Am I Brahman or God

In the following Video, Swami Sarvapriyananda, who is a well-known monk from the Ramakrishna order is explaining the “logical compulsion” of identifying oneself with God or Brahman!

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/QYrPLlshNWQ

Here the Swamy is saying - that Supreme reality – Call it Brahman, God or whatever, which is beyond death or immortal, is myself!! Otherwise, how do I go beyond death? 

It is true that in Advaita, the self that abides in all is Brahman. But this fervor to preach identification of the self with God is dangerous because it leads to the “I am God” mentality which is demonic and false. Advaitic Brahman is nirguna or attributeless but God or Ishwara is Saguna Brahman. Jiva/Atman/self cannot be identified with Saguna Brahman. Sri Acharya Shankara outrightly refutes this "I am God" mentality while commenting on the Bhagavadgita (16th Ch, verses 14, 15 and 16). First of all - Brahman is a Vedic word, and it is identified as the cause of the world. Is the individual self or atman or jiva, the cause/creator of the world? The Brahma sutra – JagadvyApAra varjyam – outrightly refutes this view!

If the embodied self is Brahman or God, then it can be easily attained by eliminating the body or committing suicide. Is anyone ready for it? Obviously not and that proves that the identity teaching is not literal! It is only indicative, in the sense that atman is a linga or indicator for Brahman that pervades and indwells in all. This also proves that the body which has a purpose (to engage in dharma) is a dependent reality on the indwelling Brahman and therefore not an illusion! 

That non-dual Brahman/Ishwara or God is identified as the cosmic person having the sun and moon as his eyes and the entire universe as his body. He is verily the kAla/time or mruthyu/death that has covered / swallowed the soul / atman as the body and also manifesting as this very universe. So there is no question of "going beyond" such a God who is himself death. Instead the atman has to BE (in tune) with Him. Birth and death is not a hindrance / limitation for a knowledgeable sanAtani Hindu who is serving Brahman/Ishwara manifesting as the universe through his swadharma. For everybody else it is! The same Brahman / God who has covered all ignorants in the form of death, will be a liberating ambrosia for a jnAni who is in tune with Him, through his selfless / dhArmic actions.

That non-dual, all pervading and indwelling Brahman/Ishwara, can be "attained" only through the path of Dharma and Bhakti / devotion which is rooted in duality. This "attaiment" is of the nature of realization only, which is an endless contemplation. That non-dual Brahman or God mysteriously divides itself through it's own inexplicable power of mAya to bring out the greatness of Dharma! Infact that non-dual Brahman in the form of cosmic person is an embodiment of Dharma and that is the law. No being can escape this eternal Law.

Brahman which is the cause of the world is indwelling in the Atman, supporting the atman as the body and the Atman can never know it – Atmano antaro yam Atma na veda, yasya atma shareeram – says Veda. So, all identity statements in the Veda are teaching or denoting the simultaneous identity or inseparable oneness of the self and everything with Brahman. There is no oneness in the attributes of the sentient self, insentient non-self (body) and the  Ishwara/Brahman who indwells in both and controls them. The embodied sentient self being a reflection of Brahman, is only indicative of Brahman, just like the body indicates the soul/self.

AchArya Shankara explicitly states in one of the prakarana grantha that this identification of the self with Brahman is not literal (vAchyArtha). It is only indicative! (LakshyArtha) . While essentially the oneness of atman and Brahman is accepted, the entire world is accepted as Brahma shareera – or body of God in traditional Advaita also and only then the avatAra of God and that of Acharya Shankara and all the many teachers in the unbroken chain of guru-shishya parampara can be explained.

Identifying the self alone as real and outrightly rejecting the body / dualistic world as illusion goes against Veda and Dharma and experience also. It leads to many misconceptions like – All religions are the same, there is no God or I am God, Hindu scriptures like Vedas, PuruAnas, Ramayana and MahabhArata are myths/unreal, Spirituality and religion are different and so on.

These modern-day "teachers" are simply teaching Buddhism only in the guise of Advaita VedAnta. They cannot protect Sanatana dharma as they also accept all religions are true! This goes against the spirit of the teaching of Sri Adi ShankarAchAra who vehemently argued in favor of Vedas and VarnAshrama dharma.

