Vedanta Darshan

 

            Darshan is the name given to ancient systems of Indian philosophy as they were the visions of Self acquired by Indian mystics searching within rather than outside. Vedanta Darshan is also called Uttara Mimamsa, where Mimamsa means to analyse and understand thoroughly, as this emphasises the teachings of Veda anta-bhagha, Jnana kanda. We shall refer to it hereafter as Vedanta only. Sage Veda Vyasa, provides the teaching for liberation through three basic texts known as Prasthna thriam.  They are:

1)    Upanishads, known as Sruthi prasthanam as it is part of Veda as Veda anta bhagha,

2)    Bhagavad Gita, known as Smrithi prasthanam as it is part of Mahabharatha, one of the ithihasas.

3)    Brahma Sutras known as Nyaya prasthanam, as it gives logical support to the teaching revealed by Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita.

Sage Veda Vyasa is also known as Krisna Dvaipayanah as his original name is Krishna and he was born in an island. He is also known as Badarayana as he meditated in Badrinath.  We shall refer to him as Veda Vyasa only hereafter.  Veda Vyasa provides the teaching for Liberation through Vedanta represented by Prasthana thriam.  For he organized the Vedas and presented the Vedic teaching in a comprehensive and systematic manner, arranging them in four volumes and has authored the Brahma sutras, which is also called as Badarayana sutras and the Mahabharatha, that contains the Bhagavad Gita.  Thus Veda Vyasa has contributed to the entire Prasthana thriam and he is glorified in Vishnu Sahasranam as the avatar of Lord Vishnu with these words; “Vyasaya Vishnu rupaya, Vyasa rupaya Vishnave, namo vai brahama nidaye, (Salutations to Vyasa with the form of Vishnu, Vishnu with the form of Vyasa and the treasure-house of Vedic knowledge)”.  And Veda Vyasa says that Vedanta is revealed teaching and logic is used only in consonance with revelations.  In fact, he logically establishes that logic by itself cannot help one to know the Absolute Truth or gain Liberation as logic is based on data collected by human perception and its interpretations and conclusions have in-built limitations like the human intellect.

Vedanta is the only Darshan that accepts Veda pramanam using logic, only as a support.  Veda pramanam is known as apourusheya pramanam, as it has come directly from Lord Himself. Being apourusheya it is free from the deficiencies of human intellect.  Charvaka, Jainism and the four schools of Buddhism do not accept God and the supremacy of Vedas. Though the other darshans like Nyaya and Vaisesika accept God, they are tarka pradhana, placing more reliance on logic. So Vedanta darshan as revealed through Prasthana thriam by Veda Vyasa is an efficient means for attaining Liberation and a seeker should study the Prasthana thriam under the guidance of a competent Acharya to understand the texts correctly.

As a seeker pursues the study of Prasthana thriam, he will discover the different interpretation giving rise to the three popular sub-schools of Vedanta viz. Dvaita of Sri Madvacharya, Visishtadvaita of Sri Ramanujacharya, and Advaita Vedanta of Sri Aadhi Sankara due to different interpretations. All the three schools claim Veda Vyasa and Prasthana Thriam as the source of their teaching.  The fundamental differences among these three schools arise under six major areas. They are:

1)    Nature of the individual soul, Jivasvarupa

2)    Nature of God, Iswarasvarupa

3)    Nature of Universe

4)    Nature of Bondage

5)    Nature of Liberation, Moksha

6)    Means to gain Liberation, Moksha sadhana

              As per Dvaita school, Jiva is of the nature of atom, anurupam.  Brahman, Lord Supreme, is Lord Vishnu and He is the only independent Reality.  Jivas, sentient souls, and Jada, insentient matter, and the Universe, composed of them are also Real, but their Reality is dependant Reality, dependant on Brahman.  The differences between Brahman and Jiva, jiva and jada, jada and jada, jada and Brahman, jiva and jiva, termed Panchabheda, are also an eternal fact.  Bondage is the misconception that I, the Jiva, am independent and Liberation is freedom from this misconception and recognising that Jiva is a dasa, ever serving the Supreme Lord, Lord Vishnu.

