Sruti Gita
The Sruti-Gita is contained in chapter 87 of Skandha X of Srimad Bhagavata.
Raja Parikshit said:
1. Oh enlightened one! The Vedas, being constituted of words, can
only describe entities coming within the scope of the three gunas of
Prakrti. How can they then really reveal Brahman, the Absolute Being,
who is not included in the gunas of Prakrti, who cannot be defined or
described as an object before us, and who is beyond the relation of
cause and effect?
Prakrti (Unmanifest) is the world of change in its unmanifest state.
For this reason it is called the Unmanifest (Avyakta). It is also called
the Primary (Pradhana) as it is the source, the origin of everything
therein.
Prakrti has three attributes – Sattva (serenity, tendency to
manifestation), Rajas (activity) and Tamas (inertia, obstruction to
manifestation). Everything in the world is the product of these three
attributes.
The Brahman, on the other hand, is considered the Supreme Deity. IT
is not one among many. Everything in the world has its being in the
Brahman. IT is concrete in the sense that IT IS and asserts itself in
the form “I-AM”. We only know that IT IS. It cannot be a person, as the
word is generally understood. IT IS, and yet indeterminate,beyond speech
and concept.
Sri Suka said:
2. The all-powerful Lord created faculties like intellect, mind,
senses and prana in the Jiva in order that they may enjoy sense contacts
in the world, may perform works, gain the felicities of heaven in the
hereafter, and attain to liberation from samsara.
The faculties such as the mind are in the nature of the non-physical
categories that apply to human beings and other living organisms as well
as all the objects in the cosmos. The difference may be in terms of
degrees of applicability. As consciousness is all-pervading and
permeating both the sentient beings and insentient objects, the categories become applicable to all, though in varying degrees. Different seers consider the non-physical categories differently. The
Sankhya philosophy gives 25 categories in the nature of ontological
entities. They are Purusa and Prakrti, Reason, Ego, Mind, five Sense
Organs, five Organs of Action, five Subtle Elements and five Gross
Elements. Sri Ramakrishna sees in his vision 24 cosmic principles
created by the Divine Mother. The categories of the Sankhya philosophy
and those stated by Sri Ramakrishna are the same except that Sri
Ramakrishna does not include Purusa in the list. Sri Ramakrishna
considers that these categories relate to Prakrti or Nature and are
different from Purusa or Supreme Consciousness.
3. It is not proper to doubt the efficacy of the Veda. For, it is the
ignorance-shattering science culminating in the knowledge of the
Brahman, accepted as such by the most ancient of ancient wise men for
times immemorial. A man accepting it with faith and sincerity and living
a life of renunciation attains to the blessedness of abidance in the Supreme Spirit.
In the words of Swami Vivekananda, “The knowledge of the Absolute is
absolute in itself. No amount of study will give this knowledge. It is
not theory; it is realization. Cleanse the dust from the mirror; purify
your own mind. In a flash you realize that you are the Brahman and your
self is Its reflection. In other words, the Brahman is known to every
human being as “I am”. But man does not know himself as he is.
The Atman (Brahman) is self-illumined. Cause and effect do not reach
the Atman. This disembodiment is freedom. The Atman – the Brahman is
beyond what was, or is, or is to be”.
4. In order to make this clear, I shall narrate to you an episode
relating to sage Narayana. It is a conversation that took place between
Narada and Rishi Narayana.
5-6. Once in the course of his peregrinations all over the universe,
Narada, the beloved of the Lord, went over to Badaryashrama to see Rishi
Narayana who has been engaged during the whole kalpa in austerity
constituted of dharma (righteousness), jnana (knowledge) and sama
(practice of samadhi) for the material and spiritual good of men
inhabiting Bharatavarsha.
7. Narada put this very question to sage Narayana who was sitting
there surrounded by rishis living in the village of Kalapagrama.
8. The worshipful Narayana narrated to Narada what had taken place
during a seminar on the Brahman at a sacrificial assembly held in
Jana-loka by the ancients.
Rishi Narayana said:
9. Oh son of self-born Brahma! It was in Jana-loka, under the
auspices of the mind-born sons of Brahma who are lifelong celibates, and
amidst the residents of that region that this prolonged discussion on
the Brahman, participated in by a large number of savants and
self-controlled sages, took place.
