Introduction to Advaita Vedanta The mind is the key to happiness Bondage and Liberation are only in the Mind The Gitacharya and The Gopijanavallabha
From Vishayananda to Brahmananda
Chapter
1 Introduction to Advaita Vedanta
The term 'Vedanta'
stands for the Upanishads
as a whole, which form part of the Vedas. It would therefore be
appropriate to give a general account of the Vedas before going on to
deal with Vedanta.
In the Indian tradition, philosophy is termed 'darsana', a Sanskrit word meaning
'seeing' or 'experiencing'. This indicates that the aim of philosophy in
India is direct experience of the ultimate Reality and not mere
intellectual speculation as in Western philosophy. The Indian
philosophical systems are classified into two broad categories known as
'aastika darsanas' and
'naastika darsanas'. There are no exact equivalents to
these terms in English, though the terms 'orthodox' and 'unorthodox' are
sometimes used. It would be wholly misleading to use the terms
'theistic' and 'atheistic' for these categories. The term 'aastika' has
been defined as referring to a person who, or a system which, accepts,
(1) the authority of the Vedas, (2) the doctrine of rebirth and (3) the
existence of other 'lokas' or spheres of experience. In the category of
aastika darsanas fall those systems which accept the authority of the
Vedas. These are the six systems known as Nyaya, Vaiseshika, Sankhya,
Yoga, Purvamimamsa and Uttaramimamsa (or Vedanta). Even among these six,
it is only the last two that base themselves directly on the Vedas and
accept nothing that goes against them. The other four systems are based
more on independent grounds of logic and reasoning, but they too are not
opposed to the Vedas.
In the category of naastika darsanas fall the four schools of Buddhism,
Jainism and the Carvaka (or atheistic) school, which do not accept the
authority of the Vedas. These also make up a total of six.
The Vedas
All the six aastika darsanas regard the Vedas as the record of
the divine truths revealed to the sages (Rishis or seers) in their
supra-normal consciousness. The sages are not the authors of the Vedas.
They are known as 'seers' of the Vedic mantras. The traditional view is
that the Vedas are eternal. The word 'Veda' means primarily 'knowledge'
and secondarily the books in which that knowledge is recorded. This is
not knowledge of the external world, but the knowledge of the supreme
Truth which cannot be attained by any effort of the human mind. It has
been categorically declared by our ancient sages that the Vedas have no
validity in matters which fall within the domain of other valid means of
knowledge such as perception and inference. Sri Sankara says in his
Bhashya on the Bhagavadgita, ch.18, verse 66: "The validity of the
Vedas holds good only with regard to matters which cannot be known
through such other valid means of knowledge as direct perception, etc.,
because the validity of the Vedas lies in revealing what is beyond
direct perception. Even a hundred Vedic statements cannot become valid
if they say that fire is cold or non-luminous. If a Vedic text says that
fire is cold or non-luminous, one should assume that the intended
meaning of the text is different, for otherwise its validity cannot be
maintained. One should not interpret it in such a way as to contradict
some other valid means of knowledge".
Because of this clear demarcation of the spheres of validity of
the Vedas on the one hand and the other means of knowledge relied on by
science on the other, no conflict between science and the Vedas can
arise, similar to those which arose between the Church and the
discoveries of scientists like Copernicus and Galileo in Europe. It is
this knowledge contained in the Vedas that is considered to be eternal.
Just as the law of gravity existed and operated even before it was
discovered by Newton, the knowledge contained in the Vedas existed even
before it became known to the sages.
The Vedas are considered to be 'apaurusheya', i.e., they are not
human compositions. Even God is not the author of the Vedas. The eternal
knowledge contained in the Vedas is only revealed by God to the sages in
each cycle of creation. The Vedas are 'seen' or 'heard' by the sages and
recorded by them or their disciples for the benefit of posterity. The
Vedas are therefore termed sruti, or 'what is heard'. As distinguished
from these are the smritis, which are all human compositions, based on
the srutis. The Itihasas and Puranas come under the category of smriti.
According to Manu, the greatest lawgiver of India, the smritis should be
considered as an elaboration of the Vedas. However, it is an inviolable
rule that, where there is a difference between the sruti and the smriti
on any matter, the sruti has to be upheld and the smriti should be
interpreted in conformity with it. The truths enshrined in the Vedas have been
actually experienced again and again by successive generations of great
souls. The experiences of great saints like Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
and Bhagavan Ramana in recent times bear testimony to the authenticity
of all that is stated in the Upanishads.
The Vedas are four in number-- Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and
Atharvaveda. Each Veda consists of three parts-- the karma-kanda, the
upasana-kanda and the jnana-kanda. The karma-kanda is divided into
samhitas and brahmanas. The samhitas are collections of mantras, or
hymns in verse, most of which are praises or prayers addressed to
various gods such as Indra, Varuna and Agni. They are chanted during the
performance of sacrifices. The brahmanas
are mostly in prose and contain detailed descriptions of
sacrifices and instructions for the performance of sacrificial rites.
The upasana-kanda deals with various meditations. The jnana-kanda
consists of the Upanishads and this is what is denoted by the term
'Vedanta'.
These three kandas are, however, not mutually exclusive
compartments. The highest philosophical truths, similar to those
expounded in the Upanishads, are found also in the samhita and brahmana
portions which deal mainly with Vedic rituals. It is further noteworthy
that the Isavasyopanishad appears in the samhita portion of the Sukla
Yajurveda, the Brihadaranyakopanishad forms the concluding portion of
the Satapathabrahmana of the Sukla Yajurveda, the Chandogyopanishad
constitutes eight chapters of the Chandogyabrahmana of Samaveda and the
Kenopanishad forms the ninth chapter of the Talavakarabrahmana of
Samaveda. All these form part of jnanakanda, in spite of their being
located right inside the samhitas or brahmanas.
The term 'Vedanta' should therefore be understood to mean the
ultimate conclusion or the highest philosophy of the Vedas and not the
end portion of the Vedas.
The triple texts
The source books of Vedanta are the triple texts, Prasthanatraya, namely, the Upanishads, the Bhagavadgita and
the Brahmasutras.
The Upanishads
The word ‘Upanishad' is derived by adding the prefixes ‘upa’ (near) and ni’ (with
certainty) to the verbal root ‘sad’
meaning ‘ to destroy, to go to and to loosen’. By the word ‘Upanishad' is meant the knowledge that
destroys the seeds of worldly existence such as ignorance in the case of
those seekers of liberation who, after cultivating detachment towards
all enjoyments, approach (upa,
sad) this knowledge and
then deliberate on it with steadiness and certainty (ni).
Though this knowledge is the primary meaning of the word, it is used
also to denote the book that contains this knowledge, in a secondary
sense. This knowledge is known as 'Brahmavidya'. The theme of
all the Upanishads is Brahman, which is identical with the individual
self. This subject is dealt with in detail later on.
It is not known with any certainty how many Upanishads existed
originally, but 108 are now available to us. There are commentaries,
known as 'bhashya' by Sri Sankara on eleven of these, namely, Isa, Kena,
Katha, Prasna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Aitareya, Taittiriya, Chandogya,
Brihadaranyaka and Nrsimhatapani upanishads. There is also a commentary
on Svetasvatara upanishad, but there is difference of opinion among
modern scholars about its authorship, though tradition attributes it to
Sri Sankara. The Bhagavadgita
This is the second of the triple texts. It forms part of the
great epic Mahabharata and is given the same authority as the upanishads.
As is well known, the Bhagavadgita contains the teachings of Lord
Krishna to Arjuna on the battle field of Kurukshetra. Sri Sankara has
described it as the essence of the Vedas. The Brahmasutras
This work is attributed to sage Veda-Vyasa. It consists of short
aphorisms, called sutras. There are in all 555 aphorisms. A total of 192
topics, known as adhikaranas are dealt with in these aphorisms. The
purpose of these aphorisms is to explain the real import of various
terms and statements in the upanishads and to reconcile apparent
contradictions. Sri Sankara has explained the meanings of these
aphorisms from the Advaitic point of view in his commentaries, known as
‘Bhashya’. The essence of Advaita Vedanta
The philosophy of Advaita Vedanta has attracted intellectuals from all
parts of the world because of the fact that it adheres to the strict
rules of logic and does not demand blind faith or unquestioning
acceptance. The student of Vedanta is asked to examine and think for
himself before accepting the teachings of the Guru. But he must start
with an open mind, a genuine desire to understand and an attitude of
respect towards the scriptures. We find in the upanishads
that the student frankly puts his doubts and objections to the Guru and
the Guru very patiently clarifies his doubts and answers his objections.
The upanishads are not for the intellectually
indolent. There is a very important place for reason in Vedanta.
The fundamental principle of Vedanta
is that the final testimony of truth is actual spiritual experience.
This makes it a very scientific system and therefore acceptable to
intellectuals of the present day who swear by reason and the scientific
method.
Dr. T.M.P.Mahadevan, the great Vedantic scholar, says in his book 'Ramana Maharshi and His Philosophy of
Existence'-- "We believe that Advaita is not a sectarian doctrine.
