by Sri Bimal Mohanty
VOL No. 42
August. 2004

ATTEMPTS TO DESCRIBE BRAMHAN - Part 15

"Based on the lectures by Sri Bimal Mohanty"

The Bhagavad Gita says:

ChaturvidhA bhajante mAm janAh
sukritino’rjuna;
Arto jijnAsurartharthee jnAnee cha
bharatarshabha.

Four kinds of virtuous men worship Me, O Arjuna! They are the distressed, the seeker of knowledge, the seeker of resources, and the wise, O lord of the Bharatas!

Each of us, when analysed, will fall into one or other of these categories. And the strange fact is that each of us have our own reason which compels us to seek out the Lord. Even the non-believers, who are really victims of temporary separation from the Lord, eventually turn to God. This is because, deep within us, there is a consciousness, a knowledge that in the Lord lies the solution to all our problems.

So the mind always returns to know more about Bramhan.

But whatever knowledge we may acquire about Bramhan, which we all understood in small degrees or in large measure, may have added to our wisdom. But only to the extent it was comprehended or intelligently understood by our antahkarana i.e. our mind, intellect and ego-self is the extent to which we were exposed to Bramhan. All of us perhaps were exposed to Bramhan but how much His hand touched us, is determined by the extent this knowledge has percolated into our innermost space.

People of different faiths may have different explanations for this attraction, and the object of our attraction, but while exploring that illusive entity from various separate angles, we must constantly keep the fact in mind that we are all the time talking of the same thing- the one and only Bramhan. SanAtan philosophy believes in ekaBramha dvitiyam naiva vidyate, (there is only one Bramhan without any second), but sees Him in his myriad aspects. It is like what all of us are. In my life, my wife sees a husband in me, my children see a father and my sister sees a brother in me. So also my friends see a friend in me and my adversaries an enemy. But it is the same man that is in every body’s mind. Likewise, depending upon the individual conditioning of the mind, each one conceives the Lord to his or her liking. Intelligent flexibility and not uncompromising dogmatism, is the bed rock of sanAtan thinking. Arjuna wants to see Him as a friend (sakhA), so be it. Yashoda wants to mother Him as a child, Radha wants Him as her lover, or Hanuman as his master, be it so. Some one visualizes Him as his father and someone as the eternal mother, He is that too. The Lord is everything to everybody as long as all point to that single entity.

The sanAtan philosophy goes even in another direction. It sees Him as embodiments of specific qualities, such as truth, peace, knowledge, power etc and personifies each quality into a divine form creating a god out of the concept and we have devotees of that god or this god. But in essence all are devotees of that single Bramhan.

The Lord says in Bhagavad Gita

Yo yo yAm yAm tanum bhaktah
shraddhayArchitum icchati;
Tasya tasyAchalAm shraddhAm tAmeva
vidadhAmyaham.

Whatsoever form or embodiment any devotee desires me as and is comfortable to worship with faith—that (same) faith of his I make firm and unflinching.

This concept is the answer to some of those half understood beliefs about sanAtan philosophy vis a vis other philosophies. Some say, sanAtan philosophy believes in the worship of thousands of Gods. The above explanations should make it clear that ekaBramhatva or single Bramhan concept is the original thought that sanAtan philosophy upholds.

So whether in a ‘form’ or a ‘comforting aspect’ or ‘personal need’, it is the Bramhan we are all attracted to.

Why is the jiva (individual soul) seeks out the Bramhan or be constantly after Him? If each of us is asked this question: "you have been for years, pursuing your sadhanA, what can you describe as your gain? - what is your upalabhdhi?" How many of us will be able to describe it?

The basic reason that we have been told is a simple hypothesis, that, by nature we are programmed to be attracted to Bramhan. We have given that beautiful name to the Lord as Krishna. Akarssati sah krishna. He is continuously attracting us, and we can not resist as the moth can not resist the fire.

But something more as proof is surely needed to convince us. A mere hypothesis would not do. As we said earlier, to the seers of the past,- the original pathfinders- anything that does not satisfy the intelligence or buddhi needs further investigation. Even Lord Krishna himself advises Arjuna in Bhagavad Gita Buddhau sharanamanwiccha. Always depend on your intelligence. Only then, what you understand will hold appeal.

Mere blind dictats or faith has no place in sanAtan philosophy. Even the faith has to be intelligent faith and not "blind faith".

So what further practical arguments we know that propels us towards Bramhan? Not only us, the human beings, but by what everything in this universe is propelled towards Bramhan?