Posted on: 12 Feb 2006
Shankara declared Himself as the Lord in human form. But He knew that people would immediately revolt against Him. At that time, people were either Buddhists or followers of Purva Mimamsa (ritualistic tradition). Both were highly arrogant and egoistic and would not tolerate this concept in which they would have to worship a human being as God. Therefore, Shankara was very clever and following their psychology, declared that every human being is God. Of course He used the word Brahman, which was misunderstood as God by the people. The human being is the greatest created item and can be called as Brahman. But He did not reveal this secret because He wanted to first drag them to His fold and convert them into theists. Simultaneously He could establish the concept of human incarnation by this. He could make them accept that God can be in human form. Since He extended this concept to all individuals, nobody attacked Him with ego and jealousy and thus He was safe. The entire misunderstanding of the Advaita philosopher comes only when he compares the human incarnation with the ordinary human being. He should be appreciated because he has reached the soul, which is the finest item of the creation. Nobody can cross that item because God alone is beyond the soul and is unimaginable.
Unimaginable God
The existence of the unimaginable God is not accepted because it is beyond experience. Therefore, a philosopher has to stop with the soul, which is a part of the Infinite Ocean of pure awareness called as Mula Maya or Mula Prakriti. God associated with Mula Maya is called Parabrahman. The Mula Maya acts as the medium for us to receive God. If the Mula Maya is also absent, then God cannot be received by us and He becomes completely unimaginable. The Mula Maya is charged by God like the wire by electricity. Therefore, you can treat the Mula Maya or the Infinite Ocean of pure awareness as God. Thus, such Mula Maya is the first incarnation of God, which alone can be grasped by our intelligence or can be experienced by us. In such divine Mula Maya, which can be called as almost God or Parabrahman, the will of creation arose. Such will is in the form of knowledge, action and decision. Therefore, such will is called as Maya, which consists of the three qualities Sattvam, Rajas and Tamas respectively. Such Maya is also charged by Parabrahman and is called as Ishwara. The original Mula Maya charged by God was called as Brahman. Thus, Maya is in the form of will alone.
This entire Maya is not materialized further in the view of God to become the Universe. In the view of God, it remains as His will alone. The materialized world is the modification of just a drop of the ocean of Mula Maya thrown out as an object for the entertainment of God. In the view of God even this materialized world is almost like the imaginary world, being a tiny particle of the Infinite Ocean of Mula Maya. The human being is a part of this materialized world, which is only an imaginary world in the view of God. Thus, this materialized world (Prakriti) also can be called as Maya (Mayamtu Prakritim—Gita) in the view of God. In the view of the human being the gross bodies made of five elements in this universe appear as materialized forms simultaneously. The human being is actually a part of this materialized Universe. The soul in the human being is a part of Mula Maya in its original (unmaterialized) form. Similarly, the subtle body or Jeeva is a part of Maya. The gross body, which is in materialized form for the individual, is still an imaginary form in the view of God. Thus in the view of God there is no difference between the subtle body and the gross body as far as the point of imagination is concerned. This means though the gross body is made of five elements and the subtle body is made of the three qualities, both these bodies are only imaginations in the view of God.
But in the view of human being the subtle body is imagination and the gross body is in materialized form. Therefore, the conclusion is that in the views of both God and human being, the soul is pure awareness (Mula Maya) and the subtle body is made of three qualities (Maya). But as far as the gross body is concerned it is imaginary in the view of God and is simultaneously a materialized form in the view of human being. This means that in the drop thrown out from the infinite ocean of Maya, a part of the Mula Maya remained in its original form as souls (Pure Awareness) and the Maya remained in its original form as Jeevas (three qualities). The remaining portion of the drop after becoming the souls and jeevas is modified into the materialized five elements, which are used in the formation of gross bodies.
Another classification mentioned in the Gita is as follows: The Mula Maya or the soul is called as Para Prakriti. The Jeevas (subtle bodies or three qualities) and the five elements constitute the Apara Prakriti. The three qualities in the Apara Prakriti are Buddhi (Sattvam), Manas (Rajas) and Ahankara (Tamas). Buddhi is the concluding knowledge. Manas is the form of action doing—Sankalpa and vikalpa. Ahankara, which is the ignorance, is Tamas. The causal body is Para Prakriti where as the subtle and gross bodies are Apara Prakriti. The difference between the soul and Mula Maya is that the Mula Maya is charged with God whereas the soul is not charged with God. Similarly, the Maya is charged with God and the subtle body is not charged with God. Therefore, the Brahman and Ishwara are God. The soul and Jeeva are not God. The Mula Maya controls all the souls and the Maya controls all the Jeevas and five elements.
