Episode 58
Pandavas
with Mārkaṃḍeya Maharshi - Theory of
Karma & tips for overcoming Diseases
Maha
Bharata, as we know, is an Itihasa and basically a book dealing with dharma or righteousness.
The ultimate purpose of the book is to engage people in righteous practices by
discussing the subtle issues of Vedas and Upanishads (Sriti literature) in an
elaborate fashion through stories and discussions so that the common people can
understand them in a better fashion.
In the
current story Veda Vyasa tries to answer many of our basic doubts, for example,
how does the soul carry the deeds (karma) from the discarded body to a new
body?; why some people are born in riches and why some people in poverty?; why
the good people suffer while the wicked enjoy the pleasures of life?; is god
responsible for the sins committed by human beings?; how can we discard fruits
of past karmas?; does Hindu philosophy advocate fatalism?; and how to conquer diseases and death? etc.
Let us
read the story.
The
Story
In the last
Episode we saw Yudhishtira conversing with Nahusha and saving the life of Bhima
from the clutches of a deadly python. Thereafter they moved towards Kāmyaka vanam (forest) where they met Krishna
and other Yādava warriors. When they
were talking together, there came Mārkaṃḍeya Maharshi. Mārkaṃḍeya was a great tapasvi
(man of enormous tapas), eternally youthful, personification of dharma (righteousness)
and above all ever living (immortal or ciraṃjīvi). He had
survived the cataclysms of many Mahā yugas
(one Mahā yuga consists for four yugas- Satya, Dvāpara, Treta and Kali yugas) and he was knowing
the conventions of sanatana dharma, the histories of many kings, ladies and
rishis since time immemorial.
Dharmaraja
was overwhelmed with joy on seeing Mārkaṃḍeya. After due ātithya (etiquette towards the guests as per
sanatana dharma), all Pandavas sat before him to listen to his noble words.
Yudhishtira initiated the discussion. ‘Oh, great sage! For long we have been
yearning to have your darshan. Now that we are blessed. Oh sage! I often think
of the pleasures being enjoyed by the unrighteous Kauravas and sorrows surrounding
the Pandavas. Why is it so?’
कर्मणः
पुरुषः कर्ता शुभस्याप्यशुभस्य वा।
स
फलं तदुपाश्नाति कथं कर्ता स्विदीश्वरः ॥[ii]
कुतो
वा सुखदुःखेषु नृणां ब्रह्मविदांवर।
इह
वा कृतमन्वेति परदेहेऽथवा पुनः ॥[iii]
(Either
for good deed (karma) or for bad deed, the purusha or man is the karta (doer). Hence,
he alone is entitled for the fruits of action. The god (supreme self) is not
the karta). Oh sage! Why the minds of men wander around karmas(deeds) which are
the causes for pleasure or pain? Where does the fruits of karmas fructify – iha
loka (this world) or para loka (other world- heaven etc)?)
‘Oh sage!
After leaving the body, how the fruits of good or bad deeds associate with the jīva (soul)?’
The
Karma Theory
Markandeya
smiled at Yudhishtira and started telling, ‘Oh king! Whatever you have asked is
very much appreciable. In fact, initially, the creator Brahmaa created pure and
clean bodies for all humans (निर्मलानि शरीराणि विशुद्धानि शरीरिणाम्।[iv]). Those
people were performing pious deeds and good acts. They did not have diseases
and sufferings. They were mingling with gods and were
living longer lives. They enjoyed svaccaṃda maraṇa (power of choosing the time of death).
After a
few centuries, humans started becoming callous and impious and fell prey to kāma (desire) and krodha (anger). Naturally they
lost their powers and became mortal humans. Unknowingly they caught in the web
of birth and death and started enjoying the fruits of their actions (karma phala-
both good and bad).
Oh
Yudhishtir! The fruits of good or bad deeds reside in the aṃtaḥkaraṇa (the inner self) and are carried by the soul
to new body once a soul discards its previous body. The karma that is done in
the previous body follows the soul like a shade (तत्रास्य स्वकृतं
कर्म च्छायेवानुगतं सदा।[v]). The
fruits of karma for each human being occur by three varieties- saṃcita, āgāmi, and prārabdha).
Markandeya
continued, ‘Oh king! A few people experience pleasures in this world. A few in
other worlds and other few in both worlds. Those who
sustain on Truth, Vedic reading, Equanimity, Kindness, Charity, and Social good
can control their own senses and broadly free from diseases of mind.
