24 Aug 2019
[Krishnāṣṭami] Shri P.V.N.M. Sharma asked: Several preachers say that when a devotee’s devotion ripens, the God who the person worshipped grants self-knowledge (ātma jñānam) to the devotee. This self-knowledge leads to self-realization (ātma sākṣātkāra) in which the devotee realizes that the soul itself is God. Can you please explain this point?
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! This is a very important question. Its answer will automatically be realized once the background knowledge related to this question is clearly understood. There are some crucial points that constitute this background. The analysis of these points will reveal the essential message given by Krishna in the Gita and will also provide the answer to your question. Let us consider these points one by one.
The Essence of the Great Statements
First, you must understand the real essence of the four great statements from the Veda (mahā vākyas) . The four statements are: “I am God (Ahaṃ Brahmāsmi)”, “You are God (Tat tvaṃ asi)”, “He is God (Ayaṃ ātmā Brahma)” and “Excellent knowledge is God (Prajñānaṃ Brahma)”. The essence of the first three statements is that the God who is relevant to humanity, is the Human Incarnation of God. That Human Incarnation of God looks like me, like you and like him. The statements refer to the human body of God’s Incarnation, which is similar to our own. The statements should not be mistaken to mean that a statue, which also looks like a human being, is God. So, the fourth statement clarifies this point. It eliminates the idea that an inert statue can be God. Thus, only a living human being with awareness, like me, like you and like him, can be God.
In fact, the word prajñānam used in the fourth statement means excellent special spiritual knowledge. It is the knowledge that gives correct guidance to the soul in pravṛtti (worldly life) as well as in nivṛtti (spiritual life). Unfortunately, this word has been misunderstood or misinterpreted to mean mere awareness. Awareness is present even in animals and birds. But in an ordinary worldly context, do you find the word prajñānam used in the sense of mere awareness? Do you call an animal as the possessor of excellent spiritual knowledge (Prajñānī ayaṃ paśuḥ)? The animal does not even have basic worldly knowledge. Even an ordinary human being cannot be called the possessor of excellent spiritual knowledge because we find that wise elders often refer to the human being as ignorant, foolish or similar to an animal. So, it is not correct to call every human being as the possessor of excellent spiritual knowledge. Even a scholar of spiritual knowledge is only called a jñānī, which means the knower of (some) spiritual knowledge. He is not called a prajñānī, which means the possessor of excellent spiritual knowledge.
The first three statements mean that God is like me, like you and like him, in terms of the external human form. These three statements only indicate the external similarity. This description of the external form of God as human, filters out animals and birds, and narrows down the address of God to the category of human beings. The fourth statement reveals the internal difference between God-in-human-form (Human Incarnation) and all ordinary human beings, including scholars. Just by looking at different metallic wires, you cannot distinguish between an electrified wire and all other non-electrified wires. This is because the electricity passing through the electrified wire cannot be seen by our eyes. Similarly, merely by looking at the Human Incarnation of God, we cannot identify Him to be an Incarnation of God. Thus, God-in-human-form cannot be identified using the faculty of perception. This is because, God is unimaginable and hence, naturally invisible. Even within creation, which is the imaginable domain, invisible items like X-rays, gamma rays and so on exist. These invisible items can still be known because they are basically imaginable. They are invisible but imaginable. So, they can be known through a combination of scientific logic and instruments. However, God is not only invisible, but also unimaginable.
When we say that a person is as brave as a lion, it is a simile (upamā), which indicates the similarity between the person and the lion in the aspect of braveness. If the two items compared are highly similar, we use another figure of speech called a metaphor (rūpaka). In a metaphor, we say that the person is a brave lion. Even though the metaphor indicates a high degree of similarity between the two items compared, it does not mean that there is no single difference between them. Many other differences do exist between the person and the lion. The first three statements are metaphors, which indicate the high degree of similarity that exists between an ordinary person and a Human Incarnation of God. So, the statements are saying that I, you and he is God Krishna (Incarnation), in a metaphorical sense. As seen above, it does not mean that there is no difference between the ordinary human being and the Human Incarnation of God (Krishna). The metaphor is used only to indicate the extreme external similarity between God Krishna and the ordinary human being.
