By
Achala
Bhakthan
One
seeker, after seeing my mails, asked me this question:
“If
you say there is only one supreme SELF that exists and that our Vedas
declare that there is only ONE, that is ADWAITHAM, how is it that we see
many and we worship many Gods. We
are in pluralistic world and deal with many jeevas visually and actually
but even in Poojas, we worship different Gods and in Hindu Puraanaas
there are innumerable Gods ? Please
explain this mistery of DWAITHAM in ADWAITHAM.”
It
is indeed a very pertinent and difficult question to answer in simple
terms. I have to ponder
into deep to satisfy this query. It
is true we are many and we deal with many practically in the world. We worship many Gods. Then
what is known as ADWAITHAM?
Let
me ask you this question “WHO ARE YOU?”.
I need an answer without any attribute, relationship or
association or connection with another object, because you should try to
answer it in ADWAITHAM and not in DWAITHAM.
You should try to express in solitude without any attribute or
relationship. Let us analyse
various possible answers. that we can generate:
1. 1. I am Mr. so & so
2.
2.
I am the father of so & so
3.
3.
I am the brother of so & so
4. 4. I am the son of so & so
5.
5.
I am the husband of so & so
6.
6.
I am the uncle of so & so
7.
7.
I am the employee of so & so company
8.
8.
I am a pallavoorian
9.
9.
I am coming from so & so place
1
10. I am
L
eLet us now see who is this “I” in
the above answers actually. All
the above answers relate to "I", isn’t it?
What it shows? The “I”
is the same in each of the
above answer. The first one
shows the name. I said I do
not want an answer with an attribute, relation, connection, association
etc. The first one has an
attribute i.e. the name. Did
you come with the name? It
is obtained after your birth, isn’t
it? Anything obtained in
the world is DWAITHAM because it is given to you by someone else and it
is not you. Therefore,
there is Dwaitham here. Consider
other answers. In all the
answers the “I” is having some attributes, relation, connection or
association with someone else. Again
Dwaitham. See the 10th
one, it stops at “I am” and
does not have any attribute etc. If
you say “I AM”, can anybody understand you?
Why? Because you are
dealing with another when you answer.
The Dwaitha Bhava enters as soon as there is a questioner and
another to answer. The moment we are in the world we are in DWAITHAM – We and
the World. Where is
ADWAITHAM here? Can you
function as ADWAITHAM in DWAITHAM atmosphere?
Let
us look into a real situation. You
are acting in a Drama and play the role of a King.
During the play, you sit in the court and hear the complaints of
your Praja. Finally you consult your ministers and give your verdict that
the defendant has committed the crime and he should be killed.
The audience has forgotten their positions and felt they are
really witnessing a Raja Durbar scene.
It was so practical that you acted and every one including you
forgot your real nature. Let
me ask you a question? Unless
you lost your individuality and merged with the character of the King,
could you have played the King’s role so realistically – at least in
the eyes of the audience? This
means you have lost your identity as so & so and became the king for
some time. Now, legally
have you got the authority to give punishment to anyone as a Judge?
How, every one tolerated, even a Police Inspector, who was in the
audience, did not take you under his custody?
Because all knew that it was a drama and not an actual scene.
Now, when you posed as the King so realistically, who were you
actually, the King or Mr. so & so?
The answer is “You
were Mr. So & so in the role of a King and you were not the King”.
Now
if you can play another role than your real status, is not your reality
different from the appearance at that time?
That is, is it not possible for the REALITY to appear in
different roles? If yes,
can you say the REALITY has changed or the reality has lost its nature
and has become many? It
cannot be, because you have not lost yourself when you played the role
of a King. You have not
become the King forever. After
the drama you remained as you
and did not permanently change to be the King.
Isn’t it? So, the reality here is you
and the role you played as King, is an appearance
or perception.
Similarly, the REALITY SUPREME never changes or becomes many but
it remains as it is but plays different roles all at a time due to its
supreme nature or power within it..Thus what is projected or perceived
differently is bringing the Adhwaitha Bhava and the base from which this
projection comes (through our ignorance) is the ADWAITHAM.
Let
us take the question of innumerable Gods.
We found that Reality can appear in different roles without
changing itself and without transformation.
