An old Farmer lived on a farm in the mountains with his young grandson.
Each morning Grandpa was up early, sitting at the kitchen table reading his Bhagavad Gita.
His grandson wanted to be just like him and tried to imitate him in every way he could.
One day the grandson asked, "Grandpa! I try to read the Bhagavad
Gita just like you but I don't understand it, and what I do understand,
I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Bhagavad Gita do?"
The Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and replied,
"Take this coal basket down to the river and bring me back a basket of water."
The boy did as he was told, but all the water leaked out before he got back to the house.
The grandfather laughed and said, "You'll have to move a little faster next time," and sent him back to the river with the basket to try again. This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he returned home.
Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was impossible to carry water in a basket, and he went to get a bucket instead.
The old man said, "I don't want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water. You're just not trying hard enough," and he went out of the door to watch the boy try again.
At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak out before he got back to the house.
The boy again dipped the basket into river and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather the basket was again empty.
Out of breath, he said, "See Grandpa, it's useless!"
"So you think it is useless ?" The old man said, "Look at the basket."
The boy looked at the basket and for the first time realized that the basket was different. It had been transformed from a dirty old coal basket and was now clean, inside and out.
"Son, that's what happens when you read the Bhagavad Gita.
You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, you will be changed, inside and out.
That is the work of Krishna in our lives."
After the Mahabharata War ends, Yudhishtira rules at Hastinapura for 32 years. The child Parikshit is born very soon after the end of the war. He is named Parikshit because of a very peculiar circumstance. The child, has seen the Lord right when he was in the mother's womb, on the occasion of the astra aimed at the womb by Ashvattama. That vision of the Lord stayed in his mind even after his coming out of the womb and so the child keeps on examining each face that meets his eyes, to find out whether it was that face that showed up to him in the womb. This inquisitiveness is parIkShA'; the one who continuously inquires is ParIkshit'.!
Carrying on with the story we come to the most important incident in Parikshit's life which led to the BhagavataM. Once while he was hunting in the forest and was following a deer, overcome by thirst and fatigue, he entered an Ashram where he saw a Rishi sitting in samAdhi. The King asked for water but there was no response from the Rishi. Nor was he welcomed or received with honours naturally due to him as a guest and a king. He was upset and it turned into anger. As he walked out in that mood, he saw a dead snake on the ground. He lifted it up by the tip of his bow, threw it around the neck of the meditating Rishi, and went his way. That was his nemesis!
The young son of the Rishi, who was himself a Rishi in his own right, came home and saw the havoc done to the person of his father who was still in his samAdhi. The youngsters who were playing around told him what had happened. Enraged by what he learnt, he immediately made the purifying Achamana (ritual sipping of water) and issued forth a curse: On the seventh day from now, the great serpent named takshhaka' will bite him (to death). When his father awoke from his samAdhi, he was saddened to hear about the curse issued by his son to the great King. He felt that the King had been given too much of a punishment for this childish prank of his and so he wanted the King to know of his impending death. The enlightened sage that the rishi was, did not mind the insult done to his person for,
Since the Atman is independent of the guNas, generally the enlightened ones, even though involved by others in the ups and downs of the material world, are neither elated nor distressed.
prAyashaH sAdhavo loke
parair-dvandveshhu yojitAH;
na vyathanti na hRRishhyanti
yata AtmA agunAshrayaH
(I - 18 - 50).
So he insists his son should go to the royal palace and inform the king about the curse. Even before this is done, the King has already regretted his action and was prepared to receive any curse arising out of his action. When he was told that his death had been ordained by a takshaka' bite in barely seven days, he immediately renounced everything, went to the banks of the Ganges, and sat there in remorseful prayer and meditation. The word got around and in no time a large number of sages, rishis, and devotees gathered there, in anticipation of participation in a noble spiritual gathering. The King Parikshit asked the assembled sages to tell him what he should do in the remaining seven days of his life to merit what everybody desires - a release from birth and death.
Lo and Behold. The sixteen-year old boy-sage Shuka arrives from nowhere. The entire august assembly rises up to give the great sage a standing respectful welcome. King Parikshit asks him the million-dollar question: What is the way of perfection for one who is about to die? Please let me know what a man should hear, chant, remember and worship, and also what he should not do. (I -19-38).
And here begins Shuka's Bhagavata recital. In the previous yuga his father Vyasa taught him this Bhagavatam. Vyasa was taught by Narada and Narada got it from Creator Brahma, his father.
