Why So Many Genealogies? Lineages as Stages of Practice in the Epics (Copy)

Question

In this, sister, there’s a very extensive detailing of genealogies. Was that given just to expand the story? What’s the point of telling so much genealogy?

Answer

Look, the genealogies in the Purāṇas, the Rāmāyaṇa, and the Mahābhārata shouldn’t be taken like our family trees—“my grandfather, my great-grandfather,” and so on. If we’ve read Rama’s genealogy—the familiar one—we read that first there was Vivasvan, so Rama is called Sūryavaṃśī; then came Ikṣvāku, so he’s called Ikṣvāku-vaṃśī. We studied that, right? “Vivasvan” means becoming free of desire. These point to the stages of practice we must pass through before Rama (Self-realization) can arise in us. So these genealogies are the different states of sādhana. Only by crossing these stages can we reach that state.

Now, take Viśvāmitra as an example. When Viśvāmitra’s lineage appears—when do we become “Viśvāmitra”? Viśvāmitra means love for the entire world. That universal love will arise in us only after we pass through different stages of practice. Or consider Paraśurāma in the Purāṇas. What does Paraśurāma mean? The power within us that cleans out our inner impurity—that is Paraśurāma. When will that power grow in us? When we go through the different stages of sādhana.

So the genealogies told across the Purāṇas—ninety-nine point nine percent of them—are stages of practice. It’s easy to remember a lineage; it’s not easy to remember abstract stages of knowledge. Knowledge, as bare concepts, isn’t easy to retain. But the lineages, as they’re presented, we remember to this day: “Rama is Sūryavaṃśī.” By calling him Sūryavaṃśī they simply told us: first you must become free of craving, if you want to become Rama. You must become Ikṣvāku—Ikṣvāku means turning inward. If you remain outward-turned, you won’t reach Rama’s state. “Rama” means recognizing your true nature. You cannot know your true nature until you are desire-free and turned inward. After that there are more stages—many of them—but I’m leaving those aside now; I’m just giving examples.

We still remember the names—like Ṛcīka Muni as Viśvāmitra’s ancestor. “Ṛcīka” is a stage. First we must pass the Ṛcīka-stage, then we can go further. They made it that simple for us through the genealogies: if you remember the lineage, you’ll remember how to reach that state. In Rama’s story, if we set the sequence firmly in our minds—what Rama did first, then next, then next—our progress in practice becomes very, very easy.

If we want to be established in the Self, we understand right away: first we must become Daśaratha—that is, we must purify the mind. We cannot move ahead before that. In this way, all these things given in symbolic form are extremely useful for our growth-journey. If we try to remember it as dry knowledge, we’ll forget. The mind has a quality: it doesn’t hold on to what’s dry; understanding it takes a lot of effort. But “his son, his grandson, his descendant”—that does stick. That’s why the Purāṇas described the inner journey in this symbolic style.

Yes. Now look: in the long genealogy we just mentioned, it says Kaśyapa’s wife is Aditi, and from Aditi were born the devas. That much all of us here know, right? If we just remember this much, we’ll understand: if we want to give birth to divinity within, we must bring in Aditi. And Aditi means unbroken consciousness. We must live in the union of body and Self. If we take ourselves to be only the body, then only defilements will arise within; the gods cannot be born. So to explain each point, they used this style. Once we gradually get used to this style on this platform, understanding the Purāṇas will become very easy for us.