Posted on: 04 Sep 2006
Awareness and Reflected Awareness: Now the Advaitins bring another point. They say that the awareness which is a product of the energy that one gets from food (Annat Purushah—Veda) is only a reflection (Chidabasa) of the original ultimate awareness (Chit). The Chidabhasa is present only in living beings and has defects but the defects are due to the reflecting medium (body). The Chit, which is beyond the reflected awareness, is free from defects and that it is the ultimate cause or God. Now if they say that this Chit which is beyond the Chidabhasa is the ultimate, then we have no objection; we accept it. However the objection comes when they say that the individual is the Chit. We say that the individual is Chidabhasa. The Chit (or God) is the cause of the Chidabhasa and the entire creation. You are the Chidabhasa which is a product of food; You are not the Chit which is the Creator of the universe. If you too agree that the awareness found in all living beings is not the ultimate Brahman (but only its reflection called Chidabhasa), then it clearly means that you are not Brahman! Thus the Advaita claim that the individual is the Brahman fails. Chit (Ultimate Awareness) is identified only by its ability to will or wish. Now we see that the living being which has awareness can will. But this awareness is only reflected awareness according to you. When you do not provide food to the living being, it dies. The Chidabhasa or reflected awareness disappears. But the Chit has not disappeared. It is also all pervading. So it must exist even in the dead body. Then why can it not will anymore? After all, will is the characteristic of awareness (Chit). This only shows the lack of clarity in the analysis of the Advaitins. Their main aim is to prove that the individual is identical with God. They are not willing to yield from this conclusion and hence they tend to jumble up concepts to somehow arrive at it.
Advaita uses the ancient Indian logic for its entire analysis. This logic is based on the knowledge of human beings at that time. It was quite inaccurate in many respects. I have used modern scientific logic which is far superior. It is systematic and can be proved and demonstrated experimentally. The result is a greater clarity and accuracy in the philosophy. In fact even the ancient Indian logic (Tarka Shastra) is also science. However it is the science that was known to man at that time. For example, in Tarka, in the discussion about how the mud particles in a mud pot are held together, they talk about different binding forces such as Samayoga Bandha and Samavaya Bandha. Today, we know these forces as Van der Waals forces and chemical bonding respectively. Today our understanding has improved immensely about these concepts. In those days, very little was known about them. Shankara explained His theory based on as much as was known to mankind at that time. Why not I explain the truth based on the scientific knowledge that is developed today? Why should you object to the bringing in of science(tarka as on today) in spirituality?
Some people may claim that even though science was not as advanced in olden times as it is today, our ancient Tarka Shastra was still very highly developed. He may claim that Shankara’s Mithya Vada (world as an apparent or relative reality) is not different from Einstein’s theory of relativity. Since the most modern theory of science is present in our ancient Tarka, why should we bring in science at all? Why not stick to Tarka Shastra for all spiritual analysis? To this we say that we agree that Shankara’s Mithya Vada and the theory of relativity, are the same.Old Tarka definitely had made some admirable conclusions. But it is found to be inaccurate or totally wrong in some other conclusions. For example, it says that sound travels in space (Shabda Gunaka Akashah). We know from modern science that sound needs a medium (like air) to travel; it cannot travel in vacuum. Propagation of sound is the result of vibrations and collisions of the particles of the medium. Thus there were some good points and some defects in ancient Tarka. Modern science has cleared all those defects. Thus it has all good points (within the limits of the present knowledge). In that case, which one should you choose? Naturally modern science! It is the best tool available to humans to analyze.
When both science and Tarka analyze only the items of creation (Tarkyante Padarthah iti Tarkah), why not take science which is far superior? God is above all logic (Naisha Tarkena—Veda). Neither ancient nor modern logic can reach Him. So the scope of logic and analysis is only the items of creation. The reason why logic is necessary is to distinguish non-God items from God. Many times, some items of creation may be mistaken to be God. Awareness is one such example. Logical analysis has to be applied to analyze such items. If they can be analyzed and are found to be items of creation, or if they have defects, then they are to be rejected, since they cannot be God. If the item chosen fails to be analyzed by any logic or science, and cannot be classified as an item of creation, it must be God. Thus science is useful not only in the rejecting of all non-God items but also in indirectly establishing God.
