Brahman Denotes The Totality Of Prajna In The World

May 1974, Summer Course 1974 - Brahman, Brindavan

Published English.

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Why do we give up the individual item and go to learn only the method of cooking? Listen to the truth that is contained in this question, Oh! youth of .

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The theme of today’s discourse is to acquaint you with the meaning of the word . For the and the Vedic religion, this word is synonymous with all the contents thereof. However, many historians who have given the meaning of this from time to time, have adopted an alternate path and have also inserted into the commentary their own notions and ideas and have thus made available a distorted version to the people. Although this word has infinite number of meanings and could be interpreted in infinite number of ways, these commentators have given it a colour and meaning which, in each case, depended on the individual taste and individual experiences.

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This word has been explained by some as having something to do with the in the . On the other hand, when some writers gave it the meaning of the (performer of rites) in the , they also explained that he is not to be confused with one of several of the , but they gave him a special place and called him by the name . These historians have explained that the particular Rithwick who has the responsibility of looking after the sacrificial ceremony of the and seeing that the ritual is conducted properly is called by the name , and he has been regarded as the important in the . Several scholars have been giving this kind of connotation for this word. In this explanation of the word , they have not taken care to see that the aspect of or divine is included in this word.

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Some other historians have understood this aspect and given this a meaning which covers the aspect of the divine. In this context we have to take into consideration the comments of some of the western scholars who have made an effort to understand our , our civilisation, and our culture. One great western scholar has taken this word as originating from the root word . This root word indicates expansion, or to swell, or to grow. He has taken this word as the starting point for understanding the divine aspect of the creation.

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Another western scholar has given a different meaning for this word . He has regarded this word as something which is specially related to the divine strength and to the force of will which is directed towards God. There is a necessity for us to enquire into the interpretations given by these western scholars as well.

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Apart from these two scholars who may not be so well known in this country, there is another western scholar by name Max Mueller who is more widely known in this country. He has also commented and given a meaning for this word. He started with the idea that this is a word which signifies sound and linked it with names like , and so on. At this point, we have to examine whether all these interpretations have the authority of the Veda and whether these interpretations are contained in the Veda. We have to examine where and how this word occurs in the and what meaning is conveyed by the word in that context. This has been mentioned in by equivalents like and . has established that the form of Veda is . In the , it has also been said that the song of is the essence of the . Again, when we look at this word from the point of view of , we come to the conclusion that everything in the creation is filled with .

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Our have not stopped at this point by merely giving a form and a meaning to this word . They have also given a more distinctive and special significance for this word . It has been taught to us that an aspect of the word means that it is something which has no discernible dimensions and which is limitless. If in this world we have things that can grow, then the aspect of has the capacity to grow so much that it is far beyond the growth of such things. The growth capacity of whatever is signified by the word exceeds the growth capacity of everything that we can comprehend. That aspect which is not discernible, and which is beyond our comprehension, and which is infinite, has been described by the word . It has been established that this is synonymous with growth and with complete growth. This which represents complete growth in all respects has been represented as the characteristic of .

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This word refers to one who has experienced completeness or fullness. Our has described this aspect of as something which has one thousand heads, one thousand eyes, and one thousand feet. In this interpretation, we are not taking the true inner meaning; instead sometimes we are getting the wrong meaning as well. The words “” should not be interpreted in a limited way by thinking of only one thousand heads. This really means that thousands and thousands of heads are contained in this aspect of . The word head immediately conveys to us the meaning and picture of the head that we see in the ordinary worldly way, and we think of the Lord as having a thousand heads. This is not correct. When we use the word head, it connotes or wisdom in this context. The totality of , or the wisdom that is present in all the heads, represents the concept of here.

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When we describe the as what we mean is that we worship the concept that the Lord has thousands of eyes. In accordance with the authority of the , the inner meaning of this is that all the energy and effulgence that comes out from the eyes of the various people, or the totality of that energy, represents . This is the inner meaning of referring to Him as or one with a thousand eyes.

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We also describe him as , or one who has a thousand feet. What is it that we mean by describing God as one who has a thousand eyes, a thousand feet, and a thousand heads; and what benefit do we get by describing him in this manner? The physical ability to carry this material body rests in our feet and in our legs. Because such strength is contained in our feet, however big the body may be, we are able to move the body with comfort. The totality of the capacity to understand or and the totality of brightness and the effulgence, and the capacity of locomotion have been given the name .

