The Vibhuti
Date: Mar 07, 1980
Location: Prasanthi Nilayam, AP
Anoraniyan Mahato Maheeyan (More minute than the minutest and more vast than the vastest), is how the Vedanta refers to the Absolute, the Brahman. The Vedanta (Vedic philosophy) tries by such descriptions to picture the highest overself, but no description can help in identifying it or experiencing it. At best, the description can only be like what the five blind men inferred about the elephant when each laid hold of a particular limb of that animal. Even those who have experienced cannot communicate the ecstasy, the peace, the light, and the love fully to others. The prophets, sages, and seers to whom the establishment of ‘religions’ is ascribed have proclaimed their awareness of the Brahman principle. Though the Charvaka School of Philosophy denied God and the Jain and Buddhist schools declined to posit God, Shankar asserted that God is formless and attributeless and is best described as Jyoti (Supreme effulgence). He also said that the individual is not different from the universal, that jeeva (individual being) is Brahman (omni self) itself, that the manifold nature is also Brahman seen through a strange veil as a mixture of truth and falsehood, a peculiar make-believe called maya (illusion) or avidya (ignorance).
The Four Characteristics Of The World
Brahman is the cause and Prakriti (Nature) the effect. Nature is the deluding manifestation of Brahman. It is what can be called leela vibhuti or expression of glory done as mere leela (sport). When the leela is perceived as apart from Brahman, it is a false and incomplete perception. The leela is manifold; Brahman is One. To discover the One in the many is the purpose of human existence. Brahman is eternal. It is the Nitya Vibhuti (everlasting splendor). It is named the Kingdom of God. Leela vibhuti is Prakriti or maya or avidya (nature or illusory energy or ignorance), with the deluding, deceptive diversities.
The objective world (leela vibhuti) is the superimposition on Brahman that deceives and distorts reality. Ignorant persons assume it to be real. Buddha described the world as having four characteristics: (i) Sarvam duhkam: All is sorrow. It is called mrityuloka (the world of death), afflicted by pain, hunger, disease, and worry. (ii) Sarvam kshanikam: Everything is momentary; everything changes. The bud blooms and fades, lightning flashes and dies. Every individual, thing, or quality grows and declines. (iii) Sarvam svalakshanam: Every person or thing is unique; even identical twins have both some special quality or attitude that differentiates them. No two leaves, even of the same tree, are the same in all respects. The many are divided into many more by these differences. Hence Buddha declared (iv) Sarvam shunyam: All is invalid, worthless. Where are the fathers and grandfathers who have died? How many empires have been buried in the sands of time?
The Cosmos Emanated Through God’s Sport
The Nitya Vibhuti, upon which the manifold structure exists, is described as having six characteristics: (i) Nitya (Eternal) (ii) Avarneeya (indescribable) (iii) Nissankhya (immeasurable) (iv) Nirupadhi (uncontaminated by association or impact) (v) Nirdoshi (unaffected by limitation or diminution) (vi) Samanarahita (unapproached by anything other, incomparable, equal only to itself). This Nitya Vibhuti (miraculous play) is the Atmic principle that is the reality of every being. It manifests as leela vibhuti, projecting Itself as the many individuals and particulars by the interplay of the three gunas (modes or qualities).
The sattvika guna (pure qualities) promotes peace, harmony, and love. The rajasika (quality of passion) is related to desire: it prods man into constant activity. The tamasika (quality of inaction) has the peculiar property of twisting reality out of shape and of making the truth appear as false, the false as truth. Thus the transient and the trivial appear as everlasting and desirable. The subject and the object are both unreal; only the Atman or Brahman, the Truth of both, is real. That is why both are classed as leela vibhuti, the magnificence of God’s sport. Through that sport, this entire cosmos has emanated.
This day is Yugadi, the New year day, the day when we take leave of the year ‘Siddhartha’ and welcome the year ‘Raudra.’ In the leela, such goings and comings, arrivals, and departures are to be expected. The Moon (Chandra) is declared to be the king, and Sun (Surya), the Prime Minister during this year. Saturn (Shani) is the Commander-in-chief. Among the nine planets, four are in favorable positions of authority and five hold harmful positions. The year is named Raudra, which means terrible. This indicates that the year will witness some agitations and face a few anxieties. But the king and the minister are powerful; they will keep things in check. The favorable planets will ensure early and timely rains. So peace and security have a good chance of spreading if the mind (whose presiding deity is Chandra) and the intellect (whose presiding deity is Surya), work in unison.
Remember The Basic Unity Of All Mankind
People must take the warning and not allow themselves, to be ‘horrible’ to one another like hordes of drunken monkeys. They must remember the basic unity of all mankind: Ekoham Bahusyam. Ekoham is the Nitya Vibhuti and Bahusyam, the leela vibhuti. Demonstrate that you are Divine to the very core. Your conduct and behavior must declare your faith in your divinity. The New year day is celebrated in the home after sweeping and washing it clean and hanging green festoons over the doors. The people themselves take elaborate baths, wear new clothes, and partake of feasts and share in the merriment.
When so much care is taken to fulfill the needs of the body, imagine how much more care should be devoted to adoring the Divine resident in that body. Cultivate tolerance and compassion and engage yourselves in your work in a spirit of love and service, thus enabling yourselves to visualize the divinity inherent in every living being.
Prasanthi Nilayam, 7-3-1980