Gita: Bhakti Yoga - Nirguna Brahman Upsana and Saguna Brahman Upasana
Hari Aum
Prostrations to my Guru and Prostrations to all
Arjuna having learned the Upanshads that Brahman is without any form and having seen the Virat rupa of the lord which had everything in the world got confused whether the meditation on the formless god or form god is better. Therefore he posts the question to the Lord asking which kind of Upasana is the best whether the Saguna Brahman Upasana or Nirguna Brahman Upasana.
The compassionate lord tells at the beginning gives his opinion as Saguna Brahman Upasakas are the best. This he tells from the level of the Arjuna who had the identification with the body. He tells those who are devoted to me with the following 3 characteristics are the best Upasakas:
Complete Surrender to the Lord
Constant thought of the Lord
Knowing that Lord as the Ultimate goal.
The devotee has to completely surrender to the lord. Surrendering here means offering everything to the Lord and offering should be both bad and the good. The attitude when doing action should be as an offering to the Lord and the results that come out the actions should be taken as the Prasad from the lord.
The complete surrender is aided by the constant thought of the lord. The thought of lord should be there in the mind without even forgetting for a moment.
The basis for the surrendering completely to the Lord and having constant thought of the god is knowing that Lord as the Ultimate goal. If this is forgotten then the other two will have no meaning.
By nature the mind of the human is always extroverted. Since the mind is extroverted the experience that he gets from the world through the sense organs appears to be real and hence gets identified with those experiences and thus experiences either happiness or sorrow. The happiness that one gets out of the world is always limited because any object in the world is only limited and hence a limited object can give only limited happiness. Since one is always in search of happiness, strives hard in the world for that without knowing that the happiness it is only temporary. That which is unlimited alone can give unlimited happiness and there is only one that is infinite, the Ultimate Reality of Brahman. All the Upanishads give the knowledge about this Ultimate Reality of Brahman which is formless and which is far from the reach of the senses and the mind. Therefore for those whose minds are extroverted cannot directly meditate on the formless god and hence for those devotees Krishna told about the Saguna Brahman Upasana or the meditation on the form god. The devotion should be aided the three characteristics which Krishna had told in the 2nd sloka.
“Mayyaaveshya mano ye maam nityayuktaa upaasate
Shraddhayaa parayopetaaste me yuktatamaa mataah”
“Those who, fixing their mind on Me, worship Me, ever steadfast and endowed with supreme faith, these, in my opinion, are the best in yoga”
Those who such devotion, Krishna declares, will be saved from this Samsaara in the 7th sloka and in 8th sloka also he declares that “those whose minds and intellect are always fixed in Me will live in Me”. But those who have the minds extroverted will not easy to have constant thought of the lord all the time. Hence one has to practice continuously till it becomes easy to have constant thought of lord all the time. When one has that kind of constant thought of lord all the time then everything that appears to him in the world will be the god alone and everything experience will be of god alone. Whatever we experience are only the impressions of the mind and hence one has the constant thought of lord then the mind takes the form of the lord and hence the experience will also be lord alone. When there is lord alone that is experienced then one gets devoid of likes and the dislikes. When one gets devoid of likes and dislikes then there will be nothing that can delude the mind, nothing can give sorrow.
When one fixes the mind on the lord alone they have senses controlled and hence will have the mind single pointed. Those who have the senses controlled alone will be able to apprehend the Nirguna Brahman. Krishna in the 4th sloka tells that those who have the controlled senses, seeing oneness in everything, rejoices ever in the welfare of all the beings and worship that Ultimate Reality which is the substratum, which is the Supreme cause for the world are the best Upasakas. Whatever we perceive in the world are only the impressions of the mind. It is only Consciousness which gives life to the mind because mind is as inert as the body. Mind cannot have the separate existence apart from the Brahman and hence the mind is also Brahman. Any experience of the world is through the sense which are acted upon by the mind. Since it is Consciousness that lights up the mind and hence the senses, whatever that is experienced through the sense organs are also nothing but the Consciousness. When the mind that is concentrated on the form god, whose senses are controlled are told that it is Consciousness that is the cause for all and hence when the mind is introverted then one realizes one owns nature of Self which is Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. Liberation and bondage are only for the mind. When the mind is extroverted it is bondage and when the introverted always it is liberation.
Thus when one concentrates on the Supreme Cause, merges into the cause as the Upanishad tells “Brahmavit brahmaiva Bhavati” the knower of Brahman verily becomes brahman. When one thus concentrates on Brahman which the scriptures tells he gets the knowledge that “Consciousness which is the Supreme Cause of the world, which is not affected by anything in world, which is the substratum of the world, that Consciousness I am”.
