In2-MeC

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

dattva vidyausadham bhaktan
niravadyan karoti yah
drk-patham bhajatu sriman
prityatma sa harih svayam

May Lord Hari, who is glorious, handsome, blissful, and filled with love, and who cures His devotees by giving them the medicine of transcendental knowledge, enter the pathway of my eyes.

What the Upanisads Teach
Part Sixteen

Supreme Goal of Life (Parama Purusartha)

In Vedanta, the topic of parama purusartha has four subheadings.

1) Moksa (liberation).
2) Utkranti (the exit of the liberated soul from the body).
3) Arciradi-marga (the passage of the jiva to the realm of Brahman).
4) Brahma-svarupa (the form of the soul in Brahman).

Moksa

As you can well imagine, there are many statements about moksa in the upanisads. Here are a few key ones.

Tarati sokam atmavit: "The knower of Paramatma overcomes sorrow. " (Ch. U. )

Mrtyum atyeti: "By knowing Brahman, one passes over death. " (Sv. U. )

Jnatva devam sarva papaih mucyate: "By knowing God, one is freed from all sins. " (Sv. U. )

Vidvan punya-pape vidhuya niranjanah paramam samyam upaiti: "The knower of Brahman shakes off good and evil and is freed from all sins. He attains transcendental equality with the Lord. " (Mu. U. )

Avidyaya mrtyum tirtva vidyayamrtam asnute: "The liberated soul transcends the path of ignorance and death and attains immortality by the path of transcendental knowledge. " (Isa U. )

Sa khalu evam vartayan yavadayusam brahmalokam abhisampadyate na ca punaravartate: "He who has executed the prescribed spiritual discipline all through his life, attains the world of Brahman (brahmaloka) from whence he does not return again to this material world. " (Ch. U)

Yo veda. . . so asnute sarvan kaman sah brahmana: "He who knows Brahman enjoys in the supreme abode all auspicious qualities along with Brahman. " (Tai. U. )

In Gaudiya Vaisnava Vedanta, two stages of moksa are understood. One is called jivan-mukti, liberation before death, while the soul is still animating the physical body. In his Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu (1. 2. 187) Srila Rupa Gosvami describes this as follows:

iha yasya harer dasye
karmana manasa gira
nikhilasv apy avasthasu
jivan-muktah sa ucyate

A person acting in Krsna consciousness (or, in other words, in the service of Krsna) with his body, mind, intelligence and words is a liberated person even within the material world, although he may be engaged in many so-called material activities.

In his purport to Srimad-Bhagavatam 5. 4. 5, Srila Prabhupada writes:

We should act in such a way in this life that after giving up this body, we will become liberated from the bondage of repeated birth and death. This is called jivan-mukti. Srila Viraraghava Acarya states that in the Chandogya Upanisad there are eight symptoms of a jivan-mukta, a person who is already liberated even when living in this body. The first symptom of one so liberated is that he is freed from all sinful activity (apahata-papa). As long as one is under the clutches of maya in the material energy, one has to engage in sinful activity. Bhagavad-gita describes such people as duskrtinah, which indicates that they are always engaged in sinful activity. One who is liberated in this life does not commit any sinful activities. Sinful activity involves illicit sex, meat-eating, intoxication and gambling. Another symptom of a liberated person is vijara, which indicates that he is not subjected to the miseries of old age. Another symptom is vimrtyu. A liberated person prepares himself in such a way that he does not take on any more material bodies, which are destined to die. In other words he does not fall down again to repeat birth and death. Another symptom is visoka, which indicates that he is callous to material distress and happiness. Another is vijighatsa, which indicates that he no longer desires material enjoyment. Another symptom is apipata, which means that he has no desire other than to engage in the devotional service of Krsna, his dearmost pursuable Lord. A further symptom is satya-kama, which indicates that all his desires are directed to the Supreme Truth, Krsna. He does not want anything else. He is satya-sankalpa. Whatever he desires is fulfilled by the grace of Krsna. First of all, he does not desire anything for his material benefit, and secondly if he desires anything at all, he simply desires to serve the Supreme Lord. That desire is fulfilled by the Lord's grace. That is called satya-sankalpa.

