by Sri Bmal Mohanty
VOL No. 30
July / August . 2003

ATTEMPTS TO DESCRIBE BRAMHAN - Part 4

"Based on the lectures by Sri Bimal Mohanty"

Lest man in his worldly pre-occupation chooses to remain content with little false pleasures of life, this differentiation of para and apara vidya acts as a caution, spurring him to proceed towards full realisation.

Secondly it also protects him from the so-called intellectual arrogance that often clouds our minds after we have completed a great deal of studies and hearing. This story of Narada and Sanatkumar is so telling. Even a great saint like Narada was reminded that all the texts that he had studied are mere names. The Bramhan realisation is still a distant dream.

With this background and being aware of the strengths and limitations before us we shall now take up a few specific and vital stanzas or slokas from some of our major upanishads one by one and analyse them.

A good start is provided by The BRAMHASUTRA itself– a treatise exclusively dedicated to Bramhan.

Athato Bramhajinjaasaa it starts thus. Now therefore, the inquiry of Bramhan.

The second sutra of this great scripture declares:

Janmaadyasya yatah

Bramhan is that from which origin etc (i.e origin, sustenance and dissolution or further transformation) of all this creation proceed. Bramhan is the source for all. Bramhan is the support of all existence and it is Bramhan that brings about the next change of state of everything. I, you and everybody and everything else have been created by the Bramhan, is being held here by Bramhan, and our next transformation shall also be determined by Bramhan.

This is like the first principle of Bramhan description. When one asks what is a mother the obvious answer is that from which everything springs off. Only in case of Bramhan it also includes the entire cycle of growth, existence, decay and ongoing change of state.

This concept of Bramhan being at the root of everything is a splendid concept of sanatan philosophy. Just imagine, if there were something else in existence apart from Bramhan we would have been besieged with what a lot of emotional conflict in resolving opposites. But Bramhan being the primary cause of everything, we not only establish a bond between everything, a universal bond of inter-dependency and inter-supportiveness, but look at opposites as two sides of the same coin, each having a purpose and message of its own and eventually dissolving into one truth, one idea, one authority and what is more, one goal for everything. The sanatan philosophy distinguishes itself and derives its strength from this concept.

It is indeed an extremely high level of philosophy that can admit all good and all evil, all positives and all negatives, all creations and all destructions, the devil and the divine, to coexist on the same base or adhara because their source is the same.

We find this idea brought out again and again in various other srutis like Srimad Bhagavatam and also in Srimad Bhagavat Gita etc. refering to Bramhan as mahatyoni, sarvasya pravbhavah, bhubanasya gopta etc. and then also in that direct statement

Aham kritsnasya jagatah prabhavah pralayastathaa.

I am the originating source and also the final dissolution of the whole universe.

How is this concept of the three states of creation, sustenance and dissolution or transformation is maintained by this single concept of Bramhan? This is a question which has stirred the minds of many people, especially in the initial stages of sadhana. We shall try to critically analyse this both from spiritual angle and also scientific angle.

Earlier we had talked about the concept of Ardhanarishwara as a graphical representation of Bramhan. This interesting picture of half-male half-female identity is worth recalling here that may help our overall understanding of the subject Bramhan.

When our seers from their supramental experience declared to the world that same Bramhan, creates us, lets us live for a while and then destroys our physical existence, it must have appeared illogical to a common man. What is the rationale behind this perpetual creation and destruction, this game of creating and breaking again and again? The learned teachers tried to explain it away by saying that it is the eternal sport or Leela of the Lord, and none can fathom His purpose. Unfortunately it is like explaining away to a child, assuming that the child will ask no more questions. For an enquiring mind it sounded even more illogical. Is Bramhan a wayward, whimsical child to engage in such kind of sport?

To explain this, the concept of Ishwara and then extended to Ardhanarishwara comes quite handy. This we shall take up in the next issue.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

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