THE RELATION BETWEEN IGNORANT LIVING HUMAN ENTITY AND THE SUPREME LORD GOD BHAGAWAN

THE RELATION  BETWEEN  IGNORANT  LIVING  HUMAN ENTITY AND THE SUPREME LORD GOD BHAGAWAN

On earth   man is a transitional being*. Therefore, in the course of his evolution, he has had several natures in succession, which have followed an ascending curve and will continue to follow it until he reaches the threshold of the supra-mental nature and is transformed into the superman. This curve is the spiral of mental development.

Mother added: “This precise detail is not superfluous; I said ‘on earth’ meaning that man does not belong merely to earth: in essence man is a universal being, but he has a special manifestation on earth.”

According to Vedic literature, spiritual particle, spirit-on (soul) enters this sperm cell which then fertilizes the ovum, the female gamete, to form a single cell called zygote. The various stages of development of embryo in the womb of the mother are described in Srimad Bhagavatam 3.31.2-4, 3.31.10, 3.31.22-23:
 

“On the first night, the sperm and ovum mix (to form zygote), and on the fifth night the mixture ferments into a bubble (blastocyst). On the tenth night it develops into a form like a plum, and after that, it gradually turns into a lump of flesh.” “In the course of a month, a head is formed, and at the end of two months the hands, feet and other limbs take shape. By the end of three months, the nails, fingers, toes, body hair, bones and skin appear, as do the organ of generation and the other apertures in the eyes, nostrils, ears, mouth and anus"

Swami Chidananda draws our attention to the teaching of Sanatkumara to his brother Narada in Chhandogya Upanishad on the Infinite in his Vedantic exposition  on “Relation between Man and God”.  Gist of his presentation was:   Presenting the "advaita view," this webinar will touch on the aspects of "Ishwara" (God) as we find in the Upanishads, in the Geetā and in the words of great saints like Ramana Maharshi and Rāmakrishna. It will make it very clear that "advaita" does not put God down in any manner; it rather puts our ego down and urges us to realize our utmost intimacy with God. In a sense, God gets elevated to include everyone and everything. There is nothing other than God- sa eva adhastāt sa uparisthāt sa paschāt sa purastā He (God) alone is below, above, behind and in front. ( Chāndogya Upanishad 7.25.1)

In Chapter 7 of Chandogya Upanishad Nārada asks for that instruction which would carry him beyond sorrow. Accordingly, Sanatkumāra teaches Nārada starting with the possibilities and limitations of meditating upon various objects.

Bhuma is the Self of every other thing. That which is infinite is immortal and that which is finite is mortal (7.24.1). The infinite and immortal is Ātmā which pervades all and everything; whatever here has emerged from Ātmā (7.25.2). Thus knowing the ultimate principle of Ātmā, Nārada was relieved of his sorrows.

Sanatkumara that is Skanda in   in 7-25-1 suggests “Ahangrahopasanam”-- meditating on Brahman as “Aham”. MNU mantra says “Ahamasmi Brahmaahamasmi” I am aham and aham is Brahman.  Brahman   is the Self of every other thing as said in Isavasyopanishad--isavasyamidam sarvam. This mode of meditation Upasana as “aham” (not the ego as is generally translated) signifying the Self is meant for firmly understanding that Paramaatman is the inner-self of Jivatman  (mamaivamso jeevabhootah said in Gita) and that Jivatman is the body of Paramaatman.

When Bhuma (Supreme spirit or Paramatman) is to be meditated upon it should be meditated upon as the Self, and so as its inner-self of his self also. Bhuma is the Self our Self-s and our Self is the body of that Bhuma. Brahman is the Self of all Self-s! Let us look at the mantra 7-25-1 in Chhandogya Upanisdhad:

Sa Evaadhastaat, sa uparishtaat, sa paschaat, sa purastaat, Sa dakshinatah, sa uttaratah, sa evadam sarvamiti | athaato ahangaraadesa eva--aham-evaadhastaat, ahamuparishtaat, aham paschaat aham paschaat, aham purastaat, aham dakshinatah, ahamuttaratah, ahamevedam sarvamiti ||

The Infinite is above and below, before and behind, to the right and to the left (Poornamadah). I am all this. The Self is above and below, before and behind, to the right and to the left (poornamidam).  I am all this (poornam eva).

