Atman, Brahman and Sadhana (Part-2)

Part-1   Part-2

Identify Guru By Knowledge

There is a good example from the life of Shankara. While He was in the holy city of Kashi, He met a Chandala (a low-born person; untouchable) who was fully drunk, wore dirty clothes, and was followed by dogs. The Chandala was none other than Lord Datta. In that drunken state, the Chandala asked Shankara a question of the deepest spiritual significance. Shankara immediately understood the greatness of the Chandala and fell at His feet. Shankara clearly analyzed that the external appearance, the drunken state etc., were only the Upadhi or the external qualifying attributes (qualities), and that Lord Datta remained untouched by any of them. He was completely detached from the external dress, body (Sthula Shariiram) and internal qualities (Sukshma Shariiram representing the waves and Karana Shariiram as water are integrated together, called as Jiiva Atman). Therefore, the Lord is none of the three bodies and is unimaginable. In such a drunken state, an ordinary person would even forget his own name. There is no possibility of him asking any philosophical questions! Detachment from the qualities would not be possible for an ordinary person. The Lord is beyond the qualities and the soul is made of awareness representing Sattvam, which is one of the three qualities. Therefore, this means that the Lord is beyond the soul. The Advaitins say that the soul is Jnanam and Jnanam stands for Sattvam. Therefore, the soul is one of the three qualities. Since, Sattvam stands for other charcterstics like happiness (Sattvam Sukhe—Gita), the soul possessing happiness can be also said to posses Sattvam. Thus, the soul can be Sattvam, one of the three qualities, (from the point of Jnanam, which is the material of the soul and also the characterstic of Sattvam) and at the same time possessor of the happiness or Sattvam (since happiness is also the characterstic of Sattvam).

The Guru is recognized by his knowledge and not his external qualities (Upadhi). Fire is recognized by its heat. It is not important whether the fire has come from burning sandalwood, or ordinary forest wood. No matter what the external qualities (which wood is being burnt) the fire is fire. It will serve its purpose irrespective of the qualities. When Shankara fell at the feet of the Chandala, He did not attach importance to the external body or the internal qualities. He only gave importance to the knowledge (Prajnanam) of the Chandala and accepted Him as Guru (Chandalostu… Shankara in Manisha Panchakam). Prajnanam is also Sattvam, but it is unimaginable since it is associated with the unimaginability (Maya) of the Lord. This associated unimaginability of the knowledge makes the knowledge wonderful and indicates the existence of unimaginable God. Thus, wonderful and unimaginable knowledge (Prajnanam) can be taken as the constantly associated sign of the existence of God. Therefore, even the Prajnanam is not the real charcterstic of God, since it indicates only the existence of God. Lord Datta, in the form of the Chandala had corrected Shankara and Shankara recognized Him as His Guru based on the flash of knowledge that He gave. Shankara was not fooled by the external appearance or the qualities exhibited by Lord Datta.

As fire is recognized by its heat, the Guru is recognized by his knowledge. The very word Guru means the remover of the darkness of ignorance. In other words, he is the giver of the light of knowledge. Hence, one should focus only on the knowledge given by the Guru and not be disturbed by the external qualities displayed by him; especially when the Guru is none other than the human incarnation of God. Suppose you go to a seminar to a foreign country. After attending the seminar, you normally go for shopping and sightseeing. Why should the organizers of a seminar object to these extra activities that you do other than attending the seminar? After all, you have completed what you came there for and are simply having additional enjoyment, which does not affect the main purpose of your visit. Similarly, when the human incarnation of God comes to this world to mainly preach divine knowledge, He also gets entertainment on the side by associating with games through different qualities. He has created all the different qualities for His entertainment. We have to focus only on getting the divine knowledge from Him; why should we object to the additional entertainment that He is getting? Our purpose is served when we receive the knowledge from Him. His entertainment is no loss to us.