If this is so, let us analyse this question also from the same
plain. I said there is only the EXISTENCE SUPREME, SELF, SAT CHIT ANAND
etc. This is all
ADWAITHA expression. OK? Now,
from our assumption, if we say the SUPREME SELF plays the role of many
GODS. Does it appeal OK to
you? NO?
Let me put it this way, the SUPREME SELF remains as it is (the
actual existence) and each one of us, Adwaithins, superimpose over this
SELF (due to avidhya or
maya in which the perception is) different forms of God.
The moment we attach an attribute, give a form or name to the
SELF, the SELF is perceived by us as playing a different role. I said playing. That
means acting and not real. Now why this
superimposition or wrong perception?
That is due to the Mind set of each one of us. To answer this question, I have to take a day-to-day example.
You have a small boy of 6 months old.
You are adorning it with a girl’s dress; you are making its
hair grow like that of a girl. You
adorn it with all ornaments put on the baby child, though it is a boy
child. Has the boy child
changed its sex? Again, you
adorn the child with Krishna’s ornaments and dress.
Do you think the child becomes Krishna?
Why do you do it? Since you love Krishna and you love no girl child, but
only a boy child and you want to enjoy the site of these two roles?
Isn’t it? You know very well that the boy child does not change
but your perception changes because of the dressing change.
Similarly, there are innumerable Gods imagined by innumerable
Jeevaas according to each one’s wish or perception.
Jagatguru Sankaracharya said: “BRAHMA SATHYAM JAGAT MITHYA”.
What he meant was that the reality is ‘BRAHMAM’ and the World
is unreal. What it means?
The world is a super-imposition over the Reality due to Avidhya (Masya).
If avidhya is removed, the Reality is felt/perceived. This shows that our perception makes the change and
there is no change.
Let
me try to answer this question differently.
Our Vedas allow us to worship the ULTIMATE TRUTH (GOD) according
to the wish of each individual, according to the ability of each
individual, according to the perceptual capacity of each individual or
according to the mind set of each individual.
It is something like you have four children and each one is
taking different discipline in their studies.
One going for Commerce, another for Engineering, a third one for
Medicine and the fourth one for Interior Decoration etc.
Why? It is because of their taste and capacity and their Mindset.
Isn’t it?
Vedas
allow worship of many Gods because it wants everyone to discipline
himself in one way or other and follow our Sanatana Dharma – no matter
what form you worship or what name you chant or what pooja you do etc.
Thus, each God is a different perception by each individual
according to their desires or the level of seeking.
Ganapathy is the symbolization of Knowledge’ Saraswati
represents Vidhya, Muruga is
attributed to Beauty, Rama denotes Kshathriya Dharma, Krishna is
symbolized as the Supreme SELF in the form of Gopa Gopis, Siva
represents Prakruthi and Parvathi represents Sakthi etc. etc.
Each God is worshipped by each individual according to his wish
and taste or Mindset. Is it
not a superimposition of your own Mindset on the SUPREME SELF that has
brought out the innumerable Gods. The
objective of Vedas is only to make yuu lead a disciplined life with
certain norms stated as Sanatana Dharma but the path and the roles are
left to you to play. Vedas
prescribe that if you follow this, you will get this etc.
The choice to select the method is yours but the results are
already determined for each choice according to your objective with
which you select the God for your prayer or pooja..
It is not in your hands to change the results.
That is why it is said ‘KARMANYEVAATHIKAARASTHE MAA BHALESHU
KATHAACHANA” or “AS YOU SOW SO YOU REAP”.
A
Sadhaka should understand the Reality and act in the world without
attachment and longing, which is known as ‘THE ART OF LIVING” for
which he should overpower “THE MIND” by always fixing his aim at
“ATTAINMENT” by “ATMA SAMARPANAM” through “BHAKTHI YOGA”
(or for that matter any other Yogas stated) culminating in “REALISATION”,
which is called Mukthi (Mukthi from superimposition or attachment to
Body Mind and Intellect and not bodily death).
Birth and Death is related to Body, Mind and Intellect and
is an unending cycle which will be there so far as we have either
paapa or punya left over. No
Paapa and no Punya state is called Mukthi.
Can you attain such a state?
Why not? You
made this superimposition and you should remove it yourself?
Am I correct? Then,
Try, Try and Try.
What
are you: DWAITHAM or
ADWAITHAM or DWAITHAADWAITHAM?
: OM TAT SAT :
