The Grand Scheme of Bhagavan Veda VyAsa

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ShrIgurubhyo namaH

 

The Grand Scheme of Bhagavan Veda VyAsa

 

Namaste,

 

In this post an endeavour is made to address some questions that

recently came up for discussion. One is: How is Shakti, the

Universal Mother, called avidya?

 

What comes to mind immediately is this nAma of the Mother in the Sri

Lalitha SahasranAma: vidyA-avidyA-svarUpiNi. She is both vidyA and

avidyA. We have already seen the meaning of this in a general way

by recalling Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa's words: VidyA mAyA and

avidyA maayA and the role of these two, the former takes us towards

the Truth and the latter takes us away from the Truth.

 

The daivI sampat (divine qualities) and AsurI sampat (demoniacal

traits) are both the manifestations of the One Supreme Being only,

through the power of MAyA which itself is made up of the three

guNas – sattva, rajas and tamas.

 

We have a clear mention of this in the Bhagavad Gita:

 

Ye chaiva sAttvikA bhAvAH RaajasAs-tAmasAscha ye |

Matta Eveti tAn viddhi na tvaham teShu te mayi || (VII.12)

 

Whatever beings are of Sattva or of Rajas or Tamas, know them to

proceed from Me; still, I am not in them, they are in Me.

 

While sattva, rajas and tamas are collectively called `Avidya',

still, sattva is differentiated as vidya, within the superset of

Avidya/MAyaa and rajas and tamas as avidya, within this same

superset.

 

In the Lalitha SahasranAma itself, we find the Shakti, the Mother as

the one inhering in the regions like MUlAdhAra. svAdhiShThaana,

etc. , the lower parts, of the anus, genital, etc. This does not in

any way take away or bring down the value and worth or glory of the

Supreme Mother, who, in any case, transcends these, untouched by

these. This idea is not something alien to the UpaniShads: In the

Taittiriya UpaniShad, Bhruguvalli, for instance, we find these

upAsanas: A quote, partially, from the book on the Tai.Upanishad

by Samata Books:

 

//Now the Shruti proceeds to teach how Brahman should be

contemplated:

 

KShema iti Vaachi……vimuktiriti pAyau.. ..prajAtiramRRitamAnanda

ityupasthe [As safety in speech,….as discharge in the anus….and joy

in the generative organ….]//

 

In the Gita seventh chapter, and in the 10th chapter, the Lord is

specifying his Divine VibhUtis meant for contemplation. He does not

specifically enumerate the 'lower' ones, although He is also these,

of course, by the agency of Prakriti.

 

The idea of pointing out these is just to show that EVERYTHING in

creation, the `lowly' and the `exalted' , which categorization

includes ignorance, avidyA and knowledge, vidyA, is an expression of

the Supreme Brahman, of course, through the agency of mAyA. The

ultimate teaching of the UpaniShad/Gitaa is: this multiplicity,

diversity, duality, dvandva, is just an appearance; not absolutely

real. Hence, O Sadhaka, transcend this duality by knowing the Truth

that is Non-dual, bereft of these varieties, untouched by these.

The training for this is provided in the scriptures: be equanimous

in duality (karma yoga) and finally get to the state where you see

the One, NirdOSham, Samam, Brahma in everything that is variegated;

for example the Gita verse (V.18): vidyA-vinaya-sampanne BraahmaNe,

gavi, hastini, shuni chaiva shvapAke cha paNDitAH samadarshinaH: He

is the Knower of the Truth who sees That which is inherent (as the

Non-dual Truth) in the outwardly manifest forms of (some examples

given): a Brahmin endowed with learning and humility (sAttva), a cow

(rajas), an elephant, a dog and an utterly uncultured man of lowly

habits (of eating dog's flesh) (all tamas). Here the teaching is:

the Supreme Truth, Brahman, is GuNAtIta, beyond the three guNas.

Actually, the Gita itself teaches in the 14 chapter the traits of

the GuNAtIta.

 

 

Bhagavaan Veda Vyasa, in His infinite compassion, gave us the

PurANas with the objective of taking the people of mediocre caliber

to the realization of the Supreme. Since the Truth spoken of in the

UpaniShads/Vedas with whatever name, say for example, VishNu, which

really means, etymologically, vyApanashIlaH, the all-pervading One,

is NirguNa, nirAkAra, AdvitIya Shuddha Chaitanya , is beyond the

grasp of the unprepared minds, Sri VyAsa featured this NirguNa

Brahman in the various purANas and depicted this Truth, Brahman as

sa-guNa Hari, Krishna, Shiva, AmbA, etc. In these purANas, He

showed the respective manifestations as the Supreme. Thus, in the

Bhagavatam Sri Hari is the Supreme Brahman. In the Shiva purANa,

Lord Shiva is the Supreme Brahman, and in the DevI bhAgavatam,

BrahmAnDa purANa, etc., the Mother is the Supreme Brahman.

