Different Avathars Are Manifestations Of The One God Without A Second

May 1974, Summer Course 1974 - Bharath, Brindavan

Published English.

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Whatever work is prescribed in the is desirable work, and one should accept it as worth performing. Whatever is not prescribed in the is forbidden. One who fails to differentiate between work that should be done and work that should not be done is a sinner.

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"" "." This is the description of the language of and of given in our scriptures. Our tradition has been prescribing that the words which occur in the show the right way in which one can group the letters. To regard the Vedic as mere groups of words without understanding the sacred meaning thereof has become customary. The words like , and are sacred words of Vedic origin. They represent the essence of Veda and Veda itself. The words , and convey to us some aspects. They together contain the meaning of the words , and . The summary meaning of these three words is also contained in the three words , and . The synonymous nature of the meaning that is contained in the two sets of three words makes it impossible for either set to come to the place of by itself. They always come together to the place of . Along with comes and along with and comes and . The combination of all these is represented together at the ceremony of . The word has been considered as synonym or equivalent to .

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, and are Vedic terms. They represent Veda itself. They have a Vedic origin and Vedic significance. We have to recognise and appreciate this aspect.

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There is also a well-known alternative name for and that is . can be interpreted to mean wealth and strength. For one who gives wealth and strength, there is a name .

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This aspect of is also a name for the or the offering to the god of fire. The one who makes the offering is also called . For this , the is in the position of the son. For the statement that is in the place of a child for the , the support is that the uses his physical strength and generates the fire by rubbing two pieces of wood. Thus we figuratively regard as being in the position of a child for the .

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So the is also called . In that context, the word will apply to . It is because of the who have the name and because the name is applicable to the there is also a class of people called . In this country, whether it is a name taken by an individual or a philosophical principle, that name must have our acceptance in the Vedic context. If this does not happen, it cannot be taken as a name by anyone in this country.

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The people of this country regard all kinds of work they do as something ordained by and emanate from the Veda. They are passed on from generation to generation. It is not as if we learn them afresh and put them into practice. To believe in the statement, , (which means that the name which ’s son had, has been given to our country) is a mistake. In fact, the name was derived from Veda and given to ’s son. We must realise that the country did exist even before the birth of ’s son and that the Veda did exist much earlier.

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These statements are made by the historians and are all false. These three names , and are Vedic names and have Vedic origin. It will be appropriate to come to the conclusion that from time immemorial, our country has been called . The name came to us from the where the were using the term in various ceremonies. Its origin is purely and wholly Vedic and is not from anywhere else. It has not come from any kings or philosophical expositions. By virtue of its sacred origin, the name has significance for the entire world. is a significant name for the creation, sustenance and dissolution of the world. Although the world appears as one, it manifests itself in all the three aspects. When we examine this aspect of in the light of the three modes of time, namely the future, present and past they reflect , and . When we look at this name in the aspect of , it has been referred to as “”. When we look at it by the aspect of , this has been referred to by a second name . The same thing looked at in the aspect of , is referred to as .

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You must realise the truth that the name has not been divided from any individual and its significance is universal. The sound which spreads all over is also referred to as . Since there is no direct connection either with or , it is regarded all over the world as and is called . Since the is spread all over the world, it also is called . If today the citizens of are not able to recognise the full significant meaning of this sacred name, it is a very unfortunate situation. All aspects represented by the name of our country must be realised by one and all. Today, the youth are not able to understand the significance of their own names. The name of their country and the stories contained in the convey no meaning to them. If you want to raise your country back to its glorious past, you must read and understand the sacred texts of , , and so on. The appropriate authority for these sacred texts is not an individual, but themselves. Since the Veda has not originated from any individual, its authority is infinite. The are verily the embodiment of Truth.

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Any particular text of history or literature which is the result of the work of an individual, is bound to reflect his attitudes. Our ancient and commentaries on scriputures are being written now by persons who live in the present age. These people are certainly influenced by the environment in the present age of and this is reflected when they rewrite these stories. Since we are forgetting the original meanings of these sacred texts and relying on the statements of individuals, we are missing what is important.

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The is regarded as the fifth Veda. The stories in the are often misinterpreted by commentators. From , it is known that the were living incognito at King ’s palace. At this time, according to some writers, fell in love with and got angry and killed him. This is not the truth. The actual fact is that was ill-treating who was at that time in the role of a servant. was enraged at this and killed . There is nothing like was in love with , because at that time was twenty-two years old and was seventy-six years old.

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Modern writers have in several instances created confusion in regard to stories they have rewritten due to lack of faith and considerable amount of doubt in their own minds in respect of our .

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The is the essence of all and in this had given a very beautiful and apt analogy. Suppose we are seeing a big tree. In this big tree we see a number of leaves, branches, roots, fruits and so on. We see all this in the big tree. We do not call the flowers by the name of the leaves nor do we call the leaves by the names of the fruits or roots. We use an appropriate name for each part of this single big tree. The branches are branches but they do not become fruit. Similarly the leaves do not become roots. When we want to enjoy the fragrance of the flowers we must smell the flowers and not the roots. Similarly, if you want to taste the fruit you must eat the fruit and not the branches. This big tree which has so many different components and so many different parts is really one in the sense that the seed which gives rise to this tree is only one. Just as there is only one seed for the entire tree, there is only one divine being and all other parts are related to this one source.

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The recognition of this oneness in the entire and diverse aspects of divinity is really the basis of . or I am the seed for all being, is the basis of Indian philosophy in the form of . We are witnessing all these different forms and parts of the tree although they have arisen from the same seed. So also we are experiencing different aspects of the one God. God is only one. All other names and forms we create are only aspects to suit our own experience. As the time changes and the ideas of an individual change, the name and form that he gives to God also change. These names and forms are things which are manufactured artificially in the factory of your own thoughts and mind. For so many different names and forms, our mind is responsible. It is not as if God has in fact all these aspects.

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In the same manner, we must understand the aspects of , and (Sun). When we make fire for cooking, we use for the purpose of cooking. We do not attach any importance to it. If the same fire is prepared for a sacred purpose of performing a , then people prostrate before the fire and show great reverence to the fire. Fire is also used to burn dead bodies in cremation grounds. If such fire is seen, not only will people not give any respect to it, but treat it as an evil. No one will cook his bread or food on such a fire. Such a fire will be treated as unsacred and no one will use it for any other purpose. If the same fire is put in the front of a sacred house, then it is the custom in our villages for people to go to such sacred houses and light another from such a in a sacred house. It was the belief in those days, that if a was brought from a sacred and good house, the other houses will also enjoy prosperity. In the olden days, they used to regard this as a very good custom.

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In this context, I will give you a story from the . If you are continuously taught the aspects of Veda, then your interest in the subject will decline. So I propose to narrate some light stories from or to make things easy and give you some relief. In , was a well-known and rich (land owner). The inhabitants of that village had great respect for and they would not disobey him at all. In fact, and were treated by the villagers as if they were their very life-breath. People were lighting up their from ’s house in the hope that if they lit their lamps from such a sacred house, they would imbibe the good ideas and behaviour for which and were famous. In those days, people did not have artificial and unreliable lights as we now have.

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These lights and microphones which we now use may fail us at any moment. If there is a wick and oil, the lamp will continue so long as the oil and wick are there. These three components are called , and . here stands for the wick and stands for the oil and if the wick and the oil are there, we can get the ; but if either of them is exhausted, the would disappear and the disappearance of is called or disappearance of all action. This kind of was lit and put in the verandah of their house by every day. All the ladies of had the tradition of going in a line and light their own lamps from the particular lamp lit by . As was growing and coming of age, the number of women coming to that verandah was dwindling gradually. The reason was that the mothers-in-law and the husbands in each household who could not recognise the true form and nature of were preventing the young women from going there. However, those husbands and mothers-in-law who had good feelings at heart permitted the women to continue this tradition. They not only permitted but encouraged the continuance of such a practice. In the pretext of lighting this , the used to go to ’s house and come back with their hearts filled with bliss.

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To that village came a new daughter-in-law by the name of . Neither the husband nor the mother-in-law of liked her going to ’s house. was a great devotee. In fact, when she got married she was very happy that she would be going to where she could watch and enjoy the (Divine sport) of . On arrival at her mother-in-law’s house, she found that she was bound by certain harsh rules and regulations. She was told never to look at and the windows should be closed if was ever to be found walking on that street. When other women from the neighbouring houses came to describe the of , she felt very sorry that she was not in a position to enjoy these . As faith and devotion grew, it was not possible for anyone to stop such devotees from fulfilling their desires. Fortunately, in that house the mother-in-law was herself bringing the traditionally-lighted from ’s house.

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One day the mother-in-law became very ill and she asked to go and light the lamp from ’s house. The mother-in-law knew that was away from . When came to ’s house, she was very unhappy that was away. She was completely engrossed in the thought of and as she was completely lost in the thought of , her hand was being burnt by the flame, but she was not aware of this. At this time, saw this and enquired her how she was not mindful of her hand burning. She asked her if she did not have enough sleep the previous night. then replied that she was quite unmindful of herself because she was seeing in that flame and hence she did not feel the pain of her burning hand. When she was narrating this experience to , other also came to light their own and heard this. On hearing what told , they came running into market place and started singing, “Our had the vision of the Lord in the flame in ’s house. It seems in ’s house, our had given His to in the Flame and the very flame burnt her finger”. When this song was heard by the mother-in-law, her fever disappeared and she came running into the street.

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From the above story, we have to learn that whenever God does anything, He does it with a purpose and out of it comes some specific good result. Here we see that pleasure is an interval between two pains and in this case ’s mother-in-law realised that had such great devotion that she had the vision of the Lord and she began saying that it was a great honour to have as the daughter-in-law in her house. She also began singing in praise of the Lord. Since it is difficult for common people to understand what is ordained as in the and put such into practice, our have given several stories which common people can understand and put into practice. This is the reason why our have written the . Thus, sages like and have immortalised the stories of and for the benefit of mankind in the form of so that common people can understand and follow them in their daily lives.