Thursday, December 18, 2008
Story 51 – Story of Narakaasura Vadha (killing) - 10
Bhoomidevi continued:
Since you are unborn, you are the cause of the entire world. To such unborn cause of the world I offer my prostrations. To you who are Brahman and possessing infinite power, my prostrations.
Explanation
We saw the previous day as to the uncaused or unborn cause of the world which is of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute. Since the Lord is the uncaused cause of the world, therefore he has infinite power. One who is infinite obviously will have infinite power – this infinite power is what makes Ishwara create the illusory world yet making it appear as if real.
Ishwara possessing infinite power isn’t just for our amazement or amusement but it is something that can propagate us to seek Ishwara beyond all limitations. We generally trust police officers because we know they have power. But even police officers die in the line of duty which goes on to show that their power is limited – if we can trust people with limited power, then why shouldn’t we trust the Lord with infinite powers.
If we trust the Lord, then we will be able to experience his infinite powers helping us in all possible ways whenever we are in trouble. It is for this reason that we find Meerabhai not dying even after consuming poison because she trusted and surrendered completely unto the infinite powerful Lord and the Lord saved her as a result of the surrender. Even as a police officer will not protect us unless we ask for protection or seek refuge in him, similarly the Lord also will not protect us unless we seek him with earnestness.
It is this concept that the Lord mentions in many places of Gita as “I will protect you”. Unlike protections from worldly people, the protection of the Lord is complete and we can definitely depend on the Lord as his power is infinite.
If we surrender unto the infinite powerful Lord, he will not only help us in worldly situations but he will also help us in going beyond the temporary world thereby giving us eternal bliss – it is this bliss that we are constantly seeking in the external world. The way to get this bliss through surrender to the all-powerful Lord is very easy as we are often used to surrendering to our kith and kin. Unlike other surrender, the surrender to the Lord need not be displayed externally – we just have to pervade our mind with the thought of the Lord. Surrender to the Lord is not falling at his feet or singing his glories externally at all times – it is simply remembering the Lord at all times in our mind with the knowledge that the Lord alone is present here as the uncaused cause-substratum of the illusory world. If we are able to get this surrender by remembering the all-powerful nature of the Lord, then very soon the Lord will take us out of all our sorrows, miseries and troubles into the state of eternal bliss.
Bhoomidevi continued:
Unto you who are the individual and supreme Self, my prostrations.
Explanation
When we analyze the world, we will find that whatever is present in the totality is present in the individual as well. Totality is called samasthi and individuality is called vyashthi. The external world consists of the pancha bhootas (five elements) of Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Ether. The individual body also consists of the pancha bhootas (the place where the pancha bhootas are found in the body is called chakras or focus-points – for eg: stomach portion contains the water-element, throat portion contains the ether-element etc.). The total world has a cosmic Ego called Brahma who controls it – the individual body has an Ego which we call jeeva.
Brahma becomes three based on the activities of creation, protection and destruction as Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. Similarly the Ego in us also does the three activities of creation, protection and destruction.
The basis for Brahma is Ishwara of the nature of pure Consciousness. The basis for jeeva (which is reflection of Consciouness in the intellect) is pure Consciousness or Chit.
Thus we find that the individual is not different from the total but one appears to be big whereas the other appears to be small. Big and small are relative and at the empirical plane. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa gives a beautiful analogy to illustrate this – there are many sugar dolls kept; one is an elephant, another is a lion and yet another is a dog. The shapes of the three sugar dolls are different but all the three are essentially sugar and sugar alone. Similarly the world and the individual body both are different names and forms in the non-dual reality of Conscious Lord – therefore they are essentially one and the same.
If we go to a goldsmith and tell him that we need a better design for our gold chain, he will take a chain and make a design out of it thereby giving it back to us. We differentiate between the old design and the new design though both are only different names and forms. The goldsmith doesn’t differentiate between both designs instead he always remembers and knows that they both are essentially gold only. This vision of seeing all gold ornaments as gold has to be extended to the world with the knowledge that the entire world (inclusive of totality and individuality) is only the ultimate reality of Lord. Once we remember the entire world to be nothing but the ultimate reality of Lord, then all our sorrows will instantly vanish – sorrows are because of seeing things as different from one another. As a result of the vision of difference, we like something and dislike something – this in turn causes attachment and aversion which in turn leads us to temporary happiness and sorrow. Even the temporary happiness is very short-lived that often it leads us to get sad. Thus we should always remember that everything that is perceived or heard is only an illusion of names and forms in the ultimate reality of Lord – the essence is only the ultimate reality of Lord. This constant remembrance is very essential for a seeker to go beyond sorrow and ever rejoice in bliss.
