English
The Intellect of man tried to get a supremacy over the established order of things: Ravana sought to make Nature subservient to his own purposes. The uni- verse existed for man, and not man for nature. This was the perverse idea that guided the people of the Atlantean Continent. The intellec- tual giants, maddened by this material grandeur, did not look for any world beyond the one they lived in. They cared not for Svarga, nor for the sacrifices that led to Svarga. The flow of evolution, the breath of Ishvara seemed to stand still for a time as it were. The human will tried to override the divine will. There was chaos and disorder, which tended to cause dissolution in the universe. Hence Ravana was a Rakshasa. The Tamasic Kumbhakarna with his six-monthly sleep was the back ground of Ravana. The spiritual forces that were called forth to put an end to this state of things were equal to the occasion. The great Atlantean Con- tinent was washed away by the sea. The sacred Ganga came rushing forward from the heights of the Himalayas, and eventually Rama ap- peared to give a finishing stroke to the evolutionary work of the time. Vishvamitra and others had paved the way for the great work un- dertaken by Rama. They propounded the Karma Kanda of the Vedas. Men who knew nothing but the joys and sorrows of this short span of earthly life, and whose ideas and aspirations were all con- fined to that life, made a great advance when they were taught of an existence after death. When they further knew that life in Svarga was infinitely happier and far more lasting than what they called life on this earth, they made the beginning of a really spiritual life. The Vedic Devas are permanent dwellers in Svarga, and the Vedic Sacri- fices establish communion with them by means of Apurva, a spiritual force generated by the performance of sacrifices, and life in Svarga becomes prolonged for a very very long period. People took time to understand this truth, but in time they accepted the performance of Vedic Sacrifices as the only religion for man. There was however a re-action. The intellectual giants, called 168 A Study of the Bhagavata Purana Rakshasas, looked down upon Vedic Sacrifices, and they did not care for any life after death. They were the worst enemies of the Vedic Rishis. Vishvamitra took the help of Rama in protecting the Rishis in the peaceful performance of Yajnas. But people had grown old in their ideas about Vedic sacrifices. The first seceders were some Kshatriyas. They did not understand why Vedic Sacrifices should be the monopoly of Brahmanas, and they aspired to the position acquired by them. The foremost of these Ksha- triyas were the Haihayas and Talajanghas. But they were defeated by Parashurama, who re-established the supremacy of the Brahmanas. But a silent revolution was going on, in which the Kshatriyas and Brahmanas equally took part. King Janaka and Rishi Yajnavalkya gave the finishing stroke to the Upanishad movement, and side by side with Karma Kanda grew up the Jnana Kanda of the Vedas. Rama brought the two divisions of the Vedas into closer union, as he was himself the resting place of both. And as Vishnu himself, He be- came the object of Upasana. The three Paths appeared, that of Karma, Bhakti and Jnana. Vedic Sacrifices held their own, and a school grew up which accepted these as the highest Karma which man could per- form. Another school, following the very old teachings of Kapila, dissected the transformable parts in man and discriminated the same from the non-transformable. A sister school followed up the teaching with practices in conformity to these, and taught how to concentrate the mind on the discriminated Atma. Another school confined itself to the properties of matter and mind, soul and oversoul, and remained wonder-struck at the superior properties that divided Jiva from Ish- vara. Schools of independent thought grew up. Each school had its followers. There were differences and dissensions. There was dis- union, self-sufficiency, pride, envy, jealousy and other evil traits of human character that thinks too much of itself. Every one followed his own faith and hated the follower of other faiths. This was the cycle of Shishupala and Dantavakta. Jarasandha performed Vedic sacrifices, and he put in chains the Vaishnava kings. There were those who believed in the existence of two primary causes, (Dvivid). Men, like the king of Kashi, prided themselves on mock wisdom. Religious faiths existed in all possible Purnendu Narayana Sinha, M. A., B. L. 169 shades, and their difference was accentuated by dogmatism and mu- tual jealousy. "The Vedas are different, the Smritis are different. He is not a Muni, who has not some distinctive opinion of his own." This well known verse related strictly to the period of which we are now speaking. Shishupala had respect for the Munis. He