God’s Existence is Known; Not His Nature
When you touch all metallic wires, the electrified wire alone gives a shock, by which you can infer that electricity is present in that specific wire. Similarly, you can distinguish God-in-human-form from other human forms on hearing His excellent spiritual knowledge. Since the knowledge is extraordinary, you infer that the person giving that knowledge cannot be an ordinary human being. Even though the person may appear to be like a human being externally, you infer the existence of the unimaginable God in that person. Now, you might wonder how it is possible to know God by inference, when God is unimaginable or unknowable. The answer is that we are only inferring or knowing the existence (taṭastha lakṣaṇam) of God. We are not getting even the slightest information about God’s nature (svarūpa lakshanam), which remains completely unimaginable of God. By experiencing the shock, we infer that the wire must contain electricity. However, the shock provides absolutely no information about the nature of electricity, which is that electricity is a flow of electrons. So, ‘knowing God’ invariably means only knowing the existence of God. It can never mean knowing the original nature of God since God is beyond our imagination.
God is Known Through Inference and Scripture
Kālidāsa says (Āpta vāganumānābhyām...) that there are only two authorities for knowing the existence of God and they are inference and scripture. Let us examine both.
Inference: The second Brahma Sūtra says that the existence of the cause for this systematic and orderly universe must be inferred (Janmādyasya yataḥ). There is no point in seeking the cause of every cause in an endless chain of causes, ad infinitum. It leads to an infinite regress (anavasthā), which prevents us from making any meaningful conclusion. You have to stop somewhere and identify an ultimate cause. Scientists say that inert energy itself is the cause of this world. The world has broadly three components, energy, matter and awareness. The energy itself becomes matter and awareness. So, energy is the ultimate cause of the world, as per the scientists. The only problem with the claim of the scientists is that inert energy, by itself, cannot be responsible for the systematic arrangement and functioning of the cosmos. The sophisticated and orderly structure and functioning of the cosmos clearly indicates that it must be the result of an intelligence. This means that awareness or intelligence should somehow have existed before the origin of the world. But assuming that the awareness which is found in living beings, existed before the inert energy as the ultimate cause of the world, is absurd. Awareness is a product that is produced in course of the formation of the world. Awareness is found only in living beings and it cannot exist independently in the absence of matter and energy. Awareness is produced in the nervous system, which is made of matter. It is actually a work-form of the inert energy that is derived from the food consumed by the living organism. When the inert energy enters the functioning nervous system, it gets converted to awareness. So, awareness depends on both matter and energy. Naturally, this awareness could not have existed before the origin of matter and energy. It means that it could not possibly be the cause of the world. Inert energy cannot be the cause of the world since it is unintelligent, while awareness cannot be the cause of the world since it depends on matter and energy.
