Consciousness and Self series, VII

Puranas, Miracles, and Consciousness

I’ve been asked to create a series of articles in support of some of the ideas expressed in the book, “Subjective Evolution of Consciousness” by Swami B.R. Shridhar. If some of the arguments herein expressed echo that work, it is because I am trying to explain these concepts to a more general audience.

So far, we have done our best to adhere to the ancient teachings of the Upanishads in our understanding of the Vedic wisdom traditions surrounding the Self and Consciousness.

Traditional Indian Dance

We have seen that the Upanishads defend the idea of consciousness as the background and fiber of existence.  Many scientists and philosophers love the descriptions given in the Upanishads for their deep wisdom. This wisdom is often expressed in aphorisms, as for example “Infinite times infinite equals infinity,” Oṁ purṇam adaḥ purṇam idam.

But in spite of all this deep insight, there is a certain prejudice against Indian wisdom: it’s too Hindu. After all, it is argued, “in India they worship 3,000 gods, including the god of smallpox.” Indian traditions are ridiculed as provincial by Westerners. We accept yoga,  because yoga  helps us perform better. We can have better sex, better orgasms, and be more productive with yoga.

Pastimes of Rama

But India and its traditions are a tough nut to crack. Just because I’m interested in yoga doesn’t mean I have to like India with its caste system, repression of women, and ridiculous pantheon of gods. While the Upanishads represent the truth in vague koans and sutras, with fascinating mantras, there is another body of literature which foreigners find especially difficult to penetrate.

Ram vs. Ten headed Ravana.

This body of literature includes the so-called Puranas and Ithihasas. Why was this incredible library of strange and fantastic stories  created. How  could it have flowed from the same hand that created something as profound as the Upanishads? Is such a literature even Vedic? And what relationship does it have with the truth?

According to tradition, originally there was only one Veda, concentrated into the form of the mantra Oṁ. The meaning of the mantra was intuitively understood by enlightened beings. There was no need for any commentary or futher explanation.

This was in the “Golden Age” when enlightened souls had little use for books. They knew the truth intuitively.

But as time passed, the need arose for a sublime literature that could explain not only the path to enlightenment, but how sacrifice should be performed properly to satisfy the gods governing rain, sunshine, harvest, and so on.  The one Veda was elaborated on in a grand composition comprising four important books, the oldest in Sanskrit literature. These are known as the Ṛk, Sāma, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas.

Ancient Wisdom Traditions: Sages listen

And yet, some of the esoteric meaning of the Vedas was unclear. The need arose again for a more philosophical literature to elucidate the inner ontology of the Vedas. 108 Upanishads were composed to fulfill this need.

The problem was, philosophical literature is difficult to decode. It’s hard to understand. What does the “Infinite divided by infinite remains infinite” mean? We could it express it in a formula like this: 

ॐ (∞x∞) =∞ ॐ 

...and wait for mathematicians to figure it out. 

Or, I might tell a story about the stars and the planets and the creation of the universe that brings out the idea of how the infinite multiplies. Since philosophical literature is difficult to read, I could make it simpler to understand by using a story form. Instead of talking about “Sin” in terms of karmic reaction, I might tell the story of the Original Man and the Original Woman and illustrate it further with tales from the Garden of Eden. The Adam and Eve story may not withstand the scrutiny of time, unless I can interpret it metaphorically as a way to get into a deeper discussion on karma.

To make a comparison between Eastern and Western traditions then, on the one hand is the deep theology that sees life in terms of resurrection and salvation and on the other there are Biblical stories.  Such stories as the Creation of the World in 7 Days, Adam and Eve in the Garden, Cain and Abel, the Flood, Jonah and the Whale, and so on strain credulity. 

Certainly at this juncture, knowing what we know about cetaceous mammals for example, it is hard to believe a story about a man making campfires in the mouth of a whale and surviving in his belly.  The story of a 500 year old Noah, who gathers two of every species, including crocodiles and lions, sheep and horses, together in a huge boat and carries mankind to survival, is entertaining, but hardly realistic.

When the first missionaries arrived in India from Portugal and England, they were determined to disabuse the native populations of their superstitions and advance the cause of Christendom.  They decried and ridiculed the stories found in the Upanishads as well as the 3,000 gods. But their attempts to convert the Hindu population failed when face with the formidable philosophy of the Upanishads and Vedanta. In fact, many of those who set out to convert became converted themselves.

The Murderous and bloodthirsty Vasco de Gama as pious Catholic missionary to India

Portuguese Missionaries converted to Shaivism, smoking hemp as part of "enlightenment."

