Eka Sarana : The Most Perfect Implementation of the Bhagavata

Sankaradeva's religion, in the opinion of this author, is the most perfect implementation of the ideology embodied in the text of the Bhagavata. The most pure representation is the Eka-saranite religion. From this vantage point (which integrates text and implementation) Sankaradeva is the crown-jewel of the Bhagavata. Without a discussion of Sankaradeva the Bhagavata is not complete. People would never have any idea of the kind of path suggested by that text if they did not have the pure form of eka sarana in front of them. The Bhagavata would exist in pure theoretical realm.

Therefore it's most apt to examine the passages of the Bhagavata in combination with an observation of the religion of Sankaradeva.

Again, as the Bhagavata is said to be the essence of the Vedanta, therefore the religion of Sankaradeva represents Hinduism in its truest and purest form. The religion of doing pure devotion to the supreme purusa entering into his sole-refuge, is the truest religion. 

The Glory of the Supreme Illuminator ("Vastu prakāśa," Nāma Ghoṣā 371-75)

 bastu-prakāśa

harināma rase, baikuṇṭha prakāśe
prema-amṛtara nadī .

śrīmanta śaṅkare, pāra bhāṅi dilā

bahe brahmāṇḍaka bhedi .. 371

gowindara prema, amṛtara nadī

bahe baikuṇṭhara parā .

cāri puruṣārtha, tāhāra nijharā

harināma mūla dhārā .. 372

haribhakti dāna, diẏā jagataka

tārilā saṃsāra sindhu .

henaẏa kṛpālu, śaṅkara bināi

nāhi nāhi āra bandhu .. 373

hari bhakatira, pātilanta hāṭa

śaṅkare jagata juri .

rāmanāma ratna, behāẏā jagate

calaẏa baikuṇṭha purī .. 374

śrīmanta śaṅkara, hari bhakatara

jānā yena kalpataru .

tāhānta bināẏa, nā-i nā-i nā-i

āmāra parama guru .. 375

The Glory of the Supreme Illuminator

The nectar-flavored joy emanating from the Dispeller of Suffering’s glories forms in Nescienceless City

a river of nectarine love.

Sankara, endowed with the Lord’s evolutive power, has broken its embankments

and it now flows down, piercing the entire creation. 371

The river of nectar-love, of the Chief of Sensory Receptors,

flows down from Vaikuntha.

The four purposes of human life—they are its waterfalls;

Hari’s glory is the principal stream. 372

Giving the gift of pure devotion to Hari, he has enabled

the entire world to cross the ocean of births and deaths.

Apart from such a compassionate Sankara,

we do not have any other friend. 373

Sankara has established, all throughout the world,

the market of Hari-bhakti.

Doing trade in the gem of Rama nama, the entire world

now goes to the city of Vaikuntha. 374

Srimanta Sankara is the wish-fulfilling    tree, know,

of the pure devotees of Hari.

Apart from him, we have no other, no other, no other (shelter);

he is our supreme illuminator. 375

[Translation done on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Śaṅkaradeva (05-10-2022).]

Sankaradeva’s Religion: Where Knowledge and Devotion Goes Hand in Hand

The primary impression in the popular mind of the word “devotee” is a highly sentimental one. It is no doubt of someone who has surrendered all his powers of intellect—discriminative etc.—at the feet of his Lord and has given primacy to the feelings of his heart. If not of total surrender, the picture is one of a definite subordination of the intellect.

It is pretty interesting to observe how the Eka Sarana religion of Sankaradeva demolishes this stereotype. It may be argued that every religion of love and devotion has some knowledge component built into it but, perhaps in no other religion is the entire apparatus of devotion designed to sharpen discrimination and foster an understanding of the nature of entities as in the Eka Sarana faith of Sankaradeva. This is without doubt because of its base in the Bhagavata which has a conception of pure devotion that demands not the subordination of one’s intellect but, rather, the purification of it. The bhakti that is recommended here is not blind faith but a kind of Vedantic bhakti that is not only rooted in a solid understanding of the tattvas, the ontological categories, but also one that continually reaffirms and reinforces this knowledge by incorporating chunks of this philosophy into the literature of devotion.

