Jnyanam te aham savijnyanam idam...

Bhagavan Shree Krishna  says, "I shall tell you in detail of this Knowledge which is combined with realization (savijnyanam)  He the Lord says, "Once you experience this, there is nothing else to be known again.." (Gita VII. verse 2). 

  What is this  'Jnyanam' ('Knowledge') that is the ultimate one should know? What is this 'savijnyanam' that one should experience, realize? It's so simple that one cannot even believe that! It is that 'That -' the Knowledge of the Self" which one should know! However, He, the Lord hastens to add.."Among thousands of men a rare one endeavors for perfection. Even the perfected ones who are diligent, one perchance knows Me in Truth". (Gita VII verse 3). 

  Further, it is clarified that the eight principle elements (ashta prakrutih) are the Bhumirapo analo vayuh kham manorbuddhir eva cha ! Add egoism (ahankara) to these. These are lower or inferior prakrutih. There is the higher prakrutih that of the Lord which has taken the form of individual souls by which the world is upheld!

  Contemplate on these statements.  

Krishna, Krishna, Krishna.

  The nation is celebrating Shree Krishna Janmashtami today, 30th August 2021. Who is this Shree Krishna? It is needless to ask this question since everybody knows the story at the end of dva para yuga. It is Krishna who steered the Mahabharata war as a neutral between the Pandavas and Kauravas at the Warfront in Kurukshetra. Krishna is born in Mathura and was taken to King Nanda at Dwarka where he has grown up. Actually, as the story goes, Kamsa kept his sister Devaki and brother-in-law Vasudeva in prison for fear of being killed by their son-to-be-born! This incident took place while Kamsa was joyfully celebrating the marriage of his sister and taking the procession. He heard the voice of warning not to be so joyful and he would be killed by the eighth child born to them. He went on killing all the children in the fear. However, the eighth female child Yogamaya escaped from his hands and Krishna descended in her place! So far as Krishna's birth. Remember that He, the Lord descended as avatara as stated in the Gita, yada yada hi Glanirbhavati Bharata... sambhavami yuge yuge! 

  In the Great Epic Mahabharata, Krishna is depicted by Vyasa Deva as the King of Vrushni and maternal uncle of Arjuna. Pandava were ruling Hastinapura and the cousins usurped their kingdom cheating them through a game of dice. Krishna stood by the Pandava and became the Charioteer of Arjuna in the famous battle of Kurukshetra. There are occasions when Krishna revealed Who He is to Duryodhana and Arjuna. He revealed His virat svarupa and gave divya darshan as Vishnu Bhagavan. Now, the problem is about the date, time place of birth of the avatara purusha. Krishna is, for all practical purposes God Incarnate. He is Vishnu, the all-pervasive Consciousness. He pervades the universe as pure consciousness  and is present as an iota of it in all jivas. Pancha bhuta are charged with Energy, Life force and sustains the universe. 

 Krishna, etymologically means 'That which does not diminish'! Here, in our epics (purana) created by Sri Krishna Dvaipayana, who later came to be known as  Veda Vyasa due to classification of Veda into four divisions, has one Krishna in Mahabharata and another in Srimad Bhagavatam. The latter, depicts the childhood days of Krishna. There is yet another Shree Krishna depicted as Bhagavan (God) by the Lord Himself. This is the famous Bhagavad-Gita. Here, Bhagavan speaks about everything one ought to know about- the creation, sustenance, dissolution, merger and the like. The word by word depiction of the universe explained in the Gita is not found in any known scriptures in the world, so far. Bhagavan Shree Krishna speaks about Himself and all His lila, sport. The Bhagavad-Gita differs from the epics in that the spoken words of the  Lord are in the form of instructions given to Sun God prior to creation. He, goes on to say that It is He Who gives the Energy, Light, Power of Life to the Sun!

  When we celebrate the Birth Day of Bhagavan Shree Krishna on the Shravan Ashtami, little do we remember the words spoken by the Lord in the Gita. He, the Lord says, Mudha, these people make me a child and celebrate my Birth, whereas I am neither born, nor do I ever die! In fact these people give me a date of birth as 5252 BCE? In fact, I am ever young! I only exist and nothing exists beside Me. I only appear as everything that is seen, felt, experiences here and I am the experiencer! "Where is the world that is not pervaded by Me", He asks? He, the Lord says, "I Am the Self of All" Aham eva Atmanah ! 

  Thus, The Gita is a beautiful guide that can enlighten and liberate the souls that suffer under the Illusory powers of Prakruti. One has th break the shackles of Maya and get liberated with the Gita. The Bhagavad-Gita is Brahma Vidya and Yoga Shastra. Meditate on Bhagavan Shree Krishna.

'Akshara Brahma'

 The fundamental principle of creation, existence, and dissolution has to be clearly understood. First principle is Akasha (Space) and Vayu (air) freely moves within it! The sky is unaffected by whatever happens within it. Vayu only creates Agni (due to friction, constriction). Jala, and Prithvi and together these constitute pancha mahabhuta, the foundation of the universe.  The air is subject to expansion and contraction due to the influence of heat. Heat expands and cold contracts. This expansion and contraction is the root cause of all that exists in a certain form and function. The Mind reflects the same principle. Expansion is caused by heat due to friction. Agni (Fire) or heat is the basic principle of creation and the deities are: soma, surya, and anala. Everything is brahmn. sarvam khaluvidam brahma! Space is Brahmn. Kam brahma, kham brahma is the Vedic doctrine. Fire or Agni is another Vedic principle. It is the inherent qualities of Fire (Agni) that causes expansion and contraction, creation and dissolution, and transformation like the water into ice and water vapor. Mind, too, expands and contacts like space and Manas is akin to Akasha.  Thus, everything is traced to to Brahmn from which everything else manifest!  

  'Akshara Brahma' is the basic principle of creation! Here, the first letter or syllable 'A' is Brahmn. The collapse (kshara) of Brahmn 'A' is the cause of creation. From Silence comes the vibration, tremor, waves, sounds and all that is Akshara (Alphabets) which create the phenomenal objective world.. Creation lies in the Gap. Sound lies in the depth of silence! Thus, knowledge of the Alphabets and their inherent esoteric aspects are the basis of creation, sustenance, and dissolution, as also merger (vilaya). There are many secrets involved here and definitely we do not know them! Every sound of the alphabet is as powerful as an atomic bomb! It is this inherent power of the Sound of the syllables, alphabets. It is the same sound that may protect the people as a mantra, when used judiciously! The word 'mantra' means protective power- trayate iti mantra. The first syllable 'A' or akshara is the most powerful one and construction of words is not possible without this syllable. For example, when the vowel 'a' is added to 'k' (the consonant), 'ka' is formed. The syllable 'Ka' is a powerful force creating the fundamental particle (kana) of the material world, including the biological, jiva. Now, 'am' and 'ham' added to 'k' becomes 'kam' and 'kham', respectively.  kam or kham brahmaa is the Vedic doctrine.

 Every syllable, akshara is as good as a mantra! These are the fundamental creative forces as the bijakshara mantra. These are 32,000 on each side of the body, our nerves and neurons, nadi and chakras! Sound is created as we breathe in and breathe out: These sounds function as creative, sustaining and/ or destructive forces. The mahamantra are: ha sa, ka, la, hrIM, sa ha ka la hrIM and sa ka la hRim. SRIM is the most powerful bijakshara mantra. Here 'sa' or 'Sha' stand for. Shrree lakshmi, the Creatrix. 'Im' is the creative power or manifest form of Brahman. So, 'ShrIM' is a complete mantra. hRIm consisting of 'h', 'R' and 'Im' is Hara, Hari, and Virinchi/Brahma, k L IM is a very powerful bija mantra that contains earth, water and Creative force of Brahma and thereby cretae all the living beings!.  

 Briefly, we quote from 'Srividya' and 'Lakshmi Tantra', the Vaishnava Agama shastra grantha some important alphabets, syllables, akshara and their power. First, the svara, the vowels, are very powerful syllables with potent creative power. Second, the vyanjana, consonants are so powerful that create all the phenomenal objective world! Thus, the syllables are the creative force that operate behind the objective world. These are not easily available to common people unless efforts are made to acquire this specialized knowledge from the learned teachers. Even study of the scriptures will not help us in this regard since these are secrets to be learnt from the enlightened souls only. In fact this is a forbidden, rather, restricted field like the restricted area of defense land. Actually, it is a forbidden state since these mantra can create a hell of a problem for some bad elements  in society and protect the pious ones.  

 These syllables begin with A U M (Om). The vowels- a e i o u in English or a, aa, i, I, Ru, ROO,  LRu, LRU, Rk, vu, voo, O,  au, am, aha, Even a dot (.) or two ( : ) is important here. As regards the Consonants, every syllable from Ka-varga to pa-varga are creative enough to create the universe! The consonants 'ya', 'ra',  'la', 'va' and 'Sha', 'sha', 'sa' and 'ha' are powerful enough to sustain the jiva. These five basic elements are created by the bija mantra- space (ham), air (yam), fire (ram), water (lam) and earth (vam). These are also chakras (the wheels of power). The syllables 'ha' and 'sa' are the sounds of our vital breath! 'Sa' is the sound of inhaling, the sustaining force; and 'ha' is the sound of out-going, exhaling breath. It is the end of the jiva if the out-going air does not return! Resuscitation is tried to sustain or save the jiva. 'Sa' is the creative power and the laya shakti is 'ha'. Sa ha eva Shivah ! the syllables of pa-varga- pa, pha, ba, bha, and ma are so powerful that all the forces of creation, sustenance, dissolution, appearances and disappearances, and grace (anugraha) of the supreme Lord are inhered  here.

The 'Power of the Words"

 Little do we know about the 'power' vested in thoughts, sounds, syllables, letters (akshara) and words.that go to make the word (pada) and we are prone to use abusive words often. This level of understanding is hard to come for we are too much in the worldly mundane existence and strive for name, fame, wealth, and desire for perishable things. Once we realize this, may be, we stop unnecessary indulgences and strive for more durable happiness. Lakshmi Tantra gives a detailed account of 'origin of letters' and the inherent power of the alphabets. The Bhagavad-Gita also speaks of this- Omityekaksharam brahma that speaks volumes and volumes! 

Is Renunciation Essential for Happiness?

 Renunciation in the sense of repudiation or self-denial is definitely not essential for happiness. Sanyas is not the solution for the problems of samsara. Since human beings are endowed with buddhi, the power of discretion can be used to develop a harmonious relation with prakruti and live happily, joyfully. It is the ego that plays the spoilsport and kills the joy! The tormented jiva suffers because of this ignorance; it is the ignorance of  the true nature, svabhava, of the jiva forgetting that 'the Atman is always happy and joyful and needs no external support for its happiness' that causes the mortals to seek external, worldly indulgences, relations, objects of desire, and later feel disappointed and feel unhappy. 

 The Bhagavad-Gita is the ultimate guide and Bhagavan Shree Krishna only is speaking here! He, the Lord is kind, benevolent and compassionate. He, the Lord, knows the predicament of the jiva.  As 'antaryamin' seated within, as the 'Self' of all, He knows everything. Thus, there is no doubt as to what He says, but it is definitely not easy to understand. One must know the different contexts in which He speaks. He first speaks of 'Knowledge' as 'Sankhya' and narrates the process of creation in the 26 Principles. He goes on to explain the origin of the universe, the elements and their qualities, the nature of the jiva, its predicaments and offers solution. He advocates the paths of bhakti, jnyana, dhyana, vairagya, sanyasa, etc as means of salvation, emancipation. Finally, He goes to the extent of showing mercy to all those who surrender to Him!

