sarguna brahman

[Guest guest]

om namo narayana

 

There are two aspects of god, one with form and the other without

form (sakara and nirakara). The formless god is beyond the reach of

the ignorant, those who have not progressed sufficiently in spiritual

knowledge. It is to meet the needs of such people, that Hinduism has

in its pantheon thirty-three crores of gods who are all with form.

If, with implicit faith, such people worship any of the aspects of

god with form,-believing them to be real, the god without form who is

immanent in the core of everyone's being, will awaken their higher

conciousness(the sixth sense),and he will be experienced as supreme

knowledge. There are attributes to describe god without form. He is

ever-existent, unchanging, indestructible and devoid of special

qualities. He is supreme Brahman, who could be worshipped both as god

with form and without form. Idols of gods are installed in Hindu

temples so that the fickle mind can fasten itself for support on the

god seen as idol and conceive of god in the particular form of the

visible idol. By constant meditation on the form of the idol, the

mind becomes steady. The nama (name) of the particular deity should

be continiously recited in the mind. If this discipline is persisted

in, there will come a time when god without form will get

transformed, and will be realized in the heart as the supreme

witness, god without form.

 

There are four great Vedic pronouncements or Mahavakyas;

 

 

 

"Brahman is conciousness" ( Prajnanam Brahma)

 

"That thou art" (Tat Tvam Asi)

 

"I am Brahman" (Aham Brahmasmi)

 

"This self is Brahman" ( Ayam Atma Brahma)

 

 

 

All these major texts point to the same truth that the subjective

conciousness which is the witness of the three states of an

individual experience and objective ground which is the substream of

all beings and is the witness of universe are one and the same, the

Brahman or pure Conciousness.

 

 

 

Ohm is Akhandakara Brahman (it is the unbroken continuum of

existence, satta the summum genius which is present in all beings.

Ohm is (the highest symbol) indicative of Brahman both as

attributeless or nirguna and as endowed with attributes or saguna.

Saguna Brahman is Brahman qualified by pure sattwa-predominant Maya,

which is under its control and is called Iswara (because he is all-

powerful, the lord of all, who is the creator, preserver and

destroyer of the universe).

 

cdr bvn

[Guest guest]

Namaste Sri vaidyanathiyer

>If, with implicit faith, such people worship any of the aspects of

>god with form,-believing them to be real, the god without form who is

>immanent in the core of everyone's being, will awaken their higher

>conciousness (the sixth sense), and he will be experienced as supreme

>knowledge. There are attributes to describe god without form. He is

>ever-existent, unchanging, indestructible and devoid of special qualities.

 

 

You provided a thoughtful message that covered a lot of territory.

 

Two comments:

 

(1) I believe that there are qualities or aspects of consciousness

that could be called 'Saguna' but that are on the *threshold* of

'Nirguna'. Such qualities might be bliss, illumination, space

(akasa), or the simple pure sense of being. These do not have

particular geometric forms but seem to pervade all of consciousness

in some sense, and in this respect resemble the infinite nature of

Brahman. Just my thought.

 

(2) I think (again just my opinion) that devotion proceeds in two

stages. First, there is a 'warm' or 'sweet' feeling not unlike the

love between husband and wife. This is still dualistic. But as the

devotion deepens, some flashes of insight occur in which a taste of

the infinite nature of Brahman may be obtained. These flashes are

more like the sense of vast akasa or the all-pervading light of

illumination than the sweetness of devotion per se. This is the

taste of Consciousness itself.

 

Just my speculations. I am highly deficient in either bhakti or jnana.

 

Om!

Benjamin

[Guest guest]

namaste

 

Sankara in his commentary on chand.up VI.xiv.2. has explained the

saguna Brahman he says about the mahavakya "tat tvam asi" as follows.

 

Tat or that which is the supreme Brahman, which is also referred to

as isvara. The lord of the universe (when describing it by tatastha

lakshana) becomes tvam or thou when it superimposes on itself, avidya

or primeval ignorance. Universe,which is a mere illusory appearance

caused by maya is the veil between Brahman and jiva. When one

realizes the full import of asi or art and consequently the identity

of tat or that and tvam or thou, the ignorance disappears and the

self or atman is seen shining eternally in its own native splendour.

 

The direct meaning of that is saguna Brahman, that is Brahman which

is qualified by satva predominant maya. This Brahman is both

material and efficient cause of the universe. It is called isvara,

the omnipresent and omnipotent creator,preserver and destroyer of the

universe. The implied meaning of that is the unconditional and

absolute pure conciousness or the nirguna Brahman.

 

Sankara,according to whom Brahman is nirvisesha (qualitiless) and

there is no difference between god and men. As per many who have

studied on Upanishads say that there is no conclusive proof in

support of some popular advaitic concepts like maya and jivanmukti.

 

 

But sankara in his work bhajagovidam taklks about jivanmuktas. Also

we have seen many mahans who have attained jivanmukti which itself is

a clear proof of adi shankara advaita concepts.ramana maharishi,

sadguru gnananda giri of tapovanam,ragavendra of mantralayam and maha

periyaval of kanchipuram. There might be many more as jivanmuktas do

not tell their experience to others.

 

"satsangatwe nissangatwam

nissangatwe nirmohatwam

nirmohatwe nischalatwam

nischalatwe jivanmukti hi"

 

cdr bvn

[Guest guest]

As per many who have studied on Upanishads say that there is no conclusive

proof in support of some popular advaitic concepts like maya and

jivanmukti.

> praNAm prabhuji

> Hare Krishna

> prabhuji, it is crystal clear to shankara's followers that shankara

propagating his advaita concepts purely based on shruti vAkyas. sadyO

mukti or sadEha mukti or jivanmukti clearly embedded in shrutis. Pls. see

the following shruti verses : brahmavit brahmaiva bhavati - mundaka

iha chedvEdIdatha satyamasti

na chEdihAvEdInmahatI vinashtihi - kenOpanishad

vAmadEva rishi's realisation that he is manu & sUrya etc. happened to him

when he was in his body!!!

Further you can see chAndOgya also : asmAcharIrAt samuttaya

paraMjyOtirupasaMpadyasvEna rUpEnAbhinishpadhyatE sa uttama purushaH

> It is clear that Shruthi statements like above point out that mukti

accrues immediately after the dawn of the knowledge of brahman & thus

precludes the necessity for anything else to be done in the interval before

release. Shankara clearly says ShAstrAs remove the idea of one's being a

transmigratory soul (jIvAtma) sprout out of avidyA & reveal one's true

nature as the nitya, shudda, budda mukta swarUpa. Ofcourse, whether you

have a body or not hardly affects our eternal free nature of Atman. coz.

this Atman is never tainted by anything.

 

Hope this would help.

 

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!

bhaskar