Articles for Saadhana

Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru. 

In Rigveda we have a Purusha-suktham. The word Purusha becomes important there. Here, the same Purusha is spoken of as Uttama-Purusha, purushotthama. The chapter is named after that word. Krishna began referring to the creation as a whole as

Imagine the whole creation to be an inverted ashwattha tree. The roots are above, you won’t be able to reach them any time. We only have available that huge inverted tree’s branches and leaves. Now, these leaves, just like in the case of a tree, enable us to find out what is the tree, what are its properties etc. our Vedas are like the leaves to explain the inverted ashwattha tree of creation. So, our Vedas have to be used as an enlightening book. It is not so much a kāraka text, as a jñāpaka text. It reveals revelatory and not mandatory.

Initially he said,

The avyaya pada has to be searched, looked for.

I seek refuge under the supreme purusha, from whom all the activities, vibrations and interactions proceeded.

Then He says, nirmāna-mohā jita-saṅga-doṣā. Māna and moha to be avoided, sanga to be overcome, constantly remain in adhyātma, ātma-chintana, adhyātma-chintana. Get away from desires and desiring habits.

Dvandvair-vimuktā: sukha-du:kha-sañjñaih. You have to get freedom from dvandvas. What are the dvandvas? Sukha-duhkha themselves. They are the resultant of all other dvandvas. The entire world is a collection of dvandvas. All the dvandvas put together individually and collectively, generate the dvandva inwardly called sukha-duhkhas. Gain redemption from them. When you do so, what happens?

Gacchanty-amūḍhā: padam-avyayaṃ tat. You will reach the imperishable abode, being de-deluded, getting away from delusion. So, you will become enlightened. And He says, how to be unaffected by this ashwattha tree which is an inverted one. This is the way. sukha-du:kha-sañjñaih gacchanty-amūḍhā: padam-avyayaṃ tat.

Then He describes the Avyaya pada, na tad-bhāsayate sūryo etc. etc.

I become the vaiśvānara and digest the food. So, the Supreme Truth is not away from us. It is in us, within us and it is we ourselves.

Then He says, in the loka, “lokesmin”, he says two purushas are there.

Kshara and the Akshara. Kshara is the perishable prakriti and Akshara is the imperishable substratum it has. That imperishable substratum is called the purusha. The rest is prakriti. That prakriti is called by Krishna as ‘kshara purusha’ here and the other is ‘akshara purusha’. So, the kshara and akshara purusha explain the whole creation, represent also.

Then He says,

This is where your attention should be rightly focused. There is still another Purusha, Uttama Purusha. That Uttama Purusha is Paramātma. What is the Atma? Within our body, being a subject of reference as ‘I’, ‘I’, ‘I’, there is something. That is a Purusha. And that ‘I’, ‘I’ denoted presence, that presence is the Uttama Purusha. Because He is Uttama Purusha, different from kshara and akshara purushas, He is called Purushotthama. That Purushotthama, He says,

All we experience and refer to understand are products of three states of ours. Jagrat, swapna and sushupti. Jagrat world, swapna world and sushupti. These are the only three states which are revealing to us whatever they do. So, He has referred to kshara purusha and akshara purusha, then the Purushotthama. That Purushotthama is called Paramātma. Atma means that which is denoted by the term ‘I’. When that presence is understood in its full measure and magnificence, it becomes Paramātma. So, who is Paramātma? The Purushotthama. Where is the Purushotthama? As Paramāthma inside the body. Do you understand that sequence?

paramātmety-udāhṛta:
yo loka-trayam-āviśya bibharty-avyaya īśvara:

It is that imperishable presence in everything.

In the world as well as in the Vedas, this Uttama Purusha is called Purushotthama which is no other than Paramātma.

Now, whoever understands this Purushotthama, he becomes a ‘sarvavid’, a ‘sarvavid’, a knower of all.

Such a one starts worshipping Me through all the bhāvās.  So, it is a bhāva worship here, bhāvātmaka worship.

You will find many people are coming to the temple or common objects of devotion. At one point of time, their bhakti would have become real and expansive and they will start feeling “I don’t like to go to the temple. I feel the presence of God everywhere.” This is how we end up.

So, in this particular chapter, initially making a reference to the entire creation, then bringing the three concepts of three purushas, and then finding the Uttama Purusha, Purushotthama in yourself, is something very, very important, important. It is not that we are the atma alone, our atma with whatever potentials and possibilities it has, together with them, it becomes the focus for us.

I thought, I would explain it to you so that you can think about it.  See, He brings the concept of the third purusha and third purusha He says paramātma and parameshwara. If you think in this manner, the fifteenth chapter gives you enough of opportunity to live a very devotional and spiritual life, not affecting you adversely, but making you succeed in whatever you do.

Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.