Since you are unborn, you are the cause of the entire world. To such unborn cause of the world I offer my prostrations. To you who are Brahman and possessing infinite power, my prostrations.
Explanation
We saw the previous day as to the uncaused or unborn cause of the world which is of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute. Since the Lord is the uncaused cause of the world, therefore he has infinite power. One who is infinite obviously will have infinite power – this infinite power is what makes Ishwara create the illusory world yet making it appear as if real.
Ishwara possessing infinite power isn’t just for our amazement or amusement but it is something that can propagate us to seek Ishwara beyond all limitations. We generally trust police officers because we know they have power. But even police officers die in the line of duty which goes on to show that their power is limited – if we can trust people with limited power, then why shouldn’t we trust the Lord with infinite powers.
If we trust the Lord, then we will be able to experience his infinite powers helping us in all possible ways whenever we are in trouble. It is for this reason that we find Meerabhai not dying even after consuming poison because she trusted and surrendered completely unto the infinite powerful Lord and the Lord saved her as a result of the surrender. Even as a police officer will not protect us unless we ask for protection or seek refuge in him, similarly the Lord also will not protect us unless we seek him with earnestness.
It is this concept that the Lord mentions in many places of Gita as “I will protect you”. Unlike protections from worldly people, the protection of the Lord is complete and we can definitely depend on the Lord as his power is infinite.
If we surrender unto the infinite powerful Lord, he will not only help us in worldly situations but he will also help us in going beyond the temporary world thereby giving us eternal bliss – it is this bliss that we are constantly seeking in the external world. The way to get this bliss through surrender to the all-powerful Lord is very easy as we are often used to surrendering to our kith and kin. Unlike other surrender, the surrender to the Lord need not be displayed externally – we just have to pervade our mind with the thought of the Lord. Surrender to the Lord is not falling at his feet or singing his glories externally at all times – it is simply remembering the Lord at all times in our mind with the knowledge that the Lord alone is present here as the uncaused cause-substratum of the illusory world. If we are able to get this surrender by remembering the all-powerful nature of the Lord, then very soon the Lord will take us out of all our sorrows, miseries and troubles into the state of eternal bliss.
Bhoomidevi continued:
Unto you who are the individual and supreme Self, my prostrations.
Explanation
When we analyze the world, we will find that whatever is present in the totality is present in the individual as well. Totality is called samasthi and individuality is called vyashthi. The external world consists of the pancha bhootas (five elements) of Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Ether. The individual body also consists of the pancha bhootas (the place where the pancha bhootas are found in the body is called chakras or focus-points – for eg: stomach portion contains the water-element, throat portion contains the ether-element etc.). The total world has a cosmic Ego called Brahma who controls it – the individual body has an Ego which we call jeeva.
Brahma becomes three based on the activities of creation, protection and destruction as Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. Similarly the Ego in us also does the three activities of creation, protection and destruction.
The basis for Brahma is Ishwara of the nature of pure Consciousness. The basis for jeeva (which is reflection of Consciouness in the intellect) is pure Consciousness or Chit.
Thus we find that the individual is not different from the total but one appears to be big whereas the other appears to be small. Big and small are relative and at the empirical plane. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa gives a beautiful analogy to illustrate this – there are many sugar dolls kept; one is an elephant, another is a lion and yet another is a dog. The shapes of the three sugar dolls are different but all the three are essentially sugar and sugar alone. Similarly the world and the individual body both are different names and forms in the non-dual reality of Conscious Lord – therefore they are essentially one and the same.
If we go to a goldsmith and tell him that we need a better design for our gold chain, he will take a chain and make a design out of it thereby giving it back to us. We differentiate between the old design and the new design though both are only different names and forms. The goldsmith doesn’t differentiate between both designs instead he always remembers and knows that they both are essentially gold only. This vision of seeing all gold ornaments as gold has to be extended to the world with the knowledge that the entire world (inclusive of totality and individuality) is only the ultimate reality of Lord. Once we remember the entire world to be nothing but the ultimate reality of Lord, then all our sorrows will instantly vanish – sorrows are because of seeing things as different from one another. As a result of the vision of difference, we like something and dislike something – this in turn causes attachment and aversion which in turn leads us to temporary happiness and sorrow. Even the temporary happiness is very short-lived that often it leads us to get sad. Thus we should always remember that everything that is perceived or heard is only an illusion of names and forms in the ultimate reality of Lord – the essence is only the ultimate reality of Lord. This constant remembrance is very essential for a seeker to go beyond sorrow and ever rejoice in bliss.
# posted by vedanta : 6:26 AM
