Parabhava

Ugadi is approaching. I should quickly buy a panchangam and check my horoscope for the year.

“Sir! Please give me one panchangam!”

No sooner did I say that than my usual streak of misfortune seemed to start again. Every year, my horoscope promises less royal fortune and more humiliation. And this time, the very name of the year itself is Parabhava! Oh Lord! It feels as though my life is already doomed.

But then I wondered—
Why am I thinking like this? Instead of reacting, why don’t I break down the name and understand its real meaning?

“Bhava” means birth.
“Para” means something higher, greater, or beyond us.

In the Bhagavad Gita, the Lord says:

“indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur
indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ |
manasastu parā buddhir
yo buddheḥ paratastu saḥ || 3-42 ||”

Meaning — the senses are great, but greater than the senses is the mind. Greater than the mind is the intellect. And beyond even the intellect is the Self, which illumines them all. That supreme Self is called Para.
All of us have emerged from that Para-tattva. The Upanishads too explain how from the Self arise space, air, fire, water, earth, plants, food, and finally man.

Likewise, speech too is said to have four forms — Para, Pashyanti, Madhyama, Vaikhari.
The seed-form of speech, devoid of language or form, is Para-vak.
Shri Babuji Maharaj used to say, “I can sense your intention six months before it arises in you.”
That primordial state is Para.
From there, it slowly takes shape as an idea — that is Pashyanti.
When that idea grows by taking the support of language but remains within the mind, it is Madhyama.
And when it finally comes out through the mouth as audible speech, it becomes Vaikhari.

The Narayanopanishad also states that from the seed-like will (sankalpa) of Narayana arose prana, mind, senses, the five elements, the deities including Brahma — the entire creation.
So all of us are born from that supreme Narayana — truly, we are Para-sambhavas, or Parabhavas.

That is why Shri Gurudev never liked the verse “pāpo’ham pāpakarmāham pāpātmā pāpasambhavaḥ.”
He would say,
“You are not born of sin. You are born of the Self. You falsely consider yourself a sinner and become bound. You are like a lion raised among goats — you think you are a goat, but your true nature is lionhood. The moment you realise your real Self, you are ever free.”

Thus, we are indeed beings born of Para.

There is another way to see it:
We experience parabhava—defeat or humiliation—only because of others.
We constantly change ourselves based on what others may say about us or think of us, craving their approval.
But the moment our mind stops reacting to external stimuli and dissolves into the supreme Self, parabhava disappears entirely.
Is this not the very definition of a sthitaprajña?
Who can humiliate a person who abides in his own true nature?
For such a one, royal honour and insult are the same.
Neither can shake him.

Therefore, the year named Parabhava actually carries a profound message:
“Set aside these trivial horoscopes and seek the highest state — the Para-state — your true Self.”

See how even from despair and hopelessness, Gurudev would ignite inquiry and offer a divine message!
May we always be blessed with such noble reflection, in all times and circumstances.

O Gurudeva, bless us that such sacred enquiry remains ever alive within us!