10. You had gone to Swetadweepa at that time to pay obeisance to its
lord Aniruddha when this assembly for discussion on the Brahman took
place in Jana-loka. The question investigated then was the very question
you have now raised.
11. Though all these sages were equal in learning, austerity,
character, and even-sightedness towards friends, foes and neutrals, they
made one among themselves,Sanandana the speaker while the others heard
him with deep attention.
Sanandana said:
12-13. In order to awaken a sleeping emperor in the morning, the
minstrels attached to his court come and proclaim his glorious deeds in
praise of him. In the same way, in order to awaken the Lord at the end
of the pralaya from the cosmic slumber into which He had entered when
the previous kalpa had ended, withdrawing into Himself the whole
universe and the powers connected with it, the Srutis (the Veda) recited
a hymn recalling all His distinctive majesties.
The Srutis said:
14. Hail, Hail unto the Supreme Master unconquerable! Withdraw Thy
Maya, constituted of the three gunas, from covering the knowledge of all
Jiva, moving and unmoving, with the pall of ignorance. But in Thee, the
controller of Maya, Maya is not the veil of ignorance as it is in the
Jiva, but Thy inherent puissance and divine majesty. The Veda reveals
Thee as sometimes manifesting Thy inherent power of Maya and at others
as subsisting in Thyself, with all powers quiescent.
The Svetasvatara Upanisad gives an idea that Maya is a kind of net
thrown on Being, making it look like the world fixed by some laws,
constituting the structure of the net.
This idea makes it clear that Maya is not mere illusion. The object
of any illusion, like that of dream, disappears later, whatever fright
it may have created in the person experiencing it. The idea of the
Brahman creating the world, which does not exist on its own, through His
will, involves something like the idea of illusion. Salvation as the
ultimate goal is freedom from determinations whether it is the life of
pain or pleasure, happiness or sorrow, good or bad, knowledge or
ignorance. It is the same as freedom from Maya.
P. Sriramachandrudu explains succinctly that Maya is indescribable.
It is neither existent, nor non-existent, nor both. It is not existent,
for the Brahman alone is the existent (sat). It is not non-existent, for
it is responsible for the appearance of the world. It cannot be both
existent and non-existent as such a statement is self-contradictory. It
is thus neither real, nor unreal; it is Mithya. But it is not a
non-entity or a figment of imagination like the son of a barren woman.
In the example of a rope mistaken for a snake, the rope is the ground on
which the illusion of snake is super-imposed. When right knowledge
dawns, the illusion disappears. The relation between the rope and the
snake is neither that of identity nor of difference, nor of both. It is
unique and known as non-difference (tadatmya). Similarly, the Brahman is
the ground, the substratum on which the world appears through Its
potency – Maya. When right knowledge dawns, the real nature of the world
is realized as Maya disappears.
15. The whole universe of experience is ultimately Thyself alone.
For, it is known to the Veda and the rishis that Thou alone remain when
everything is dissolved to the subtlest state. Just as the appearance
and disappearance of all effects like pots take place in their material
substance clay, so do the appearance and dissolution of the universe
take place in Thee, their material cause. But there is this difference
that, unlike clay, Thy substance is not in the least affected by the
creation of the universe out of, and its dissolution in, Thee. As
everything that is conceived by thought and touched by the senses is
only Thy manifestation and, therefore, Thyself the various deities and
forms of worship described in the Veda really relate to Thee only,
though indirectly. The steps we place on any object on the ground,
though they appear to be placed on the object, are in the final sense
placed on the earth only, as the earth supports all objects. So, too, do
all the words and teachings of the Veda point towards Thee, though they
may appear to deal with deities.
The world (cosmos) is the realm of cause and effect, and the realm of
means and ends or of instruments and effects. This world is the world
of process, action. The world of action is an empirical reality. It is
also an empirical being. This does not mean that it is only a matter for
experience. For instance, dreams are experienced. But they are not
considered an empirical reality. An empirical reality is meant to be a
realm of action, the result of past actions and impressions (samskaras),
and is changeable through present actions, controlled by the laws of
causes-and-effects and ends-and-means.
