Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Story 20 - Chathushloki Bhagavatham - Verse 1
Srimad Bhagavatham - A Spiritual Insight - Story 20 - Chathushloki Bhagavatham - Verse 1
Brahma was born from the navel of Vishnu who is Brahman or the ultimate reality of Consciousness. When Brahma was born, he saw only water everywhere. He suddenly heard the word “Tapa, Tapa” meaning austerity. Brahma thus started meditating on the ultimate reality. And Lord was happy with this meditation and thereby gave Brahma the vision. Then, he asked Brahma to ask for a boon. Brahma asked about the creation and the ultimate reality. Vishnu thus explained to Brahma the ultimate reality in four slokas which is called Chathusloki Bhagavatham (this is thus the essence of Bhagavatham)
Vishnu thus spoke to Brahma (slokas which mean as an introduction to the chatusloki Bhagavatham)
Jnaanam paramaguhyam me yadvijnaana samanvitham
Sarahasyam tadangam cha grihaana gaditham mayaa (2nd Skanda, 9th adhyaaya 30th sloka)
Know the ultimate reality which is very secret (guhyam means secret as it is available to very few who seek it with earnestness) endowed with experience of the reality also – its parts or means, devotion etc. from Me.
Yaavaanaham yathaabhavo yadroopagunakarmakah
Tathaiva tattvavijnaanamasthu te madanugrahaath (2.9.31)
With dedication and concentration on the ultimate reality, its nature and qualities – you will gain knowledge of the reality by my grace (here my grace is not a egoistic statement of Lord Vishnu but it is the statement of the ultimate reality of Lord who protects everybody and by whose grace only everything is possible).
The first sloka of Chathushloki Bhagavatham:
Aham eva aasam eva agre na anyath sadasad param
Paschaath aham yad ethath cha yo avashishyet sosmyaham (2.9.32)
Before creation, I alone existed – there was nothing superior or different from me in the form of Sad or really existing objects or asad or unreal objects which are illusions. After that (after creation started) also, whatever exists is ME alone. Once this ends (creation ends), what remains behind is I alone.
Explanation
Chatushloki Bhagavatham is very important as a study of it ensures realization of the ultimate reality of Lord very easy. It is thus good for a seeker to by-heart the sloka along with its meaning or at least remembering the meaning of the sloka at all times.
Mainly, one can split knowledge into two steps. First is general or intellectual knowledge or simply jnaanam. Second is experiential knowledge or vijnaanam. The simple example that Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa quotes to explain jnaana and vijnaana is: Knowing about milk by seeing it is Jnaana. Vijnaana is having tasted milk. Thus it is very clear that only with jnaana and vijnaana, knowledge becomes complete and perfect.
As we have been seeing, only perfect or complete knowledge alone can give eternal happiness which is the aim of human life. The happiness derived out of imperfect objects in the world is always imperfect and incomplete only. This is the reason why a person can never get eternal bliss out of the human body or lust. The body itself is impure, imperfect and temporary. Today, it remains beautiful. But tomorrow, it will become ugly. Today, it exists but tomorrow (surely) it will vanish (after death of the body). Therefore, the body is both imperfect and temporary. Such temporary object cannot give permanent happiness as it itself will vanish some time and when it vanishes, it itself doesn’t exist to give happiness.
Hence, only a complete or perfect object can give eternal bliss. Also, a little knowledge about the perfect thing will never give eternal happiness. A person only when he knows the complete of physics will get happiness from physics. Until then, there will be threat from other people, threat from losing one’s status of being an authority on physics etc. Therefore complete knowledge about anything is required. In such a case, a perfect object can give eternal bliss only when perfect knowledge of the object is achieved.
The perfect or complete object is Brahman or Consciousness or Lord as it doesn’t have any desire at all. Desires cause limitations as it makes one feel that one lacks something. That which has no desire is always full. Any desire will not arise only when the object is perfect. Therefore, the ultimate reality is perfect or Poorna or complete. Such a complete thing will give eternal bliss when it is known completely.