Also, in the following video, the “Swamy” is trying to pathetically reconcile Bhakti or devotion to God, which is based on duality, with Advaita:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNoBZx_DKyA&t=401s

Here, Sri Hanuman is quoted as saying – Identifying myself with the body - I am Rama’s servant, identifying as a jiva I am part of Rama and identifying with the soul I am Rama himself. Nothing can be as absurd as this because identification with the body is considered as ignorance in vedAnta. So, Hanuman, as a servant of Rama if he is identifying himself with his body, he would end up as an ignorant person! 

The climax here is that, from the point of view of the soul, Hanuman is identifying himself with Rama! Now, anybody can imagine the plight of Sita! This would be even worse than what Ravana did to Sita. Actually, pure devotion for God / Ishwara is from the point of view of the soul only irrespective of whatever body it takes. Advaitic Self is non-dual and so cannot be identified with any name/form/relation. So Hanuman identifying himself as Rama or God is totally wrong!

It should be noted that Hanuman who incarnated as MadhvAchArya, established the Dvaita philosophy which fundamentally refutes this misconception in Advaita – especially the non-traditional Advaita that simply teaches literal identification of the self with Brahman or God.

There is no problem with traditional Advaita – as duality/bhakti/varnashrama dharma is accepted as vyAvahArika satya! Even if the non-duality of Atman / Self is accepted the world of duality continues to remain as Brahman's body / dependent reality.

The attempts of these non-traditional Advaita gurus to reconcile bhakti and Advaita is pathetically incorrect as they are based on half-truths and very much misleading for sanAtani Hindus. They are confusing the masses by mixing parmartha with vyavahara. It is totally incompatible with the traditional Advaita as established by Sri Adi Shankaracharya.

One should not forget the fact that the same Veda is also teaching Sarvam khalvidam Brahma – Everything is Brahman! The identification is not literal here also. It is the identification of the Ishwara or Brahman established as the SarvAntaryAmi - the indwelling controlling spirit of all, supporting the entire universe as His body. This identification is called sAmAnAdhikaraNya where the identity of one thing culminates in the other, just like identification of the body culminates in the soul. In the Advaitic / non-dualistic identification all qualities (of the body / jiva and the Ishwara / universe) are dropped and only the essential concsiousness is identified. So in both cases the identification is indicative only and not literal. 

Hanuman exists in Rama and vice versa. Identification of one culminates in the other. This is how the Hanuman's statement of identity with Rama should be understood! In the Advaitic or non-dual identity, Atman or the Self alone is. There is no Hanuman or Rama or any relationship between them. So the only way to reconcile is to accept the dualistic world as the body of Brahman!

Identifying the entire universe as the body of Brahman is a total game changer. It makes every embodied being a dependent and servant of God manifesting as the universe and helps to identify and serve the Vedic Brahman/God manifesting through all names and forms, through one's own swa-dharma. Service to the God manifesting as this universe is service to the self. Dvaita and Advaita or Bhakti and jnAna can be reconciled only when we start realizing the entire universe as that Supreme being or Ishwara or Brahman!

This is true VedAnta and everything else is false!

Namaste

Suresh

Is God a delusion

Namaste,

 

In the following Video, Amish Tripati is trying to establish that God cannot be a delusion from the Hindu viewpoint.

Amish Tripathi argues that, according to Hinduism, Godcannot be a delusion (4/8)

He says that Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism are dhArmic religions where the world view is fundamentally different from the Western Abrahamic religions.

Western Atheism that predominantly arose as a reaction to Abrahamic religions also has many of the features of abrahamic religions.

In the dhArmic view, the world is not seen in binaries - like good/evil, black and white and so on. Instead, everything is seen in shades of grey. From this perspective how do we answer the question that God is a delusion?!!

In Hindu view, anything that has a beginning and an end, is temporary and therefore a delusion. The word for it is mAya. But there is another definition that says anything that has a purpose and function is real.

For example our bodies are all made of five elements. If we throw the elements under a bus nothing will happen to them. But I cannot throw myself under a bus even though my body is made of same elements. Why? because there is something more than the elements, which is myself that has a purpose and function for now. So, I have to be real, at least for now.

Same way it is with God. If God has a purpose, then He is real.

In the West, many people have felt that there is no need for God. Probably this has to do with the tortured relationship between religion and science. Any scientific discovery that goes against religious views is blasphemy. 

In Hindu view point, there is no such conflict. Religion and Science can co-exist because they both have their purpose. This is because there is no doctrinal concept of blasphemy! In the dhArmic view, multiple paths are allowed to attain perfection.