This means that the awareness (intelligence) that must have existed in the beginning and which caused the energy to differentiate into the systematic and orderly world consisting of energy, matter and awareness, must be unimaginable. Being the cause of space, energy, matter and all of creation, it is impossible for any being within creation to ever imagine it. This Unimaginable Awareness Itself is known as God. This unimaginable God created the primordial energy or primordial space and then created the first form (body) out of that energy. Upon creating this first energetic form, the unimaginable God entered and permanently merged with that form to become the First Energetic Incarnation of God, called Datta (Īśvara). The unimaginable God merged with both the energetic body and the soul of Datta. The body and soul of Datta are both imaginable. Only the God, who merged into them is unimaginable. Datta further entered into other energetic forms of certain angels in the upper world and certain material human forms on earth to become other Energetic and Human Incarnations of God. When Datta entered the human form of Krishna, the energetic body of Datta dissolved in the gross body of Krishna and the imaginable soul of Datta dissolved in the imaginable soul of Krishna. Since the unimaginable God was already present in the body and soul of Datta, the same unimaginable God also exists in the body and soul of Krishna after the entry of Datta in Him. So, we can say that the unimaginable God, through Datta, merged with Krishna both externally (body-wise) and internally (soul-wise). This concept is stated in the Veda as “Antarbahiśca...”. The simple conclusion is that the unimaginable God merged with the body and soul of Krishna. The existence of the unimaginable God in Krishna is known from the inference drawn from observed unimaginable events and the extraordinary knowledge expressed by Krishna. Unimaginable events are miracles. The biggest miracle was the cosmic vision (Viśvarūpa) shown by Krishna to Arjuna. Through it, Krishna proved that He was the Creator, Controller and Destroyer of the world. That miracle clearly differentiates Krishna from all other souls. No ordinary soul can perform even the smallest miracle like creating even a single atom of matter or even a ray of energy. Observing the unimaginable miracle performed by Krishna, we can infer that He is an Incarnation of the unimaginable God. Similarly, based on the excellent spiritual knowledge given by Him in the form of the Gita, we can infer that He is an Incarnation of God.
Scripture: Apart from inference, we have scripture. The experiences of numerous sages in many places and times have been expressed by them in the scripture. They experienced the existence of the unimaginable God. Their word can be taken as a supporting authority for knowing the existence of God. This is told in the third Brahma Sūtra (Śāstra yonitvāt).
Recognizing Excellent Spiritual Knowledge
How can we recognize that the spiritual knowledge told by Krishna alone is excellent? Your inner consciousness will identify the excellent and extraordinary knowledge and that identification will fill your mind with complete satisfaction (Pramāṇamantaḥkaraṇa pravṛttayaḥ—Kalidāsa). Your inner consciousness will express such complete satisfaction only when the spiritual knowledge heard by you is perfectly true. The Veda says that the excellent spiritual knowledge (prajñānam) is nothing but true knowledge (Satyaṃ jñānam…). Both the excellent knowledge and the true knowledge are said to be the same God (Brahman) in the Veda. It does not mean that the knowledge itself is God. It is a figure of speech in which the possessor of the knowledge is said to be knowledge itself. When the possessor of a certain quality possesses the quality to the greatest extent, the possessor can be referred to as the quality itself. For instance, the possessor of extremely high energy (tejasvī) has been said to be energy (tejaḥ) itself (Tejasāṃ hi na vayaḥ samīkṣyate). When you hear the spiritual knowledge from the Divine Preacher, who is an Incarnation of God, your inner consciousness is charged by the power of God’s knowledge. It gives full satisfaction to your inner consciousness. Here, God helps you to recognize the truth. It does not mean that your inner consciousness itself is God!
How Can the Self Uplift the Self?
The Gita says that the self must uplift the self (Uddhared Ātmānā Ātmānam). What is meant by this statement? Is it proper to say to a drowning person that he should pull himself out of the water on his own? The drowning person is unable to save himself since he does not know how to swim. He needs the help of a swimmer to save him and pull him out of the water. Most souls are drowning in this world-ocean because they lack the knowledge of how to uplift themselves. They require the external help of somebody else to guide them in their self-upliftment. The Gita further says that the self is the friend as well as the enemy of the self (Ātmaiva hyātmano...). But the self is always a friend to itself because every soul wants to uplift itself; it obviously does not want to drown itself. From these seemingly contradictory statements, we conclude that the word ‘self’ is not only used to indicate the drowning person, but also to indicate another person, who can save the drowning person.
Why is the same word ‘self’ used to indicate both these persons? The same word is used because both the persons are human beings who look perfectly similar to each other, in external appearance. The only difference is that the first one cannot swim while the other one can. But the other person’s talent in swimming is invisible. There is yet another reason for using the same word ‘self’ to indicate both persons. The swimmer may save the drowning person and later, train him in the art of swimming. So, today’s drowning person might become the swimmer of tomorrow. This is an additional similarity between the two, due to which both are called the self.