The second stage of moksa is videha-mukti, liberation after the demise of the physical body. Concerning this, Chandogya Upanisad VIII. 12. 1 states, na vai sasariraysa satah priyapriyayoh apahatirasti asariram va santam na priyapriye sprsatah--"one who has a body is in the grip of joy and sorrow, and there is no freedom from joy and sorrow for one who has a body. Joy and sorrow, however, does not affect one who has no body. " Furthermore the same upanisad (VIII. 13. 11) says: asva iva romani vidhuya papam candra iva rahoh mukhat pramucya dhutva sariram akrtam krtatma brahmalokam abhisambhavami--"shaking off evil as a horse shakes off his hairs, shaking off the body as the moon frees itself from the mouth of Rahu, I, a perfected self, obtain the realm of Brahman. "

From the above one might conclude that the jivan-mukta, though aloof from materialistic activities, is walled off by his physical body from immediate entry into Brahman. That he may gain full realization of his brahma-svarupa, death must deliver him from the body. In Chandogya Upanisad adhyaya IV chapter 14, Uddhalaka Aruni gives his son Svetaketu an example of a man who is kidnapped from Gandhara (present-day Kandahar in Afghanistan) and abandoned, bound and blindfolded, in a deserted region. Fortunately someone finds him, unties him and removes the blindfold. He points the man from Gandhara in the direction of his home city. The man thankfully moves off in that direction, confirming at each village that he is headed back home. As he travels his eagerness to return increases with every step. Aruni comments, "In exactly the same way, in this world when a man has a guru he knows, 'There is a delay for me here only until I am freed; but then I will arrive!'"

We should not conclude, however, that it is so for every saintly person who is physically manifest in this world. In Brhadaranyaka Upanisad IV. 4. 6-7, sage Yajnavalkya speaks to Janaka Maharaja about immediate entry into brahma-svarupa even while one is within the body.

yo akamo niskama
aptakama atmakamah
na tasya prana utkramanti
brahmaiva san brahmapyeti

A man who does not desire--who is without desires, who is freed from desires, whose desires are fulfilled, whose only desire is the Self--his vital functions (pranas) do not depart from him. Brahman he is, and to Brahman he goes.

yada sarve pramucyante
kama ye asya hrdi sritah
atha martyo amrto bhavati
atra brahma samasnute

When they are all banished, those desires lurking in one's heart, then a mortal becomes immortal and attains Brahman in this world.

This is not as mysterious as it may seem, if we consider these words of Srila Prabhupada spoken on the occasion of the Deity installation in Los Angeles on 16 July 1969:

In this way, if you always feel Krsna conscious, then you are fire. The same example, keeping with the fire. And if you think it is a brass-made doll, I mean to say, idol. . . Ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham. If you think this is a brass-made idol, then it will remain a brass-made idol to you forever. But if you elevate yourself to higher platform of Krsna consciousness, then Krsna, this Krsna, will talk with you. This Krsna will talk with you.

Srila Sanatana Gosvami serving his worshipable Deity Sri Madana-Gopal in Vrndaban.

There is a Vamsidas Babaji Maharaja, he was talking with his Deity. And Krsna. . . Just like Madana-mohana, He was talking with Sanatana Gosvami. Madana-mohana. . . Sanatana Gosvami at that time had no temple; he was hanging his Deity on the tree. So Madana-mohana was talking with him, "Sanatana, you are bringing all these dry chapatis, and it is stale, and you don't give Me even little salt. How can I eat?" Sanatana Gosvami said, "Sir, where shall I go? Whatever I get I offer You. You kindly accept. I cannot move, old man. " You see. So Krsna had to eat that. (chuckles)

"If you always feel Krsna conscious, then you are fire. " In the purport to Srimad-Bhagavatam 4. 3. 23, Srila Prabhupada explains, "For example, when iron is put into a fire, it becomes warm, and when red-hot, although it is iron, it acts like fire. Similarly, when copper is surcharged with electricity, its action as copper stops; it acts as electricity. Bhagavad-gita (14. 26) also confirms that anyone who engages in unadulterated devotional service to the Lord is at once elevated to the position of pure Brahman. "

