Discourse on Yoga Vasishtha
Day 193, November 23 2015
Sri Sadgurubhyo namaha
Om Santissantissantissantihi
Today is a very auspicious day. Ksheeraabdhi Dwadasi. Today all other affairs should be set aside and one should contemplate only on Narayana. Yesterday was Utthaana Ekadasi. Today at least a small piece of a gooseberry that has been offered to Damodara/Vishnu, along with Tulasi leaves, must be consumed. The gooseberry should have been picked yesterday. It is forbidden to pick it today. Gooseberry is very good for health. Except on Sunday, it is good to eat it every day. That is why it is kept pickled in salt. It is seasonal, available around the Kartika month only, except in some places. At least eat it as a pickle, but the salt in the pickle has the property of sucking out the nutrients from a substance. That is why it is good to reduce the intake of salt.
Under the Gooseberry tree, Dhatri Puja, Tulasi Puja, and Damodara Puja are performed this evening. In the Kartika month, on this day, one should pray to Damodara. In the Ashadha month, also there is a special Ekadasi. Toli Ekadasi, also called Sayana Ekadasi. It is Ashadha Suddha Ekadasi. On this day Vishnu is said to go to sleep (into Yoga Nidra). He sleeps for four months.
We wish we could do that. But we cannot sleep like that continuously for four months. Even if we get deep sleep for four hours at a stretch, we would feel extremely refreshed. But that is very rare. Our sleep turns into dream, and then the wakeful state, again dream, and again sleep. Some people dream first and some sleep first. Many people wake up from a dream. Some wake up from sleep.
Vishnu slept for four months. Yesterday on Utthana Ekadasi He woke up. Till now, all was silence in Vaikuntha for four months. The Lord’s sleep should not be disturbed. Today, since He woke up, all over the Ocean of Milk, there are celebrations.
Gooseberry is a symbol for good health. If there is a gooseberry in your palm (hastamalakam), it means you are blessed with good health. It is so powerful. On Sunday one should not eat a gooseberry. It is said to create acidity if one does so.Those who worship the Sun, do not eat the midday meal on Sundays, desiring good health. They fast during the day and eat after sunset. They follow this austerity very rigidly. Gooseberry may be dried and preserved to consume year long. Only those with hyper acidity are told by the doctors to avoid it. Milk is also offered as Naivedyam today and consumed as Prasadam.
How can God sleep and wake up like this? We are having a festival and that is nice. It is incredible and hard to believe that Lord Narayana sleeps and wakes up.
There is a close connection right now between what we are studying in the Yoga Vasishtha, and this sleep of Narayana.
Puranas have to be studied in depth and understood, to realize the significance of this phenomenon. Why were Puranas composed? Vedas and Sastras are tough for common people to understand. Puranas simplify the essence of the Vedas and Sastras, and give us the information in the form of stories. We make the mistake of taking only the stories at face value and ignore their inner teaching. We get distracted by the story. We have to grasp the deeper meaning.
The story in the Puranas is about the Trinity. Brahma is referred to as the Creator. Vishnu is called the Sustainer or Protector. Siva is given the title of Destroyer. Although it appears as if the three are different and are performing totally different functions, all the three are one and the same. That is what the Puranas say. How can that be? To establish that point, God has incarnated as Dattatreya to show that the three are one and the same. Three in one. Datta has also given darshan to some great souls, as a one-faced or two-faced entity. Swamiji has mentioned it in some of his bhajans. Two-faced, he represents the Fire God. He appears with six arms, with four arms, and also with just two arms. That all three are one, is shown in the incarnation of Lord Dattatreya. It is difficult for us to understand this concept.
We simply pray to him to remove our difficulties and to grant our wishes. We forget the purpose of His incarnation. We ignore His very purpose. We come to Sadguru for Jnana/enlightenment. But standing before Him, we forget His prime function of granting Jnana, and seek trivial favors from Him. We approach a Sadguru, but do not obtain the fruit that He is ready to give us. To reveal the secret of how the three are one, the Lord has taken the form of Dattatreya. It is a very unique form.
The great poet Kalidasa said, “The three are one. They appear to be different and to be performing different functions. Each of the three regard the other two as himself. One appears as if he is divided into three.”
