Several short discourses from Sri Dattaswami

Mayatpanchamikaaryarupam shruyate sthulam .

(The gross body is a modification of matter or food,described as cause, is stated in Veda).

Veda says that the soul is the modification of food (Annarasamayah). Veda also says that the soul is the product of food (Annaat purushah). This clearly proves that the soul is just another form of food only. Therefore, there is no difference between the body and soul in basic sense.

Jivo nityopipurvakaryamevopachito navagunaih.

(Even though the jiva is eternal, he was the product of food in past. Even now jiva is becoming stronger by new qualities produced with the help of basic awareness that is generated from the present food).

The soul taken as a group of qualities is called as jiva. The soul or jiva is eternal in the sense that he is coming from past several births. He is not generated in this birth from the present food. But still, the jiva was the product of food in some past time. From the present food, general awareness is generated, which is modified into qualities based on the present environment.The soul becomes stronger and stronger by the added strong new qualities. However, weak qualities produced in the present birth fade away. Hence, inspite of eternality of jiva (soul), you cannot do away with the basic concept that the soul is the product of food.

Gitah paraaprakrutih prakruteh shreshthaiva .

(In Gita, the soul is said to be paraaprakruti,which means best part of the creation. Para means best and not different here,because both para and apara are said to be prakruti or creation).

The soul or Jiva is said to be a part of the creation only in Gita. The inert part is called as Apara and the living part is called as Para. Since, both are parts of the creation only, no part is God or creator. Moreover, we have said above that both para and apara are inter convertible. Inert energy is a form of inert matter.  Awareness is a special work of inertenergy. Therefore, the inter conversion of energy into matter and energy into work are scientific concepts. Hence, you cannot say that para means different from apara. The difference is only superficial. Basically both are one and the same and hence para can be said as the best form of apara and hence both constitute the same item of creation.

Maunanishedhavijnanachaarvaakau mataavatra tarkaat .

(The science keeping silent about God and Charvaka, atheist, objecting existence of God are correct in the point that thesoul is modification of food).

Science and atheism establish that soul is a modification of food only. In this point both are acceptable. Regarding the existence of God, science is silent and atheism opposes. In this point both are refuted and rejected by us. This does not mean that we shall totally reject anybody. We reject only a point and not the entire points without analysis. Without analysis, you should not reject any point of anybody.

Annanishedhaat gatonityo na nashto vijnaatah .

(When the food is not given, the person dies and in death, the eternal soul or Jiva exits the body, but not destroyed as per science).

According to science the soul is formed in this birth only and is destroyed in this birth itself and as long as food is digested, the soul functions. When the food is not digested due to disease or damage, the soul is not destroyed but exits. This does not mean that we are refusing the conversion of food into soul.

Vajramashivat .

(The soul or Jiva and the feelings or qualities generated in this birth are like the hard diamond and the soft charcoal paint on it).

The diamond is a hard condensed product of carbon atoms. The charcoal paint is also a soft product of same carbon atoms. Hence, both diamond and paint are products of same carbon. On wash, the paint goes away, but the diamond is leftover without any slightest damage. Similarly, the weak qualities generated from the awareness produced by food in this birth are like the charcoal paint. The strong qualities generated from food in the past births got condensed and the hard Jiva is formed. Deep sleep or death destroys the weak qualities of this birth but not Jiva who was the hard condensed product of strong qualities of past births. In any case, soul or Jiva is the product of awareness generated by food only.

Ekshateti kriyaa saivaatmaa na tu karakah .
(Wish is verb and not any agent that wishes. The soul or Jiva is only aspecial work and not the working element).
Veda says that God wished to create this world. Hence, people say that God is awareness due to wish. Here wish is a verb and not noun. This means that the awareness, which is wish, means a work only and not a working element. Already we have established that awareness is a special work of inert energy functioning in the special system called as nervous system. Therefore, the soul is the name of some special work only done by inert energy in the nervous system similar to grinding work done by current in grinding machine. Hence, the word soul is only a verb and not a noun, if you analyze deeply on scientific and logical line.

Anantaghanasukhaanandopi kriyaiva tasyeti shruterna tat .
(Even the bliss is a verb and not noun on deep analysis. Veda mentions bliss of God and hence bliss is not God. Bliss is only continuous and intensive happiness).
Some say that bliss is God. But bliss is intensive and continuous happiness only and thus it means the verb. If you say that one is happy, the happiness appears as noun, but it is only a verb on analysis. Veda says that such happiness is the bliss of God (Brahmana Anandah). If you say that this is the house of the king, it does not mean that the house is king.

Sopi vargottamo Brahma shrutah .

(If you say that Veda says that bliss is Brahman, here the word Brahman stands for the best in the category of desirable qualities. If you give same meaning to Brahman, contradiction appears).