They die and again attain noble births. All you brothers are pious and are
engaged in dharmic karmas (righteous deeds). The present suffering is but for
future happiness (दृष्ट्वाऽऽत्मनः क्लेशमिमं सुखार्थम्[vi])
The deep
wisdom of Markandeya made a profound impact on Yudhishtira. Now he wanted to hear the power of dvija (second born) from
the noble sage. Markandeya started telling a story. Once upon a time, a
king by name Bali of Haihaya dynasty went out to forests for hunting. While he
was roaming through a few bushes, he shot an arrow and killed a young muni clad
with deer skin thinking that it was a deer. On seeing the dead body, the king
got frightened and rushed to the kingdom to inform his elders about the sin
committed by him. All the elders felt sad and they rushed to the hermitage of
Arishtanemi residing in the forest.
The sage
received the king and his elders and offered food and pleasantries. But they
fell on the feet of the sage and begged pardon for the sin committed by Bali. ‘We
have killed a young brahmachari of your hermitage and we are not entitled for the
pleasantries offered by you’.
The sage
smiled at them and told, ‘the person whom you had killed must be my son’. Then
he called aloud, and the young sage came running to his father. Bali and his
elders could not believe how a dead person came alive.
Arishtanemi
started telling, ‘Oh king! For us there is no disease or death. I will tell you
the reason and you listen.
शुद्धाचारादनलसाः
सन्ध्योपासनतत्पराः।
शुद्धान्नाः
शुद्धसुधना ब्रह्मचर्यव्रतान्विताः' ॥[vii]
सत्यमेवाभिजानीमो
नानृते कुर्महे मनः।
स्वधर्ममनुतिष्ठामस्तस्मान्मृत्युभयं
न नः ॥[viii]
यद्ब्राह्मणानां
कुशलं तदेषां कथयामहे।
नैषाम्
दुश्चरितं ब्रूमस्तस्मान्मृत्युभयं न नः ॥[ix]
अतिथीनन्नपानेन
भृत्यानत्यशनेन च।
सम्भोज्य
शेषमश्नीमस्तस्मान्मृत्युभयं न नः ॥[x]
शान्ता
दान्ताः क्षमाशीलास्तीर्थदानपरायणाः।
पुण्यदेशनिवासाच्च
तस्मान्मृत्युभयं न नः।
तेजस्विदेशवासाच्च
तस्मान्मृत्युभयं न नः ॥[xi]
“Oh king! There is reason why we have no
death. We have pure conduct and follow pious conventions. We are studious and always alert. We indulge in saṃdhyopāsana
(venerating Gayatri thrice in a day) and eat clean food.
Hence, we have no fear of death.
We earn money through righteous means. We follow brahmacaryaṃ (loosely translated into English as celibacy). We know only truth and never speak untruth. We follow svadharma ordained to us. Hence, we have no fear of
death.
We talk the good of others and never talk of bad about
others. We celebrate our guests with delicious food, and we give sumptuous food
to our servants. We eat only the remaining food
and be happy always. Hence, we have no fear of death.
We are
always kind and we have controlled our senses.
We have abundance of patience. We spend time in tīrtha
yātrās
(pilgrimages to pious places of worship) and we live in
puṇya
kṣetraṃs (holy
places). We love to live with sacred, celestial and holy people. Hence, we have
no fear of death.
Then
Arishtanemi looked at the Haihaya kings and told, ‘Oh kings, I have told a fraction of what our life is! You need
not fear of sin now. You can go to your place and rule the kingdom righteously’.
The kings
felt happy and left the place. Markandeya answered Yudhishitira’s questions and
the Pandavas were happy.
Understanding
the story
Maha
Bharata, as we know, is an Itihasa and basically a book dealing with dharma or righteousness.
The ultimate purpose of the book is to engage people in righteous practices by
discussing the subtle issues of Vedas and Upanishads (Sruti literature) in an
elaborate fashion through stories and discussions so that the common people can
understand them in a better fashion. In the current story Veda Vyasa discusses
the theory of ‘birth and re-birth’, ‘the concept of karma’ and ‘the ways to
conquer apamrutyu (untimely death)’.
1.
The concept of karma- theory of death and
re-birth
The Hindu
philosophy believes in the theory of birth after the death of the body. The
karma theory emphasizes the carry forward of the fruits of good and bad deeds
to the next birth and exhorts people to indulge in good deeds only. How does the soul carry the deeds from
the discarded body to a new body? Vedanta
says that after the death of the sthūla śarīra (the
physical body), the soul carries the merits and de merits through ati vāhika śarīra or in a way aṃtaḥkaraṇa. The
fruits of karma (good or bad) have to be endured in the new sthūla śarīra or succeeding sthūla śarīras. The question is if karmas of previous
births bind the fate of a person, how can he avoid the fruits of karma and
become eligible for moksha (liberation from births and deaths)?
