Swami answers a question of an Advaita follower on Brahman and Parabrahman (Part-5)

Note: This article is meant for intellectuals only

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FIFTH PART

[Shri PVNM Sharma asked:- How to correlate Saamkhya of Kapila and Yoga of Patanjali in the philosophy of Shankara with reference to the Gita of Krishna?]

Swami Replied:- Kapila, Krishna and Shankara are incarnations of God and in their philosophies, a specific soul (like their souls) is God only. Kapila indicated that Purusha or human incarnation like Himself is God. Krishna told that He Himself is God in human form. Shankara told that the soul (like His own soul) alone is God. All these three mean the absolute unimaginable awareness or God expressed in a mediated form called Purusha. All these three are misunderstood by followers.

Kapila is misunderstood as atheist since He did not mention the name of God separately and mentioned only Purusha, who is said to be awareness and this awareness is taken as soul or imaginable awareness whereas He meant Purusha to be unimaginable awareness. Here, Purusha is said to be detached from the world (Asanga) and this is not possible if Purusha means soul. Soul is a part of the world and can’t be detached from world by its own efforts or own nature. This word Purusha means the imaginable awareness converted into unimaginable awareness by merge with unimaginable awareness or God, finally meaning the human incarnation of God, who is none else than Himself (Kapila). Purusha stands for the imaginable awareness before merge with unimaginable awareness also and thus, the ordinary soul is represented by the same word Purusha. Purusha also stands for the unimaginable awareness that resulted after merge of God with selected soul in human incarnation. Kapila being Human incarnation mentioned Purusha as the human form of God.

Purusha is said to be neither Prakruti (cause) nor Vikruti (product). The inert energy was first created by unimaginable God and is called Muulaprakruti, which is only material cause for the entire world. The five elements (earth, water, fire, air and space), the five senses of knowledge (eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin), the five senses of work (mouth, hands, legs, anus and sex-organ) and mind are the sixteen items, which are only products. The five subjects of senses or Tanmaatraas (sound, touch, taste, colour and scent), intelligence (mahat) and basic ego are seven, which are both causes and products. All these added along with Purusha become twenty-five (1+16+7+1). Kapila mentioned mind, intelligence (Mahat) and basic ego in the items other than Purusha and these three are the same awareness or soul in three types of functioning modes. By these three, soul is covered in the items other than Purusha. These three items are awareness only while doing specific works. Awareness itself has two inherent functions or characteristics, which are knowing (Samjnaana or Chit) about something and storing or memorising the knowledge or information of that something (Smarana or Chittam). When the awareness is knowing something, spontaneously the information about that something is also stored subsequently. Hence, the soul or imaginable awareness is already referred in these three items (mind, intelligence and basic ego) other than Purusha and if Purusha means this normal imaginable awareness again, it becomes unnecessary repetition since the fourth mode or memory of awareness (Chittam) is inherently existing along with awareness (Chit) having the inherent characteristic of knowing. When three golden jewels are kept before you to say that this is the gold I have, I need not put separately a lump of gold to say that this is the meaning of the word gold! Due to this, Chittam need not be mentioned separately. However, such chittam or chit is also mentioned in Purusha through a different dimension, which is that Purusha was having the same general awareness or soul before merge with God.

Purusha is said to be detached and is said to be neither Prakruti (cause) nor Vikruti (product) in the dimension of Purusha as God. God or Purusha is not a product because God has no cause from which God is generated. God is also not the cause (as understood by the worldly logic) of this creation because God has not changed by generating world. When the pot is produced, the mud must disappear fully or partially. But, when this world is produced, God did not disappear (not changed) fully or partially and remained as total God. Hence, God can’t be said to be the cause of this world as per the worldly logic, who is detached from the process of creation and can’t be understood through worldly logic. God created this world in unimaginable way and God did not enter the world like mud entering the pot and thus, God is totally detached from this world to remain as He is even after production of this world.

