by Sri Bimal Mohanty
VOL No. 51
May . 2005

 


  Atma
 Knowledge
 Creation
 God
 Spiritualism
 Sanatan

 Questions
 e-mail

UNDERSTANDING DEATHLESSNESS OR AMRITATTVA Part4 - (The role of Niskama karma)

"Based on the lectures by Sri Bimal Mohanty"

QUESTIONS FROM READERS

QUESTION 1 FROM Ms GAYATHRY

(Extracted from contents of mail): Regarding some saints being considered direct incarnations

ANSWER: You have raised an interesting point in the context of one person being an incarnation of another person or of a specific divinity.

The sanatan philosophy does not give credence to such things. The scriptures state, that every creature in the creation - including you, me and all others, whether a hindu, muslim or a christian - is a direct derivative from that one and only source, the Supreme Being or The Brahman, and none other.

All of us are essentially one and the same. Yet it is true that there are differences of form and character that separates one from the other. Each one of us is differentiated only by two factors, the ‘causes' leading to the rebirth and the ‘level of consciousness’ acquired at every stage that the jiva has gone through.

Rebirth of all individual souls (jivas) is determined by their prarabdha or the karmic influence of the past. The rebirth is their need. As we have discussed before, the entire creation of the Lord is a ‘process’ of constant and all around evolution- that is the very mahayajna that is taking place around the cosmos non-stop. Every one goes through as part of the process till his final stage of evolution, and ultimately merges with the source itself, the Brahman. This is an unalterable process. Every birth happens to be an exclusive ‘need fulfilled’ state, with its new opportunity and environment, that goes to assist the jiva towards its final destination. The cycles of birth arise out of this need. The ‘determinant cause’ as to what kind of rebirth the jiva should have, is prarabdha, which takes into account the influence of the past karmas as well as the level of truth consciousness (brahmachaitanya) the jiva has acquired so far. The quality of rebirth one gets is commensurate with good or bad prarabdha and the amount of truth consciousness gained.

On this point it is pertinent to clarify the concept of Divine incarnations – the daivi avatars, - such as Lord Rama, Lord Krishna and the like. Their advent is also dictated by a need. In Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna explains that He also has taken many births as has Arjuna. While the ‘need’ in case of individual souls like Arjuna is to rise to their final liberation and controlled by their prarabdha, in case of the Divine Krishna the need is different. It is not for any self development but to establish the divine principle of the creation – the dharma-, which can not be interrupted. Those who follow dharma are the righteous ones, the sAdhus who must be protected and encouraged. Those who do not follow the dharma, are the evil ones, the duskrtas, and must be kept out of the way and reformed.

The consciousness level of the Divine avatars is irrelevant as they are themselves “The Consciousness” personified. All the rest are merely on the road to consciousness.

QUESTION 2 FROM DR VIDUR JYOTI

Is it necessary to experience? (taken from e-mail)

ANSWER: I presume that by ‘experience’ you refer to the experiencing of “Brahman consciousness.”

If we are talking of the necessity of striving for experiencing spiritual experience or Brahman consciousness, yes it is very much necessary. The sanatan philosophy makes it quite clear between mere knowing and knowing at the state of ultimate gnosis. There are oceans of difference between vidya, the knowledge and jnana, the experience of that knowledge. One may have read all the scriptures and be a master of intellectual interpretations, yet he can be far away from truth, the satchidananda.

We understand this from that dialogue in Chandogya Upanishad, one of our authoritative vedic sources. When rishi Narada went to acquire higher knowledge from Sanat Kumara, he was asked first to recount what he already knows. So Narada went on to give a long list of vedic scriptures he has studied, starting from The four Vedas to mathematics, sciences, logic, astrology, warfare, ayurveda and all that, saying that “I know all these.’ To this, Sanat Kumara replied ‘All these are mere names’ mere words. Yat vai etat nama eva etat.

There is something beyond all these and after knowing that, you can rightly say ‘I know’ –or I have truly studied- Adhyemi.

The tattva or the essence of the knowledge has to sip into all levels of our existence, levels of our physical, vital, mental, intellectual and bliss layers of our consciousness, and then only one can enter into ‘knowledge’ and become a jnanai. Till such time we are still in darkness, governed by a false ego. This realization can only be achieved through sadhana and by the grace of the Lord. All knowledge (vidya) is inferior (apara), until it culminates in brahma consciousness or brahmachetana.