Therefore the Saguna Brahman Bhakti are only an aid to Ultimate Knowledge of “Aham Brahmasmi”.
Hari Aum
Thanks,
Rajesh
Prostrations to my Guru and Prostrations to all
Arjuna having learned the Upanshads that Brahman is without any form and having seen the Virat rupa of the lord which had everything in the world got confused whether the meditation on the formless god or form god is better. Therefore he posts the question to the Lord asking which kind of Upasana is the best whether the Saguna Brahman Upasana or Nirguna Brahman Upasana.
The compassionate lord tells at the beginning gives his opinion as Saguna Brahman Upasakas are the best. This he tells from the level of the Arjuna who had the identification with the body. He tells those who are devoted to me with the following 3 characteristics are the best Upasakas:
Complete Surrender to the Lord
Constant thought of the Lord
Knowing that Lord as the Ultimate goal.
The devotee has to completely surrender to the lord. Surrendering here means offering everything to the Lord and offering should be both bad and the good. The attitude when doing action should be as an offering to the Lord and the results that come out the actions should be taken as the Prasad from the lord.
The complete surrender is aided by the constant thought of the lord. The thought of lord should be there in the mind without even forgetting for a moment.
The basis for the surrendering completely to the Lord and having constant thought of the god is knowing that Lord as the Ultimate goal. If this is forgotten then the other two will have no meaning.
By nature the mind of the human is always extroverted. Since the mind is extroverted the experience that he gets from the world through the sense organs appears to be real and hence gets identified with those experiences and thus experiences either happiness or sorrow. The happiness that one gets out of the world is always limited because any object in the world is only limited and hence a limited object can give only limited happiness. Since one is always in search of happiness, strives hard in the world for that without knowing that the happiness it is only temporary. That which is unlimited alone can give unlimited happiness and there is only one that is infinite, the Ultimate Reality of Brahman. All the Upanishads give the knowledge about this Ultimate Reality of Brahman which is formless and which is far from the reach of the senses and the mind. Therefore for those whose minds are extroverted cannot directly meditate on the formless god and hence for those devotees Krishna told about the Saguna Brahman Upasana or the meditation on the form god. The devotion should be aided the three characteristics which Krishna had told in the 2nd sloka.
“Mayyaaveshya mano ye maam nityayuktaa upaasate
Shraddhayaa parayopetaaste me yuktatamaa mataah”
“Those who, fixing their mind on Me, worship Me, ever steadfast and endowed with supreme faith, these, in my opinion, are the best in yoga”
Those who such devotion, Krishna declares, will be saved from this Samsaara in the 7th sloka and in 8th sloka also he declares that “those whose minds and intellect are always fixed in Me will live in Me”. But those who have the minds extroverted will not easy to have constant thought of the lord all the time. Hence one has to practice continuously till it becomes easy to have constant thought of lord all the time. When one has that kind of constant thought of lord all the time then everything that appears to him in the world will be the god alone and everything experience will be of god alone. Whatever we experience are only the impressions of the mind and hence one has the constant thought of lord then the mind takes the form of the lord and hence the experience will also be lord alone. When there is lord alone that is experienced then one gets devoid of likes and the dislikes. When one gets devoid of likes and dislikes then there will be nothing that can delude the mind, nothing can give sorrow.
When one fixes the mind on the lord alone they have senses controlled and hence will have the mind single pointed. Those who have the senses controlled alone will be able to apprehend the Nirguna Brahman. Krishna in the 4th sloka tells that those who have the controlled senses, seeing oneness in everything, rejoices ever in the welfare of all the beings and worship that Ultimate Reality which is the substratum, which is the Supreme cause for the world are the best Upasakas. Whatever we perceive in the world are only the impressions of the mind. It is only Consciousness which gives life to the mind because mind is as inert as the body. Mind cannot have the separate existence apart from the Brahman and hence the mind is also Brahman. Any experience of the world is through the sense which are acted upon by the mind. Since it is Consciousness that lights up the mind and hence the senses, whatever that is experienced through the sense organs are also nothing but the Consciousness. When the mind that is concentrated on the form god, whose senses are controlled are told that it is Consciousness that is the cause for all and hence when the mind is introverted then one realizes one owns nature of Self which is Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. Liberation and bondage are only for the mind. When the mind is extroverted it is bondage and when the introverted always it is liberation.