Krishna like Kapila is also human incarnation of God only and throughout the Gita, He mentioned Himself as the God expressed in human form to be called Purusha. He is the Purusha (creator) other than Prakruti (creation). Here, Purusha means the soul or imaginable awareness (as the son of Vasudeva) converted into unimaginable awareness or God through total merge with God. Krishna says that He also knows everything other than Himself (vishaya jnaanam) apart from knowing Himself (atma jnaanam), which finally means that He is also unimaginable awareness apart from the soul or imaginable awareness (Kshetrajnamchaapi maam viddhi). This means that there are two types of awareness: i) Unimaginable awareness or God and ii) Imaginable awareness or soul. This means that God also knows and thinks even though He is different from soul. The common point between both God and soul is to know and to think, which are the properties of awareness. Except this one common point existing in their functions, both are totally different in composing material itself. The composing material of the soul is imaginable inert energy whereas the composing material of God is unimaginable. The generating background-cause is inert energy working in functioning materialized nervous system in the case of soul. In the case of God, who existed even before the creation of inert energy and matter, there is no cause at all and hence, the generating background is also unimaginable. Krishna gave full clarification by giving all items other than soul (lump of gold) as Aparaaprakruti and the soul or imaginable awareness is given a separate place in the Prakruti itself as Paraaprakruti even though the three golden jewels (mind, intelligence and basic ego) are already mentioned in Aparaaprakruti. When the soul is also a part of Prakruti or creation, it means soul is not God or creator.

Krishna allowed Purusha to be confined to imaginable awareness or soul and God is mentioned as third item, (who is beyond soul and other creation) called Purushottama (yasmaat ksharamatiitoham...). This Purushottama or God is related to Purusha or ordinary soul in the sense that a specific soul is converted into God and hence, such specific soul (Purusha) is the best (Uttama). In this way, if specific imaginable awareness or a soul (Purusha) is converted into God (Purushottama), there are two items leftover: i) Purushottama called Purusha converted into God and ii) Prakruti including Purusha or ordinary soul not converted into God. God (specific Purusha or Purushottama), the creator and Prakruti including souls, the creation become one type of classification. The second type of classification is the creator God (Purushottama), the soul as a part of creation (Purusha or paraaprakruti) and creation other than Purusha (Aparaaprakruti). In the first classification, God is called Purusha since the unimaginable God merged with a specific soul is God to be called Purusha and the soul not merged with God comes under creation or Prakruti as Paraaprakruti, which is not called Purusha (because the paraaprakruti is covered under mind, intelligence and basic ego). In the second classification, the specific soul merged with God becomes Purushottama and the non-merged soul comes under Prakruti itself to be called Purusha. In this way, Krishna removed confusions between the two schools of spiritual knowledge. The unimaginable God, non-mediated (not merged with any medium) alone existing before creation is mentioned as Param Brahma or Parabrahma separately, who is the unimaginable awareness. Krishna told that He (God) and the soul have common property to know (Kshetrajna).

When soul is the knower, it knows about itself (Atmajnaanam that it is awareness) and little (Alpajna) about other part of creation (Parajnaanam). But, the soul does not know about the unimaginable God (Ajnaanam). The same property is with God, who knows Himself (Aatmajnaanam since God is imaginable to Himself) and knows about the entire creation including souls, having no ignorance (Ajnaanam) about anything and hence, God is said to be omniscient (Sarvajna). When God (subject) is knowing (process or work), the soul also becomes the object. Hence, from the view point of God, soul or awareness becomes a part of creation (kshetra) as said in the Gita (Sanghaatah chetanaa dhrutih). Apart from several forms of matter and energy, several forms of awareness (will or itccha, hatred or dvesha, happiness or sukham, misery or duhkham etc.) along with the general awareness (formless general awareness or chetanaa) are also mentioned as parts of creation or kshetra.

The forms of awareness are like golden jewels and the formless awareness (chetanaa) is like a lump of gold. Even Kapila followed this by mentioning mind, intelligence and basic ego (jewels of gold) under the twenty four items, which are other than Purusha or soul (lump of gold). Hence, Purusha is taken as general awareness, which looks as if God has no place. Apart from the general meaning of ordinary soul, Purusha can be also taken as the human incarnation of God, in which the general imaginable awareness or soul is converted into unimaginable awareness. Purusha stands for the soul as well as for the specific soul converted into God. Hence, Purusha stands for God as incarnation (soul is converted into incarnation by merge with God) and also for the soul before becoming incarnation. Since God is unimaginable, Purusha or soul looks as himself only before and after becoming incarnation. Due to this visible and imaginable similarity, the word ‘Purusha’ can be perfectly applied to both soul and God. Therefore, when God is the spectator (Drashtaa or Druk), soul also becomes object (Drushyam) being a part of the world. When the soul is the spectator, only rest of the world becomes object and never unimaginable God becomes object of the soul.