If the drowning person becomes the disciple of the swimmer, the swimmer will help the drowning person. In that case, the swimmer becomes friendly to the first person. But if the first person rejects the help of the swimmer, due to his own ego and jealousy, he will drown. In effect, the swimmer, then, helplessly becomes the first person’s enemy. The drowning person’s rejection of the swimmer’s help is due to his ego and jealousy, which are also called the repulsion of the common medium. There is always repulsion between likes. Both the persons are externally alike because both are human beings. The human body is the common medium of both the souls. The difference between them is the swimming talent of the second person, but it is invisible. Since the difference between them cannot be perceived, the repulsion of the common medium dominates and the first person tends to reject the swimmer’s help.
In this manner, only if we consider two persons—the ordinary soul and the Human Incarnation of God—does the above-mentioned verse from the Gita becomes meaningful. The Human Incarnation’s excellent spiritual knowledge, which is capable of guiding souls in both worldly and spiritual life, is compared to the swimmer’s talent in swimming. That excellent knowledge is what differentiates the Incarnation from an ordinary soul. It is an indicator of the presence of the unimaginable God in Him. In the above verse from the Gita, if we only consider one person, who is the representative of the majority of souls drowning in the world-ocean, the verse becomes meaningless. The ordinary soul simply cannot uplift himself on his own.
God, Soul and the Rest of Creation
Today is Kṛṣṇāṣṭami, which is the birthday of Krishna. On this day, who is worshipping Krishna in the best manner? The person who has understood the real essence of the Gita, is the perfect devotee and is worshipping Krishna perfectly. First, you must understand who Krishna is. Externally, Krishna looks like any other human being; like me, like you and like him. He has all the common characteristics of human beings like birth, hunger, thirst, sleep and death. Like an ordinary person, He even died after being hit by an arrow. Then, what is special about Krishna? The specialty of Krishna is that He was that human being in whom God existed. This was told by Him in His own words in the Gita (Mānuṣīṃ tanumāśritam). He said that He is God living in a human body. Here, the word ‘body’ includes the awareness or the soul too. The body and soul of an individual, together constitute the medium in which God enters and merges.
As per one classification mentioned by Krishna in the Gita, there are two basic categories: (1) Puruṣa, which means God and (2) prakṛti, which means the creation created by God. A person’s soul is awareness and it falls under the category of prakṛti. Prakṛti or creation is subdivided into inferior creation (aparā prakṛti) and superior creation (parā prakṛti) (Apareyamitastvanyāṃ..., Jīvabhūtāṃ...). Inferior creation means the entire inert creation, while superior creation is awareness or the soul. It means that awareness is not God. If you take the second way of classification given in the Gita, there are three categories (1) prakṛti, which means only aparā prakṛti or the inert creation, (2) Puruṣa, which means parā prakṛti or awareness and (3) Puruṣottama, which means God. Even as per this classification, the soul (awareness) is not God. As per this classification, God belongs to the third category, whereas awareness belongs to the second category. The two are clearly different.
When we say that God entered a selected body to become a Human Incarnation, the statement is based on the two-category classification of Puruṣa and prakṛti. God is the Puruṣa and the body into which He entered is prakṛti. The body contains inert matter and energy, which are aparā prakṛti. The body also contains awareness, which is parā prakṛti. The God, who entered the body, is unimaginable. He is neither aparā prakṛti nor parā prakṛti since both types of prakṛti are imaginable. The important point to note is that awareness is treated as a part of the body itself. We say that the Prime Minister has entered his house and he controls it. But the house does not only mean the inert building. It also includes the servants, who are non-inert. In a sense, there is no difference between the inert building and the non-inert servants because even the non-inert servants are not independent. In the absence of the Prime Minister, they do have some limited independence. They can show their supremacy over the inert building of the house. But in the presence of the Prime Minister, they lose all their independence and have to obediently execute all his orders. Similarly, the omnipotent God enters a human being, consisting of the inert body and the non-inert awareness. When we say that God enters a human body, we actually mean that He enters a human being consisting of a body and a soul (awareness). The soul is considered to be included with the body. After God’s entry, the awareness of that human being has no independence. It becomes a fully obedient servant of God, like an inert item. Therefore, it can be treated to be a part of the inert body. Before the entry of God, the same awareness was independent and it controlled the inert body.