Veda also says that bliss is Brahman (Anando Brahma). Here the word Brahman stands for the best in the category of desirable qualities. Bliss is the most desirable quality of awareness. Hence, bliss can be called as Brahman. Like this, you have to give different meanings for the word Brahman in both these contexts. Otherwise, there will be self contradiction. If you say that this is the house of the king and at the same time say that the house itself is the king, it becomes self contradiction. In the first statement king means an alive person. In the second statement, king means the best among the houses. Now both the statements can be correlated.

Chidaanandau kriyaavaachakau na kartaarau.
(The awareness and bliss are verbal nouns andnot genuine nouns)
The word chit or awareness is a noun created from verb and not actual noun. A man is noun. Walking is verb. Walk is verbal noun, indicating the verb or work only and not any entity that does the work. The root word of chit is a verb having two meanings. One is the process of knowing and the other is the process of remembering. Hence, chit or knowledge (Jnanam) is not an independent entity that does work like a man. Similarly, bliss is a noun created from the verb indicating the process of being happy and is not an independent entity to do the work.

Jaanaati nandati kriye kartaatvaatmaa jadashaktiratati.

(The verbs are 'knowing' and 'happy'. The actual noun or entity doing the work is Aatman, which is inert energy that pervades).
You are knowing. You are happy. These two verbs give the verbal nouns, which are chit (Jnanam) and bliss (Ananda). The actual noun that does these works is human body, which is inert energy in the form of inert matter. This inert energy is called as soul or Aatman that pervades all over the body. Since awareness is also a special work of inert energy only, the inert energy pervades all the systems of the body including nervous system. All the other systems of the body are pervaded by the inert energy itself directly.

Jnaanakriyaavaachakakartaa jada eva kriyaashrayatvaat

(Knowledge is verbal noun. The entity or actual noun doing the work of knowing can be inert only, since the work of knowing always requires a different worker, which can be inert only).
The process of knowing or knowledge is only a work and itself can never be an entity. Work needs an entity as worker or working element, which must be other than the work of knowing. Then, the worker here can be inert only and not knowledge. Since, work is knowledge and worker cannot be also knowledge, worker must be inert. Work needs a different entity as working element or worker.

Sushuptisiddhanirgunajadashaktyaatmaa nityah.

(The eternal Aatman or the inert energy that remains in the deep sleep is devoid of qualities, which are properties of awareness).
The entity that does the work of knowing is the inert energy or Aatman that remains in the deep sleep. It is eternal because the inert energy is never destroyed even in the final dissolution of the world. This Aatman is nirguna, meaning devoid of qualities. Here the word quality is restricted to the property of  awareness only and not the property in general. In deep sleep, awareness disappears and hence all its qualities also disappear. This inert energy left over in deep sleep, which is devoid of qualities is called as nirguna Aatman. Remember that the word quality here is confined to the property of awareness only and not to any inert property.

Aatmaa Brahma srushtimulam mulaprakrutih sarvamidam .
(This inert energy remaining in deep sleep called as Aatman can be called as Brahman because this inert energy is the material cause of this creation. It is called as mula prakruti. Since, matter is also its form only, the body is also inert energy and thus basically continuous homogeneity is achieved as it is this entire creation).
The inert energy limited to the body is called as Aatman. Even the body or matter is basically inert energy and hence there is no discontinuity of the inert energy. Even the space is inert energy. In this way the homogeneous Brahman is the result. This greatest inert energy can be called as Brahman or Mula prakruti. Since, the body cannot limit the inert energy in basic sense, Aatman is simultaneously Brahman. This entire creation is generated from this mula prakruti, which is called as Brahman (Kaarya Brahman).

Paramaarthe tasyadrusi saapi kriyaiva vyavahaare kartaa .

(Even this mula prakruti or inert energy is dynamic and is also work. But this absolute concept is in the view of God only. In the relative view of the souls, this inert energy or matter is entity that does work).
Even this mula prakruti is just work of God in the view of the God, which is the absolute reality. But in the view of souls, only relative reality becomes absolute and hence for souls the same inert energy acts as an entity doing the work.

Vyavahaara eva chit kriyaa paramaarthaanupapattih .
(The awareness is a verb in the relative reality or the view of the souls. Hence, there is no use of dragging down the view of absolute reality to save chit).
There is no need of bringing the absolute reality in to the present discussion because chit is proved as a verbal noun or verb in the relative reality itself,where the inert energy is the noun or entity or doer. There is no use of converting the inert energy into work in the view of God, because there is no necessity for such effort. Already in the relative reality itself, chit isproved to be a verb or verbal noun and not actual noun.

Shaktinirodhakriyaabhramadravyam na anubhavaat kartuh.

(If you say that even the matter is an illusion created by the work of resistance of force in atoms, it is negated, due to experience of entity).

