[Guruvayur/Guruvayoor] Quench my thirst !

[Guest guest]

Dear Vinod,

 

This is only an attempt to quench your thirst regarding the Brahman ,Atman and

the need to worship manifested and unmanifested forms of God and certainly there

can be better views on the subject.

 

For all practical purposes,it does not matter whether the world as we know is

real or unreal.Time and energy are wasted in useless intellectual speculation

and discussion.Concepts lead to no final answer.One's notions of God do not

arise from reason.They are preconceptions,mere projections of somebody else's

ideas.One group's ideas differ from those of another group,just as individual

ideas vary.Vedanta does not try to convert to " isms " .It offers a technique for

one

to experience Ultimate Reality by approaching first through intellectual

inquiry

and then thru direct realization.Although the questions one runs into during

the

quest for spiritual fulfillment cannot beappropriately answered thru the

intellect,

nonethless inquiry,as opposed to discussion or debate,is necessary to lead the

true spiritual seeker along the path.If the mind is open and free from

prejudice

and preconceived ideas,inquiry will eventually lead to direct knowledge.

 

Brahman seems to refer to the power that brings about and changes the physical

universe.It is not only the principle and creator of all there is but is also

the sum totality of the universe and its phenomena.It being the Absolute

Consciousness has neither name nor form.It is infinite,unqualified and

undifferntiated.Reflected thru Maya,Brahman takes on qualities and is called

Ishwara or God.The nature of the single divinity or totality of the universe

Brahman and Atman gets worked out that whereas Brahman can be located

in the physical external world and also in the spititual and inner world where

it

is present as Atman,universal spirit.Every human being has an undying soul

(atman) which becoz of Karma journeys thru eternity from life to life and this

undying atman is a microcasm of Atman,the universal spirit which is identical

to Brahman.Maya then is the veiling power of Brahman.It creates the idea of

limitation,an illusion that world is different from Brahman.With

Self-Realization

the world delusion disappears and all is experienced directly as the

unchanging

unlimited Brahman.Unless realization takes place,man is wrapped in avidya,

which is ignorance or nescience.The moment self is realized ,ignorance,ego

and limiting adjuncts disappear.Illusion disappears in the light of

Reality.Nothing

can stop a man from eventually reaching the goal.This formless Brahman which

at the same time appears with forms as per the desire of the aspirant.

 

The sadhaka who is competent to adore the Formless Reality must have complete

mastery over the senses.He neither runs after the pleasant nor recoils

from the painful.he remains unaffected by both of them.Does the sadhakareduce

himself then to the position of a corpse which lies unaffected by pleasure and

pain?No, he raises himself to even-mindedness which is found in him only who

is ethically and spiritually evolved.This attitude again does not mean one of

passiveness.It expresses itself in the form of service to all

beings,recognizing

Divinity in them.When the sadhak's mindflow out in this way,cognizing Godhood

everywhere,it is to be regarded as the worship of Brahman.As Sri Ramakrishna

says 'When bell is rung,each stroke has a sound-form of its own.But the formles

sound is also heard for a while after stopping the striking.Similarly God is

both

with form and without form.In both ways of worship which lead to the same

goal,

either can be adopted according to the spiritual development of the aspirant.

 

Undoubtedly though the goal of worshipping God with form and without,the

worship of God without form is very difficult for the sadhaka soaked in body-

consciousness.As he thinks of himself with from he cannot help thinking of his

God also with form.The worship of Saguna Brahman is easy.He who adores

Nirguna Brahman has to be free from body-feeling right from the beginning.But

the attainment of that state is not possible for all in this ever fast life of

the

modeern world.Only spiritually exhalted soul rises to that level.Hence the

advice

to worship of God in manifested form as that will be easier and after years of

practice the sadhak will find himself moving upwards and enter into the realms

of higher spiritual dimensions and will be able to get himself absorbed in the

beautitude of formless Being.This may take several births and only when one is

about to complete his/her cycle of births and deaths after undergoing lot of

experiences and shelving all karmas such a thing will take place.As we hv not

developed to such an extent worshipping God with form is preferred as at this

stage we can't imagine God as something like air or so.

 

This naturally leads to the question when Krishna says that the manifested

form

can bring benefits to the aspirant He never means that the devotee will get

self-

realization and He only means that many benefits will accrue to the devotee

which may in course of time according to the readiness of the aspirant can guide

him/her to the logical conclusion of becoming one with Him.Spiritual path

is not one of roses but one of difficlties and thorns and can't be taken

lightly.

It requires lot of discipline,practices,detachment and other factors which can

be

attained only by rare souls.Hence the advice to worship in the manifested form

which requires love,surrender,devotion.Vedas are only texts and guides which

explain the Brahman in detail which can't be assimilated by all and that

itself

does not make them Brahman or even its shadow.Again in such case where the

manifested form of God can bestow benefits why shuld one bother abt form that

is unmanifested and impersonal.The aspirant can reach the Godhood only when

his individual atman gets diluted in the Universal Atman and not otherwise.The

Bhakthy cult is only the stepping stone to the ultimate aim of becoming

Oneness and only in Oneness the individual soul gets the full Realization and

not otherwise.It has been the ambition of the human beings from time

immemorial to know the Truth and lot of seers hv attained that stage.As said

earlier the path of worshipping impersonal God or Brahman is well nigh

impossible for all humans and only those who are fit for that will entertain

such

ambitions and may attain their goal depending on their merits as this path is

only meant for them and for others worshipping God or Brahman or Atman in a

personal form is the only panacea to lift oneself up.

 

Hare Krishna,

agraman.

 

 

" PS, Vinod K (GE Infra, Energy) " <vinod.ps wrote:

!! Sri Rama Jayam !!

 

----------

arjuna uvaca

evam satata-yukta ye

bhaktas tvam paryupasate

ye capy aksaram avyaktam

tesam ke yoga-vittamah

 

Arjuna inquired: Which is considered to be more perfect, those who are properly

engaged in Your devotional service, or those who worship the impersonal Brahman,

the unmanifested?

 

sri-bhagavan uvaca

mayy avesya mano ye mam

nitya-yukta upasate

sraddhaya parayopetas

te me yuktatama matah

 

The Blessed Lord said: He whose mind is fixed on My personal form, always

engaged in worshiping Me with great and transcendental faith, is considered by

Me to be most perfect.

----

 

Dear All,

 

Highlighting 2 slokas from Bhagavad Gita here & I wish to understand the

following:

 

1. What is impersonal brahman (the unmanifested) ... does that mean 'formless'

or 'a form beyond human/terrestrial perception as witnessed by Arjuna' ?

2. How can one fix his/her mind on the impersonal form ... because mind needs a

form to read the information ?

3. Nearly, all the sacred texts claim that Vedas are the textual form of the

very supreme ... Can VEDAs be treated as impersonal brahman ?

4. In the above slokas Krishna confirms that his manifested form (dwibhuja rupam

or chaturbhuja rupam) will bring the best benefit to the devotees than his

unmanifested form ... Then why should one put effort to know the impersonal ?

5. 'Atma' meaning the 'self' has no form as such ... would be very helpful if

anybody can describe the nature/symptom of the self which stands above body,

mind & intellect ?

 

Thanks in advance !

 

Hare Krishna

Hare Rama