If you cannot focus your mind steadily on Me, then O Dhananjaya, desire to attain to Me through the Abhyasa Yoga (Yoga of constant practice).
In the previous shloka, Shri Krishna asked Arjuna to focus his mind and intellect on Him (God or Atman). People who try to focus their minds on God know very well how difficult that task is. In the Gita chapter six (shlokas 33 and 34), Arjuna had already expressed his concerns about the difficulty in focusing his mind. He had said, “O Madhusudan! Because of the restlessness of the mind, I don’t see I can attain and established in the Yoga of Equanimity. O Krishna! The mind is restless, turbulent, powerful, and unyielding. To control this mind is as difficult as controlling the wind.”
Arjuna, a mighty warrior who can defeat any powerful enemy on the battlefield through his archery, admits that he has difficulty controlling his mind. Also, remember when Dronacharya was testing all the Pandavas and Kauravas on the required concentration in archery; Arjuna was the only one who passed the test by saying, “he sees only the bird’s eye.” This shows that one can have a full concentration on worldly matters, but it is a different situation when we need to focus our minds on God.
As we had discussed before, the mind is a reservoir of “samskaras,” the impressions of past thoughts, speech, and actions. Based upon these “samskaras,” it has desires and plans to be happy, which in reality create obstacles in the spiritual path. Mind is not going to think of God until it realizes that most of its plans for happiness are futile and will bring untold sufferings and miseries, along with little short-lived happiness. Through our pure intellect’s ability to analyze and reason, we have to convince our mind that God Realization is the only worthy goal of life in order to attain what we are trying to attain in the world, and for that, we have to focus our mind on God.
Reminding the mind of the futility of the cravings and fulfillments of worldly desires, we have to withdraw the mind again and again from all worldly objects and focus it on God. This is Abhyasa Yoga, which Shri Krishna asks us to practice. When we realize that our life will be futile without God Realization, then intense longing develops, and our mind easily gets focused on God.
Also, whenever the mind runs away from God and starts thinking about other things, we should not join with it. We should not identify ourselves with our minds, but step aside as an intellect and observe its activities. Many times, when the mind finds that it is being observed, it gets embarrassed and stops running around. Mind goes where its treasure is. Tracking down our mind we find what worldly desires and objects we cherish. Once we know these desires and objects, then we can work on our mind through intellect to reduce the unnecessary desires and convince it to stop running after them.
As we read in the great epic Ramayana, when Rishis were performing Yajnas (special worship of God), the demons used to come and throw filthy and disgusting things to create problems and interrupt the worship. Similarly, the deluded mind creates disturbances when one tries to focus it on God. Here, the obstacles are our own distracting thoughts. We have to follow the great Rishi Vishwamitra’s example to stop the obstructions and disturbances. He asked Sri Rama and Lakshmana (two great archers) to guard his worship. Similarly, Shri Krishna is advising us to keep two great archers, namely Abhyasayoga (constant practice) and Vairagya (renunciation of distracting thoughts, speech, and actions), ready to support our spiritual efforts. These two can definitely remove all our obstacles in focusing our minds on God.
Shri Krishna’s solution shows great understanding of the human mind and tells us proven techniques to control the mind, an impossible job for many. Abhyasa Yoga is a path of repeated efforts of focusing the mind on God. As tiny drops constantly falling on a stone make a hole in the stone, similarly, bringing the mind again and again to God tames our mind by developing a habit. We find that children learn a new thing by repeating it several times. In kindergarten, all children look alike. But, after several years of study and practice, some become medical doctors, some engineers, some teachers, some athletes, some artists, and other professionals. Similarly, by proper guidance and repetition of God’s name, the mind develops love for God, and it can be focused on God. In order to make spiritual progress, Sri Ramakrishna repeatedly mentioned the following spiritual practices: repeating God’s name and glories, holy company, regular prayers, going into solitude, and sincerely praying to develop love for God.
When our desire to attain God becomes intense, then we make sincere efforts. Then, we are ready to renounce whatever obstacles come in our way, and our minds get more focused. We have to use various methods to teach the mind how to develop love for God, as loving parents raise their children and try to teach them good habits. We should not exert too much force and break the mind either. Mind is a delicate thing, and we have to handle it as carefully as we handle a beautiful, delicate flower vase. Through our minds only, we are going to realize God. Mind is a powerful thing. When it focuses on God, we acquire the highest knowledge and experience the infinite bliss.
In Mundaka Upanishad (2.2.4), Rishi says, “Om is the bow; the mind is the arrow; the Brahman (God) is its target. Hit the target with a focused mind and become one with Brahman as the arrow-head merges into its target.”
8. Focus your mind on Me, engage your intellect in Me. Then (afterwards) you will live in Me without any doubt.
Swami Vivekananda, in his Raja Yoga book, gave a picture of the state of the mind. He said, “There was a monkey, restless by his own nature, as all monkeys are. As if that was not enough, someone made him drink wine, so that he became still more restless. Then a scorpion stung him. When a man is stung by a scorpion, he jumps about for a whole day; so the poor monkey found his condition worse than ever. To complete his misery, a demon entered him. What language can describe the uncontrollable restlessness of the monkey? The human mind is like that monkey. Incessantly active by its own nature, it then becomes drunk with the wine of desire, thus increasing its turbulence. After desire has taken possession, comes the sting of the scorpion of jealousy at the success of others; and last of all, the demon of pride enters the mind, making it think itself all-important.”
Adi Shankaracharya says in Viveka Chudamani, “There is no ignorance other than one’s own (impure) mind. The (impure) mind itself is the cause of the bondage of the world. When the (impure) mind is destroyed, then all the ignorance will be destroyed. When the (impure) mind manifests, then the world of ignorance manifests. In the dream world, even though there is no contact with the outside world, the mind, alone with its own power, creates a whole universe and an enjoyer. Similarly, it is not different when a person is physically awake. In that state also, the same mind creates a whole world for the person.”
The problems of a person are in his/her mind, and so are the solutions to the problems. The impure or deluded mind is the source of all the problems in our lives. However, when the same mind becomes pure and free from delusions, it acquires knowledge and leads us to God, or Atman, or our true Self.
Usually, we are under the control of our minds. We run around like slaves by the whims of our minds. The mind constantly creates turbulence in itself by creating diverse thoughts and doubts. In the spiritual path, an aspirant has to control one’s mind and guide it towards the highest knowledge. To guide one’s mind, one needs a part of the mind that is calm and analytical. This analytical part of the mind is called the intellect. When this intellect becomes unbiased, impartial, and objective, then it can guide the whole mind in the right direction.
In the mind we have ‘samskaras,’ the past impressions of all our thoughts, speech, and actions. If we have repeatedly performed an act, then it creates a deep impression in our mind, which we call a habit. This habit is so powerful that even though our intellect or conscience says ‘not to perform a certain act,’ the mind, out of habit, tells our senses to perform it. The mind is full of such habits, impressions, and cherished ideas. To go against these habits and impressions is a very difficult task. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to control our minds. Mighty Arjuna tells Shri Krishna says (Gita 6.34), “O Krishna! The mind is restless, turbulent, powerful, and unyielding. To control the mind is as difficult as to control the wind.” Shri Krishna agreed with Arjuna’s statement and said (Gita 6.35), “O mighty Arjuna! Undoubtedly, the mind is restless and difficult to control. But, through ‘abhyasa’ (repeated practice) and ‘vairagya’ (renunciation), the mind can be controlled.”
In the path of devotion, the mind can be controlled easily by singing the name and glories of God. Mind likes to repeat something, a name, a form, an incident, or a thought. If we develop a habit of repeating God’s name, then the mind calms down. The mind needs food for thought. When we do not provide good food for thought to the mind, then it picks up anything that is easily available. As a proverb says, ‘an idle mind is a devil’s house.’ A devotee of God or a seeker of Truth must fill the mind with inspiring ideas and plans to realize Atman and should constantly focus the mind on the goal of God-realization. The mind is very receptive. It picks up thoughts from the environment. Sri Ramakrishna said that “The mind is like a white cloth just returned from the laundry. It will be red if you dip it in red dye and blue if you dip it in blue. It will have whatever color you dip it in.” Therefore, holy company is very necessary. We have to keep our minds constantly in a positive and inspiring environment. A strong and determined mind influences a weaker mind.
Swami Adiswaranandaji said that a thought has to be replaced by a counter thought, speech by counter speech, and an action by a counter action. If we had thought about worldly things, then we have to think about Godly things. If we had uttered day and night words of lust, anger, greed, and jealousy, then we have to talk about love for God, calmness of mind, simple living, and finding virtues in people. If we had acted improperly, then we have to counteract by performing proper actions. Swami Adiswaranandaji said that if the impressions in our minds are due to actions, then we cannot replace them with speech or thoughts. Thus, to make spiritual progress, we have to engage ourselves in spiritual thoughts, speech, and actions in order to remove unfavorable impressions from our minds and to develop favorable ones.
According to the domination of the three gunas, Tamas, Rajas, and Sattva, the mind could be in a dull, restless, or serene mood, respectively. Except for required sleep, the dullness of the mind must be controlled by goal-oriented activities, which include one’s duties. Too many activities make the mind restless. Therefore, morning and evening prayers, japa, meditation, study of scriptures, holy company, and constantly keeping an eye on the goal of God realization help to control our activities and guide them towards the goal. Mind likes to be controlled. When the mind is under control by pure intellect, it becomes our great companion. A pure, serene, and focused mind has a tremendous capacity to give us an infinite source of inspiration, knowledge, and bliss.
We all know that usually the head and heart go in different directions. But, when they both get united to attain a certain higher goal, then our urge to acquire that goal becomes more intense and our enthusiasm multiplies a thousand times. Shri Krishna asked Arjuna to combine his head and heart and focus them on God.
We talked about ways to focus our minds on God. How to focus the intellect on God? In general, for a spiritual path, the intellect, the analytical part of the mind, gets convinced first. Mind jumps around to fulfill infinite desires. Even though the intellect protests, the mind, to fulfill its countless desires, drags the person down from its balanced, calm state to various disturbed and confused levels and then makes him/her go through various joyful and sorrowful experiences. Usually, we have more bitter experiences than joyful ones. After a series of bitter experiences or realizing the futility of worldly achievements, intellect refuses to be dragged down by the mind. Then, the intellect gets drawn to the teachings of wise people, and in particular, to the spiritual path. The desire to make spiritual progress may also arise from studying scriptures and/or the company of holy people and devotees. After reflecting upon the teachings of scriptures and saints, the intellect makes a decision to have a spiritual goal. Also, one starts recognizing the difference between activities that take one towards God and those that take one away from God. This sense is called ‘Viveka,’ the sense of discrimination. It is most needed in the spiritual path. ‘Viveka’ will get more and more refined through spiritual practices. It controls the mind and guides a devotee to God.
At some point, a devotee realizes that God or Atman is his/her home. As we crave to go home after a long trip or from running around for a long time, a devotee, after getting tired of the futile worldly activities, feels going to God, an abode of bliss and peace. Shri Krishna assures Arjuna that if he focuses his mind and intellect on God, he will definitely be in communion with God and attain the highest knowledge and bliss, even in this life. I would like to think ‘hereafter’ means after God Realization.
The following words of Sri Ramakrishna summarize what a spiritual seeker should do to realize God. He said, “Repeat God’s name and sing His glories and keep holy company; and now and then visit God’s devotees and holy men. The mind cannot dwell on God if it is immersed day and night in worldliness, in worldly duties and responsibilities; it is most necessary to go into solitude now and then and think of God. To fix the mind on God is very difficult, in the beginning, unless one practices meditation in solitude. …To meditate, you should withdraw within yourself or retire to a secluded corner or to the forest. And you should always discriminate between the Real and the unreal. God alone is real, the Eternal Substance; all else is unreal, that is, impermanent. By discriminating thus, one should shake off impermanent objects from the mind.”
6-7 But those who worship Me, renouncing all their actions in Me, considering Me as their supreme goal, and meditate on Me with single-minded concentration, to them, whose minds are thus absorbed in Me, O Partha, without any delay, I become their Savior and save them from the ocean of worldly sufferings and mortality.
Reflections:
For most people, the Path of Devotion (Bhakti Yoga) is a relatively easy path for spiritual development. Shrimad Bhagavatam (11.10.8), a renowned spiritual scripture for Bhakti Yoga, teaches us the following “Even though a person who is not established in renunciation, is not detached from the world, but by listening to My (God’s) glories by chance develops love for Me (God), then the Path of Devotion (Bhakti Yoga) brings successful spiritual results in the life of that person.” Love for God brings positive changes in a person’s life. It fills the heart and mind of the devotee with sublime joy and makes human life meaningful and worth living. The presence of true devotees inspires people to be good and do good.
In these shlokas, Shri Krishna clearly mentions four spiritual practices or the requirements for the devotees to attain liberation or freedom from all bondages through the path of devotion. Narasimha Mehta, a great Gujarati Saint and poet, has written that the devotees of God do not seek liberation, but instead, they ask God to give them a human birth, again and again as devotees, so that they can enjoy loving God and singing God’s glories. However, to the devotees who are established in the following four spiritual practices, Shri Krishna promised that He would immediately lift them out of the ocean of suffering and mortality.
(1) Consider God as the supreme goal:Among all these requirements, the first is to make a resolve that God-realization is the goal of life. God-realization means realizing one’s own “True Divine Identity”. Until this resolve is made, one cannot begin a spiritual journey.
To be a devotee, one must be convinced that worldly pursuits and achievements are incapable of providing what one is seeking: knowledge that brings meaning to life, removal of sufferings or developing strength to bear these suffering with a clam mind, bliss or everlasting happiness, love for all, removal of all fear, including fear of death, and fulfilment. On the other hand, we find many examples of devotees who have attained all the above things through spiritual practices, love for God, and God’s grace. As this conviction strengthens, a devotee becomes increasingly focused on realizing God and engages in spiritual practices earnestly.
(2) Renouncing all actions to God: Once God-realization has been established as the goal of life, a devotee should try to integrate all activities to help achieve that goal. Renouncing all actions to God means performing all actions with the intention of realizing God.
A few blessed souls realize intently that God-realization is the only goal of life, and they renounce everything to achieve that goal. All other people live in the world, and they have to learn how to work that help them to realize God. This is the Karma Yoga Shri Krishna taught to Arjuna and all of us.
For that, first, we have to determine our responsibilities or duties. Our collective responsibilities are referred to as ‘Our Dharma.’ According to one’s position in life, each person has responsibilities to fulfill for the family, society, and the world. A devotee considers these responsibilities as given by God. For example, a student has to study, build up a moral and spiritual foundation, take care of his/her parents and siblings, and try to help people in society. An adult has to earn money, take care of the family, and fulfill his/her social responsibilities. If we do not meet these responsibilities, they create direct or indirect obstructions to focusing our minds on God. On the other hand, if we consider fulfilling these responsibilities as God’s work, sincerely perform our best, and offer them to God, then they become our spiritual practices and help us advance in our spiritual path. Performing our responsibilities in this manner, we feel God’s presence in all our work..
We must be careful to limit our required responsibilities to the minimum and not increase them to fulfill our worldly desires. Otherwise, we may not have time for our spiritual practices, such as regular prayer, studying scriptures, having Holy Company, doing japa and meditation, and unselfish service. All our spiritual practices must be for the development of love for God and ultimately for God-realization.
After the completion of each work, we have to offer the result to God. This way, each work develops our love for God, and the result will not disturb our minds. If a good result comes, we thank God for providing the opportunity and ability to do good work. If failure or an unpleasant result occurs, we must consider how to improve our future performance. If we have done our best and failure comes, we tell God, ‘This is the best I can do. Please let me know my weaknesses and help me in the future.’ A devotee will not perform any action for worldly gain, including name and fame. All worldly gain creates disturbances in the mind and takes us away from God. Shri Krishna reminds Arjuna of the path of Karma Yoga, which he taught him in the Gita, chapters 2-5.
In the Bhagavad Gita (9.27-28), Shri Krishna says, “Whatever act you perform, whatever you eat, whatever you sacrifice (perform yajna), whatever you give in charity, whatever austerity you perform, offer all of these to Me. Those who have thus offered everything to Me become free from the bondages of the good or bad results of their actions, and they realize Me.” Thus, offering all the results to God helps us attain God and freedom from all bondages.
Sri Ramakrishna says we do not have to renounce anything. We have to turn the face of everything towards God. He said it in Bengali, “mod phiriye dao”. Desire to realize God, get angry when we do not make spiritual progress, be jealous of those who have realized God, have an ego that ‘I am a servant of God or I am a devotee of God, and I must not do wrong things, etc.
When we perform all our activities as an offering to God, we renounce our little ego and become God’s instruments. Just as a person who represents a country acquires tremendous power, a devotee surrendering to God acquires infinite power within.
(3) Meditate and worship God with single-minded concentration or devotion: Yoga means to connect our mind with God. “Through Ananya Yoga” means having single-minded devotion and determination to realize God. When God-realization is established as the sole goal of life, a devotee develops single-minded devotion. Where there is single-minded devotion, there is single-minded concentration, which leads to ‘Dhyana’ (meditation). Such concentration brings the realization of God.
Sri Ramakrishna says that a thread cannot go through the eye of a needle even if a single fiber of the thread is sticking out. All the fibers of the thread at the end must become one pointed; only then does it go through the eye of a needle. Similarly, only a focused mind can penetrate all the layers of ourselves, namely the body, the subtle forces, the mind, the intellect, and the ego, and realize God residing within us.
In the spiritual path, ‘Upasana,’ or worship, is a dynamic practice. Devotees are constantly trying to lift their minds from the body-mind level to God. Worldly desires bring the mind down from the spirit to the body-mind level. A person who has cravings for worldly desires must go through the cycles of joys and sorrows and is not yet ready to advance on the spiritual path. This means that the person has not yet fully understood that this world cannot give him/her a longer-lasting peace and fulfillment of life. The great Rishi Narada says in the Bhakti Sutra (1.10),
“Anyashrayanam tyaga ananyata,’ giving up all false hopes and completely surrender to God is ‘Ananyata,’ one-pointedness.
We must have one goal in mind – to realize God in this life. Even in worldly pursuits, success often comes when one works with a focused mind for a sustained period. On the spiritual path, where we strive for the highest knowledge, bliss, and immortality, we cannot achieve success with an unfocused mind filled with multiple goals.
(4) Keep the mind absorbed in God: A sincere devotee constantly thinks of God by repeating God’s name, singing God’s glories, reading, listening to, and conversing about God, worshiping God, meditating on God, or doing God’s work. For spiritual progress, we must try to keep our minds absorbed in God in various ways. When one develops love for God, this practice of absorption becomes natural.
Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi tells us that constant remembering of God leads to spiritual awakening. She said, “As you smell the fragrance of a flower while handling it or the smell of sandalwood while rubbing it against a stone, so you obtain spiritual awakening by constantly thinking of God.”
The practice of japa helps us absorb our minds in God. Sri Ramakrishna said, “Suppose there is a piece of timber sunk in the water of the Ganga and fastened with a chain to the bank. You proceed link by link, holding onto the chain, and dive into the water, following the chain. Finally, you are able to reach the timber. In the same way, by repeating God’s name, you become absorbed in Him and finally realize Him.”
In the Bhagavad Gita (9.34), Shri Krishna says, “Focus your mind on Me, be devoted to Me, worship Me, offer your salutations to Me. Having thus disciplined yourself, and regarding Me as the Supreme Goal, you will come to Me.”
Mind takes the form on which it meditates. Swami Chinmayananda said, “When an integrated mind-intellect equipment, with constant practice, gains the capacity to engage it entirely on God, to the exclusion of all agitations and undivine thoughts, then it takes the form of God”.
Amritabindu Upanishad (1.2) says,
“Mind is the cause of bondage and liberation. Mind attached to the objects of the world is the bondage. Mind detached from the objects of the world is the liberation.” The mind makes us slaves, and the same mind makes us free. Actually, the bondage and liberation are in the mind. The Atman (our True Identity) is ever free. It was never bound.
Shri Krishna, the immediate Savior:
Shri Krishna said that Jnana Yogis come to Me, while I lift the devotees, who fulfill the four requirements mentioned above, from the ocean of the “Samsara”, the ocean of delusion, sufferings, and mortality. Devotees who completely surrender to God are sure that their beloved God will take care of them. The word “Samsara” refers to something that is constantly changing and deceives people. It is also filled with small moments of happiness and immense suffering. Shri Krishna does not want His devotees to suffer anymore.
Here, liberation does not mean going to heaven. Going to heaven is like going to a place for vacation. As long as one has money, one enjoys a place of vacation. After the vacation period is over, people come back to their original workplace. Similarly, people enjoy heaven as long as their merits last and then come back to the earth to start all over again. Shri Krishna says (Gita 9.21), “Having enjoyed the vast heavenly world, they come back to the world of the mortals (the Earth) when their merit is exhausted. Thus, abiding by the injunctions of the three Vedas and desiring desires, they are subject to death and rebirth.” Shri Krishna’s lifting up of devotees means that they then live with God. They then attain the highest knowledge. Their impurities and ignorance of the mind have been removed, and the God within them shines through their lives.
In summary, the path of Jnana Yoga is for those who have control over their body, mind, and intellect and can focus their minds on the Atman within, who is the Witness Consciousness. For most people who are attached to their body, mind, and intellect, and have difficulty thinking of Atman as their true Self, the path of Devotion is better. Seekers of both paths ultimately realize Brahman. They ultimately attain the highest knowledge, immortality, and everlasting bliss.
5 However, the path of devotees inclined towards worshipping the Unmanifest God is more difficult. Those who are conscious of their bodies have greater difficulties realizing the Unmanifest God (Brahman).
Reflections:
The Path of Knowledge (Jnana Yoga):
In the previous shloka, Shri Krishna described infinite Brahman with eight epithets and three characteristics of a Jnana Yogi. The path of Jnana Yoga is direct. One has to think that one’s true identity is the Self or the Atman. The body, mind, and intellect are ignorantly projected on the Atman. This Atman and the Infinite form of God, Brahman, are the same. Along with the eight epithets, Brahman is considered Sat-Chit-Ananda, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. It is also described as Truth-Knowledge-Infinite. With these convictions about Atman and Brahman, one has to reflect and meditate on the Atman and realize that ‘I am Atman.’ After realizing one’s true nature as Atman, one lives in the world with the awareness that Brahman has become everything.
However, Shri Krishna says that those who wish to follow this path of worshipping the formless God face more difficulties than those who follow Bhakti yoga, the path of devotion in which they worship God with form. He further says that making progress in the Path of Knowledge is almost impossible for those who have body consciousness. Why is that? Let us reflect on the major difficulties of the followers of Jnana Yoga.
Difficulties in the Path of Knowledge:
(1) Comprehension: It is very difficult to focus the mind on God, who does not have any name, form, or quality. This God is Infinite, Unmanifested, Incomprehensive, and Omnipresent. Whatever we think of, it becomes limited and finite. Our highest idea of the infinite is the sky. But it is manifested and comprehensible. Mind cannot be focused on ‘nothing.’
(2) Self-control: Since the mind has nothing tangible to focus on, it is difficult to control it. On the other hand, the senses run after worldly objects for pleasure, and the uncontrolled restless mind naturally joins the senses and runs after the worldly objects. This makes it difficult to make any spiritual progress.
(3) Discrimination and Dispassion: In the Jnana Yoga, ‘Viveka’ and ‘Vairagya’ are two important practices. ‘Viveka’ is an ability to separate ‘what is Brahman’ and ‘what is not Brahman,’ meaning ‘what is permanent’ and ‘what is not permanent.’ Whatever is perishable is not Brahman. Thus, seekers of the formless God reject everything in the world, saying ‘not this,’ ‘not this.’ Many times, for such seekers, nothing remains after the discrimination. This makes it harder to progress in this path.
‘Vairagya’ is the capacity of the mind to renounce what is not Brahman. In the initial stages of this path, having no concrete idea of Brahman, seekers have difficulty renouncing the world, especially those attached to their bodies. For most people, the attachment to the body and cravings for worldly desires do not go away easily.
(4) Will-power and self-efforts: In this path, one needs tremendous willpower to control the restless and turbulent mind and the senses. Not many people have such willpower. They need an outside help. Seekers of this path need undaunted faith in the words of the scriptures and spiritual teachers. They have to hold on to the belief in the existence of Brahman. Such seekers are like baby monkeys who hold on to their mothers when mothers jump from one branch of a tree to another. If they lose their grips, they fall.
By meditating on the Formless, Infinite, Omnipresent Brahman, a Jnana Yogi must inspire himself/herself to continue on the Path of Knowledge. Compared to Bhakti Yoga, a Jnana Yogi has fewer supportive practices to draw inspiration and motivation.
