by Sri Bimal Mohanty
VOL No. 55 September . 2005

 


  Atma
 Knowledge
 Creation
 God
 Spiritualism
 Sanatan

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"DIVINE CONSCIOUSNESS”- WHAT IS THAT?- A practical explanation

"Based on the lectures by Sri Bimal Mohanty"

The Sanatan philosophy, in all its variations and interpretations is unambiguous about one central theme for all. It extols everyone to cultivate a ‘divine consciousness’ or ‘god consciousness’ and live with that all the time.

Let us take a pause here to think and ask ourselves. “What do I really understand by “divine consciousness? Am I clear in my mind of what I am supposed to be conscious about? And how?”

When we sincerely attempt to answer these questions, understandably each of us will have our own explanation, a confusing array of interpretations.

An absolute clarity about God or Brahman is never grasped by the mind and our entire sadhana in this life, all our past lives as well as many future lives to come, is essentially spent in grasping the true meaning of this concept of Brahman. This being the case, for ordinary people, midway in their sadhana, it is surely confusing to be conscious about something which is not yet clear to them.

The outcome, unless the issue is resolved, could be devastating. On one hand it is a major reason for many spiritual drop-outs that we see around us. They are confused and disgusted. They lose interest and stray towards alternative faiths and inducements, ultimately finding themselves neither here nor there. These are serious cases of spiritual retardation.

On another hand, some of us out of sheer exasperation, take refuse in mindless rituals hoping that by some miracle this consciousness will dawn upon them. You see such people in mechanical trances spending long hours in chanting (kirtan), singing bhajans, playing the rosary (japa), elaborate worshipping (pooja and other rituals), and even inflicting upon themselves physical torture, all in a very mechanical way.

It is not that kirtan, bhajan, japa etc are of no value. They are excellent exercises in keeping the mind away from distractions and steadying on a focus, but only if the focus is known. Unfortunately, these have only minor effect if done in a mechanical way without delving into reasoning. When what we are searching is not contemplated and understood, mere searching will be tiresome and boring. If reasoning is removed from sadhana, the sadhana is tasteless. Not for nothing Lord Krishna advises to Arjuna: Buddhau sharanamanwiccha- fall back on reasoning all the time.

To some extent, especially in the initial stages, these assisting tools are necessary; in the same manner as when you are climbing on a stairs the lower steps are necessary to raise your foot to the higher steps. But the intention is never to remain glued to a step. Understand its usefulness, leave it at that and then aim at the next higher. That is the principle of evolutionary progress.

But in practice this is all easier said than done. ‘How do I go about it’, has always been a difficult question.

Going back to what we discussed earlier, our enlightened seers of the past always knew of the various obstacles that a sadhaka may face and based on their own light of revealation, have suggested answers for all of us to follow.

We have a gem of an Upanishad called The Kaivalya Upanishad. There is a beautiful sloka in it that goes this way:

SarvabhutasthamAtmAnam sarvabhutAni cAtmani
Sampasyan Brahma paramam yAti nAnyena hetunA.

On the face of it, it sounds as a simple statement which is found in many of our scriptures, yet there is something significant in its meaning.

There are two meanings of this sloka, both in any case, point to the same ultimate truth.

When it says ‘sarvabhutani’, it first takes into account the entire group of ‘beings’ that exist in the universe. It says: see the presence of the Lord – the real self – residing within every such being and, also understand every individual self to be within the Lord. The underlying emphasis here is the concept of oneness of all. The essential identity of one and all, is nothing but that of the supreme self , the paramatma or the Brahman.

The other meaning is more directly put. ‘See your own self within all beings and all beings within your own self as well’. Find yourself in him or her and and see that nothing separates the others from your own self. SarvabhutAni ca Atmani. Again the concept of oneness is reiterated.

It asks us to understand this oneness. And suggests that as much as you understand this oneness – the inseparability between you and the rest- that much nearer are you to your destination – The Supreme Brahman.

Admitted that constant consciousness of Brahman is too abstract and not easy. So what The Kaivalya Upanishad suggests is to develop a practical awareness of the link that exists between you and everything else in this creation. Forget that Ram is different from Abdul or Jenny is different from Gurpreet. It is the same Gurpreet who is essentially also Jenny, also Abdul and also Ram. Why? Because it is the same supreme self, the Paramatma or God or Brahman who has manifested Himself as all these.

If one develops consciousness of this affinity or oneness with each other, then automatically one recognizes and becomes conscious of the source or parentage of all that is Brahman.

