#Tattva_Bhagavatam, a special discourse based on the principles of Bhagavatam: 
#GouSwarga_Chaturmasya
09-09-2018:

The play of the Mahavidyas

” कमले कमलोत्पत्ति: श्रूयते न च दृश्यते ” – a Sanskrit quote says so. It is in the sense that a lotus blooming inside another lotus can only be heard, but not seen. But, if it has to be seen, you have to come here- Krishna’s glories in the presence of Raama. Salutations to such oneness of Raama~Krishna. We are returning today to a Nara’s (human) story from Narayana’s story (Krishna Katha). Nala and nara are equivalent as ‘la’ and ‘ra’ are equivalent in Sanskrit. While Krishna Katha is the story of how the Lord descended as a human, Nalacharitra is a story of a common man rising beyond manhood and becoming a Godly man, due to his qualities. Let’s recap the story where it had stopped. It had stopped at race. It was a race which no one had run. Running themselves is easier compared to making others run. Doing a task themselves is easier than making others do the task. Singing themselves is easier than making others sing. They who have the knowledge of the svaras and raagas, can only be trained; that too with many limitations. Similarly riding the horses too is not an easy job. But Nala’s specialisation existed there. He knew Ashvahridaya, he could understand their sounds, their feelings. He could spark their power. Therefore Rituparna’s chariot ran in such a speed. From Ayodhya to Kundinapura, it was an adventurous effort to cover such a long distance of around 1200 kilometers in one day. The mountains, hills, rivers were running behind swiftly. It was a floating experience for those who sat in the chariot. An incident validates the high speed described. Rituparna’s shawl flew and fell from the chariot because of the speed. So he told Baahuka to stop the chariot for a moment so that Vaarshneya could bring it as it would be odd to go to the swayamvara without a shawl. Nala told that the chariot was in such a speed, that if he would go to bring the shawl back, then it would take hours to reach the chariot from that place. He told that just while having these conversations, they had covered a long distance. We can describe it as a speed greater than that of today’s car; maybe equivalent to that of an airplane.

Sri Sri…

But Rituparna was dissatisfied with the answer. Initially, he was happy with the speed and was excited that he would reach Vidarbha in one day and would win the challenge. But now his ego had been hurt. Remember what happened when Rituparna was in a haste to leave but Baahuka slowly selected the horses and even when Rituparna joked about the horses selected by Baahuka, his argument was suppressed by him. Baahuka had told that if Rituparna was not satisfied by his choice, then he only could select the horses but then he wouldn’t be responsible for reaching the destination on time. Also, when Rituparna tried to climb the chariot, the horses resisted his effort. They were ready to carry him only after Baahuka consoled them. So everywhere Rituparna was humiliated. Baahuka’s knowledge of Ashvahridaya became a reason of jealousy for him. Usually, people in higher positions wil have the ego; how would they feel if it is hurt? Rituparna thought the same way and decided to showcase his special power. While passing, he found a Vibheetaka tree; he immediately told the total number of leaves and fruits on the tree, number of leaves and fruits fallen from the tree and the number of leaves and fruits on a particular branch. He told that the number of leaves and fruits fallen are 102 more than those on the tree and there were 2095 fruits on just 2 branches. He boasted about his mathematical skills and told that even though no one was omniscient, everyone would have a special skill. Baahuka first didn’t believe Rituparna’s skill and thought that he might be just kidding thinking that it was impossible to count them while travelling. But Baahuka got down from the chariot and said that he would verify Rituparna’s data. He told that though he knew mathematics, he wasn’t as skilled as Rituparna; but still he would count the leaves and fruits of a branch if Vaarshneya holds the chariot. The king was again made to feel awkward. He told Baahuka to verify it while returning as they had no time to sit and count. But Nala didn’t give heed to it. He was a king before however, and his valour had been triggered. Hence he told “Oh king, it is my responsibility to reach Vidarbha within tomorrow’s sunrise and I will surely do so. Now let me do this job”.

Rutuparna did not speak anything but showed a hand gesture asking what was he doing. Baahuka then said showing the road to Vidarbha “If you do not agree to this, here is the way to Vidarbha. You can go with Vaarshneya, but I will do what I need to do”. Sometimes servants make king to listen to them with no other choice. Like that, Baahuka went beyond his king’s words. Rituparna was not happy with Bahuka. But he knew that without Baahuka, it was not possible to reach Vidarbha on time. So Rituparna agreed and said ” I am going because of you and one who is taking me there is also you”. (Sometimes slip of the tongue happens because those words will be the wish of God.) It is true in some way. Due to this journey, Rituparna had nothing to gain. Anything that had to be gained was by Nala and he had many things to loose if this was not done. He needed to know if his wife was really ready for swayamvara. So he had no choice but to go to Vidarbha. Rituparna had great trust in Bahuka and was ready to give anything asked by him. Usually kings are strong and servants listen to them. But in some situations, servants are only strong like the crocodile in water. Bahuka finally said that he will start only after counting the leaves and fruits in that tree. Rituparna agreed and allowed him to count the leaves. On Rituparna’s request, Bahuka agreed to count leaves of only 2 branches. He cut those 2 branches of the tree and started counting leaves.

We tell you a story to remind that Vidyasidhi and idyasahrudayate is out of reach. Once there was a polymorphic. To show his talent and tricks, he went to the king’s court. He showcased himself with the appearance of the cow. The public were happy seeing him. Impressed king gave him the valuable cloth. One cowherd tried to examine him more and threw a stone on that cow. Usually if that is done to the real cow, only that part of the skin will be shaken. When the actor did that, the cowherd was very happy and gave his torn shawl to him. Actor took out the shawl given by the king and kept the one given by the cowherd. The king was angry. The actor said “Cowherd examined me totally and saw the real talent in me. So the gift given by him is more valuable”.

Rutuparna just wanted to win, but for Nala it was an opportunity to find his love and also know the actual situation there. Even in such situation first he wanted to see and learn completely from what he has heard. So he counted them all and was surprised to see the exact number of leaves what Rituparna had said from the chariot which was going at the high speed. He expressed his curiosity to know how he was able to tell the exact number of leaves and fruits on and off the tree. Rituparna was proud, but there was no time to explain as he had to reach Vidarbha before the next day’s sunrise. So Rituparna said because of the aksha vidya and sankhya vidya sidhi, he could count all the leaves within a fraction of second. He never tells the secret but this time he was helpless. Listening to this, Nala asked about aksha vidya. He was not interested in sankhya vidya as he had gambling in his mind and hence wanted to know about akshavidya only.(We should gain where we have lost). Nala had lost everything in gambling with his brother Pushkara. Hence, he had to gain everything back through gambling only. So, he asked Rituparna to teach aksha vidya, in return to which he will be teaching the akshahrudaya vidya. When something was asked, Rituparna could never say no. And also if he doesn’t transfer his knowledge to Bahuka, he cannot go to Vidarbha on time.

Let us see tomorrow what he does. Tomorrow is kalinigraha mahopakara. Come, let us be the witness to the Kali and Nala meet. Let us all shower our feelings to the Krishna charana!

TattvaBhaagavatam a special discourse by Sri Sri RaghaveshwaraBharathi Mahaswamiji: full Video :