We see the unified form of Dattatreya, where all the three have come together as one. That is why Datta devotees are very lucky. The entire secret of Creation is revealed by Him in His form itself. He is Guru. He is a combination of all three. He is the foremost Guru, Adi Guru. There is no one else who can effectively render this teaching. Our Swamiji has introduced Lord Dattatreya to us. That Upadesa, the instruction He is conveying to us. As Datta devotees, we must grasp that knowledge. Datta’s form itself discloses that secret.
What did Narayana do while he slept for these four months? He dreamt. It is natural for one who goes to sleep to dream. We just take a nap and dream. Narayana dreamed. As Narayana was reclining and was asleep, the lotus stalk emerged out of his navel. Lord Ananta Padmanabha Swami in that position is always depicted with his eyes closed.
Only while asleep one has his eyes closed. Once a person wakes up and opens his eyes, he is supposed to sit up. He is not supposed to lie down and look up at the sky with eyes open. Perhaps he may be reading a book. But not doing anything, one should not remain in bed. By the side of Lord Ananta Padmanabha Swami loud mantra chanting also is not allowed. One should allow Him to sleep undisturbed. You should not sing bhajans or make any sounds. Rarely do they perform an abhishekam to that Lord. Mentally they offer worship.
While He is asleep, the stalk with the lotus emerges from His navel. Inside that lotus Brahma is seated. No depiction shows the Lord awake and giving a blessing to Brahma or commanding him to begin his act of Creation. Are there any such stories? No. From the sleeping Lord Brahma is born. These days they give anesthesia and deliver a child through C-section while the mother is unaware of the birth of the child. But normally, the mother is fully aware when her child is born. The mother knows when she is being administered the anesthesia and knows that she is going to be giving birth to her child, even if the baby is being surgically removed from her womb. She has that awareness.
We must raise the question as to how without Lord Narayana’s will, Brahma could come into being. That clearly shows that Brahma is Narayana’s dream. Once Brahma rises up in the lotus, while he is giving his benediction, all sages, demi-gods, humans, and others are shown as surrounding him. Lord Narayana slept and had a dream. Brahma arose in Narayana’s dream. Brahma also slept inside the lotus. He also had a dream which included all the sages, celestials and us. We wanted to do likewise, as Brahma and Narayana, and so we also slept and we dreamt. Another person came in our dream, and he also decided to dream. Like this, in so many different layers, dreams have occurred. It created a great dream Universe. Inside our dream, let us say a person appeared. That person also had a dream. That person’s dream sequence, we may not be aware of. It is quite possible for us to dream of a sleeping person. When that person’s dream comes into our awareness, we will then not remember the sleeping person, but will get engrossed in his dream. Our intellect does not have any better capability than that.
This Creation is Brahma’s dream. Brahma came in Narayana’s dream. We came into being because of Brahma. Now, who is the actual Creator? The Creator of the creator himself is now Narayana. He is over and above Brahma.
When we dig up our roots and explore our lineage, we end up with the original sage whose Gotra we carry. Our search does not stop with our grandfather. Who is the father of Brahma? Is He not Narayana? But Narayana has the title of Protector or Sustainer. How can a sleeping entity render any protection? We always see Narayana depicted as being asleep on Adi Sesha, the mighty serpent. That is when Brahma came into existence from His navel.
Narayana should actually be called the Creator. But we call Him the protector. Does a sleeping watchman give security or does a watchman who is awake? Would we pay a salary to a sleeping security guard who claims to guard the property in his dream and give him the credit of safeguarding us and our property? Therefore, Brahma is not the ultimate source. He was created by Narayana. Now both of them are asleep. Siva is nowhere to be seen. He is invisible.
It is very strange.
How to resolve this? The secret is inherent here. The titles of Brahma as Creator, and Narayana as the Protector reveal the inner meaning. If we go deeper into the Puranas, we find that Brahma, fully confused, and not knowing where he came from, and where he was, and what he was supposed to do, began to go down the lotus stalk seeking answers. Narayana then told him to do penance. When his penance was successfully completed, Brahma woke up. What happened to his dream then? There was no dream. The dream world never was. What exists cannot vanish. The dream existed only in his imagination. It had no reality. Hence, it did not go anywhere. What never was, cannot go anywhere. That is the proper understanding. The dream only appeared to be real. It was caused only by samskaras/tendencies.