In simple terms when you start recognizing that your hands belong to you, your head belongs to you. and every other part of your body is you only, then the attention is focused on ‘you’ only and is not confined to your limbs any more. When your head aches, you attend to it not for the sake of the head but for the comfort of ‘you’ who is the head. When your mind feels pleasure, the pleasure belongs to that ‘you’ who is in the mind. No matter how much we pamper our organs, it is all for the pleasure of ‘me’ that is in all the organs. The same simile applied in a larger scale leads us unquestionably to the source of all that is Brahman.

So powerful and effective is this simple solution that the sloka concludes in saying ‘Na anya hetunA’- there is no other method worth wasting time about.

It is simple because this practice of sadhana can begin right where you are. From your family unit, your community or business circle and then extending to larger groups in the world around you. There is indeed no need to run away to mountain tops or forests. Brahman consciousness is achievable in this life format.

Having arrived at this practical process by which every one can train his mind towards God consciousness, our scriptures never got tired of repeating it again and again hoping that every spiritually inclined person will see the light in the midst of our day to day existence.

The Bhagavad Gita- the most practical treatise of the three canons (prasthAna trayas) of Sanatan philosophy is most forceful about it. Quite naturally, Lord Krishna, acknowledged as the great practical and pragmatic teacher of all time repeats it so often:

Aham sarvasya prabhavah mattah sarvam pravartate – All that you see, I am the only source.

Mamayonih mahatbrahma tasmin garbham dadhAmyaham
Sambhavah sarvabhutAnAm tatah bhavati Bharata

My womb is the Mahat Brahma, in that I place the seed; and from there O Bharata all beings take birth.

Bijam mAm sarva bhutAnam biddhi partha sanAtanam

Know me O partha as the eternal seed of all beings.

Aham krtsnasya jagatah prabhvah pralayah tathA – Every single soul comes out of me and returns back to me.

Atma aupamyena sarvatra samam pasyet- see everything in the likeness of that one self.

Because…

Ishwarah sarva bhutAnAm hriddeshe Arjuna tisthati – It is the same Lord who resides within the inner sanctum of all beings.

When most of us read The Bhagavad Gita, how quickly we gloss over these slokas. Come to think of it, are they for nothing repeated so many times in so many contexts?

On the other hand it appears as if The Lord wants to hammer down the nail deep into our psyche, in order to drive the realization home. ‘See all around and see Me’.

Since every one of us constantly remains conscious of the world around, it is by this, we can remain conscious of the Lord who is behind all.

The same concept is taken up in many of our other Upanishads.

The Isavasya Upanishad says:

Yastu sarvAni bhtAni Atmani eva anupasyati

Sarva bhutesu ca Atmanam tatah na vijugupsate

Seeing the self in all and all in self all feeling of hatred is eliminated. That is an excellent advice for peaceful co-existence and elimination of animosity.

Once you see this oneness – ekatvam, then tatra kah mohah kah shokah?- who will cause you delusion, who will cause you grief?

You see it again in Kathopanishad:

Eko vasi sarvabhuta antarAtmA ekam rupam bahudhA yah karoti

There is only one master – the soul of all beings. His own form gets manifested in various forms.

The Svetasvetara Upanishad gives this advice:

Eko devah sarvabhutesu gudhah sarvavyApi sarvabhuta antarAtma- The same Divinity is the inner self of all beings that exist.

Even the great sage Vasistha taught none other than Lord Rama himself, by saying:

Yat sarvam khalvidam Brahma tat jalAn iti ca sphutam-

All this is verily Brahman. From it all originate, all sustained by it and all dissolve into. (Ja la an originate, dissolve and sustained)

And what benefit practice of this concept brings? In a very reassuring statement Lord Krishna reminds Arjuna:

Yo mAm pasyati sarvatra sarvam ca mayi pasyati
TasyAham na pranasyami sa ca me na pranasyati –

He who sees me in everything and sees all in me, he never becomes lost to me, nor do I become lost to him.

When the Lord and the sadhak never lose each other, how can the individual soul lose its consciousness of the Lord?

What more could He say as to how one should reach the Lord?

That then becomes a kind of practical exercise to achieve God consciousness. Discard any feeling of separateness from anything or anyone. Be one with all. The Kena Upanishad confirms:

Bhutesu bhutesu vicitya dhirAh pretya asmAt lokAt amrtAH bhavanti,

The wise ones, seeing the Brahman in all beings discard this world of separateness and enter immortality.

Na anya hetunA’- there is no other method worth wasting time about.