Srimad Bhagavatam - Narada Avatara

(Srimad Bhagavatam - Skanda 01 - 5 to 6)

• Meditation: I meditate on Narada Avatara of Lord Vishnu.

• Sage Narada telling his life-story to sage Vyasa: Sage Narada told his life story to sage Vyasa. Sage Narada told about his two births in different Kalpas and how from the son of a maid-servant he became a saint by the grace of Lord.

- First birth of sage Narada: Sage Narada was born as the son of a maid-servant. He was born in the community of saints who performed Vedic rituals. From boyhood he engaged himself in serving the Yogis who gathered there for their Chaturmasya (Rainy season retreat). Seeing his dedication and steadiness of mind, the holy men were pleased with him. Sage Narada as a boy partook the remanants of their food by their permission and became purified in mind. He developed a taste for devotional life. He heard about the recitals of the Leelas of Sri Krishna with rapt attention. He developed a great devotion for the Lord. He felt that the entire universe is conditioned by the Maya of the Lord and he as Jiva is part of the Lord. After the Chaturmasya, while departing, the holy men imparted the transcendental Knowledge of the Divine Lord to him. By that Knowledge, he was able to overcome the Maya of the Lord and attain to His Feet. Therefore, one should perform Karma dedicating it to the Supreme Being. By that Karma, the mind is purified and generated Knowledge (Jnana) combined with Devotion (Bhakti).

After the holy men departed after their Chaturmasya, sage Narada, who was a mere boy only five years old, continued to stay with his mother. His mother, who was an ignorant woman and a maid-servant bound his son with the chords of love. But one day, as fate would have it, she went to milk the cow at night and died of snake-bite. The boy Narada, considering this as the Will of the Lord, left his house.

He went in the northernly direction, and passing through many countries, mountains and forests, he entered inside a dense forest with many wild animals. He was hungry and thirsty and he refreshed himself by drinking water from a forest stream. Then he sat in meditation under a banyan tree. He began to meditate on the Lord present as the Aatman in all beings as instructed by his teachers. Gradually the Lord revealed Himself in his heart as he meditated on the Lotus Feet of the Lord. With eyes filled with tears and horripilation all over the body, he was filled with bliss and merged in Samadhi. Then the Lord withdrew Himself and brought him to normal sense. He was eager to have the vision again but he could not regain it. He felt great anguish and frustration.

The Lord then spoke to him in a sweet and powerful voice that in that birth he will not have his vision anymore. The Yogis who are not completely free from all passions of the heart cannot have his vision. Abandoning this impure body, he will become His attendant in future, since His mind has become firmly established in Him by the service of the Yogis. He will however remember his previous birth.

Sage Narada then spent the rest of his life proclaiming the glory of the Lord, and moving from place to place. His mind was occupied with the contemplation of Krishna and when the past karmas were exhausted for that body, death came to him like a streak of lightning.

(Srimad Bhagavatam - Skanda 01 - 5 to 6)

- Second birth of sage Narada: The second birth of sage Narada took place in a different cycle of creation. During that birth he appeared from Lord Brahma along with sages like Marichi and Atri. During that birth he observed the vow of uncompromising continence, and by the grace of the Lord, he had the power to go anywhere in the three Lokas and also beyond it to the transcendental realm. The Lord gave him a Veena which he played and sung the glories of the Lord. When he sang the glories of the Lord, the Lord made His presence felt within his heart. Singing the glories of the Lord is an effective means to cross the ocean of the Samsara. It pacifies the passions of the heart like lust and greed more effectively than Yogic disciplines.

(Srimad Bhagavatam - Skanda 01 - 6)

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