Metaphysics and Svāminārāyaṇa’s perspective

Metaphysics means beyond physics. Our Vedic seers visualized cosmic truths through intuition, and they put it in writing for the benefit of posterior generations. This is said by Yāska, who composed a dictionary of Vedic words. The sentences sākṣātkṛta-dharmāṇaḥ ṛṣayo babhūvuḥ^[1] etc. reveal this fact. Indian metaphysics is of interest to the ācāryas because its framework of reality includes observers in a fundamental manner. Indian philosophy consists of six orthodox systems and six heterodox systems. Every system has its own metaphysics.^[2]

Metaphysics is related to the study of eternal ontological entities in a particular belief system.^[3] A symposium of every Vedic thought starts with the inquiry of eternal entities. The bhakti traditions in India believe for individual selves to be distinct from Parabrahman.^[4] The names of each of these schools also exhibit this emphasis by reflecting the darśana’ s characteristics ontological enumeration or the essential metaphysical nature, characteristics, role, and relationship between its accepted entities. In this chapter, we will analyze every metaphysical entity of the Svāminārāyaṇa Vedanta.

The Vacanāmṛta

First, we will identify these basic entities from Svāminārāyaṇa’s perspective.

Svāminārāyaṇa explicitly lists the five eternal distinct ontological entities in many teachings of the Vacanāmṛta:

“Puruṣottama Bhagavān, Akṣarabrahman, māyā, īśvara, and jīva -these five entities are eternal.” (Vacanāmṛta Gadhadā I/7)

“From all the Vedas, Purāṇas, Itihāsa and Smṛti scriptures, I have gleaned the principle that jīva, māyā, īśvara, Brahman and Parameśvara are all eternal.” (Vacanāmṛta Gadhadā III/10)

Thus, Svāminārāyaṇa accepts this unique and fundamental belief. He declared those five entities -1. Jīva 2. Īśvara 3. Māyā 4. Akṣarabrahman (also Akṣara or Brahman) 5. Parabrahman (or Puruṣottama). He states this principle in other Vacanāmṛtas as well: (Gadh. 1/1, Sār/5, Sār/6)

The svāminārāyaṇa Bhāṣya

Under the Bhāṣya of Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad ‘hyakṣarātparataḥ paraḥ’^[5], Bhadreśadāsa writes:

“jīveśvaramāyābrahmarūpamuktādisarvebhyaḥ parabhūtād... akṣarāt.... parabhūtaḥ...paramātmā |” (Mundaka-upaniṣad 2/1/2, p. 259)^[6]

In the 15th canto of Śrīmad Bhagavad Gītā, when Śrī Kṛṣṇa initiates a discussion on the entities, the Bhāṣyakāra indisputably extrapolates the knowledge of five entities. dvāvimau puruṣau loke kṣaraścākṣara eva ca | kṣaraḥ sarvāṇi bhūtāni kūṭastho'kṣara ucyate || (Bhagavad-Gītā 15/16)^[7] There are two categories of beings, the kṣara (fallible) and the Akṣara (infallible).

All the jīvas and īśvaras are constituted in the kṣara. Sādhu Bhadreśadāsa, the Bhāṣyakāra, answers to the question that how can animate entities like the jīva and īśvara be constituted in the kṣara:

“idānīṃ vā pūrvaṃ vā yadā kadāpi kṣaraṇasvabhāvā'citsaṃsargaprāptatvāt kṣara iti śabdābhilapyāni |” (Bhagavad-Gītā 15/16, p.314)^[8]

Interestingly, Sādhu Bhadreśadāsa’s answer is in consonance with the doctrine of Svāminārāyaṇa, as Svāminārāyaṇa himself says in the Vacanāmṛta that infinite jīvas and īśvaras are pervaded by māyā and have infinite births. Only by associating themselves with Brahman and Parabrahman, they attain liberation.^[9] Now, there arises a question that why Akṣara is called Kūṭastha. All preceding ācāryas have defined kūṭastha as either Parabrahman or māyā or śakti. However, the Svāminārāyaṇa Bhāṣyakāra defines kūṭastha Akṣara as ‘Brahman’. This is because his interpretation is in sheer consonance with what Svāminārāyaṇa talks about in the Vacanāmṛta. Svāminārāyaṇa clearly delineates that Brahman and Parabrahman transcend māyā. Moreover, in addition to that, he also avers that Brahman and Parabrahman are two distinct entities and not one unlike what many of his predecessors have advocated.^[10] Also, it can be argued that in Bhagavad Gītā itself, the word kūṭastha does not mean Parabrahman.