Shankara never bothered about the external appearance, the caste (untouchable), the wine or the four dogs of the Chandala but accepted Him as His Guru based on His extraordinary knowledge. It was truly an amazing scene: Shankara the greatest scholar and the purest of samnyasins (monks), confronted by the Chandala; wine in hand, with four dogs behind Him and with His arm over the shoulder of a prostitute…and Shankara falling at the feet of the Chandala and accepting Him as His Guru! This scene gives us the most important message that we have to select our Guru as Shankara did. This whole drama was for our sake. Shankara did not need any lesson. Shankara was Shiva; Lord Datta is Shiva too. The Chandala and Shankara were one and the same. Similarly, Lord Rama was Vishnu. Hanuman was Shiva. The Veda says the Vishnu and Shiva are identical. Hence, Rama and Hanuman were one and the same. The same Lord came in different roles in the divine drama; one came as the Master and the other as the servant. The drama remains as an example and lesson for us, who are doing our spiritual effort. How can one recognize the Guru? How can one serve the human incarnation completely and without any aspiration? The answers to such questions are given by the lives of Lord Rama and Hanuman and chandala and Shankara. The Lord wanted to answer these questions in concrete form and hence, He played these dramas. In order to understand the significance of these examples, one has to analyze within the limits of the example. For example, one must treat Hanuman as only a servant and Lord Rama as the human incarnation of God. If you treat Hanuman too as Lord Shiva, who is identical with Lord Vishnu (Rama), then we cannot understand the message of this drama. Similarly, you have to Shankara as the seeker of truth and Sadguru and Chandala as the Sadguru, who is always beyond the Upadhi or medium.

The Vedas have declared the characteristics of God as the true infinite and special knowledge (Satyam Jnanam Anantam Brahma; Prajnanam Brahma). This knowledge alone must be considered while recognizing the human incarnation of the Lord (Sadguru) and all the external qualities (Gunas, Upadhis) must be neglected. Even in the case of a teacher who teaches worldly knowledge, we should concentrate on how well he is teaching the subject. His hobbies, his favorite sport etc., should not be considered. Will you reject a good teacher just because he plays tennis, whereas you are fond of cricket? Similarly, the external qualities of the Guru, which you may either like or dislike, should not be given importance. When the Guru is the human incarnation of God, preaching to you is only one of His responsibilities. He has many other things to do. Sometimes He may have to deliberately show bad qualities (Rajas and Tamas), in order to scare or drive away undeserving devotees, who approach Him for favors that they do not deserve. Some times the same bad qualities have to be exhibited simultaneously along with the Prajnanam to test your confidence in recognizing Him. Such bad qualities are like the wrong answers present in a multiple-choice question. Your confidence in the correct answer is tested by those exhibited wrong answers.

Shankara was boycotted from His village. Should we give importance to such incidents or should we benefit from His knowledge? Political parties and organizations keep boycotting each other. Does that necessarily mean that one party is right and the other is wrong? An officer may get suspended. How can you say that the suspended officer is always wrong and the higher officer, who suspended him is always right? When the case is enquired in court, the higher officer is warned by judge and the suspended officer is reinstated with all his lost salary. How can the worth of Shankara be decided by a group of people who boycott Him? The Lord punished the people who boycotted Shankara by cursing them to burn the dead bodies in their house sites only and Shankara was invited to Shiva Loka with all honour. Knowledge alone must be used to decide the worth of the person.

