SHANKARA BHASHYAM

Note: This article is meant for intellectuals only

Chit [awareness] is gold and Jnanam is a wonderful design expressed in that gold. All the value is for that wonderful ornament and not for the lump of gold present in it. Brahman means great. The greatness is of that ornament and not of gold. A lady is attracted to the ornament but a businessman sees only the weight of the gold. Similarly an ignorant person thinks that chit is Brahman where as a realized scholar thinks that a great preacher with exceptional knowledge like Shankara is Brahman. Chit is the awareness present in every living being and thus for an ignorant person every living being is Brahman. Of course, a living being is the greatest among all the inert items and thus can be called as Brahman in that context. Similarly a man is the greatest among living beings and is Brahman in that context. Among human beings, Shankara is the greatest and is Brahman in that context. Therefore you must specify the context while using the word ‘Brahman’. If you call Shankara as Brahman simply for the reason that He is a living being, then, what is the specialty of Shankara? Why did so many follow and worship Him if He was not special? Brahman need not follow and worship Brahman! Self-praise and self-worship are condemned by the Shastras as sins.

The commentary of Shankara was for the majority that existed in His time. The majority of His time consisted of atheists, who were fully egoistic and jealous to accept the God in human form. They did not accept even the concept of God, what to speak of God in human form! They can accept the word ‘God’, provided you say that God does not exist separately; other than themselves, and provided you say that they are God. You can realize this point by talking with an atheist of today itself. Any little deviation from this point will not be acceptable to any atheist. Buddhists said that everything is ‘nothing’ (Shunyam) and so God is also nothing. Purva Mimamsakas said that everything depends upon the action and its corresponding fruit and therefore there is no God (Devo na kaschit…). A preacher is different from a teacher. A teacher cares only for his salary. A preacher’s aim is totally different; it is to uplift even the greatest of dullards. The preacher does not mind adopting various techniques to somehow bring the student at least up to the first step. A teacher simply vomits the truth and goes away.

Shankara was not only a preacher but an exceptional genius of all the scriptures. He protected Himself legally while uplifting the ignorant majority. He was in a circle of atheists, who were living beings [at the very least] certainly and at the maximum, were human beings. They were certainly better or greater than inert items. An atheist is definitely the greatest among the circle of inert items and also is the greatest among all living beings, being a human being with some intelligence. For animals, birds etc., also there is no God [they are unable to accept or understand God]. A Purva Mimamsaka is interested in heavenly pleasures like animals as said in Gita (Vedavadaratah…). An animal cannot have intelligence and cannot speak any developed language. But if you analyze carefully, atheists are no better than animals, because animals too exhibit intelligence in enjoying the pleasures and have their own language of communication. The sole purpose of any language is communication. But the animal is greater than inert items like stones and is the greatest when it is sitting on a heap of inert stones. Therefore the animal is Brahman in that context. There is no legal objection to use the word ‘Brahman’ to that animal in that context. The position of an atheist is not at all different from this context. Therefore an atheist can call himself as Brahman and should also call every living being as Brahman in that context. This is the first circle in which the word ‘Brahman’ can be used for the first time.

Brahman—Grammatical Issues

According to the rules of grammar, a word can be used for any item provided the root-meaning of that word is applicable to that item. This is called as ‘yoga’. Then there was the tradition of fixing a word to only a particular item out of all the items to which its root meaning is applicable. This tradition is called as ‘Yoga-Rudha’. But, there was no registrar’s office to take legal action if this tradition was violated. Today, if a certain name is registered for a business firm and if somebody else uses it, he will be legally penalized due to economic issues. Scholars have registered the word ‘Brahman’ only to the Absolute God. But scriptural evidence as found in the Gita itself shows a violation of this tradition. The Veda, the greatest book among all the scriptural books is called ‘Brahman’ (Brahmaakshara samudbhavam).

Thus the word ‘Brahman’ is used starting from the lowest-greatest to the highest-greatest. The word ‘ruler’ can be used for anyone starting from the head of a village to the head of the country. Similarly, the word ‘Brahman’ is used for anything starting from the animal sitting on a heap of inert stones up to the Absolute God. Only the contexts or circles differ.

Every human being of that time thought that he or she was Brahman, simply because he or she has awareness or a soul. Therefore nobody followed and worshipped Shankara because nobody is different from Shankara viz., Brahman. But four disciples followed Shankara and worshipped Shankara throughout His lifetime, because they realized the whole secret. In fact, according to Shankara’s commentary, they need not have followed and worshipped Shankara, since it means worship of themselves as everybody was Brahman. Perhaps you think that those four were ignorant in understanding the commentary, where as all the others were scholars. But it is reverse. Those four were real scholars and the rest—the entire majority—was ignorant. The commentary was for the ignorant majority. Shankara revealed the truth to the minority alone because only that minority deserved it.

If He revealed the secret to the majority, they would have crucified Shankara like Jesus. The statement of Jesus “I and My Father are one and the same” spread and reached the majority. Shankara told the deserving minority “Shivah Kevaloham”, which means that He alone is Shiva and this indicates the concept of the human incarnation that God comes down in a human body. Krishna never preached the Gita to the public, in which Krishna declared Himself as God and asked Arjuna to worship Him alone for eternal salvation. In public life, Krishna behaved and talked like a normal human being. Had Krishna preached the Gita in a public meeting, He would have been shot dead on the spot. The Gita was a secret preaching to Arjuna which was known only to Sanjaya and Vyasa. Even the message of Shankara given to the minority, leaked out and He was killed by the black magic of the Kapalikas.

Therefore, the preacher has to look at the context of the majority and the technique to be followed to introduce the Truth based on the psychology of the public. He has to estimate the repercussions of his preaching. The word ‘Brahman’ was meant for indicating the Absolute God by the ‘Yoga-Rudha’ tradition. But Shankara followed the ‘Yoga’ tradition and used it for every living being as it was necessary at that time. People mixed up these two traditions and thought that every living being is Absolute God. Such a misunderstanding was necessary for Shankara to make an atheist at least to utter the word God by the mouth, which was the first step. It was Herculean task to bring the animals [animal-like humans] to the path of spirituality. Making a dullard pass the examination is greater compared to making an intelligent student get a first class. Thus the achievement of Shankara was greater than that of Ramanuja and Madhva. In fact, Shankara was Lord Shiva (God) Himself who came down for such an impossible task.

