Ahirbudhnya Samhita- Reality of Existence

  The Agama shastra is supposed  to be the earliest of the spoken words of the Lord and finds the sacred place among the Shreevaishnava who hold Narayana as the supreme Lord. Even the Veda is derived from the Agama shastra, they say. Yamuna and Ramanuja are the staunch devotees of Narayana, and they eulogised devotion, 'Bhakti' as the easiest path to realise brahmn who is Narayana. The ultimate truth is Narayana and everything is Vasudeva!

   Among the hundreds of Samhitas found in the Pancharatra, the most prominent are a dozen and Ahirbudhnya, Sattvata, Jayakhya are important ones that we discuss here. A few statements from the Ahirbudhnya samhita are given here for reference and moire details can be had from the main Text- Surendranath Dasgupta: A History of Indian Philosophy, Vol.III).
 "Ahirbudhnya says, that after undergoing a long course of penance, he received from Sankarshana true knowledge and that this true knowledge was the science of 'Sudarshana', which is the support of things in the world".(Ahir. sam. III.2.5)

.   The ultimate realty is the beginningless, endless, and eternal reality, which is devoid of all names and forms, beyond all speech and mind, the omnipotent whole which is absolutely changeless. From this eternal and unchangeable reality there springs a spontaneous desire or idea, sankalpa. This idea is not limited or bound by time, space, or any substance. 

  Brahmn is of the nature of intuition, of pure and infinite bliss and , He resides in everything everywhere. He is the Self of all. He is like the waveless sea. He has none of the qualities and is absolutely self-realized and complete in Himself. He, the Brahmn, cannot be defined by any expressions such as 'this' or 'such and such''.

   However, for our convenience and understanding of this 'absolute nothingness, the dynamic silence, potential, Brahmn is called paramatman, Atman, Bhagavan, Vasudeva, avyakta, prakruti, pradhana, purusha and the like. When the jiva discards all its accumultaed vasanas, desires, and karma klesha he directly realizes the nature of Brahmn, the absolute reality. This is just like a blind person suddenly gains eyesight!
  The essence of Brahmn is pure Consciousness, chit-shakti.The power of Brahmn, shakti is the source of the universe and as such he is the causeless cause (karanasya karana).His energy is the material cause of the world and He Himself is not the cause of anything. His energy is virya is the seed of the world.His self-sufficiency is tejas and His aishvarya is Majesty, spontaneous creativity or kartrutva..Hence everything we find here, including ourselves is Brahmn.