In the last article, 45) Myth or a Symbol? – Story of Puranjana – Part-1., we have explored the way a being/jīva enters a body which is not his. There was a description of kingdom of Puranjana which is the physical body. The episode of the lady he marries is the association of jīva with the bodily aspects like Buddhi, Manas, Prāṇa, etc.
Because we explored most part of the mapping and symbols in part-1, let us go into story and decode the story then and there than revisiting it at a later point. Given the approach of part-1 is in sync with the mind, this part-2 should be straight forward to grasp.
First it must be remembered to whom and by whom the story is revealed. The story of Puranjana is revealed by Sage Nārada to the prajāpati (patriarch angel) Prācīna Barhi. Sage Nārada is one of the grand emanations of Nārāyaṇa who travels on all planes with ease and initiates many of the advanced souls into the complex path of evolution. He is not a person, but a conscious cosmic personality. That is why we see his appearance in almost all the allegories ranging from Satya Yuga to Kali Yuga. Prācīna Barhi or also known as Barhiṣmada is symbol of “Visible SUN“. It was allegorically said that Old Barhi was performing many a sacrifice/Yajña without knowing the meaning/purpose. That means, for eons of time, SUN’s path around Earth, as seen from Earth is causing evolution of many beings. This evolution had the characteristics of
These five elements formed as mechanical routine to the beings of Earth due to the SUN’s ignorance i.e., SUN’s consciousness is not yet awakened to ignite the minds of beings on the Earth. The inner-SUN (Sūryāntarvarti) is not yet awakened (just like the Puruṣa is not awakened in us). So, this is a preliminary stage of creation that they are speaking of. Our SUN being one among less evolved Ādityās (out of 12, 7 are said to be highly evolved and 5 are said to be less evolved and these 5 form disciples of the 7 and Nārada, the bridge), this aspect fits logically with the purāṇic lore. When Nārada comes, he suggests Barhiṣmada to know the purpose behind the Yajña/Sacrifice i.e., the goal of cycle of 5 characteristics above. To initiate the Solar consciousness into the divine plan and thus the beings of Earth into the path of self awareness (Ātma-Jñāna), Nārada reveals the story of Puranjana to Prācīna Barhi. He shows how Puranjana fell pray to the mechanical bondage and suggests Barhiṣmada to go beyond what he perceives and immerse himself in the LIGHT of Nārāyaṇa. With this context, let us form a bridge of understanding and move further.
After all the episodes and mappings mentioned earlier, in part-1, it is important to see what bhagawata says in relation to Puranjana’s lifestyle. It seems that Puranjana was “deceived” by his wife into sensual pleasures. He lived with utmost bondage towards his wife. He could never leave her for a second. That means, a jīva, who is in essence the Puruṣa, identifies himself with the body, becomes fond of it, and hence faces many apparent pleasures and pains. He used all his courtesans for self gratifications. Remember, it was told that Puranjana was roaming to find a nice abode which would satisfies all his desires and he finally found such abode? It meant that only a human life (after passing through many life forms) can quench the thirst of “desires”, per se. With desires come difficulties. The act of self inflicted pain and pleasure is the deception of MAYA in the form of his wife’s battalion (play of lower Buddhi). If Puranjana were to remember that “He is verily the Omniscient HE“, all this would not have happened. But it is the story of every human who is still evolving, and thus, is a LEGEND (that which happens every where, to every one and at all times).
With this bridging paragraph, we can proceed into the Puranjana’s story.
One day Puranjana decided to go for a hunt, for his own entertainment. The hunt episode has the following important points to consider:
After the hunt, he was yearning to see his wife and apparently she too came with his battalion. He then meets her and sees that she is upset (because he did not utilize Buddhi while hunting). He tries to lease her and they live for few years in that forest – Abode of senses.
Thus spending more than half of his life, in the sensual abode, Puranjana begot 1100 sons and 110 daughters. Funny figures, are they not?. They are funny only if understood in literal sense. Let us decode:
After a while, he married all his progeny and they too procreated into millions of life-flocks. The dependents started to share his property. The many attributes of one body, the many relations, occupying our thoughts, etc., is symbolized here. As this happened, the greed took over and corrupted the hearts of many and made them feel hatred towards Puranjana. So, basically, the jīva became the enemy of the body i.e., jīva started to rot in the web of mundane associations.
When the jīva is deeply involved in samsāra, he is at his most vulnerable mode of existence. That is when the time runs fast (the inner being will not even realize that its body is aging so fast and at final day repents) and the nears the body to death. The same is depicted in the following attack of enemies on Puranjana’s kingdom
It is said that a king of Gandharvās, named Chanḍvēga attacked the abode of Puranjana with 360 army groups and 360 groups of their wives, who are white and black respectively.
The story proceeds to give us introduction about these trio. Let us summarise in brief their characteristics:
This trip was roaming freely on Earth and while roaming so, they encountered the kingdom of Puranjana, the human body. The old-age, the fever/temperature fluctuations in old-age (homeostasis is lost) and the lord of death, forming the holy trio of destruction, started to destroy the Human body, the kingdom of Puranjana.
After the whole kingdom of Puranjana was occupied by the group of Chanḍavēga and the destructive trio, Puranjana was finally chained and dragged by a soldier of Yavana named – “Bhaya“. That means, Puranjana succumbed to fear and lost his light. he even forgot about the ONE friend, Puruṣa-1, Prajñāta, who could have rescued him if asked for. At time of death, the being forgets the god and lives in thoughts of life spent. This is the essence here.
When Puranjana was dragged into the other worlds, he first faced the threat of those animals which he killed mercilessly. That means, when a person dies, his body goes but not the mind. So, the mind still lingers re-living the past actions’ associations. The first replay would be that of those which affected him the most in a negative way. This is what we call HELL. When the experience of this hell is over, Puranjana visited those he loved. That means, the thoughts of good actions is experienced now, which we call Heaven.
After all this experiencing have worn out, the jīva is again attracted into a body and the story repeats. This attraction depends on the KARMA or the net result of the experience reaming in mental planes. Because Puranjana dies by thinking about his wife more than anyone else, he is said to be born as FEMALE in the next life.
This story of Puranjana packs the sublime of the wisdom in relation to human birth, re-birth, death and life spent on Earth. No matter which era we are in, the TRUTH still holds. The reason being, it is part of the Divine drama and this drama needs to be studies, contemplate, understood and learnt. That is why Nārada suggests Prācīna Barhi this saga of Puranjana. The later discussions of theirs, form a moral summary, which we may touch upon later.
So, in part-1 and part-2 we explored our own life story, which has been running since eons of time. Let us learn to recognize the best friend of ours, Prajñāta/Puruṣa-1 and save ourselves from the cyclic association to the false identity of the mundane-self.
PhD (Quantum Physics), M.Sc. (IIT Madras), B.Tech. (LNMIIT).
Bridging the depths of Science and the wisdom of the Vedas
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