Theoretical and Applied Philosophy

Shankara revealed the highest knowledge personally to the minority just as the Gita was told only to Arjuna. While preaching to Duryodhana in the court in public, which was also attended by several sages, Krishna never preached the Gita. Krishna was preaching for peace in the court, yet the Gita was not revealed. He was preaching to Arjuna to fight and kill even his grandfather and in that context, the Gita was revealed. In fact, the Gita should have been revealed in the court for the sake of peace but the receiver did not deserve the highest knowledge. Although it was not the proper context [time-wise and situation-wise], the Gita was revealed to Arjuna because he deserved it. Therefore, the deservingness of the receiver is the most important aspect of preaching.

Deserving ones are always in a minority. A professor has handful of research students. An elementary school teacher has a large crowd of students. Today people are judging the value of the preacher by the number of followers. A school teacher is greater than a professor! When the knowledge descends to a low standard, followers increase. But, that is also required. A school teacher is as important as the professor; perhaps even more important. But if you or the school teacher says that the school teacher is greater than the professor due to larger number of followers, it becomes absurd. When the spiritual knowledge is commercialized under the name ‘Applied Philosophy’ like ‘Applied Physics’ etc., a small well of followers is suddenly transformed into an ocean of followers.

In ‘Applied Philosophy’, God is present only for namesake. Nobody is interested in the biodata of God, which is only theoretical useless philosophy. It is all useless metaphysics! We are not worried about the real nature of God, be it imaginable or unimaginable. We are not interested whether God is formless or has a form. He should not be in the human form in the present generation. Let Him be in the human form in past. We have no objection in that case even if He is in human form. Some of us do not mind even the present human form provided He is useful to us! Don’t we not call an advocate, a doctor or an officer as God, when our work is done by them? In any case, we are not worried about God but we are worried about the practical utility of God. Today spiritual preachers are conducting practical workshops of practical philosophy. The essence of all our worldly efforts is the attainment of bliss by earning money and relief from stress by removing poverty. But here is a spiritual workshop, which gives you bliss directly without money and removes your stress even if you are poor. Who will not be attracted? You will find the entire world in line before your workshop for admission. You are intoxicated with the fame-wine and feel that you are far greater than Shankara, who was followed by just four disciples! Of course, there are some good preachers who are not intoxicated like a school teacher showing off his large crowd of kids. If all this setup is taken in a positive sense, in which all this intoxication is absent, the elementary school teacher is essential for kids. Every grown up student was a kid at school level. Even a professor who is posted as a school teacher has to teach like a school teacher.

Enjoyment is not the Goal

Shankara concentrated very much on the concept of God, which is the sole aim of this human life. Human life is very rare by itself and to get a second human life is more and more rare. Other religions say that it is impossible. Extreme rareness and impossibility are one and the same and on this point, there is no need for a fight between religions. Human life is not meant only for actions and enjoying fruits of the actions. This is the main reason for postponing the enjoyment of good results or punishments to other upper worlds (Bhoga Lokas) after this human life. People are worried when the results of their actions are not seen in this world at once. They think that this human life is only meant for actions and the enjoyment of the fruits. The fruits can be given at another place and after this precious human life. There is no hurry for that because that is not the main aim of human life in the eyes of God as the case of the government. The purpose of creating separate upper worlds and the purpose of postponement of the results to these upper worlds after human life is only this that the time on earth is meant for a different purpose. This earth (Bhu Loka) is actually meant to be the campus for doing the work of God and to achieve the grace of the Lord (Karma Loka). The word ‘karma’ in philosophy does not mean ordinary worldly actions. It only means divine work, which is service to God. Differentiating it from worldly work, this divine work is called as ‘karma yoga’. The word ‘yoga’ means the achievement of God in human form, after perfect identification (Brahma Jnana), for doing His service (karma) directly. Service to temples is indirect, but even that is greater than worldly work, because the concept of doing work for God exists even in that type of representative worship. Something is better than nothing and everything in the beginning is only ‘something’ [in the beginning, even great things have small beginnings].

The ignorant person invites happiness and wants to avoid misery with the help of God. The priests are exploiting this at a micro level and some of the present spiritual preachers are exploiting the same point at the macro level in a dignified way. A businessman exploits the public at a micro level directly. A politician exploits the public at a macro level indirectly under the name of ‘social service’. Of course, there are good people in both categories doing real social service. Shri Ramakrishna was a good priest and Swami Vivekananda was a good preacher.

Secret of Continous Happiness

The realized person invites misery and not happiness. Kunti requested Krishna to always give her troubles, which alone keep the person in devotion to God. Penance is a form of artificially creating misery. Only in misery, does one becomes active and approach God sincerely without egoism. Misery is the guiding force in spiritual journey.

The liberated soul, who came down in a role to this earth along with the Lord to enjoy this world-drama by direct participation, invites both happiness and misery equally like sweet and hot dishes in a meal. Anything becomes boring if it is continuous. Entertainment does not get boring even if it is continuous. But entertainment through continuous happiness or continuous misery gets boring. A movie with either continuous scenes of happiness or with continuous scenes of misery gets boring and then the entertainment [of watching the movie] also becomes boring. Entertainment should be the same as a product but the sources of entertainment should change. You cannot entertain yourself with continuously eating sweet dishes or continuously eating hot dishes. [But you can get continuous entertainment if hot and sweet dishes are eaten alternately]. Such continuous entertainment is called Bliss or Ananda. The word Ananda means continuous happiness (Aa samantat Nandayati Iti). If the happiness is a product [entertainment], it is continuous. If it is the source [only happy moments] it is discontinuous. Therefore, you can be continuously happy, if your happiness is the product of alternating misery and happiness. You are happy, when you get happiness. But you should be happy when you get misery too. You must enjoy both sweet and hot dishes. You must be happy in praise and abuse, profit and loss, life and death, sincerity and cheating etc.