Aa is the first letter in Sanskrit and Ha is the last letter in Sanskrit. Brahman is also addressed as Akshara that also means imperishable.  In English it  can be said from A to Z it is  Brahman alone that is Aa to Ha it is all Brahman in Sanskrt.  With Ma you close the discussion that is period in English expression-Aa-Ha-M=Aham that means isavasyamidam sarvam.

We should get away from sense influenced Ego  that is Aham (I Am)-kara, self-sense (aham) or the actions of the self-sense, but focus on Aham Tattva that is Ahamasmi Brahma  Ahamasmi. Upanishnads often refer to Aham as Self based on the explanation above. Purushasukta says: Vedaahametam (veda+aham+etam) purusham mahaantam aaditya varnam - Know this Cosmic Personality  AHAM (I), resplendent like the Sun.

Why   Narada’s  all vast learning  did not satisfy him in the first place?  If it can  be so with him what about us? Why did he still had grief, and desired to know the way out of it? What brought him to the doors of Sanatkumara, his own brother? It was because he (Narada) lacked the deep Understanding of all that he had learnt.  However, the whole outlook   changed in Section 7 on which Swamiji will talk about. The same knowledge which Narada learnt in a hard way, when deeply understood, is not a hindrance any longer, but will   help towards the spiritual goal of life.

Through Understanding, one learns to see the Divine in everything, in every part of Creation. That is why we come across the term Vijnaana and Vedas say “Vijnaanena atmanam vedayati “-- one understand Brahman   by deep knowledge or blooming knowledge.

Jnaanam is secular knowledge; Vijnaanam is deep spiritual understanding of that knowledge. By Vijnaanam, we actually understand at a very deep spiritual level.  As this Understanding (capitalized to mean Vijnaanam, not ordinary mental understanding) is of such a deep nature, it is said that by this Understanding one understands everything else, both scriptural as well as secular knowledge. Just learning Vedas in a Pathasala for a professional pursuit is only secular knowledge   as you see in our priests today.

As one grows in spirituality, and as individuality is transcended, the whole universe becomes very much a part of one’s experience. One becomes less and less, a limited single individual, and more and more a cosmic citizen. Just as the President views the country in a different light from that of an ordinary citizen, so too, the spiritually evolved soul views the universe differently from the ordinary person. Swamiji says even then we need strength--aatmanaa vindate veeryam. One attains strength by keeping his fingers always on the inner-net buitton. What is this Strength? Not just the strength of the body-builder, nor that of the powerful administrator, but deep inner spiritual strength.

To a Vedanta ignorant and innocent man Purandara Dasa sang; “alli nodidaroo Krishna illi nodidaroo Krishna ellelloo KriShana”--Krishna is here, Krishna is there-Krishna is there wherever you see! This is also narrated by a story. Narada of ever inquisitive mind once wanted to know how Krishna managed with 16008 wives and keep them happy. So he peeped into each of these 16008 houses and found Krishna in each house Krishna leading a happy married life with each one of them. Then he went around playing with his lute the above!