Due to this plan of the Bhagavatic authors, the various songs and prayers, verses and translations[H1]  which form the huge corpus of the literature of Sankaradeva’s religion, all incorporate passages that are philosophical in character and which surely call for application of mind on the part of the devotee and the utilization of his intellectual powers—thinking hard, reasoning, etc. Bhakti here becomes also a (congenial) atmosphere for reflection and pondering on knotty problems. For beginners, it provides new knowledge.

The epistemic ideal of the religion of Sankaradeva is the supremely conscious personality—Krsna, who is the supreme object of all knowledge. Therefore understanding his nature and also the nature of the entities subservient to him must necessarily be an integral part of the experience of devotion.

---

 [H1]the various means through which bhakti is operationalized have knowledge elements fed into them.

Q&A on the Philosophy of Sankaradeva

1.   What, in a nutshell, is the philosophy of Sankaradeva?

The embodied personality (jiva) is in the same ontological category as God who is the supreme spiritual personality (purusa). Primal matter (prakrti) is actuated for creation by the Lord.

2.   What is the name given to the philosophy of Sankaradeva?

The philosophy of Sankaradeva may be referred to as “Mahapurusism” due to its emphasis on the supreme purusa as the controller of both purusa and prakrti.

3.   On what book, primarily, is the philosophy of Sankaradeva based?

Sankaradeva’s philosophy is the same as the philosophy of Mahapurusism that is contained in the Bhagavata Purana.

4.   Is the creation unreal according to Sankaradeva?

If, by “unreal,” “figment of imagination” is meant, then it is not so in Sankaradeva. The creation (jagat) is very much real. It is unreal only in the sense of “unconscious.”

5.   What is the relationship between God and the world in the philosophy of Sankaradeva?

God (Krsna), in Sankaradeva’s philosophy, is completely spiritual and conscious (caitanya). The “world” or the “creation,” which is completely unconscious and insentient (jada), is evolved by God out of prakrti, the purely unconscious primordial material substance.

6.   What is the relationship between God and the individual soul in the philosophy of Sankaradeva?

The individual soul (purusa, jiva) is considered to be a minuscule portion (amsa) of God. But this does not mean literally an amsa. The meaning is that the individual souls fall into the same ontological—purely conscious, eternal, non-evolving—category as God; however, their consciousness is minuscule compared to God who is the supremely conscious spiritual personality.

7.   Is God formless in the philosophy of Sankaradeva?

God is of most beautiful and most captivating transcendental form in Sankaradeva. This form of God is immaterial (aprakrta) and not limited by adjuncts (upadhi) in any way.

8.   Is God both conscious and unconscious in the philosophy of Sankaradeva?

God is only of the essential characteristic of pure consciousness in Sankaradeva.

9.   Is the creation different from God in the philosophy of Sankaradeva?

The creation is, in reality, different from God in the philosophy of Sankaradeva. God is the conscious creator; he evolves the unconscious creation out of prakrti. And the distinction between God and prakrti, being of fundamental character, persists eternally.

Is Krsna Saguna or Nirguna?

Whether or not Krsna is saguna or nirguna would depend on what one means by the term guna. Does guna mean simply “attribute” or (the more specific) “evolute of primal matter (prakrti)?” On that would depend the answer. In the Bhagavata, the term nirguna, as applied to the Lord, seems to refer to the more specific sense of the word guna. Therefore, in this sense, Krsna is nirguna. He is beyond the influence of the three gunas of primal matter. His body is not gunamaya, composed out of matter; it is purely spiritual in its nature; it is often termed brahmamaya. Also, unlike the jiva—who is, by the way, of the same essential nature as the Lord—there can be no material limitations (upadhi) associated with the Lord.
However, if we speak of nirguna holding in mind the sense of guna as mere “attribute” or “property,” then Krsna is saguna. There is, in this sense, no end to the gunas of Krsna. The Lord is of infinite glories and attributes.