This world is already arranged with these alternating sweet and hot items. If you can enjoy both, you are always happy during your life and after death. This is the state of God and is also the state of a liberated soul, who accompanies the Lord to this world. The king visited the cinema along with his family. All the family members including the king enjoy both the happy scenes and tragic scenes in the movie. This is the equality of the liberated soul with the God in the cinema hall. When the cinema is over, the king is the king and the servant is the servant.

The spiritual journey is to transform yourself from an ignorant soul to a realized soul and finally become a liberated soul which is called as complete salvation. You have to be dear and near to God to become a liberated soul. This transformation is possible only by His grace. His grace comes only when you are on the true path. You can go on the true path only when you get the true knowledge from Him. This is the divine cycle. The true path is selfless service through words, mind, intelligence, work and the fruit of work. Such five-fold service is rendered by you to your body and your family members.

Ignorance for Entertainment

An ignorant soul is controlled by ignorance, which is real. A realized soul has neither ignorance nor the grace of God. This middle stage comes because, in this stage, the soul serves the Lord through words, mind and intelligence but not through work and the fruit of work. The service is theoretical but not practical. In this stage, the coverage of ignorance (Avaranam) is removed but the practical effect (Vikshepa) is not removed. He realizes the Truth but is unable to practice it. In the final stage God’s grace dawns on him and the ignorance is removed theoretically and practically. Ignorance may exist in this stage too, as a helper for getting full entertainment. Such ignorance may appear real from the view of the liberated soul also, but it will be removed by God whenever the scheduled duration ends. Such real ignorance is imposed by God on Himself too, and it goes after the fixed schedule ends.

Ignorance is the essence of entertainment. The reality of entertainment increases with ignorance. The only word that stands for the ignorance is ‘Avidya’. Maya is not the word for ignorance. Vidya is knowledge and Avidya is ignorance. Maya means wonderful, which is the unimaginability [associated with God]. Wherever Maya is seen, there God exists, and He is the only unimaginable item. The soul may know about itself but can never know God (Mamtu Veda Na…—Gita). Thus the soul can never cross this root ignorance (Mula Avidya). The soul can never get rid of the Avidya completely because God always remains unimaginable. The awareness that is associated with self-ignorance is Atman or soul (Avidyophahitam…—Shankara). But the self can get rid of its own ignorance by self-realization, in which case the ‘Jeeva’ dissolves in the self. Jeeva is a bundle of qualities, which are waves of awareness and they subside in the soul on self-realization. The jeeva dissolves in the soul along with the dissolution of self-ignorance. Therefore, Jeeva is characterized by ignorance (Avidyaavachchinnam…—Shankara). The soul is only associated with such ignorance because the soul does not disappear on dissolution of such self-ignorance.

Thus ignorance is of two types. One is ignorance of God (Mula Avidya) and this is never referred to, because such ignorance is neither associated, nor the characteristic of the soul. If it is associated (upahitam), the soul should be able to get rid of it. If it is characteristic (Avachchinnam), the soul should dissolve on realization of God, which is impossible. Jeeva dissolves on realizing the soul, which is its source. The soul may or may not dissolve, but realization of its source, God, is impossible. The dissolution or eternality of the soul depends on the angle of your view. The soul is eternal if you consider it as inert energy in basic source. In deep sleep or at the time of the dissolution of the world [Maha Pralaya], the soul viewed as awareness dissolves to become inert energy, which is its basic form. On awakening, the awareness form (soul) is regenerated. This angle is referred in the Gita (Atha chainam…). The same thing happens when creation is restarted.

The same condensed information is expressed, when the computer is switched on. The same film is expressed as the cinema in the next show (Yatha purvam—Veda). This film or the RAM or hard disc is inert matter or inert energy, which is again inter-convertible and there is no difference for a scientist here. If you view the soul only as the basic inert energy in all times, the soul is eternal (Ajonityah…—Gita). The eternality of the soul should not be mistaken as the absolute reality because before the production of the film, it did not exist. That which is generated can be dissolved. The film can be dissolved at any time. But not even a fool will dissolve the film, which is produced with so much effort. The film will not be dissolved but this does not mean that the film cannot be dissolved. By this absence of dissolution, you should not mistake that the film is really eternal because its non-eternality is already established by its absence before the first creation. Therefore, the ‘dissolution’ of the world every time since the creation first started, is only a withdrawal of the cinema from the screen and storing the film. [It does not mean actual and total destruction]. During the show, the awareness exists, which is withdrawn after the end of the show. The entire show is stored in the form of the inert film. The soul is a part of this show. If you say that the soul is awareness, the soul is dissolved in dissolution of the world (Maha Pralaya). If you take the soul as only the basic energy, it is eternal and exists even in Maha Pralaya [in the form of inert energy] along with the entire world. In Maha Pralaya, the soul is not different from any inert item of the world. The soul differs from other inert items only as long as the world-show runs. Even during the show, the basic state of the soul, which is achieved in Maha Pralaya, is seen in deep sleep. The difference between deep sleep and Maha Pralaya is nil with reference to the soul. The difference exists with respect to other souls. The deep sleep of all the souls is Maha Pralaya.

Sat, Asat and Chit

The word ‘Sat’, meaning the existence, denotes the basic inert energy, which, was created by God in the beginning. It is the power of the God, which is wonderful and hence is called as Maya, which did not contain any design of the world. Before the creation of this power, God alone existed (Ekameva…—Veda). This inert energy developed the design of the world, when it was associated with its special form called as awareness. The association of any property with any item is only due to God and should not be claimed as the characteristic of any entity. Any property becomes characteristic of any item only as long as God wishes. This was proved by God to all angels in the Veda, when God appeared as Yaksha. Thus the energy (Sat) acquired this property of awareness (chit) only by the will of God. Since I used the term ‘will of God’, you should not say that God is awareness [since all entities that will or wish must have awareness]. God is unimaginable and is the source of all items and all associated or characteristic properties. God need not be awareness to wish. This logic applies only to all the items of creation [not to God]. If some created item wishes, you can say that that item must be awareness. God is the source of awareness. Awareness is only a property or a special work-form of energy. Both the energy and awareness are created by God. God is the root source.

