The Two Paths of Enjoyment and Renunciation or Worldly and Spiritual - A
Comparison
The Lord provides here an idea of the scale of time for cycles of
creation. A thousand Yugas make up
one day of Brahma, the creative force
and another thousand Yugas make up
His night. These thousand Yugas
comprise of one Kalpa. Each cycle of
Yugas comprise of four Yugas, 71 such cycles comprise of a Manvantar or period of a great being
(ruler of the world) called Manu, 14
Manvantars make up one Kalpa.
Onset of the day of Brahma is the beginning of creation.
From the unmanifest, all things manifest or evolve or get projected at the
beginning of the day. Unmanifest is the first stage of creation and the last
stage of dissolution. It is a stage in which nothing is manifest, i.e, no names
and forms exist. It is a state of nature where there is no material object, not
even thoughts, speeches or actions, nor is there a mind, nor consciousness. When
the night sets in, again all beings are involved or dissolved into the
unmanifest and exist as part of the unmanifest without names and forms, in a
perpetual void, as subtlest of the essence. This is also called the causal state
and this state has been imagined in Puranas as a great causal ocean.
All living beings and their actions are there in the seed form in
the unmanifest. When a new creation starts, i.e. at the beginning of
Brahma's day, all created beings are projected out of the seed, just as
a large tree shoots up from a tiny seed. At the end of the Brahma's
day, the beings who are not liberated, go back to the seed form in the
unmanifest, to be born again at the time of creation.
However, beyond this unmanifest, which is also a state of the
Prakrti or Nature, there exists a greater unmanifest state which is
eternal and ever Supreme. This state is beyond all modifications and remains
unchanged even when the entire Universe dissolves. This is eternal, imperishable
and ever lasting, without any beginning or end.
The Lord says, “The state which is thus referred to variously as
Unmanifest, Imperishable etc. is the greatest refuge of all. It is that state,
by attaining which one never returns to the world. This is My great abode. That
Supreme Being, in whom resides this entire Universe and who covers the entire
Universe, is attainable only through great devotion.
The imperishable and eternal state is the Supreme Being. His
abode is the dissolution of individual mind and ego in Him. Every individual
possesses a gross body, a subtle body consisting of mind, intellect,
consciousness and ego, and an unmanifest (seed) causal body (the form in which
it exists in the beginning of creation and which is therefore called causal).
Beyond these bodies or covering is the Atman in all its splendor. Once
all these coverings are removed, i.e. even the causal body or the seed is
destroyed, the Atman with all its glory is revealed. With the dawn of
this knowledge, there is no further rebirth as all actions and their effects are
destroyed along with the seed or causal body.
"I’ll now tell you about the time periods during which the Yogis either break free of the cycle (of
life and death) or returns (in the form of a rebirth). A Yogi leaving the world during the
periods of Agni or Fire, Jyoti or divine light, the period of
the Ahan or the day, the period of
the whiteness or Shukla, the six
months, known as Uttarayana (the
period during which the sun embarks on a Northward journey, from January to
June, summer solstice), attains the Brahman. On the other hand, a Yogi, leaving the worldly abode during
the periods of Dhuma or smoke, Ratri or night, Krishna or darkness, the six months of
Dakshinayan (when the sun embarks on
a southward journey, from July to December, winter solstice), attains the light
of the Chandramas and therefore
returns (to the world). The bright and dark are the two paths according to
eternal knowledge, while one leads to liberation, the other binds one to the
cycle of the life and death.”
The Supreme Being is beyond the Unmanifest, as the unmanifest or
the first stage of creation as well as the creative force called Brahma resides in Him only. Only His
abode, i.e. the state of enlightenment, can provide liberation from the
ephemeral and transient state of being, the worldly life.
The different stages or periods explained by the Lord here
are cryptic and probably refer to different phases through which a soul
progresses in its afterlife. Suffice to say that all attributes of light and
brightness like fire, light, whiteness, the summer solstice, leads to
liberation. These phases of brightness are symbolic of the knowledge, which
illuminates one with the Supreme Realization. The smoke, the darkness, the
night, and the winter, are all symbols of the darkness which hides the truth.
Only the truth (realization of God) liberates. As long as the light of knowledge
is not dawned, the individual is in darkness and therefore will have to return
to reap the fruits of action and to gain knowledge again. This world is like a
great University from where one cannot pass out unless one completes the
education and attains perfection.
Thus there are two ways, the way of brightness and the way of
darkness, the former liberates while the latter binds. These two paths also
symbolize the path of pravrtti or
enjoyments (darkness) and the path of nivrtti or renunciation (brightness).
The former, a life of sensory pleasures and enjoyment seeking, is the course of
ordinary mortals who, as a result get ensnared to the tethers of the world and
therefore come back again and again to the world. The latter, a life of
selflessness and purity, transforms souls and destroys all sins to make them fit
receptacle for realization of God.
Sri Krishna
says, “Even by knowing these two paths, the Yogis never get deluded as they follow
one path or the other. Therefore at all times, be Yogi, Oh Arjuna. The virtues which one begets
through reciting or studying of Vedas, ascetic practices, sacrifices,
gifts and charities, are all transcended by Yogis who learns these (means of
differentiating between real and unreal, the path which liberates and the path
which binds) and therefore such virtuous souls attain great
ends.”
The Yogis, by
knowing what is best for them (the path of liberation) shun worldly pleasures
and engage themselves in pursuit of that Supreme knowledge which ultimately
liberates them. That life of single minded devotion and pursuit of Supreme
Knowledge is better than the virtuous paths of mere scriptural studies,
charities and sacrifices, aspiring after pleasures in this world and after, as
such desires merely bind one to the cycle of life.
No comments:
Post a Comment