Sukarma

Sukarma, simply known as Sukarma, Sanskrit: सुकर्म, Telugu: సుకర్ముడు, Hindi: सुकर्मा.

Sukarma was a young brāhmaṇa who lived in Kurukshetra. He was the son of Kuṇḍala. He had done no long tapas, no great yajñas (fire rituals) and no pilgrimage to tīrthas. His great power came from one thing only: he served his aged parents with complete devotion. Through this service alone, he could call Indra and the whole assembly of the devas. When Pippala became proud of the power he had won through tapas, Brahmā sent him to Sukarma to learn. This is the last episode in the Pitṛtīrtha section of the Bhūmi Khaṇḍa.

The power of devotion to parents

Sukarma was a brāhmaṇa youth living at Kurukshetra. He had not done tapas for any number of years, had not performed great yajñas and had not gone on tīrtha-yātrā (pilgrimage). His great śakti (power) came from a single source. He served his aged parents, his father Kuṇḍala and his mother, with complete and tireless devotion. His daily practice was to wash their feet, bathe them, feed them and look after every need. He never broke this service, and nothing else came before it.

Brahmā took the form of a sārasa bird beside a lake. He spoke to Pippala, who had just become a vidyādhara with new powers. Brahmā told him that even as a child Sukarma had more power over the worlds than Pippala had gained through three thousand years of tapas. Brahmā told Pippala to go to the āśrama of Sukarma and learn. (Padma Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapters 61–62)

What Sukarma showed Pippala

When Pippala came to the āśrama, Sukarma showed his rule without any ceremony. He called Indra and the whole assembly of devas, and they stood before him at once, drawn by the force of his devotion to his parents. In front of this great assembly Sukarma asked for only one thing. He asked that his devotion to his parents stay firm, and that his parents rise to Vishṇuloka. He asked for no power, no svarga (heaven) and no liberation for himself. He asked only to go on serving his parents, and for their liberation. His devotion was fixed on his mother and father alone and had no wish of his own mixed in. It gave him a power greater than any amount of tapas can produce. (Padma Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 62)

The teaching of pārācīna and arvācīna

Sukarma then taught Pippala the basic difference in understanding divine reality.

Pārācīna: the eternal, unmanifest, formless (nirākāra) Paramātmā. It is the ground that comes before all creation and lies under it. The Śruti can only point toward it and cannot fully describe it. Only yogīs in deep samādhi see it directly. This is the side of Brahman that cannot be reached by the usual means of knowing: yajña, tapas or reasoning.

Arvācīna: the manifest order. It is creation as it goes forth through Brahmā, the order of the worlds, and the settled order of dharma that holds the worlds up.

The words of Brahmā as the sārasa bird did more than humble Pippala. They were the first step in his true learning. (Padma Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 62)

Place in the teaching on parents as tīrtha

The account of Sukarma sits inside the Pitṛtīrtha section of the Bhūmi Khaṇḍa. That section teaches that serving living parents is the holiest tīrtha of all. The account sets the three thousand years of tapas of Pippala, great by any measure, against the plain daily service (pitṛ-sevā) of Sukarma, and it finds that the service is better. This does not make tapas small. It shows what holds the highest place in the order of dharma. Living parents are themselves the most sacred tīrtha, and service to them stands above all outer acts of puṇya (merit). (Padma Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapters 61–63)

Sources

• Padma Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapters 61–63