28 May 2019
Note: This article is meant for intellectuals only
(Song of Preacher – God Shri Datta)
Kaalabhairava Khanda—Part of Kaalabhairava
Sixteenth Chapter–Datta Matasamanvaya Yogah
(Divine Vision of Correlation of Datta-Religions)
God-Preacher Shri Datta spoke:-
65) Justice and good qualities related to worldly life or pravrutti have been encouraged granting rewards like miraculous powers (vibhūti). These rewards help in maintaining good qualities among people in the world. Samadhi is the final step of the spiritual journey in which the devotee attains a state of firm decision in his devotion. A dualistic devotee is always aware of the form of God in which God exists separate from him. When he attains firm devotion to that form of God, he is said to have attained Samprajnaata Samadhi. The devotee into whom God has merged is in a state of monism with God. As a result, he does not perceive God as separate from himself. He attains Asamprajnaata Samadhi. Both the dualistic devotee and the monistic devotee are indeed Human Incarnations of God. Balarama was a dualistic devotee of God Vishnu, who was actually separate from God. Yet, he is counted as one of the ten important Incarnations of Lord Vishnu. Krishna was an example of monism with God since Lord Vishnu had entered and merged into Krishna. Both Krishna and Balararma are treated to be Human Incarnations of God. Balarama is also Patanjali since both were incarnations of Adishesha. Krishna is Kapila since both were Incarnations of God Vishnu. In monism, there is no dualism between God and the soul. Hence, other than creation (prakṛti), Kapila mentioned only one item called Purusha. The Purusha mentioned by Kapila was the specific soul with whom Īśvara had perfectly merged. In other words, Kapila was referring to the Human Incarnation of God through the word Purusha. Knowing the background and identity of divine personalities is also important while studying their philosophies.
66) The Purvamiimamsaa philosophy was established by sage Jaimini, who was a disciple of sage Vyaasa. Sage Vyaasa established the Uttara Miimamsaa philosophy which is commonly known as Vedanta. Vyaasa was an Incarnation of God Vishnu and Jaimini was His devotee. How can we say that the Divine Preacher and His disciple had different philosophies? Jaimini gave a practical philosophy (karma yoga) in which the emphasis was on serving God, since practical service and sacrifice alone gives the divine fruit. Vyaasa stressed on knowledge and devotion. Knowledge generates devotion and both of them are theoretical (mental). Devotion transforms the knowledge into practice and the practice alone yields the practical fruit.
67) Yajna means practically sacrificing one’s efforts (service) and sacrificing the fruit of one’s work (donating one’s hard-earned wealth) to God. In the Vedic Yajna, food is cooked and served to the participants of the ritual. The actual Vedic ritual is an activity in which an assembly of devotees gather to gain spiritual knowledge from a divine spiritual preacher and improve their devotion to God. A Yajna should be done only due to one’s attraction to God and not due to any worldly desire. Jaimini stressed greatly on justice (Dharma Sūtram) and he gave a lot of importance to the path of worldly justice or pravrutti in order to please God.
68) It is most unfortunate to think that Jaimini was an atheist. It was a misinterpretation of his ignorant followers. Jaimini himself was a follower of Vyaasa, the sage who fundamentally and clearly established theism. Jaimini stressed the importance of practical sacrifice in the philosophy of Vyaasa (Karmaanuruupaani Purah Phalani). He never said that God does not exist; only his atheistic followers said it (Devonakashchit). The same Jaimini has made valuable contribution to the field of astrology by authoring the Jyautisha Sutram. In this composition, Jaimini clearly mentions God Vishnu as the controller of Saturn and God Shiva as the controller of Jupiter. This clearly proves that he was not an atheist. He gave a lot of importance to the divine scripture, Veda, eighty percent of which is about practical sacrifice.