Hindu
philosophy is not fatalistic. It gives tips for overcoming the fruits of karma. Let us
understand the three karmas first viz saṃcita, āgāmi, and prārabdha.
a.
saṃcita karmas are accumulated deeds of the past
and influence the traits, tendencies, and aptitudes of a person.
b.
prārabdha are fructifying deeds of the past
birth and cannot be obviated. Prārabdha karma
is that which has begun and is actually bearing fruit. It is selected out of
the mass of the saṃcita karma.
c.
āgāmi are
current deeds.
The three
karmas can be easily understood by the following analogy. The bundle of arrows
in the quiver of a person are the saṃcita
karmas; the arrow he has shot is prārabdha;
and the arrow which he is about to shoot from his bow is āgāmi. Of
these, he has perfect control over the saṃcita and
the āgāmi, but he
has to surely endure Prarabdha. The past which has begun to take effect has to be
experienced.
Hindu
philosophy says that one can drop out saṃcita and āgāmi
through the practice of karma yoga and by attaining jñāna. Gita
emphasizes:
यस्य
सर्वे समारम्भाः कामसङ्कल्पवर्जिताः।
ज्ञानाग्निदग्धकर्माणं
तमाहुः पण्डितं बुधाः।। Gita 4.19।।
(One is understood to be in full knowledge whose every act is devoid
of desire for sense gratification. He is said by sages to be a worker whose
fruitive action is burned up by the fire of perfect knowledge) – Swami Prabhupada
Thus, no
one is bound by karma and one can drop off the fruits
of karma through jñāna and become
eligible for liberation from the cycle of births and deaths.
The basic doubt
which many of us express is why the bad people sometimes
enjoy pleasures and good people suffer from difficulties? Markandeya
answers this by saying that pleasures enjoyed by the evil people are temporary;
and the sufferings experienced by good people are sure forerunners for future
happiness.
One more
basic question of many people is why god bestows
differential capabilities, pleasures and sufferings to different persons? How
can he be labelled god when he bestows pleasures for some and pains for a few?
The answer is given out in the story. Initially god created pure and clean
bodies for all humans. Those people were performing pious deeds and good acts.
They did not have diseases and sufferings. They were mingling with gods and
were living longer lives. But when they become callous and fell prey to ‘kāma (desire) and krodha (anger)’, they lost
divine powers and became mortals. They started doing punyam (merit) or pāpaṃ (sin) and
began taking re births on the higher or lower plane on the basis of merits or
de merits. God has nothing to do with the pleasures or pains of individuals.
This is emphasized again in Gita thus:
न
कर्तृत्वं न कर्माणि लोकस्य सृजति प्रभुः।
न
कर्मफलसंयोगं स्वभावस्तु प्रवर्तते।। - Gita 5.14
God
is not bestowing karthrutva (doership), the doings (karmas) or the karmaphala
(fruits of actions). By nature (janmāntara saṃskāra
– the good and bad deeds of earlier births) they are coming to living beings.
2.
Mṛtyuñjayatvaṃ (मृत्युञ्जयत्वं) – The power of conquering death
The story
talks of amaratva (the quality of ever living). This should not be understood
in true literary sense to mean that a person can live upon earth for ever. Gita
says that a living being has to die (जातस्य हि ध्रुवो मृत्युर्ध्रुवं
जन्म मृतस्य च। Gita 2.27). Hence, it should be construed in two senses –
a.
Obviating apamrutyu (untimely death or premature
death or children dying while elders alive etc)
b.
Choosing the time of death (svachhanda maranam)
In this
small story, Veda Vyasa gives the following tips for Mṛtyuñjayatvaṃ.
a.
Pure conduct- this is through what we think, what
we talk and what we practice.
b.
Always studious – never lazy and always alert
c.
Saṃdhyopāsana – this includes all the steps of saṃdhyopāsana viz
arghya, pradāna, japa, stotra, and abhivādana and of course prāṇāyāma.
d.
Eating clean food – eating sātvik food neither more nor less (नात्यश्नतस्तु
योगोऽस्ति न चैकान्तमनश्नत: - Gita 6.16)
e.
Earning money through righteous means (so that
there is no inner fear of sin)
f.
Brahmacaryaṃ - This is
at two levels viz, one at the stage of Veda adhyayanam and other at the stage
of household (grihasta). At the first level it means- ब्रह्मणि
चरति इति ब्रह्मचारी - brahmaṇi carati
iti brahmacārī which means one who always dwells in
enquiring about Supreme Self. Here he is not supposed to have contact with
ladies.
Yājñavalkya smṛti says:
स्मरणं
कीर्तनं केली श्रवणं गुह्यभाषणम् ।
सड़्कल्पोऽध्यवसायश्च
क्रिया निष्पत्ति एव च ।
एतन्मैथुनमष्टाङ्गं
प्रवदन्ति मनीषिण: ।
(Meaning: 1. Thinking of
a woman, 2. Description of her qualities, 3. Playing games with her, 4.
