Posted on: 10 Oct 2006
Note: This article is meant for intellectuals only
[Message on Dasara, Day-9] The three qualities are not distinguished in the spiritual path by God as long as the possessor of these three qualities does not disturb the balance of the society, which is the stage for the divine play of the God. Scriptures say that all the three qualities co-exist always and never a single quality can be isolated. For God, all the three qualities are one and the same, which are created by Him only. These three qualities bring variety in the divine play by combining with each other in different proportions causing multi-natured scenes. These are just like three basic colors, which are mixed in various proportions to develop various shades. All the spiritual preachers have predomination of Sattvam, which is a favorable medium for knowledge. You must be calm and peaceful without any disturbance for preaching or grasping the knowledge. Such nature is sattvam. During preaching, the human incarnation also uses the same medium as usual. Narasimha exhibited Rajas showing the climax of anger and tension, which was required to the context. Krishna exhibited Tamas in dancing with Gopikas with excess of blind love on them, which is the climax of ignorance. The Gita says that Rajas indicates action. Tamas indicates determination of decision with rigidity. Thus, the rigid practice is a mixture of Tamas and Rajas. The Tamas was used by Krishna to cut their bonds with their family members according to their request in the previous birth. Such Tamas cannot be equated to the lust on women for selfish happiness as seen in human beings, even though both look same externally. The surgeon cuts the stomach of the patient with the knife for the welfare of the patient based on his request only. A criminal also does the same with a knife for his selfish end and this murder cannot be equated to the above surgery even though both look same externally. The three qualities are used by God to uplift the devotees and not for any selfish end. The same three qualities are used by human beings for fulfilling their selfish desires.
All the three qualities are equally good, when these are used by God. All three qualities are equally bad when these are used by human beings. Demons used Rajas and Tamas in wrong direction due to egoism, ambition and jealousy. But, Narasimha and Krishna used the same Rajas and Tamas to uplift the devotees without any selfish motive. Krishna used Sattvam to uplift Arjuna by preaching the Gita. Shakuni used the same Sattvam (Knowledge) in the form of preaching to ruin the Kauravas. A sage throws seeds on the ground to feed the birds. A hunter also throws seeds on the ground to trap and kill the birds. The direction of the quality decides whether the quality is good or bad. Otherwise, all the three qualities are equally good since these are created by God only. Everything in the creation is good only because everything is created by God only (Mattaeveti— Gita). These three qualities represent the three sacred energetic forms of God (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva).
Selection of Suitable Medium for Entry of God
In the world, every item is a cause for something and is effect of some other thing. For example, energy is the cause of matter and matter is the cause of an object with a form. Matter is effect of energy and is the cause of the object. For energy, God is the cause and for God, there is no cause. God always remains in the causal state only and is the cause of all the causes indirectly also. For energy, God is the direct cause. For matter, God is hidden indirect cause through the energy. Energy cannot modify into matter by itself without God. Thus, directly or indirectly, God is the cause of every causal item (Akhilahetuhetum—Vyasa). The energy has no will but has the capacity to create by modification. The awareness has will but has no capacity to create any worldly item like energy or matter. Every item in the world has some defect by which it cannot prove itself to be the cause for other causal items. If energy has the capacity to wish, one can spontaneously conclude that energy is God. If awareness has the capacity of worldly creation, one can easily conclude that awareness is God. God has no defects (Nirdoshamhi—Gita). If you neglect the defect of the item, you can call any item as God through metaphor. But, you should remember that God is not actually any item in the creation. Any item in the creation can stand for God as representative model if its merit is only considered. With this angle only, all words can be used to represent God by all their merits (Sahasranama stotram). Even then God is only possessor of those merits, which are not the real inherent characteristics of God since God is unimaginable. Thus, God is not a group of all these items in which case God should have all the merits and all the defects of all these items as His inherent characteristics. If you imagine a group of items having only the merits, then also such proposal faces two objections: 1) The God is single but not the multiple of items 2) Such group of items having only merits is imaginary (since each item is imaginable) without any practical evidence and this again contradicts the total unimaginable nature of God. Thus, infinite ocean of energy having the quality of will (awareness) is only imaginary. You have the infinite ocean of inert energy as creator of this world but it is not the designer. You have the awareness as the designer but it is discontinuous in the form of living beings. A combination of these two is imaginary and is called as Brahman by the spiritual preachers because the unimaginable God has to be introduced through some different medium other than the existing media in the world. The Veda has negated all the existing items as God and there is no other alternative than to bring some imaginable item, which does not exist in the world. The existence of such imaginary ocean of awareness is again contradicting the unimaginable nature of Brahman (God) as stated in the Veda. Such imaginary infinite ocean can be imagined by the intelligence and cannot be the unimaginable God in real sense. Such imaginary ocean can be the medium (creation) only but not the creator. Such medium charged by God can be taken as Brahman (God) as the live wire is considered as current. But, remember that such medium is again imaginable and invisible. You are representing the unimaginable God through invisible medium but such medium is not unimaginable. The concept is that such an ocean represents God but not actually the God.