We have seen how awareness is a form of work. Work is essentially energy but the particular form of energy called as work appears only when all the components of the system generating that work, are together. E.g. Grinding work is the specific work done by a grinding machine. Although it is essentially energy, it is not the same as cutting work done by the cutting machine which uses the same electricity (energy). Grinding work is produced only when the grinding machine, electricity, and the grains to be ground are all present simultaneously. Thus it is an unreal form of the energy. It is an ideal example to describe mithya (unreal existence or relative reality). Awareness is such a form of work. It is the best example of mithya. It is a modification of the food energy, but it requires the presence of the human body, which has the digestive, respiratory, nervous and other systems working together. Then alone is the awareness produced in the brain of the human. Now you say that this awareness is only the reflected awareness or Chidabhasa. You say that the original awareness (Chit), is beyond even space (Atmanah Akashah—Veda). But where is the evidence of the existence of any such awareness? We have analyzed all the components that lead to formation of this awareness. You say that this is only reflected awareness. Then where is the original awareness, Chit? When you cannot find it, how can you say that you are that? How can it be your nature or Atman? Atman is that which pervades. Atman is necessarily that which pervades. How can that Atman, which is your real nature, be this ultimate Chit, which is beyond space and so cannot be established to be an item that pervades, there by requiring the pre-existence of space?
Thus we have to accept that this entire creation is the work of the unseen, unimaginable worker. All the worlds present in this creation are present in this space. It is said that no matter which world you reach, you have to come back to this world since none of them are the ultimate (Abrahma Bhuvanallokah—Gita). Even the Brahma Loka is present within this same space. It is called Parama Vyoma (supreme space) by Ramanuja. Now what is this Parama Vyoma? It is a very fine space within this space. A person seeing a dream is present in the space of this world. The dream-space is within him, so it is within the space of this world. The dream space does not interfere with the space of this world although it is present in it. While you are in the dream space, you are unable to see anything in the worldly space. When the dream is over, the dream space disappears, but the space of this world still remains. The space of this world is more real as compared to the space of the dream, since the dream space is made of very delicate and weak nervous energy compared to the world space made of more powerful energy. Similarly, the space of this world is present in the Parama Vyoma (which is made of most powerful energy) and yet the two spaces do not interfere with each other. While you are in the space of this world, you are unable to see Vaikuntha or Brahma Loka etc. The Parama Vyoma is more real as compared to the space of this world. When the space of this world disappears, the Parama Vyoma still exists. Thus there can be many spaces within the same space. However they are still only space. God is above all these spaces. Even if you take the body of Lord Narayana, which is present in the Parama Vyoma, you have only left the space of this world and have entered into a more subtle and real space called as Parama Vyoma.
It is said that the distance between hell and earth is 98 thousand yojanas, which works out to some eight hundred thousand miles. Rockets can go that far but have still not found the existence of any such hell. Why is it so? The reason is that hell is not present in this space. It is present in another space which has a greater degree of reality. The distance that is given only correlates that space and this space. At a point which is some eight hundred thousand miles from here, hell exists but it is in another space that we cannot perceive. Immediately next to this world, which is called the Martya Loka, exists the Preta Loka (world of the dead), where people who die here go at first. However we cannot see them or their world. Above that is the Naraka Loka (hell) and above it is the Pitri Loka (world of ancestors). These four together are called as the Bhu Loka as per the Vishnu Purana. Thus there can be several spaces present simultaneously. However they are still space alone. When it is said that all these spaces came from Atman (Atmanah Akashah sambhutah—Veda) it clearly means that the individual Atman is not implied here as the Advaitins claim.