Shankara expressed the same above philosophy, being Himself the human incarnation of God like Kapila and Krishna. He told that a specific soul like Himself alone is God (Shivah kevaloham). He created a misunderstanding for the sake of atheists to accept God by saying that awareness is God. He meant unimaginable awareness or God as the meaning of awareness. But, He allowed marginal space to misunderstand the word awareness as unimaginable awareness or imaginable awareness (ordinary soul). This made every atheist to think that ordinary imaginable awareness (soul) itself is the unimaginable awareness or God. If ‘soul is God’ and if ‘soul is existing’ (first step satisfies the ego of atheist and second step is acceptable to every human being), the third inevitable step to be accepted by any atheist is ‘God exists’. We must not forget the further steps of Shankara, which are:- i) God forgot Himself and became soul. ii) If the soul strongly memorises that it is God, it becomes God and strong memorization is essential because the ignorance (aavarana) is very strong (vikshepa) and this explains the incapability of the soul to become God immediately after simply knowing that it is God. iii) God’s nature must be strongly studied to develop strong attraction for God called devotion, which is essential force for the soul to become God. iv) One should not have any desire to be fulfilled by God, which includes the desire to become God. v) One should not worry about capture of miraculous powers since miracles exist in the non-existent world, miracles are also non-existent and by this you shall not worry even if you don’t get miraculous powers by knowing or memorising that you are God. These five trickish steps converted atheist into theist and the theist into devotee through twisted and misunderstood concepts. There is no other way than this in the case of an egoistic and rigid atheist. There is no other way for any mother to feed her ignorant child than to say that moon will come down if the food is completely eaten by the child! ‘Soul is God’ is correct in the case of a specific soul converted into God to become human incarnation. ‘Every soul is God’ is an inevitable twisted concept for the sake of childish atheist.

Shankara said that Ishwara and Jiiva have common awareness called Brahman. This statement is correct, if understood properly. Awareness is Brahman because it is the greatest among created items. This awareness is only relative imaginable awareness generated from food (Annat purushah- Veda) and is not that unimaginable absolute awareness or God thinking to create the world. There is no trace of possibility of comparison between unimaginable and imaginable items since there is not even a single point common for comparison. We also agree if you say that the same relative imaginable awareness, which is Brahman (greatest in creation) exists in Ishwara before merge with God and in ordinary human being. Ishwara is the name given to the first energetic being having energetic body and energetic soul after becoming God through merge with God. Ishwara before becoming God is the first Jiiva called Hiranyagarbha (Agre bhuutasya jaatah—Veda). But, the same Hiranyagarbha became the single Lord or Ishwara after merge with unimaginable God (Patireka aasiit—Veda). With this background, you can’t say that Ishwara and Jiiva have the same relative imaginable awareness. Ishwara has unimaginable awareness (His relative awareness or soul became unimaginable awareness after merge with God) whereas Jiiva has always imaginable awareness.

There is unimaginable difference and thinking to compare both Ishwara (unimaginable God) and Jiiva is again unimaginable! Hiranyagarbha also became Ishwara after merge with God and hence, both these names apply to the first energetic incarnation. Hiranyagarbha (Brahma), Narayana (Vishnu) and Ishwara (Shiva) are the alternative names of the first energetic incarnation, which is the unimaginable God given (Datta) to the world. If you are so fond that the small Jiiva (small quantity of nervous energy or imaginable awareness present in small body) can be compared with a big body having large quantity of the same imaginable awareness (remember, awareness has spatial dimensions since it is a form of inert energy only and hence, has quantitative difference), you can take a big demon and compare with a small human being satisfying your concept that the same (qualitatively) awareness exists in two bodies, which are qualitatively similar. Moreover, how can you say that all the souls in the world situated far from each other are joined to form a single homogeneous block (Samashti Chit)? Such impossible united block of Chit can’t be compared to a drop of relative awareness (Vyashti Chit).