This is because, in the very next shloka, Śrī Kṛṣṇa demonstrates that Puruṣottama Parabrahman is distinct from Akṣara. He deciphers:

uttamaḥ puruṣastvanyaḥ paramātmetyudāhṛtaḥ |
yo lokatrayamāviśya bibhartyavyaya īśvaraḥ || (Bhagavad-Gītā 15/17)

“The supreme entity is entirely distinct and is identified as Paramātman. He pervades three abodes remains unchangeable God. Therefore, just as Parabrahman has been portrayed distinctly from the jīva, īśvara, māyā, and Brahman in the Vacanāmṛta, the Svāminārāyaṇa Bhāṣyakāra, too, writes:

“akṣarād api pūrvoktasarvavidhabaddhamuktajīveśvaramāyādibhyo'pi sadaiva'tyantotkṛṣṭāt sākṣādakṣara -brahmaṇo'pi uttamaḥ utkṛṣṭa |” (Bhagavad-Gītā 15/18, p. 316)^[11]

In the same manner, he asserts in the Brahmasūtra:

“tathāpi jīveśvaramāyātanmuktādisarvaparataḥ tasmāt kevalaṃ parātmana eva paratvāt tadānandapuraskāreṇa tadakṣarādisarvasamutkṛṣṭaparamātmasahajanandānandaṃ nirūpayituṃ sa udāhṛtaḥ |” (Brahmasūtra 1/1/14, p. 40)

“It is clear that even though Akṣara is blissful and transcends māyā, has more bliss compare to jīva, īśvara, and māyā. But Brahman is still not as blissful as Parabrahman. Parabrahman is supreme to all.”

Here he elaborates the ultimate bliss of Parabrahman then all lower three entities. Moreover, in the Brahmasūtra, Bhadreśadāsa clinched this principle of “Tattva pañcaka” throughout the commentary. At the very starting point (Brahmasūtra 1/1/1, p.2), in the middle (Brahmasūtra 1/4/137, p.2), and at the last page of the commentary (Brahmasūtra 4/4/4, p.432).

About this very “Tattva pañcaka”, Sādhu Bhadreśadāsa also corroborates in the third kārikā of the Svāminārāyaṇa Siddhānta Sudhā, the Vādagrantha:

jīvastatheśvaro māyā brahma paramabrahma ca |
nityaḥ satyaḥ sadaivete mitho bhinnāḥ svarūpataḥ || Svāminārāyaṇa Siddhāntasudhā Kārikā 3 ||^[12]

“All five of these entities- jīva, īśvara, māyā, Brahman and Parabrahman are indeed real (satya) and always distinct among themselves.”

To further emphasize, Svāminārāyaṇa mentions in the Vedarasa:

“Some claim that jīvas and māyā are imaginary (kalpita). But O Paramahaṃsas! The jīva is real, māyā is real, īśvara is real, Brahman is real, and Parabrahman real.” (Vedarasa/177)

Hence, this chapter discusses these eternal five ontological entities according to Svāminārāyaṇa and the Svāminārāyaṇa Bhāṣya’s perspective. Now we will analyze each entity in detail.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Yāska, Nirukta, 2/11

[2]:

Rādhākṛṣṇana S., Indian Philosophy, George Allen & Unwin Ltd. London, 1940, p.25

[3]:

Brahmadarśanadāsa Sādhu, Vacanāmṛta Rahashya, Svāminārāyaṇa Akṣarapīṭha, Ahmedabad, 2004, p.2

[4]:

Ānandasvarupadāsa Sādhu, Śrī Svāminārāyaṇa Darśana Eka Cintana, Svāminārāyaṇa Akṣarapīṭha, Ahmedabad, 2004, p.74

[5]:

Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad, 2/1/2, 112 Upaniṣad, 2007, S. Jośī, Bimalī, Trivedī, Parimala Publication, Delhi.

[6]:

Sādhu Bhadreśadāsa, Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad Svāminārāyaṇa Bhāṣya, Svāminārāyaṇa Akṣarapīṭha, Ahmedabad, 2009.

[7]:

Bhagvad-Gītā, Gītā Press, Gorakhapura, 2014.

[8]:

15/16, Gītā Svāminārāyaṇa Bhāṣya, 2009.

[9]:

Vach. Gh. III-10, Ibid.

[10]:

Vach. Gh. II-3, ibid.

[11]:

Gītā Svāminārāyaṇa Bhāṣya, 15.18

[12]:

Svāminārāyaṇa Siddhanta Sudhā Kārikā -3, Svāminārāyaṇa Akṣarapīṭha, Ahmedabad, 2017