Thus great liberated devotees like Sanatana Gosvami had immediate personal exchange with the Deity, even to the point of conversing with Him. This was because Sanatana Gosvami's only desire was to serve the Lord: "Whatever I get I offer you. You kindly accept. " Thus Yajnavalkya Muni says, "When they are all banished, those desires lurking in one's heart, then a mortal becomes immortal and attains Brahman in this world. "

Parinama-vada necessitates our acceptance of the Lord's complete power of transformation over His sakti. His sakti is one energy, like electricity, but under the order of the Lord it may act as spirit, or as spirit's opposite, matter, just as electricity may cook food in a stove or oppositely freeze food in a freezer. We saw in an earlier installment a quotation from Srila Prabhupada Isopanisad purport that for Krsna there is no difference between spirit and matter. Thus His arca form as the Deity is no less Himself than His cinmaya-ananda-svarupa in Divya-Vrndaban. If a devotee here in the material world "always feels Krsna conscious" in service to the Deity, then he is in the same fire of brahma-svarupa as the eternal servants of the Lord in Divya-Vrndaban. By the grace of the Lord that devotee's spiritual senses are awakened to fully engage in loving pastimes even within the so-called material world. If we accept, as we must if we subscribe to parinama-vada, that the Lord can transform spirit into matter and thus create this material world, then we must accept the converse: that he can transform matter into spirit.

Utkranti

In Chandogya Upanisad VI. 15. 2, Uddhalaka Aruni tells Svetaketu that when a person leaves the body, vak manasi sampadyate--his speech merges into the mind; his mind merges into prana, the life force; the prana merges into tejas, the fiery energy of creation; and tejas merges into the transcendental Godhead (parasyam devatayam). The point of departure from the body for a liberated soul is the susumna- or brahma-nadi, a subtle channel that passes out through the top of the head.

Utkranti is the topic of Vedanta-sutra Chapter 4, pada 2. Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana comments that according to Brhadaranyaya Upanisad, speech, mind and prana enter the individual spirit soul. But this does not contradict the version of Chandogya:

In this way the sruti-sastra explains that the life-breath and the senses enters the individual spirit soul. This statement does not contradict the other statement of the sruti-sastra that the life-breath enters the element fire, for it may be said that after the life-breath enters the soul the two of them proceed to enter the element fire. This is like saying that the Yamuna, joining with the Ganges, proceeds to enter the ocean.

Srila Baladeva states furthermore:

In the beginning, the enlightened soul and the unenlightened soul depart from the material body in the same way. However, when they reach the nadis (subtle pathways emanating from the heart), their paths diverge. The enlightened soul passes through one of the hundred nadis, but the enlightened soul passes through a different nadi. This is described in Chandogya Upanisad (VIII. 6. 6):

satam caika ca hrdayasya nadyas tasam murdhanam abhinihsrtaika
tayordhvam ayann amatatvam eti visvag anya utkramane bhavanti

101 nadis lead away from the heart. One passes through the head and leads to immortality. They others lead to a variety of destinations.

This is also described in Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad (VI. 4. 2). The soul endowed with transcendental knowledge departs from the material body through the passage passing through the top of the head. The unenlightened souls depart through the other passages.

Lord Govindadeva's bhasyakara brings us to the door of the next subtopic, arciradi-marga, with this comment:

In the Yajnavalkya-smrti (3. 167) it is said:

urdhvam ekah sthitas tesam
yo bhittva surya-mandalam
brahmalokam atikramya
tena yati param gatim

Among all of them, one great soul travels upward. He breaks through the circle of the sun. He passes beyond the planet of Brahma. He enters the supreme destination.

In the sruti-sastra also it is said that the enlightened soul passes through the nadis at the top of the head and thus leaves the material body. In this way it is proved that the enlightened soul certainly does leave his material body.

