BHAGAVATHAM IN SUKRATAL

HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE! HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE!!

Srimad bhagavatha sapthaha yagnam was conducted in Shri Sukhdev Ashram Swami Kalyandev Sewa trust, Sukhtheerth, Sukthaal (also called Sukhratal or Sukhasthal), Muzaffarnagar Dt, Uttar Pradesh which is approximately 87 km from Haridwar. The venue is right under the same Vata Vruksha where Sukhdev Maharaj rendered his very first Sapthah to king Parikshit 5100 years ago in this kaliyuga and the name of the small town is derived there from. The holy Ganges flows nearby. The Ashram is doing all good services for Bhagavatha Katha and has many allied religious/educational institutions. The word ‘shuk’ denotes peace of mind and according to scriptures, ‘Shuk’ is the root, which implies the meeting of two hearts and reflects absolute compassion, gratitude and welfare and elimination of sin.

This yatra was arranged under the guidance of Guruji Shri Shri Muralidhara swamigal of Maharanyam.

Srimad Bhagavatham is considered the most precious literary work of Bhagvan Ved Vyasa. One can do without reading other books when one has read or heard this epic composed by Ved Vyasa. Mahamuni Ved Vyasa composed the Srimad Bhagavatham inspired by devarishi Narada, who was not satisfied with Vyasaji’s composition of the Vedas and Upanishads. When the great sage saw that Shri Vyasa was worried because of his dissatisfaction, he encouraged the latter to compose the Bhagavatham. Shri Bhagavatham contains a beautiful description of Sri Krishna’s leela, his glory and his pious cosmic fame. The holy book comprises of 18,000 verses. Through its stories about the lives of avatars, sages and kings, it communicates some of the essential teachings of the Vedas. Srimad Bhagavatham is an immortal story for providing salvation. Those who hear it with dedication, become immortal.

The holy recitation of Bhagavatham ie the “Bhagavatha Ganga” started flowing on 1^st of May till 8^th of May 2011 with holy recitation, prabhashanam, followed by bhajans during intervals. It was golden opportunity for the devotees to listen and enjoy Srimad Bhagavatham by eminent Bhagavathars and Acharyas.

On the first day, in the evening inauguration of this Bhagavatha Saptaham was done by Swami Omanand Brahmachari, the present president of the trust. During his lecture, he gave in brief the activities of the trust, the life of Kalyandevji, the founder of the trust and about Bhagavatham.

In Bhagavad Gita Krishna said:

Yada yada hi dharmasya glanirbhavati bharata

Abhyutthanamadharmasya tadatmanam srijamyaham

This means ‘whenever there is a decline of dharma and rise of adharma, I embody myself and descend on earth in every age, to protect the virtuous, destroy the wicked and establish dharma’.

For the protection and welfare of the world, God, or his representative, takes on earthly form, age after age. With the blessings of god, Sukhadevji descended into this universe.

King Parikshit, the son of Abhimanyu and grandson of Arjuna, was on a hunting expedition. After a long deer chase, he became thirsty and tired. As he was wandering looking for water, he entered the hermitage of sage Shameek. The king begged him for some water, but since the sage was in deep meditation, did not reply. Unable to bear his hunger and thirst he decided to return to his palace, but he could not bear the neglect by the sage and so on his way back he revenged by laying a dead snake as a garland around the sage’s shoulders.  This was certainly a sinful act by the king and the confusion of the age of kaliyuga was beginning.

Sage Shringi, the young son of the sage Shameek who was playing with his friends heard about the incident and became angry with king Parikshit. The young Shringi took some holy water and cursed the king saying that within seven days the poisonous snake Takshaka would bite the man who did this to his father to death. When sage Shameek broke his meditation, he came to know about the shameful act of the king in the moment of weakness. He went to the palace and told the king about his sin and the curse of his son. The king accepted his fate as blessing and handed over the kingdom to his son Janamejayan. He went to the banks of river Ganga to fast for seven days before he dies bitten by the snake. The great sage Sukhdev, the 16 year old son of sage Vyasa Deva appeared there and told the king “at the last stage of life one should be bold enough not to be afraid of death, cut off all attachments to the material body and all such desires.” The king settled his mind with his spiritual self and he became as stationary as a tree.

Srimad Bhagavatham was recited to king Parikshit by sage Sukhdev and departed after blessing the king. As the seventh day was approaching, Takshaka the serpent who was to bite king Parikshit went to his kingdom, but found that there was no way that he could get to the king. So he turned himself into a caterpillar and entered one of the fruit baskets being taken to the king’s chamber. On reaching the king, Takshaka came out of the fruit, took his original form and bit king Parikshit. The king immediately died and his body turned into ashes. The king left his body and entered spiritual world (moksha) as he was full of devotion for lord Krishna. It is said that only after many life times of performing pious action, one achieves the opportunity of hearing Bhagavatham.

Sukratal is the first Bhagavatha Peetam. There is a 5100 years old vatavriksha (banyan tree) which is on top of the hill where 80,000 sages gathered and sage Sukhdeva recited Srimad Bhagavatham to king Parikshit under this tree. The tree is towers to about 150 feet. It casts soothing shadows and sense of calmness upon the temple. Like other vat vrikshas fibrous parasitical roots do not emerge from this ancient tree. Shri Kalyandevji constituted the seva trust and with the help of eminent personalities saved the tree from falling.

The process of reviving Suktheerth began in 1944 with the revered Shri Kalyandevji performing great religious sacrifice and oblation on the banks of the river. The Sukhdev temple, Gita Bhavan, Hanuman temple, and other temples were constructed around the vat vriksha by some prominent people under the guidance of Kalyandevji. Lots of honourable personalities like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr. Rajendra Prasad and many more eminent kathavachaks have visited this place. There is a long list of other ashrams and dharamshalas along with tourist rest house that are located here. One can experience peaceful but spiritually powerful nature in this holy place.

In many ways, Sukrathal reminded of Naimisaranya (near Sitapur) where Suta Goswami spoke the Bhagavatham to the thousands of sages who had gathered there to perform a large ritual for the upliftment of people in kaliyuga. Sukrathal  is so important in our tradition that at some time we should establish a temple and ashram there especially to emphasize that the real yagna of today is “hari nama sankeerthanam” and pilgrims would greatly appreciate since that process is also enunciated in Bhagavatham.

Excellent arrangements were made by the organizing committee for the transportation, food and stay of the devotees at Sukhatal.

Pranams to Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamigal!