By: Jayakrishna Nelamangala
Previously we learnt that misery is caused by attachment and lack of knowledge of paramātman is the cause for attachment. When things of the world are understood devoid of the knowledge of Paramātma, then they cause delusion and misery. On the other hand, for the knowledgeable who has gotten the knowledge of Vedic Brahman, this whole chain of misery is not there for him, just as its cause the delusion is also not there for him. Thus, the knowledgeable is always without misery. The upanishat asks, for such a knowledgeable, where is the question of misery? Where is the question of delusion?
A question may arise. How is it that by the mere knowledge of Parabrahman there is no mOha and shOka? What has one got to do with the other? To answer this question, the upanishat teaches the next mantra starting with the word “sa” and so on.
उपनिषत् upaniṣat
स पर्यगात् शुक्रम् अकायम् अव्रणम् अस्नाविरँ शुद्धम् अपापविद्धम् ।
कविर्मनीषी परिभू स्वयम्भू याथातथ्यतोऽर्थान् व्यदधात् शाश्वतीभ्यस्समाभ्यः ॥ ८ ॥
sa paryagāt śukram akāyam avraṇam asnāviram̐ śuddham apāpaviddham |
kavirmanīṣī paribhūḥ svayambhūḥ yāthātathyatō’rthān vyadadhāt śāśvatībhyassamābhyaḥ || 8 ||
स ‘sa’ means ‘that person’ and in the context it means ‘that knowledgeable person’ and पर्यगात् paryagāt – reached i.e., he became the one who attained. Attained what? Again, in the context the word ‘Brahman’ must be read along and understood as ‘that knowledge person having attained Vedic Brahman’.
The upanishat answers the question that was mentioned earlier, by describing the characteristics of Vedic Brahman.
shukram means one who is without śōka अकायं लिङ्गदेहरहितम् akāyaṁ means liṅgadēharahitam – one with out subtle body
अव्रणं avraṇaṁ – the word ‘avraṇa’ stands for ‘undivided’ or ‘without parts’ व्रणं vraṇaṁ – the word vraṇa has the meaning सञ्चूर्णन sañcūrṇana – ‘dividing into pieces’. Hence ‘avraṇaṁ’ stands for ‘undivided’. स्तोको व्रणः stōkō vraṇaḥ – vraṇaṁ is applied in the sense of divided into pieces, therefore stOkO means that which is in pieces.
Divisions are possible with reference to time, space and attributes. A thing such as a pot has a beginning and has an end in the time line. Before it was manufactured, the pot was not there. Such an absence is also known as “praak-abhaava”, similarly when the pot is destroyed, there is the absence of pot which is termed as “pradhvamsa-abhaava”. In terms of time, the pots existence is ‘divided’ from non-existence to existence, and from existence to non-existence.
Paramaatman is described as ‘avraṇaṁ’ because Parabrahman as taught by Veda is eternally present and Vedic God does not have such divisions in terms of time.
Similarly, attributes of a Pot are not permanent either. It goes through deformations, decoloration and what not. Some attributes are lost, new attributes are gained.
The pot is said to be divided in terms of attributes. Vedic Brahman is Complete “poornamadaha poornamidam”, Vedic Brahman is not divided in terms of attributes – ‘avraṇaṁ’.
स्नाव snāva means muscle. Existence of muscle implies existence of bones, flesh, etc, all the seven dhAtus that this gross body is made of. Vedic Brahman does not have a gross body like we do. Hence the upanishat teaches Him as अस्नाविरं asnāviraṁ – without the gross body
.
शुद्धं śuddham – Vedic Brahman is the cause of sanctity, i. e., all that we consider as Pavitra such as the Veda, the cow, the ganges-river etc., all of them get their sanctity because of Brahman. This is the “pavitraaNaam pavitram yo mangalaanaam ca mangalam” concept. For the same reason, Vedic Brahman there is question of sin in Vedic Brahman. The upanishat teaches Him as अपापविद्धम् apāpaviddham – It is ‘apApaviddham’ – not tainted by any sin. Brahman is the cause of Sanctity. The root causes of sin (which are gross and subtle bodies) are simply absent in Brahman. Absence of causes indicates absence of their effect. This is how, Vedic Brahman is known as Sinless. Having reached such a Vedic Brahaman, the knowledgeable who has reached such a Vedic Brahman attains a similar form of being sinless and thus there is the absence of misery and delution.
उपनिषत् upaniṣat
स पर्यगात् शुक्रम् अकायम् अव्रणम् अस्नाविरँ शुद्धम् अपापविद्धम् ।
sa paryagāt śukram akāyam avraṇam asnāviram̐ śuddham apāpaviddham |
स पर्यगात् sa paryagāt – That knowledgeable attained Brahman. But merely because of that, can we say that there is absence of misery and delusion? is answered as:
शुक्रम् śukram – Brahman is without shOka,
अकायम् akāyam – He is without subtle body,
अव्रणम् avraṇam – He is undivided with reference to time i.e He is Eternal, He is Undivided with reference to Attributes i.e., He is Complete
अस्नाविरँ asnāviram̐ – Parabrahman is without gross body
शुद्धम् śuddham – Parabrahman is paavana pavitra, is the cause for sacredness
अपापविद्धम् apāpaviddham – He is without Blemish, He is without gross and subtle physical bodies which are the root cause for sin and misery. For the one who attains saaroopya with such a Brahman, it is indeed true that he is also without misery and delusion.
One question may arise. If God is said to be without any gross body or subtle body, then, how can He be the Creator of this universe? If God has no limbs at all, then how can He create this universe? This question arises because, in this world, a potter who has no hands and has no legs simply can not create any pot.
In the next part, we will study the upanishat further and understand how the upanishat answers this question.
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