सततं चिन्तये अनन्तं - English Commentary Shrimati Rachana Shenoy

Satatam Chintaye Anantham

(This blog is an attempt by Shrimati Rachana Shenoy to decode the book by the name Satatam Chintaye Anantam about the basic tenets of Tatwavada Philosophy, written by Shri Srikanth Shenoy in Kannada, for the benefit of non Kannada readers.)

Chapter 1  Why should one do Saadhana?

The pride we feel about our “success” in the material life lasts only till death.

The things that make us proud, like money, fame, intelligence, etc are very insignificant in the flow of time. The political and economic conditions of the society at any given point of time determine which vidye gets prominence. Person having that vidye earns money and fame.

Mirage of Happiness

2nd Adhyaya of Garuda Purana says: Everyone is born alone and dies alone. He alone enjoys the fruits of good and bad deeds that he does. His wealth remains in his house. Relatives leave his dead body and go away. Only dharma follows him. Fire turns his body into ashes, but his karma remains with him beyond death.

Even from a material viewpoint, life is a mixture of joy and sorrows. One feels worried about future circumstances even during happy times. Hence, happiness comes with a package of sorrows, worries and anticipation. Pure happiness remains a dream.

Spirituality & Science

Some people do not agree with the philosophy of life after death. But various tales of reincarnation are available in the contemporary history. We can also see that many yatis have performed similar miracles unlike those done by fake sanyasis that we see in media today. Since such incidents have been reported in huge numbers, they can’t be simply denied as coincidences.

While some people do not believe in the existence of God, some others propose that spirituality is based on science. For ex, assuming we go to temples to absorb the electromagnetic energy radiated there. It is true that there are scientific grounds for some rituals, but it is irrational to say that everything in Adhyatma is based on science.

The attempt of linking God or Adhyatma with science is totally useless and laughable. There is no mention about this link in any Veda-vedantas. The theory “God of Gaps” says that God is that shakti which can’t be measured by any available scientific instruments. But God is omnipresent and hence he is present in both kinds of things that science can and can’t explain.

Spirituality and Age

Now that Adhyatmic sadhana is very important, next question would be – at what age should one begin?

Many people consider it as a time pass activity to be done post retirement. Sri Purandaradasaru says – one’s entire lifespan is spent for activities like sleeping, playing, studies, family life, eating, entertainment, etc. In old age, indriyas become less efficient. Sri Madhwacharyaru says in Krishnamrita Maharnava – will the one who doesn’t remember God when his indriyas are fine, remember him when indriyas go weak?

We take the statement from BG (8.6) that “one attains that which he thinks about at the time of death” and think that we can think about God while we breathe our last. But we remember only those things/incidents that have touched us deeply. If memory of God hasn’t got imprinted in our mind well in advance, how can we remember God during the last moments of life?

We do not know what was our previous janma or next janma. Human Life is very precious.

Activities like agriculture do not yield unless the job is completed, and our efforts go wasted if we stop anywhere in between. It is not so in Vishnu pooja karma. Even a little step can give good results.

Chapter 2. Who has seen God?

Adhyatma should not be based on blind faith or logic. Otherwise one might lose faith if he comes across a strong counter-logic. So, our faith in God should be based on pramAnAs (proof) and not on emotions.

PramAnAs

PramAnAs are of 3 types: Direct, indirect and Agama pramAnAs.

Information/ knowledge that comes through our senses (panchendriyas) is direct pramAnA.

Knowing something through some other thing is indirect pramAnA. For ex, guessing that there may be fire where there is smoke.

It is known that God is atindriya (beyond the capacity of our senses). But why should one believe the presence of something beyond our panchendriyas? Some incidents give clue about this. For ex, incidents like some children recognizing their parents from previous birth and speaking the language that they haven’t learnt in this birth have been reported. Even yogis have known about their previous incarnations. Hence one can say that there exist such things that our panchendriyas or any instrument can’t measure. Agama pramAnAs come to our help here.

Agama pramAnAs

The term Agama includes Vedas, Upanishads, Rmayana, Mahabharata, Puranas, Smritis, etc. These sources give us knowledge about the things that aren’t apparent or obvious to our senses. But how can one be sure that Vedas and other sources were not composed by someone intelligent (man made)? There is possibility of errors happening in everything that is manmade. Hence, only a source that is not created by anyone can be considered as pramAnA. Vedas are such source that is not created by even God (apourusheya). Unlike folk literature where author is not known.

Every veda mantra (sUkta) has Sage (Rishi) – Chandas – Diety (Devata). Why can’t we consider the sage to be the composer of that mantra?

These mantras were known to others before through adhyayana. Sage is the one who got to know a mantra through meditation or the one who got a different meaning of the mantra after studying it. Some veda mantras have many Rishis. This is because they all got that mantra through meditation at different times and got different meanings.

The next doubt one gets would be – Don’t the Vedas get destroyed during the mahapralaya? If so, how can they be eternal (nitya)? Puranas answer this as follows: During mahapralaya, vedas get merged into Paramatma’s intellect (budhi). After the next Srishti, they reappear in the minds of various sages during meditation and the study parampara continues.

Vedas which have emerged from defectless (nirdosha) Paramatma himself but were not composed by him, cannot have any error or fault in them. Hence, our spiritual sadhana should be based completely on the vedas. Smritis and doctines (sadAgama) like Geeta, Upanishads, Brahmasutras, few Puranas, etc. give us the right knowledge about intangible things like Jeevatma, Paramatma, Righteousness, Papa, Punya and show us the right path to reach God.

Sakshi PramAna

In addition to the 6 direct (pratyaksha) pramanas (5 sense organs + mind), there is another direct pramAna – sAkshi.  It is the aprAkruta jeevatma. God can be seen directly through this. Generally, it operates to a very little extent in us. For ex, one experiences Ananda in deep sleep. Sense organs do not work in deep sleep. Even the mind doesn’t work in sushupti stage, so it is not dream. This is due to aprAkruta jeevatma. God must be seen through this indriya only as he is also aprAkruta. But one generally doesn’t see God through this. Only by continuous bhagavad-chintana one’s conscience becomes clear and this indriya starts working. The stage at which one sees God through this aprAkruta indriya is called BimbAparoksha (aparoksha jnana in colloquial conversations).

Reaching this stage is very difficult. One passes through many janmas before reaching this stage. People experience different things on this path. It is good to have those experiences, but many consider them to be ultimate truth, get stuck there and start preaching those things. One should display courage to ignore all such experiences that are not in accordance with shAstras. This is very much applicable in present days. So-called Gurus preach exactly opposite of this. For ex, saying “Sit with eyes closed, you will experience”.

The experience one gets before reaching the stage of BimbAparoksha should be ignored if it is not in accordance with shAstra. One should study shAstra to know whether one’s experience is as per shAstra. Studying and experiencing should go together. Experiences which are in accordance with shAstra that come before bimbAparoksha stage are called parIkshita pratyaksha.

Pratyaksha, Parmapara, Aptatva etc.

What if one hasn’t experienced anything and doesn’t know shAstra? In that case, one must start reading and listening to shAstra inorder to know God.

We come to know about our grandparents or greater grandparents through our parents. Though we haven’t seen them, we trust our parents and accept it. Hence, information gets passed on through trustworthy people. This kind of flow of information from a known person (pratyaksha) to us is Pratyaksha paramparA.

This is applicable in case of God too. If there is an aparoksha jnAni who is known to us (in pratyaksha), or someone we trust has learnt shAstra from him and has told us, that information would help us in our path. Few more possible doubts:

• Is everything with label “Adhyatma” acceptable?
• Which shAstra is to be studied and which to be ignored?
• How to identify aparoksha jnAni?
• When can we consider aparoksha jnani’s words as pratyaksha pramAna?

These things get discussed in detail in the forthcoming adhyAyAs.

Chapter 3. Do all paths lead to God?

“All roads lead to God. We can choose any path” – is a recent trend. Some believe this, while some others want to look “liberal” in society. Anyone who says otherwise is labelled as narrow minded. Many a times, those who say this will not have knowledge about any Adhyatmic principle. Modern gurus on television or internet propose these kinds of theories to gain popularity and to increase the follower count. This leads to half knowledge about God, fake bhakti and confused belief system.

We choose the daily products like even a shoe polish carefully by analyzing the brands, but when it comes to God we have “chalta hai” attitude. This implies the position of God in our lives is lower than a shoe polish. God loves his devotee as much as the devotee loves him. If we have this kind of ignorance towards God, he ignores us.

The theory that all roads do not lead to the same destination can be justified by example – one must travel in north direction to reach Delhi from Karnataka. If one travels south, he reaches Indian Ocean.

On the other hand, theory that all roads lead to God can be justified by example –  the routes to reach the tip of Mt. Everest are relatively opposite for two people standing on opposite sides of the mountain. Each route seems opposite for the other person, but they reach the same destination. These are contradictory. Which among these is true?

Lord Srikrishna says in BG: The real knowledge (yathArtha jnAna) about God is same in Vedas and good doctrines (sadAgamAs), but those who do not have real knowledge will have multiple thoughts. Hence, one gets to know that there is only one right path to reach God if he studies Vedas & sadAgamAs. But for a prejudiced person, all roads seem right.

A question arises here – there are already 3 philosophies in our dharma – Dvaita, Advaita, Vishistadvaita. As only one of them can be right, other two must be wrong. Many people have problems accepting this. But one must remember that, “I think” or “I feel” have no relevance in adhyatma. Tattva can be the only solution for this conflict. sadAgamas must be picked up/ separated from the cluster of shAstras and the path advised in those should be chosen. Ishavasya Upanishad says – those who do not attempt to know the Swaroopa of God/ wrongly understand it, will land up in lokas meant for daityas due to asat (wrong) upAsana.

Some people get the right path and some people do not, based on prArabdha. It is not necessary that all those who are currently on wrong path will end up in andha-tamas. Those who deserve to be on right path (owing to swarUpa yogyata) will change with time and get the absolute knowledge. Those who reject the right path even when it is available/ offered to them, will land up in andha-tamas.

Which is the right path? – is discussed in next adhyAya.

Chapter 4. The Right Path

Qualities of “right path” are – there should not be errors, confusion, doubts. It should guarantee that one will reach God by taking that path. One should not waste his precious life in experimenting.

Tangled vedas: As we saw earlier, Vedas are apourusheya. But it is near to impossible for a common man to understand Vedas. Taking the example of Rigveda, it praises devatas like Indra, Agni, Varuna, Prajapati, at various places. In some other places, it states supremacy of Devi, Vishnu, Rudra also.

Who is the God that the vedas actually praise?

The confusion doesn’t end here. In some places it describes God as male, with thousand heads, reservoir of Gunas, and in some others, as nirguna and nirAkAra. In some places God is said to be supreme even in mukti and in some others, aham brahmAsmi. Some people say both versions are true but as per earlier reference (of Sri Krishna’s words), both cannot be true.

Why do Vedas being the guide to right path trigger so many questions instead of answers? In Udhava Geeta, Srikrishna says Udhava – “Though Vedas apparently proclaim 3 topics – brahmakAnda (jnAnakAnda), dEvatAkAnda (upAsanAkAnda) & karmakAnda, they ultimately point at only me. As I like ambiguity (Learned members please look into this word), Vedas praise me indirectly. God doesn’t reveal himself so easily. He is hiding in the “Rik”s of Vedas and unfold his glory only for deserving jIvAs.

The confusing VedAs:

Why do Vedas seem so ambiguous? For understanding purpose, we can compare this to nuclear energy. It is a very powerful source of energy which can be utilized in multiple ways. But this science is maintained confidential to prevent misuse by anti-social elements that can cause potential harm. Similarly, to prevent misuse of Vaidika tattvas by undeserving people/ jIvAs, Vedas have chosen to keep them hidden.

Slaying of Vedas by Ideologists:

So-called educated people who read English translation of Vedas by Western authors do not get the actual essence of Vedas and criticize. Some popular myths about Vedas are as follows:

• Different portions of Vedas were composed by different sages at different times (for ex, Vishwamitra, Vashista, etc.)
•  Vedas are followed by population which worships different elements of nature (fire as Agni, wind as VAyu, etc.)
• Indra, Soma, etc. were added after worshipping above elements of nature. Vishnu, Rudra were added in later stages and the energy of former was transferred to the latter.
• Puranas were written during the era of GuptAs; Later, addition of Budha as an avatar of Vishnu was made.

They (western ideologists) made even the sAtvik people to lose faith in Vedas by this propaganda.

The 2^nd and 3^rd points have been discussed in detail in the coming adhyAyAs. 1^st & 4^th points cannot be accepted because even the ancient Upanishads (as accepted by modern community) – ChAndogya & BrahadAranyaka have mention about purAnAs in them.

It is true that they were written down after script and writing instruments were discovered. But it is not agreeable that they were composed at later stages. Hence we have to accept Vedas to be apourusheya.

Who can understanding/ bring out the secrets in Vedas?

An ordinary person or even ordinary jnAni cannot dissect vedas. It must be someone who has been mentioned in VedAs only. But we can never meet sages like Vishwamitra, Vasista, whose names have been mentioned in Vedas. So, what can we do? In that case how can one find out / accept the proper interpretation in the present time?

Such person is Sri Madhwacharya.

This is because his name is cited in vedas. Sri Madhwacharya came into picture only 800 yrs ago whereas, vedas are ancient. How can this happen? Vedas have past, presence and future (bhUta, vartamAna), bhavishya) in them. One mantra has different meanings and during pralaya they all indicate God himself.

The 141^st sUkta (baLittha sUkta) in the first mandala of Rigveda says – “Sahas” named nitya aparokshi vAyu (not vAyu who is one among the dikpAlakas or panchabhUtAs) who is beloved of Vishnu, would take avatar on earth as Hanuman for seva of Sri Rama, Bheema for seva of Sri Krishna and for spreading jnana as pUrnaprajna (Madhwacharya). It is mentioned that Madhwa would demolish all inappropriate/ incorrect theories. vAyu devaru comes in the 3^rd kaksha of tAratamya, i.e., next to Vishnu & Lakshmi. Hence, he is jIvottama.

Doubts about baLitha sUkta:

When one comapres the baLitha sUkta & Madhwacharya’s biography would notice that Madhwacharya’s Ashrama nAma was pUrnaprajna & later he was named AnandatIrtha. But these names don’t find mention in baLitha sUkta. It mentions the words – Dashapramati & Madhwa. Hence some people accuse that he named himself as Madhwa to claim that he is avatar of vAyu.

The explanation for this is as follows:

The language used in Vedas are cryptic. For ex, Purusha sUkta says “pAdOsya vishwA bhUtAni” which literally means God created universe with 25% of himself. In actual it means, God created universe with a negligible part of himself. Another ex, Taittariya Upanishad says that paramAtmA’s Ananda is 100 times greater than that of brahma devaru. Whereas it doesn’t mean exactly 100 times but means many folds higher. This is justified in the continuation part of the same context where it is said that paramAtmA’s Ananda can’t be defined in numbers, it is infinite.

In this context,

Dasha = pUrna

Pramati = prajna (known)

Hence, dashapramati means pUrnaprajna.

Coming to AnandatIrtha,

Madhu = sweet = AnandadAyaka

Va = sacred water/ tirtha [Vam is the beejamantra for jala (water)]

Hence, Madhu + va = Ananda + tirtha. Madhwa = AnandatIrtha.

Hanuman:

There is a common misconception that Hanuman is the son of vAyu (one among panchabhUtas) and Rudransh. Sources like Hanuman chalisa also support this. But Vedas clearly say that Hanuman, Bheema & Madhwa are the avatars of vAyu who is beloved of Vishnu. These 3 avatars are complete (pUrna) in terms of strength (bala) and knowledge (jnana).

Hence, secret hints about persons capable of interpreting the Vedic knowledge in order to reach God, is provided in Vedas themselves. It is clear now that only tattvas preached by Acharya Madhwa contain the yathArtha jnAna. Let’s now try to understand God and path to reach him.

Chapter 5: Karma, jnAna & Bhakti – which one to choose?

sadAgamAs like BG have statements like –

• NishkAma karma leads to moksha
• Bhakti leads to moksha
• There is no need to know God. Scholarship (pAnditya) doesn’t fetch anything. Just meditate on him he will give moksha.

People react to these statements in 3 ways:

• Some people pick up the statements they like and create their own path
• Some others think that all paths lead to God, hence no need to worry about our choice
•  Some others keep it aside and wait for retirement to think about it

In shAstras, tattva is given in bits spread throughout. We must join those puzzle pieces to know the entire tattva.

To understand these statements, one must observe the beginning, ending, cross-references, explanation, Shruti, sAvakAsha & niravakAsha pramAnAs applicable to the context, etc. This is possible only to aparOksha jnAnis. (Reading BG translations by random people is dangerous).

The depth & myriad of rules involved in understanding shAstra can be explained through a simple analogy:

Suppose there are few people in a house. Two sentences – “Rama is elder in the house” & “Bheema is elder in the house” don’t mean opposite of each other. Both are bits of truth. But who is elder among the two is not clear in these sentences. This is a sAvakAsha pramANa. If the sentence is like – “Rama is elder than Bheema” or “Rama is eldest in the house”, then the difference is obvious. This is niravakAsha pramANa. This operates in case of BG too. To understand BG fully, one must consolidate the theories-

• Collect the sAvakAsha pramANas and get a total picture
• Solve the ambiguity/ confusion with the help of niravakAsha pramANas

Attempting to put all these in a small book would be like trying to capture sea in our palms. But we can taste the small amount of sea water that our palm can contain.

Some say that Karmayoga, Bhaktiyoga & jnAnayoga mentioned in BG are independent paths to reach God.

• In 2nd adhyAya of BG, Srikrishna says nishkAma karma leads to moksha (2.50, 51)
• In 11h & 12th adhyAyAs, he says Bhakti takes one to God (11.54)
• In 4th adhyAya he says how karmas - yajna, dAna, tapas are very important to get moksha

By consolidating the concepts of BG & Vedas, it becomes clear that these are not independent paths. NiravakAsha pramAna should be searched for. The PurushasUkta (TaitarIya Aranyaka) of Yajurveda says that there is no way to moksha other than jnAna. This sentence clearly demolishes the independence of Bhakti & Karma.

• Here, the word “jnAna” doesn’t mean bookish knowledge. It refers to bimbAparOksha or aparOksha jnAna. The different rUpas of God visualized in our minds or seeing them during their avatAr don’t give us moksha. Every jIvAtma should see the bimbarUpa specific to itself. Only that is the way to moksha.
• BrihadAraNyaka Upanishad says - for aparoksha jnAna, one should do adhyayana (study), shravaNa (listening), manana (understanding), chintana (deep thinking) and dhyAna of bhagavad-rUpAs (meditation).

Hence, moksha comes after aparOksha and aparOksha comes after shAstrAdyayana. Then what’s the role of Bhakti?

What’s Bhakti?

The word Bhakti has been totally misunderstood lately. Bhakti is being depicted in famous literatures & media as surrendering to God without any knowledge (jnAna). They propose a formula that known person will have ego and ignorant one has “real” bhakti. [Same as in movies with love story of poor man & rich girl].

BG says about 4 types of Bhaktas and their characteristic features but doesn’t define Bhakti clearly. Acharya Madhwa has given a wonderful definition for Bhakti as:

महात्म्यज्नानपूर्वस्तु सुद्डः सर्वतोधिक स्नेहः

Continuous (undisturbed/ never ending) flow of love (like the flow of oil/ tailadhAra) of highest order (more than one loves his wife, children or money) towards God, along with the knowledge of God’s greatness (jnAna of his Gunas, splendorous deeds, avatars, etc) is Bhakti.

Nowadays Bhakti is used with the meaning that one doesn’t have to know God, just surrendering or even being emotional towards him will be enough to get moksha. But Acharya Madhwa clarifies that love towards God should make one know more about him & vice versa.

Some people argue with example as: one need not know about medicine to make it work. Same way Bhakti can happen without knowing about God. But this is not the right logic. Because, there is a system in the body to understand medicines and make them work. Medicine doesn’t work based on mind. But Bhakti is purely related to mind, chitta & intellect. So, mind should clearly know about whom & why it must develop Bhakti. Else it would be like infatuation.

Bhakti should increase on knowing about svarUpa of God, his greatness (mahima), immense help he does to jIvas (kAruNya), studying about him. It should attain depth with “manana”. Intensity of JnAna & bhakti should get mutually elevated and then by vairAgya. Finally, God should get pleased by these. God doesn’t have any doshas in him. He is not dependent on our actions. Still he abides to the shrutis & smritis, assesses our karmas with reference to the do’s & don’ts in these shrutis & smritis and gives “scores”. This represents how pleased he is by us. We should keep this in mind and always concentrate on pleasing God. KAThakOpanishad says:

नायमात्मा प्रवचनेन लभ्यो न मेधया न बहुना श्रुतेन।

यमेवैष वृणुते तेन लभ्यः तस्मैषा आत्मा विवृणुते तनुं स्वाम्॥

Meaning: God realization doesn’t happen merely by doing or listening to pravachana or by having a good memory power. God doesn’t reveal himself to the one who has ego or pride in his studies. Anyone whom God doesn’t accept as his devotee and doesn’t bless with tattvajnAna, can’t know God. God unfolds his jnAnAnandamaya svarUpa only when he gets pleased. Then he reveals jIva’s svarUpa & the bimbarUpa that the jIva has to worship. This is called bimbAparoksha. God thereby destroys our sanchita karmas & AgAmi karmas at this stage. This karma-kshaya means clearing the old debts & the debts ought to arise in future.

So how to please God? It is obviously not possible through mere karmas.

Karma & Punya:

Karmas are of 3 types – sanchita, prArabdha & AgAmi. Every kamya karma that we do gets accumulated (let’s say, in a big bag) as sanchita. We have been filling up this bag since many janmas. We have picked up a portion from this bag (enough for one janma or few janmas) in our journey. This is prArabdha. Everything we are experiencing now belongs to this. prArabdha doesn’t mean only difficulties/ grief but includes even the good things/ happiness that we are experiencing. The karmas we would do in future because of our sanchita & prArabdha and our jIva swarUpa are AgAmi karmas.

As smritis say, karmas tie us to samsAra. It is the kAmya karmas that tie us and not the nishkAma karmas. (nishkAma karma has been discussed in detail in the forthcoming adhyAyAs). Almost all our karmas will have expectations behind them though we may say otherwise.

Each person accumulates punya & pApa sufficient for 10 janmAs through the normal deeds he does starting from the age of 14. He takes birth again to experience these and again accumulates more karmas. This is a vicious circle. Hence proved, just doing karmas will not lead us to moksha. Only destruction of sanchita & AgAmi karmas by reaching the stage of aparoksha can lead us to mokhsa.

Karmanye vAdhikAraste mA phaleshu kadAchana is a famous and misinterpreted shloka from BG. Meaning of the shloka is that one should do vihita karmas without thinking about the result/ fruits. However, it is practically not possible. Sri Madhwacharya has given clearer perspective on this. Shruti says that karma itself is way to gain tattvajnAna or aparoksha. But all karmas do not take us in this direction. Every karma has mukhya phala & amukhya phala. Mukhya phala of every karma is to get aparoksha & vishnuprIti. Material benefit is amukhya phala. Phala tyAga means doing the karmas concentrating only on the mukhya phala and ignoring the amukhya part. This is the inner meaning of that shloka in a nutshell. Without knowing the true meaning, some people do karma for laukika benefits & some totally give up karma. The latter feel that it is better not to do any karma if it locks us in samsAra & it is enough to gain jnAna. However, jIva cannot remain for a moment without doing karma. If not physically, it happens at least mentally. Had it been possible to get moksha by not doing karma then plants should have got moksha long ago.

Coordination between Karma – Bhakti – JnAna:

By now we understood, mere doing Karma/ not doing it or bookish knowledge don’t help us to reach moksha. So, what’s the guaranteed way?

Things stated in BG & in Vedas are true. We should derive the proper meaning by rightly combining these. This is coordination (samanvaya). In the next post we’ll take up some niravakAsha statements from BG.

• The niravakAsha pramAnAs give us route map.

Moksha only after bimbAparoksha – This has already been discussed earlier. PurushasUkta says only after knowing God (aparoksha) one can get moksha. There is no other way.

tamevaM vidvAn amRta iha bhavati| nAnyaH panthA ayanAya vidyate||

• BimbAparoksha after tatvanischaya & dhyAna – Let’s take BG shloka 2.53

शृतिविप्रतिपन्नाते यदा स्थास्यति निश्चला।

Tattva nischaya happens when you perceive God absolutely in his yathArtha rUpa, which leads to meditation (achala samAdhi, dhyAna) and thereby yoga (bimbAparoksha).

It clarifies that the steps are in the order – tattva nischaya, dhyAna & finally bimbAparoksha.