It is the culmination of all doctrines, the crown of all views. Though
other views may imagine themselves to be opposed to Advaita, Advaita is
opposed to none. As Gaudapada, a pre-Sankara
teacher of Advaita, says, Advaita has no quarrel with any system of
philosophy. While the pluralistic world-views may be in conflict with
one another, Advaita is not opposed to any of them. It recognises the
measure of truth that there is in each of them; but only, that truth is
not the whole. Hostility arises out of partial vision. When the whole
truth is realised, there can be no hostility. (Mandukya Karika, III. 17
& 18; IV. 5)".
The essence of Advaita has been stated by Sri Sankara in half a verse thus:--
Brahman is the only Reality, the universe has only apparent reality, and
the individual self is non-different from Brahman.
Brahman is the only Reality. 'Reality' is defined as that which
does not undergo any change at any time. By this test, Brahman, which is
absolutely changeless and eternal, is alone real. The world keeps on
changing all the time and so it cannot be considered as real. At the
same time, we cannot dismiss it as unreal, because it is actually
experienced by us. The example of a rope being mistaken for a snake in
dim light is used to explain this. The snake so seen produces the same
reaction, such as fear and trembling of the limbs, as a real snake
would. It cannot therefore be said to be totally unreal. At the same
time, on examination with the help of a lamp it is found that the snake
never existed and that the rope alone was there all the time. The snake
cannot be described as both real and unreal, because these two
contradictory qualities cannot exist in the same substance. It must
therefore be said that the snake is neither real nor unreal. Such an
object is described as 'mithya'. Just as the snake appears because of
ignorance of the fact that there is only a rope, this world appears to
exist because of our ignorance of Brahman. Thus the world is also
neither real nor unreal; it is also 'mithya'. Just as the snake is
superimposed on the rope, the world is superimposed on Brahman. Our
ignorance of Brahman is what is called avidya or ajnaana or
nescience. This ignorance not only makes us ignorant of Brahman, but it
projects the world as a reality. The world has no reality apart from
Brahman, just as the illusory snake has no reality apart from the rope.
When the knowledge of Brahman arises, the world is seen as a mere
appearance of Brahman. The illusory snake arose from the rope, was
sustained by the rope and ultimately merged into the rope. Similarly,
the world arises from Brahman, is sustained by Brahman and merges into
Brahman on the attainment of knowledge. Another example is also given to
explain this. Ornaments of different sizes and shapes are made out of
one gold bar. Their appearance and the use for which they are meant
vary, but the fact that they are all really nothing but gold, in spite
of their different appearances and uses, cannot be denied. The
appearance may change, a bangle may be converted into rings, but the
gold always remains as gold. When we begin to look upon the bangles,
rings, etc., as nothing but gold in essence, the differences between
bangle and ring, ring and chain, etc., cease to count though they
continue to retain their different shapes. Similarly, on the dawn of the
knowledge of Brahman (which
is the same as the Self), though the different forms continue to be seen
by the Jnaani, the realised soul, he sees them all
only as appearances of the one Brahman. Thus the perception of
difference between one person and another, or one thing and another, and
the consequences of such perception, such as looking upon some as
favourable and others as the opposite, and the consequent efforts to
retain or get what is favourable and to get rid of or avoid what is not
favourable, come to an end. This is the state of liberation even while
living, which is known as Jivanmukti.
Every individual identifies himself with the physical body, the
sense organs and the mind. When a person describes himself as stout or
lean or fair-complexioned or dark, he is looking upon himself as the
physical body to which these characteristics belong. When he says 'I
see', 'I hear', 'I smell' and so on, he is identifying himself with the
organs of sense which perform these functions. When he says 'I am happy'
or 'I am unhappy', he is identifying himself with his mind. The
Upanishads declare that all these identifications are wrong and that the
human being is in reality not the body or the sense-organs or the mind,
but Brahman, which is eternal, changeless and not affected by anything
that happens to the body-mind complex. It is Brahman that appears as the
jiva or individual because of identification with the body-mind complex.
This body-mind complex, which makes the infinite, all-pervading Brahman
appear as an individual limited to a particular body-mind complex, is
known as the limiting adjunct or upadhi
of Brahman. This wrong
identification, which is called bondage, is due to our ignorance of our
real nature. This ignorance is what is called avidya
or
nescience. When this ignorance is eradicated, the person remains
established in his essence as the Self or Brahman-Atman. This is
liberation. Thus liberation is not the attainment of some new state in
some other world after the end of the present life. It is only the
realisation, in this life itself, of what one has always been, namely
Brahman, by the removal of the wrong notion that one is the body-mind
complex. The illusory snake never existed. What existed even when the
snake was seen was only the rope. Similarly, bondage has no real
existence at all. Even when we are ignorant of Brahman and think of
ourselves as limited by the body, we are really none other than the
infinite Brahman. Liberation is thus only the removal of the wrong
identification with the body, mind and senses. The attainment of the
state of liberation-in-life or Jivanmukti is the ultimate goal of
human life according to the upanishads. Three
paths are laid down in the scriptures as the means to the attainment of
this ultimate goal. These are karma yoga, bhakti yoga and jnaana
yoga.
Here the word 'yoga' signifies 'the means'. That is to say, karma,
bhakti sand jnaana are the means to the attainment of
liberation. These are, however, not independent paths, but are
intrinsically bound together. Karma yoga is the performance of all
duties enjoined upon one by the scriptures, as well as the duties that
are incumbent on one because of one's station in life. If these duties
are performed without craving for the fruit of the actions and as an
offering to God, they lead to purification of the mind by the
eradication of desires and the evil consequences of desire, namely,
greed, anger, jealousy and other negative emotions. The very fact that
all actions must be performed as an offering to God implies that one
must have devotion to God. Thus the path of bhakti or devotion to God
and the path of action, or karma yoga are intrinsically bound together
and one cannot be practised without the other. Thus karma yoga and
bhakti yoga form one composite whole. As stated above, karma yoga is the
means by which the mind becomes purified by the removal of all
impurities in the form of desire, anger, greed, delusion, pride and
jealousy. Bhakti yoga brings about concentration of mind. Only a mind
which has become pure and one-pointed is capable of attaining
self-knowledge. Jnaana yoga consists in hearing the
exposition of the scriptures by the Guru, reflecting on what has been
heard in order to remove all doubts, and meditation to realise as an
actual experience what has been understood intellectually by hearing and
reflection. A person who has, by this process, come to experience the
truth that he is really the Atman and not the body, mind or sense-organs
and remains firmly rooted in that experience is a liberated one or a Jivanmukta. ************************************ Chapter
2 The mind is the key to happiness
We all know from our experience that no two persons are identical
in their thoughts, their likes and dislikes, reaction to situations and
so on. What is the reason for this diversity?. If we examine the
composition of a human being we find that he is made up of three
components. The first is the outer, physical body consisting of skin,
muscles, bones, blood and the like. Then there is the mind, which term
includes the intellect. The third is consciousness. The physical body is
made up of the same chemicals in all human beings and so it cannot be
the cause of the difference in character between one person and another.
The consciousness is the same in all. We thus see that it is the mind
that is the cause of diversity. According to our scriptures the mind
performs four functions. These are--(1) evaluating the pros and cons of
any situation, (2) ultimately coming to a decision on what is to be
done, (3) storing the experiences and (4) identifying actions, thoughts,
etc as one's own, in the form 'I am doing this', 'I did this', 'I am
happy', 'I am sad', etc. The manner in which these functions take place
can be explained by taking an illustration. I am walking along the road
and I see at a distance a person whose gait seems to resemble that of a
certain friend of mine, named Raman. I begin to debate whether the
person I see at a distance is Raman or not. When he comes nearer and I
am able to see his face clearly, I compare it with the memory of the
face of Raman stored in my mind. If I find that the two tally, I decide
that he is Raman and I greet him. It will be clear from this example
that my decision and subsequent action are governed by the memory of the
face of Raman stored in my mind. To generalise, all our reactions to
various situations are governed by the impressions and experiences
stored in the mind. Every action performed by us and every thought that
arises in us leaves an impression on the mind. We do not of course
remember all our actions and thoughts, but all of them leave
impressions. These impressions are what are known in our scriptures as
samskaras or vasanas. It is these that decide how we react to particular
situations. If the actions and thoughts are good, they leave good
impressions and these will make the person act in a manner that
contributes to the good of others and ultimately to his own good. Bad
actions and thoughts leave bad impressions and these will make the
person act in a manner that causes harm to others and ultimately to
himself also. It is because of this that we are instructed by our
scriptures to always do good deeds and think good thoughts and to
refrain from all evil acts and thoughts. When a person acts in a manner
beneficial to others, he feels joy at having made some one else happy.
