In2-MeC

IBSA (ISKCON Bhaktivedanta Sadhana Asrama), Govardhana, India
11 January 2004

What the Upanisads Teach
Part Thirteen

The Universe (Jagat)

The Universal Form

Words used often in the upanisads for the cosmic creation are jagat, loka, visva, prapanca, tamas and prakrti. The pronoun idam (this) is another very common signifier for the universe.

isavasyam idam sarvam
yat kinca jagatyam jagat
tena tyaktena bhunjitha
ma grdhah kasya svid dhanam

Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong. (Sri Isopanisad, mantra 1)

With utmost clarity, this verse states that the universe and everything in it is a display of the Supreme Lord's sakti or power.

ya eko avarno bahudo saktiyogat varnan anekan nihitartho dadhati
vicaiti cante visvam adau sa devah sa no buddhya subhaya samyunaktu

The one Brahman denoted by the letter "a" (akara) creates the many varnas [the manifold universe] by His power (saktiyogat) without any selfish purpose. At the time of dissolution, the Lord destroys the universe. (Svetasvatara Upanisad IV. 1)

The same power by which the universe is created and destroyed keeps the jiva in bondage.

chandamsi yajnah kratavo vratani bhutam bhavyam yacca veda vadanti
asman mayi srjate visvam etat tasmins canyo mayaya sanniruddhah

The Vedas, the sacrifices, the rituals, the vows, the past, the future, and what the Vedas declare, all this the Mayina (the wielder of the power known as maya) creates out of this; in it, the other (jiva) is bound by maya. (Sv. U. IV. 9)

Now, maya means illusion as well as power. Is the universe just a grand illusion? The upanisads do not teach such a doctrine. This question will be pursued in greater detail in the next installment; today we are focusing on the universe as the creation of the Lord. Certainly within the limits of the present topic there is no scope for dismissing the cosmos as some kind of Chimera.

Remembering from the first installment how the upanisads define Brahman, it makes little sense to argue, as the Mayavadis do, that the universe--which grew up by the power of Brahman--is a mere mirage or figment of the imagination. The upanisads urge the soul to put his complete attention and effort into the alleviation of his material bondage. It makes little sense to argue that the state of bondage--which requires so much dedication to overcome--is just the jiva's hallucination or fantasy.

The philosophy of cosmic creation taught in the upanisads is parinama-vada, the doctrine of transformation. Here is a natural illustration of that teaching: a planted seed, which is one thing, the cause, grows into a tree, which is another thing, the effect. Though cause and effect are no doubt two different things, they are no doubt connected by energy (defined as the capacity for power and vitality). Hence the cause is evident in the effect--the tree produces more seeds, which in turn become the cause of more trees. All this happens by parinama--transformation of energy. The Mayavadi version of creation, on the other hand, is called vivarta-vada, the theory of illusion. Srila Prabhupada gives this light on the difference between the two doctrines.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura comments that if one does not clearly understand the meaning of parinama-vada, or transformation of energy, one is sure to misunderstand the truth regarding this material cosmic manifestation and the living entities. In the Chandogya Upanisad it is said, san-mujah saumyemah prajah sadayatanah sat-pratisthah (Cha. U. 6. 8. 4). The material world and the living entities are separate beings, and they are eternally true, not false. Sankaracarya, however, unnecessarily fearing that by parinama-vada (transformation of energy) Brahman would be transformed (vikari), has imagined both the material world and the living entities to be false and to have no individuality. (Cc Adi 7. 122p)

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains, "In the Vedanta-sutra of Srila Vyasadeva it is definitely stated that all cosmic manifestations result from transformations of various energies of the Lord. Sankaracarya, however, not accepting the energy of the Lord, thinks that it is the Lord who is transformed. He has taken many clear statements from the Vedic literature and twisted them to try to prove that if the Lord, or the Absolute Truth, were transformed, His oneness would be disturbed. Thus he has accused Srila Vyasadeva of being mistaken. In developing his philosophy of monism, therefore, he has established vivarta-vada, or the Mayavada theory of illusion. " (CC Adi 7. 121p)

The Gaudiya Vaisnava understanding of parinama-vada is one of sakti-parinama, not brahma-parinama. In other words, it is Brahman's energy (sakti) that transforms to give rise to cosmic creation. Brahman Himself, the Lord, is not transformed. He does not Himself become the creation. His personal energy expands from Him to transform herself into the universe as a service to Him. Sankaracarya's fear, mentioned by Srila Prabhupada above--i. e. if parinama-vada is accepted, "Brahman would be transformed (vikari)"--does not disturb sakti-parinama-vada.

