by Sri Bimal Mohanty
VOL No. 46
December. 2004

THE DEBATE- FORM OR FORMLESS?

Part 3

"Based on the lectures by Sri Bimal Mohanty"

And then again those gems of expressions from the first chapter of Kena Upanishad which affirms " THAT is surely beyond what is known and is again beyond the unknown." -Anyat eva tat viditat athah aviditAt adhi.

To understand this, it will be helpful at this stage, if we now recall the most significant _expression that has been assigned to Brahman, that divine word OM or AUM, that we discussed earlier.

(It is recommended that the we revisit the website http://www.ahwan.com/ for December 2003, January and February 2004 issues where we discussed at length about AUM)

The expressive symbol AUM was seen by us consisting of four parts as explained in Mandukya Upanishad.

There is a wonderful link between the concept of AUM and the concept of form-formless- and beyond, that we are discussing here. The four stages that Mandukya discusses are the jagarita,(the waking state), swapna(the dream state) sushupti(the deep sleep state) and turiyA(the stage of gnosis) stages of AUM. These are the four stages of consciousness leading to the state of absolute consciousness.

The jagarita and swapna states have one common base, because similar objects are perceived in both states. The wise speak of these states as almost same. (swapna jagarita sthAnah hi ekam Ahuh manisinah). These are the stages where forms predominate. The waking world is the world of forms and so is the dream world where we move amongst the forms, the major difference being, that in waking state we see gross forms and in the dream state we see the impressions of the same forms.

But we have said before that Brahman is not realized in these two states. We have understood that from their indisputable logic as discussed earlier

. The next stage is susupti or deep sleep state. In deep sleep we do not see any forms. We transcend the world of forms and enter the world of no-forms. But there again as we have understood by the help of Mandukya Upanishad, Brahman is not realized.

So the state of formlessness is also of no use and has to be transcended in our search for the absolute Brahman.

What is that world beyond formlessness? It is turiyA, the fourth stage of AUM.

As waking state and dream state are states where physical forms are perceived and the deep sleep state is where perception of physical forms are absent, similar are the states of consciousness of mind where forms and formlessness are mentalised. As one has to transcend into turiya to be able to realize Brahman, so the sadhak must transcend beyond the concepts of forms and formlessness to realize Brahman.

Perception of senses -including mind, ego and intellect- cause the states of wakefulness and dreams. They are therefore all sense controlled and imperfect. The state of formlessness is also being perceivable by the mind, the result again is incomplete and imperfect. The Atman or Brahman may be partially comprehended but never realized in these states. The deep sleep and formlessness state may be the state where the mind, with its partial awareness, is free from the confusion of subject-object or cause-effect relationship and therefore in a state of bliss, but this bliss is neither sustainable nor infinite.

There lies a state beyond these, which understands the limitations and the imperfections of these two levels of consciousness. That is turiya, which by its own knowledge and perfection knows all these.

Similar to turiya is the state, that lies beyond the mental world of forms and formlessness. That is the state of not mere awareness of truth but truth itself. That is the state of being one with Satchidananda.

The obvious question that arises after this is that, how is this stage like? And why it is so difficult to transcend to this stage?

Let us analyse these questions. Who wants to know Brahman? It is 'I' who wants to know. Who wants to realize satchidananda? It is 'I' again. During the whole process of reconciling with the paradox of forms and formlessness, I have never forgotten 'myself'. For me, there has always been Brahman at one hand and 'me' on the other hand.

As long as I harbor this duality in my mind, there will never be any Brahman realization for me. That is the basic vaidic truth.

The scriptures say only Brahman knows Brahman. Unless one has surrendered totally one's "I"ness to Brahman, Brahman will remain some distance away. Let us recall again what the Mundaka Upanishad told us symbolically about the river meeting the ocean:

The river may approach the ocean, may become conscious of the ocean, but will never know the ocean until it loses itself in the ocean by surrendering its very identity.

In the state of satchidananda, there is no name, no form, no soul, no supreme soul, no ignorance, no knowledge of anything. There is only sustained bliss or paramAnanda. The jiva gets united with the Supreme and becomes the Supreme, the omnipresent, the omnipotent, the omniscient. Everything becomes one. There is no differentiation between one from the other. Therefore, what are names, forms good for?

Manduka Upanishad says:

RupakAryasamakhyAsca bhidyante tatra tatra vai

Akashasya na bhedosti tatvat jivesu nirnayah

Forms, names and functions are different and vary from here and there. But for the one and all-pervading entity it makes no difference. That is also the final state with regard to the individual souls or jivas.

Is it beyond our reach? Not really. Our scriptures - the sruti- have vouched for it. If the seers have done it, it proves that it is achievable.

Can we have assurance of such a level of consciousness during the period of our sadhana? Yes, we all can. All of us sometime or the other get glimpses of this consciousness - unexplainable psychic and spiritual experiences- in our waking, dream and deep sleep states. This is like the occasional touch of the Divine hand, trying to remind us of our ultimate goal. Unfortunately at the ordinary levels of consciousness, these experiences are too fleeting. We have not yet acquired the power to hold on to it or understand its purpose. But the enlightened sadhakas by virtue of their sadhanA, and with purified mind, can sustain this consciousness and push ahead towards that final stage. So can all of us, once we reach that state

Thus we understand the great interplay - the Leela- of the Divine. The forms, formlessness and the state of beyond, are all, not without purpose. The sadhaka ought to understand in all this, the Lord's grace to assist us in our spiritual journey.

He shows himself, so that we can see Him.

If there were no forms, there would be neither an aspirant nor any aspiration. It would be a total void of actionless, dead nothingness and non existence.

A dead nothingness is absurd for Bramhan who is also perpetual action. So he chose to burst out into myriad forms. We saw the forms and saw Him in them.

But again, all forms are His. Associating Bramhan with all forms, which is one of the most original thoughts of sanatan philosophy, saw that no single form can hold Bramhan. In the ultimate analysis Bramhan is beyond concept. He is acintya, anirvacaniya.

(TO BE CONTINUED)