‘Sat’, which is the inert energy, existed in the beginning before the first creation (Sadeva—Veda). It is also called as ‘Asat’ (Asadvaa Idam—Veda) because the design was absent in it. When the ‘Sat’ acquired the ‘chit’ property, the design of the world was created in it (Tatovai sadajayata—Veda). The first word ‘Sat’ denotes the inert energy. It is also called as ‘Asat’ due to the absence of design. The second word ‘Sat’ denotes the design, when the energy acquired the ‘chit’ property. All this is about the stage before the first creation.

Now, let us apply the above Vedic statements to the stage after each dissolution time of the world. In Maha Pralaya, the awareness in this world disappears because the awareness associated with the initial (primordial) energy also disappears. This means, God is not willing to see the world-cinema anymore or to participate in the cinema. Then the movable items of the cinema become immovable i.e. living items become inert items. All the souls become parts of the inert film. Everything becomes the inert energy only (Sat). Science also agrees to this. Only God along with inert energy containing the inert design is left over. This is the state of ‘Ekaki’ (alone).

God is still only in the Saguna state [state with quality or attribute] because the energy along with designs covers [envelops] God as an ‘Upadhi’ [attribute]. The ‘Nirguna’ state (absolutely alone) of God, which existed before the first creation, is never achieved because the inert film is never destroyed. Since except God, everything that exists is inert, the state of ‘Ekaki’ is [as good as] maintained as it was before the first creation. Therefore, the world exists as ‘Sat’ (inert energy) before and after the dissolution of creation, where as during the existence of the creation, it exists as Sat and Chit. When the Sat is associated with the property of Chit, the drama is alive as a running show, giving entertainment to God. During Maha Pralaya, Chit disappears and everything remains simply as inert energy or Sat. Therefore, before the second creation, the Sat exists along with the design, which is not expressed (Avyaktam). The absence of expression of the design is meant by ‘Asat’, which was the word used for the same Sat with the design. The second Sat means that the design is expressed or that the cinema has started again.

Infering the Ultimate Cause

The first stage is pure science. In this we analyze nature (Prakriti) and conclude that the womb of the mother is the root cause of the birth of the child. This womb is a part of the mother alone and is not the father; this womb is the chit or awareness. The child does not realize that the father is its root cause because the interaction of the father [with its mother] is a hidden secret. It can only be inferred (Anumanam) and not perceived (Pratyaksham). Biology, which is the scripture [in the matter of reproduction] and the [faculty of] inference are only the two means to realize that the father is the cause of the birth. Kalidasa says that this ‘father’ can be understood from inference obtained from the scriptures (Aapta vaaganumaanaabhyaam Saadhyam…).

The soul as awareness goes into its basic form, which is the inert energy in the time of deep sleep or in the dissolution state. This inert energy is Para Shakti or Brahman. More specifically it is referred to as Karya Brahman and is the first item of creation. It is inert because it is under the control of its source, which is God (Parabrahman). This is called as Mahat Brahma in the Gita, which is the first cover (Upadhi) of God. By this, for the first time, the attributeless (Nirguna) Brahman or God becomes Saguna, which means that God is qualified by the medium. When the will or awareness enters this inert energy from God, the inert energy generates the plan of the world as its issue [offspring]. The Gita says the same (Tasmin garbham…).

This is the concept of the hidden Father and visible mother. This is a joint approach of philosophy and science. One accepts both inference and perception together. This is the concept of God and Para Shakti (first created inert energy). The Para Shakti charged by God is called as Brahma and the awareness-energy is called as Saraswati. Both these as Creator and the first creation are treated as father and daughter. Then the entry of God into the energy is like the secret union of the father and the mother. The energy then materializes into matter, which is Lakshmi (wealth). All materialized forms appear as issues. The hidden father is not visualized by scientists. Theists agree to the presence of both the Father and the Mother as the causes of creation. They do not leave the perceived basis (mother) but accept the inferred Father. Without understanding this inner concept, people have misinterpreted that Brahma married His own daughter. Such a concept should not even come up in the given simile. There is no object in the creation, which can stand as an exact simile for God, the Creator.

If you leave science and travel only with philosophy, the father-daughter concept comes, by which you can understand that God created even that first creation (energy). [Thus, God becomes the ultimate Cause of creation]. In this final step, you will end in the root cause (God). He is the cause of even the mother and also the cause of every action of the mother. When the mother gives milk, that milk is purchased by the money of the father alone. The work involved in giving the milk by mother to the child is also due to the energy gained by the food eaten by the mother. This food was purchased by father alone. The father appears inactive to the child, but is the cause of the birth, milk and work involved in giving milk etc., done by mother. In the final stage, the devotee realizes that even the primordial nature (energy) was created by God and so finds God as the sole cause of the entire creation. “Atmana Akasah” is told by the Veda, which means that space came from the soul. Here the word ‘soul’ means the basic form of the soul (awareness), which is the inert energy. This means that space is a modified form of energy, which is accepted by science today.

Thus the Veda starts from the primordial inert energy (indicated by the word Atman), which is the mother. This is science. Even the word Brahman in the Veda, which is explained in the Veda as the cause of creation is this primordial energy on a macro scale. In deep sleep, the soul is transformed into basic inert energy. The body (matter) is another form of inert energy. The surrounding space, objects etc., are also forms of inert energy. Thus in deep sleep the soul is mixed in Brahman like a drop of water in the ocean. Awareness is a limited form that arises after waking up from deep sleep. But if you view even this awareness as a special work-form of the inert energy, now in all the states, only an ocean of energy results as a continuum.

The Veda says this ‘All this is Brahman’ (Sarvam khalu Idam…). But in deep sleep, this continuum is clearer since only two forms (matter and energy) exist. In Maha Pralaya all matter dissolves and only a continuous ocean of inert energy results. In Maha Pralaya, matter and awareness disappear due to the destructive form of energy (Parvati) and thus only an ocean of inert energy is left over, which is called as Para Shakti (Paraasaya Shaktih…—Veda). Awareness (Saraswati), matter (Lakshmi) and destructive inert energy (Parvati) stand for the work-energies of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Thus the final single form of inert energy is Adi Para Shakti (the initial greatest energy) and this is called as Maha Maya or Mula Prakriti. This Maha Maya can be called as Brahman, when it is charged by God. It is the first qualified Brahman, Karya Brahman or Hiranya Garbha. The destructive inert energy and the final inert energy are qualitatively same and thus Parvati and Adi Para Shakti are qualitatively one and the same.