Why is Radha not Worshiped in the Eka Sarana Faith of Sankaradeva: A Critical Difference between the Philosophies of Sankaradeva and Sri Caitanya

[This short post was, originally, written as a comment on the lecture SrimantaSankardeva and Sri Chaitanyadeva in the perspective of Bhakti Movement uploaded on YouTube by the Department of Bengali, ADP College, Nagaon, Assam.]

I have a take on the question of the relationship between the personalities of Radha and Krsna and the Samkhya entities of purusa and prakrti, which I would now like to articulate with your permission.

In my opinion, Radha and Krsna are the same purusa and prakrti of the Samkhya. Not exactly the same though; Radha is the personified form of mula-prakrti (primal matter) and Krsna is not just any purusa, but the parama purusa (God). Radha and Krsna are not historical personalities (though it might appear so to the masses not knowing the philosophy) but are primal matter and God respectively.

The difference between the Sankaradeva-ite and the Caitanya-ite schools is that between the poles. In the Sankaradeva-ite philosophy, the distinction between parama purusa and mula-prakrti is fundamental and persists eternally. God is God and matter is matter and never the twain shall meet. In the ultimate scheme of things, prakrti remains an entity eternally subservient to God (parama purusa), maintaining its own separate ontological existence. The merging of prakrti in God, etc. given in the Puranic texts such as the Bhagavata (in the chapters on the creation and dissolution of the material world) is only to be taken poetically as no real merging takes place.

Krsna, the supreme purusa, is of the essential nature of consciousness while prakrti is unconscious substance. Purusa, says the Samkhya, is conscious personality and prakrti, unconscious matter. These two fundamental entities can never be one. Therefore the difference persists eternally.

In the Caitanya-ite school, on the other hand, the distinction between parama purusa (Krsna) and mula-prakrti (Radha) is not fundamental and does not persist eternally. God is, in reality, both matter and God. From a certain portion of the supremely conscious purusa (God) emerges literally the unconscious material creation. It is this portion of Krsna that is Radha and the Lord engages in sportive activity, as it were, with “her,” his own portion.
Therefore, God, in the Caitanya-ite philosophy, is both consciousness and unconsciousness.

These fundamental differences in philosophy translate into critical differences in the theological field. In the Sankaradeva-ite theology, there is, as a result of the eternal difference between purusa and prakrti, a lot of importance placed on cultivating discrimination between "jada" (matter) and "caitanya" (conscious personality). There are many verses in Madhavadeva's Nama Ghosa that assert this critical difference. Only Hari (Krsna) is said to be caitanya; all other deities—products of matter—are jada. And it is in consequence of this primary philosophical distinction that in Sankaradeva's Eka Sarana faith, only Krsna is worshiped; and not Radha because that would mean worshiping prakrti, unconscious (jada) matter.

But in the Caitanya-ite theology, Radha and Krsna are both worshiped. Here, the worshiper would naturally be not much inclined to cultivate discrimination between jada and caitanya because, after all (here), Radha is only Krsna! God is both matter as well as God; therefore, worshiping mula-prakrti (Radha) along with the supreme purusa (Krsna) would not pose much of a hindrance to the worshiper in Caitanya’s school because, in the ultimate analysis, the two are literally one!

Determination of the Supreme Brahman the Especial Contribution of Sankaradeva

The especial contribution of Sankaradeva was the determination of the supreme brahman. Mankind’s search for the ultimate fount of consciousness has been an illusory one. Dark matter and dark energy, despite all their massive, overwhelming nature, falls in the category of dead substance. There is one word in the philosophy of Sankaradeva which captures within itself all the implications of dead substance; it is thus extremely profound in its meaning. This word is “jada” which could stand for unconscious, unfeeling, non-sentient, substance.