After recognizing the Guru, who is the human incarnation of God, based on His true infinite and special knowledge, the disciple’s job is not over. Even though he has recognized the human incarnation, the recognition is not complete. There are still several doubts in the mind. These have to be removed by sadhana. The removal of these doubts is to convert the partial recognition into a complete recognition. Now by doing sadhana, is it meant that one should do chanting (Japa), Yoga excercises, sing devotional songs (Bhajans), fasting, do breathing excercises etc? No, all these things are not necessary. Sadhana actually means the analysis of the knowledge (Vichara) by discriminative mind (Sadasad Viveka). The Gita says “Sarvam Jnanaplavenavia…”, which means that only by the boat of knowledge can one cross this ocean of ignorance. The Gita begins with the Lord preaching to Arjuna about knowledge. Thus, the analysis of this knowledge is the sadhana that can remove the ignorance, which is of the form of qualities (gunas). However, the external physical practices can be of help since the body and the mind are related. For example, eating fatty foods develops more egoism (ahankara). Thus, practicing all the external rules (niyamas) can be helpful to gain and analyze the knowledge, which alone can remove the ignorance. Japa (repeated chanting) can be useful so that the person withdraws from the external world and develops single pointed concentration. This is useful because when the person meets the human incarnation and is serving Him, he will be able to focus completely through one point concentration on the service of the human incarnation. The ritual is only training. The direct cause of removal of ignorance (gunas) is only knowledge.

Lord in the Role of Devotee

The Lord wants to give ideal examples for you to follow. Therefore, in some incarnations, He incarnates in the role of a disciple or a servant. Hanuman was such a role. We can directly follow His path in the spiritual effort. If instead, we were to follow the path of Lord Krishna, in which even the role taken by the Lord, was that of a Superman, we would be in trouble. We cannot follow the example of even Rama. Rama killed Vali, by hiding behind a tree. Tomorrow we may think that a certain person is evil and so killing him from behind is justified. But since we do not know the entire background of the incident, and since we are not the real Lord, we cannot follow the example of Rama. When God incarnated as the servant Hanuman, we can follow His example. One must not mistake the Lord, when He acts in the role of a devotee; He does it only for the benefit of the devotees, so that the devotee may follow His example.

I have also mostly acted in the role of a devotee. I have told other devotees, how I had difficulties and how I prayed to God, who solved My difficulties. My close devotees protest and say that I am deliberately deceiving or testing by using Maya on them by assuming the role of a devotee. They state that since I am the Lord, who has come down to this world only for entertainment, I do not have to pray to any other God. Then I tell these devotees not to misunderstand My behavior. Otherwise the whole purpose of the Lord acting in the role of the devotee is lost. I tell them that they have to view Me as a devotee, since I am showing that aspect only as a role-model for them to follow. Suppose there is an actor who is dishonest in real life, but is playing the role of King Harishchandra, who was the most honest person. In the drama, he is delivering an inspired dialogue to Sage Vishwamitra “Truth is my life. I never tell a lie”. Now someone from the audience stands up during the drama and scolds the actor “You liar! How dare you say that! I know where you live and what sort of a cheat you are. Not a day passes without you telling a lie!” The whole drama is lost. If one has to truly enjoy the drama, then one has to restrict oneself to the roles within the drama. Similarly, when the Lord is acting as a devotee, one has to consider Him only as a devotee, in order to understand and follow His example. Moreover, when you remind Him the real state of actor in the role, He gets disturbed to enjoy that role. Therefore, you have not only lost the message from the role but also disturbed the Lord to enjoy that role.

There is another aspect to the Lord incarnating or acting as a servant. The Lord who is the master of the universe, gets bored with being the Master (Ishwara) constantly. In order to get entertainment, He closes His knowledge (Jnana) and acts as an ignorant servant like Hanuman. Now if you foolishly go to Him and demand to know why He, who is the Master of the universe, is acting as a servant, He may get furious with you for spoiling His fun and give you a good thrashing with His tail. Thus, when I act as the devotee, it is both as an example for other devotees as well as for entertainment.