Jesus is said to have been born only to the mother without a father. Yet He always praised the Father and did not regard His mother so much. When a lady cried that His mother was great, He said that the follower of the instructions of His Father is really great. What is the inner meaning of all this? Does this mean that He disregarded His mother and praised the non-existing father? No. In His language the Father is God. The mother is the primordial energy. He had gone to the final stage of divine knowledge and realized that God is the root of the root cause. An atheist does not accept the Father and believes in the sole existence of the mother (nature). A theist believes in both. A realized devotee believes only in God, since nature is also created by God. Without realizing this inner concept, Christianity is divided into two schools of Son and mother, taking everything in a physical sense. The Son of a virgin means the concept of science, which says that a child is produced from nature which is in the form of parents. In science, both mother and father are equally important representing the sperm and the ovum. This is the material sense, which is not to be taken here. In the spiritual sense, both [biological parents] are nature or only mother. There are so many couples without children. The will of God is the real ‘father’ without which no child is produced. But God is always hidden and is inferred by knowledge. This point is represented in the example of father and mother, even in the physical sense. Therefore, Jesus caught the root of the root cause, who is God or the Divine Father and not this primordial energy or mother. Science can go only up to this energy based on perceptional analysis. This does not mean that Jesus really disregarded His mother and this explanation also does not mean that one should disregard one’s mother. In the physical sense, both parents are equal because both are only mother in the spiritual sense. God is the Father in the spiritual sense, and is the hidden cause in both the concept and the simile.

Self Analysis and Realization

Self analysis and stopping at the self is only science and not philosophy. Even in this path of science, you should stop at the primordial inert energy as the mother and not just the awareness. Awareness is a part of the inert energy like the womb of the mother. The awareness is not continuous as seen in our practical experience. It does not exist in the deep sleep. You can call awareness as Brahman due to the exceptional greatness of its special quality of knowledge. But, it cannot be the greatest in other aspects because it is very weak and not continuous like inert energy. The inert energy can materialize as matter and can destroy matter. But the awareness, however concentrated, cannot materialize into matter or destroy matter. Though the awareness is also a form of inert energy, the soul is just a tiny drop of the inert energy. It is not quantitatively sufficient to do all these works like materialization etc. Of course, Brahman, the infinite ocean of energy qualified by awareness is the greatest in all aspects. It can do all wonders (Maya) since it is charged by God. If you take the external cover only, which is the infinite ocean of awareness, there is a qualitative similarity between this Upadhi and the soul. But if you take the point of charging by God, the soul and this Upadhi are totally different since one is with God and the other is without God. This difference is indicated by the presence of Maya in Brahman alone. However, even if you call that upadhi as Brahman (in the sense of greatest), there too there is a quantative difference between the drop of awareness (soul) and ocean of awareness (cover of God).

Maya is not ignorance, even though it can be used in that sense, if you consider only its root meaning. It is actually the unimaginability, which means that the ignorance here can never be removed. God can never be understood and so the ignorance about God is Maya. Avidya means the ignorance that can be removed. Ignorance of physics can be removed by a special effort. Avidya relates to the self. By effort this self-ignorance can be removed. But the ignorance of God is Maya, which can never be removed by any effort as God is unimaginable. The Gita says that He can never be understood (Mam tu…). The Veda says that the soul can be understood by sharp analysis (Drishyate tu…). Liberation comes by self-realization, which gives peace but not bliss. (Shamah karanam…—Gita) (Eshahyeva Anandayati…—Veda). Peace is zero and bliss is plus. Any one of these two can remove the misery, which is minus. But there is a tendency for the zero to easily become minus. Therefore, the self-analysis achieved by your logical ladder can drop to misery (Savikalpa Samadhi). But if the same self-realization is granted by the Lord, it is eternal (Nirvikalpa). Shankara declared that the grace of the Lord can alone bring real self-realization (Ishvara anugrahaat eva…). Such grace of the Lord comes by devotion, which is generated and strengthened by knowledge and which can be proved only in terms of practical service as seen in the case of your family. Shankara gives the top importance to devotion (Bhaktireva…). The Gita also says that God is achieved only by devotion (Bhaktyaa tvananyayaa…). The Gita also says that the devotion is proved by selfless service to God, which is called as Nishkama Karma Yoga.

The creation contains the inert matter (Lakshmi) and inert energy (Parvati). Both these forms respectively represent Vishnu having shape and Shiva having the form of a wave (Shiva Lingam). Both these are clearly visible forms. Awareness is chit (Saraswati) representing Brahma, who is the invisible form and hence does not have worship [Lord Brahma is never worshipped]. The visible existence of matter and energy is denoted by Sat. Chit is most difficult to visualize. The Veda says that the soul is not visible (Gudhotma) but imaginable by sharp analysis (Drishyate…). Chit enters certain items made of matter and energy and thus living beings are created. The whole drama with the stage (matter), lights (energy) and actors (items made of matter and energy containing Chit) completes the arrangement of the drama into which God enters as an actor along with His associated liberated souls, for getting full and continuous entertainment (Ananda). Thus Sat-Chit-Ananda is explained which means the entertainment of the Lord through this drama made of Sat and Chit. His form in this drama is also made of the same Sat and Chit.

Beyond Space

Food is inert matter (Annam) and on oxidation (Prana), it produces inert energy. This energy is converted into awareness or chit. The Veda says “Annat purushah”. This inert energy is transformed into soul and this inert energy maintains the entire world as the cosmic energy (Jeeva bhutam…—Gita). The Veda says that space is produced from the soul. Here soul denotes inert energy, which is its basic form. Therefore, space is also inert. Otherwise space would have been a living being with awareness. According to Einstein space is only geometrical and exists as long as matter exists. But space is geometrical and is required for the waves to occupy and propagate. So, even if all the matter is converted into energy, space can still exist. As long as space exists, energy has to exist because space is also a form of energy. Of course, if you speak of energy also in terms of matter, you can say that space exists as long as matter exists. Condensed energy is matter. This means energy can be diluted and so energy or space expands. This represents the theory of constant expansion of space.

