Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana Book 11 Chapter 29:10-24

Book 11: Chapter 29

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Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 11: Chapter 29: Verses 10-24

He should take up his abode in holy lands inhabited by pious men devoted to Me and follow the conduct of my devotees among the gods, demons and human beings. He should arrange (either) individually or collectively in My honour on sacred days (such as Ekadasi) processions and great festivities alongwith songs, dances etc., spending large sums of money on a monarchical scale. Pure of mind, he should behold Me alone, the Supreme Self, as pervading within as well as without and unconditioned as the sky in all created beings as also in his own self. He who, embracing thus the point of view of Self-Knowledge alone, regards all created beings as identical with Me, 0 highly enlightened one, and honours them as such, (nay,) who looks with an equal eye upon a Brahmana and a low-born individual, a thief and a devotee of Brahmanas, the sun and a spark, a tender-hearted and a cruel man is accounted wise. (The spirit of) rivalry (withequals), fault-finding (with one's superiors) and contempt (for one's inferiors) coupled with self-conceit surely disappear before long from the mind of a man incessantly (engaged in) looking upon men and women as (no other than) Myself. Ignoring his own people (even) if they laugh at him and giving up the body-consciousness (as a result of which one comes to regard oneself as superior and the low-born and animals etc., as inferior to one's own self) and casting to the winds (all sense of) shame, he should bow low to all down to a dog, a pariah, a cow and a donkey, falling flat on the ground like a log of wood. Until the conviction about all created beings being identical with Myself gets rooted in him, he should worship Me in the aforesaid manner through the active agency of his speech, mind and body. Everything is reduced to Brahma (the Absolute) in his eyes. (And) seeing Brahma (and Brahma alone) everywhere by virtue of knowledge (raised to the level of realization) gained by looking upon everything as Brahma, and freed from all doubts, he should cease from all activity. Looking upon all created beings as Myself through the active agency of mind, speech and body-this indeed is considered by Me to be the best of all disciplines (conducive to My realization). There is no (fear of) loss in the least degree of this course of conduct in the form of My worship, 0 dear Uddhava, once it has been taken up (in right earnest), because it is free from (all) craving and since it has been deliberately determined by Me, unaffected as it is by the (three) Gunas. (Nay,) whatever worldly exertion, though fruitless (e.g., the act of fleeing and crying through fear etc.), yet dedicated in a disinterested spirit to Me, the Supreme, is exalted to the level of Dharma (righteousness), O most pious Uddhava ! Here lies the wisdom of the wise, (nay,) the cleverness of the clever consists in this (alone) that one attains in this (very) life to Me, the (only) immortal and real substance, through this bogus and mortal frame. The aforesaid teaching covers the entire range of Vedantic teaching, which has been taught by Me to you in a nutshell or in extenso, (as necessary) and which is (so) difficult to grasp even for the gods. Repeatedly has this Knowledge (of Truth) been expounded by Me in a very lucid and reasoned way. Having grasped it fully a man will have (all) his doubts dispelled and bids fair to get liberated.

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