Logically and ontologically, the Brahman is prior to everything. IT
is, therefore, the origin of everything. When the Brahman is considered
the creator, the sustain er and the destroyer of the world, then IT must
be the personal God. This interpretation does not conflict with the
position that the Brahman is without qualities (nirguna). It only means
that the Brahman is the ground of everything. This conforms to the
concept of the four levels of being, each higher being, being the ground
of the lower and ultimately the Brahman is the ground of all the lower
levels and the world.
As IT is the ground or basis, the Brahman is called the cause
(karana), in the ordinary sense of the term, of the world. Incidentally
the Sanskrit word ‘karana’ also means ground, support and reason besides
cause. It, therefore, follows that the Brahman is only the supporting
being (ground) of the forms of the world. What constitutes the forms of
the world is Prakrti (the unmanifest – Maya).
Anyway, the world of forms is an ordered whole in which the laws of
space, time and causation hold true. But it is not a self-contained and
self-consistent whole. The self-contradictory nature of the world in
relation to space, time and causation establishes it. What lies beyond
the world is no chaos, but being itself. The being of the world we
experience is the Brahman – the Supreme Being. It is the nature of the
Being to support the world in spite of its self-contradictions. The
self-contradictory aspect always points to something that is at least
relatively not self-contradictory. In spite of its self-contradictory
nature, causality holds true in the world.
16. Oh Master of Prakrti! Knowing that all the divine manifestations
and Incarnations are really Thyself, great sages have dived into the
ocean of the world-sanctifying accounts of Thy sportive actions as such
divine Incarnations and manifestations, and, through that, assuaged the
heat of all their suffering. Oh Thou the Supreme One! It is then
needless to say that those who overcome the limitations of space, time
and mental modifications and intuit Thy Being will overcome all
suffering, and be established in Thy state of Supreme Bliss.
Mythological epics refer to Divine Incarnations. They represent the
actual descent of the Brahman in various mundane forms into the world.
The Immanent dwells in all souls and accompanies them in life and death.
It is the Brahman residing in the spirit (atman) of man like lightning
in a cloud. The Incarnate as worshiped is the idol of God in various
forms acceptable to devotees.
God’s play on earth as an Incarnation is the manifestation of the
glory of the Chit-sakti, the Divine power. That which is the Brahman is
also Rama, Krishna and Siva. The special manifestations of the Absolute
are the Incarnations – the known and the knowable. God becomes the
Incarnations in different ages to show us the way to become perfect.
The concept of Divine Incarnation is the first link in the chain of
ideas leading to recognition of the oneness of God and man. God
appearing first in one human form, then reappearing at different times
in other human forms is at last recognized as being in every human form,
or in all human beings.
17. Man can be said to be a man, truly
alive, only if he adores Thee. Otherwise, he is merely a pair of
bellows, a breathing machine. For, Thou art the Power that activates the
insentient cosmic categories and enables them to take the shape of the
universe, including man. In the human personality so formed, Thou, as
the Purusa, permeates the five sheaths (kosas) – the Annamaya,
Pranamaya, Manomaya, Vijnamaya and Anandamaya. Interpenetrating all
these and taking their shape, Thou art described also as transcending
them as their support – the One remaining as the ultimate substratum
when all the distinctions of cause and effect are eliminated.
The Vedanta philosophy describes five koshas (sheaths) that are
stated to exist in a human body. They are the annamayakosha or gross
physical sheath made of and sustained by food; the pranamayakosha or
vital sheath consisting of the five vital forces, the manomayakosha or
mental sheath, the vijnanamayakosha or sheath of intelligence and the
anandamayakosha or sheath of bliss.
The five vital forces constituting the pranamayakosha are stated to
be prana, apana, samana, vyana and udana. These five denote the
physical, biological (vital), mental, rational and blissful functions.
The Taittiriya Upanisad refers to them as atmans (selves) in a person.
They are presumed arranged, one inside the other, covering the spirit –
atman, which is the innermost constituent. These are really levels of
one’s existence as man.
The Katha Upanisad refers to seven levels of existence or of the
self, the seventh being the highest, beyond which there can be nothing.
This highest level is that of the Purusa, the absolute
‘I’-Consciousness.
18. Among the followers of the path of the rishis, those who are most
gross-minded called sarkarayanas meditate on Thee in the stomach
region, that is, the center in the navel called manipura, probably
including muladhara. Others, more subtle-minded called arunis, meditate
on Thee in the spiritual dimension in the heart region called dahara.