69) Ignorant followers said that the sound of the Veda itself is God, which is absurd because sound energy is an inert item of creation. The inert sound can represent God just as a material statue represents God. Bhaṭṭa said that the sound of the Veda itself is God (Shabdamaatra Devataa) only so that the public gives a lot of importance to the Veda. The Veda should be given importance since it preaches to us about many concepts that are unknowable by human effort. God can be represented by either the Veda or a statue. Just as a beginner believes that a statue is God, he can also believe that the Veda is God. Both the statue and the Veda are only representative models of God. The followers started performing Yajna (practical sacrifice) aspiring for practical worldly fruits. Defects are inevitable in the beginning. So, to encourage the beginner, the Veda itself declares certain worldly fruits that the performer of such practical sacrifices will attain. There is no harm in joining a school beginning with the LKG class (lower kindergarten). But one should not remain in the LKG throughout one’s life. Just because the preacher gave a lot of importance to practical sacrifice keeping silent about the theory, it does not mean that there is nothing other than practical sacrifice. It certainly does not mean that even the God, to whom the practical sacrifice is dedicated, does not exist!
70) The madness of the followers went to the extent of saying that shabdam, which means ‘the word’ (sound), is eternal and hence, it itself is God. Sage Gautama condemned this notion and clearly said that the word is not eternal. Buddha said that worldly desire is the cause of misery and that it stands as the main hurdle in pleasing God. Any worship should be done due to one’s attraction towards the divine personality of God and not to fulfill any worldly desire. This is emphasized in the Gita, through the term nishkaama karma yoga. There are three authoritative scriptures which are said to be the ‘approaches for learning’ (prasthaanaas) the Uttara Miimamsaa philosophy of sage Vyaasa. The Gita, which was composed by sage Vyaasa, is called the Smruti Prasthaanam, which means that it is the approach based on the scriptures called the Smrutis. The Smrutis are scriptures composed by sages out of their memory of the divine revelation they ‘heard’ (Shruti) from God. The Shruti Prasthaanam means the approach based on the scripture which was directly ‘heard’ from God. It means the Upanishads, which are part of the Veda. The Veda was heard by the sages directly from God Brahma. The logical analysis and correlation of the Upanishads and the Gita is achieved through the Brahma Sutras which are aphorisms written by sage Vyaasa. The Brahma Sutras are called the Nyaaya Prasthaanam, which means the approach based on logical analysis. The three authoritative scriptures, namely the Gita, the Upanishads, and the Brahma Sutras are together called the prasthaana trayam and they constitute the whole Uttara Miimamsaa philosophy.
71) In the Brahma Sutras, the first part gives the correlation (samanvaya) of various statements of the Veda. In the second part, contradictions are resolved (avirodha). In the third part, spiritual efforts (saadhana) are discussed. In the fourth part, the fruit of the spiritual efforts (phala) is explained. The philosophy of Vyaasa was interpreted in three different ways by Shankara, Ramanuja and Madhva. The three interpretations are complementary to each other and not mutually contradictory at all. Shankara was an Incarnation of God Shiva just as Buddha, Kapila and Vyaasa, were Incarnations of God Vishnu. In the philosophy of Shankara, we can find the essence of the theories of other Incarnations. Ramanuja and Patanjali were both incarnations of Adishesha. Ramanuja further clarified the concept of Shankara whereas Patanjali further clarified the concept of Kapila. Madhva was the incarnation of angel Vaayu, who is a devoted servant of God. He gave a philosophy (Dvaita) which was almost similar to that of Ramanuja in which the soul was said to be a devoted servant of God.
72) As per Buddha, God is unimaginable and Buddha expressed this concept through His silence. The unimaginable God can never be grasped by anybody. Hence, the unimaginable awareness of the unimaginable God was simply stated to be awareness and it was taken to be the unimaginable God. The reason for this that the simple relative awareness in a person can at least be grasped easily. The mechanism by which God’s unimaginable awareness is produced is unimaginable, since it was produced even before the creation of inert energy and matter. It certainly cannot be a converted form of inert energy as it passes through a material nervous system. That unimaginable awareness was simply said to be awareness because the relative awareness is well-understood by everybody. The imaginable relative awareness is the product of the inert energy as it passes through a material nervous system in human beings and other living beings having awareness. Since the unimaginable awareness was simply said to be awareness, people misunderstood it to be the relative awareness in living beings. There is a valid reason why Shankara followed this strategy. It is true that the mechanisms of producing the unimaginable awareness and the imaginable awareness are quite different. The former is produced by an unimaginable mechanism while the latter is produced by an imaginable mechanism. But in effect, both are the same. Awareness simply means to know. Knowing is common to both the unimaginable awareness which is omniscient and the imaginable awareness which has very little knowledge.