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The ability by which we have our vision and we see, the ability by which we are able to hear, and the ability by which we can have our mind functioning, and the ability by which we can bear the weight of the material body are given to us by God and because all these strengths are given to us by God, God is also referred to as , or the embodiment of wisdom. When we say, , what we mean is , who has got all these strengths in Him, is moving about everywhere manifesting all these strengths.

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Whether we talk of the Veda or use the word or the word , these are only different names given to the same aspect and to propagate the same idea that is contained in all these words. The words are different, but they describe one and the same idea. All the energy that is present in the gross form and also in the minutest and infinitesimally small thing represents the aspect of .

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It is only by having this all-knowing, all-powerful, and omnipresent personality of the Lord in his mind that prayed to the Lord in the form of (Cosmic being). “Can we understand you? Oh Lord! , You are smaller than the smallest particle and bigger than the biggest body. You are present everywhere and always in the eighty-four of the living species and one knows you as the biggest thief among all the thieves.” had prayed to the Lord by understanding these aspects of the Lord.

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Because of this, could understand the real aspect of the Lord. “.” has also been described as the carrier of the . We must examine the meaning of the word in this context. The word has been understood to connote . In this place, the meaning is that the , who is the embodiment of , has the as his carrier. This is the reason why people in our country have relied on such great men who achieved their greatness on the basis of . They started learning these and getting purification for themselves with the help of these great people. Mere utterance of words like “,” or “,” cannot constitute a . A has two aspects. The first is or what has been learned has to be taken into your mind. The second is the aspect of that is what has been taken into your mind has to be established firmly therein. By taking the divine into your mind and firmly establishing it therein, if you can carry on your life and do the work that is ordained for you, then your life will be full of happiness.

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Such meaning of the word which has the authority of the Veda has been distorted by the historians and because of this we have also started getting a distorted picture of the nature and creation that is around us. In this situation, we see that the inner meanings of these words which have the authority of the and the interpreted meaning given by the various historians are very different because the historians brought their own ideas into the interpretation. We should note that there are essential differences between the actual meaning and the interpreted meaning. Common people have begun to lay complete confidence in what has been given by these historians and having accepted the meaning that is given by the historians, they are promoting wrong notions and wrong meaning.

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Whether it is for our own countrymen or for people from outside our country, there is no escape from our accepting that the meaning contained in the is the authoritative meaning. Veda is something which does not have its origin in human beings. It has come from sources other than human beings. All history is something that is created by experienced people. In such things which have been created by men, there are possibilities for changes, additions and alterations; but there is no such possibility in the case of the which have not had their origin in human beings.

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Because Veda has been obtained merely by listening to sound, it has been referred to as . This is something which is directly connected with the Lord taking in and giving out His breath. Such divine breath, which constitutes the , is our life and if there is no breath and life, there will be no belief and faith; and if there is no faith, man will be lifeless. Therefore, any citizen who has faith in the can really be described as one who has life in him. When the aspect of is not present in your heart, then you have no human quality in you. Because we have forgotten the Vedic culture which has had neither a beginning nor will have an end, and placed our faith in material comfort, and we have tried to give more importance to what we see around us in the form of material comforts, we have given up what is essential for our own culture and brought our life into great difficulty.

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To have faith in the and to accept the injunctions of the Veda is being regarded by the modern youth as outmoded and uncivilised. Young people today are not making an enquiry as to what is contained in the or in the . They go further and say that those people who have faith in the and the are only having blind faith. This is the kind of attitude which the young people are developing. If one argues, after acquainting oneself with the contents of what he is arguing about, one can argue for any length of time, but if a person is arguing without knowing the contents, it is not possible to argue with him.

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But, modern man has recognised the individual aspect and he is proclaiming that what he sees as an individual to be the truth is also the truth for the rest of the world. He is not making any attempt to recognise the infinite divinity. Our have been teaching us several aspects of or truth, of or wisdom, and of or infinity. We should ask ourselves whether the people who describe truth as truth and knowledge as knowledge are foolish, or the people who describe truth as untruth and knowledge as ignorance are foolish. These questions can be answered and decisions reached by yourselves. People who have faith in the are like people who say that 2+2=4, while those who do not have faith in the are like the people who say that 2+2=5.