Only from the standpoint of parinama-vada can we find a logical explanation for such statements as sadeva saumya idam agra asid ekameva advitiyam, in Chandogya; atma va idam eka eva agra asit, in Aitareya; and brahma va idam agra asit ekameva, in Brhadaranyaka. These passages declare that before creation, the universe existed in an unmanifest state, without name and form, along with the Lord (Sat, Paramatma, Brahman).

This may sound mysterious, but the mystery is dispelled in Sri Brahma-samhita. Here is a quotation of B-s 5. 47 and its translation, found in the purport to Srimad-Bhagavatam 2. 10. 3:

yah karanarnava jale bhajati sma yoga-
nidram ananta jagadanda-saroma-kupah
adhara-saktim avalambya param sva-murtim
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami

The first purusa incarnation of Govinda, Lord Krsna, known as the Maha-Visnu, goes into a yoga-nidra mystic sleep, and the innumerable universes are situated in potency in each and every hair hole of His transcendental body.

The example I gave before to illustrate the parinama doctrine was that of a seed that transforms into a tree. Here the same example is given, but in an original, metaphysical context. Before creation, each and every universe exists as a seed of potential within one of the pores of the spiritual body of Lord Maha-Visnu. After maha-pralaya (the dissolution of the creation), the universes resume their potential state. The essential point is, that as the energy of the Lord, the universes always exist--although sometimes they are unmanifest, exhibiting no name and form.

Atmaiva idam agra asit purusavidhah: "In the beginning (prior to creation), this universe was Paramatma in the form of a person. " (Br. U. I. 4. 1) Taddhedam tarhy ayvakrtam asit tan-namarupabhyam eva vyakryata: "At that time (prior to creation) this universe was undifferentiated and it became differentiated with names and forms. " (Br. U. I. 4. 7)

The above translation of Brahma-samhita 5. 47 is given by Srila Prabhupada as a purport to this verse:

The elementary creation of sixteen items of matter--namely the five elements [fire, water, land, air and sky], sound, form, taste, smell, touch, and the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin and mind--is known as sarga, whereas subsequent resultant interaction of the modes of material nature is called visarga.

Two verses earlier, Srila Sukadeva Gosvami explained that sarga and visarga are the first two of ten topics of Srimad-Bhagavatam. In his purport to Bhagavatam 3. 10. 7, Srila Prabhupada nicely elucidates the difference between sarga and visarga:

The material world and the living entities were all already generated in seedling forms by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and Brahma was to disseminate the same seedlings all over the universe. The real creation is therefore called sarga, and, later on, the manifestation by Brahma is called visarga.

In the purport to Bhagavatam 2. 10. 3, Srila Prabhupada further explains:

[Sarga] pertains to the sixteen elementary manifestations of earth, water, etc. , with material ego composed of material intelligence and mind. The subsequent creation [visarga] is a result of the reactions of the above-mentioned sixteen energies of the first purusa, the Maha-Visnu incarnation of Govinda, as later explained by Brahma. . .

One of Krsna's many names is Sodasa-kala Purna (see Srila Prabhupada's Sri Caitanya-caritamrta lecture on 13 February 1971 at Gorakhpur). This name means the Lord is the complete repose of sixteen. The term sodasa refers to sixteen energies, elements, tattvas, or principles. It is found repeatedly throughout Srimad-Bhagavatam (see, for example Bhag. 1. 3. 1, 2. 4. 23, 2. 10. 3, 4. 29. 74, 5. 11. 5, 6. 1. 51, etc. ).

A section of Chandogya Upanisad is entitled Sodasa-kala Brahmavidya. It consists of the instructions of a bull, a fire, a swan and a diver-bird to Satyakama Jabala. Later the same instructions were repeated to Satyakama by his guru, Haridrumata Gautama. Acarya Madhva comments that Sodasa-kala Brahmavidya presents the catur-vyuha (the fourfold expansion of Krsna-Narayana as Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha) along with the energies of these Deities. Indeed, the entire detailed process of creation that is taught in the Srimad-Bhagavatam can be nicely summarized as the lila of the catur-vyuha. This lila is the Lord's play with His sixteen creative potencies. From out of this lila the gross material universe manifests.

te dhyana yoganugata apasyam devatama saktim svagunair-nirudham
yah karanani nikhilani tani kalatma yuktani adhitisthatyekah

The sages on the path of meditation saw the devatma-sakti, the potency of the Lord's own Self. This potency is made up of self-existent qualities. The one Lord rules over these qualities, which act as causal agents such as time, the gross and subtle body, and the rest. (Svetasvatara Upanisad I. 3)

Yantra depicting the evolution and involution of the cosmos. The expanding and contracting currents of vibration symbolized by the Sanskrit letters form a web-like image, as the cosmos emanates and returns again to the primordial centre, the Lord. Rajasthan, c. 19th century, gouache on paper.