Listening to her talk, 5. Speaking to her when alone, 6. Wishing to acquire
her, 7. Trying to acquire her and 8. Actual intercourse are the eight types of
sexual intercourses. Hence, a seeker should not indulge in any of the above
activities). In modern terminology any type of stalking with women
is inimical to celibacy.
At
the grihasta level (household level), it implies staying together with spouse
on the stipulated times and stipulated dates alone (ऋतौ
भार्या गमनं ब्रह्मचर्यं - ṛtau
bhāryā gamanaṃ brahmacaryaṃ)
How Brahmacaryaṃ helps in conquering apamrityu? Hatayoga Pradīpika says that the excessive loss of sukra (vīrya -semen) leads to death and preservation of
the same leads to longevity (मरणं बिन्दु पातेन जीवनं बिन्दु धारणात्
- maraṇaṃ bindu pātena jīvanaṃ bindu dhāraṇāt). According to śāraṃgadhara, ojas
is an upadhātu of sukradhātu. Again, ojas is the one on which the
strength of the body depends – (यत् खलु ओजः तदेव बलम्
-
- yat khalu ojaḥ tadeva balam - Susruta sūtra sthāna 15.9).
Ojas is considered one among ten prāṇāyātanās.
Apamrityu is thus avoided by adhering to Brahmacaryaṃ.
f.
Adherence to Truth – telling one untruth leads to engaging in untruth to
sustain the original untruth. It leads to mental tensions and meditation is the
casualty.
g.
Svadharma – activities ordained for the respective varna by the scripts.
h.
Never talk ill about others – this helps in avoiding conflicts in life and
provides mental peace.
i.
Providing ātithya – treating guests
with courtesy, provide delicious food and eat the remaining food. This provides
a sense of satisfaction to the giver.
j.
Indriya nigraha (control of senses) – Every human being is endowed with five jñāneṃdriyās (organs of perception) viz sense of hearing,
sense of touch, sense of taste, sense of sight, and sense of smell; and five karmeṃdriyās viz the vocal organ, hands, feet, anus and
genitals are known as karmendriyas or the organs of action. Controlling the
sense organs not by force but by conscious knowledge creates an ambience
necessary for meditation.
k.
Patience – power of forbearance and mercy towards the opponent and forgiving
wrong done by a person. It is one of the rarest gifts for a sātvik personality. Mark Twain famously defines
it as follows:
“Forgiveness
is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it”
l.
Engaging in tīrtha yātra – Visiting places of worship gives out
physical and mental purity.
m.
Residing with and in the proximity of holy people – Holy people, by their power
of wisdom, dispel the dark clouds from the minds of the seeker. This helps in
enriching knowledge and be nearer to holy things, holy practices and holy
conventions.
The
thirteen tips given out by Veda Vyasa, if followed in daily life, act as
tremendous rejuvenator of mind and helps the seeker in avoiding unnecessary
complications of life. When mind is free, there cannot be any misery of mind or
mental disease. Caraka famously comments
that विषादो रोगवर्धमानाम् - viṣādo
rogavardhamānām (Caraka Samhitha 25th Adhyaya, sūtrasthāna) which
means grief propels disease. Grief emanates out of wrong lifestyle. If lifestyle
is regulated, diseases cease to exist. Internal and external cleanliness is the
sure step for eternal youth free from diseases and miseries.
Points
to Ponder
1.
What is ethical way of life? How can it help in
avoiding mental tensions?
2.
Who is responsible for one’s one misery? – God or
the individual himself?
3.
Does Hindu philosophy fatalistic?
Footnotes
[i] This
story is taken from Vana Parva of Maha Bharata written by sage Veda Vyasa
sa phalaṃ tadupāśnāti kathaṃ kartā svidīśvaraḥ ॥ - Vana
Parva 183.57
iha vā kṛtamanveti
paradehe'thavā punaḥ ॥ Vana Parva 183.58
śuddhānnāḥ śuddhasudhanā
brahmacaryavratānvitāḥ ॥ -Vana Parva 184.17
svadharmamanutiṣṭhāmastasmānmṛtyubhayaṃ na naḥ ॥ - Vana
Parva 184. 18
naiṣām duścaritaṃ brūmastasmānmṛtyubhayaṃ na naḥ ॥ - Vana Parva 184. 19
sambhojya śeṣamaśnīmastasmānmṛtyubhayaṃ na naḥ ॥ - Vana Parva 184.20
puṇyadeśanivāsācca tasmānmṛtyubhayaṃ na naḥ।
tejasvideśavāsācca tasmānmṛtyubhayaṃ na naḥ ॥ - Vana Parva 184.21
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