Maharishi Kapila continued,
“Indra, together with energy to hold objects entered into His hands; Vishnu together with power of movement entered into His feet; deities of rivers together with blood entered into His blood vessels and the Lord of ocean together with hunger-thirst entered into the abdomen of the Universal Lord. But still the Universal Lord did not wake up. Moon together with the mind; Brahma together with intelligence and Rudra together with egoism entered into him but to no avail.
But when Kshetragna, the presiding deity of consciousness (chitta) i.e. the seer who perceives this body as a different entity, entered into the Universal Lord together with consciousness, the Lord instantly awakened! He arose from the waters.
Just as energy, mind, intelligence, egoism etc., fail to wake a sleeping person, no matter how hard they try, the presiding deities failed to awaken the Universal Lord, without the help of consciousness.
The human being should, with feelings of absolute devotion and through understanding of the principle of Prakriti-Puruśa, develop total detachment. Then through single focused intellect (buddhi) that arises from Yoga he should see the Lord who resides within his body in the form of individual Self.
This fundamental principle has been explained in the form of a story. Otherwise, how can God sleep? What is the meaning of presiding deities entering into Him and trying to wake Him up?
It is spiritual knowledge that should be awakened within the individual. This is the meaning of waking the Universal Lord. How should this spiritual knowledge be awakened within the individual? What is the process? How should the human being enter into every limb of his own body? This is being detailed.
The goal for the individual being is to have the darshan of the Supreme Lord who resides within him as his individual Self!
With this the twenty sixth chapter of the third canto comes to an end.
Third Canto Chapter Twenty seven
Attaining liberation (moksha) through the knowledge of Prakriti-Puruśa (Nature-Self) is being explained. The method in which illusion is destroyed through the means of Bhakti-yoga is also explained.
Kapila Maharishi continued to preach, “O Mother! The Self (Puruśa) is not subject to any transformation (changeless). He is devoid of action. He is also devoid of traits.
Just as the Sun does not associate with its reflection in the waters, this ‘Self’ does not attach himself to dualities such as joys-sorrows or merits- sins which arise from the trigunas, even though he takes shelter in this body which is created by Nature (Prakriti)!
Only when the intellect of this Self (Puruśa), due to feelings of I-ness (ahamkara), is clouded with infatuation (moha), and when he develops inclination towards the three attributes of Nature (trigunas), then the feeling ‘I am the one performing the action’ arises in him!
With this rise of I-ness, he begins to reap the results of the good and bad actions done by this gross body! He loses his freedom and acquires good, bad and mixed births. Taking on human, animal or celestial births, he gets trapped in this cycle of repeated births and laments. He distances from real happiness.
This samsāra which consists of repeated births and deaths has no real existence. Yet, the bonded soul who is totally inclined towards material comforts, cannot escape from this cycle of re-births and the suffering contained therein.
How should a spiritual aspirant behave? The rules are specified:
Ata eva śanaiś cittaṁ prasaktam asatāṁ pathi
Bhakti-yogena tīvreṇa viraktyā ca nayed vaśam
As such, the mind which is deeply attached towards these wicked sensory pleasures should gradually be brought under control through the medium of bhakti yoga and intense practice of detachment (vairagya).
The spiritual aspirant should, with love devoid of selfish expectations, listen only to My stories. Along with it he should tread the path of Yoga with disciplines such as Yama, Niyama etc.
Sarva-bhūta-samatvena nirvaireṇa-aprasaṅgataḥ
Brahmacaryeṇa maunena sva-dharmeṇa balīyasā
With feelings of total harmony towards all living beings, the spiritual aspirant should see the Supreme Lord who exists within all beings as Pure Consciousness. With such outlook he should eliminate feelings of enmity. He should develop dispassion towards worldly matters. Practice of celibacy and silence (mouna) are imperative! Without having excessive friendships, he should maintain a calm, happy mind. He should be diligent in the execution of his duties.
He should be content with that which automatically falls into his lap as a result of his past good and bad deeds. He should be moderate in eating. Contemplating upon the Supreme Essence, he should live alone.
Giving up likes-dislikes, he should love everyone equally and should have feelings of compassion towards everyone. He should firmly believe that he has attained fulfillment and should stop lamenting ‘I could not complete that action’. He should give up such fear.
The truly knowledgeable person (Jnani) who has understood the principle of Prakriti-Puruśa, frees himself from the false knowledge of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ in respect of the body or in matters pertaining to it! He realizes that waking, dream and other stages apply only to the intellect and not to the Self. He has the understanding that there is nothing apart from Iśwara in this creation.
Sun is the presiding deity for the eyes. Just like seeing this presiding deity through the eyes themselves, the Jnani through the medium of his pure mind sees the Lord who resides as the Self within. He totally self-surrenders to Him and attains liberation!
He realizes that the individual being is nothing but the reflection of the Pure Consciousness upon the inner mind! He also understands that after leaving the body the being attains oneness with this Pure Consciousness and that this consciousness pervades the entire false universe and illumines it. He understands that it is non-dual”.
Keshavaya namah.