Tattva nischaya through upadesha from svarUpa guru:

तद्विद्धि प्रणिपातेन परिप्रश्नेन सेवया।

उपदेक्ष्यंति ते ञानं ञानिनस्तत्वदर्शिनः।

When you bow to (namaskAra) jnAnis who have tAtvik knowledge, do their seva & question them, they will preach (teach) you shAstra jnAna and then tattva nischaya happens to you.

Here the jnAni responsible for tattva nischaya is one’s svarUpa guru. One might initially learn vidye directly from many gurus or indirectly through books. But ultimately one requires svarUpoddhAraka guru for aparoksha through tattva nischaya.

One doesn’t have to go in search of this guru. They will come to us at right time when one has reached enough pakvatA (maturity). We should keep doing our preparations before that which includes jnAnArjana & other karmAs. Beware of fake (dongi) gurus who exploit our innocence/ ignorance.

antaHkaraNa shuddhi before getting guru:

Attaining antaHkaraNa shuddhi is a mandatary eligibility criterion for the guru to approach us. antaHkaraNa shuddhi is the state of being devoid of desires & hatred (rAga-dvESha), keeping indriyAs under control & not expecting pleasures from indriyAs which ultimately keeps one delighted always.

sAnkhyayoga of BG (2.64-2.66) explains this clearly.

●     ayuktasya buddiH nAsti (no paroksha jnAna for one without chittanirodha)

●     ayuktasya bhAvanA na (no jnAna for one without chittanirodha)

●     abhAvayataH na cha shAntiH na cha (no aparoksha & moksha for the one without dhyAna)

●     ashAntasya sukhaM kutaH (how can one have happiness without moksha)

antaHkaraNa shuddhi through yajna, dAna & tapas:

This is an important point from BG. Various sentences in BG support this.

When we consolidate all the above details, we can arrive at the step-by-step process of reaching God.

nishkAma karma, shAstra jnAna (shravaNa, brahma jijnAsa, manana), bhakti, vairAgya -> antaHkaraNa shuddhi -> guru updadesha -> yathArtha jnAna of tatva & svarUpa of God -> dhyAna -> bimbAparoksha -> sAdhana, God’s grace -> Moksha.

 

 

6. Who is God?

SanAtana dharma has endless list of Gods – Vishnu, Shiva, Ganapati, Skanda, Indra, Chandra, Varuna, Agni, and so on… All these names have been mentioned in the Vedas.

1. Some people say all these are the different forms of same God
2. Some people say these are independent Gods, each one should be prayed for getting different things. Ex: Creation – Brahma, Protection/ maintenance – Vishnu, destruction – Rudra, Prosperity – Lakshmi, Clearing obstacles – Ganapathi, etc.
3. Some people consider their favorite deity/ traditionally worshipped deity to be supreme. Ex: Shiva sarvOttama, devi sarvOttama, etc.

 

Which among the above is true?

 

As we saw earlier, Sri MadhwAchArya’s teachings are pramANa. Hence, we can get to know who God is and what his svarUpa is, by going through his explanation of VedAs.

The most important point by AchArya is that only Vishnu is “the God”. All other devatAs are dependent (asvatantra). They just execute his order/ work as per his directions.

This is not a guess work by AchArya Madhwa. Instead he brought this out from the vedas, Upanishads, BG, BrahmasUtra & PurAnAs.

 

The Western & modern philosophy objecting the supremacy of Vishnu is as follows:

1. VedAs contain thousands of mantrAs praising Indra, VaruNa, Soma, etc.
2. There are only 10-15 ‘rik’s which praise Vishnu exclusively.
3. Apart from this, Vishnu’s name occurs around 100 times in scattered manner amidst the names of other devatAs. For ex, as one among as AdityAs, Indra’s friend, etc.
4. Even the riks praising Vishnu seem like praising Surya.
5. Hence so called Pandits find it strange that Vishnu who rarely finds mentions in vedAs suddenly becomes popular in PurANAs.
6. PurANAs also have concepts like Shiva sarvOttama, Devi sarvOttama, Skanda sarvOttama, etc.

Due to all these reasons, modern scholars have arrived at a conclusion that, community of people who originally used to worship nature (prakruti) got divided into different streams and started worshipping different devatAs as sarvOttama.

 

To add to this ambiguity, the word “Brahman” is used alternative to ParamAtma ample number of times in the vedAs. Extraordinary qualities of this “Brahman” have also been described at many places. But there is no direct answer to the question who he is. This resulted in a bigger problem. Hence modern adhyAtma came to an easy conclusion that there is no question of sarvOttamatva, all devatAs are equal. Which then led to the theory that everything is right in adhyAtma and there are as many ways to reach God as the number of people. This idea was very much appealing and was liked by people.

 

Vishnu sarvOttamatva can’t be denied just because Vishnu is not mentioned as much as other devatAs in vedAs. In examination, marks are given based on quality of answers than the length. So, we must check for:

1. Extraordinary qualities of Brahman mentioned in vedOpanishads
2. Veda mantrAs which name Vishnu should be studied properly
3. Should look for verses that describe Vishnu without naming him

 

One will understand that terms – sarvOttama & brahman is befitting only Vishnu, when all the above factors are read & understood. This point has been explained in short in the upcoming sections. This foundation is very important for eliminating all the doubts regarding Vishnu sarvOttamatva.

Qualities of brahma:

VedAs mention the guNAs that only brahma has.

1. Satyam jnAnaM anantaM brahma (Taittiriya Upanishad)
2. sarvaM khalvidaM brahma (ChandOgya Upanishad)
3. AnandO brahma (Taittiriya Upanishad)
4. viGnAnaM AnandaM brahma (bRahadAraNyaka Upanishad)
5. When Bhrigu maharshi asked Varuna to give him upadesha about Brahma he said – yatO vA imAni bhUtAni jAyante| yEna bhUtAni jIvanti | yat prayanti abhisaMvishMti | (Taittiriya Upanishad)

In simple words:

1. Satya means Srishti (creation) – sthiti – laya (destruction). The one who does these, is God. This can’t be done by anyone else.
2. jnAna means the one who knows everything; that’s sarvajna.
3. Ananta means the one who is present (vyApta) in all places and at all times. Also, vyApta in terms of guNAs; the one who is complete with noble qualities (kalyANa guNa).
4. All jIvAs have limited Ananda. But paramAtmA’s Ananda can’t be measured quantitatively or defined qualitatively. It can’t be experienced through one’s mind. (TaittarIya describes this).
5. In VaruNa’s upadEsha, finally he says that God is the one who gives moksha.
6. God is antaryAmi in all the jIvAs. None else is antaryAmi in jIvAs.
7. He has control over everyone, but he is not controlled by anyone.

 

These are few among the important features of brahman given by Upanishads. Now, let’s take up some Rik’s from vedAs and discuss them.

Greatness of Vishnu in vedAs:

Selected Rik’s from Rigveda have been taken up here. VedAs have not associated these extraordinary qualities of Vishnu, with anyone else. Later we will see few niravakAsha Rik’s (which cannot be understood in any other ways) which speak about Vishnu without mentioning his name.

Srishti – sthiti – layakAraka:

18^th mantra of 22^nd sUkta in the 1^st mandala of Rigveda-

त्रीणि पदा वि चक्रमे विष्णुर्गोपा अदाभ्यः। अतो धर्माणि धारयन्।

 

Here, “gopA” means “sthitikAraka” (gopA is synonymous with all 3 - srishti-sthiti-layakAraka). Vishnu himself (vi chakramE) occupies 3 types of materials (trIni padA) and does srishti-sthiti-laya.

 

BG shlokAs corresponding to this are:

1. For sthitikArakatva - यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत
2. For srishti - laya - अहं कृत्स्नस्य जगतः प्रभवः प्रलयः तथा

muktipradAyaka:

Rigveda - 1st mandala - 22nd sUkta - 20th mantra:

तद्विष्णो परमं पदं सदा पश्यंति सूरयः। दिवीव चक्षुराततम्। ...

 

muktAs always keep watching the radiant abode of VishNu (vaikunTa).

 

This implies, the abode of vishNu doesn’t get destroyed even during pralaya & vishNu is sheltering the muktAs; hence vishNu is the one who grants mukti.

This has been indicated by Bhagavata also, during war between devatAs & asurAs (dEvAsura sangrAma). IndrAdi devatAs told Muchukunda, who fought on behalf of devatAs, to ask anything other than moksha as only vishNu is capable of granting moksha.

VishNu’s greatness is inexplicable:

Rigveda 7th mandala - 99th sUkta - 2nd mantra

न ते विष्णो जायमानो नजातो देवमहिम्नः परमंतमाप। ...

 This mantra says, greatness of vishNu is not present in any of the devatAs.

 

Rigveda - 1st mandala - 154th sUkta - 1st mantra says - intelligent man may succeed in counting the number of dust particles on earth, but cannot measure the greatness (guNAs & Ananda too) of vishNu.

 

Rigveda - 1st mandala - 154th sUkta - 5th mantra says - may I get the loka in which vishNu bhaktas always dwell with Ananda; how Anandamaya should vishNu be, to give Ananda to all the muktAs who attain his loka?

vishNu’s omnipresence:

The etymology of the word “vishNu” itself is amazing. As per nirukta of yAska (dictionary of sanskrit words of vedic times), the term vishNu has 2 meanings: 1st, one who occupies everything and 2nd, one who enters everything. (Taittariya says, तत् सृष्ट्वा तदेव अनुप्राविशत्, about Brahma. As we saw earlier, “brahma” word being vishNu vAchya, it implies, he (vishNu) entered everything, i.e., he dwells as antaryAmi in everyone. He resides in all the parts/ organs of body in respective forms (rUpAs). Details are given in chapter 8).

 

It is not possible to explain the sarvavyApakatva (omnipresence) of vishNu through words. It is to be observed that, Rigveda repeatedly quoted the term “vichakrame” while it explained the qualities of vishNu (as seen earlier). “Vichakrame” means occupying everything and presence beyond those things. I.e., when we infer the qualities of brahma in vishNu, vishNu’s omnipresence was repeatedly indicated by those mantras.

 

Rigveda - 1st mandala - 22nd sUkta - 16 &17th mantras shed more light on the sarvavyApakatva of vishNu:

 

अतो देवा अवन्तु नो यतो विष्णुः वि चक्रमे। प्रथिव्या सप्तधामभिः।

 

vishNu occupied earth, space, dyu loka and also seven UrdhvalokAs with his 3 steps (feet) and returned the lokAs of devatAs occupied by rAkshasAs.

 

इदं विष्णुः वि चक्रमे त्रेधा निदधे पदं। समूलमस्य पांसुरे।।

 

Earth looked splendid like a speck of dust on the foot of Vishnu who occupied entire brahmAnda.

 

Hence, there is repeated mention about vishNu who has occupied “3 things” and exists beyond. Those “3 things” are:

1. 3 lokAs - prithvi, space & dyuloka - which in turn represent the saptalokAs (brahmAnda) - and briefly describe the profoundness of Vishnu.
2. 3 kAlAs - VishNu who has his existence in the past, the present and the future - and briefly describe his permanent nature.
3. 3 guNAs - satva, rajas, tamas - VishNu beyond triguNAs.
4. 3 types of ubiquity (vyApti) - desha, kAla & guNa vyApti. He is completely filled/ saturated (paripUrna) with guNAs and hence, ananta kalyANa guNa paripUrNa.
5. 3 types of jIvAs - deva, dAnava & mAnava - beyond all 3.
6. 3 vedAs - Rik, Yajus & sAma - has occupied all of them. Each & every word, letter, vowel, consonant, sandhi between them - propound him only. It is not an exaggeration, rather an amazing theorem. Dashama mandala of veda says this.

Only vishNu is indicated (profounded/ discussed) by vedAs (sarvaveda pratipAdya):

Devatas like indra, agni, soma, etc. are praised in thousands of riks. But in the last mandala of Rigveda (in vishwakarma sUkta) there is a mantra that appears like a twister.

यो देवानाम् नामदा एक एव तं संप्रश्नम् भुवना यंत्यना।

अजस्यनाभावध्येकं अर्पितं यस्मिन् विश्वानि भुवनानि तस्थुः॥ (Rigveda 10.82.3 - 10.82.6)

All lokAs merge into “the one” (and only one) whom the names of all the devatas indicate, who is mysterious (even) to those devatas. He is unborn (aja) whose nAbhi has that (padma/ lotus) in which all lokAs reside.

This is further supported by Skanda Purana by saying - NamaskAra to VishNu having kamala (lotus) in his nAbhi & is responsible for the srishti of all lokAs.

 

All the Riks of Rigveda mentioned above, are collectively implying -

All the names that are used for other devatAs (Indra, Soma, Rudra, Agni, etc.) are primarily befitting only vishNu who is srishti-sthiti-layakAraka of all the lokAs.

 

This is an important subtle point in the vedAs. AgnisUkta says agni is superior to all. But it actually states the superiority of VishNu who has the name “agni”. This is applicable to all the other cases too. This is the concept behind vishNu sahasranama calling vishNu with the names - Shiva, Rudra, etc. Brahma also indicates vishNu. Pronouns in upanishads - “he”, “that” also indicate vishNu only.

 

Similarly there is a sentence in veda - vishvAdhiko rudraH which apparently states superiority of Shiva. But it is a sAvakAsha pramANa. The real meaning is to be derived after coordination. For ex, the word “saindhava” in Sanskrit has 2 meanings - salt & horse. If someone asks for saindhava during lunch, it would be absurd to bring a horse. Likewise, when vishvAdhiko rudraH is said, it should be understood after coordination with niravakAsha vAkyAs in other places. Fact that all names - Shiva, Rudra, etc. indicate vishNu is a niravakAsha pramAna.

 

Harivamsha PurANa announces -

 

वेदे रामायणे चैव पुराणे भारते तथा।

आदावंते च मध्ये च विष्णु्ः सर्वत्र गीयते॥

 

VedAs, Ramayana, Mahabharata & PuranAs praise only vishNu in the beginning, middle & at the end.

In BG, Srikrishna says “vedaishcha sarvAiH ahameva vedyaH” (15.15) - Only I should be known in (through) all the vedAs.

 

Unfortunately, intellectuals who searched for “vishNu” didn’t find this mantra at all. Because, it doesn’t the contain the word Vishnu. Srimad Acharya demolished all doubts regarding vishnu supremacy and his veda pratipAdakatva in BrahmasUtra.

 

It is not that vedAs don’t speak about other devatAs. They praise vishNu chiefly. Except for the mantras & sUktAs that praise vishNu exclusively, they give description (speak about) other devatAs like lakshmi, vAyu, rudra, etc. as per tAratamya.

vishNu’s sarvashabdavAchyatva (vishNu expressly meant by all the words):

Not only the words in vedAs, but also other words address vishNu only. Sri MadhvAchAryaru has explained this in Aitareya BhAshya. All words, letters, sandhi - everything refer to him alone. In articulate/ verbal sense (shabdAtmaka) and inarticulate / non-verbal sense (dhvanyAtmaka). The sound of roaring ocean announces surpassing power (sarvAtikramaNa) of VishNu. The sound of the clouds is “aum” itself. Aum represents sarvottamatva. Hence clouds declare vishNu sarvottamatva. Types of svarAs [pronounciation (?)] of vedAs - mandra, anudAtta, svarita, udAtta. Mandra accent (voice) is even like breathing. It says VishNu is always even. AnudAtta (eg: BherinAda = sound of a kettle drum) declares the magnanimity/ generosity of vishNu. Svarita (eg: GhantAnAda = sound of a bell) announces everything else is inferior to vishNu. udAtta (eg: nAgaswara = ??) declares that vishNu is always sarvOttama. Even the sounds of animals, birds, insects, etc. praise the guNAs of vishNu only. This is not an exaggeration. As all the living and non-living things behave per vishNu preraNa (sarvaM khalvidaM brahma), knowingly or unknowingly all of them praise him only.

What does Lakshmi say?

In the AmbriNi sUkta of Rigveda, Lakshmi says - “I promote jIvAs to rudra padavi or brahma padavi as per my wish..” and shows that, rudra, brahma and other devatas are actually the positions and not permanent. She also implies she is superior to those devatAs (positions). Then she continues to say “The one who is superior to me is in the praLaya-samudra”. The one who is in praLaya-samudra is nArAyaNa himself. (As seen earlier), since all lOkAs merge in him, he is the only one present during praLaya. The term nArAyaNa also indicates - nAra = praLaya, ayaNa = sleeping. Hence Lakshmi establishes her superiority to other devatAs and vishNu’s superiority to her.

 

MahAnArAyaNopanishat also mentions this pralaya samudra and says srishti-sthiti-laya are done by one who is there in the samudra.

 

Some people raise concern about vishNu and nArAyaNa being different devatAs and later getting considered as one. “nArAyaNAya vidmahe vAsudevAya dheemahi tanno vishNuH prachodayAt” mantra in MahAnArAyaNopanishat and other mantras (maitrAyaNi samhitA of KrishNa yajurveda) clear this doubt.

 

एको नारायण आसीत् न ब्रह्मा न च शंकर:

- says mahOpanishat. During pralaya, only vishNu was present, no brahma or shankara. Even aitareya upanishad says-

 

आत्मवा इदमेक एवाग्र आसीत्, नान्यत् किंचन मिषत्

Only vishNu was there with lakshmi, none of the devatAs were there. How superior is he to others? Don’t know. Even lakshmi doesn’t. devatAs born later on - Brahma, vAyu, rudra, etc. are successively inferior in the order of their birth. This tAratamya can be arrived at after going through all veda-purAna-itihAsAs. Pralaya happens again, new brahma, rudra, etc will be born in the next srishti. But vishNu and lakshmi remain. Except vishNu, others are addressed as devatAs. Hence god = vishNu alone.

 

“One God, many names” means that the names in vedAs are addressed to vishNu alone and not that gods of all religions indicate some unnamed/ unknown god as modern adhyAtma claims.

vishNu in itihAsa - purANAs:

By now, we know -

●     the term “brahman” and all the words in vedAs address vishNu.

●     vishNu is supreme and he is paramAtma

BruhadAraNyaka upanishad says that the highest entity vishNu can be known through the medium of itihAsa-purANAs which are also called panchama vedAs. These itihAsA-purANAs help those who cannot read the vedAs or do not understand them clearly to understand the greatness (mahimA) of vishNu with examples. There are 18 purANAs + rAmAyaNa & mahAbhArata (itihAsAs) which give only one message - vishNu is sarvottama (supreme), guNapUrNa (completely filled with kalyANa guNAs) and dosha rahita (devoid of any negative qualities). Like that in vedAs, each word in these itihAsA-purANAs address only vishNu. All may not be able to understand the depth of this but one can know as per his/her capacity. Studying itihAsA-purANAs gives idea about and strengthens guNAnusandhAna (meditate about the qualities of vishNu). Hence it is very important.

 

But the itihAsa-purANAs are apparently confusing. There are many contradictory and absurd statements at various places. One might lose existing devotion (bhakti) also after reading such statements. For ex.,

●     Shaiva part of Padma PurANa and Shiva PurANa clearly state Shiva supremacy

●     PurANAs contain different versions of story regarding Ganapati

●     People feel that God deceives like human beings when they come across Tulasi-Jalandhara story

●     Krishna has been depicted as pervert & womaniser

 

The list continues. This makes one doubt whether these purANAs were actually composed by vyAsa and if yes, why did he write them this way. ItihAsAs are not exempted from this either.

In rAmAyaNa, rAma cries like ordinary human during seethApaharaNa, kills vAli from behind a tree, gets unconscious by arrows of indrajit. Some people believe that rAma & krishNa were ordinary humans, termed Gods by some.

 

Hence, one encounters various hurdles while trying to know about God. Only those who maintain patience get precious gems. Others get only doubts or wrong knowledge.

3 types of languages and their suitability:

Knowledge of languages used and their suitability is important to understand the itihAsa - purANAs. VedavyAsa has not written all itihAsa purANAs in same way. 3 types of languages are deployed:

1. samAdhi bhASha: narrated as it is
2. darshana bhASha: narrated as seen by others
3. Guhya bhASha: narrated in a totally different way

 

Ex for darshana bhASha: When Krishna used sudarshana chakra on shishupAla, a jyoti came out from his body and merged with Srikrishna (BhAgavata). This is darshana bhASha because it is narrated as visible to others present there. In reality, the asura ShishupAla got andhatamas but vishnu pArshada Jaya inside him attained his original position.

Ex for guhyabhASha is the story of Ganapati. The story is known to everyone. pArvati created Ganapati from the mud on her body. Shiva killed him without knowing about it. Shiva is manObhimAni. He is present in everyone’s mind including Parvati’s and acts as per the orders of VishNu. How is it possible that he didn’t know? Also, how dirty pArvati’s body must have been for her to be able to create ganapati out of that mud? This apparently nonsensical story has a totally different reality.

 

The above story (of ganapati) is actually showing the process of srishti. Tattva srishti happened before the srishti of 14 lokAs. Rudra & Uma were born in brahma - saraswati. From Rudra & Uma - manas, ahankAra, group of devatAs, dashendriyAs, Indra & other devatAs, panchabhUtAs, and their abhimAni devatAs were born. Ganapati is abhimAni for AkAsha which is among panchabhUtAs. He was born from the tAmasa form of rudra. The story depicts this fact in a mysterious way. The real interpretation is not possible by looking at the way it is narrated or the sentences used. This is guhya bhAsha.

 

To conclude whether a given explanation is true, the following 3 points must hold good:

1. vaktr (speaker) should know the topic and shouldn’t have intention to mislead the listeners.
2. shrotr (listener) should be yogya (eligible).
3. prasanga (situation) should be conducive. When situation is not conducive, words spoken would have intentions of asura-mohana.

 

purANAs can be divided into 3 categories - sAtvika, rAjasika & tAmasika, based on the above points. Those in which vishNu sarvottamatva is clearly stated with the use of samAdhi bhAsha are sAtvik purANAs. Those in which story is written as it was visible to others (darshana bhAsha) are rAjasa purANAs. And those in which sarvottamatva of other devatAs is stated due to non-conducive situation or ineligible speaker or undeserving listener, are tAmasa purANAs.

 

There are 18 main purANAs (upa-purANAs are numerous):

1. sAtvik purANAs (which state vishNu sarvottamatva) - vishNu, nAradIya, padma (vaishNava khanda), garuda, varAha, bhAgavata puANAs.
2. rAjasa purANAs (which state brahma sarvottamatva)- brahmAnaDa, brahma vaivarta, brahma, mArkanDeya, bhavishya, vAmana purANAs.
3. tAmasa purANAs (which state shiva sarvottamatva)- matsya, kUrma, linga, shiva, skanda, agni purANAs.

 

Points to be noted are:

1. The terms sAtvik, rAjasik & tAmasik are not used in material (laukika) sense.
2. Though all purANAs were composed by Sri vyAsa, he doesn’t endorse or accept everything as it is.
3. The contents of sAtvik purANAs are acceptable to him (Sri vedavyAsa)
4. In rajasik purANAs, he just compiled the events as they happen and peoples’ opinion about hem.
5. In tAmasa purANAs, he wrote only mithya (false) jnAna.
6. That doesn’t mean rAjasik & tAmasik purANAs are to be totally rejected. Some parts which are in line with the vedopanishads & sAtvik purANAs are acceptable.

 

Sri vedavyAsa has given these secrets in purANAs itself. It is our job to identify those and join the puzzle pieces to get a clear picture. But even muktiyogya sAtvik jeevAs are incapable to do this due to effect of kali. Hence, Sri MadhwachArya has done this and pointed out references from purANAs which justify the above points.

●     In varAha purANA, vishNu himself says Shiva - “O strong armed (bAhushAli) Shiva, I will compose shAstrAs to lure undeserving people. You too do it & get it done from others. Acclaim my guNAs in you. Glorify yourself and mask me”.

●     BrahmAnDa purANA sheds light on this and says - “If vishNu’s gunAs - guNapUrNatva (completely filled with gunAs), sahasrasheershatva (having thousand heads), nirdoshatva (not having doshAs), etc. have been attributed to others, it has been done so only to lure undeserving people”.

●     In skanda purANA, Shiva talks to his son skanda and reveals the real meaning by saying - “Dear son, equating me with vishNu or saying I’m superior to him, are only done to mislead ineligible people”. Shiva is concerned that his son should know the truth. So, speaker, listener & situation are convenient (as discussed earlier about vaktr - shrotr anukUlya). There is no reason for Shiva to lie and he wants his son to know that vishNu is supreme.

●     In the Shaiva Khanda of Padma PurANA, Shiva informs Parvati what vishNu informed him earlier. “In Krita & Treta YugAs, vishNu will worship shiva & obtain boons. To prevent ineligible jeevAs from obtaining right knowledge, Shiva will write delusional shastrAs & mithyAs, thereby glorifying himself and masking vishNu”. Shiva is revealing this truth with due concern towards pArvati.

