{"id":66872,"date":"2024-03-09T09:29:43","date_gmt":"2024-03-09T13:29:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/?p=66872"},"modified":"2024-05-09T09:31:49","modified_gmt":"2024-05-09T13:31:49","slug":"the-goal-of-vedanta-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/the-goal-of-vedanta-study\/","title":{"rendered":"The Goal of Vedanta Study"},"content":{"rendered":"
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CHAPTER TWENTY<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n
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The Goal of Ved\u0101nta Study<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n
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It is concluded that Lord K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, or Vi\u1e63\u1e47u, is not of this material world. He belongs to the spiritual world. One who considers Him to be a demigod of the material world is a great offender and blasphemer. Lord Vi\u1e63\u1e47u is not subject to perception by material senses, nor can He be realized by mental speculation. Unlike in the material world, where there is always a difference between the body and the soul, there is no difference between the body and soul of the Supreme Lord Vi\u1e63\u1e47u.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Material things are enjoyed by the living entities because the living entities are superior in quality whereas material nature is inferior. Thus the superior nature, the living entities, can enjoy the inferior nature, matter. Because Lord Vi\u1e63\u1e47u is in no way touched by matter, He has no tendency to enjoy material nature the way the living entities do. The living entities cannot attain knowledge of Vi\u1e63\u1e47u by enjoying their habits of mental speculation. The infinitesimal living entities are not the enjoyers of Vi\u1e63\u1e47u, but they are enjoyed by Vi\u1e63\u1e47u. Only the greatest offender thinks that Vi\u1e63\u1e47u is enjoyed. The greatest blasphemy is to consider Vi\u1e63\u1e47u and the living entity on the same level.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Supreme Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, is compared to a blazing fire, and the innumerable living entities are compared to sparks emanating from that fire. Although both the Supreme Lord and the living entities are qualitatively fire, there is yet a distinction. Vi\u1e63\u1e47u, the Supreme, is infinite, whereas the living entities, which are but sparks, are infinitesimal. The infinitesimal living entities are emanations from the original infinite spirit. In their constitutional position as infinitesimal spirits, there is no trace of matter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The living entities are not as great as N\u0101r\u0101ya\u1e47a, Vi\u1e63\u1e47u, who is beyond this material creation. Even \u015aa\u1e45kar\u0101c\u0101rya accepts N\u0101r\u0101ya\u1e47a to be beyond the material creation. Since neither Vi\u1e63\u1e47u nor the living entity are of the material creation, someone may inquire, \u201cWhy were the small particles of spirit created at all?\u201d The answer is that the Supreme Absolute Truth is complete in His perfection when He is both infinite and infinitesimal. If He were simply infinite but not infinitesimal, He would not be perfect. The infinite portion is the vi\u1e63\u1e47u-tattva,<\/i> or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the infinitesimal portion is the living entity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Due to the infinite desires of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the spiritual world exists, and due to the infinitesimal desires of the living entity, the material world exists. When the infinitesimal living entities are engaged in trying to fulfill their infinitesimal desires for material enjoyment, they are called j\u012bva-\u015bakti,<\/i> but when they are dovetailed with the infinite, they are called liberated souls. There is no need to ask, therefore, why God created the infinitesimal portions: they are simply the complementary side of the Supreme. It is doubtlessly essential for the infinite to have infinitesimal portions which are inseparable parts and parcels of the Supreme Soul. Because the living entities are infinitesimal parts and parcels of the Supreme, there is a reciprocation of feelings between the infinite and the infinitesimal. Had there been no infinitesimal living entities, the Supreme Lord would have been inactive, and there would not be variegatedness in spiritual life. There would be no meaning to a king if there were no subjects, and there would be no meaning to the Supreme God if there were no infinitesimal living entities. How can there be meaning to the word \u201clord\u201d if there is no one to rule? The conclusion is that the living entities are expansions of the energy of the Supreme Lord and that the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, is the energetic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In all Vedic literatures, including the Bhagavad-g\u012bt\u0101<\/a><\/i> and Vi\u1e63\u1e47u Pur\u0101\u1e47a,<\/i> much evidence is given to distinguish between the energy and the energetic. In the Bhagavad-g\u012bt\u0101<\/i> (7.4)<\/a> it is clearly stated that earth, water, fire, air and ether (the five gross elements of the material world) and mind, intelligence and false ego (the three subtle elements) are the Lord\u2019s energies. All material nature is divided into these eight elements, which together comprise His inferior nature, or energy. Another name for this inferior nature is m\u0101y\u0101,<\/i> or illusion. Beyond these eight inferior elements is His superior energy, which is called par\u0101-prak\u1e5bti<\/i>. This par\u0101-prak\u1e5bti<\/i> comprises the living entities, who are found in great numbers throughout the material world. The purport is that the Supreme Lord is the Absolute Truth, the energetic, and that as such He has energies. When one of His energies is not properly manifested, or when it is covered by some shadow, it is called m\u0101y\u0101-\u015bakti<\/i>. The material cosmic manifestation is a product of that m\u0101y\u0101-\u015bakti<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The living entities are factually beyond this covered, inferior energy. They have their pure spiritual existence, their pure identity and their pure mental activities \u2013 all beyond the manifestation of this material cosmos. Although the living entity\u2019s mind, intelligence and identity are beyond the range of this material world, when he enters into this material world due to his desire to lord it over matter, his original mind, intelligence and body become covered by the material energy. When he is again free of the covering of this material, inferior energy, he is called liberated. When he is liberated he has no false ego, but his real ego again comes into existence. Foolish mental speculators think that after liberation one\u2019s identity is lost, but that is not so. Because the living entity is eternally part and parcel of God, when he is liberated he revives his original, eternal, part-and-parcel identity. The realization of aha\u1e41 brahm\u0101smi<\/i> (\u201cI am spirit, not this body\u201d) does not mean that the living entity loses his identity. At the present moment a person may consider himself to be matter, but in his liberated state he will understand that he is not matter but spirit soul, part of the infinite. To become K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a conscious, or spiritually conscious, and to engage in the transcendental loving service of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a are signs of the liberated stage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In the Vi\u1e63\u1e47u Pur\u0101\u1e47a<\/i> (6.7.61) it is clearly stated:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

vi\u1e63\u1e47u-\u015bakti\u1e25 par\u0101 prokta
\n\u2003\u2003<\/span>k\u1e63etra-j\u00f1\u0101khy\u0101 tath\u0101 par\u0101
\navidy\u0101-karma-sa\u1e41j\u00f1\u0101ny\u0101
\n\u2003\u2003<\/span>t\u1e5bt\u012by\u0101 \u015baktir i\u1e63yate<\/em><\/div>\n
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\u201cThe energy of the Supreme Lord is divided into three: par\u0101, k\u1e63etra-j\u00f1a<\/i> and avidy\u0101<\/i>.\u201d The par\u0101<\/i> energy is actually the energy of the Supreme Lord Himself, the k\u1e63etra-j\u00f1a<\/i> energy is the living entity, and the avidy\u0101<\/i> energy is the material world, or m\u0101y\u0101<\/i>. It is called avidy\u0101,<\/i> or ignorance, because under the spell of this material energy one forgets his actual position and his relationship with the Supreme Lord. The conclusion is that the living entities represent one of the energies of the Supreme Lord. As infinitesimal parts and parcels of the Supreme, they are called j\u012bvas<\/i>. If the j\u012bvas<\/i> are artificially placed on the same level with the infinite Supreme because both of them are Brahman, or spirit, then bewilderment will certainly be the result.