We saw in the last post that Īśvara is The Conscious Being. Let us understand the relationship between Īśvara and you.
You are also a conscious being. The consciousness that you are is self-evident and self-revealing. As consciousness both you and Īśvara, are identical. There is no difference. However, Īśvara has all-knowledge, whereas you have limited knowledge. Īśvara has all-power, whereas no matter how powerful you are, you still have limited power. It like the wave and ocean – as water they are both identical. Yet wave is but a part of the ocean. The biggest wave is still not as big and as powerful as the ocean. Associated with your body-mind complex, you have no separate existence from Īśvara, just as wave has no separate existence from the ocean. Associated with the body-mind-complex, you can invoke Īśvara’s all-knowledge, all-power through prayer and develop Īśvara’s different śaktis coursing through your body-mind complex, making meaningful contribution to Īśvara’s universe. You can also choose to study vedānta and in due course own up your identity with Īśvara and recognize your innate divinity and fullness.
Another meaningful name for Īśvara is Bhagavān. In Viśnu Purāṇa 6.5.74, Bhagavān is described as :-
ऐश्वर्यस्य समग्रस्य वीर्यस्य यशसः श्रियः।
ज्ञान-वैराग्ययोश्चैव षण्णां भग इतीरणा॥
The one who is endowed in absolute measure with ‘bhaga’, the six-fold virtues of aiśvarya - overlordship, jñāna -knowledge, vairagya-dispassion, vīrya -the capacity to create, sustain and resolve, yaśas -fame, śrī -wealth, is called as Bhagavān.
Just as the one who has bala (strength) is called as balavān, the one who has dhana (wealth) is called as dhanavān, so too, the one who is endowed with
total overlordship
total knowledge
absolute discrimination,
absolute power, the capacity to create, sustain and resolve in total measure,
total fame,
total wealth,
the six-fold bhaga is called Bhagavān.
The interesting thing about Bhagavān having total knowledge is that Bhagavān does not require a mind, nor does Bhagavān require senses, nor any other means of knowledge to know. We, as individuals, however, do require a mind to know. So our knowledge is always limited by our mind. Bhagavān on the other hand, being in the form of all-knowledge, simultaneously knows everything about everything in the universe. Isn’t that mind-boggling!
Total vairāgya refers to absolute dispassion, indicating an absence of longing or insecurity. While limited dispassion implies a need for something external to feel complete—leading to the fear of not obtaining it or losing it—Bhagavān is entirely free from such needs. Consequently, Bhagavān, is totally free of insecurity. An individual on the other hand, has got limited vairāgya. My Guruji used to give this example of how we eat the banana and discard the peel. We have vairāgya towards the peel! We don't harbor likes or dislikes towards the peel. So we have vairāgya towards the banana peel, yet we certainly do not have total while vairāgya.
Vīrya also refers to total power, absolute power. Unlike we individuals, Bhagavān, has absolute power to create, to sustain and to resolve the creation. Just imagine, every moment, simultaneously, the powers of creating, sustaining and resolving are manifesting, throughout the universe.
Since Bhagavān is in the form of the whole universe along with all its amazing glories, total fame or samagram yaśas belongs to Him. Every talent that we possess, every śakti, we possess belongs to Bhagavān. If there are other living beings, in other planets, possessing different powers, all of those too belong to Bhagavān
The śrī, wealth of the entire universe belongs to Bhagavān. All that is here belongs to Bhagavān. The individual is only a trustee for all that is entrusted to him or her. The individual is never a owner of anything in this universe, not even his or her body, he/she is just a trustee for the body that he or she is endowed with. As my Guruji would say, our family, our home, any real estate, anything that we think we possess, including one’s capacity to earn, is all wealth and it is all given, it is all bhagavat prasāda. It does not belong to us.
Aiśvarya signifies Bhagavān's absolute capacity for mastery and control over everything in the universe. Bhagavān possesses total aiśvarya, meaning no one rules over him, and he is not subject to any external laws. In contrast, individuals possess only limited aiśvarya, which we experience in small opportunities, as when we choose to water a dying plant or help an ant struggling in a pool. My Guruji often highlighted these small acts as moments where we exercise our own limited mastery and control.
Thus Bhagavān or Īśvara, is defined as one who has these six-fold virus in total measure. And we we saw from our earlier posts, Īśvara is everything that is here now, that was there in the past and that will be there in the future. All that is here is but a form of Īśvara, the cause. All forms are manifestations of Īśvara alone. They have no independent existence from Īśvara. In fact they are Īśvara. And all these forms have names. So these names are nothing but names for Īśvara. The forms being countless, the names are also countless. So Īśvara has infinite names and only a thousand are given in the Viśṇu Ṣahasranāma!
In the next post we will look at the dialogue between Yudhiṣṭhira and Bhīṣma, which results in Bhīṣma reciting the Viśṇu Ṣahasranāma.
Om Tat Sat