●     In MahabhArata, Shiva says dUrvAsa - “Innumerable brahmAnDAs take forms & get destroyed in Srihari who is supreme. Me, Brahma or even Lakshmidevi can not know his leelA. Who else is ever independent & sarvashakta as vishNu?”. [dUrvAsa is an amshAvatAra of Shiva. amshA will not have jnAnashakti as much as the mUlarUpa has. It might even be forgotten due to prArabdha.

 

Noteworthy point is, Shiva’s revelation about vishNu sarvottamatva is found in the skanda purANa & shaiva part of padma purANa which are tAmasa purANAs. Also, the point that vishNu’s qualities are attributed to shiva for the sake of misleading undeserving people is mentioned in brahmAnDa purANA which is rAjasik purANa. Even the purANAs that praise the savottamatva of other devatAs do tell us the truth in between. But sAtvik purAnAs never proclaim the superiority of any devatAs other than vishNu. Because they do not intend to mislead the readers.

 

Many people believe things which are mentioned in purANAs and get confused. The only secret that all purANAs hide is vishNu sarvottamatva. We need only sadAgamAs to understand this properly. Hence, Sri MadhvAchArya described vishNu as “sadAgamaikavijneyaM” - the one who is known clearly only by sadAgamAs. So, which are the sadAgamAs that help us know him?

Which are the sadAgamAs/ PramANAs?

The 4 vedAs, upanishads, PancharAtra, mUla rAmAyaNa, mahAbhArata & brahmasUtra - these are the pramANAs. Other granthAs which explain/ illustrate/ are in accordance with these are also pramANAs. GranthAs which do not proclaim the principles of these are not pramANAs. As we saw earlier, some parts of rAjasik & tAmasik purANAs also announce vishNu sarvottamatva and hence such parts are to be considered as pramANAs too.

The 4 vedAs:

Only Acharya Madhwa accepted all the vedAs completely (including samhitAs, brAhmaNAs & AraNyakAs) without excluding any part or sentence or even a word & established that his philosophy is totally in line with them. Others quoted vedAs when it suits their narrative & kept them away when it doesn’t and accepted only upanishads. Sri Madhwacharya proved that tattvavAda is the summary of vedAs.

PancharAtra:

Acharya Madhwa also gave equal status to pancharAtra as the vedAs. He has quoted the conversation between vaishampAyana & janamejaya as an evidence. PancharAtra is very detailed but only a small portion is available today. Most of our rituals, methods of worship, etc. depend on pancharAtra. [Note: MadhwAcharya has quoted various sentences from pancharAtra in his bhAshya. But some modern scholars accuse him of projecting his own writings as pancharAtra or other pramANAs. But those sources were available during his times. Otherwise advaitis and others would have countered him. Ancient source grinthAs are becoming available lately which demolish those opinions].

mUlarAmAyaNa:

This is not vAlmiki rAmAyaNa. Though rAma rUpa of God became visible during tretAyuga, all rUpAs of God such as rAma, krishNa etc. found expression during srishti itself. The story of rAma which was narrated by vishNu in hayagrIva form to chaturmukha brahma through 100 crore shlokAs at the beginning of srishti is the mUlarAmAyaNa. (charitam raghunAthasya shatakoti pravistaram - refers to this). rAma pretending to be in grief like an ordinary human being during seetApaharaNa was to delude ineligible jeevAs. How can omnipresent vishNu not know way to LankA? Why does vishNu who does srishti of entire universe and gives sharIra (body) to all jeevAs, need kapisainya to kill rAvaNa? The purpose of avatArAs is only to provoke bhakti by demonstrating the greatness of God (mahimA).

Mahabharata:

Mahabharata is known to everyone and it is seen as story of kauravAs vs. pAndavAs, dharma vs. adharma etc. But it reveals deep and important tattvAs in the form of story. It broadcasts the greatness of vishNu in krishNa form. It’s status is equal to that of vedAs and hence popularly called as panchamaveda. rAmAyaNa & mahAbhArata also reveal tAratamya of other devatAs in addition to vishNu sarvottamatva. Knowledge about other devatAs (who are his devotees) in addition to vishNu is also necessary to get moksha; hence these itihAsa - purANAs must not be considered as mere stories. Those who do not study vedAs and also those who study vedAs must read itihAsa purANAs. MahAbhArata says that trying to study and understand only vedAs is like killing God.

BrahmasUtra:

People are not familiar with BrahmasUtra as they are with Gita. What is the necessity of brahmasUtra when we have vedAs, itihAsAs & purANAs? VedAs have been there from time immemorial. Sri vedavyAsa classified them at the end of dwAparayuga & made them easier for adhyayana. Even then, not many people are interested in studying them. Very few people are studying them making it a goal of their life. It is even rare to find people who teach vedAs with meaning. Since vedAs, itihAsAs & purANAs are the only sources to know God, it is nearly impossible in kaliyuga.

Foreseeing this situation, Sri vedavyAsa composed brahmasUtras. brahmasUtras are like mathematical formulas which can be applied in various places by studying once. sUtras are 584 in number. They help us understand the vedAs which have many folds higher number of riks. If one gets doubts while studying vedAs or upanishads, the formula from brahmasUtra can be applied for clarification.

Not only vedAs, even itihAsAs & purANAs have to be interpreted in line with these brahmasUtras only. If any interpretation is not in accordance with brahmasUtras, that meaning shouldn’t be taken. Even Srikrishna has said that interpretation of vedAs have to be done as per brahmasUtras. It also gives rules for coordination of meanings where some riks apparently contradict with one another.

 

BrahmasUtras are indeed difficult to understand. Sri vyAsa has not mentioned which sentence in the vedas a particular sutra connects to. Hence various bhAshyAs were written on brahmasUtrAs. Everyone loaded/ filled their own opinions/ doctrines in it. bhAshyAs display the blunders resulted by the addition of each one’s opinion without considering what Sri vyAsa intended to convey. For ex, Shankaracharya changes the direction from 1st sUtra to the 2nd. While explaining the meaning of few sUtrAs he ignores the vedic principles that is against his philosophy, saying vedAs are atatva. Whereas, in places where the sUtra itself is against his principle, he suggests to ignore the sUtra itself. Hence, when one reads other bhAshyAs and then mAdhwa bhAshyA, one observes that the explanation is straight & clear.

 

SarvamUla:

As said earlier, grinthAs which are in accordance with vedAs, etc. are pramANAs. Hence, books by Sri Madhwacharya who is aparOksha jnAni & jeevOttama, are pramANAs. His grinthAs are called sarvamUla.

In this modern era, it is not possible for common people to interpret Geeta, vedAs or upanishads using sUtrAs, let alone studying vedAs. Hence, easier way to know vedAs is through AchAryAs grinthAs - geetA bhAshyA & tAtparya, bhAshyAs of 10 upanishads, brahmasUtra bhAshya (4 books on brahmasUtra), mahabhArata & bhAgavata tAtparya nirNayAs, prakaraNa grinthAs, etc. They are equal in status to the vedAs and they make the entire ocean of vedAs fit into our palms. “satatam shAstravimarSheNa bhavishyati sAkshAtkAra” - One who continuously thinks about shAstra, does guNAnusandhAna of God accordingly, gets aparoksha. The highway & the only way for this is sarvamUla.

If one takes nutritious food and sits quiet, he becomes obese. Similarly, just by knowing shAstra, one can’t attain moksha. Knowledge (jnAna) with vihita karma opens up the doors to moksha. Hence AchArya has authored both vichAra & AchAra grinthAs - sadAchAra smriti, KrishnAmrita mahArNava, tantrasAra sangraha - are few among them.

AcharyAs grinthAs are like ready to eat foods.

 

 

7. How is God?

Before explaining how is God, how he isn’t has to be clarified. Because there is nothing like “God is not like this”! He is sarvAntaryAmi. He is there in everyone. How?

sarvAntaryAmi:

tat tat vastushu sarveShu tat tat AkArataH sthithaH

tat tat shabdaishcha bhagavAn uchyate nija shaktitaH

 

God is present in everything, in the form of those things and is called/ known by the name of those things.

The depth of this has to be noted. God resided in the rock as a rock, in me as myself and  in you as yourself. Took the form (shape) of things that are created by man even prior to their creation. Concealed his rUpa from the things that were destroyed. He as all the rUpAs that one can think of. They need not be eligible for worship (upAsanA yogya). He has the rUpAs that we can’t think of too. But they are out of limited reach of our indriyAs. Hence, his rUpAs are infinite. (God is not things/ materials themselves but antaryAmi of those).

In chetanAs, he resided in the form of bimbamUrti.

sarvadeshavyApta:

God created the universe; Stood inside it as guardian and outside it as bearer (dhAraka). Acted in his 3 purusha rUpAs. 1st purusha rUpa created mahat-tattva etc outside the brahmAnDa. 2nd purusha rUpa entered brahmAnDa. 3rd purusha rUpa entered all jeevAs inside the brahmAnDa. It entered inside & occupied outside the things that we see & don’t see. nArAyaNa sUkta (mahAnArAyaNopanishad) says:

 

यत् किंचित् जगत् सर्वं दृश्यते श्रूयते अपि वा।

अंतः बहिः तत् सर्वं व्याप्य नारायण स्थितः॥

Taittareeya upanishad says: तत् सृष्ट्वा तदेव अनुप्राविशत् . After creating things, God stood in everything as antaryAmi. The word vishNu also has the same meaning. We have already gone through the details of his sarvadEsha vyAptatva earlier (vishNuH vichakrame)

sarvakAlavyApta:

He is not only omnipresent but also present in all the kAlAs (past, present & future). Hence, JagannAthadAsaru said:

 

कालांतर्गत कालनियामक कालातीत त्रिकालज्ञ्

कालप्रवर्तक कालनिवर्तक कालोत्पादक कालमूर्ते

kAlaniyAmaka - one who controls kAla. He creates kAla-pravAha at the beginning of each kalpa. Future becomes present, present becomes past. We think it happens on its own but we’re wrong.

In addition to controlling these 3 kAlAs, he stays as antaryAmi in kAla. It is beyond our imagination. He is there inside (antaryAmi) every yuga, varsha, mAsa, paksha and even inside every second. He is present even in the gaps between seconds. If we break seconds into smaller units, he is there in them too. He is already there in the kAla that is yet to come (future). This capability is negligible part of his achintyADbhuta shakti.

He can bring new kAla as pravartaka when required. Can alter the way kAla flows. Can create new kAla inside kAla. KrishNa meditated on shiva for begetting children. This tapas is to be done for 12 years. But KrishNa made brihaspati complete transition through all the zodiacs within a day and ended the tapas. At that time, kAla was flowing as usual for others. Hence 2 kAla pravAhAs - one faster and other one normal.

 

kAlanivartaka - seconds, minutes, days get born and die. Finally in pralaya kAla, it seems there is no kAla. Amidst these, bhUta-bhavya-bhavat prabhu ‘ekO nArAyaNa’ is always there.

Is God saguNa/ sAkAra or nirguNa/ nirAkAra?

As seen earlier, God has infinite number of rUpAs & as antaryAmi in everyone & everything, there is no rUpa that God cannot take (or not his). Hence how can anyone argue that he is nirAkAra? sarvAntaryAmi (cosmopolitan) God has infinite capability (sAmarthya). If such God cannot take a rUpa then it would mean he isn’t capable, which in turn implies nirAkAra god is incapable!

 

Hence, God is sAkAra. The word nirAkAra only means that he doesn’t have a prAkruta (elemental) rUpa which is visible to our eyes. Even the avatAra rUpAs of god were aprAkruta but due to his grace, they were visible to people in those times.

 

Usage of words prAkruta/ aprAkruta & sAkAra/ nirAkAra in the vedAs seems ambiguous.

●     PurushasUkta of rigveda describes god as - one having thousand hands, legs, eyes & heads (सहस्रशीर्षा पुरुषः सहस्राक्ष सहस्रपात्). How can this God be nirAkAra?

●     PurushasUkta continues to say एतावानस्य महिमा अतो ज्यायांश्च पूरुषः. Which implies God has mahimA (greatness). If god is nirguNa, he can not have mahimA as mahimA itself is a guNa.

●     सत्यं ञ्नानं अनंतम् ब्रह्म, विञ्नानमानंदं ब्रह्म - these words attribute guNas in brahma. How can we relate this to nirguNa God?

●     यदा पश्यः पश्यते रुक्मवर्णं, यत्ते रूपं कल्याणतमं तत्ते पश्यामि - These words describe rUpAs & colours of God. How can nirAkAra god have rUpa?

●     परास्य शक्तिर्विविधैव श्रूयते स्वाभाविकी ञानबलक्रिया च - says about god having immense strength, natural jnAna, bala & kriyA.

Thousands of verses like this can be seen in vedAs.

 

God has also been described as:

●     यतो वाचे निवर्तंते अप्राप्य मनसा सह - God can’t be described by words and can not be understood using mind

●     निष्कलं निष्क्रियं शांतं - he doesn’t have any kriya (work done)

●     अरूपमस्पर्शं, अकायं - he doesn’t have color, form & body

Since vedAs give both type of description about god, advaitins couldn’t simply ignore the details about god’s form, shape & qualities. Hence, they created imaginary concepts in their bhAshyAs, which gained popularity.

●     They created a brahma different from nirguNa, nirAkAra & nirvisheSha, called him as saguNa / sAkAra brahma. So 2 brahmAs in total.

●     They proposed a new theory - when we want to show stars to someone, we locate them in relation to a branch of the tree and say the star is to the left of that branch. In reality, the star & the branch are not related at all. Similarly, to describe the nirguNa/ nirAkAra brahma, the vedAs take the help of saguNa brahma.

●     nirguNa brahma is the real brahma. He became saguNa/ sAkAra brahma due to mAya. mAya is mithya (untruthful), so the guNAs of saguNa brahma are also mithya.

●     Worship of nirguNa brahma is superior to that of saguNa brahma.

●     Those who worship nirguNa brahma become brahma himself and those who worship saguNa brahma will not be brahma in mukti, instead they remain under the control of saguNa brahma.

●     Lower level sAdhakAs will have dvaita bhAva. Progress is transformation from dvaita to advaita. Becoming introvert through saguNOpAsana, getting the sAkshAtkAra of saguNa brahma first and then nirguNa brahma is sAdhana.

 

It has to be noted that, these are not told in the vedAs. It was formulated to insert advaita into the vedAs. Shrutis never mention about the existence of two different brahmAs, instead they say that god is saguNa/sAkAra and nirguNa/ nirAkAra simultaneously.

 

shwetAshwatara upanishad says:

एको देवः सर्वभूतेषु गूडः सर्वव्या्पी सर्वभूतांतरात्मा।

कर्माध्यक्षः सर्वभूतादिवासः साक्षी चेता केवलो निर्गुणश्च॥

Here, gunAs of god like presence in everyone & everything, control over karmAs, independence etc. have been mentioned and at the end it says he is nirguNa.

This can be interpreted in 2 ways:

1. Neglecting all the guNAs that have been mentioned and considering him to be nirguNa. (but it is inappropriate to call God who has so many guNAs, as nirguNa).
2. 2 brahmAs can be imagined. The 1st part describes about saguNa brahma & the 2nd about nirguNa brahma. (Since the mantra says both saguNa & nirguNa at the same time, it is not right to divide them into 2).
3. Another way to coordinate these is, considering that those guNAs are present in him in aprAkrata form and he is saguNa. But since those guNAs are not prAkrata (made up of matter/ materials like our satva, raja, tama guNAs) he is called nirguNa.

 

Here, the 3rd point is the correct interpretation. Padma purANa literally supports this. Since god is devoid of the prAkrata satva-rajo-tamo guNAs which are cause of all doshAs, he is nirguNa. Even brahmasUtrAs give this conclusion. There are no 2 brahmAs. Only (one) brahma with aprAkrata guNAs.

(shape is also a guNa. God has shape also, hence he is sAkAra. But the AkAra & guNAs are aprAkrata)

Statements supporting this can be found in kaTopanishad & shwetAshwatarOpanishad. shwetAshwatarOpanishad says God runs without prAkruta legs. kaTopanishad says god travels while sitting/ sleeping at a place. Hence, guNAs & rUpAs of God are aprAkrata.

Can truth be obtained from mithyA upAsana?

Advaitins say, though guNAs of god are mithyA, one has to rely on those guNAs for dhyAna. But bhAgavata warns that mithyOpAsana doesn’t give positive results. Ascribing guNAs that are not present in brahma is also mithyA upAsana. In that case, how can one get even nirguNa brahma through mithyOpAsana? IshAvAsyOpanshad also says mithyOpAsana leads to andha tamas. Note the below points:

●     shAstra says muktAs sing the glory of (guNAs of) god. Considering amuktAs like us to be in avidyA, why will muktAs sing non-existing guNAs of God?

●     When arjuna said “I consider your mahimA to be true” in BG, SrikrishNa never said that his glory is mithyA. Mounam sammati lakshanam.

Hence, we can arrive at the conclusion that guNAs of God are aprAkrata & true (satya).

What is meant by God is aprAkrata?

Following are 2 very important points to know God:

1. Many people take the meaning of aprAkrata as avyakta or invisible. This is not right. Even brahma, vAyu, rudra, etc. are invisible to us but they do have prAkrata body like we do. Their body is made up of 24 tatvAs including panchabhUtAs. But the proportion of prithvi & water tatvAs are lesser and hence they aren’t visible to us.
2. Some people think that, aprAkrata is the rUpa that we imagine during meditation. This is also incorrect. Since manas (mind) is one among the 24 prAkrata tatvAs, the rUpa that is created through our minds is also prAkrata.

 

Aparoksha jnAnis get to see God through their Atma. This is the real aprAkrata rUpa. To get better understanding of rhis, we need to know jIvAtma first.

Analysis of jIvAtma

When we say “my house” or “my office”, we refer to things that are different from us. Similarly, when we say “my body”, it refers to something different from ouselves. We know that “me” refers to our Atma. This Atma has 4 bodies (layers):

1. sthUla sharIra (material body): The one that’s visible to us. Made up of 7 dhAtus.
2. Aniruddha sharIra: It is inner to sthUla sharIra. While the sthUla sharIra gets destroyed many times, aniruddha sharIra doesn’t get destroyed till the end of the kalpa.
3. Linga dEha: inner to aniruddha sharIra. Listening to it’s name, people think it is connected to gender difference but it is not.
4. swarUpa sharIra or Atma: This is synonymous with jIvAtma. So, jIvAtma = swarUpa dEha.

 

Linga dEha & swarUpa dEha are anAdi. There is no such time when “we didn’t have it”. But linga dEha has antya(end). It’s destruction has to happen before moksha. swarUpa dEha remains forever. Hence it is both anAdi & ananta.

 

One might get a doubt - if swarUpa dEha & linga dEha are anAdi, who created them? They weren’t created by anyone. There is no mention that they were created by God, hence he too didn’t create them. Also, when there is “creation”, there is a beginning. Since they’re anAdi, there is no creation. God controls them by being present in the linga dEha and very minute swarUpa dEha.

 

Among the 4 layers or bodies, the 3 - sthUla, aniruddha & linga dEha are prAkrata. They are composed of mixture of satva-raja-tamO guNa elements of the prakRti. The swarUpa dEha is aprAkrata, formed by the pure element (shuddha satva) which is not used in any srishti.

Datta svAtantrya (granted freedom) of jIvAtma & 3 types:

A very popular theory about the jIvAtma - karma relationship is that, all AtmAs are initially pure. Some of them utilise the karma svAtantrya (freedom to do karma) & do bad deeds, ending up in naraka. They are tamOguNi. Some do only good deeds from the beginning and they’re sAtvika. rAjasic are mixture of these two.

 

But there’s a serious shortcoming in this theory, i.e. concept of datta svAtantrya which says there is freedom of choice between good and bad karmAs and that we can choose to do good. Some people do percentage calculations saying we may have 1% or 5% freedom.

In reality, we don’t have any granted freedom. The percentage is zero. In BG (3.27) SrikrishNa says:

प्रकृते क्रियामाणानिगुणैः कर्माणि सर्वशः।

अहंकार विमूढात्मा कर्ता अहं इति मन्यते॥

Everything happens due to jIvA’s, swarUpa, prakRti, & God’s wish (iccha). Only ignorant people think they themselves did it (or did some portion/ percentage of it).

 

There is a swarUpa of jIva which is anAdi. This swarUpa is of 3 types: sAtvik, rAjasik & tAmasik. It is not the after-effect of karmAs done.

 

BrahmasUtra kartRtvAdhikaraNa clarifies this. jIvAs kartRtva is totally dependent kartRtva. When someone cuts tree using an axe, we don’t say that the axe cut the tree. It is only a tool in the hands of the cutter. Similarly, we are all tools in the hands of God.

 

Doubt may arise that axe is jaDa but we are chEtana. We have jnAna, iccha & kriya and hence may be doing the karmAs ourselves. When it is said that God does karmAs through us, it means, he inspires/ motivates our mind & intellect and stays inside, does the karma under his control. It may be a good or bad deed. He has not “granted” us any freedom.

 

Then comes another question. Is it not biased when he gets good karmAs done through some people & bad through some others? The answer is that, he doesn’t get it done on his own will (He is capable to do that, but he doesn’t). He does so in accordance with our svarUpa. We’re all like seeds. Bitter gourd seed grows to yield bitter fruits & jackfruit seed grows to yield sweet fruits. God helps seeds to manifest their svarUpa .

 

puMstvAdhikaraNa of brahmasUtra says: gender of a child is previously decided antecedently. But the signs get exhibited as it grows. Similarly, our svarUpa is decided eternally (anAdi) but God helps manifest it.

 

As each seed requires certain time to grow & yield, jIvAtmAs also get body (sharIra) for certain period as per tAratamya. By then, the manifestation of svarUpa gets completed.

 

svarUpa is of 3 types as per shAstras:

1. sAtvika: these jIvAs are muktiyOgyAs. They will end in vaikunTa and experience joy in mukti.
2. tAmasa: these are tamOyOgyAs. They will end in tamas (naraka) & experience grief/ sorrow.
3. rAjasa: these are nitya-samsAris. They neither go to vaikunTa nor tamas. They experience joy & sorrow simultaneously.

 

May get a doubt here: we can see good people doing bad karmAs & bad people doing good karmAs. For ex., ajAmiLa. Why so? The reason being “anAdi karma”. All jIvAs do not get sthUla sharIra at the same time. jIvAs keep doing karmAs mentally (mAnasik) from anAdi. When they accumulate enough karmAs to get sthUla sharIra, they take birth according to their mAnasik karmAs. Due to this prArabdha, even muktiyOgyAs do bad deeds sometimes. In due course of time they come to right path & progress. (Like how even good variety mangoes also get infested by worms sometimes).

 

As all karmAs are done by God (by staying inside us), why could he not do good karmAs from the beginning? This question is also not valid. As karmAs are anAdi, when any karma is picked, there will be karmAs preceding that also, which is a result of svarUpa & karmAs preceding that. Though both good & bad karmAs are done by God himself, he doesn’t adhere to them, we do.

 

There is a danger that we might become lazy knowing everything happens as per our swarUpa & guNa. Though everything is done by god, there is “purusha prayatna”; this prayatna is incited by god himself and the kArya is also done by him. Even if we sit idle thinking let god do it, we end up doing as per our svabhAva.

 

Conclusion/ summary: jIvAs do karmAs from anAdi due to their swarUpa. This prarabdha leads to happiness/ sadness and also to good/ bad deeds. This in turn decides the future karmAs that get done, with god’s preraNa. jIvAs reach their respective destinations based on their swarUpa.

Bimba-pratibimba:

As already discussed, our swarUpa is aprAkruta. God is also aprAkruta. What is the difference between jIvAtma & paramAtma?

 

shAstra says jIvAtma is mirror image/ reflection of paramAtma. But there needs to be a medium for the reflection to occur. For ex, when image is formed on mirror, mirror is the medium. Two things about this image:

1. sAdrishya: Image resembles the original object, if not identical. The quality of reflection depends on the quality of mirror.
2. Dependence: image does what the bimba does. It doesn’t have mobility of it’s own.

