Rṣabhadevāya namah

Rṣabhadeva did not commit suicide by jumping into fire. While he was immersed in sādhana, a fire broke out in his surroundings. He did not make any attempts to save his body from that fire. In this way he gave up his body.

Suicide is a terrible sin. There is not greater meritorious deed than giving up the body when engaged in intense Yogic austerities.

Arahan was the ruler of the Konka, Venka and Kutaka provinces. Without the in-depth understanding of the significance contained in Rṣabhadeva activities, he will begin to imitate those principles and will create a new religion of atheists which abuses ancient Vedic principles.

‘Like Rṣabhadeva I too have given up all luxuries’ saying this, he will imitate the external activities of an Avadhoota and will simply give up Vedic rituals. ‘There is nothing that needs to be explained to me, there is nothing which touches me,’ he decides.

Rṣabhadeva was none other than the Supreme Lord Srihari. He had lived as an Avadhoota so as to teach supreme yogis and saints the way to conduct life. All along he adhered to Vedic principles. Even as an Avadhoota he strictly abided by the Vedic dictates. This king, carried away by the external activities of Rṣabhadeva which included wandering from place to place, giving up home and other luxuries, conducting endless meditation, blindly rejecting all Vedas and Shastras, will create a religion which abuses Vedic principles. As long as the individual adheres to the dharma prescribed to him, he has nothing to fear. However in Kali-yuga, adharma (unrighteousness) flourishes. Confused, King Arahan will give up his own dharma (swadharma). As he propagates the path of atheists, during Kali-yuga some unworthy persons will get influenced. This happens due to the influence of Lord’s illusory power.

They will discard their own allotted dharma (swadharma) and the purificatory activities stipulated for them. Adhering to self-proclaimed disciplines, they lose their character and discipline. Behaving as they please they will ridicule the Devatas. They will give up bathing and the purificatory procedures and will be unclean. They will not cut their hair and will roam about in overgrown disheveled hair. They will periodically pluck their own hair”.

In this Kali-yuga irreligion is flourishing and has become a way of life. It has become a yoga, a great accomplishment. Bhagavatam explains all this in detail so that we can decide what to believe and what not to. What should be our way of life?

“Due to irreligion people lose their discriminatory capabilities and eternally condemn Vedas, Yagnas, Brahmins, Srihari and his devotees. They even write books condemning the Lord. They get brainwashed into this school of thought wherein Vedas and Yagnas are condemned. They build universities wherein students are taught non-vedic principles for years at stretch. They have their own gurus in this field too!”

All this happens due to influence of Kali. None among them wants to understand the lifestyle of Rṣabha before he became an Avadhoota. What did he teach then? What did he teach his children?

In this Kali-yuga condemning the Lord is considered to be Yoga. Not worshipping Him is Yoga. Being idle is Yoga. Telling lies is Yoga. Many universities in which people are taught how to prosper by speaking untruth flourish. Many volumes are written criticizing Vedas, the Lord and his devotees.

Devotees who lead a simple life without harming others are also condemned. ‘Oh, they are simply carried away by religious principles. They are sinning’ people proclaim upon seeing devotees. According to this school of adharma, only by criticizing the Lord one gets liberation. This is what they believe. They do not realize that they will end up in hell and will be the neighbours of Yama, the Lord of death. Perhaps that in their opinion is liberation. All this is inevitable in Kali-yuga.

During Kali-yuga atheists happily adhering to this new religion, which propagates irreligion, will give up their duties and will live as they please after discarding Vedic principles. Seeing their way of life we feel like laughing and crying simultaneously. We are amazed and frightened by their behaviour. One ignorant person transfers his ignorance to another. Thus ignorance breeds. Due to this ignorance people end up in the worst of hells out of their self-efforts.

In hell, there is no scope for discrimination and wisdom. Blindly following the preaching of an ignorant person is called ‘andha parampara’. There is no benefit he can ever hope to get.

The main aim of Rṣabha’s incarnation was to teach people who were enveloped completely by traits of passion (rajo guna) and to guide them. There are many hymns which extol his incarnation.

Vishnave namah