In the case of Vishvaruupa (cosmic vision) shown by Krishna, the big form is certainly Ishwara having unimaginable awareness merged with His soul and His body. The souls are scattered without union in the world shown on the big body of vishwarupa. Both these small (sukshma chidachit) and big (sthuula chidachit) bodies were different in quantity as well as quality (imaginable and unimaginable) and both the souls present in these two bodies (Vishwaruupa and ordinary human being) are also different in quantity as well as quality (former contains the imaginable soul converted into unimaginable awareness as soul whereas the latter contains imaginable awareness only as soul). Since unimaginable awareness is not visible even to imagination, qualitative similarity (that both have imaginable awareness and imaginable medium as external body) exists as proposed by Ramanuja. But, the word monism (Advaita) used by Him in Vishishtaadvaita means exact monism, which will be perfectly applicable between Vishwarupa and Krishna. Vishwaruupa and Krishna can be compared in having the same unimaginable souls and same unimaginable bodies (difference in quantities can be neglected in the case of unimaginable nature even though such quantittive difference is important between imaginable items). If God merged with the body and soul of Krishna, Krishna and Vishwarruupa (Ishwara) are one and the same in soul as well as in body due to very powerful unimaginable nature. The body of Krishna was previously showing the world in His small mouth and the very large body of Vishwaruupa is now showing world. Unimaginable nature existed much in Krishna since finger of His little body lifted hill! The same Krishna with small body is appearing as Vishwaruupa is again unimaginable nature!

Patanjali is incarnation of angel Shesha and other incarnations of Shesha are Lakshmana, Balarama and Ramanuja. Madhva is incarnation of angel Vaayu. Shesha and Vaayu are topmost devotees of God and these are ordinary souls made of imaginable awareness becoming the preachers of spiritual knowledge. These devotees are also considered as incarnations of God as we see that Balarama is one of the famous ten incarnations of God. In these incarnations, God exists in their hearts doing everything like God merged with devotee like Krishna. Former are incarnations with dualism and latter are incarnations with monism with perfect merge. Even in the incarnations of monism, God can come out if He wishes and hence, we have to accept that there is very very subtle dualism even in such monism and such dualism is beyond our imagination since the monism is most perfect. Even though such possibility is there, God never comes out of first energetic incarnation called Datta (also called Hiranyagarbha, Narayana, Ishwara or Sadashiva or Father of heaven) since Datta is eternal by both body and soul. The philosophies of dualistic incarnations are mainly in the view of ordinary soul only and not in the view of unimaginable God or Ishwara or incarnations.

The philosophies of monistic incarnations are mainly in the view of unimaginable God or Ishwara. The soul can’t grasp the unimaginable God by any extent of effort of even imagination and hence, the soul can grasp only the mediated God or Ishwara (to recognize the existence of God) as the ultimate goal. Patanjali took Ishwara and Ramanuja (and Madhva) took Narayana as the goal. Both are alternative names of Datta only. With reference to the soul, which is the part of creation, this creation is absolute (in the sense of view of the soul) truth and hence, world is not taken as non-existent by Patanjali and Ramanuja. Even for the unimaginable God or Ishwara, world is perfect truth with perfect clarity to get real entertainment. Of course, with reference to unimaginable God or Ishwara, the world is simultaneously non-existent also so that the miracles done by God are possible. If world is absolutely (in the sense of view of unimaginable God or Ishwara) existent, miracles are not possible since one absolute truth can’t do anything (like creation etc.) with another equal absolute truth. Patanjali stressed on the attainment of miraculous powers (Vibhuti Yoga) by the soul based on concentrated attraction to God like Pratyaahaara (detachment from world), Dhaarana (fixing on Ishwara), Dhyana (unbreakable attraction to Ishwara) and Samaadhi (unshakable decision). If the soul follows Pravrutti (justified worldly life without any sin) perfectly, God blesses the devotee with miraculous powers and this is told by Patanjali. He has placed Samaadhi in the topmost faculty of intelligence (Sahasraara, the intelligence with thousand directions of analysis). The decision about the form of Ishwara or mediated God (Samprajnaata Samaadhi) and non-mediated unimaginable God (Asamprajnaata Samaadhi) was well established and the latter Samaadhi is taken as final step, which means that the unimaginable God alone is the ultimate, who merged with the first energetic being to become Ishwara to have a permanent address for the sake of souls. Ramanuja (also Madhva) did not mention unimaginable God separately other than Narayana (Ishwara) and the merged unimaginable God with first energetic form called Ishwara is taken as full monism as a result of which the unimaginable God stands as the unimaginable power of Narayana, who is said to be the basis of unimaginable power (that indicates unimaginable God) and this is said in the Gita (Brahmanopi pratisthaaham...).

(To be continued…)

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