 

So, how are jIvAs bimba of paramAtma? Does jIvAtma resemble paramAtma? Which is the mirror on which this reflection/ image is formed? We know that the image formed in the mirror is false (mithyA). Are jIvAtmAs mithyA too? Are we considering ourselves a different identity than the paramAtma who gets reflected? Let’s address these one by one:

1. How are we images?: paramAtmA’s guNAs like jnAna, Ananda, etc. are present in us also in small quantity. Hence, his jnAna & Ananda have got reflected in us & we are totally dependent on him. In these 2 ways we’re his pratibimba and not resemblance in looks. Rainbow is a reflection of sun but their looks & shapes are different.
2. Which is the medium/ mirror?: There is no need of a medium or mirror for this reflection. But for our understanding, we can consider that our body itself is the medium. I.e., our Atma as medium and reflection as us. Not only muktiyOgyAs but all the jIvAs, including the daityAs are his reflections. As the quality of medium decides the quality of reflection, they have flaws in their swarUpa itself and hence form the bad reflections. But God (bimba) is wothout any flaws.
3. Who is bimba?: paramAtma who is basically only one, is bimba for ananta jIvAs. Ananta rUpAs of one paramAtma resides inside the jIvAtma as bimbamUrthy. Though there is no bedha in the different rUpAs of God, every jIvA should see bimba that is reserved for it.
4. Reflection is true: Unlike the reflection formed in mirror, jIvAtma is not mithya. Since both bimba (paramAtma) & medium (jIvAtma) are eternal, the pratibimba is satya & nitya.
5. Pratibimba itself is not God: Like the difference between Sun & his reflection in water, there is a huge difference between paramAtma & jIvAtma. So, pratibimba itself is not paramAtma.

 

This concept of bimba - pratibimba has been mentioned in vedAs & brahmasUtrAs. MukhyaprANa is the pratibimba of Vishnu. garuDa, shesha, rudra are pratibimbas of vAyu (mukhyaprANa). Indra & kAma are pratibimbas of garuDa & rudra. mahAlakshmi is pratibimba of Vishnu. Saraswati & bhArati are pratibimbas of mahAlakshmi. Suparni, vAruNi & pArvati (wives of garuDa, shesha, rudra respectively) are pratibimbas of Saraswati & bhArati. Shachi & rati (wives of indra & manmatha) are pratibimbas of Suparni, vAruNi & pArvati. It continues this way. The pratibimbAs are inferior to their respective bimbAs by a minimum of 100 guNAs.

 

God & his closest pratibimbAs (vAyu, brahma, lakshmi) differ by ananta guNAs. We are pratibimbAs of God as well as others in the lineage who are superior to us. It is like buttermilk served during lunch. First batch of people get thicker buttermilk & the consistency goes on decreasing with each batch. Last batch gets very watery buttermilk.

tAratamya in pratibimbAs:

A mirror covered with dust doesn’t produce quality reflection. Only a clean mirror provides good quality reflection. Same is the case with jIvAtmAs, except that here the dust can’t be wiped off. It is constitutional. This shows the in-built / default tAratamya of jIvAtmAs. This tAratamya exists in muktiyogya jIvAs as well as tamayogyAs. tAratamya is in the order of pratibimbAs. Muktiyogya manushyottamAs are in 32nd rank.

[tAratamya table]

Size of jIvAtma:

Imagine a lotus with 8 petals at the center of the chest (in place of the heart). This is the residence of the jIvAtma. God is present in all the parts of the body & also inside the jIvAtma. The jIvAtma is very minute in size, beyond our imagination. Sri JagannAtha dAsaru says - it is of the size of 1/10000 of the tip of last hair of tail of a horse. There is no difference in the size of the jIvAtma in the tAratamya. All jivAtmAs are of the same size.

jIvEsha bheda:

Being inferior to God by infinite folds, how can jIvAtma claim itself to be paramAtma? God is distinct from jIvAs in svarUpa, species, shruti (path) & purpose.

 

●     svarUpa distinction: God can take infinite forms, can show contradictory guNAs simultaneously [for ex, being aNu (minute) - mahat (magnificient), krisha (thin), sthUla (bulky) at the same time].

●     Distinct species: some of the doshAs are - incompleteness, dependence, weakness, birth & death. starting from mahAlakshmi, everyone has these. But God doesn’t have any of these.

●     Shruti distinction: there are 2 birds in the tree of our body - jIvAtma & paramaAtma. jIvAtma feeds on karmaphal & suffers, whereas paramAtma doesn’t.

●     guNa distinction: jIvAs do not have guNapUrNatva & nirdOshatva (state of being filled with guNAs & lacking doshAs).

ahaM brahmAsmi:

In vedAs, we can find phrases like ahaM brahmAsmi (I am brahma), tattvamasi (you are that), etc. When we consider the literal meaning, it says I am God. But as already discussed, the vedAs are not straight forward. When we consider the previous & next sentences of these phrases in brihadAraNyaka upanishad, they do not give the meaning “I am God”. Similarly, even tattvamasi doesn’t imply “that” & “you” to be same.

The need to know the guNAs of God:

As already discussed, devotion is an important means of getting moksha. All other things are it’s parts. Devotion should be accompanied by the knowledge of greatness of God (mahAtmya jnAna). To understand the greatness theoretically, we need to know his guNAs.

 

When we want to understand a person, it is basically understanding his guNAs (qualities). We respect a person based on his qualities only. Similarly, devotion doesn’t develop without understanding his qualities & svarUpaguNa. To get his svarUpa jnAna, we need to understand his guNAs (न च लक्षणेन विना निर्धारम्).

 

If we take a liberal/ diplomatic stand and worship him like we worship some random gurujis without being sure about his greatness, such worship doesn’t yield anything good. We get benefited only if we worship him with total conviction as अन्यथा शरणम् नास्ति। This is possible only through his svarUpa jnAna. He loves it the most when we get the jnAna of his guNAs.

 

So, now we know that paramAtma is an abode of infinite guNAs. Which are those guNAs? What type of guNAs are they? We are not capable of knowing these infinite guNAs. But we should know at least some. His guNAs are aprAkruta like him. But we do not know what are aprAkruta guNAs. Hence, we should understand those with reference to the nearest prAkruta guNAs.

 

Eg., kAruNya is a guNa of paramatma. vyAsa & dAsa literatures have praised him to be karuNAsAgara (ocean of kindness). kAruNya in worldly context refers to sAtvik kindness. Since God’s guNAs are different from (& superior to) prAkrutik guNAs, he doesn’t have the stain (lEpa) of even the prAkrutik satva guNa. Milestone on the way to some place/city indicates the direction of that place and not the place itself. We need to travel in that direction to reach there.

 

Another example for prAkruta guNAs is - the taste “sweet”. There are different types of “sweet” taste. Sweetness of banana, apple, orange, mango, etc. No two are identical. How do we tell about the sweetness of mangoes to someone who has never eaten mangoes? It should be eaten to know. At the most we can give him sugar & say mangoes are sweet like this. vedAs & other sadAgamAs give us clues about his guNAs and also warn us not to misinterpret bhgavantA’s guNAs as prakruta.

 

We are not supposed to “love” or worship God as per our convenience and justify it saying there are no rules for “love”. The ultimate goal of this entire process is to please him. This is to be done by knowing his mind, for which he has given a way - shrutis & smritis. Krishna said:

 

श्रुति स्मृतिः हरेराज्ने यः उल्लंघ्य प्रवर्तते।

आज्नाच्छे्दी ममद्वेषि मद्भक्तोऽपि न वैष्णवः॥

 

Shrutis & smritis are my orders. One who loves me without following them is not a vaishNava but hater.

 

When he himself has guided us, we shouldn’t be stupid to follow our own ways.

Extraordinary guNAs of God:

Among the aprAkruta guNAs of God, some are unique to him and others are present in him in infinite proportions. Number of those extraordinary guNAs are also infinite. We are able to see only a few of them. Srimad Acharya has given a brief summary of guNAs of God in GeetatArparya:

 

परमत्वं स्वतंत्रत्वं सर्वशक्तित्वमेवच।

सर्वज्नत्वं परानंदः सर्वस्य तदधीनता॥

 

Sarvottamatva (best of all), svAtantrya (independent), sarvajnatva (omniscient), AnandapUrNatva (blissfulness) & sarvaniyAmakatva (controller of everything) - these are some of his extraordinary qualities.

Sarvottamatva is obvious. Independence is also one such quality unique to him. All others are totally dependent. But when we do some karma we “feel” that we’re doing it, which is an illusion. Sometimes we also feel that there is a “granted independence” (datta svAtantrya), which is again a false perception. jIvAtmAs do not have free kartritva at all.

Any length of explanation will not be sufficient to describe his capability/ power. Sarvottamatva (omniscience) & AnandapUrNatva (blissfulness) - are two of the most important qualities to be meditated on. It has been detailed in coming sections. Since sarvaniyAmakatva is in the form of action, it is briefed in a separate chapter.

First & foremost, we should remember a common point about all his guNAs, i.e., their infinite nature.

ananta guNAs of God

God’s anantatva is an amazing as well as common quality. It is strange as well as normal. It is also unthinkable. Since he is present in all desha (space) & kAla (time) which are infinite, he also is infinite. Even lakshmi devi has presence in all desha & kAla, but God’s presence is greater than hers.

Lakshmi devi has been counting bhagavantA’s guNAs since a very long time. But she has not finished counting even a pinch of his guNAs yet.

We find the use of “ananta guNa” for lakshmi devi, brahma, vAyu, bhArati, saraswati, etc. What’s the difference between these infinities?

Let’s take the example of set of whole numbers. It starts from one and is endless.

 

{0, 1, 2, 3,..... ∞}

 

Let’s now see the set of rational numbers which has fractions in addition to above whole numbers.

{0, ¼, ½,..... 1, 5/4, 7/4,... 2, 3, 15/4,...∞}

 

Compared to the first set, this set is bigger infinity. There is another infinite set - the set of numbers that can’t be expressed either in whole numbers or fractions. For ex., ℼ= 3.1416….. This kind of numbers are present between two closest fractions also and it is an uncountable infinite set.

Hence we should note the difference between (tAratamya of) infinity. When we come to know that the biggest set containing unthinkable numbers is God’s universality, we get an idea about his magnanimity. We understand why lakshmi devi has not been able to finish counting of these guNAs yet. Lakshmi devi & other devatAs are not dimwits or lazy like us. Lakshmi devi is chief abhimAni for vidye. Next comes saraswati. They are infinite times intelligent/ jnAnis than us. When such Lakshmi can’t count Srihari’s guNAs, who else can equal him?

Each guNa is ananta

Now that we know the number of guNAs is ananta or infinite, here is another aspect/ dimension of his anantatva. Each of his guNAs is limitlessly vast. This is another reason why lakshmi devi hasn’t been able to count. Srikrishna said:

 

मय्यनंतगुणे अनंते गुणतो अनंतविग्रहे

 

My guNAs, each guNa and my rUpa - are all ananta (rUpa is also a guNa).

 

The infinite-ness of God’s guNAs can be studied through his 6 guNAs - jnAna (knowledge), prabhutva (authority), sAmarthya (capacity), yashas (success/ fame), rUpa (form), soundarya (charm) & vairAgya (indifference). All these are present in him in unthinkable amounts. These are called the shadguNAs. Since God has them in fullest quantities, he is called “shAdguNyavigraha”. These six guNAs are called “bhaga” and god is called bhgavAn - the one having them. [Recently “bhagavan”s are emerging in every street and these street-bhagavans may be having shad-vairis instead of shadguNAs].

rUpAs (forms) of God are ananta

ekamevAdvitiyam brahma. How did the one who was never born have so many rUpAs? vedAs say - “ajAyamAno bahudhA vijAyate”. Like one lamp lights many lamps, one God took infinite rUpAs. He didn’t get cut into pieces like the way it happens with things when they’re cut. Eg., Krishna appeared from a strand of hair of vishNu. This krishNa rUpa showed infinite forms through vishwarUpa. Arjuna described it as (BG 11.16)

 

अनेक बाहूदर वक्त्र नेत्रं पश्यामि त्वां सर्वतोऽनंत रूपं।

न अंतं न मध्यं न पुनः तव आदिं पश्यामि विश्वेश्वर विश्वरूपं॥

 

VishvarUpa had even vishNu in it. There is no difference between original vishNu & the one appeared here. Likewise, though krishNa appeared from a hair strand of vishNu, there is no difference between the guNAs, strength or any attributes of the two. They’re infinite in krishNa as they are in vishNu. brihadAraNyaka Upanishad says:

 

पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात्पूर्ण्मुदच्यते।

पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिश्यते॥

 

When krishNa appeared from vishNu, vishNu remained complete. This applies to all avatArAs of vishNu. Vaidik literatures praised this quality as “nEha nAnAsti kincana”, which means there is no difference between various avatArAs and forms of vishNu. When scriptures say this, how can someone claim that only krishNa is complete form (pUrNAvatAra) and others are fractions (amshAvatArAs)? We can not imagine these powers in ordinary people. Then how can an ordinary jIva be brahma?

This is why sri jagannAthadAsaru explains - every rUpa of god has infinite rUpAs in it. Infinite number of brahmAnDAs have been created and destroyed in the past and infinite number of them to come in future. Infinite number of jIvAs to take birth. Infinite bimbarUpAs, infinite forms in the body of jIvAs, infinite forms in the infinite things, the brahmAnDa containing all these - are all present in the pore of nArAyaNa’s skin.

4 guNAs to be meditated on (or worshipped)

shAstrAs say that God with all these innumerable qualities has to be worshipped through his guNAs only. brahmasUtra gives 4 guNAs that a muktiyogya person should worship. THey are:

1. sat (nirdOsha, devoid of flaws)
2. chit (sarvajna, omniscient)
3. Ananda (sukhasvarUpi, blissful)
4. Atma (svAmi, master)

God is called “sacchidAnanda” as a combination of first 3 guNAs. jIvAs in higher ranks of tAratamya worship him with more number of guNAs. For muktiyOgya humans, worshipping with the above 4 guNAs is compulsory. Also, infinite dimension of these 4 guNAs has to be kept in mind. As per the rule -

“tam yathA yathA upAsate tadEva bhavati”

We would become flawless, knowledged & blissful if we worship him with the above 4 guNAs.

Blissful

Perhaps everyone has heard God is blissful. What does it mean? Knowing why God did srishti would give us an idea about this. (Knowing how he did it gives much more clarity. It is elaborated in the next chapter).

What does he gain from creation? Because even a fool will not do any work that doesn’t benefit him. Either God must be a fool to do this job without any benefit or if he did it with benefit then he was not blissful before this srishti. He might’ve gained that after creation. Also, if he became happy after creation it implies he is dependent on this universe for his happiness and hence not complete (pUrNa).

If we study srishTi, we can conclude that he is guNapUrna & blissful. How?

If someone does something, it has one reason among the 4 given below:

1. Grief: When one experiences or gets overwhelmed with sorrow, he does acts like crying, shouting, etc.
2. Reducing grief: Eg., removing the thorn that pricked the foot to reduce pain.
3. Gaining happiness: Almost all our actions come under this. Eg., working for salary, using fan for cooling air, eating variety of tasty items, etc.
4. Exhibiting of happiness: Acts done with overwhelming joy. Eg., If India wins world cup people celebrate it by bursting crackers. There is no benefit from bursting crackers, still people do it out of happiness. Are they fools? No.

 

The actions that we carry out (karmAs that we do) are for getting happiness and are not the final goals by themselves. Eg., we earn money for the luxury that it can afford. So, sukha is the ultimate purushArtha behind our actions. The one who already has it, doesn’t need anything from any of the 3 lOkAs. SrikrishNa says in BG - I don’t have any obligation/ commitment towards/in 3 lokAs, I don’t need anything from the lokAs and still I perform my duty. (BG 3.22)

 

न मे पार्थास्ति कर्तव्यं त्रिषु लोकेषु किञ्चन।

न अनवाप्तं अवाप्तव्यं वर्त एव च कर्मणि॥

 

He must be Anandamaya since he already has everything. Because he is Anandamaya, he has to be guNapUrNa also. Because when we say he has everything that includes guNAs also. So now we know with what intention he di srishTi. It is his kAruNya - for providing yOgya jIvAs with the sAdhana sharIra (physical body that is essential to do sAdhana) and to facilitate svarUpAbhivyakti (expression of the svarUpa) of other jIvAs.

We can not understand his Ananda in actual sense. brahmasUtra says that just because word “Ananda” is used, it is not like the lUkika Ananda. His Ananda is strange in many different ways:

1. Our Ananda is an expression of distortion of “manas” or mind. But God’s & muktAs’ Ananda is an expression/ exhibition of their svarUpa.
2. The creation of this universe or its mobility wouldn’t have existed, had his Ananda not been expressed/exhibited. Hence it is the bearer of this universe.
3. taittrIyOpanishad says his Ananda is beyond our senses. A fraction of that is to be understood at bimbAparOksha and enjoyed in mOksha.
4. brahadAraNyaka upanishad says that we will be able to enjoy only an infinitesimally small fraction of his Ananda in moksha.

 

So it is different at so many levels from our laUkika Ananda. As mentioned earlier, word “Ananda” is used just like comparison of sweetness of mango & sugar. We can’t say that we don’t need God after getting mOksha because even in mOksha he is the provider of Ananda - muktAnAM paramA gatiH

Chit (omniscient)

God didn’t struggle or put extensive efforts to create this universe like the way scientists do while discovering a machine. This shows he is both omnipotent and omniscient. He knows everything from the past, present and future. There is not even a small thing he doesn’t know. For ex, 600 years before mahabharata war Sri vyAsa had written it accurately with details of weapons and counter weapons used during the battle. It is not surprising that vyAsa, the avatAr of lord vishNu could write it.

He not only has trikAla jnAna, but also knows in depth about everything that is there and not there. He knows the in and out of this universe, the kshetra (place or field) made up of 24 tatvAs and hence praised as “kshetrajna” in VSN. As he knows everything as it is, he has the name sAkshi. His knowledge is not obstructed / cannot be obstructed by dEsha (place), kAla (time) or any vastu (thing). Another special thing about him is that he knows completely about himself also. No one else knows him more than himself. He removes ajnAna and gives jnAna to those who knows him (to their capacity).

nirdOsha (sat)

Limited power, not knowing everything, dependence, incompleteness, lack of freedom, any form of birth and death - these are some general dOshAs. Everyone, starting from lakshmi devi has them. We should know that, in addition to being guNapUrNa he is also nirdOsha. He doesn’t have even a small trace of dOshAs. Being omnipresent, he doesn’t have dOsha of ”not being in some place”. Being present in all kAlAs, he doesn’t have dOsha of ”not being in some time”. Being controller of everything, he doesn’t have dOsha of ”not being able to control someone or something”. Being guNapUrNa, he doesn’t have dOsha of ”not having some kalyANa guNAs or good qualities”. There are 2 more types of jnAna in addition to yatArtha jnAna - mithyA (pseudo) jnAna & viparIta (inverse) jnAna. He doesn’t have these two. As he is aprAkruta, he doesn’t have prAkruta triguNAs and the defects arising from them. If we worship him as nirdOsha, he will destroy our dOshAs like birth and death, ajnAna and other defects and grants us mOksha. Let us understand that his behaviour during avatArAs like crying, getting scared, etc. are only to deceive asurAs and not his dOshAs.

 

Let’s look into a rik from purushasUkta which describes only vishNu:

 

ब्राह्मणस्य मुखमासीत् बाहू राजन्य कृतः।

ऊरू तदस्य तद्वैश्यः पद्भ्यां शूद्रो अजायतः॥

 

It says, brahmaNAs were born from his face, kshatriyAs from arms, vaishyAs from thighs and shUdrAs from feet.

 

This gave rise to argument that vedAs define superiority and inferiority of varNAs. But, if we understand the above concept that there is no difference between the organs of aprAkruta vishNu, this discrimination doesn’t make any sense.

Why jnAna of more than four guNAs?

Let us consider ourselves manushyOttamAs. Even then, upAsanA of 4 guNAs of God is sufficient for mOksha. Why should we bother to study about the other guNAs? brahmasUtra says that deep knowledge about vedAs is necessary for every mumukshu or seeker. We must notice that there is a difference between jnAnAdhikAri (authority to knowledge) & upAsanAdhikAri (authority to worship). One gains authority to worship (becomes upAsanAdhikAri to) only those number of guNAs that are clearly perceptible to him during dhyAna and that he gains realization (sAkshAtkAra) of. He is only jnAnAdhikAri to rest of the guNAs. Knowledge about the guNAs that he doesn’t attain realization, also help him in his upAsanA of guNAs that he has to worship. Hence, jnAna of maximum guNAs is important.

Why does aprAkruta vishNu need chaturbhuja (4 arms) & AyudhAs (weapons)?

We get different types of answers if we ask this question among people. Many people say that these AyudhAs are symbolic and that nirguNa upAsana is sufficient. We should be careful about this mithyA jnAna.

1. God doesn’t need AyudhAs for his protection. Sudarshana chakra is a symbol of slaying the dushTAs (corrupt/ evil) & dOshAs of his devotees. It is an indication that nArAyaNa destroys the doshAs of his devotees and evils controlling them.
2. Shankha is an indication of vidyA. nArayaNa gives vidyA & budhi (education & intelligence) to his devotees. It is also a symbol of wealth; both monetary and jnAna.
3. He doesn’t need a crown for enhancing his looks. He is naturally marvellous. Crown is an indication that he is leader of brahmAnDa (brahmAnDa nAyakatva).
4. Garland indicates his kind-heartedness/ generosity of accepting whatever his devotees offer him.
5. makarakunDala (crocodile shaped earrings) symbolises his eagerness to listen to his praises by his devotees.
6. His arms with arm cuffs (lakshmi devi’s form) are symbolic of him getting tied through devotion, despite being independent/ free always.

 

We must not dismiss these as mere symbols and worship nirAkAra form. vishNu is nirAkAra. He has aprAkruta rUpa (form). One must worship him along with his AyudhAs & alankArAs, as pratipAdya of mantrAs described in AchAryA’s “TantrasAra Sangraha”, having two to infinite arms, from rUpa inside jIva to the rUpa that has occupied the universe and in accordance with guidance from one’s guru & one’s eligibility.

 

As explained in nArAyaNa varma (bhAgavata), his AyudhAs and alankAra (ornaments) are not different from him. They’re part of his svarUpa. His crown, his shankha, chakra, everything is himself. They are not external attachments/ wearables.

 

Is God male or female?

Since God is addressed as “he”, he is male. This is seen as a conspiracy of patriarchal society. But this is also a baseless theory.

AitarEya upanishad says:

1. नैनं वाचा स्त्रीं ब्रुवन् - One who is saying god is male is not telling correctly
2. पुमांसं न ब्रुवन्नेनं वदन् वदति कश्चन् - One who is saying God is female is also not telling truth
3. नैनमस्ती पुमान् ब्रुवन् - God is neither male, nor female and he is not neuter (napuMsak) gender too.

 

Garuda purANa says - Since nArAyANa is both strIrUpA & purusharUpa, he can be considered as both male & female. That’s why he has both male & female names. Since he is vilakshaNa (peculiar), he is not like laukika strI or purusha. He doesn’t have any doshAs of laukika strI - purusha. Hence he is napuMsaka shabda vAcya (addressed to as napuMsaka). But he is not napumsaka.

 

There is a description of God in stotra done by gajendra in bhAgavata, which is complementary to this topic:

 

स वै न देवासुर मर्ततिर्यङ न स्त्री न षंडो न पुमान्न जंतुः

 

“Na” letter of nArAyaNa further clarifies God’s peculiar nature.

Meaning of the word nArAyaNa

As discussed in previous adhyAya, all names are primarily applicable to vishNu. They may indicate others too. But few names are applicable to vishNu alone. Eg: vishNu, paramAtma & nArAyaNa.

 

The word nArAyaNa is very interesting. Acharya has given the following meaning in his work AitarEya upaniShadbhAShya:

 

nA = na + a. “Na” is used to indicate prohibition/denial, opposite or deficit. “Na” & “a” indicate denial twice as in “neti neti” - neither male or female. Peculiar.

 

ra = devoid of dOshAs

 

ya = destroys dOshAs of devotees

 

Na = blissful

 

This is like a list of unique qualities of vishNu. These can’t be applied, even secondarily, to any other devatA. Sri vijayIndra tirtharu has given 125 menings for the term nArAyaNa by dissecting it using ancient rules of vyAkaraNa. There are 3 meanings for every word in vedAs, 10 for every word in mahAbhArata & 100 for every word in vishNu sahasranAma. All these are meanings are adjectives describing viShNu (yAni nAmAni gauNAni…). Hence, VSN is a treasure to those who want to do guNAnusandhAna (worshipping with knowledge about his qualities).

 

mOksha sAdhanAs:

MBTN speaks about mOksha sAdhanAs. It has been mentioned that the below mentioned things are mandatory for mOksha. Which are they?

1. Deep knowledge about vishNu sarvOttamatva
2. Knowledge and upAsanA of his nirdOshatva (lack of dOshAs) & guNAs
3. Knowing that ashTakartrutva is because of him
4. Knowing that vEdAs, pancharAtra, purANAs are all directed towards vishNu. It is not enough to know this point as merely one liner. Should be able to experience each word in them reflecting vishNu’s supremacy.
5. Knowledge on tAratamya (details in chapter 9)
6. Knowledge of panchabhEdAs & vishNu’s swagata abhEda
7. In depth knowledge of avatAra rUpAs and Avesha rUpAs of lord and difference between them
8. jnAna-bhakti-vairAgya. Bhakti without nava vidha dvEshAs (9 types of animosity/ hatred)

nava vidha dvEshAs

1. Considering God & jIvAs to be one. (Not coordinating the meanings of “ahM brahmAsmi”, “tattvamasi” with shAstra & taking them as independent sentences, going by their literal meaning).
2. Believing that God is nirguNa
3. Thinking that his guNAs are incomplete.
4. Considering brahma, shiva, etc. to be equal to vishNu.
5. Believing that brahma, shiva, dEvi, etc. are superior to vishNu.
6. Seeing bhEda in guNa, rUpa & kriyAs of God.
7. Thinking that avatArAs of God have birth and death.
8. Hating devotees of vishNu.
9. Insulting shAstrAs hailing vishNu supremacy.

