Saturday 30 July 2011

The Holy Scriptures


“First do I bow down unto Thee, O Sanatana Narayana;
Thou art Brahma manifest, the cause of all incarnations.
From Thy Lotus-naval Brahma sprang forth;
Innumerable Incarnations through ages Thou hadst. ”
            _1 (kirttana ghukha)
The Lord Almighty Narayana is the creator. He is pervading the world over. Everything that we see around us is created by the gracious Lord. The Lord created everything, moving and non-moving, and entered into all the bodied forms in form of soul. In Vedastuti, the Vedas are thus praying at the feet of Lord Narayana:
“Thou hadst created all forms- moving, non-moving;
Thou art with all Greatness present in everything.
Entered Thou as soul into all bodied forms,
Hence, we worship Thee by all means.”
_1655 (kirttana ghukha)
To save the world, for the welfare of the noble and to make the truth prevail the Gracious Lord takes innumerable incarnations from time to time. The various incarnations of Lord Vishnu reminds us of the evolution of life in earth, starting from matsya (fish) avatar to the much awaiting Kalki. In each incarnation the Master, the Almighty Narayana had taught us different lessons in a very sportive way. And the Holy Books like the Kirttana ghukha, Naam ghukha, Srimad Bhagavat Gita etc. contains these lessons that the Lord had taught us. In other words, these books contain the words spoken by the Gracious Lord. In the kali age these holy books are our only preceptors, our only guru. These books would always guide us on the correct way. It is given in the Prahlada Charitra (The Episode of Prahlada) that Lord Almighty could not be achieved through sacrifice, penance, rituals and knowledge. The Gracious Lord could be won only through true devotion (bhakti). The great devotee Prahlada had thus said-
“For devotion one need not be God, dvija, sage;
One need not acquire knowledge of many scriptures;
Penances, silent prayers, sacrifices, gifts are mere deceptions,
Narayana remains content only with devotion.”
_Prahlada  Charitra
However, devotion does not come automatically. To develop devotion one must have to go on practicing it in body, mind and words.
For practicing devotion at Lord Krishna’s lotus feet the company of Vishnu’s devotee is required first. Vishnu’s devotee should be taken as preceptor and well treated. And in our times it is a painful truth that the society is developing for sure however, it is also degenerating as well at the same time. And we, the people, are so sinful that today it is very hard to find a Vaishnava i.e. a true devotee of Lord Vishnu who could guide us. However, if we search by heart we would find the company of Vishnu’s devotee for sure, and this company is in the form of the holy books like the Holy Kirttana ghukha, Naam ghukha, Srimad Bhagavat Gita etc. We should take these Holy Scriptures as our preceptor and treat them well. They are the only company of Vishnu’s devotee. 

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