Whosoever, meditates upon the Omniscient, the
Ancient, the Ruler (of the whole world) , minuter than the atom, the Supporter
of all, of Form inconceivable, Effulgent like the Sun and beyond the darkness
(of ignorance) . . .
-- (Holy Gita : Chapter 8 verse 9)--
By holding the mind constantly in the
contemplation of the Self, the devotee was promised that he could developin
himself such a powerful and divine trait that at the time of his departure he
can easily come to entertain the thoughts of the Divine. By a very subtle
implication, it was also suggested in two previous stanzas (VIII-5, 6), that
even while continuing to live in the present embodiment, the seeker can reach a
point where the ego-centric life is ended. Such a total annihilation of ignorance-created
misconceptions, and the consequent vanities, can be successfully accomplished
by the seekers only when their minds get totally withdrawn from their
attachments to the false matter-envelopments through the process of continued
contemplation upon the Self.
In the preceding
stanza, it was also vaguely hinted that the contemplation of the Self must be
as "THE SUPREME RESPLENDENT PURUSHA."
If I am advised by somebody to meditate upon or think out the possibilities of
OXYGENELITEEN' it will be impossible for me, however wise a man I might be,
unless I know what that is. Merely upon a name, no consistent contemplation is
possible. "OXYGENELITEEN" is merely a word constituted of letters ---
it means nothing; it is only a sound represented by a few letters of the
alphabet. Similarly, to be advised by a Shastra,
to meditate upon the SUPREME RESPLENDENT SELF, could only be as futile as to be
asked to think over the possibilities of "OXYGENELITEEN."
In a practical
text-book of instruction as to how Vedanta
can be lived, Krishna has to provide Arjuna with sufficient material indicating
the line of contemplation to be undertaken by the meditator. The two stanzas
now under review, give an exhaustive design for the students to make themselves
successfully and profitably disciplined.
These qualifying
terms are as many different indications of the Truth (though none defines It),
which is the thrilling core that gives a similitude of life and reality to
inert, unreal matter. No single term here, therefore, is to be understood as
complete in itself. Geometrically, a point can be defined and indicated only
with reference to two different sets of data. So too, here the inexpressible
Reality has been almost accurately explained with these different qualifying
terms.
Contemplation
upon the Reality, through an attempt at exhaustively comprehending all the
secret suggestions in the above stanza, is to prepare a mental condition in
which, if a mind lives well-integrated and turned inward, it can come to pause
in an atmosphere of Infinite Experience.
The Conscious
Principle, serving as the Soul in an embodiment, is that which illumines all
the thought waves that rise in that particular mind, functioning in that given
embodiment. The Infinite Self being One everywhere, it is
the same Principle that illumines all the different embodiments, all the
thought-experiences, at all times. Just as the Sun is said to be "SEEING
EVERYTHING," because it illuminates all the objects on the globe, so too,
is the Divine Principle of Awareness ---the factor without which no knowledge
is ever possible. Thus, the Self is considered, in terms of the world of
conditioned-knowledge which we experience today, as the Supreme Knower who
knows everything, Omniscient (Kavih),
and without whom no knowledge is ever possible.
ANCIENT (Puranah) --- The Self is considered as
the most Ancient because the Eternal Truth is that which was before all
creation, which remains the same all through the ages of existence, and which
shall ever remain the same even after the projections of plurality have ended.
To indicate that the One Self ever remains the same everywhere, providing a
substratum even for the concept of time, It is indicated here as the Ancient.
THE OVER-RULER (Anushasitah) --- It is not in any way
indicated here that the Self is a Sultan,
tyrannically ruling over the world. Here the term 'Over-ruler' is only to
indicate that if the Principle of Awareness were not presiding over the
multiple faculties of perception, feeling, and comprehension in us, our physical,
mental and intellectual experiences could not have been harmonised into the
meaningful existence of our life-time.
The
Overlordship, mentioned here, only indicates that the Knowing Principle of
Consciousness is the very essence but for which life --- defined as a
continuous series of experiences --- in any form is never possible. Without mud
the mud-pots cannot exist; in all pots the mud is the OVER-RULER. Just as gold
in all gold ornaments, the ocean in all waves, sweetness in all candy, so too
is the Self in the Universe of names and forms. It is in this sense that the
term 'Overruler' is to be understood. To conceive of God as a mighty policeman
standing with two keys, one made of gold to open the gates of heaven, and the
other of iron to open the doors of hell, is a barbarous concept of Godhood that
has nothing sacred in it to attract the intellectually awakened generations!
MINUTER THAN AN
ATOM (Anoraniyan) --- The simplest
and the smallest physically divisible particle of any element which still maintains
the specific properties of that element is called its atom. Thus, it is
indicated here that the Self is the subtlest of the subtle. The subtler a
thing, the greater is its pervasiveness. Water is considered subtler than a
block of ice, and the steam ensuing when water is boiled is considered subtler
than the water itself. In all these stages, pervasiveness is the measuring rod
of their comparative subtleties. In the Upanishadic
lore, it is usual to consider the Self as "the Subtlest of the
Subtle" which only indicates that "It pervades all, and nothing
pervades It."
