Appendix 5 - Critical Evaluation of Concept of Bhakti and Advaita

[Full title: Critical Evaluation of Concept of Bhakti and Advaita enunciated in Śiva Gītā]

Modes of Meditation.

Śiva Gītā teaches both meditation on the formless absolute (Nirguṇa Brahman) and worship of the Supreme Being with form (Saguṇa Brahman) for the benefit of different levels of seekers.^[1]

1.0 Purāṇic approach

‘The Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (2.2.1) says that Brahman has two aspects, Formful (Mūrta) and Formless (Amūrta). The Purāṇas accept both these aspects, but concentrate particularly on the Formful Aspect, which is more significant for the devotional mind. What is called Formless will be indistinguishable from a Nihil (Śūnya). In the same way if the Formful alone is accepted with out the Formless or the Infinite and Absolute Being Abhijñāna Śākuntala its compliment, the former will be only a limited entity indistinguishable from an exalted man. So the Purāṇas in general accept the Supreme Being Abhijñāna Śākuntala both Mūrta and Amūrta, with a greater stress on the Mūrta aspect and call him Bhagavān. The Bhagavān is Parama-Puruṣa, the Supreme Person, but not an individual.

He has an archetypal form, but it is a potential multi-form that can take any form in which He is invoked.

yenākāreṇa ye martyā māmevaikamupāsate |
tenākāreṇa tebhyo'haṃ prasanno vāñchitaṃ dade || Śiva-gītā XII-5 [6?].

An anthropomorphic veneer is put on Him, Abhijñāna Śākuntala man could think of him only in terms of the highest that he could conceive of, and that is himself in an idealized state of existence. So the Purāṇas try to depict, and impress on man, the Divine majesty of the Bhagavān through symbolic and at the same time, highly realistic descriptions of this Archetypal Form with divine attributes with high poetic touches. In these highly artistic descriptions, care is taken at every step to impress on man the suprahuman and transcendent nature of the object dealt with, and that accounts for many of their unearthly and unusual features. When the details of these descriptions are taken in isolation and scrutinized, they look bizarre; but the cumulative or synergestic effect they produce, when taken Abhijñāna Śākuntala a whole, with a receptivity born of Śraddhā, is to make a tremendous impact of Divine consciousness on the mind. No literature in the world has succeeded in making God a reality to man by such vivid and realistic descriptions Abhijñāna Śākuntala the Purāṇas have done.’^[2]

2.0 Bhakti explained.

Madhusūdana Sarasvatī provides insight into how devotion enables the mind to dwell on the Lord without difficulty by giving the example of sealing wax. When vermillion colour is added to molten wax, it retains the colour even after it solidifies. Similarly, the mind that melts in loving devotion to God is transformed forever. The objective of the spiritual practice being purification of the mind, devotion achieves it without much effort on the part of the devotee.^[3]

3.0 Bhakti and Śiva Gītā.

Śiva Gītā like Bhagavad Gītā devotes an entire chapter on Bhakti Yoga and in more length, which commences with a question from Śrī Rāma to Lord Śiva seeking the nature of devotion and how it is generated and how does one attain supreme release which is the nature of merest Brahman-hood.

Lord replies to Rāma:

yo vedādhyayanaṃ yajñaṃ dānāni vividhāni ca |
madarpaṇadhiyā kuryātsa me bhaktaḥ sa me priyaḥ ||

One who studies the scriptures, performs sacrifices, gives various gifts with the thought that he does them all Abhijñāna Śākuntala offerings to God, is alone very dear to God.^[4]

4.0 Disciplines conducive to Devotion.

The following are the spiritual disciplines that are conduce to the rise of knowledge which in turn bring about release:

uddhūlayati gātrāṇi tena cārcati māmapi |
tasmātparatarā bhaktirmama rāma na vidyate ||
sarvadā śirasā kaṇṭhe rudrākṣāndhārayettu yaḥ |
pañcākṣarījaparataḥ sa me bhaktaḥ sa me priyaḥ ||

Smearing the upper part of the body with sacred ash and worshipping God also, devotion greater than this, Oh Rāma! does not exist.^[5]

One, who constantly wears Rudrākṣa on the head and the neck, chants the five lettered holy syllable (Namaḥ Śivāyaḥ) meaning prostration unto Lord Śiva, he is the dearest devotee of the God.^[6]

5.0 Role of Vibhūti in the worship of Śiva.

The use of sacred ash or Vibhūti is elaborately described in Bhasma Jābālopaniṣad which is well covered in our treatise on Bhasma in chapter VII, so too the Rudrākṣa effect, Abhijñāna Śākuntala delineated in Rudrākṣa Jābālopaniṣad. The devotee is exhorted in the use of Praṇava which identifies one with the Almighty and Oṃkāra’s greatness also has been elaborately discussed in chapter VI.

