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by
Sri Bimal Mohanty
VOL
No. 66
August 2006
ANALYSIS OF ACTION - Part II
Based on the lectures by Sri Bimal Mohanty
QUESTION 1 FROM SRI N VISWANATHAN
Pranams to Mohantyji, Your answer regarding 'Avtars" contained these lines "Depending on the need in the extreme situation, He creates that form (from His own power again) that can have consciousness, knowledge, power and potency of so incomprehensible dimension that nothing is impossible" . Rather than seeing Brahman as " He" the third person sitting somewhere and coming down when need arises, can we put in this way....... "The all pervading consciousness (Brahman) manifests itself in required form to correct imbalance and reinforce the balance in the existence".
ANSWER:Actually the statements made in AHWAN and your comments are indeed in the same wavelength. You are quite correct in your thinking. The apparent confusion is perhaps due to limitations of the written words which can never interpret the complete picture as to how Brahman acts. Even the great language ‘sanskrit’ pleads this inadequacy. Take this very word ‘avatAra’. The word implies avtaran or descending. In common parlance that is what we all understand. That itself is confusing. If the Lord is all pervading, manifested in all, within and outside, where does again He descend to? And from where does he descend? His manifestation is unique and beyond verbal and written expression, the unfathomable AtmamAyA (Gita 4.6). The wise men therefore latch on to the esoteric meaning. (That is one interpretation of ‘sutras’ or ‘leads’ in our scriptures, which lead one to that esoteric concept and implore to exercise one’s intellect to discover the myriad aspects of the way of Brahman.)
But the sadhaks are multidimensional entities and with different levels of consciousness. Therefore Brahman needs to be comprehensible at all levels of understanding of different people – physical, mental and psychic. This leads to various interpretations all around the same central theme. (viprah bahudha vadanti). Sri Aurobindo gave a very acceptable interpretation when he spoke of ‘being’ and ‘becoming’. Please refer again to the last paragraph of the April 2006 issue of AHWAN.
QUESTION 2 SRI ANIL KUMAR TEWARI
(Re my last months's question on multiplicity of interpretations.) As a philosophy student I see a great value in your saying "each saw things that were not visible from another's viewing angle." .But, those who are "the insiders" of a particular system, would they agree with this view?..that there is something left out because of their parochial approach. .. Consciousness for the Buddhists, is momentary; for the Vedantins, it is eternal. Both seem opposite views. I would be grateful if you could enlighten me in this regard.
ANSWER: Your observations are understandable. But parochial and fundamental assertions have always been there. Have they been able to halt the progress of truth? Inspite of their bickerings, truth always reveals itself. Satyam satye pratisthitam. The absolute truth (satyam, rtam) has always appealed to the higher minds of men. Truth is truth and its consciousness is universal irrespective of whichever 'ism' it is associated with. That is the strength of sanAtan philosophy. It does not claim to any copyright to truth. But being the oldest wisdom known to mankind, it is happy to open itself to all philosophies that came later, happy to see its many facets reflected in other faiths which came after it. This truth ofcourse should be appreciated not with vanity but with sublime humility. I am not quite with you, when you say 'consciousness' is deemed te