nagaparyanka udrushya hyakatom maturam purim ||
From this sloka in Purana, we understand Three important states of Sriman Narayana. In Sri Vaikuntam, He is gracing, seated. In Ksheerabdi or Milk ocean, He is reclining on Adisesha. The Lord also takes Avatars like Sri Rama and Sri Krishna, in this world. Besides, we have so far worshiped the Lord in 105 Divya Desams. For the next few days, we will listen to the description of the Lord in Ksheerabdi, which is the place where He is reclining. Swami Pillai Lokacharya calls it 'kooppidoo ketkumidam [கூப்பீடு கேட்க்குமிடம்]' - place where [the Lord] listens to complaints. That is whenever, Brahma and Devas face problems from Asuras and others, this is the place they arrive and complain to the Lord to get relief. Here, the Lord is praised and prayed. The Lord is reclining on His bed of Adisesha. Sri Sridevi and Sri Bhudevi Nacchiyars, massage His Divine feet. In Pancharatra Agama, the glory of Ksheerabdi is described in detail. We had seen the routes to reach places like Srirangam, Badarikshram, Salagramam, etc. What is the route for Ksheerabdi? Many Kings were born in this Earth. Before all of them, lord Brahma created Swayambhu Manu. It is the start of creations by Brahma, described in Vishnu Puranam and other scriptures. Swayambhu Manu had Two sons, Priyavrata and Utthanapada. Utthanapada's son was Druva, whose story of obtaining the grace of the Lord, after very hard tapas, is well known. Swayambhu Manu asked Priyavrata to rule the entire Universe. Priyavrata had Ten sons. Three of them declined to rule as Kings. To the remaining Seven sons, Priyavrata desired to partition the Kingdom, for them to rule. He ran his chariot to carve out one area, surrounded by a large trench. It became an island. The chariot again made another round and another isle was formed. Like this seven isles were formed. Wherever his chariot ran and the wheels made dents, they became oceans. Thus we come across Seven Dweepams [islands] and Sapta Samudrams [oceans]. Of these the Fifth ocean is Ksheera Sagar. We are all in Jambu Dweepam, which we mention in our sankalpam, before commencing any religious ceremony. Jambu Dweepam is a large island of 100,000 yojana [one yojana is about 10 miles], diameter. What we see is perhaps Japan in the East and California in the West! The land between these alone is not Jambu Dweepam, but much more. We will see each Dweepam and surrounding ocean in the following table:
| Sl.no | ISLAND | DIAMETER [in YOJANAS] | SURROUNDING OCEAN | LENGTH OF OCEAN [in YOJANAS] |
| 1 | JAMBU | 100,000 | SALT WATER | 100.000 |
| 2 | PLAKSHA | 200.000 | CANE JUICE | 200,000 |
| 3. | SHALMALI | 400,000 | ARRACK | 400,000 |
| 4 | KUSHA | 800,000 | GHEE | 800,000 |
| 5 | KRAUNCHA | 1,600,000 | MILK | 1,600,000 |
| 6 | SHAKA | 3,200,000 | CURD | 3,200,000 |
| 7 | PUSHKARA | 6,400,000 | PURE WATER | 6,400,000 |
From this we can infer that the pure water ocean is the largest. Sri Andal mentions about Milk ocean in the second pasuram [vaiyatthu வையத்து] of Tiruppavai. There the Lord is having Yoga Nidra. All the Alwars, excepting Tiruppanalwar, have mentioned about Ksheerabdi in their pasurams.
We will now proceed to see slokas 40 and 41 of Chapter 18. First, sloka 40:
na tad asti pṛthivyāṃ vā divi deveṣu vā punaḥ
sattvaṃ prakṛtijair muktaṃ yad ebhiḥ syāt tribhir guṇaiḥ 18.40
Sri Krishna has been telling about Satvam, Rajas and Tamas qualities, their influence, their identities and the result of possessing those qualities. He has not completed their description. The essence of today's [7th September 2009] sloka is that starting from lord Brahma to a tiny germ, everyone is affected by these qualities. In other words [excepting the Lord and others in Vaikuntam], none is not influenced by these Three qualities. Everyone is affected by these qualities; but we should strive to reduce Rajo and Tamo qualites. As Satva quality grows, we should try to cross that also. Person, who is beyond these Three qualities, is Mukta atman or the liberated soul. Prithivyam va = among those existing [humans and others] in this Universe, divi devesu va puna = or, also, Devas and others [like Gandharvas, Kinnaras, etc.] in the sky, sattvam = any living being, yad ebhi = all these, tribhir gunai = these Three qualities, prakrtijai = of this prakruti, muktam = liberated, na tad asti = nothing exists. There is no person either on this Universe or in the sky above, who are free from the [effect of] the Three qualities, which have originated from Prakruti. Lord Brahma is in Satya Lok and he is creating this world and who has a very long life. Is he also affected by these Three qualities? Yes. Because, the Lord had told, earlier also, that these Three qualities were originating from Prakruti. We had seen earlier that Prakruti is the basic material for creation. Prakruti is a part of Lord's body. The quality of raw material will be seen in the end product also. Our body is a product of Prakruti. Since these Three qualities are properties of Prakruti, all bodies of all living beings also have those properties. Lord Brahma and all living beings are all product of Prakruti. Beyond Prakruti is river Viraja and crossing that, one reaches Vaikuntam. Sri Vaikuntam is also known as Aprakrutha mandalam or place not formed from Prakruti. Persons in Vaikuntam are free from all these Three qualities. In the next sloka, the Lord says how each of these qualities is influencing them and their way of life. Sloka 41:
brāhmaṇakṣatriyaviśāṃ śūdrāṇāṃ ca paraṃtapa
karmāṇi pravibhaktāni svabhāvaprabhavair guṇaiḥ 18.41
Svabhavaprahavair gunai = the influence of these qualities [over infinite births], pravibhaktani = their actions or duties, way of life, make them as Brahmana, Kshtriya, Vaisya and Shudra.
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