Sankaradeva had said that the gods and goddesses fall in the category of “jada;” they are unfeeling, non-perceiving (material) “personalities;” they appear to be conscious only due to the conscious influence of the supreme spiritual personality (the supreme brahman). They cannot talk, do, feel, etc. They cannot do any of these things but appear to do these only because they are animated by the conscious power of the supreme brahman. In other words, their consciousness is only of a procedural nature; it is not true, subjective consciousness.

No Means apart from Bhakti for Purifying the Consciousness

According to the Bhagavata, for the purpose of purifying the consciousness, there is no means apart from devotion (bhakti):

p. 148

অল্প হাস্য কৰিয়া বোলন্ত ভগৱান .

শুনা প্ৰত্যুত্তৰ মাৱ হুয়া সাৱধান ..

যি যোগ কহিছো পূৰ্ব্বে ঋষি সমস্তত .

তাক আজি তযু আগে কৰিবো বেকত .. ১২৮৫ ..

সি যোগ অধীন চিত্ত সংযমৰ জ্ঞান .

চিত্তেসে জীৱৰ বন্ধ মোক্ষৰ নিদান ..

বিষয় আসক্ত ভৈলে আতি বদ্ধ হই .

মন শুদ্ধ হেতু ভক্তি বিনে আন নাই .. ১২৮৬ ..

ভক্তিসে কল্যাণ পথ কহিলো বুজাই .

ঈশ্বৰত চিত্ত দিলে মুকুত হোৱয় ..

মন শুদ্ধি আদি কৰি যতেক আছয় .

স‍ত্‍সঙ্গ সৱাৰে মূল জানিবা নিশ্চয় .. ১২৮৭ ..

জীৱৰ দুৰ্ভেদ্য পাশ সঙ্গক কহয় .

কিন্তু দুৰ্জ্জনৰ সঙ্গ এৰিবে লাগয় ..

সেই সঙ্গ নিতে যদি কৰয় সাধুত .

মোক্ষৰ দুৱাৰ তেৱে হোৱয় মুকুত .. ১২৮৮

[...]

আৰো মোৰ অখণ্ডিত বীৰ্য্য প্ৰকাশক .

কৰ্ণৰ মনৰ সদা আনন্দকাৰক .. ১২৯১ ..

হেন কথা উপজয় সাধুৰ সঙ্গত .

তাক যাৰা সাৱধানে শুনয় সতত ..

অল্পকালে ঈশ্বৰত তাৰাৰ নিশ্চয় .

শ্ৰদ্ধা ৰতি ভক্তি অনুক্ৰমে উপজয় .. ১২৯২ ..

ভক্তি ভৈলে পুৰুষৰ বৈৰাগ্য জন্ময় .

তেৱে এহি দেহে জীৱে মুকুতি পাৱয় ..

The Lord (in the form of Kapila) laughed a wee bit and said:
‘O my mother! Listen carefully to this answer of mine.
The path (yoga) which, formerly, I told to the sages,
that one I will reveal before you today. 1285

Subordinate to that path is the knowledge of (methods of) mind-control (citta saṃyama).
It is the only the mind-organ (citta) that is the primary-cause of the spiritual personality’s bondage and liberation.
When one becomes excessively attached (through the mind-organ) to the pleasure of the sense-objects (viṣaẏa), one then becomes extremely trapped.
For the purpose of purifying the consciousness, there is no means apart from pure devotion (bhakti). 1286

Bhakti alone is the (best) path of welfare, this I have told you, explaining.
When one directs one’s consciousness (citta) to the lord [withdrawing oneself from the mind-organ], one obtains liberation.
All those (means of directing one’s consciousness to the lord) beginning with mind-purification that exist,
know it for certain that associating with pure devotees (sa-t-saṅga) is the root of them all. 1287

Although union with others is said to be a snare for the soul, most difficult to break—
and (surely) one must part ways with the vile—yet if one cultivates that association (saṅga) regularly with the pure devotees (sādhu),
the door to salvation becomes free then. 1288
[…]
Further, all those tales which reveal my impartite valor and
which always provide joy (ānanda) to the ears and the mind, 1291

to such tales (kathā) arising in the pure devotees’ midst,
the ones that always listen in rapt attention,
their faith (śraddhā), fondness (rati) and devotion (bhakti), know it for certain,
in the Lord, in little time, arise in a chain. 1292

When devotion comes, disinclination (vairāgya) (for sense-objects) is born in the person.
And when this happens, the jīva obtains liberation in this body itself.'