The Lord absolute Himself gave this to Brahma.
When the time comes for leaving this mortal coil, says Shuka, one should renounce everything and practisingprAnAyAma' control the mind to go inward. The cosmic form of the Lord, from bottom to top, should be meditated on. There is nothing greater than bhakti to the Transcendental Supreme, Vasudeva. He is the One about whom you should hear, sing, and remember.
*shrotavyaH kIrtitavyashca smartavyo bhagavan nRRiNAM* II - 2 - 36.
He is the One who should be propitiated, irrespective of what you want or do not want; you may want everything or nothing. You may want moksha. In all cases it is the Supreme Almighty that you have to worship.
The Lord absolute taught the gist of this even before the beginning of creation on Day 1 - that first day of Brahma was called BrAhma-kalpa -- to Brahma Himself in just four shlokas. These four shlokas are known as "chatus-shlokI bhAgavataM". They are considered to be the essential core of the entire Bhagavatam. In the words of the Lord, they are: (II - 9 - 32 to 35)
It is I, who was existing in the beginning, when there was nothing but Myself. There was nothing else, neither Being nor non-Being nor anything which transcends them. That which you see now is also Me, and after annihilation what remains will also be Me.
Whatever appears in the Atman, be it a reflection-like appearance where there is nothing of value, be it a darkness-like non-existence where there is existence, all this is to be considered as my mAyA .
Know thou that just as the universal fundamental subtle elements appear to have entered into the cosmos but in reality there is no such entry', so also I appear to have pervaded into everything but in reality there is no pervasion'.
By the two exercises of logic known as anvaya' and vyatireka' what is known to exist everywhere and every time is the only thing to be known by those who seek to know the truth of the Atman.
aham-evAsam-evAgre nAnyad-yat sad-asat-paraM / pashcAd-ahaM yad-etacca yo'vashishhyeta so'smyahaM // 32 //
RRite'rthaM yat-pratIyeta na pratIyeta cAtmani / tad-vidyAd-Atmano mAyAM yathA''bhAso yathA tamaH //33//
yathA mahAnti bhUtAni bhUteshh-vuccAvaceshh-vanu / pravishhTAny-apravishhTAni tathA teshhu na teshh-vahaM //34//
etAvadeva jij~nAsyaM tattva-jij~nAsunAtmanaH / anvaya-vyatirekAbhyAM yat syAt sarvatra sarvadA //35//
The logic terms anvaya' and vyatireka' are to be exzplained thus. Consider the Self as the string in which every non-Self is strung like beads. The fact that the Self is the continuity part of the string in all that is non-Self is calledanvaya. The fact that the Self itself is separate from the non-self just as the string is separate from the beads, is calledvyatireka.
At the end of the four shlokas the Lord adds a rejoinder to Brahma. Says He: "Establish Yourself in this by the highestsamAdhi. Then throughout all your work of Creation in every kalpa you will never be deluded" (II - 9 - 36). This can be taken as God's Commandment to all humanity in all their works. This is the highest teaching.
On the seventh day as the serpent Takshak was coming to bite Parikshit, he met a brahmin called Kashyap on his way. Takshak asked the brahmin where he was going in such a hurry. The brahmin replied that he was going to the court of Parikshit because he could save him from the poison of Takshak. Takshak was surprised at the confidence of this brahmin and told him that he was Takshak and there was no one in the world who could save the man whom he had bitten. The brahmin smiled and said that he could prove that he had an antidote for the poison of Takshak. So Takshak tried to test him. He bit a green tree and within seconds the tree was turned into ashes as the poison of Takshak was so strong. The brahmin chanted a few mantras and the tree was back to life as lush green as before! Takshak was amazed to see the power of the brahmin. He asked the brahmin whether he was going to Parikshit's court hoping for rewards. The brahmin said that he hoped to get a lot of wealth from Parikshit if he could bring him back to life. Takshak said that he would give the brahmin even more than he expected to get from Parikshit and that he should go back. The brahmin took the wealth from Takshak and went back happily from where he had come. Having got rid of the brahmin, Takshak went to the kingdom of Parikshit and found that there was no way in which he could get in. He then converted himself into a caterpillar and entered into one of the fruits in the basket which were being taken to the king as an offering.
Once inside the king's chambers, Takshak came out of the fruit, assumed his original form and bit Parikshit. Parikshit immediately died and his body turned into ashes.
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