THE NOURISHER OF
ALL (Sarvasya Dhatarah) --- The
nourisher here means the support that sustains everything. In a cinema theatre,
the changeless white-screen can be considered as the nourisher of the
entertainment, inasmuch as, without it the ever-changing flow of pictures could
not have given us the impression of a continuous story. However glorious might
be the message that a master-painter has brought out with his brush, it is the
consistent strength of the canvas behind, that nourishes and sustains the
integrity and beauty of the picture. Similarly, if the One Consciousness were
not constantly illumining the ever-changing flux of things and happenings
around and within us from birth to death, through all conditions and states of
our existence, the homogeneous oneness of life would never have been ours to
react to and feel fulfilled with.
OF FORM
INCONCEIVABLE (Achintya-roopah) ---
If there be a factor that is Omniscient, Ancient, Over-ruler, Subtlest of the
subtle, and Nourisher of all, and if we are advised to meditate upon It, then
it is possible that we immediately get a false notion that the Self can be
thought of and comprehended, as any other finite object or idea, by our limited
faculties of the head or the heart. To remove this wrong idea and to emphasize
that the Infinite cannot be comprehended by the finite instruments of
perception, feeling and understanding --- but can only be apprehended when
these equipments are transcended ---the Lord is particularly anxious to tell
His students that the Self is of "THE FORM INCONCEIVABLE." Though it
is thus, in fact, inconceivable, yet, on transcending the equipment of
experiences, the individual, in a process of Divine Awakening, can subjectively
apprehend It to be his own Essential Nature.
LUMINOUS LIKE
THE SUN (Aditya-varnah) --- If the
implication of the above term (Achintya-roopah)
be true, no intelligent seeker can arrest his temptation to doubt as to how the
Self can ever be realised. As seekers, we live and strive within the
limitations of our own mind and intellect. Every moment of our existence, we
gather a harvest of experiences only through the use of the different
equipments given to us. Living as we are, rooted in our false identifications
with these equipments in the early days of our spiritual efforts, the seeker in
us should necessarily despair at the impossible conception and the mad mission
of "knowing the UN-KNOWABLE" ---conceiving the IN-CONCEIVABLE ---
understanding the UN-UNDERSTANDABLE --- or experiencing the IN EXPERIENCABLE!!!
The Self is
defined as the UN-UNDERSTANDABLE, or the IN-CONCEIVABLE, or IN-EXPERIENCABLE,
etc., only to indicate that the instruments of cognition, experience and
apprehension are not available for functioning in the Self. The dream-gun, with
which the dreamer had shot the enemies of his dream-world, cannot be any longer
handled by him, when once he has awakened. Even the bloody hands of a dreamer,
after a dream-murder, become automatically clean, without
either soap or water, the moment he wakes up! As long as man is identifying
with his limiting adjuncts, he lives in the external world of his
self-projected delusory multiplicity, wherein the Self is "IN-CONCEIVABLE,
and IN-EXPERIENCABLE." But the moment these adjuncts are transcended
through a process of steadfast contemplation on the Self, he gets awakened to
his own nature of Pure Being.
Once having
understood this much of the fundamental concepts of Vedanta, it becomes easy to appreciate the matchless beauty of the
example of the Sun. In order to see the Sun, no other light is necessary, as
the Sun is the "SOURCE" of all light, the one illuminator that
illuminates everything else. Just as, in the physical world, the Sun, in its
self-effulgence, is self-evident, so too, in the spiritual realm, to know the
Knowledge Absolute, no other knowing-principle is needed. The dreamer can never
KNOW the waker, for, while knowing the waking-state the dreamer himself ends to
BECOME the waker; to awaken oneself from the dream is to know the waker; to
KNOW the waker is to BECOME the waker. So too, on ending the ego-centric
existence, in the flash of the spiritual awakening, the misguided, panting ego
ends itself in the re-discovery that it has been nothing but the Self, at all
times. This vast suggestion is cramped into a mystic word-picture:
"LUMINOUS LIKE THE SUN."
BEYOND ALL
DARKNESS (Tamasah-Parastat) --- The
limited and the finite example of the Sun calls into the heart of a student
some dangerous misgivings. The Sun in the heavens is, no doubt, resplendent,
but only during the day; and even during the day-time there are various degrees
of intensity of the sunlight experienced by the living kingdom. If the Self is
"LUMINOUS LIKE THE SUN," then the industrious student may gather that
the Self also varies in Its intensity, and that there are periods of time when
It is not at all available! To remove these two fallacious ideas --- that the
Self is variable in nature and sometimes totally absent, this qualifying term
is used here. The very limitation of the Sun, meaning the darkness of the
night, is negated when Krishna says that the Self is "BEYOND THE
DARKNESS" of ignorance, or Maya.
He who meditates
upon the Self thus, as Omniscient, Ancient, Overruler, Subtlest of the subtle,
Nourisher of all, of Inconceivable Form, Self-illuminating as the Sun, and
Beyond all traces of ignorance, is the one who "goes to Him."
