[Advaita-l] Kanchi Maha-swamigal's Discourses on Advaita Saadhanaa (KDAS-59)

[V. Krishnamurthy]

Namaste.

For a Table of Contents of these Discourses, see
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/advaitin/message/27766
For the previous post, see
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/advaitin/message/32823


SECTION 45: THE NAADIS OF THE HEART: JNANI'S LIFE RESTS, 
OTHER'S LIVES LEAVE (Contd.)
Tamil Original:  http://www.kamakoti.org/tamil/dk6-119.htm

However, all these have asked for release from samsAra and from rebirth and
have followed noble paths, the Lord grants them that release from samsAra
certainly.

In this way. The souls that left their bodies do not return to this world.
Instead they go to Brahma-loka And that grants them the release from the
samsAra of this world and all the attendant sufferings and also from the
rebirth. This is mokSha.

Brahma loka does not mean the world of Brahman.. You would have inferred
this yourself from all that you have heard from me so far. Yes, there is no
loka (world) for Brahman). What we refer to as Brahma-loka is just the world
(loka) of the God known as Creator BrahmA.

But instead of calling it BrahmA's world (the world of the four-faced deity
BrahmA) we should call it saguNa-Brahma-lokaM. Knowledgeable people call
BrahmA as Hiranya-garbha  and Brahma-loka as Hiranya-garbha-loka.

Nirguna brahman is subtler than the subtle state. By the work of mAyA the
concrete creation takes place. This is the concrete state.  In between the
two states  is the state of Hiranyagarbha. This is the state where  creation
has not yet taken place, but the saguna-brahman with its mAyA has kept the
whole creation within itself as if in the embryo stage.  Hiranya means gold.
AvidyA (Ignorance), otherwise mAyA, by itself is like darkness, but by the
presence of Brahman-consciousness it works out this wonderful task of
creation, the consciousness which thus shines and reflects is said to be
golden.

The gate that  allows things to go out is also the gate through which things
enter. So the creation which came out from Hiranyagarbha goes back inside
through the same Hiranyagarbha. When does it go back? - when Hiranyhagarbha
is of age one hundred and thus his lifetime is over, he merges into nirguNa
brahman.  In our reckoning, 1000 caturyugas (the period of four yugas: Krta,
Treta, Dvapara and Kali)  make one day-time of Hiranyagarbha.  Similarly
another 1000 caturyugas make one night of his. So that his one full day is
2000 caturyugas. His years are calculated on this basis. Like that he lives
100 years of his. All that time Creation goes on. When he is of age 100, he
is taken in into Brahman. Along with him all the worlds, jIvas and all that
was created would go and merge into Brahman.  Brahman alone is there now.
Whatever time was spent in all this creation, an equal time goes on without
any creation, but with Brahman alone. Then Creation begins again.

When the lifetime of Hiranyagarbha ends his Creation work ends and he merges
in the ParamAtmA. This event is called 'Adyantika-pralaya'. You may recall I
earlier mentioned it and told you I will come back to it later.

For the majority of  of us jIvas  who have a lot of karma balance and
instead of going on the path of Karma-yoga, or Bhakti, or Yoga or JnAna,
have to repeatedly die and be born, they are destined to suffer lakhs and
lakhs of janmas till that pralaya. He who goes by the jnAna path merges in
brahman in this life itself. The others who are 'upAsakas' escape from the
birth and death syndrome, but still do not get the advaita-mukti. They go to
Brahma-loka and from there at the time of Adyantika-pralaya dissolve in the
very brahman along with Creator BrahmA.

What would be that Brahma-loka like? He who reaches there would not have
either the internal enemies like lust, anger, etc. or the external enemies
like disease, heat and cold, asura, etc. Their life will be pleasant  and
pure. This is true of all kinds of upAsakas who go there.

Besides this, for each particular kind of 'upAsaka' it will be different.

For the Karma person, it will be a place where whatever he desires that is
not faulty will be fulfilled.
For the Bhakti person, it will be a place which has the favourite deity that
he wanted to reach.  Brahma-loka does not mean that there is BrahmA there.
Various bhaktas might say that even beyond, further higher up, there is
Vaikuntha (the loka of Vishnu) and  there is Kailasa (the loka of shiva);
but really it is this Brahma-loka that appears to different viewers in a
different way. The same paramAtmA shows up as Vishnu, Shiva in the
'different' lokas.

Incidentally, BrahmA is not the favourite deity (ishhTa-deivam) for no one!
Then why is this called Brahma-loka?  Maybe that is exactly the reason!. Let
me explain.  The ShAstras assign this Hiranya-garbha loka  only to those who
perform their religious rituals without desire for the fruits thereof, but
as a path to mokSha. Not only in the spiritual type ShAstras like Upanishads
but also in Manu-smRti, which is a Dharma-shAstra, the assignment of
Brahma-loka is only for such persons. He does not have a favourite deity in
particular. So on the plea that he goes back from Creation to the Source,
the world that is the path from one to the other is given the name of the
Creator. Maybe,in a lighter vein, one might say that if it had been named
after one of those favourite deities, the others in the same category might
object to it!

We can be more 'generous' and include some more in this list of 'upAsakas'.
Originally once upon a time only the Vedas were there all over the world.
Later, in the other countries, somehow it all got mutilated and in course of
time, the very fact that there was a vedic path was itself forgotten. At
some places some great men established a religion or a religious philosophy
- and these were made in such a way that it promoted devotion to the divine,
good character and spirituality. All those who follow these other religions
and religious works may be included in the list of 'upAsakas'. We may even
suppose that they will also go to Brahma-loka and that will be their
'heaven' or 'the relieved state' which is their goal according to their
belief.  

We can be even more generous and broad-minded! ....

(To be  Continued)
PraNAms to all students of advaita.
PraNAms to the Maha-Swamigal.
profvk






Latest on my website is an article on Krishnavatara, the Miraculous. See
http://www.geocities.com/profvk/HNG/Krishnavatarapage1.html