            As per Visishtadvaita school Jiva, Jagat and Brahman are Real.   Brahman is saguna and Lord Vishnu is the Supreme Brahman.  Jagat and Jivas form part of Brahman as His body. Brahman is similar to a tree with branches, leaves and fruits. The several parts like leaves, branches etc., differ from one another while the tree itself remains as ‘one’ only. Brahman is the only one with independent Reality, while Jivas and Jagat have only dependant Reality, their Reality depending on Brahman.  The concept of Bondage and Liberation is same as in Dvaita.  Jivas retain their identity even after Moksha and live in Fellowship with Lord Vishnu, either serving Him or meditating on Him. Moksha is attained through liquidation of one’s karmas achieved through total devotion to Lord Vishnu, characterised by Saranagathi.

            The philosophy of Advaita school can be summed up in a nutshell in Sri Adhi Sankara’s words as ““Brahma satyam jagan mithya jivo brahmaiva naparah” (Brahman alone is Real; this world is not Real and the Jiva is verily Brahman only and is not different from Him.)”.  Apart from Brahman, which only is the absolutely Reality, all others are only transactional Realities i.e. Real only under certain conditions and circumstances and not at all times. In his essential nature which is Pure Consciousness, Jiva is one with Brahman which is Pure Consciousness infinite. Brahman has no limiting adjuncts and is Nirguna.  Bondage is the misconception that Jiva is limited and different from Brahman.  Moksha is the freedom from this misconception upon gaining the knowledge that the Jiva is essentially non-different from Brahman.

            Swami Vivekananda calls the three schools as three stages of the Vedanta philosophy and three stages of spiritual growth with one coming after the other, in a letter written to Alasinga Perumal.  People have different temperaments and different capacities. So, different schools of philosophy are also necessary.  The highest rung is Advaita philosophy.  Dvaita and Visishtadvaita can serve as a means to acquiring Advaita Jnana either in this birth itself or in future births.  A seeker who is a mandha adhikari can start with Dvaita, move to Visishtadvaita and then graduate to Advaita, attain the Jiva-Brahma-Ikya-Jnanam and become a Jivan Muktha.

(adapted from an article by Sri R.B.Athreya, based on the talk given by

Swami Paramarthananda)

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The Vedic view of God

(Based on Swami Paramarthananda’s Gurupurnima talk, 2017)

Lord Krishna classifies Bhakthas into four groups, aartha, artharthi, jijnasu and jnani in Gita (7-16). Of these aartha bhaktha is one who turns to the Lord only when he is in stress and distress.  He is not interested in knowing about the nature of God; any God, any mode of worship will do and if this doesn’t yield results, there is always another God or a different mode of worship or both to turn to.  Artharthi bhaktha is a steady bhaktha whose prayers and worship are mostly for success in material and worldly pursuits. Some of the arthathi bhakthas become disenchanted with wealth and worldly success and turn to spirituality and start enquiring about the nature of God.  They have the basic idea of God as one residing up in the heaven, far away from the universe, is omnipotent, omniscient, compassionate and is the srishti, sthithi laya karanam for the universe.  He now turns a jijnasu bhaktha, who is not praying for worldly wealth but for spiritual knowledge. When his quest for knowledge takes him to a Guru who comes in Vedic tradition, Vaidhika parampara, he learns that knowledge of God can be gained only by the study of scriptures like Gita, Upanishads and Brahma sutras under the guidance of a Guru.  As a teevra Jijnasu bhaktha, he starts the study of Gita and upanishads sincerely under the Guru. When exposed to the scriptural teaching the jijnasu bhaktha learns about the Vedic view of God. With the new knowledge gained his view of the world changes initially and later the view of self as well undergoes a change as he blossoms into a Jnani bhaktha.