However, it should not be understood that acquiring the knowledge in the traditional way is futile. On the contrary it is by this only the para vidya or true knowledge can be realized. This is a process. Bit by bit the individual lifts veils after veils, transforms all the layers of his existence. At every state of transfomation he attains a higher and higher status as the Brahman brnute- reveals Himself to the delight of the sadhaka. – ( Reading of the articles ‘Attempts to describe Brahman’,’ Preparations for sadhana’ and ‘On meditation’ in AHWAN are recommended)

QUESTION 3 FROM SRI A MOHANTY

When is the time and correct age to initiate children to the spiritual way? When should they learn correct recitation of mantras and listen to scriptures?

ANSWER: Please It is a wrong concept that there is an age for learning adhyatma knowledge. Firstly, we understand ‘age’ as only a measure of time beginning from coming out of the ‘present body form’ from the mother’s womb. We think as if before that time we were not existing. Since we never ceased to exist, does anybody really knows what is his ‘age’? Whether in an infants body or in a withered frame, whether in this life or past and future lives, we are all as old we can imagine. Acquiring of knowledge, the true knowledge, is part of our nature all the time.

Secondly, we think knowledge can be retained by us only when our gross physical faculties like mind and intellect are in a particular developed stage. This is wrong again as we do not acquire knowledge through these instruments alone. In our subtle levels of existence also, the knowledge is constantly sipping in. To put it in other words, the inner enlightenment is ever present in all of us. Knowledge only progressively goes to reveal it. This is a process and is continuously present from the first spark of existence till we reach the final destination. Knowledge is imbibed in many ways and its assimilation is dependent on many factors.

(Reading of the article ‘Attempts to describe Brahman Part 2’ in May 2003 issue of AHWAN is recommended here)

It is important to know that in ancient days, even from the time when the baby is in the womb and afterwards, children were made to sit and listen Vedas recitation. Pronunciation, pause, tone etc are very important in Veda mantras. We have discussed in some length the beneficial effect of the sound of mantras on our development. By listening, the children not only were exposed to knowledge, but learnt how to speak and think well. (It is interesting to think ‘how many of us deliberately teach our children the art of thinking?’)

There are many illustrative stories in our puranas and itihasas to drive home the point that the jiva is always in a learning mode.

It is a very common practice for parents of infants to speak with a stuttering tongue in child language and speak with a childlike pronunciation of words. Ofcourse they do it out of too much love, thinking that the child will understand that way better and learn to speak.

This is a grave mistake. Our ancient wisdom does not recommend this. By doing this we actually are making it more difficult for the child and confusing the growing mind.

The child should be spoken to with very clear pronunciation of words. Then he learns to manipulate his tongue the right way from the beginning and when grows up will also have clear diction with correct poise and facial expression.

In front of children elders should never speak, angrily, loudly, with a frowning face or speak something which is not true. Even false praise is to be avoided. Infants very quickly learn these things and acquire these habits. We see many adults who are generally arrogant, impolite, confused and untruthful. The root of all these are in the training of the child in its infancy.

Our scriptures also say that even an infant should be shown respect. Only then the child learns to be respectful when grown up/

QUESTION 4 FROM SRI SARVESH RANA

Sir, Your website is an excellent link for me with the universal wisdom. I often wonder, with so many people trying to be spiritual how many have been successful?

ANSWER: God is not a trophy to be own and shown to the world. God is the very basis of living life the way it is meant to be lived. Its purpose is to continuously release a new ‘you’ out of ‘you’- a higher you, a higher being with sharpened consciousness, knowledge and enlightenment. Its goal is to acquire gradually but steadily the true happiness and rise above the narrowness of thoughts. One’s every action, every thought undergoes a change when the pilgrim carries out his progress. It is very personal and can easily be tested by anyone by simply reflecting upon his or her own life. . Those who practice spiritualism, every one barring none, - repeat barring none - achieves this in small measure or large measure depending upon his intensity and truthfulness in approach. There is also a great side benefit. When you rise, when you taste happiness, those around you, your near and dear ones, your family and friends, the community you live in, the world at large, all are affected for the better. One may notice or not. But the sense and feeling of positivity is very infectious. By simply being spiritual one also renders service to others and all. This is a fact not very well understood by many of us.