The Pastimes of Bhagavat – my fantasy narration based on the ancient Sanskrit text Bhagavat Purana – chapter ten

The final chapter – where truth be told and interplanetary beings get involved

Our tale is about to end dear reader, for the king is dead, the Great Age has shifted and as a result, gradually over the ensuing generations, the world’s population remained vulnerable and unprotected. The ravages of time and the slow decay of civility that are the natural features of this current final Great Age or “yuga” have invariably led to our modern state of existence.

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Back then at the king’s departure, his son, named Janamejaya, who took over the rulership of the empire, naturally sought revenge. He instructed his priests to perform a great ritual and sacrifice, where all the snakes of the world would be offered into the fire of that sacrifice. He aimed to destroy the killer of his father but noticed that this very snake who killed his father was not being offered into the flames of the sacrificial fire.

That snake, or dragon if you wish, had sought shelter and protection by going to the chief demigod of the celestial heavenly planets – King Indra. Somehow, even the villainous dragons, as well as the demonic races from the hellish planetary systems, also had great power, being learned and refined beings. They were not mere brutish animalistic thugs, as we may presume a demonic force may be. They were from cultured and civilized families and dynasties. They just happened to be atheistic and selfish in their behavior.

As a result they could still make appointments to meet the very pious demigods, their opposition in the celestial interplanetary wars for domination that have always raged on, even until today. That’s how the dragon who killed the king of the world was able to approach the chief of the demigods at his royal abode on a planet far superior to any other, and hide there.

It seems strange to hear how the tale unfolds from here, but the departed king’s son – the new king of the world – was not giving up on his desire to take revenge and kill the dragon. So he instructed his priests, who had great magical or mystical powers, to chant the mantras that would make not only the dragon Takshaka fall from his hiding place in the upper heavenly planets, but to also make King Indra himself – the topmost ruler of all the demigods – also fall from his planet into the sacrificial fire.

The priests proceeded to chant the mantras, and when King Indra heard them, he was also thrown from his throne and fell toward the sacrificial fire way below on the earth planet. As Indra in his interplanetary airship tumbled toward earth, the head priest of the demigods, named Brihaspati, saw what was happening. He immediately approached the new king of the earth and requested him to spare Indra such a fall.

On receiving the request from the head priest of the demigods, King Janamejaya agreed to halt the sacrifice, offering his respects to the celestial head priest, and so Indra was spared. Thus the dragon that killed King Pariksit was not heard of again either. Who am I to even comprehend such mystifying pastimes and relationships between the residents of our earth planet and the residents of the more advanced heavenly planets in our multiverse?

It seems that the positions of power were never certain or clear cut, and that the human race was once able to not only communicate with the higher material planets but also affect the residents thereof for better or worse. Such was the power of the great sages, priests, mystics and yogis who lived in the previous copper age. They could communicate with the advanced civilizations on other planets personally, and negotiate with them using leverage.

Such days are long gone and remain now only as strange tales in our oldest remaining texts on the planet. In today’s comparatively degraded era we are all bewildered by our existence in these temporary material bodies and have lost the awareness of who we are, what to speak of the bigger picture of life on all number of other planets in our cosmos. However, that one true reality still exists, free from argumentative and speculative philosophies.

Our minds run on two tracks, namely accepting and rejecting, or decision and doubt, but the real self exists in a realm where there is no mind, where we are not conditioned to misidentify with it or become covered by the material modes of nature. In that realm there is nothing limited and nothing limiting anyone of us. Therefore the ancient texts tell us that if we choose, we can give up everything unreal and embrace the absolute truth in meditation, as did the king upon his demise.

By hearing of these role models and examples of great spiritual advancement from the ancient texts, we can more easily understand our natures beyond the concepts of “I and mine”, based on this temporary body and home on planet earth. We can avoid identifying with this body, which is born into a particular race or nation, we can tolerate all insults and ultimately cease enmity with anyone. And we can understand our relationship with the original source, the causeless cause of all causes, known by many names, like Vasudev or Vishnu.

This ends my first tale dear reader, of the shifting of the Great Ages five thousand years ago, of the death of King Pariksit, ruler of the world, and of the enlightenment he achieved regarding his true identity as eternal spirit soul. There are still more tales to come. Please forgive any offences in my humble attempt at narrating these pastimes of Bharat, which are far beyond my ability to comprehend. I am merely the scribe and messenger, narrating the ancient Sanskrit texts as I heard them, lest they are also lost under the influence of time and tyrants as the inevitable march toward the end of this iron age ensues.

(image pixabay)

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