 

We have seen in detail about all the mOksha sAdhanAs except avatArAs & AvEsha rUpAs. This has been dealt with in next chapter. For detailed information, please refer bhAgavata.

 

 

Chapter 8: What does God do?

An easy answer to this question:

 

तेन विना तृणमपि न चलति।

 

Even a blade of grass doesn’t move against his will. Everything is done independently by him alone. His wish (ichA), prakruti & svarUpa guNa of jIva are the reason behind all the acts. But, ignorant person thinks that he did them. This was told by Krishna in BG 3.27:

 

प्रकृतेः क्रियमणानि गुणैः कर्माणि सर्वशः।

अहङ्कार विमूढात्मा कर्ता अहमिति मन्यते॥

 

It is not enough to just know that everything is done by God. It should be experienced & realized from within. For this, we must think & churn (chintana-manthana) his deeds. It increases bhakti. This is the intention behind purANAs giving description about his deeds. If not, why would the one who created everything just with sakalpa, had to take avatAra to kill demons like rAvaNa, kaMsa, etc.? He could remain unapparent and make sankalpa for demons to die, they would be dead. If he did that, we would just think they died due to heart attack or so and would not be able to see god’s mahimA. Bhakti doesn’t develop. As God knew our ignorance, he took numerous avatArAs, showed leelAs in a form visible to our indriyAs even though he is aprAkruta, documented those in itihAsa-purANAs, and did sankalpa that those who study them will progress. bhAgavata gives this reason behind god’s avatArAs as follows:

 

मर्त्यावतारः तु इह मर्त्य शिक्ष्णम्।

 

God takes avatArAs only to educate martyAs (humans). But people notice only the below shlOka from BG:

 

यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत।

अभ्युत्थानं अधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजामि अहं॥

 

Hence, they believe that god takes avatAra only when dharmA is neglected. But that’s not the only intention behind his avatArAs. He does it to make his greatness (mahimA) visible, increase bhakti among eligible jIvAs & show the path to mOksha.

 

Objective of this section: Increasing our bhakti by imbibing tAtvik knowledge about the extraordinary deeds & numerous rUpAs of God. This subject has to be applied continuously in our dhyAna & manana.

paramAtmA’s ashTakartrutva:

A common belief is that srishTi is done by chaturmukha brahma, laya by shiva & only maintenance by vishNu. As seen earlier, there was none except lakshmi & nArAyaNa during praLaya. Hence, srishTi has to be done by vishNu only. srishTi is a detailed & astonishing process. He does srishTi of devatAs like brahma, rudra, etc., sentient & insentient (chEtana & jaDa), lOka and also his infinite rUpAs.

 

He does srishTi of lOkAs in subtle form by himself and physical forms of lOkAs, sentient & insentients by being antaryAmi (in-dwelling) in brahma. He stays in shiva-form inside shiva & destroys (laya). It is briefed in shAstra as follows:

 

ब्रह्मणि ब्रह्मरूपो असौ शिवरूपी शिवेस्थितः।

 

Since he does it as antaryAmi, we can’t see his role. It is the essence behind KrishNA’s saying in BG “I am the one who does prabhava (creation), praLaya (destruction) of this universe”.

अहं कृत्स्नस्य जगतः प्रभवः प्रलयः तथा।

मत्तः परतर न अन्यत् किञ्चित् अस्त्ति धनंजय॥

 

Out of the ashTakartrutvAs, now the remaining ones are: niyamana, jnAna, ajnAna, bandha, mOksha. All of these are given/done by vishNu.

 

srishTi refers to creating something that didn’t exist before.

 

Laya refers to removing the existence of something.

 

sthiti refers to making sakalpa for continuing the existence of something to the next moment (supply of necessary materials for it’s retention (dhAraNA) & nourishment (pOshaNa)).

 

niyamana refers to being antaryAmi inside something, motivating and getting the work done. This is different from sthiti. Niyamana is independently done by vishNu alone. Even then, he deploys other devatAs, stays inside them & gets the work done by them. He does this with an intention to give opportunity to them for doing karma, get puNya & kIrti (fame). These dependent dEvatAs doing niyamana are called abhimAni dEvatAs.

 

We all know the story of dhruva from bhagavata. When God appeared in front of dhruva, he couldn’t speak a word. agnidEvata who had to incite his organ of speech (vAgEndriya/ tongue) couldn’t do it. vishNu touched dhruvA’s tongue with pAnchajanya conch and incited his speech. Dhruva then praises lord (makes stuti) that everyone of us should be doing:

 

योंतःप्रविश्य मम वाचमिमां प्रसुप्तां। संजीवयत्यखिल शक्तिधर स्वधाम्ना।

अन्यांश्च हस्तचरणश्रवण त्वगादीन्। प्राणन्नमो भगवते पुरुषाय तुभ्यं।

 

Salutations to the lord, possessing 6 types of wealth and the controller of (my) body, who entered my indriyAs (like vAgEndriya, hands, legs, skin, etc.) which were unable to utter a word in praise of lord, making them grasp their respective objects (things sensed by organs) with his own power.

 

jnAna/ajnAna: He takes off the ajnAna present in us from time immemorial & gives jnAna.

 

bandha/ mOksha: He is the giver of both samsAra bandhana & mOksha when we attain mature/ripe state.

Details of srishTi:

As discussed before, we must do cintana (thinking) about god’s guNAs, aSTakartutvAs and tatvAs during dhyAna. Our mind should be pure for us to be able to do this. We should get rid of pApAs done through trikaraNAs (kAyA, vAcA, manasA). This is the intention behind pApa puruSa visarjana through aghamarSana sUkta during sandhyAvandana. It is interesting to note that there is no prayer about reducing pApa in the said mantra. Instead it has mention about sriSTi of mahat-tatvAs etc. by God, like “tatO rAtri ajAyata”, “saMvatsarO ajAyata”. Why so? Because, knowing about his sriSTikartrutva (fact that he is the creator) & doing cintanA about his sriSTi relieves us from the pApAs and help us in dhyAna. So, let us know about sriSTi.

 

Knowing about sriSTi doesn’t mean boring things like he created that, this, and all. The subject hides many topics that are nor obvious but are required in our upAsanA.

 

Let us take an example of iPhone. Comparing this with brahmAnDa:

●     That tiny device is backed by the hard work of many scientists & engineers. Did God also work hard to create this universe? [He didn’t put any efforts].

●     When we treat the manufacturers of this small device with such reverence, do we possess good opinion / gratitude towards God who created this universe which functions amazingly in all stages?  [we don’t forget the iPhone and never remember God who is dhAraka of this entire universe].

●     Instrument/ machine (phone here)  gets impaired/spoilt. Does this universe go wrong in its course of time? Shouldn’t the creator of such a magnificent & flawless machine, be strong, powerful & omniscient? [We can’t think of the omniscience of God who created this machine called universe, without putting in any effort].

 

One may doubt that this universe could have been formed naturally from prakruti. This logic of saying that the universe was formed on its own by annexation/combination of components of prakruti, is as absurd as saying joining alphabets thoughtlessly for years can give rise to a poetry. We can’t accept the rules/knowledge of combination of objects discovered within the limited boundaries of science, to be complete, everlasting & universal truth. 

 

mahApraLaya lasts 100yrs of brahma (one day-time of brahma = 432 years). This is srihari’s nimESa (blink). At this moment god thinks about sriSTi. Immediately he does sankalpa. Then sriSTi begins. He first creates his rUpAs. This is sriSTi of God from God. Hence, Suddha (pure) sriSTi. Though God is only one (EkamEvAdvitIyam brahma) & devoid of birth, takes many forms (ajAyamAnO bahudhA vijAyatE). Not one, two, tens or thousands. He takes infinite rUpAs. This is not literary exaggeration, but reality.

 

Suppose one closes his eyes and imagines a rUpa in his mind, this rUpa has already been taken by God, not at present but right at the beginning of the sriSTi. Why does he take so many rUpAs? Is one rUpa not enough to carry out his function?

 

One rUpa is indeed sufficient for him. He takes different forms to invoke devotion in yogya jIvAs by showing them his greatness and help them in their anusandhAna. There is no bhEda (difference) between his rUpAs. “nEha nAnAsti kincana”. He took so many forms out of kAruNya on us and not to show off his strength. From another angle, there are infinite jIvAs. God is present in all of them as bimbamUrti and hence, infinite rUpAs.

 

1. Duration of god’s blink is period of praLaya (day-time of brahma). He does sankalpa for sriSTi in this period. sriSTi begins just with his ica & sankalpa.
2. nArAyaNa rUpa gives rise to chaturvyUha (set of 4) rUpAs: vAsudEva, sankarSana, pradyumna & aniruddha. [shuddha sriSTi]
3. He creates 4 rUpAs of lakshmi dEvi: mAyA, jayA, kriti & shAnti. [parAdhIna viSEShAvAptirUpa sriSTi]
4. These 5 rUpAs of srihari give rise to daSAvatArAs. Hence, dasAvatArAs have taken place during the beginning of the sriSTi and only manifest on earth at appropriate times.
5. Then he creates dvAdaSa rUpAs (starting from kESava), SatarUpa, sahasrarUpa, bahurUpa & anantarUpa. These 1000 rUpAs are the ones that find mention in vishNu sahasranAma. God’s body (SarIra) is composed entirely of guNAs. It is aprAkruta SarIra. He doesn’t have limitations of space or time, his guNAs do not have beginning & ending (Adi & antya), do not have dOshAs like vRddhi & kShaya (increment & decrement).
6. After creating various forms of his own & lakshmidEvi, he creates (gives birth to) other dEvatAs starting from brahma & the tatvAs to be controlled by them. vAsudEva - mAyA couple create virinca (caturmukha brahma), sankarSana - jaya couple create mukhyaprANa (vAyu), pradyumna - kriti create sarasvati - bhArati. (Caturmukha brahma is abhimAni for mahat-tatva; hence along with him creation of mahat-tatva also happens). vAyu - bhArati give birth to SESa & garuDa, jaya & vijaya from garuDa & SESa, viSvaksEna from vAyu. Aniruddha - shAnti couple provide SarIra to all of them. Virinci - sarasvati give birth to rudra & his wife umA. From these, manas, ahaMkAra, other dEvatAs, daSEndriyAs (10 indriyAs), pancabhUtAs are born. brahmAnDa sriSTi hasn’t happened till this point.
7. viSNu - lakshmi create brahmAnDa. All dEvatAs including Srihari entered brahmAnDa.
8. A lotus came out from Srihari’s navel. Brahma took birth again from this lotus.
9. brahmA’s sriSTi starts here. It is called pAdma sriSTi. dEvatAs again took birth from brahma. 14 lOkAs came into existence. Creation of jaDa (insentient) components is called kEvala sriSTi & that of cEtana (sentient) components is called miSra sriSTi.

 

This process has been explained in various grinthAs. It boils down to the fact that viSNu is the only controller of this sriSTi. All dEvatAs who appear to be involved in sriSTi kArya are only puppets in his hands. dEvatAs are visible where as the controller remains mystical.

 

Bhagavata, which was composed to give mOkshA to even pAmarAs, talks about srishTi in its very first shlOka. This shlOka is also worthy of giving a thought:

 

जन्माद्यस्य यतः अन्वयात् इतरतश्च अर्थेषु अभिञ स्वराट्

तेने ब्रह्महृदाय आदिकवये मह्यंति यं सूरयः।

तेजो वारि मृदां यथा विनिमयो यत्र त्रिसर्गोमृषा

धाम्ना स्वेन सदा निरस्त कुहकं सत्यं परं धीमहि॥

 

Though every word of this shlOka needs to be churned, let’s take up some important points. जन्माद्यस्य यतः - indicates ashTakartrutva. अभिञ स्वराट् & धाम्ना स्वेन - indicate his omniscience, independence & non-dependence for sukha. तेजो वारि मृदां यथा विनिमयो - shows the 3 dimensions of srishTi.

1. Creation of different rUpAs of self - It is यथा तेजो विनिमय - like lighting a lamp from other. Each lamp is equally bright. Which means all forms & avatArAs are non-different, not superior - inferior, no difference between the aspects of pUrNa & amsha avatArs.
2. Creation of jIvAs - It is यथा वारि विनिमय - like the reflection in water. There are similarities between Sun & his reflection in water. But there are many differences too. The reflection is different from Sun. The reflection doesn’t possess the size, brightness & heat as that of Sun. Similarly, we the jIvAs, are reflections of God. We are not as strong or bright as the bimba (paramAtma). Only a bit similar. Here again, non-difference of omnipotent god and jIvAs (ahaM brahmAsmi) doesn’t stand.
3. jaDa srishTi - it is  यथा मृदा विनिमय - creation using panchabhUtAs.

 

This is a snippet of God’s mystical srishTi. Details about how these rUpAs have spread across our body, the brahmAnDa & beyond, shall be taken up in subsequent paras.

avatAra & AvEsha:

There is nArAyaNa in mUla rUpa. Various forms & avatArAs are formed out of him. All these rUpAs & avatArAs are complete and non-different. “nEha nAnAsti kinchana”. These forms will be in manifested state from sriSTi till praLaya, unlike AvESa. AvESa is a temporary state wherein paramAtma shows himself up in someone else. Iron pieces behave like magnets when they are in the magnetic field. After the magnetic field is removed, they behave as plain iron. Similarly, a person does tasks beyond his yOgyatA when there is AveSa. Eg, balarAma was able to capture jarAsandha a few times. He had shukla kEsha Avesha of God. This behavior of performing tasks beyond one’s yOgyata is displayed even in AveSa of other devatAs. Eg, arjuna defeating ashwatthAma. AshwatthAma being rudrAMsha, is superior to arjuna who is indrAMsha. But shEshAvEsha in arjuna made it possible. Details can be found in mahAbhArata tAtparya nirNaya & bhAgavata tAtparya nirNaya grinthAs. Deep knowledge of these is essential for mOksha.

Details of sthiti & niyamana

It may seem that sriSTi & laya are difficult jobs. But what about sthiti & niyamana? It is like delegating the works in an office by manager to staff. Srihari didn’t do so. He didn’t sit idle like a potter does after making pots. Had he done so, the universe would cease to exist.

 

taittarIya upanishad gives insight about this -  “तत् सृष्ट्वा तत् एव अनुप्राविशत्”। God created the universe and entered it. Also stayed outside it. He stayed outside as bearer and inside as guardian. Got into action with his 3 puruSa rUpAs.

1. First puruSarUpa stayed outside the universe and created mahat tattva etc.
2. Second puruSa rUpa entered brahmAnDa.
3. Third rUpa entered all the jIva & jaDa elements. Spread across the things we’ve seen, not seen, heard & not heard.

 

nArAyaNasUkta (mahAnArAyaNOpanishad) says:

 

यत् च किञ्चित् जगत् सर्वं दृश्यते श्रूयते अपि वा।

अंतः बहिः तत् सर्वं व्याप्य नारायण स्थितः॥

 

God stayed in things in their form.

 

तत् तत् वस्तुषु सर्वेषु तत् तत् आकारः स्थितः।

तत् तत् शब्दैश्च भगवान् उच्यते निज शक्तितः॥

 

He stayed as rock in the rock, as me in me and as you in you. He took the forms of things being created by man, in advance and stayed in them as those forms. He concealed his forms when things got destroyed. He has all the forms that we can think of (needn’t be eligible for worship). He has all the forms that we can/ can’t see, can/ can’t imagine. Hence his rUpAs in sthiti are also unexplainable. He also stays inside us in various forms and gets things done.

1. He resides as vAsudEva, saMkarShaNa, pradyumna & aniruddha in the svaUpa, linga, aniruddha & sthUla dEhAs of jIvAs respectively.
2. As vishva, taijasa & prAJna in jAgruta, svapna & sushupti states.
3. Present in all indriyAs - 5 jnAnEndriyAs, 5 karmendriyAs & mind. indriyAs are basically jaDa. They do not function on their own. Like a log of wood which burns only when contacted with fire. indriyAs function only when God is present in them and makes them function.
4. He is present in pancha-tanmAtrAs and makes these tanmAtrAs (shabda, sparsha, rUpa, rasa & gandha) sensible to indriyAs.
5. Present in food items & shaDrasAs (6 tastes). In the bhOktrAs (one who eats) he is there in pradyumna & saMkarshaNa rUpAs and gives them capacity to enjoy the food. Gives satisfaction/ satiation to the eater by being inside him in nArAyaNa and aniruddha forms. Exists as vAsudeva and provides opportunity for bhOjana. [bhOjanam - bhOktA & annaM - annAda in VSN indicate this]. God’s bhOga prakAra is of 3 types - adana (eating), GrANa (smelling) & driSti (seeing). He only sees the sthUla portion of food which is jIvabhOgya, only smells some portion & accepts only the subtle rasa. [this is the meaning of naivEdya, further explanation in chapter 10].
6. During coitus, he stays in man in male form, woman in female form, and also in the shukra - shoNita (gametes - egg and sperm) and enjoys himself. Takes the aprAkruta sukha and gives sukha to jIvAs as per their karma.
7. Protects everyone by being in 360 days of a solar year, 100 years of a person’s life (36000 days & 36000 nights), in the 36000 nADis each on the left & right sides of the body.
8. As agrESa, mUlEsha & prAdEsha in jIvAtmA’s hritkamala.
9. Passes orders by being in prabhus (kings) & service in workers.
10. Present in everyone and has kept everyone inside him.

 

He stays mystical even though he is present in the jIvAs and does kriyAs. He is sarva karma kartA & kArayita (doer & instigator). He doesn’t get smeared or coated by anything. Like hammering a hot iron affects only the iron and not the fire in it. It is a never ending list. Only few attributes have been mentioned here. Details are available in HKAS.

Laya:

Laya is of 2 types - inside the brahmAnDa & outside the brahmAnDa. Narasimha & saMkarShaNa rUpAs carry out laya inside the brahmAnDa.

 

During praLaya, God burns (destroys) brahmAnDa by staying inside rudra in saMkarShaNa form. The flame originating from saMkarShaNa’s mouth burns everything.

 

The fire originating from the corner of Narasimha’s right eye burns rudra & indra.

 

Inference: devatAs like brahma, rudra, have many rUpAs inside the brahmAnDa. God destroys few of them in narasiMha & few others in saMkarShaNa forms (vyAkhyAna by sri vishvapati tIrtha).

 

Another type of laya is dissolving (merging) into svOttamAs. This happens outside brahmAnDa. For ex, muktiyOgya (those eligible for mukti) manushyAs get dissolved into their svOttamAs & reach Indra. Indra merges with garuDa & garuDa with chaturmukha brahma. There is another arm of laya. It is not applicable to manushyAs. Route map being - chetanAs > yama > kAma > shESha > chaturmukha brahma > vishNu. These 2 routes of laya are called garuDamArga & SeShamArga respectively.

 

After this, all the rUpAs of lord including saMkarShaNa get merged into the nArAyaNa form and nArAyaNa becomes vaTapatrashAyi (lying on banyan leaf) until next sriShTi.

ajnAna & bandha:

We generally consider ajnAna to be absence of jnAna. Is it possible that lord gives jIvAs “absence of jnAna”? Here ajnAna is an entity with positive existence & not positive non-existence. jIvA has 2 layers - svaguNAcchAdikA & paramAcchAdhika. AcchAdana means shielding; shielding the truth. This leads to ajnAna. This is why ajnAna is not absence of jnAna. These two layers are anAdi & prAkrutik. svaguNAcchAdikA shields the svarUpa of jIva and prevents him from knowing himself. paramAcchAdhika prevents him from understanding/ knowing God.

 

In addition to this, God gives jIvAs the false knowledge/ illusion that our things, our bodies & our relatives belong to us, thinking wrong about oneself & God. This leads to illusion about karma-svAtantrya (independence to do karmAs).

 

God didn’t create jIvAs and these 2 layers covering them. Why are they included in his aStakartrutva then?  It is because God does niyamana (management) & it is possible to pull off only by his grace.

 

These 2 layers are binding (to saMsAra). Binding because of ajnAna they cause. Hence these 2 aspects are related by kArya - kAraNa means. Are they not repetitive when dealt individually?

 

tAtparya chandrikA clarifies this - aSTakartrutvAs are embedded/ contained in sriSTi - sthiti - laya. To be dealt separately for easier anusandhAna about moksha-pradatva of God. mOksha from bandha (binding/ bond); these two are because of jnAna & ajnAna respectively. The process of getting mOksha by acquiring jnAna is not automatic. It is facilitated only by his grace. He has two unshield jIva from these 2 layers which are managed/ maintained (niyamana) by him. Hence, it is considered as a separate act from “sthiti”.

 

From another perspective, there is no absolute kArya-kAraNa relationship (causatum & cause) between ajnAna & bandha. For ex, in case of brahma - vAyus, there is not even a speck of ajnAna. Yet, they have bandha. They have sukha prArabdha.

 

Between the two layers, jIva gets unshielded from svaguNAcchAdika first. jIva gets knowledge about his svarUpa. Then he starts getting jnAna about his svOttamAs as per tAratamya. manushyOttamAs in the 32nd kakshA will first visualise the rUpa of last kakshA tattva-devata (26) pushkara. Then shanaiSchara (25) < ushAdEvi (24) < budha (23) < svAhAdEvi (22) < parjanya < gaNapati, and so on, devatAs of higher kaksha as bimbAs of the lower, consecutively. He finally reaches garuDa, SESa, rudra < saraswati, bhArati < brahma, vAyu < mahAlakshmi and finally Srihari. Srihari being the bimbarUpa of mahAlakshmi, has one of his rUpAs as bimbarUpa in the jIva. Among the agrESa, mUlESa, prAdESa discussed earlier, mUlESa is the bimbarUpa. This rUpa is unique to each jIva, which means, there are infinite forms of mUlESa in infinite jIvAs. paramAcchAdika layer gets unshielded just before the jIva visualizes his bimbarUpa. This stage is bimbAparOksha.

jnAna & mOksha

In the aparOksha lineage, the jIva gets complete jnAna and rUpa of devatAs that he should worship at various stages, starting from visualization of own svarUpa till that of bimba. jIva is bound to get mOksha after bimbAparOksha. Yet, he has to continue performing his nitya (daily) & naimittika (special purpose) karmAs along with upAsanA of God. If he doesn’t continue these, Ananda in mOksha will decline (AnandahrAsa). It is not right to sit quiet as advAitins believe, that mithyA ajnAna is already gone, jnAna has also manifested and hence mOksha is our right. shAstra says that mOksha is purely due to god’s grace. One has to keep doing the karmAs and reach maturity, only that fetches god’s grace.

 

Though jIva gets unshielded from svaguNAcchAdikA & paramAcchAdika at the time of bimbAparOksha, these 2 layers aren’t destroyed. Sometimes due to prArabdha even aparOkshis get daityAvEsha. God closes the shields again. Because of this, aparOksha jnAnis also temporarily forget their svarUpa, knowledge anout svOttamAs and God. They do bad karmAs during this period. They fight with God. But, God is very kind. Hence, he doesn’t give lEpa (smear / coating) of these karmAs which have happened purely due to prArabdha. He gives the phala of these karmAs to the daityAs that were responsible for the deeds and protects his devotees.

 

At the end of the kalpa, jIvAs undertake virajA nadi snAna (bath in the virajA river outside brahmAnDa). lingadEha is removed. svaguNAcchAdika gets destroyed. jIva gets unshielded from paramAcchAdika also, permanently. Thereafter, jIva never gets ajnAna & he becomes free from the cycle of birth and death, forever.

 

Na cha punarAvartate, na cha punarAvartate!!

 

 

Shree Krishnarpanamastu 🙏

 

Santatam Chintaye Anantam – 76

Chapter 9: Qualities of dEvatAs

We have discussed the properties/ guNAs of vishNu. It is required to know about the guNAs of devatAs starting from lakSmidEvi, brahma - vAyu, saraswati - bhArati, garuDa - SeSha - rudra, suparNi - vAruNi - pArvati, indra - kAma, and the tatvAbhimAni dEvatAs. This knowledge, along with bhakti in these devatAs are required for aparOkSa. Let’s discuss in brief:

tatvAs & abhimAnis

tatvAs are 24 in number. They are created outside the brahmAnDa at the beginning of sriSTi. Along with this, the respective tatvAbhimAni devatAs are also created. These 24 tatvAs later enter our body. 25th is jIva & 26th is paramAtma. (Important ones are given in the table).

