Oṁ kṛṣṇāya namaḥ
Oṁ gurubhyo namaḥ
Baladeva is Śeṣa empowered by Viṣṇu-Saṅkarṣaṇa
Śrī-Baladeva is an avatāra of Śeṣa, or Saṅkarṣaṇa. The homonymousness of the names of Saṅkarṣaṇa the devatā and Saṅkarṣaṇa the Supreme Brahman, one of the four rūpas of Nārāyaṇa principally worshipped in Pañcarātra-Bhāgavata school, should neither mislead us into identifying Baladeva with Viṣṇu Himself, nor be deemed to be a mere coincidence. In fact, there is a profound connection between Saṅkarṣaṇa-rūpa of Viṣṇu and Śeṣa-Saṅkarṣaṇa's descent as Baladeva in Kṛṣṇa-līlā, to the extent of Baladeva's name being placed by Vedavyāsa in the list of Bhagavad-avatāras in the first Skandha of Bhāgavata-purāṇa as one of the instances of āveśa-avatāras, or empowered divinities (Pṛthu being another example):
ekonaviṁśe viṁśatime vṛṣṇiṣu prāpya janmanī
rāma-kṛṣṇav iti bhuvo bhagavān aharad bharam (Bhā. 1.3.23)
bhāgavata-tātparya-nirṇayaḥ:
āveśo balabhadre. “śaṅkha-chakra-bhṛd-īśeśaḥ śvetavarṇo mahābhujaḥ, āviṣṭaḥ śveta-keśātmā śeṣāṁśaṁ rohiṅī-sutam” iti mahāvārahe.
“In 19th and 20th avatāras Bhagavān removed the burden of Earth as Rāma and Kṛṣṇa, born in the dynasty of Dynasty.
“Balabhadra is endowed with the presence of Bhagavān [He is not a direct descent of Viṣṇu. Then who appeared on the Earth in the form of Balabhadra? Pramāṇa words have the answer:]
“The mighty Lord of lords, white-coloured, carrier of conch and cakra, the esse of the white hair, entered the being of the son of Rohiṇī, who was the appearance of Śeṣa.”
Here Viṣṇu-Saṅkarṣaṇa is described as the svarūpa of the white hair of Bhagavān, reminding us of the statement where Kṛṣṇa is also mentioned as the svarūpa of Bhagavān's black hair. These statements do not suggest any ‘more/less’ relation between the mūla-rūpa of Bhagavān and these particular descents of His. Moreover, they stress quite the different point, so strongly expressed in “pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ...” and “neha nānāsti kiñcana...” mantras: Parabrahma has no parts, any ‘part’ of His is He only in all His fullness; there exists no gradation or hierarchy whatsoever between different forms of Bhagavān . The word ‘aṁśa’ in Sanskrit has ‘part’ as only one of its meanings, and is not used in this sense in śāstra in relation to Viṣṇu's avatāras or even devatās’ avatāras for that matter. ‘Simultaneous presence’ would be an appropriate translation of ‘aṁśa’ in this context.
The same description of Baladeva-tatva we find in Bhāgavata in the 3rd chapter of 10th skandha:
devakyā jaṭhare garbhaṁ śeṣākhyaṁ dhāma māmakam
tat sannikṛṣya rohiṇyā udare sanniveśaya
[Bhagavān orders to Yogamāyā:] “There is an embryo in the womb of Devakī, who is known as Śeṣa and who is my dhāma, the abode of My indwelling; attract it and put it into the womb of Rohiṇī.”
...and in the 21th (24th śrīdharīya) chapter of 9th skandha:
saṅkarṣaṇam ahīśvaram
“...Saṅkarṣaṇa the Serpent Lord...”
Contrast that with the afterward reference to Kṛṣṇāvatāra with the words
athāhaṁ svāṁśa-bhāgena
in 10th skandha and
aṣṭamas tu tayor asīt svayam eva hariḥ kila
in 9th.
The tatva of Śeṣa amongst devas
The position of Śeṣa is lofty in Tāratamya, the gradation of sentient beings based on their ānanda in mukti (attainable ānanda in the case of devas). He belongs to the 5th grade together with Garuḍa and Rudra, right after Sarasvatī the Brahmā's spouse and Bhāratī, the spouse of Mukyha-prāṇa. The devas in the 5th grade experience svarūpānanda which is 100 times less than the devīs in the 4th grade, but still completely rewarding and inexhaustible, and surpassing svarūpānanda of human jīvas by millions of times.
