by Sri Bmal Mohanty
VOL No. 28
May. 2003

ATTEMPTS TO DESCRIBE BRAMHAN - Part 2

"Based on the lectures by Sri Bimal Mohanty"

So when we venture to discuss about Bramhan, the objective can not be to get an absolute view, but to go through some vital slokas from our important srutis to get some glimpses only. That is all there to it.

This is a fundamental hypothesis. Since we are venturing into the pure philosophy of Bramhan, as we go along we shall face many doubts of mind naturally and obviously. To have a better perspective of what we are aiming to achieve, it is essential that in the beginning itself we are made aware of the instruments of probe that we have and what to expect from them.

For a common man of today srutis poise another kind of difficulty. These of course which are difficulties for us to understand and overcome, are indeed the real strengths of sanatan philosophy. However to us in the present times it is a difficulty.

Firstly let us understand, how knowledge is transmitted from one source to another. And here we are talking of adhyatmika or spiritual knowledge of absolute truth only. Even this is a great science on which our seers have pondered extensively.

The transmission of knowledge takes place differently depending upon the different mental and psychic state of the person receiving the knowledge. This is understandable. You do not teach or explain the same way to a child as you would do to a grown up. Different people physically similar but mentally and spiritually dissimilar also receive knowledge differently.

In a broad perspective we all exist in three levels of consciousness. Sri Aurobindo's words here from essays on the Gita states it very well. He says 'the existence of man is a triple web, a thing mysteriously physical-vital, mental and spiritual.' In each of these catagories of course there are as many layers from ordinary mortal humans to enlightened divine souls at the other end. The truth realisation and retention of truth being different the mode of transmission is also different.

Our scriptures state that there are four modes of knowledge transmission matching with above three broad levels of the recipient. These are called:

Para, Pashyanti, Madhyama and vaikari.

Many people wonder, how such vast amount of knowledge that the Vedas contain and all the truths and principles about the creation, how was it transferred to this world? How much time it took? How long Lord Krishna must have taken to spell out so many chapters of Bhagavad Gita right there in the middle of the battle field? And then the crucial question is how long the jiva or these physical beings will take to attain Bramhattva or Bramhahood?

These are interesting questions with no esay answers. But we can get a fair perception as we understand the ways and modes of acquiring and transmission of knowledge.

The lowest mode is vaikari. This is the mode of learning at the level of physical-vital. All that goes in the name of adhyayana or study of the scriptures, discourses, etc are vaikari. The tool used is written or spoken word or language. All that we acquire by studying is vaikari. All that we acquire by listening is vaikari. The language is all important here.

The next mode madhyama, and next higher pasyanti are at the levels of mind, higher mind and soul. Here the tool is waves of thoughts. The words are still there to define the thoughts, but the transmission is silent and swift. Swift as the mind travels.