73) Hence, the unimaginable God without any medium (nirguna) is the unimaginable awareness itself. This unimaginable God merges with relative awareness and that relative awareness, after merging, can be directly called unimaginable God or unimaginable awareness. This process happens when the unimaginable God merges with the relative awareness existing in first energetic body of Īśvara. The soul of Īśvara is the relative awareness in which God has merged and it is the absolute God (Nirguna Brahman) of Shankara. That same soul covered by the energetic body is called Ishwara (Saguna Brahman) by Shankara. The unimaginable God has also merged into the energetic body of Ishwara making the body also eternal. Therefore, both the body and soul of Ishwara are eternal like the unimaginable God. Even though Ishwara’s body and soul were created by the unimaginable God at the beginning of creation (Hiranyagarbhah samavartataagre …—Veda), no damage to the soul or body of Ishwara is possible at any time. At any point after the first creation, the unimaginable God and Ishwara are absolutely one and the same. Hence, Ramanuja and Madhva stated that Ishwara (Narayana) is the ultimate Reality or God. They referred to both the body and soul of Ishwara as the ultimate God.
74) Kapila referred to this unimaginable awareness as Purusha. Thus, Purusha, as per Kapila, actually means the relative awareness of Ishwara after the unimaginable awareness has merged with it. The word Purusha can generally stand for the soul, which is relative imaginable awareness as well as God who is the absolute unimaginable awareness. It basically means the awareness that lies in the body (Puri shete). But Kapila was specifically referring to the awareness that lies in the body of Ishwara. This same awareness of Ishwara, which Kapila called Purusha was taken to be the absolute God (Nirguṇa Brahman) by Shankara. Shankara only considered the awareness of Ishwara, without the energetic body, as the absolute God. Since this awareness has become unimaginable after the merging of the unimaginable God with it, it can certainly be called the absolute God Himself. In fact, this was the hidden intention of Shankara. Note that the merging of the unimaginable awareness (unimaginable God) with the relative awareness is confined only to Ishwara and other Energetic and Human Incarnations of God. Only all such Incarnations including Ishwara can be called the mediated absolute God since the unimaginable God is present in the external media of their bodies. But Shankara’s hidden intention in His philosophy was not grasped by His followers. They misunderstood the relative awareness or the imaginable soul in every ordinary person, excluding the external medium of the body, to be the unimaginable awareness itself. This misunderstood theory, was extremely tempting since, according to it, all the followers got the status of God. As a result, they readily adopted the theory. It could also be said that Shankara twisted His philosophy so as to tempt His atheistic followers into accepting His philosophy. Accepting His philosophy meant accepting theism, which was in their greatest interest. The Purusha of Kapila is the relative awareness of Incarnations alone. It is only due to the will of such a Purusha that creation takes place (Mayaadhyaksheena...—Gita). Only such a Purusha is God and not any ordinary soul. The same relative awareness that existed in Ishwara before the unimaginable God merged with it, exists in every human being. It is called the soul. So, there is a risk of misunderstanding the Purusha to mean an ordinary soul. But if we were to take every ordinary soul to be God, then there would be no God other than the ordinary soul! In that case, we would misunderstand God Kapila and God Shankara to be atheists! God Vyaasa also uses the word shariira (body) for Purusha. In that context, Purusha means the ordinary soul present in a body. Buddha’s silence about the unimaginable God before creation avoided all this confusion.