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Generally M\u0101y\u0101v\u0101d\u012b philosophers are perplexed before a learned Vai\u1e63\u1e47ava because the M\u0101y\u0101v\u0101d\u012bs cannot explain the cause of bondage of the living entities. They simply say, \u201cIt is due to ignorance,\u201d but they cannot explain how the living entities can be covered by ignorance if they are supreme. The actual reason is that the living entities, although qualitatively one with the Supreme, are infinitesimal, not infinite. Had they been infinite, there would have been no possibility of their being covered by ignorance. Because the living entity is infinitesimal, he can be covered by an inferior energy. The foolishness and ignorance of the M\u0101y\u0101v\u0101d\u012bs are revealed when they try to explain how the infinite can be covered by ignorance. It is offensive to attempt to qualify the infinite by arguing that He is subject to the spell of ignorance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Although \u015aa\u1e45kara attempted to cover the Supreme Lord by his M\u0101y\u0101v\u0101da philosophy, he was simply following the order of the Supreme Lord. It should be understood that his teachings were a timely necessity but not a permanent fact. In the Ved\u0101nta-s\u016btra<\/i> the distinction between the energy and the energetic is accepted from the very beginning. The second aphorism of the Ved\u0101nta-s\u016btra<\/i> \u2013 janm\u0101dy<\/i> asya yata\u1e25 \u2013 <\/i>clearly states that the Supreme Absolute Truth is the source of all emanations. Thus the emanations are the energy of the Supreme, whereas the Supreme Himself is the energetic. \u015aa\u1e45kara has falsely argued that if the transformation of energy is accepted, the Supreme Absolute Truth cannot remain immutable. But this is not true. Despite the fact that unlimited energies are always being generated, the Supreme Absolute Truth remains always the same. He is not affected by the emanation of unlimited energies. \u015aa\u1e45kar\u0101c\u0101rya has therefore incorrectly established his theory of illusion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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R\u0101m\u0101nuj\u0101c\u0101rya has discussed this point very nicely: \u201cOne may argue, \u2018Since there was only one Absolute Truth before the creation of this material world, how is it possible that the living entities emanated from Him? If He were alone, how could He have produced or generated the infinitesimal living entities?\u2019 In answer to this question, the Vedas<\/i> state that everything is generated from the Absolute Truth, everything is maintained by the Absolute Truth and, after annihilation, everything enters into the Absolute Truth. This statement from the Upani\u1e63ads<\/i> makes it clear that when the living entities are liberated they enter into the supreme existence without changing their original constitutional position.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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We must always remember that the Supreme Lord has His creative function and that the infinitesimal living entities have their creative functions also. It is not that their creative function is lost when they are liberated and enter into the Supreme after the dissolution of the material body. On the contrary, the creative function of the living entity is properly manifested in the liberated state. If the living entity\u2019s activities are manifest even when he is materially conditioned, then how is it possible for his activities to stop when he attains liberation? The living entity\u2019s entering the state of liberation may be compared to a bird entering a tree, or an animal entering the forest, or a plane entering the sky. In no case are activities stopped.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When explaining the second aphorism of the Ved\u0101nta-s\u016btra,<\/i> \u015aa\u1e45kara has most unceremoniously tried to explain that Brahman, or the Supreme Absolute Truth, is impersonal. He has also cunningly tried to switch the doctrine of by-products into the doctrine of change. For the Supreme Absolute Truth, there is no change. It is simply that a by-product results from His inconceivable powers of action. In other words, a relative truth \u2013 a by-product \u2013 is produced out of the Supreme Truth. For example, when a chair is produced out of crude wood, it is said that a by-product is produced. The Supreme Absolute Truth, Brahman, is immutable, and when we find a by-product \u2013 the living entity or this cosmic manifestation \u2013 it is a transformation of the Supreme\u2019s energies, or a by-product of the Supreme. It is like milk being transformed into yogurt. In this way, if we study the living entities in the cosmic manifestation, it will appear that they are not different from the original Absolute Truth, but from the Vedic literature we understand that the Absolute Truth has varieties of energy and that the living entities and the cosmic manifestation are but a demonstration of His energies. The energies are not separate from the energetic; therefore the living entity and cosmic manifestation are inseparable truths, part of the Absolute Truth. Such a conclusion regarding the Absolute Truth and the relative truth should be acceptable to any sane man.