God in Hinduism
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
God is the only doer
Uma Ram and K S Ram, August 4, 2023: The Times of India
The question relates to Hanuman. The context relates to his leaping across the ocean on a mission to gather intelligence regarding Sita, kidnapped by Ravan and held in Lanka. The questioner is none other than Sarvajna, the sixteenth-century Kannada, mendicant poet. Sarvajna is a household name in the Kannadaspeaking world. One of his epigrams reads as follows: ‘Crossing the sea, Raghav’s yeoman/ Leapt to the golden city; yet – wonder!/ His loincloth never slipped, Sarvajna. ’ Hanuman had taken the aerial route to cross the sea. He did so not in the safety of a closed plane but in full exposure to wind-pressure. And he had to contend with an ogress on the way. Never once in all this did his loincloth slip. One can extend the wonder to include other flights of Hanuman: when he flew to the Himalayas to fetch the miracle-herb, Sanjeevani, and when he fought aerial-duels with Ravan’s son Indrajit and other Lankan warlords. Hanuman’s loincloth, let’s recall, was not secured by any modern-day pins or hooks or zippers. And yet it stayed in place.
Apart from sounding witty and smart, Sarvajna’s epigram encapsulates the essence of Vedic wisdom. The key word in the epigram is ‘yeoman’. Hanuman did all that he did not as an independent individual, but as ‘Raghav’s yeoman’. As Tulsidas puts it, Hanuman was aatur, ever eager for action, but not to implement his own mind. His eagerness was to serve Ram’s kaaj, Ram’s purposes. He had no personal will or agenda. He had surrendered his will to Raghav. When you make yourself a mere instrument of God, acting in accordance with His Will to His greater glory, there is no chance of failure in your mission. There can be no slippages, major or minor. Your loincloth holds securely.
This is the message of the Gita. Krishn tells the wavering Arjun to cast away qualms and to firm up to battle. Arjun’s despondency owed to the fact that he saw himself as an independent being, confronted by the hard option of killing in battle his dear ones. Krishn corrects this delusion by offering Arjun a simple way out. Arjun should fight not for the sake of the Pandavas, but for the sake of God. ‘Be you intent on doing actions for My sake’, the Gita 12:10. Christians have the good practice of starting actions with the invocation: ‘In the name of God, the Son and the Holy Ghost’. This is a guarantee for success. In case you fail, accept such failure as the will of God. The crux of their prayer is: ‘Thy Will be done!’ There is no other right approach to action. As the Bible affirms, ‘Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it’, Psalm 127.
The real, the only doer is God, and the success of a devotee’s mission depends on the extent to which he acts as an instrument of the Divine. In the Gita 11:35, Krishn reassured Arjun on the battlefield, ‘These great warriors ranged here have already been slain by me. You rise and reap fame. ’ Nearly four million warriors perished on the Kurukshetra field. The five Pandavas survived. In the eighteen days of battle-toil, never once did their crowns roll down. Any wonder?
Sankhya and Yog schools, Patanjali and Upanishads
Ashok Vohra, June 28, 2022: The Times of India
The only difference between the Sankhya school and the Yog school is that the former comprises theoretical knowledge and the latter is a spiritual practice. However, the two differ in their conception of God. Though the Sankhya school does not argue for the non-existence of God, it regards God as an unnecessary postulate. Yog, on the other hand, believes that God exists and is the highest self.
The conception of God in yog is radically different from Upanishads. In Upanishads, God is the supreme ruler of the universe, in the sense that He is its creator, sustainer and annihilator. Patanjali does not regard God as Creator God. He names his God Ishwar. Patanjali introduces the concept of God – Ishwar for the first time in Yoga Sutra 1. 24. He describes Ishwar as ‘a special kind of Being, untouched by ignorance and the products of ignorance, not subject to karmas or samskaras or the results of action. ’ He is unaffected by the kleshas – taints of affliction: avidya, ignorance; ahamkar, egoism; raga and dvesha – attractions and repulsions, as well as the fear of death.
Patanjali disagrees with Advait Vedantic theory that when a man is liberated, he becomes one with Brahmn. Patanjali upholds that man can only attain refuge in Him but can never become one with Him. Ishwar aims to bestow grace on living beings, by teaching them knowledge and dharma, righteousness. As a result of devotion to God, one achieves perfect samadhi.
Patanjali does not assign any specific name or ascribe any particular form to Ishwar. Patanjali’s Ishwar can be compared with a screen on which any name and form can be projected. Whatever qualities, names and forms the devotee perceives in Ishwar, is Ishwar itself. That is how even one’s Guru becomes Ishwar.
Ishwar has infinite aspects, and hence there are innumerable ways to approach Him. Patanjali upholds that depending on his nature and preferences, once the aspirant has chosen the ideal name and form of Ishwar, and the way of worshipping Him, he must hold to it. The devotee, rather than offering prayers to the chosen deity, meditates on Him. Elaborating the difference between the two, Patanjali says, ‘When you pray you have to believe in someone who is listening to your prayer. When you meditate, you meditate alone. In prayer, the other is required; in meditation, you alone are enough. ’
The advantage of Patanjali’s notion of Ishwar over Brahmn of Advait Vedanta is that we cannot even imagine Brahmn, let alone know Him, ‘until the moment of our liberation, but we can imagine Ishwar, according to our nature, for Ishwar has attributes which our intellect can recognise’.
Yog is a perfect science. It does not teach us to believe; it teaches us to know. It does not say ‘Become blind followers’; it says, ‘Open your eyes’ and enumerates the procedure to open our eyes.
Yog does not teach us to lean on Ishwar for fulfilling our mundane needs, or to use Ishwar as an escape. Through yogic exercises, pranayama, meditation, contemplation and samadhi, Patanjali’s objective is to help us think, speak and act in a manner that leads to freedom from elements that disturb our minds and pollute our hearts, leading to karmic bonds.
The writer is former professor of philosophy, Delhi University
