The Hindu : Miscellaneous / Religion : True nature of Brahman

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 23, 2004

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous - Religion

True nature of Brahman

CHENNAI, JULY 23. The fundamental authority of sanadhana dharma (Hinduism) are the Vedas which were compiled by the Supreme Being manifested as Vyasa. Subsequently came the puranas and epics, the finest of which is the Bhagavatham. Despite his exhaustive compilation of the Vedas, Vyasa failed to experience a sense of peace. Only after the Bhagavatham was completed that he experienced the same. To this day, those who read or narrate this purana are engulfed by peace and tranquillity.

In his discourse, Sri. B. Sunderkumar said that human beings are since birth burdened with a host of yearnings. The reading of the Bhagavatham could remove this. We are happy and sad sometimes when we realise that the materialistic world will be beyond our reach once we perish. In contrast, the knowledge that the Infinite could never perish can only lead to a state of bliss. How does one gain such wisdom? Who can explain the true nature of Brahman, and what it does? What a person needs to understand could only be touched upon by way of similes — it is for every individual to absorb the essential nature of the Supreme.

What is the essential truth of matter?

Aspirants are often puzzled by the fact that the Omnipresent one is created and is also present in the world. A man who ventured into a forest, felt thirsty. When he approached a hunter, the man, well-versed in the topography, pointed to a stream but the visitor failed to spot it. The hunter then pointed to a nearby tree and then showed him the stream. He used a visible object to identify the invisible. Some may say that the soil, water and the roots of the tree are interconnected, but where does the Supreme fit into such a scheme? A traveller, unable to see his way at night, asked an old-timer to guide him, since he was unable to spot the moon in the dense forest. The old-timer then asked him to focus his sight on the moon's tip that appeared to be perched on a branch and from there asked him to see the full moon. Are we not wrong when we infer that the moon actually sits on the tree? Similarly, the Supreme is the material cause and the instrumental cause. For example, a pot is made from mud. The mud is the cause and the pot is its effect. Thus it is clear that mud is the material cause. However, in order to give shape to the pot, a potter is essential. He is instrumental in making the pots. Similarly, Brahman is the material cause for the world's evolution. He is also the instrumental cause for its creation.

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