By his recent lectures on Vedanta based on Neo Practical Advaita of Ramana Maharshi, Appayya Dikshitar, and Ramakrishna about which I had also talked about    Swami Chidananda  has gradually taken us to Vedantic heights. Vedanta Teaching is not speaking about a system of philosophy that just needs to be clearly presented with a definition of the main concepts and its underlying assumptions. We should also be not speaking about a simple descriptive theory which needs to be experienced and validated by an action like meditation. We should speak about a means of knowledge revealing and unfolding the reality as it is. Philosophic discussions are intended for Vidwat Sabnha where critical discussions take place with various philosophic thoughts. Therefore, here we should focus on  a thought of fusion to make one understand this reality. Unfortunately like sectarian Religious Pundits these Vedanta Gurus end up in focusing on a particular Philosophy in which they are   educated.  Here is an example from Ramana Maharshi on Ahamkara:

What is Ego or Ahamkara? – Ramana Maharshi Answers

Ramana Maharshi gives a simple answer to the perplexing question of what is ego or ahamkara. Life becomes smooth and the path of bliss opens up when we unravel the puzzle of ego.

The Jiva, or individual being, expressing itself as “I” is called the ego, or ahamkara. Jiva is that being which identifies its existence with that of life in the physical body.

The pure consciousness has no ego-sense about it. Neither can the physical body, which is, by itself, inert have this ego-sense.

In between the two, namely the Self, or pure consciousness, and the inert, physical body, there arises most mysteriously the ego-sense or “I” notion, the hybrid, which is neither of them and flourishes as Jiva, or individual being.

This Jiva is the root cause of all that is futile and undesirable in life. If, therefore, it is destroyed by any possible means, that whichever is alone remains resplendent or that which really exists will be seen as it is. This indeed is liberation or emancipation.

With this thought of fusion in understanding the relationship between the Man and the Infinite let us examine what other  Vedantis  and  scriptures say about it with further understanding.  

Hinduism is monotheistic and my understanding of GOD written in all capital letters is  one who creates, sustains and dissolves--G=Generates; O=Operates; D=Dissolves. Then why do we worship so many deities as personal God? From the Vedanta perspective however, this Personality aspect of God is most important.

A divine maxim is found in the Srimad Bhagavatam (S.B. 3:26:49) stating that the cause exists certainly in its effect as well.   All developed living beings have individual personality; it is certainly conceivable that the Supreme source of all must also possess personality. According to Vedanta, this material creation emanates from GOD. Taittiriya Upanishad declares: “yato va imani bhutaani jaayante yena jaataani jivanti yat prayaanty abhisamvanti tad vijignasasva tad brahma“ The Absolute Truth or Brahman or GOD is that from which the cosmic manifestation has emanated, by which it is maintained and into which it merges after annihilation.  Similarly, Chhandogya Upanishad declares: sarvam khalv idam brahma – “Brahman, the Supreme, is present in everything.”  Hence according to Vedanta this material nature is not working blindly. It is working under the control of the Supreme Lord. 

According to Vedanta, there are three aspects of Absolute Truth or GOD. All these aspects form the foundation of Supreme Reality. These are: “vadanti tattattvavidastattvam yajjnaanamadvayam brahmeti paramaatmeti bhagavaaniti sabdyate”   Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman (the Attribute-less Absolute), Paramatma (the Indwelling Super-soul), or Bhagavan (the Supreme Lord Himself).  

 Einstein’s conception of a cosmic religion is very close to this idea of impersonal aspect of GOD or Brahmajyoti. He said, “Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discerning concatenations, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion.”   He also stated, “My GOD created laws (Dharma) . . . His universe is not ruled by wishful thinking, but by immutable laws. (Dharma)”  

This Paramaatma feature of the Supreme Personality of GOD-head is responsible for inspiration, discovery, creativity and for the movement of all living entities. MNU says: yadoṣadhībhiḥ puruṣān paśūɱśca viveśa bhūtāni carācarāṇi  He  entered beings consisting of herbs, quadrupeds and men as the inner controller,  Paramātman dwells as the innermost Spirit of all creat­ures. He resides within the smallest of created beings. In Bhagavad Gita, the Lord says in 15.5: sarvasya chaham hridi sannivisto mattah smritir jnanam apohanam………….I am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge, and forgetfulness.     

 Each and every living entity has been given a free will. Paramatma is responding and guiding each and every living entity in the universe according to the desires and activities of the individual living entities.