However, it is very interesting to note that the surest means of happiness is 'equanimity' and, that is hard to come by. Bhagavan says, "O Arjuna, that yogi is co,nsidered the best who judges what is happiness and sorrow in all beings by the same standard as he would apply to himself.... (however) .. it is hard to acquire Arjuna." (Ch. VI  3). , Non-attachment with regard to objects of the senses, and also absence of egoism; seeing the evil in birth, death, old age, diseases and miseries; Non-attachment and absense of fondness with regard to sons, wives, homes, etc. and constant equanimity of the mind with regard to the attainment of the desirable and the undesirable." (Chapter XIII verses 8-11).

  Attainment of this state of equanimity by way of yogabhyasa and jnyan (discretion) is the key to happiness of the jiva. Acharya upasana (surrender and service at the feet of the Guru is essential in this regard, followed by practice of compassion and kindness to all other forms of life is advocated here. Nothing is possible as long as the power of ego overpowers the jiva and prevents it from surrendering to the will of the higher self (paramatman).

Can I Become God?

 In yoga vashishtha, Sage Vashishtha tells Sri Ramachandra, "The spontaneously  arising idea- "This person who is endowed with the aggregate of body, sense, etc. am I"- is the dirt-covered Self (jiva). The idea that I am the embodied Self (jiva) becomes extinguished like a lamp without oil when one firmly realizes that the visible universe is no other than Brahman, who as Consciousness is as pure as the sky. (Ch. IX. Realization of the Atma), verses 1-2)..

 This Realization of the Atman is taught by the great Sages in Upanishads. For example, 'Thou art That', Shvetaketu, is of the Chandogya, Kaushitaki, and Brihadaranyaka Upanishads. This is often wrongly attributed to Shankaracharya, the author of the Commentaries on Ten Principle Upanishads. In fact, there are so many Shankaras right from the days of dvapara yuga of Shree Krishna! They are: Avatara purusha Shankara of the  3500.B.C.  and then of the 1st Cent. Abhinava Shankara, and then the Adi Shankara and the Kelady Shankara, etc. (See S N Dasgupta: A History of Indian Philosophy, MLBD). The story of Shankara singing the Song of Beauty (Sounarya lahari) is very interesting. Here Shankara wrote the song and went to Kailasa to show it to Shiva and Parvati. Shiva was surprised at the beautiful description of Parvati in the script. He presented Shankara a copy of the huge volume that was lying next to him as a gift. But, Nandi who was the Gate Keeper did not want to allow him to take it out and snatched it! Thus only a few pages remained with him. We have a beautiful version of creation and sustenance in the first 41 verses of Soundarya Lahari and the rest 60 verses are of description of the Beauty. Thus,  the first .avatara purusha (Person Incarnate) Shankara is different from the 7th cent. one.. 

 We do not know exactly who the Shankara as the author of the Commentaries on Upanishads and have seen people ridicule when "tat tvam asi", "aham brahmasmi" and "Atma eva brahmaa", and other Vedic doctrines are attributed to Shankaracharya. We forget the fact that these are the original Vedic doctrines. The Lod states here in the Veda and in the Bhagavad-Gita unmistakably, explicitly clearly, that "I Am the Self of All". Hence the question is simple: "Can I become God?" The answer is: Where is the question of becoming God when the "Self is All"? It is this lack of understanding that makes one think I am different and God is different. This duality is the cause of all our problems. When samyak prajnya dawns, when one realizes the fact that "He only Exists in all" and all living beings are the manifests forms of His Desire, Will, the ignorance disappears! Now, we are prone to think so and so is a divine soul and defy them. We adore great sages, worship them, present their life and works on silver screen. We call them 'daivansha sambhoota'. But the Vedic doctrines clearly state all these creations are His own Self.

 Now, this duality caused by ignorance of the reality can be easily removed by a simple technique, tantra. This technique is 'Knowledge of the Self", Atma jnyan. Sage Ramana used to say, 'Discover who you are?" Ask yourself "naan yaar?" The moment you discover that 'there is someone else who breathes when you are in deep sleep" and not even aware of your existence. First, one must discover how the single spermatozoa, the impregnated sperm in the mother's cell, multiplied and created multiple sells and tissues, organs, and body. It is the soul that created the body and hence the body is the handicraft of the soul. When one realizes the fact that the mind, the buddhi, and ahankara surrounded it and created the mess, and discards these, would realize the Self. This self discovery is important.