In the Maha Pralaya, the design of the world exists and it needs space. If only awareness disappears by the destruction of all living beings, it is called as Pralaya. If all matter disappears, leaving just energy, it is Maha Pralaya. Disappearance of matter means transformation of matter into energy. Similarly disappearance of awareness means transformation of awareness into inert energy. Up to this concept, both God and energy exist like the Father and mother. Up to this, both inference (philosophy) and perception (science) travel together like parents. The follower of the Shakti cult (Shakteya) says that the energy itself is God and thus he is just the present scientist. He is better than the Advaitin, who says that awareness is God. Even in Maha Pralaya at least energy exists. Awareness disappears even in Pralaya. Of course both these become one and the same if the awareness is also considered as energy basically. Both these depend only on perception. They too depend upon inference, but their inference is based on perception. The fire is inferred from smoke, because the relationship of fire and smoke is already seen (perception) in the kitchen. Therefore awareness, the inferred ‘God’ of the Advaitin is imaginable and even perceivable through intricate modern instruments. Such inference is based only on perception. The inference of God should be based on scriptures like the Veda. The interaction of the father and mother can be inferred by seeing the interaction of another couple later on. Such inference is perception-based. But the interaction of God [with the inert energy] is never perceived, because God is never perceived; God is beyond even the imagination.

Maha Karana Pralaya represents the dissolution of energy completely, which means the disappearance of space. The situation becomes unimaginable. The space of the dream [your imagination] may disappear [when you imagine the disappearance of space] but still your brain exists in the absolute space. The mind (nervous energy) requires absolute space for its existence. Thus existence of absolute space (Paramavyoma) is required for the existence of God. Since no item in the creation can stand as a perfect representative of God, this problem comes. The existence of Paramavyoma again speaks about the existence of energy in a more subtle form. The dissolution of energy to the fullest extent leads to a completely unimaginable situation, which was exactly the situation before creation. Such a great devotee leaves science and perception completely. He believes only in the Veda. He believes only in God as the absolute cause every time after Maha Pralaya. Such a great devotee never falls as he depends only on God as the root of the root cause (Maha karanam).

Jesus believed God in such a way. Shankara’s Advaita is actually this same concept. An atheist cannot travel to this distance and so He (Shankara) stopped at the concept of awareness so that every atheist is attracted and feels that the Absolute is in him and finally he can become the Absolute God. Even the concept of Pralaya was not brought in and awareness was declared as eternal. For the sake of a theist, awareness is eternal and remains in deep sleep and also in Pralaya. But the atheist should realize that awareness is not present in deep sleep since one is not aware of even the soul, which is the awareness of the awareness itself, as found in meditation. The enquiry of the source of ‘I’, which represents the fundamental characteristic of awareness in deep sleep, reveals the whole story. The inert energy is the source of ‘I’ as realized from the analysis of deep sleep.

The word Atman is also used for God. When God enters the human body, He pervades all over the three bodies. Atman means that which pervades (Atati iti). According to the Veda, God created space first (Atmana Akashah) and God also created energy first (Tat tejah). Since space is energy it is one and the same whether you say that space was created first or energy was created first. In this sense, Atman stands for God. If Atman is the awareness present in the human being, which creates the dream-space relatively, then the absolute space, in which the awareness is present, also exists. If you say that the human being exists in the absolute space, but that the awareness does not, then where is the awareness without the human being? If awareness is beyond space, why does it exist only in living beings and not in inert things and thus in the entire world? Science clearly proves that awareness is nervous energy and energy requires space for its existence and propagation. If you accept the existence of an absolute space, it means space is eternal and creation does not have any beginning. If space is eternal, energy is eternal and matter, a form of energy, is also eternal. Then the word creation itself is meaningless. Therefore awareness or inert energy requires the existence of space.

Certainly they did not exist before the first creation. Even the film did not exist before the production of the cinema-film. Then only the Vedic statement “Ekaki…” becomes meaningful which means that God was alone before creation. Therefore energy or space did not exist before the first creation. If space was absent, your intelligence and logic cannot imagine that situation even if it tries for a million years. Therefore the unimaginable God exists before the creation and He is always unimaginable. The unimaginability is for the souls, which did not exist before the first creation. It means that unimaginability (Maya) did not exist at that time since God was imaginable to Himself. In Maha Pralaya or even in Pralaya, the souls exist in an inert state; Maya does not exist for souls. Maya never exists for God. Thus Maya in the sense of unimaginability does not exist to souls in Pralaya or Maha Pralaya. But Maya in the sense of wonderful energy or power exists in Pralaya or Maha Pralaya. But even in that sense, Maya did not exist before the first creation.

The dream cannot give a complete comparison for God’s creation. The human being or his mind or soul is in one space and the other space is created in a dream. The first space is absolute and the second space is relative. Awareness cannot exist without the first space. But God is beyond space and does not require absolute space to exist with respect to this relative space. No item in this space can be compared to God, who is beyond this space and does not require any other absolute space for existence. When the dream-space disappears, the absolute space appears. Even during the dream state, the absolute space exists simultaneously as observed by another person who is not sleeping. An infinite chain of spaces cannot be acceptable, which are relative to each other subsequently. The dissolution of this space and the existence of God beyond this space without any other absolute space, thereby meaning that God is unimaginable, is the only final solution. God remains transcendental to this space always, even during the existence of this space. If your awareness is imaginable, it certainly cannot be beyond space.