Our referring to Brahma as the Creator, and Narayana as the Protector appears contradictory. But who maintained the dream of Brahma while it lasted? It was Narayana. He dreamed and sustained the dream wherein Brahma and his dream occurred. We are all ultimately in Narayana’s dream. While we exist, then, He is the Protector who sustains our existence.
We are said to be in His womb. That is why He protects us. It is said that God is everywhere. Where is He? The fetus in a mother’s womb imagines that he is independent. But all around him, and inside and out, he has his mother, and nothing else. But he does not see the mother. He does not communicate with her. Only a few rare specially endowed fetuses are able to recognize the presence of their mother. Similarly, only a few amongst us are able to recognize the presence and existence of God. It is based on our Samskara/tendencies. Such fetuses can feel the touch of the mother, and they share her feelings. Such instances are mentioned by some mothers. Likewise, only some are convinced of the existence of God.
We are all inside Narayana’s womb. That is why He is our Protector. Brahma is inside Narayana and in his dream he has created us. Therefore, we refer to Brahma as the Creator. Brahma knew that he emerged from Narayana. But we do not know our source. We are also Brahmas to our creations in our lives, which include our studies, our families, our assets, our relationships, and our possessions. We are Brahmas or creators in that sense. But Brahma has the awareness that he has created this entire Universe. Hence, he is called the Creator.
When Narayana woke up on Utthana Ekadasi, what happened to His dream? There was no dream. Does anyone wake up with a deliberate intention of ending a dream? No. Waking up instantaneously ends the dream. In a dream a huge battle may be taking place with huge armies engaged in war. How long does it take to create them in the dream? Hardly any time. In a snap, upon waking up, the whole scene dissolves. That act of destruction is done by Siva. When Vishnu wakes up and there is no more dream, it brings in Siva’s presence. Siva is inside Vishnu. Vishnu is inside Siva. Siva is the destroyer. He is Mangala/happiness. Only when the world exists, there is misery. The one who wakes and sits up, is none other than Maha Vishnu. He gets transformed into Siva. At once, Adi Sesha turns into the Himalaya. That is what the Puranas say.
But this detail is not openly explained. The reason is that our understanding is limited. We have to be taught step by step like small children. Hence, we are told that there is a destroyer called Siva. But does Siva throw bombs on different nations and merge them into himself? No. Is he a terrorist? No.
Siva is He, who remains all by Himself, having dissolved the dream that contained all of us. He is Supreme Bliss. Who is this Siva? He is none other than Vishnu who just woke up from His sleep. He dreamed. Then He woke up. The dream dissolved.
Even after that, some people will reappear in Narayana’s dream. Who? Those who did not worship Him with devotion, and those who failed to recognize Him as their source, will reappear in His dream. Brahma will re-emerge and create the world. At the end of the Kalpa, a new Brahma will emerge. Next Brahma, we are told, will be Lord Hanuman. He will have that job.
This is what happens in the world. Sleep, wakefulness, and dream. This cycle repeats. Other than these three, nothing else is there in this world. Even in our dreams, we hear people conversing. We hear their speech. It is possible for us.
In Brahma’s dream, we are talking, we are discussing the Yoga Vasishtha. Why are we doing it? We are doing this, and the Satsangs, so that we realize our source and merge in Him, and will not reappear in His dream. Once we become one with Him, we will experience permanent bliss. That is why we are studying this Sastra. Even in a dream, we engage in good conversations, and we perform good deeds. We are now inside Brahma’s dream. We are doing good things.
Think about it. If we are existing in Brahma’s dream, are we having a real existence? Or is this just a dream? This is the secret about Creation. When Puranas speak of Narayana, the form of a reclining figure on the serpent Adi Sesha is described. But in Vedanta, for Paramatma, no such form exists. He is just pure and pristine Consciousness. To ascribe a form to Narayana will once again create confusion in the minds. Paramatma transcends form and sense organs. In that Jnana itself, a dream has occurred. To make us understand that, this Sastra has come into being. This has been explained in the Puranas in this manner as the sequence of Creation.
To explain it in these terms here is not appropriate, as a part of a Vedanta discourse. I have mentioned it only to make it easier for your understanding. The purpose of the Puranas is just that. Since today is Ksheerabdhi Dwadasi, I have brought in the comparison and have explained it to you. It is very good.
Jaya Guru Datta
Sri Guru Datta
Om Santissantissantihi