Brahmabala

[Guest guest]

I had, some time ago, copied directly from "Follow the Master" p. 81 of the

English version, where I found "Supreme Truth" in brackets, as the meaning of

Brahmabala. See below.

Now Pradyumna has given a nice explanation of Brahmabala (at Dattavani) and

at the same time of working without motive in my opinion, which I would like to

share with you.

As for Sri Swamiji representing the formless, as I see it, everyone of us has

been a devotee of the Almighty all the time, in all of our lives, knowingly

or unknowingly, including animals and plants, even stones. So there´s no use in

taking pride in being a devotee, or in giving money, doing poojas etc. JGD

 

"I saw in an earlier post that 'Brahmabala' was translated as 'supreme

truth'. This post will perhaps clarify this concept somewhat for those

who are not familiar with sanskrit vocabulary, as I myself know it can

be confusing to hear a million different variations on a single word

being used in multiple contexts. The word 'Brahma-bala' translates

directly to 'brahma-strength' -- brahma, or rather 'brahman', is

nothing other than the nature of all this, and has been referred to by

some as 'knowledge' and by others as 'shakthi', mother goddess, and so

on; indeed, both 'knowledge' and 'shakthi' are one and the same. Of

course it is silly (and useless) for me to say "brahman is the nature

of all this" -- this is something one should arrive at through

understanding, and not through parrot-ing. Each person should

intuitively come to know, not some empty statement to be posted as i'm

doing here. The word 'bala' means 'strength'. The idea is that all

strength derives from knowledge alone, so the words 'supreme truth'

are not incorrect, but they are indirect.

 

As for the rest of the passage (see below), indeed, the notion that

Swamiji is a doer is as wrong as the notion that Swamiji is not a

doer. Swamiji is not the physical body with beard, orange cloth, and

so on; these are merely outward appearances created by time, space and

circumstance. The real Swamiji is the representative principle of the

formless (Parameswara, Parama Siva, Paramatma, Guru, etc) that has

taken a form (Siva, Vishnu, Appaji, etc) for the benefit of those who

cannot understand or intuitively grasp concepts such as

'formlessness'. His presence is utimately only for your benefit, in

that He inspires one to turn 'inward' from your mundane everyday

'outward' lives. Having done so, you will come to realize that the

inward is non-different from the outward. Indeed, the mind being a

product of avidya, cannot grasp formlessness as a finite thing cannot

grasp the infinite except by negation (neti neti). If the mind grasped

formlessness, it would take on the nature of formlessness and it would

lose its property of being 'mind'.

 

Swamiji is neither dependent, nor independent -- yet assuming the

latter (that he is independent)leads one to a better understanding of

His tattva, while assumption of the former (that he is dependent upon

the finite circumstances) increases or promotes the self-deluding

ignorance (in the form of ego-sense) that one has when one thinks

"Swamiji depends on US for his projects, his activities, etc..." (this

thought silently promotes the idea that 'I am doing...' and is the ego

growing quietly in the background) -- truly, it is to be known that

Swamiji is doing all this through the power of His Yoga Maya, and that

Swamiji depends on no one but himSelf. From 'his' standpoint He is not

doing at all. From 'our' standpoint He is doing everything. From the

perspective of truth, he is neither doing, nor not doing. The idea is

that one must silently move the mind away from 'doership' to the state

of 'non-doership' and finally beyond both of these ideas to the true

 

state of 'being' or sat-chit-ananda, which is truth. In truth, nothing

is done at all anywhere at anytime. It should be noted also that words

such as 'his' and 'ours' here are being used purely to convey the

concept in the framework of dual consciousness, but are not really

correct in themselves either in the absolute sense as there is no

separation at all. But i'm finding this difficult to explain in words.

 

It is nothing but ignorance when one is deluded into thinking that "I

am giving Swamiji my money, and this work is being done as a result of

my good charitable work" You are doing nothing at all is the truth.

You must fundamentally ask the question -- who is the inspiration for

your good works? Can you have done 'good deeds' without His will that

you do so? without His inspiration that you do this at this time and

place? Think about this...

 

The reality is that there is no difference between Swamiji and

yourSelf. He is not 'impossible to understand', if you pay careful

attention to your Self... he is only 'impossible to understand' if you

never bother looking at yourself from a more direct perspective. One

must go directly to the core and not waste a moment, for a moment

wasted, is an eternity gone in the opposite direction of the goal, if

one is not aware of the true state of being which is to remain as the

undivided original being.

 

Some food for thought... 'Guru' = 'remover of darkness' = your own

awareness. What else in this world removes darkness (ignorance) except

light (knowledge)? What is knowledge? knowledge is nothing other than

your own awareness... Guru is your awareness. Swamiji is your

awareness. This is why he knows what you have done, who you are, and

what you are doing at this very moment at all times -- He IS you, you

are Him; this world is nothing but Him, and He is this world.

 

The following illustration may clarify the difference between

ignorance and jnanam. To understand conceptually the relationship

between ignorance and jnanam, one should look at the following picture...

 

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/gifs/young1.jpg

 

If you look at it one way, it appears as "a young woman" with her head

turned away -- if you look at it again, you will see it as "an old

woman" looking straight ahead. The understanding of the dual nature of

this picture is jnanam, and the understanding that 'this is an old

woman' or 'this is a young woman' is ajnanam (ignorance). In this way,

both knowledge and ignorance are intimately tied together as one. This

is why it is said in the bhagavad gita:

 

"A yogi, the person of self-restraint, remains wakeful when it is

night for all others. It is night for the yogi who sees when all

others are wakeful."

 

The vision of the yogi and the vision of the ignorant is one and the

same, yet the yogi sees the Truth behind all these various

appearances; while all others are deluded by them! Krishna goes on to

tell arjuna "Be thou a yogi, oh Arjuna!" ... this is not only an

instruction to Arjuna, but the whole world. To live life yogically, is

to live successfully and correctly, in one's best interests. To not

just 'live' spiritually, but to 'be' spiritual!

 

Here's a question people should contemplate on: What is the essential

idea behind the concept that Nandi sits constantly facing Lord Siva?

What is the signficance of this posture? Why should Nandi always face

Lord Siva? Who is Nandi? Who is Shiva? What do each represent? Think

about these questions carefully. I will not provide my perspective on

this question, it is for yourselves to think over at your leisure.

 

I also wish to take this opportunity to remind everyone that there are

many projects at the ashram (Amma Vodi, feeding of the poor, etc)

which currently require a lot of money and so on, so I urge people to

take this opportunity to sponsor time, money, or any help whatsoever

towards these different causes, for your own sake. No help is too

small, or goes unnoticed. (Here's another imaginitive excercise: if

everyone sent $5 today, we could potentially raise $5 x 10000 devotees

= $50000 in a single day! Amazing eh?)

 

jai guru datta!"

 

 

DattaVani, MadeleineHeiss@a... wrote:

>

>

> Question: When Swamiji has "Brahmabala" (Supreme Truth), why should

He depend

> on the worldy people for varied purposes?

> Answer: Though Swamiji has "Brahma bala", He does not want to use it

for the

> worldly karmas. His duty is to give the chance to everyone to serve

the Ashram

> through worldly means, to free himself from his bondage. All the Ashram

> activities are for emancipating mankind. Swamiji wants nothing of

the worldly goods

> for Himself.

>

> Follow the Master, p. 81 JGD

>