was essentially a man of the period. Sri Krishna taught harmony. He gave the essence of all reli- gions, the eternal truths that formed the ground work of all faiths. He proclaimed in the clearest language possible the One underly- ing the Many, the eternal Brahman as forming the essence of Jiva and Ishvara. He particularly emphasised the relations of man, Ish- vara and the universe, and the duties that followed from these rela- tions. Religion became a science, the law universal, and all teachings found there respective places in the universal religion which He pro- claimed. The Rishis bowed down their heads before Him. The Up- anishads were never explained so lucidly before. The key-note of all truths and all religions was unravelled beyond all doubt. Such knowl- edge could proceed only from Ishvara Himself. The Rishis recognised Sri Krishna as the Lord. But Shishupala was slow to believe in this novel revolution. He did not understand why the Rishis gave the first place to Sri Krishna at the Rajastiya sacrifice performed by Raja Yudhisthira. The difference formed a religion with Shishupala. But the age of differences was doomed. The age of unity, of harmony, of spiritual glory was now to reign in the Universe. Hundreds and hundreds of years have passed away, but the scriptures one and all proclaim the glory of the Lord Sri Krishna. What He has done for our universe, we shall see later on. Danta-vakra was the Tamasic counterpart of Shishupala. The Asuras advanced as the Kalpic age advanced. There was no end of advancement from the standpoint of self. There is no big jump from individual self to universal self. Though the essential idea of spirituality is unity and the essential idea of materiality is diversity, the one idea develops into the other idea, by an ever widening view of things. Our duties enlarge. Our relations increase. The range of life widens, till it includes the life in Svarga. Vedic Yajna is then per- formed, though from a pure motive of self-advancement. The ad- vanced self comes very near to the universal self. The performance 170 A Study of the Bhagavata Purana of Vedic sacrifices is Asuric in so far as it is selfish, but it minimises the self of earthly existence, and gives a transitory character to our worldly joys and sufferings, and it gives the idea of an enlarged self, of widened existence and of higher duties. The Karma Kanda of the Vedas therefore opens the door widely to real spiritual life. This explains why Vishvarupa, an Asura, guided the Devas for some time. The three heads of Vishvarupa represent the three Vedas. The swallow head is the Rik, the sparrow head is the Saman, and the Tittiri head is proverbially the Yajur. This refers to the prevalence of Karma Kanda. But when better times came, Indra killed Vishva-ripa. The place of Vishva-ripa was however speedily taken, up by Vritra. And Indra had recourse to Atharva, the fourth Veda and to Dadhichi, a votary (represented as the son) of Atharva Veda, the very ideal of self-sacrifice. And who is this Vritra? The Vedas say:—"Sa imdan lokan Avrinot etat Vritrasya Vritratvam." He spread over (vri) all these Lokas, this is the Vritraship of Vritra. The Bhagavata says:—"These Lokas are spread over by him in the form of Tvashtri’s Tapas. Hence he is called Vritra." VI.—9-xviii. The invocation of Tvashtri is thus described in the Bhagavata:— "Rise up, O Indra—Shatru, never give up enmity." VI—9-xii. The word shatru means enemy. Tvastri meant to say "he who is to become the enemy of Indra." But by proper grammatical con- struction, the expression means, he of whom Indra is to become the enemy. The invocation was therefore defective and it produced a con- trary result. Panini points this out as an apt illustration of what bad grammar leads to. The Vedas thus speak of the invocation:—"As he said-Svdha! O Indra-Shatru! rise up—so Indra became the enemy of Vritra." Notwithstanding his wisdom, Chitra-ketu was anxious to have a son. He wept bitterly, when the son was lost. He was a votary of Sankar- shana, who presides over Ahankara or Egoism. So by devotion he became the king of the Vidyadharas. This selfish devotion, the wor- ship of Gods for the gratification of selfish aspiration, which is so universal, is Vritra. Vritra was killed by a weapon made of the bones of Dadhichi the Rishi of self-sacrifice. We want to kill thee for thy bones, for they Purnendu Narayana Sinha, M. A., B. L. 171 will be of service to the universe, so said the Devas. And Dadhichi felt the height of pleasure in giving himself completely up, that the universe might prosper. We are told that the fight with Vritra took place in the Vaivasvata Manvantara. The readers will easily understand why this is so. The fight between the Devas and the Asuras is only a counterpart of struggles on our earth between the forces of materiality and spiri- tuality.