Lord Śiva tells Rāma that

puṣpaṃ phalaṃ samūlaṃ vā patra salilameva vā |
yo dadyātpraṇave mahyaṃ tatkoṭiguṇitaṃ bhavet || Śiva Gītā XV.28

One, who offers me flowers, fruits with roots, leaf or water alone, chanting the syllable OM, gets million times the normal benefit, which is an echo verse in Bhagavad Gītā .^[7]

6.0 Preferred time of worship

In the practice of devotion, God is very much pleased by his worship on Pradoṣa time, bathing him using fruit juices, sandal paste, milk and honey and chanting Atharva Veda hymns standing in water with uplifted hands.^[8] All these worship provides one with Citta śuddhi which helps the devotee to reach the divine abode through the paths of moon or sun and then through his grace, get liberated.

7.0 Lineage of Bhakti

‘The concern with the sentiment of devotion to the Supreme Being is Abhijñāna Śākuntala old Abhijñāna Śākuntala the Vedas themselves in the Indian tradition. The Ṛg Veda Saṃhitā is full of it, although it is true that at a later time even the purely devotional hymns were adapted for ritualistic use and propiatory rites. In the Upaniṣads the predominant direction of the quest is to find out the unity of existence, to know that ‘by knowing which everything is known’ and man is helped to transcend all fear. But the path of devotion is very clearly observable even in the oldest Upaniṣads like the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad and Chāndogya Upaniṣad . Tire doctrine of grace finds expression in Kaṭhopaniṣad and the Kauśitāki Upaniṣads, while Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad teaches a full-fledged devotional attitude and discipline, along with the conception of a Deity who can be communed with and prayed to and who responds to such prayers of the votary. The Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad go to the extent of telling: “It is only in an aspirant having supreme devotion to God and also to the Guru that the truths of the Upaniṣads will fructify Abhijñāna Śākuntala realization”. What the Purāṇas in general do is to supplement this Vedic development with highly personalistic conceptions of the Deity suited for purely devotional purposes without losing link with the Upaniṣads, and to elaborate the devotional Sādhanās into highly specialized system.’^[9]

8.0 The Metaphysics of Bhakti and Advaita

“The Non-dual existence is described Abhijñāna Śākuntala the ultimate nature of things. There is a general impression that non-dualist metaphysics (Advaita) gives no scope for devotion Abhijñāna Śākuntala the ultimate end of spiritual living. This is due to the exclusive identification of Advaita with the school of Kevalādvaita, which maintains that every manifestation of the Non-dual Being, including Īśvara, is a superimposition and therefore only an appearance. But this is too exclusive an idea. All Vedānta or Upaniṣadic philosophy is Advaita in the sense of accepting the unity of existence Abhijñāna Śākuntala the ultimate nature of Reality. The differences of the schools of Vedānta come in the interpretation of the relation between this Unity or Brahman and multiplicity. In Kevalādvaita, Brahman, the Impersonal-Absolute, alone is real and everything else, including Īśvara, is appearance only. In the Viśiṣṭādvaita of Ramānuja, Brahman is the all inclusive Whole to whom the universe and the Jīvas are organically related, Abhijñāna Śākuntala the body and limbs are in an organism. In Mādhvā’s Brahmādvaita, Brahman is the one Independent Being and the multiplicity, though separate from Him, has only an existence dependent on Him like that of reflection on its prototype”.^[10] Śiva Gītā embraces all the above and exhorts one to follow the most suited to one’s natural inclination or vāsanā.

9.0 Sadyomukti and Kramamukti

Lord also explained that one who meditated on the Absolute reached Him without fail drawing attention to the fact that this required restraint of the senses, equanimity of mind and the intent of the welfare of all living beings always. This path is certainly tougher and it is obvious that only a few would qualify for this. The difference between the two paths in a single word is strain and strain alone. For those who are attached to the body, it is difficult for their mind to become centred on the Absolute. Even with restraint, the mind will easily succumb to Ego and attachment due to the imprint of latent tendencies it has acquired from earlier births. The difference of realization with these two paths is that in Nirguṇa Upāsanā, liberation is here and now ie. Sadyomukti, while in Saguṇopāsanā it is Kramamukti.