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Supreme Absolute Truth has His inconceivable potency, out of which this cosmic manifestation has been produced. In other words, the Supreme Absolute Truth supplies the ingredients, and the living entity and cosmic manifestation are the by-products. In the Taittir\u012bya Upani\u1e63ad<\/i> it is clearly stated, yato v\u0101 im\u0101ni bh\u016bt\u0101ni j\u0101yante:<\/i> \u201cThe Absolute Truth is the original reservoir of all ingredients, and this material world and its living entities are produced from those ingredients.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Less intelligent persons who cannot understand this doctrine of by-products cannot grasp how the cosmic manifestation and the living entity are simultaneously one with and different from the Absolute Truth. Not understanding this, one concludes that the doctrine of by-products implies that the Absolute Truth itself is transformed. Unnecessarily fearing this, one then concludes that this cosmic manifestation and the living entity are false. \u015aa\u1e45kar\u0101c\u0101rya gives the example of a rope being mistaken for a snake, and sometimes the example of mistaking an oyster shell for gold is cited, but surely such arguments are ways of cheating. As mentioned in the M\u0101\u1e47\u1e0d\u016bkya Upani\u1e63ad,<\/i> the examples of mistaking a rope for a snake and an oyster shell for gold have their proper applications and can be understood as follows. The living entity in his original constitutional position is pure spirit. When a human being identifies himself with the material body, his misidentification is like mistaking a rope for a snake, or an oyster shell for gold. The doctrine of illusory transformation of state is accepted when one thing is mistaken for another. Actually the body is not the living entity, but according to the doctrine of illusory transformation of state one accepts the body as the living entity. Every conditioned soul is undoubtedly contaminated by this doctrine of illusory transformation of state.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The conditioned state of the living entity is his diseased condition. Originally the living entity and the original cause of this cosmic manifestation exist outside the state of transformation. But mistaken thoughts and arguments can overcome a person when he forgets the inconceivable energies of the Supreme Lord. Even in the material world there are many examples of inconceivable energy. The sun has been producing unlimited energy from time immemorial, and so many by-products result from the sun; yet there is no change in the heat and temperature of the sun itself. If the sun, despite being a material product, can maintain its original temperature and yet produce so many by-products, is it difficult to understand that the Supreme Absolute Truth remains unchanged in spite of producing so many by-products by His inconceivable energy? Thus there is no question of transformation as far as the Supreme Absolute Truth is concerned.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In Vedic literatures there is information of a material object called a \u201ctouchstone,\u201d which, simply by touch, can transform iron into gold. The touchstone can produce an unlimited quantity of gold and yet remain unchanged. Only in the state of ignorance can one accept the M\u0101y\u0101v\u0101da conclusion that this cosmic manifestation and the living entities are false or illusory. No sane man would attempt to impose ignorance and illusion upon the Supreme Absolute Truth, who is absolute in everything. There is no possibility of change, ignorance or illusion in Him. The Supreme Brahman, the Supreme Absolute Truth, is transcendental, completely different from all material conceptions, and full of inconceivable potencies. The \u015avet\u0101\u015bvatara Upani\u1e63ad<\/i> confirms that the Supreme Absolute Personality of Godhead is full of inconceivable energies and that no one else possesses such energies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It is only by misunderstanding the inconceivable energies of the Supreme that one may conclude that the Supreme Absolute Truth is impersonal. Such a deluded conclusion is experienced by a living being