SAMBHRAMAYOGA: A BOON IN DISGUISE

Scene 1: Yudhishthira was performing the Rajasuya at Indraprastha.

During the course of the Yaga, though there were many princess assembled, the Pandavas preferred Krishna and started treating him as the best among the guests. That was enough to irritate Shishupala, the king of Chedi. He started abusing Krishna. Krishna made him silent with his chakra. When Shishupala fell down dead, a glow emerged from his body, moved towards the feet of Krishna and vanished there.

Scene 2: Dwaraka.

Dantvakra, the cousin of Shishupala, was the ruler of Karusha kingdom.  His best friend Shalva got killed by Krishna when he went to avenge the death of his friend Shishupala. Hearing the news of the death of both Shishupala and his friend Shalva, Dantvakra became mad with rage.  He fought with Krishna and he too got killed in the fight.  As happened in the case of Shishupala, when Dantvakra fell down dead, a glow emerged from his body, moved towards the feet of Krishna and vanished there.

Scene 3: Mathura

The arena erected in front of Kamsa’s Palace for the great wrestling feast. Kamsa was on the terrace and Krishna in the arena. For the first time Kamsa saw Krishna face to face. In the course of events that followed Kamsa got killed by Krishna. And when he died Kamsa attained sarupya-mukti or he merged with the Lord Narayana.

How come Shishupala, Dantvakra and Kamsa got moksha after getting killed by Krishna? When they were alive, Shishupala and Dantvakra never missed a chance to abuse or insult Krishna in front of others. Shishupala was always thinking of ways to ill-treat Krishna and his whole thought and action was filled with the hatred towards Krishna.

Though Kamsa never saw Krishna till the last day, he was always thinking of Krishna as an enemy. He dreamt of killing him. He had many nightmares where Krishna was in the main role. In other words Kamsa always feared Krishna and this fear made him think of Krishna all the time: during day and night, every day, at every breath. He tried many ways to kill Krishna, even he took the help of many demons to get Krishna killed.

In fact Kamsa was very afraid of Krishna and that fear made him think of Krishna day and night:. He thought of no one else and thus, when he died, he reached the feet of the Lord.

There are devotees who worship the God all the time. They never think of anything but of the God. Even such people find it very difficult to reach Him easily. But Shishupala, who was a sinner, who always hated Krishna, and when he got killed by Krishna himself, got moksha by reaching the blessed feet of Krishna. Dantvakra also attained moksha after getting killed by Krishna.

The answer is very simple. There are several yogas to attain moksha or mukti. One of them is called Sambhrama yoga. Under Sambhrama yoga the God is hated; and because of this hatred the hater thinks only of the God all the time and reaches God at the end.

Sambhrama Yoga:      Fear of the Lord, hatred or malice, makes one think on him day and night and so, at the time of death, he is said to reach the feet of the Lord: Kamsa and Shishupala being famed examples of this.

Only very few people assembled at the Rajasuya yaga could see the glow from Shishupala's body emerging and moving towards the feet of Krishna. Yudhishthira was one of them. He got confused but Narada cleared his doubts immediately.

Insult or praise, worship or rebuke, honour or dishonor believe or doubt, all these are associated with our physical existence or ego only. Such things can only affect an egoistic person. In the absence of ego, a praise doesn’t please him nor an insult make him angry. Such a person will never think of rewarding or punishing someone for it. The God is like that only.

When we hate the God or love the God or worship the God, we will be constantly thinking of that God and nothing else. The God will be there in our thoughts and in our dreams. We never think of anything else. We never see anything else. We never dream of anything else. Everything is connected with that God. Our mind gets fully occupied with the God. An atheist, who is always thinking of proving the non-existence of the God is thinking of the God all the time. There are different pathways to God. Love and Hatred are two different pathways to reach God. Constant hatred to God make you think of the God all the time and this presence of the God in your thoughts lead you to the God ultimately.

The constant hatred of the god makes the God’s image stay in the mind forever and get all their sins cleaned and they will attain mukti or moksha.

“Hatred of the Lord is a kind of yoga by name SAMBHRAMA YOGA and it is almost a short cut to His feet! What a bhakta reaches by a long wandering is reached sooner by this so-called hater of Him! Like bhakti which is a desire for Him, this hatred of Him, fear of Him, affection for Him, all these are equally effective paths.”

Once four rishis, Sanaka, Sananda, Sanatana and Sanatkumara went to Vaikunta. Jaya and Vijaya were the two gate keepers there. They didn’t allow the rishis to enter which made the rishis angry and they cursed both of them.

“You will be born in the world of men, in the world ruled by Kama (lustfulness), Krodha (anger), Mada (arrogance) and all other evils. You will be far away from Narayana whose nearness has blinded you to such an extent that you insult good men.”

Jaya and Vijaya fell at the feet of the rishis and prayed for forgiveness. 

The rishis said “During your life on earth the Lord will dwell in your hearts all the time because of your hatred for Him. You will have three janmas. In the first one, Krodha will rule you; in the second, Kama will dominate you and in the third one Mada will rule all your actions. During these three janmas you will be killed by your Lord Narayana only and not by anyone else. And finally you will return to Vaikunta. “

“Your hate towards the lord is your path to salvation. It is also a yoga where one think more of Naraayana than a devotee. This Sambhrama yoga will be your path and you will get free from the curse.”

·         In the Krita yuga they born as Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu.

·         During the Treta yuga they born again as Ravana and Kumbhakarna.

·         During Dvapara yuga they become Shishupala and his cousin Dantavakra

In all these three janmas they got killed by Narayana only.
Hiranyaksha fought with Narayana and got killed when He took the avatar of varaha to lift the earth from the bottom of the sea.
His brother Hiranyakashipu got killed by Narayana when He took the Narasimha avatar.

Ravana and Kumbhakarn got killed by Narayana when he took the avatar of Rama.

Shishupala and Dantvakra, got killed by Narayana when he took the Krishna avatar. 

They have completed all three janmas. During these janmas they maintained hatred towards the Lord Narayana. This hatred made them fight with their Lord and ultimately die by the hands of the Lord Narayana. Finally the curse was over and they returned to Vaikunta.

Thus through Sambhrama yoga they attained salvation.  And because of this Sambhrama yoga, even the atheist becomes dearer to the God than the devotees!