21 Mar 2022

Parabrahma Prakaranam - The Topic of Unimaginable God

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1)Taṭasthāvettṛ vedokteḥ, Prasthānatraya bṛṃhaṇāt |
Pratyakṣārtha vibhūtibhyaḥ, nohya mastīti niścitam ||

[There is some entity, which is unimaginable and which is decided as the source of practically perceived miracles in this world. Such unimaginable entity is said to be the creator, maintainer and destroyer of this creation by the three authoritative scriptures of spiritual knowledge called “Prasthānatrayam”. The references in these three authorities are:- 1) The Brahmasūtrams saying that this entity is creator, maintainer and destroyer of this world (by telling that this is creator etc., the inherent nature or Svarūpa lakṣaṇam is not told and only the associated nature or Taṭastha lakṣaṇam is only told, which can’t be the real identity of this entity resulting that this entity is unimaginable. Ref:- Janmādyasya yataḥ), 2) The Bhagavad Gītā saying that nobody knows this entity Ref:- Maṃ tu Veda na kaścana) and 3) Several Vedic Upaniṣats saying that this entity is unimaginable Ref:- Na medhayā…, Naiṣā tarkeṇa…, Atarkyaḥ… (it is beyond logic), Yasyāmatam…, (if you know that it is not known, you have known it and if you know that it is known, you have not known it), Avijñātam…. (you must know that it is not known by anybody so far), Yato vāco…, Yo buddheḥ parataḥ (words, mind and even intelligence can’t touch it) etc.]

2)Anekavarga bhūritvāt, Brahmāṇi Vedava dyataḥ |
Śaṅkareṇa Parabrahma, Proktaṃ bhūritamaṃ hi tat ||

[This unimaginable entity is called ‘Brahman’ by scriptures, which means that it is greatest. But this word is used for several items, which are greatest among certain specific limited categories of items. For example, the Veda is called as Brahman being the greatest among scriptures, food is called as Brahman being the greatest among materials etc. Hence, Śaṅkara used a new word called Parabrahman (Maunavyākhyā prakaṭita Parabrahma…), which means that Parabrahman is different from each Brahman since Parabrahman is greater than all these Brahmans. Parabrahman being unimaginable can be expressed by only silence since words can only express imaginable items.]

3) Pratyakṣānmata vijñānaṃ, nityavyākocamaspṛśat |
Abdherambho bhuvo stīra – nyāyādubhyato'nvayaḥ ||

[Even as per science, we can achieve this unimaginable entity. Since, miracles are perceivable and science is based on the authority of perception (Pratyakṣa Pramāṇam), Parabrahman is scientifically realized. This universe or space is infinite and the concept of infinity means the permanent inability of the expression of the knowledge of boundary of space, which cracks the background confidence of certainty of science. Science also proposes the constant expansion of universe in space and even in that angle, space must be infinite. We say that universe or space is finite because God is omniscient and there cannot be anything that is unknown to God whether it is something else other than God or God Himself. If you say that space is infinite, it means that the boundary of the space is not known to God by which God cannot be omniscient. In order to accept the omniscience of God, we say that the universe is finite, which is constantly expanding along with the space or container of the universe. Both the finite universe and finite space are simultaneously expanding.

Even though space and universe are finite from the angle of God, both must be infinite from the angle of the souls. Both these contradicting concepts of finite for God and infinite for souls can be correlated by saying that the finite universe or space is constantly expanding while the imagination of the souls is running behind both space and universe to touch their boundaries. If the soul’s imagination touches the two boundaries of universe and space (it can be even a single boundary if the universe completely fills the space), it means that it has touched the unimaginable God, Who is surrounding space as its generator (Sarvamāvṛtya tiṣṭhati – Gītā). Since, the soul’s imagination can’t touch unimaginable God, space (or universe or both) is constantly expanding so that the soul can never touch the unimaginable God since the boundary of space means the unimaginable God Himself. The boundary of the ocean means the boundary of the soil. If the boundary of the ocean is touched, soil is touched. Hence, the theory of constant expansion of universe supports the existence of unimaginable God. Just like soil is totally different from the water of the ocean, the unimaginable God is totally different (which means that He is unimaginable) from the imaginable universe or space or both.]

4) Ākāśatejasoraikyaṃ, śrutibhyāṃ purato janeḥ |
Tasyābhāvāt puro hetau, so'nūhyo'parimāṇataḥ ||

[The first element of this creation is space because without space nothing of the creation can appear or even exist. The unimaginable God created this space in the beginning and this space is a form of subtle energy having very high frequency. In the Veda, it is told that God created space (Ātmana ākāśaḥ) in the beginning and again it is told that God created energy in the beginning (Tat tejo'sṛjata). This inevitability of creation of two items (space and energy) simultaneously means that space itself is energy and hence, space is not nothing but something. Science tells that space bends along the boundaries of objects and this means that space is something because there is no bending of nothing and nothing can never even be generated.