The lila of the Lord with His devatma-sakti involves Him sending the sixteen qualities of that sakti forth from Himself. In Vedanta-sutra 2. 1. 28, Srila Vyasadeva calls this vicitra-sakti, Brahman's power of variagation by which He expands the universe from Himself without changing His own svarupa (atmani caivam vicitrasca hi). Then Brahman enters into the universe along with the jivas to give it name and form (nama-rupa-vyakarana). We have seen in earlier installments of this series that Chandogya and Taittirya Upanisads are quite specific about this entrance of the Lord into creation along with His parts and parcels. This pastime is termed anupravisya.

This two-fold lila, vicitra and anupravisya, is nicely summed up in Srila Prabhupada's purport to Srimad-Bhagavatam 6. 9. 27:

The Naradiya Purana says:

avikaro 'pi paramah
prakrtis tu vikarini
anupravisya govindah
prakrtis cabhidhiyate

Both the prakrti and purusa, which are inferior and superior energies, are emanations from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As explained in Bhagavad-gita (gam avisya), the Lord enters the prakrti, and then the prakrti creates different manifestations. The prakrti is not independent or beyond His energies. Vasudeva, Lord Sri Krsna, is the original cause of everything.

Now: if the only source of the universe is the Absolute Truth, Brahman, if the universe as potential is eternal, and if Brahman enters the universe at the time of its gross manifestation as the cosmic creation, then how does maya (illusion) come about? That discussion is the topic of the next installment.

To be continued, starting with the The Universe, Brahman and Maya

Sketches of a Devotee's Pre-Krsna Conscious Life in India

Back in the late 1980's I tape-recorded a series of interesting stories told me by an Indian devotee, whom I shall not name to protect his privacy. These stories relate his life as a young man from a South Indian smarta brahmin family, and trace how he gradually turned away from material life to Krsna consciousness. What you will read below took place after he moved from Kerala to Salem, near his hometown of Coimbatore.

After a three and a half years in Kerala I was transferred back to Tamil Nadu to work under the rather severe chief accountant of the Salem branch of TVS, Mr. S. Venkata Subrahmanian. In South India, it is common for educated English-speaking gentlemen to be addressed by the first initials of their names. Mr. Subrahmanian was therfore known to one and all as SVS.

Salem is near my place of birth, Coimbatore. I was therefore able to visit my mother frequently. My two good "same-age" friends of this time were co-workers Vaidyanathan, serious, bespectacled and a bit shy, and Shankara Subrahmania, a jolly, big-bodied chap. The first six months I lived alone in a small rented room; after that I shared a place with Shankara until the spring of 1974.

At first my chief, SVS, was very pleased me. As in the Kerala branch of TVS, in Salem I became the star of the accounting office. But by the time 1974 rolled around, SVS was fed up. No wonder.

"If you want to become a high priest of humbug, fine--but you are surely not going to do it on company time!"

SVS surely believed he was speaking for everyone else in the office. He'd had it up to the eyes; it was time to put his foot down.

I continued sketching my picture of six-armed, three-faced Dattatreya as if I hadn't heard him. Muffled snickering obliged SVS to sweep the office with a penetrating You're Next glare. Then, after a last withering scowl my way, he grumbled: "You'll end up painting that picture on the sidewalk for tossed coins, you--you poppycock dreamer!" He stalked off.

In the past, I'd been his closest assistant and had always compensated for my lapses with bursts of hard work. But today I had pushed his patience to the limit.

The day before yesterday I'd left work early without telling anyone. Yesterday I hadn't come to work at all, and had given no reason. Today I was at my desk, but only to draw pictures of Dattatreya. I was speaking to no one.

A few minutes later Vaidyanathan put his hand on my shoulder. "Chum, the MD (Managing Director) is asking for you. SVS has seen him and raised hell. " Wordlessly, I dropped my pencil, stood up, and ambled into the the MD's office.

He greeted me with a polite smile and invited me to sit down and explain myself. There was a few moment of dead silence while I extracted words from the ether and arranged them in my head. Then I began.