A Jnana Yogi has to purify one’s mind through self-effort. A mind can fool itself and make compromises. Without purification of the mind, one cannot advance in the spiritual path. Therefore, a Jnana Yogi must take the help of a competent teacher.
(5) False ego: A Jnana Yogi who thinks that ‘I am Brahman’ develops a false ego, a major obstacle in this path. Generally, a person cannot even comprehend that one’s true identity is not one’s body, mind, and intellect, but it is their substratum. The difficulty is that our identities are deeply rooted in our bodies, minds, and intellect.
Only in the highest state of Samadhi (the Nirvikalpa Samadhi) does a person completely merge with the Atman, losing almost total body consciousness. Rare people attain such a stage. People witnessed Sri Ramakrishna going into this stage. In that state, he used to lose the awareness of his body, the place, and the time. When his mind was rising to that state, he used to keep a desire, like ‘I want to drink water’ or ‘I want to eat something.’ Through that desire, he said that his mind used to return to the body-consciousness. This shows how hard it is for most people to attain that state.
If a person has body consciousness and still says, “I am Atman or Brahman,” then great harm comes to the person. Such a person not only falls from the spiritual path, but many times, he/she becomes unethical and immoral, deludes oneself and others, and drags down other people to live a low-level life.
(6) Illusory reality: The Jnana Yoga says, ‘ Brahman is the only Reality, and the universe is a delusion.’ It is very difficult for a person with body consciousness to say that his/her body and the universe are an illusion. Sri Ramakrishna’s Advaita teacher, Sri Totapuri, was established in Jnana Yoga. One day, he developed a stomach pain. He told himself many times that ‘He is not a body. He is Atman, which has no pain or pleasure.’ But the pain continued. He was disgusted with himself and wanted to drown himself in the Ganga. Finally, he accepted that as long as there is body consciousness, he must accept the illusory universe as ‘true.’
The advantages of the Path of Devotion (Bhakti Yoga):
The title of this chapter is Bhakti Yoga. Shri Krishna wanted to point out that it is hard for most people to go beyond their body consciousness, and therefore, Jnana Yoga will be more difficult for them. Hence, for most people, Bhakti Yoga is a relatively easier path. Let us reflect on the major advantages of Bhakri Yoga.
(1) God as a human being: It is natural for a human being to think of God as a human being. As long as a person has a body, God also has a body. In his book ‘Bhakti Yoga,’ Swami Vivekananda says, “Talk as you may, try as you may, you cannot think of God except as a man (human being). You may deliver great intellectual discourses on God and all things under the sun, become great rationalists, and prove to your satisfaction that all these accounts of the Avataras (Incarnations) of God as men are nonsense. But let us come for a moment to practical common sense. What is there behind this kind of remarkable intellect? Zero, nothing, simply so much froth….By our present constitution, we are limited and bound to see God as a man. If, for instance, the buffaloes want to worship God, they will, in keeping with their own nature, see Him as a huge buffalo; if the fish want to worship God, they will have to form an idea of Him as a big fish; and men have to think of Him as a man. And these various conceptions are not due to a morbidly active imagination. Man, buffalo, and fish all may be supposed to represent so many different vessels, so to speak. All these vessels go to the sea of God to get filled with water, each according to its own shape and capacity. In the man, the water takes the shape of a man; in the buffalo, the shape of a buffalo; and in the fish, the shape of a fish. Each of these vessels has the same water of the Sea of God. When men see Him, they see Him as a man, and the animals, if they have any conception of God at all, must see Him as an animal, each according to his own ideal. So, we cannot help seeing God as a man; therefore, we are bound to worship Him as a man. There is no other way.”
Therefore, it is easy for a human being to think of God as a human being. That is why Hinduism provides various forms of God. The devotees choose the forms they like, and it becomes easy for them to focus their minds on them. The Infinite God appears to the devotee in the form of the God he/she worships.
(2) Control of the mind and the senses: In the Path of Devotion (Bhakti Yoga), it is easy to focus the mind on the form of God, which one likes. Also, worshiping God with form helps control one’s senses. The senses find something divine to focus on rather than worldly objects. For example, the eyes want to see God’s form, the mouth wants to sing God’s name and glory, the ears want to listen to God’s name and glories, the hands want to worship God by offering flowers, incense, naivedya, etc., and legs want to visit the places of pilgrimage or Holy People.
(3) Eradication of ego: By thinking of God as Father, Mother, or Master and oneself as God’s child or a servant, one easily eradicates one’s ego. A human relationship with God makes it easy for a devotee to surrender to God completely.
A devotee thinks, ‘ God is everything, and I am nothing.’ ‘Everything belongs to God. Nothing belongs to me.’ Thus, ‘Me and Mine’ turns into ‘Thee and Thins.’
Thinking that ‘I am an instrument in the hands of God,’ a devotee gets rid of ‘doer-ship.’
(4) Incarnations of God: For beginners on the spiritual path, it is easy to get an idea of God through the Incarnations of God. An Incarnation of God exhibits all the qualities of God in human life through his/her words and actions. Shri Krishna says (Gita 4.7-8), “O Bharat (Arjuna)! Whenever there is the decline of righteousness and a rise of unrighteousness, I incarnate Myself. I am born in every age for the protection of the good people, the destruction of the wicked, and the establishment of righteousness.” Humanity needs a human being to guide and show the path of righteousness. Seeing a person who day and night thinks of God and lives a God-centered life inspires us to follow his/her example and mold our lives accordingly. The lives of Incarnations provide concrete examples or role models to which devotees can connect and follow.
The scriptures describe the characteristics of people who have realized God. For example, the Bhagavad Gita describes the characteristics of people with steady intellects, beloved devotees of God, people who have gone beyond the three gunas, and others. The lives of Incarnations provide living examples of these characteristics. It is difficult to believe these states are attainable without seeing such living examples. By imitating them, the devotees develop devotion to God. Also, it is easy to focus one’s mind on the life incidents of the Incarnations. Their lives provide high ethical standards for the devotees, which helps them make spiritual progress.
(5) Grace and Assurance: When a devotee sincerely struggles to make spiritual progress, God showers His/Her grace on the devotee, removes his/her obstacles, and smooths the progress. Saints say that when a devotee goes one step towards God, God moves ten steps towards the devotee. From the Absolute Vedanta point of view, the help comes from within, but the devotee thinks it came from God. However, the devotee’s love for God becomes more intense when he/she feels God showered His/Her grace on him/her.
In the Bhagavad Gita (9.22), Shri Krishna says, “Those who worship Me without thinking of anything else, and are ever devoted to Me, I provide them what they lack and preserve what they have.” With this assurance, a devotee becomes free from any worry. A devotee is sure that the way a father or mother takes care of his/her child, God takes care of me. If a child makes a mistake, the mother worries for the child’s welfare more than punishing the child. A devotee (the worshiper of God with form) is like a kitten whom the mother holds and moves around. There is less danger of falling. Because of the devotee’s love for God, God removes the impurities of the devotee out of compassion.
A devotee is sure that God will provide what he/she needs. Sri Ramakrishna used to say that the Universal Mother can even give me the knowledge of Brahman if she will.
Problems with the Bhakti Yoga:
Most people find the Path of Devotion (Bhakti Yoga) relatively easy. However, people are of various kinds. Some people have analytical minds. They like to reason and accept answers that convince their intellect. They ask questions regarding God with form: ‘Who is God? Is God a man or woman? Where does God live? If God is compassionate, why is there so much misery in the world? Does God favor some and punish other people? How can a God with form be infinite or eternal? Were Rama, Sita, Krishna, Radha, Shiva, and Parvati born in the past, or are they just people’s imaginations? People make pictures or statues of gods and goddesses from their imaginations. The different parts of India have different kinds of pictures or statues of Rama, Sita, Krishna, Radha, Shiva, Parvati, and others. Thus, many questions come to the minds of people who like to reason. Analytic-minded people need convincing answers before they accept God with form.
Also, people get turned off from the Bhakti Yoga for several reasons. The following are a few examples of followers of Bhakti Yoga, who turn off rational-minded people. (i) People wear external spiritual marks and make a big show, but their characters don’t match the characteristics of the devotees described in the scriptures. (ii) People become fanatics about the forms of God they worship and try to convince other people that their forms of God are superior, and all must accept them as superior. Fanatics even kill people in the name of religion. (3) People mix up emotions and devotion. They lose their ability to separate what is right and what is wrong. They even lose rational thinking and common sense. For example, in one place, from early morning, a saint’s devotees were celebrating his 90th birthday with extended worship of the saint’s photo. It was 1:00 p.m., and the worship was still going on. The saint was hungry and wanted to eat. The devotees said they would give him food after the picture’s concluding worship, ‘arati.’ (iv) People with temporary sentiments have no lifelong commitment to realizing God. They feel that a temporary emotion is devotion. (v) God loves all, but priests of some temples discriminate and prohibit certain people from entering the temples.
The Path of Devotion mixed with Knowledge:
Sri Ramakrishna encouraged devotees to have devotion mixed with Knowledge of Atman. When devotees develop such devotion, they do not become fanatics. They know that they are worshipping the Absolute Formless God in the form of their ‘Ishta Deva,’ their chosen ideal. Different forms of God are representing the same Brahman, the Formless God. Therefore, there is no need to quarrel comparing various forms of God trying to prove ‘my God is superior.’ A devotee knows very well that it is easy to start focusing one’s mind on God with form. That is why one selects a form of God one likes to worship and starts his/her spiritual practices. As the devotee advances in the spiritual path, his/her body consciousness becomes less and less, and he/she becomes qualified to realize the formless God. Also, when a devotee develops devotion with the Knowledge of Brahman, he/she can understand and follow Bhakti Yoga properly and does not deviate from the path by wrong interpretations.
Sri Ramakrishna showed from his life how to combine devotion with the Knowledge of Brahman. Sri Ramakrishna first realized God as Mother Kali, and then he experienced the Omnipresent, Infinite, and Formless God. Sri Ramakrishna described this experience in his own words: “Tota Puri (Advaita Vedanta teacher) taught me to detach my mind from all objects and plunge it into the heart of Atman. But, despite all my efforts, I could not cross the realm of name and form and lead my spirit to the Unconditional state. I had no difficulty in detaching my mind from all objects, with the one exception of the too-familiar form of the radiant Mother (Kali), the essence of pure knowledge, who appeared before me as a living reality. She barred the way to the beyond. I tried on several occasions to concentrate on the precepts of the Advaita Vedanta, but each time, the form of the Mother intervened. I said to Tota Puri in despair: ‘It is no good. I shall never succeed in lifting my spirit to the “unconditioned” state and find myself face to face with the Atman.’ He replied severely: ‘What! You say you cannot? You must!’ Looking around him, he found a piece of glass. He took it and stuck the point between my eyes. I began to meditate with all my might, and as soon as the glorious form of the Divine Mother appeared, I used my discrimination as a sword, and I clove Her in two. The last barrier fell, and my spirit immediately precipitated beyond the plane of the ‘conditioned’; I lost myself in Samadhi.”
After merging with the Brahman, the Formless aspect of God, Sri Ramakrishna again engaged himself in singing the glories of Mother Kali. He showed that as long as there is body consciousness, one should think of God with form. The experience of Formless God is possible only in Samadhi.
Sri Ramakrishna provided a nice analogy to combine these two views. He said that when we climb a staircase to reach the roof, at each step, we say, ‘This step is not the roof.’ When we reach the roof, we find that all the steps are made of the same material by which the roof is made. Similarly, initially, we deny everything in the universe as not Brahman, saying, ‘Neti, Neti – Not this, not this.’ After realizing Brahman, we see that Brahman has become everything in the universe. In particular, Brahman is manifesting through all the forms of God.
Different States of Mind:
Swami Vivekananda says that all the various philosophies of God are not contradictory. They represent various states of human minds. Hanumanji and Sant Kabir have expressed it in simple language.
Once, Lord Rama asked his devotee Hanumanji, “How do you look at Me?” Hanumanji replied, “O Rama, when I have body consciousness, I see that ‘Thou art the Master and I am your servant.’ When I am aware of my soul, then I see that ‘Thou art the Whole, and I am your part.’ But, when I am aware that ‘I am Pure Consciousness (Atman),’ I see that “Thou art I and I am Thou.’ This is my firm conviction.
Saint Kabir also showed us how to combine God’s two aspects: formless and endowed with form. He said, “The formless Absolute is my Father and God with form is my Mother.” We love both, and both are needed.
A question:
A question comes to mind: Shri Krishna said (Gita 12.4) that a Jnana Yogi comes to Me and becomes one with God. Then, what happens to those who think of God with form? We find the answer in the following shlokas.
Let us reflect upon what Shri Krishna says about the devotees who worship the Infinite, Formless God.
3 -4 “However, those who worship the Imperishable, the Indefinable, the Unmanifested, the Omnipresent, the Incomprehensible, the Unchangeable, the Immovable, and the Eternal, having controlled their senses, being even-minded everywhere, engaged in unselfish service to all, definitely reach Me only.”
In the first shloka of this chapter, Arjuna mentioned only two epithets of the Formless God (Brahman), namely, the Imperishable and the Unmanifested. In the third shloka, Shri Krishna mentioned eight epithets of Brahman, namely (1) the Imperishable, (2) the Indefinable, (3) the Unmanifested, (4) the Omnipresent, (5) the Incomprehensible, (6) the Unchangeable, (7) the Immovable, and (8) the Eternal. These epithets have been mentioned in the Upanishads.
Shri Krishna says that those who worship the Formless God (Brahman) with these epithets and who are endowed with the three characteristics, namely, (1) having total control over the senses, (2) being even-minded everywhere in all circumstances, and (3) constantly engaged in unselfish service to all, also reach the same highest state as the worshippers of God with form do.
Shri Krishna is a great teacher. He describes various aspects of Infinite Formless God clearly and states all the characteristics needed to attain It. Let us reflect upon the eight epithets and the three characteristics.
The eight epithets are interconnected. If we accept one, we have to accept all. They give us an idea of Brahman, the Formless God, from various points of view. Words cannot describe Brahman, but through words, we try to get an idea of Brahman. Keeping this limitation in mind, let us try to understand these epithets.
(1) The Imperishable (Aksharam): Rishis, the Knowers of Brahman, realized that whatever has a name, a form, and characteristics or qualities is made of five elements, namely, Space, Wind, Fire, Water, and Earth. Whatever has been composed of elements will decompose in time and will perish. Even the five elements came from Brahman or Pure Consciousness, and one day, they will merge into It. Thus, whatever has names, forms, and qualities are perishable.
We have to understand what perishable means. Perishable means going back to its origin, its Ultimate Reality. Swami Vivekananda said in his paper on Hinduism, “…chemistry could not progress further when it would discover one element out of which all others could be made. Physics would stop when it is able to fulfill its services in discovering one energy of which all the others are but manifestations, and the science of religion becomes perfect when it discovers Him (Brahman), who is the one life in a universe of death, Him, who is the constant basis of an ever-changing world, One who is the only Soul of which all souls are but delusive manifestations.”
Thus, the Rishis realized that there is only One Ultimate Reality called Brahman, which is the cause of the creation, preservation, and dissolution of the universe. They realized further that Brahman alone appears as the universe. Out of ignorance, a human being sees Brahman as entities confined to names, forms, and qualities, including oneself.
The title of the eighth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita is ‘Akshara Brahma Yoga,’ ‘The Path to the Imperishable Brahman.’ At the beginning of the chapter, Arjuna asks, “What is Brahman?” Shri Krishna replies, “Brahman is the Imperishable, the Supreme.’ Thus, the Vedanta scriptures declare that Brahman is Imperishable, the Ultimate Realiity.
Brahman is Imperishable because It is devoid of names, forms, and qualities. Since It is the Ultimate Reality, It does not decompose any further. Examples have been given to understand the relationship between Brahman and the universe. (1) Golden ornaments like rings, necklaces, and earrings have names, forms, and qualities, and they look different from each other, but in reality, they are nothing but gold. When the ornaments are melted in the fire, what remains is nothing but gold. Here, the gold is the Ultimate Reality for the ornaments. (2) A kid makes objects and people from the moisturized sand on the ocean bank. After some time, he/she destroys all the forms, and what remains is the sand. Here, the sand is the Ultimate Reality for all the sand objects. (3) A movie is projected on a screen. Various characters and situations appear on the screen. People are born, they live, and they die. But, all the time, the screen remains the same. It was the screen that appeared as characters and situations, but all the time, the screen was without names, forms, and qualities that we saw in the movie. The screen was the substratum. Similarly, due to ignorance of the Ultimate Reality, we see the universe in Brahman with all the objects and beings. The universe is created, sustained, and dissolved in Brahman. (4) Consider the Brahman or Pure Consciousness to be an ocean. In the ocean, various waves appear, remain there, and then dissolve into the ocean. The waves have names, forms, and qualities, and they look different than the ocean. But in reality, all the waves are nothing but the ocean water. Similarly, Pure Consciousness appears as objects and people, but ultimately, they are not different from Pure Consciousness. Also, Pure Consciousness or Brahman is always there. It is Imperishable.
(2) The Indefinable (Anirdeshyam): The meaning of Anirdeshyam is also something we cannot point out. If we point out a thing means, we can define it. We can define a thing with a name, form, and qualities. Since Brahman is devoid of name, form, and qualities, It is indefinable.
Sri Ramakrishna said that Brahman has not become ‘Jhutha.’ If we touch food with our mouth, then it is considered as ‘Jhutha’ or polluted. He said that Brahman cannot be described by our mouth, so It is never polluted or limited. Whatever we describe becomes limited by those words. Brahman is beyond all our descriptions. Brahman manifests as the whole universe and is beyond. Brahman is Unmanifested. Therefore, It cannot be defined.
Sri Ramakrishna quoted one incident from the scriptures. A father sent his two sons to Ashrama to learn Vedanta. After learning for some time, they came home. Father asked the older son, ‘What is Braman?’ The son started describing Brahman with various epithets. The father didn’t say anything. He then turned to the younger son and asked the same question. The younger son kept his head down and didn’t say anything. From his gestures, it was clear that he could not describe Brahman. The father said, “Well, you have understood somewhat what Brahman is.”
(3) The Unmanifested (Avyaktam): Whatever is manifested has a name, form, and quality. Whatever has a name, form, and quality will perish. Brahman is Imperishable. Hence, it is not manifested.
A question comes. What is the purpose of talking about something that is not manifested? For pure Advaitist, this universe is a dream and has no real existence. Everything is Brahman, but by ignorance or delusion created by Maya, the power of Brahman, we see the universe. In the dream, there is nothing there, but we create a huge baseball field, thousands of people, and a game or various situations of joys and sorrows. When we wake up, we find nothing else but ourselves. Knowledgeable people say that, in reality, there is only Brahman, but because of our desires, ignorance, or delusion, we see a variety of things with names, forms, and qualities. Knowledgeable people say that when we get rid of our ignorance or delusion, then, just like the dream world, this world also disappears, and we see only one Reality, Brahman. Then, we understand that whatever is manifested is perishable, and Brahman is not manifested.
Shri Shankaracharya gives examples to illustrate how, due to delusion, we see things differently. He said that there is a rope lying on the floor, but in the semi-darkness, we see it as a snake and get scared. When we bring light, then we see the reality. Another example is a mirage. On a hot summer day, we see water on the ground. But, if we go closer, we find no water at all. Thus, through ignorance or delusion, we see names, forms, and qualities, but the ultimate reality is Brahman or Pure Consciousness. Thus, manifest is the universe, and Brahman remains unmanifested.
There are saints and sages like Sri Ramakrishna who say that the universe is not a dream. Sri Ramakrishna said that he accepts everything, Brahman, Its Power Shaki (or Maya), Ishwara (the creator, preserver, and dissolver), Universe, and Jiva (individuals), as true. As long as we have body consciousness, we are aware of Shakti, Ishwara, Universe, and Jiva. Only in the state of Samadhi does the universe not exist when an individual completely merges with Brahman and has no separate existence. He said that if we accept that only Brahman exists and nothing else, the total weight is not counted. Sri Ramakrishna gave an example. Bel fruit has an outer skin, an inner fruit substance that people eat, and its seed. If people say that when we buy the bel fruits, the seller must weigh only the eatable inner substance, then the seller would not agree. The seller will say that the bell fruit consists of all three things, and he/she must weigh the complete bel fruit. Thus, Brahman is the manifested universe and the Unmanifested.
What we see in the universe is the tip of an iceberg. The manifested universe is just a fraction of what is un-manifested. How many kinds of human beings, animals, insects, fish, plants, and stars have been born, are being born, and will be born in the future? If the Un-manifested Brahman is finite in nature, it creates only a finite number of varieties. Time is infinite, and in this time, infinitely many varieties of species have been born in the past, being born in the present, and will be born in the future. Even though this manifested universe looks infinite, Brahman is all of this and beyond. Ishopanishad says Brahman is infinite, and this universe is infinite. Infinite (universe) came from the infinite (Brahman) and infinite remains.’ From this point of view, a part of Brahman is manifested and most of it is unmanifested.
(4) The Omnipresent (Sarvatragama): Brahman is all-pervading. If Brahman is not somewhere, it has a limit and a shape. Whatever has a shape perishes. Therefore, Brahman is everywhere. Ishopanishad says that everything in the universe is covered by the Lord (Brahman).
It is hard for people to think that God is in both the harmless and the harmful plants, and animals, and in good and bad people. Initially, we try to see God in good plants, animals, and people. Later, when we advance in the spiritual path, we understand God is also in the bad people. Bad people cover God with their bad acts. When the cover of bad thoughts, speech, and actions is removed, God shines through them. Harmful plants and animals also have their purpose in the universe, many of which we may not understand.
(5) The Incomprehensible (Achintyam): Socrates has taught us that the sign of knowledge or wisdom is to know the fact, ‘how little we know.’ This is the reason why wise people are humble. They are aware that the finite human mind cannot know the infinite. After all these years of human research, how little we know! A research paper solves one problem and raises several new problems. Think of a circle. Think that inside the circle is all the knowledge that human beings have collected so far, and outside the circle is the world of the unknown. As the circle of knowledge gets bigger, its circumference, which is touching the world of the unknown, also gets bigger. As our knowledge of the world increases, so does our awareness of our ignorance.
Let us look at the sky. Where is its end? With a powerful telescope, we see galaxies, planets, and stars being created and destroyed trillions of light-years afar. We talk about events that took place several light-years ago, and these are only finitely many events! We go to aquariums and are amazed by the varieties of species, all different in shapes and colors. These are just a few species we have gathered during our finite time. Similarly, in any field, starting from our body and mind to the galaxies, we find that there is an infinite amount of information lying there. Sri Ramakrishna said that a one-gallon container cannot hold ten gallons of milk. Our finite mind cannot comprehend the infinite. Also, we can comprehend things that have names and forms. Such things we can grasp through our senses. Brahman is beyond names and forms. It is a support of all names and forms. Thus, Brahman is Incomprehensible. But, our finite minds can feel the infinite or develop an intuition about the infinite. Spiritual practices are to develop that feel of the infinite and mold our lives based on that experience. Great teachers of humanity have felt that infinite.
Sri Ramakrishna expresses this idea effectively. He said, “Men often think they have understood Brahman fully. Once, an ant went to a hill of sugar. One grain filled its stomach. Taking another grain in its mouth, it started homeward. On its way, it thought, ‘Next time, I shall carry home the whole hill.’ That is the way shallow minds think. They do not know that Brahman is beyond one’s words and thoughts. However great a man may be, how much can he know of Brahman? Sukadeva and sages like him may have been big ants, but even they could carry, at the most, eight or ten grains of sugar!…. Once, a salt doll went to measure the depth of the ocean. It wanted to tell others how deep the water was. But this it could never do, for no sooner had it got into the water than it melted. Now, who was there to speak about the depth?” Anything that we perceive through our senses is finite, and thus, it cannot perceive or describe the infinite.
(6) The Unchangeable (Kutastham): The Sanskrit word “Kuta” has many meanings. In this reference, it means ‘unchangeable.’ Some people use the English word ‘immutable’ to translate it. The known analogy for this word is an anvil. An anvil is a heavy steel or iron block with a flat top, concave sides, and typically a pointed end on which metal can be hammered and shaped. A blacksmith makes various kinds of iron tools or objects by hammering the iron pieces on an anvil. At the end of the day, after all the tools or objects of various shapes are made, the anvil remains unchanged. That is why Brahman has been referred to as ‘Kutastha.’ Brahman is the substratum on which we see various objects with different names, forms, and qualities.
We can also consider ‘Kutastha’ as a television screen. So many people, objects, and situations of various kinds appear on the television screen, but the screen remains unchanged. Similarly, Brahman, due to Its power Maya, appears as various people, objects, and situations with names, forms, and qualities, but It remains unchanged.