Then the question comes as to why Shankara introduced awareness or why Ramanuja introduced the divine body of Lord Narayana who is present in the Parama Vyoma. The reason that God is unimaginable; His original nature (Swarupa) can never be understood. If only His unimaginability is told, then people will start doubting His very existence. There is a danger of them turning into atheists. Therefore the Acharyas took these mediums charged by God (incarnation of God in these mediums) and called that as the ultimate God. Shankara took awareness as the medium and Ramanuja took the divine body Narayana in the Parama Vyoma as the medium. They took items which can be imagined with great difficulty and called them the ultimate. This is called as the Arundhati-Vashishtha Nyaya in which the very dim (nearly invisible) star Arundhati is indicated by the relatively brighter star Vashishtha which is next to it. God is completely unimaginable. Then how can we even indicate God? So the Acharyas took some items that are imaginable with a great amount of difficulty to indicate that God is beyond even these items. These items should be such that they are almost unimaginable; unimaginable to most people except great scholars. Who can understand the Parama Vyoma? Certainly not an ordinary person! A person who has a very good understanding of the theory of relativity (Einstein’s geometrical space) can perhaps imagine it with some difficulty. Similarly, awareness can be understood only by a scientist. At least one point is conveyed that it is very difficult to understand God.
These items (mediums), charged by God are said to be the ultimate. This is the first step and is done only to bring our attention to that God who is beyond even these items and is completely unimaginable. Now the person has accepted that awareness charged by God or the divine body charged by God, is the ultimate God. It will be easier to take him further and tell Him that actually even these items are not God but are only charged by God, who is beyond them and is completely unimaginable. Thus you take the person from gross to subtle and then take him from subtle to invisible. If you directly tell him about the invisible, he will never believe you. Thus we see that Shankara and Ramanuja never left the medium. They introduced God only through the medium.
Lord Krishna says “Even if you reach the Brahma Loka you will have to come back to this mortal world but if you reach Me, there is no rebirth for you” (Abrahma bhuvanallokah—Gita). This means that a person, who has not recognized God’s human incarnation, in this world of human beings, will not recognize God even in the highest Brahma Loka. The person, who has partially recognized God in human form, will also partially recognize Him in the other world. In the Brahma Loka, God is present in the divine energetic form, which is similar to the energetic bodies of souls which are present in that world. The person with partial or no recognition of the Lord will have to come back to this world to complete his spiritual effort. The person, who recognizes the Lord’s human form in this world completely, will recognize God’s form in every world. For him there is no rebirth. For him, there is no need to even go to Brahma Loka, because if he can recognize God in one medium, he can recognize God in any medium. Thus the complete recognition of the Lord in human form in this human life is the state in which there is no rebirth as told by AnchorKrishna in the Gita. Here the word re-birth means taking birth in this world based on the precipitated attitudes (samskaras) of the soul, which only is negated. However the re-birth of such liberated soul accompanying the Lord in human form is not negated, since such re-birth is the greatest fortune to be in company of the Lord. When God Himself is taking human birth again and again in this world, the liberated soul need not be a special exemption. That is the final stage. There is no need for that person to even go toVaikuntha or Brahma Loka. If you have recognized and serve the Lord in the present human form, you have become the liberated soul just in this very present moment (Jivan Mukti). The difference between this world and that world is only the difference in the medium. In this world the medium is the human body which is a mixture of matter, energy and awareness. In the Brahma Loka, the medium is only energy and awareness. This difference has nothing to do with the recognition of the Lord.
The person living in this world thinks that the Lord present in the Brahma Loka is the actual Parabrahman and the human incarnation is merely a human being. He thinks that the Parabrahman present in the Brahma Loka has an energetic body with four hands etc. The same person, when he reaches Brahma Loka finds the Lord with four hands, but is not impressed. The reason is that he too has a similar energetic body that can have many hands. Thus no matter which world he goes to, he is unable to recognize the Lord who is present in a common medium. This is due to the principle of repulsion of the common medium. He is always fascinated by the Lord present in a medium that is different than his own body. Why did the Gopikas reach Goloka from where they will never have to return? The Goloka is higher than even the Brahma Loka. The Gopikas recognized Lord Krishna in human form when they were in human forms themselves. Their recognition was complete. Hence they reached the Goloka. Hanuman’s recognition of Lord Rama was also complete. He was given the post of the future Creator. For him there is no specialty of Brahma Loka or any other world. He is also immortal. He is present on this earth even today. Whenever God incarnates, he immediately gets the information and is ever ready to serve the Lord. He comes in a suitable form to serve the Lord. Thus all the servants of the human incarnation of the Lord, are only different forms of Hanuman.