"The day before yesterday I was called from work to the Dattatreya temple in Chendamangalam. . . " He put up his hand to interrupt.

"Who called you?"

"Sri Svayamprakash Brahmendra Saraswati, the mahanta of the temple. "

"Accha. So guruji telephoned you here at the office. "

"No. He calls me through the mind. "

"Yes, quite. Kindly continue. "

"I stayed all night at the temple, because a special abhisheka (bathing ceremony) was held at midnight. " Again he interrupted.

"So guruji was having a special festival and invited you through the mind to come. "

"Yes, but he was not there visibly, because he left the world in 1948. "

"Yes, yes. Please go on. "

"Then, in the early morning hours I left the temple. I came down the hill onto the road. There I met two ghosts. I chanted a Karttikeya mantra and delivered them to the control of Shreshtaraja. The rest of the day I had to take rest. Today I am only thinking of Dattatreya. "

"Only?"

"Yes. "

He gave me that side-to-side nod of the head peculiar to Indians and leaned forward as if to take me in confidence.

After hearing my own voice relate these events, I understood for the first time that I might be losing my mind. I braced myself for what the MD was about to say.

He held up a palm and slightly patted the air above his desk while he spoke, as if my poor head was under it.

"Kannan, listen. Things have changed in India. The time of all the gods and temples is gone. Oh, simple folk may carry on with these quaint forms of Hindu piety, but you are an educated young man. You've got to keep your eyes on tomorrow, not yesterday. "

I thought, "He's just indulging me with his gentle speech and understanding manner. Of course he thinks me mad. " I was beginning to think so myself.

I wanted to open my heart to him. The MD seemed kindly disposed to me, and I really needed someone's help. "Sir," I began, "I sincerely believe in the Hindu religion. After investigating tantra, shakta, Advaita and the other paths, I have come to realize many extraordinary things. . . . " He patted the air, nodding his head patiently from side to side until my voice trailed off.

"That's all right, Kannan. I'm not saying you should give up religion. You've just got to be realistic about it, that's all. "

He opened a drawer and very reverently took out two photographs, laying them on his desk for me to see. One was of a sadhu dressed in white, with long hair and beard. The other was of a smiling woman, perhaps a Western lady, I thought.

"This"--he pointed to the sadhu's picture--"is the avatara of the age. In him all the gods reside. His name is Sri Aurobindo. And this is his shakti, whom we revere as the Mother. Though both have passed on into the realm beyond, they are still very much with us in spirit. Their teachings blend all that you've come to value in Hinduism into one scientific synthesis. "

This wasn't quite what I had expected from the MD. His eyes were positively alight with glory. All my worries of losing my mind and my job faded. I was sure if SVS saw the MD now, he'd think him a far worse high priest of humbug than I. But he must have had something going for him to make it into the upper echelon of TVS management. Could it all be due to Aurobindo? And could Aurobindo help me get my life on the right track?

"I will now give you a mantra, Kannan," he solemnly declared. "I want you to keep these pictures on your desk and offer everything you do to Sri Aurobindo and the Holy Mother. This will bring you back to reality, and you'll attain the goal of all religions. "

I became a zealous convert. Before touching the pencil in the morning, I would do puja to it, offering incense, a flower and prayers. After writing out a bill, I'd hold it up to the photos, chant the mantra and drop the bill, sanctified, into the 'out' tray. I offered the entries I made in the ledger. And the coffee during the coffee break.

This merely increased the output of the "psychic tube" that had flickered in my head since my association with the tantrics of Kerala. Soon the whole building was awash my visions. I'd buttonhole someone almost every day, in the office or in the factory, and fill his ears with my latest revelations. If he listened long enough, I'd get a resonance going with his mind, like making a gong vibrate by striking another gong of the same pitch. I could then tap into his subconscious and receive hidden memories, or feed my own thoughts into his head. I'd leave quite a few fellow employees amazed and mystified.

But as far as SVS was concerned, I'd become a "balmy round- the-bender, dotty as a loon. " It wasn't long before I was in the MD's office again.