Change needs a duality: one that is changing and another that is observing. These two could be the same person looking objectively at oneself as a separate being. Also, change happens in time. A baby is born, and after a few months or years, the baby looks different. People who see this change remember when the baby was born and how it looked. Compared to that moment, now, after a few months or years, people see the change. Babies cannot see the change in themselves unless they look at their old photos and compare them with their present look in a mirror. Thus, to perceive a change, one needs awareness, which is there all the time and is not changing. We perceive changes in the backdrop of Atman or Brahman, an eternal and unchanging awareness, which we call a witness consciousness. If Brahman or Awareness keeps changing, we cannot perceive a change. Time, space, and qualities are projected on Brahman. The reality is that Brahman is beyond time, space, and qualities. The Awareness due to the presence of Brahman and an illusory ego that limits itself to a body-mind frame sees all the changes.
(7) The Immovable (Achalam): Brahman is immovable. To move a thing, one needs room to move. Since Brahman is Omnipresent, there is no room for Brahman to move. Also, things move in space and time. Brahman is the support of time and space and is beyond both. Thus, It is immovable.
(8) The Eternal (Dhruvam): Brahman is Imperishable. Therefore, It is eternal. Brahman is like a pole star. All directions are meaningful because the pole star remains at the same place. Brahman is the cause of the creation, preservation, and dissolution of the universe, so it has to be eternal. All the epithets of Brahman are interconnected. If we accept one, we have to accept all.
Notes: Swami Ramsukhdasji says in “Srimad Bhagavadgita – Sadhaka-Sanjivani” that negative epithets of Brahman, like Imperishable, Indefinable, Unmanifested, Incomprehensible, Immovable, are negative adjectives of Brahman. They show that Braman is different from the universe. On the other hand, the positive epithets, such as omnipresent, eternal, blissful, truth, and consciousness, show Brahman’s independent existence.
Swami Ramsukhdasji also points out that in the Bhagavad Gita, Shri Krishna describes the epithets of Atman, which are the same as the epithets of Brahman. For example, in Bhagavad Gita Chapter Two, shlokas 24 and 25 say, along with other things, the Self (Atman) is Eternal, All-Pervading, Unchanging, Immovable, Unmanifest, and Incomprehensible. This shows that Atman and Brahman are the same.
Three Characteristics: Shri Krishna described three characteristics needed to realize God, especially the Formless God. They are also needed to realize God with form. These characteristics are the signs of the realized people and also the practices of the seekers of a formless God. Let us reflect on these characteristics so that we can practice and develop them in our lives.
(i) Total Control of senses: One sign of a person with God-realization is having total control of one’s senses and mind. For a spiritual seeker, trying to get total control of one’s senses and mind is absolutely necessary. Kathopanishad (2.1.1) says, “The Lord has destroyed the senses by making them extrovert. Therefore, people see outside of themselves and do not see their Self inside. A rare individual with discrimination, desiring immortality, turns one’s eyes inside, and he/she realizes the Atman within.” Most people think that all the joy of life is in the objects of the world. They feel that their desires will be satisfied by worldly objects, and this satisfaction will ultimately make them very happy and help them attain contentment. That is why people run around the world to acquire worldly objects to be happy. As a person’s brain develops and acquires more experiences of the world, one finds that this joy is not in worldly objects. This joy is projected from our mind in the object. When situations change, and with it, mental outlook changes, the same object that was giving joy can give intense pain.
Mature people realize that worldly desires cannot be completely fulfilled. Knowledgeable people say that when we add ghee to a plank of burning wood, then it increases the fire. Pouring more ghee does not put off the fire. Similarly, the more we try to fulfill worldly desires, the cravings to fulfill them become more intense. For example, lust and greed are never satisfied. When we try to fulfill them, initially, we feel some joy, but then, as the cravings become more intense, we forget the joy and feel intense pain for not being able to satisfy them. Also, the efforts to satisfy worldly desires make us slaves of worldly objects. Wise people say, ‘It is good to drink tea, but tea should not drink us.’ We are happy when we live like a master and not like a slave.
A spiritual seeker should have total control of the senses and the mind to realize God. If we do not have control of our senses and minds, how can we focus them on God? Swami Ramsukhdasji says that those who like to realize the Formless God need absolute control of the senses and the mind. Devotees who worship God with form can focus their senses and minds on the form of God, but the worshippers of formless God initially have nothing to focus on.
The senses will be controlled if we control our worldly desires. Sri Ramakrishna expresses the need to control our desires very effectively. He says, “In our part of the country, I have seen peasants bringing water into their paddy fields. The fields have low ridges on all sides to prevent the water from leaking out, but these are made of mud and often have holes here and there. The peasants work themselves to death to bring the water, which, however, leaks out through the holes. Desires are the holes. You practice japa and austerities, no doubt, but they all leak out through the holes of your desires. If there are no desires, the mind naturally looks up toward God.” We pray and meditate on the Atman or Self within and make some spiritual progress. But, if our daily activities are not integrated with the goal of Self-realization, our spiritual progress gets nullified, and we go nowhere.
Senses are very powerful and very difficult to get under control. What to do? Kathopanishad (1.3.3 & 4) says, “Know the Atman (Self) as the master of the chariot, the body as the chariot, the intellect as the charioteer, and the mind as the reins. The people with discrimination call the senses as the horses, the objects of the senses as the roads, and the Self associated with body, mind, and senses as the enjoyer of the ride.” A person whose senses are not under control will have a rough ride in life, and the one whose senses are under control will have a smooth ride. We also learn from these mantras that we have to control our senses by our minds, control our minds by intellect, and control our intellect by our Self or Soul. Initially, we do not have any experience of our Self. Hence, we have to develop our intellect through the study of scriptures and holy company – a company of teachers who have realized the Atman or are committed to realizing It through sincere spiritual practices. We have to reflect upon the teachings of scriptures and develop Viveka, a sense of discrimination that tells us clearly which thoughts and activities will take us towards the Atman and which will take us away from It. With this intellect, we can control our minds, and we can control our senses by our minds. With the sense of discrimination, we make proper choices that help us realize the Atman and avoid things that diverge us from this realization. If we realize that our house is on fire, then we simply run away from the house to save ourselves. In this case, our intellect and mind are convinced that fire will kill us. Similarly, in the spiritual path, once we develop a sense of discrimination and convince the mind about what is favorable and what is not favorable, then through the mind and intellect, we can control our senses.
Which practices help us to control our senses? In the book “Raja Yoga,” Swami Vivekananda states that the Raja Yoga is divided into eight steps. The first step is “Yama,” which consists of non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, continence, and non-receiving of gifts. The second step is “Niyama,” which consists of cleanliness, contentment, austerity, the study of scriptures, and self-surrender to God. These two steps build the foundation for the eight steps to realize Atman. The practice of these two steps brings control to our minds and senses. As we make progress in getting control over our minds and senses, we become fit to focus our minds on the Atman.
Practical Hints:
(a) To control lust, greed, jealousy, anger, or hatred is more difficult. For beginners, it is advised to start with making a daily schedule for spiritual practices, like prayer, japa, meditation, and reading inspiring books. Then, people have to be diligent to maintain this regular schedule. Minds will bring all kinds of excuses to break the schedule, but they should try their best to keep the schedule. This way, people get some control over their minds. Then, it is advised to keep weekly, monthly, and yearly spiritual schedules for special spiritual practices, holy company, and unselfish service.
When we start getting control over our minds, then we can work on removing the weaknesses of the mind and strengthening the positive sides of our minds.
(b) To control our minds, we have to know our minds. Start observing our minds and know their strengths and weaknesses. We get some control over our minds by just knowing our weaknesses. Then we have to work on them cleverly. The difficult part is that we have to control our minds by our minds. Keeping a diary to observe the mind is also helpful. Sincere prayers and an intense desire to control the mind and the senses are most helpful.
(ii) Even-minded in all situations: Suppose a person controls one’s senses and mind. Does this necessarily mean that one is progressing towards one’s Atman? It may not be the case. Many people with worldly goals have control over themselves. That is why Shri Krishna gave three characteristics together. All three characteristics are very important to realize one’s Self or Atman. When one realizes one’s Atman, then one finds that the same Atman resides in all beings and that the Atman does not depend on gender, age, color, creed, religion, or any external differences. Thus, a spiritual seeker of Jnana Yoga, the path of knowledge, realizes Oneness.
The more one advances towards one’s Atman, the more one identifies oneself with others. The pain and pleasures of others become his/her pain and pleasures. Also, this Oneness is not limited to one’s relatives or friends, but it envelops all beings. There is a story that a thief entered a holy man’s hut and stole a couple of pots. The holy man woke up. The thief started running. The holy man saw that the thief was running away with his pots, but he also realized that the thief did not have warm clothes to protect himself in the cold winter. The holy man ran after the thief with a blanket, shouting, ‘Hey fellow! Please stop and take this blanket. You need it badly!’ Such unselfish love is possible only when one realizes Oneness with all beings. Even when a child makes a mistake, the child’s welfare becomes more important for the mother than the punishment for the mistake. A person who has realized Atman will feel that all beings are not different from him/herself.
In the Bhagavad Gita (5.18), Shri Krishna says, “Knowledgeable people see the same Atman in all – whether it be a Brahmin endowed with learning and humility, or a cow, or an elephant, or a dog, or an outcaste.” Of course, dealings with wise people and cows will be different, but a person who has realized the Formless God sees the same Atman in all beings.
Another aspect of being even-minded everywhere is achieving a state of calmness in all circumstances, like pain or pleasure, success or failure, honor or insults, and others. This is achieved when one remains absorbed in Atman under all circumstances, is devoid of all worldly desires, has no expectations from the world, and is ever satisfied being one with Atman.
Practical Hints: First, we try to see and experience the Atman within us through meditation. As we experience the Atman within, we can see Atman in others.
The universe and life constantly bring us opposite situations, like joys and sorrows, successes and failures, honors and insults, etc. Through spiritual practices, we can develop a mind that balances our reactions to these situations and remains calm.
The reactions of the mind are just thoughts. One kind of thought creates disturbances in our mind, while another creates calmness and peace within. Suppose suffering comes, then we can go on complaining and screaming about it and get disturbed thinking, ‘Why me?’ This way, we add more pain to our miseries. On the other hand, devotees, after making all the efforts to remove the cause of suffering, think that God is the controller of everything and that God has sent this suffering either to learn something from it or to exhaust my past karma or something beneficial may come out from this, which I don’t know. Such a thought helps us to go through the suffering with a calm mind. We have to suffer anyway, then why not suffer calmly and strengthen our faith in God? We can apply the same kind of thinking in all unfavorable situations.
(iii) Engaged in selfless service to all: Realization of Oneness naturally leads to selfless service to all beings. A mother feels oneness with her child. As a consequence, she is always ready to serve her child. When a seeker of Truth or a Jnana Yogi realizes that all beings are not different from him/her, then he/she is always ready to serve all beings. Such a service has no worldly motive like material gain or name or fame. Just as the left hand of a person is ready to help the right hand when it is injured, such a realized Jnani is ready to serve all beings, considering them as part of him/herself.
Practical Hints: We can start seeing Atman or Brahman in our family members and friends and render services without any selfish motive, thinking that ‘I am serving God.’ Then, we can expand our circle to all beings. It is also good to get engaged in selfless service projects as offering our worship to the Living God.
Worship of the people who try to realize the formless God:
We know the worship of those who try to realize God with form. They decorate God, offer flowers, incense, lamps, and food, sing God’s glories, do japa, and meditate. What kind of worship of those who try to realize the formless God?
The Jnana Yogis, who try to realize the formless God through the practice of analysis and meditation, make efforts to experience that (i) Brahman alone is real, and all else is unreal, meaning impermanent, (ii) one’s own true identity is Atman, which is Sat-Chit-Ananda (Existence- Knowledge-Bliss Absolute), and (iii) Atman is Brahman. This practice and selfless service to all seeing the same Atman in them are the worship of the Jnana Yogis. In the end, they merge in Brahman.
They also reach Me:
In the second shloka of this chapter, Shri Krishna said that those who worship God with form, whose minds are fixed on Him, are ever steadfast, and endowed with supreme faith are better Yogis. In this shloka, He said that the Jnana Yogis described above, who worship the formless God, also attain Him. In the Bhagavad Gita (7.18), Shri Krishna says that the Jnanis are My very Self. Mundaka Upanishad (3.2.9) says, ‘One who knows Brahman becomes one with Brahman.’ Thus, the Jnana Yogis who worship the formless God also reach the same God realized by the worshippers of God with form. There is nothing higher or lower among the great souls who have realized God either way.
Then, why did Shri Krishna first say that those who worship God with form are better yogis? The answer is in the next shloka.
2. The Lord (Shri Krishna) said, “According to my opinion, those devotees who focus their minds on Me (God with form), are endowed with supreme faith, and constantly engaged in spiritual practices to realize Me, are the best among the two Yogis.”
Sri Krishna said that the devotees who worship God in human form, focusing their minds on God, being ever steadfast and endowed with supreme faith, are well-versed in yoga. However, we should not jump to any conclusion about Sri Krishna’s opinion without reading and reflecting upon His explanations given in the subsequent shlokas. Lord Krishna also talks about His thoughts on those who worship the formless God in these shlokas.
First, let us reflect upon Sri Krishna’s answer. In this shloka, Sri Krishna mentioned three essential aspects of devotion.
(I) “Whose minds are focused on Me”:
(i) The importance of focusing our mind:
To be a Yogi, one must have the capacity to focus one’s mind on God. The human mind has tremendous power. As the concentrated sun’s rays focused through a special lens burns an object, similarly, when the mind is focused on one subject, it penetrates all the layers of the object and finds its deepest secrets. When the mind is focused on God within, it reveals the deepest secrets of one’s true divine nature. Sri Ramakrishna gave an analogy that a piece of thread will not go through the eye of a needle if it is not one-pointed. Even if a single fiber is sticking out, it would not go through the eye of a needle. Thus, without fully focusing our minds, we cannot realize the divinity within or the presence of God. Swami Vivekananda said that if he had to relearn everything in his life, he would first learn how to focus his mind, and then, through that mind, he would easily learn whatever subject he wanted.
(ii) How do we focus our minds?
It is very difficult to focus our minds. Arjuna, who had such a powerful mind, told Shri Krishna (Gita 6.34) that the mind is restless, turbulent, and mighty. Controlling the mind is as difficult as controlling the wind. Shri Krishna (Gita 6.35) agreed to this. He said one can control one’s mind through constant practice (Abhyasa Yoga) and detachment (Vairagya).
There are several ways to practice focusing our minds. A Raja Yogi practices control of the senses and mind and, through regular meditation, tries to focus one’s mind on the Self or God. A Karma Yogi first purifies one’s mind through performing unselfish activities and offering the results of all actions to God. Through such actions, one becomes unselfish and realizes the Self lying within all beings. A Jnana Yogi reasons that only the Self is real, and the world is unreal or illusory. Thus, with reasoning, he/she disregards the world and focuses his/her mind on the Self. A devotee, or a follower of Bhakti Yoga, focuses his/her mind on God through love. When one develops a love for God, the mind gets easily focused. Singing hymns, bhajans, and dhoons that describe God’s glories, sincerely doing regular prayers and japa, worshiping God, reading inspiring books, Holy Company, and practicing values described in the scriptures help develop a love for God. The combination of these yoga practices helps one get control over one’s mind and be able to focus it on God or Self.
Swami Turiyananda says, “Restlessness is the nature of the mind. It becomes calm through prayer and meditation. There is no other method. As a result of spiritual disciplines and by the grace of God, one’s mind becomes tranquil.”
(a) Abhyasa Yoga (Constant Practice):
If our minds run away while praying, japa, or meditation, we must bring them back and focus them again on the Self or God. Many other thoughts may come during this time, but they go away if we don’t associate with them. This process of bringing our minds back on the Self or God is called the Abhyasa Yoga, the Yoga of constant practice. Lovingly explaining the importance of spiritual development may help to bring the mind back and focus on God. Caring parents use various methods to make their children do the required things like eating properly on time, doing their homework, following values, and others. Similarly, we have to guide our minds by various means. We have to be careful not to force the mind unnecessarily, which may damage it. Our mind is the only thing we have to realize our True Identity, the Self or God. We should not lose patience and get frustrated. Sincerely and regularly doing japa and meditation helps us to focus the mind.
Swami Vivekananda says that before we start our japa or meditation, we should pray for the good of all. We can pray, “May all be happy, may all be healthy, may good come to all, and may no one suffer.” Hating none and loving all, seeing God in all helps reduce the distractions of the mind created by negative thoughts.
(b) Vairagya (Practice of Detachment):
A focused mind is anchored in and pervaded by a single thought of God. The Bhagavad Gita gives two analogies regarding such a focused mind: an uninterrupted flow of oil poured from one container to another and the un-flickered flame of a lamp in a windless environment.
Observing our minds, especially during prayer, japa, or meditation, can help us identify which thoughts distract us. The following are major things that usually distract our minds.
(i) Our desires: As long as we have desires for worldly enjoyment, our minds will run after the objects of the enjoyment. When our desire to realize God or make spiritual development becomes more intense than our worldly desires, the mind becomes more focused on God. We have to realize that our desires for worldly enjoyment have been deeply rooted in our minds, and the desire to realize God is relatively new. So, it takes time to make the desire to realize God stronger than all other desires.
Practice of Detachment: We need a clear conviction that spiritual pursuit is most valuable. Worldly pursuits may temporarily satisfy one’s physical, mental, and intellectual needs. Still, as such, they are transitory and have been proven useless when faced with life’s trials and tribulations. A sound spiritual foundation, on the other hand, helps a person to keep one’s mind balanced while going through mental and physical storms, such as frustrations, disappointments, sorrows, boredom, depression, and fear of death.
A mere intellectual understanding of the need for spiritual pursuit is also insufficient. One must mold one’s life according to the guidance of the scriptures and the spiritual teachers and make conscious efforts to advance in the spiritual path. This demands a disciplined life, regular spiritual practices, and a properly cultivated mind.
(ii) Dwelling on the past: The mind tends to run the mental tapes of past incidents, situations, conversations, etc. It wants to add something to them, correct them, or judge them.
Practice of Detachment: We can learn lessons from past mistakes and correct our present plans and actions if necessary. If we have done something good in the past, we must strengthen our resolve to continue doing the same. Other than these two, dwelling on the past is a waste of time. By convincing the mind that brooding over the past is not very helpful, we can stop brooding and help focus it on our Spiritual Goals.
(iii) Dwelling on the future: The mind wants to plan many things to be happy. For that reason, it daydreams about situations and incidents. It likes to imagine many things that bring happiness. Many times, simply through imagination, it also creates fearful situations and worries.
Practice of Detachment: Sometimes, our minds think about very helpful plans for our progress, but most of the time, they daydream and imagine things that are not useful at all. Carefully, we must get out of such imaginations and focus our minds on the Self or God. Also, learning how to focus our minds on the task at hand helps us improve our performance.
(iv) Dwelling on the work: The mind often does the work mentally, which will be done afterward. For example, if we are going to go for groceries after our japa (or meditation), then during the japa, the mind goes over the list of groceries, goes to the store, and starts buying things mentally.
The Practice of Detachment: During japa, if we notice our mind is doing work that we will do afterward, the restless mind gets exposed and stops doing the work. The restless mind does not want to be exposed. If it continues to do it, we must tell our mind that ‘This is a very important time for japa. Don’t waste your time and energy doing the work mentally, which will be done physically later.’ When we sit down for prayer, japa, or meditation, we can also tell our minds, ‘This is my Atman time. Please focus on Atman. Don’t bring anything related to the body and mind.’ Reading an inspiring book before japa and meditation helps the mind dwell on inspiring thoughts rather than others. Thus, we can help the mind remain focused on our spiritual goal.
The focus of the mind is equally proportional to the intensity of our desire to make spiritual progress. So, we have to intensify our desire to realize the Self. Actually, our minds do not have to focus for a long time to establish in meditation and attain the highest state of Consciousness in which we realize the Self. In Raja Yoga, Swami Vivekananda says that if we continuously focus our minds on the Self or God for twelve seconds, it is considered one unit of Dharana (concentration). Twelve units of Dharana, meaning 12 x 12 = 144 seconds = 2 minutes and 24 seconds, is one unit of Dhyana (meditation), and twelve units of Dhyana, 12 x 144 = 1,728 seconds = 28 minutes and 48 seconds, will be a state called Samadhi. Thus, even uninterruptedly focusing our minds for 12 seconds on the Self or God gives us some experience of bliss. However, we can focus our mind easily on something we grasp through our senses, but it is very difficult to focus on the Self or God. Many have attained Samadhi. So, it is not an impossible state. Even trying to go closer to the state of Samadhi fills our lives with abundant peace and bliss.
(ii) “Worship Me, ever steadfast” means constantly trying to unfold the higher Self within.
(a) Success comes with systematic hard work:
In any field of the world, if we want to make progress and attain the desired results, we must work hard for a long time. Sri Ramakrishna says that if we desire to find water, we cannot keep digging a little everywhere on the earth. First, using scientific techniques, we locate a spot on the earth where there is water. Then, we must keep digging in the same place and remove stones and dirt until the water comes. People work hard for years to become medical doctors, engineers, lawyers, teachers, professional athletes, accomplished artists, renowned scientists, or successful businesspeople. Swami Brahmananda told a disciple that attaining the Spiritual Goal takes less effort than acquiring a university degree. How much we work from kindergarten to graduate school to acquire a master’s degree! The irony is that many are unhappy with their degrees after such hard work. It is not surprising that people who have sincerely and systematically carried on spiritual practices for a long time have acquired successful results.
Like worldly pursuits, on the spiritual path, we have to get guidance from a competent teacher and then work hard following the guidelines for several years to make significant progress. There are several examples that if people are sincere in their efforts and, for some reason, they go in the wrong direction, then knowledgeable people will guide them in the right direction.
To see some results in the spiritual path, we must continue making efforts whether we have good or bad times, favorable or unfavorable situations. Saints say a minimum period of twelve years of intense spiritual practice is necessary for significant spiritual progress. More intense practice brings faster results. Swami Vivekananda says that if a seeker of God (Self) intensely does spiritual practices, then he/she can realize God (Self) in six months.
A firm conviction is needed to continue making spiritual practices for a long time. A devotee with firm conviction knows well that only spiritual progress will give him/her what he/she is searching for in the world, such as ever-lasting happiness, the highest knowledge, unselfish love, fearlessness, fulfillment, and others. The stronger the conviction, the more intense will be the tenacity to work harder and longer for spiritual development. Finally, when love for God develops, worship of God becomes natural, just like our breathing.
Those who have attained spiritual success say that on the spiritual path, if we walk one step towards God, then God walks ten steps towards us. After some progress, we realize that the spiritual reward is tens or thousands of times bigger than the worldly reward for the same amount of effort.
(b) Worship of God:
Worship of God is nothing but an expression of one’s love for God. In human relationships, we express love by offering our best to our loved ones. Similarly, in the worship of God, we offer incense, flowers, food, music, etc., and then we offer our minds, ego, and ourselves. The Infinite, omnipresent God is incomprehensible by our finite minds. Therefore, we invoke God’s presence in a picture or a symbol and offer our worship to Him/Her. Just as the national flag of a country symbolizes the whole country, similarly, the image of God symbolizes the all-pervading Reality. Swami Vivekananda says there is nothing wrong with worshiping God through a picture or a symbol. Eventually, one should outgrow this stage and begin worshipping the Living God, the sum total of all beings. Worshipping the Living God means seeing God in all and serving them. This service is an expression of love and is entirely unselfish.
(iii) “Endowed with Supreme Faith.”
(a) Faith in Spiritual Path:
In the worldly life, we have faith in banks, universities, doctors, pilots, plumbers, and all. In the spiritual life, we need much deeper faith as it is an inward journey towards our Inner Self, Atman, of God.
In spiritual life, we need faith in (i) God, Consciousness, or some power that creates, preserves, and dissolves the universe and supports our lives. (ii) the scriptures, and (iii) the words of our spiritual teacher. This is not a blind belief but a conviction derived by careful logical reasoning. In the research regarding the physical world, we desire to attain some truth, then we go to a competent guide and take guidance, read appropriate literature, work hard, and attain the truth. Similarly, we desire to realize God or the Ultimate Reality in Spiritual Research. Then, we go to spiritual teachers for guidance, read scriptures, do spiritual practices, and realize God. The faith in God was first a hypothesis; then, as we experience the presence of God through our spiritual practices guided by the scriptures and spiritual teachers, the hypothesis becomes a conviction. Finally, when we realize God, our conviction becomes a reality. Thus, the hypothesis turns into realization. At that time, all our doubts vanish. We don’t have to prove anything to ourselves or anyone else. Suppose we are enjoying the warmth of a bright sun shining on a cloudless winter day; we don’t need to prove the existence of the sun and its warmth to anyone.
