My Humble Spiritual Concept. (Radhakrishnan Nair)
What little I understood as essence, by reading a very few books from the precious and voluminous Scriptures of Sanatana Dharma, the entire edifice of Indian Philosophical thought and the perennial wisdom of ages, founded firmly on Vedas, is that there is only one God and that is the Brahman. It is supposed that no question remains unanswered in our Scriptures. The whole world literatures put together will not weigh equal to our Scriptures. It is a treasure house of knowledge yet to be explored in many Chathuryugas, it seems. The Brahman, also known by many names like PARAMATMA, God, Eswaran, Bhagavan etc., is the one and the same and is all pervasive. The Brahman is the Impersonal Concept (Avyaktigata Bhava) of God. Then, is there a Personal Concept or Form (Vyktigata Bhava or Roopa) of God? Yes, of course, the Brahman can manifest in any form since the Brahman is the SUPREME POWER. The PARAMATMA is like the air inside and outside of a pot, kept open. We are the pots. When the pot is broken or destroyed, the air inside and outside it, becomes one. The Brahman is not an object, It is the SUBJECT, and the one and only SUBJECT. All sentient and insentient, including their habitat, is Brahman. The potency of the Brahman is of very great magnitude, voluminous, diverse and quite indescribable– ‘‘Ananatham, Ajnatham, Avarnaneeyam” Everything is in Brahman. KARMA forms a very great significant part of the Brahman. But,it is independent and works its own. The PARAMATMA acts as a Witness or SAKSHI to KARMA. KARMA is the law of consequences of merit and demerit of our actions, whether it is done by Mind, Words and Deeds- ‘Manasa, Vacha and Karmana’- including that of our past births or janmas. There is no way out, to escape from the result of KARMA. Every ounce of it, we have to experience. What we sow, so shall we reap. Brahman remains a witness to it, like to Its Maya or deluded potency. Understanding this great truth, and to make it convenient, comfortable and easy for those dull-minded -‘manda-budhis’- like us, to do sat-karmas and to worship God, with focused attention and concentration, our ancient Sages/ Seers/ Rishis, sitting
austere and sublime, doing severe penance and ‘tapas’ in the dark caves of Himalayas and other such sacred places, where they could commune with the Brahman, which could create, sustain and annihilate anything and everything in Its simple imagination -(Sankalapamathrayil)classified, like Bhagavan Veda Vyasa divided Vedas, into three forms from Brahman as ‘Bahma, Vishnu and Maheswara’. Our Seers made it clear that they are not different from Brahman, the PARMATMA or God, but only to give the devotees a personal form or attribute (Vyaktigatha swaroopam) to worship with true faith, seeing them with their eyes, in the most beautiful and attractive forms of idol, image, picture, stone or any other substance- ‘upadhi’, as they like. The great Seers of the Yore, by their foresight, felt the pulse of the populace and understood that even the ‘Trio’ manifestation of Brahman, as Brahma,Vishnu and Maheswara, would not be easily accessible to them and so they were given thirty three crores of manifestation of Brahman, in a vibrant variety of form of demigods or Devas and Devis. Now they can pick and choose the Deva/Devi, they like to worship with various kinds of bhakti- like prema bhakti/valsalya bhakti etc., of their own, in close proximity, as and when they like, with or without certain ritualistic rules or Vedic injunctions. People got very much satisfied, they worshipped and still worshipping their Moorthis, gladly for material, and sometimes for spiritual benefits. It proved a fact that God alone or people alone, cannot live happily; only when mutually interacted together they can live, which is called ‘Lokayutham’ or Materialism. It reminds me of Jawaharlal Nehru’s words, ‘The East is East and West is West, but when both combine, produce the Best. Divinity is not separate from Humanity. The Lord and His creations, together make the world joyous. Bhagavan is capable of doing anything sitting quietly in His Abode, by His ‘sankalapa’ alone. He is the number one ‘Bhavagrahi’, He understands our bhava (the exact thought and attitude of our mind) well beforehand. Mutual understanding based on Divinity, with Providence and prudence together,with unselfishness develops love among people. We should get rid of our ego, which is the main reason for all clashes. We should be social for a meaningful and happy life in the world and always indebted to God. God, whether in personal form or impersonal form, is Omnipotent and is ‘Sudha Satwa’. By birth itself It is so, since Bhagavan was born in the Milky Ocean (Palazhy). He is ‘Ksheerodakashayi’. But, we are born in the amniotic fluid (water) in the womb of our MotherUdakodakashayi. We are not born Sudha Satwa, by birth. It is also not easy to become Sudha
Satwa, since by birth itself, we are an admixture of the three gunas- Satwa, Rajas and Tamasput together. It says that in the colorful abode of Bhagavan, Vaikuntam, there is no rain, heat, AC, rest rooms or the like. There are no entrails like ours, inside Bhagavan’s Body. Bhagavan’s Body is clean and it is called ‘Sachit’- Thirumeni. He is always in ‘SachidanandaSwaroopa’Existence, Conscience and Bliss. It says that Brahmaji took years and special extra ordinary things like sky buds, roots of grinding stones and such many rarest of the rare things, from different places, for making the Thirumeni of Lord Krishna. In the final stage, after so many procedures, it became unique, and effulgent by itself, producing ‘Kodi Soorya Prabha’. Srimad Bhagavatam says that Lord Krishana is ‘Poornam, Brahma Sanatanam’. We need not necessarily worship any other God, when Krishna is there. He is easily available - ‘sulabham’ too for us, but quite unknowingly we are searching God somewhere else, keeping Him always with us. He wants only our unconditional and unalloyed love. He incarnates not only for ‘Parithranaya sadhoonam , vinashaya cha dushkrtam, dharma samsthapanarthaya’ etc., but also for, mixing and mingling with His loved ones and to shower boundless mercy on them. But what He suffered and still suffering on that account for us, is inestimable, unimaginable and we cannot pay off the debt even if we have seven births or janmas more to serve Him. He loves more devotees from ‘Grahastasramis’, than from ‘Sannyasins’, as He spoke in Srimad Bhagavat Gita. He is showering mercy on us, explicitly and immeasurably. Make Him happy with service, He will make us enjoy our life, throughout. Do not withdraw even a step back from His service, thereafter. I think it is high time for us to stop the search of any other God outside, except Krishna and stop asking more and more things; instead express our deep gratitude for every moment in our life, whether it is rain or shine. Live strictly observing ‘Sanatana Dharma’, which is not alien to us, since what we follow unknowingly every day in our life is Sanatana Dharma or Bhagavata Dharma. Do our Karmas unto His Lotus Feet, the Karma Phala will not afflict us and we will never get any re-birth or ‘punarjanma’, aswell. Sadhu seva is Narayana Seva. Satsangam enlightens us in spirituality and gradually lead us to inner transformation; we will develop love towards God and people, alike. Each Yuga has its own Dharma. The Dharma of the present KaliYuaga is ‘Danam’ or Gift- giving away things to have nots. Your trashes will be their treasures. Do not go for any excess of any kind in life. Be humble, always realize the truth that PARAMATMA is in every being. Give respect and take respect.
Walk through the path of Dharma (righteousness), hold the flame of Vairagya (dispassion towards unnecessary things) aloft in your hand, let there be tears of Bhakti in your eyes, when you remember God with gratitude, and the ultimate aim be, to acquire Jnana – BrahmJnana (the knowledge about the impersonal form of God). The above path leads us to Self-realization and God-realization, which will make us Jeevan-Muktas in this life itself, and enjoy the Eternal Bliss.
Jai Hind.
‘Padaravindame Sharanam, Guruvayoorappa Sharanam’