HOW WELL DO WE REALLY KNOW MAHAVISHNU?

While we work at our relationships at home and in the world, Sri Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita 4:9, ‘janma karma ca me divyam/ evam yo veti tattvatah/ tyaktva deham punar janma/ naiti mam eti so’rjuna.’ “The one who really understands My avatars and activities is not born again in this material world, but comes to My eternal abode, Arjuna.” A ‘non-returner’ as Buddhists would say? How wonderful, who could possibly want to endure another lifetime in this Kalyug of rape, loot and genocide? But to achieve that great escape, the Lord seems to say, we have to work out our relationship with Him (I say ‘Him’ for descriptive convenience since ‘It’ seems remote and ‘She’ is confusing when speaking of Mahavishnu although theologically sound because the Parashakti is believed to be the source of all things).

Given this declaration in the Gita, it may strike us that we actually know very little about Mahavishnu. It seems at first that we do know Him intimately through his avatars as Sri Ram and Sri Krishna, indeed we know the epics better than we know the history of India. But here’s the wonderful thing, perhaps the reason why Hindus have never really needed temples: the old books tell us that if we do need to focus on something physical and address our thoughts to the Unknown, we can just look up at the night sky. Mahavishnu is there Himself as the ‘Sisumara Chakra’ or planetary system that looks like a turning dolphin. Its tailpoint is Dhruva, the Pole Star. Its body is spread over the Akash Ganga (Milky Way) and includes the diamond-shaped constellation Dolphinus and the Little Bear.

This is believed to be the only enduring glimpse that Mahavishnu (the personified concept of ‘God’) provides of Himself to the human eye. Some say that the curious name ‘Sisumara’ (literally ‘child-killer’) signifies a crocodile and others say that it means ‘celestial dolphin’ and that’s what the revolving fish target represented at Draupadi’s swayamvar.

Our take-home from these stars as interpreted by teachers is that we should develop a larger perspective about the ups and downs in our lives. The Ram or Krishna whose ‘human’ milestones we celebrate with flowers and feasts, are but a glimpse of something grander than we imagine. At an everyday level, ‘God is in the details’ and we are encouraged to do our daily tasks and sustain our various relationships with total commitment and professional dharma. But while doing all this, say our teachers, we should also become aware that we are part of a larger scheme of things and try very hard to stay centred, and - the endgame – try to stay detached while being wholly engaged. If our energy flags and nothing on earth comforts us, look up, say these old voices: it’s not over till it’s over, take heart from that vision of eternity in the sky.