 

There are tatvAbhimAni devatAs for our mind, budhi, jnAnEndriyAs, karmEndriyAs. They stay inside us and make them work. This fact can’t be denied. Though they are not visible to us, indriyAs work because of them. Otherwise, indriyAs stop functioning. For ex, sUrya is the abhimAni for eyes. If he stops working, the person becomes blind. It is both the sAdhana & immense help to us by tatvAbhimAni devatAs, to stay inside the tatvAs (inside & even outside our body) & do niyamana of these tatvAs.

 

Hari is the chief niyAmaka. Though he is capable of controlling everything independently, he gets it done by abhimAni devatAs. When we say nArAyaNa, it implies abhimAni of avyakta tatva - lakSmi devi also. After her, these devatAs are lead by muKyaprANa. He is superior among tatvAbhimAnis. Everyone functions under the control of Srihari.

 

Shree Krishnarpanamastu 🙏

 

 

 

tatva	abhimAni devatAs
panchabhUtAs
pRthvi	dharAdEvi, SanaiSchara
jala	varuNa, budha
agni	Agni, pAvaka (agni putra)
vAyu	pravaha vAyu
AkASa	gaNapati
panchakarmEndriyAs
hands	indra
feet	Jayanta (indra’s son)
vAk	agni
anus	yama
genitals	dakSa
Pancha jnAnEndriyAs
eyes	sun
ears	moon
nose	aSwini devatAs
skin	kubEra
tongue	varuNa
pancha-tanmAtrAs (gandha, rasa, rUpa, sparsha, shabda) (smell, taste, form, touch, sound)	suparNi, vAruNi, pArvati
Mind, ahaMkAra	garuDa, SeSha, rudra
Intellect	Saraswati - bhArati
mahat	Brahma - vAyu
avyakta	lakSmidEvi

 

Shree Krishnarpanamastu 🙏

Santatam Chintaye Anantam – 78

 

In addition to chief abhimAnis, tatvAs also have intermediate abhimAnis. devatAs in the higher kakSAs of tAratamya are abhimAnis for tatvAs in the lower kakSAs. abhimAnis of panchabhUtAs are from higher kakshAs. karmEndriyA & jnAnEndriya abhimAnis are of the same or next higher kakshAs. Indra is superior among the indriya - abhimAnis. Hence, he also becomes abhimAnis for other indriyAs in addition to being direct abhimAni for hasta (hands). abhimAnis of pancha-tanmAtrAs (suparNi, vAruNi - pArvati) are superior to indra. abhimAnis of ahaMkAra tatva (garuDa - shesha - rudra) are superior to them. Next superior are saraswati - bhArati (budhi abhimAnis), then brahma - vAyu, then ramA (lakshmi). All of them are controlled by independent paramAtma. As dhruva praises lord “yOntapravishya…..”, he is the independent controller.

 

Note: our mind has 5 subdivisions - manas, budhi, ahaMkAra, chitta & chEtana. These are the functional specialities of mind. For ex, manas desires something. Budhi finds the ways to obtain it. ahaMkAra marks the thing as “mine”. Chitta is memory. If the said thing has been enjoyed previously it activates the desire. chEtana refers to the memory that extends to many janmAs of the past.

 

The word “manas” in the above table implies all these 5 subdivisions. The terms ahaMkAra & budhi in the tatva table are totally different from those in the subdivisions of manas. For ex, budhi-tatva in the tatva table is a subdivision of mahat-tatva, called vijnAna tatva.

 

If we worship all devaAs, or at least few of them from the higher kakshAs, as parivAra (family) of lord, they facilitate our sAdhana through the tatvAs they control. For ex, if we worship Siva, the abhimAni of manas, he makes us willing to devote ourselves to viSNu. (This is explained by dAsaru in the song - kailAsavAsa gourISa ISa, tailadhAreyante manasu koDu hariyalli shambhO).

 

lakshmidEvi also has aprAkrita body like that of viSNu. Except her, all other devatAs have physical body (sthUla sharIra) like us. Due to varied proportion of prithvi (earth) & jala (water) tatvAs in their bodies, they remain invisible to our eyes.

 

The qualities of superior tatva devatAs starting with lakSmi, brahma - vAyu are briefly explained in the upcoming paras. This knowledge is crucial for bimbAparOkSa & thereafter, mOkSha. lakSmi, brahma - vAyu, sarasvati - bhArati are called as “paraSuklatrayAs”, which means, of the highest purity. They remain in their complete state in all their avatArAs, like Srihari. They never commit any mistake. They do not get affected by kali (no kali AvESa). Other devatAs will be amSa forms (part of the mUla rUpa) during their avatAra.

 

lakShmidEvi:

Krishna himself says about lakShmidEvi in BG (15.16 - 15.18):

 

द्वाविमौ पुरुषौ लोके क्षरः च अक्षरः एव च।

क्षरः सर्वाणि भूतानि कूटस्थः अक्षरः उच्यते॥

 

There are two types of purushAs (jIvAs) in the universe. kShara puruShAs - those who perish. Right from chaturmukha brahma upto tRNa (grass), all jIvAs perish. The bodies of all these jIvAs disintegrate. lakShmi, who doesn’t perish is known as akShara. She is nityamukta (ever liberated). kriShNa then continues to say that he is puruShOttama, superior to both kShara & akShara categories.

 

lakShmidEvi has omnipresence in terms of space and time, like nArAyaNa. But she doesn’t have guNavyApti. Her guNAs are infinite times lesser than those of nArAyaNa and yet, crore times higher than brahma - vAyu. She has supremacy over brahma-rudrAdi devatAs as she is in higher place in the tAratamya table. As already discussed in 6th chapter, ambhriNi sUkta quotes lakShmidEvi’s words - “I can place/remove jIvAs to/from brahma or rudra position as per my wish”. This implies she has a role in the aShTakartrutva of paramAtma. paramAtma does most of his jobs by staying in her. She has unrivaled capacity. She has got such a capacity by the grace of viShNu only. Including her, all are dependent on Srihari for their strength. Hence, she is also dependent.

 

Like nArAyaNa, lakShmi is also praised by vEdAs. Except those parts which exclusively praise nArAyaNa (like puruShasUkta), all of them praise lakShmi first (after nArAyaNa and among other devatAs than nArAyaNa). Then they continue to praise other devatAs as per tAratamya.

Sri-bhU-durga

lakShmidEvi who is known as chit - prakruti, is abhimAni for both jaDa prakruti & things that are made up of prakruti. lakShmi has 3 rUpAs - Sri, bhU & durgA. People consider durga to be pArvati. pArvati also has durga rUpa. But, durga chiefly means lakShmi. lakShmi’s rUpAs also do not have any difference (bhEda) as that of nArAyaNa. Just like nArAyaNa performs various kAryAs through different rUpAs, lakShmi is abhimAni for different tasks through these 3 rUpAs. Her Sri rUpa is considered to be original satva (mUla-satva), bhU as original raja (mUla-raja) & durga as original tama (mUla-tama). As the abhimAni of tamOguNa, she does the kArya of tamOguNa like giving aajnAna (ignorance), pramAda (negligence) & mOha to ineligible jIvAs and relieves eligible jIvAs from these. Being the abhimAni for satvaguNa in Sri rUpa, she provides pure (unadulterated) knowledge. Hence, she is the chief vEdAbhimAni and not saraswati as many think. Saraswati comes next as abhimAni for vEda, vidyA & budhi. Many are preoccupied that lakShmi is abhimAni for only prosperity. But she is the chief abhimAni for knowledge too. She is the one who gives clarity about the sacchAstrAs.

 

Knowledge about lakShmidEvi is as much important as that of viSNu to attain mukti. All jIvAs who have not yet attained mOksha are bound by satva, raja & tama controlled by Sri, bhU & durga. There is no aparOkSha of God without aparOkSha of lakShmi. Her aparOkSha is possible when she is worshipped as Hari’s wife and understanding her relationship with him. She gives her own aparOkSha and that of her husband when she is worshipped as above. If one tries for only her aparOkSha, one has to get God’s aparOksha later on, which is a longer route. Also, in the worship of lakShmi alone, there should be strict control over one’s indriyAs, she doesn’t tolerate slightest deviations. But, God tolerates inadvertent errors of his devotees in his worship. 

Asura mOhana of nityA-viyOgini

God’s grace is proportional to the amount of bhakti. lakShmi dEvi has the highest amount of devotion towards the lord from eternity and hence his grace on her is also the highest from eternity. She knows him well. She is nityAviyOgini, which means she doesn’t stay away from him even for a second. It is possible because, she has omnipresence like him. Srihari has placed her in the Srivatsa. This is true in both mUlarUpa & avatArAs. Even when they came down as seethA-rAma and he acts as though he is in grief because rAvaNa abducted her, she is with him. Even when she was sent to vAlmiki’s AshramA, she was with him. Ignorant people thought otherwise and spread the misinformation.

During kriShNAvatAra, Sri & bhU forms of lakShmi manifested as rukmiNi - satyabhAma. Like with paramAtma, one shouldn’t ascribe dOshAs to lakShmi devi too. The husband - wife bonding of ramA -nArAyaNa is fastened. lakShmi will never accept anyone else as husband in any of her avatArAs. Same goes to viShNu. He never accepts any female other than lakShmi or those with lakShmi AvESa as his wife. When he plays with her, he plays with his own rUpA in her. He doesn’t get any extra delight from it. But lakShmi enjoys it. Even when kriShNa married 16000 women, he was in their company only when they had lakShmi’s AvESa. Same goes with the gOpikA stIs in gOkula. Even those gOpis were aparOkShis. It would be a blunder if women worship kriShNa or viShNu as their husband.

Misconceptions about lakShmi

Few people equate lakShmi with saraswati & pArvati and project them as one dEvi who is superior. It derives support from the dEvi saptaSati mentioned in mArkAnDEya purANa. It is a rAjasa purANa. It has most of the content in darshana bhASha which means it was written as it appeared to others. It is clearly opposed by ambRNi sUkta. It has to be understood in line with the niravakASa pramANAs of vEdAs and not as it is. mArkAnDEya purANA itself says, those events have to be understood as per vEdAs. It is to be kept in mind that, the durgAnamaskAra, chandikAhOma, etc. performed on the basis of saptaSati are not pleasing to lakShmi. lakShmi is strict pativratA. She doesn’t enjoy getting worshipped as superior to her husband. Hence, she should we worshipped along with nArAyaNa & with the knowledge of viShNu savOttamatva.

Brahma - vAyu

Though almost all have heard the name brahma, most of them do not know who he is. He is famous as a white bearded man who keeps giving varAs to rAkShasAs. When the name vAyu is taken, most people think of dikpAlaka vAyu. But he is not the vAyu mentioned in vEdAs, next in tAratamya after ramA - nArAyaNa. This vAyu is mukhyaprANa. Hanuman is famous as mukhyaprANa. As baLitthA sUkta says, hanumanta is the first avatAra of mukhyaprANa. He is the vAyu in the context of “Hari sarvOttama vAyu jIvOttama”. His attributes are not much detailed in purANAs and hence his mUlarUpa is unknown to most. He is the superior & EkAnta bhakta of hari who asked hari for only bhakti that grows every minute.

RujugaNa

All the jIvAs except ramA - nArAyaNa undergo nAsha (not the svarUpa). Hence, they are kShara - puruShAs. There is a superior category “ruju gaNa” among the kShara puruShAs. All the names mentioned in vEdAs except ramA - nArAyaNa indicate only the designations or padavi. I.e., the names indra, brahma, vAyu, varuNa, etc are only the designations. There will be a category of jIva eligible for a particular padavi. A particular jIva from this category will attain it’s padavi. That jIva will then be addressed by the name of the designation. The rujugaNa jIva who is brahma right now, gets mukti at the end of this kalpa (along with saraswati). Present vAyu becomes brahma. Present bhArati devi becomes saraswati. Another jIva from the rujugaNa becomes vAyu. This chain continues. The sAdhana of rujugaNAs is of 100 years. They become vAyu in the 99th kalpa. Their knowledge about God is of the highest order. They are aparOkSha jnAnis from anAdi and they get their jnAna increasingly clearer with every passing janma, obtain realization (sAkShAtkAra) of more and more forms of the lord and finally extraordinary Ananda in mOkSha. There is none matching their jnAna among the kShara puruShAs and their Ananda in mOksha is also the highest.

Doing karmAs and getting done

Brahma & vAyu are equal in their yOgyata (eligibility). But brahma enjoys a little supremacy because of designation. Then why is brahma not called jeevOttama? It is because, brahmA’s domain is brahmAnDa - sriSTi of lOkAs, living and non livings in it. It is vAyu who is niyAmaka (controller/ manager) of jIvAs (after ramA - nArAyaNa), does the karmas like them (jIvAs), gets it done by them. Hence, relationship of jIvA with vAyu is more than that of brahma. This is why he is worshipped as jIvOttama.

Also, vAyu acts as a bridge between the jIvA & the paramAtma. But why a middleman between us and paramAtma? ISAvAsyOpanishad answers this:

तस्मिन्नपो मातरिश्वा ददाति

vAyu is the one who offers our karmAs to God. Only when he offers it, God gets pleased. Only then hari accepts it. Then gives back to us by infinite times. This is why we should always offer our karmAs through vAyu only.

vAyu who is Ocean of kindness, forgiveness, lover of his devotees, diverts jIvA from wrong path to the right one and prays God on behalf of the jIvA - “this jIvA has surrendered completely to you, is worshipping you everyday. Kindly elevate him”. (prAtaH sankalpa gadya).

If vAyu is pleased, viShNu too gets pleased. Nothing remains unreachable if hari is pleased (kimalabhyatE bhagavati prasannE SrinikEtanE). Hanuman’s theory (opinion) is hari’s opinion. Hari attends our prayer submitted to him through vAyu. This is why we should surrender to vAyu. Even Hari expects the same. He doesn’t like worshipping only him and neglecting others. We must not forget dEvatAs who are his bhaktAs and especially vAyu who is superior among them. We should worship everyone as parivAra (family) of hari. It is the only acceptable method for Hari.

Superior among tatvAbhimAnis

We have already covered the actions of tatvAbhimAni dEvatAs. Hari is the chief controller of all. Even though he can do everything independently, he gets it done through tatvAbhimAnis. After Hari, mukhyaprANa is the chief of these dEvatAs. Along with brahma, he is the chief abhimAni for chitta. He is also the principal abhimAni for all other tatvAs too. [Please note, though there are separate abhimAnis for every tatvA & organ, svOttamAs are main abhimAnis. Since vAyu is the superior to all, he is the chief commander after ramA-nArAyaNa].

A famous incident that finds mention in chAndOgya, bRhadAraNyaka & aitarEya upanishads: an event was organized to decide the superiority among tatvAbhimAnis excluding lakShmi - nArAyaNa & chaturmukha brahma. DevatAs left the body one by one. When sUrya & chandra left, body turned blind & deaf. As the dEvatAs controlling particular organs left the body, those indriyAs stopped working. When vAyu left the body, it was dead. Then tatvAbhimAnis started entering the body one by one. There was no difference. Finally when vAyu entered, it was alive again. When vAyu exited, again all the abhimAnis got pulled out. Hence, vAyu is like the queen bee. When she leaves the beehive, all the bees follow her.

 

अनुप्राणंति यं प्राणः प्राणं तं सर्वजंतुषु

 

Like people follow the king, tatvAbhimAnis are able to work only by following vAyu. It is not an exaggeration that we, the mere mortals, too must follow him.

vAyudEvaru in the body

As mentioned in Shat-praShnOpanishat, vAyu controls the other devatAs in the body as directed by paramAtma. He controls prANa - apAna - vyAna - udAna - samAna vAyus with his 5 rUpAs, like a king appoints heads to various provinces of his kingdom. He places apAna vAyu in the anus & genitals through his apAna rUpa. He stays in the prANavAyu and controls eyes, ears, mouth & nose. Stays inside the samAna vAyu and takes the food consumed to various parts of the body. Our body functions properly because he carries the nutrients in the food to various organs of the body. He stays in udAna vAyu and flows upward in suShumnA nADi. He takes jIva to naraka - bhu - svarga lOkAs in accordance with his puNya - pApa. He takes us to mOkSha also taking tatvajnAna into consideration. mUlEsha in the heart area is jIva’s bimba. mUlEsha & mukhyaprANa on his feet will be visible during bimbAparOkSha. An amukta jIva has 4 layers - svarUpa, linga, aniruddha & sthUla. mukhyaprANa is present in each of these. He does haMsa mantra japa 21,600 times a day in the form of (during) jivA’s respiration process and offers them to nArAyaNa. 2 seconds for inhale & 2 seconds for exhale - hence 15 respiratory cycles per minute. mukhyaprANa alone is performing this yajna by staying inside each jIva!!

vAyu’s mahimA (greatness)

There is no jnAna or bhakti without vairAgya. Srihari doesn’t get pleased without jnAna-bhakti-vairAgya. No aparOkSha without him getting pleased. Only mukhyaprANa controls and is able to provide - jnAna, bhakti, vairAgya, dhyAna, bala (strength), buddhi (intelligence), dhairya (courage). Devotees get all these by worshipping vAyu. Srihari stays in pur body only if vAyu is present. Shrutis say that if vAyu leaves the body then Srihari also leaves (कस्मिन्वहमुत्क्रांते भविष्यामि। कस्मिन्वा प्रतिष्टिते प्रतिष्टास्यामीति)।

 

With the grace of Srihari, mukhyaprANa takes infinite forms, stays in infinite jIvAs & gets everything done. There is no object in this universe which isn’t controlled by muhyaprANa.

 

Sri Madhwacharya, the 3rd avatAra of vAyu, has compiled the upAsanA mantrAs of rUpAs like nRsiMha, varAha, etc. in tantrasArasangraha. Person with siddhi of these mantrAs can perform extraordinary deeds. vAyu has siddhi of 7 crore mahAmantrAs (prAtaH sankalpa gadya). He can recite all  of the mantrAs simultaneously and also see the respective rUpAs through aparOksha. The greatness of such vAyu can’t be sung enough even by devatAs. How can we do it? We should try to know them with our limited capability and progress.

Jagadguru:

“Guru” means असंशयः संशयच्छिद् - one who doesn’t have doubts and capable of clearing others’ doubts. This quality is chiefly possessed by brahma-vAyu. Hence, they are jagadgurus in true sense. Sri Madhwacharya, being avatar of vAyu, is the principal guru for everyone. svOttama gurus can clear the ambiguity to certain extent. But the ultimate clarity can be provided only by brahma - vAyu. Some people say that guru’s grace provides ultimate clarity. But guru’s grace doesn’t happen automatically. Sri Madhwacharyaru says in RgbhAShya that, mOkSha is possible only through - svAdhyAya (study), tatvanirNaya, viShNu bhakti, vairAgya, following vidhi - niShEdhAs, continuous remembrance of viShNu. This shows the importance of ones efforts and study. He has provided us sarvamUla grinthAs which are the essence of all vEda - upanishad - itihAsa - purANAs. The jnAnis who came later in this paraMparA have composed commentaries on those grinthAs and immensely helped us get rid of our saMshayAs. They have to be studied by eligible sAdakAs.

 

ब्रह्मंता गुरवः साक्षात् इष्टं दैवं श्रियः पतिः।

आचार्याः श्रीमदाचार्याः संतु मे जन्म जन्मनि॥

 

All the seniors in the hierarchy till brahmadevaru are gurus. Sripati is our beloved lord. Sri Madhwacharya is the teacher. We all should pray God to grant this fortune in every janma. God will reward this sAtvik prayer in all janmAs. The word janmajanmani is not grammatically right. It should have been janmani janmani. This is a purANa - vAkya. When sentences in purANa are grammatically incorrect, they are usually intended to convey some deeper meanings. Here in this case, we should make anusandhAna that there should be no janma without remembrance of SrimadAcharya & the tatvAs. We should have continuous memory without any gap.

akhaNASma - medium (adhiShTAna) for upAsanA

There is an important point in an incident which finds mention in chAndOgya upanishad. devatAs who lost the battle against daityAs thought of worshipping Srihari for winning back. They needed a medium for the worship. Not necessarily a stone idol, but a prAkrutik medium to make anusandhAna of aprAkruta lord in it. When they made devatAs like agni, sUrya, chandra, garuDa, SESha, rudra, etc., daityAs got into them and corrupted the medium, hence making them unfit for worship. At the end, they made mukhyaprANa as the medium and started worshipping God through him. When daityAs tried to attack him, they got destroyed like clay balls getting broken. Hence, vAyu got to be known as akhaNASma (diamond rock). We also should make prAkruta vAyu as adhiShTAna for worshipping aprAkruta lord. That protects our mind from the attack of evil forces. This has been explained in upcoming chapters.

Shiva, gaNapati

It is said that one gets mukti if he dies at Kashi. The reason being, Siva will chant rAma mantra in the ears at the time of death at kAshi. Krishna says in gita that remembrance of lord in the last moments will grant mukti. Going by the niravakASa pramANAs, it must be charama janma to get mukti. But when Siva himself chants rAma mantra in the ears, it is assured that one get mukti in due course of time.

 

dAsaru prays Siva to continuously place our mind on Srihari, like the flow of oil. One will have to face the wrath of viShNu if one worships hari and ignores hara. bhAgavata says - वैष्णवानां यथा शंभो - Siva is a great devotee of Srihari. The greatest vaiShNava among jIvAs with shareerAbhimAna. abhimAni devatA for mind (along with garuDa & SESha). Hence, our prayer to Siva should be for granting bhakti towards Srihari. Whenever we pray Siva, it should include Siva himself and his antaryAmi narasiMha.

 

gaNapati is commonly considered as remover of vighnAs (obstacles). But he can not clear the obstacles of higher kakSha than himself. The obstacles of higher order can be removed by only narasiMha. The below mentioned famous Sloka is about narasiMha and not gaNapati.

 

शुक्लांबरधरं विष्णुं शशिवर्णं चतुर्भुजं।

प्रसन्नवदनं ध्यायेत् सर्व विघ्नोपशांतये॥

 

Generally, when we praise someone as indra, chandra, etc. they feel happy. But devatAs are all aparOkSha jnAnis. They get angry if they are ascertained qualities which they do not possess. Hence, our anusandhAna with devatAs should be as per tAratamya. We must worship their antaryAmis chiefly. gaNapati’s antaryAmi is 19 headed viShnu. The middle face is that of an elephant. As vaishvAnara (vishvaMBara) responsible for our awakened state has elephant face, his worshipper gaNapati also has elephant face.

 

This is brief description related to lakShmi, brahma - vAyu, Siva & gaNapati. Interested jijnAsus may take up further studies through other sources.

 

Chapter 10: How to worship lord?

Just eating nutritious food doesn’t provide strength, it causes obesity. Similarly, just knowing shAstra doesn’t fetch mOkSha. Performing vihita karmAs & upAsanA with jnAna only facilitates mOkSha. Learned say that hari upAsanA can be done in 2 easy ways:

 

1. Studying vaiShNava shAstra, shravaNa (listening) & manan (contemplation) coupled with remembrance of Srihari
2. Meditation on Srihari

 

These two are complementary & hence mandatory. Those who do not have shAstra jnAna should study & listen to the tatvAs through guru. Should attain tatva-nishchaya through contemplation. Then comes dhyAna.

 

For convenience, upAsanA can be divided into 3 types:

 

●     Yajna

●     dAna

●     Tapas

 

Though all these are ultimately aimed at increasing jnAna - bhakti - vairAgya, the nearest goal is to attain purity of conscience which is an important criterion for aparOkSha. parOkSha jnAna is another intention. Bhakti coupled with jnAna is compulsory here and it should keep growing. Whatever doesn’t support jnAna - bhakti - vairAgya is not included in upAsanan and whatever supports them is included.

 

puruShasUkta says amRtatva (immortality or mOkSha) can be attained only through bhakti backed by jnAna:

 

तमेवं विद्वान् अमृत इह भवति। नान्यः पंथा अयनाय विद्यते।।

 

We have to cross many milestones before we reach this stage. One among them is pure conscience which is eligibility criterion for aparOkSha. Road to mOkSha is easy after gaining this purity. Hence, everyone’s attempt will be towards purity of conscience in the beginning. No tatvanishchaya is possible without this. One should get rid of abhimAna to get the conscience purified. Indriya nigraha (control over indriyAs) & bit of vairAgya are necessary to get rid of abhimAna. indriyAs naturally turn towards whatever is pleasurable to them. vairAgya can be initiated with practice & by doing dOsha chintana (thinking about dOshAs) in those materials which please indriyAs. Path of yajna - dAna - tapas is the freeway for attaining vairAgya. sAdhaka who takes this path will reach the stage of pure conscience.

