Continuation from :Indra 1st offense: offends his Guru ब्रहस्पति
Indra's second offense : Kills Vishwarupa
All the demigods and Indra were in lamentation over their offense towards Brhaspati and their minds were not peaceful.Indra tried searching for Brhaspati to ask for forgiveness, but Brhaspati had made himself invisible to Indra.The demons took advantage of their weak state and attacked the demigods.The demigods approached Lord Brahma who said that it is due to their offense that they have been rendered weak and susceptible to the attack of the demons. The demons were strong because they had served their Guru Sukracarya with great devotion. The demigods accepted Vishwarupa as their Guru as directed by Lord Brahma.Vishwarupa provided them with the Narayana Kavacha shield which protected them from the strong attack of the demons.However, once Indra saw Vishwarupa secretly offering the remnants of yajnas to the demons( who were also his ancestors) . He feared that this might make the demons strong again Unable to tolerate this he beheads Vishwarupa and thus commits the second offense to a brahmana.
Driving force for the 2nd offense:Fear of losing material possessions and position
We see that Indra repents his offense towards Brhaspati and wants to ask for forgiveness. However the repentance is not in full as he offends the newly appointed Guru of the demigods Vishwarupa . The driving force for both the offenses is the same -too much attachment to material opulence and power. In the first case it blinds him from his duties and in the second case the fear of losing it makes him kill Vishwarupa.
When he had no position he accepted Vishwarupa as his master but once he got his power and position he killed his own master.
Lessons from the second offense
Importance of gratitude:
When Indra saw himself losing to the demons he along with the demigods very humbly approached Lord Brahma and Vishwarupa.However once he got the Narayana Kavacha shield and his power to defeat the demons he lost his gratitude for Vishwarupa. Being afraid of losing his material opulence to the demons again he killed him.In our initial years of Krishna Consciousness we we are very receptive and humble , but once we make some advancement and get some position along with it we might not take our spiritual master seriously and offend him and our seniors.Development of gratitude towards our spiritual master and other vaishnavas is of utmost importance in our spiritual lives. We are completely made of their mercy. Any small service we think we are doing is possible only by the unseen efforts of many devotees in the background and the blessings of seniors and our spiritual master. This recognition is extremely important in developing respect and gratitude to protect us from committing offenses.
Develop the mood of receiving:Apart from giving protection from the demons ,the Narayana Kavaca shield was also a protection from "falling from duties due to madness" and "unnecessary pride" . Indra had the shield but he was overcome by madness and pride and killed Vishwarupa.The mood of receiving of the shield was perhaps fruitive in nature (protection from demons) and it worked to that purpose and not to the purposes mentioned above. In our devotional service we are privy to various forms of mercy, e.g. opportunities of hearing transcendental nectar - the nectar will work proportional to our mood of receiving.'ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamyaham" - "as they surrender unto Me--I reward accordingly"
In the next post we will see that in a bid to protect himself from the results of the 2nd offense Indra commits yet another offense.We will try to pick out some practical messages applicable to us.
Also read : Indra's 3rd offense:Kills a great devotee Vrtrasura and Rsi Dadhici
