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.'

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.