Isavasya Upanishad in its opening mantra states “Isavasyam idagam sarvam yatkincha jagatyam jagat “ meaning “All this whatsoever moves on the earth (and those that moves not)  should be covered by Iswara.”  Iswara is Supreme Brahman that is God, is the Creator of this Jagat, the constantly changing universe. So He has karanam status in respect of this Jagat and the universe is the karyam.  Karanam pervades the karyam and karyam is only karanam plus nama, rupa, i.e. name and form and nama, rupa have no substance.  So the real nature of the universe is only Iswara.  Purusha Suktham states “Purusa evedagam sarvam yadbhutam yacca bhavyam” meaning “All that is past, present and future is His manifestation”.  Further the sthuthi Vishnu sahasranamam starts the thousand names with ‘Viswam’ and ‘Viswam’ means ‘the universe’.  So whatever one sees as objects of the universe are all manifestations of Iswara only, in the vision of the Veda. So one need not go in for any mystic experience to have Iswara Darsanam but only have the attitudinal change training oneself to look at all things one encounters with Iswara bhavana discarding the prapancha bhavana. This Iswara dhrishti, vision of Iswara, is what is indicated in the Isavasya Upanishad mantra quoted earlier by the term ’covered with Iswara’.  Lord Krishna as Iswara also declares in Gita (6-30); “He who sees Me everywhere (and in everything) and sees everything (everywhere) in Me, he never becomes separated from Me, nor do I become separated from him".

The artharthi bhakthas’ idea of triangular format; Self, world and Iswara undergoes now a change to binary format; Self and Iswara only, world merging in Iswara. This change in view involves other changes as well as indicated in the latter part of the Isavasya mantra quoted which runs as “Tena tyaktena bhunjitha ma grdhah kasyasviddhanam” meaning “Enjoy that through renunciation.  Do not covet (anybody’s wealth), for whose is wealth?)”.  Tena tyakthena means with a sense of detachment.  When one enjoys the world with Iswara Dhrishti only, one enjoys the world treating whatever one partakes of the world as a blessing of Iswara and with a sense of gratitude to Iswara. As everything is of Iswara only, one doesn’t entertain any sense of possession with regard to persons and things.  In short one functions in this world without getting attached to objects or persons.  As a corollary one does not have a desire for other’s possessions as well, whatever that may be. Dhanam stands for all possessions.  The person may be involved in worldly karmas but then his attitude will be one of detachment and inner renunciation.

Seeing the world as manifestation of Iswara, leads one to Viswarupa Iswara bhakthi as seen in Dhyanaslokam of  Vishnusahasranamam which runs as:

bhuh padau yasya nabhir-viyada-suranila-candra suryau cha netre

karna-vasah siro-dyauh mukhamapi dahano yasya vasteyam abdhihi

antas-stham yasya visvam sura-nara-khaga-go-bhogi-gandharva-daityaih

chitram ramramyate tam tribhuvana-vapusham vishnum isam namami.

[I bow to Lord Vishnu who has the three worlds as His body. The earth is His feet, and the sky His navel.  Wind is His breath, and the sun and the moon are His eyes. Directions are His ears, and the Heaven is His head. Fire is His face and ocean His abdomen. In Him is situated the universe with diverse kinds of Gods, men, birds, cattle, serpents, gandharvas and daityas (demons), all sporting in a charming way.]

Appreciation of Iswara as totality and everything else as belonging to Iswara leads to renunciation of mamakara, the idea that I am the owner of certain things with the new-born understanding that everything belongs to Iswara and I am only the current user of what I regard as my possessions. I am only the present lease-holder using the possessions for a temporary period.   One’s view of ownership is replaced by usership and idea of controllership changes to contributorship.

Next change comes when one absorbs Lord Krishna’s words in Gita (7-5&6):

bhumirapo analo vayuḥ kam mano buddhir eva cha
ahankara itiyaṁ me bhinna prakṛitir aṣhṭadha (7.4)

(Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect and egoism thus is My nature divided eightfold.)

apareyam itas tvanyam prakṛitim viddhi me param)
jiva-bhutam mahabaho yayedam dharyate jagat (7.5)

(This is the inferior prakriti(nature), O Arjuna; know thou as different from it My higher prakriti, the very life-element, by which this world is upheld.)

Iswara has two fold nature, Para prakrithi, the higher nature, and apara prakrithi, the lower nature. The pancha bhuthas; earth, water, fire, air, ether, and mind, intellect, ego in short the world that is matter including one’s sthula, sukshma sareera, constitutes apara prakriithi.  Para Prakrithi is the Chaitanyam or pure Consciousness that makes the matter sentient by its blessing.  Iswara is Para prakrithi plus apara prakrithi i.e. Brahman plus maya.  Vedas through Mahavakhya teach one that the Para prakṛthi, the higher nature of Iswara, called Brahman, the Consciousness, is present in all beings in the form of  'I', the very Self, the witness-experiencer of everything.

