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THE GRAND ETERNAL FESTIVAL OF MIND

By Kinkar Vitthal Ramanuja

While going through Sitaram’s Arya Shastra Publication of Srimad Bhagawatam, I came across some exquisite expressions singing highly the praise of Sri Bhagawat Naam (God’s Name) and Sri Bhagawat Katha (Divine Tales). These were in the penultimate chapter of the Bhagawata—12th chapter of the 12th Skanda, serving therefore the last as well as the best of sermons:

(1)  Just as the rising Sun dispels all darkness or the wild wind drives away all the accumulated cloud instantly, the glorious Names and Divine Legends of Sri Bhagwan remove all the grief of human mind. (Srimad Bhagwatam 12-12-47).

(2) Those expressions which do not sing the virtues of God are but regular lies or all useless talks—‘Mrisa girasta asati asat katha’ ( -do- 12-12-48).

(3) The sentences, which consist of chosen and wonderful terms but do not sing the glory of God are but the favourite haunt of the crow-like base people, it’s not the holy place for the Swan-like saints—‘Tad Dhwangksha tirtham natu hansasevitam’. (-do- 12-12-50) But the most superb, extremely positive, and extremely strong assurances are to be had in the following lines of the same chapter, which we have already quoted in the title page. We are quoting the same here also to imprint the sermon indelibly within our hearts as the most precious treasure:

Tadeva ramyam ruchiram navan navam
Tadeva shaaswat manaso mahotsavam
Tadeva shokarnava shoshanam nrinam
Yaduttamashlokayahsonugiate


(Srimad Bhagavatam 12/12/49)

Only those speeches are beautiful and delightful as ever new, which sing the glories of the Almighty again and again! Only those speeches lead us to the grand ‘Eternal Festival’ of the mind and soak thereby the entire sea of human grief.

Tadeva shaswat manaso mahotsavam’—that is the ‘Grand Eternal Festival’ for the mind! Eureka! Here have I discovered the hidden treasure I was frantically looking for elsewhere!!

How very fantastic assurance for the people deeply immersed in the sea of sorrows and miseries called human life! How very bold and revolutionary! How deeply satisfactory to the bleeding hearts and distracted minds! Only by singing the glory of God you may easily get the most coveted ‘gate-pass’ to that grand Eternal Festival. What is more, as soon as you have an access to that dreamland, all your sufferings, all your sorrows, physical and mental, materialistic or spiritual–all will come to a dead-slow or a dead-stop! In the twinkling of an eye! You will begin to experience an immense peace and enormous joy within which you’ve never tasted in life before. Such is the impact, such is the intoxication, and such is the magic spell of that Eternal Festival! The Gita, the Crest Jewel among the Scriptural Texts, also bears testimony to this world of enchantment.

Yam labdhvaa chaaparam laavan manyate naadhikam tatah
Yasmin sthito na dukhena gurunaapi vichaalyate


(Sri Sri Gita 6-22)
You will reach the state where you will come to realise that there is no greater gain or bliss than that: where once established, not even the most dreadful of sorrows can shake you ever.

To be an eyewitness or to be a participant in this grand Eternal Festival, you need not keep waiting for the whole year round as you do for Durga Puja festival, Deepavali, the Car festival or the Christmas Eve etc. Nor have you to spend so much further for the festival shopping or get involved in tug of war within and without for the paucity of funds. Nor have you to stir out of your sweet home and get puzzled with the cracking of the dazzling fireworks or the devastating sound of the clamorous microphones. Nor have you to wait so long, and so eagerly, for the few sacred moments! All you have to do is to sit tight at home, easy and comfortable, anyday or any hour—and read and reread, discuss and describe, hear or explain, the glorious and marvellous Divine Sports of Bhagwan Sri Ram, or Bhagwan Sri Krishna, Sri Shankaracharya, Sri Ramanujacharya, Sri Chaitanya, or Sri Ramakrishna, Jesus Christ, Gautam Buddha, Paigambar Mohammed, Tirthankar Mahavir, Guru Nanak or any of the great saints or incarnations you have faith in! And for this, why not Sri Bhagwan Omkarnath—the most recent and precious of all the incarnations!

If possible, slowly but steadily, you have to learn the thrilling technique of contemplation on the gestures and postures, virtues and natures, the dialogues and speeches, the Divine Sports, even the favourite haunts or holy abodes of these Supreme Incarnations of God. Don’t forget however to carry on the Japa of your favourite Mantra. If there is none, continue the Japa of Mahamantra ‘Hare Krishna…’ or ‘Guru’. And what’s the result thereof? …

As you dress yourself so beautifully on the festive occasions throwing aside all the torn and tattered garments; as you get your bodies and attires well-decorated and well-perfumed, with shining ornaments and costly scents, so also and a thousand times more—will your minds shine during meditation, even before and after it, with ever new thoughts and emotions! Your hearts will bubble with some unfathomable and unforgettable delight, and above all, a sense of fulfilment!

And if God so wishes or grants, you may be able, step by step, or without waiting in the least, to listen to the Celestial Sounds (Anahata Naad) or see the Transcendental Light (Divya Jyoti) or the unique beatific Vision of God—All within!—And get immersed in unparalleled eternal bliss.

The new dresses or jewellery you wear on common festival must get stained sooner or later, and the sense of glamour or humour, pride or victory, will soon succumb to a sense of total frustration or depression, failure or embarrassment. Futility of life, the attacks of disease, fears of mortal existence then engulf your entity! This is what life is! But not so with the inner life or spiritual bliss! If by any means you can experience a taste of this inner intoxication once, you must go deeper and deeper within and soar higher and higher in the spiritual realm. This is not the end of the progress reports. This intoxication will follow up also in your next birth or abode. Why, this is the nectarine world that our forefathers had reached in the days of yore and declared so emphatically in the Upanishad: ‘Nalpe sukham asti, bhumaiva sukham’ (Chhandogya Upanishad 7-23-35)—There is no genuine joy in the mundane world, it is all there in the transcendental. This is the world of which the Bible boasts: ‘Neither shall they say, Lo here! Or, lo there! For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.’ Luke 17: 20 New Testament.

This is the world of which a Sufi sadhak Yaree Sahib spoke so poetically:

Jhilmil jhilmil barakhe Noora (light) Noor jahur sada bharpura 
Runjhun runjhun anahata (Celstial Sound) bajai bhamara gunjara gaganchari gajjai,
Rimjhim rimjhim bikhare moti Bhaye prakasha nirankar Jyoti                                                 
Nirmal nirmal nirmal nama kahun Yaree tehn liyo vishramaa


(Sant Vaani Sangraha)

This is the world to which Sri Bhagwan Omkartnath Dev ushers us in with so much affection and concern:

“Beloved! Come, come to Me! Look, it’s not once, but in Age after Age that I am calling you. Come, I am calling you through the Upanishad, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranas; I am calling you as holy men and saints. In birth after birth I am calling you as your soul’s soul. Come; come, with your vision cleared of illusion, just look once!

How much you have suffered from disease, sorrow, want and all that! O sufferer! Come, come, here I am! Here is my stretched bosom: Keeping you concealed there, I will remove all your pain!

Here there is no scorching heat. There is only soothing light flooding all around. It’s echoing always with Unstruck Sound (Anahat Naad)—music of the lyre, violin, tabour and flute. Here the sky rains nectar perpetually and a stream of nectar flows on. Everything here is made of bliss: Embodied bliss is dancing here all around! Come running! Come and see!”

—Abhay Vaani’ (‘Message of Fearlessness’)—Sri Sri Omkarnath