The supreme faith is an intense desire to realize God. It is an active desire and not a passive one. A person with supreme faith will always be active in making efforts to realize God. Shri Ramakrishna told a story. A person’s wife was seriously ill and was about to die. A doctor said that if he could get rainwater collected on a particular day in a skull with snake poison, he could make medicine to cure his wife. It was an impossible task. But the man waited for the day and prayed to God to have a rain. To his surprise, the sky was covered by clouds and rained. After desperately running around in the cremation ground, he found a skull filled with rainwater. He intensely prayed to God for the snake’s poison. He waited and waited. Finally, he saw a frog come near the skull, and a snake jumped on the frog. The frog jumped over the skull to save itself and the snake’s poison fell in the rainwater collected in the skull. Thus, supreme faith is active, and it helps us realize God.
(b) Faith, Reason, and Doubt:
Faith is not a blind belief. A person with supreme faith keeps an eye on the Spiritual Goal, the Realization of God. He/she wants to see that through spiritual practices, he/she is advancing towards this goal. If progress is not made, such a person questions the practices to find out the reason for not making the progress and what to do to go further. Genuine spiritual teachers welcome sincere disciple’s honest doubts and questions and are eager to see the disciples continue to make spiritual progress. Genuine disciples will ask questions to understand the guidance and not challenge them.
(c) Blessed Souls:
Some people are blessed from their childhood with clear intellect and proper intuitions. They are naturally inclined to what is beneficial to themselves and all beings. They intuitively shunned themselves from the things that are harmful and destructive. Such people do not have to reason to have faith in God. From childhood, they have loved God and strived to realize God. If we are not one of those, we have to reason, try to clear doubts from our minds, and develop faith.
Conclusion:
Thus, devotees who worship God in human form, as described above, are well-versed in Yoga. What about those who worship the Formless aspect of God? What happens to them? Sri Krishna answers these questions in the following shlokas.
Meaning: A person who is enjoying a kingdom in the dream does not get upset after waking up and does not cry saying, ‘Oh! I have been dethroned and I have lost my kingdom.’ Also, a person who had committed an immoral act in the dream including an illicit relationship does not feel guilty after waking up. Similarly, a person who had realized that his/her true identity is Atman (Pure Consciousness) which is the Witness Consciousness, remains unattached to the joys and sorrows of one’s body and mind. Remaining merged into Pure Consciousness, he/she does not do anything wrong and realizes that the joys and sorrows of the waking state are not different from those of the dream state.
Reflection:
The central message of the examples:
By giving examples, this shloka tries to describe the state of the mind of a realized person or a free soul (Jivanmukta). Examples can be looked at from various angles. Whenever examples are given, we have to be careful not to misinterpret them and take the wrong meanings. Rather, we must make efforts to understand the essential message lying behind the examples.
First, we have to be clear about one thing: this shloka is NOT teaching that a realized person can do anything immoral in the waking state and does not feel guilty about it. A realized person gets established first in ‘sattva’ and then goes beyond the three gunas. A sattvika person is pure, follows the moral commands of the scriptures, has total self-control, and does not let his/her mind go down to do anything immoral or unethical, or harmful thing. Sri Ramakrishna said that a realized person is like an expert dancer who never makes a false step or an expert tabla player who never goes out of rhythm.
A spiritual seeker who has not yet realized Atman may make mistakes because of past habits and lack of self-control. But, such a seeker accepts one’s mistakes, asks God for forgiveness, and makes all efforts not to repeat these mistakes. Such a seeker knows very well that until he/she is established in sattva or purity and has total self-control he/she is not going to realize Atman.
The combination of the divine and the human:
A realized person understands that everything is in the mind. There are no joys and sorrows in worldly objects. According to one’s attachment and hatred, one projects joys and sorrows in the objects and situations of the world.
We also find that the realized beings have love and feel like other human beings. We don’t have authentic details of most realized people’s lives. From Ramayana, we know how Sri Rama cried for Sitaji and missed her. Thanks to the disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, and Swami Vivekananda for keeping authentic information about their lives. From that, we know how the realized people’s minds on the one hand remained absorbed in God-consciousness, and on the other hand, they live a normal human life. Sri Ramakrishna cried when his nephew Akshay passed away at a young age. In the ecstasy, Sri Ramakrishna found that death is nothing more than going from one state to another, but in the normal plane, he missed him. Holy other cried profusely when Sri Ramakrishna passed away. Swami Vivekananda had cried for his brother disciple. Thus, we know that the realized beings do not see any difference between the reality of the waking state and the reality of the dream state, but still, they are sensitive about the joys and sorrows of the world just like normal human beings.
Realized person and his/her actions:
The scriptures say that the Jivanmukta’s (or the realized person’s) all actions get destroyed.
For example, Shri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita (4.37) says,
“As the blazing fire burns all the woods to ashes, the fire of Knowledge destroys all the actions of the knowledgeable person.”
Brahma Sutras says the same thing based on the scriptures.
“The scriptures have declared that on the attainment of Brahman, all the sins of the past life get destroyed and the future sins do not cling to the person.”
Shri Ramakrishna said that if there is the slightest worldly desire or ego, one cannot realize Brahman. When there is no ego, there is no doer-ship of any action, and no desire to attain any worldly thing. The Pure Atman or Brahman works through the body and mind of a realized person. A realized person’s all desires have been fulfilled and have attained the highest state that one can attain in one’s life. Such a person works only to maintain one’s body and to serve humanity. He/she continues to work in society to set up an example and for the purpose of guiding others.
In the Bhagavad Gita (3.22 and 23), Shri Krishna says,
“O Partha! I have no duty in the world. There is nothing in the three worlds that I have not gained and nothing that I have to gain. Yet, I continue to work. People are following my example. If I don’t work constantly and carefully, I will be misguiding them.”
Shloka 34
Meaning: All that is experienced in the dream, either good or bad, is false when a person wakes up. On the other hand, whatever has been done by the gross body of a person in the waking state does not help the person in his/her dream state. Thus, the experiences and actions we perform in the waking state are false or useless in the dream state and vice versa. This shows that the Atman, the Witness Consciousness, which illumines everything in the waking as well as in the dream state, is the only Reality. It is amazing that ignorant people do not understand this fact and cling to the objects of the world thinking them as real.
Reflection:
The dream and waking states:
First, we note that the dream state and the waking state are disconnected.
It is very clear that the money we have earned in the dream cannot pay the bills of the waking state. On the other hand, no amount of money lying in the bank can help us if we dream that we are penniless beggars.
If we are sick in the dream, then we have to call a dream ambulance by dialing 911 on a dream phone. On the other hand, if we are sick in the waking state, then a dream doctor will not be helpful. We need a waking state doctor.
The question is: “Which state is real: the dream state or the waking state?”
Is the dream state real?
It is very easy to understand that the dream state is not real because of the following reasons:
(i) When we wake up all the things of the dream vanish.
(ii) Nothing of the dream state is helpful to us in the waking state.
(iii) There is no connection and continuity in the dream states. The two dream states are totally unrelated and the second dream does not start where the first dream ended.
(iv) We hardly see the same people of one dream in the next dream. Suppose we see them in the next dream, their responses are not aligned with theirs of the previous dream. For example, in the waking state, if a friend borrows a book from me today and says, ‘I will return it to you tomorrow’, then on the next day the same friend returns the book to me. Such a thing does not happen in the dream state.
Is the waking state real?
Now, the question is: “Why the waking state is not real?” It is a little difficult to understand this.
First, let us think about ‘What we mean by ‘Real’?’
(i) Real does not change. The thing that is not real undergoes changes. For example: if we buy a gold-plated ornament thinking that it is a golden one, then after some time when the coating of the gold fades out or wears out, then the real metal shines forth.
(ii) Real is always present. Past becomes a dream and the future is an imagination.
(iii) Real destroys all the doubts.
(iv) Real is not a combination of things. A thing made of two substances will be destroyed when these two substances separate from each other. Real is just one entity that is eternal and unchanging.
We will examine these four points for the waking state.
(i) Is our waking state changeless? The answer is ‘no’. First, everything around us keeps constantly changing. Our bodies and mind are constantly changing. The world is constantly changing. This is the nature of the universe. For a young person, childhood looks like a dream, and for an elderly person, the youth state looks like a dream. For the new generation, the older generation looks like a dream. Thus, nothing is permanent in the waking state.
Second, what we perceive through our senses is not real either. We perceive that the sky is blue, but we go up in space and realize that it has no color. Similarly, ocean water looks blue or green, but when we take the water in our hands, we find that it has no color. We all know that the mirage is not real water, but we perceive it as real.
The wise people say that what we perceive through our minds is also not real. We project joys and sorrows or various qualities in the objects and people of the world and then we perceive the same as real. Sri Ramakrishna said that a camel chews thorny bushes, blood comes out of its mouth and the camel thinks that the juice is from the bushes. Therefore, when our perception of our mind changes, the joys and sorrows, and the qualities in the objects and the people of the world also changes. This shows that nothing is permanent in the world. People die and they disappear. The objects of the world get destroyed and they no longer exist.
(ii, iii, and iv): We will think about these three points together. The Rishis or the realized souls told us through the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita that there is only One Existence or One Reality, called Ataman or Brahman, which is permanent behind all the changes of the body and mind and the universe. Brahman is the only Reality, and It appears as various names and forms filled with qualities. There are various golden ornaments having different shapes, names, and forms, but gold is the only Reality behind all of them. Thus, everywhere Brahman was in the past, Brahman is at present, and Brahman will be in the future. Realized souls experience that Brahman is the only Reality that ever exists and there is nothing else.
Mundakopanishad (2.2.8) says, “When Brahman, which is both high and low, is realized, then the bondages of the hearts get destroyed, all doubts are resolved, and all actions cease to bear fruits.”
Thus, we must wake up from the waking state. When we spiritually rise within, we recognize and experience Brahman as the Ultimate Reality behind this ever-changing world consisting of names, forms, and qualities. Finally, when the ignorance of being a separate entity from Brahman gets destroyed, one gets merged into Brahman. That is the stage of Samadhi that Sri Ramakrishna experienced often and has been witnessed by many. Rishis and many saints had the same experience. At that time, one realizes that the waking state was also a dream state of a different kind.
The Shloka 34 of the Shatashloki says, ‘It is amazing that ignorant people do not understand this fact and cling to the objects of the world thinking them as real.’ Kathopanishad explains why that is the case. It says:
Kathopanishad (1.3.12): “The Self hidden in all beings does not shine forth, but It is seen by people endowed with keen introspection and they see It through their one-pointed and subtle intellect.”
To develop this one-pointed subtle intellect one needs to do spiritual practices and receive the grace of Brahman. It is difficult, but not impossible. May we all realize Brahman and make our life blessed.
Swami Vivekananda’s lectures given at the Chicago World Parliament of Religions from September 11, 1893, to September 27, 1893, made him known to the world. Out of many positive comments, I selected the following three which give us a glimpse of how his lectures were received by eminent people and the leading newspapers.
Mr. Merwin-Marie Snell, President of the Scientific Section of the Chicago Parliament of Religions said, “..by far the most important and typical representative of Hinduism was Swami Vivekananda, who in fact was beyond question the most popular and influential man in the Parliament.”
The New York Herald wrote, “He (Swami Vivekananda) is undoubtedly the greatest figure in the Parliament of Religions.”
Boston Evening Transcript wrote, “Vivekananda’s address before the Parliament was broad as the heaven above us, embracing the best in all religions, as the ultimate universal religion – charity to all mankind and good works for the love of God, not for fear of punishment or hope of reward. He is a great favorite of the parliament…If he merely crosses the platform he is applauded…”
Swami Vivekananda gave six lectures at the Chicago Parliament of Religions. It seems that five of these lectures were extempore and the sixth one titled “Paper on Hinduism” was a well-prepared one-hour lecture delivered on September 19, 1893. We can guess that all the speakers were allowed to present a one-hour paper on their religion.
Anyone who wants to know about Hinduism must read this lecture. Swami Vivekananda explained the basic principles of Hinduism in a very rational and eloquent way. The development of the thoughts is wonderful. When we read this lecture, we can feel his passion, practice, and the divine touch of his own realization of these eternal principles. He also showed that Hinduism is not a religion of an underdeveloped country that is filled with primitive ideas of worship and snake charmers which many western people have conceived. Swami Vivekananda, having the knowledge of science, explained that the principles of Hinduism are scientific and science, with its advancement, is establishing the same truths that the founders of Hinduism had established earlier. Swami Vivekananda also cleared up the wrong conceptions about Hinduism prevailing in the minds of non-Indian people, especially in western minds.
In this article, I wanted to share the main points that appealed to me while studying this lecture. I hope these points inspire the readers to read Swami Vivekananda’s lecture, “Paper on Hinduism” to get its full impact and along with it enjoy his eloquence, language, analogies, logical explanations, and many more things.
(1) Many sects and religions arose from Hinduism to challenge its fundamental principles, but Hinduism absorbed them all. Hinduism in itself has a place for the high spiritual flights of the Vedanta philosophy and low ideas of idolatry with its multifarious mythology, the agnosticism of the Buddhists and the atheism of Jains, and many more contradictory-looking sects.
(2) Hindus have received their religion through revelation, the Vedas. The Vedas is a collection of the spiritual laws discovered or perceived by the Rishis. Just as the laws, discovered by the scientists that govern the universe, always exist whether they were found or not, similarly spiritual laws always exist which govern the spiritual world. The spiritual laws deal with the moral and spiritual relations between individuals, the purpose of life, and the relation between the creator of the universe and its creation. In the Vedas, we find that many Rishis were women.
(3) The Vedas teach that creation is without beginning or end. The cycle of creation, preservation, and dissolution goes on. The power of Brahman runs these cycles. All the material of one cycle gets recycled in the next one.
Rig Veda (10.190) says, “The sun and the moon, the Lord created like the suns and moons of the previous cycles.”
This agrees with the science.
(4) Each individual is Atman (spirit) and not a combination of material substances. Creation means combination and combination has a certain future dissolution. Atman is not created and therefore it does not die. The body dies, but not the Atman.
(5) The idea of a creator God is not logical and it does not agree with science. The creator God cannot explain why people are born in different situations; some are born in rich families where all their needs are fulfilled while some are born in poor families where they had to struggle even for their survival, and some are born with excellent health while some are born with physical and/or mental deficiencies. If there is a creator God, then He/she would be considered partial and unjust.
(6) Since Atman does not die, the atman takes many lives. People are born in different situations because of their own Karma (actions) in their previous births. This is logical. No one else has to be blamed for one’s own situation. We are the builder of our destiny.
(7) Swami Vivekananda gave a convincing example to explain the impressions of past lives. He said that he is talking in English which is not his mother tongue. During the talk, not a single word of his mother tongue Bengali appears in his conscious mind. However, if he wishes to speak Bengali, then all the Bengali words will come out from the deeper level of his mind. Rishis say that it is possible to go into the deeper level of the consciousness of the mind where one can find all the stored impressions of past lives.
(8) Atman is immortal. No weapon can destroy it, no fire can burn it, no water can soak it and no wind can wither it.
Swami Vivekananda said, “Every soul (Atman) is a circle whose circumference is nowhere, but whose center is located in the body, and that death means the change of this center from the body to body.”
(9) In its very essence, Atman is free, unbounded, holy, pure, and perfect. But, somehow or other it finds itself tied down to matter, and thinks of itself as matter. (Note: Here Swamiji did not bring the concept of Maya.)
Hindus are bold and say that they don’t know how the perfect Atman came to think of itself as imperfect. (Note: Actually, it is senseless for a deluded person to ask ‘how did I get deluded?’ under the delusion.)
(10) Is a human being a helpless and weak entity being tossed around due to the chain of his/her Karmas and their effects?
A Vedic sage said, “Hear, ye children of immortal bliss! Even ye that resides in higher spheres! I have found the Ancient One who is beyond all darkness, all delusion: knowing that Ancient One alone you shall be saved from death over again.”
Swami Vivekananda said, “’ Children of immortal bliss’ – what a sweet, what a hopeful name! Allow me to call you, brethren, by that sweet name – heirs of immortal bliss – yea, the Hindu refuses to call you sinners.”
Thus, each person is potentially divine. The real identity of each individual is Atman and not the material existence bounded by body and mind.
(11) The Vedas proclaim that a human being is not a dreadful combination of unforgiving laws, not an endless prison of cause and effect, but that at the head of all these laws, in and through every particle of matter and force, stands One (Atman or Brahman) ‘by whose command the wind blows, the fire burns, the cloud rain, and death stalks upon the earth.’
(12) What is the nature of the Ancient One (Brahman)?
Brahman is everywhere, the pure and formless One, the Almighty and the All-merciful.
The Vedas say, “Thou art the father, Thou art the mother, Thou art our beloved friend. Thou art the source of all strength; give us strength. Thou art He that beareth the burdens of the universe; help me bear the little burden of this life.”
(13) How to worship Brahman?
The answer is ‘Through love’.
‘Brahman is to be worshipped as the one beloved, dearer than everything in this and the next life.’
(14) Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita taught that a person ought to live in this world like a lotus leaf, which grows in the water but is never moistened by water; so a person ought to live in the world – his/her heart to God and hands to work. One must live in the world with a detached spirit.
(15) It is good to love God for the hope of reward in this or the next world, but it is better to love God for love’s sake.
There is a prayer: “O Lord! I do not want wealth, children, or learning. If it be Thy will, I shall go from birth to birth, but grant me this, that I may love Thee without the hope of reward – love unselfishly for love’s sake.”
Queen Draupadi asked her husband, King Yudhishthira, “Why should you suffer so much misery when you are the most virtuous of mankind?”
King Yudhishthira said, “Behold, my queen, the Himalayas, how grand and beautiful they are; I love them. They do not give me anything, but my nature is to love the grand, the beautiful, therefore I love them. Similarly, I love the Lord. He is the source of all beauty, of all sublimity. He is the only object to be loved; my nature is to love Him, and therefore I love. I don’t pray for anything; I don’t ask for anything. Let Him place me wherever He likes. I must love Him for love’s sake. I cannot tread in love.”
(16) The Vedas teach that the soul (Atman) is divine, only held in the bondage of matter; perfection will be reached when this bond will burst, and the word they use for it is, therefore, Mukti – freedom, freedom from the bonds of imperfection, freedom from death and misery.
This bondage can only fall off through the mercy of God, and this mercy comes on pure. So, purity is the condition of His mercy.
How does that mercy act?
God reveals Himself to the pure heart; the pure and stainless see God, yea, even in this life; then and then only all the crookedness of the heart is made straight. Then all doubts cease.
Then, the human being is no more a freak of a terrible law of causation.
This is the very center, the very vital conception of Hinduism. The Hindu does not want to live upon words and theories. If there is Atman in him/her which is not the matter, then the Hindu wants to realize it directly. The Hindu knows that this realization can alone destroy all doubts.
So, the best proof a Hindu sage gives about God or Atman is, “I have seen the God; I have realized the Atman.” That is the only condition of perfection. A perfect soul is free from all the bondages.
(17) The Hindu religion does not consist in struggles and attempts to believe a certain doctrine or dogma, but in realizing God (Atman) – not in believing, but in being and becoming.
The whole object of the Hindu system is the constant struggle to become perfect, to become divine, to reach God, and see God, and this reaching God, seeing God, and becoming perfect even as the Father in Heaven is perfect, constitutes the religion of the Hindus.
(18) What becomes of a person who attains perfection?
A perfect soul lives a life of bliss infinite. He/she enjoys infinite and perfect bliss, having obtained the only thing in which a person ought to have pleasure, namely God, and enjoys the bliss with God.
This is the common religion of all the sects of Hinduism.
Perfection is absolute, and the absolute is only one, it cannot be two or three. The absolute has no qualities and it cannot be an individual. Thus, when a person becomes perfect and absolute, he/she becomes one with Brahman. He/she realizes one’s own nature and existence, that is, the existence absolute, knowledge absolute, and bliss absolute (Sat-Chit-Ananda).
People often think that when one loses the so-called ‘individuality’ made out of body and mind and becomes one with Brahman, then he/she becomes a stock or a stone.
Swami Vivekananda says, “I tell you it is nothing of the kind. If it is happiness to enjoy the consciousness of this small body, it must be greater happiness to enjoy the consciousness of two bodies, the measure of happiness increasing with the consciousness of an increasing number of bodies, the aim, the ultimate of happiness being reached when it would become a universal consciousness.
“Therefore, to gain this infinite universal individuality, this miserable little prison-individuality must go.
“Then alone can death cease when I am one with life (Sat),
Then alone can misery cease when I am one with happiness itself (Ananda),
Then alone all errors cease when I am one with knowledge itself (Chit).
“This is the necessary scientific conclusion. Science has proved to me that physical individuality is a delusion, that really my body is one little continuously changing body in an unbroken ocean of matter; and Advaita (unity) is the necessary conclusion with my other counterpart, Soul (Atman).”
(19) Swami Vivekananda said, “Science is nothing but finding unity. As soon as science would reach perfect unity, it would stop further progress, because it would reach the goal.
“The chemistry could not progress further when it would discover ‘one element’ out of which all others could be made.
“Physics would stop when it would be able to fulfill its services in discovering ‘one energy’ of which all the others are but manifestations.
“The science of religion become perfect when it would discover
the One, who is the one life in a universe of death,
the One, who is the constant basis of an ever-changing world,
the One, who is the only Soul of which all souls are but delusive manifestations.
“Thus, it is through multiplicity and duality, that the ultimate unity is reached. Religion can go no further. This is the goal of all science.
“All science is bound to come to this conclusion in the long run. Manifestation and not creation is the word of science today, and the Hindu is only glad that what he/she has been cherishing in his/her bosom for ages is going to be taught in more forcible language and with further light from the latest conclusions of science.”
(20) Swami Vivekananda said that so far he had discussed the aspirations of the Vedanta philosophy of Hinduism and now he wants to talk about the worship of the Hindu people.
Swami Vivekananda said, “At the very outset, I may tell you that there is no polytheism in India.”
In every Hindu temple, the worshippers apply all the attributes of God, including omnipresence, to the images. It is not polytheism.
Swami Vivekananda said, “The tree is known by its fruits. When I have seen amongst them that are called idolaters, people, the like of whom, in morality and spirituality, and love, I have never seen anywhere, I stop and ask myself, ‘Can sin beget holiness?’
There are images in all religions. We can no more think about anything without a mental image than we can live without breathing. By the law of association, the material image calls up the mental idea and vice versa. This is why the Hindu uses an external symbol when he/she worships. It helps to keep his/her mind fixed on the Being to whom he/she is praying. The Hindu knows that the image is not God and is not omnipresent.
How can we think about the concept of omnipresence? Most people think of omnipresence as the extended sky or of space and nothing more. We need an image to think of the word ‘omnipresent’.
The Hindus have associated the ideas of holiness, purity, truth, omnipresence, and such other ideas with different images and forms.
The whole religion of the Hindu is centered on realization. A person is to become divine, by realizing the divine. Idols or temples or books are only the supports, that help in the beginning stages of spirituality, but he/she must progress towards realizing the divine. He/she must not stop anywhere.
A Hindu scripture says, “External worship, material worship is the lowest stage; struggling to rise high, mental prayer is the next stage, but the highest stage is when the Lord has been realized.”
A Hindu who kneels down before an idol tells you, “Him the sun cannot express, nor the moon, nor the stars, the lightning cannot express Him, nor what we speak of as fire; through Him, they shine.”
A Hindu never condemns anyone who is worshiping an image. He/she recognizes the necessity of worshiping an image in the initial stage of spiritual life.
To Hindus, a person is not traveling from error to truth, but from truth to truth, from lower to higher truth.
(21) A Hindu recognizes that ‘Unity in variety is the plan of nature’.
The Hindus have discovered that the absolute can only be realized, thought of, or stated through the relative, and the images, crosses, and crescents are simply so many symbols – so many pegs to hang spiritual ideas on. This help is not necessary for all. Taking help with the images is not compulsory in Hinduism.
To the Hindu, the whole world of religions is only a traveling, a coming up, of different men and women, through various conditions and circumstances, to the same goal. Every religion is only evolving a God out of the material being, and the same God is the inspirer of all of them.
A Hindu thinks that the contradictions are only apparent. They come from the same truth adapting itself to the varying circumstances of different natures. It is the same light coming through glasses of different colors. These variations are necessary for purposes of adaption. In the heart of everything the same truth reigns.