Selfishness, jealousy, anger, haughtiness and other such negative
attitudes and emotions arise from the evil impressions left by evil
thoughts and deeds. A person who is jealous, selfish, angry or haughty
cannot be happy and he himself is the person who suffers most from such
evil traits. On the other hand, a person who always harbours goodwill
towards others will himself be always happy. Every individual is born
with the impressions, both good and bad, which he had accumulated by his
actions and thoughts in past births. When he dies, the impressions
gathered in his mind go with him and will be present in his mind in the
next birth. When a person dies, it is only his physical body that is
cremated. His mind, which is called the subtle body in the scriptures,
goes to other worlds and then comes back again to this earth in another
body. Whether a person is born as a human being or as an animal, bird
and so on depends on the impressions of his actions and thoughts left in
his mind at the time of the death of his previous body. Even those who
have been born with bad impressions can, by their effort, erase those
bad impressions and create good impressions by their good actions and
thoughts. This is what our scriptures exhort us to do. The ultimate goal
of human life is to go beyond the cycle of repeated births and deaths.
The essential requisite for this is the purification of the mind. A pure
mind is one which is free from cravings for worldly pleasures. The
Upanishads say that the mind itself is the cause of bondage which is the
root cause of all sorrow, as well as of liberation which is a state of
supreme bliss. The mind becomes the cause of bondage and consequent
sorrow when it is agitated by desires. The same mind, when freed of
desires, is the means to liberation. The secret of happiness thus lies
in ridding the mind of all desires and elevating it by fixing it on the
contemplation and worship of God.
There is an episode in Chapter 34 of Skandha X of Srimad
Bhagavatam which illustrates vividly how haughtiness leads to downfall
and suffering. Once the cow-herds of Gokula went, along with Lord
Krishna, to a place called 'Ambikavanam'. Having bathed in the Saraswati
river, they worshipped Lord Siva and His consort Goddess Ambika. They
passed the night on the bank of the river, praying and fasting. Suddenly
a python appeared and began to devour Krishna's father Nandagopa.
Hearing Nandagopa's cries the cowherds rushed to his rescue and
belaboured the python with firebrands. In spite of severe beating the
python did not release Nandagopa from its hold. Krishna then went and
touched the python with his foot. At once the python changed into a very
resplendent Vidyadhara (a semi-divine being). The Vidyadhara told
Krishna "I am a Vidyadhara by name Sudarsana. Being endowed with
extraordinary beauty and wealth, I was very haughty. Once, in my
haughtiness, I ridiculed some great sages of the Angirasa line for their
rather ugly looks. The sages cursed that I would become a python. You
have now saved me from the effect of the curse". By being haughty
because of his beauty he became a python which is a very repulsive
creature. The lesson we have to learn from this story is that if a
person is haughty because of his beautiful looks, he will be deprived of
his beauty and will be born as a very ugly creature in his next birth.
The story of the curse making the Vidyadhara a python is only another
way of bringing out this truth. Extending this logic, it follows that if
a person is haughty because of his wealth and therefore treats the poor
with contempt or misuses his wealth to harm others, he will be born as a
beggar in his next birth. If a person is haughty because of his
learning, he will be deprived of learning and will be an illiterate
person in his next birth. The lesson therefore is this. Never be haughty
because of your wealth, beauty, learning or other accomplishments, but
cultivate humility. Be kind and considerate to others who are less
fortunate than you and do all that you can to help them.
Thus we find that the only way to get better births in future and
to attain liberation ultimately is to strive hard to discard all evil
traits which one is born with and to make the mind free from desires.
These can be achieved only by the grace of God. The cultivation of
intense devotion to God is therefore the prime requisite for the
attainment of happiness.
*********************************************** Chaper
3 Bondage and Liberation are only in the Mind(An
episode from Devi Bhagavatam)
The purpose of the Puranas is to expound the abstruse teachings
of Vedanta in a manner easily intelligible to the common man. This is
done through the medium of stories which convey profound truths under a
very attractive garb. It happens sometimes that the same episode is
narrated with substantial differences in different Puranas. This is
because the stories themselves are not important; what are important are
the lessons we derive from them. This is being stated here at the very
outset because the story of Suka as it appears in
Devi Bhagavatam, which is going to be narrated here, will be
found to be totally at variance with what is found in Srimad Bhagavatam.
The main Puranas are eighteen in number. The authorship of all of
them, except one, Vishnupurana, is attributed to sage Vyasa. Sage
Parasara, father of sage Vyasa, is considered to be the author of
Vishnupurana. Of these, the two which are considered to be the most
important are Srimad Bhagavatam and Devi Bhagavatam. The former is
devoted to a description of the various incarnations of Lord Vishnu and
the narration of His glories. The latter extols the glory of Bhagavati
or Parasakti. Each of these Puranas contains about 18000 verses divided
into twelve Skandhas. In Srimad Bhagavatam there are 335 chapters and in
Devi Bhagavatam there are 318 chapters.
Lord Vishnu (or Narayana) and Bhagavati (or Narayani) are two
aspects of the same Supreme Reality known as Brahman in the Upanishads.
The concept of the Supreme Being as the Divine Mother of the universe
has its basis in the Vedas themselves. The Rigveda contains the famous
Devi Sukta, proclaimed, significantly, by a woman seer, Rishi Ambhrini.
This hymn may be said to have laid the foundation for the whole doctrine
of the manifestation of Chit-sakti as the universe and Her immanence in
it.
After composing Devi Bhagavatam, sage Vyasa taught it to his son
Suka. At this time Vyasa had a disciple who is referred to merely as 'Suta'.
While Vyasa was teaching the Devi Bhagavatam to Suka, his disciple, Suta,
who was present, also learnt it. It was Suta who narrated the Devi
Bhagavatam to Saunaka and other sages in Naimisharanya, a very sacred
spot.
The Devi Bhagavatam begins with a verse reminiscent of the
Gayatri Mantra:--
"Om. May we meditate on that Primordial Vidya in the form of
the all-pervading Consciousness, Who enlivens our intellect".
Vyasa and Suka
The episode narrated below appears in chapters 10 to 19 of
Skandha I of Devi Bhagavatam.
Suka,
the son of sage Vyasa, was the very incarnation of Vairagya
(detachment). Soon after his birth he became the disciple of Brihaspati,
the preceptor of the gods. After completing the study of all the
scriptures within a very short period, he returned to his father's
hermitage. In course of time Vyasa began to think of getting his son
married, as only then would he become entitled to perform the religious
duties prescribed in the Vedas for a house-holder. One day sage Vyasa
told Suka, "My son, you have mastered the Vedas and all the other
scriptures. You must now enter the stage of the grihasta by taking a
wife. Only a grihasta can properly propitiate the manes and the gods.
Your duty to me will also be fulfilled only if you marry. The scriptures
say that one who has no son cannot get access to heaven. I am therefore
very eager that you should marry. You were born as my son as the result
of intense austerities practised by me. It is therefore your duty to
fulfil my wish by getting married".
Bonds of Samsara stronger than iron chains
Suka replied: "Father, it is no doubt true that a son should
act according to the wishes of his father. But, at the same time, the
father has a duty to give such advice to his son as would lead the
latter to the highest good. I am surprised that you, who are so learned,
are talking like an ignorant man bewildered by the power of Maya. You
say that you want me to be happy. The happiness produced by worldly
enjoyments is always mixed with sorrow. Is that real happiness? If I get
married, I will have to act according to the wishes of the woman I
marry. How can there be happiness when there is dependence on the will
of another? One who has been bound by an iron chain may at some time be
able to free oneself, but one can never free oneself from the bonds of
his wife and children. Will one whose mind is set on the supreme bliss
find any attraction in the pleasures of the flesh which are trivial and
always mixed with sorrow? Instead of rescuing me from this ocean of
Samsara, why are you trying to immerse me deeper into it? It is only the
ignorant who will find happiness in worldly life, just as worms are
happy in filth. One who, even after having attained a human birth which
is so difficult to get and having, in addition, studied all the
scriptures, is still attached to the world, is no better than a dog or a
pig. Only that person is really learned who strives for liberation from
Samsara".
To this Vyasa said: "What you say may, on the surface,
appear to be quite logical, but the fact is that you are
labouring under some wrong notions. What binds a man is not wife or
children or home but the mind. One who is mentally free is not bound
even if he has a family and one who is not mentally free is in bondage
even if he is outwardly in the Sannyasa Ashrama. Whether a person lives
in a house or a hermitage or in the forest, it is the mind that is the
cause of bondage as well as of liberation. A householder who does not
swerve from the path of righteousness, performs all the duties ordained
by the scriptures and does not harm any creature is truly a liberated
person. All the other three Ashramas depend on the householder for
sustenance. How exalted the Grihastashrama is! Heaven and liberation are
within easy reach of one who conducts his life according to the
scriptures, in whatever Ashrama he may be. One who transgresses the
tenets of the scriptures has no hope of spiritual evolution, even if he
is a Sannyasi. The stage of the householder is as difficult as it is
exalted. The way to the fourth stage, Sannyasa, is through that of the
householder. There is a great risk in jumping from Brahmacharya to
Sannyasa. The right path is to live the life of a householder in
accordance with the scriptures, then hand over the responsibility of the
household to the son, take Vanaprastha and then Sannyasa. You know that
the mind and the senses are very powerful. They are likely to make a man
go astray. A Brahmachari should, therefore, get married at the proper
time. It is very difficult to control the senses when one is young. For
your own good, therefore, you should get married. There is nothing wrong
whatsoever in this course".