In the world of physical interaction Śeṣa is concious of the gravitation force (ākarṣaṇa- or saṅkarṣaṇa-śakti) providing for the mutual alignment of bodies and their balance.
In the realm of adhyātmic advancement Śeṣa is the controller of the force which lifts the consciousness of a jīva from the lower regions of aspired perception (chakras, or samudras) to the higher ones, up to aparokṣa-jñāna and brahmī sthiti. In yoga-śāstra this force is sometimes termed as Kuṇḍalinī-śakti.
On the plane of articulate sound Śeṣa is Chhando-devatā, who is conscious of the elements of both Veda and pauruṣeya speech, the varṇas and their rhythmic arrangement, and enabling / disabling proper pronunciation and insight into their nuclear meaning. He is connecting the sound of words with the meanings, true or false.
Śeṣa is a subordinate jīva-mānī, or a handler of jīvas within the world, the principle ones being Brahmā and Prāṇa.
As a parṣada of Viṣṇu Śeṣa plays a unique role of a śayana, or Viṣṇu's bed. Rāmānuja-vaiṣṇavas commit a mistake by dividing divinities into mundane (and thus not worthy of being worshipped) devas and nitya-mukta parṣadas, who descent into this world accompanying Bhagavān or sometimes on their own, as they believe. In fact, only one nitya-mukta could be ascertained from śruti and smṛti, and that is Lakṣmī. All devas are jñānīs and bhaktas (which is synonymous), otherwise their attainment of their respective position would have been impossible. They are already aparokṣa-jñanīs which guarantees them mokṣa. They are intrinsically much more qualified than mānuṣya-jīvas, who cannot discharge the duties of devas under whatever conditions, neither in any of future births. In mokṣa there are infinite Brahmās, Sarasvatīs, Śeṣas etc.. who have already attained mukti. The span of their respective sādhanas in the world corresponds to their higher potential achievements and constitutes many kalpas unlike mānuṣyas whose sādhana span is one kalpa maximum.
In the process of creation Śeṣa produces eight dvāra-pālas (door-keepers) of Viṣṇu, headed by Jaya and Vijaya. They guard the doors of the Vaikuṇṭha situated within the Brahmāṇḍa and the doors of Viṣṇu's abode in the heart of every jīva. They also help jīvas while they are alive in their bodies, up to the moment of death when another set of beings called Kālā take their turn in assisting jīvas leaving the hearts they were residing in.
Śeṣa is the next birth of Rudra
The position and body of Śeṣa is taken by Rudra as a matter of rule in course of his post-āparokṣya sādhana. It is from the position of Saṅkarṣaṇa that Rudra attains mukti. In the same manner Mukhya-prāṇa takes the position of Hiraṇyagarbha (Brahmā), Bharatī takes the position of Saravatī, and Parvatī takes the position of Vāruṅī, the spouse of Śeṣa, each one in these duos being of the same essential eligibility as another. This succession is evidenced in the ślokas of Garuḍa- and Nāradīya-purāṇas, quoted in Gītā-bhāṣya (2.72):
sthitaprajño’pi yas tūrdhvaḥ prāpya raudraṁ padaṁ tataḥ
sāṅkarṣaṇam tato muktim agād viṣṇu-prasādataḥ
mahādeva pare janmas tava muktir nirūpyate
“In spite of being sthita-prajña, or aparokṣa-jñānī he [a deva-jīva fit to take the positions of Rudra and Saṅkarṣaṇa successively] attains the position of Rudra, then the position of Saṅkarṣaṇa, and then the mukti, all by the grace of Viṣṇu.”
“O Mahadeva, your mukti is ordained in your next birth!”
Other avatāras of Śeṣa
Nara who accompanies Nārāyaṇa in His ṛṣi form is an avatāra of Śeṣa, āviṣṭa by the Nara form of Bhagavān.
Arjuna who is an advent of Indra-Purandara is āviṣṭa by this Nara. Śeṣa is a higher devatā than Indra, thus he enables Arjuna to serve as an ‘upasādhaka,’ or mediator and example for common jīvas in their approach to Narottama, or the highest sādhaka and leader of all the jīvas in the Brahmāṇḍa, Mukhya-prāṇa, and Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Refuge of everything and everybody that be.
Lakṣmaṇa in the līlā of Dāśarathi Rāma is a descent of Śeṣa, āviṣṭa by Saṅkarṣaṇa-rūpa of Bhagavān. His service to Bhagavān Rāghava was so ardent that he exceeded the limits of puṇya he could amass as Śeṣa.