Lord Krishna has said in the Bhagavad Gita:
“I am in every religion as the thread through a string of pearls.”
“Wherever thou seest extraordinary holiness and extraordinary power raising and purifying humanity, know thou that I am there.”
Hindus never believe that they are the only spiritual people. They know the fact that in God’s kingdom spiritual-minded people are in every religion and in every country.
Sage Vyasa says in the Vedanta Sutras, “We find perfect men and women even beyond the pale of our caste and creed.”
(22) At the end Swami Vivekananda expresses his dream of a universal religion that includes all religions and all people and still has space for development. In that religion, there will be no place for persecution or intolerance in its polity. Such a religion will recognize the divinity in every man and woman, and whose whole scope, whose whole force, will be centered on aiding humanity to realize its own true, divine nature.
Swami Vivekananda said that America, through the Chicago Parliament of Religions, was destined to proclaim to the world that the Lord is in every religion.
The cloud that covers the huge sun did not exist at one point and will not exist after some time. But, on a cloudy day, it covers the sun. Does the cloud really cover the sun? The answer is ‘No’. If the cloud really covers the sun, then we cannot see the cloud itself and anything else. The cloud apparently covers the sun partially from the sight of a few spectators. Similarly, this universe did not exist at some time and will not exist after some time, but due to Maya, it will not let people see the Brahman who is its illuminator and the controller.
Reflections:
It is fascinating that the cloud which is created by the sun covers the sun itself temporarily and partially.
Maya is the power of Brahman.
Sri Ramakrishna used to cover his face with a cloth and ask his disciples ‘Do you see me now?’ All will say, ‘no’. Then, he would take away the cloth and ask again, ‘Do you see me now?’ They will say, ‘yes’. Sri Ramakrishna thus taught his disciples that we don’t see Brahman when it is covered by Maya. When Maya goes away, we realize that ‘Everything is Brahman and the names and forms were illusory.’
The truth is that Brahman is the Ultimate Reality and by Its own power (Maya) It appears as the universe with names and forms.
How do we know that?
We do not see Brahman. We see only names and forms. How do we know that Brahman exists? One answer is that ‘we cannot deny the existence of something that we cannot see’. Sri Ramakrishna said that in the daytime we do not see the stars. In that case, we cannot say that stars do not exist because we don’t see them. Many things exist that we do not see or perceive. For example, there are many TV waves, Radio-waves, and other waves floating around us that we cannot perceive through our senses. If we get a TV or a radio and tune in with the proper frequencies, then we can perceive what they are transmitting. There are many small germs like viruses and others floating around us, whom we do not perceive, but they do exist and they make us sick.
Similarly, behind our body and mind, there is a Reality (our True Identity or Existence) that we cannot perceive through our senses, but the Seers (Rishis) realize It through reflection and contemplation. The Vedanta Seers call It by the name ‘Atman’. This Atman is appearing as our body and mind like a wave in the ocean. The water of the wave is not different from the water of the ocean. The body and mind keep changing, but Atman remains the same as a witness consciousness. In the background of the unchanging Atman, we can perceive all the changes of the body and mind.
What is in the micro is the same in the macro. The way the Atman is the Ultimate Reality behind our body and mind, Brahman is the Ultimate Reality behind this universe. Brahman is like an ocean of Consciousness and all the names and forms of the universe are like waves of this ocean that rise and fall and merge into the ocean again. Rishis say that Atman and Brahman are the same. With reference to an individual, we call Brahman as Atman.
What covers the Atman?
Whatever attaches our mind to our body covers the Atman. Sri Ramakrishna said that lust and greed are the two main forces that tie our mind to the body. There are also other worldly desires and attachments that tie our mind with the body.
We allow this bondage with our bodies because we think that it is the only way we get happiness by fulfilling our worldly desires. Little that we know that (i) all the happiness in the world is the reflection of the Bliss of the Atman, and (ii) this so-called short-term happiness brings miseries and the delusion which causes all our troubles.
What are the ways to realize the Atman?
The four yogas (Jnana Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and Raja Yoga) are the paths to realizing the Atman.
(i) Jnana Yoga: First, we listen and learn about the nature of the Atman from the scriptures and from the people who have realized It or have been sincerely practicing to realize It. Second, we reflect upon what we have heard and learned about Atman. Through proper reasoning, we convince ourselves fully that our true identity is Atman which is unchanging and everything else including our body and mind is constantly changing and is temporary. Third, with the proper understanding, we realize or experience that our true identity is Atman. When we realize the Atman, all the characteristics of a ‘Jiven Mukta’ (Free Soul), which have been described in the scriptures, naturally manifest through our thoughts, speech, and actions.
(ii) Karma Yoga: We purify our mind by performing all our responsibilities in a detached way as prescribed in the Bhagavad Gita. Such a mind experiences that the three Gunas, Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas, are performing all the actions through our body and mind, and the Atman (our True Self) is only a witness consciousness. Thus, by going beyond the three Gunas, we realize the Atman.
Performing all the actions as an offering to God makes us unselfish and free from all worldly desires. Thus, we become only aware of the presence of God which is a symbol of the infinite Brahman. In the process, when our ego diminishes completely, then we realize that the Atman and Brahman are one. Performing unselfish activities or services also expands our ‘little ego’ to a much larger ego enveloping the whole universe. Thus, we develop an awareness of Brahman.
(iii) Bhakti Yoga: We love a form of God who is a symbol of Brahman and offer our worship. We sing the glories of God and offer the results of all our actions to God. With our unselfish love for God, we feel the constant presence of God in our minds and around us. We feel that God has become everything and God is the doer of everything. Finally, out of love, our mind merges with God and we realize that God and Brahman are the same.
(iv) Raja Yoga: We learn how to control our mind and the senses with various disciplines. Then, we learn how to focus our mind on the Atman residing within and we realize It and experience Its presence all the time.
What are the benefits of knowing Atman or Brahman?
(1) Meaningful life: Our life becomes meaningful as it finds a purpose to realize our true identity. Otherwise, just having one body, one mind, and one life seems purposeless.
(2) When we realize that our true identity is Atman, which is immortal, unchanging, and Its nature is Existence-Knowledge- Bliss Absolute, we have the following benefits:
(i) Fearlessness: We become fearless. The fear of all fears is the fear of death. Since we are Atman, we are immortal. This atman can take many bodies and minds.
(ii) Hope: Knowing that the existing life is not the only one we have, there is hope for everyone to improve. At any stage of life, if we recognize that we had made a mistake, we can turn around and correct the mistake and go on the right path of God-realization. We must remember that God-realization is the same as the realization of the Atman. We try to attain God-realization in this life, but if we cannot attain it, then there is always the next life to move on to.
(iii) Infinite Power and Knowledge: When we know that our true identity is Atman, we acquire infinite power compared to the power of the limited body and mind. All saints and sages have done great work for the good of humanity due to this inner power. Also, we acquire an unbelievably deeper understanding of people’s minds, situations, and the universe. This is how those who have realized Atman help remove the sufferings of people and guide them to the right path.
(iv) Love for all: Knowing that One Brahman is manifesting through all the names and forms, we connect ourselves with everyone in the universe. This brings a love for all disregarding outer differences. However, we have to use our common sense. Sri Ramakrishna says that all are manifestations of God, but we have to use our common sense and not embrace a tiger. But, we cherish no hatred for the tiger or anyone in the universe. We remember that Brahman is manifesting through the mindset of a person. If the mindset changes, then Brahman will manifest in Its full glory.
(iv) Peace, Bliss, and Fulfilment: Bahman is the embodiment of divine bliss. Realizing that our true nature is blissful, we attain inner peace and bliss. Also, a sense of complete fulfillment comes.
In the Bhagavad Gita (6.21 & 22), Shri Krishna says, “By realizing Atman, one experiences the boundless joy which is beyond the comprehension of the senses. It can be grasped only through pure and subtle intellect. Once established in the realization of the Atman, one never deviates from this state of Reality. One finds that there is nothing higher remains to be achieved in life and one does not deviate from this state even in the heaviest sorrows.”
Describing the state of a person who has realized the Atman, Shri Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita (2.70), “Just like the waters of rivers enter into an ocean and get absorbed in it without disturbing the ocean which is filled with water to its brim, similarly all the desires that enter in the mind of the realized person get absorb in it without creating any ripple in it.” Briefly, it means that the mind of the realized person remains calm under all circumstances.
The Ultimate Truth:
When we realize the Ultimate Truth, then we see that Brahman, with Its own power Maya, creates this universe, preserves it, and dissolves it into Itself. It is like a movie starts on a screen; it develops its story and then disappears in the screen. Similarly, just like the screen, Brahman is the only Reality. The names, forms, and various situations are created in Brahman by Its own power, called Maya.
Meaning: A person initially was alone. Later on, he desired that ‘I must have a wife, children, wealth, and things which will make me happy.’. Then, he works to acquire and preserve these things. For this, he goes through lots of suffering, and every day he works to the last drop of his energy. At that time he believes that there is nothing better to acquire in life other than what he is engaged in. If he does not get any of his desired objects, then he thinks that his life is incomplete, and if he loses one of these worldly objects, then he thinks that his life was useless. At that time, he lives as if he is dead. He loses all enthusiasm in life and plunges into despondency.
Reflection:
People think that marriage will bring all the happiness in the world and it will solve all their life’s problems. Married people know that it is not true. After the end of the romantic period of the marriage, the reality of adjustments between the two personalities begins. Then, the married person starts the struggles for raising children, making more money, and acquiring higher positions, power, name, and fame. This shloka says that the person works unto the last drop of his/her energy. The joy gets less and less and the miseries grow more and more.
In the scriptures, there is a picture of a worldly man seeking a little joy in the midst of terrors and sufferings. A man was walking in a forest. He heard a roar of a tiger and he started running in the opposite direction. In that direction, he saw a mad elephant running toward him. He tried to run away from both. While running with fear he fell into a well that was covered by the branches of a tree. He was going to fall headlong into the well, but a branch stopped him and he started hanging upside down. He saw that due to the commotion snakes living in the walls of the well came out and started swimming in the water. Because of his fall, he had smashed a honeycomb and the bees of the comb started flying all around him. He realized that a single branch was holding him from falling into the well. At that time, he heard the noise of rats. He looked up and saw that a white and a black rat were cutting the branch which was holding him. In this situation, he felt that something fell on his cheek near his mouth. He realized that it was the honey dripping from the honeycomb. He opened his mouth and after much struggle, he successfully got a drop of honey on his tongue. He was happy with the drop of the honey. Is this a happy ending to a horrible story?
The roars of uncertainties, disease, and death are constantly haunting a person. Blinded by millions of desires and greed he falls into a well of commitments that he may or may not be able to get out of. The failures, like the snakes, are waiting to get him. Hundreds of worries circle in his mind like bees. Like the white and the black rats, the passing of the days and nights are cutting his string of life. In this situation, the man is trying to get some pleasure from this world and if he gets a little joy like a honey drop in his mouth he feels that the struggles and fears are worth it.
It is an extreme picture painted to make us aware of our life’s situations. After much suffering to get a little joy in the world, we become insensitive towards our sufferings. We feel that it is the only way to live in the world.
Lord Buddha, even though he had all the worldly pleasures around him as a prince Siddhartha, realized that worldly life is filled with suffering. That is why his first noble truth was, “There is suffering”.
First, we have to understand that the pairs of opposites always come together like the heat and cold, pleasures and pain, success and failures, honor and insult, elation and depression. Thus, worldly pleasures are always followed by suffering. We cannot get one without the other. Overall, in the world, our sufferings are more in percentage than our pleasures.
People who do not have much experience of life think that this is a pessimistic view of life and the world. They think that life and the world are pleasurable. On the other hand, those who are burnt by the world think that life and the world are most miserable. Wise people have a balanced view.
Swami Sarvapriyananda has said: (i) the pessimists say that there is only a dark tunnel; (ii) the optimists say that there is a light at the end of this dark tunnel, and (iii) the wise people say that there is a dark tunnel, there is a light after this dark tunnel, and after the light, there is another dark tunnel.
Life is filled with pairs of opposites. By knowing this, we don’t keep swinging between the two extremes and get exhausted, but we can remain balanced and continue performing our responsibilities. The practices prescribed by Karma Yoga can help us to live a sane life in the world. The lessons of detachment, offering the results of all our activities to God, and the practice of unselfishness help us get control of our minds and eventually they purify our minds.
Second, we have to learn and realize the fundamentals of Vedanta taught by the Upanishads.
Upanishad says that joy is within us, but by ignorance, we think that it is in a worldly object or a person.
In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (2.4.5; Part I), Rishi Yajnavalkya says,
“Verily, not for the sake of the husband, the husband is loved, but he is loved for the sake of the Self.
“Verily, not for the sake of the wife, the wife is loved, but she is loved for the sake of the Self.
“Verily, not for the sake of the sons, the sons are loved, but they are loved for the sake of the Self.
“Verily, not for the sake of the wealth, the wealth is loved, but it is loved for the sake of the Self.
A person gets attracted to his/her spouse because of physical beauty or talents or virtues or something external. But, if we reflect upon this attraction, we find that the main attraction is due to the Atman residing behind the spouse’s body and mind. When a spouse dies, then immediately the husband or the wife makes arrangements for the dead person’s funeral services. This shows that the spouse did not love the body and the mind, but loved something which made the body-mind alive.
If we understand and realize this fact, then our love will be on much stronger ground. Then, the old age, disease, or the external changes of the spouse don’t affect our love. Our performance of our responsibilities becomes worship of Atman or God residing in the spouse and not unpleasant slavery for the ‘so-called love’, which is actually an attachment to the body and mind.
Rishi Yajnavalkya continues and tells his wife Maitreyi that anything that we love in the world is due to the Atman or the Ultimate Reality lying behind this phenomenal world. Therefore, we must hear about the Atman from the scriptures or the Holy People, reflect upon it, meditate on it, and ultimately realize it.
In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (2.4.5; Part II), Rishi Yajnavalkya continues,
“Verily, not for the sake of the worlds, the worlds are loved, but they are loved for the sake of the Self.
“Verily, not for the sake of the gods, the gods are loved, but they are loved for the sake of the Self.
“Verily, not for the sake of the beings, the beings are loved, but they are loved for the sake of the Self.
“Verily, not for the sake of the All, the All is loved, but it is loved for the sake of the Self.
“My dear Maitreyi, it is the Self that should be realized – should be heard of, reflected on, and meditated upon.
“By the realization of the Self through hearing, reflection, and meditation all this is known.”
Atman’s nature is Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. It is Existence Itself, Knowledge Itself, and Bliss Itself. When we experience joy or bliss from the objects or the people of the world, it is the reflection of the Bliss of the Atman. When we truly realize this, then the external loss or gain does not throw us off from our inner peace. If we lose an object of the world or a person, we may feel its pain, but we will not feel that ‘we are dead’ and ‘the whole world is falling apart’. We realize that the universe is nothing but Atman or Brahman and it is appearing in various names and forms. The way the different kinds of waves rise and subside in the ocean, the objects and people of the world come to existence and then merge in the ocean of Atman, or Brahman, or Pure Consciousness. We also realize that we have no control over anything including our own body and mind.
When we realize that Atman or Brahman is the Ultimate Reality and It is the only eternal substance and everything else is temporary, meaning, it has a beginning and end, then we can handle all the situations with sanity. Because things are temporary, we do not become careless or irresponsible. On the other hand, we take care of things and people with full attention and love.
Swami Taygananda said in his lecture that we buy a bunch of roses. We know that they are not going to last forever, but we put them nicely in a vase, water them, and put in preservatives to prolong their lives and enjoy their beauty. Also, when the roses die, we don’t feel that we have died. Similarly, knowing that everything in the universe is temporary except Brahman, we sincerely love all and make all efforts for their welfare.
Meaning: Atman does not come from someplace at birth and it does not go anywhere at death. Atman is infinite and omnipresent. It is the subtle body that enters the body when the child is conceived and leaves it at the time of death.
The subtle body is not affected by the characteristics of the gross body such as leanness or heaviness and others. At the time of death, the subtle body leaves the existing body along with the Sanskaras, the Prana, and the subtle senses and enters into a new body at the time of its birth.
Reflection:
In the Bhagavad Gita (2.27), Lord Krishna says that ‘Whatever is born is going to die and whatever dies is going to be reborn.’
This is a general statement of fact. However, thinking about the transmigration of souls, the following categories came to my mind:
(1) Incarnations: God incarnates with His/Her/Its power as a human being to guide people in the spiritual path through His/Her life example and teachings. Incarnations also protect and encourage the righteous people and curb the power of the unrighteous. They take births at their own will.
(2) Liberated Souls (Jivan-Muktas): Those who have realized Atman do not born again.
(3) Yogis who did not realize Atman: Shri Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that among thousands of people who are engaged in spiritual practices, a few make real good progress. And, among those who make such progress, someone realizes the Atman.
Those spiritual seekers, who struggle in their life to realize Atman but do not succeed, take births in the families which help them to continue their struggle from where they had left. In the Bhagavad Gita, Shri Krishna describes this very clearly:
Gita (6.41-45): Shri Krishna said, “The soul of a yogi, who has not realized Atman in his/her life, after death, goes to the worlds of righteous (heavens). Having lived there for many years, either the soul of the yogi takes birth in a family which is pure and prosperous or takes birth in a family of yogis who are knowledgeable. Truly, a birth in such families is very difficult to get.
“In these families, the newly born yogi easily connects with the knowledge he/she had acquired and the progress he/she had made in the previous life and strives further to realize Atman.
“Because of the yoga practices in the previous life, this yogi naturally gets attracted to realize Atman. Even a curious person for the knowledge of yoga surpasses mere performances of the Vedic rites. But, a diligent yogi, with the help of all the yoga practices done in the previous lives, becomes pure and attains the Supreme Goal, the realization of the Atman.”
(4) People who do not do spiritual practices: The attractions of worldly objects are so powerful that most people are not interested in spiritual practices. They think that the goal of life is to get maximum enjoyment from worldly objects. Very little do they know that the joy from worldly objects is temporary and it brings lots of suffering. Also, people have to pay a high price for a little joy. Actually, this trap to attract people toward worldly objects and then make them suffer is a plan of Mahamaya to wake them up and make them understand the importance of spiritual practices. Mahamaya deludes people to bring them to the Atman.
People who do not do spiritual practices have lots of worldly desires to fulfill. One life is not enough to fulfill millions of desires. So, after death, Mahamaya sends them first to heaven or hell according to their deeds to enjoy or suffer respectively, and then gives them various kinds of lives on earth to fulfill their desires.
Gita (9.7-8): Shri Krishna said, “O Arjuna! At the end of a cycle all beings enter into My Prakriti (Mahamaya), and at the beginning of a cycle, I generate them again.
“Through My Prakriti, I create all beings again and again. They are helpless because of their own past actions.”
What is it that leaves the body at the time of death?
The Upanishads teach that the Atman or Brahman is omnipresent. According to the Vedanta, the whole universe is projected on Brahman by Maya (the power of Brahman).
Ishopanishad says, “Whatever is in the universe is covered by the Lord.
Chhandogya Upanishad says, “Everything is verily Brahman.”
This means that Brahman is appearing as the universe.
In the Bhagavad Gita (12.3), Shri Krishna describes Brahman who is devoid of names and forms as ‘Imperishable, Ineffable, Un-manifest, Omnipresent, Incomprehensible, Immutable, and Unchanging’.
Thus Atman or Brahman is Omnipresent and without a second. It does not come from somewhere at the time of the birth of a body and does not go anywhere after its death.
The Shatashloki Shloka – 28 says that it is the subtle body of a being that goes from one body to another body. We find Shri Krishna talks about this in the Bhagavad Gita in the following shlokas:
Gita (15.7 & 8): Shri Krishna says, “In the world of living beings, the individual soul (Jivatma) is an eternal portion of Mine. Abide in Prakriti (Maya or My Power), it draws to itself the five senses and the mind.
“When Jivatma leaves a body, it carries with it these five senses and the mind to another body just as the wind carries fragrance from one place to another.”
Gita (15.10 & 11): Shri Krishna says, “The deluded people do not perceive the Jivatma residing in the body, enjoying the objects of the world, and uniting with the three Gunas or leaving a body. Those who have an eye of wisdom really perceive it.
“The yogis, established in the Yoga, who strives to realize the Atman, behold It dwelling within themselves. But those who are undisciplined and have not purified their minds do not perceive It even though they strive.”
The question is: What is the Subtle Body?
Shri Shankaracharya talks about Sthula Sharira (Gross Body) and Sukshma Sharira (Subtle Body) in the “Viveka Chudamani”.
Sthula Sharira (the gross body) is made out of the gross forms of the five elements, namely, space, air, fire, water, and earth. It consists of skin, flesh, blood, arteries and veins, fat, marrow and bones, and human waste.
Sukshma Sharira (subtle body): It is made out of the following eight things. All are in their subtle forms.
(i) Five Karmendriyas (the organs of actions): They are speech, hands, legs, organ of excretion, and organ of regeneration. Through these, an individual performs actions.
(ii) Five Jnanendriyas (the organs of perceptions): These are ears, skin, eyes, nose, and tongue. With the help of these senses, an individual perceives the universe.
(iii) Five Pranas (the vital forces): Prana (helps in breathing, drinking, and eating), Apana (helps in evacuating the waste from the body), Vyana (helps in blood circulation), Udana (helps in sneezing, crying, vomiting, and an individual soul to leave the body), and Samana (helps in digestion and balancing the pressures)
(iv) Five Elements: Space, air, fire, water, and earth.
(v) Antahkarana: It is broadly the mind of a person. It has been divided into four parts according to its functions, namely Mana, Buddhi, Chitta, and Ahankara. Through Mana or the mind, one perceives the universe with the help of the senses, thinks, desires, and experiences pain and pleasures. Buddhi or the intellect is the analytical part of the mind which classifies the information that the mind gathers. It is also determinist in nature. It sets up goals of life and separates rights and wrongs. Chitta is the reservoir of all the impressions of the person’s thoughts, speech, and actions. Ahankara is the ego, the subtle, and the gross.
(vi) Avidya or the fundamental ignorance of one’s true identity.
(vii) Desires and
(viii) The impressions of the actions.
The Karan Sharira (causal body) is included in the subtle body. It is the cause or the seed of the subtle and the gross body. It has no other function than being the seed of these bodies. Its form is ‘nirvikalpa rupam’, an undifferentiated form. The ‘Karana sharira’ is formed because of ‘Avidya’, ignorance of the true identity of the existence of a being, which is Atman. The ignorance makes a being think that it is separate from the Atman. We can say that it is the subtle ego or the basis of the manifested ego. It is destroyed only when ignorance is destroyed in the state of Samadhi. In the Samadhi there is only the awareness of Pure Consciousness, inside and outside. A person in Samadhi is not aware of his/her body, mind, place, and time. We find the records of such a state of Samadhi in the life of Sri Ramakrishna.
Brahma Sutras (3.1.1 & 3) also talk about the subtle body going out from a body at the time of death to form another body.
Meaning: “From the question and answer in the Shruti (Upanishads, Brahma Sutras, and Bhagavad Gita) it is known that the soul (Jiva) goes out of the body enveloped with subtle parts of the elements with a view to obtain a fresh body.
Meaning: Because of the going out of the Pranas (the vital force) and the sense organs with the soul, the elements also accompany the soul.
What do we learn from this?
Samkaras are important. Every thought we think, every word we speak, and every action we perform leaves a mark on our minds. The sum total of all these impressions builds up our character and it inspires us to think, speak, and act accordingly.
Swami Vivekananda explains it in Raja Yoga. He says, “…Each action is like the pulsations quivering over the surface of the lake. The vibration dies out, and what is left?, the Samskaras, the impressions…..
“…The Samskaras are left by these vibrations passing out of our mind, each one of them leaving its result. Our character is the sum – total of these marks, and according as some particular wave prevails one takes that tone. If good prevails, one becomes good; if wickedness, one becomes wicked; if joyfulness, one becomes happy. The only remedy for bad habits is counter habits; all the bad habits that have left their impressions are to be controlled by good habits…
“… Character is repeated habits, and repeated habits alone can reform character.”
Thus, we can build or change our character by thinking, speaking, and acting accordingly. These impressions will decide our next birth. If we want to be free from our ignorance and our slavery of senses, then we have to do spiritual practices.
Shri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita (8.5-7) says, “There is no doubt that anyone who leaves his/her body thinking only of Me (God) becomes one with Me.
“O Arjuna! Whatever object or a being a person thinks of at the time of death, the person becomes that object or the being in the next life because the person was deeply cherishing that object or a being.
“Therefore, at all times, think of Me and fight this war. There is no doubt that if your mind and intellect both are constantly absorbed in Me, then you will become one with Me.”