Thus, the vedic view is: The whole material universe, including the body and mind, is apara prakṛti, the maya part of Iswara; and 'I', the Consciousness principle, which is not an object of experience, that 'I', the sakṣi chaitanyam is, Para prakṛti.  Para prakrithi plus apara prakrithi is Iswara, the God.  And whatever one experiences, is the lower nature of Iswara; material, changing and mortal.  Whereas, 'I', the experiencer, is the higher nature of Iswara, sentient, unchanging and eternal.  In other words  ‘I' am Brahman, the Para prakṛti;  what I experience is maya, the apara prakṛti.  Both the 'experiencer' and 'experienced'  put together is the 'total' Iswara, God.  In brief, the experiencer 'I' is sentient Consciousness Iswara, the experienced world is insentient matter Iswara and as everything is Iswara you can put it any way; Sarvam Vishnumayam Jagat or Sarvam Sivamayam Jagat, Sarvam Devimayam Jagat etc.  Swami Dayananda saraswathy puts it as:  ‘இருப்பதெல்லாம் இறைவனே (Iruppadellam Iraivane)’  meaning ‘whatever is, is only Iswara’  

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Viswarupam (1) – Arjuna’s reaction

Gita essays – 18

While giving a brief list of His Vibuthi, Lord Krishna declared that the entire universe is supported by a fraction of His power only.  This makes Arjuna desirous of seeing that form of Lord that sustains the world system with a fraction of Its power.  So at the start of the eleventh chapter, he praises the Lord and His teachings and then expresses his desire to see that Divine form.  Arjuna’s tone also changes with the growing respect for Lord Krishna. In chapter 1, he said to Lord in a commanding tone “Krishna, place my chariot between the two armies” (1-21).  And now he says in a pleading tone :

“O Lord, If you think it is possible for me to see It, do You please, then, O Lord of the Yogis, show me Your imperishable Self (form)!”  (11-4)

Here he does not simply make a request to the Lord to show His cosmic form but also leaves it to Lord’s choice to reveal It or not.  Lord readily agrees to bless him with the vision of Viswarupam, which spans all the lokas and beyond.  Before revealing the form, Lord gives a preview in verses 5, 6 &7 as follows:

O Arjuna, Behold My divine forms by the hundreds and thousands, of different kinds and of various colours and shapes! (11-5)

Behold the (twelve) Adityas, the (eight) Vasus, the (eleven) Rudras, the (two) Aswini kumaras and also the (forty-nine) Maruts;  and also witness many more wonderful forms never seen before, O Arjuna! (11-6)

Now behold, O Arjuna, in this body of Mine, the whole universe consisting of both the moving and the unmoving and whatever else thou desire to see! (11-7)

But Lord also sounds a warning that Arjuna cannot see this form with his ordinary eyes and so Lord says He will bless him with the Divine Eye, Divya Chakshu, with which Arjuna can behold Lord’s Divine power.  Swami Paramarthananda explains that Divya Chakṣhu means a refined mind, a mind free from ahamkara and mamakara, for if one is to see everything in the universe as belonging to the Lord only, then He should not feel anything belongs to him.  This means a refined mind that is purged of all feelings of ahamkara and mamakara.  When by Lord’s Grace Arjuna gets this refined mind, he is wonderstruck and dumbfound gazing at the Cosmic form of Lord.  As he remains speechless, we have Sanjaya’s description of the scene to the blind king Dhritarashtra in verses 9 to 14. In this interlude we have an initial brief description of the Viswarupam among other things.  Apparently Sanjaya who had been blessed with the telescopic vision to see the happenings in the battlefield was also blessed with the Divine vision of the Viswarupam.  His short description of the Cosmic form is as follows:

Lord revealed the resplendent, limitless Cosmic form with faces on all sides, with numerous mouths and eyes, with numerous wonderful sights, with numerous divine ornaments, wielding many uplifted divine weapons, wearing divine garlands and garments, anointed with divine perfumes, and full of wonders. (11-10&11)

The indescribable dazzling brilliance of the Cosmic form, Sanjaya narrates in a devious way, by describing that it looked as if thousand suns were shining simultaneously.  He sees the Cosmic form with numerous mouths, eyes etc., because heads and bodies which he has been seeing individually ordinarily, now he sees as a mass collectively with no space in between because the transformed refined mind is free of the concept of space and time as well. That is why Sanjaya also says that Arjuna is now seeing in the Cosmic form various divisions of the world, all clubbed together and presenting a limitless, divisionless entity.  