In fact, I never claimed to be the Lord. I always maintained that I am a mere devotee. Only recently have some devotees begun to recognize Me as the Lord. Most of My life, people considered Me only as a scholar, a professor and a devotee. I started giving knowledge (Jnana) to ordinary people only in the past ten years. Then too people thought that I am just a Guru. However, gradually they began to notice that the knowledge that came out from Me was very special and that no one else could give such knowledge. They came to know from My knowledge that the Lord incarnates in human form to give special divine knowledge and He clarifies all the doubts of disciples very efficiently. Since all their doubts were cleared by My knowledge, they concluded that I must be the Lord. I had not shown any miracles then. But after some devotees were convinced that I am the Lord, they naturally assumed that I had divine powers. They began pressing Me to show some proof of the divine powers that I possessed. Some miracles were shown and the devotees were convinced and happy. But unfortunately, 99% of them took the miracles in the wrong sense. They were falling in the trap of the temptation to use the Lord’s divine power for solving their problems. This is a loop-route (long route) in spirituality.

Miracles have a very important role in spirituality. They prove the existence of the miraculous divine power. Since the miracles go beyond the limits of space and time, they prove the existence of something, which is beyond space and time. Science is restricted only to the limits of space and time. Miracles prove the existence of something beyond. Thus, miracles are the only practical proof of the existence of something beyond space and time. Although the scriptures also tell us the same, one may even say that the scriptures are not valid because they cannot be verified or proved and hence, are mere imaginations or poetry written by some ancient people. When miracles are seen with one’s own eyes, and cannot be explained by science, one has to accept that the scriptures are valid and that there is something beyond space. This is the reason why the Lord grants these miraculous powers to many people including demons. The idea is to spread this part of the knowledge, that there exists something beyond space and science, and that the scriptures are valid. Selfish people and demons use these miraculous powers abundantly for their own benefit and fame. Unknowingly they are doing service to the Lord by making people aware about this divine power, which is beyond science.

The knowledge of this divine power, which is beyond science, is the first step. Later on, one can get further knowledge about what that power is—whether it is some item in creation, whether it is awareness etc.? During this analysis we can reject every item within creation (Neti Neti—Veda), since none of them is free from some defect or the other. The ultimate cannot have any defect (Nirdosham hi Samam Brahma— Gita). This ultimate or God should not have any defect whatsoever. One may argue that awareness is God. However, awareness has many defects. The first defect is that it has no continuity. It is present in living beings and absent in inert items. Hence, it cannot be the cause of both the living and non-living things. One cannot say that there is some imaginary awareness that is present in living and nonliving things equally. Such continuous awareness is not seen or detected by us. Thus, awareness cannot satisfy the requirement of all-pervasivness (Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma— Veda). You may say that energy is the ultimate since it is all pervading. Matter and energy being essentially one, we can say that energy alone pervades the entire creation. Awareness too is just a modification of energy since we see that it gets converted to this basic form (energy) in the state of deep sleep. But even though energy is all-pervading, it fails to be the ultimate since it is inert; it cannot will or desire to create this creation (Sa Dvitiyam Ichchat— Veda; Aikshatyadhikaranam— Brahma Sutra). Thus, awareness and inert energy are both rejected as not being the ultimate since they both have defects. The Lord or Parabrahman is free of defects.

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 (Chidabhasa) 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 Advaitin claims 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 rejecting 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 Pitru 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 is that God is unimaginable and 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 of 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 Krishna 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 (Jiivan 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 Sadguru (Lord in human form) as Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva (Gurur Brahma, Gurur Vishnuh, Gurur Devo Maheshwara), is sufficient. Everything ends with the Sadguru. There is nothing beyond the Sadguru. The Sadguru should be recognized by knowledge alone. The external qualities (Upadhi) should not be considered while recognizing Him. Sadguru is God in the human form, which means that the main aspect of the incarnation is to preach the spiritual knowledge, which may be the Gita, the 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 do 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 Paraprakruti or awareness 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 jiiva can become Brahman. The only objection is that the jiiva is not already Brahman. However, wise people do not 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 secret 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 from 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 can be 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 the 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 interrelated 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 conquered 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.

Why did not Lord Krishna go to the upper world in the same body?

[Shri 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 electromagnetic radiations in the upper world is beyond cosmic rays). Sage Vishwamitra tried to send Trishanku to heaven with this human body. But the angels threw him down stating that the human body 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.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★