[Jagannath] LESSON-1

[Guest guest]

Hare Rama

Krishna

 

 

RATH’S LECTUREs

 

Lesson#1: Creation

Ó SJVC

Compiled and edited by J Sarat

Chander

Before beginning, we must understand the

meaning of what Veda is & its importance. What ‘atman’ is and creation and

the Das Avatars of Maha Vishnu. What is Jyotish and its relevance in life.

First, lets begin with understanding creation and the Atman. 

 

Before we proceed, let me explain the

following:

 

 

 

 

Veda

 

 

Knowledge –

pure & unadulterated knowledge.

 

 

 

 

Jyoti

 

 

Light

 

 

 

 

Isha

 

 

God (Maha

Vishnu in the highest and imperceptible form &

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sri Krishna

in the perceptible form)

 

 

 

 

Jyotish

 

 

The light of

knowledge

 

 

 

 

Jyotisha

 

 

One who

possess the light of this knowledge and puts it to use for Dharma. Thus, the

Work/Karma house (tenth) of the Jyotish is the ninth house (Dharma) of the

horoscope and thus, Prasna Marga advises us to see the Jyotisha in the 12th

house.

 

 

 

 

Atma

 

 

Soul; the

Self; the conscious self.

 

 

 

Let us first understand creation and Das

Avatar and then we shall see how Jyotish is described as the most superior of

all Vedanga (meaning part of the Vedas) and is the eye of Sri Narayana.

 

God - Creation of Universe - Its relevance to Jyotish

 

God, the

supreme creator, created the Universe and all the forms of life and the

inanimate things that exist in this Universe. Strange are his ways of

portraying himself in the universe and the most unique and best form in which

he has brought out his existence is the human form. The supreme Lord, Maha

Vishnu, who is imperceptible, exists as 'Paramatma' - the supreme conscious

self (pure Atma). However, he exists in each being including the humans as

'Jeevatma' - the conscious self with the deeds of Karma attached to it. Our

Atma - the Soul - our conscious self - is God. He exists in each one of us and

other species as well as in the inanimate objects. It is only the wise and

knowledgeable person who perceives him through strong, pure and selfless

'tapasya'. This is exactly what Bhagawan Shri Krishna, the perceptible form of

Maha Vishnu, taught to Arjuna during the battle of Kurukshetra (Mahabharata -

Gita Upadesa) and later on to Uddhava. To Uddhava he said: " like fire

which is existent in its imperceptible form in a log, which needs only a spark

to ignite and turn into a mighty flame so as to consume within itself the whole

log, so am I existent in the atman and it is the spark of knowledge which

enables the person to perceive me " . Man perceives God after going through

the rigorous cycles of spiritualism wherein he sheds desires completely and

rises above the three guna to eventually find the divine bliss. The Lord

manifests himself in a human avatar only when the truth is completely lost in

the world and it has to be restored.

 

God is both

Purusha and Prakriti where Purusha is the Supreme Soul - the Paramatma - and

Prakriti is Maya, which are the cause as well as the effect of the cause. It is

the mix of Purusha and Prakriti that created the universe. Prakriti has in it

all the three Guna: Satwa, Rajas and Tamas. When the equilibrium of these three

Guna is disturbed, they combine and recombine and they gain the power to

create. 

 

While guiding

Uddhava spiritually, Shri Krishna explains how the universe and all the beings

in it - Deva, demigods, Jeeva, Moola, humans, Asura etc., were created as He

had willed such a creation. He created Brahma who had a lot of Rajas Guna

-creative force - in him that led to the creation of the universe. 

 

In Srimad Bhagavatam, to a question from Vidura to know the creation of

universe, Sage Maitreya explains creation as follows:

 

          " Creation neither has an absolute

beginning or an end to it. The present world in which we live is just one of

the series of worlds that existed earlier and that will come in the future. The

cosmic energy alternates between the cycle of potentiality and expression where

the phase of potentiality is dissolution and the phase of expression is

creation. The cosmic energy comprises the three Guna - Satwa, Rajas and Tamas.

These Guna contain the universal intelligence, universal ego, mind, the sense

and sense organs, the very subtle principle of the five-tatwa or elements viz.,

Agni, Prithvi, Jala, Vayu and Akash. When the equilibrium of these Guna is

disturbed, they combine and recombine in various ways to create different life

forms with different levels of intelligence, ego, and tatwa etc., depending on

the level of such a mixture. 