When Arjuna recovers from the initial shock, he starts praising the Lord with words of appreciation of the Cosmic form and with a feeling of wonder, from verse 15.  Arjuna goes through various phases of emotion as he gazes at the Cosmic form, the first response being that of wonder.  Like Sanjaya he also sees the Cosmic form with many arms, stomachs, mouths and eyes, stretching limitless in all directions making it impossible to know the start, or the end or the middle of the Cosmic form. He sees the sun and the moon as the eyes and blazing fire pouring out from the mouth.  There is a dazzling mass of radiance like burning fire and blazing sun about the Cosmic form making it difficult to look at it. He could see all the Gods in the body including Brahmaji, all the sages and celestial serpents besides various classes of beings. He sees a host of devas entering the Divine form, some in fear and some in supplication and he sees in the body great siddhas and rishis praising the Lord in sublime Hymns.  He also sees Rudras, Vasus , Sadhyas, Visve devas, Aswins, Maruts, Usmapas and hosts of Gandharvas, Yakshas, Asuras and Siddhas all standing quiet amazed. 

Arjuna’s description is similar to the description of Lord Vishnu in the Dhyana sloka of Vishnu sahasranamam which runs as follows:

bhuḥ padau yasya nabhir viyadasur anilas candra suryoca netre

karṇavasaḥ siro dyaur mukham api dahano yasya vasteyamabdhiḥ |

antasthaṃ yasya visvaṃ suranara khaga go bhogi gandharva daityaiḥ

citraṃ ram ram yate taṃ tribhuvana vapuṣaṃ viṣṇum isaṃ namami

I bow to Lord Vishnu who has the three worlds as His body. The Earth is His feet, and the sky His navel. Wind is His breath, and the Sun and the Moon are His eyes. Directions are His ears, and the Heaven is His head. Fire is His face and ocean His abdomen. In Him is situated the universe with diverse kinds of Gods, men, birds, cattle, serpents, gandharvas and daityas (demons)- all sporting in a charming way.

With wonder changing to devotion, Arjuna breaks into a prayer praising the Lord as the imperishable protector of eternal dharma, the ultimate refuge of this universe, and the eternal imperishable Being.  He further says that the three worlds are trembling with fear at seeing the wonderful and terrible form spanning all the three worlds with no space anywhere to be seen.  Again Arjuna’s emotions change, now to  fear and he says openly that he is also terrified along with the others at seeing the dreadful form, effulgent and multi-coloured with many mouths wide open and fiery eyes, many thighs and feet, many bellies and fearsome tusks, and he confesses that he has now lost peace of mind and courage and is totally confused as well not knowing the directions.

Lord is srishti-sthithi-laya karanam.  Arjuna was filled with wonder and amazement when he saw the srishti aspect.  He was filled with reverence and devotion when he gazed from the sthithi angle.  Now seeing the laya manifestation he is terrified. With overwhelming feeling of fear, Arjuna now watches Bhishma, Drona, Karna, all the sons of Dhritharashtra  and a host of monarchs and warrior-chiefs on both sides rush into the form’s blazing mouth with fearful tusks, to be destroyed, as not only past and the present but future is also being played before Arjuna’s eyes.  Death is as much a part of Reality as birth and growth.  What Arjuna saw as mouth was only the time principle taking its toll of people as it moves on.  He compares the warriors rushing to their death to rivers running towards the ocean for merger and moths flying towards the fire to be destroyed and now he cries in fear and appeals to the Cosmic Form to reveal Its identity and function and prays for mercy in the following words:

Swallowing all the worlds on every side with Your flaming mouths, You are licking Your lips (relishing the act).  Your fierce rays, filling the whole world with radiance, are burning, Oh! Vishnu. (11-30)

Tell me who are you with a form so terrible? Oh Supreme Lord! Salutations to You. I desire to know You, O Primeval One.  Have mercy, I know not indeed Your purpose. (11-31)

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