10.0 Mokṣa—paths

Lord Śiva devotes an entire chapter for Mokṣanirūpaṇam in Śiva Gītā and gives five kind of releases Abhijñāna Śākuntala^[11]—

Sālokyamapi sārūpyaṃ sāṣṭaryaṃ sāyujyameva ca |
kaivalyaṃ ceti tāṃ viddhi muktiṃ rāghava pañcadhā ||

10.1 Five kinds of releases are i, Sālokya; ii, Sārupya; iii, Sārṣṭya; iv, Sāyujya and verse , Kaivalya. The first four are the result of worship and Saguṇa Upāsanā or meditation on Lord Śiva with attributes. The last one, however, is absolute release resulting from true knowledge of reality Abhijñāna Śākuntala one with one’s own self. This is the release in strict sense of the term; others are more or less figurative, not being complete release. In Sāyujya the individuality merges in the Bhagavān, who is also the Absolute of philosophy, and the Jīva ceases to be an individual by becoming one with the Absolute, Abhijñāna Śākuntala a river ceases to be a river and becomes one with the sea when it has joined the sea. Śaṅkara Bhagavatpāda explains this in Śivānanda Laharī^[12].

It is worth taking note of Śaṅkarācārya’s definition of Bhakti.^[13]

mokṣakāraṇasāmagryāṃ bhaktireva garīyasī |
svasvarūpānumandhānaṃ bhaktirityabhidhīyate ||

Here he elevates Bhakti, culminating in advaitic realization.

10.2 In Śiva Gītā Lord Śiva gives an epitomatic definition of Brahman Abhijñāna Śākuntala

satyaṃ jñānamanantaṃ sadānandaṃ brahma kevalam |
marvadharmavihīnaṃ ca manovācāmagocaram || XIII.9 Śiva Gītā

Brahman is mere Existence, Consciousness, Infinitude and Bliss; it is devoid of any attributes and inaccessible to mind and speech.

10.3 The sum and substance of Advaita is stated to be the initial superimposition of the world on Brahman and subsequent sublation, thereby showing the non-duality Abhijñāna Śākuntala truth^[14]. (“adhyāropa-apavādābhyām niṣprapañcam-prapañcyate”)

11.0. Advaitic metaphysics.

“The cause of all human misery is traced to Ajñāna or ignorance. And it is underlined that no word or deed can exorcise Ajñāna which vanishes in toto only when supreme knowledge dawns. The desiderata for the seeker of knowledge are then specified and the technique of investigation is described. The distinction between self and non-self, the nature of superimposition, the nexus between Jīvātman and Paramātman, the three states of consciousness, the five sheeths, and the tree bodies are all explained clearly. How the Mahāvākyas like Tattvam asi are to be interpreted and how Brahman is to be realized Abhijñāna Śākuntala Sat-cit-ānanda is elucidated. The logic is razor sharp and no loose ends are left anywhere. Śiva Gītā is indeed a vade mecum of Advaitic metaphysics.The analysis is thorough, neat and precise.”^[15]

12.0 Regressive absorption and Māyā

In the spiritual contemplation, the elements are regressively absorbed back into their antecedent cause. Thus earth is absorbed into water, water into fire, fire into air, air into ether and ether into Māyā and Māyā into Brahman^[16]. ‘Māya [Māyā?] is the name for that which can not be determined either Abhijñāna Śākuntala real or unreal. Māya [Māyā?] is not real like Brahman because it is subject to mutation, contradiction and in constant flux. But on this account one cannot go to the other extreme and conclude that māya [Māyā?] is unreal because mere unreality amounts to total non-being which can never appear even in an illusion. A barren woman’s child—vandhyā putraḥ—for example, is a total non-being and hence logical impossibility. It can never even be conceived, much less experienced Abhijñāna Śākuntala a fact. Nor can one say that māyā is a blend of the real and the unreal Abhijñāna Śākuntala that will flatly contradict the basic logic of the excluded middle. One cannot both be and yet not be. So Advaita places māyā, which transforms itself into the world, Abhijñāna Śākuntala just an indeterminable illusion.’^[17]

13.0 Knowledge alone leads to Release.

“Knowledge alone is the true means to release because only knowledge can dispel ignorance which is cause of bondage. Knowledge is the result of enquiry which consists in studying the scriptures with the help of the preceptor, particularly the texts of identity (Mahāvākyas) like Tattvam asi (that-thou-art). The inner essence of ‘that’ and ‘thou’ is the same Brahman. The essential identity is arrived at by abandoning the conflicting connotations of‘that’ and ‘thou’.”^[18].