Thus when one concentrates on the Supreme Cause, merges into the cause as the Upanishad tells “Brahmavit brahmaiva Bhavati” the knower of Brahman verily becomes brahman. When one thus concentrates on Brahman which the scriptures tells he gets the knowledge that “Consciousness which is the Supreme Cause of the world, which is not affected by anything in world, which is the substratum of the world, that Consciousness I am”.
Therefore the Saguna Brahman Bhakti are only an aid to Ultimate Knowledge of “Aham Brahmasmi”.
Hari Aum
Thanks,
Rajesh
posted by vedanta at 7:25 PM
2 Comments:
HARI AUM
Prostrations to all.
Some comments inline.
Prostrations to all.
HARI AUM
Thanks
Hariram
Hari Aum
Prostrations to my Guru and Prostrations to all
Arjuna having learned the Upanshads that Brahman is without any form and having seen the Virat rupa of the lord which had everything in the world got confused whether the meditation on the formless god or form god is better. Therefore he posts the question to the Lord asking which kind of Upasana is the best whether the Saguna Brahman Upasana or Nirguna Brahman Upasana.
Even though Lord gives his opinion about what is suitable for a number of people, but still in that definition also, Nirguna Brahman is clearly present in the wordings “Sraddhayaa parayopethaah” – the word PARA is important as it denotes PARA BRAHMAN or Nirguna Brahman only. Thus it is but futile to either compare or argue as to which is greater – Nirguna or Saguna. Sankara in his Brahma Sutra Bhashya says that there are two types of Brahman – one is Saguna endowed with name and form & the other is Nirguna devoid of names and forms. It is but very clear that naama roopa are mithya or that which never really exists --- Brahman as Nirguna alone exists. But as Lord himself points out in the 5th sloka, contemplation on formless Lord is tough for people who think that they are the body. As Ramana used to point out again and again that as long as the seeker has DEHATMA BUDDHI, so long he will not be able to contemplate on Nirguna or Para Brahman.
He will be contemplating on Saguna Brahman, merge into Saguna Brahman and go to Brahma loka (this merging is not permanent as it is only going to the loka and not “becoming” Brahman) – there he will learn about Nirguna Brahman and get mukthi – this type of mukthi is called KRAMA MUKTHI or gradual liberation. Sruthi does speak about this but criticizes people very strongly if they don’t realize Brahman here and now itself. Even the Lord himself says this in many places in Gita.
Lord Krishna first explains about Nirguna Brahman and how the seeker realizes the reality through nirguna Brahman – and then only speaks about saguna Brahman and realizing through Saguna Brahman in the 6th & 7th sloka. This itself clearly shows what was considered as REAL and ULTIMATE by the Lord.
The compassionate lord tells at the beginning gives his opinion as Saguna Brahman Upasakas are the best. This he tells from the level of the Arjuna who had the identification with the body. He tells those who are devoted to me with the following 3 characteristics are the best Upasakas:
1. Complete Surrender to the Lord
2. Constant thought of the Lord
3. Knowing that Lord as the Ultimate goal.
The devotee has to completely surrender to the lord. Surrendering here means offering everything to the Lord and offering should be both bad and the good. The attitude when doing action should be as an offering to the Lord and the results that come out the actions should be taken as the Prasad from the lord.
The complete surrender is aided by the constant thought of the lord. The thought of lord should be there in the mind without even forgetting for a moment.
The basis for the surrendering completely to the Lord and having constant thought of the god is knowing that Lord as the Ultimate goal. If this is forgotten then the other two will have no meaning.
By nature the mind of the human is always extroverted. Since the mind is extroverted the experience that he gets from the world through the sense organs appears to be real and hence gets identified with those experiences and thus experiences either happiness or sorrow. The happiness that one gets out of the world is always limited because any object in the world is only limited and hence a limited object can give only limited happiness. Since one is always in search of happiness, strives hard in the world for that without knowing that the happiness it is only temporary. That which is unlimited alone can give unlimited happiness and there is only one that is infinite, the Ultimate Reality of Brahman. All the Upanishads give the knowledge about this Ultimate Reality of Brahman which is formless and which is far from the reach of the senses and the mind. Therefore for those whose minds are extroverted cannot directly meditate on the formless god and hence for those devotees Krishna told about the Saguna Brahman Upasana or the meditation on the form god. The devotion should be aided the three characteristics which Krishna had told in the 2nd sloka.