Unimaginable God is the cause and space is the generated product. A product cannot exist in its cause before its generation. If it exists, generation itself becomes meaningless. Hence, space does not exist in unimaginable God before the generation of space itself. This means that the unimaginable God has no space or spatial dimensions in Him and this results in saying that the unimaginable God has no volume. Anything which is devoid of volume is always unimaginable. You cannot imagine anything without volume even if you continuously break your head for infinite time! Hence, the unimaginable nature of the original absolute God or Parabrahman is clearly proved.]

5) Bahu nohyeṣu baddhaikyāt, Svabhāvāt tannirūpaṇāt |
Matānāmeka daivatvaṃ, balavat bhāti naikagam ||

[Any number of unimaginable items together are forcibly considered as one unimaginable item only because their boundaries are not distinguishable. Hence, unimaginable God must be always one only and no effort is needed to prove this point. The Veda says this point “Ekamevādvitīyaṃ Brahma, Neha nānāsti kiñcana”. All the religions must claim only the same one unimaginable God and cannot differentiate their claimed individual unimaginable Gods. In this way, no effort is to be put to prove that there is only one unimaginable God for all the religions as there cannot be different unimaginable Gods for different religions. No religion can register the one unimaginable God as its own specific God because only an imaginable item can be registered.]

6) Atropamatava dviśva—matānāmeka Daivadhīḥ |
Granthārtha sāmyatā Daivaṃ, ekaṃ vakti viparyayāt ||

[Not only the unity among sub-religions of Hinduism, but also, the unity among various religions in this world is realized naturally without any effort of any type of logic because the same logic applied in the case of sub-religions can be applied straight to all the religions of the world. If Śiva is realized as Viṣṇu, since in both the same unimaginable God exists, why should not Śiva or Viṣṇu be realized as Allah or Jehovah based on the same logic of the existence of the same one inner unimaginable God? In this way, the unimaginable nature of Parabrahman is useful to establish one Universal Religion with one Universal spirituality. In such a case, one God exists for all religions, who must have written the scriptures of all world-religions resulting in the basic unity of the contents of all religious scriptures and this is found correct, which again reiterates back that the one unimaginable God is the ultimate God of all religions in this world.]

7) Rūpārūpa jaga ccohyaṃ, tadanūhyaṃ jagatparam |
Neti Neti Śrute schittvaṃ, sarvaśakte ssa dāhakaḥ ||

[One should not confuse formless God with the unimaginable God. The items with form and formless (without form) exist as two sub-divisions in the imaginable creation itself. Space, air etc., are formless imaginable items, which are not unimaginable. No item of the imaginable creation whether with form or without form is the unimaginable God as said by the Veda (Neti Neti…). The awareness is also a specific work form of inert energy and is a part of imaginable creation only. This awareness can be seen as the waves of its essential inert energy through instruments. Scriptures say that awareness or soul can be seen by advanced scientific intelligence (Dṛśyate tvagrayā— Veda and Paśyanti jñānacakṣuḥ— Gītā). You should not call the unimaginable God as the awareness in order to explain His process of thinking before creation, which was the will to create the world. Even though unimaginable God is not the awareness, still He can think due to His omnipotence. This unimaginable God is also said to burn the entire creation in the final dissolution (Attā carācara grahaṇāt— Brahma Sūtram) and this does not mean that the unimaginable God is either fire or radiant energy because He can burn the world due to His omnipotence and He need not be fire or radiant energy for this purpose of burning.]

8) Sarvajñaḥ sarvaśaktitvāt, cidalpajñā dvayāśritā |
Sṛṣṭeḥ pūrvaṃ dvayābhāvaḥ, cidanūhyā sa kathyatām ||

[God is omniscient due to His omnipotence and the awareness seen in the world is not omniscient due to lack of omnipotence (Unimaginable God is omniscient and omnipotent and God need not be omnipresent because omnipresence is effectively achieved by omniscience and omnipotence and physical omnipresence is not necessary, which brings the problem of God present in a demon and has to bear the responsibility of the sins of the demon.). The awareness in the world is having little knowledge and is a modification of inert energy in a functioning nervous system and the inert energy is obtained by the modification of food. In this way, the awareness in the world is dependent on inert energy and materialized nervous system whereas unimaginable God is independent of both energy and matter, which did not exist before creation when God was thinking to create the world. If you are so fond of calling unimaginable God as awareness (since He thinks), you can call Him as unimaginable awareness, which is totally different from this imaginable awareness or soul. The unimaginable awareness is the unimaginable God Himself, the creator of this world (since two unimaginable items become one unimaginable item only) whereas the soul is a tiny part of this imaginable creation created by the unimaginable God.]