Arciradi-marga

This subtopic has already been touched upon in a previous installment. It was explained that there are two paths by which a soul may rise upward after death, the pitryana and the devayana. The pitryana was presented in some detail. The devayana, on the other hand, is the aciradi-marga, the path of the sun's rays. Arcis means flame. It signifies the first of a series of higher cosmic realms through which the soul passes on his way to brahma-svarupa. According to Brhadaranyaka and Chandogya Upanisads, ahas (day) is the next realm. This is followed by suklapaksa (the bright fortnight), uttarayana (the bright half of the year when the sun travels northward), samvatsara (the year), vayu (air), aditya (sun), candra (moon), vidyut (lightning), and Varuna, Indra and caturmukha Prajapati Brahma. And so the souls who follow the arcirada-marga at last arrive at Brahma-loka, the planet of the demigod of creation. Baladeva Vidyabhusana explains what happens next.

When the material creation up to the world of four-faced Brahma is destroyed, they go with the ruler of the material world, the four-faced Brahma, from that created world to the Supreme Brahman, who is different from the four-faced Brahma.

Srila Vyasadeva notes in Vedanta-sutra 4. 3. 4, ativahikah tallingat, that arcis, ahas and the rest are divine personalities who assist the soul along the arciradi-marga. The two paths of pitryana and devayana or arciradi-marga are summarized by Lord Krsna in Bhagavad-gita 8. 23-26.

O best of the Bharatas, I shall now explain to you the different times at which, passing away from this world, the yogi does or does not come back.

Those who know the Supreme Brahman attain the Supreme by passing away from the world during the influence of the fiery god, in the light, at an auspicious moment of the day, during the fortnight of the waxing moon, or during the six months when the sun travels in the north.

The mystic who passes away from this world during the smoke, the night, the fortnight of the waning moon, or the six months when the sun passes to the south reaches the moon planet but again comes back.

According to Vedic opinion, there are two ways of passing from this world, one in light and one is darkness. When one passes in light, he does not come back. But when one passes in darkness, he returns.

It would seem from these Gita verses and from the upanisads that Lord Krsna refers to here that time is an important deciding factor in the attainment of liberation. Apparently, anyone who dies during the night or during the six months when the sun passes in the south must return to this material world.

In Govinda-bhasya Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana makes this comment:

The yogis, that is, they who are devoted to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, do not take these descriptions of the passing of the moon, the light, and other points in time very seriously. They merely make a mental note of them (smaryate). The sutra explains, ete smarte (they are remembered). The Supreme Lord explains in Bhagavad-gita (8. 27):

naite srti partha janan
yogi muhyate kascana

Although the devotees know these two paths, O Arjuna, they are never bewildered.

The conclusion is that a person situated in transcendental knowledge need not be concerned about the specific time of his death. The mention of specific times is not prominent in this passage from Bhagavad-gita (8. 23-26). The passage begins with the mention of fire, which has nothing to do with time. In fact, the different factors mentioned in this passage are all ativahika- devatas (demigods that carry the soul from the body). The author of the sutras will explain this in sutra 4. 3. 2. It is also said:

diva ca sukla-paksas ca
uttarayanam eva ca
mumursatam prasastani
viparitam tu garhitam

The best times for they who are about to die are the daytime, the bright fortnight, and the six months when the sun travels in the north. The other times are not good.

This verse describes the condition of the souls not enlightened with transcendental knowledge. They who are enlightened with transcendental knowledge always attain Lord Hari. The time when they leave their material bodies is not relevant.

Baladeva says further:

The general situation is that the souls enlightened with transcendental knowledge are carried to the spiritual world by the ativahika demigods. However, those nirapeksa devotees (devotees who are not affected by anything material and who are fixed in the service of the Lord) who are especially distressed in separation from the Lord are carried there by the Supreme Lord Himself, for the Lord becomes impatient and cannot tolerate any delay in bringing them back to Him. This is a special situation. The sruti-sastra reveals the truth of this situation in Gopala-tapani Upanisad (1. 22 and 24). The Supreme Lord Himself also explains (Bhagavad-gita 7. 6 and 7):

ye tu sarvani karmani
mayi sannyasya mat-parah
ananyenaiva yogena
mam dhyayanta upasate

tesam aham samuddharta
mrtyu-samsara-sagarat
bhavami na cirat partha
mayy avesita-cetasam

But those who worship Me, giving up all their activities unto Me and being devoted to Me without deviation, engaged in devotional service and always meditating upon Me, having fixed their minds upon Me, O son of Partha, for them I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death.