This time he arranged time off for me so that I could journey with Mum to Pondicherry, the site of Auroville, the ashram founded by Aurobindo in 1926. We stayed there fifteen days. I got to know M. T. Pandit, a confidante of the recently deceased Mother, quite well. He was taken by what he thought were my highly developed spiritual powers and asked me to stay permanently. But when I saw meat being served in the dining room, and foreign girls in T-shirts and shorts mixing freely with the men, I declined. Mum, a simple lady who'd never been confronted with loose Western ways before, was scandalized. She couldn't see how there could be any value in Aurobindo's teachings after seeing life in Auroville. "The chicken thief comes sporting a feather," was her way of saying, "Know a tree by the fruits. "

In any case, my visit to Auroville saved me my job for the simple reason that the MD continued to have faith in me. After I returned, he let me do pretty much what I wanted. Once in a while I might actually put in a full day's work. Other days I would work for an hour or two, then drift into idle reverie, leaving the office whenever I felt like it. But I continued collecting full pay, much to SVS's chagrin.

I'd been sharing an apartment for more than a year with Shankara Subrahmania. He was a jolly fellow who weathered my vagaries well, even when I sometimes flicked on the light at midnight to wake him up and harangue him on some arcane topic for an hour or two.

There was another fellow our age, an oddjobber named Mani, who lived in the same building. He too thought himself a bit of a philosopher, but one of the world, the flesh and the Devil. As long as I only spoke of religion and esotera, he kept away. But that was not to last.

One evening as I sat wasting Shankara's time with a lecture on palmistry, Mani came to the door, a skinny wolf dressed in what I called a "hero suit", a cheap knock-off of the kind of outfits worn by Bombay cinema heroes. With sly nonchalance he said, "Hey Brahmin, let Shankara get some sleep and come out with me tonight. "

Shankara was only too glad to let me go. Mani and I ended up in what I thought was a hotel. But when Mani began negotiations with the manager, I knew immediately it was not a place where you got a good night's sleep. I took Mani aside.

"Leave me out of whatever you're arranging, okay?"

He chuckled and hit me lightly on the shoulder. "Right, Brahmin, no problem. You just sit yourself down here in the lobby. I've got a little business to take care of upstairs. I'll be with you in about (here he winked) half an hour. "

Two minutes later a servant boy came down to tell me that Mani needed my help. I followed the boy up three flights of stairs and to a room where I found Mani with two heavily made-up girls in tawdry glamour gowns. They were perfect compliments for the would-be hero.

He stood between them, an arm around each one. Flashing a big grin as I entered, he sang out, "Here's the pandit! I've got two beautiful sweeties here and I don't know which one to choose. Tell me who's the best. " The floozies giggled. In jest, I pointed to the one on the left. He steered her over to me.

"You got a real sharp eye for the ladies, panditji. So take her. "

Half-heartedly, I turned to leave. He blocked my way and sneered in my face, "Look, Brahmin, I went through a lot of trouble tonight just to help you out. You want those jinns out of your head? You want your feet back on the ground? Let the girl bring you back to reality. "

I gave in, thinking it my fate. Like the mouse that returned to its kind, I had come back full circle to the sad state I had been in when I'd fallen for a dancing girl years ago, before I'd worked for TVS or had any interest in spiritual pursuits.

In the Panchatantra, there is a story of a female mouse that was seized by a hawk, carried aloft, and dropped over the river Ganges. Below, the great sage Yajnavalkya was performing his ablutions. The mouse fell right into his cupped palms containing holy Ganges water. By contact with the combined spiritual power of the saint and the sacred water, the mouse was transformed into a baby girl.

Yajnavalkya took the child home and gave her to his wife to raise as their daughter. When the child turned twelve years of age, he thought to arrange the most excellent match for her marriage.

He first summoned the sun-god Surya, who appeared at his ashram. But the girl thought him too blazing hot. Yajnavalkya asked the sun if there was one greater than he. Surya recommended the cloud, because the cloud could cover his rays.

When the cloud came, the girl deemed him too black and cold. The cloud was asked if there was anyone greater than he. He sug- gested the mountain, who alone could stop his progress.

When the mountain came before the sage, the girl said he was too rough and stony. And the mountain, when asked, recommended the king of mice as his superior, because he and the other mice made holes in him.

When the king of mice was called, the mouse-girl immediately agreed, thrilling with ecstacy. She begged Yajnavalkya to make her a mouse again, and it was done.

The Kerala tantrics, Karttikeya, Brahmendra Avadhuta, Aurobindo--these had been my Yajnavalkya, sun, cloud and mountain. The tantrics had transformed me by convincing me there was a power higher than human reason. But in spite of the transformation, I could not be wedded to "a great"--a spiritual master who could lead me out of my material entanglements. Now I was back in the mousehole. I'd been warned this would happen by a friend at the Shivananda Yoga Mission. But my whimsy prevented me from heeding him.

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