 

Vihita karmAs like sandhyAcandana, dEvapUja, studying shAstra, offering the karmAs to lord (karma samarpaNa), etc. are yajnAs. japa/dhyAna, indriya nigraha, EkAdashi, etc. come under tapas. dAna, teerthayAtra, etc. are in the 3rd category. It is impossible to clearly divide and categorise these. Terms like tapOyajna, japOyajna, etc. also find mention in BG. Taittariya upanishad says Rta, satya, adhyayana, indriya & manOnigraha, dAna, yajna & then upAsanA of lord as embodiment of Ananda & infinite guNAs - all are tapas. Hence, the above categorisation is symbolic.

Tapas:

We usually get the picture of long bearded RShis doing tapas in forest, whenever we hear the word tapas. “Tapa” means heating up. Actions like Japa, dhAraNa, dhyAna create heat that burns prArabdha and destroys karmAs. Indriya nigraha, EkAdashi are also tapas. Controlling the indriyas & manas which keep going towards matters of shabda - sparsha, rUpa, rasa & gandha, eliminating the interest in them and making indriyAs focused in one direction, is tapas.

 

Indriya nigraha (shama, dama, etc.), fasting vRtAs (EkAdashi, etc.), japa, are also media for attaining pure conscience. vRta & japa also burn our pApAs and fetches hari-preeti. These are tapas.

 

Krishna said - विषया विनिवर्तंते निराहारस्य देहिनः - when we stop providing food to our stomach & indriyAs, gradually they lose interest in their respective viShayAs. Food for indriyAs are their respective viShayAs. For ex, sight (of matters & people) is food for eyes.

 

Intense prArabdha becomes an obstacle for sAdhana sometimes. The road can be cleared through dhyAna & upavAsa.

P.S.: EkAdashi, dhyAna have acquired wrong meanings lately. Real meanings of these are provided in next part of this chapter.

Yajna:

Performing the karmAs necessitated in smritis like sandhyAvnadana, dEvapUja, study of shAstrAs by self & through guru, and all other karmAs in life, with intention of viShnu-preeti and offering them to Hari, will make us progress in the direction of mOkSha unknowingly. brahma-jijnAsA (shravaNa & manana about lord) is also our duty.

 

Tapas & vairAgya need a goal. paramAtma is our goal. These are meaningful only if he is pleased. We should be devoted to him. Just reading isn’t enough. Should follow smriti - shrutis which are his orders. Krishna said:

 

श्रुति स्मृतिः हरेराज्ने यः उल्लंघ्य प्रवर्तते।

आज्नाच्छे्दी ममद्वेषि मद्भक्तोपि न वैष्णवः॥

“Shrutis & smritis are my orders. One who loves me but doesn't follow them is not a vaiShNava & becomes my hater”.

 

All the vidhi - niShedhAs (do’s & don’ts) mentioned in shAstra are ultimately intended at “santataM chintaye anantam” - continuous remembrance of viShNu. We should never forget him. Famous verse by SrimadAcharya says:

 

 स्मर्तव्यः संततं विष्णुः विस्मृर्तव्यो न जातुचित्।

सर्वे विधिनिषेधाः स्युरेतयोरेव किंकराः॥

 

The don’ts in shAstra like eating nonvegetarian food, onions, etc. are aimed at keeping us from forgetting viShNu. All these niShEdhAs are different aspects of the main niShEdha - forgetting viShNu.

 

Yajna, tapas are the practical aspects of theoretical knowledge that we get by reading. tatvAs that we read should be brought into practice. Otherwise we become armchair philosophers. It would be like a speech on swimming by a person who doesn’t know how to swim. Saying I have bhakti but I won’t do sandhyAvandan, puja or study shAstra, is like a mother saying she loves her child but won’t give it food or make it bath. Though ripe bhakti is needed for mOkSha, these karmAs are needed for purification of conscience. When we do all these with the intention of hari-preethi, he will shower his grace though he doesn’t benefit in any way. mOkSha only by his grace.

dAna:

dAna, tirthayAtra, etc. don’t show us God automatically. They are a part of purification process. SrimadAcharya has quoted the below statement from bhaviShyatparva, in MBTN:

 

दानतीर्थतपोयज्नपूर्वाः सर्वेपि सर्वदा।

अंगानि हरिसेवायां भक्तिस्त्वेका विमुक्तये॥

 

dAna gives the feeling of “idaM na mama”. Entire universe is God’s temple as said in IshAvAsyOpanishad. Everything is his. We should enjoy what he gives us. Should do dAna for viSNu-preeti. Shouldn’t have any other expectation. dAna with expectation is bad for us. Because it binds us. dAna is not limited to tiladAna or gOdAna. It includes the time we spend for society. Generally people do social service with one or the other expectation. At the least they expect the person receiving the help to remember and praise. But he forgets. Then they end up with “I did so much for him but he forgot me”. But if we do the same task with intention of pleasing the hari inside that person, there is no room for such disappointment. If God is pleased with our work, it doesn’t matter whether people are pleased or not. This is the real seva of “janatA janArdhana”. This also leads to purification.

 

tirthayAtra also helps. However, throughout the yAtra, we must remember & discuss the greatness of the places we are visiting. The snAna (bath) in the teerthAs and dhyAna help in the purification and not the count of how many places one has visited.

The importance of sandhyAvandana:

Everyday we see new types of dhyAna taught by various gurus. We do not have time to think about their authenticity and we pick any one. With newer things trending, like kunDalini yOga, transcendental meditation, etc. sandhyAvandana is seen as a meaningless ritual. When youth do not get satisfactory answers as to why sandhyAvadana is important, it is natural for them to lose interest in it. Trying to give scientific explanation to sandhyAvandana is becoming a reason for it to be seen as a laughable ritual. Many are busy in proving the superficial things that they know about this ritual. All these result in people giving up on sandhyAvandana rather than start doing it. Let us now see why it is important.

 

First we need to know that the below mentioned scientific reasons assigned to sandhyAvandana are wrong. Reason is given in brackets.

 

●     Achamana helps in cleaning the mouth [gargling is better for this purpose]

●     Doctors say that we must drink water sip by sip. During achamana we drink water this way [quantity of water used for achamana is just enough to soak one grain of black gram. This way we would need to keep drinking water 24 hrs a day to quench our thirst]

●     Gopi chandana cools our body [when we go out in the sun and sweat profusely, how would gopi chandana help?]

●     When we give arghya to sUrya, infrared rays from the Sun will help improve our health [if IR rays are needed for health (?) then we can just stand in the sun for sometime. Why sadhyAvandana?]

 

What is sandhyAvandana?

Paying obeisance to the lord at sandhyAkAla is sandhyAvandana. sandhyAkAla is the time at the junctions of night-day, morning-afternoon, day-night. It is considered auspicious for thinking about higher tatvAs. Samyak dhyAtaMtimiti sandhyA. Though God is omnipresent, he specially facilitates upAsanA at sandhyAkAla. Ex: Plants will grow in any season if watered but they grow better in the rainy season.

 

sandhyAvandanA is arAdhanA of God. nArAyaNa is the God. Hence, arAdhanA of nArAyaNa as per shAstra is sandhyAvandana. gAyatri japa is the most important part of sandhyAvandana. gAyatri is not some random goddess. It is not merely the name of a chandas. nArAyaNa is the god that is propounded by the gAyatri mantra. All other rituals in sandhyAvandana are supportive to gAyatri japa.

 

Perhaps, there is no karma as beneficial as sandhyAvandana. Manusmriti says, RShis got long life, wisdom, success, glory & vigor. These can be obtained only through faithfully performed sandhyAvandana and not just ritualistic one.

 

The intention of sandhyAvandana is to please God through gAyatri mantra and meditating on him. God provides dhi shakti to those who think of him as dhi - preraka. Like we get grass as bi-product in agriculture, we get wisdom, success, fame, vitality, health and glory. However, we shouldn’t forget the main purpose.

 

sandhyAvandana provides two types of purity. Achamana, ApaprAshana provide relief from pApAs which cloud the antaHkaraNa. It increases the sAnidhya of God in the body. Like other karmAs, the main intent of sandhyAvandana is to attain mOkSha. Thoughts during sandhyAvandana should be in this direction. But hurried sandhyAvandana takes away the purpose. Let’s see some of the important components of sandhyAvandana.

 

Wearing UrdhvapunDra: Humans have a tendency to sink. We misuse our powers and fail in life. Sink due to rAjasik & tAmasik natures. UrdhvapunDra helps climb up. The UrdhvapunDra worn externally is indicative of the upward flow of inner energy.

 

Achamana: Achamana is the internal bath. It is not just drinking water. When we drink water through palm shaped like ear of a cow (gOkarNa), uttering kEshavAya svAha, nArAyaNAya svAha.. it is offering water to these rUpAs of the lord inside us.

 

prANAyAma: before reciting any mantra, prANAyAma through that particular mantra. This makes the vAyu charged with that mantra, to get distributed in the body and become mantradEhi. mukhyaprANA’s help is very much needed for japa of nArAyaNa.

 

mArjana: body should be clean before anuShTAna of (performing) japa & tapa. During mArjana, body & mind get cleaned up through water. Water should be sprinkled by reciting Apya-sUktAs. Though complete body bath is done, only this mantra-snAna (bath) with remembrance of aap named viShNu and other aap abhimAni devatAs, completes the process.

 

pApa parihAra: apaprASana for the pApAs done through trikaraNAs (kAyA - vAcA - manasa) in our 3 states (avasthAs) - jAgRta, svapna & suShupti. pApapuruSha visarjana for cleansing the pApAs done through indriyAs due to the effect of dOshAs like kAma, krOdha, etc. To get cleansed by these methods, one should have paschAttApa (regret) about the pApAs.

 

Arghya: arghya pradAna is another important part of sandhyAvandana. In olden days, there was a practise of providing water to guests for washing their hands & feet. This is known as arghya & pAdya. In sandhyAvandana, arghya is offered to sUryanArAyaNa rUpi paramAtma inside sUrya, with a purpose of getting his grace.

 

nyAsa: nyAsa means placing/keeping. When we touch our hands & organs with god’s remembrance, they get charged with god’s presence. This helps one’s subtle body to benefit by japa. Japa done after arghya, nyAsa, becomes beneficial.

 

If one can not do detailed sandhyAvandana, it is good to do it atleast for 10-15 mins and offered to Srihari for his grace. It definitely takes one on the right path.

Who is gAyatri?

7 year old shRngi cursed parikShita that he would die in 7 days , when he saw a dead serpent around the neck of his father shameeka. Parikshita is an extraordinary person who was protected by Srikrishna inside the womb and also after birth. What was the sAdhana of shRngi through which he could curse parikshita? How was this possible?

 

shRngi had siddhi of gAyatri mantra. It was because of this siddhi, viShNu made his words come true. prANAyAma is the first among exercises & ekAdaSi among vritAs. Similarly, gAyatri among mantrAs. No other mantrAs yield benefits without gAyatri. It is the essence of all vEdAs. It is necessary to do gAyatri japa, study of sacchAstrAs, contemplation & dhyAna, to understand it. sadAcAra (good conduct), satyavacana (telling truth), yama, niyama, are required too. gAyatri japa along with dhyAna (meditation) of paramAtma who is the provider of dhi - shakti. God graces one with dhi - shakti if he is worshipped as the giver of dhi - shakti. Like agriculture yields hay along with the grains, one gets prajnA (conscience), victory, fame, health, vigor, brahma-varcas with dhi - shakti. But one shouldn’t forget the main purpose.

Misconceptions about gAyatri:

Some of the misconceptions about gAyatri are:

●     gAyatri is some devi with 5 heads. She is vEdamAta. gAyatri mantra is of that devi.

●     gAyatri devi is the devi of gAyatri chandas used by 24 lettered gAyatri mantra

●     gAyatri is rudra because the word “bharga” finds mention

●     gAyatri is the mantra of sUrya. Because there is “savitR” which indicates sUrya

●     gAyatri doesn’t say specifically about any devata. Hence, one can do upAsanA of any devata through gAyatri mantra

●     gAyatri is a jyOti (bright light) and that jyOti is worshipped through gAyatri mantra

 

None of the above is true. gAyatri mantra recited in sandhyAvandana is indicative of nArAyaNa and not anyone else.

dhyEya rUpa of viShNu in vishwamitra gAyatri

Although there is no bhEda (difference) between viShNu & his rUpAs, a particular rUpa is assigned to a mantra. Rishis are the driShTArAs who have done upAsanA of mantrAs & the rUpAs associated with them and obtained phalAs. VishwAmitra rishi is the driShTAra of the gAyatri mantra recited during sandhyAvandana and hence it is named vishwamitra gAyatri. Narasimha purAna says as follows about the dhyEya rUpa of gAyatri (the rUpa associated with the mantra):

 

ध्येय सदा सवितृमंडल मध्यवर्ती नारायणः सरसिजासन सन्निविष्टः।

केयूरवान् मकरकुंडलवान् किरीटी हारी हिरण्मयवपुः॥

 

One should meditate on nArAyaNa who is sitting in padmAsana pose on a lotus at the center of the disc of rising sun (sUryamanDala), wearing armlets, crocodile shaped earrings (makara kunDala), crown, garland, conch & chakra, having golden coloured body. [dhyEya rUpa for vishwAmitra gAyatri recited during sandhyAvandana has only 2 arms whereas that of brahmagAyatri has 4 arms].

 

For details on gAyatri, please refer these 3 books: “maitra”, “gAyatri darshana” (publications of tatva samshodhana samsat) and “dhimahi” (published by vishwa mAdhwa mahA parishad).

Why worship God?

We come across worships often. Most of them are conducted without knowing the significance and applications. When we do not get desired results we end up saying “I don’t believe in rituals”. Many people give away the sAligrAma thinking it is a burden. This is not true. A house with sAligrAma is akin to holy place.

 

Smritis say that worship of God is highly auspicious. Once we get the idea behind this ritual, it can be done both in short and lengthy ways. Even if there is no sAlagrAma at home, one can worship God in the idol and get benefitted.

 

Worship is like pouring the water from the lake back to the lake. “IshAvAsyam idaM sarvaM” - entire universe is his. Worshipping him is offering his own things to him. It is like we going to someone’s house and saying “I’m offering this house to you”. It is laughable in worldly senses. But God likes it very much. God who is self sufficient doesn’t need ornaments, worship, naivedya, etc.. As the mantra “निषुसीद गणपते” says, our prayer to God would be - “get your worship done by staying inside me and also in the idol”. We are not independent to perform the act of worship by ourselves. He should get it done himself and then give us the benefits. Like father who teaches son to bow down (by actually making him bow down) and then blesses him.

 

प्रातः प्रभृति सायांतं सायादि प्रातरंततः।

यत्करोमि जगन्नाथ तदस्तु तवपूजनं॥

 

Meaning: Let all the kAryAs done by me throughout the day become your worship. This shloka contains the importance of worship. How can one who doesn’t worship say this?

Misconceptions about idol worship

It is important to clear some of the misconceptions about idol worship. Dayananda Saraswati’s comment that it is absurd to consider God to be omnipotent as God couldn’t shoo away the mice on the shivalinga, is a blunder of considering the idol itself as God. Brahmasutra clearly says: “न प्रतीके हि सः”. Idol is not God, it is just his symbol/ image. We need to invoke God in the idol. The bimba rUpi paramAtma resides just below the position of our heart. This bimba rUpi is invoked into the idol and worshipped. THe bimba rUpi is then re-invoked back to its place in our hRtkamala. alankAra (decoration) done to the reflection in the mirror is wasteful. But if it is done to the person, it reflects in the mirror too. Similarly, worshiping our bimba benefits us (we being the reflection). It may take time but the benefit is guaranteed.

 

There is another argument. Idol worship is inferior and meant only for lower level sAdhakAs. Superior worship is that of invisible & cosmopolitan God. It is self deceitful to label oneself as superior worshipper by avoiding idol worship and doing it at a mental level. As Srimadacharya says in brahmasUtra bhAShya, there are 3 kinds of worshippers. Humans are bahi-prakAsha, meaning they need to worship the symbols (idols), RShis are antaHprakAsha - who can visualise God inside them and dEvatAs are sarvatra-prakAsha - they can see God everywhere. Reading about the cosmopolitan nature of God in books is different from actually being able to see him everywhere. Eligibility to see him everywhere is inherent to one’s svarUpa. This can’t be attained through sAdhana.

 

When God is everywhere, one shouldn’t hesitate to step on an idol as he steps on any other stone/rock outside, right? Even an aparOkSha jnAni respects the idol, what to say about us?

ShODashOpacAra pUja

Inviting our bimbarUpi lord along with his parivAra (family), honoring him and bringing him back to our hRtkamala (heart) is worship. We offer coffee/ tea and snacks to guests coming home. If close ones come then we offer lunch/ dinner. When it is son in law then we ask to stay over. Likewise, as the relationship with the person becomes closer, we treat them in better ways. How should we honor God who is our closest ally since time immemorial? He doesn’t need it. It is only symbolic. He gives importance to the maturity of our mind than anything else. He gave everything against a fistful of flattened rice (poha).

 

There are 15 kalAs (bondages) for the prANa surrounded by the barriers - shraddhA (determination), AkAsha (space), vAyu (air), agni (fire), jala (water), prithvi (earth), dashEndriyAs (10 indriyAs), antaH-karaNa (conscience), anna (food), vIrya (vigor), thought, speech, action, world & name. These, along with the prANa amount to 16 kalAs. Upanishads praise the lord, the controller of these 16, as ShODasha-kalA-puruSha. Hence we offer ShODashOpachAra pUjA to lord. The 16 items in a ShODashOpachAra pUjA are - 1. Arghya 2. pAdya 3. Achamana 4. Madhuparka 5. snAna 6. Vastra 7. bhUShaNa 8. yajnOpavIta 9. Asana 10. Gandha 11. Pushpa 12. dhUpa 13. Deepa 14. Naivedya 15. tAmbUla 16. namaskAra / pradakShiNa. These upachArAs are offered with the 16 Riks of the Rigveda. There are differences among sampradayas regarding this. If a Rik from puruShasUkta is used then there will be no Rik for madhuparka. Some don’t include tAmbUla and do punarAchamana. Regardless of these minor changes, there should be proper anusandhAna. Body, mind and chitta - all 3 have to be pure.

 

One of the important steps in ShODashOpachara pUja is offering naivEdya. We should think as - brahmAdi dEvatAs are offering him food, which is then served to lord by Lakshmi Devi and God is having it. Hence, we do pariShEka (sprinkle water), prANAhuti and hasta prakshAlana (wash hands).

 

But God doesn’t seem to be eating anything we offer to him in the form of naivEdya. It is a popular idea that he doesn’t consume prAkRtik items. If so, do we prepare naivEdya fo eating itr ourselves? What does shAstra say about this? We do not know to offer ourselves to lord unlike chaturmukha brahma does, saying “अहं जुनोमि स्वाहा”. Hence, we follow what Srikrsihna said in BG - “patraM puShpaM phalaM tOyam yO mE bhaktyA prayacchati” - I will accept anything offered with devotion. Bhakti is important. What happens to the naivedya? Doing aikya chintana between the bhgavad-rUpAs in the idol with those in the naivEdya is called offering naivEdya.

 

Lord is एकमेवाद्वितीय (unique, only one). He is “रसो वै सः”. He is present in a form in the naivEdya through a phenomenon called “viSeSha”. He consumes the rasa in the naivEdya which is nothing but his own svarUpa in it, gives the dEvatAs what they deserve as per tAratamya and gives us the part we deserve in the form of prasAda. He watches in kapila form, smells through NarasiMha form, relishes through kUrma form, praises through parashurAma form. People long to get praised in laukika life. But when God is pleased, “तस्यैष आत्मा विवृणुते तनुं स्वाम्” - he gives us darshana of his jnAnAnaMdamaya svarUpa.

niShusIda gaNapatE

Father makes his child touch his feet and blesses him. In this instance, the child didn’t do namaskAra on its own. The anusandhAna in the pUja is comparable to this. The mantra chanted in the beginning of the pUja -

 

निषुसीद गणपते त्वां आहुः विप्रतमं कवीनां।

न ऋते त्वत् क्रियते किंचनारे महाकर्मं मघवन् चित्रमर्च्च्य॥

 

Hey lord of the indriyAs, hRShikESha, you are the supreme. No karma can ever be done without you. I am not capable of doing the pUja independently. Please get your pUja done through me, by staying inside me.

 

This is told by none other than durgAdEvi!! Hence, jIvAs like us are nowhere comparable. He stays in the idol, the materials used for pUja & the worshipper. Aikya chintanA among his rUpAs in the idol, in the materials and our antaryAmi is the pUjA.

 

If we visit someone’s house and offer their things to them and say “take this from me”, how angry would they get. But God is very kind. Everything in this universe is his - ISAvAsyaM idaM sarvaM. Still, he doesn’t feel enraged when we offer him things during pUjA. Father buys toys for the kid, the kid gives them back to father. Father accepts those toys and lifts the kid up. Likewise, if we offer things to the Lord and ask him to lift us up from this sea called saMsAra, won’t he?

Lord in the idol

When we try to think of the lord in the idol, these 2 are wrong thoughts-

1. Idol itself is Lord
2. Lord is directly present in the idol

 

Per tantrasAra sangraha, our anusandhAna of the lord in the idol should be - a glorious dEha of vAyu (mukhyaprANa) and aprAkruta, chidAnanda dEha of the lord in it.

 

When we think of other dEvatAs, it would be - the concerned dEvatA, vAyu inside them and then the lord inside vAyu.

 

This thought is in accordance with the AkhaNAShma concept of vAyu dEvaru (as explained in the previous chapter). The same concept is applicable to the mAnasa pratima (bhagavad-rUpa during meditation).

upAsanA of other dEvatAs

Srimadacharyaru quotes SwEtASwatara Upanishad in MBTN:

 

यस्य देवे परा भक्तिः यथा देवे तथा गुरौ।

तस्यैते कथिता ह्यर्थाः प्रकाशंते महात्मनः॥

 

The qualities like shama, dama, which are required for attaining mOkSha will only appear in those who have the utmost devotion in Srihari and other dEvatAs and gurus as applicable.

 

Points mentioned in tantrasAra sangraha are worth contemplating and practising in this regard.

●     All dEvatAs to be worshipped as dependents and family of viShNu. For ex, during nAgArAdhanA pUja is offered to aShTakula nAgAs. Those nAgAs are parivAra (family) of SESha and SESha is in turn family of Srihari. Hence the worship is mainly of sankarShana inside SESha.

●     One should know about the tAratamya (hirearchy) of dEvatAs and gurus and do upAsana accordinly. Only the one who has devotion in accordance with this principle will attain siddhi.

●     Should be mindful that the antaryAmi of all the dEvatAs is viShnu himself and worship both the antaryAmi and the adhiShTAna. Eg, during ganapati pUja, primary pUja is offered to viSwaMbhara who is antaryAmi of ganapati and the secondary pUja is offered to ganapati. Likewise, narasiMha’s pUja in shiva. AnusandhAna should be that the ShODashOpachAra pUja, naivEdya, etc. are for the antaryAmi first and then for the adhiShTAna.

●     dEvatAs won’t accept the pUjA offered without the anusandhAna of  viShNu being the antaryAmi. It becomes Asuri pUja (demonic).

●     One will not attain sadgati if he is devotee of any dEvata, without being devoted to viShNu.

●     One can not ignore worshipping the svOttama dEvatAs and gurus. Srihari will destroy such bhakti.

●     One should never insult any dEvatAs or gurus. One will not attain any siddhi by insulting them.

 

Hence, sAdhakAs should modify their pUjA methodology to suit tantrasAra, for best results.

dhAraNA & dhyAna

dhyAna is the most misinterpreted subject. Before knowing what is dhyAna, let us see what is not.

●     Not thinking about anything is not dhyAna

●     Keeping the mind blank / empty is not dhyAna

●     Just letting the mind flow with the series/ chain of spontaneous thoughts is also not dhyAna.

 

These are the avaidika (against vedic interpretation) ways. Keeping the mind blank sounds nice but is not achievable. It is also wrong to assume that the mind which goes behind the series of thoughts remains as peaceful as before. The word dhyAna itself has an answer. The word dhyAna makes sense only when there is a “dhyEya”. Which is the dhyEya?

 

Some people say, it is enough to keep objects like nirAkAra (formless) jyOti (light) as dhyEya. This type of meditation can only relax the mind but will not take the meditator towards God. As the rule -

 

तं यथा यथोपासते तदेव भवति

 

says, we obtain that which we do upAsanA of. If we want to obtain God, we have to keep him as the dhyEya object. His form has to be visible to us.