In our day-to-day activities we can feel a seemingly inexplicable guidance, what is sometimes described as intuition or inspiration.   According to Vedanta this is an act of the Lord seated in the heart (inner-net) of everyone as Paramatma. Otto Loewi, a German physiologist had the following moment of inspiration. He recalled, “The night before Easter Sunday of that year I awoke, turned on the light, and jotted down a few notes on a tiny slip of paper. Then I fell asleep again. It occurred to me at 6 o’clock in the morning that during the night I had written down something most important, but I was unable to decipher the scrawl. The next night, at 3 o’clock, the idea returned. It was the design of an experiment to determine whether or not the  hypothesis of chemical transmission that I had uttered 17 years ago was correct. I got up immediately, went to the laboratory, and performed a single experiment on a frog’s heart according to the nocturnal design.”    The result of the experiment became the foundation for the theory of chemical transmission of the nervous impulse. According to Vedanta, such inspiration comes from Paramatma.  I often experience the same reflected in my E-mails.

Srimad Bhagavatam describes Lord Sri Krishna as   Jagannatha revealed to his parents in the prison as the Supreme origin of everything and also described by Jayadeva in Dasavatara stotra.   Lord Brahma, the first created cosmic living being defines Isvara, GOD, as the Supreme original Personality (Adipurusha). His transcendental body is made of three spiritual elements, sat (eternity), chit (knowledge) and ananda (bliss), saccidananda swaroopa. He is the origin of everything, animate and inanimate, and is the cause of all causes. He is the Supreme Controller and the prime mover of all cosmic manifestation. He has Universal Consciousness and He is the well-wisher of every living being. He is beyond the perception of the material senses. However, His symptoms are visible in the effects (products) of His creation. He is Supreme Eternal among all eternals and Supreme Consciousness among all consciousness. He is realized by His devotees who have completely exhausted all the experiences of the material nature and is accomplished by the practice of the nine-fold paths of Bhaktiyoga.

This is the goal of Neo Advaitis like Appyya Dikishitar, Ramana Maharshi,   Ramakrishna Paramahamsa,   Dwaita Vedantis or Vishishtaadwaita  Vendantis. There is a Big Vision behind this creation – to establish the transcendental connection between the ignorant living entity and the Supreme Lord, Bhagavan. This relationship is carried out through Bhakti, the devotional yoga.   William D. Phillips, a Nobel Laureate physicist   expresses remarkably, “Many subscribe to a belief in what is sometimes called ‘Einstein’s God’, an embodiment of the intelligence and order behind creation, but not a personality who cares about and interacts with the creation. … My belief (is) in a personal God, a God who is both the creator of the universe and is intimately concerned with the welfare of the creatures of that universe. ‘Einstein’s God’ is not nearly enough for me. I believe in a GOD who wants good things for us, and who wants and expects us to care for our fellow creatures. I believe that GOD wants genuine, loving relationships with us, and wants us to have such relationships with each other.”   

Brahman, the Absolute Truth includes these four principles – the Supreme GOD-head Himself, His internal energy, His marginal energy and His external energy. The form of the Lord (svayam-rupa) and the expansions of His form (vaibhava-prakasa) are directly enjoyers of the internal energy in the spiritual world. The external manifestation, the material energy, provides the material bodies of all the conditioned living entities.   The creation of this physical universe is the facility given to conditioned living beings by GOD in order to get liberated from false conception of life (materialism). According to ancient Vedic culture, religious principles are directly given by GOD to guide the human beings – dharmam tu sakshaad bhagavat-pranitam (Srimad Bhagavatam 6.3.19).  The essence of all religions consists of morality, ethics, humility and love of God.   Knowing that the living being is fully dependent on the mercy of Supreme GOD-head as a conscious spiritual particle or spirit-on of GOD, called atman, the sincere human being can transform himself to become a sincere servant of GOD by nine devotional activities: hearing, chanting, remembering, serving, worshiping, praying, obeying, maintaining friendship and surrendering everything - which will lead to   attaining the highest goal of life, which is love of GOD.  That is what Swami Chidananda had been conveying in a series of lectures on Athmasatuti of Appayya Dikshitar, a staunch Advaiti.   Thus by developing the understanding of GOD’s existence and by purifying one’s heart by devotional service to the Lord, an individual life, community, nations and the entire world can all live together in harmony and peace. A GOD-centered life is, therefore, the solution to all the problems of material struggle.  