On hearing these words of his father Suka replied: "Whatever
you may say, I will not marry. Marriage is undoubtedly a bondage. It can
never bring real happiness. One who gets married will have to worry
about the means of earning wealth. One whose mind is occupied with the
thought of acquiring wealth can never be happy. If he is not able to
earn money and remains poor, his relations will treat him with contempt.
If he earns wealth, there will be other problems. To earn wealth one has
to deviate from the path of righteousness. One who strictly adheres to
the path of righteousness can never become rich. Indra, the king of the
gods, has all the wealth of the three worlds at his command. But is he
happy? He is afraid even of the starving ascetic. You know all this as
well as I do. And yet you are trying to push me deeper into this
terrible Samsara. The sorrow caused by birth, old age, disease and stay
in the mother's womb can all be borne. But the sorrow caused by desire
is worse than all these. Because of desire, even those who have mastered
the Vedas and all the other scriptures wait at the door of the rich to
get something. They bow low before him. They praise him to the skies.
All this is just to fill the belly. Cannot the belly be filled with some
fruit or root or leaf which can be got in the forest? Instead of that,
why should one build a prison for oneself with wife and children? I am
not in the least attracted by the Karma Kanda of the Vedas. Please
therefore impart to me Jnana or Yoga. Tell me the means by which I can
destroy all my Karma-- Sanchita, Prarabdha and Agami. Please do not talk
to me again about the bondage that marriage undoubtedly is".
On hearing these words of his son Vyasa was overwhelmed by grief.
Tears came streaming down his cheeks. His body began to tremble. Seeing
all this Suka said to himself--" O God! My father is reacting as if
what I am proposing to do is a heinous crime. He is the author of the
Vedanta sutras, the Puranas and the Mahabharata. He has divided the
Vedas into four. He is reputed to be omniscient and a man of perfect
discrimination. But see how Maya has overpowered even him! None can
conquer this Maya. Even the Trinity (Brahma, Vishnu and Siva) act
according to the commands of the Devi, who is Mahamaya".
Then he spoke to Vyasa thus: "You who are so learned are
grieving like an ignorant man. How strange! What is the meaning of the
words 'father', 'son' and the like? Who is the father and who is the
son? Think who I, now your son, was in a previous birth. Is it not mere
delusion to think "I am so and so"? Give up your grief,
knowing that all this is Maya. What good can accrue to you from me? Each
one has to undergo the consequences of his past actions. It is therefore
meaningless to think that one can benefit or suffer due to the actions
of some other person. A human birth on the earth is extremely difficult
to get and even more so is birth in a noble family of learned persons.
What a great pity it will be if one wastes such a birth by being
overpowered by Maya!".
Vyasa was astonished to see such intense detachment in his son.
He said: "O child, I am very happy to see your firm detachment. If
it is still your desire to take Sannyasa you may do so. Such intense
detachment is very rarely to be found. The scriptures say that persons
with such total detachment can take Sannyasa direct from Brahmacharya.
All the same, it will be good for you to study the Bhagavatam which I
have composed. It is equal to the Vedas themselves.
Following Vyasa's advice, Suka studied the Bhagavatam. But even
that did not clear his doubts and give him satisfaction. Vyasa then told
him, "If my Bhagavatam has not cleared all your doubts, I advise
you to go to the kingdom of Mithila. A king by name Janaka, who is a
liberated soul, is governing that kingdom. He will clear all your
doubts".
How can a ruler of a
kingdom be a Jivanmukta?
Suka was surprised to hear this and told his father: "O
father, what you say is very strange. A king who is governing a country
is a Jivanmukta! You say that he will clear my doubts which even you
have not been able to clear! Do you want me to go for advice to a
householder, and that too a king who is ruling a country? To say that a
Jivanmukta is ruling a country is as absurd as saying that a barren
woman has given birth to a son. How can a king conquer his senses? Can
one who is free from the notions of 'I' and 'mine' rule a country? How
can a ruler who enjoys kingly pleasures, who distinguishes between heat
and cold, pleasant and unpleasant, friend and foe, be a Jivanmukta? Can
he look upon saint and sinner, sage and thief, friend and foe with an
equal eye? If he can, how can he function as a ruler? If he cannot, how
can he be a Jivanmukta? No one has seen a king who is also a Jivanmukta.
All the same, I shall take your advice and go and see this Janaka".
Suka leaves for Mithila
So saying, he prostrated before his father and, after receiving
his blessings, set out for Mithila. Before he left, Vyasa made him
promise that he would return to Vyasa's hermitage from Mithila.
Suka walked through town and country, hills and dales, forests
and fields; he passed through places inhabited by people following
diverse customs and religious practices. At the end of three years he
reached Mithila. At the entrance to the kingdom of Janaka the guards
stopped him and asked him who he was and why he had come there. Suka
stood motionless, without uttering a word in reply. The guards told him
that they had orders from the king not to let anybody into the country
without making full enquiries and finding out what he wanted.
Suka then told them, "My object in coming here has been
achieved by your stopping me. It appears that even a Sadhu cannot enter
the kingdom of Janaka who is said to be a Jivanmukta!. I have come here
after crossing two huge mountains and braving great odds. It was none
other than my father who prompted me to come here. But I do not blame
him. It is the result of my own karma. Men are generally tempted by
money, but I have absolutely no desire for money. It is only my
Prarabdha karma that brought me here. It is strange that in this country
which is ruled by a Jivanmukta even a Sadhu is not allowed to
enter!". So saying, Suka continued to stand there. The guards then
said, "O revered sir, we have now realised that you are a Mahatma.
Please go in and forgive us for having stopped you".
Suka replied, "You have not done anything wrong. It is the
duty of a servant to obey implicitly the orders of his master. You have
been very correct in the performance of
your duty and you should be commended for that. Nor is the king
at fault. It is the duty of the king to find out whether a person entering his kingdom is
worthy or not, whether he is an honest man or a thief, and so on.
Without thinking about all this I have come here. It is wrong to enter
another's house without being invited. That is what I have done. The
fault is, therefore, entirely mine".
The guards then wanted to know from him the real import of the
terms 'happiness', 'unhappiness', 'honour', 'dishonour', 'friend',
'enemy', etc,. Suka explained that when a person finds his wife, son and
others behaving in the manner in which he wants them to behave, he feels
happy. If not, he feels unhappy. In other words, happiness arises when a
person finds other persons and things around him to be favourable to him
and unhappiness when they are unfavourable. Every one is all the time
engaged in actions which are expected to bring happiness. Those who help
him in this are considered to be friends and those who hinder him are
considered enemies. A wise man is one who does not crave for worldly
pleasures which attract the ignorant. For a man free from desires
happiness lies in being alone and meditating on the Self. Contentment is
his friend. Desire, anger and the like are his enemies.
Suka then entered the country of Mithila and continued to walk.
When he reached the gates of the king's palace, he was stopped by the
guards there. As before, he stood motionless, without uttering a word.
Soon the king's minister went to the gate, having heard of the arrival
of Suka. He saluted Suka and took him inside. There, in one of the inner
chambers of the palace, a number of beautiful young damsels came to
attend on him. The minister left, leaving Suka with the damsels. Suka
sat down and went into meditation. All the efforts of the damsels to
distract him and make him take interest in them failed.
Suka and Janaka
King Janaka himself then came there and after respectfully bowing
before Suka he took Suka to his assembly hall. The king then asked Suka
the reason for his visit. Suka said, "O king, you have perhaps by
now come to know that I am the son of sage Vyasa. After completing my
studies under Brihaspati, I returned to my father's hermitage. My father
then asked me to get married, saying that the Grihasthashrama is the
greatest of all the four Ashramas. I felt strongly that marriage is a
bondage and that it takes one away from liberation. I was not convinced
by all the reasons given by my father in favour of marriage. He then
asked me to approach you and get my doubts cleared. I have come in
obedience to his words. O king, kindly tell me what is the means to
liberation-- austerity, performance of yajnas, etc., or knowledge".
Janaka said: "I shall tell you what an aspirant for
liberation should do. After being invested with the sacred thread, he
should go to a Guru and study the Vedas. After completing his studies
and having given Gurudakshina, he should enter the stage of the
householder by getting married. He should then perform the rites laid
down in the Vedas without attachment. He should be truthful,
compassionate and free from all desires and cultivate purity of mind and
body. He should also beget progeny. He need remain with his family only
till his first-born son gets married. Thereafter he may enter the
Vanaprastha Ashrama. After conquering the six internal enemies, namely,
desire, anger, greed, delusion, pride and envy, he may take Sannyasa. It
should be noted that Sannyasa is only for those who have attained total
detachment. Out of the 48 Samskaras laid down in the scriptures, 40 are
for householders and the remaining 8 are for Sannyasis".