 

Thus, in the Sri LalithA sahasranAma we have names such

as: `karAnguli-nakhOtpanna-nArAyaNa-dashAkRRitiH' . This means:

the Mother Lalithaambika's ten finger-nails are the source from

which the ten incarnations/avatAras of Lord NAraayaNa have

emerged. We have, elsewhere a name: Brahma-VishNu-ShivAtmika

meaning: She is the essence of the triumvirates: Brahma, ViShNu and

Shiva. Again, there is this name of the Mother: sa-chAmara-ramA-

vANi-savya-dakShiNa-sevitA meaning: On either side of the Mother

LalithA Tripurasundari are present Mothers Lakshmi and Saraswati,

serving Her, fanning Her.

 

All this is to only show, in the intention of Bhagavan Veda VyAsa,

that the NirguNa Chaitanya Brahman of the UpaniShads alone is the

Supreme and the other powers that officiate in various capacities in

maintaining the world-order, are Its own manifestations. There is

no question of Devi is greater than Vishnu or Shiva is greater than

Vishnu. The Advaitic bhAva that One alone appears as the variety of

deities is what to be grasped, as conveyed by Veda VyAsa, through

the purANas. When this is recognized, there will be no room for

fanatic viewpoints of VaishNavism and Shaivism or Shaakta-ism. For

those belonging to the Advaita sampradAya, the chanting of the three

SahasraNaamas: of Vishnu, Shiva and Lalitha, is equally sweet and

agreeable perfectly. In fact there are some who do the chanting of

all the three even daily.

 

The Gita verse (XVIII.20) teaches this:

 

sarvabhUteShu yenaikam bhAvam-avyayam-IkShate |

avibhaktam vibhakteShu taj-jnAnam viddhi sAttvikam ||

 

That by which man sees the one Idestructible Reality in all beings,

inseparate in the separated, that knowledge know thou as SAttvic.

 

The Kathopanishad severely criticizes the cognition of duality as

real: MRRityOssa MRRityum Apnoti ya iha NAneva pashyati. He who

sees difference goes from death to death.

 

In the Nrisimha TApaniya UpaniShat there is this mantra: KRRiShir-

bhUvAchakaH shabo, Nastu niRRiti-vAchakaH…. meaning that the

word `KRRiShNa' actually means Existence-Consciousness Brahman

alone. So too is the name RAma: ramante yogino yatra, nishprapanche

chidAtmani, iti Raama-padenAsau parabrahmAbhidhIyate: The

word `RAma' signifies that Supreme Brahman, bereft of the world,

where the Yogins revel in bliss.

 

To conclude, we have in the scheme of this esoteric wisdom, a graded

path that leads the aspirant, from whatever level of spiritual

evolution he is in, to the Supreme Non-dual Truth. This scheme

makes use of the method of imagery, stories, etc., quite

extensively. The various names of deities, their forms and their

gradations such as Tamasic, Rajasic and Saatvic deities, are all

part of this scheme. The jIva, the sAdhaka, is endowed with the

Shakti, manifesting as both aasuric and daivi, in him. The `energy'

that is required to eschew the Asuric and strengthen the DaivI is

also present in him. The Scriptures are a guide, a `user's manual'

as it were, to invoke and appropriately regulate this shakti.

 

With pranams to all,

Subbu

Om Tat Sat

 

A note for Br. Vinayaka: On 'Kapila' of the Gita:

 

The name: 'MaharShiH KapilAchAryaH' is the 531st name in the Sri

ViShNusahasranAma. Acharya Shankara comments:

 

The two words found above are one name only with the adjective.

Maharshi is the one who has the knowledge of the entire Veda; the

others have just the knowledge of a part of the Veda. Kapila is the

One endowed with the knowledge of/and the Acharya of - the sAnkhya

(Vedanta, refer: SAnkhya Yoga of the Gitaa) that is the shuddha-

tattva-vijnAna. He quotes a ShwetashvatarOpanishat mantra V.2 and a

smriti as well. He also quotes the Gita: 10.26.

 

Swami Tyagishananda notes that the Shve.Up. quoted above refers to

HiraNyagarbha. In any case the Kapila of the Gita is not the one of

the Bhagavata, nor the Teacher of the SAnkhya that is refuted in the

Vedanta.