Śaṅkara’s system is formidable, since it interpets everything as a product of Māyā. According to Śaṅkara, the stories in the  Purānas are simply to help us with parables and useful sacrifices to guide us out of darkness. Once out of darkness we will strive for the liberation in “oneness” with the aid of contemplation and the wisdom of the Upanishads. There is no need, according to Śaṅkara, for us to discard the Mahābharata or the Purānas for they offer useful ethical teachings on the way to enlightenment.  So it is not necessary to attack the fantastic stories of the Puranas. Rather it is important to learn from them, since all mythology holds a grain of truth.

On the other extreme are those who defend every word of the Purānas and who go so far as to defend the idea of a Ptolemaic universe, long after such ideas were discarded by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhakura, Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswati Ṭhakura, and Śrīdhar Mahārāja. Such fools even go to great lengths to prove that the earth is flat, even while using GPS and internet provided by satellites. And yet, a close perusal of the Puranas reveals more than one interpretation of Vedic cosmology. After all, it is not necessary for Catholics to believe in the cosmology given in the Bible, pre-Galileo; why should it be necessary for someone interested in Vedic wisdom to hold to pre-Copernican astrology as the key to the truth about the self?

After all, different literatures give different results. Astrology and astronomy are not the same thing. Geography is often political and as revolutions and war beset different nations, the maps change to incorporate different political realities. Even scientific paradigms have been know to shift as new theories displace older ideas about material reality.  In the end, many literatures are dedicated to understanding material reality, but real education should include a deeper understanding of our spiritual reality.

Ram vs. Ten-headed Ravan, Hanuman in foreground.

Among the different literatures designed for this purpose, then, the Vedas and Upanishads are elemental. But the literature that was designed as a deeper commentary on the Vedas and Upanishads stands head and shoulders above those basic treatises.

Many different literatures have been written in the history of civilization with a view towards  uplifting the human spirit and showing us the way to a higher consciousness. India is especially noble in this regard, focusing greater attention on the needs of the spirit than on material prosperity. While Spain has given us the novel in the works of Cervantes and “El Quixote,” where England invented drama with the works of Shakespeare, India has given us the most powerful literatures on the science and practice of divine consciousness, and even divine love.

These literatures have come from the most ancient times and even in recent works. Among all of these books, there is one that shines: the Bhāgavat Pūrana, so called because it is dedicated to Bhāgavān throughout. Here, I use the word “Bhagavān” advisedly. I am avoiding the word “God” since it conjures two thousand years of Christian connotation. Even if I try to use the word in a more universal sense, the word is still saturated with the particular meaning invested in it by Western theologians. Bhaktisiddhānta favored the use of “Godhead.” So we will alternate between these two. The topic of the “Bhagavat” Pūrana is, properly Bhāgavān or Godhead. This book runs to some 18,000 Sanskrit verses. The topic of each verse is Godhead or Kṛṣṇa and Bhagavad-bhakti or “dedication to Bhagavan.”

Of course, such a topic is confidential and difficult to understand. So difficult in fact, so confidential, that the book’s author Vyāsa holds his topic close to his heart and does not reveal it entirely until after nine cantos of his work have passed. Only in the tenth canto of the work does he expose the full glory of his subject, and only then after carefully laying his ontological groundwork.

In the first nine cantos Vyāsa discusses different teachings about the soul and the Godhead, various incarnations of the Godhead, as well as cosmology and different stories about the creation of the universe, but the summum bonum of the work is dedicated to the nature of Godhead Himself, known as Kṛṣṇa.

Not much is known about the actual author of the Bhāgavat Purāna, known as Vyāsa. The original Vyāsa is considered to have been the author of the Mahābharata and may have lived as long as 2,550 years ago around the time of the Mahābhārata war. It is said that Vyāsa was not entirely happy with Mahābharata as commentary on the Vedic version, and so took permission from Nārada Muni to begin work on the Bhāgavat Purāna or “Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.”

The Mahābhārata is called “Itihāsa” or History. History in India is, of course, nonlinear. The versions given in the Puranas and Mahābhārata overlap themselves in a cubist universe of histories as intertwined as the roots of a banyan tree or disappear into the espejismo of Jorge Luis Borges like so many Russian Dolls.

Here, it is appropriate to use the word “history” in the Cervantine sense. For example, the complete title of Cervantes’ great work is “La Historia del Ingenioso Hidalgo de la Triste Figura, Don Quijote de La Mancha.” Since the work is called a “history” naturally everyone took it to be true. But the word historia  in Spanish serves double duty for it refers both to fiction and non-fiction. Historia  translates “story” as well as “history,” so that the word can refer to “a narration or recital of that which has occurred; a description of past events; a history; a statement; a record, but also a fictitious narrative or romance. One is left to understand from the context  of the work whether fiction or nonfiction is meant.  This usage has its roots in the histories of El Cid the Conqueror who was the subject of the first epic poem written in Spanish. Since much of the history of the Cid is legend, but the heroic poem is written in a realistic style, it is difficult to separate fact from fiction. This being the first great literary work entirely in the Spanish language it set the precedent for the use of the word “history” in Spanish.