From the heart, sushumna, the spiritual conduit leads to the head, the
highest region where Thou art intuited in the sahasrara or the
thousand-petalled lotus. There is no more birth and death for those
attaining this.
Tantra preaches a kind of yoga, called Kundalini (serpent power),
leading to spiritual perception and mystic visions. It is awakening the
spiritual energy latent in human beings.
This philosophy elucidates that there are seven centres in the body
designated as Muladhara, Svadhistahna, Manipura, Anahata, Visuddha, Ajna
and Sahasrara. These are considered to be the dynamic centers where the
spiritual energy becomes vitalized.
These centers placed in the Sushumna (antravestika) form the
ascending steps by which the Kundalini or the spiritual energy passes
from the foot of the spine to the cerebrum. The spiritual energy passes
through these centres upward and downward with no resistance, along the
Sushumna. It is said to penetrate the six centers, also called the six
charkas, before it gets vitalized in the Sahasrara center. This is known
as Shatchakrabheda – penetration of the six chakras.
The Sahasrara is considered the abode of Lord Siva – the Supreme
Brahman. This abode is stated to be as white as the radiant full moon,
as bright as lightning and as mild and serene as moonlight. The
Sahasrara center is where the spiritual energy manifests itself in its
full glory and splendor. The lotuses of these centers are like the
fruits and leaves of a wax tree, in the subtle body. Only a yogi can see
them. They are not physiological entities.
The chakras (centres) are formed of consciousness. The Primordial
Energy resides in all bodies as the Kundalini. It is like a sleeping
snake coiled up. The movement of the Kundalini along the Sushumna nerve
is called the movement of the Mahavayu, the Spiritual current.Spiritual
consciousness is not possible without the awakening of the Kundalini.
This is, otherwise, to say that when the Kundalini is awakened, the Jiva
goes beyond the realm of Maya (Prakrti) and becomes united with the
Supreme Soul. This is the vision of God.
19. Though Thou art already present in these diverse creations of
Thine as their material cause, still it looks as if Thou hast entered
into them again after the creation of the bodies, manifesting
identification with their shape and character, just as the fire takes
the shape and nature of the fuel it is burning. Therefore, men, who are
endowed with a dispassionate mind and who have renounced all self-centered values, recognize Thee as the enduring Spirit in these
transient bodies.
The Brahman, being the Supreme Being, permeating and pervading
everything in the world is the Supreme Consciousness. It is also
considered the Supreme Spirit or the Atman. By its very nature of
all-encompassing and all-pervading phenomenon, the Supreme Spirit or
Atman is considered the innermost attribute or constituent of the
individual spirits or atmans. The Supreme Being becomes the Atman of all
the atmans – the Universal Spirit residing in all individual spirits.
20. The Purusa abides in the bodies created by the karma of the Jiva,
without the spiritual nature being effaced by anything within or
without, in the midst of the cause and effect relationship. He is
described as ‘part’ (amsa) of Thee, and Thou as the Whole endowed with
infinite excellence s. Arriving through discrimination at
this spiritual origin and destiny of man, wise men adore Thee with deep
faith and devotion, having accepted the Vedic teaching that Thou art the
fulcrum for dedicating and depositing all one’s actions and that
devotion to Thee can secure one’s release from samsara.
Every action has merit or demerit resulting from good or evil it
produces. Ethical action includes disciplines for realization. The first
is discrimination between the eternal and the non-eternal. The seeker
is to discriminate at every level of action focusing whether the action
leads to grasp of the eternal being. If the objects of action relate to
the transient or the temporal beings, he is to withdraw from action
related to them. This is ultimately to enable him to grasp the eternal
being. The second is detachment from all selfish pursuits – worldly and
otherworldly. The third is cultivation of the six virtues – tranquility
(sama), restraint (dama), renunciation (uparati), endurance (titiksa),
meditation (samadhi) and faith (sraddha). The fourth is desire for
liberation.
Of the virtues, renunciation is the most important and of three types
– sacrifice, charity and penance (tapas). All the three are actions.
They purify the soul. They are obligatory actions to be performed
without any attachment to the results thereof.
One who does not do actions out of ignorance is under the influence
of the attribute of the Darkness (tamas). One who gives them up because
of the difficulties they involve is under the influence of the attribute
of the Active (rajas ). Either is wrong. The one who performs actions
without any self-interest is under the influence of the attribute of the
Transparent (sattva). He is the true renounce r of action, the true
knower and the truly wise.