9) Ūhyānā manavasthāyāṃ, kāryakārṇaśṛuṅkhalā |
Hetvabhāvā danūhyasya, nājātyavasaro'sya hi ||

[For imaginable items, there is inevitable birth and one imaginable item called cause generates another imaginable item called effect or product. Due to this, an endless chain of causes results by which you cannot stop at the ultimate cause of this creation. Gauḍapāda mentions about this endless chain of causes and finds fault with the inability of finding the ultimate cause of creation and due to this, he proposed the theory of non-born creation or Ajātivāda (Jātāt ca jāyamānasya, na vyavasthā pradṛśyate, Ajātaṃ jāyate kiñcit, Ajātiḥ prakṛtistataḥ). He means that this creation is not created at all, which means that this creation is a total unreality! This is like burning the house due to disturbance from rats! This problem can be easily solved by accepting that the ultimate cause of this universe is unimaginable. Only an imaginable item has birth and cause, and the unimaginable item can never have birth and cause. You need not make the creation totally unreal to solve this problem, which can be easily solved by accepting the unimaginable cause. We also agree that this creation is totally unreal by itself, but, when it is born, it is gifted with the reality of its cause and becomes totally real for the souls. Remember that souls are also part of the unreal creation and part of the creation has also become real with the gift from God. For the cause, the creation remains unreal because the cause can withdraw its reality from this produced creation at any time and this concept is the basis for the miracles done by the unimaginable cause in the creation. When the creation becomes totally real due to the gifted reality, the cause will entertain with the creation. Since the cause has the power to withdraw or grant its reality to a part or even to the whole creation, the cause can show miracles in this creation. This creation can’t be called really unreal because it becomes really real on achieving the gifted reality from the cause though it is unreal by itself. Such reality is called relative reality or Mithyā. Like this, there is no need of Ajātivāda to solve the problem of ad-infinitum (Anavasthā).]

10) Anūhya sarvaśaktyartha-nāsādhyāt kasyacit pathaḥ |
Bruhattvaṃ bhāsate yena, tenaivānūhya karma sat ||

[The Parabrahman or unimaginable God has all types of unimaginable powers and hence, there is no possibility of thinking of His action to be impossible by any impossible way since all impossible ways are possible for Him. We need not bother about any specific way of action in which we have to do analysis about the possibility or impossibility of any way of any action. The controlling factor in the actions of Parabrahman is not His inability to do anything in any way! The only controlling factor is that we shall discuss and find out a specific way of any action by which alone, the greatness of Parabrahman stands in its climax. Parabrahman does any action if this specific way of becoming greatest is fully satisfied. Hence, in the case of Parabrahman, there is no need of worldly logic, which decides certain possible ways of actions and certain impossible ways of action based on the abilities and inabilities of worldly items. For example, the fire will burn the hand and cannot make the hand cool and wet. But, the unimaginable God or Parabrahman can burn if angry and can keep the devotee cool if pleased. By the same look, He has the power to burn anything or anybody to ash and by the same look, He has the power to make anything or anybody to become cool and grow well. If His greatness reaches its climax by the action of burning, He will burn it. If His greatness reaches its climax by making it cool and grow, He will bless in such way only. Whatever is proper, He will only do that. In the case of Parabrahman, there is no impossibility of any way of any action due to inability decided by worldly logic as in the case of imaginable worldly items. The properness (Aucityam) of any thought or word or action alone is the controlling factor in His behaviour at any place and at any time.]

[April 02, 2022]

11) Nādi nohyaṃ hetvabhāvaṃ, na sannohyaṃ sadūhyate |
Nāsat vibhūtibhi rloke, Parabrahmeti gīyate ||

[Regarding Parabrahman or the unimaginable God, the Gita says two points:- 1. It has no birth and hence, no cause and 2. It is told as neither existent nor non-existent (Anādimat paraṃ Brahma, na sat tat nāsaducyate). Since Parabrahman is unimaginable, it is logical that it does not have birth and when there is no birth, there cannot be another cause from which Parabrahman is born. It cannot be told as existent because its nature is unimaginable since all known existent things are imaginable only. It also can’t be told as non-existent, because the unimaginable events called miracles existing in this world prove the existence of their source called unimaginable God or Parabrahman.]

Chapter-1: Matāntarīkaraṇa Prakaraṇam

Chapter-2: Parabrahma Prakaraṇam

Chapter-3: Māyā Śakti Prakaraṇam

Chapter-4: Īśvara Prakaraṇam

Chapter-5: Avatāra Prakaraṇam

Chapter-6: Ākāśa Tejaḥ Prakaraṇam

Chapter-7: Vibhūti Prakaraṇam

Chapter-8: Sṛṣṭilakṣya Prakaraṇam

Chapter-9: Jagat Sṛṣṭi Prakaraṇam

Chapter-10: Jīvātma Tattva Prakaraṇam

Chapter-11: Matasamanvaya Prakaraṇam

Chapter-12: Yoga Vicāra Prakaraṇam