Continued From: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/04/srimadh-bagawatham-story-of-naradar.html
Sage Veda Vyasar taught Srimadh Bagawatham to his
son Sukacharyar. He also taught the Puranas to Sage Romaharshana who was a
Suta. Sage Romaharshana was named so because he incarnated from Perumal’s goose
bumps. There are a few other sources which state that he was named so because he
experienced goose bumps due to joy while listening to the Bhagawatha Puranam.
Once, Lord Balarama visited the Naimisaranyam
forest where a group of sages had gathered near the Bindu Saras lake to listen
to Sage Romaharshana narrate Srimadh Bagawatham. As soon as the Lord entered,
all the sages stood up and offered their respect. They gave the Lord a seat of honour and worshiped Him. At
this time, Lord Balarama noticed that Sage Romaharshana remained seated. The
Lord was upset with the Sage’s behaviour.
He became very angry with the sage as the Sage had also taken a seat above all
the other sages.
‘Sage Romaharshana doesn’t behave like a disciple
of the divine sage Vyasar! Romaharshana has learnt many scriptures from Sage
Vyasa, including the shastras, the Ithihasas and Puranas but the education he
has obtained from the great Sage Veda Vyasa has not produced good qualities in
him. He has no self-control! He is not humble and vainly considers himself
as the authority of all the scriptures. He has failed to conquer his own
mind. The purpose of My incarnation is to kill hypocrites like Romaharshana who
pretend to be religious.’
So saying the Lord took a kusa grass and tapped the
head of Sage Romaharshana. The sage immediately fell down dead.
All the other sages approached the Lord. ‘Alas!’
they cried. ‘O favorite of the Yadus, we gave him this high seat and accepted
him as the spiritual master. We promised him
long life and freedom from physical pain for as
long as this sacrifice continues and he narrates the Srimadh Bagawatham.’
‘Oh great sages, do not worry. I have the powers to
restore him so that your promise remains intact.’
‘Dear Rama, do that by which the power of your
weapon the kusa grass as well as our promise are both protected.’
‘It is said that a person takes birth as his own
son. Hence, I will transfer your promise to his son. His son will remain
strong, free from pain and lead a long life as long as he narrates the
Puranas,’ promised the Lord.
Outwardly the narration seems as if Lord Balarama
punished the Sage for a very minor mistake. From various clues available in the
narration like the name of the sage as Romaharshana and the weapon used by the
Lord which is the kusa grass we can see that the actual meaning is quite
different.
The following is my own understanding and I haven’t
been able to verify the actual meaning from an authentic source. From my
earlier readings about King Romapada of the Anga country and the esoteric
meaning of the soma sacrifice I understand the above narration as indicated in
the following paragraph.
Roma is hair which is black at first, but becomes white
as we grow old. Romaharshana signifies the jeevatma or human soul, sinful
in conduct at first, but pure afterwards when knowledge is attained. In Sanskrit,
roma, hair, is synonymous with angaja, body-born, which again is synonymous with
kama, desire. Desire can be either bad as shown by the black hair or good
as shown by the white hair. Desire takes birth in one's own mind. The bad
desires are due to false ego.
We can examine the above narration in two different
ways. The first method shows that Sage Romaharshana is under the influence of
false ego and thus fails to show respect to even the Lord. As the mind is the
seat of ego, the Lord taps the sage’s head with a kusa grass. The kusa grass
indicates knowledge. It is only with the help of sat-vidhya that the ego can be
destroyed. Once the false ego is killed, the jeevatma is freed from the
influence imposed on it by its body. The jeevatma is spiritually re-born as the
son Suta with a purified mind.
In the second analysis, Sage Romaharshana desires
the good which is Brahman. He has been offered the brahmÄsanam; i.e., he is
seated firmly on Brhamam. He is meditating upon the Brhamam with fixed mind
that he doesn’t pay attention to the outside world. His eyes do not see the
outside world but sees only the Brhamam in his heart. This is shown when the
sage does not get up to welcome Lord Balarama. The Lord recognizes the Sage’s
meditation. The Lord therefore taps the sage’s head with a kusa grass in order
to bless the sage. The weapon of kusa grass represents “ekagrata” which is singleness
of purpose with which the knower strives to attain the Supreme Self. This is
acknowledged by the Lord by blessing the Sage and freeing the sage from his
body prison. We do not attain the Lord by our efforts as it is up to the Lord
to accept us. The Lord is the means as well as the end. Thus the Lord accepts
the sage by tapping the sage’s head with a blade of kusa grass. The kusa grass
is also worn as pavithram during Vedic rituals on the ring finger since the
grass has the capacity to purify. The grass is known to purify us by destroying
our sins. At the time of saranagathi, when the Lord makes us perform prapatti
and accepts our prapatti, He destroys our accumulated sins. This concept could
have been indicated by the Lord tapping the Sage’s head with a blade of kusa
grass to purify him. As soon as the karmas are destroyed, the soul is freed
from its embodied state. The soul can never die and hence is shown to be
re-born as the Sage’s son. The Sage’s son is conferred with immortality and
obtains the nithya kaimkaryam of narrating the Puranas to the other sages. All
of us strive to attain moksham in order to obtain nithya kaimkaryam. Hence to
me the narration seems to show that Sage Romaharshana was granted Mukthi by the
Lord.
Note that the Lord did not use any actual weapon
like His disc or sword but used the gentle kusa grass.
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