Shloka 29
Meaning: Many years ago, king Sanati had a priest called Subandhu. He was a Brahmin by the caste. Other brahmins, out of jealousy, played some dirty tricks and killed Subandhu. His subtle body with his mind went to the Lord Yama, the Lord of Death.
Later on, Subandhu’s brother recited some Vedic mantras and brought Subandu’s subtle body back on earth and made Subandhu alive. This story has been narrated in a sukta of Rigveda.
This shows that it is the subtle body that leaves the body at the time of death and transmigrates and not the Atman.
Reflection:
This is an example from the Rig Veda. It shows the acceptance of the Vedas that at the time of death the subtle body leaves the body.
All over the world people think that the greatest miracle on earth is to make a dead person alive. There are many people interested to communicate with their departed family members.
We have heard from the Saints that those who seek knowledge of Atman should not entertain the thoughts of making the dead alive and communicating with the departed souls. Such thoughts and actions distract the mind and take one away from the goal of life which is the realization of one’s true Self or Atman.
Shloka 30
Meaning: Atman is one without a second and omnipresent. Because it is all-pervading, it does not move at all. However, Atman is reflected in the mind and the mind is constantly running around, so it looks as if the Atman is running around. It is like the water of the ocean goes up and down with the waves created by the wind and when the wind dies down the water goes back to its calm state.
It is amazing that the way water is inside and outside of the waves, Atman is inside and outside of the mind as a reflection, but the eyes and the other senses don’t know it. When the mind becomes calm, then one realizes that the nature of the Atman is motionless and calm.
Reflection:
For the Atman to move, it needs a space where the Atman is not present. Since Atman is omnipresent, it does not move.
The question is: Then, what moves? This shloka gives an excellent analogy to explain the phenomena of the movement.
The Ultimate Reality is Sat-Chit-Ananda Brahman. It is devoid of names, forms, and any action. To get an idea, Brahman is considered like an ocean without any waves. Ignorance produces a wave that thinks that it has a separate existence. We can think of this wave as ‘Jivatma’, an individual soul. Now, the wave gets associated with the wind and it goes up and down. We can think of the wind as the desires and different moods of the mind. When all the desires and with that all the moods of the mind die, the wave subsides completely and what remains is the calm ocean.
Another analogy is the reflection of the sun in a pot. The body is a pot and the water inside it is the mind. The reflection of the sun in the pot is Jivatma. When the water in the pot moves or the pot itself moves, then one feels that the sun is moving. But, actually, it is the reflection in the pot’s water that is moving. The pot, the water, and the reflection are the product of ignorance of reality. The Vedanta says that the Atman or pure consciousness illumines the intellect and through that, the senses and the sense objects get illumined. The senses do not see that the intellect has been illumined by the Atman. They feel that intellect is pure consciousness and it has its own light. When the mind or the ego which is the fundamental cause of the mind merges with the Atman, then the reflection merges with the original sun. At that time only the Atman or the pure consciousness remains. This is the state of Samadhi or the realization of the Atman. The individuals and the world are created so that each individual attains this state. If we make conscious efforts for this realization, then we enjoy the journey.
Meaning: Maya (Brahman’s Power) has four special characteristics: (1) It is ever youthful and ever new just like a young woman every day looks new by wearing new dresses and adorning herself with new ornaments, (2) It is very clever and can do impossible looking things possible, (3) Initially it looks very sweet and tempting, and (4) It covers the knowledge of Brahman established by the Shruti (Vedas).
In this Maya, Jiva (an individual soul) and Ishwara (the Lord) both dwell like two birds on a tree; Jiva experiences the sweet and bitter fruits of the tree, while Ishwara remains unattached as a witness consciousness.
Reflection:
(I)Maya is ever new:
The word Maya has been used to represent various things: (i) magic, (ii) delusion, (iii) Avidya (ignorance), (iv) space, time, and causation, (v) Ishwara who creates, preserves, and dissolve the universe, (vi) the universe, (vii) the Nature, (viii) Shakti (the power of Brahman), (ix) Prakriti (made out of three Gunas), (x) a statement of fact, (xi) pairs of opposites like joy and sorrow, birth and death, success and failure, (xii) power which covers Brahman and projects names, forms, and attributes, and others. Thus, we can see that Maya does not have any gender. However, thinking of Shakti, one imagines a picture of a goddess.
The 26th and 27th shlokas are connected with the Vedas. In the Rig Veda (8.6.16.3) Maya has been described as a girl having the above-mentioned four qualities. But, we should go beyond the gender-biased. Men also may have these four qualities. The true identity of men and women is Atman (pure consciousness). As pure consciousness, the Atman has no gender.
The first quality of Maya is that it is always new. We see that everything in the universe is constantly changing; for example, the sky, the weather, the trees, our bodies, our moods, our situations in life, and other things. Nothing in the universe with names and forms is permanent. We just start enjoying our favorable situations in life and all of a sudden a cloud of miseries comes. With the joy of success, failures start haunting us. We become aware of our good health and feel the joy of human life, simultaneously or within a short time, the fear of disease and death starts threatening us. Maya would not let us have a good time for a long time. Every now and then it throws a curve ball and our joy turns into miseries. If nothing bad happens, then we get bored with what we have. The opposite also happens; in the midst of dark clouds of miseries and failures, all of a sudden a hope of success comes like a ray of sunshine. A positive twist helps us keep going with our life.
(II)Maya makes the impossible possible:
Shri Shankaracharya, in his ‘Maya Panchakam’, describes how Maya makes impossible things possible. The following are examples of this fact.
(1) My true reality is Atman, which is pure consciousness, one without a second, eternal, unlimited, and devoid of names and forms. Atman and Brahman are identical. But, Maya superimposes on Brahman, the distinctions in the form of Jiva (Individual soul), Jagata (universe), and Ishwara (the Lord).
(2) Maya tempts all people with lust and greed. Being tempted by lust and greed, even people who have learned Vedas and the Upanishads behave no better than animals.
(3) Jiva’s true identity is Atman, which is pure consciousness, blissful, eternal, and one without a second. But, under the influence of Maya, Jiva identifies itself with its body and mind which are made out of five elements, and as a result whirl around in the ocean of ‘trans migratory’ existence.
(4) Jiva’s nature as Atman is Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute and is devoid of all attributes. But, coming under the influence of Maya, Jiva develops a false ego, gets attached to its spouse, children, and property, and acquires attributes like color, caste, creed, gender, and other characteristics.
(5) Brahman is one without a second, undivided, and is nameless, formless, and attribute-less. But, Maya makes even learned people deluded and make them think that Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, and other gods and goddesses are all different from each other.
(III)Maya initially looks very sweet and tempting:
In Viveka Chudamani (shloka 78 of Gita Press Gorakhpur),
Shri Shankaracharya describes how animals first get tempted by Maya and then get trapped afterward. Initially, everything looks sweet and filled with enjoyment, but then it brings pain and destruction.
(i) A hunter charms dear with music and then kills it.
(ii) A hunter keeps a female elephant in a big hole. The male elephant goes to rub its body with the female elephant and gets caught by the hunter.
(iii) A moth gets attracted by the light and ends up dying in it.
(iv) A fish enjoys the bait, but then gets caught by the fisherman.
(v) A bee enjoys the fragrance and honey of a lotus, but in the evening it dies being trapped when the lotus closes its petals.
Shri Shankaracharya says that each animal gets trapped because of having one strong sense. How then a human being could be saved who has five strong senses. Maya creates false pictures of the sense objects and arises temptations in the mind to enjoy these objects. Initially, these sense objects look sweet and charming, but then the human beings find their real nature, get frustrated, and suffer the consequences.
(IV)Maya covers knowledge of Brahman:
As we saw in the Maya Panchkam, Maya covers the Atman (the true eternal divine identity of an individual) and creates an ego who thinks that its identity is limited to its body and mind. Then, this ego that is known as ‘Me or I’ creates a division between ‘Mine’ and ‘Not-Mine’. That is the cause of all the problems in our life.
In the universe, everything is Brahman. But, Maya covers this awareness and projects objects and individuals with names and forms with various characteristics. These are like the characters and situations of a movie projected on a screen. Brahman, like a screen, remains unattached to what has been projected on It.
The Analogy of Two Birds:
When Brahman with Its power Maya creates, preserves, and dissolves the universe, we refer to It as Ishwara, the Lord of the universe. Ishwara and an individual soul (Jiva) are both in the realm of Maya. We find a wonderful analogy of an individual soul (Jivatma) and Atman (Paramatma) in Mundakopanishad (3.1.1), Rig Veda (1.164.20), and Atharva Veda (9.14.20). Atman and Brahman are the same.
Mundakopanishad (3.1.1): “Two birds, which always stay together and are friends of each other, stay on the same tree. One of them eats the fruits of the tree, but the other one sits there with a detached look without eating anything.”
The tree is our body and mind. The two birds are an individual soul (Jivatma) and Atman (Paramatma). Individual soul eats the fruits of its actions, while Atman remains unattached as a witness consciousness without any action.
The last line of the Shatashloki (26) refers to this mantra and the following Shatashloki (27) talks more about these two birds.
Shatashloki – 27
Jivatma and Paramatma
Meaning: Among these two birds, one bird that represents Ishwara (the Lord) always remains unattached. The Jiva (the individual soul) remaining in the ocean of ignorance forgets its own true nature, which is Brahman, and it sees the world of multifarious names and forms as real even though they are mere appearances and have no reality apart from Brahman.
But, when the Jiva, through its intellect, withdraws its mind from the external world and focuses it on the Self (Atman), then it realizes its true nature as Atman (or Brahman). At that time, Maya leaves the Jiva and the Jiva also leaves Maya.
The saints know that Atman and Brahman are one and the same and without a second. However, to teach and guide the students, they describe It in various forms.
Reflection: The true nature of each individual is Pure Consciousness (Atman). But, by the association with Maya (Ignorance), it forgets its true nature and thinks that it is separate from Atman having body and mind. This develops a sense of ‘Me and Mine’ and unfulfillment which leads an individual to make efforts to be happy. All actions have either pleasurable or painful or mixed results which Jivatma has to experience. The results become the cause of more desires and more actions. Thus, the Jivatma continues taking different births to fulfill these desires.
At some point, Jivatma gets tired of running after the false or temporary pleasures of the body and mind. It develops an intense desire to know its true nature which is Atman, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute (Sat-Chit-Ananda). This is when Jivatma starts doing spiritual practices and focuses its mind on Atman residing within. When it realizes its true nature Atman, Maya leaves Jivatma and Jivatma also becomes free from Maya. At that time, Jivatma merges in Atman or Paramatman. This is the story of Jivatma. If we really understand this story, then we start doing spiritual practices to realize our true divine nature and attain fulfillment.
Sri Ramakrishna used to say that there are two kinds of Maya; Avidya Maya and Vidya Maya. Avidya Maya takes a person away from Atman, while Vidya Maya takes a person towards Atman. When we become aware that Avidya Maya is working on us, then Avidya Maya becomes ashamed and leaves us temporarily. Sri Ramakrishna gave an example that one person wearing a mask of the tiger was scaring children. The children were crying and trying to run away out of fear. Meanwhile, one child recognized that ‘this is my uncle’ and told the person that ‘you are my uncle’. Immediately the uncle took out his tiger mask, laughed, and went away.
Whenever our mind is going away from Atman, during a pleasurable or painful time, we have to fold our hands and request Avidya Maya to leave us. Then, we have to take the help of Vidya Maya to do our spiritual practices, make spiritual progress, and realize Atman. If we don’t do this, then Avidya Maya will teach us through miseries and force us to understand the importance of realizing Atman.
Meaning: Before the creation (at the end of the dissolution of the universe of the previous cycle) only Maya (the Power of Brahman) existed as deep darkness of ‘Ignorance’ (Avidya). As water is hidden in the milk, the universe was hidden in the Maya.
Then, the will of the Creator was prompted by the unfulfilled desires of all the individual souls produced by their actions in the previous cycles to create a new cycle of the universe. Because of that will, this universe consists of names and forms that have been created by Maya in conformity with the past karmas of the individual souls.
Reflection:
Three things have been described here: (i) Dissolution of the universe, (ii) Creation of a new cycle, and (iii) The cause of the births of individual souls.
Let us reflect on each of these three parts.
(i) The dissolution of the universe:
According to Vedanta, the process of creation, preservation, and dissolution of the universe is not linear, but it is cyclical. This shloka of Shatashloki mentions that at the end of a cycle, the universe merges into Maya or Prakriti, which is the power of Brahman, the Ultimate Reality. As water is hidden in the milk, the universe hides in Maya. Brahman and its power Maya are inseparable.
Sri Ramakrishna having direct experiences of Samadhi in which a person becomes one with the Ultimate Reality (Brahman) explains the nature of Brahman and Maya as follows:
Sri Ramakrishna says, “The Jnanis, who adhere to the non-dualistic philosophy of Vedanta, say that the acts of creation, preservation, and destruction, the universe itself and all its living beings, are the manifestations of Shakti, the Divine Power (Maya or Prakriti). If you reason it out, you will realize that all these are as illusory as a dream. Brahman alone is the Reality and all else is unreal. Even this very Shakti is unsubstantial, like a dream.
“But, though you reason all your life, unless you are established in Samadhi, you cannot go beyond the jurisdiction of Shakti, Even when you say, ‘I am meditating’, or ‘I am contemplating’, still you are moving in the realm of Shakti, within Its power.
“Thus Brahman and Shakti are identical. If you accept the one, you must accept the other. It is like fire and its power to burn. If you see the fire, you must recognize its power to burn also. You cannot think of fire without its power to burn, nor can you think of the power to burn without fire. You cannot conceive of the sun’s ray without the sun, nor can you conceive of the sun without its rays….
“Thus, one cannot think of Brahman without Shakti, or Shakti without Brahman. One cannot think of the Absolute without the Relative, or of the Relative without the Absolute.”
During the period of dissolution, the universe is hidden in the Maya (which is inseparable from Brahman) and not completely dissolved. Those individual souls who have realized Brahman had no desires left and therefore they do not born again. But, such souls are few in number. Most of the individual souls had lots of desires left to enjoy the world and therefore this shloka says that they prompt Brahman to create a new cycle.
(ii) The creation of a new cycle:
Brahma Sutras logically establishes that Brahman is the cause of the universe.
Brahma Sutra (1.1.2) says:
“Brahman is the cause of the creation, preservation, and dissolution of the universe.”
Aittareya Upanishad (1.1.1) describes how the new cycle comes into existence.
Aitareya Upanishad (1.1.1) says:
“At the beginning (all) this was verily Atman (Brahman) only, one and without a second. There was nothing else that winked. The Atman thought, “Let me now create the worlds.”
Sri Ramakrishna said that when Brahman is engaged in the activity of creation, preservation, and dissolution of the universe, we refer to It as Shakti. Thus, Shakti thought to create a new cycle.
At this point, it is interesting to read a portion of Swami Vivekananda’s thoughts presented in his lecture “The Real and the Apparent Man”, delivered in New York on February 16, 1896. Explaining the origin of the universe he said the following:
“….Every manifestation of energy, therefore, according to the Hindus, is prana. Every manifestation of the matter is akasha.
“When this cycle (of the universe) ends, all that we call solid will melt away into the next finer or the liquid form, that will melt away into finer and more uniform heat vibrations, and all will melt back into the original akasha. And what we now call attraction, repulsion, and motion will slowly resolve into the original prana. Then this prana, it is said, will sleep for a period, again to emerge and throw out all these forms; and when this period ends, then the whole thing will subside again…. At one time it remains potential, and in the next period, it becomes active….
“Yet this analysis is only partial….. We have not yet found that one thing knowing which everything else is known. We have resolved the whole universe into two components, what are called matter and energy, or what the ancient philosophers of India called akasha and prana. The next step is to resolve akasha and prana into their origin. Both can be resolved into a still higher entity called the mind. It is out of mind, mahat, the universally existing thought-power, that these two have been produced. Thought is a finer manifestation than either akasha or prana. It is thought that splits itself into these two. The universal thought existed in the beginning, and that manifested, changed, and evolved itself into these two: akasha and prana. By the combination of these two, the whole universe has been produced.” – Swami Vivekananda
The Aitareya Upanishad (1.1.1) says, “The Atman (or Brahman) thought, “Let me now create the worlds.” Thus, this thought created the whole universe. We know that everything happens first in the mind and then it manifests itself in action. For example, at first, a thought or an idea of a chair comes into the mind of a human being, and then the physical chair comes into existence.
We find a similar expression in the Chhandogya Upanishad (6.2.3). It says,
“Brahman thought: ‘May I be many. May I grow forth.”
Shri Krishna, identifying Himself with Brahman, reiterates in the Bhagavad Gita, the message of the Brahma Sutras that Brahman is the cause of the universe.
Shri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita (9.7) says,
“O Arjuna! At the end of the cycle, all beings enter into My (Brahman’s) Prakriti (Maya), and at the beginning of a cycle I create them again.”
(iii) The cause of the births of individual souls:
We know that the physical configuration comes from parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents. But, Swami Vivekananda (in his ‘Paper on Hinduism’) says, “There are other tendencies peculiar to a soul caused by its past actions. And a soul with certain tendencies would by the law of affinity take birth in a body which is the fittest instrument for the display of that tendency. This is in accord with science, for science wants to explain everything by habit, and habit is got through repetitions. So repetitions are necessary to explain the natural habits of a newborn soul. And since they were not obtained in this present life, they must have come down from past lives.”
Thus, the theory of reincarnation is the best logical explanation of the discrepancies in the births of children: some are born in a perfectly favorable environment and others are born in families or surroundings with miserable environments. The theory of reincarnation goes hand in hand with the law of karmas. We are in the present state because of our past karmas and if we want to change our future then we have to perform appropriate karmas in the present.
This is what the Lord Yama (the god of Death) explains in the Kathopanishad. He says that in the new cycle, the individual souls take birth in different categories according to their strong unfulfilled worldly desires.
Kathopanishad (2.2.7):
Lord Yama says, “According to their karmas and their desires created by what they had learned in their lives, the individual souls (jivas) born in the different categories, such as human beings, or animals, birds, and various species, or trees and plants, or inert things like stones.”
The past karmas are the cause and the present state is their effect. The law of karmas is the chain of cause and effect. Swami Vivekananda explains very effectively this fact in the following quote.
Swami Vivekananda writes, “The Divine Mother (Maya or Prakriti) is the power of all causation. She energizes every cause unmistakably to produce the effect. Her will is the only law, and as She cannot make a mistake, nature’s laws–Her will–can never be changed. She is the life of the law of karma or causation. She is the fructifier of every action. Under Her guidance, we are manufacturing our lives through our deeds or karma.”
The truths of the Vedanta Philosophy are eternal and not limited to a certain group of people. They are helpful to all people at all times and at any place in the world. Realizing these truths and manifesting them in our lives bring fulfillment, inner peace, and eternal bliss.
Meaning: There is no day or night in the sun. The day and night happens because the sun is being seen or not seen due to the rotation of the earth. Sun is always there in the sky. The illusion of day and night is created because we look through our eyes. Similarly, since Atman is Brahman and it is one without a second, it is never bound and therefore it does not need liberation. Jiva’s (an individual being’s) true nature is Atman which is ever free. But, due to ignorance it thinks that it is limited by its body and mind. Because of this ignorance the cycle of births and deaths has been attributed to the Jiva.
Before the creation, Brahman only existed without any adjuncts like Prana, senses, and others. Through Maya, Brahman appeared as the Creator (Ishwara) of the universe. Actually, nothing exists except Brahman. When, through Maya, the Brahman is covered, Jiva appears as a separate identity consisting with body and mind.
Reflection: This shloka gives an excellent example that convinces us the principle of the absolute non-dualism. It says that there is no day and night in the sun. We talk about sunset and sunrise, but in reality the sun is always there in the sky. It never rises nor does it set. If there is sunset, then the question of sunrise arises. Similarly, the Atman (the true reality of an individual) has never been bounded, so there is no question of its being free. It is always free from all bondages.
As the rotation of the earth creates a delusion of sunset and sunrise, the Maya (the power of Brahman) creates a delusion that Atman is bounded by the body and mind and therefore it goes through the cycles of births and deaths.
Swami Adiswarananda used to say that according to Acharya Gaudapada you are all free. You were never bounded. So, you don’t need any sermon or teachings. Go home and enjoy your freedom. But you will say, ‘No Swamiji! I am not free. I have many problems.’ If that is the case, then you need spiritual practices to be free or to realize that ‘you were free’.
The problem is that through Maya an ego is created in an individual who separates itself from the eternal Atman and makes one feel that ‘I am a person with limited body and mind. I have millions of desires and I have to make lots of efforts to make myself happy.’
Maya is ignorance. It covers the true nature of an individual (Atman) and projects that it is a soul with limited body and mind.
Sri Ramakrishna said that ego created by the ignorance is like a stick that divides the undivided water. If we take away the stick, then there will be only undivided water. This means that when our ego is gone, then we experience our true identity, which is Pure Consciousness. This is the state of Samadhi. We suffer because of our ego. We are bound because of our ego.
Sri Ramakrishna said that it is very hard to get rid of the ego. At one moment we think we had got rid of our ego, and then in another moment it pops up again. Sri Ramakrishna said that ‘unripe ego’ is harmful. Having that ego one takes pride in one’s body, mind, wealth, power, position, popularity and other such things. It takes us away from the Atman. One who has a ‘ripe ego’ thinks that ‘I am a devotee of God’, ‘My goal is to realize God’, ‘I cannot do anything unethical’, ‘I cannot harm anyone’ etc. “Ripe ego’ is not harmful. It takes us towards our true Self (Atman).
The ignorance reveals through two mental characteristics: (1) ‘Me and mine’; I am this person with body and mind and all these things belong to me. And (2) ‘I am the doer’; I have achieved many things and I will continue to achieve many more. I perform all the good work etc.
When the ignorance goes away, then Knowledge of Atman reveals from within. At that time one realizes that (1) Everything belongs to God including my body and mind, or more correctly, everything is God (Brahman) and (2) God is the doer of everything and my body-mind is an instrument.
The realization of the Ultimate Knowledge has been mentioned in the Upanishads.
Ishopanishad (Shloka 1) says,
“Realize that whatever exists in the universe is nothing but the Lord.”
Chhandogya Upanishad (3.14.1) says,
“All this is verily Brahman.”
To realize the Ultimate Truth that Brahman has become everything, the Upanishads talks about three spiritual practices; (1) Shravana: to listen or learn the Truth from the scriptures and Holy People who have realized It, (2) Manana: reflect upon the Truth, reason to understand It, and get convinced about it, and (3) Nidhdhyasana: meditate on the Truth and realize It.
The intellectual conviction of the Truth is not enough. We have to actually realize the Truth that ‘Brahman is appearing as the universe including all individuals and objects’. Also, this realization should reflect in our thoughts, speech, and actions as blessings to ourselves and to all around us.
Chhandogya Upanishad (3.14.1) actually says how to meditate on this Ultimate Truth:
“All this is verily Brahman. From Brahman the universe comes forth, in It the universe merges, and in It the universe manifest. Therefore, one has to meditate on the Brahman as described above with a calm mind (meaning being free from the attachment and the aversion).”
The goal of human life is to realize this Ultimate Truth.
Meaning: Before the creation, the world was not absolutely non-existent like the flowers in the sky. Nor did it exist as an entity different from Brahman. It was different from both, meaning, the world was neither non-existent nor existent.
Before creation, the world as we now experience did not exist. The Virat (total gross body) which is the cause of the elements beginning with space too did not exist. But, it subsequently appeared like silver appearing on the nacre.
Can the world which was neither non-existent nor existent covers Brahman? Absolutely the world cannot cover Brahman, just as the mirage created by an illusion on the earth cannot cover the earth.
Reflections:
One of the very puzzling questions is: ‘Did the world exist before the creation?’
Several related questions arise with this question: (i) Did this world start at some time? (ii) Did the world come out from nothing? (iii) Was there anything that existed before this world? If it did, what was it? (iv) Did the world come out of something? (v) Which forces created this world? (vi) Is there a creator of this world? Is that creator a superhuman being or not a human being? (vii) If the world would be created again, would it be the same world or different?
Three Popular Theories:
There are three popular theories that exist about the beginning of the universe:
(1) From the religious point of view: God created this universe.
(2) From the non-believer’s point of view: This universe came out from nothing.
(3) From the scientific point of view: The big bang theory looks more convincing.
Religious View:
To accept the religious point of view, one needs faith that ‘There is God.’ and ‘God has created the universe.’ In this case, one should not ask questions like, ‘From where God got the material to create the universe and what kind of tools He/She used?’, ‘Is God a man or a woman or a non-human being?’, ‘Where does God reside?’, ‘Why did God create a universe in which many people suffer?’
