Essence Of Maha Bhagavatha Purana

Awareness of God

King Parikshith addressed the foremost question to Suka Maha Muni as to what would bethe first step towars realisation of God.The reply was that in the normal life of any human being, there would be countless affairs engaging one’s own attention like the need for earning livelihood, family matters, indulgence in material happiness and the concerns related to the well being of the self or the persons close. Thus there would hardly be time nor inclination to even remember the awareness of God except when confronted with circumstances forcing them to do so. Even if there is an under-current of God’s consciousness, one tends to conveniently ignore or accord a low priority to the feeling of other wordliness or that of the Supreme Force above all of us.

The moments of complete and concentrated surrender to Almighty are very few and far between. The Maha Muni thus asked the King as to what was the purpose of prolonged life without realising the objective of futile existence, even if the life were a success in the material context but devoid of the divine perception? The serious tasks to be taken to improve the awareness of God are well defined viz. to try to be lonely, gradually detach with material happenings of normal life, exercise self control in speech and action,   practise introspection, withdraw the mind without thoughts other than of  God, chant the Holy Word- OM- as often as possible, free the mind, control breathing process while performing ‘Pranayama’and  imagine / concentrate on the vision of Vishnu with His Limbs in a Huge Form of Almighty.