Gita for Youth - Purushottama Yoga (Yoga of the Supreme Being) - Realization of Supreme Being

Science of Realization of the Divine

“Probe that great Truth, by taking shelter of which one would not return (to this world). I take refuge in that ancient Purusha from whom all the endeavors (of action) have originated in the past.”

Another way to get emancipated from this great tree of sansara or the world is to take the path of devotion. One would need the grace of the Supreme Lord who is the Absolute Truth. Then only one would be able to tear asunder the fetters of actions. Taking refuge is a way of obtaining the grace through the path of Bhakti.

By alluding to endeavors the Lord also proclaims the glory of selfless action as another path to attain the emancipation. Through selfless action one gets rid of the impurities and the latent impressions. On a clear and pure mind the Truth reflects just as the sun reflects brightly on a clear pool of water.

“A person devoid of ego and delusion, free from all attachments, steadfast in spiritual practices, bereft of all desires, liberated from the pairs of opposites like pleasures and pain, gets to the eternal feet of that (Supreme Being).”

This is the path of Yoga – the eightfold principle like Yama, Niyama etc. Through Yoga steps one is able to become free of pairs of opposites and attain the highest state called Samadhi, where gets rid of the desires and ego and becomes completely free of all delusion and attachment.

“The sun does not shine there, nor the moon, nor the fire. From where one never returns is the great abode of Mine.”

In the state of Samadhi the universe with its origin in the mind and the ego, is extinct. Only the Supreme Being exists and it is He who is perceived everywhere. The ignorance is completely dispelled and the Truth that shines bright is He. Therefore the divine light is the only light that can remove delusion.

The Lord further stated that all the living beings in the world are His parts eternally, just as a great fire sends across divine sparks as long as it is burning. The mind and the senses established in the Nature act upon all such living beings and thereby delude them in forgetting their inherent divinity.

When the entity within, who is the Self or the divine spark, the same Supreme Lord who is the eternal Brahman, gets a new body or leaves a body, it carries with it the mind and the senses, just as the wind carries the fragrance from the objects.

The life forces, while leaving the body, at the time of death, carry with them the subtle body comprising the mind, mind stuff (Chitta), ego and intellect.

“In leaving (a body), while staying (within a body), while enjoying (the sense objects through the senses), when modified by the qualities of the Nature (Sattva, Rajas, Tamas and the associated character formation), the deluded ones are unable to see it. Only the wise can see it.”

The Atman cannot be seen by everybody. It is only realized through the knowledge acquired through direct realization. So those who are able to realize the Atman, know that the Atman is distinct from the body or the mind and the senses, and that the Atman is a witness to all actions. The Atman with the subtle body and causal body leaves the gross body at the time of death, and the individual enjoys the pleasures and pain under the influence of the nature and its qualities and not the Atman.

The Yogi who is realized, through his endeavors, is able to realize the Atman in the individual self (as distinct from body and mind). The non discriminating person, who is not realized, even though he endeavors, is unable to see the Atman as distinct from the body and mind.

Sri Krishna further said, “Know that brightness which shines forth from the sun and illuminates this entire universe, the brightness in the moon and that in the fire, are all Mine. I enter into the worlds and sustain all beings with the help of My ojas or the mental faculty. I nourish the herbs by being the Soma, who contains the ambrosia or the sustaining force for all herbs. I become the fire in the body which digests all forms of food using the life forces called Prana and Apana. I am everything. Dwelling in the heart, from Me originate memory, knowledge and wisdom and even their destruction. I am all the Vedas, I am the object of all knowledge. I am the author of Vedanta and the knower of all Vedas.”

Everything shines with the help of One thing. Even though the moon shines with the light of the sun, the sun itself shines with the help of its own fuel. Even though modern science proves that the fuel inside the sun is responsible for the combustion and the energy that contributes towards its brightness, if we regress further we can see that every element in the world has its source in the One that itself has become the world. Therefore it is the grand unity that pervades everything, the Supreme Being, which is behind the light of the sun, the moon, the fire. It is said that the moon’s rays help in the nourishment of the herbs and develop medicinal qualities in them. The herbs thus draw their energy from moon just as plants draw their energy from sun to manufacture chlorophyll. Therefore the same grand unity which contributes towards the light of the moon, permeates the herbs in the form of the energy derived from the moon. The world is made up from that One and the Supreme Being holds the entire world as if through the great inner prowess that it possesses, called ojas. The nourishment of all bodies is basically the nourishing of the indweller. It is as if we are offering some oblation into the great sacrifice inside our body, to the indwelling spirit who in the form of the presiding deity of the sacrifice accepts the offering, with the aid of various vital forces in the body. The Supreme Being is the source of all knowledge. Vedas are the accumulation of knowledge. They are not some books as some would believe them to be. Therefore one who is the source of Vedas is also a knower of the Vedas, i.e. all the knowledge in the Universe. The Supreme Being as the Atman is located in that secret and mysterious place behind the body and mind, called heart. As Brahman it is everything and pervades everywhere. All knowledge, memory, wisdom and even the dissolution of these, originate from it. It is therefore the knower, knowledge and the object of the knowledge. It is the author of the Upanishads and other sacred texts which have been revealed to the great sages.

There are two types of Purusha in these worlds, one is perishable (all the living beings) and the other imperishable (the creator, Brahma or the Hiranyagarbha, who is eternal and therefore beyond the realms of the material world). However there is one greatest entity which is beyond all pairs of opposites like perishable and imperishable, which cannot be described by any particular state or attribute, who is also known as the great Atman as distinct from individual body souls or Atmans. This state (Brahman or the Supreme Being), enters into the three worlds as Iswara and preserves the worlds and their denizens eternally. The Supreme Being is beyond attributes and beyond quality. Therefore it cannot perform any function or action. As Iswara or the Supreme Lord, however, it acquires a state and thereby performs actions for creating, preserving and destroying the worlds.

Sri Krishna said, “Since I am beyond the perishable and also greater than the imperishable Hiranyagarbha or the Iswara with quality, therefore I am known as Purushottama or the greatest Purusha in the worlds and in the Vedas.”

The Supreme Being, being devoid of attributes and qualities is greater than Iswara, who is its modified form, the modification being on account of the quality of Nature or the guna. The Iswara with Rajas creates, that with Sattva preserves and that with tamas destroys. However this trinity is a perceived one as behind them it is the same unity that is performing all three functions, being modified by the particular quality of nature and these three functions are not unrelated but rather inherenetly linked on the grand cosmic scale. But because of this modification, Iswara is one notch below Brahman who is beyond any modification or the influence of the gunas of the nature. Therefore the Supreme Being is Purushottama – the greatest of all Purushas, including the individual souls and the cosmic trinity.

“The non deluded one, who knows Me to be the Purushottama, that knower of all worships Me in everything. This is a very mysterious and secret knowledge that I have imparted to you, oh innocent one. By knowing this, the intelligent one is fulfilled (nothing else remains to know or do for him).”