“Mayyaaveshya mano ye maam nityayuktaa upaasate
Shraddhayaa parayopetaaste me yuktatamaa mataah”
“Those who, fixing their mind on Me, worship Me, ever steadfast and endowed with supreme faith, these, in my opinion, are the best in yoga”
Those who such devotion, Krishna declares, will be saved from this Samsaara in the 7th sloka and in 8th sloka also he declares that “those whose minds and intellect are always fixed in Me will live in Me”. But those who have the minds extroverted will not easy to have constant thought of the lord all the time. Hence one has to practice continuously till it becomes easy to have constant thought of lord all the time. When one has that kind of constant thought of lord all the time then everything that appears to him in the world will be the god alone and everything experience will be of god alone. Whatever we experience are only the impressions of the mind and hence one has the constant thought of lord then the mind takes the form of the lord and hence the experience will also be lord alone. When there is lord alone that is experienced then one gets devoid of likes and the dislikes. When one gets devoid of likes and dislikes then there will be nothing that can delude the mind, nothing can give sorrow.
When one fixes the mind on the lord alone they have senses controlled and hence will have the mind single pointed. Those who have the senses controlled alone will be able to apprehend the Nirguna Brahman. Krishna in the 4th sloka tells that those who have the controlled senses, seeing oneness in everything, rejoices ever in the welfare of all the beings and worship that Ultimate Reality which is the substratum, which is the Supreme cause for the world are the best Upasakas. Whatever we perceive in the world are only the impressions of the mind. It is only Consciousness which gives life to the mind because mind is as inert as the body. Mind cannot have the separate existence apart from the Brahman and hence the mind is also Brahman. Any experience of the world is through the sense which are acted upon by the mind. Since it is Consciousness that lights up the mind and hence the senses, whatever that is experienced through the sense organs are also nothing but the Consciousness. When the mind that is concentrated on the form god, whose senses are controlled are told that it is Consciousness that is the cause for all and hence when the mind is introverted then one realizes one owns nature of Self which is Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. Liberation and bondage are only for the mind. When the mind is extroverted it is bondage and when the introverted always it is liberation.
Vedanta does agree with the above bolded lines – but be careful while defining things in the Vedanta circle. These words are fine if it is directed in some discourse towards ignorant or comparatively ignorant people but these are not very good when discussing between seekers. If the seekers are realized, then such words are “experience” and hence correct only. But for the initial seekers, this sentence is completely misleading. The sentence can be taken to mean that “mind is Brahman” and hence we have to contemplate on mind and its thoughts – nourish the mind through thoughts etc. This is what happened with Virochana (the asura king) when he was directed thus by Brahma that “body is Brahman” (in an indirect way). It is in order to remove such faults that Vedanta clearly says that “mind when mixed with thoughts is in bondage & mind devoid of thoughts is the Self”. While writing such things, do please refer to Vedanta works and works of acharyas so that other people are not misled by wrong information.
Instead of putting forward that “mind is Brahman”, Vedanta says that the world is Brahman – the world includes the mind too & it is not specific in nature also. If it is specific, then chances of accepting that alone as Brahman would result.
Initial seekers should always try to separate the worldly temporary entities from the permanent entity of Brahman. This is the only way the seeker is ensured of not falling a prey to the different objects. Once he separates things from Brahman and finds out his Self as Brahman, then he sees that Self everywhere and as everywhere – thus everything (which includes the mind too) is Brahman only. A seeker should find out where he is and then should follow any of the above two……. Unless the knowledge in the intellect dawns that “the Self is distinct from the illusory entities”, he will be drawn and attracted to the entities and it is dangerous to contemplate in that situation.
Thus when one concentrates on the Supreme Cause, merges into the cause as the Upanishad tells “Brahmavit brahmaiva Bhavati” the knower of Brahman verily becomes brahman. When one thus concentrates on Brahman which the scriptures tells he gets the knowledge that “Consciousness which is the Supreme Cause of the world, which is not affected by anything in world, which is the substratum of the world, that Consciousness I am”.
For your information , the sruthi that you have quoted doesn’t speak about merging into the cause but realizing one’s nature as the CAUSE. Merging is only unto Saguna Brahman which itself is temporary. There is no merging into cause for Nirguna Brahman as the sruthi says that “one who knows Brahman becomes brahman” --- where is merging coming in this sruthi???? There is really no merging but only becoming – becoming also from the ignorant view of separation only – this becoming is also nothing but “realizing” only.