The impersonal effulgence of the Supreme Lord’s transcendental body is Brahman or Brahmajyoti and it is beyond cause and effect. This is also evident from the Sri Isopanishad mantra: hiranmayena patrena satyasyapihitam mukham tat tvam pusann apavrinu satya-dharmaya dristaye Translation: “O my Lord, sustainer of all that lives, Your real face is covered by Your dazzling effulgence. Kindly remove that covering and exhibit Yourself to Your pure devotee.”   Singh, T. D. Institutional Affiliation(s): Director, Bhaktivedanta Institute; President, Vedanta and Science Educational Research Foundation.

“There can be three names for the Infinite – and that is what we have, namely, the Infinite, the “I”, and the Atman. So where does the Greatness of the Infinite lie.  If this thought of “I” really sinks into us deep enough, forever gone will be the idea that we are this puny little bag of flesh and bones; forever gone will be the thought of that we are a limited mind and intellect having this narrow personality; forever gone will be all sense of differences in our vision – no more rich or poor, no more Brahmin or Shudra; no more Eastern or Western, no more male or female, and so on. An individual wave in the ocean is finite; it is born and perishes in a particular time and place. However, when seen as water, it is everywhere – below, above, in front, behind… It is the essence in all waves”. If that does not inspire us to strive to actually meet the conditions needed for us to experience this massive explosion of Consciousness, then we must be in deep, deep sleep –the comfortable sleep of Ignorance.” --Swami Gurubhaktananda.

Why do we need relationship with the Supreme or Bhauma who is  Infinite.  Lasting happiness, an Infinite Happiness, or Bhumaiva Sukham that Vedas hang before us as a carrot does exist. In fact, it is our very nature, our very existence, we are solely that alone. The quest for happiness is the penultimate reason; we cannot find it in the world, so we turn to spirituality. Is it found there? No, the same kind of happiness is not there even in spirituality! That may sound disappointing, indeed.   At the root of even our quest for happiness lies our need to feel complete. There is a sense of incompleteness which seeks to want something to fill the vacuum in one’s life. Where does such a feeling arise from? It is from the Infinite that is already the very heart of our being. If we are Infinite in reality, then surely nothing finite will ever satisfy us permanently. We will always be yearning to go back to the Infinite, our true ‘home’. That is where this feeling of incomplete-ness comes from. This is the springboard of all spiritual impulses in man – he feels a strong need to gain back to his original status of Infinity.   Poornamadah poornamidam--Paramathan is Infinity, so is Atman

Purushasukta says: Vedaahametam (veda+aham+etam) purusham mahaantam aaditya varnam - Know this Cosmic personality  AHAM (I), resplendent like the Sun.  tamevam vidwaan-amrita iha-bhavati | naanya-h panthaa ayanaaya vidyate  He is the one by realizing whom the realized masters (Vedantavijnaana sunuschitaarthaah) become immortal, even in this life. There is no other way for liberation (Purushasuktam). Vedas say vijñānenātmānaṁ vedayati …………. vijñānādānandam  (MNU)--By unbroken direct realization (Vijnaanam) a person knows the Ātman (Self) that leads to  Bliss (Anandam) --Infinite Happiness.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This compilation by N.R. SRINIVASAN is based on the E-mails sent to HR Forum Participants and thoughts collected from Vedanta scholars, with added explanation, that is gratefully acknowledged.