Krishna is God
The total essence of the Gita is to understand that the Preacher of the Gita is God or Bhagavān. The Bhagavad Gita is the Divine Song of the Lord, which occurs in the great epic Mahābhāratam written by sage Vyāsa. Throughout the Mahābhāratam, Krishna is simply referred to as Krishna. But only while preaching the Gita, Krishna is not referred to as Krishna. Instead, He is referred to as Bhagavān, which means God. Vyāsa writes “Śrī Bhagavān uvāca…”, which means, “God said the following…”. Everywhere else in the Mahābhāratam, Vyāsa writes “Śrī Kṛṣṇa uvāca”, which means “Krishna said the following…”. Apart from this, we find Krishna Himself repeatedly stating in the Gita that He is God and not a human being.
So, there are three points to note in the Gita (a) Krishna’s statement that He is God, who has entered a human body. (b) Krishna’s repeated statements that He is God and (c) Sage Vyāsa’s reference to Krishna as God throughut the Gita since he wrote “God said…”, instead of “Krishna said…”. What is the real essence of the Gita that can be understood from these three points? It is that Krishna is God. This point has been stressed repeatedly. Why is it necessary to stress upon the fact that Krishna is God? It is necessary to stress this point since it is very easy to mistake Him to be a human being. Krishna looked like an ordinary human being externally. There was a high possibility of Arjuna thinking that Krishna was an ordinary human being. Krishna was preaching the Gita to Arjuna, who represents an ordinary human being. Why is there a high possibility of mistaking the Human Incarnation (Krishna) to be just a human being? The reason is the strong repulsion of the common medium. Both the ordinary person and the Human Incarnation possess a common human form. It leads to jealousy in the mind of the ordinary person towards the Incarnation. The jealousy is based on the person’s selfish ego. Due to this strong repulsion, there is a high possibility that the ordinary person will not accept the Incarnation as God. He will treat the Incarnation as only an ordinary person and even insult Him. Even if a person realizes that the Incarnation is God for some time, the strong repulsion will cause the person to again doubt it and treat the Incarnation as an ordinary person. To avoid this from ocurring, it was repeatedly emphasized in the Gita that Krishna is that ultimate, unimaginable and omnipotent God. The repulsion of the common medium masks the realization of the truth in every human being. So, the listener has been repeatedly reminded of the truth from various angles.
The single line from the Gita “Mānuṣīṃ tanumāśritam” is the life and the real essence of the entire Gita. Through this line Krishna says that He is God who is present in human form. This line is so important because Human Incarnation alone is the ultimate goal of all humanity. The goal is seeing, discussing with, and serving the Human Incarnation of God with full faith. If this is realized, the entire Gita is understood. Getting this realization is the best worship of Krishna today.
But if you limit this concept only to Krishna, saying that Krishna alone is God, it is not a complete understanding. Such a belief exists among the followers of ISKCON. We must recall that Krishna Himself said in the Gita that He would descend as a Human Incarnation again and again, whenever there is a need (Yadā yadā hi...tadātmānaṃ sṛjāmyaham). If you say that Krishna alone is God, what about the past Incarnations like Vāmana, Rāma, Buddha and others? Were they not God? Also, what about the future Incarnation, Kalki? It must be accepted that God will descend repeatedly to uplift humanity in the form of many Human Incarnations other than Krishna. One must recognize other Human Incarnations like Śrīpādavallabha, Shri Narasimha Sarasvati, Shri Māṇikya Prabhu, Shri Akkalkot Mahāraj, Shri Sai Baba, Shri Satya Sai Baba and so on. One must also accept Human Incarnations like Jesus, Mohammad and others, who descended for the sake of uplifting human beings outside India. God created this entire earth and not merely India. So, He equally uplifts all people in all places.
