Srimadh Bagawatham - Who is the doer? Is the Lord the doer or the jeevatmas?

Continued From: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/04/srimadh-bagawatham-is-god-cruel-for.html

Who is the doer? Is the Lord the doer or the jeevatmas? We know that He is the antaryami and the inner controller who controls all living beings. Therefore is He responsible for the evil deeds committed by a person?

The very first time we took birth can never be found as we are eternal. Like us our karmas are also eternal and we carry our karmas with us from one birth to another. Even when the Universe is destroyed, we rest with the Lord strapped to our karmas. Our past karmas are like memory imprint which incite us to do certain actions. Why do babies drink their mother’s milk without being taught how to drink milk? They cry, sleep and roll around without receiving any instructions. This is because of their past memory imprint or karma vasanai. Thus the karma vasanais cause us to accumulate additional karmas. Our karma vasanais drives us to commit certain deeds. The next question we have is, what about the very first time when we hadn’t accumulated any karmas? Did we act independently to accumulate karmas or did the Lord push us to do certain deeds because of which we are stuck in samsara?

We can never find the first time when we started to accumulate karmas because such a time never existed as we have been accumulating karmas for eternity.

Let us take a look at the episode in Mahabharata in which sage Udhankar met with Lord Krishna after the Mahabharata war. Lord Krishna was off to Dwaraka after the war when He met with Sage Udhankar.

‘Krishna where are you off to?’ asked Sage Udhankar.

‘I am returning to Dwaraka after the war,’ replied the Lord.

‘Which war?’

‘Didn’t you hear about the war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas? The Pandavas have won the war.’

‘Why did the Pandavas and the Kauravas fought with each other? Why did the Pandavas win the war?’

‘The Kauravas had accumulated papams because of which they lost the war and the punyams accumulated by the Pandavas helped them to win the war.’

‘Why did the Kauravas do papams and the Pandavas punyams?’

‘The karma vasanai from their previous life incited the Kauravas to do papams and the Pandavas to do punyams,’ answered the Lord patiently but He was wary of the Sage’s intention behind the questions.

‘Why did the Kauravas do papams in their past life and the Pandavas punyams?’ continued the Sage.

‘Based on the past life prior to that life!’

‘If we keep going to the very beginning, that first time in the past when they first committed either papams or punyams, didn’t you incite them to do so since you are the Antaryami?’

Lord Krishna decided that He cannot provide an explanation about the soul’s independence to make a choice to act by just words. Therefore the Lord said, ‘I have to go to perform sandhyavandhanam before the Sun sets. I will take leave of you now.’

‘I know that you are in no hurry. You are pretending to be in a hurry in order to avoid answering my questions. I don’t require any answer from you but all I need is to see that Vishwaroopa form you revealed to Arjuna during the war,’ requested the Sage.

Lord Krishna revealed His universal form to the Sage.

‘Is there anything else you require?’ asked the Lord.

‘I find it hard to obtain water when I am thirsty. It would be great if you could help me to obtain relief for my thirst whenever I am thirsty.’

‘From now on whenever you feel thirsty, good source of thirst relief will automatically come to you!’

Lord Krishna wished to provide elixir to Sage Udhankar. He ordered Devendran to provide elixir to the Sage the next time the Sage felt thirsty. Devendran wasn’t very happy with the Lord’s request. He therefore decided to play a prank on the Sage.

The Sage continued with his journey and he was travelling through the desert. The Sage soon felt thirsty. As per Lord Krishna’s order, Devendran approached the Sage but in the guise of a chandala.

‘Please accept my respects,’ said Devendran and taking out a cup made of dog’s hide. He said, ‘You look parched. Please accept this drink.’

The Sage reeled from disgust looking at the cup made from dog’s hide and the unclean appearance of the chandala.

‘I am not feeling thirsty,’ lied the Sage as he continued to walk away after deciding not to accept the drink.

‘Sir, please stop,’ called Devendra. ‘I have been sent to your aide by Dwarakadeesha.’

Even after hearing the Lord’s name, the sage wouldn’t accept the drink.

Devendran returned to heaven feeling very happy with himself.

Sage Udhankar felt annoyed with Krishna.

‘It’s just like Him to play a prank on me by sending a chandala!’ thought Udhankar.

‘Is your thirst quenched?’

The Sage turned back and saw the beautiful Lord Krishna standing with a smile on His face.

‘Was the drink in the cup made of dog’s hide your idea of good thirst relief?’ asked the Sage.

‘Why didn’t you accept it?’

‘You are joking right? Didn’t I tell you that the cup was made off dog’s hide?’

‘I gather that you didn’t trust me,’ said lord Krishna calmly. ‘That was no chandala! It was Devendra himself!’

The sage exclaimed in surprise as Lord Krishna continued.

‘Did you think that the drink was plain water or perhaps toddy? It was elixir! I had ordered Devendra to provide you with elixir but you chose not to drink it because you didn’t trust me! If you had faith in my words that I will provide you with the best drink to quench your thirst, you would have accepted the drink offered by Devendra even when it was offered in a cup made of dog’s hide. After all he did say that he had been sent by me and yet you chose not to accept the drink!’

The sage felt very sorry and realized that he had acted rashly.

‘From now on whenever you feel thirsty, it will rain. Collect the rain water to quench your thirst,’ so saying the Lord vanished from view.

So, is jeevatma the doer or is Paramatma the doer?

Paramatma makes us do therefore we are under His control but the Shastras provide instruction such as eat only after bathing; Perumal doesn’t bathe therefore such instructions are not for Him. The one who follows the shastras is the doer therefore the jeevatma is the doer.

A mother asks her child not to eat chocolates but eat a piece of fruit. The child ignores the instruction and eats the chocolate. The child is under the mother’s control but it had the independence to choose between chocolate and fruit. The child opted to ignore the mother’s instruction and ate the chocolate. The mother did not make the child eat chocolate but the child opted to eat chocolate. Similarly the Lord provides us with instructions but we choose to do wrong. Hence we cannot blame Him for our actions.

 

Continued On: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/04/srimadh-bagawatham-purpose-of-our-life.html