Attaining immortality through revelation or through ritual ?

[Guest guest]

what is the difference between attaining immortality through

revelation (as in the the upanishads) and attaining immortality

through ritual (as in the vedas)?

 

Before we indulge further on the issue of immortality ... we need to

know the meaning of word "immortal". To become immortal is not

something which belongs to the physical manifested world. If I say I

had become immortal then it would be a misnomer because anyone could

kill me ... by using any means ... not necessarily weapons.

Immortality ... the concept itself is imbibed with something which is

of a perennial nature ... something which does not die. Ramakrishna

Paramhansa and Mahrishi Ramana have long left their mortal frames yet

they became immortal in their lives. Now what does this mean?

 

Ramakrishna Paramhansa while proceeding on the path of spirituality

gained enlightenment ... the moment he became self realised ... the

journey of the Atman (the soul within) came to an end. Ramakrishna

Paramhansa gained salvation (moksha) ... the Atman within the body of

Ramakrishna Paramhansa liberated forever ... it became immortal ...

not to manifest a body again and again!

 

The cyclic process of birth and death having ceased forever ... the

soul had rather become immortal. The soul of Ramakrishna Paramhansa

after he left the body cannot manifest further until pralaya (end of

the Cosmos) occurs. In one cosmic cycle spanning billions of years ...

one Atman (the soul within) can get liberated only once. It is only

after the collapse of the cosmic system occurs and a new cosmos is

born with a big bang can the same Atman (soul) manifest again!

 

While living in a body ... none can become immortal ... one is said to

have become immortal after having gained self realisation ...

enlightenment ... salvation ... moksha. In between there is no space

for immortality. Various kings of the yester era who believed in the

concept of immortality did so only because their ego prompted them to

become immortal ... live forever in the physical form ... this was

just not possible yet, many kings strived for the same. Something

which is perishable ... something which has been donned for a very

small phase of time ... can never become immortal. In the cosmic span

of 96.4 million years ... the life span of one Atman (the soul within)

.... what value is of 70 to 80 years of human life.

 

It is not our body which has taken the soul (the Atman) ... it is our

Atman (the soul within) which has taken the body. Atman (the soul

within) is of a nonperishable nature whereas the body of a human being

shall wither and die even before it has lived for hundred years. There

is nothing available on Mother Earth or in the whole of cosmos which

can make the body immortal. Immortality is directly related to our

Atman (the self within).

 

As one reaches the fag end of the cosmic journey ... we say so and so

has become immortal. We cannot give an Atman a name. It is only the

body which is distinguishable ... Atman (the soul within) is of the

form of energy ... it has been and always remain indestructible. The

teachings of immortal souls like Buddha, Mahavira, Jesus Christ,

prophet Mohammed, Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Mahrishi Ramana always

remain with us. Their teachings have become immortal.

 

Immortality is a concept ... it is not something which is to be

aspired for. No living being can ever become immortal ... immortality

can only be gained in the last birth ... the 8.4 millionth

manifestation ... just before our achieving the state of salvation

(moksha) ... liberation from the cycle of birth and death forever. The

definition of immortality in Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, Bible,

Koran, Jainism doctrine and the Buddhist Scriptures is all the same.

There can never ever be any variance ... it is only the Acharyas

(spiritual teachers) of today who interpret the Sacred Scriptures as

per their vested interests.

 

We also need to understand the correct meaning of the revelations and

the Vedas. All the Sacred Scriptures existing on Mother Earth are

approximately 1800 years old. The Lipi (the alphabets) evolved

sometimes during the second century. It was only after that the

Scriptures were reduced to writing. Before that all the Scriptures

existed from times immemorial through the word of mouth ... the

Vedas.

 

Veda means the spoken word ... something invoked and passed on from

one generation to the another through the word of mouth. At the time

of Vedas the science had not yet evolved fully ... even to fulfil the

basic needs one had to totally rely upon the knowledge of the Vedas.

If a natural calamity occurred ... Yagnas (Vedic mantras chanted for

very long periods of time) were considered the only medium to appease

the spiritual masters ... the devas and the gods.

 

Performing sacrifices was a daily affair ... bereft of the facilities

available today ... there was no other way other than performing

rituals and pleasing the gods. As the humanity progressed ...

sacrifices became less and less and in some religions it has finally

stopped. Gaining immortality through the process of the Vedas is not

applicable today as Vedas were only meant to guide the society in the

yester years.

 

As time progressed came Lord Krishna (considered an Avatar) ... Lord

Krishna had the power to assimilate the complete wisdom contained in

all the four Vedas ... the Rg Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and the

Atharva Veda. And outpoured Bhagavad Gita ... which contained the

essence of all the four Vedas. Knowing Bhagavad Gita there is nothing

else to know in all the four Vedas.