The Objective of the Purana: Awakening Discrimination of Supreme Purusa

The microcosm operates through a harmonious working of the three entities of kala (time) [Siva], manas (brain) [Brahma] and purusa (spiritual personality) [Visnu]. But, for such harmony to occur out of such disparate-natured entities, there must be some master-mind to ‘string together the trinity,’ as Madhavadeva says in the Nama Ghosa. That master-entity, the lord of all the controlling entities (devas), is the supreme purusa, Lord Krsna himself.
It is to arouse discrimination of supreme purusa alone that the (anatomical) narrative of the Puranas is formulated in the first place. The entire Purana—its every chapter and verse—is designed with this ultimate objective of awakening discrimination in the mind of the (intelligent) reader.
The Puranic narrative is thus a strategy to make the reader realize the sole entity of worship, the sole object of refuge. The intelligent reader will not fail to observe that, among all the entities, it is only Hari that is emerging as supreme; and he will understand that this only is the most powerful entity, worthy of sole-refuge. It is this conclusion that is directly expressed by Sankaradeva and Madhavadeva, in their own works, in the form of upadesas and in chapters such as “The Determination of the Supreme Entity Worthy of Adoration” (Bhakti Ratnakara).
The objective of the author of the Bhagavata—and this ought also to be the objective of the inquisitive and critical reader—is to determine the supreme entity among all the entities, who alone is eligible for worship. In the Bhagavata, the reader has to know this entity by reading intelligently through the passages and piercing the dialogic strategy with the power of his intellect. But in Sankaradeva and Madhavadeva, this meaning is directly expressed.

Discovery of God: The Intellectual Process

If we take the authors of the Puranas such as the Bhagavata as the intellectual heirs of the original Samkhya school, then we will be looking at one unbroken intellectual tradition.

The doing of pure devotion to God, then, would be the culmination of a long intellectual process, comprising, broadly, the following stages:

1. The unconscious entity: Examining and understanding prakrti, its evolutive nature, character and limitations.
2. The conscious entity: Examining and understanding the body of man and its various organs and systems. Understanding especially the nature of the neural entities and the brain. Are they of the same essential characteristics as the external (unconscious) matter? Can the brain give rise to consciousness?
3. The pure personality: Understanding the nature of purusa, its interface with the brain (and, through it, the body), the capabilities of purusa.
4. The supreme pure personality: Relook at the programmed nature of the entities of the body such as the brain. Is their evolving out of prakrti possible in the absence of initiation and control by a superior conscious personality? Comparison with instances from the external world. The discovery of God, the supreme purusa.
5. The revelation of the highest philosophy: The reason behind purusa becoming endowed with a (prakrti-made) body. Motivations of the supreme purusa. Consideration and full accommodation of the higher aspects of consciousness like compassion, grace and joy. Devotion to God, the supreme purusa.

It perhaps needs no reiteration that each one of these stages is huge and could be broken up into several sub-stages and phases but this is only a general outline. The point sought to be made is this:

God may be discovered solely through a (long and exhaustive) intellectual investigation without there being any need of any external revelation.

The Discovery of God through the Intellect of Man

It is possible to discover God solely through the power of intellect. The philosophers of the theistic Samkhya studied the evolutive nature of prakrti but, more importantly, recognized its limitations. In this manner, they worked their way up towards spiritual personality.
Similarly, love and pure devotion to God may not be something completely emotional or blind; it may also be the outcome of an epiphanic realization brought about solely through intellect--the culmination of a long and involved process of rational consideration and meditative contemplation
of hard material facts (such as ones pertaining to the nature of the body and so on). In fact, the "vedantic bhakti" contained in texts such as the Bhagavata, which consists in the singing of the glories of the immanent Lord, may not be something anti-intellectual but may instead have, as the bedrock of its philosophy, a sound and thorough distinction between the tattvas. This kind of a devotion then, in such (intellectual) light, would represent the acme of the process of reasoning and making sound inferences championed by the Samkhya.

