Ritual actions prescribed by the scriptures will carry a seeker from one birth to another, perhaps under more favorable conditions. However, they cannot free one from saṃsāra, the endless cycles of birth and death.
A seeker devoted solely to ritual worship does not attain “immortality”; at best, such practices will confer “longevity.” A combination (samuccaya) of action (karma) and worship (upAsanA) can enable the seeker to dwell in the divine realms of the gods s/he worships for a very long time.
Devout worship is of two types – devotion to the Undifferentiated and devotion to the Differentiated. If one worships the Undifferentiated Power, one will attain to be that power. The Undifferentiated Power is known by different names in different systems – pradhAna in Samkhya; mAyA Shakti in Shaivism, mAyA or avidyA in Advaita, prakRiti in some other systems and so on.
Shankara says that the mythologists believe that devotion to the Undifferentiated dissolves the seeker in the unmanifested nature. Advaita does not recommend this type of dissolution as the seeker will not attain brahman adopting such an approach.
The Differentiated Power is the manifested nature. Other names for it are mahat and Hiranyagarbha. If one worships the Differentiated Power, one attains special accomplishments (various types of siddhi-s like aNima, garima etc.).
सम्भूतिं च विनाशं च यस्तद्वेदोभयं सह ।
विनाशेन मृत्युं तीर्त्वा सम्भूत्यामृतमश्नुते ॥ — mantra 14, IshAvAsya upa.
[Meaning: He who knows both the Unmanifested and the destructible (Hiranyagarbha) together, transcends death by the (worship of) the destructible and attains immortality by the (worship of) the Unmanifested. (Translation: V. Panoli).]
If one worships both the Undifferentiated and Differentiated Powers, one may obtain the special accomplishments as well as dissolution in nature. One dies and reaches the world of the Sun. The seeker then has to pray to the Sun God for liberation.
Advaita does not consider such an attainment as praise-worthy because it does not lead the seeker to immortality.
हिरण्मयेन पात्रेण सत्यस्यापिहितं मुखम् ।
तत्त्वं पूषन्नपावृणु सत्यधर्माय दृष्टये ॥ — mantra 15, IshAvAsya upa.
[Meaning: Truth’s face is covered with a golden lid; remove that, O pUShan (i.e. Purusha in the solar orb), that I, Truth’s devotee, may see It. (Translation: M. Hiriyanna).]
पूषन्नेकर्षे यम सूर्य प्राजापत्य व्यूह
रश्मीन्समूह तेजो यत्ते रूपं कल्याणतमं
तत्ते पश्यामि योऽसावसौ पुरुषः सोऽहमस्मि ॥ — mantra 16, IshAvAsya upa.
[Meaning: O pUShan, sole traveller, Yama, Sun, child of Prajapati, recall thy rays; withdraw thy light (so) that I may behold thee of loveliest form. Whosoever that Person is, that also am I (Translation: M. Hiriyanna).]
The prayer to the Sun runs on these lines: “I wish to transcend your world. But I am unable to go beyond as I am blinded by your illumination. Let the path be clearly visible to me by deflecting your rays.”
The seeker hopes that the meritorious deeds that he performed will help him in the process.
अग्ने नय सुपथा राये अस्मान्विश्वानि देव वयुनानि विद्वान् ।
युयोध्यस्मज्जुहुराणमेनो भूयिष्ठां ते नमउक्तिं विधेम ॥ — mantra 18, IshAvAsya upa.
[Meaning: O God of Fire, lead us on to prosperity by a good path, judging all our deeds. Take away the ugly sin from us. We shall say many prayers unto thee. (Translation: M. Hiriyanna). ]
The seeker may take recourse to implore the help of the God of Fire as he had performed many rites at the altar worshiping the Fire God.
वायुरनिलममृतमथेदं भस्मान्तं शरीरम् ।
ओं क्रतो स्मर कृतं स्मर क्रतो स्मर कृतं स्मर ॥ — mantra 17, IshAvAsya upa.
[Meaning: (May) this life (merge in) the immortal breath! And (may) this body end in ashes! Om! Mind, remember, remember thy deeds; Mind, remember, remember thy deeds! (Translation: M. Hiriyanna).]
The gross body will not go with the seeker after his/her death. The vital-force too will not accompany. The effects of the meritorious works done will, however, go in an invisible form with the seeker after his/her death. The seeker may reach Satyaloka.
The Upanishad narrates thus the results that can be obtained by a seeker adopting different approaches, the path of karma (action), the path of devotional worship (upAsana) and the path of Knowledge. It leaves the final choice to the seeker.
The performance of actions and worship will definitely yield their own results. But those fruits are not the Ultimate. The Ultimate is the Liberation. If the seeker is able to see all that IS as Self, end the triad (i.e. transcend the individual, the world and the Lord), and realize that that Self is “me,” s/he is liberated. S/he is immortal.
योऽकामो निष्काम आप्तकाम आत्मकामो न तस्य प्राणा उत्क्रामन्ति ब्रह्मैव सन्ब्रह्माप्येति ॥ — mantra 4.4.6, brihadAraNyaka upa.
[Meaning: Of him who is without desires, who is free from desires, the objects of whose desire have been attained, and to whom all objects of desire are but the Self, the organs do not depart. Being but brahman, he is merged in brahman. (Translation: Swami Madhavananda).]
The life-force of such a liberated Sage will not go anywhere, nor will he travel to any heavenly worlds. He will not be reborn. The life-force dissolves right here itself into brahman. All the limiting adjuncts change to be pure Consciousness.
All manifestations begin to shine as the substrate Self like all the ornaments remain as pure gold on melting. Even the heaven, the worlds of Shiva (Kailasa) and of Vishnu (Vaikuntha) will dissolve in Consciousness.