 

Bhagavad Gita is the foremost Sacred document existing on Mother

Earth. Lord Krishna came about 3500 years ago ... thereafter about

thousand years later came Mahavira ... after about 77 years followed

Buddha ... thereafter about 223 years later came Jesus Christ and

about two centuries later prophet Mohammed. Bhagavad Gita contains in

essence all that is contained in Buddhist Scriptures, Jainism

doctrine, Bible and the Koran.

 

As the right process for worshiping of Gods was not available to the

community during the time of the Vedas ... it was considered best to

perform Yagnas coupled with sacrifices to obtain the desired results.

In the face of hardships there was no alternative before the mankind

during the time of the Vedas ... people ... the common masses just

followed what was told to them by the spiritual masters of the era. It

was almost a blind faith ... people considered Vedas to be the word of

God.

 

It is true that Vedas are truly the words of God as they exist from

times immemorial (the revelations) but whatever was applicable at the

time of the Vedas cannot be considered applicable today in exactly the

same format. Lord Krishna fought the battle of Kurukshetra riding a

chariot ... do we expect to fight our enemy of today riding a chariot

.... we need to Interpolate the Vedas in the right context ... only

then we can have the correct interpretation ... the inner meaning of

the Sacred texts.

 

During the time of the Vedas ... for gaining self realisation ... it

was considered necessary for one to venture into the forlorn jungles

(a place of seclusion) wherein one could meditate in silence and

achieve the desired goal of life ... further, it was considered

necessary to have a Guru who shall guide us on the right path. As

these spiritual masters resided in the dense forests living in a

Hermitage ... it was just not possible to realise God while living in

the family as is possible now!

 

Rituals as of today are completely out of date and not necessary to be

performed. It is like taking the Ayurvedic Medicine for a normal

ailment like suffering from fever. It is most likely that the patient

may take more than a week to recover ... whereas seeking an allopathic

medicine would make us sit up within a day or two. Why take the longer

path in a short life of 70 to 80 years when much shorter paths are

available.

 

In Jainism ... there is a practice of the ascetics performing a

Chaumasa ... this is the period of the rainy season when during the

times of the Buddha and the Mahavira there were no roads ... no fixed

paths ... one had to pass through the deep jungles (forests)

travelling from one place to another. It was considered wise by the

ascetics of those days that during the rainy season they stationed

themselves at one place for a period of four months (Chaumasa).

 

It was very wise decision then. But as of now when we have every

conceivable mode of transport ... in an hour or two we can reach from

New Delhi to Bombay ... is it a wise step to blindly follow the

practices of the period of the Vedas. The practice is not only being

followed as of today but it is considered an essential necessity ...

on what basis! If you try to argue out with these intelligent people

.... they have no answer ... they are the blind followers of what is

written in the Sacred Scriptures ... they do not desire using their

heads ... they just want to blindly follow the dictates of the

masters.

 

Whatever we desire to complete in this life following the dictates of

the Bhagavad Gita ... may take many lives if we took the longer path

of the rituals. I have come across many people in this life who have

been very sincerely and diligently going to the temple every day for

about two hours. They have been following this ritual for a continuous

period of above 15 years or so ... the end result was nil ... I

followed the path of jnana yoga and succeeded in a much shorter period

of time ... I followed the path of Shruti jnana ... the medium of self

inquiry ... the right pose of Shavasana ... and right at the age of 37

I realised God.

 

People normally follow the rituals blindly ... not even knowing the

meaning of the mantras they are pronouncing ... we can never benefit

from such behaviour ... in the present day circumstances when science

is at its bloom ... we need to think wisely for we could not have

imagined a better life as we have today. We are even not required to

conduct Yagnas today. It is not essential. We can always pray to the

Agni God (the God of fire) without conducting a yagna today whereas in

the earlier days it was considered a necessity to pay homage to the

agni God by pouring Ghee (skimmed butter) into the fire while chanting

of mantras.

 

Why I am explaining all this ... it is because we are not required to

follow the Vedas today. Today we have with us the essence of all the

four Vedas and the Upanishads in the form of Bhagavad Gita ... it is

only by following the dictates of Bhagavad Gita alone I realised God

within this life. explaining it further it is like that four Vedas can

be termed as four independent fruits ... in the modern times instead

of consuming all the four fruits ... it would be considered wise to

extract the juice of all ... and drink the nectar of wisdom contained

in the Bhagavad Gita.

 

 

Vijay Kumar ...

(The man who Realized God in 1993)

http://www.godrealized.com/

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