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We shall ask ourselves a question regarding the extent and the basis of the world. In the world there are many people. Some of them are believers, some of them are non-believers, and some of them are believing non-believers. There are many people in other countries who have no faith in God and who believe in individual strength. They are proclaiming and honouring individual strength. Not only this, there are people who belong to other countries and many other religions. There are multitudes of people, religions, and faiths. Christians may worship Jesus, Muslims may worship , and may worship , , and so on. Different people have different faiths and they adhere to different faiths. But all these people, although they may have different faiths, and profess different Gods, and worship different Gods, yet none of them can be distant from truth. Truth is something that is common to all of them. Whether the people are Russians or Chinese or Pakistanis, 2+2 is always four and this truth is recognised by all of them.

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People of all countries and all religions must understand that are something which establish the authority of truth. I mentioned yesterday that during this one month I will explain the meaning of and the meaning of the word . Some of you may feel that these words and are words relevant only to the citizens of this country. This is not correct. These words are significant for people of all countries. Those who belong to might use the word and others may use a different name, but no one will be against the aspect of .

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Suppose we take water in a tumbler. Foreigners may describe this as water while people belonging to the north will call this , and those people who speak Telugu will describe it as , and so on. Although different names are used, the contents are the same. The place may be different, the names may be different, but the material for which you have given the name cannot change. In the same manner, the significant divine aspect is the same although different people describe it by different names in different places. What is mainly responsible for growth in different places is being referred to by different names. For , this is the aspect of . Some call it the “Force of nature.” They are using the words “Force of nature” to describe the aspect of , but they do not understand what is signified by the word “nature.” Every matter in any form must have some basis for its existence. We must examine and find this basis for its existence. Even if you are not able to see the one that is responsible for its birth, there should be present someone who has given birth to it. When you wear a wristwatch, for example, and ask where it was manufactured, you will state that it was made by some Swiss company. We have neither seen the Swiss Company nor the persons who made the watch, but we are using the watch. Has this watch come spontaneously or has someone taken the time to manufacture this in a workshop? The person who has made this watch must know how to divide the time and how time is to be measured. If he does not know about this, he cannot prepare a watch. Therefore, some individual who knows the process of assembling a watch has to exist somewhere. We readily accept that there must be some individual who has assembled such a watch.

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Not to accept the existence of such a creator is to be very foolish and hard-headed. The divine strength or the divine aspect who is the creator of all these things is . Our people have been able to go up to a certain point, using their intelligence. Having gone up to a certain point in that manner, they have learnt that there is a limitation and that they cannot go beyond that point. In that context, it is better to accept that there is something which they do not know; instead, to say that nothing exists beyond what they comprehended is very foolish. We must make an attempt to understand and search for the truth and put it into practice.

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In the adhyatmic path, as well as in our traditions, it has been usual to declare that this is not the truth, this is not the truth, and so on. Ultimately they reach a stage where, by their inner vision, they are able to say that this is the truth and signify the aspect of the and realise what ultimate truth is.

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The scientists of today are devoted to a machine philosophy. They do not recognise the capacity of . Their knowledge is something which is accumulated from studies of the external. It is not something which is generated from within as an essence. Those who are devoted to machines and those who stuff information from outside into one’s self are scientists and those who develop the inner strength and who are devoted to the strength of are saints.

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This difference between a scientist and a saint is very deep and is one of essence. It is very difficult to understand this basic difference. Trying to understand this difficult relationship and spending our time in such a pursuit is something which you should not do. That which is the basis for everything and that which constitutes the power and the strength which is at the base of all this creation has been recognised by our culture and has been named . You may try for years and years to understand the aspect of and yet it will not be completed. The moon that we cannot reach can be only pointed at with a finger and shown from a distance. In the same manner, we cannot understand the aspect of the infinite and unreachable , and we should only recognise its divinity in terms of something we can adopt. The aspect of is something which is beyond time and easy reach and if we want to understand it, we ourselves must adopt methods which are above and beyond time. It is in this context that our ancients have said “” meaning that one who knows the aspect of will himself become .

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once said that if anyone wants to understand his sagacity and his ability, he must first himself become an able and sagacious person. The result of your effort would depend on the extent of your effort and your sacrifice. The final result will only correspond to the effort that you put in.

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This power or strength which we attempt to describe by the word is not something which is external to and outside you. It is present in you and is in your own self. If you acquire some good or bad, and if you have the misapprehension that outside is causing good or bad to you, or that He is giving some punishment to you, this is not the right attitude. Do not cultivate the habit of building castles in the air and getting tired by thinking that you will do this and that, you will achieve this and that. The fruits that you get will correspond to whatever seeds you plant. If the seed is one thing and if you have the ambition to get a different fruit, how is it possible? You may be very clever, but all the cleverness is of no avail if you are not giving up your mean qualities. Whatever good or bad you may have done, the aspect of is not going to break the good and bad into separate parts.