After Death

In deep sleep and Maha Pralaya, the soul is transformed into its basic form of inert energy. The bundle of qualities called as Jeeva is also transformed into a bundle of inert impressions of inert energy called as pulses (sphotas). But during death, the jeeva remains in the state of awareness, which means that these pulses are waves of awareness alone and not waves of inert energy. The awareness is not transformed into inert energy [at the time of death]. The soul is in the form of awareness alone. The soul and the jeeva are not different here in the case of ordinary human beings. Only vibrated awareness exists as the soul i.e., only jeeva exists here. Let us call him as ‘Jeevatman’ at the best. The non-vibrated soul, without jeeva exists only in a realized or liberated devotee. This Jeevatman is dragged out by the servants of Lord Yama. The Jeevatman is aware of the entire journey to hell. If the human being did selfless works without the element of God in the service to society, he will be taken to heaven by the angels. Human rebirth is very rare and can be treated as almost impossible. Even the first human birth is rare. From the hell, he comes down to take birth as animals or animal-like human beings. From heaven, he comes down to enjoy births of happiness at the same heavenly level. But a spiritual person goes to the abode of God, who is in an energetic form, called as Father of heaven or Brahma, or Vishnu or Shiva. He will also return back to earth in the service of God as a divine human being. In all these three cases, only Jeeva exists in the form of a bundle of qualities. If the qualities are bad he is circulated in hell and if he has good qualities like serving the society without selfishness, he is circulated in heaven. Hell and heaven exist on the earth too apart from the upper worlds. Thus the Jeeva is in a single phase whether he is here or in the upper world.

Similarly, he is near God, either here or in the upper world, if he is a spiritual devotee. In the upper world, God is in an energetic form, where as God is in a human form here. For Him too a single phase of circulation exists. Thus there is no difference between the life on the earth and after death. The only difference is that the Jeeva is in an energetic body in the upper world and the Jeeva is in a human body here. The important point here is that the soul is in the form of awareness either on the earth or after death. Of course, on the earth the soul goes into deep sleep or it means the soul is converted into inert energy here for sometime. In the upper world, such chance of deep sleep does not exist because the upper world is a continuous engagement of enjoying the fruits (Bhoga loka). Since the body is energetic, no rest is required in the upper world.

The Advaitin says that he is in the light, the light is in him and finally that he is the light. First he tries to establish that this world is God so that he is in God. The world is energy and awareness is energy. But all energy is not awareness. So if you say that Chit (awareness) itself is God, then this entire world is energy but not Chit. If the entire world were a form of Chit, then every part of the world would be a living being and there should be no inert item in the world. If you say that all energy is Chit, we have no objection, but then Chit means the inert energy and not awareness. When the Veda says “All this is Brahman” (Sarvam Khalu idam Brahma), then it means that this entire world is energy, which is the inert-Chit. Awareness is a part of the energy and then energy can also be Chit. It concludes that energy is inert in general but becomes chit in a special condition, when it flows in a special system called the nervous system. Energy becomes light in an electric bulb; becomes sound in a radio, becomes electric current in a dynamo, becomes work in a mechanical machine etc. This means that awareness is a property of energy like light, sound, current, work, etc. Energy is the basic entity, which is inert. Chit cannot be the basic entity; only the inert energy can be it.

If you take the word ‘light’ to mean the basic energy, you are in the world, which is basically energy. The basic inert energy is in yourself and you represent the body. When you say that the light is yourself, you can say that you are the awareness, which is also basically the inert energy. If you confine the word ‘light’ to awareness only, the first statement that you are in the light cannot be explained because the whole world is not just awareness. The second and third statements can be explained because awareness is in yourself and you are the awareness. If the light means the inert basic form of energy, which is called as the cosmic energy, the first statement is correct since the world contains the inert energy in the form of light etc. and matter is also a form of inert energy. Since awareness is also a form of this cosmic energy, the second and third statements also become correct. Thus the three Persian statements are explained and the word light or the word ‘Fire’ (Agni) in Persian religion means the cosmic energy alone.

Experience of God

Thus, the energy is Brahman, since it is the first and greatest item of creation. But it is more proper to use the word Brahman to this energy when it is charged with God (Parabrahman). God is certainly beyond this energy (Brahman) and hence is called as Parabrahman, who is perfectly unimaginable under all conditions. This energy, before being charged by God is ‘Sat’ as inert energy and is ‘Chit’ if it is qualified by the property of awareness. It becomes awareness without the nervous system due to the wonderful God and therefore it becomes the wonderful energy called as ‘Mula Maya’. This Chit is basically still energy and therefore continues to be ‘Sat’ and can be called as ‘Sat-Chit’. The ‘Sat’ or ‘Sat-Chit’ is imaginable and is a created item. This ‘Sat’ is an imaginable existence, which means the existence of an imaginable item. The existence (Sat) of the unimaginable God is also imaginable since it is inferred from the scriptures. Existence is always imaginable whether the existing item is imaginable or unimaginable. The existence of imaginable item is always through perception or perception based inference. But the existence of the unimaginable item is through the inference based on the scriptures. This scriptural inference-based existence of the unimaginable God is experienced through the human incarnation directly or through the incidents in our lives. The incidents in our life, if properly analyzed, give the experience of the existence of His power. You can have the same experience of His power through a devotee. But through the human incarnation you can have the direct experience of God. A pseudo-human incarnation gives momentary experience through some acquired miraculous powers. But the real human incarnation gives you the permanent experience through His wonderful knowledge. The power can give us the experience of His capability and capacity of administration and but not the direct experience of God.

Wonder of Creation

The word Atman can be used for God, for inert energy (the first item of creation) and for awareness. God is Parabrahman. Inert energy is Brahman. Awareness is Atman. Since God is the root of all causes, space (Akasha) came from God alone. Since space is a form of inert energy, space came from inert energy like the golden chain came from gold. The awareness produces space in a dream and thus the space comes from awareness too, which is again the same inert energy basically.

The first creation that came from God is space or inert energy. Akasha (space) and Tejas (inert energy) are one and the same because space is a form of inert energy. Matter, work, light, heat, sound, electricity, magnetism and awareness are also other forms of inert energy. Our imagination cannot cross the limits of space. The link or process of production between God and space is also unimaginable like God. This link is beyond space and God is beyond this link. Space is called as Mahat. The link is called as Avyaktam which means unimaginable. The Parabrahman is mentioned as Purusha. The Veda says that Avyaktam is beyond space and Purusha is beyond Avyaktam (Mahatah paramavyaktam avyaktat purushah parah).

