Posted on: 15 Mar 2024
[Maha Shiva Raatri Satsanga on 8th March 2024 at Hyderabad]
1. Shankara says that if avidya or ignorance is removed, the soul becomes God. Please enlighten this.
[Questions by Shri Satthi Reddy]
Swami replied:- When the traveler himself is the goal, there is neither the path nor the goal separately. But, as per Advaita, the ignorant traveler is thinking that he is not the goal. Hence, to remove this ignorance of the travelling soul, avidya or ignorance must be removed. The traveler to Mumbai city himself is Mumbai city. Not knowing this truth is ignorance or avidya. Hence, he is travelling to reach the goal while he himself is the goal. This is the Advaita philosophy.
The reverse of the above concept is the truth regarding any ordinary soul except the case of the human incarnation. The soul is thinking that he is God due to misunderstanding of the Advaita philosophy. The background of the Advaita philosophy is that when Shankara came to our country, this was fully filled with atheists. The atheist will never hear that some God is existing apart from himself. There is no other way than to say that the atheist is God. Shankara told this to the atheist because there is no other way. The atheist negates the existence of God. Shankara told that the atheist himself is God and since the atheist exists, God must exist. The atheist told finally with his mouth that God exists. Shankara changed the atheist to theist by this trick. Without knowing this background, every ordinary soul thought that he/she is God already. Thinking that every soul is God is ignorance and knowledge is that every ordinary soul must identify himself/herself as the soul that is created by God along with the creation. Therefore, Vidya (knowledge) became Avidya (ignorance) and Avidya became Vidya. Hence, the reverse journey is to be taken up and that will be the real contribution to Shankara, who is the incarnation of God Shiva. This is the real work of God Shiva and God Shiva will be very much pleased on this day of Shiva Ratri if the soul takes a pledge to propagate this knowledge. If this is done, Shiva Ratri becomes meaningful. Shiva Ratri means the darkness or night or ignorance created by God Shiva through Shankara. People say that one should not sleep in the night of Shiva Ratri. This means that one should not fall in ignorance of the divine truth. Simply, being awake without sleep is not the meaning of not sleeping (Jaagaranam) on the Shiva Ratri night.
2. How to understand Shankara and Mandana Mishra, who are incarnations of God?
[Shankara is the incarnation of God Shiva while Mandana Mishra is the incarnation of God Brahma. Both are God Datta. How this can be understood?]
Swami replied:- N.T.Rama Rao acted as Krishna and Duryodhana. The actor has the capacity to act in any role. Similarly, the omnipotent God Datta can act very efficiently to the climax in any role. The villain should be almost equal to the hero so that the role of the hero shines very much. When equal capacities of the hero and the villain are required, it is better that the omnipotent God Datta acts in both roles. God Datta as Shankara is releasing very powerful arguments and God Datta as Mandana Mishra was also equally releasing very powerful arguments. Due to such fight of climax depth, the debate went on for about a month. Since the opposite arguments are also very powerful, the answer-arguments are also equally or even more powerful. By this, the subject is dealt to the climax depth. This is the reason why the same God Datta as God Shiva Datta acted as Shankara and Brahma Datta acted as Mandana Mishra.
3. Please explain the words like Maayaa, Avidyaa, Aavaranaa, Vikshepa, Mala and Adhyaasa.
Swami replied:- i) Maayaa is the power of God shown in the daily lives of ordinary souls. Mahaa Maayaa is the same miraculous power of God shown in very subtle contexts. For example, matter is energy. When energy is condensed, it becomes matter. Here, energy is mistaken as matter. This is a very fundamental and subtle context. The illusion created by God in a soul in this context is Mahaa Maayaa. The miraculous power shown in normal miracles is Maayaa. Both these words belong to God only.
ii) Avidyaa or Aavaranaa is the theoretical ignorance present in an ordinary soul like not identifying a rope in twilight. This theoretical ignorance can be removed by the soul itself with the help of theoretical realization obtained from a guide.
iii) Vikshepa is practical ignorance, which means the appearance of a new item like serpent, which throws away the original item (rope). This is practical ignorance, which is very difficult to remove by theoretical knowledge.
iv) Mala is the long-standing practical ignorance that is solidified in the brain of ordinary souls. This is very very powerful and cannot be removed so easily. Theoretical knowledge after a lot of concentration alone can remove this mala or solidified practical ignorance.
v) Adhyaasa means superimposition of one item on the other item when the other item is not clearly realised. An ordinary human soul thinks that it is God. Here, the human being is removed by the concept of God and the soul mistakes itself as God. When the soul knows that it is not God, it develops ego-based jealousy on the contemporary human incarnation and mistakes the contemporary human incarnation as an ordinary human being. This mistake is the illusion created by the soul even though the soul knows that it is an illusion and not the truth. The cause for such illusion is the ego-based jealousy towards a co-human form, which is repulsion between common human media. Regarding the first illusion (thinking himself as God) also, such illusion is well-known to the soul that it is only an illusion. But, the ordinary soul maintains that illusion because the soul is very ambitious to attain the highest goal as himself/herself. The first illusion is selfish (pertaining to self) and the second illusion is non-selfish (pertaining to the external item other than the self). Selfishness (thinking oneself as God) is always the sweetest and non-selfishness (recognizing Sadguru as human incarnation of God) is always bitter.