Skeptic’s View:
On the other hand, the non-believer’s point of view, namely, ‘This universe came out of nothing.’ does not make sense. Something cannot come out of nothing.
Some people think that at the beginning of the creation, there was only matter, and then at some point, the consciousness started. The question comes: How insentient matter becomes sentient?
Big Bang Theory:
The scientists believe in the Big Bang Theory:
The record shows that the big bang theory was first proposed by Alexander Friedman, a Russian mathematician in 1922 and expanded upon in 1927 by Georges-Henri Lemaitre. He was a Belgian physicist, who was also a Roman Catholic priest. He theorized that the universe began from a single primordial atom. In the first 10^-43 seconds of its existence, the universe was very compact, less than a million billion billionths the size of a single atom.
Scientists such as Edwin Hubble have made detailed observations and measurements that support and develop this theory.
For the big bang theory, a question always comes: “What came before the big bang?”
A physicist Glenn Starkman at the Case Western Reserve University suggests a textbook answer for this. According to him, “The question, “What came before the big bang?”, is meaningless, just as it’s meaningless to ask what’s south of the South Pole.”
In the big bang theory, people say that the time itself began with the big bang. Therefore, there was nothing ‘before’ the big bang. Starkman knows that hardly anyone finds that answer satisfying.
In trying to describe a ‘creation process’ through scientific language we encounter a serious challenge: if every effect results from a cause, we can follow the chain of causation backward in time until we arrive at the First Cause. But what caused this cause? Aristotle thought of some divine entity to solve this conundrum, called the Unmoved Mover, the one that can cause without having been caused. It looks very convenient, but it is not scientifically satisfying.
Quantum Nothingness:
Then, there is a theory of scientists and philosophers who think that the universe came out from ‘a special nothing’. They say that the Universe emerged spontaneously from a random quantum fluctuation in some sort of primordial quantum vacuum, the scientific equivalent of “nothing“. However, this quantum vacuum is a very loaded nothing: it assumes the whole machinery of quantum field theory, the modern description of how elementary particles of matter interact with one another.
In the quantum realm, even the lowest energy state, the “vacuum,” is not empty. Even if the energy of a quantum system is zero, it is never really zero due to the inherent quantum fluctuations about this state. A zero-energy quantum state is as impossible as a perfectly still lake, with absolutely no disturbances on its surface. This quantum jitteriness amounts to fluctuations in the value of the energy; if one of these fluctuations is unstable it may grow big, like a soap bubble that blows itself up. The energy remains zero on average because of a clever interplay between the positive energy of matter and the negative energy of attractive gravity. This is the result that physicists like Stephen Hawking, Lawrence Krauss, Mikio Kaku, and others speak of when they state that the “universe came out of quantum nothingness,” or something to that extent.
Other Views:
Some physicists now think that the time didn’t begin with the Big Bang, but somehow emerged when the universe reached a certain level of complexity.
Others theorize that the universe runs in cycles, in a possibly endless series of expansions and contractions. If this “cyclic” model is right, the Big Bang wasn’t the beginning, but just a transition from an earlier era. Another possibility is that our universe is just one of countless “bubble universes” that pop up repeatedly in a “multiverse.”
The Vedanta View:
It is interesting to reflect upon the Vedanta view of the universe and its beginning which the Shata Shloki shloka 23 presents.
This shloka says that before the creation, we cannot say that ‘the universe did not exit’ and we cannot say that ‘the universe did exist’.
According to Vedanta, there is only one Ultimate Reality called Brahman. Its nature is Pure Consciousness or Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. These are not the qualities of Brahman. They describe the nature of Brahman. They give us an idea of Brahman. Brahman is Knowledge Itself, Existence Itself, and Bliss Itself. Qualities come and go, but the nature remains same all the time. Brahman is the Ultimate Reality, but when It is seen through the prism of space, time, and causation, then it appears as the universe as we know or experience.
Because Brahman appears as the universe, the universe actually did not exist. On the other hand, we cannot say, it didn’t exist because we perceive it. According to Vedanta, the power of Brahman, called Maya, creates these apparent contradictions. Maya is difficult to describe.
Swami Vivekananda provides more insight into this concept of Maya in his lecture delivered in London.
He said, “What, then, does the statement that the world exists mean? It really means that the world has no existence. What, again, does the statement that ‘the world has no existence’ mean? It means that it has no absolute existence: it exists only in relation to my mind, to your mind, and to the mind of everyone else.
We see this world with the five senses, but if we had another sense, we would see in it something more. If we had yet another sense, it would appear as something still different.
It has, therefore, no real existence; it has no unchangeable, immovable, infinite existence.
Nor can it be said to have non-existence, since it exists and we have to work in and through it.”
Swami Vivekananda says that our whole life is a mixture of this contradiction of existence and non-existence. He points out several contradictions in our life:
(1) A human being feels that he/she can know everything, but he/she finds that there is an adamantine wall that is difficult to pass through. A human being’s mind has limitations and difficult to go beyond this mind.
(2) There is a general tendency to be selfish, but in the inner recess of our hearts, we know that unselfishness is good.
(3) At a young age a person is very optimistic, but as the person grows old, he/she becomes pessimistic.
(4) Every minute people are dying, but the people who are alive think that they are immortal.
(5) Our desires cannot be fulfilled by the enjoyments. As fire increases more when we pour ghee into it, our desires also increase more by the enjoyments.
(6) Because of the attachment people suffer, but they continue to remain attached.
(7) In society, if one evil is removed, several other evils show up.
(8) The knowledge of happiness brings the knowledge of unhappiness.
(9) As happiness grows in society, then miseries also grow simultaneously.
(10) As good increases in the world, then evil also increases.
(11) All the obstacles remind us of our limitations, but inside we have a feeling that we are not limited.
(12) There is nothing in this universe that is completely good or completely bad. Each thing is a mixture of good and bad.
(13) As knowledge increases, our awareness of ignorance also increases.
According to Swami Vivekananda, the Maya is not a theory for the explanation of the world. It is simply a statement of facts as they exist. It tells us that the very basis of our being is a contradiction.
Swami Vivekananda says that in ancient Vedic literature, the word Maya was used in the sense of delusion. Then, Maya was used as magic. There is a text, “Indra through his Maya assumes various forms. Later on, Maya was used as a mist that covers reality. A question was asked: “Why we cannot know the secret of the universe?” The answer was given, “Because we talk in vain, and because we are satisfied with things of the senses, and because we are running after desires, therefore we cover the Reality, as it were, with a mist.”
Swami Vivekananda said, “The Maya of Vedanta, in its final form, is neither idealism, nor realism, nor is it a theory. It is a simple statement of fact – what we are and what we see around us.”
Other Forms of Maya:
Maya is also called Prakriti, or Shakti, or the Power of Brahman. This universe is Maya. Shwetaswatara Upanishad states it clearly.
Shwetaswatara Upanishad (4.10): “Know, then, that Prakriti is Maya, and that the Supreme God (Brahman) is the Lord of Maya. The whole universe is pervaded by the Prakriti (the power of Brahman) through the cause and effect.”
Prakriti (Maya) is made out of three gunas; sattva, rajas, and tamas. The universe is going on because of the imbalance of these three Gunas. When the three Gunas are in perfect balance, then the universe gets dissolved. Brahman is beyond the three Gunas. Dominated by the imbalance of the three Gunas within and without, a person limits oneself to one’s limited body-mind existence and becomes active to fulfill one’s desires. Thus, one could not see the Reality that Brahman is appearing as this universe. Shri Krishna asserts this fact in the Bhagavad Gita.
Shri Krishna says, “Deluded by these threefold Gunas constituting Nature, this whole world fails to recognize Me (Brahman), who am above the Gunas and immutable.” (Bhagavad Gita 7.13)
When a person goes beyond the three Gunas, then one realizes the Ultimate Reality (Brahman) within and without. But, it is very difficult. Shri Krishna says that the delusion is very powerful.
Shri Krishna says, “Verily, this divine Maya of Mine, consisting of the Gunas, is hard to overcome. But, those who take refuge in Me alone, shall cross over this Maya.” (Bhagavad Gita 7.14))
Maya and the Cyclical View of the Universe:
According to Vedanta, the universe runs in cycles. The cycle of creation, preservation, and dissolution of the universe goes on eternally. In the Bhagavad Gita, Shri Krishna clearly states this principle.
Shri Krishna said, “At the end of the cycle, all beings, O son of Kunti, enter into My Prakriti, and at the beginning of a cycle I generate them again.” (Bhagavad Gita 9.7)
Thus, Shri Krishna (identifying Himself with Brahman) says that by the power of Brahman, at the beginning of each cycle, the universe is created. Then, it is preserved, and at the end of the cycle, it is dissolved. The creation is seeing Brahman through the prism of space, time, and causation.
The Teaching of Shata Shloki shloka 23:
According to the Upanishads (Vedanta), there is only one existence, namely Brahman. It is also considered as Pure Consciousness or the Ultimate Reality. Aittareya Upanishad says Brahman alone existed before the creation of the universe:
“At the beginning (all) this verily was Atman only, one and without a second. There was nothing else that winked. The Atman thought: “Let Me now create the worlds.” (Aitareya Upanishad 1.1)
The Brahman, with its power, called Maya or Prakriti, created the universe with names and forms. But, we have to remember that it is due to the Maya, Brahman started manifesting as the universe as we see silver on the nacre. The other two Vedanta examples regarding this delusion are seeing a snake in a rope and seeing water (mirage) on the road.
Due to Maya, individuals think that they have separate limited existence from Brahman confined with their bodies and minds. Then, they think that worldly objects are for their sense pleasures and to acquire these pleasures is their goal of life. In the process of acquiring sense-pleasures, obstacles, competitions, the lack of fulfillment, frustration, suffering, and many other things come. Individuals forget that their true identity is Brahman; Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. Craving to fulfill sense-pleasures, they become slaves of their senses and become blindfolded. A few great souls reflect upon their true identity and the true nature of the universe. With meditation and proper spiritual practices these great souls realize that their true identity is Atman, the universe is nothing but Brahman, and Atman and Brahman are identical. These liberated souls are called the realized beings or ‘Jivanmukatas’. Their sufferings go away along with their delusion and they experience infinite bliss within. In their presence, the minds of sincere seekers of Truth get uplifted and they get a glimpse of the Ultimate Reality or Brahman.
The shloka 23 of the Shatashloki says that as the mirage cannot cover the whole earth, the delusion that ‘I have a separate existence from Brahman’, cannot cover the individual’s mind forever. Those people, who have realized that Brahman (Pure Consciousness) is the only Ultimate Reality, live in the world remaining completely detached. They see their lives and the universe like movies projected on a screen. Movies consist of all the dramas of life filled with joy, sorrow, fear, anxiety, adventure, success, failure, frustration, helplessness, elation, depression, and many other things. But, the screen is not affected by all these movies. Those realized beings live balanced sane life and guide other people to attain that state.
Science has proved many Vedanta views through its progress and will prove many other views as it advances further. The Vedanta search is internal and the Science’s search is external. Swami Vivekananda says that both the searches will ultimately meet at the same point, the Ultimate Truth.
(The following online lecture is given as a part of the Indian Consulate of New York’s special celebration on January 12, 2022.)
Pujya Swami Sarvapriyanandaji, Honorable acting Indian consul general Dr. Varun Jeph, Shri Vipul Dev ji, Mr. Jay Atta, and friends:
I sincerely thank the Indian Consulate of New York for inviting me to participate in this online panel discussion, celebrating the legacy of Swami Vivekananda.
With salutation to Swami Vivekananda, I will pray for the good of all, a prayer needed most during this pandemic time:
May all be happy, may all be healthy, may good come to all, may no one suffer.
Om peace, peace be unto us, peace be unto all beings.
Swami Vivekananda said that whenever we sit down for our prayer, we have to sit in a straight prayer posture, and the first thing we must do is to send a current of holy thought to all creation in the east, west, north, south, above and below.
He continued, “The more we pray for the good of all, the better we will feel for ourselves. We will find at last, that the easiest way to make ourselves healthy is to see that others are healthy, and the easiest way to make ourselves happy is to see that others are happy.”
January 12, 2022, is Swami Vivekananda’s 159th birthday. Swami Vivekananda was ever young. He passed away at the age of 39, but within a few years, his life and teachings have made a big positive impact on people all over the world and he had inspired millions of people.
Personally, Swami Vivekananda is my hero, my role model, my guide, and my inspiration.
Who was Swami Vivekananda? He was a prophet, a saint, one of the Saptarshi, a messenger (as he had said, “Buddha had a message for the East, I have a message for the West), a social reformer, a patriot, a visionary, a wonderful teacher, sincere student, a proud disciple, a devotee, a voice without a form, a poet, a musician, a wrestler, and many more.
As Shri Adi Shankaracharya has logically established the principles of Vedanta in his Brahma Sutra commentary, Swami Vivekananda has established these Vedanta principles in the modern scientific language. He showed that the search of the scientists in the external world for the truth and the search of the Rishis in the internal world for the truth is the same and they both are going to meet at the same point.
Swami Vivekananda’s teachings are eternal and universal. They are applicable to all people all over the world.
Today, I will briefly talk about Swami Vivekananda’s teachings on education. His thoughts on education are original, unique, and thought-provoking. I will look into 5 questions:
(1) What is education?
Swami Vivekananda said, “Education is not the amount of information that is put into your brain and runs riot there, undigested all your life. We must have life-building, man-making, character-building, assimilation of ideas. If you have assimilated five ideas and made them your life and character, you have more education than any person who has got by heart a whole library. If education were identical with information, the libraries would be the greatest sages in the world and encyclopedias the Rishis.”
Unfortunately, growing up in a society where the sign of success is measured in terms of how much money one makes, students hardly appreciate the underlying beauty of any subject and cannot appreciate the wonders of life the education can present.
Also, a school or college degree does not help build our character. It does not teach us how to manage our life’s problems; for example, how to control our emotions, how to face adverse situations in life, how to develop patience, and how to deal with others.
(2) What do we mean by “learning”?
For Swamiji, “learning” is “uncovering”. He said, “Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man (human being).”
This is a little deeper concept. According to Swamiji, all knowledge is within us. We just have to uncover it. Swamiji explained by an example. He said that an apple fell. That gave a suggestion to Newton. He then rearranged all his thoughts in his mind and he ‘found’ or ‘discover’ a new link called ‘gravitation’.
It is amazing to see how Swamiji’s thoughts were echoed by scientists. I will give you one example. My Ph. D. adviser, Prof. Eldon Dyer, was a very well-known mathematician. He used to make fun of ‘the so-called popular religion’. However, one day to my surprise, he told me, “We cannot create new mathematics. The mathematics is all laid out. We just have to uncover it.”
(3) How do children learn?
Swamiji said: “We cannot teach anyone.” As the way a plant grows by itself, a child educates itself. For a plant, what we could do is to prepare the soil, give water, remove weeds, and provide enough light. Then, the plant grows by itself. Similarly, to a child, we can just create a learning environment, remove the obstacles, and the child will learn by itself.
In addition, he said, ‘Negative thoughts weaken human beings.’ We should not put down children. Kind words and encouragement help the child to learn.
(4) What should we learn first?
Swami Vivekananda said, “If I had to do my education over again, I would develop the power of concentration and detachment, and then with a perfect instrument I could collect all the facts at will.” He said that as the rays of the sun gathered through a magnifying glass burn a paper when a mind is focused on any subject, it reveals its knowledge.
(5) What should be the outcome of education?
According to Swamiji, through Education, we must develop physical, mental, intellectual, moral, and spiritual strength. We must develop an all-round character.
Swamiji said, ““What I want is muscles of iron and nerves of steel, inside which dwells a mind made out of the same material from which the thunderbolt is made.”
He said that strength is the one thing needed most. Strength is the remedy and medicine for all our problems and miseries.
Swamiji told one youngster, who was physically weak, to go and play soccer to understand Bhagavad Gita better.
Swami Vivekananda’s life and teachings are a huge reservoir of inspiring ideas. I will conclude with very important teaching of Swami Vivekananda regarding the goal of life. He said,
“Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity within by controlling nature: external and internal. Do this either by work, or worship, or psychic control, or philosophy – by one, or more, or all of these – and be free.”
To realize and manifest this divinity, at Vivekananda Vidyapith, we learn, practice, and teach youngsters the four yogas: Jnana Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and Raja Yoga. We ask them to do regular prayers, Japa, and meditation; read inspiring books, seek holy company, practice values, and do unselfish service.
Our students know that to achieve this goal we have to work hard and never give up. At the end of our Saturday and Sunday morning prayers, they all enthusiastically say:
Arise! Awake! And stop not till the goal is reached!
I salute to Swami Vivekananda who is the king of the Yogis, resplendent as the sun, the embodiment of Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute, and the remover of the sufferings of mankind.
Meaning: The Vedas say that there is a universal rule applicable to all, from the creator Brahma to an individual: ‘Because of ignorance we see the world and when we realize Atman (or Brahman), the world disappears’. Because of illusion we see silver in the nacre, but when we know ‘it is nacre’, the silver merges into the nacre. Actually, there was no silver at all. Similarly, in the state of ignorance, Brahman merges in the world, and after the realization of Brahman, the world merges in Brahman.
Reflections:
From the beginning of our human awareness, there is a search to find the units out of which all the things are made. Simple examples are: (1) 0 and 1 form the set of the whole numbers, (2) all the colors are made out of three primary colors; red, yellow, and blue, (3) all the music came out from the major seven notes; Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha and Ni in Indian Music and do–re–mi–fa–sol–la–si in the Western Music.
In ancient times, in India, the seekers of Truth called the Rishis, searched for something from which the whole universe came. Swami Vivekananda, in his paper on Hinduism, which he presented in the Chicago World Parliament of Religions on September 19, 1893, expressed this thought eloquently.
Swami Vivekananda said, “Science is nothing but the finding of unity. As soon as science would reach perfect unity, it would stop further progress, because it would reach the goal. Thus chemistry could not progress further when it would discover one element out of which all others could be made. Physics would stop when it would be able to fulfill its services in discovering one energy of which all the others are but manifestations, and the science of religion become perfect when it would discover Him (Brahman) who is the one life in a universe of death, Him who is the constant basis of an ever-changing world, One who is the only Soul of which all souls are but delusive manifestations. Thus is it, through multiplicity and duality, that the ultimate unity is reached. Religion can go no farther. This is the goal of all science.”
In the Mudakopanishad (1.1.3-6), “Shaunaka, the great householder, approached Rishi Angirasa with reverence and humility and asked:
“Revered Sir, what is it by knowing which all this becomes known?”
Angirasa said to Shaunaka:
“Knowers of the Brahman tell us that two kinds of knowledge must be known. They are Higher Knowledge and the lower knowledge.”
“Of these two, the lower knowledge is the knowledge of Rig-Veda, the Yajur-Veda, the Sama-Veda, the Atharva-Veda, Siksha (phonetics), Kalpa (rituals), Vyakarana (grammar), Nirukta (etymology). Chhanda (meter), and Jyotish (astronomy); and the Higher Knowledge is the one by which the imperishable Brahman is attained.”
What is Brahman? Rishi Angirasa describes it briefly; in the first line negatively and in the second line positively:
“By means of the Higher Knowledge, the wise behold everywhere Brahman, which otherwise cannot be seen or seized, which has no root or attributes, no eyes or ears, no hands or feet; which is eternal and omnipresent, all-pervading and extremely subtle; which is imperishable and the source of all beings.”
Thus, through introspections and analysis, the Rishis of the Upanishads had realized that ‘there is only one Ultimate Reality’, which they referred to as Brahman. They realized that from Brahman the whole universe came, it sustains in Brahman, and it dissolves in Brahman. Actually, Brahman, the Ultimate Reality, appears as the universe. Just as formless water of ocean appears as waves with form, the formless and quality-less Brahman appears with various forms of the universe. If we remove names and forms of all the objects of the universe, what remains is ‘pure consciousness,’ which is Brahman.
This pure consciousness is our true nature. A person is not his/her body and mind having consciousness within, but a person is infinite formless consciousness which thinks that ‘I have a body and mind’. Body and mind are matter and they cannot produce consciousness. On the other hand, consciousness can produce many bodies and minds.
This wrong thinking that ‘I am my body and mind having consciousness within’ limits our true identity and becomes the cause of all our problems and miseries. When we realize that my true identity is ‘pure consciousness’ (Atman) and it can create many bodies and minds to experience the universe, then we become free from all our bondages, we become a witness consciousness and go through the joys and sorrows of life as is we are watching movies or actors and actresses performing their roles in a drama.
What happens in the micro-levels happens in the macro-level. As an individual, my true identity is ‘infinite formless pure consciousness’ (Atman) in and through I perceive my body and mind, similarly, this universe is nothing but ‘One Pure Consciousness’, called Brahman, but we perceive it made out of various objects with names, forms, and qualities.
Note that Atman and Brahman are the same. When we refer to Brahman, the ‘Pure Consciousness’ with respect to an individual, we call it ‘Atman’. Suppose a pot has ocean water inside and is floating in the ocean. There is no difference between the water inside the pot and water outside the pot. Here, the water inside the pot is like Atman and the water outside the pot is like Brahman. Thus, Atman and Brahman are the same. Upanishad says, “That Thou Art” (Tatvamasi).
In the Bhagavad Gita (6.30), Shri Krishna says that one who has realized Brahman will never get deluded. He identifies Himself with Brahman and says:
“One who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, to that person I am never lost, nor this person ever lost to Me.”
Upanishads also tell us that there is only one Ultimate Reality.
Chhandogya Upanishad (6.2.1):
“In the beginning, my dear, this (universe) was Being (Sat) alone, one only without a second.”
‘In the beginning’ means prior to the manifestation of names and forms. Before the creation, all that existed was Pure Being (Brahman). After the creation also the universe is Pure Being; but it is differentiated by names and forms.
Chhandogya Upanishad (3.14.1):
“All this is Brahman.”
Ishopanishad (Mantra 1):
“Whatever exists in this universe is covered by the Lord (Brahman)”.
A question may come: ‘If everything in this universe is Brahman, why don’t I see it?’ Because we perceive this universe through our limited senses and minds and think that that is the real universe. Those who think further, reflect upon their perceptions, and analyze them, they find that there is only one unchanging ‘Ultimate Reality’ which appears as objects which are constantly changing their names and forms having various qualities. The perceptions through our senses and minds create delusions.
This shatashloki shloka-22 tells us this fact. There are several delusions we experience created by our sensory and mental perceptions. Here are a few examples: (1) in the dim light a curly rope appears as a snake, (2) in a desert, the hot sun creates mirage (a delusion of water), (3) some times, while driving or rowing a boat, we feel moon or its reflection is moving with us, (4) in the sunlight from a distance nacre appears like silver.
When we look more closely, we find that the snake is a rope, water is sand, the moon is not moving with us, but it has its own movement, and silver is a nacre.
Coming and going are also relative. People who are waiting at the Ahmedabad railway station say that ‘a train is coming’ and the passengers in the train say that ‘Ahmedabad station is coming’. The same thing happens at the airport. People waiting at Newark airport say that ‘the plane came’ while the passengers inside the plane say that ‘Newark airport came’.
Those people, who go through proper spiritual disciplines and reflections on Reality, realize the Ultimate Reality (Brahman) and they live a sane human life. They go through joys and sorrows of life, but remain undisturbed and calm within. They constantly experience the Bliss of Brahman within knowing that they are ‘Pure Consciousness’, or ‘Sat-Chit-Ananda’, meaning, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute.
Those, who think that the world they perceive through their senses and minds is real and they are nothing more than their bodies and minds, sail through their lives being tossed up and down by the joys and sorrows of life, having little worldly joy followed by lots of suffering and live a life filled with greed, anger, jealousy, hatred, fear, false sense of accomplishments, frustration with unfulfilled desires and lack of proper understanding of themselves and others.
One thing we should know is that the realization of Brahman happens in Samadhi. It happens when in meditation the mind of an individual completely merges with Brahman (Pure Consciousness) and one loses body-consciousness. When such a person’s mind comes down from the Samadhi and becomes aware of the body and mind, one perceives the world with the senses as all others do. But, the impact of the experience lingers in the mind of the realized being and most of the mind remains filled with inexplicable Bliss and the awareness of Reality. The words and acts of such realized people guide others towards this realization. They help remove people’s ignorance about Reality and with it all the sufferings of life.
Swami Vivekananda has said that one cannot perceive the world of names and forms and Brahman at the same time. If we are aware of Brahman, we are not aware of objects of the world with names and forms, and when we are aware of the world of names and forms we are not aware of Brahman. The shatashloki shloka-22 says it clearly that at the time of realization the world merges into Brahman, and at the time of delusion, Brahman merges into the world.