Recognizing the Satguru (Lord in human form) as Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva(Gurur Brahma, Gurur Vishnuh, Gurur Devo Maheshwara), is sufficient. Everything ends with the Satguru. There is nothing beyond the Satguru. The Satguru should be recognized by knowledge alone. The external qualities (Upadhi) should not be considered while recognizing Him. Satguru is God in the human form, which means that the main aspect of the incarnation is to preach the spiritual knowledge which may be Gita, Bible etc.
The Atman is a metaphor for God. Atman or awareness is a kind of work. It is very difficult to perceive. We took the example of grinding work. The grinding machine, electrical energy and the grains can all be detected. The grinding work however, cannot be detected. In this sense it is similar to God who being unimaginable is also undetectable. It is a good metaphor for God. However, if you say that awareness itself is God, then we will prove that awareness is unreal since it is a form of work, which cannot have self existence when isolated from the various components of the system like food, oxygen, nervous system, brain and the inert energy produced by the oxidation of food.
Creation is a one-man show. God alone is real. The entire creation is His work. There is no product of this work. In grammar we have two types of verbs, transitive (sakarmaka kriyapadam) and intransitive (akarmaka kriyapadam). The transitive verbs have a direct object, whereas the intransitive verbs to not have a direct object. For example, ‘to eat’ is a transitive verb. There is always something that you are eating. There are always, three items: the eater the action of eating and the item that is being eaten. However, ‘to walk’ is an intransitive verb. There are only two items in this case: the walker and the action of walking. There is no object or product of the work of walking. In the case of God and creation too, there are only two items: God who is the worker and creation which is the work of God; there is no product. Creation, felt as product itself is work. Everything in creation can be reduced to matter and energy. Matter and energy are equivalent and can be regarded simply as energy. Energy is dynamism—work. It is the work of God. Thus the entire creation is the work of God. The work is different from the worker. The individual human being (body and awareness) is part of the work (creation). He is a part of Prakruti or creation (combination of Para Prakruti or awreness and Aparaprakruti or body); he is not a part of the worker (God or Purusha). If you take Paraprakruti (awareness) as Purusha, then God becomes the third item called Purushottama, who is beyond Purusha and Prakruti (Yasmat Ksharamatitoham… Gita).
How can you reach the worker? You can reach the worker, in the form of the human incarnation. You can see Him, touch Him, speak with Him, and live with Him. Now is there any way to become the worker? In fact there is. Hanuman, a devotee, became the Lord. But the most important requirement is that you should not aspire to become the Lord and should continue to serve Him selflessly, with full recognition and devotion. If you have the aspiration to become the Lord, it is an obstruction in becoming Him. The Lord can enter a devotee like Hanuman so that he becomes exactly the human incarnation. Thus he becomes God. Thus there is no objection in that a jiva can become Brahman. The only objection is that the jiva is not already Brahman. However, wise people donot like to become God who has both responsibility and entertainment. If you remain as His servant becoming a liberated soul, you are having the same entertainment of God without responsibility. The responsibility of creation, maintenance and dissolution of the world is the unique capacity of God only. Even when you become God, what happens? God is hidden in you doing all these responsibilities and is giving fame to you so that you are praised as God by this innocent world! Radha knew this and wanted to remain as His servant only. Then also God gave her more fame making her as His master, by existing outside and taking pleasure to press her feet! Even Hanuman did not aspire to become God. But God made Him God by entering in to Him to show the possibility of the soul to become God. Thus, complete Advaita is possible but without realizing the secrect in it. Hanuman also knows this technology in the fruit of Advaita. Therefore, even after becoming God, He still says “I am the servant” (Dasoham) indicating the real secreat in Advaita.
