Posted on: 07 May 2023
O Learned and Devoted Servants of God,
[Ms. Thrylokya asked:- Padanamaskaram Swami! Can You kindly explain God Hanuman’s statement said to God Rama: - In the angle of My body, I am Your servant. In the angle of My individual soul (Jiiva), I am part of You. In the angle of My soul, I am Yourself?]
Swami replied:- The Sanskrit verse of this statement is:-
Dehabuddhyā tu dāso'ham, Jīvabuddhyā tvadaṃśakaḥ |<
Ātmabuddhyā tvamevāham, iti me niścitā matiḥ ||
Meaning:- From the angle of My body I am Your servant. From the angle of My individual soul, I am Your part. From the angle of the soul, I am Yourself. This is My conclusion.
This statement can be explained in three views:-
1) View of God Hanuman to God Rama (Theistic):-
a) Angle of the body:- Hanuman is the servant of Rama in the view of their roles. Rama is master and Hanuman is the servant. The servant is expected to do Karma Samnyaasa (Sacrifice of physical energy) to the master. Hence, Hanuman is the servant of Rama from the angle of His body with which service is done. Since Hanuman is a minister under king Sugriiva without any salary, waiting for Rama, Hanuman can be treated as a saint without marriage. For a saint, only sacrifice of service can be possible.
b) Angle of the individual soul:- Rama is God and Hanuman is a servant or an ordinary individual soul made of awareness. Though awareness is common, God is omniscient or Sarvajna (knowing everything) and Hanuman is knowing very little and hence, is Alpajna. Since individual soul is also awareness, it cannot be called Ajna (inert). Little knowledge is always a part of the whole knowledge.
c) Angle of the soul:- The soul is the essential substratum, which is the unimaginable God present in both Rama and Hanuman. Rama is the incarnation of God Vishnu and Hanuman is the incarnation of God Shiva. In both God Vishnu and God Shiva, Parabrahman or unimaginable God is present. From this point of view, both Rama and Hanuman are one and the same.
In the above three angles, the first angle belongs to the Dualism of Madhva. The second angle belongs to the qualified Monism of Ramanuja. The third angle belongs to the Monism of Shankara.
2) View of the devoted human being to God Rama (Theistic):-
a) Angle of the body:- Every devoted human being as a householder, is expected to be the servant of God doing karma samnyasa with body and Karma phala tyaaga with the fruit of work. If the devotee is a saint, he/she can do only karma samnyasa or sacrifice of service. By body, both service and earning fruit by work with the body are possible, hence, both service and sacrifice of fruit of work can be indicated by the word ‘body’.
b) Angle of the individual soul:- God is unimaginable awareness and soul is imaginable awareness. Due to unimaginable and omnipotent awareness, God is omniscient and due to limited capacity, human being is having little knowledge only. Since little knowledge is part of total knowledge, the individual soul is a part of God.
c) Angle of the soul:- Soul is inert energy. Before unimaginable God merges with the soul and the body of an energetic incarnation or a human incarnation, the medium is made of inert energy only. The soul and body of the human being (even if it is going to become the medium of the incarnation) are also made of inert energy only. Hence, both the medium of an incarnation before merge with unimaginable God and the medium of an energetic being or a human being are the same energy. The essential basic item is inert energy that is one and the same. Even matter and awareness are forms of inert energy only, thus, the oneness of inert energy can be easily understood. The unimaginable God is neither inert energy nor matter nor awareness and hence, is leftover here since the unimaginable God is not an imaginable item.
3) View of an ordinary human being to the Universe (Atheistic):-
a) Angle of the body:- Body is mainly matter, which is a subordinate form of inert energy because all materialized bodies can be burnt by inert energy. The materialized form is also maintained by the inert energy, called as bond energy between atoms and molecules. Matter is formed from inert energy only by condensation. Hence, matter can be called as the servant of inert energy. The entire universe consisting of huge matter and huge inert energy is also quantitatively very large compared to small matter and small inert energy of the body of a human being.
b) Angle of the individual soul:- The awareness of a human being is a very little part in the whole awareness present in the universe due to quantitative difference. The collective awareness of the entire universe (such a collective awareness is called Hiranyagarbha in philosophy) is very large and the little awareness of the human being is a part of the collective awareness. The collective awareness of the universe is not greater than the individual awareness in quality because the collective awareness is not omniscient due to the absence of God in atheism or in science. Hence, here the individual soul is a part of the collective awareness in quantitative sense and not in qualitative sense.
c) Angle of the soul:- The entire human body along with its individual soul can be treated as some little quantity of inert energy because matter and awareness are forms of inert energy only. Similarly, the entire universe is also a very large quantity of inert energy only. Now, the human being as a tiny part of the universe (in the view that both universe and human being or energetic being) is the same inert energy qualitatively. The oneness between a human being and the universe in view of inert energy is in qualitative sense only.
In this third atheistic or scientific view, the atheists or scientists do not accept the existence of God since they treat the inert energy (cosmic energy) or the first creation, called Muula Prakruti itself as the ultimate God. The view of God Hanuman shall not be applied to any human being because God Hanuman is already the human incarnation born as servant to another human incarnation called God Rama. Often, I find the Advaita philosophers quote this verse applying to themselves, which is wrong since they are not human incarnations of God like God Hanuman.