Therefore we require both jnaana or intellectual knowledge and vijnaana or experience of the ultimate reality of Lord (experience here means knowing the reality as one’s own very nature, knowing that the Lord is present in the heart and is all-pervasive). Hence, Lord Vishnu states here to Brahma that I will tell you both jnaana and vijnaana. Any knowledge also requires means to attain it. Therefore, Vishnu tells that he will state the means to achieve this knowledge or rather means to realize the knowledge of the ultimate reality.
Knowing the ultimate reality which is perfect will make one perfect. Hence there will be nothing else to be known – all knowledge will culminate there. Since there will be nothing else to be known there, then there will be no desire at all. Since there is no desire, there will be no expectations and hence no likes-dislikes. As there are no likes-dislikes, there never will be sorrow arising out of likes-dislikes. Hence, the seeker will then rejoice in the eternal bliss of the Lord.
Thus, the fruit of knowledge (here knowledge means both jnaana or intellectual knowledge and vijnaana or experience) about the ultimate reality is eternal bliss (which means complete cessation of sorrow). Since each and every person’s aim is cessation of sorrow and eternal bliss, therefore knowledge about the ultimate reality is essential (as this alone can confer eternal bliss on the individual).
Now Lord first explains what the ultimate reality is (not the means but about the reality).
The world that we see is a creation as it is something which is born or created. How do we know that the world is created? Anything that changes will have birth and death also. The pot that changes each moment is born from mud and will die or merge into mud. Therefore any object that changes has a birth and death also. Since the world and its objects that we see are always changing, it is inferred that the world has a birth and death. Since the world has a birth, it is created.
Anything that is created requires a creator (who either creates the world from himself or from other material cause). This creator is God or Brahman. Therefore it is God who creates things. This God is one without a second (meaning that there is nothing separate or distinct from him). Since there is nothing different from him, he creates the world out of himself even as the spider creates web out of itself (unlike the pot being created by a potter from mud). Hence, before creation God alone existed.
This God who existed before creation was one without a second – as since duality is out of creation and from the world alone. Therefore, Lord states that there was nothing superior – either sentient or insentient. Consciousness alone is the sentient thing in the world. This Consciousness can experience its own existence in the form “I-exist, I-exist”. No other thing can experience its own existence. The objects in the world gain their experience out of Consciousness alone. It is Consciousness who sees the object and hence gives them existence even as the light of Sun or tubelight gives existence to various objects. There needs to be a light for the sun also – this light is Consciousness which is one’s own very nature. If a person is not conscious, sun also becomes non-existence. Therefore Consciousness is the supreme light of everything. But Consciousness is self-luminous and it doesn’t require any other light for its existence. A person when inside a dark room without light doesn’t require any light to experience his existence. He knows that he exists. This is the very nature of Consciousness – self-luminous and requiring no light for existence.
Therefore, we come to the conclusion that Consciousness or God alone existed before creation. There neither was many human beings or sentient jeevas nor insentient objects like rock etc. A person might have the doubt that we see many human beings and animals who all are conscious beings. Therefore Consciousness is ONE but it is many. This statement is wrong. It is the Consciousness of one person which makes other conscious persons seem to be present. If the Consciousness in a person is not there, then there are no other conscious beings. Therefore, we see that it is Consciousness which is functioning through each sentient being – it is ONE Consciousness alone and not many Consciousnesses.
The difference between various sentient beings is the limitation of body-mind. Consciousness is reflected in the intellect – this is termed as jeeva or Ego. This Ego is the thing which is different in various beings. It is due to the differing Egos (there are as many egos or jeevas for as many bodies-minds) that many conscious beings are seen. It is One Consciousness which gets reflected in many bodies-minds. An example of this sun getting reflected in various buckets of water. Sun is one alone but each bucket of water has a reflection of sun which very much seems to be like Sun only. Due to movement of Sun, the reflections move and are seen to be sentient like the Sun. But once the limitations or the water in the buckets are removed, there is no multitude but only ONE SUN. Similarly when the limitations of body-mind are removed, the distinctions vanish and there remains only one Consciousness.
Hence, Lord states that before creation, there was only ONE Consciousness or Lord here.
Now, the question comes: what is present then after creation has occurred? Are there multiple beings as is normally seen in the dual world?
Lord answers this by telling that even after creation, there is only “I” or Lord or Consciousness. The various diverse things seen are only illusions in the reality of Consciousness or Lord even as snake is seen in rope. The world or duality that one sees is an illusion – this is known through the experience of dream state where various objects or world itself is seen. Once a person wakes up, he realizes that even during the state of dream, there was only the dreamer and nothing else. Similarly Lord is the ultimate reality on which the illusory and temporary objects of the world depend. Hence, it is easy to apprehend or realize that the world is nothing but an illusion in the reality of Lord. Any illusion is nothing but the substratum of the illusion alone. The water seen in desert (mirage) is nothing but desert alone. Similarly, the world that is perceived is nothing but Lord alone. Since there is only Lord here, therefore Lord Vishnu states that even after creation, there is Lord alone here.
This is the reason why from childhood itself, each person is told that Lord or God is present everywhere. Hiranyakashipu did not acknowledge this reality which he heard from his son Prahlaada. And therefore questioned him that whether Lord is present in the pillar. Prahlaada replied “Yes”. Hiranyakashipu tore the pillar – and Lord came out of the pillar. Isn’t this valid proof enough to believe or realize that everything is pervaded by Lord?
Another logic that can be shown to prove that Lord is present everywhere is: the Lord created the world out of himself. That which comes out if itself has to stay in the Lord alone. Since, the world stays in the Lord – the Lord has to be present completely in the world. Therefore the Lord is all-pervading and present everywhere in the illusory world even as the dreamer is present everywhere in the dream world.
Thus, it has been said that before creation, Lord alone existed and that after creation also, there is the Lord alone (when the world is perceived or creation is perceived).
Now the question comes, what happens once the world gets destroyed?
It is pretty obvious. Since the world has come from the Lord and stays in the Lord, it also merges into the Lord. The pot that is created from mud merges into mud when it gets destroyed. Therefore the Lord says that when the world is destroyed, “I” alone will remain behind.
This is also known by the dream analogy. Once the dream gets over or dream world is destroyed, the dreamer alone remains. Similarly once the world is destroyed, the Lord alone remains.
Therefore, the world is created from the Lord, stays in the Lord and merges unto the Lord. This means that Lord is present before creation, during existence of the world and after destruction of the world. This means that the world is only an illusion – seemingly appearing – in the ultimate reality of Lord.
The dream world which is created out of the dreamer, which seems to exist in the dreamer and merges into the dreamer is only an illusion in the dreamer. The pot is only an illusion in the mud (pot is always mud with name and form only). The pot is nothing but a name and form of mud. The various gold ornaments are nothing but names and forms of Gold. What really exists is GOLD alone. Similarly the world is only a name and form of the Lord. What really exists is the Lord alone.
This is what the Lord mentions in the very first sloka of chathushloki Bhagavatham.
Now a question will come, what is the relation between this individual jeeva and Lord? What is the relation between the Lord and me?
If the Lord says that there is only the Lord here, then can “I” be different from the Lord? No, never. Therefore, it means that the Lord is my very nature. This is also known during deep sleep when “I” experience eternal bliss which is the nature of Lord. Since “I” experience eternal bliss which is the nature of the Lord – hence eternal bliss is my nature also. Therefore one has to conclude that “I” am the Lord. The Lord is not different from me, but he is my very nature.
Now the obvious question comes: I don’t feel myself as God as I don’t experience bliss and feel myself as limited. This is being answered in the next sloka.
Brahma was born from the navel of Vishnu who is Brahman or the ultimate reality of Consciousness. When Brahma was born, he saw only water everywhere. He suddenly heard the word “Tapa, Tapa” meaning austerity. Brahma thus started meditating on the ultimate reality. And Lord was happy with this meditation and thereby gave Brahma the vision. Then, he asked Brahma to ask for a boon. Brahma asked about the creation and the ultimate reality. Vishnu thus explained to Brahma the ultimate reality in four slokas which is called Chathusloki Bhagavatham (this is thus the essence of Bhagavatham)
Vishnu thus spoke to Brahma (slokas which mean as an introduction to the chatusloki Bhagavatham)
Jnaanam paramaguhyam me yadvijnaana samanvitham
Sarahasyam tadangam cha grihaana gaditham mayaa (2nd Skanda, 9th adhyaaya 30th sloka)
Know the ultimate reality which is very secret (guhyam means secret as it is available to very few who seek it with earnestness) endowed with experience of the reality also – its parts or means, devotion etc. from Me.
Yaavaanaham yathaabhavo yadroopagunakarmakah
Tathaiva tattvavijnaanamasthu te madanugrahaath (2.9.31)
With dedication and concentration on the ultimate reality, its nature and qualities – you will gain knowledge of the reality by my grace (here my grace is not a egoistic statement of Lord Vishnu but it is the statement of the ultimate reality of Lord who protects everybody and by whose grace only everything is possible).
The first sloka of Chathushloki Bhagavatham:
Aham eva aasam eva agre na anyath sadasad param
Paschaath aham yad ethath cha yo avashishyet sosmyaham (2.9.32)
Before creation, I alone existed – there was nothing superior or different from me in the form of Sad or really existing objects or asad or unreal objects which are illusions. After that (after creation started) also, whatever exists is ME alone. Once this ends (creation ends), what remains behind is I alone.
Explanation
Chatushloki Bhagavatham is very important as a study of it ensures realization of the ultimate reality of Lord very easy. It is thus good for a seeker to by-heart the sloka along with its meaning or at least remembering the meaning of the sloka at all times.
Mainly, one can split knowledge into two steps. First is general or intellectual knowledge or simply jnaanam. Second is experiential knowledge or vijnaanam. The simple example that Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa quotes to explain jnaana and vijnaana is: Knowing about milk by seeing it is Jnaana. Vijnaana is having tasted milk. Thus it is very clear that only with jnaana and vijnaana, knowledge becomes complete and perfect.
As we have been seeing, only perfect or complete knowledge alone can give eternal happiness which is the aim of human life. The happiness derived out of imperfect objects in the world is always imperfect and incomplete only. This is the reason why a person can never get eternal bliss out of the human body or lust. The body itself is impure, imperfect and temporary. Today, it remains beautiful. But tomorrow, it will become ugly. Today, it exists but tomorrow (surely) it will vanish (after death of the body). Therefore, the body is both imperfect and temporary. Such temporary object cannot give permanent happiness as it itself will vanish some time and when it vanishes, it itself doesn’t exist to give happiness.
Hence, only a complete or perfect object can give eternal bliss. Also, a little knowledge about the perfect thing will never give eternal happiness. A person only when he knows the complete of physics will get happiness from physics. Until then, there will be threat from other people, threat from losing one’s status of being an authority on physics etc. Therefore complete knowledge about anything is required. In such a case, a perfect object can give eternal bliss only when perfect knowledge of the object is achieved.
The perfect or complete object is Brahman or Consciousness or Lord as it doesn’t have any desire at all. Desires cause limitations as it makes one feel that one lacks something. That which has no desire is always full. Any desire will not arise only when the object is perfect. Therefore, the ultimate reality is perfect or Poorna or complete. Such a complete thing will give eternal bliss when it is known completely.
Therefore we require both jnaana or intellectual knowledge and vijnaana or experience of the ultimate reality of Lord (experience here means knowing the reality as one’s own very nature, knowing that the Lord is present in the heart and is all-pervasive). Hence, Lord Vishnu states here to Brahma that I will tell you both jnaana and vijnaana. Any knowledge also requires means to attain it. Therefore, Vishnu tells that he will state the means to achieve this knowledge or rather means to realize the knowledge of the ultimate reality.
Knowing the ultimate reality which is perfect will make one perfect. Hence there will be nothing else to be known – all knowledge will culminate there. Since there will be nothing else to be known there, then there will be no desire at all. Since there is no desire, there will be no expectations and hence no likes-dislikes. As there are no likes-dislikes, there never will be sorrow arising out of likes-dislikes. Hence, the seeker will then rejoice in the eternal bliss of the Lord.
Thus, the fruit of knowledge (here knowledge means both jnaana or intellectual knowledge and vijnaana or experience) about the ultimate reality is eternal bliss (which means complete cessation of sorrow). Since each and every person’s aim is cessation of sorrow and eternal bliss, therefore knowledge about the ultimate reality is essential (as this alone can confer eternal bliss on the individual).
Now Lord first explains what the ultimate reality is (not the means but about the reality).
The world that we see is a creation as it is something which is born or created. How do we know that the world is created? Anything that changes will have birth and death also. The pot that changes each moment is born from mud and will die or merge into mud. Therefore any object that changes has a birth and death also. Since the world and its objects that we see are always changing, it is inferred that the world has a birth and death. Since the world has a birth, it is created.
Anything that is created requires a creator (who either creates the world from himself or from other material cause). This creator is God or Brahman. Therefore it is God who creates things. This God is one without a second (meaning that there is nothing separate or distinct from him). Since there is nothing different from him, he creates the world out of himself even as the spider creates web out of itself (unlike the pot being created by a potter from mud). Hence, before creation God alone existed.
This God who existed before creation was one without a second – as since duality is out of creation and from the world alone. Therefore, Lord states that there was nothing superior – either sentient or insentient. Consciousness alone is the sentient thing in the world. This Consciousness can experience its own existence in the form “I-exist, I-exist”. No other thing can experience its own existence. The objects in the world gain their experience out of Consciousness alone. It is Consciousness who sees the object and hence gives them existence even as the light of Sun or tubelight gives existence to various objects. There needs to be a light for the sun also – this light is Consciousness which is one’s own very nature. If a person is not conscious, sun also becomes non-existence. Therefore Consciousness is the supreme light of everything. But Consciousness is self-luminous and it doesn’t require any other light for its existence. A person when inside a dark room without light doesn’t require any light to experience his existence. He knows that he exists. This is the very nature of Consciousness – self-luminous and requiring no light for existence.
Therefore, we come to the conclusion that Consciousness or God alone existed before creation. There neither was many human beings or sentient jeevas nor insentient objects like rock etc. A person might have the doubt that we see many human beings and animals who all are conscious beings. Therefore Consciousness is ONE but it is many. This statement is wrong. It is the Consciousness of one person which makes other conscious persons seem to be present. If the Consciousness in a person is not there, then there are no other conscious beings. Therefore, we see that it is Consciousness which is functioning through each sentient being – it is ONE Consciousness alone and not many Consciousnesses.
The difference between various sentient beings is the limitation of body-mind. Consciousness is reflected in the intellect – this is termed as jeeva or Ego. This Ego is the thing which is different in various beings. It is due to the differing Egos (there are as many egos or jeevas for as many bodies-minds) that many conscious beings are seen. It is One Consciousness which gets reflected in many bodies-minds. An example of this sun getting reflected in various buckets of water. Sun is one alone but each bucket of water has a reflection of sun which very much seems to be like Sun only. Due to movement of Sun, the reflections move and are seen to be sentient like the Sun. But once the limitations or the water in the buckets are removed, there is no multitude but only ONE SUN. Similarly when the limitations of body-mind are removed, the distinctions vanish and there remains only one Consciousness.
Hence, Lord states that before creation, there was only ONE Consciousness or Lord here.
Now, the question comes: what is present then after creation has occurred? Are there multiple beings as is normally seen in the dual world?
Lord answers this by telling that even after creation, there is only “I” or Lord or Consciousness. The various diverse things seen are only illusions in the reality of Consciousness or Lord even as snake is seen in rope. The world or duality that one sees is an illusion – this is known through the experience of dream state where various objects or world itself is seen. Once a person wakes up, he realizes that even during the state of dream, there was only the dreamer and nothing else. Similarly Lord is the ultimate reality on which the illusory and temporary objects of the world depend. Hence, it is easy to apprehend or realize that the world is nothing but an illusion in the reality of Lord. Any illusion is nothing but the substratum of the illusion alone. The water seen in desert (mirage) is nothing but desert alone. Similarly, the world that is perceived is nothing but Lord alone. Since there is only Lord here, therefore Lord Vishnu states that even after creation, there is Lord alone here.
This is the reason why from childhood itself, each person is told that Lord or God is present everywhere. Hiranyakashipu did not acknowledge this reality which he heard from his son Prahlaada. And therefore questioned him that whether Lord is present in the pillar. Prahlaada replied “Yes”. Hiranyakashipu tore the pillar – and Lord came out of the pillar. Isn’t this valid proof enough to believe or realize that everything is pervaded by Lord?
Another logic that can be shown to prove that Lord is present everywhere is: the Lord created the world out of himself. That which comes out if itself has to stay in the Lord alone. Since, the world stays in the Lord – the Lord has to be present completely in the world. Therefore the Lord is all-pervading and present everywhere in the illusory world even as the dreamer is present everywhere in the dream world.
Thus, it has been said that before creation, Lord alone existed and that after creation also, there is the Lord alone (when the world is perceived or creation is perceived).
Now the question comes, what happens once the world gets destroyed?
It is pretty obvious. Since the world has come from the Lord and stays in the Lord, it also merges into the Lord. The pot that is created from mud merges into mud when it gets destroyed. Therefore the Lord says that when the world is destroyed, “I” alone will remain behind.
This is also known by the dream analogy. Once the dream gets over or dream world is destroyed, the dreamer alone remains. Similarly once the world is destroyed, the Lord alone remains.
Therefore, the world is created from the Lord, stays in the Lord and merges unto the Lord. This means that Lord is present before creation, during existence of the world and after destruction of the world. This means that the world is only an illusion – seemingly appearing – in the ultimate reality of Lord.
The dream world which is created out of the dreamer, which seems to exist in the dreamer and merges into the dreamer is only an illusion in the dreamer. The pot is only an illusion in the mud (pot is always mud with name and form only). The pot is nothing but a name and form of mud. The various gold ornaments are nothing but names and forms of Gold. What really exists is GOLD alone. Similarly the world is only a name and form of the Lord. What really exists is the Lord alone.
This is what the Lord mentions in the very first sloka of chathushloki Bhagavatham.
Now a question will come, what is the relation between this individual jeeva and Lord? What is the relation between the Lord and me?
If the Lord says that there is only the Lord here, then can “I” be different from the Lord? No, never. Therefore, it means that the Lord is my very nature. This is also known during deep sleep when “I” experience eternal bliss which is the nature of Lord. Since “I” experience eternal bliss which is the nature of the Lord – hence eternal bliss is my nature also. Therefore one has to conclude that “I” am the Lord. The Lord is not different from me, but he is my very nature.
Now the obvious question comes: I don’t feel myself as God as I don’t experience bliss and feel myself as limited. This is being answered in the next sloka.
# posted by vedanta : 9:44 AM