Suka asked: "For a person who has attained Jnana, Vijnana
and Vairagya, is it compulsory to go through all the four Ashramas one
after another? Can he not go straightaway to the Sannyasa Ashrama from
Brahmacharya?
Janaka: "O young sage! understand that the senses are very
powerful. They cannot be relied upon. Disaster may befall the immature.
If a person who is not yet fit takes Sannyasa and if thereafter desire
for food, wealth, children or other comforts arises in his mind, what is
the way out for him? Since vasanas will not get extinguished by
themselves, a wise man should first eradicate them before taking
Sannyasa. The impact of a fall is greater for a person who is at a
height. A person at the lowest level cannot fall; he can only go up. A
person who wants to climb up has to be very careful. If a Sannyasi
falls, there is no remedy for him. The senses cannot be subdued by
force. To attain complete control over the senses one should go through
the Ashramas, one by one. A man of wisdom will not be affected by the
pairs of opposites such as heat and cold, honour and dishonour, or gain
and loss, even if he is a householder. Look at me. I rule the kingdom, I
perform all my duties, I eat what I want and experience everything. At
the same time, am I not liberated? You can also be like that. Bondage
and liberation are both in the mind. If the mind is impure, nothing will
be achieved by bathing in all the sacred rivers. If the mind is
controlled, there can be no talk of bondage or liberation. It is only
the mind that makes distinctions such as friend and foe, and the
like".
Suka: "You say that the rituals laid down in the Karmakanda
of the Vedas should be performed meticulously. But how can the cruel
deed of sacrifice of animals be the means to liberation? Is not the
drinking of soma juice in a sacrifice clearly contrary to Dharma? Are
not killing of animals and eating their flesh unrighteous acts?
Moreover, all that can be attained through these Vedic rituals is
enjoyment of the pleasures of heaven for a limited period. They cannot
confer liberation. Heaven is only a chain made of gold, which can bind a
man as effectively as an iron chain. My mind is not at all attracted by
such transient pleasures, which ultimately lead only to sorrow". The
secret of Karma
Janaka:
" O wise young sage! You have not yet understood these
matters correctly. You have been looking only at the external appearance
of things. That way you get only superficial knowledge. You have to go
deeper to understand subtle truths. It is not the outward appearance
that decides what is righteous and what is not. This is the secret of
Karma. The same action may amount to injury to a living creature in one
situation, but not so in another. The
Vedas declare that the killing of an animal in a Vedic sacrifice is not
violence. If it is done without attachment and craving for the fruit, it
is not violence, but even that would become violence if there is
attachment and desire for the fruit. Any action done without attachment
and without the sense of doership is no action at all and it does not
create any bondage. Suka:
"What you say may be true in the case of a person who is free from
desire. But how can one who is under the control of Maya become free
from desire? When even those who have mastered the scriptures are not
free from attachment and aversion, what to speak of the ordinary man?
Mere study of the scriptures will not destroy nescience (ignorance of
the Self). Can darkness be removed by merely shouting 'light, light'?
You said, "Look at me". I have looked at you carefully. I do
not find you to be in any way different from other worldly men. I see
you only as a king possessed of wealth, fame, power and all objects of
enjoyment. Notions of friend and foe, happiness and sorrow, likes and
dislikes-- you have all these as much as anyone else. And you call
yourself Videha (meaning Jivanmukta). This is nothing but vanity. It is
like an illiterate fool bearing the name 'Vidyadhara', a blind man being
named 'Divakara' (which means sun) or a beggar having the name 'Lakshmidhara'.
The name 'Videha' given to you is as meaningless as these. It is only a
title that you have inherited from your ancestors who got it somehow,
without any reason to justify it. Whatever that may be, as far as I am
concerned, I am not at all interested in home, wife, children or wealth.
I wish to remain free from all such bondage".
Janaka replied: "O sage, you think you can be free from all
bondage if you go and dwell in the forest. Remember that there are
animals there also and you can develop likes and dislikes towards them.
The same five elements which are here are present in the forest also.
How can you be free from any connection with them? As long as you have a
body, you will need food. The thought about food will be with you even
in the forest. Can you become free from thoughts about your yogadanda
(staff), your deer-skin and your water pot? The thoughts I have about my
kingdom are also only of the same nature. It is not the quantity or
quality of what one has that makes for bondage, but it is the sense of
possession. A renunciate attached to his loincloth is not less in
bondage than a king attached to his kingdom. It is the thought that this
body is yours that is the fundamental bondage. Being free from all sense
of possession and knowing that I am not bound, I remain happy all the
time, whatever I do. You, on the contrary, are always sad, thinking that
you are in bondage. Giving up this wrong notion, know that you are never
in bondage and that you are ever free and be at peace with yourself. If
you understand this truth, you will realise that a man fully engaged in
action can still be completely liberated".
Conclusion
On
hearing these words of Janaka, Suka realised that bondage does not arise
from action, that none can remain without performing any action and that
it is one's attitude towards action that creates the distinction between
bondage and liberation. He took leave of Janaka and returned to his
father's hermitage. He married Peevaree, the daughter of the manes. He
begot four sons and a daughter. Thereafter he left for Kailasa and did
penance there. Finally he cast off his body and attained Videhamukti.
****************************************** Chapter 4 The Means To Self-realisation
Many of us have studied the Upanishads and the Bhagavadgita and
acquired an intellectual understanding of their teachings. We know
intellectually that we are not the body or the mind or the intellect,
that we are in reality the self or Atma which is beyond these and which
gives consciousness to the body, mind and intellect and enables them to
function. We know that the joys and sorrows arising from our contact
with the external world pertain only to the body, mind and intellect and
not to the self which cannot be touched by them. But we also know that
this intellectual understanding is not enough and that unless this
matures into actual experience we cannot say that we have attained the
ultimate goal of human life. The goal to be attained is a state in which
we remain absolutely unaffected by joys and sorrows, pleasure and pain,
success and failure and all such pairs of opposites. What is it that
prevents our intellectual knowledge from becoming translated into actual
experience? We can find out the answer to this question by taking two
examples, one in which an intellectual understanding gets translated
into actual experience and another in which it does not.
A person is given a dish which he has never tasted before and he
is told that it is a very sweet dish. He now has an intellectual
understanding about the nature of the dish, namely, that it is very
sweet, but he has not actually experienced the sweetness. He puts a bit
of it on his tongue and actually experiences its sweetness. Here his
intellectual understanding has been translated into actual experience
and the two are fully in accord with each other. But suppose this person
is, at this time, suffering from some illness which makes everything
taste bitter in his mouth. Even if he is fully convinced that the dish
must be sweet as he has been told by the person who gave it to him, he
is not able to experience that sweetness, but he experiences only a
bitter taste. His illness obstructs his intellectual knowledge from
being translated into actual experience.
We can take another example. There are persons in our country in
some of the interior States who have never seen the sea. Take one such
person who has read everything about the sea in books. He knows that the
sea is a very vast stretch of water, that waves constantly rise and fall
in it, that one cannot see the other shore, and so on. When he actually
goes to some place on the sea coast, he experiences all that he has
learnt from books. But suppose this person is taken blindfolded to the
sea. Then he will not be able to experience what he has learnt from
books. The bandage on his eyes prevents his intellectual knowledge from
becoming an actual experience.
In the same way there is some obstruction because of which our
intellectual understanding acquired from the scriptures
does not mature into actual experience. The obstruction is the
mind which is full of desires and is therefore all the time going out
into the external world through the sense-organs. If this obstruction is
removed, we will be able to experience what we know intellectually. The
means by which this obstruction can be removed and the actual experience
of what is taught in the Upanishads, which is what is known as Self-realisation,
can be attained are described in the Bhagavadgita.
The Lord says in the Gita that knowledge is enveloped by
ignorance and therefore all living beings are deluded (Ch.5.15). When it
is said that A envelops B, it clearly follows that both A and B are
positive entities and they exist at the same place at the same time.