The ideal man following ethical action is one who has realized his
rational being. His reason becomes steady. He preserves his equanimity
under all conditions, whether in grief or in joy. He does not have any
egoistic desires. He looks upon all events that happen, without being
disturbed. He does not have any attachment for the objects of his
senses. He can withdraw his mind and senses from all temporal objects
and focus his mind on eternal objects.
21. Oh Lord of all! In order to reveal this spiritual nature of man
which is difficult to comprehend, Thou dost arise as divine Incarnations
from time to time. There are some who enter into the vast nectarine
ocean of Thy deeds and excellence s, revealed through the sportive
actions of these, Thy Incarnations, and exclude all other forms of
spiritual striving. They leave their homes and all worldly attachments,
and join that community of all-renouncing men who constitute the
Paramahamsas ever sporting with delight at Thy lotus feet. They reject
even liberation, and prefer premabhakti.
One way of realization is the way of devotion (bhakti). The theistic
schools of philosophy, mainly Vaishnavism, generally advocate this way.
This way is to surrender oneself to God in love and devotion.
Emotional attachment to God is easier than dry detachment from fruits
of action. In fact, the detachment from the fruits of action or the
ethical way of life automatically brings about surrender to God in love
and devotion. The seeker is to realize that he is only an instrument in
the hands of God. He is to think that he performs his duties in
obedience to the will of God. The fruits of his action belong to God, not to himself.
Devotion implies the difference (duality) between the devotee and
God. The plurality exists. The ego of the devotee persists. The Vedantic
thought indicates that so long as the ego of the aspirant remains, it
is not possible for him to realize the Supreme Being. In the case of a
true devotee, it is different. The devotee retains a trace of ego to be
distinct from the Divine. This ego is not the ego of an ordinary
individual, which keeps him away from the Divine. This ego is that of
the greatest of the sages like Prahlada and Narada who have been ever
realized.
Devotion is intense love of God. The way of devotion results in
knowledge. Knowledge perfected, made steady and constant becomes love.
Love is, thus, uninterrupted flow of knowledge, uninterrupted like the
flow of oil. It is very difficult to practice, as mind by nature is
fickle and moves from object to object.
To strengthen the love of God, several types of yogic practices,
meditations, forms of worship, initiations, etc are recommended. They
are also difficult to practice. Strict observance of ethical code and
self-control are equally difficult. Action, knowledge and devotion throw
man on himself and require absolute self-reliance. But as a finite
being,
man cannot be perfect in action, knowledge and devotion. Therefore, he
has to surrender his self to God, instead of relying on himself.
Self-surrender includes doing what is in conformity with God’s will, not
doing what is against His will. It involves absolute faith that God
saves men, and all are to surrender to Him for His guidance and
protection. This is true renunciation. The philosophy of Non-Dualism of
the qualified Brahman (Visista-advaita) states that devotion and
self-surrender are essential for salvation. These two are not opposed to
the way of knowledge, but are its consummation.
Pure love is attachment to God alone. It is of the nature of bliss
for the seeker. God cannot be realized by logic or reason. Without
devotion, all penance, rites, austerities become futile. Nor can man
realize God by self-exertion. In the absence of the grace of God, His
vision is not possible. The pure mind of the seeker, seeking God-vision
in ecstasy, is devotion. In essence, it is the cultivation of divine
love for God.
Pure love of a devotee has two characteristics. So intense is one’s love
of God that one becomes unconscious of outer things. One forgets the
world. The second is that one has no feeling of “mine-ness” toward the
body. One wholly gets rid of the feeling that the body is his. Chaitanya
experienced this kind of love.
‘Pure love (prema) is the rope by which one can tether God, as it
were. Higher than worship is japam; higher than japam is meditation;
higher than meditation is bhava and higher than bhava are mahabhava and
prema. When one attains prema (pure love), one has the rope to tie God.
Whenever one wants to see Him, one has merely to pull the rope. Whenever
one calls Him, He will appear before one’ in the words of Sri
Ramakrishna.
22. This human body, so well-suited for
Thy service, is now readily available for one like a bosom friend or a
dear relative to be used for devotional purposes. So also, Thou art
eager to bless the devotee, being very benevolent to him. But alas!