The ancient histories of India called  Itihāsa may be said to follow a similar concept. When it is said, for example, that Arjuna fought against so many thousands of warriors on the battlefield of Kurukṣetra, one wonders how to best understand such a statement. Is this an example of the literary device called  synecdoche where one thing stands for another, as for example if we say “Argentina won the football game,” where we mean the Argentinian team won the game. Obviously Argentina was unable to attend the match. It would be hard to fit Argentina on the airplane, whereas the football team only comprises 11 men.  So, when we say Arjuna, do we mean Arjuna and his armies? Or only one man?

Pandavas with Draupadi: Yudhistira seated on throne. Bhima front left, Arjuna front right.

At the same time there is the problem of the number of soldiers in a division. How many men were present at the battle? These appear to be quibbles, when the point of the Mahābhārata has to do with dharma, what is ethically right and wrong. It would seem impossible to unwise and impertinent to insist on the exact number of men present on a battlefield, when it is difficult to establish when and where that battle was fought.

 

 I recently was honored to attend a discussion on the existence or nonexistence of a certain Mexican hero, “El Pippila.” He was supposed to have carried a stone on his back to protect himself from Spanish bullets when he stormed the Alhondiga de Granaditas in October of 1810 during the struggle for independence. An historian had questioned his existence, noting that there was a conflict between the different accounts published about the battle. It was notable that the only available accounts were from the Spanish, who had put down the rebellion. They had discounted the existence of the so-called “hero.” And yet, the descendants of “El Pipila” had come to the conference armed with documents and photos proving not only his existence, but the existence of his children and grandchildren. At this revelation everyone was stunned. They called for questions. “How many people were present at the battle?” was one question. The historians groaned. No one knew the answer. Who among the rebels who were later beheaded would step forward with a head count? Why wouldn’t the Spaniards inflate the number to demonstrate how hard they had fought against the odds?

Nowadays even when sports events are disputed with the help of “instant replay” cameras showing different angles it is difficult to establish the “truth.” How can anyone possibly know how many divisions of soldiers fought at Kurukshetra? Did the author Vyāsa or his descendants or the others who had a hand in compiling, editing, and publishing the different versions of Mahābhārata ever have recourse to a metaphor, a simile or synecdoche? And how important is it to have an absolute accurate and objective description of the facts of an ancient event? Is it not more important to explore the inner meaning of truth?

Perhaps these were some of the issues that troubled Vyāsa as he assailed a new and more powerful exploration of divinity: The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

History from the Vedic perspective may be said to be non-linear, cubistic, and even Cervantine. And yet the Vedic apprehension of divine knowledge is pristine. The Bhāgavatam gives us divinity as beauty over power, divine love over ritualistic sacrifice, mercy over justice.

The Bhāgavatam rejects moralistic religion from the very beginning. In the second verse of that great treatise it is held that the path described herein is entirely devoid of any dishonest purpose. It is held in adoration by those who are free of the flaw of envy.

धर्मः प्रोज्झित-कैतवो ’त्र परमो निर्मत्सराणां सतां

 वेद्यं वास्तवम् अत्र वस्तु शिवदं ताप-त्रयोन्मूलनम्

श्रीमद्-भागवते महा-मुनि-कृते किं वा परैर् ईश्वरः

 सद्यो हृद्य् अवरुध्यते ’त्र कृतिभिः शुश्रूषुभिस् तत्-क्षणात्

SB 1.1.2

dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo ’tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ

 vedyaṁ vāstavam atra vastu śivadaṁ tāpa-trayonmūlanam

śrīmad-bhāgavate mahā-muni-kṛte kiṁ vā parair īśvaraḥ

 sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate ’tra kṛtibhiḥ śuśrūṣubhis tat-kṣaṇāt

“Completely rejecting all religious activities which are materially motivated, this Bhāgavata Purāṇa propounds the highest truth, which is understandable by those devotees who are fully pure in heart. The highest truth is reality distinguished from illusion for the welfare of all.

Such truth uproots the threefold miseries. This beautiful Bhāgavatam, compiled by the great sage Vyāsadeva [in his maturity], is sufficient in itself for God realization. What is the need of any other scripture? As soon as one attentively and submissively hears the message of Bhāgavatam, by this culture of knowledge the Supreme Lord is established within his heart. “

Translation by A.C. Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Prabhupāda