That means that both knowledge and ignorance exist in us at the same
time. This would appear to be opposed to reason if we understand
'ignorance' as meaning merely 'absence of knowledge'. But in Vedanta
ignorance or Avidya or Ajnaana is not
mere absence of knowledge; it is of the nature of a positive entity,
described as 'Bhaavarupa', as opposed to 'Abhaava' which is a mere
negation or non-existence. Knowledge here does not mean 'knowledge of an
object'. It means Brahman or Atman, which is of the nature of Knowledge
or Pure Consciousness. This Atman, which is our own essence, does not
become manifest to us because of the Ajnaana
which covers it, just as on a very cloudy day the sun, being hidden
by the clouds, is not visible to us. Actually, what is covered by the
clouds is not the sun, which is much bigger than the clouds, but our
vision. Similarly, when it is said that ignorance covers the Atman, what
is meant is that ignorance covers our mental vision and prevents us from
experiencing that we are the Atman or Brahman and not the body-mind
complex. If this ignorance or Ajnaana
is removed, the Atman will shine forth in all its splendour (Gita,
5.16). What has therefore to be done is only the removal of ignorance
and not the production of knowledge, which is eternally present and
which is our very essence, or our real nature. The mind functions
through the sense-organs. The Kathopanishad says that the sense-organs
are all directed outward and so they are incapable of knowing the Atman
which is within. A rare person, having acquired total detachment,
withdraws all his senses from their objects and concentrates the mind on
the Atman and thus realises that he is the Atman and not the body, mind
or intellect (Kath.up.II.1.i). This is Self-realisation. By this means
the obstruction caused by the mind id removed. This is known in Vedanta
as manonaasa or destruction of
the mind. But what is destroyed is not the mind itself, but its tendency
to go out through the sense-organs and experience objects and feel
attachment towards those that are pleasant and aversion towards those
that are unpleasant. This attachment and aversion, which find place in
every individual, are the actual obstructions to Self-realisation. As
the Gita says, each sense-organ has either attachment or aversion
towards its objects. Attachment and aversion are the enemies who block a
person's path to liberation. One should therefore take care to see that
he does not fall a victim to them, by rooting them out (3.34).
A very apt illustration in this regard is found in Vedanta texts.
When a potter makes a pot, he does not have to make any special effort
to fill it with space. But if one fills the pot with water, there will
be no space inside the pot. In other words, the space becomes covered by
water. If the water is poured out, the pot becomes filled with space
again. If you want to fill the pot with any other substance, say, rice,
you have to make an effort, but if you again want the pot to have only
space inside, all that you have to do is to remove whatever other
substance is inside it. In the same way, Atma is ever existent in the
mind, like space in the pot, but it is covered by all other thoughts.
When the mind is emptied of all other thoughts, the Atma will shine
forth. This is what is called Self-realisation. The following passage in
the 'Jivanmuktiviveka' of Swami Vidyaranya makes this very clear:--
"A pot of clay, when made, comes filled with the
all-pervading space; thereafter, filling it up with water, rice or any
other substance is due to human effort. Though the water, etc., in the
pot can be taken out, the space inside cannot be removed; it continues
to be there even if the mouth of the pot be hermetically sealed. In the
same way, the mind, in the act of being born, comes into existence full
of the all-pervading Self that is pure Consciousness itself (Atma-chaitanya).
The mind takes on after its birth, owing to the influence of merit and
demerit, the forms of pleasure, pain and other such transformations.
While these can be removed from the mind, the form of the Self, which
does not depend on any external cause, cannot be removed". It is
therefore said:- "One should cause the mind, which by its very
nature is ever prone to assume the form of either the Self or the
not-Self, to throw into the background its perceptions of the not-Self,
by taking the form of the Self alone". ****************************************** Chapter
5 The anatomy of Bhakti
To the common run of people the practice of Bhakti means nothing
more than going to the temple regularly or worshipping God by means of
rituals in an image or other symbol at home. The persons who do this
consider themselves to be Bhaktas and are considered so by others also.
While such regular worship is certainly necessary and should be
practised by every one, the Bhagavata Purana says that much more is
expected of one who wants to be considered a devotee in the true sense
of the term. Sage Kapila, an incarnation of the Lord, explains in the
third Skandha of Srimad Bhagavata who a real devotee is. He says that a
man who worships God in an image, but looks upon other human beings with
contempt and exploits them, makes a mockery of worship, unmindful of the
fact that the same God dwells in them also. The Lord will not be pleased
even though worshipped in an image by means of rituals with costly
materials, by a person who does not see the same God in all beings. The
worship of God through rituals laid down in the scriptures is no doubt
an essential ingredient of Bhakti, but it is not an end in itself. It is
only the means to the realization of the presence of the same divinity
in all beings. A person who exploits others or treats them with contempt
and has no consideration for their feelings and rights cannot qualify as
a Bhakta even if he assiduously performs ritual worship meticulously
every day. This is the gist of verses 21 to 25 of chapter 29 of Skandha
III of Bhagavata.
Now let us see what the great sage Narada says about Bhakti.
Narada says in Narada Bhakti sutra that Bhakti is supreme love of God.
Here it must be clarified that God is not some Being residing somewhere
in the heavens who stands apart from the world, but God is the
Indwelling Self of all living beings in this world. Thus love of God
means love of all creatures, who are all His manifestations. Narada
further says that an essential characteristic of Bhakti is the
dedication of all activities to God. Thus what is described as Karmayoga
in the Bhagavadgita is also an essential ingredient of Bhakti according
to Narada. A Bhakta is thus one who does not separate religious and
secular activities, but considers all of them as service of God. The
Lord says in the Gita (18.46) that the performance of one's duties is
itself worship of God and is the means to spiritual progress. A person
who looks upon every action, whether religious or secular, as worship of
God will act without selfishness and will not harm others in any way.
Narada declares that the highest exemplars of Bhakti are the Gopikas, who dedicated all their actions to Lord Krishna
and whose minds were always engrossed in the thought of Krishna.
The Bhagavata, in Skandha XI, chapter 2, verses 45 to 47 divides
devotees into three categories according to the progress achieved by
them in the path of devotion. The highest category, called Bhaagavatottama,
is: "He who sees himself in all creatures and all creatures in his
own self". That is to say, he realizes that the same Self pervades
the whole universe and he therefore looks upon all creatures in the
world as God. He does not see any difference between himself and others.
Thus the foremost devotee is also a Jnaani,
one who has ceased to identify himself with his limited personality.
The second category of devotees is: "He who cherishes love
for the Lord, is friendly towards other devotees, compassionate towards
the ignorant and does not harbour any enmity even towards those inimical
to him". Such a person has not yet got over the sense of difference
between himself and others, but has progressed to the extent of being
free from pride, arrogance and hatred.
The last category of devotees is: "He who worships the Lord
with faith in an image, but does not serve His devotees or other
beings". Even such a person is far superior to the pseudo-Bhakta
referred to earlier, because, while the former has faith in God and
considers worship as his duty, the latter looks upon God merely as a
means for the fulfilment of his selfish desires. The latter does not
deserve to be called a Bhakta at all. Prahlada says in the Bhagavata
that a person who worships God expecting some worldly benefit in return
is not a devotee at all, but only a trader (Bh. VII. 10.4).
In Sivanandalahari Sri Sankara defines Bhakti as that state of
mind in which all thoughts are directed only towards the lotus feet of
the Lord, just as the seed of the Ankola tree sticks to the tree itself
on falling down, the iron needle jumps towards the magnet, the devoted
wife thinks always of her husband, the creeper clings to a tree and the
river keeps flowing towards the ocean.
At the highest level, Bhakti and Jnana are the same. This becomes
clear if we compare the descriptions given of a Sthitaprajna in chapter
2 and a Bhakta in chapter 12 of the Gita, which are identical in
essence.
The paths of Bhakti and Jnaana are not independent of each other.
True Bhakti presupposes knowledge of the relationship between God and
the world. Without this knowledge Bhakti will be nothing more than blind
belief in some superhuman power called God, who blesses those who
worship him and punishes those who do not. Such blind belief will
crumble at the advent of the slightest adversity, because the person
will feel that he has been let down by God on whom he had relied. But if
he has some knowledge of the teachings of Vedanta, he will realise that
sufferings are not inflicted on him arbitrarily by God, but are the
result of his own past actions and that they are intended to cleanse his
heart of impurities and engender in him an attitude of detachment
towards worldly joys and sorrows. So also, if the path of Jnaana is
followed without an element of Bhakti, it will become dry logic and the
person will be devoid of love and compassion for other living beings.
The upanishads themselves say that the Self cannot be realised by mere
scholarship. The upanishads declare that ignorance of our true nature is
the root cause of all our sufferings. Because of this ignorance, which
is called Avidya, we identify ourselves with the body, the sense organs
and the mind and attribute to ourselves the joys and sorrows which
pertain only to the body and mind. In reality we are the Self or Atma
which has no birth or death, hunger or thirst, sorrow or delusion, old
age or disease. The wrong identification with the body, mind and senses
is what is known as bondage. This bondage is not real, but is the result
of Avidya or the ignorance of our real nature. What is caused by
ignorance can be removed only by right knowledge. One point stressed by
Advaita is that even when we look upon ourselves as individuals limited
by the body, we are in reality none other than Brahman. It is not as if
every one is initially in bondage and becomes liberated on the dawn of
Self-knowledge. Liberation is only the removal of the wrong
identification with the body and mind and not the attainment of some
thing which did not exist earlier.
Now a doubt may arise. Since liberation is attained only by
Self-knowledge, what is the purpose served by Bhakti? The upanishads say
that the mind is the cause of bondage as well as of liberation. It is
like the key which locks as well as opens a door. When the mind is
attached to sense objects it causes bondage. When it becomes free from
such attachment, the very same mind is the means to liberation.