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is going to give you an unbroken garland of all the good and all the bad that you have accumulated. This is the invisible garland which everyone wears round his neck, and it surely consists of all the good and all the bad that you have done. When you are born from your mother’s womb, you do not physically see this necklace. You do not have a necklace of pearls round your neck; nor do you have a golden necklace when you are born. You neither have a necklace of diamond nor one of emerald round your neck. But, while all these things are absent, whatever good or bad deeds you may have done in your past are being brought along with you when you are born.

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By doing a good act, you cannot get an evil result and by doing a bad act, you cannot accumulate good. Whatever kind of work you do, the result will correspond to that kind of work. Therefore, it follows that today you should make up your mind to do only good things and thus you will reap, in your future lives, the benefit of only good things. You should do good things today and thus aspire to get good for yourself. is present in your own heart and is functioning as a witnessing consciousness all through. To imagine and to deceive ourselves into thinking that there is no one seeing us do a bad thing is not correct. Whether anyone sees it or not, the aspect of which has been described as one which has thousands of heads and thousands of eyes is always watching you and the good and bad that you do.

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This aspect of is always with you and is constantly present in you. Without recognising and understanding this basic truth that is always with you, you spend a great deal of time and energy thinking that God is somewhere and that you should find Him elsewhere and outside of your heart. In the , this is the reason why God has been described as being present wherever you go. When you walk, God is walking along the same footsteps; and in fact, we hear His footsteps often. There are devotees who pray to God and say, “Oh! God, are you not seeing my difficulties and are you not seeing the situation in which I am?” For such people, only the eyes of God become apparent. In the case of devotees who say, “Oh! God, are you not able to hear my prayers and why is it you are not listening to my difficulties?” For such people, it is only the ears of God that become apparent. For one who asks the Lord whether He does not see troubles, only the eyes of Lord become manifest, while for one who asks the Lord whether He does not hear his troubles, just the ears of the Lord become manifest; and to one who wants the Lord to be always present with him following Him in his work, only the feet of the Lord will become manifest.

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One devotee once prayed to , “I have so many difficulties which I want to convey to you, but I am so distant from you and I can convey my difficulties to you only if I get near you.” Then she requested the flute with which uses to play music, because it goes so close to the lips of , to convey her trouble to because the flute has a chance of going very close to . Asking for such recommendations is a practice prevalent from that day to this day. Asking such recommendations to the Lord through instruments close to the God was a practice prevalent then and continues even today.

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The true meaning of surrender is the recognition of the fact that in everyone and everywhere God is present. The recognition of the presence of God in all is the true meaning of the word surrender. We should perform all the tasks enjoined upon us as our duty and it is not right to neglect our duty, sit idly and say that you have surrendered everything to the Lord. If you have the feeling that all the work that you do is to please God, then that is the right aspect of surrender or . It cannot be the meaning of surrender to give the consequences of all the bad that you do to God and take the consequences of all the good that you do to yourself.

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The unity that is present in the diversity is the aspect of . That such an aspect of is present everywhere and always is the truth that we should recognise. To develop faith in this statement from the bottom of your heart is also an aspect of surrender. Therefore, if you want to understand the meaning and significance of the word , you have to put in a considerable amount of effort and care and you have to understand and listen with much care and attention to what is being said.

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To be able to develop concentration, you should also practise ; but the learning and the type of education that you are getting today is giving you habits which are contrary to these requirements. Many experienced educationists are coming and telling you on various aspects every day. You should listen with great care, to what they say. You must never miss the ultimate objective. The methods to which you are accustomed in your daily college classes must change as a result of your stay here in the Summer classes. Sometimes, even in small classes, when the teacher is teaching some special aspects, some students, sitting in the back benches, keep reading useless novels which have no relevance to what is being taught. When the teacher finds out about this, the students simply grin. Do not do such things in our Summer classes. We have started to learn sacred things in this summer school. Therefore, you should try to control your conduct. There is no reason for excessive talking. This is no place for such talking. If you need something or want to get something, you need not go out. There are people who are assigned with the specific task of helping you in this regard. Do not go out of the campus and lose control over your conduct.

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