God is the first. Space is second. Air is third. We can explain the generation of the third from the second, but not the second from the first. The second and third are imaginable items. Space or energy became air. Air means atoms. This is energy condensing into matter. This process of condensation is explicable and debatable. This process is parinama or vivarta. If matter is regarded as different from energy only in a quantitative way it is vivarta, e.g. water condensed to ice. Vivarta brings only physical difference. Parinama is qualitative difference like milk turning to curd. Before the creation of matter, only energy existed. If energy is condensed, it should be only a vivarta process, which is physical. But if all mater is only energy, then did the qualitative difference between items of matter come? There cannot be qualitative difference between blocks of ice having various sizes. One block of ice may be more concentrated (or condensed) but it cannot bring a qualitative difference. But the qualitative difference between the milk and curd is practically experienced in the world. Milk and curd are also condensed products of the same energy and may have quantitative difference. Thus this point of contradiction brings us to the unimaginability, which is the characteristic of God. Therefore, the presence of the unimaginable power of God (Maya) is everywhere in the world. The Gita says that this Prakriti is also Maya (Mayam tu prakritim). Thus the entire world is affected by the hidden power of God (Maya), which is known by deep analysis.

When the energy and work are essentially same, the different quantities of energy-drops (electrons) giving rise to different properties mean different works of God giving rise to different properties. Here the wonder is that the working material and work are one and the same in essence. Therefore, the unimaginable God does wonderful works and His work itself is the working material. The work is the power of God, which itself is also the working material. All this creation is work without any separate working material because the working material itself is a form of the work. According to science too, any material (matter) is a form of energy and work is also a form of the same energy. Thus, this wonder exists in science, which says that matter is a condensed form energy. For the process of condensation, space is required and space should be different from energy for the process of condensation to take place. But space is a form of energy as per the special theory of relativity. In that case, how is the energy condensed, when space is also energy? This is another wonder. Like this, when this nature (Prakriti) is analyzed, it is a wonder (Maya) as said in Gita (Mayam tu…). Thus, Maya becomes the inner substratum of the world.

God is the substratum of Maya (Mayinam tu…—Gita). Thus, God is the final substratum of this world. The generation of matter by condensation of energy and the transformation of matter into energy by dilution are wonders in the context of space being energy itself. Thus, the generation, maintenance on the substratum and dissolution are works of Maya, which mean wonders of God. Such wonder is only for souls; it is well known to God and therefore it is not a wonder to Him. Thus, Maya is a logic or science for God, just like nature is a logical science to the souls. Maya is only a higher logic or super-science of God which is above the level of souls.

‘I’ is the property of awareness and awareness is the property of the basic inert energy. Thus, ‘I’ is basically the property of the inert energy, which means that ‘I’ is an impression stored in the basic inert energy constantly. Such inert energy-form of the soul is eternal not only in deep sleep but it is also eternal in Maha Pralaya. Do not worry about the adjective ‘inert’ that is used for the soul. Here the word ‘inert’ means that the soul is not independent and is always controlled by God (Atmeshvaram—Veda). Awareness is just a special work of inert energy-soul, which is absent in deep sleep and Maha Pralaya. By the absence of awareness, the soul is not deficient in any aspect. Suppose you are sitting in a chair and not walking. Since you are not doing the special work of walking, are you incomplete by any aspect? Thus the soul in the inert energy form is like a static person and the awareness is a work of the soul like the walking of the person.

Knowledge of Shankara

Shankara considered the awareness as the greatest item when it is compared to the inert items and in this context the awareness is called as Brahman. In that case, the atheist is not better than a living being like animal having the simple awareness. The atheists at that time were very reluctant to accept even the word Brahman to be used for awareness, because generally Brahman means God. Even though Shankara said that the awareness present in the atheist also is God, the atheist was reluctant to accept the word Brahman to mean the awareness. The atheist, Mandana Mishra (Purva Mimamsaka) participated in a twenty one day-debate before accepting the awareness to be called by the word Brahman! In the case of Buddhists an additional task had fallen on Shankara and that was to make them accept the existence of awareness because the Buddhist says that nothing exists (Shunyavada). If the real aim of Shankara was that every human being is Brahman (because awareness is in every human being), His close disciples would not have worshipped Shankara as God. If everybody is God, the worship of Shankara becomes self-worship. The disciples fell at the divine feet of Shankara praising Him as the Lord. This would have meant that they fell at their own feet even after realization!

The inert energy is produced from food and oxygen (Anna and Prana). This inert energy flows through the brain and the nerves, which are in the state of functioning, and develops the property of awareness. Such awareness-energy is called as the mind, which is not associated with any external knowledge. The awareness simply makes some desires without any analysis. Such desire (Sankalpa) is often altered (Vikalpa) because logical analysis is not developed due to absence of any external knowledge. In this state, the awareness (mind) makes the human being equal to a bird or animal. When the external knowledge is associated with awareness, logical analysis develops which results in decision without making any alteration. Then the awareness is called as intelligence (Buddhi) or Vijnana. The mind is blind and when the mind is the ruler, the human being is just like the blind king Dhritarashtra. If the awareness is associated with the knowledge given by the external Guru, the human being is like the kingdom ruled by Dharmaraja associated with the Gita, which is the divine knowledge, given by Lord Krishna. The mind by itself is like a blind sense-organ(Manah Shashthani—Gita). The mind is like the untrained driver. The intelligence is like a trained driver. The intelligence alone can make the determination which leads to correct practice. Therefore, the soul (your self) is like the owner. Your body is like the car. The mind is like the steering wheel. The untrained driver is like the inert steering wheel which is the mind. The same mind (awareness) becomes a trained driver due to the association of the divine knowledge given by the Sadguru who is the correct guide for training. The correct knowledge in driving alone makes the difference between untrained and trained drivers. Therefore, your first responsibility is to search for the Sadguru to obtain the correct trained driver (Buddhi) in your body. Therefore, Gita starts with the buddhi yoga. The Gita starts with jnana yoga. Shankara gave the entire credit to jnana yoga, which is the correct knowledge in driving that is obtained from the Sadguru. Therefore, do not proceed with the mind like an animal or an ignorant person in the spiritual journey. In that case you will be exploited by various selfish ignorant people.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★