Self-knowledge can arise only in a mind that has become free from all
desires for worldly objects and enjoyments and is one-pointed. It is the
nature of the mind to hanker after sense pleasures. The mind can be
withdrawn from them only by attaching it to something else. This is the
role played by Bhakti. As devotion to God takes root in the mind and
grows, desires for worldly objects become gradually weaker and finally
disappear. The Lord says in Srimad Bhagavata that, unlike attachment to
worldly objects, attachment to God does not cause bondage, just as a
burnt seed cannot germinate, though its appearance as a seed continues (Bh.
X. 22. 26).
It is said in Srimad Bhagavata that devotion to God gives rise to
detachment and leads to Self-knowledge (I.2.7). In the Bhagavadgita the
Lord says that a devotee is one whose mind is always fixed on Him, who
has surrendered himself totally to Him, who always recounts His glories
and who ever revels in Him. The Lord confers on such a devotee the yoga
of wisdom through which the devotee can attain to Him. The Lord dwells
in his heart and dispels the darkness born of ignorance (Ch 10. sl. 9 to
11).
Madhusudana Saraswati, the great devotee and Advaitin and a
celebrated commentator on the Bhagavadgita says in the introduction to
his commentary that Bhakti pervades both Karmayoga and Jnaanayoga. He
describes Bhakti as threefold-- Bhakti combined with Karma, Bhakti by
itself, and Bhakti combined with Jnaana. Karmayoga involves the
dedication of the fruit of all activities to God. This necessarily
implies devotion to God. Bhakti is thus an essential ingredient of
Karmayoga. Jnaanayoga leads to the realisation of one's identity with
Brahman. Identification is possible only when there is intense love. A
husband and wife identify themselves with each other and with their
children only because of love. Devotion, which is defined by sage Narada
as supreme love of God, is thus an essential ingredient of Jnaanayoga
also.
All teachers of Advaita have therefore stressed the importance of
practising both devotion and Knowledge together. Sri Sankara, the
greatest exponent of Advaita and the greatest of Jnaanis, composed many
soul-stirring hymns in praise of various deities in order that the
emotional side of the human being may also be developed. It is therefore
clear that there is no contradiction between Advaita and devotion to a
Personal God (Saguna Brahman) as wrongly thought by some. It has been
categorically declared that worship of Saguna Brahman is the best means
to the realisation of Nirguna Brahman. ******************************************* Chapter
6 The Gitacharya and The Gopijanavallabha
It is said in Srimad Bhagavatam that the Lord, in His incarnation
as Sri Krishna, graced the earth for 125 years (Bh. XI. 6.25). During
this period Krishna took on many different roles, as Gopijanavallabha or
the darling of the Gopis, as the slayer of many Asuras, as the messenger
of the Pandavas to the Kauravas, as Arjuna's charioteer and as the
Gitacharya, the exponent of the essence of the upanishads in the form of
the Bhagavadgita. The most enchanting and significant of all these roles
are those of the Gitacharya and the Gopijanavallabha. According to Swami
Vivekananda, the Gopijanavallabha is even greater than the Gitacharya,
because it is in that role that His infinite compassion and love are
manifested to the fullest extent.
The word 'gopijana' should not be understood as encompassing only
the female inhabitants of Gokula. Every sincere devotee who surrenders
himself or herself totally to the Lord is included in the term 'gopijana'.
Swami Vivekananda says: "Gopileela is the acme of the religion of
love, in which individuality vanishes and there is communion. It is in
this leela that Sri Krishna shows what He teaches in the Bhagavadgita--
"Give up everything for Me. Go and take shelter under
Brindavanleela to understand Bhakti". Krishna, as the
Gopijanavallabha, demonstrates to us by His own example and that of the
gopis how we can actually translate into practice the teachings of the
Gita.
Krishna's relationship with the gopis is very much misunderstood
and consequently misinterpreted. To quote Swami Vivekananda again:
"There are not wanting fools, even in the midst of us, who cannot
understand the marvellous significance of that most marvellous of all
episodes. These are, let me repeat, impure fools, even born of our
blood, who try to shrink from that as if from something impure. To them
I have only one thing to say, 'First make yourselves pure'; and you must
remember that he who tells the history of the love of the gopis is one
who was born pure, the eternally pure Suka, the son of Vyasa. So long as
there is selfishness in the heart, so long is love of God impossible.
Ay, forget first the love for gold and name and fame and for this little
temporary world of ours. Then, only then, you will understand the love
of the gopis, too holy to be attempted without giving up everything, too
sacred to be understood until the soul has become perfectly pure. People
with ideas of sex and money, and of fame, bubbling up every minute in
the heart, daring to criticise and understand the love of the gopis!
This is the very essence of the Krishna incarnation". (Sages of
India).
The central teaching of the Gita is that we should give up our
ego and perform all actions as an offering to the Lord, without any
attachment to the fruit thereof. This is what was practised by the
gopikas. Sri Narayana Bhattatiri says in Srimannarayaniyam, a condensed
version of Srimad Bhagavatam:-- "While performing their household
chores, the gopikas used to sing songs about Thee; all conversation
among themselves was only about Thee; even in dream they would talk only
about Thee. Almost all their actions were imitations of Thine. Seeing
everything there thus identified with Thee, Uddhava was absolutely
wonder-struck" (Srimannarayaniyam 76.8).
The gopikas had completed effaced their individuality and had
identified themselves with Krishna. The butter which they lovingly
offered to Krishna represents their heart. Butter is white and soft.
Whiteness stands for purity. The implication of the offering of butter
is that the gopikas surrendered their hearts, which were absolutely pure
and soft, always melting in love for Krishna, to Krishna Himself. Sri
Sankara says in Sivanandalahari that the only offering we can make to
the supreme, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent Lord is our
hearts:--"Thou holdest the golden mountain (Meru) in Thy hand (as a
bow); Kubera, the Lord of wealth, is ever by Thy side; the wish-yielding
tree, Kalpakavriksha, the Kamadhenu and the gem which fulfils all
desires, Chintamani, are all in Thy abode; the moon has its abode on Thy
head; all auspiciousness abides at Thy feet. When this is so, what
object of value can I offer unto Thee! Therefore, O Lord, let my mind be
Thine (as that is the only thing I can dedicate to Thee)" (Sivanandalahari,
27).
The great sage Narada extols the devotion of the gopikas in the
Narada Bhakti sutras. Narada defines Bhakti as 'supreme love of God'.
Love of God becomes supreme only when (1) it is totally free from any
selfish desire, (2) there is no place whatsoever for any love of a
worldly nature in the mind, and (3) the devotee completely forgets
himself or herself and sees only the object of his love, God,
everywhere. All these are found in the love of the gopikas for Krishna.
Narada says further in sutras 19 to 24:-- Sutra
19:--
"The essential characteristics of Bhakti are the dedication of all
activities to God and the feeling of extreme anguish if He is ever
forgotten". Dedication of all actions to God, which is known as
Karmayoga in the Gita, is thus an essential ingredient of Bhakti
according to Narada. This, again, is what the gopikas were doing. Apart
from representing their heart, butter has another significance too. It
is the final product of all the labours of the gopikas. They milk their
cows, turn the milk into curd, churn the curd and get butter. This
butter, which is the essence of milk and which is the final product, is
offered by them to Krishna. The anguish which the gopikas feel when they
are separated from Krishna even for a very short period finds expression
in the beautiful 'Gopikagitam' in chapter 31 of Skandha X of Srimad
Bhagavatam. Sutra
20:--Examples
of such perfect Bhakti do exist. Sutra
21:--
Such indeed was the Bhakti of the gopikas of Vraja. Sutra
22:--
It cannot be said that they were ignorant of the fact that Krishna was
the supreme Lord Himself.
It is made very clear in the Gopikagitam in Srimad Bhagavatam
that the gopikas knew that Krishna was the supreme Being
Himself--"You (Krishna) are not just the son of Yasoda; you are the
Indweller of all and the witness of all minds" (Bh.X.31.4). Sutra
23:--
If they did not have this knowledge, their love would have been nothing
more than the base passion of a mistress for her paramour.
Sutra
24:--
In such profane love the mistress is not at all interested in the
happiness of her paramour. Such a love is purely selfish. But in the
love of the gopikas there was no selfishness at all.
Thus Narada considers the gopikas to be the best exemplars of
supreme devotion, or parabhakti.
The gopikas practised Karmayoga by dedicating all their actions
to Krishna. They had intense devotion to Krishna. They knew that the
same supreme Being indwells all creatures and is the witness of all
their actions. Thus we see in the gopikas the synthesis of all the three
yogas, which is the essence of the Bhagavadgita.
