5.4.1. Eternal Form of Parabrahman

[Full title: Sākāra: Parabrahman as Having Form (1): Eternal Form]

Since his childhood, Svāminārāyaṇa had been very fond of this sākāra principle. Almost all his documented descriptions repeatedly and decidedly reveal the actual form of Parabrahman. He enforces that Parabrahman is sākāra (with form), that He has an eternally divine human form. Each of these four terms is important for Him: Parabrahman has a form, but while it is human in shape, that form is not constituted of any māyic material; it is divine and deprived of any of the impurities, imperfections, and limitations of māyā. This is a fundamental principle. It is true at any time and tense. When He is forever present in his transcendental abode or pervaded throughout the world, and even when he chooses to manifest on earth. Now we are highlighting numerous aspects of Parabrahman’s form and how potential charges against this belief have been addressed.

In the various Vedantic system, Parabrahman is accepted as sākāra, but only when he comes to the earth, otherwise he is not sākāra, but Svāminārāyaṇa does not accept this principle; instead, he explains in over twenty discourses that Parabrahman is ‘sākāra’ forever.

For example:

“Parabrahman, who is Puruṣottama, forever presides with a divine form in his Akṣaradhāma.” (Vacanāmṛta Gadhadā I/71, p.172)^[1]

“Therefore, Parabrahman indeed forever possesses a form... and is forever present in his Akṣaradhāma.” (Vacanāmṛta Gadhadā III/35, p.658)

Here, significantly, Svāminārāyaṇa states that Parabrahman is sākāra in Akṣaradhāma, as well, which is the divine abode of Parabrahman wherein he infinitely resides and entails the term sadā (forever and eternally).

Svāminārāyaṇa clarifies:

“Even at the time of Ātyaṃtika-pralaya (final dissolution, i.e., before the beginning of a new cycle of creation), Parabrahman and His (liberated) devotees remain in Akṣaradhāma with a definite and divine form enjoying divine bliss.” (Vacanāmṛta Pancālā 7, p.380).

The ancient scriptures of India also assert the definite form of Parabrahman. The Chāndogya-upaniṣad XII states:

“tasya yathā kapyāsaṃ puṇḍarīkamevamakṣiṇī tasyoditi nāma” (Chāndogya-upaniṣad XII 1/6/7)

“Whose eyes are like a blue lotus, his name is ut, for he has risen (udita) above all evil.”

The Bhāṣyakāra comments on this mantra:

“śobhātiśayayutapuṇḍarīkanayanaḥ paramātmetyarthaḥ | evamatra, antarāditye hiraṇmayo hiraṇyaśmaśrurhiraṇyakeśaḥ āpraṇakhāt sarva eva suvarṇaḥ tasya kapyāsaṃ puṇḍarīkamevamakṣiṇī ityadipadaiḥ paramātmanaḥ sadā sākṛtitvaṃ pratipāditam |“(Chāndogya-upaniṣad XII 1/6/7, p.39) 216

“Parabrahman’s eyes are like beautiful blue lotus’. That golden, luminous and handsome person, who is seen pervading the sun, with the golden (luminous) beard and golden (luminous) hair, he is glowing altogether to the very tips of his nails. In this way, Parabrahman’s definite form is asserted.”

The Brahmasūtras also elucidates that Parabrahman is not only sākāra after the creation but he is also sākāra before the creation of the cosmos. In the Īkṣaternādhikaraṇam of the Brahmasūtras, an assiduous topic was discussed. In that treatise, on the basis of the ‘sat kāraṇavāda’ (Chāndogya-upaniṣad XII) the question was raised that who is the final cause of the world? The opponent, mainly the Sāṃkhya School, argues that it is pradhāna or prakṛti who is the cause of the world. But the siddhānti responds that the Śruti ‘tadaikṣata’ confirms that the cause must have eyes etc. Thus prakṛti cannot be the cause because it is inert.

Then the Bhāṣyakāra concludes:

“jagatkāraṇasya divyanetrādikaraṇakalevarātmakaṃ sākṛtitvaṃ prasthapayati” (Brahmasūtra 1/1/5, p.31).

“Therefore, the Śruti here, in the form of subject matter, confirms that Parabrahman the cause of the universe has a definite form with divine eyes and other limbs.”

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Vacanāmṛta Vartāl 12, Vacanāmṛta Gadhadā III/32