 

Chitta has storage of one’s past, in the form of saMskArAs. If one attempts to empty the mind, these saMskArAs occupy the mind and create confusion. This saMskAra is commonly considered as enemy for dhyAna.In the process of dhyAna as per vEda - purANAs, it is not treated as enemy but friend. The reason being, we can focus on Lord’s form only through this saMskAra. Whatever we see, hear will get into our memory and then appear in our mind when we close our eyes and dive-in. Hence, if we see a photo/ idol of Lord and close our eyes, we can visualize the same for some time and then we forget it. When we do this repeatedly, we would be able to remember the lord’s form and recall whenever we wish. When we are able to do this, we can consider it as some progress. The physical forms of Lord which we use as reference for dhyAna, are prAkRta. The form that appears in our mind through the augmentation of mind, intellect & chitta is also prAkRtik. This form is called vAsanAmaya (derived from the conscience) pratimA. It is not very different from the physical form used as reference.

 

It takes time and practice to be able to visualize the form clearly. Initially it will be hazy/ blurry. Sometimes a sharp image appears just for a second and disappears. It is natural. By using yama (self-restraint), niyama (restraint of the mind), indriya nigraha (control over indriyAs), prANAyAma, etc. one can get the image clearer. It can be observed that the clarity is of higher order in the early morning, in an empty stomach or when one doesn’t consume forbidden items like onions etc.

 

In addition to these, clarity improves significantly if one practises dhAraNa. It is very helpful in the initial stages. One should focus on each part of a good picture or idol of lord from feet to the crown and try to visualize it with eyes closed. The description of Lord’s form in purANAs is not given for poetical/ literary reasons. It is aimed at helping the jijnAsus to imagine his rUpa.

rUpa of Lord

The beautiful feet, toes, toe rings, toe nails, anklets, pItAMbara, waistband studded with gems, proportionate waist, hips, sleek stomach despite containing the entire universe, 3 lines on the stomach (six pack in modern terms), raised chest, broad shoulders. Numerous ornaments in the neck - specially pearl chain, kaustubha maNi (bead), gold necklace & the yajnOpavIta. “Srivatsa” on the right side of the chest. aMgada at the junction of shoulders and arms, kEyUra on the arms, bangles, weapons in 4 hands, face with smiling lips, broad eyes, a grand crown on the head. One should focus on each of these parts and try to recreate the image in the mind. It can be easily done with a little practise. How can one get obstructed / distracted while trying to visualize this extravagant form of the Lord?

 

One can move on to recite his nAma and anusaMdhAna of his guNAs after being able to stabilize his image. The blend of these 3 will then take us to dhyAna. rUpa in eyes, nAma in mouth and guNAs in mind should appear simultaneously. Then only it can be called nAma-smaraNe. Because, smaraNe (memory) is needed to recall guNAs and rUpa. Without these it is just nAmOcchAra. Focusing on the idol in physical form will eventually get us there.

Please Note:

1. One should visualize vAyu’s splendorous body and lord’s presence in aprAkRta form inside him, even during meditation.  
2. Every mantra has an associated dhyEya - rUpa and a dhyAna SlOka describing the dhyEya - rUpa. They go hand-in-hand.

 

One can only realise those many guNAs required for him/her as per his/her eligibility (svarUpa yOgyata), regardless of how many guNAs one meditates on. Realization (sAkShAtkAra) of the lord happens along with the guNAs.

Why ekadashi?

We all know that ekadashi is a fasting day. But people are puzzled as to how ‘not eating’ and ‘god’ are connected. There are many who believe that the primary reason behind fasting on ekadashi is scientific. Hence, it is crucial to know the intention and practise of ekadashi through shAstra. It is more likely that people start practising ekAdashi once this is clear.

Ekadashi & control over indriyAs

The way to mOksha is only through bhakti backed by jnAna which is to be obtained through dhyAna backed by conviction. It is attainable after upadESa from Guru, for which one needs purity of conscience. Hence, pure conscience makes the road to mOksha easier. Initially everyone attempts to attain this purity, without which conviction about brahman doesn’t happen. One attains the milestone of purity after crossing yajna, jnAna and tapas. Tapa means heating. Ekadashi is also a tapas. Tapas is restraining the jnAnEndriyas, karmEndriyAs and mind which keep wandering among shabda - sparsha - rUpa - rasa - gandha (pancha tanmAtrAs), evaporating the materialistic interests (Asakti) and making them focus in one direction.

 

विषया विनिर्वंतंते निराहारस्य देहिनः (BG 2.59). indriyAs turn away from their subjects (viShaya) when the body is devoid of food. The scope of depriving the body of food is not limited to only the mouth but to all the indriyAs. IndriyAs are capable of running behind the materialistic things (viShayAs). They can attract the mind and capture the intellect. For example, the variety of food and people act as viShaya for our eyes. Likewise every indriya has its own “food”.

 

Krishna says, indriyAs gradually lose interest in the respective foods when the body is deprived of food. It is the habit of indriyAs to run behind the things that gives them pleasure immediately. But, by practising and by thinking about dOshAs in those viShayAs, we can achieve vairAgya. This needs cooperation from the mind and the intellect. Ekadashi is the sAdhana of practising indriya-nigraha & manO-nigraha. 

Ekadashi, prArabdha & prAyaschitta

Sometimes, intense prArabdha obstructs spiritual progress. One can get the way cleared through the medium of dhyAna, upAsana. In “karmavipAkasaMhita”, pArvati asks Shiva as to how to get rid of difficulties.  Shiva then describes different dAna, yAtrAs, vritAs and ultimately suggests 2 prAyaschittas (atonement) for all the difficulties/ problems - 1. Fasting on Ekadashi 2. gAyatri japa.gAyatri japa is limited to men but ekAdashi can be observed by everyone and can get rid of prArabdha. Ignoring this miraculous vrita and searching for dOsha parihAra solutions would be like holding butter in one's hands and searching for ghee.

What is anna?

Ekadashi is like a feast for some people. Instead of a regular meal consisting of rice, many other items like payasa (kheer), fried items and all such “light foods”. Urad dal bonda is the lightest among such. Oil is lighter than water, so it floats on water. Bonda floats in oil. So it is the lightest one. This is the result of misinterpreting the statement that anna shouldn’t be consumed on ekAdashi.

(P.S.: anna refers to cooked rice in kannada)

 

Anna means eatables. Shastra defines anna as -

●     Cereals and pulses like rice, wheat + water + fire

●     Flour + fire, with or without salt

●     Vegetable / fruit + water + fire (with or without salt)

 

Hence, everything consumed under the label of “phalAhAra” today, basically falls under anna itself.

 

Those who can must observe complete fast. The weak can consume a bit of milk and fruits; which should be in a quantity less than 1/4th of the regular consumption. Those intending to start fasting may also start with this quantity and gradually observe complete fast. Considering health, one can take small steps in this direction. Let us start from where we are. Srikrishna’s words in Geeta inspire us:

 

न इह अभिक्रमनाशः अस्ति प्रत्यवायः न विद्यते।

स्वल्प मप्यस्य धर्मस्य त्रायते महतो भयात्॥ (2.40)

 

Some activities like agriculture become fruitful only when all the steps in the process are completed. If stopped in between, there is no yield. However, it is not so in nishkAma karma of viShNupUja. There is no dOsha if one stops it in between. A bit of viShNupUja karma gives huge relief from the fear of saMsAra.

Another meaning of upavAsa

There is a special meaning to the word upavAsa. It becomes an ordinary fast if EkAdashi vRta is practised without considering this point.

upa = upari, means upper / higher tatva which implies Lord. Hence, upavAsa means living with the Lord. It doesn’t mean living in the pUjAgrha. Consciously thinking about the Lord. In olden days, EkAdashi was a day off from materialistic activities and was exclusively reserved for spiritual activities. For us, the holiday is only on Sunday. Still one can do a bit of chintana and maintain an empty stomach. At the least, watching TV, unnecessary gossip can be avoided.

EkAdashi is haridina

varAha purANa explains why EkAdashi is “haridina” (God’s day). dEvatAs pray Srihari to grant one day to each of them and so that humans can get the benefitted by praying to them on their respective days. Lord grants one tithi to each of them, as in, tRtIya for pArvati, chaturthi for gaNapati, SHaSHti for skandha, etc. He keeps EkAdashi and dvAdaShi for himself. Hari is sarvOttama. Hence, EkAdashi vRta coupled with fasting is also sarvOttama.

 

This incident of varAha purANa can also be interpreted in another way. Though God is everywhere, he shows his special sAnidhya (presence) in some places (dEsha visheSha or speciality with respect to place). Similarly, God is present in all units of time and gives special benefits to people doing sAdhana at those times. This is kAla visheSha or speciality with respect to time. It is like selling things on special discounts during festivals.

 

Purandara dAsaru says, all vritAs are behind EkAdashi. All the purANAs repeatedly announce the importance of ekAdashi. If ekAdashi is not observed then none of the other vritAs give any benefit. These days we see that people do many vRitAs except EkAdashi. sAdhakAs have to give attention to this point.

upAsana of the Lord in viShNu sahasranAma

viShNu sahasranAma is the king of vaiShNava mantrAs. Unfortunately, it is just a task of 20 mins for those who recite it daily. If not out of compulsion, people just memorize it and recite. Not that this kind of recitation doesn’t yield puNya, but if recited with knowledge it yields enormous benefits.

 

शास्त्रेषु भारतं सारः तत्र नाम सहस्रकम्।

वैष्णवं कृष्णगीता च तत् ञानान् मुच्यते अंजसा॥

 

One should know BG & VSN to attain mOkSha. Knowing is not memorizing. Should know the meaning and profoundness and upAsanA to be done accordingly. One may think that BG has something to know but VSN is just 1000 names. But they’re not just names. Representation of infinite forms (rUpAs). Every name indicates only viShNu’s guNAs. Each name gives a minimum of 100 guNAs of the Lord. The below shloka in the beginning of VSN indicates the same:

 

यानि नामानि गौणानि विख्यातानि महात्मनः

 

The meaning of each name in the VSN unfolds in various angles in different sadAgamAs. Hence, it is not an ordinary stOtra but the essence of the entire shAstra. It is gold mine for anusaMdhAna. Let us take an example of the first name, viSvaM. It gives the below meanings:

1. viSvaM doesn’t mean God is the universe. Because, God is neither an object as advaitins opine, nor transformed into the universe. As nArAyaNasUkta says - “विश्वं वा इदं पुरुषं …… पतिं विश्वस्य आत्मेश्वरं”. As viShNu is the owner of this universe, he is viShva. People are often named by something they own. For example, when a milkman brings milk, we say “milk has come”. In reality it is the milkman who has come and not milk. Milkman is the owner of milk. In the case of viShva, viShNu is the owner of viShva.
2. viShva means viShNu is full of infinite guNAs. We use appropriate units for measuring various things. Meter for clothes, distance by KiloMeter, distance between stars by lightyears, etc. As the object of measurement gets bigger, the unit also gets bigger. The highest unit of measurement for us is this universe. Even when we try to measure viShNu using this unit viShva, we fail terribly. Hence, viShva suggests the quality of God possessing infinite guNAs.
3. The name viShvaM also suggests his creatorship. He didn’t create the universe using external materials like a potter. He created the universe and entered it, occupied it. A pot has molecules. There is space between molecules and inside the molecule. This is AkASa. God occupied all of it. He filled it through his different rUpAs. And yet occupied the space ranging from inside of a molecule to the outside of the universe through one rUpa. Therefore, he is viShva. It shows his  indescribableness.
4. The universe is dependent on him, hence he is viShva. As nArAyaNasUkta says “विश्वं वा इदं पुरुषं तत् विश्वं उपजीवति”.
5. विशेषेण श्वयति गच्छति इति विश्वं - viShNu can travel from one place to another in sleeping position. This indicates his aprAkruta rUpa. It shows his extraordinary svarUpa & his unfathomable powers.

 

These are some of the anusaMdhAnAs of one of his names. The same can be expanded to a thousand names. It is difficult to remember all these guNAs. It is possible to remember through practice. If not all the meanings of a name daily, one can at least do anusaMdhAna of one guna per name on a daily basis. It yields enormous puNya. Though it might take 40 mins instead of 20, it is worth it.

 

As it contains a huge amount of guNAs and meanings, it is the mantra-rAja. However, guNAnusaMdhAna is compulsory.

Different yOga mArgAs and upAsanA

Patanjali’s aShTAnga yOga is very famous. An easy tool available to teach exercise in the name of yOga and mind relaxation in the name of meditation. Patanjali defined yOga as “योगश्चित्तवृत्तिनिरोधः”. He opined that resisting the habits of chitta - pramANa, viparyaya, vikalpa, nidrA and smRti, is yOga. 8 angAs of yOga being - yama (5 parts - ahiMsA, satya, AstEya, brahmacharya, aparigraha), niyama (5 parts - shaucha, saMtOSha, tapa, svAdhyAya, ESwara praNidhAna), Asana, prANAyAma, pratyahAra, dhAraNa, dhyAna and samAdhi. ESwara praNidhAna means offering karmAs to God. He said that the seeker can use these steps to do chintanA of the Lord.

 

The meaning of yOga in shAstra is vast. Krishna said samatva is yOga. One who takes dichotomy like sukha-dukha equally would already have resistance to the habits of mind (chitta-vritti). madhwAchArya proposed haripUja in the place of ESwara praNidhAna. Yama, niyama, Asana, prANAyAma are indeed the components of haripUja. pratyahAra is not a separate component in mOkSha-sAdhana. It is a part of dhAraNa & dhyAna. dhAraNa, dhyAna & samAdhi unfold differently in mOkSha sAdhana as compared to aShTAnga yOga.

1. dhAraNa - khanDasmRti - discontinuous chintana of lord
2. dhyAna - Continuous chintana of lord
3. samAdhi - effortless chintana of Srihari

 

chintanA here means thinking of the mahimAs (greatness) of rUpa, guNa and kriyAs of Srihari and engrossment. aparOkSha is a consequence of perfecting the step of samadhi by practicing over a long term. It is not necessary to follow practices like kriyayoga to keep the mind engaged when the person does chintana of Lord coupled with bhakti.

 

haTayOga focuses on kunDalini shakti, chakrAs and nADis. Prime importance is given to activation of kunDalini energy and is considered as shakti/ dEvi. It finds no mention in the mAdhwa philosophy. When something is not mentioned, it means it is not needed. Nutrition is good for the body but too much of nutritious food causes indigestion in an infant. Similarly, focusing only on activation of kunDalini without shAstrajnAna is absurd/nonsensical and hence it is not emphasised in mAdhwa philosophy. However, exclusive information is given about nADis and chakrAs. Srihari’s anusaMdhAna is given in the chakrAs Instead of dEvatAs like rAkiNi/ DAkiNi. anusaMdhAna of mukhyaprANa - nArAyaNa is to be done to fix the flow of prANashakti in these nADis through prANAyAma. Hence, sagarbha (with mantra) prANAyAma is preferred over agarbha (without mantra) prANAyAma.

 

Among chakrAs, only 6 have been considered fit for upAsanA. svAdhiShTAna in the genitals is not taken into consideration. It implies there is no upAsanA of Srihari pertaining to it. nArAyaNA’s 5 rUpAs have to be thought of in lotuses pertaining to mUlAdhAra, nAbhi (navel), heart, throat, between the eyebrows and 12 aMgulAs (finger breadth) above the head. More details on this can be found in taMtrasAra saMgraha, sulAdis of vijaya dAsaru & HKS of jagannAtha dAsaru.

About bhakti

jnAna without bhakti is dry. Love without jnAna is romance. Both are useless. Bhakti should be backed by jnAna. It can arise only by knowing about the greatness (mahAtmya) of Lord through shAstrAs. It is greater than one’s affection towards any other thing/ person. Let us take care not to fall prey to some of the misconceptions about bhakti.

No mukti through dwESha (hatred)

This is an important hypothesis. The below Sloka from bhAgavata which talks about the chetana from SiSupAla’s body reaching kriShNa after kriShNa kills SiSupAla, is the source of this confusion.

 

गोप्यः कामाद् भयात् कंसः द्वेषात् चैत्यादयो नृपाः।

संबंधाद् वृष्णयः स्नेहाद् यूयं भक्त्यावयं प्रभो॥

 

Apparently it seems to say that gOpis got mukti through love, kaMsa through fear and SiSupAla through hatred.

Let us compare this with the niravakAsha pramANAs from vEdAs, brahmasUtrAs and BG.

 

BG says it is impossible to get kriShNa through any other means than bhakti.

 

भक्त्यातु अनन्यया शक्यः अहं एवं विधः अर्जुन। … (11.54)

 

This is a niravakAsha pramANa. THe opinion “SiSupAla attained kriShNa through hatred” doesn’t go well with this statement of BG. Hence this incident from bhAgavata will have to be understood from a different angle. Also, it doesn’t go well with the other incidents from bhAgavata too. For example, vEna got tamas as a result of abusing paramAtma. Demons like trinAvarta, vatsAsura, kEshi whom KriShNa killed also went to tamas. If daMtavakra and SiSupAla who were demons too, were granted mOkSha then it amounts to saying god is partial. Partiality is a dOSha and it is totally wrong to associate god with dOSha. Hence, it is impossible that SiSupAla attained mOkSha through hatred.

 

Acharya has resolved this ambiguity in bhAgavata tAtparya nirNaya. There were two jIvAs in SiSupAla’s body. One jIva deserved tamas and the other was jaya, the doorkeeper of vaikunTa. When SiSupAla was killed, the demon went to tamas and jaya attained kriShNa. He didn’t get mOkSha immediately. He will serve as doorkeeper in amukta vaikunTa till the end of this kalpa. Similarly in kaMsa and pUtani also there were tw jIvAs each. kaMsa is a demon named kAlanEmi and had AvESa of bhRgu maharShi. pUtani is a demon with AvESa of Urvashi. Same is the case with hiraNyakashipu. In such cases, usually the person displays his original demonic character. Sometimes the effect of good jIva also surfaces. For instance, jaya inside hiraNyakashipu starts preaching vEdAnta after the killing of hiraNyAkSha. But it is only for a limited period. Then the demonic jIva takes over. garuDa purANa contains the lokAs pertaining to this explanation provided by AchArya.

 

kriShNa says in BG: I will make the vile jIvAs hating me, to be born as demons; I will never allow them to attain me (mOkSha) and they will attain tamas. Hence, there is no mOkSha with dvESha.

 

No mukti through lust

It is nonsensical to think that gOpis attained mOkSha as a result of their lustful relationship with kriShNa. In reality, all of them had AvEsha of lakShmidEvi throughout the period of their intimacy with kriShNa. (Previous chapter has details about qualities of lakShmidEvi). gOpis were all aparOkShis. They got rid of the pApa through serving god with pure devotion and attained mOkSha.

 

Everyone has to worship god as one’s master (मम स्वामि हरिः नित्यं सर्वस्य पतिः एव च). Instead, if he is served with the thought that he is one’s husband, lover, etc. it leads to naraka.

 

To conclude, devotion towards God should be as per one’s yOgyata. Then only he graces us and mOkSha is attained. One has to perform nitya-naimittika karmAs japa, tapa, pUja, upavAsa and dedicate all the daily karmAs to him, for the bhakti to grow.

Karma samarpana

यत्करोषि यदश्नासि यज्जुहोषि ददासि यत् ।

यत्तपस्यसि कौन्तेय तत्कुरुष्व मदर्पणम् ॥ ९-२७॥

 

kriShNa said, whatever acts you do - eating, hOma, tapa - dedicate/ submit everything to me.

 

Thoughtfully offering everything in life makes us humble and also takes us nearer to mOkSha.

 

An act can be offered -

●     while it is being done

●     When it is done

●     Yet to be done

●     An act can also be offered repeatedly

 

Besides the deeds, the following things are also to be offered -

 

●     All the luxuries we have in life

●     Instruments for sAdhanA like wife, children, are only because of his grace. They have to be offered to him with gratitude

●     The experiences of pain, ailments, agonies should also be offered to him as tapas

●     Our body, with which we have the most affectionate bonding in life, should be offered to him beforehand. Funeral should also be considered as a tapas to please him (bRhadAraNyaka)

Note:

1. Offering (samarpaNa) and nAhaM karta hariH karta go hand in hand
2. Offering should be done to vAyu dEvaru who will inturn submit it on the feet of Lord

 

 तपस्विनो दानपरा यशस्विनो मनस्विनो मंत्रविधः सुमंगलाः।

क्षेमं न विंदंति विना यदर्पणं तस्मै सुभद्रश्रवसे नमो नमः॥

 

Salutations to auspicious Srihari, without offering karmAs to whom, the tapasvis, the donators, the famous, the determined, the versed in the mantrAs and the sacred, can not obtain the benefits.

mOkSha chintana - epilogue

Everyone has 4 dEhAs - the outer physical (sthUla), inner aniruddha dEha, next inner linga dEha and the innermost svarUpa. The points to be noted are:

●     In svarUpa dEha, there is a form of paramAtma called the biMbarUpa and the jIvAtma as his prati-biMba (reflection)

●     jIvAtma is also aprAkRta like paramAtma

●     The other dEhAs are all prAkRta but invisible to our eyes

●     svarUpa dEha & linga dEha are anAdi (existing from eternity)

●     Except svarUpa, the other dEhAs get destroyed before mOkSha

●     jIvAtma exists as one of the aprAkRta satva, rajas and tamas guNAs (he/she doesn’t become satvik rajasic or tAmasic by karma. Karmas of a person are manifestations of his/ her prArabdha or the svarUpa itself)

●     A person may exhibit guNAs different from that of his svarupa because of his karmas or surroundings. mOkSha is the state where one is able to manifest the guNAs of svarUpa in their true form. Hence, even bad people have mOkSha. Eternal andhantamas is their mOkSha

 

In short, the jIvAtma shedding the guNAs that aren’t his/hers and becoming completely oneself, is mOkSha. Only those mukti-yOgyAs with aprAkRta satva guNa in the svarUpa will attain vaikuMTha. The muktAs will serve the svOttamAs in mOkSha. They will continue to be in the matured state of bhakti which fetched them mOkSha. One doesn’t become God or one with God.

 

The blueprint of route to mOkSha is clearer when seen backwards. A brief description of each stage is given below -

●     AparOkSha jnAna - aparOkSha is the prerequisite for mOkSha. One sees the biMbarUpa of viShNu during aparOkSha. This rUpa may be same or different for two people. At this time, God destroys the saMchita & AgAmi karmAs of the jIva. One has to just experience the prArabdha, serve Lord through matured bhakti and meditation to attain mOkSha.

●     tatva-niSchaya - One has to attain conviction in tatvAs pertaining to God before reaching the stage of aparOkSha. True dhyAna is attainable only after conviction. Until then dhyAna is merely one’s effort towards dhAraNa. [Keeping the mind empty, meditating on nirAkAra are not dhyAna. dhyAna needs a dhyEya (object to meditate upon). The dhyEya should be God’s forms (rUpAs) and guNAs (attributes). Visualization/ imagination of God’s rUpAs, contemplation of his guNAs and chanting of his nAmAs should happen simultaneously. Only then it is called nAmasmaraNe. Because, smaraNe or memory is required to think of his rUpAs and guNAs. If only chanting is done, it becomes just nAma. Looking at the physical idol with some effort will make it possible to visualize the forms mentally. Each part has to be focused on separately before one gets the ability to picturize the entire form. Details on dhyAna are available in bhAgavata 2nd skandha. Srimadacharya has shed light on this in dwAdasha stOtra (vandE vandyaM sadAnandaM)].

●     Initiation from guru - Conviction is attained through svarUpa guru’s guidance. One doesn’t have to go in search of guru. God makes guru available when one becomes eligible. svarUpa guru may or may not be same as one’s instructor. Conviction is attained after receiving tatvajnAna from different gurus and contemplating on it.

●     antaHkaraNa shuddhi - Purity of conscience is the eligibility to get initiation from guru. All the karmAs we do are aimed at purifying our conscience. Yajna, dAna and tapas are the 3 types of karma.

●     Yajna - by conducting the karmAs like sandhyAvandana, pUja, study of shAstrAs by oneself and through guru and activities throughout life for pleasing the lord and offering them to him as yajna will take us closer to mOkSha. brahma-jijnAsa (attempts to know about brahma) is also a prime duty.

●      dAna - dAna, visiting tIrtha-kShetrAs will also purify the conscience. yAtrAs not focused on this will be just tours.

●     Tapas - control over the indriyAs, vRtAs like ekAdashi are also modes of attaining purity. They will also reduce the pApAs thereby facilitating god’s grace.

 

A point to be remembered is, jnAna - bhakri -vairAgya should keep increasing throughout the process. Without them one won’t be graced by God. Without his grace there is no mOkSha. Let us utilize this mAnava janma obtained as a result of puNya of many janmAs for the fulfilment of mOkSha puruShArtha.

|| श्री मध्वांतर्गत नारायणाभिन्न हयग्रीवाभिन्न राम-कृष्ण-वेदव्यासात्मक श्री लक्ष्मीनरसिंहार्पणमस्तु||

||श्री कृष्णार्पणमस्तु||