srImadbhAgavatam!

This Krishnashtami, I bought srImadbhAgavatam by Smt. Kamala
Subramaniam. I was always fascinated by this great epic which talks
about all the avataras of Sri Mahavishnu and the great glory of God (HIS
Vibhuti). My maternal grandmother is well versed with the Telugu version
which was written by Sri Bammera Pothana circa 1400AD (Hope I am not off
by centuries). Legend has it that Lord SriRama to whom the book is
dedicated, has written a verse in it! I have heard her chant the
nectarine glory of God whenever I had a chance. This had me interested
in reading this epic.

Second reason for reading it is the following:

I was reading the wonderful wonderful narration Krishnavatara by Sri.
K.M.Munshiji few years back. It was an absorbing story. It comes in
seven volumes. Munshiji's desire was to write about the life of Krishna
till HE reveals HIMSELF as the 'saswathadharmagoptha' (Eternal protector
of dharma) on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. But alas! The Lord had
other plans and so it aborted at seven volumes. But the seven volumes
had stoked my hunger deeply and I wanted to read the rest from the
original itself!

This particular Bhagavatam book was recommended to me by my friend Gopal
while at IITMadras. And then of late my brother Sai recommended this
highly. Its time had to come however. Finally, on the Krishna
Janmashtami day of 2004, I started my journey through this great epic
which is said to cleanse the hearts if read with sincerity.

The journey is exciting. Even as I read the glory of the God and HIS
teachings, each of those reminds me of the teachings of our beloved Lord
Sathya Sai Baba. These teachings are at the very root of our existence.
They ensure a happy life if followed scrupulously. So I start realising
the divinity of our Swamy in a wonderful way. Perhaps this is why, HE
wanted me to read this!!

I will give one example here:

Kapila vaasudeva, an Avatara of the Lord Narayana propounds the Sankhya
philosophy. HE teaches this to HIS mother. In it He exhorts her to not
give up attachment. Instead, He wants her to substitute the object of
attachment with Narayana. This drove my mind to Swamy's teaching in
which HE asks us to not give up the six vices, but then channelise them
in the direction of God. I have put this very briefly, but I will later
elaborate on it. It will not escape the discerning that there is a
remarkable similarity in both the teachings.

As I read more, I will be exploring the similarity in more detail. Come
back to read more.

Jai Sai Ram