Thus we agree with the statement “Brahma Satyam Jagat Mithya”. Everything other than the Lord is unreal, but from the point of view of God; not the point of view of the soul. Even from the point of view of the soul, there are some things that are unreal, such as the forms of matter and forms of awareness (feelings or qualities). But the soul cannot cross certain levels; some other things are real for the soul. Matter, awareness and energy cannot be unreal for the soul. The shape of the pot is unreal but the matter in the pot is real for the soul. Thus, some things are real for the soul and some things are unreal. However, for God, everything is unreal and He alone is real.
When the Advaitins say that their awareness is Chidabhasa and that they are actually Chit, it is absurd. At what point can you understand the Chit (the real item; bimba) to say that your consciousness is its reflection (pratibimba)? When you say that the image in a mirror is the reflection of a certain person, you must first see the original person, to be able to say that. How is it possible to understand that, Chit, from which they say that space arose? Your intelligence itself cannot cross space, how can you understand the source of space? The Veda says that God’s existence alone can be known; His nature or characteristics cannot be known. The mirror reflects only the nature (Swarupa) not the existence. If Chidabhasa is the reflection (abhasa) of Chit, Chidabhasa must reveal the nature of Chit; not its existence. But the nature of Chit can never be known, since it is beyond space!
The Advaitin who refuses to accept God other than himself is an atheist (Nastika). He uses any logic available to justify his point. He brings in Tarka Shastra and Sanskrit terminology to mesmerize others. In fact the logic that he is using is an inferior logic. Science is far more advanced than Tarka Shastra. A scientist is greater than an Advaitin. An Advaitin is also an atheist like a scientist, except that he uses an inferior and outdated logic. An Advaitin has no experimental evidence. A scientist has experimental evidence and has a better understanding of the material world. It is easier to convince a scientist but not the Advaitin. The Advaitin is driven madly by the most powerful ambition of being God. The Advaita theory is so attractive because it claims that the individual is already God; he has only forgotten his real nature. Thus no effort is even required to become God. This is too good to be true! In fact it is not true. But people who have come under the powerful influence of this attraction will never give up this theory, since they have become fully mad. A mad person canbe treated only by the electric shock in the hospital. Similarly this mad Advaitin will be treated similarly in the hell, where only he realizes the truth. The servants of Yama will ask him again and again “Are you Brahman which is not known even to our Boss (Yama), who told that Brahman is unimaginable in Veda?”
If a person is to be revealed the truth about Advaita, then the entire knowledge of Swami, pertaining to Advaita must be placed before him. Merely giving him a part of the knowledge is sure to confuse or shock him. He should read it entirely before getting into any discussions. The reason for this is that in order to clarify one point, all the other points need to be simultaneously clarified, since all the concepts are inter related like a net. This is also the reason why I am not giving a commentary of the Gita or other scriptures, verse by verse. If one verse is to be explained, then all the verses have to be introduced simultaneously, since they are all related. The commentary of the Gita will be over with the commentary on the first verse itself and the rest of the commentary on the rest of the verses will be only repetitions. Thus a person should be given the entire concept on Advaita, which he should analyze thoroughly. In that period, he should not discuss. Then the realization of the whole concept will come. Then whatever specific points about which he may have doubts can be easily clarified.
This divine knowledge is coming directly from the eternal Lord Datta. He is talking directly. This body of Datta Swami is temporary but the Lord Datta speaking through it is eternal. All of you who are receiving this knowledge are most fortunate. I (Myself) am fortunate to listen to this knowledge. I am only the holder of microphone (mouth) who is close to Lord Datta, who is speaking. You are in the audience and are listening to the same words. I do not hear any more special words from Him just because I am closest to Him. As far receiving the knowledge is concerened, there is no difference. Thus we are all lucky that we are receiving this knowledge from Him directly. We are able to clarify our doubts directly from Him. We are getting answers directly from Him.