 One can thus realize the true nature of the Self, not just become God! This possible by mere discard of all the adjuncts like the awareness (consciousness) of the physical body, fickle mind, perverted intelligence, and the foolish ego, along with the acquired qualities- ari shadvarga and the trigunatmika svabhava, This process of discard of the sheathes that envelope the soul, purification process, will enable the jiva to realize its pure and pristine existence!

 Hence, is it not wise to revert to the pure state by an inward journey? Stop all indulgences in the worldly existence, withdraw the senses and mind from material world, Start looking inward, begin working within taking recourse to contemplation, meditation. It is essential to discard all the acquired aspects, become pure- kayena, vachena, manasena, indriyana buddhyatmika svabhava parishuddha and shine in the glory of the Lord?  

Self Surrender and 'Anukulya''

 Here, in Lakshmi Tantra, an ancient  Vaishnava Agama Shakta Grantha, the tormented soul is assured of emancipation, liberation, by a simple method. When Shakra (Indra) asks Devi Lakshmi about the means of salvation for the tormented soul, the jiva struggling in the vast ocean of samsara, like a passenger trapped in a leaky boat on a stormy day (see Gita: vayurnaavamivambhasi...), Devi reveals the secret method of 'Self-surrender' as the solution. However, it is not that easy, as can be seen from the following dialogue (quoted from the Text in an abridged form). In tell her the means of redemption of the tormented jiva. In fact, it is not what Devi Lakshmi is revealing the secret on Her own! "Devi says: "Once on beholding the tormented living beings, I pleaded with the God of gods: Adorable one, lord, God of the gods, master of the world, and my beloved O Achyuta, O Govinda, Supreme Pundarikaksha, the guide for crossing the treacherous and shoreless ocean of samsara, thou who art responsible for the four states of existence.. .. manifest and the unmanifest, the knower and time Vasudeva, lord of the universe, Samkarshana, Pradyumna, O exquisitely beautiful, Lord Narayana, these living beings are all drowned in the ocean of suffering. O Lord, by what device thinkest thou they can be saved?(Verses  40-47)

 Thus addressed, the God of gods answered with a smile: O Lotus-seated, lotus-born lotus-goddess, i have devised methods whereby these souls may be liberated, such as, performing the rites and  following the precepts of Samkhya and yoga according to sacred texts. (Verse 48-49)

Again, Devi requests thus: "O merciful Janardana, disclose to me  who prostrate myself before thee the method that thou, in my compassion, has devised to rescue living beings."(Verse 54)

  Shakra. I salute thee, O Great Goddess, what is this 'anukulya'?(verse 65)

Devi replies: 'Anukulya' entails being benevolently disposed towards all beings on the conviction that "I exist in all beings" One should always be favorably disposed towards all beings, just as one is towards me, likewise all forms of hostility towards living beings should be dropped". (verse 66-67).

Vedic Verses

  “Know the embodied soul to be a part of the hundredth part of the point of a hair divided a hundred times; and yet it is infinite. It is not female, it is not male, nor is it neuter. whatever body it takes, with that it becomes united. By means of desires, contact, attachment and delusion, the embodied soul assumes, successively, diverse forms in various places, according to its deeds, just as the body grows when food and drink are poured into it.” [Yajurveda, Shvet. Upa., Part I, Ch. V, 9-11]. “The embodied soul, by means of good and evil deeds committed by itself, assumes many forms, coarse and fine. By virtue of its actions and also of such characteristics of the mind as knowledge and desire, it assumes another body for the enjoyment of suitable objects. He who knows the Lord, who is without beginning or end, who stands in the midst of the chaos of the world, who is the Creator of all things and is endowed with many forms-he who knows the radiant Deity, the sole Pervader of the universe, is released from all his fetters.” [Yajurveda, Shvet. Upa., Part I, Chapter V, 12-13].