Srimadh Bagawatham - Esoteric Meaning Of Parikshit's Curse

Continued From: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/05/srimadh-bagawatham-bhishma-sthuthi.html

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Parikshit:

 

Parikshit sees Lord Krishna while still in his mother's womb. Pic From: www.maransdog.net

The procedure to read/listen to Srimadh bagawatham in seven days was started by Parikhit Maharaja.  Parikshit was the grandson of the Pandavas. He was protected in his mother’s womb from Ashwatama’s weapon by Lord Krishna. Thus immediately after taking birth, Parikshit looked around trying to find Lord Krishna. A person who obtains the Supreme knowledge while still at mother’s womb is known as Garbha Sriman. Parikshit was a Garbha Sriman.

In order to develop devotion toward the Lord, a person has to be blessed either by the Lord at time of birth, or by a Bagawatha, or be a Avatara Purushan or be a Yoga Brshtan i.e a person who retains of memory of Bakthi/Gnana yogam carried out in previous birth.

Prahaladan was blessed by Sage Naradar who was a Bagawathan, Lord Lakshmana was an incarnation, and Jata Bharathar was a Yoga Brshtar while Parikshit was blessed by the Lord. As soon as Parikshit was born, the Brahmins prophesized that he will be a devotee like Prahladan, an able ruler like Ishwaku, a protector of everyone like Lord Rama, will become easily pleased like Lord Shiva, will know about all dharmic practices like Bhishmacharyar, will be calm and composed like Yudhishtirar. They said that he will win over even Kali in the begioning but Kali will trick him because of which he will be cursed to die. He will die only after obtaining the Supreme Knowledge by listening to Srimadh Bagawatham from sukacharyar and therefore attain mukthi.

King Yudhishtirar felt very happy as anyone who takes birth has to die; he wasn’t worried that Parikshit will die from the curse. He felt happy that Parikshit will fulfill his life’s purpose by attaining the grace of an Acharyan like Sukacharyar and thereby will attain Moksham.

 Parikshit was a great devotee and his kingdom could not be affected by the evils of Kali Yugam.

 One day Parikshit Maharaja went to the forest for target practice. He went very far into the forest and soon was tired from hunger and thirst. He came upon the ashramam of a sage (Samika) who was meditating with his eyes open. Parikshit Maharaja asked the sage for some water but the sage did not hear him as he was deep in meditation. As the king was suffering from hunger, he felt annoyed that the sage did not reply. Under the influence of hunger, the king took a dead snake lying nearby with the end of his arrow and draped it around the sage’s neck. As the king traveled back to Hastinapuram, he felt sorry that he had behaved badly.

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The sage’s young son (Sringin) found the dead snake around his father’s neck. As his friends made fun of his father, the child took some water in his hands and cursed that the man who had placed the dead snake on his father’s shoulder would be bitten by the snake Takshakan at the end of seven days.

As soon as the curse was proclaimed, the sage came out of his meditation. He felt worried for Parikshit. He sent his disciple to inform Parikshit that he had only a week to live.

Hearing about the curse, a Brahmana called as Kasyapa proceeded to Hastinapuram as he had the ability to cure poisonous bites. Takshaka in the form of a Brahman met Kashyapa along the way. Takshaka revealed himself to the Brahman and to test his powers at producing an antidote, Takshaka bit a nearby Nyagrodha tree. The tree caught on fire and became charred. Kashyapa revived the tree with his skill. Takshaka bribed Kashyapa with plenty of gold and asked him to not proceed to Parikshit’s place. The Brahman accepted the bribe and left without trying to save Parikshit from Takshaka.

As soon as Parikshit heard about the curse proclaimed on him, he crowned his son Janamejayan as the king and left to the banks of river Ganges. He sat down facing the North direction and decided to end his life by performing Prayopravesham. He gathered a group of sages and asked them to lecture him about the way to attain the Lord’s divine feet. At that moment, sage Veda Vyasar’s son SukaBrahmam himself arrived at the spot and to the delight of everyone gathered there, narrated Srimadh Bagawatham. At the end of seven days, Parikshit Maharaja was bitten by Takshakan but attained the divine feet of Lord Narayana.

Esoteric Meaning:

The narration about Parikshit Maharaja contains hidden esoteric meaning. The name Parikshit could have two meanings. If the name is pronounced as Pariikshit, it means the seer or knower. The same name if split into two syllables as Pari + kshata means the one who is cut or bitten.

Parikshit’s pursuit of the deer shows his quest for worldly desires which only distress him. In order to obtain freedom from samsara as he is tired of pursuing worldly matters, Parikshit arrived at the ashram of the sage Samika. The name Samika means peaceful. The sage is at peace because he is a realized soul who is always meditating upon the Supreme Brahmam thus staying close to him. As the sage is also a learned Brahman he is the perfect Acharyan. It is said that one must always approach an Acharyan with a gift like fuel wood. The dead snake is the fuel wood and it also represents that Parikshit’s ego and selfish desires have been killed. Once the dead snake is offered by Parikshit, the sage’s spiritual son (the Supreme Being in the sage’s heart) blessed Parikshit which is shown as a curse in our story. The name Shringin refers to Lord Agni as Agni Bagawan is described with four horns in the Vedic Manthrams. The Agni residing in a person’s heart is none other than Paramatma Himself. Thus Paramatma cursed Parikshit to be bitten by Takshaka. This in reality is not a curse but the Supreme Blessing. The name Takshaka means the one who cuts. Thus the curse is actually a blessing to cut off the samsaric life. The Brakmin Kasyapa who comes to revive Parikshit is karma. Karma has the capacity to throw the soul back into samsara as shown by the Brahmin who is able to revive the Nyagrodha (banyan) tree after it had been bitten by Takshaka. The Nyagrodha tree is a type of tree which even when it is cut can send of new shoots from its roots to show that even when we die, it is not a permanent death as we end up with a new body.

Finally Takshaka bit Parikshit at the end of seven days and it is said that Parikshit was seated in a one pillared hall. The hall refers to the human body and the one pillar is the heart. A pillar is a supporting structure for a room similarly the heart supports the body and hence is compared to a pillar.  Parikshit was in deep meditation and he the soul was seated in the heart lotus with mind fixed on Paramatma. At this state, Takshaka as the permanent death bit Parikshit and freed him from samsara. Takshaka arrived only after Parikshit Maharaja had listened attentively to Srimadh Bagawatham with devotion. Thus Takshakan as permanent death is Mukthi. Parikshit obtained the grace of Lord Krishna even when he was in his mother’s womb. Only those who are blessed at birth by the Lord’s compassionate grace get the opportunity to obtain knowledge from a sadacharyan like Sukacharyar and are eligible to obtain Moksham.

Continued On: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/05/srimadh-bagawatham-creation.html