The completion of sadhana is to recognize the human body of the incarnation as the unimaginable Parabrahman or God. When you serve the human incarnation, the service directly reaches God. You cannot approach the Parabrahman directly. Suppose you go to a wedding wearing a coat. At the entrance of the wedding hall, a person greets you and sprinkles rose-water on you. It falls on your coat. But the pleasure of the fragrant and cool rose-water reaches your awareness. You do not say, “Wait! Let me remove my coat. Now sprinkle it in on my skin”. If you say that, he will say, “Wait! When the rose water falls on your skin, your nerves get the sensation and that leads to pleasure in your awareness. So let me remove your skin and muscles and sprinkle it directly on your nervous system.” If that happens, there will be no awareness to experience that pleasure! You will be dead! Therefore you prefer to receive the pleasure from the sprinkling of rose-water even when it falls on your coat. Similarly, the worship of the human incarnation is the worship of the Parabrahman. If you try to directly approach Parabrahman, who is beyond this sapce (creation), then the whole creation has to be dissolved. But you are a part of creation, so you too will disappear. Therefore worship to the human incarnation alone is possible and is the most direct worship.
The pleasure of the human incarnation is the pleasure of God. There is no difference. The human body is unreal from God’s view. He alone is real. From our view, His body is real and He is unreal since He is unimaginable to us. Only to give reality to Him, in our eyes, He takes the human body, which is real for us. Treating His human body as Parabrahman is the highest stage. Gopikas treated Krishna as Parabrahman and reached the topmost Goloka. Duryodhana treated Krishna as an ordinary person. He treated Parabrahman as an ordinary human being and went to the lowest hell. In between these two extremes is the spiritual journey in which sometimes you treat Him as God and sometimes as man or you treat Him as a mixture of God and man. The ultimate goal of this journey is that the human body of the incarnation should disappear from your sight and Parabrahman alone should remain. You should treat His body as Parabrahman alone and not as a body at all. Krishna should disappear and Shri Bhagawan (Parabrahman) alone should remain.
In the entire Mahabharata, Sage Vyasa writes the dialogues of Lord Krishna as “Krishna said….” In the Bhagavad Gita however, Vyasa writes “Shri Bhagawan said….” This clearly shows the complete disappearance of the human form of Krishna; Parabrahman alone remains. Therefore the Gita too is not called as Krishna Gita. It is called as Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, to show that it is the Gita (preaching in the form of a song) given directly by the Lord. In order to treat the human incarnation like Krishna, who exists in the present time, as God Himself, is the end of sadhana. The basis for this is Krishna Himself who said that He will come again and again as and when required. Such statement removes also the partiality of God blessing one generation only by coming in human form. For that stage, egoism (Ahankara) and jealousy (Asuya) must completely disappear. With that all the attractions of the world come to an end. It is possible to end the attractions of the world but it is most difficult to get rid of egoism and jealosy. Great sages, who conqured all their attractions, fell under the clutches of egoism and jealosy. The sages have criticized each other through the scriptures. These egoism and jealousy are qualities or gunas. Even attractions are gunas. They all can be cut only by knowledge, which is also a quality (Sattvam). Diamond can be cut by another diamond only. One has to use one’s intelligence and always analyze (Sadasad Viveka). That alone will lead you in the correct way.
[Sri Ramanath asked a question: When a devotee is also going to the upper world by the divine plane some times, why not the body of Lord Krishna also go to the upper world in a similar way? In Bhagavatam it is mentioned that Krishna’s body after death was cremated by Arjuna.]
Swami replied: Even the body of the devotee gets transformed into energetic form after going upto some height in the plane. It is only for the people on the earth to praise the devotee blessed with special grace of God. This human body cannot exist in the upper world where the entire atmostphere is energy with very high frequency that cannot be even grasped by humanity (the frequency of the electro magnetic radiations in the upper world is beyond cosmic rays). Sage Viswamitra tried to send Trisanku to heaven with this human body. But the angels threw him down stating that the humanbody cannot enter the heaven for the above said reason. The Lord does not require such appreaciation from the humanity. If such thing is done, the human beings get excited even while reading His divine knowledge (Gita). There is no difference between matter and energy according to the modern science. Therefore, there is no differnece between this material body and the energetic body. All this belongs only to the external cover (Upadhi). Therefore, Krishna was not interested in such useless miracle.