Instead of this, it is better to represent God through visible and imaginable medium. Even the energetic body like Narayana is invisible and imaginable. The invisible medium can only represent God but cannot be the God. In such case, why not we represent God by visible medium? For representation, the visible and invisible media can have the same chance since both the media are imaginable and cannot be God actually. The best convenient imaginable and visible medium is the human body. The other inert items are also imaginable and visible but do not serve the purpose of preaching knowledge and receiving your service. The medium should be visible (and imaginable) and also should serve the main purpose of visit of God to the earth. If you take such imaginary ocean of awareness, the process of creation also cannot be explained properly. If the world is projection of such awareness, the entire world should be alive without any inert item. You may say that the awareness is basically inert energy and therefore, both life and inert objects are projected in the world. This point is ruled out because the imaginary ocean is homogeneously awareness everywhere even though it is basically inert energy. In such case, the whole world also should be homogeneously living beings only, which may be basically inert energy. But, the world shows living beings and inert objects separately. In such case, the ocean must be a heterogeneous mixture of both awareness and inert energy. Even if you take Lord Narayana in the place of ocean, the entire world must have all pervading awareness resembling the body of Lord Narayana in which the awareness pervaded all over. You cannot say that logic should not be applied to the process of creation by God. When you have defined God in terms of medium, such God is within the boundaries of the creation and cannot be the creator. Logic must exist in all the definable items of the creation. While explaining the process of the creation, the subject–object concept should be protected. If you say that the entire object (World) is subject (God), then there is no entertainment to God because there is no difference between subject (Drashta) and object (Drusya). In order to protect this, you have to say that a part of the ocean of inert energy is modified into inert world in the beginning. Such modification was done by the will of God, who did not charge the ocean and then God is expected to exist outside the ocean. After the creation, the remaining ocean is charged by God (Subject) so that the dualism exists for the sake of entertainment.
Similarly, the inert energy of the Lord Narayana and His awareness can be explained in the same above sequence. The energy of the body cannot modify into the world because the body gets deformed. The awareness in the body should have been modified into the world, in which case, the above objection facing the ocean of awareness repeats here also. The awareness in the world is seen as the dependent on nervous system and inert energy of the body. In the ocean of awareness, the generation of awareness without nervous system can be objected. In such case, you have to say that the awareness of the ocean is due to the superpower of God. This independent divine awareness differs from the natural awareness, which depends on the nervous system. In such case, you cannot call this depending awareness as the independent Brahman which is independent divine awareness. In such case, you can take directly the unimaginable God and justify the unimaginable awareness that is generated by God directly without assuming the imaginary ocean. Ofcourse, even the imaginable nervous system and the dependable awareness are also created by God but such creation is indirect as the cause of cause. The difference between the two types of awareness with reference to absence and presence of nervous system is also created by God. Unless the natural power exists as contrast, the supernatural power has no meaning. There no significance of day without the night. When the difference is established, the superpower can be used to indicate God directly without any mediator, like ocean of awareness where as the natural power indicates the ordinary soul. When the superpower is exhibited, the unimaginable reason only indicates God. Except this unimaginable reason, all other components of miracle are imaginable only. The finger of Krishna, the mountain and the lifting process are the imaginable components of the miracle. The reason behind the lifting of the mountain by a tender boy is unimaginable that indicates the existence of God in Krishna. The divine will of God (or the imaginary ocean of awareness, if you insist on a mediator to represent God through medium) and the natural will of the soul are one and the same in the content i.e., awareness. Both wills (awareness) are imaginable items only. Hence, the divine will cannot be the inherent characteristic of the unimaginable God. The reason for the generation of the divine will without nervous system is unimaginable, which is attributed to the unimaginable God. Therefore, any imaginable property cannot be the inherent sign of the God.
God Responsible Up to Divine Play
God is the generator of divine will, which is responsible for the divine worldly works. Soul is generator of the natural will, which is responsible for the natural worldly works. Therefore, the fruits of works of soul bind only the soul and not the God. The generation of the soul (Atman) is also by God but the generation of natural will (feeling or quality) is by the soul only. If God is soul, the works of the soul will bind God by their fruits. Since all the souls are the same God, the different fruits of the different souls have to be enjoyed by all the souls in the form of the God. You may say that the pure awareness (Atman) is not bound by the fruits and the subtle body (Jiva) is only bound as doer. But, the subtle body (bundle of strong feelings, called as Samskaras) is made of pure awareness only. If the waves of the water are beaten, the water is also beaten. The soul, being the very awareness, has to be aware of the pain in the punishments. Such awareness of pain is the process of receiving the punishment. God is responsible for the creation of entire Mula Maya and Maha Maya. In the field of Maya, God is responsible only up to the divine play. The soul is responsible for its own Maya (forms created by soul like house etc., and all its feelings). The soul also generates the feelings with the power of God only and thus, God is the indirect cause of feelings also. But, the design of the feeling is directed by the soul and hence, the soul is responsible for the fruits. The direction of journey decided by you gives you the fruits but the vehicle that is responsible for the journey does not receive any fruit. God is responsible for the process of feeling but the design of the feeling is done by the soul, which receives the fruit.
In the Gita, Lord says that He is not the doer, not creating any action and not receiving any fruit, since the natural will of the soul is totally responsible (Svabhavastu…). God is the creator of awareness and the process of feeling (Kartaramapi…) but not the creator of the design and direction of the feeling (Viddhyakartaramavyayam). The soul is given freedom to design the feelings. The soul is directed by the previous strong feelings (Samskaras) for which also the soul was responsible in their generation during the previous births. These samskaras were generated from the soul and cover it as the algae produced from the pond cover it fully. The soul is controlled by these samskaras as the paralysis produced in the body controls the body itself. The soul (Atman) is limited to the awareness existing in this bundle of samskaras (Jiva). The awareness cannot come out of these samskaras in pure state.
When you say that the Jiva is going to the upper world, it means Atman confined to Jiva is also traveling and hence, it is correct to say that Jivatman is traveling. You can never separate Atman from Jiva though the reverse is possible. You can separate waves from the water when the waves disappear but you cannot separate water from waves when the waves are existing. Such samskaras can be smashed only by stronger concepts of the divine knowledge, which are like the flashes of divine fire. Thus, the entire fate of the soul can be changed only by the divine knowledge, which should be grasped patiently, digested slowly and practiced after full determination.