It is thus clear that what was taught by Krishna in the Gita was
actually demonstrated in their lives by the gopikas. Back to Contents ********************************** Chapter
7 Mayapanchakam
According to Advaita Vedanta Brahman is the only Reality. This
Brahman appears to us as the universe of multifarious names and forms
because of our ignorance of Brahman, in the same way as a rope, when not
recognised as such due to dim light, appears as a snake. This ignorance
is also known by the names 'Nescience' and 'Maya'. In his commentary on
the Kathopanishad Sri Sankara says: "Alas, how unfathomable,
inscrutable, and variegated is this Maya, that every creature, though in
reality identical with the supreme Being and even when taught so, does
not grasp that fact and does not recognise himself as the supreme Self,
while, even without being told, he accepts as his Self
the not-Self, namely, the aggregate of body and senses and
thinks, 'I am the son of so and so', though these (the body, senses,
etc.) are only objects (of perception, etc.) like pots, etc. Verily it
is that they are being deluded by the Maya of the supreme Being, such
that every one moves again and again (through the unending cycle of
birth and death)".
In Vivekachudamani, verse 108, Sri Sankara points out that Maya
cannot be known directly, but can only be inferred from its effects,
namely, the world of names and forms which we perceive. It is the power
of the supreme Being. In verse 109 it is said that Maya cannot be
described as either existent or non-existent or both; it is
indescribable (anirvachaniya).
In Mayapanchakam, a work consisting of five stanzas, Sri Sankara
brings out succinctly how Maya makes incompatibles appear together and
shows how it brings about what appears logically to be impossible. Stanza
1- Meaning:-- Maya,
which is adept at making the impossible happen, superimposes on me (the
Atman) who am in reality pure Consciousness, who am incomparable
(because the Atman is the only reality and there is therefore nothing
else with which it can be compared), who am eternal, partless, unlimited
by space, time and other objects, in whom there is no differentiation
whatsoever, the distinctions in the form of the world, God and the
individual soul. Note-
The world, God and the individual soul appear to be
different from one another only because of the limiting adjuncts.
Intrinsically, there is neither difference nor identity among them, for
all the three are in essence Pure Consciousness, homogeneous like a lump
of salt. When the unconditioned Self has, as the limiting adjuncts, the
body and organs which are characterized by ignorance, desire and action,
it is called the transmigrating individual soul. When the limiting
adjunct is the power of eternal and unlimited knowledge, which is Maya,
the same Self is known as God,
who is the antaryaamin or Inner Controller of the whole world. The same Self,
free from all limiting adjuncts, is Brahman (Br.up.3.8.12,
Sankarabhashya). Stanza 2:-- Maya,
which is adept at making the impossible happen, makes even those who
have mastered the Vedas and the Upanishads behave no better than
four-legged animals by tempting them with wealth and possessions. What a
pity! Stanza
3:-- Maya,
which is adept at making the impossible happen, makes the Atman which is
of the nature of Bliss and pure and infinite Consciousness and is
without a second, identify itself with the body made up of the elements,
namely, ether, air etc., and whirl intensely in the ocean of
transmigratory existence. Stanza
4:-- Maya,
which is adept at making the impossible happen, creates in the pure
Bliss-Consciousness which is devoid of attributes such as caste, creed
and the like, the notion of 'I'-ness, of looking upon oneself as a
Brahmana, Vaisya, etc., as well as attachment to son, wife and home. Stanza
5:-- Alas!
Maya, which is adept at making the impossible happen, creates in Brahman
which is homogeneous, without any parts, distinctions such as Brahma,
Vishnu and Siva and thereby perplexes even the learned by making them
look upon Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva as different from one another. Back to Contents *********************************** Chapter
7 From Vishayananda to Brahmananda
Every human being has desires, but the desires vary from person
to person and from time to time for the same person. Some desire wealth,
some fame, some power; one who has no children wants children, a
bachelor wants to get married, and so on. But if these persons are asked
why they desire all these, the answer will invariably be that they
expect to get happiness by the fulfilment of their desires. So it is
clear that what every human being wants is happiness, and each one has
his own notion of what will bring him or her that happiness. Thus it is
happiness alone that is desired for its own sake, and everything else is
desired only for the sake of happiness. In Vedanta all objects of desire
are denoted by the word 'Vishaya'. This noun is derived from the verbal
root 'si' with prefix 'vi' which means 'to bind'. This very derivation
indicates that it is these objects of desire that bind a human being
firmly to transmigratory existence characterised by repeated births and
deaths. The happiness experienced on the attainment of any object of
desire is known as 'Vishayananda'.
'Brahmananda' is the bliss which is the very nature of the person
who has realised that he is Brahman. This realisation is the consequence
of the removal of the wrong identification with the body, and mind,
which is natural to every living creature. Brahman being Bliss itself,
one who has realised that he is Brahman remains as that very Bliss.
Though Bliss is the real nature of every human being, it is only the
realised soul who is aware of it.
All desires spring from identification with the body and mind,
because the happiness looked forward to by the fulfilment of desires is
to be enjoyed by the body and the mind. Thus Vishayananda, or the
happiness arising from objects, has, as its basis, identification with
the body and mind. On the other hand, Brahmananda is the consequence of
the removal of this identification. These two thus appear to be
diametrically opposed to each other. However, paradoxically, as it may
seem, Swami Vidyaranya says in Panchadasi (XV.1) that Vishayananda is
the door to Brahmananda and is an aspect of it. We shall see how this is
so. Desires
and their effect on man
When
a person intensely desires something, his mind remains obsessed by that
desire. He is full of anxiety about the fulfilment of that desire and
fears about obstacles cropping up. In such a state of mental agitation
he is very miserable. If he fails in his effort he becomes even more
unhappy. His mind becomes filled with anger and hatred against those
whom he considers, rightly or wrongly, to have been responsible for his
failure. He becomes dejected and despondent. There cannot be even the
slightest trace of
happiness when the mind is in such a state. When
and how happiness arises
If, on the other hand, the object desired is attained, then his
mind becomes calm and remains so until another desire arises to disturb
it. When the mind is calm, the bliss which is the real nature of every
human being, becomes clearly reflected in it, just as the moon is
clearly reflected in a pond in which the water is clear and not
disturbed by the wind. When the mind is agitated by anxieties, fears and
other such emotions, the reflection of bliss is indistinct like the
reflection of the moon in a pond in which the water is muddy or
disturbed by wind. Thus happiness is the result of the calming of the
mind for the time being, but it is wrongly attributed to the attainment
of the desired object. Happiness
does not come from objects
Objects
have no capacity to produce happiness or unhappiness. The same object
may give happiness to one person and unhappiness to another person. It
is also every one's experience that the same object gives happiness at
one time and unhappiness at another time to the same person. Warm
clothing gives comfort in cold weather, but one cannot bear even the
touch of it in a hot summer. The
mind is the cause of happiness and unhappiness
A person is happy when other living beings or inanimate objects
are favourable to him, and unhappy when they are unfavourable. A thing
or person is considered favourable when that thing or person responds in
the way desired. If a son obeys his father, the father is happy; if he
does not, the father is unhappy. A person is happy with his car or any
other object as long as it functions well; if it does not, he is unhappy
and wants to get rid of it. It is thus clear that happiness and
unhappiness are only states of the mind, but are wrongly thought to be
caused by external objects. Happiness is the
result of the mind becoming calm. The mind becomes calm
temporarily when a particular desire is fulfilled, and then happiness is
experienced. But soon another desire crops up and agitates the mind,
causing unhappiness. Thus it is clear that lasting happiness cannot be
attained by the fulfilment of desires. Detachment
is the key to lasting happiness
True and lasting happiness can result only if the mind is
permanently kept calm. This can be achieved only if desires, which are
the cause of mental agitation, are completely eliminated. We are
therefore led to the conclusion that total detachment towards all
worldly pleasures (Vairagya) is the only means for the attainment of
true and lasting happiness, which is Brahmananda.
Vairagya is the most essential requisite for a person who wishes
to attain Self-knowledge, which alone will lead to eternal bliss. It is
said by Sri Sankara that one who attempts to attain Self-knowledge
without cultivating dispassion is like a person trying to cross a river
on the back of a crocodile, mistaking it for a floating log of wood. He
is sure to be eaten up by the crocodile midway.
It is now clear why Swami Vidyaranya says that Vishayananda is
the door to, and an aspect of Brahmananda. Vishayananda is nothing but
Brahmananda reflected in a calm mind. Why
the bliss aspect of Brahman is reflected only in a calm mind
Brahman is Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. The existence aspect
alone is manifested in inanimate objects, but not consciousness and
bliss. This is because inanimate objects have no subtle body which alone
can reflect consciousness and bliss. The consciousness aspect is
manifested in all animate beings, even when the mind is agitated, for we
see that even a person who is unhappy is conscious. But the bliss aspect
is manifested only when the mind is calm. A doubt arises as to why, when
Brahman has both the aspects of consciousness and bliss, only one of
them, consciousness, is reflected in an agitated mind. When you look at
the reflection of your face in a mirror, you find that the face in its
entirety is reflected and not only some aspects of it. This doubt is
answered by Swami Vidyaranya by giving two examples. When water is in
contact with fire, only the heat aspect of fire is absorbed by the water
and not the light of fire. But when a log of wood comes into contact
with fire, it absorbs both the heat and the light aspects. The same is
the case with the reflection of Brahman. ******************************************
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