The word ca (also) in this sutra means that for the liberated souls there are two paths, one where the material body is cast off, and the other where contact with the material body is maintained. It is not possible to say that the nirapeksa devotees follow the path that begins in light. Also, in the Varaha Purana the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself says:

nayami paramam sthanam
arcir-adi-gatim vina
garuda-skandham aropya
yatheccham anivaritah

My devotees need not follow the path beginning in light. Riding on Garuda's shoulders, I personally take them to My supreme abode.

In this way the truth has been explained.

Brahma-svarupa

yatodakam suddhe suddham
asiktam tadrgeva bhavanti
evam muner-vijanata
atma bhavati gautama
(Katha Upanisad II. 1. 15)

As pure water poured into pure water becomes the very same, so the self of the seer who is endowed with knowledge becomes alike with the Supreme Self.

This verse might seem to be one that makes impersonalists very glad. They might question why the word "alike" is used in the translation instead of "one. " But the word tadrk means similarity. Tadrgeva bhavanti means, therefore, "becomes alike" or "becomes similar. "

yatha nadyah syandamanah samudra
astam gaccanti nama rupe vihaya
tatha vidvan nama rupad vimuktah
paratparam purusam apaiti divyam

Just as the rivers flowing down become indistinguishable when they enter the ocean, casting off their names and forms, even so the knower of Brahman, being free from name and form, attains the Supreme Person who is higher than the high. (Mundakopanisad III. 2. 8)

Here again impersonalists may find cause to rejoice: "Yes! This proves that brahma-svarupa means sayuja-mukti only--merging into and becoming one with Brahman!" But the impersonalists should not forget that in this same upanisad, the Lord and the individual soul are described as dvasuparna sayuja sakhaya, two friendly birds in the same tree. As we see in this quotation, the word sayuja is not to be taken as "merging. " It actually means "meeting," as Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana explains in Govinda-bhasya:

That the word sayujya means "meeting" is seen in the following passage of the Maha-Narayana Upanisad (25. 1):

ya evam vidvan udag-ayane pramiyate devanam eva mahimanam
gatvadityasya sayujyam gacchati

The soul that dies during the six months when the sun travels in the north attains the glory of the gods. He approaches the sun and attains sayujya with it.

Salokya and the other kinds of liberation are different varieties of sayujya. It is not that when they feel the sentiment of separation from the Lord the liberated devotees are not also, at that same moment, meeting with the Lord. This is so because the Lord is always manifested in their thoughts and continues to touch them with His glories.

The example (of the rivers entering the ocean) given above should not be taken to mean that the liberated souls become identical with the Lord. When water from one place enters water of another place, the two waters do not actually merge and become identical. They remain separate. This is seen in the fact the the volume of water in the ocean increases as the rivers flow into it.

The Vedas, Upanisads, Vedanta-sutra and Srimad-Bhagavatam reveal that within the effulgence of Brahman there is a divine abode where the Lord and His liberated devotees dwell.

Brhadaranyaka, Chandogya, Prasna and Kausitaka Upanisads speak of brahmaloka as the final destination of the liberated soul. Brahmaloka means "spiritual planet" or "world of Brahman. " The Katha Upanisad, as we have seen in earlier installments, is very clear that this world of Brahman is the param-padam of Sri Visnu.

Vedanta-sutra 3. 3. 36 begins an adhikarana (a section of sutras) about the divya-puri (divine city) within Brahman. This divine city is mentioned in Mundakopanisad II. 2. 7. Chandogya Upanisad VIII. 1. 5 speaks of a brahmapura. These upanisads are expounding upon a statement found in Atharva Veda (X. 2. 29. 33): puram brahma a vivesa aparajitam.