when he is in an acute stage of disease. In \u015ar\u012bmad-Bh\u0101gavatam<\/i> (3.33.3)<\/a> there is a clear statement that the supreme \u0101tm\u0101,<\/i> the Lord, has inconceivable and innumerable potencies. It is also stated in Brahma-sa\u1e41hit\u0101<\/i> (5.5) that the Supreme Spirit has many variegated and inconceivable energies. Nor should one think that there is any possibility of ignorance existing in the Absolute Truth. Ignorance and knowledge are conceptions in this world of duality, but in the Absolute there cannot be any ignorance. It is simply foolishness to consider that the Absolute is covered by ignorance. If the Absolute Truth could be covered by ignorance, how could it be said to be Absolute?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Understanding the inconceivable energies of the Absolute is the only solution to the question of duality. This is because duality arises from the inconceivable energies of the Absolute. By His inconceivable energies, the Supreme Absolute Truth can remain unchanged and yet produce this cosmic manifestation with all its living entities, just as a touchstone can produce unlimited quantities of gold and yet remain unchanged. Because the Absolute Truth has such inconceivable energies, the material quality of ignorance cannot pertain to Him. The true variegatedness which exists in the Absolute Truth is a product of His inconceivable energies. Indeed, it can be safely concluded that this cosmic manifestation is but a by-product of His inconceivable energies. Once we accept the inconceivable energies of the Supreme Lord, we will find that there is no duality at all. The expansion of the energies of the Supreme Lord is as true as the Supreme Lord Himself. But despite all the variegated manifestations of the Supreme Lord\u2019s energies, there is no question of transformation for the Supreme Lord Himself. Once again the example of the touchstone can be cited: in spite of producing unlimited quantities of gold, the touchstone remains the same. (We therefore hear some sages say that the Supreme is the \u201cingredient cause\u201d of this cosmic manifestation.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Also, the example of the rope and the snake is not irregular. When we accept a rope to be a snake, it is to be understood that we have experienced a snake previously. Otherwise, how can the rope be mistaken for a snake? Thus the conception of a snake is not untrue or unreal in itself. It is the false identification that is untrue or unreal. When, by mistake, we consider the rope to be a snake, that is our ignorance. But the very idea of a snake is not in itself ignorance. Similarly, when we accept a mirage in the desert to be water, there is no question of water being a false concept. Water is a fact, but it is a mistake to think that there is water in the desert.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Thus this cosmic manifestation is not false, as \u015aa\u1e45kar\u0101c\u0101rya maintains. Actually, there is nothing false here. It is because of ignorance that the M\u0101y\u0101v\u0101d\u012bs say this world is false. The conclusion of the Vai\u1e63\u1e47ava philosophy is that this cosmic manifestation is a by-product of the inconceivable energies of the Supreme Lord.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The principal word in the Vedas \u2013 pra\u1e47ava, <\/i>or o\u1e41-k\u0101ra \u2013 <\/i>is the sound representation of the Supreme Lord. Therefore o\u1e41-k\u0101ra<\/i> should be considered the supreme sound. But \u015aa\u1e45kar\u0101c\u0101rya has falsely preached that the phrase tat tvam asi<\/i> is the supreme vibration. O\u1e41-k\u0101ra<\/i> is the reservoir of all the energies of the Supreme Lord. \u015aa\u1e45kara is wrong in maintaining that tat tvam asi<\/i> is the supreme vibration of the Vedas,<\/i> for tat tvam asi<\/i> is only a secondary vibration. Tat tvam asi<\/i> suggests only a partial representation of the Vedas<\/i>. In several verses of the Bhagavad-g\u012bt\u0101<\/i> (8.13<\/a>, 9.17, 17.24) the Lord has given importance to o\u1e41-k\u0101ra<\/i>. Similarly, o\u1e41-k\u0101ra <\/i>is given importance in the Atharva Veda<\/i> and the M\u0101\u1e47\u1e0d\u016bkya Upani\u1e63ad<\/i>. In his Bhagavat-sandarbha,<\/i> \u015ar\u012bla J\u012bva Gosv\u0101m\u012b has given great importance to o\u1e41-k\u0101ra:<\/i> \u201cO\u1e41-k\u0101ra <\/i>is the most confidential sound representation of the Supreme Lord.\u201d The sound representation or name of the Supreme Lord is as good as the Supreme Lord Himself. By vibrating such sounds as o\u1e41-k\u0101ra<\/i> or Hare K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, Hare K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, Hare Hare\/ Hare R\u0101ma, Hare R\u0101ma, R\u0101ma R\u0101ma, Hare Hare, one can be delivered from the contamination of this material world. Because such vibrations of transcendental sound can deliver a conditioned soul, they are known as t\u0101raka-mantras.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That the sound vibration of the Supreme Lord is identical with the Supreme Lord is confirmed in the N\u0101rada Pa\u00f1car\u0101tra:<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

