:
- Bhaagya, in the above equation, may be too big a negative factor. So, one Pooja/Homa may not earn enough Punya to offset it. This is usually the case. Solution: One has to be regular with prayers, Pooja, Homa, Teertha Yaatra etc. One has to put in some effort to learn some of the basic Pooja steps, some Stotra-s, and basically be in a sense of Sharanaagati (surrender) to the ones above. Also, Teertha Yaatra need not be to some place far-off. Any place that has 12 Saalagraama-s with daily Pooja is considered a Punya Kshetra. A visit to such a place is considered Teertha Yatra. Remember… most of us don’t tend to think about the ones above when everything is going fine and we are happy. So, in a way, we are put into difficult situations as a test. How we react shows our personality.
- Pooja/Homa was not done in a way to maximize the Punya Karma has 3 components associated with it. They are Kaaya i.e., what we do (physical), Vaachaa i.e., what we say (vocal), and Manasaa i.e., what we think (mental). Pooja is a Karma where our ancestors have taught us what to do, what to say while we do it, and also what thoughts to keep while we say and do. The credit earnt for Kaaya: Vaachaa: Manasaa is somewhat like 1: 10: 100. Thus, when you invite a Purohit to do Pooja at your home… the Purohit, who is very well trained to do Pooja, assumes that you have some basic awareness. But, unfortunately, most of the time, this would be a bad assumption. Most people don’t know a single Shloka, can’t speak a single word of Sanskrit, and thus, the meaning of Pooja, Shloka is all way beyond their reach. Therefore, you will only be doing what the Purohit will be instructing you to do. And therefore, when there is a potential to earn 1 + 10 + 100 = 111 units of Punya to be earnt through Kaayaa+Vaachaa+Manasaa involvement, you end up earning only 1 unit of Punya through mere physical involvement. Some people, right in the middle of the Pooja, ask the Purohit to explain what is being done. Think about it… Suppose a very influential friend has brought a very well-known individual, let’s say someone like PM Modi ji, to your home. Modi ji is at the door… and that’s when you turn to your very influential friend and ask him, “I’d like to wear a Dhoti to receive Modi ji. Can you please teach me how to tie a Dhoti?”. Is that the time to learn to tie the Dhoti? Why did you not take the time to learn it earlier? Similarly, when the Purohit has invoked the Devata-s, it is to be understood that the Devata-s arrive right away. Devata-s are not to be thought of as some corrupt government employee who might say “I’m on vacation, I’ll talk to you next week”. Devata-s will arrive right away, and when they do, if you are unprepared to receive them and/or not paying attention with maximum humility, then that will neither look good nor bode well. How would you behave if, say, PM Modi Ji comes home? Devata-s are far far superior to any national leader. So, please take time to learn what to say and what thoughts to keep in the presence of the Devata-s during each step of Pooja. Let’s hope that a detailed explanation of these steps will come through in future articles.
- Whether it is you or the Purohit doing the Pooja/Homa, the philosophical school of thought followed should be in alignment with Shree Krishna’s declaration in Bhagavad-Gita Chapter 15, verses 15-18. The Devata-s themselves strictly adhere to their hierarchy. And therefore, we must adhere to it as well. This is what pleases the Devata-s. When you invite a Purohit to perform Pooja/Homa, you assume that the Purohit will know fully well about the hierarchy of Devata-s. You’ll be surprised to know that a very large percentage of Purohit-s neither know nor believe in the hierarchy of Devata-s. Suppose, at your place of work, you address your manager as the CEO of the company and the CEO as a janitor/cleaner, Managing Director as a clerk, Divisional Manager as an attendant, and so on… What’ll happen to you? Initially, you are called in for a private meeting and informed about the hierarchy in the company. But you disagree and firmly adhere to your belief that your manager is the CEO… then what’ll happen to you? Will your manager like being called the CEO? Suppose you are a manager yourself. Would you like it if someone addressed you as the CEO of the company? The Hierarchy of the Devata-s works the same way too. It is not optional. Just like how it is important to recognize a manager, the director and the CEO for precisely what they are in the company, one should recognize each Devata for what they are. If you do not correct your beliefs to align yourself with realities, then… initially, you may be subtly given some opportunities to learn about the hierarchy. If you still don’t correct yourself, then either the Devata-s will start avoiding you, or corrective action will follow… neither of them bodes well for you. The corrective action taken by the Devata-s is what shows up as the difficulties you face in life. You may even hear people say “Oh… I disagree… I believe that all Devata-s are equal. They forgive everything”. True. Devata-s are compassionate. But they are not manda-buddhi-s. People are! It is because the Devata-s are compassionate, they give you many opportunities to correct yourself… such as bringing you the right information about the hierarchy of Devata-s through someone who has done at least some preliminary study about it. Suppose a 4-year-old child believes that its grandmother is actually its mother. It repeatedly points to the grandmother and says, “That is my mother”. Will it make the actual mother or the grandmother happy? They’ll try to correct the child gently. If not, they’ll request a neighbour to try and correct the child. If nothing works and they see a risk of the child carrying this to its adulthood, then corrective action will follow. It should. It is the same way with the hierarchy of Devata-s. The scriptures that informed us about the Devata-s are the same scriptures that also told us about their hierarchy. Scriptures talk about huge Paapa associated with not recognizing the hierarchy. One should avoid doing Pooja in such a way that you end up acquiring Paapa instead of Punya.
- A very important item in the agenda of Devata-s is Dharma Samsthaapana. Shree Krishna himself has said in Bhagavad-Gita that he will take Avataara for the specific purpose of Dharma Samsthaapana. He is the role model for everyone, including the Devata-s. So, like Bhagavaan, the Devata-s too take Avataara on earth for the sake of Dharma Samsthaapana. And when they haven’t taken any Avataara, they use people like us as their foot soldiers in their effort to do Dharma Samsthaapana on earth. And if they do, then we should consider ourselves fortunate. Why? Because then they need to protect us, guide us, and ensure that we have all the resources we need. We won’t need to ask them anything, because they already know what we need way better than us. So, any Pooja/Homa becomes yet another formal way to express your gratitude.
Say, for conversation’s sake, you ask something (some money or land or victory in some court case or something else) with the Devata-s. What if the Devata-s turn around and ask us “Why? Why should I give you this?” Most of the time, we won’t have any answer to that question. But, if you are a foot soldier of the Devata-s in their agenda of Dharma Samsthaapana… then, chances are, they may say “Ok, Fine… Granted”.
Hope the above equation helps you in your daily lives. Next week, let’s get back to the topic of Devata-s in the hierarchical level 18. (This article is published unedited, as received from the author.)
