Thus Spake the Divine - Advaita or Dvaita – All at Lotus Feet of Parashakti - 3

Thus Spake the Divine

Advaita or Dvaita – All at Lotus Feet of
Parashakti

It is really difficult to capture Brahmam with our mind, which is formless, action-less and non-distinctively (Adviteeya) attribute-less. While He is an atom within an atom, does He not reside inside the idol we meditate on? If we want to experience Him as an atom within an atom, it is only He who can bestow that feeling on us. If He is Omnipresent, He should be present in forms and shapes in which we can meditate on Him with our love and Bhakti. If we are to experientially realize Him that He is Omnipotent, let Him create that feeling within us! Whether He does it or not, it is His responsibility, it is His act. Let us not bother about it. All we need is happiness and the feeling of bliss that we get when espousing our Bhakti on Him. Just that is enough for us.

Let Him remain Absolute, Complete, Purna and Attribute- Less. Let Him be the embodiment of Advaita. How does it at all matter to us? We remain incapable and incompetent in being aware of these matters. Let Him appear as anything. Since all this beauty, compassion and Jnyana emerge or emanate from Him, who appears Dvaita to us, let us extend our Bhakti to Him in the form of an idol, which is the ocean of love, compassion and Jnyana. While we persist in doing our duty, let Him take the onus of revealing His real form to us. It is only He who can expose Himself in His real form to us. All we can do is just imagine Him in a form that gives us absolute bliss and continue to espouse

Bhakti on Him.

Only till we remain different from Him, can we do His Bhakti. Once we immerse into Him, then He and We are no different. We will unify with Him as Advaita. Is it possible to reach this stage of Advaita? Paramatma says, “Only by extending Bhakti on me can one realize Who I am, as I am”. In “tato mam”, the word “Tato” means “Afterwards”. Thus Bhakti is the fi rst step to be followed. What has to happen next will happen! He says, “Do Bhakti on Me! Afterwards, I will expose to you who I am and immerse you within Me as Advaita”.

Paramatma utters the word “tat vata” twice. He says, “He realizes Me as I am after his Bhakti towards Me: after knowing Me as I am, “he” becomes “Me”.

It can be interpreted in a different way. “By Bhakti, we get to know Him as He is”, meaning “One does not know Him ‘while’ espousing His Bhakti. Only ‘after’ doing Bhakti, as a reward for one’s Bhakti, He exposes Himself as He is”. Doesn’t it mean that we don’t get to know Him as He is while doing Bhakti? Now, the question is: how to extend Bhakti towards someone whom we don’t know at all? At the time of commencing Bhakti, it is not that He is not ‘fully’ known to us. It means that at the moment we do not know His Purna Svarupa (Absolute, Complete Form). That Purna Svarupa is only Advaita, which cannot be comprehended by our mind. It does not matter if that Purna Svarupa is not visible to us. Only when Purna Svarupa is seen will there be no distinction between Bhagavan and Bhakta, isn’t it? Bhakti exists only when Bhagavan and Bhakta are different from each other. This means during Bhakti, God remains separate from Bhakta without immersing Bhakta within Him.

He remains Apoorna or incomplete to that extent. So be it! It is alright if we don’t think or meditate on something Purna that has not immersed us within Itself. How can we think of something which is unthinkable? Still, our mind is able to visualize that Purna by making it a little “Apurna” and seeing that Svaroopa as an embodiment of virtuous attributes, beauty and compassion.

If we can do such a Bhakti towards God, He appears to us with great splendor and compassion. Thereafter, He reveals His true form on His own. Then, He merges us with Him without any distinction between “us” and “Him”. All these are His tasks! It remains a fact that during our Bhakti, we don’t have in our mind the true form of Bhagavan. But to know the real, true, Purna Svarupa of Him, there is no alternative except Bhakti “bhaktya mam abhijanati (He gets to know me through his Bhakti)”, says Bhagavan. It is not that the Bhakta knows ME just a little (janati). He knows ME completely, fully and as the Purna Svarupa of Myself (Abhijanati). Then the Bhakta immerses within Him.

Such a stage can be reached only at a later time. For now, let us do Bhakti keeping Paramatma as someone different. Instead of the Purna Svarupa, let us meditate on Him as Saguna Rupa. Let us be content with the satisfaction that we get out of such Bhakti.

Even Advaita Shastras say “ishvaranugrahat eva advaita vasana”. This means only with the Anugraha of Ishvara can a Jeevatma get an interest and taste of Advaita. The very fact that it

is Ishvara who promotes the taste of Advaita in Jeevatma means He is independent of Jeevatma. If Ishvara were to maintain an attitude that there is nothing second to Him, then, on whom can He shower His Anugraha? He will do so only on someone who is different from Him. In this interesting drama staged by Maya, this is an interesting situation. It is not only we who think that Brahmam is different from Jeevatma, it is also Brahmam, who participates in the drama as though Jeevatma is different from Him too!

This Jeevatma does not aspire for Advaita; it is the Ishvara who inculcates that desire in him. If this is true, doesn’t it mean that initially He remains different from Jeevatma and thereafter showers His Anugraha on Jeevatma? If there exists one who receives Anugraha and One who confers Anugraha, then it is Dvaita. When Ishvara thinks that “There is someone who wants to receive my Anugraha and therefore I am giving it to him”, that means Ishvara Himself remains different from Jeevatma. Then, there is nothing wrong that we also think of Him as different from us.

This article is a snippet from the Book Thus Spake the Divine, is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Specialty Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.