Rishabhadeva’s Teachings

Srimad Bhagavatam - Rishabhadeva’s Teachings 

How does Rishabhadeva describe the relationship between devotion and bondage? How should we be vigilant towards bondage, the storage of karma? What is the second knot?

Rishabhadeva, the incarnation of Mahavishnu, was born to King Nabhi and Merudevi. He had a hundred mind-born sons. The eldest among them was Bharata.

 

Rishabhadeva’s children were well-disciplined and were greatly devoted to their father. Before retiring to the forest, he convened a gathering and advised his children as follows:

The mortal body does not deserve to be given up to only sensuous pleasures, unlike swine, dogs, or animals.

Adherence to austerities purifies the mind and, in turn, leads to Moksha. Service rendered to an exalted soul leads to liberation. 

They alone are great who are even-minded, exceptionally calm, free from anger, kindly hearted, treat devotion to God as the purpose of life, and take no delight in worldly things.

So long as there is no devotion towards God, the soul does not get rid of its identification with the body. The real nature of the soul remains hidden due to ignorance. 

So long as actions continue, the mind is tied to activity, and the soul is tied to the body. 

The union of husband and wife of a man and woman is another knot binding their hearts together (apart from the subtle knot in the form of identification of the soul with the body). 

It is due to the second knot a man erroneously regards house, family, and relationships as his own. When this hard knot gets loosened, he frees himself from all bondage and merges with God. 

By depending on God, adoring him, hearing his stories every day, singing his praise, and through even-mindedness and tranquillity, one sheds the veil of ego. 

A person should be ever vigilant of bondage in the shape of a knot that constitutes a storehouse of karma for many births. 

Rishabhadeva thenceforth installed Bharata as King and adapted a life of a recluse, traversed all across as recluse unattached to worldly things and His own mortal body.

Source: Bhagavatha Mahapurana