Para-Brahma & Maya.

By Bishweswar Das, B.A., Head Master, Sutragarh H.E. School, Shantipur

The right conception of Brahma, involves the following self-evident postulates:-

1. The transcendental cannot be judged by the human standard.
2. Brahma is the source of everything.
3. Brahma is beyond the thought and conception of man equipped with sentient knowledge of insentients and what little can be conceived of Brahma by the grace of the transcendental preceptor has to be expressed in words that do not submit to the test of sensuous organs.
4. Brahma ceases to be such, as soon as he is grasped by any of individual souls as a product of nature.
5. For the proper conception of Brahma we should rely on Aptabakyas (authoritative testimonies of self-realised souls enabling us to understand the indisputable truth) i.e., the Vedas and the upanishads etc, and not upon independent sensuous reasons.
6. Brahma is not simply a passive Being devoid of all attributes, but an omnipotent, ever-active Existence, revealing Himself out of His free will to His devotees.
7. Brahma though unmanifest to sensuous understanding, eternally manifests Himself in multifarious spiritual forms and deludes mundane observers by suitable energy.
8. Brahma is an Absolute and Unconditioned Being. It is foolish to try to see only one aspect of the indivisible Truth if the partial manifestation proves to be mundane.
9. Self-realised souls can impart their knowledge of Brahma to ignorant but sincere enquirers i.e., those who are really inclined to accept the Truth as an act of grace.

It must be stated at the outset that in accepting these postulates as self-evident one is not called upon to surrender one's reasoning faculty nor to suspend it, nor to reduce one's self to the position of a passive recipient of ideas or assertion called dogmas. The empiricist may gain the charge of the commission of the common logical fallacy of "Petitio Principii" or as it is commonly termed "begging the question" by trying to prove the unavoidable necessity of ignorance. But considering the deep and abstruse nature of the problem I am trying to tackle, I may be pardoned for following a better line of reasoning than his.

Assuming, therefore, that the postulates set forth above are accepted as underlying the universally accepted idea of the Truth let me now proceed to a specific consideration of the nature of Brahma and with it that of Maya, basing my views not on my individual opinion but on the text of the scriptures, which are the only source of the knowledge of the Absolute.

In this connection, let it be observed that in Sanskrit, Brahma is a neuter word which is represented in English by the pronoun 'it'. But for the sake of avoiding evident misunderstanding I have used 'He' and its variations with reference to Brahma and in the following note, I shall use them frequently. Properly speaking Brahma is not neuter but common in the non-sensuous philosophical sense.

So much for the preamble. Let me now come to the matter in hand.

I have already intimated that it is utterly impossible for a man with his limited knowledge to conceive Brahma. Divine nature is simply inconceivable. The text from Brihadaranyakopanishad which is to the point means thus:-

"Well Gargi! Standing on the mundane platform nobody has ever seen this imperishable Brahma, but He sees all; nobody has ever made Him the object of His hearing, but He hears everything; nobody has ever conceive Him, but He conceives all; nobody has ever known Him, but He knows all. There is no other observer than He, no other hearer than He, no other conceiver than He, no other knower than He. Well Gargi! The infinite space is fully surcharged with the presence of this indestructible Brahma."

Again in the Talobakaropanishad we find:-

"Sticking to speculation he who knows for certain that Brahma is incomprehensible knows something of Him; he on the other hand who fully believes that he has known Brahma has not known Him. Sages declare that Brahma is unknowable through limited sense-perception. It is only fools who think that He is so knowable."

The text from Kathopanishad and Taittireeyopanishad respectively which may be translated thus are also to the point:-

"He is not attainable by any world hardened through word, mind or eye. How can He be realised by anyone except by those only who are on the same plane?

"Falling to attain Whom our limited words and thoughts recoil back on themselves."

Again Divine Nature is a complex thing. It is verily a paradox to the worldly judgment as all irreconcilables find their reconciliation in Brahma. All contraries and contradictions merge in Him into a harmonious whole. Thus we find respectively in Kathopanishad, Swetaswataropanishad and Ishopanishad of which here are the English renderings:-

"Brahma is the most minute of all minute things. Yet He is the most gigantic of all gigantic things. He lives in the hearts of all beings. He who is free from all sorrows and desires can see that super-sensuous Brahma through the grace of Brahma alone."