Thus we see that the understanding of Brahman as a world, as a place, as an abode, is well-supported in the sruti texts. What is more, Chandogya Upanisad VIII. 12. 3 gives a detailed description of this abode. The mukta enters this abode by way of param-jyoti (transcendental light, i. e. the brahmajyoti) and finds transcendental variety within.

evam evaisa samprasado 'smac charirat samuttaya param jyotir
upasampadya svena rupen abhinispadyate sa uttama purusah sa tatra
paryeti jaksan kridan ramamanah stribhir va yanair va jnatibhir
sa nopajanam smarann idam sariram

Arising from his last body, and having approached the transcendental light (param-jyoti), the liberated soul is restored to his own form. In that state he is the exalted person (uttama-purusa). The mukta moves about there laughing, playing, and rejoicing, with women, with carriages, with other muktas of his own period or of the past kalpas. So great is his ecstacy that he does not remember even the person standing near him, nor even his own body.

In his purport to Bhagavad-gita 15. 18, Srila Prabhupada translated the first part of this verse differently.

The following verse appears in the Vedas (Chandogya Upanisad 8. 1 2-3): tavad esa samprasado 'mac charirat samutthaya param jyoti-rupam sampadya svena rupenabhinispadyate sa uttamah purusah. "The Supersoul coming out of the body enters the impersonal brahmajyoti; then in His form He remains in His spiritual identity. That Supreme is called the Supreme Personality. "

Lord Visnu is purusa, as explained in Satvata Tantra 1. 36:

virad-dehe yad avasad
bhagavan pura-samjnake
atah purusa-namanam
avapa purusah parah

Because He resides (usa) in the home (pur) of the virata-deha (cosmic body of the universal form), the Supreme Lord is called purusa.

Similarly the jivatma is purusa because he resides in the home of the human body. By His grace, Lord Visnu expands into every heart as the Supersoul to maintain the individual soul in his body (eko bahunam yo vidadhati kaman). When it is time for the living entity to leave that body, the Supersoul goes with him. But He is always the master of material nature which appears within the rays of his spiritual effulgence (yasya prabha prabhavato jagadanda-koti, from Brahma-samhita 5. 40). His luminous form dispelling the darkness of ignorance, the Lord is the all-powerful personification of eternality, knowledge and bliss. The conditioned soul, on the other hand, is but a tiny, spiritually undeveloped spark that hovers within the Lord's bodily rays. The jiva's misguided urge is to leave that light and take shelter of darkness. The Lord kindly grants the soul's desire by revealing to him his next body, created by the agent of darkness, maya.

When the soul is freed from his obsession with darkness, he rises out of the last body into the light and prays:

hiranmayena patrena
satyasyapihitam mukham
tat tvam pusann apavrnu
satya-dharmaya drstaye

O my Lord, sustainer of all that lives, Your real face is covered by Your dazzling effulgence. Please remove that covering and exhibit Yourself to Your pure devotee. (Sri Isopanisad 15)

Passing through the light of Krsna's effulgence, the soul enters the spiritual world and attains a transcendental form like the Lord's own.

Yo veda. . . so asnute sarvan kaman sah brahmana

The supreme truth is rasa. The jiva becomes blissful on attaining this rasa. Who would work with the body and prana (sensory powers) if this blissful form did not exist? He gives bliss to all.

He who knows Brahman enjoys in the supreme abode all auspicious qualities along with Brahman. (Taittirya Upanisad II. 1)

yato vaco nivartante aprapya manasa sah
anando brahmano vidvan na bibheti kutascaneti

He who knows the bliss of Brahman, from which words and mind turn away unable to reach it, is not afraid of anything. (Ta. U. II. 9)

anando brahmeti vyajanat anandadhyeva khalu imani bhutani jayante
anandena jatani jivanti anandam prayanti abhisamvisanti

He realized that bliss is Brahman; for from bliss, verily these things are born. They live by bliss. And when departing, they enter into bliss. (Ta. U. III. 7)

raso vai sah
rasam hy evayam labdhanandi bhavati
ko hy evanyat kah pranyat
yad esa akasa anando na syat
esa hy esanandayati

The supreme truth is rasa. The jiva becomes blissful on attaining this rasa. Who would work with the body and prana (sensory powers) if this blissful form did not exist? He gives bliss to all. (Ta. U. II. 7)

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