In the Hindu view, God is not a strict father who either rewards or punishes for listening to him. God is beyond gender and is only a witness. In the abrahamic faiths, Adam and Eve fell because they voilated God's rules. But in Hindu context, they would be allowed to eat and infact would be told to go for the entire tree. But they will also be told to be prepared to handle the consequences. This is how karma and dharma operates allowing people to give freedom to grow and evolve and ultimately attain complete knowledge and become God himself!

 

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The above might appear convincing, but it does not fully reflect the truth. In the Vedic view, there is clear cut difference between dharma and adharma, samsara and moksha, atma and anAtma and so on. It is definitely not like shades of grey!

 The ideal of dharma, which is essentially varnashrama dharma, is unique to Veda. Simply put, it means performance of one's prescribed duty or vocation according to one's capacity and capability, as a worship of God who is manifesting in the form of the universe itself. Service to the society and universe is service to God. This is in essence, varnashrama dharma. This view is unique to Veda alone but it is also universal. Whatever action we do good or bad with respect to the universe will return results accordingly. This is in a nutshell the idea of dharma and any selfish action performed only for money and enjoyment is karma. Performance of dharma as a service to God and surrendering to a Guru and devotion to God alone will yield moksha or liberation from the cycle of births and deaths. Every other view like Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism do not explicitly teach this Varnashrama dharma, and at the same time they dont deny also. But Karma and Punarjanma or re-incarnation is common for all.

 God is not a delusion in Hindu view because He is the spirit Self of the universe, supporting the entire universe is His body. The absolute dependence on the universe, of all of us for our existence, can never be denied by anyone irrespective of whatever world view one subscribes to! Therefore, God manifesting as this universe that is sustaining all can never be a delusion! This universal Vedic view encompasses and transcends every other view, including atheistic view.

 There are no multiple paths for attainment of perfection or moksha. Through dharma or selfless action, one can burn the baggage of karma and through devotion to God and service to a Guru and tapasya (sense and mind control and renunciation), one can realize God who is Brahman, the indwelling absolute Self. "Na anya pantha ayanAya vidyate" - "There is no path other than this" declares Veda.

So, the false of idea of shades of grey and multiple paths for attainment of perfection is refuted. It is true that the world is temporary. But it always remains an abode of God who is the All-pervading and indwelling Self.

There is a need therefore for intelligent Hindus or truth seekers to be vigilent while listening to non-traditional intellectuals and self-styled gurus.

Namaste

Suresh

Is SanAtana dharma under threat

Namaste,

 

When we look at the current situation of Hindus in India as well as other countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan and so on, there is no doubt that Hindu religion or sanAtana dharma is under threat.

India which is the motherland of Hindu religion or sanAtana dharma has never invaded any other country. But all other countries have invaded and plundered India.

Even after Independence when Pakistan which was carved out of India, identified itself as an Islamic state, while India chose to be democratic and secular. This is because Hindu religion is intrinsically democratic.

But other religions like Islam and Christian, are constantly working against Hindu culture and posing a major threat to the Hindu dharmic religion.

But still many Hindus themselves are under a delusion that the word sanAtana means eternal and therefore sanAtana Hindu dharma can never be threatened!!! This is just like a cat drinking poisoned milk, closing it’s eyes, thinking nobody is seeing it. You cannot put your own head under a train or drown or burn your body thinking that the soul is eternal!!  

We have to understand that the Supreme Self or Brahman or the absolute truth that is deeply established in all, always remains eternal and can never be threatened. Infact this eternal truth of Brahman/Atman, cuts accross all opposing viewpoints! But the body/mind/intellect that reveals the truth is perishable and can be threatened and killed. 

So it is very important for Hindus to protect their people, culture and civilization from the onslaught of adhArmic or demonic forces

The sun always remains as is. But it can get covered by the clouds. So, all adharma or non-Hindu religions are like the clouds that cover the Sun. They have to be removed in order for Truth to be revealed.

But it is interesting that Vedas, the sacred Hindu scripture, allows adharma to exist. In the Vaishwadeva procedure that devout Brahmanas perform every day, an offering is made in the name of adharma also, in addition to many divinities. This is because, adharma helps to bring out the greatness of Dharma!! Bad people who tread the path of adharma, help to absorb the bad karma of good of dharmic people. It acts like a garbage dump that help to keep other areas of dharma clean!

Adharma is not totally eliminated, but it will always be under the control of Dharma! But when adharma tries to takeover dharma, great personalities including Ishwara or God will incarnate to destroy adharma and protect Dharma!

 

Namaste

Suresh