"He has no hands of flesh and blood, yet He holds. He has no feet like anything of this world, yet He walks far. He has no mundane eyes, yet He sees. He has no fleshy ears, yet He hears. He knows all things, yet nobody with limited intelligence knows Him. The sages have all called Him the First and Greatest Being."

"He moveth, yet moveth not. He is both far and near. He is in the inner consciousness of all, yet He envelopes all."

The great poet Kalidas has some slokas in imitation of the above on this point in his Raghuvamsam canto X, which may be translated in these words:-

"Thou art ever present in our hearts, yet Thou art at a distance. Thou art free from desires, yet Thou practis'st severe austerities. Thou art full of mercy, yet Thou art unaffected by sorrow. Thou art the oldest Being, yet Thou art free from the infirmities of age."

"Thou art self-existent, yet Thou art born. Thou art free from passions, yet Thou destroy'st enemies. Who then does know Thy true nature."

"Thyself immeasurable, Thou measur'st the world. Thyself desireless, Thou fulfillest the desires of all (Thy devotees). Thyself unconquered, Thou art ever victorious. Thyself unmanifested (to worldly people), Thou art the root cause of this phenomenal universe."

"Thou art an omniscient Being, but none (who are worldly-minded) can know Thee. Thou art the primal cause of all, but Thou Thyself art without a cause. Thou art the ruler of all, but thou has no ruler. Thou art One, yet Thou exist'st in infinite (transcendental) forms."

True it is that Brahma is an Absolute and unconditioned Being. True it is that He is the only source of all real and unreal existence. Nevertheless, it is true that Brahma is not an abstract existence nor an attributeless Being; on the other hand He is the Fountain head of all conceivable and inconceivable attributes. He is all existence, all knowledge and all bliss

Thus says Shankaracharyya himself in his Atmabodha:-

"He who fills all spaces, above, below and around as Existence, Knowledge and Bliss and Who is Infinite and without a second is Brahma, the Ever Existing Unique Being."

Again in the Sruti we read:-

"Brahma shines as an Ever Existing, All Knowing, All Blissful, Infinite Being."

Accepting the above interpretations of the nature of Brahma as true, it is easily seen that Brahma is both immanent and transcendental. Thus in the Rigveda Samhita we find:-

"Brahma has infinite heads (but not of flesh and bone), infinite eyes and infinite feet. He pervades the whole (material) universe, yet remains outside it by ten inches (i.e, He is both immanent and transcendental)."

Again in the Bhagabat Gita says Krishna:-

"O, Arjuna ! What is the use of knowing more? Know this for certain that I hold the whole phenomenal universe only by one portion of Myself (i.e., I am both immanent and transcendental).”

Thus we see that Brahma pervades the phenomenal universe, co-exists with it, remains outside it and exists after the phenomenal universe is destroyed. In other words, He exists before creation, with creation, outside creation and after the destruction of all created things. It is not all consistent or incompatible with Divine Nature to create this illusory, phenomenal universe with all its multifarious manifestations, although Brahma is not at all affected by this Maya or illusion. Maya is the power of illusion. Maya is the power of illusion belonging to Brahma which operates by His will to bring about this phenomenal universe with its manifold forms, varieties and appearances. This Maya becomes effective and spreads its charms as soon as Brahma is inclined to create. Kapila, the founder of the Sankhya system of philosophy has identified Maya with Prakriti and has mistakenly supposed that it is not a power of Brahma but something else coeval with Him. In point of fact, Maya exists in Brahma not as touch exists in air and heat in fire, or as whiteness in milk and sweetness in sugar but as shadow haunts the substance. Maya is the cause of illusory or material creation, the phenomenon as opposed to the substantive and eternal Reality. Thus although Maya is but the power of illusion of nescience, yet by reason of its Divine potency it is capable of working apparent impossibilities. Indeed, such is the potent influence of Maya that it is impossible for any individual soul to escape from the sphere of its influence except by Divine grace .It can be overcome only by those who are privileged to know Brahma. Thus in the Bhagabat Gita the Supreme Lord says:-

"This is my Divine Maya which is made up of the qualities of Satwa, Raja and Tama, is simply insuperable. Those only who throw themselves entirely upon My mercy or come to know Me may succeed in overcoming it."