 

The different forms thus created are: the stationery things known as

'sthavara' such as trees, plants, creepers, herbs etc; the brute things or

animal species in which the sense of smell is very strong: then comes the human

form and lastly are the Deva, Auras and Demigods like Gandharva, Yakshas,

Spirits etc.

 

Sage Maitreya goes on to tell Vidura that before the creation this

world was submerged under water and Lord Maha Vishnu was asleep on his Ananta -

the serpent king - in the ocean, but all the while his conscious (Atma) was

awake. When the time came for creation, his mind stirred and from his navel

sprang a lotus upon which was seated Lord Brahma. The Lord was imperceptible

even to Brahma and began to look in the four directions (the reason why he has

four heads) to seek an answer as to why he was born. When he found nobody and

no answer was forthcoming, the desire to know about his birth grew in him and

he began to think and he slowly went into meditation after which he began to

realize his self. He began to understand who he was, who had created him and

for what reason he had been created. He then remembered his past and understood

that his duty was to create. At this point of time, a storm arose and began to

the lash the water furiously. Brahma, who had gained powers (Rajas Shakti)

through his penance, drew within him the storm and the water. He then entered

the heart of the lotus and divided it into three parts viz., heaven, earth and

sky - the concept of the five tatwa or elements by which we are existent even

today. The first creations of Brahma in the human form were Manu (the man) and

Satarupa (the woman) from who have descended the mankind. "

 

Thus, we are

born with the tree Guna - Satwa, Rajas and Tamas. It is only the deeds of our

karma, which determine the level of Guna we will possess in our subsequent

births. We thus have the Lord manifested deep in our self i.e., the Atma - the

conscious self and the as a result of the three Guna within us, we have the

mind, which is Prakriti. It is our mind that gets attracted to this material

world (Maya) and this desire leads us to deeds and it is the deeds, which

result in the karma. All this while, the atman remains a mute spectator as its

only objective is to mix with the Paramatma from which it has been born.

However, it is the karma of the mind that clings on to it and sets the atman

into the cycle of births and rebirths. The only way the atman can realize its

objective is when man learns to control his mind - his guna (Satwa, Rajas and

Tamas) and finally rises above the level of the guna to be able to attain the

'Brahman' where he finds true bliss in divinity and eventually mixes with the

Paramatma. While Satwa guna is the doorway to self-realization and ultimately

attaining Brahman, the Rajas and Tamas guna, continuously work in creating the

forces of karma and bind the Atma to the material world.

 

The soul is

born with an objective - to reach God. It is precisely for this reason that one

has to live a Satwik life to be able to help the Atma attain the gati

(direction) towards liberation and freedom. The conception, embryonic stage,

birth itself, youth, middle age, old age and finally death are the cycles,

which are undergone only by the body. All through this cycle, the Atma remains

unchanged. It merely leaves a body when it is worn out or it is no longer of

any use and takes on another body to wash away the karma that has clung to it

so that it could finally achieve what it desires - liberation and freedom. This

can be attained only if the Satwa guna prevails in the person, because it is

Satwa guna alone through which one gains control over the Rajas and Tamas guna.

It is only with this guna that a person is able to transcend this birth into a

higher level - that of the Sages and Deva - in the next birth which

automatically sets it on the path to liberation and freedom finally from this

world of Maya. Thus, we get to know the principle of birth and rebirth as

explained by Lord Shri Krishna to Arjuna and Uddhava.

 

To be able to

attain this, it is important to know what these three guna are and how one

leads a Satwik life. Shri Krishna explains to Uddhava the natures of the three

guna and the duties a person performs according to the percentage of these guna

in him. He explains as follows:

 

Satwa Guna:            The person

has poise, self-control, forbearance, discrimination, performance of duty

without expectation of fruits, truthfulness, compassion, contentment,

generosity, dispassion, faith and reverence, charity, feeling of guilt and

shame for ill conduct, delight in devotion to God.

 

Rajas Guna:             Lust,

desire, greed, jealousy, strife, pride, quarrelsome, prayer for selfish ends

and motives, ego, self-aggrandizement, dominative, love of fame, jeer at others

and be aggressive generally.

 

Tamas Guna:           Anger,

hatred, greed, cruel, false piety, inertia, lazy, sleep, expectation, fear,

infatuation, hatred of God, misery, lying etc.