Ordinary man shows no interest in Thee because of his indulgence in
sense objects of a degrading nature. By this neglect of devotional life,
he becomes an annihilator of the soul. By the force of tendencies
developed through a life of attachment to this body, he roams about in
inferior bodies in this terrible maze of samsara.
One cannot attain God if one has even a trace of desire. Subtle is
the way of dharma. If one is trying to thread a needle, one will not
succeed if the thread has even a slight fiber sticking out.
23. Through remembrance, Thy antagonists attained to the same
spiritual goal as the sages that had established complete control over
their vital force, mind and senses, and meditated on Thee in the their
heart. The Sruti-Devatas look upon Thee as equally present everywhere,
and ever commune with Thy lotus feet. The gopikas of Brindavan that
longed for the embrace of Thy arms, powerful and handsome like Adisesha,
similarly communed with Thy lotus feet.
Whatever is the nature of the passion that moves the devotee, if it
makes him intensely think of Thee, Thy grace is ever on him! To develop
love for God, scriptures indicate that the devotee has to build up an
intimate personal relationship to God. They suggest that God may be
regarded as the devotee’s parent, master, friend, child, husband or
sweetheart. Each succeeding relationship represents a further
intensification of love. These attitudes (bhavas) toward God are known
as santa, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya and madhur.
Santa is the serene attitude. Bhishma of the Mahabharata, on the bed
of arrows after the Great War at Kurukshetra, awaiting physical death
was a glorious example of this attitude. The Vedic seers, too, had this
attitude toward God. They did not desire any worldly enjoyment. It is
like the single-minded devotion of a wife to her husband.
Dasya is the attitude of a servant toward his master. Hanuman had
this attitude toward Rama. A wife feels this attitude toward her
husband, with all her heart and soul. A mother also has a little of this
attitude, as Yasoda toward Krishna. Sakhya is the attitude of
friendship. The cowherd boys of Brindavan had this attitude toward
Krishna.Vatsalya is the attitude of a mother toward her child, like
Yasoda’s attitude toward Krishna. The mother feels happy only when the
child eats to its heart’s content.
Madhur is the attitude of a woman toward her paramour. Radha had this
attitude toward Krishna. A chaste wife feels it for her husband. This
attitude includes all the other four.Unconditional love and longing are
the two requisites for a devotee to attain the Godhead. Bhakti matured
becomes bhava. Next is mahabhava. Next is prema. The last of all is the
attainment of God. These are the conscious state, the semi-conscious
state and the innermost state. In the conscious state, the devotee only
chants the name of God. In the semi-conscious state, he dances in
ecstasy. In the innermost state, he remains in samadhi.
24. Thou art the Primeval Being prior to whom or by whose side there
none else existed. Lo! How can any one who came from Thee, and who is
bound to dissolve into Thee, know Thee? From Thee, the creator Brahma
arose, and from him the two types of divinities. And when Thou enter
into Thy cosmic slumber drawing everything into Thyself, there is
nothing left to be known as gross or subtle or as combination of both,
no movement of time, no scripture. How can anyone, therefore, know the
subtle truth about Thee unless instructed by Thee? So, to practise
devotion to Thee, and win Thy grace is the easier way of salvation for
man.
The Brahman is ontologically prior to everything. IT is, therefore,
to be regarded as the origin of everything. The Vedanta Aphorisms define
the Brahman as that to which the birth, maintenance and destruction of
the world have to be attributed. The Brahman is, therefore, considered
the creator, the sustain er and the destroyer of the world. The
world-appearance is said to have the Absolute Brahman as its cause, in
the same way as the sky (space) is the cause of the growth of the tree,
for the sky does not obstruct its growth. In fact, the Brahman is not an
active causative factor.
The Brahman has no initial cause. It is, therefore, uncreated
(anadikarana). IT has no precedent state. IT is not a product. Nothing
changes to be the Brahman, nor does IT change to anything else. IT does
not undergo modification. The Becoming that arises out of IT takes place
without affecting Its very nature (vivartakarana). Vivarta means change
without being affected by change. The Brahman is changeless.
The Absolute is immaterial; IT is spiritual; so material sources of
light like the sun do not illumine IT. IT is self-luminous. Therefore,
IT is not inert or dark. The Absolute cannot be realized or experienced
by another. Only the Absolute can realize Itself.The path of
discrimination and knowledge is very difficult. Unconditional love and
longing for the Divine are what can take a devotee to the God-head.