If we have already conceived how all contraries and contradictions find their margin or solution in Divine Nature, it becomes easy for us to conceive how Brahma being the sole reality can yet give rise to this nescience or Maya, without altering even a jot or little of His own nature and imposing upon Himself anything like limitation.

In fact Brahma has infinite aspects and from whatever standpoint the emancipated see Him they behold the many-sided Truth. Brahma creates the material world through Maya at His own sweet will and takes it away whenever He likes. Brahma is not however to be looked upon as a fickle and capricious Being. He is not like a wayward child now fondling His dolls and pets and now destroying them all, at pleasure. In point of fact, all matters even of this phenomenal universe are governed by His Supremely beneficent purpose and not by dead cosmic laws which modern scientists and philosophers are mainly endeavouring to postulate. If we obtain a sight of Brahma from the standpoint of Absolute Truth we can learn to reconcile all apparent contradictions and differences, and succeed in having a true idea of Divine Nature which is otherwise most inscrutable.

Such being the case it is but in the fitness of things that Brahma should be the Master and proprietor of Maya without being Himself in the least affected by it or being in any way under its influence . Hence Brahma is very appropriately called the Lord of Maya which is absolutely powerless before Him. It may be added here that there are sages free from the influence of Maya. If such is the case with tiny individual souls how natural and inevitable it is for Brahma to be always above His Maya to use it for His beneficent purposes. All liberated beings and all avatars of God who appear in this world at different periods of history, as Teachers of mankind, are above the influence of Maya. They have all shown by their lives and examples that Maya is, as it were, the handmaid or maid-servant and that it is called into requisition as needs arise, only to serve the beneficent purpose of the Supreme Lord. Indeed, as darkness disappears before light, so the artifices of Maya or illusion also is dispelled with the advent of true or right knowledge.

Thus we see that to know the Absolute Truth is to know Brahma Who is identical with Truth and to know Brahma is to attain such intimacy with the working of the Divine or spiritual power as to be able easily to participate in the manipulation of Maya by the will of God.

I beg leave to add here that I have hitherto spoken of Maya as nescience; the Divine power is really One and Maya is the reflected aspect of the real substantive Power, which lies at the root of a man's redemption or salvation. In its real aspect the Divine power dominates everything under the different names of yogmaya and so forth.

Without trying to enlarge more on this point I may conclude my short note with the observation that if we succeed in getting even the least glimpse of Truth or even a grain of what is called living faith in God we invariably find ourselves in a position to conceive the nature of Brahma and of Maya and can also realise how they are co-related. The Vedas and Upanishadas do, indeed, help us, if properly understood, in attaining the true Knowledge of Brahma and of Maya. But the sine-qua-non of spiritual advancement is the grace of Brahma Himself which is associated with that of His chosen servants or His veritable representatives going by the names of transcendental Acharyas, Messiahs, Masters. For it is clearly stated in Kathopanishad--

"Brahma cannot be attained by many fine words or intellect or the hearing of many scriptural texts. He only attains Brahma, who prays or longs for Him. Brahma reveals Himself unto such earnest souls only."

In point of fact, Brahma cannot be seen or realised except through the grace of Brahma Himself, just in the same way as the great luminary, the Sun, cannot be seen except by the Sun's own light.

Thus we see that the be-all and end-all of human existence, the Summum-bonum of human life is to be able to know and love Brahma. For says Mundokopanishad:-

When one is blessed with the sight of that Supreme Being, one's worldly passions are torn asunder, doubts are removed and mundane deeds are exhausted."

Again in Brihadaranyakopanishad:-

"The Supreme Being is the nearest and dearest of all. He is dearer than son, dearer than wealth and dearer than all dear things."

Sanctified is the family, blessed is the mother and glorified is the country, of man whose mind is absorbed in the service of the Supreme Being-- the blissful ocean of infinite Knowledge.