 

Lord Krishna

says to Uddhava that the feeling of mine, I, me and such words of pride and ego

emanate from the 'Avidyamaya', which is ignorance due to lack of knowledge. He

says to Uddhava that the darkness spread by Avidyamaya can be cut away only by

Vidyamaya - the knowledge - of the Vedas and the self. Therefore, to be able to

attain him, one has to rise above the Rajas and Tamas guna to Satwa Guna and

finally, with steadfast practice and tapasya, one has to rise above the Satwa

Guna too to break away from the desires of life (world of Maya) and seek

liberation. Even while only lives in this physical world, his mental plane

should be above such physical unreality and learn detachment so that the atman

is able to concentrate more and more on the Lord, which is possible only

through pure Satwik disposition. This is possible only through regular meditation

of the Lord, which creates delight in the love of God in the mind of the

person. This is known as the Bhakti Marga and the Lord has recognized this

Marga to be the best to be able to achieve him.

 

Sri Krishna

explains to Uddhava, on his specific query of how to attain knowledge, about

how he had taught knowledge (wisdom - Brahmagyana) to Brahma who spread it to

others for the well being of man. He also explains him how to meditate and the

control the mind when Uddhava desires to know how to attain the knowledge of

the Brahman so as to gain gati for the Atma in the direction of liberation.

 

Knowledge is

the Jyoti (light) in the dark path of Maya. It is through knowledge that we are

able to break the shackles of ignorance and go towards self-realization and

finally towards God. Sri Krishna says that he, as Maha Vishnu, gave the

knowledge of the four Vedas - the Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Atharva Veda and Sama

Veda first to Brahma and who, in turn, gave it to his son Manu. From Manu the

knowledge of the Vedas was learnt by the seven patriarchs and sages - the

Brighus and others - who then spread in different manners and methods of

understanding. Sri Krishna explains to Uddhava, as he had done to Arjuna in the

battlefield, of his Universal Form or the Kala Purusha, in what way was it

relevant to the present world and why it was important to know it for

self-realization and liberation of the soul. He says:

 

          I am the        :        Self in all the beings; their friend and

benefactor

          I am the        :        God of all

          I am the        :        supreme cause of their life and death

          I am             :        everything in all beings and objects -

animate and inanimate

          I am the        :        motion, of all that is moving.

          I am the        :        virtue, and even-mindedness

          I am the        :        soul, of all things that are subtle

          I

am the        :        primary attribute, of all attributes - Universal intelligence

of

the intellect which is the life principle of living as life evolves

further and progresses further by the growth of intelligence

          I am the        :        soul, of all things that are subtle

          I am the        :        mind, of all things difficult to subdue

and control

          I am             :        Brahma, of all the teachers of Vedas

          I am             :        Om, (A.U.M.) among all the sacred words

          I am             :        Bhrighu, among the great seers

                                      (the

relevance to Jyotish - Krishna explains the power of

clairvoyance attained through meditation or yoga shakti)

          I am             :        Narad, among the divine seers

                                      (again the

relevance to Jyotish & clairvoyance)

          I am             :        Manu, of all kingly sages

          I am             :        Kapila, of all perfect souls

          I am             :        Prahalad, of the children born of Diti

          I am the        :        Surya, (Sun) of all luminaries and the

king of all men

                                      (hence Surya

is considered the king of all planets and the

source of life (jeeva) and also the naisargika atmakaraka in Jyotish)

          I am             :        Gold, among all the metals

          I am             :        Yama, among all the controllers

          I am the        :        Monastic order, of all orders of life

          I am the        :        brahmin, of all the castes

          I am             :        Ganges, of all the rivers

          I am the        :        ocean, of all waters

          I am the        :        bow, of all weapons

          I am             :        Shiva, of all the wielders of the bow

          I am             :        Mount Meru, of all abodes

          I am the        :        Himalayas, of inaccessible places

          I am             :        Asvattha, of all trees

          I am             :        barley, of all grains

          I am             :        Vashishta, of all priests

          I am             :        Brihaspati, of all who know about the

" Brahman "

(Brahmagyan - the knowledge of self and discrimination.  Hence, Brihaspati is considered to represent