For, if our philosophy has a conscious personality at its core, then it must also accord importance to conceptions and feelings such as compassion, empathy, joy and grace. After all, the consciousness of man is not the quiet whirring of a clock. It is alive and effervescent.

Therefore, if the conscious purusa is your core, then your philosophy must give full accommodation to these concepts. Consciousness is not bare thinking or merely the state of being alive (existing). It also means joy. Moreover, our human world also sways to aesthetic ideals.
These may also be regarded as yet another facet of consciousness. Civilization progresses through, nay is propelled by, such motivations as the urge to secure equality and dignity and not simply through calm, undisturbed consciousness. Therefore, a higher philosophy--one that proposes to recognize consciousness in all its aspects, must give recognition and room to these (higher) conceptions. It is not anti-intellectual and contrary to logic.
And this is precisely what the pure devotional philosophy of texts such as the Bhagavata is all about. Here, the doing of pure devotion to God is an expression of the highest level of the (intellectual) purusa-centred philosophy. And this joyous experience is the highest aspect of consciousness.

Sankaradeva’s Anadi Patana : The Plan of the Earth

Text Followed: Śrīmadbhāgavata, edited and published by Śrīmanta Śaṅkaradeva Saṅgha, P. 56.

কহিবো নৃপতি সৃষ্টি লীলা কথা পাছে .
শুনা যেনমতে বসুমতী ৰহি আছে ..
পৃথিৱীৰ অধে সাত পাতালৰ তলে .
ব্ৰহ্মাণ্ডক বেঢ়িয়া কেৱলে আছে জলে .. ১৭ ..

kahibo nṛpati sṛṣṭi līlā kathā pāche .
śunā yenamate basumatī rahi āche ..
pṛthivīra adhe sāta pātālara tale .
brahmāṇḍaka beḍhiẏā kevale āche jale .. 17 ..

I now proceed to tell, O king, the facts pertaining to the Lord’s playful activity of creation.
How this earth is situated, please listen carefully to it. 
Below the earth, deep to even the seven subterranean depths, 
this universe is bounded solely by water. 17

কূৰ্ম্মৰূপে হৰি আছা জলৰ উপৰে .
পঞ্চাশ কোটি প্ৰহৰ বহল কলেৱৰে ..
কূৰ্ম্মৰ উপৰে সৰ্পৰূপে ভগৱন্ত .
হাজাৰেক ফণা সমে আছন্ত অনন্ত .. ১৮ ..

kūrmmarūpe hari āchā jalara upare .
pañcāśa koṭi prahara bahala kalevare ..
kūrmmara upare sarparūpe bhagavanta .
hājāreka phaṇā same āchanta ananta .. 18 ..
 
Manifesting as the great tortoise, The Remover of Suffering,
in a body spanning 50 crores of “great-distances,” is present above these waters.
Above kurma, the Lord of All Opulence exists in the form of the great snake—
Ananta, the Infinite One, with his thousands of hoods. 18


সূৰ্য্য সম জ্বলৈ মহা ফণী মণি যত .
শৃঙ্গে সমন্বিতে যেন ধৱল পৰ্ব্বত ..
তাৰ আঠ ফণা আঠ দিশে গৈল বহি .
আছে আঠ দিগ্‌গজ উপৰে তাৰ ৰহি .. ১৯ ..

sūryya sama jbalai mahā phaṇī maṇi yata .
śṛṅge samanbite yena dhavala parbbata ..
tāra āṭha phaṇā āṭha diśe gaila bahi .
āche āṭha dig–gaja upare tāra rahi .. 19 ..