Let us realize that what appears as silver is in reality nacre, the world we grasp through our senses and minds is not the Ultimate Reality. The Ultimate Reality is Brahman, Pure Consciousness. Our true identity is ‘Pure Consciousness’ in and through which we perceive our mind and body and the world of plurality due to delusion.
“Shatashloki” of Shri Shankaracharya – XV (Shlokas – 20 & 21)
Offering food to gods, guests, and needy people
Meaning: When one eats food after offering to gods, goddesses, and guests, then the food becomes nectar for the person. Otherwise the food becomes useless for the person’s spiritual development. The scriptures say that if a person cooks food only for himself/herself, then that food becomes like death to the person.
One who eats food without offering to gods, goddesses, guests, and the needy people is considered an embodiment of sin in this world. A person who eats food without offering the food as an oblation to the Pranas as prescribed in the scriptures is a dead person, meaning is not spiritually alive.
Meaning: A person, who gives food to the poor people visiting his/her house, is considered ‘Bhoja’ (the Giver) in the universe. Such a person receives abundance of food for the sacrifices and does not have an enemy. But, one who does not give food to the starving friend or to people who is constantly serving him/her is not one’s own friend (meaning he/she is one’s own enemy). Even the food, like an enemy, wishes to leave such a selfish person.
Reflections:
The importance of food:
There is a well-known mantra of Taittiriya Upanishad (2.1.3) which says,
“Verily, from that Atman (Brahman) was born akasha (space);
from akasha, air was born;
from air, fire was born;
from fire, water was born;
from water, earth was born;
from earth, herbs and vegetation was born;
from herbs and vegetation, food was born; and
from food, human beings were born.”
Thus, the whole creation comes down to the food which is useful to create and nourish human beings.
Further, Taittiriya Upanishad (2.1.4) says, “Verily, from food are produced all creatures – whatsoever dwell on earth. Furthermore, by food alone they live, and in the end, they do return to food; for food alone is the eldest (first born) of all beings, and therefore it is called the panacea for all.”
Why bless the food by prayers and offering to God?
Chhandogya Upanishad (6.6.5) says, “Thus, my dear, the mind consists of food, the prana consists of water, and the speech consists of fire.”
Food nourishes our body and mind. If we don’t eat for a few days, our mind cannot function properly. Moreover, the food affects our thoughts. If we eat food prepared and/or offered by a person with a good character, our mind nourishes good thoughts. But, if we eat food prepared and/or offered by people with bad character then our mind cherishes bad thoughts.
There are people who could feel the subtle vibrations emanating from other people. They feel that a person with a good character spreads positive and spiritually uplifting vibrations and a person with a bad character spreads negative and spiritually harmful vibrations around. Holy company means in whose presence all our holy thoughts come on the surface of our mind.
Sri Ramakrishna used to feel such vibrations and he would not be able to touch a glass of water or a food-plate which is brought by a person with a bad character. Once, in the presence of Narendra (Swami Vivekananda) a religious-looking person brought a glass of water to Sri Ramakrishna which he could not touch it. Narendra was shocked and had a doubt about the validity of Sri Ramakrishna’s action. Narendra afterwards inquired about the character of that person by talking to other people and found that he was not of a good character.
Sri Ramakrishna was eating food at Balaram Basu’s house without any reservation. He himself said that, ‘At Balaram’s house there is a worship of Lord Jagannatha and therefore the food is pure’. He also told Balaram to feed young devotees like Narendra, Rakhal, Latu and others because they were embodiment of Lord Narayana and by feeding them lots of good will come to him. The following mantra of the Chhandogya Upanishad tells us why the pure food is important.
Chhandogya Upanishad (7.26.2) says, “When the food is pure, the mind becomes pure. When the mind is pure, the memory becomes firm. When the memory is firm, all the ties are loosened.” Meaning the awareness of Atman within becomes firm and all the bonds created by the ignorance with the body, mind, and the world become lose and one becomes free.
While eating in the restaurants and other people’s houses, we don’t know who had cooked the food, who had brought the food and what kind of vibrations the food has been carrying. Therefore, it is important to offer the food to God and purify it before eating. Thus, we remove the negative vibrations and create positive ones. Many religions have this food offering ritual before eating. In many Hindu houses the first plate of cooked food has to be offered to the deities in the shrine room before eating. This is they called a ‘naivedya’.
Warning: We should be aware that one has to be very much advanced in the spiritual path in order to feel the positive or negative vibrations emanating from other people. Those who feel it will never condemn people. Thus, we should not start judging people. Therefore, it is best to bless the food by prayers and then eat it. The knowledge and awareness of Brahman destroys all kind of negative vibrations.
At many places people recite the fifteenth chapter or the following shloka of the Bhagavad Gita before eating:
Gita (4.24): “To the enlightened person, Brahman is the offering and Brahman is the oblation, and it is Brahman who offers the oblation in the fire of Brahman. Brahman alone is attained by the person who thus sees Brahman in action.”
Here eating food is considered as an offering to God residing in the body. The Ultimate Truth is that there is only one Existence (Consciousness, or Brahman according to the Vedanta) which expresses Itself through various names and forms. Repeating this shloka before eating reminds us that we have to realize this Ultimate Truth. Thus, each time we eat, thinking about Brahman becomes an important spiritual practice.
Also, God is considered as the fire in the stomach which digests all kinds of food.
In the Bhagavad Gita (15.14): Shri Krishna said, “As the fire Vaishwanar, I (the Lord), enter into the bodies of all living beings, and mingling with the upward and downward breaths (Pranans) digest the four kinds of food.”
Thus, blessing the food that we eat is very important. That is why in many religions there are prayers to recite before eating.
The following are a few more prayers for blessing food:
Children’s Prayer:
God is great, God is good. Let us thank him for our food. By his hands, we are fed. Let us thank him for our bread.
A Few more Christian Prayers:
“Without Thy sunshine and Thy rain We could not have the golden grain; Without Thy love we’d not be fed; We thank Thee for our daily bread. Amen.”
“Bless, O Lord, this food to our use and us to thy service, and keep us ever mindful of the needs of others. Amen.”
“Our Dear Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for this food. Feed our souls on the bread of life and help us to do our part in kind words and loving deeds. We ask in Jesus’s name.”
“Heavenly Father, bless this food and bless our friends and family who’ve come to dine with us today.”
“God, many hands made this meal possible. Farmers grew it. Truckers drove it. Grocers sold it. We prepared it. Bless all those hands, and help us always remember our dependence on you. Amen.”
Humorous Prayers:
“Good food, good sweets, good Lord, let’s eat.”
“Lord, bless this bunch as they munch their lunch.”
Why offering to Prana?
Prana is the energy by which all our senses function and we are alive. By offering food to the Prana we become aware of the its important function. There is a story in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (6.1.7-13).
There was a dispute among the sense-organs. Each one thought that it is superior to all other organs. They could not come to a conclusion. Then, they all went to Prajapati (the Creator) and asked him, “Which one amongst us is the most superior?”
The Prajapati said that each sense-organ can leave the body and go on a vacation for a year. In that process you will find the answer.
Then, one by one, the organ of speech, the eyes, the ears, the mind, and the organ of generation went on vacation for a year. But, the body continued to live without that sense-organ. Finally, the vital breath (Prana) was about to depart, it uprooted all the sense-organs from their respective places just as a great, noble horse of the Sindhu country tears up the pegs to which his feet are tried. All the sense-organs said to the Prana, “Venerable Sir, please do not leave the body. We shall not be able to live without you.”
This story tells that the vital force (Prana or the energy) is very important in our life. We take it for granted the energy which keeps us alive and which is the fundamental cause of our activities. To make us aware of the importance of the vital force (the Prana), the Hindu scriptures instruct us to offer the food to the Pranas before eating. Those who know the scriptures offer food to the five pranas by saying, (i) Om Pranaya Swaha, (ii) Om Apanaya Swaha, (iii) Om Vyanaya Swaha, (iv) Om Udanaya Swaha, (v) Om Samanaya Swaha and (vi) Om Brahmane Swaha.
(i) Prana takes care of the breathing through the nose and the mouth and also maintains the pressures of the eyes and ears. (ii) Apana takes cares of the lower parts of the body and helps to push out things from the organs of generation and evacuation including the baby from the mother’s womb. (iii) Vyana works in the several thousands of arteries to circulate the blood. (iv) Udana helps the soul to exit the body. (v) Samana distributes properly the nourishing essence of the food digested in the stomach to all the sense-organs.
Offering food to the needy people and the guests:
By thinking about ‘Me’, ‘Me’, and ‘Me” for twenty-four hours, we make our self very limited and confined to a small frame of body and mind. The goal of spirituality is to expand our little self to the whole universe and see all beings in our Atman and our Atman in all beings. A very simple and tangential spiritual practice is to offer food to the needy people, to the people who are dependent on us, who are around us and are hungry. More we share, more we expand from selfishness to unselfishness. The Bhagavad Gita condemns in strong words the attitude of enjoying things without thinking of others or sharing with others.
Bhagavad Gita (3.12) says that a person is verily a thief who enjoys what has been given by gods and goddesses without offering anything in return.
Bhagavad Gita (3.13): Shri Krishna said, “Good people, who eat the remnant of the sacrifice, are freed from all sins; but wicked people, who cook food only for themselves, verily eat sin.”
One of the important teachings of these Shatashloki shlokas is to be unselfish and to give. To reflect upon Swami Vivekananda’s teachings on unselfishness is very helpful for our spiritual development.
Swami Vivekananda says:
“Unselfishness is God.”
“Are you unselfish? This is the question. If you are, you will be perfect without reading a single religious book, without going into a single church or temple.”
“The life is short, the vanities of the world are transient, but they alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive.”
Simple Practices:
Thinking about the teachings of the shlokas 20 and 21 of the Shatashloki, I remember a simple practice that Vandana Aunty had taught to the Vivekananda Vidyapith students. She said that whenever we go to buy groceries, we must buy a can or a box of non-perishable food for the needy and hungry people and then we have to donate them in the nearby soup kitchen. We can also regularly give in charity and support soup kitchens or other institutions who feed hungry people.
I will conclude with another important teaching of Swami Vivekananda:
Swami Vivekananda says, “There is no higher virtue than charity. The lowest person is one whose hand draws in, in receiving; and the highest person is one whose hand goes out in giving. The hand was made to give always. Give the last bit of bread you have even if you are starving. You will be free in a moment if you starve yourself to death by giving to another. Immediately you will be perfect, you will become God.”
“Shatashloki” of Shri Shankaracharya – XIV (Shloka – 19)
Four causes of freedom and four causes of bondage
Meaning:
The following are four practices to attain freedom from all bondages:
(i) Charity: Money or things given to a deserving person or an institution as an offering to God, without having any selfish motive. In a broader sense, it includes any form of unselfish service rendered to people or institutions.
(ii) Forgiveness: Forgiving a person without keeping any anger or hatred for that person in the mind. It also includes continuing to perform our responsibilities without getting agitated with people or situations, and keeping our mind calm and serene. We perform our responsibilities as an offering to God.
(iii) Faith: Having a firm faith that the words of the scriptures and my Guru are true and helpful in my spiritual path. To have a firm faith in the existence of God, or the Ultimate Reality, or the supreme power which creates, preserves, and dissolves this universe.
(iv) To follow the Path of Truth: Making efforts to understand and realize that there is only One Truth, or One Reality, or One Existence in the universe. In the Vedanta, that reality is called Brahman (Sat-Chit-Ananda; Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute). With reference to an individual, we call it Atman. Atman and Brahman are same. It also includes speaking the truth and practice to maintain our thoughts, speech, and actions in unison.
The opposites of the above four are the causes of bondage. Because we have to overcome them to realize Brahman (the Ultimate Reality), they are called ‘a Setu’ or a bridge. The following are these four opposites:
(i) Greed: Wanting more and more worldly possessions and pleasures, and not being satisfied with what we have.
(ii) Anger: Getting angry when we don’t get what we want and do get what we hate. It includes not forgiving people who had made mistakes. Hating people who we think are the obstacles in our path of fulfilling our worldly desires. The thought of vengeance is another form of anger.
(iii) Having lack of faith and cherishing doubts: Doubting or being skeptical about the words of the scriptures and the spiritual teachers including our Guru without much thinking is a big obstacle in the spiritual path.
(iv) To follow the path of lies or falsehood: A path of falsehood is to disregard the Ultimate Reality that our true identity is Atman, and to live with the idea that ‘I am only body and mind’. A person with this ideology remains engaged in acquiring short-lived pleasures of body and mind. Such ideology leads a person to a stage when he/she will not have any shame to lie or cheat for selfish reasons.
If a person avoids the above mentioned four causes of bondage and practice the first four – charity, forgiveness, faith, and following the path of Truth – attains heaven, and immortality. Also, having realized the effulgent Ultimate Reality (Brahman), he/she becomes free from all the bondages of the world.
Reflections:
(1) Charity Vs Greed: While talking about renunciation, Shri Krishna told Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita (18.5), “One should not renounce Yajna(offering), Dana(charity – giving money, knowledge, or any kind of help to others without any selfish motive), and Tapa(austerity – spiritual practices and self-control). But one should perform them because they purify the wise people.” When mind becomes pure, one can realize one’s true divine identity (Atman).
In the Bhagavad Gita (17.20-22) three kinds of charity (Dana) have been mentioned; sattvika (superior), rajasika (mediocre), and tamasika (inferior).
When charity is performed (1) with the spirit that ‘I must give’, (2) without expecting any worldly return, and (3) done at the right time, right place, and to a worthy person, then it is held to be of the sattvika (superior) nature.
When charity is performed (1) expecting some worldly return, (2) to fulfil one’s selfish motive, and (3) done with reluctance or grudge, then it is considered to be of rajasika (mediocre) nature.
When charity is performed (1) without respect or with disdain, (2) done at an improper place, and time, and (3) for an unworthy person and cause, then it is of the tamasika (inferior) nature.
Definitely, we must perform sattvika charity.
On the other hand, greed makes us selfish. It limits our vision to our little limited self. Also, greed cannot be satisfied. It is like fire. If we try to feed the fire, it increases more. Greed makes our life more miserable.
The gist of all our spiritual practices is to go from selfishness to unselfishness, from the ‘little-self’ bounded by the body-mind to the true Absolute Self (Atman) which is eternal, and free from all bondages.
(ii) Forgiveness Vs Anger and hatred:
There is a saying that ‘To err is human, but to forgive is divine’. Forgiveness comes out of love for all and from a deeper understanding of life. An egotistic and selfish person hardly forgives.
Mahatma Gandhi said, “The weak never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
A compassionate and thoughtful person thinks that ‘I make mistakes; similarly other people also can make mistakes. Why should I get upset when other people make mistakes?’
Anger and hatred are our thoughts. If we change our thoughts, then our anger or hatred can go away. For example, if someone comes and criticizes us or tells harsh words, then our usual reaction is to criticize that person by telling all his/her wrong-doing or to tell him/her harsher words. Then, we feel good by our retaliation. We usually react and do not act.
From the following famous story related to Lord Buddha, we can learn a great lesson about how love and understanding can overcome anger and hatred.
Once, a young man came to Lord Buddha with anger and hatred. He then criticized and ridiculed Buddha in an inappropriate language. Buddha listened to him quietly with his usual serene face. After the young man had finished, Buddha asked him, “Suppose you bought a gift to give it to a person and the person does not take it, with whom the gift remains?” The young man was puzzled by the calmness of Buddha and his question. Anyway, he replied, “Of course it remains with me.” Buddha said, “Look my son! You bought this gift of anger, hatred, insults, and falsehood. I am not accepting it. Hence, all these remain with you. This way you are hurting yourself.”
The young man understood the greatness of Lord Buddha. He learned a valuable lesson that day. He bowed down to Buddha.
Lord Buddha also teaches us how to act and not to react. I was thinking about this topic and ‘AAA – practice’ came to my mind.
Absorb: The first ‘A’ stands for ‘to Absorb the situation’. Buddha absorbed the situation. He understood the motive of the young man.
Analyze: The second ‘A’ stands for ‘to Analyze the situation’. Buddha must have thought about the best way to handle this situation.
Act: The third ‘A’ stands for ‘to Act properly’. By asking a question and making the young man realize the situation, Buddha acted properly. The result was the transformation of the young man. We all have goodness within us. Ignorance and impure thoughts cover our goodness. As soon as ignorance and impurity go away, our goodness shines from within.
I am sure we can find tons of such examples in the lives of great personalities, especially in the life of Saints.
Anger, hatred, and vengeance are like terminal cancers. They destroy the person who cherishes them in the mind. Also, we must remember that when we hate someone, we are giving a special place to that person in our mind. When we forgive someone, the matter is over, and our mind will be free from the person and the situation. The goal of a spiritual seeker is to realize that God has become everything.
Regarding mistakes, the difference between an egotistic person and a wise person is the following:
An egotistic person sees once own mountain-like mistake as a muster-seed like mistake, and other people’s muster-seed like mistake as a mountain-like mistake. While the wise person sees the opposite.
(iii) Faith Vs Doubt:
Shri Shankaracharya in his “Viveka Chudamani” book (25 or 26 shloka depending on the book-version) describes ‘faith’ as follows:
“’Accepting the words of the scriptures and one’s spiritual teacher (Guru) as ‘true’’ is called ‘faith’ by the wise people by which one can realize the Ultimate Reality (Atman or Brahman).”
We have faith in the words of plumbers, electricians, doctors, air-pilots, and others, but our mind creates doubts in the words of the saints and scriptures.
The words of the scriptures are the collections of the words of the seers of God. The words of the saints also are based on their direct experience of God and they agree with the words of the scriptures. In many cases, the words of the saints explain the words of the scriptures in our contemporary language. Saints and seers of God are unselfish. We have to do spiritual practices according to our Guru’s (spiritual teacher’s) guidance. If we don’t have a Guru or any other guide, then initially, we can sincerely practice the way we understand the scriptures and pray to God for the guidance. If we are sincere, we will get the proper spiritual guidance. Sri Ramakrishna says that if we are sitting in a wrong bus, someone will tell us that ‘My friend, you are sitting in a wrong bus.’ Then, they guide us to a right bus.
All saints tell us the importance of faith.
Sri Ramakrishna said that from time to time we should live in the company of holy people and go into solitude to meditate on God. Furthermore, we should practice discrimination (thinking about what is good and bad for me) and pray to God, “Please give me faith and devotion”. He said that, “Once a person has faith, he has achieved everything. There is nothing greater than faith”.
In a lighter tone Sri Ramakrishna said that Lord Rama has to build a bridge to cross the ocean, but Shri Hanuman, having faith in the name of ‘Lord Rama’, jumped over the ocean. He didn’t need a bridge.
Doubts can destroy a person. Genuine questions to understand the spiritual instructions in order to make spiritual progress are most welcomed by all saints. When a person does not want to do spiritual practices and wants to continue to fulfill his/her worldly cravings, then he/she creates purposeless doubts to find excuses.
In the Bhagavad Gita, at the end of the Chapter 4, we find a very clear message about the faith and doubts.
First we look at the shlokas (4.39) regarding the importance of faith.
Meaning of Gita (4.39): Shri Krishna said, “A person who is full of faith, has intense desire to realize Brahman and has a complete control on one’s senses attains the Highest Knowledge. Having attained the Highest Knowledge, this person immediately attains the Supreme Peace.”
Attaining the Highest Knowledge is realizing Atman or Brahman. The Highest Knowledge destroys all our bondages and makes us free. Note that the faith has been mentioned here first.
Now, let us see how Shri Krishna gave clear instructions to Arjuna about the doubts.
Meaning of Gita (4.40): Shri Krishna said, “One who is ignorant, without faith, and always doubting ruins oneself. For a doubting person, there is no happiness in this world or the world beyond.”
A fate of a doubting person has been very clearly mentioned here. We have to destroy our doubts by proper knowledge. Also, by performing our responsibilities properly, we can destroy our bondages.
Meaning of Gita (4.41): Shri Krishna said, “O Dhananjaya (Arjuna)! Actions do not bind a person (1) who has offered the results of all actions to the Lord, (2) who has destroyed all the doubts by the knowledge of the Self, and (3) who has total self-control.”
Selfish actions or the actions performed for the worldly pleasures bind a person. One has to suffer the consequences of one’s own actions. Bhagavad Gita is teaching us how to perform our actions as a practice of Karma Yoga to attain the Highest Knowledge which makes us free from all the consequences.
The following is the final command of Shri Krishna to Arjuna regarding the doubts.
Meaning of Gita (4.42): Shri Krishna said, “Therefore with the sword of Knowledge destroy your doubt about the Self, the doubt that is born out of ignorance and resides in your heart. Then, arise O Bharata (Arjuna) and devote yourself to the Karma Yoga.”
(iv) Truth Vs Falsehood:
Sri Ramakrishna says that in this time and age if one follows the truth then one can realize God.
In the “Shiksha Vally” of Taittiriya Upanishad the spiritual teacher gives the final commands to the graduating students who had completed their study of the Vedas. The very first command is “Satyam Vada”, meaning ‘speak the truth’. Further, he emphasized again by saying “Satyaanna Pramaditavyam”, meaning ‘don’t deviate from the truth’.
Thus, speaking the truth and not deviating from the truth is most important in our life. Also, we have to be sensitive when we speak the truth. We have to be polite, respectful, and try not to hurt people in speaking the truth. It doesn’t mean that we have to lie to please people. If we have love for all people then we will find a way to present the truth without hurting people.
There is a ‘subhashita’ which says that wise people’s thoughts, speech, and actions are in alignment. They speak what they think and do what they say. We call it honesty and sincerity. We find honesty and sincerity in the life of all saintly people. Sri Ramakrishna was very keen about following any promise he had made to himself or to others. Truthfulness is very important in the spiritual path. A hypocrite cannot make any spiritual progress.
Mahatma Gandhi gave a title ‘Satyana Prayogo’ to his autobiography in Gujarati, and it is translated in English as “The Story of My Experiments with Truth”. The following quote reveals his deep introspection on the truth and God.
Mahatma Gandhi said, “The word Satya (Truth) is derived from Sat, which means ‘being’. Nothing is or exists in reality except Truth. That is why Sat or Truth is perhaps the most important name of God. In fact it is more correct to say that Truth is God, than to say that God is Truth.”
It seems that Mahatma Gandhi was referring to the following definition of the Ultimate Reality (Brahman) given in the Taittiriya Upanishad.
Meaning: Brahman is ‘Satyam’ (Reality or Existence), ‘Jnanam’ (Knowledge or Consciousness) and ‘Anantam’ (Infinite).
Satyam: ‘Sat’ stands for Truth. Existence or Reality is the Ultimate Truth. Anything that changes is not the truth. Thus, the Ultimate Reality or the Existence which is unchangeable is addressed by the Upanishads as Brahman. An example is given that in all the golden ornaments like ring, necklace, and earrings etc. the gold is real. The gold is appearing as the ring, or necklace, or an earring.
Jyanam: Brahman is Knowledge itself. It is Awareness or the Consciousness. This shows that Brahman is not matter. As in the light of the sun we can see things and perform our actions but the sun is unaffected by our thoughts and actions, similarly, due to Brahman, as the Witness Consciousness, we are aware of everything.
Anatam: Brahman is Infinite. There are no limitations on Brahman.
Thus, Brahman is an Infinite Existence and Awareness or Consciousness which appears as varieties of the things in the universe.
Actually, Brahman is beyond the comprehension of the mind and the senses. Brahman is indescribable. Whatever words describe becomes limited. Tons of books have been written and tons of lectures have been given on Brahman. These are mere attempts to give an idea of Brahman. Brahman has to be experienced directly. Rishis and great saints have experienced Brahman.
There is another important mantra of the Mundakopanishad regarding the Truth.
Meaning: Truth alone prevails, not falsehood. By truth the path is laid out, the Way of the Gods, on which the seers, having satisfied all their desires, proceed to the Highest Abode of the True.
The shloka-19 of the Shatashloki says that realizing Brahman as Truth we can remove all our bondages. If we don’t accept this Truth and follow the idea that we are just body and mind, then we add more bondage on ourselves and live like a slave of the senses. Falsehood is not accepting the Truth that there is only One Existence, or One Reality.
Note that the first two practices are simple in nature like giving in charity, and forgiving. Then, the next two practices, namely faith and following the Truth are subtle and deeper. Following these, we make progress from our ‘little self’ to our absolute true ‘Self’. As a result, we get rid of all our bondages, become free, and enjoy the Infinite Bliss and attain the fulfilment in life.
In order to avoid the miseries and the bondage of life, we must avoid the opposites of the above four.
mahendrajani 