In atoms lot of space exists as per science. In fact, the solid matter consisting of packed atoms is only full of vacuum and hence the experience of solid state of matter should be the experience of the vacuum only. But the experience of solid state is quite different. When you put the finger, actually the finger should penetrate in to the solid state due to lot of vacuum existing in the closely packed atoms. But the finger does not penetrate into the solid state, which is quite opposite experience. The reason for the non penetration of finger is not due to absence of vacuum in the atoms. The highly revolving subatomic particles in the atoms create resistance-force, which does not allow the finger to penetrate in to the vacuum. Due to this an illusion is created to the observer, so that the observer thinks that there is no vacuum at all in the solid state. Hence, the solid state of matter is the effect of the work of resistance only. Now, this concludes that even the matter is a form of work like the awareness. In such case the matter should not be an entity or working element like the awareness. All this is the argument of opposition to establish awareness also as an entity like matter or to establish matter also as work or non entity like awareness.

The answer for this opposing argument is given like this: Even though the solid matter is the form of work of force or inert energy like the awareness, the result of the illusion created by such work is ending in experiencing the matter as an entity. Such experience of entity is not the result in the case of awareness even though awareness is also a form of work like solid matter. Hence, due to the difference between the experience of awareness and solid matter in the end, you cannot treat awareness as an entity like solid matter. Hence, the opposition is negated.

Jnaatrukarturanubhavojadasharirasya .

(In the case of awareness, the entity or worker is the inert body of the living being as experienced).
When you are experiencing the awareness as the work and not as an entity, for work, there is always a simultaneous requirement of its worker or entity. Now in the case of awareness being experienced as work, what is the worker that is experienced? As per the experience, the entity of awareness that is experienced is the gross body of the living being. When a human being is aware of something, the entity or worker or working element is the inert human body itself. Hence, the above sutra is a support for this concept because the inert solid matter being experienced as entity is now correlated here to experience the inert solid matter, which is the human body in this case. Hence, the matter stands as a perfect entity in the experience of the relative world.

Kriyaarupamulashakteranubhavopibhramah paramaarthe .

(Even the primordial energy is a form of work only and its experience as inert energy is illusion, but, this illusion is restricted to the absolute plane).
We have proved that the matter is also a form of work and its experience as matter is illusion. Similarly, the inert energy, which is in the primary causal form as primordial energy is also a form of work only and its experience as energy is also illusion. But this illusion cannot be taken to be in the relative world, which is the experience of the human beings.

Only in the absolute plane, which means the view of God, this primordial energy is treated as a form of work and an illusion. Here you must differentiate the case of matter from the case of primordial energy. In the case of matter, the illusion of the experience of solid state is due to the work of primordial energy. Thus, the worker is known in the case of matter in the relative plane itself. But if you take the case of primordial energy, it is realized as work but the worker is not realized in the relative plane because the primordial energy itself is the ultimate worker in the relative world.

Hence, the worker of primordial energy can be only realized in the absolute plane and never in the relative plane. Hence, you cannot completely declare the primordial energy as an illusion since the worker of primordial energy is never realized in the relative plane. The worker of the primordial energy being realized as work is God Himself and since God cannot be realized in the relative plane, you cannot cross the illusion of primordial energy. Only God can cross this ultimate illusion of the primordial energy or Mula prakruti or Mula maya.

Ekaadvitiyamparamaarthe shruteh .

(In the absolute plane, one remains without second, as per Veda).
In the absolute plane, we have concluded that the entire creation is only the dance of God, which is the work without an object. The worker or working elementor the entity that performs this work of dance or creation is God Himself. Due to the absence of any object, God is said to be one subject without second in the absolute plane. This is mentioned in Veda (Ekamevaadvitiyam Brahma).

Srushtirakarmakakriyaiva shivanrutyam .
(The creation is a work without object and hence is called as the dance of God Shiva).
There are two types of works. One is object-less work (Akarmakakriyaa) and the other is work with object (Sakarmakakriyaa). Rama killed Ravana. In this statement the verb is with object. The verb is the work of killing and the object is Ravana. Rama walks. In this statement the verb is the work ofwalking, which has no object. Now in the absolute plane, even the primordial energy, which is the ultimate cause of the creation, is proved to be a form of work only. Hence, the entire creation, which is only the different modified forms of primordial energy, becomes work only. Now, this work of creation has no object because the entire creation consisting of all objects has become work. There is no object or entity left over, which is not work. But remember,this state is the absolute plane and not the relative plane in which we are experiencing certain forms of work as objects and certain other forms of work as work only. Therefore, in the absolute plane, no object is left over and hence the entire creation becomes the work without object. When we say that somebody is dancing, the work of dancing is without object. Therefore, this entire creation is stated to be the dance of God Shiva.

At the Lotus Feet of His Holiness, Sri Dattaswami

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