The great hood-gems, they sparkle with the intensity of the sun—
a white mountain, as it were, with its great cliffs!
His eight hoods have gone in all the eight directions
and the eight “direction-elephants” are perched atop them! 19
 
দ্বাদশ হাজাৰ প্ৰহৰৰ পন্থ কায় .
দেৱাসুৰ নাগগণে জপন্ত সদায় ..
বলৰ দৰ্পত আতি মহালীলা কৰি .
আঠো আঠ পৰ্ব্বত পিঠিত আছে ধৰি .. ২০ ..
 
dbādaśa hājāra praharara pantha kāẏa .
devāsura nāgagaṇe japanta sadāẏa ..
balara darpata āti mahālīlā kari .
āṭho āṭha parbbata piṭhita āche dhari .. 20 ..

With bodies spanning 12, 000 “great-distances,”
they are the object of veneration for the devas, the asuras and the tribe of snakes (nagas).
In arrogance deriving from strength, doing great sports, 
these eight, again, are holding eight mountains on their backs! 20
 
পৰ্ব্বতৰ উপৰত সসাগৰা মহী .
যেন চাঙ্গখান আলগতে আছে ৰহি ..
যি দিশৰ দিগ্‌গজ লৰাৱে নিজ কায় .
সি দিশৰ পৰা জানা ভূমিকম্প যায় .. ২১ ..
 
parbbatara uparata sasāgarā mahī .
yena cāṅgakhāna ālagate āche rahi..
yi diśara dig–gaja larāve nija kāẏa .
si diśara parā jānā bhūmikampa yāẏa .. 21 ..

And, (finally), atop the mountain, is situated the earth together with her oceans— 
like a raised platform maintaining its distance from the ground! 
From whichever direction an elephant moves its own body, 
from that quarter, know, an earthquake emanates! 21

যেতিক্ষণে তোলৈ হামি কচ্ছপ অনন্তে .
সাতোখান মেৰু মহী মন্দৰ পৰ্য্যন্তে ..
সাগৰ সহিতে সৱে কৰৈ টলবল .
দেখিয়ো কৄষ্ণৰ ইটো যোগমায়াবল .. ২২ ..

yetikṣaṇe tolai hāmi kacchapa anante .
sātokhāna meru mahī mandara paryyante ..
sāgara sahite save karai ṭalabala .
dekhiẏo kṝṣṇara iṭo yogamāẏābala .. 22 ..

At whichever instant either Ananta or the tortoise raises a yawn,
the seven Merus, the earth, all the way up to Mt. Mandara,
along with the oceans—all experience tremulation!
Witness this marvelous life-sustaining material prowess of Krsna! 22

The Microcosmic Origin of the Bhagavad Gita

The true message of the Bhagavad Gita, which seeks to remove the ‘materialness’ of man through a dialogic strategy of sublimation of consciousness, cannot be known without delving into its microcosmic roots. It is the recapitulation in poetic form of the ancient philosopher-scientists’ insights into the mystery of conscious experience.

Realizing quickly that the external universe is composed of dead matter, they abstracted it simply as the world of the sense-objects and instead focused on the human body, its anatomy as well as function. They inspected carefully the organs of the body and saw them for what they are: mere instruments for a spiritual first principle known as the purusa (pure personality). Consciousness is not a phenomenon that arises out of a mere collation of matter but an essential characteristic of purusa. This spiritual entity identifies itself so totally with the circuitry of the brain—its neurological processes—that it has become almost a neural (sensory-motor) entity. This causes purusa to experience births and deaths and afflictions in an endless cycle of existences. The solution then is to educate the purusa regarding his true nature, the ontological category to which he really belongs, which is the same as that of God (the supreme purusa), and to free him from the dharma of the senses by making him develop a “core consciousness” which is rooted not in matter but in the supreme pure personality.

The ancient seers were not content with sketchy outlines; they wanted to know how exactly purusa experiences the taste of sense objects. A hierarchy of neural entities stretching from the sensory receptors (vedas) upwards to the brain was discovered. However these researches remained exceedingly abstruse to the common man and they felt the need to make it both accessible and interesting. So they introduced into this philosophical and scientific account poetical elements like personification, etc.