God in the horoscope of a person and holds a vital place in the chart.  He is the sustainer of life - Jeeva - given

by Surya and his the naisargika significator of 'Dhi Shakti' - intelligence

because of which we gain knowledge and learn to discriminate)

          I am             :        Kartikeya (Skanda), among all the

generals

          I am             :        Brahma, among all the pioneers

          I am the        :        study of Vedas, among all sacrifices

          I am the        :        vow not to injure anyone, among all the

vows

          I am the        :        self, among all purifiers

          I am             :        perfect control and perfect

concentration of mind, among

the spiritual disciplines

          I am the        :        power to discriminate between the self

(atman) and the non-

self (material world of Maya), among all the intellectual powers

          I am             :        Satarupa, among women

          I am             :        Manu, among men

          I am             :        Narayana, of all saints

          I am             :        Sanatkumara, of all celibates

          I am the        :        Monastic vows, of all religious vows

          I am the        :        introspection, of all sources of well

being

          I am the        :        truthful word and silence, of all

secrets

          I am             :        Sukra, of all the wise

(hence, asuraguru Sukracharya (Venus) is another vital planet in the

horoscope of man.  He possesses the

Sanjeevani Mantra and he alone has the power of rebirth)

          I am             :        spring, of all seasons

                                      (spring is

the season which brings forth new life and colour

to the world.  The power of

Sukracharya, as spring is the season lorded by Sukra, is seen in this season)

          I am             :        Vyasa, of the knowers of Vedas

                                      (hence,

Maharishi Vyasa is revered by all Jyotishas and

Vedantas as god - " Vyam Vyasadevaya Namah " )

          I am             :        Vasudeva, of all Lords

          I am the        :        self, of all devotees

          I am             :        Sapphire, of all gems

          I am the        :        Lotus bud, of all things beautiful

          I am             :        Kusa, of the sacred grass

          I am             :        clarified butter, of all oblations

          I am             :        energy and tenacity, of the strong ones

          I am             :        devotion, of the devout

          I am             :        water, the sweet taste

          I am the        :        lustre of the Sun, Moon and Stars

                                      (hence, the

study and relevance of the luminaries, planets

and stars in the life of man - Jyotish)

          I am             :        music, of the spheres

          I am the        :        creator, preserver and destructor of all

things living and

non-living

          I                  :        constitute the function of all organs

          I am the        :        five tatwa - Agni, Prithvi, Jala, Vayu

and Akash

          I am the        :        Ego & cosmic intelligence (hence the

creator)

          I am the        :        the three guna - Satwa, Rajas and Tamas

          I am the        :        the supreme knowledge, 'Brahman' and

realization

 

 

 

The Role of a Jyotish

 

It is here

that we see the role of Jyotish in a man's life. The hand of god in the

creation of man and the ultimate goal for which the atman lives are seen and

learnt with the knowledge of Jyotish. It helps us perfect our living, inculcate

more Satwik characters and thus help the Atma gain gati towards liberation.

Jyotish is very relevant to bring mind under control and wean it away from the

forces of Rajas and Tamas guna and closer to Satwa guna so that the burden of

karma is lessened on the Atma. It would thus be able to move into the higher

cycles of birth - as a Deva or a Sage to be finally able to shed all its

desires and attain the 'Brahman'.

 

Therefore, the

role of a Jyotisha - (one who is well versed in the knowledge of Jyoti (light)

and Vedas - Jyotish being the supreme Vedanga) - is very important in helping

humanity to get out of the whirlpool of Maya in Kaliyuga. He is the one who is

endowed with the knowledge to discriminate between the self and the non-self

and help others also do so by teaching them Satwa guna and total surrender to

God. He should always look to guide the person's Atma towards god - he should

provide the atmagati in the Satwik direction for the person who seeks his

advice and he should refrain from either playing god or work against nature or

the will of god. To be able to do so, the Jyotisha himself should be respectable and possess in

him all the Satwik guna that will help him do the right things always. He

should, therefore, be (1) peaceful in disposition (2) god fearing (3) always

truthful (4) righteous (5) never be crafty (6) never be heterodox (7) and

always be desirous of seeking the knowledge of God and Jyotish.

 

When we talk of a horoscope, we are talking

of Narayana and His importance in our life, which may be seen from the above.

By being in Satwik disposition, the Jyotish becomes self-controlled and he

always obeys the command of God and does the right thing invariably.

 

OM TAT SAT