The imagination in the view of God and materialization in the view of human being are simultaneous concepts, which can be understood only by very shrewd imagination. The Mula Maya and Maya are divine as they are charged by God and form the basis of creation. Creation, which is the drop thrown out, is not divine, because it is not charged with or pervaded by God. The gross body, subtle body and the soul of the human incarnation are exceptional cases because these three are charged by God. But the same three in the case of a human being are not charged by God but they are based on God since the entire creation (in which the human being is a part) is based on God.
The Advaita philosopher takes these three bodies as common in both the human incarnation and the human being and equates them. First he equates the soul of a human being and the divine Mula Maya, which are qualitatively similar but differ quantitatively. Even the Mula Maya, if not charged by God, is not God because the Mula Maya by itself is imaginable and God is unimaginable. After all the Mula Maya is only the creation of God. When the uncharged Mula Maya itself is not God, how can the soul, which is a small particle of the uncharged Mula Maya in the thrown out drop, be God? The Mula Maya in the thrown out drop is not charged by God. The thrown out drop or creation is not charged by God because it must be different from God to be an object to God in order to give Him entertainment. In the human incarnation though the soul is charged by God, since the rest creation is not charged by God, it can become the object of entertainment to the human incarnation also. God in the infinite ocean of Mula Maya and Maya is one and the same as God present in the soul and jeeva of the human incarnation because God is beyond spatial dimensions. Therefore, the same God who is controlling the entire universe is present in the human incarnation and thus the limited gross body (of the human incarnation) is simultaneously the infinite universe, His limited subtle body is simultaneously the infinite Maya and His limited soul is simultaneously the infinite Mula Maya. Therefore, the limited Krishna is simultaneously the infinite Parabrahman.
The Advaita philosopher neglects the existence of the unimaginable item and thinks that Mula Maya itself is God. The Mula Maya is like the Vashistha star, which indicates the very dim star, Arundhati which is next to it. [This is called Arundhati Vashistha Nyaya; where an imaginable or perceivable object is used to point out to an imperceptible object]. Similarly, the Mula Maya, which is very difficult to imagine indicates the unimaginable Parabrahman or God who is very close it.
You may think that the unimaginable item may have an equal possibility of existence and non-existence. The Veda says that the completely unimaginable God exists (Yasyaa Matam Tasya Matam). The Lord comes in the human incarnation to give proof to this statement of the sacred scripture. The unimaginability means that which cannot be explained by science. With the help of science one can imagine anything, which is in the realm of space. But nobody can imagine that which is beyond space. The Veda says that God first created space (Akasah Sambhutah). Even the Mula Maya was generated after the creation of space alone. But we call Mula Maya as the first creation because mere space means non-existence of anything (vacuum, Shunyam). Even the Mula Maya, which is qualitatively nothing but the soul, is the finest form of energy which requires the presence of the space. Therefore, the Veda says that God created the pure awareness as the first item (Tat Tejo Asrujata). Thus, if space is considered as a very fine form of the power, space would be the first created item. If space is considered as non-existence of everything as per science, pure awareness (Mula Maya) will be the first created item. Thus this contradiction between the two Vedic statements is solved. Even in science the special theory of relativity mentions the bending of space and this means that space is ‘something’. Therefore, both these statements are to be taken in different views of science. Therefore, God is beyond space and can never be imagined. The simultaneous existence of the limited human body of Krishna as the infinite cosmos as shown to Arjuna is a proof that the Lord is beyond spatial dimensions. Krishna showing the entire creation in His mouth to His mother is another proof that He is beyond space. Thus, the Lord gave proof for the unimaginability of God as mentioned in the Veda. When He lifted a mountain on His finger, it could somehow be explained by science. Sometimes a small object may contain a lot of energy. A small atom bomb releases a lot of energy. This explanation is under the realm of spatial dimensions. But the above two examples cannot be explained by science. Therefore, all of us have to accept the existence of the unimaginable God. The only information about such God is the existence of such God only as said in the Veda (Asteetyeva…).