Devotion matured
becomes bhava, mahabhava and prema (unconditional love), in that order. Prema is the attainment of God.
25. Different philosophers have different theories of Reality. The
Vaiseshikas say that real entities arise from a previous state of
non-existence. Naiyayikas have the theory that existent entities perish.
The Samkhyas contend that the Spirit is many and, therefore, different
in each body. The Mimamsa-ritualists find the truth in the fruits of
ritualistic works. All these theories are guess-work based on
misconception. So also, the materialist’s theory that man is a product
of the three gunas of Prakrti and that every being is, therefore, a
separate and perishable individual, is a theory based on the ignorance
of Thy nature. For Thou, Pure Consciousness, in whom ignorance has no
place, is the ultimate Truth.
The Reality is that which exists in the beginning and in the end.
The Reality is only one and that is the Self. It is Pure-consciousness
and eternal in nature. To one with the Reality, there is neither the
mind nor the three states of waking, dream and deep sleep. There is,
therefore, no extroversion. The state of the sage with the Reality is
the ever-awake state. He is ever awake to the eternal Self. His is the
ever-dreaming state as the world is no better than a repeatedly
presented dream phenomenon for him. His is the ever deep-sleep state as
he is without his body consciousness ever.
Reality must always be real. It has no names or forms. It underlies
all limitations, being limitless. It is not bound in any way. Being
real, It is That Which Is. It transcends speech and is beyond
description such as being or non-being. That alone is real, which exists
by itself, which reveals itself by itself and which is eternal and
changeless. Reality is Being, Pure existence, Consciousness.
Reality alone exists as a perfect undivided whole. The awareness of
this Reality alone is the Truth. There is no other reality. The Reality
is in the form of experience throbbing within one’s real self.
26. This universe of the three gunas, a mental projection, and the
individual self or the Jiva, are asat, something non-existent in
themselves, but become sat, or derive existential value, because of Thee
who art the substance behind them. The knower of the Self, therefore,
recognizes all this as sat or existing, because everything is an
expression of Thyself. A product of gold is not rejected as illusory
because it exists in identification with its substance, gold. Having
manifested the universe, Thou dost indwell it as its substance as gold
abides in all its products.Even as the UN-carved image is forever
present in a block, the world is inherent in the Absolute, whether we
regard the world real or unreal. The Absolute is, therefore, not void.
As in the tangible ocean, tangible waves are seen, in the formless
Brahman, the world also exists without form. From the Infinite, the
Infinite emerges and exists in It as the Infinite. Hence the world has
never been really created – it is the same as that from which it
emerges.
Water in the mirage does not come into being and go out of existence.
So this world, too, does not come out of the Absolute, nor does it go
anywhere. The creation of the world has no cause and, therefore, it has
had no beginning. It is only an appearance based on the reality of the
Brahman. It is not independent of the Brahman. The Brahman alone exists.
27. Those who adore Thee as the soul and substance of everything
overcome death. The others, who are averse to this truth, are bound by
Thee to the life of samsara like animals, with the rope of Vedic
ritualism, even though they are great scholars. Those who love Thee
purify the worlds, not the others who put on a garb of spirituality
withoutm love of Thee at heart.There are three kinds of formal devotion – tamasic, rajasic and sattvic.
While showing devotion to God, if a person is actuated by arrogance, jealousy or anger then his devotion is tamasic. It is said to be influenced by the quality of inertia.If a person worships God for fame or wealth or any otherworldly ambition, then his devotion is rajasic. It is said to be influenced by the quality of activity.
If a person loves God without any thought of material gain, if he performs his duties to please God alone, and if he maintains the attitude of friendship and goodwill towards all, then his devotion is called sattvic. It is said to be influenced by the quality of harmony.
But the highest devotion to God transcends the three qualities. It is a spontaneous and uninterrupted inclination of the soul towards God. Such devotion springs up spontaneously in the heart of a true devotee, as soon as he hears the mention of God or His attributes. A devotee possessing love of God of this nature desires nothing even if he is offered the happiness of Heaven in whatever way it is conceived.
The devotee’s desire is only to love God under all conditions – in pleasure and pain, honour and dishonour, prosperity and privation.
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