Words like the above may astonish us. It is so because we are still stuck in our transactions with the objects of the world. We only imagine and conceptualize liberation. We still have not had the experiential realization of it. Shankara gives the analogy of the waves and ocean to drive home the idea.
ऊर्मय इव समुद्रे । — Shankara’s commentary at mantra 3.2.11, brihadAraNyaka upa.
[Meaning: Like waves in the ocean.]
Just as waves, foam, spume and spray will remain as water when there is no movement, names, forms and actions remain as pure Consciousness on dissolution. The wave-like world will also flatten and calm down on having the im-mediated direct realization as “I am brahman.” There will be no more samsAra.
Thus, ends the superb message of the IshAvAsya Upanishad.
(To Continue … Part 6 (kena 1))
Dear Ramesam,
Do you know if any modern seeker still believes any of this material? Do many still perform these rituals with the aim of going to ‘the world of the sun’ or ‘satyaloka’? Do they worship fire gods etc.?
Do we know of anyone with these siddhi-s? Is there indeed any proven occurrence from the past, as opposed to mere ‘reported’ occurrence; by believers?
Of course I am not disputing that this is what the Upanishad says. I just wonder if any modern seeker actually benefits from such literal teaching or if, in fact, it puts more people off Advaita than it brings to it. (I accept a slapped wrist for my cynicism! but these are serious questions.)
Best wishes,
Dennis
Dear Dennis,
I can very well appreciate and understand the spirit of and thrust behind your thoughtful questions. They raise a significant point regarding the relevance of certain Upanishads—and large portions of others—as tools for teaching Non-duality to the modern spiritual seeker. In many ways, your questions call for a revision of the traditional “syllabus.”
Because of this, I feel your comments are relevant to your entire audience of readers and bloggers, though you happened to address me in your comment. I look forward to seeing their responses as well.
On the Flexibility of Advaita:
Historically, the teaching of Advaita was never confined to a rigid framework. It primarily followed the Agama method (one-on-one), where the teaching was tailored to the student’s specific needs and his/her level of “eligibility” (adhikāritva).
Scriptural approaches generally address the majority of students who, statistically speaking, may be “slow learners” (manda adhikāris). This is why Shankara notes in his bhASya-s that no part of the scripture—including the karma kANDa—is untrue or meant to be discarded. A progressive approach guides these students through rituals (karma), upāsana, dhyāna, and yoga to prepare them for the final message.
Even that final message is not set in stone; it has been formulated differently by various preceptors over time. This diversity is likely why we have had over 1,108 Upanishads!
On Rituals and Siddhas:
Regarding the continued practice of rituals:
Rituals: If you travel through India, you will still see the strict performance of sacrificial rituals at fire altars, performed both for the common good (loka sangraha) and for the fulfillment of personal desires (hilariously for winning an election too!).
Siddhas: Accounts of “Siddhas” (those with special accomplishments) are also not uncommon. While some may be questionable, Swami Rama’s book on Himalayan Yogis is a well-known resource. Moreover, many wandering monks often share their own encounters with such saints (in their local vernacular writings, books, talks).
Perhaps it is time for you to visit India!
Best regards,
I just asked ChatGPT the following question: “Is there any actual evidence (modern scientific) for the existence of siddhis such as telepathy and levitation, or does the entire history of them rely upon verbal reports from existing believers?” And the essence of its response was as follows:
Short answer: there is no robust, reproducible modern scientific evidence for siddhis such as telepathy or levitation. Claims persist, but they rest either on anecdotal reports, methodologically weak experiments, or results that fail replication. The historical record is overwhelmingly testimonial, usually from believers or within religious traditions, rather than evidential in the modern scientific sense.
Why belief persists despite lack of evidence – Several well-understood factors explain the persistence of siddhi beliefs:
Cognitive biases (pattern recognition, agency attribution)
Charismatic authority
Confirmation bias within closed communities
Cultural prestige of ascetics
Retrospective myth-making
Lack of falsification mechanisms
None of these require the phenomena to be real.
(I am too old now to consider investigating in person!)
Best wishes,
Denns
Dear Ramesam,
On the topic of rituals, I do accept that there are probably still very many who continue to perform these. (In fact, I was surprised at how many were doing precisely this around the lake at Grand Bassin in Mauritius when I visited there a couple of yearas ago.) But I wonder what percentage of them consider that they are doing so as part of an adhyAropa-apavAda path leading to Advaita.
I somehow suspect that the vast majority do so because they have been ‘brought up’ to do this, in the same way that many (most, virtually all?) go to church in the West.
I gather that the number of Westerners who go to church is actually on the increase. But is this a sincere belief or bet-hedging or worrying about the state of the world or just something to do on Sunday?
Just a few thoughts!
Best wishes,
Dennis
Dear Dennis,
The response from ChatGPT is not surprising at all. In fact, that is expected!
You may have heard the phrase “WEIRD samples in Psychology.”
“WEIRD samples” refer to research participants from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic societies, a term highlighting that most psychological studies use overly narrow, unrepresentative populations (often U.S. college students) whose behaviors might not reflect global human diversity, limiting the generalizability of findings.”
— The term is coined by Henrich et al. (2010)
And, after all, ChatGPT is a system that is taught and trained in a WEIRD atmos.
regards,
Dear Ramesam,
Have there actually been any studies deriving TRUE samples from participants
from Totalitarian, Rural, Uneducated, Eastern countries?
Pardon my scepticism, but I would not be inclined to believe those any more! Do you believe in siddhis? Was Houdini a siddha, do you think?
Best wishes,
Dennis