There are three chief entities of the microcosm: (a) the spiritual personality (Visnu) of the same essence as God (b) the brain (Brahma) and (c) time (Siva). Above this trio however stands Krishna (God) the cowherd, as it were, of the sensory receptors. There has thus been a translocation of God to the neural realm! The import is that he is the supreme innervating entity (paramatma), the supreme actuator of this micro-creation. All those arrayed up against Arjuna, the jiva—purusa connected to brain—are material personalities while he himself is purely spiritual in nature. The grief that he suffers in this gripping dharmic drama is also, in a sense, the grief of ontological confusion.

These material, neural entities which emanate, from the (non-literal) causative point of view, from the body of the supreme purusa, are categorized into several classes based on property and function (guna, karma; Gita 4.13). To each is assigned a specific dharma.  The function of some of them is to acquire knowledge or sense-data; for others, like the controlling nerves (devas) of the ‘sun’ (trachea) and the ‘moon’ (oesophagus) and other structures, it is to do motor-action and to subdue the visceral organs. Some engage specifically in the keeping of ‘cows’, the sensory receptors, and the processing of their sensory products; while for others the dharma is to aid and serve the other entities. To digress, the view, therefore, that the caste system of the external world is sanctioned by the Gita is a misinterpretation of the most horrendous kind and is a potent example of how deadly misinterpretation of scripture can be. Such an interpretation is not only wrong, it also is diametrically opposite to the teaching of the Gita which says that this kind of a material gradation among personalities is restricted only to the world of matter, to the sphere of the neural entities.

Now, in this micro-universe, the ignorant purusa works. He thinks himself to be a ‘man,’ a neural entity, and engages in ‘work’ (karma) as dictated by the vedas or the sensory receptors. Moreover, corresponding to his microcosmic ignorance, there is an equivalent ignorance reflected externally in the realm of praxis. The path of karma then becomes a path of microcosmic emulation.

There is mimicry by the material man of essentially two kinds of neuronal activity. In the first mode known as pravritti, alluded to by Krishna (3.14), there is a metaphorical sacrifice, a yajna, going on in the body. Krishna talks about anna sustaining all creatures and this anna, he says, is produced through rain which in turn is made possible by karma performed in yajna. This is the purely autonomic loop that does not involve the spiritual personality. Here, the ‘oblations’ are the transmitted signals; the channel (such as the spinal cord) through which these ascend to the ‘heavens’ (the base of the brain) is the ‘fire,’ and the deva, the activated nerve. The ‘rain’, of course, is oxygen and from it, respiratory metabolism takes place (‘food’ is produced) and from this ‘food’, the neural entities are further nourished.

But in the second mode, the ‘oblations’ of this internal yajna are offered to the spiritual personality. This is the path of nivritti or niskama karma. It is very clear from these microcosmic origins that the path of karma is purely material. Even in the second variant, the purusa continues to function as a material entity but does karma by offering to the supreme purusa. None of these reflects the true nature and function of purusa. As karma pertains only to the material, non-conscious units and not to conscious personality, its practice can be sustained only in the state of ignorance. The doer of karma—the neuronal man—must be instructed to cultivate knowledge of spirit and sublimate his consciousness. It is for this reason that the entire dialogic strategy of the Gita transitions from the karmic to the bhaktic.  To the jiva, it is recurrently told  that he is not a neural entity but an amsa (15.7) of the supreme spirit, not ksara but aksara, immutable (15.16), that like the ‘knower of the field’, he is distinct from the mind, body and senses and that for the one taking delight in atman, there is no karma (3.17). The glory of paramatma is brought before him so that his consciousness becomes undeviatingly rooted in spirit.

The great ontological crisis is thus lifted. However, as soon as the jiva comes out of material mode, his previous microcosmic emulations must also go for these dharmas which are rooted in the philosophy of karma are no longer compatible with his reclaimed status of spiritual personality. Therefore the final call-to-action of the Gita is of sole-refuge (eka sarana) in God forsaking completely all veda-ordained dharmas (18.66).