14.0 Three theories of Advaita.

Śiva Gītā embraces all three main theories of Advaita regarding soul and nature:^[19]

14.1 The Pratibimba vāda advocated by Prakāśātman and supported by thinkers like Vidyāraṇya. Upaniṣads like Bṛhadāraṇyaka and Kaṭha also endorses this. The same water presents itself Abhijñāna Śākuntala ocean, river, well, lake, jar water etc. The same one sun is reflected in all these receptacles of water, is seen Abhijñāna Śākuntala many. In the same way, the same Ātman is reflected Abhijñāna Śākuntala many in bodies having inner organ or mind.

14.2 The Avaccheda vāda maintained by Vācaspati Miśra holds that Brahman -Intelligence, limited or conditioned (not reflected) by the intellect is the Soul. The same earth is found in its effect-condition taking the shape of mountains, trees, towers, walls, houses, mud vessels, jars etc. Similarly Mūla-prakṛti becomes many in its effect condition. Space is only one single whole. But it enters into several adjuncts and appears Abhijñāna Śākuntala space in the pot (Ghatākāśa), space in the house (Maṭhakāśa), etc., it appears Abhijñāna Śākuntala many. In the same way, the one and only Ātman appears to be manifest in several bodily adjuncts.

14.3Ābhāsa vāda is the third theory held by thinkers like Vidyāraṇya (who also subscribed to the reflection theory). This view maintains, Abhijñāna Śākuntala against, the reflection theory, that the reflection is wholly illusory and not real. Only through the sublation of this illusion through right knowledge, unity is gained.

14.4Śaṅkarācārya most eloquently, at the same time very succinctly summarises the concept of Advaita in the following words:

ślokārdhena pravakṣyāmi yaduktaṃ granthakoṭibhiḥ |
brahmasatya jaganmithyā jīvobrahmaiva nāparaḥ ||

“I will summarise in half a verse what is laboriously instructed in millions of books. Brahman is the only reality and the world is illusory. And Jīva is nothing but Brahman and Brahman alone”

15.0 Qualifications for Release

All the theories advocate the basic qualification Abhijñāna Śākuntala Sādhanā Catuṣṭayam and by further śravaṇa, manana and nididhyāsana, one attains Release. Śiva Gītā definitely gives preponderance to Advaita through knowledge.^[20]

nakarmaṇāmanuṣṭhānairna dānaistapasāpi vā |
kaivalyaṃ labhate martyaḥ kiṃtu jñānena kevalam ||

“The mortal being does not get liberation either by the meticulous performance of religious duties, nor by gifts or by penance but only through right knowledge”.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Vide Śiva Gītā chap.XIII verse 6-8

[2]:

Vide Bhakti-Ratnavali—p. 19-21.

[3]:

Gītā bhāṣyam—Madhusudhana Sarasvatī—introduction

[4]:

Vide Śiva Gītā chapter XV-verse -2

[5]:

Ibid chapter XV verse -4

[6]:

Ibid-chapter verse -5

[7]:

Cf Bhagavad Gītā chap IX verse -26

[8]:

Vide Śiva Gītā chapter XV—verse -30, 35 and 36

[9]:

Vide Bhakti Ratnāvali p. 47-48.

[10]:

Ibid P. 44-45

[11]:

Vide Śiva Gītā chap XIII. verse -3

[12]:

Vide Śivānanda Laharī verse -28

[13]:

Vide Viveka Cūḍāmaṇi . verse -31

[14]:

Vide Śiva Gītā English Commentary—Centenarian Trust -p-xx.

[15]:

Vide Laghuvāsudeva Mananam—Preface-p-iv

[16]:

Vide Śiva Gītā English Commentary—Centenarian Trust-p-xxi

[17]:

Ibid-p-xxvii

[18]:

Ibid-p-xxii

[19]:

Ibid-P-xxiii-xxiv

[20]:

Vide Śiva Gītā -chapter I-verse -2