[Advaita-l] Iswara Darshanam -5

[kuntimaddi sadananda]

                                                                                                  Iswara Darshanam -5

Iswara is not separate from the world of plurality. He himself appears as plurality. That forms the Iswara sRiShTi. 

All religions say God created this world. However, they rarely address the questions such as, why did he create and on what basis, and where did He get the material to create, etc.  Even asking such questions is considered as blasphemy by some religions since they do not have the answers. Only in Vedanta a student dares to ask such questions, and in fact is encouraged to ask such questions. The answer is provided to a qualified student. In essence, scriptures state the absolute law of conservation that no creation can come out from nothing, and that what is there can never be destroyed – nAsato vidyate bhAvo nAbhAvo vidyate sataH – non-existent cannot come into existence and existent cannot become non-existent. (I consider this as the absolute law conservation principle, while asat word here has been explained by advaita masters as mithyaa). Hence creation can only be a modification of what is already there. Normally, in science, we deal with two
 types of transformations: reversible transformation and irreversible transformation. Reversible transformation is like ice becoming water while irreversible transformation is like milk becoming curds or yogurt. The latter transformation is referred by Vedantins as pariNama. Brahman/Iswara becoming many involves a transformation-less transformation, similar to gold becoming ornaments. Thus gold remains as gold while still there are varieties of names and forms of ornaments, each having its own attributes, utilities, date of birth, etc. Gold can declare that all ornaments are in me, but really there are no ornaments in me as I am pure gold unaffected by the states of experiences of these ornaments. My vision may be limited to only seeing the ornaments and not gold from which they came, by which they are sustained, and into which they go back, because I am attached to those names and forms. I may say this is my wedding ring and therefore precious, while
 the other ring is just an ordinary gold ring.  Hence raaga and dweshaas, attachments and aversions can cloud my vision of the underlying reality, which remains as changeless in all the changes. 

What was there before creation, scriptures say, was pure existence-consciousness, which is limitless – which is called Brahman. He himself became many. For one to become many requires a driving force or Shakti and that force is called mayaa. In addition, Brahman who is infinite cannot undergo a transform; hence this becoming many is transformation-less transformation like gold becoming many, still remaining as gold. Brahman with maaya Shakti is called Iswara. Hence creation involves Iswara himself appearing as many with different names and forms, using his maayaa Shakti. Hence the essence of everything and every being is nothing but Iswara only. Since He already became many, to see Him one has to see him in and through many only. Hence vision of the world is the vision of the Lord. That is, Iswara has to be recognized as the essence of everything that one sees or transact with.  Perceptually the senses can only see the attributes but locus for the
 attributes or its essence is nothing but Lord himself, who is imperceptible to the normal instruments of perception. 

We do not see the world, which is nothing but Iswara or Iswara sRiShTi, as is due to the false gaggles of raaga and dwesha, likes and dislikes that we are wearing. Hence scriptures says there are two creations; Iswara sRiShTi and jiiva sRiShta, the creation of Iswara and creation as perceived by jiiva. The later includes his imaginations and projections based on the Iswara sRiShTi. Each jiiva sees the world differently due to variations in the gaggles of raaga and dweshaas. To see creation as Iswara in all His glory, we need to remove the gaggles of raaga dweshaas. That requires purification of the mind, which involves neutralization of the raaga dweshaas. The spiritual disciple involves the purification process. Such a purified mind is required to appropriate knowledge that reveals this absolute truth.  That is Iswara pervades in and through the world of plurality. Being infinite the pervasive substantive is imperceptible. This is what was discussed
 earlier as two essential requirements for the Iswara darshanam, knowledge and grace, or knowledge and attitude or bhAvana. 

Arjuna understood the essential teaching up to the 10th chapter as summarized by him in the first two slokas of the 11th chapter. Because of the remnant raaga dweshaas, even though he understood the teaching and has full faith in the teaching as he says that his delusion was gone due to the grace of the Lord, he longs for actually vision of the Lord in and through the world of plurality. Hence he requests Krishna to give that vision of viswaruupa Iswara, if Krishna thinks he is qualified for that. Such a vision involves temporary removal of the goggles of raaga dweshaas which can be achieved by the grace of teacher or Iswara. This will not be a permanent vision, since for that the obstructing goggles of raaga dweshaas have to be removed by spiritual disciple that includes nidhidhyaasana, constant contemplation on the absolute reality. As swami Paramarthanandaji puts it, as one abides in the vision, the frequency, the intensity and the recovery time, FIR,
 of perturbations reduces. Raaga dweshaas can never be completely eliminated but their effect can be nullified to a large extent.
Krishna grants that vision, which is called divya kshakshu or jnaana kshaskhu or wisdom eyes, to Arjuna. After learning to meditate on the absolute reality many sadhaks or seeker feel at time a vision of peace that paasath understanding. They feel that they have realized the truth. Unfortunately they keep longing for that experience again and again but do not achieve it since the same frame of mind is not there all the time. For a permanent vision or for permanently abiding in the knowledge, constant shravana, manana and nidhidhyaasana are required to eliminate slowly and steadily the lingering vaasanaas or raaga dweshaas. For many the nidhidhyaasana, required to abide in the knowledge gained by shravana and manana, may take whole life pursuit as it depends of individual stock of vaasanaas or extent of the lingering raaga and dweshas.  

Krishna grants that request by temporarily removing the goggles that obstruct the vision of Iswara in and through the world of names and forms.

To be continued

Hari Om!
Sadananda