Hope the difference is clear --- Nirguna Brahman when contemplated upon, the seeker “becomes” Brahman. Saguna Brahman when contemplated upon, the seeker “merges” and “goes” to the particular loka and then gets mukthi. Or if the devotion is very strong, here itself the Saguna Ishwara will show the seeker the way to nirguna Brahman but this is only if there is constant contemplation and always seeing everything as the Lord.
Therefore the Saguna Brahman Bhakti are only an aid to Ultimate Knowledge of “Aham Brahmasmi”.
Hari Aum
Thanks,
Rajesh
Even though Lord gives his opinion about what is suitable for a number of people, but still in that definition also, Nirguna Brahman is clearly present in the wordings “Sraddhayaa parayopethaah” – the word PARA is important as it denotes PARA BRAHMAN or Nirguna Brahman only. Thus it is but futile to either compare or argue as to which is greater – Nirguna or Saguna. Sankara in his Brahma Sutra Bhashya says that there are two types of Brahman – one is Saguna endowed with name and form & the other is Nirguna devoid of names and forms. It is but very clear that naama roopa are mithya or that which never really exists --- Brahman as Nirguna alone exists. But as Lord himself points out in the 5th sloka, contemplation on formless Lord is tough for people who think that they are the body. As Ramana used to point out again and again that as long as the seeker has DEHATMA BUDDHI, so long he will not be able to contemplate on Nirguna or Para Brahman.
He will be contemplating on Saguna Brahman, merge into Saguna Brahman and go to Brahma loka (this merging is not permanent as it is only going to the loka and not “becoming” Brahman) – there he will learn about Nirguna Brahman and get mukthi – this type of mukthi is called KRAMA MUKTHI or gradual liberation. Sruthi does speak about this but criticizes people very strongly if they don’t realize Brahman here and now itself. Even the Lord himself says this in many places in Gita.
Lord Krishna first explains about Nirguna Brahman and how the seeker realizes the reality through nirguna Brahman – and then only speaks about saguna Brahman and realizing through Saguna Brahman in the 6th & 7th sloka. This itself clearly shows what was considered as REAL and ULTIMATE by the Lord.
Vedanta does agree with the above bolded lines that "mind is also Brahman only" – but be careful while defining things in the Vedanta circle. These words are fine if it is directed in some discourse towards ignorant or comparatively ignorant people but these are not very good when discussing between seekers. If the seekers are realized, then such words are “experience” and hence correct only. But for the initial seekers, this sentence is completely misleading. The sentence can be taken to mean that “mind is Brahman” and hence we have to contemplate on mind and its thoughts – nourish the mind through thoughts etc. This is what happened with Virochana (the asura king) when he was directed thus by Brahma that “body is Brahman” (in an indirect way). It is in order to remove such faults that Vedanta clearly says that “mind when mixed with thoughts is in bondage & mind devoid of thoughts is the Self”. While writing such things, do please refer to Vedanta works and works of acharyas so that other people are not misled by wrong information.
Instead of putting forward that “mind is Brahman”, Vedanta says that the world is Brahman – the world includes the mind too & it is not specific in nature also. If it is specific, then chances of accepting that alone as Brahman would result.
Initial seekers should always try to separate the worldly temporary entities from the permanent entity of Brahman. This is the only way the seeker is ensured of not falling a prey to the different objects. Once he separates things from Brahman and finds out his Self as Brahman, then he sees that Self everywhere and as everywhere – thus everything (which includes the mind too) is Brahman only. A seeker should find out where he is and then should follow any of the above two……. Unless the knowledge in the intellect dawns that “the Self is distinct from the illusory entities”, he will be drawn and attracted to the entities and it is dangerous to contemplate in that situation.
For your information J, the sruthi that you have quoted doesn’t speak about merging into the cause but realizing one’s nature as the CAUSE. Merging is only unto Saguna Brahman which itself is temporary. There is no merging into cause for Nirguna Brahman as the sruthi says that “one who knows Brahman becomes brahman” --- where is merging coming in this sruthi???? There is really no merging but only becoming – becoming also from the ignorant view of separation only – this becoming is also nothing but “realizing” only.
Hope the difference is clear --- Nirguna Brahman when contemplated upon, the seeker “becomes” Brahman. Saguna Brahman when contemplated upon, the seeker “merges” and “goes” to the particular loka and then gets mukthi. Or if the devotion is very strong, here itself the Saguna Ishwara will show the seeker the way to nirguna Brahman but this is only if there is constant contemplation and always seeing everything as the Lord.
HARI AUM
Thanks
Hariram
Let a moment not pass by without remembering God
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