Universal Spirituality
Krishna declared in the Gita that the same unimaginable God exists as the single Actor in different roles (Avibhaktaṃ vibhakteṣu—Gita). The external medium alone changes and not the God who is common to all Human Incarnations. This concept establishes Universal Spirituality. It establishes that all world religions were given by God because the entire world is created and ruled by the single unimaginable God. He is called by different names such as Parabrahman, Jehovah, Allah and so on. All religions finally lead to the same God. The religions are like rivers flowing in straight or curved paths to finally merge into the same ocean. There is no need to convert to a different religion. Imagine that all houses are arranged in a circular fashion around the city center. There is a road from each house to directly reach the center. There is no point in moving tangentially from one house to the other. Each person must move radially inwards from his or her own house towards the center. One must follow the religion in which one is born until one dies and the soul unites with the unimaginable God.
If you follow your religion without any hatred towards other religions, it is sufficient. Be assured that all religions lead to the same ultimate unimaginable God. There is absolutely no need to change your religion. You can treat the fathers of your friends to be equal to your father and respect them as you respect your father. But you need not reject your father and call the father of your friend as your father! If you change your religion, you will adopt the external culture of the other religion too. Then, your kith and kin will revolt against that new external culture adopted by you since they are accustomed to their specific culture for a long time. Such resistance from your kith and kin will lead to your isolation. You will then feel insecure and fearful (Paradharmo bhayāvahaḥ—Gita). Instead, you can follow the culture of your own religion. You can worship the same unimaginable God existing in the form accepted by your religion. Your worship can follow the external culture of your own religion. If you do this and finally die, you will get salvation (Svadharme nidhanam śreyaḥ—Gita).
It is sufficient if you do not criticize the unimaginable God existing in a different form and following a different culture. You must realize that the same unimaginable God exists in the various divine forms which follow the specific cultures of different religions. If you have criticized Krishna, you have also criticized Jesus, Mohammad and all other Incarnations, simultaneously. Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Mohammad and so on, might differ in their external physical forms and in their external way of dressing, but the unimaginable and omnipotent ultimate God present in them is one and the same. The same Divine Actor has appeared in all those different roles wearing different costumes. He has made His face appear different in each role, as if by plastic surgery. By criticizing the Incarnation belonging to another religion, you are criticizing your own God, who is acting in a different role. Universal Spirituality removes your hatred for other religions. You need not fear that by removing the hatred, your inherent love for your own religion will be affected in any way (Pūrvaiḥ Pūrvataraiḥ kṛtam—Gita).
Aatmajnaanam Aatmasaakshaatkaara Mahaavaakyas Prajnaanam Prajnaanii ayam pashuh Pravrutti Nivrutti Aaptavaaganumaanaabhyaam Janmaadyasya yatah Antarbahishcha Shaastra yonitvaat Pramaanamantahkaranapravruttayah Kalidaasa Satyam jnaanam Tejah Tejasaam hi na vayah samiikshyate Uddharet Aatmaanaa Aatmaanam Aatmaivahyaatmano Maanushiim tanumaashritam Apareyamitastvanyaam Jiivabhutaam Maanushiim tanumaashritam Yadaa yadaahi Tadaatmaanam srujaamyaham Avibhaktam vibhakteshu Paradharmo bhayaavahah Svadharme nidhanam shreyah Puurvaih Puurvataraih krutam anavastha Vishavaruupa Bhagavan uvacha Vyaasa
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