08 Feb 2023
[Dr. Nikhil asked: Padanamskarams Swamiji, I pray to You to kindly answer the following question. Your servant, Nikhil
How can any person who knows himself to be Brahman become everything? Why are the gods unhappy when people get this knowledge?
Details: This question is based on the following mantra in the Br̥hadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (1.4.10).
Sanskrit text: brahma vā idam agra āsīt, tad ātmānam evāvet, aham brahmāsmīti: tasmāt tat sarvam abhavat, tad yo yo devānām pratyabuddhyata, sa eva tad abhavat, tathā ṛṣīṇām, tathā manuṣyāṇām. taddhaitat paśyan ṛṣir vāma-devaḥ pratipede, ahaṃ manur abhavaṁ sūryaś ceti, tad idam api etarhi ya evaṁ veda, aham brahmāsmīti sa idaṁ sarvam bhavati; tasya ha na devāś ca nābhūtyā īśate, ātmā hy eṣāṁ sa bhavati. atha yo anyāṁ devatām upāste, anyo'sau anyo' ham asmīti, na sa veda; yathā paśur, evam sa devānām; yathā ha vai bahavaḥ paśavo manuṣyam bhuñjyuḥ, evam ekaikaḥ puruṣo devān bhunakti; ekasminn eva paśāvādīya-māne'priyam bhavati, kiṁ u bahuṣu? tasmād eṣām tan na priyam yad etan manuṣyā vidyuḥ.
English translation: This self was indeed Brahman in the beginning. It knew itself only as "I am Brahman." Therefore it became all. And whoever among the gods had this enlightenment also became That Brahman. It is the same with the seers (rishis), the same with men. The seer Vamadeva, having realized this self as That, came to know: "I was Manu and the sun." And to this day, whoever in a like manner knows the self as "I am Brahman," becomes all this universe. Even the gods cannot prevent his becoming this, for he has become their Self. Now, if a man worships another deity, thinking: "He is one and I am another," he does not know. He is like an animal to the gods. As many animals serve a man, so does each man serve the gods. Even if one animal is taken away, it causes anguish to the owner; how much more so when many are taken away! Therefore it is not pleasing to the gods that men should know this.]
Swami replied:-
1) The self means incarnation in which Parabrahman (Brahman) existed alone before becoming incarnation. Brahman alone knew about itself because nobody other than Brahman can know itself. The Veda says that the knower of Brahman is Brahman, which means that Brahman alone knows itself and hence, can tell “I am Brahman”.
2) Brahman created this world for entertainment as per the Veda. Brahman is only one and no second item existed. If Brahman itself created itself so that Brahman alone remained after creation, the creation is totally absent and there shall be no entertainment by which Brahman becomes impotent in not having entertainment. Hence, second item was created for entertainment as said by the Veda (Sa dvitīya maicchat). The second item or creation was created by Brahman due to His omnipotence by which entertainment was achieved. If you say Brahman became the creation (It became all.), it only means that Brahman created the creation, which is the second item to give entertainment. Brahman gifted His absolute reality to the creation so that Brahman can have full and real entertainment. This does not mean Brahman cannot control creation because one absolute reality can’t control another absolute reality because Brahman is existing with the original inherent absolute reality whereas creation is with gifted absolute reality called as relative reality. Hence, Brahman controlled the creation due to which the first case (Prathamāvibhakti) telling that Brahman became creation means that Brahman controlled the creation (Tadadhīna prathamāvibhakti).
3) The enlightened soul became Brahman and this means that the enlightened soul also is controlled by Brahman (based on the above logic). In this way all the enlightened souls are controlled by Brahman.
4) Realization means really the self became Brahman and such case is called incarnation and hence, such incarnation like Vamadeva can say that He became Manu and Sun, which means that Manu, Sun etc., were controlled by Him. Such incarnation became all—means that He became a controller of all the creation.
5) Brahman became several incarnations and every incarnation knows itself as Brahman. Even gods cannot prevent this because the incarnation is Brahman and Brahman is the self of all the gods.
6) Coming to men (ordinary human beings), such opportunity is impossible and certainly such an ordinary human being cannot realise that it is Brahman because it is not incarnation of Brahman and hence, it cannot control the entire creation.
7) Ordinary human beings serve gods as animals serve the men. Since an ordinary human being is not incarnation (Brahman), it serves god to get some boons like an animal that serves the man to get some grass.
8)If one animal is taken away, the human owner is worried because one servant is missing. Similarly, if one man becomes incarnation, gods get worried because one servant is lost. This shows that even gods are like ordinary human souls only and are not really very very noble like Brahman. This means that gods or angels are not Brahman. These ordinary human beings are not even those angels and not to speak that they are Brahman. The conclusion is that every ordinary human being, who is Tom, Dick and Harry is not Brahman. Unless Brahman itself selects a human being to make it as human incarnation, no human being can become Brahman by its own aspiration!
★ ★ ★ ★ ★