Like in Savitri I understand Canto 3 and can imagine those other realms. But I still see this as Energy, I am having hard time accepting how Vedas/ Puranas/ Upanishads describe how this universe was created. I have trouble believing in Lord Vishnu lying down and Lord Bramha extending out from his belly button. I believe in all human अवतार.
But, at the same time if I have trouble with existence of Bramha, Vishnu and Mahesh, the rebirth theory falls apart for me, and I do believe in rebirth, I do believe in spirituality, I have had many experiences to prove these things otherwise. But still I have trouble imagining that Bramha Vishnu and Mahesh as we see them depicted in pictures, sitting up there and handling this Universe. I tend to believe more in Energy form of it. I do believe in Vishnu’s Rama and Krishna Avtars, but that too I tend to think as energy, as they had more spiritual energy at the time than the rest. I haven’t tried , but if Akashik Records are to be believed, all the Avtar’s were somehow using them. The more I think the more I get confused. Sri Aurobindo and Mataji too were able to tap into that highest concentration of energy? But Sri Arobindo actually saw Shri Krishna, what was that? I saw Shri Aurobindo and Mataji Twice, How?
The images that we find described in the Vedas and the Puranas (the Upanishads hardly use images; they use stories as well as ideas) are largely symbolic that describe deep experiential truths that are not easy to convey to the human mind without the support of images.
The trinity is easy enough to understand as the three principle forces operative in the world that we find working everywhere. First is Shiva as Nataraja, the cosmic dancer whose dance sets the rhythms and metres of the world across boundless Space and endless Time. With this dance the cosmic sea, the ocean of milk or the concentrated light of knowledge (ksheer sagar) begins to stir and Anant Nag, the evolutionary energy of Time, begins to unfold. In the heart of this unfolding is the great Preserver Vishnu who, along with his consort Lakhmi must ensure that the balance, the rhythm set in motion is kept in a state of harmony lest creation collapses into chaos. But for this creation of forms and their destruction must go hand in hand. So we see Brahma emerging from the navel which is nearly the middle of the body, the place where ordinarily the womb is found, the swadhisthana chakra. He builds forms as they are dreamed by Vishnu, the cosmic dreamer who in his sleep creates. Finally Rudra dissolves them to keep the cosmic balance. Behind them all is Krishna, the Ananda that sustains the triple movement of creation, preservation and destruction.
The same four we find described in the Mandukya Upanishad as the four states of the One Ultimate Reality called Brahman. Here they are termed as states of consciousness making the conception universal, that is waking, dream, sleep and the Ultimate that is Beyond yet holds the three together. We see a similar description in the Vedas, less picturesque as the Purana describing the One Godhead as fourfold, Virat, Hiranyagarbha, Prajna and the Parabrahman. These four are actually four aspects of the One Divine who is known as Sacchidananda. Sat is infinite existence that manifests as Brahma when different forms of the One Existence has to be created out of the One. Chit is Consciousness that manifests as Vishnu when the different forms have to be woven together in an interconnected oneness. Tapas (inherent in Consciousness) or Force is Shiva who is required both for releasing the seeds of creation from the One into various rhythms and potenties of the One and again when they have to be drawn back when their purpose is over into the One. And Ananda is of course Krishna because of whom the cosmic play is there, for whom and by whom the play is sustained and even comes into being.
One may say that why should we differentiate? Why not simply say One Energy or Power? Well the differentiation naturally arises when The One Power assumes different functions by limiting itself to this or that aspect. Form implies a limitation. It is like when the Prime Minister delegates His powers to different ministers for ease of functioning. Naturally with limitation of functioning comes form and name. For example when you limit the flow of water you have different forms each with its function such as dam, stream, river, pond, sea, or smaller still such as water in a bucket or tank and reservoir etc. So too forms arise out of the Formless. Nature creates rhese forms as symbols of the reality they represent. For example man, lion, river, sky, sun, mountain, snake, fishes each form represents the reality they represent. So too with the gods and their forms except that their forms are subtle and plastic unlike material forms. This too is simple to understand if we see that all creation expresses through these different stages.
For example, any Poetry or writing or painting goes through the same three stages of creation. First is an inmost stage when it is as if going through an oestrus, a heat or tapas manifesting as a vague urge to write. Next it enters the dream phase whence just as Vishnu is lying with closed eyes on the bed of endless Time, the subject enters the world of thoughts and feelings and goes through an inner churning when it is taking shape and form, the characters, the colours, the moulds are shaping up in the mind. Finally it emerges in the outer form for all to see and enjoy just as Brahma appears out of Vishnu and then wakes him up. Thus Brahma has four or five heads that create all around in Space. Vishnu is dreaming and his dream is brought to life by Brahma. Shiva on the barest of bare mountain peak is the symbol of a state either before the beginning or after the dissolution of creation. These forms exist in the subtle worlds where creation corresponds to something in the material. The yogis develop the subtle senses and can see the gods there.
So why think that your experience or of other yogis who saw these forms in the subtle dream world are wrong? Of course the outer human mind does add something of its own. Very few can see these forms in the subtle world exactly as they are. Besides when the Television people and story painters paint it they make awful things. Brahma is old being the creator God so he must be bearded, Shiva being an ascetic must look little wild, Krishna is Ananda so he must be youthful and smiling. But these are minor and incidental things. Gods and their forms exist and one can experience them is the underlying reality.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