75) Buddha limited Himself to only the non-mediated unimaginable God. Hence, the word Ishwara was not used by Him. Kapila and Shankara took the unimaginable God who has merged with the relative awareness of Ishwara and called that God Purusha and Nirguṇa Brahman respectively. The same Purusha of Kapila was given an energetic body by Shankara and called Ishwara or Saguṇa Brahman. Ramanuja and Madhva directly started with Saguṇa Brahman because the Saguṇa Brahman can easily be grasped by anyone since He possesses an energetic body. Shankara started with Nirguṇa Brahman, who is the unimaginable awareness that has merged with the relative awareness of Ishwara. This awareness of Ishwara has finally become unimaginable awareness or the unimaginable God Himself. Apart from the Nirguṇa Brahman, which as per Shankara’s philosophy was the ultimate absolute God, He also provided a second place for Ishwara. The same unimaginable awareness, along with the energetic body around it, was called Ishwara. Awareness can be grasped by the common man but only with a lot of difficulty (Avyaktaahi gatirduhkham...—Gita). The same awareness when contained in either an energetic or material body can be easily grasped and understood. Kapila only mentioned the unimaginable God or the unimaginable awareness as mentioned above. There was no place in His philosophy for the Ishwara with the energetic body. Hence, His philosophy was called niriishvara saamkhya, which means a philosophy or knowledge without Ishwara. Shankara’s philosophy was not called so due to Ishwara standing in the second place in His philosophy. Patanjali and Ramanuja started with the Ishwara having an energetic body and hence, the philosophy of Patanjali is called Shesvara saamkhya, which means a philosophy or knowledge that includes Ishwara.
76) Shankara said “Awareness is God”. This statement appears to mean that the relative awareness present in any human or energetic body is God. But Shankara had anticipated that people would take His statement in this wrong sense. Yet He allowed it because it was very helpful in converting atheists into theists. Here, actually, the word awareness means the unimaginable awareness (unimaginable God) resulting from the absolute unimaginable awareness merging with the relative awareness of Ishwara. The relative awareness of Ishwara becomes the unimaginable awareness itself due to perfect merging. This resulting unimaginable awareness, excluding the external energetic body, was said to be the absolute God or Nirguna Brahman by Shankara. The relative awareness or soul of Ishwara is relative awareness only before the merging of the unimaginable God with it. After the merging, it can no more be called relative awareness or soul. It must be called unimaginable awareness or unimaginable God Himself. In other Incarnations, Ishwara merges with selected energetic or human devotees. Even in these cases, the relative awareness or souls of those devotees become the unimaginable awareness due to the perfect merging of Ishwara with them. The unimaginable awareness present in Ishwara and other Incarnations is the unimaginable awareness or unimaginable God Himself. The relative awareness or souls of Ishwara and other Incarnations were relative awareness only before the merging of the unimaginable God with them. After the merging, it is not relative awareness any more. It has become unimaginable awareness. This unimaginable awareness was simply stated by Shankara to be awareness. Hence, it was misunderstood to be the relative awareness of the soul present in every living being having awareness. Ramanuja and Madhva separated the unimaginable awareness (God) from the relative awareness (soul). Their philosophies started with the unimaginable awareness covered by an eternal and divine energetic body, whom they called Narayana (Ishwara).
77) Buddha said that the world is nonexistent as well as existent. It is nonexistent for the absolute unimaginable God while it is existent for the soul since the soul is a tiny part of the world. The world was nonexistent to the absolute God before creation. But after creation, the absolute God is entertained with the basically nonexistent world which appears fully existent to Him just as it appears to the soul. The world is existent since it gives real entertainment to God. The same world is also basically nonexistent to God because God is able to do miracles in the world. If the world were actually real for God, He could not have created, changed, controlled or destroyed anything in the world. This is because, one absolute reality cannot do anything with another absolute reality. Due to the unimaginable power of the unimaginable God, the world which is actually unreal, appears to be fully real for the sake of giving real entertainment to God. The same world was totally unreal for the unimaginable God before creation since it had not been created. The world which is actually unreal is very much real for the soul which too is equally unreal. One unreal item is real for another equally unreal item. In fact, the soul is an inherent tiny part of the world.
(To be continued…)
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