Puṇya is not possible without Viṣṇu-jñāna and Viṣṇu-bhakti, so there is no terminological distinction between mukti-producing ‘sukṛti’ and ‘puṇya,’ leading to Svarga enjoyments. Even karmīs craving after worldly fruits have to have some elements of Viṣṇu-bhakti in their worship and at least a faint conception of Viṣṇu's supremacy for their yajñas to bear desired results. Puṇya is not a direct means to mukti, neither it is a direct means to bhakti-jñāna which is developed through śravaṇa-manana-dhyāna. However, for intrinsically fit jīvas puṇya is cleansing of the cognitive facilities, bringing about chitta-śuddhi which is conducive to jñāna. After attainment of aparokṣa-jñāna, or jñāna as the immediate vision, puṇya doesn't become redundant. The practice of karma is still relevant for an aparokṣa-jñānī, however, at that stage its serves to fully manifest svarūpānanda in mokṣa and to set a proper standard for ajñānī-jīvas (loka-saṅgrahaḥ).
However, puṇya performed after receiving the revelation of aparokṣa-jñāna cannot ‘upgrade’ svarūpānanda after mukti, and the service of Lakṣmaṇa to his senior Bhagavān-Brother was way over the highest limit of the resulting muktānanda experienceable by a Śeṣa-jīva. In order to rectify this, at the time of Kṛṣṇāvatāra he was made to take a birth as a senior brother of Bhagavān , which limited his serving abilities compared to junior position in Rāmāvatāra, and was introduced into some differences with Śrī-Kṛṣṇa. As a result his puṇya was adjusted in accordance with his intrinsic eligibility.
Baladeva's descent as described in Mahābhārata-tātparya-nirṇaya
tadaiva śeṣo hariṇodito’viśad garbhaṁ sutāyā api devakasya
sa tatra māsa-trayam uṣya durggayāpavāhito rohiṇi-garbham āśu
niyuktayā keśavenātha tatra sthitvā māsān sapta jātaḥ pṛthivyām
sa nāmato baladevo balāḍhyo babhūva tasyānu janārddanaḥ prabhuḥ
āvir-babhūvākhila-sad-guṇaika-pūrṇṇaḥ sutāyām iha devakasya
(Mahābhārata-tātparya-nirṇaya 12.57–59)
“Then [after the birth of Bhīma] Śeṣa entered the womb of Devaka's daughter as ordered by Hari. After staying there for three months he was instantly carried into the womb of Rohiṇī by Durgā [Yogamāyā, a form of Lakṣmī], acting under Keśava's command [the Lord of Ka, Brahmā, and Īśa, or Śiva, would naturally have full power over Śeṣa, — that is what is implied by naming Bhagavān ‘Keśava’ in this context]. After staying in the womb of Rohiṇī for seven more months, he was born unto Earth.
“As he was abundantly endowed with bala, strength, his name was Baladeva. After him Prabhu Janārdana [to do ardana, do away with the janana’s, births of His bhaktas] made His appearance here in the daughter of Devaka, unalterably full of all the flawless goodnesses.”
The name ‘Balabhadra’ is similarly explained in Bhāgavata:
rāmeti loka-ramaṇād balabhadraṁ balocchrayāt (Bhā, 10.3.14)
“He is Rāma, for He brings joy to jñanīs [‘loka’ is the multitude of the enlightened], and he is Balabhadra, for He excels in strength.” The principal strength is the strength of knowledge. Vedic mantras, if pronounced without knowledge of their meaning in the context of the whole Veda, are meaningless both practically and adhyātmically. On the contrary, if jñāna is there, then even routine everyday activities possess the power to uplift a jīva. Śeṣa, providing for the meaningfulness of śabdas, is reigning in this strength over nearly everybody in the Brahmāṇḍa. The devas of the same class, Garuḍa and Śiva, are similarly distinguished. Garuḍa is conscious of the principle of Veda, and thus is the carrier (vahana) of Viṣṇu as the Vedas ‘carry’, or convey Brahma as their invariable pre-eminent meaning. Śiva is mano-devatā, who facilitates the perception of this meaning.
Saṅkarṣaṇa the Empowerer of Śeṣa in Baladeva
The special significance of worshipping Saṅkarṣaṇa the Indweller of Śeṣa in his Baladeva and other avatāras is praying to be attracted to the aim of mokṣa, to become mumukṣu, or the one who perceives the objective of realising one's bhakta-svarūpa as infinitely more desirable than any lure of saṁsāra and avidyā. Saṅkarṣaṇa is the Destroyer of saṁsāra, both as the Agent of universal pralaya, and as the ultimate Cutter of saṁsāric bonds for individual jīvas.
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий