Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Story 26 –Kapila Upadesha – 5
Srimad Bhagavatham - A Spiritual Insight - Story 26 – Kapila Upadesha – 5
Kapila Muni continued:
After explaining about the spiritual disciplines, Kapila enters into the topic of life after death – as to what happens after death. A person who is desirous of attaining things in life follows the lunar path of dakshinaayana. He reaches some higher planes, enjoys the various pleasures in that plane & once the fruits of his good karmas (which he had done on earth) are exhausted, he returns back to this world of Bhoo loka.
All the heavenly regions attainable through Karma are perishable; they last so long as Mahavishnu rests on His serpent-bed awake but they dissolve into their rudimentary condition (parlay) when He goes to sleep.
In contrast to the above are people who follow Swadharma (by remembering the Lord at all times). Being devoid of desires for worldly pleasures and attainments, they work without attachment, dedicating the fruits of their actions to the Lord. They are calm and pure-minded.
After death, such people go through the path of Sun (Uttarayana) and attain to Satyaloka, the world of Brahma.
At the end of the Kalpa, the people in Brahma Loka merge into the ultimate reality of Brahman and never return back to the sorrowful and temporary world.
Explanation
The most important question and doubt that will arise in the mind of a seeker is what happens after death. This is being answered by Lord Kapila here.
It should be remembered that death is only for the body & not for the Self or the real “I”. Sri Krishna in the very beginning of his advice to Arjuna states that “you are eternal, I am eternal & all the kings are eternal”. This doesn’t mean that there is duality in the form of “you”, “I” and various beings. It only means that the underlying principle of each one of the being in the world is Consciousness or the Lord. Thus, in essence every being is eternal. But the individualistic being called in Vedanta as EGO or jeeva has birth and death.
When we normally speak about death, we speak about the time when we cease to exist. But this is not correct – the real “I” never ceases to exist instead it is eternal and always present. Vedanta speaks about death and birth from this perspective alone. As long as there is body or the feeling of embodiment, there will be births and deaths. This is because of ignorance of the reality that “I am never born”. The thought that “I am born” makes a person strive to stay as long as possible in the world. Thus starts identification with the body. This is what is called as birth in Vedanta. When a person is identified with the body, he creates the notion that he will die. This notion again creates attachment or strengthens the attachment to the body. This causes the individual to be born again and again (remember here that individual is not born but body is born and born – meaning that he will constantly be in the ignorance ocean of samsaara because of the notion of embodiment).
Since a person considers himself as the body, he does actions. These actions give fruits. The fruits are enjoyed to perform more actions. Actions are again performed to gain fruits. This vicious circle of actions and fruits continues until a seeker realizes that he is not the body, he is the eternal Self & therefore there are neither actions nor fruits but only the ultimate reality of Lord.
When a person does good actions, he reaps good fruits. When the seeker does bad actions, he reaps bad fruits. The good fruits mentioned in the scriptures are progressing to higher planes or higher worlds like the swarga or heaven and other worlds. But fruits are like a bank balance. They are not eternal but they always get reduced once they are enjoyed. Thus when a person attains heaven by his good actions, he enjoys some time in heaven. Once the good fruits are enjoyed and exhausted, he returns back to this world again. This circle continues again and again until the seeker comes out of the illusion that he is being born again and again. At that time, the seeker realizes the ultimate reality that there was nothing born, there was no duality and whatever existed was only the Lord – one without a second.
Scriptures proclaim two distinct paths for each and every person in the world (good paths). These paths are not determined by the Lord or given to those who worship the Lord & naraka is given to those who don’t worship the Lord!!! These are all wrong notions and there is no place for such notions in the scriptures. A person reaps the fruits of his actions. God is merely a judge who gives the fruits of his actions – he gives whatever the individual deserves. The two paths are the path of Sun and the path of Moon. Those who have done good but still have desires left in them, they go to higher planes of enjoyment. But once the fruits are exhausted, they return to earth again. But those who worship the Lord at all times, do actions without any expectation and doership, they attain the Brahma Loka and at the end of the kalpa, they get liberated from the bondage of samsaara.
It might be asked that Sankara and others speak about liberation here itself but it is mentioned by Kapila about liberation after attaining Brahma loka. Both the views are correct only. Brahma Loka is a place where scriptural study and constant contemplation of the Lord happens. When there is constant contemplation of the Lord, then the individual realizes the ultimate reality of Lord who is his own very nature, the non-dual reality of Consciousness. Thereby he realizes the reality that he was never in bondage to get liberated – but there existed only the Lord, one without a second. This attitude and realization can happen even here on Earth because each and every person is essentially the ultimate reality of Lord only. Since each and every person are the Self alone, therefore the reality can be realized here itself. The moment a person realizes the ultimate reality that “I am the Self of the nature of Consciousness and Bliss absolute”, that very moment he realizes that there is neither bondage nor liberation. Then he realizes that he is the ever-free, ever-liberated and ever-enlightened Self or Lord.
Adi Sankara in his Katha Upanishad commentary says that Brahma Loka is very tough to attain. Only people who have done so many rituals or tapas attain that world. But we all are already present in the world here & realizing God in this world is not tough at all. The only thing required for the same is desire to get liberated and remembrance of the ultimate reality that “I am the God” at all points of time. Hence, Sankara concludes that sruthi also means that one should try to realize the reality here and now itself – else vasanas or latent tendencies and samskaaras will be created which will veil the reality of the Lord & thereby make the individual feel as if he is born again and again in the world – and getting caught in the whirlpool of samsaara.
Katha Upanishad says
“If a person is unable to realize the ultimate reality of Lord here, then he is born in various worlds based on his desires and actions”
Kena Upanishad says
“If a person realizes the reality here, then it is TRUTH. If he doesn’t realize here, it will be big loss to the seeker”.
The very discussion about life after death is just to make the point that it is tough if the individual goes to other worlds without realizing the ultimate reality of Lord who is his own very nature. Hence it is pointed out that a person has to realize the reality here and now itself without wasting much time. Those who haven’t yet realized their own very nature of Self or Lord and aren’t putting any effort to realize this ultimate reality are to be called as fools because they are unaware about their own real nature of Consciousness.
Kapila Muni continued:
After mentioning the various spiritual practices as well as the truth about the other world, Lord Kapila ends the teaching to his mother Devahuthi thus:
The complete detachment and non-affectedness in the midst of this world-manifestation (which such a perception brings), is the one goal that all spiritual disciplines have in view.
It is the one pure Consciousness called Brahman, beyond the Gunas of Prakrithi, that is seen by the outward-going sense as various objects and interpreted due to delusion in a distorted way as sound, touch, and other sensation. That same Consciousness has manifested as Mahat, Ahamkaara, its threefold expressions, the eleven senses, the five elements and the self-conscious jeeva.
This truth is perceived by one who is endowed with Shraddha or faith, bhakthi or devotion, and unrelenting practice of spiritual disciplines, self-control, detachment and dispassion.
O venerable Mother! I have expounded that doctrine that leads to the realization of Brahman. By grasping this, the truth about Prakrithi and Purusha will be gradually understood.
What is known as Bhagavan is the common object sought by those who follow the discipline of knowledge based on the scriptures, and by those who follow the discipline of whole-hearted and unmotivated devotion to Me (Nirguna Bhakthi).
Explanation
As we have reached almost the end of Kapila Upadesha, let us recollect about the ultimate reality of Brahman or Consciousness or Lord.
There is only one entity in the entire world. That entity is variously termed as Brahman, Lord, Paramatman, Bhagavan, Atman etc. Its very nature is Consciousness. All other things that are presently perceived are mere illusions in the ultimate reality of Consciousness. The logic for the same is very simple:
If Consciousness is there, objects are there (the world is there).
If Consciousness is not there, there are no objects (the world itself doesn’t exist).
This means that the world and its objects depend upon Consciousness for its existence. Thus the world is nothing but an illusion seen in the changeless entity of Consciousness. The changing world can never exist in the changeless world as both are of diverse nature like light and darkness. As the variable has no existence but is a constant at any point of time, similarly the changing world is nothing but Consciousness alone. This is what is emphasized in various scriptural statements like “sarva brahma mayam”, “sarvam khalu idam brahma”, “atmaivaidam sarvam” etc.
This Consciousness is thus the very nature of each and every person in the world. The feeling of limitedness and separateness or distinctness from the ultimate reality of Lord or Consciousness is due to ignorance about the reality of Lord and one’s own nature. This ignorance is beginning less as it is an illusion in the reality of Lord – there is nothing here but Consciousness alone & hence ignorance also has to be an illusion alone.
The waking world and the ignorant state is like a long dream. In dream, the individual enjoys various things but doesn’t realize those are illusions. But when he wakes up, he realizes that all those were mere illusions created in him – and he realizes that each and every object in the illusion was he himself.
This is what is the reality behind the entire world – everyone is Consciousness or the Lord alone. But this reality has been veiled by ignorance about one’s own real nature. This ignorance has to be removed through knowledge about the Lord and various spiritual disciplines.
When a seeker undergoes the various spiritual disciplines, he is not at all affected by the activities in the illusory world as he knows them to be an illusion in the reality of Lord. All problems, sorrows and sufferings in the world are due to consideration that the world is real. The moment an individual realizes that the world is only an illusion, all these sorrows and sufferings cease to be taken as real. The sorrows are also realized as unreal and like a person being killed in his dream!!!
It is very tough indeed to realize the reality that the world is an illusion. Hence the best way to do it is to have devotion to the reality behind the illusory world. Any illusion has a substratum which is the ultimate reality behind that illusion. The snake seen in rope has the substratum of the rope which is the ultimate reality behind the illusion of snake. Similarly water seen in desert has the substratum of desert. In a similar way, the ultimate reality behind this illusory world is Lord who is the substratum of the illusion – Lord is the one who controls this illusory world. He is the ultimate reality who alone is present as the indweller in all the beings in the world. Lord is present in and out of all the beings in the world. There is nothing in the world except Lord – all the illusory objects are present only because of the existence of the ultimate reality of Lord.
When a seeker thus creates real devotion and real knowledge about the reality, the ignorance veil slowly vanishes – he begins to see oneness everywhere. There are no likes and dislikes for such a seeker because he sees the Lord everywhere. Since there are no likes and dislikes, there is neither happiness nor sorrow for the seeker (which arises out of likes and dislikes alone). Thereby the seeker is always immersed in the thought of Lord alone. Slowly the seeker merges into the reality of Lord. Then he realizes the ultimate reality that there neither was any Lord nor the devotee but whatever existed was the non-dual reality of Lord. This is what we normally call as realization. The Self which is one’s own very nature of Lord is always and ever realized. But this realized state is not known as such. Thus that time when the seeker realizes his own realized state of being one with the ultimate reality of Lord is called realization. After realization, the seeker realizes that there never was a state of bondage so that he is liberated or attains realization – but there was only the ultimate reality of Lord, one without a second.
If a person has to concentrate on the ultimate reality of Lord, his attention should be diverted from the external and illusory sense objects. This is what is normally termed as detachment and dispassion (even though these terms have very broad idea and concepts embedded in it, the meaning mentioned is the gist of the import of these words – we will try to analyze these terms in the coming days). Detachment and dispassion become perfect only when there is self-control. Here Self-control means control of the mind, control of the passions, and control of desires. This control is very easily achieved if a person follows the path of ultimate or supreme devotion to the ultimate reality of Lord.
Devotion, detachment, dispassion, control all are necessary but they don’t serve their purpose unless the spiritual disciplines are followed with faith. FAITH is a very vast word which has more significance than the word can denote. As Saint Augustine says “faith is belief in something you don’t know so that you may come to know what you believe”J This definition might seem little confusing but reading it around 10 times will make it crystal clear. Adi Sankara defines Sraddha as faith in the scriptures and the words of the Guru (both are faultless as they are out of experience and they point towards the ultimate reality of Lord who is faultless).
When all these qualities are present, then the seeker progresses very fast & realizes the ultimate reality that there is nothing here but Lord alone and that there is no bondage or sorrow but eternal bliss alone.
We will try to see the various factors, qualities mentioned by Lord Kapila in the next posts.
Kapila Muni continued:
After explaining about the spiritual disciplines, Kapila enters into the topic of life after death – as to what happens after death. A person who is desirous of attaining things in life follows the lunar path of dakshinaayana. He reaches some higher planes, enjoys the various pleasures in that plane & once the fruits of his good karmas (which he had done on earth) are exhausted, he returns back to this world of Bhoo loka.
All the heavenly regions attainable through Karma are perishable; they last so long as Mahavishnu rests on His serpent-bed awake but they dissolve into their rudimentary condition (parlay) when He goes to sleep.
In contrast to the above are people who follow Swadharma (by remembering the Lord at all times). Being devoid of desires for worldly pleasures and attainments, they work without attachment, dedicating the fruits of their actions to the Lord. They are calm and pure-minded.
After death, such people go through the path of Sun (Uttarayana) and attain to Satyaloka, the world of Brahma.
At the end of the Kalpa, the people in Brahma Loka merge into the ultimate reality of Brahman and never return back to the sorrowful and temporary world.
Explanation
The most important question and doubt that will arise in the mind of a seeker is what happens after death. This is being answered by Lord Kapila here.
It should be remembered that death is only for the body & not for the Self or the real “I”. Sri Krishna in the very beginning of his advice to Arjuna states that “you are eternal, I am eternal & all the kings are eternal”. This doesn’t mean that there is duality in the form of “you”, “I” and various beings. It only means that the underlying principle of each one of the being in the world is Consciousness or the Lord. Thus, in essence every being is eternal. But the individualistic being called in Vedanta as EGO or jeeva has birth and death.
When we normally speak about death, we speak about the time when we cease to exist. But this is not correct – the real “I” never ceases to exist instead it is eternal and always present. Vedanta speaks about death and birth from this perspective alone. As long as there is body or the feeling of embodiment, there will be births and deaths. This is because of ignorance of the reality that “I am never born”. The thought that “I am born” makes a person strive to stay as long as possible in the world. Thus starts identification with the body. This is what is called as birth in Vedanta. When a person is identified with the body, he creates the notion that he will die. This notion again creates attachment or strengthens the attachment to the body. This causes the individual to be born again and again (remember here that individual is not born but body is born and born – meaning that he will constantly be in the ignorance ocean of samsaara because of the notion of embodiment).
Since a person considers himself as the body, he does actions. These actions give fruits. The fruits are enjoyed to perform more actions. Actions are again performed to gain fruits. This vicious circle of actions and fruits continues until a seeker realizes that he is not the body, he is the eternal Self & therefore there are neither actions nor fruits but only the ultimate reality of Lord.
When a person does good actions, he reaps good fruits. When the seeker does bad actions, he reaps bad fruits. The good fruits mentioned in the scriptures are progressing to higher planes or higher worlds like the swarga or heaven and other worlds. But fruits are like a bank balance. They are not eternal but they always get reduced once they are enjoyed. Thus when a person attains heaven by his good actions, he enjoys some time in heaven. Once the good fruits are enjoyed and exhausted, he returns back to this world again. This circle continues again and again until the seeker comes out of the illusion that he is being born again and again. At that time, the seeker realizes the ultimate reality that there was nothing born, there was no duality and whatever existed was only the Lord – one without a second.
Scriptures proclaim two distinct paths for each and every person in the world (good paths). These paths are not determined by the Lord or given to those who worship the Lord & naraka is given to those who don’t worship the Lord!!! These are all wrong notions and there is no place for such notions in the scriptures. A person reaps the fruits of his actions. God is merely a judge who gives the fruits of his actions – he gives whatever the individual deserves. The two paths are the path of Sun and the path of Moon. Those who have done good but still have desires left in them, they go to higher planes of enjoyment. But once the fruits are exhausted, they return to earth again. But those who worship the Lord at all times, do actions without any expectation and doership, they attain the Brahma Loka and at the end of the kalpa, they get liberated from the bondage of samsaara.
It might be asked that Sankara and others speak about liberation here itself but it is mentioned by Kapila about liberation after attaining Brahma loka. Both the views are correct only. Brahma Loka is a place where scriptural study and constant contemplation of the Lord happens. When there is constant contemplation of the Lord, then the individual realizes the ultimate reality of Lord who is his own very nature, the non-dual reality of Consciousness. Thereby he realizes the reality that he was never in bondage to get liberated – but there existed only the Lord, one without a second. This attitude and realization can happen even here on Earth because each and every person is essentially the ultimate reality of Lord only. Since each and every person are the Self alone, therefore the reality can be realized here itself. The moment a person realizes the ultimate reality that “I am the Self of the nature of Consciousness and Bliss absolute”, that very moment he realizes that there is neither bondage nor liberation. Then he realizes that he is the ever-free, ever-liberated and ever-enlightened Self or Lord.
Adi Sankara in his Katha Upanishad commentary says that Brahma Loka is very tough to attain. Only people who have done so many rituals or tapas attain that world. But we all are already present in the world here & realizing God in this world is not tough at all. The only thing required for the same is desire to get liberated and remembrance of the ultimate reality that “I am the God” at all points of time. Hence, Sankara concludes that sruthi also means that one should try to realize the reality here and now itself – else vasanas or latent tendencies and samskaaras will be created which will veil the reality of the Lord & thereby make the individual feel as if he is born again and again in the world – and getting caught in the whirlpool of samsaara.
Katha Upanishad says
“If a person is unable to realize the ultimate reality of Lord here, then he is born in various worlds based on his desires and actions”
Kena Upanishad says
“If a person realizes the reality here, then it is TRUTH. If he doesn’t realize here, it will be big loss to the seeker”.
The very discussion about life after death is just to make the point that it is tough if the individual goes to other worlds without realizing the ultimate reality of Lord who is his own very nature. Hence it is pointed out that a person has to realize the reality here and now itself without wasting much time. Those who haven’t yet realized their own very nature of Self or Lord and aren’t putting any effort to realize this ultimate reality are to be called as fools because they are unaware about their own real nature of Consciousness.
Kapila Muni continued:
After mentioning the various spiritual practices as well as the truth about the other world, Lord Kapila ends the teaching to his mother Devahuthi thus:
The complete detachment and non-affectedness in the midst of this world-manifestation (which such a perception brings), is the one goal that all spiritual disciplines have in view.
It is the one pure Consciousness called Brahman, beyond the Gunas of Prakrithi, that is seen by the outward-going sense as various objects and interpreted due to delusion in a distorted way as sound, touch, and other sensation. That same Consciousness has manifested as Mahat, Ahamkaara, its threefold expressions, the eleven senses, the five elements and the self-conscious jeeva.
This truth is perceived by one who is endowed with Shraddha or faith, bhakthi or devotion, and unrelenting practice of spiritual disciplines, self-control, detachment and dispassion.
O venerable Mother! I have expounded that doctrine that leads to the realization of Brahman. By grasping this, the truth about Prakrithi and Purusha will be gradually understood.
What is known as Bhagavan is the common object sought by those who follow the discipline of knowledge based on the scriptures, and by those who follow the discipline of whole-hearted and unmotivated devotion to Me (Nirguna Bhakthi).
Explanation
As we have reached almost the end of Kapila Upadesha, let us recollect about the ultimate reality of Brahman or Consciousness or Lord.
There is only one entity in the entire world. That entity is variously termed as Brahman, Lord, Paramatman, Bhagavan, Atman etc. Its very nature is Consciousness. All other things that are presently perceived are mere illusions in the ultimate reality of Consciousness. The logic for the same is very simple:
If Consciousness is there, objects are there (the world is there).
If Consciousness is not there, there are no objects (the world itself doesn’t exist).
This means that the world and its objects depend upon Consciousness for its existence. Thus the world is nothing but an illusion seen in the changeless entity of Consciousness. The changing world can never exist in the changeless world as both are of diverse nature like light and darkness. As the variable has no existence but is a constant at any point of time, similarly the changing world is nothing but Consciousness alone. This is what is emphasized in various scriptural statements like “sarva brahma mayam”, “sarvam khalu idam brahma”, “atmaivaidam sarvam” etc.
This Consciousness is thus the very nature of each and every person in the world. The feeling of limitedness and separateness or distinctness from the ultimate reality of Lord or Consciousness is due to ignorance about the reality of Lord and one’s own nature. This ignorance is beginning less as it is an illusion in the reality of Lord – there is nothing here but Consciousness alone & hence ignorance also has to be an illusion alone.
The waking world and the ignorant state is like a long dream. In dream, the individual enjoys various things but doesn’t realize those are illusions. But when he wakes up, he realizes that all those were mere illusions created in him – and he realizes that each and every object in the illusion was he himself.
This is what is the reality behind the entire world – everyone is Consciousness or the Lord alone. But this reality has been veiled by ignorance about one’s own real nature. This ignorance has to be removed through knowledge about the Lord and various spiritual disciplines.
When a seeker undergoes the various spiritual disciplines, he is not at all affected by the activities in the illusory world as he knows them to be an illusion in the reality of Lord. All problems, sorrows and sufferings in the world are due to consideration that the world is real. The moment an individual realizes that the world is only an illusion, all these sorrows and sufferings cease to be taken as real. The sorrows are also realized as unreal and like a person being killed in his dream!!!
It is very tough indeed to realize the reality that the world is an illusion. Hence the best way to do it is to have devotion to the reality behind the illusory world. Any illusion has a substratum which is the ultimate reality behind that illusion. The snake seen in rope has the substratum of the rope which is the ultimate reality behind the illusion of snake. Similarly water seen in desert has the substratum of desert. In a similar way, the ultimate reality behind this illusory world is Lord who is the substratum of the illusion – Lord is the one who controls this illusory world. He is the ultimate reality who alone is present as the indweller in all the beings in the world. Lord is present in and out of all the beings in the world. There is nothing in the world except Lord – all the illusory objects are present only because of the existence of the ultimate reality of Lord.
When a seeker thus creates real devotion and real knowledge about the reality, the ignorance veil slowly vanishes – he begins to see oneness everywhere. There are no likes and dislikes for such a seeker because he sees the Lord everywhere. Since there are no likes and dislikes, there is neither happiness nor sorrow for the seeker (which arises out of likes and dislikes alone). Thereby the seeker is always immersed in the thought of Lord alone. Slowly the seeker merges into the reality of Lord. Then he realizes the ultimate reality that there neither was any Lord nor the devotee but whatever existed was the non-dual reality of Lord. This is what we normally call as realization. The Self which is one’s own very nature of Lord is always and ever realized. But this realized state is not known as such. Thus that time when the seeker realizes his own realized state of being one with the ultimate reality of Lord is called realization. After realization, the seeker realizes that there never was a state of bondage so that he is liberated or attains realization – but there was only the ultimate reality of Lord, one without a second.
If a person has to concentrate on the ultimate reality of Lord, his attention should be diverted from the external and illusory sense objects. This is what is normally termed as detachment and dispassion (even though these terms have very broad idea and concepts embedded in it, the meaning mentioned is the gist of the import of these words – we will try to analyze these terms in the coming days). Detachment and dispassion become perfect only when there is self-control. Here Self-control means control of the mind, control of the passions, and control of desires. This control is very easily achieved if a person follows the path of ultimate or supreme devotion to the ultimate reality of Lord.
Devotion, detachment, dispassion, control all are necessary but they don’t serve their purpose unless the spiritual disciplines are followed with faith. FAITH is a very vast word which has more significance than the word can denote. As Saint Augustine says “faith is belief in something you don’t know so that you may come to know what you believe”J This definition might seem little confusing but reading it around 10 times will make it crystal clear. Adi Sankara defines Sraddha as faith in the scriptures and the words of the Guru (both are faultless as they are out of experience and they point towards the ultimate reality of Lord who is faultless).
When all these qualities are present, then the seeker progresses very fast & realizes the ultimate reality that there is nothing here but Lord alone and that there is no bondage or sorrow but eternal bliss alone.
We will try to see the various factors, qualities mentioned by Lord Kapila in the next posts.
# posted by vedanta : 8:49 AM