vyakta\u1e41 hi bhagav\u0101n eva
\n\u2003\u2003<\/span>s\u0101k\u1e63\u0101n-n\u0101r\u0101ya\u1e47a\u1e25 svayam
\na\u1e63\u1e6d\u0101k\u1e63ara-svar\u016bpe\u1e47a
\n\u2003\u2003<\/span>mukhe\u1e63u parivartate<\/em><\/div>\n
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\u201cWhen the transcendental sound is vibrated by a conditioned soul, the Supreme Lord is present on his tongue.\u201d In the M\u0101\u1e47\u1e0d\u016bkya Upani\u1e63ad<\/i> it is said that when o\u1e41-k\u0101ra <\/i>is chanted, one attains perfect spiritual vision. In other words, in spiritual vision, or the spiritual world, there is nothing but o\u1e41-k\u0101ra<\/i>. Unfortunately, \u015aa\u1e45kara has abandoned this chief word, o\u1e41-k\u0101ra,<\/i> and has whimsically accepted tat tvam asi<\/i> as the supreme vibration of the Vedas<\/i>. By accepting such a secondary vibration and leaving aside the principal vibration, he has given up the direct interpretation of the scripture in favor of his own indirect interpretation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u015ar\u012bp\u0101da \u015aa\u1e45kar\u0101c\u0101rya has unceremoniously obscured the K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a consciousness described in the puru\u1e63a Ved\u0101nta-s\u016btra<\/i> by manufacturing an indirect interpretation and abandoning the direct interpretation. Unless we take all the statements of the Ved\u0101nta-s\u016btra<\/i> as self-evident, there is no point in studying the Ved\u0101nta-s\u016btra<\/i>. Interpreting the aphorisms of the Ved\u0101nta-s\u016btra<\/i> according to one\u2019s own whim is the greatest disservice to the self-evident Vedas<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As far as the o\u1e41-k\u0101ra <\/i>(pra\u1e47ava<\/i>) is concerned, it is considered to be the sound incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As such, o\u1e41-k\u0101ra<\/i> is eternal, unlimited, transcendental, supreme and indestructible. He (o\u1e41-k\u0101ra<\/i>) is the beginning, middle and end, and He is beginningless as well. When one understands o\u1e41-k\u0101ra<\/i> as such, he becomes immortal. One should thus know o\u1e41-k\u0101ra<\/i> as a representation of the Supreme situated in everyone\u2019s heart. One who understands o\u1e41-k\u0101ra<\/i> and Vi\u1e63\u1e47u as being one and the same and all-pervading never laments in the material world, nor does he remain a \u015b\u016bdra<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Although He (o\u1e41-k\u0101ra<\/i>) has no material form, He is unlimitedly expanded and has unlimited form. By understanding o\u1e41-k\u0101ra<\/i> one can become free from the duality of the material world and attain absolute knowledge. Therefore o\u1e41-k\u0101ra<\/i>is the most auspicious representation of the Supreme Lord. Such is the description given by the M\u0101\u1e47\u1e0d\u016bkya Upani\u1e63ad<\/i>. One should not foolishly interpret an Upani\u1e63adic description and say that it is because the Supreme Personality of Godhead cannot appear Himself in this material world in His own form that He sends His sound representation (o\u1e41-k\u0101ra<\/i>) instead. Due to such a false interpretation, o\u1e41-k\u0101ra<\/i> has come to be considered something material, and consequently o\u1e41-k\u0101ra<\/i> is misunderstood and eulogized as being simply an exhibition or symbol of the Lord. Actually o\u1e41-k\u0101ra<\/i> is as good as any other incarnation of the Supreme Lord.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Lord has innumerable incarnations, and o\u1e41-k\u0101ra<\/i> is one of them, in the form of a transcendental syllable. As K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a states in the Bhagavad-g\u012bt\u0101<\/a> <\/i>(9.17): \u201cAmong vibrations, I am the syllable o\u1e41<\/i>.\u201d This means that o\u1e41-k\u0101ra<\/i> is nondifferent from K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a. Impersonalists, however, give more importance to o\u1e41-k\u0101ra<\/i> than to the Personality of Godhead, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a. But the fact is that any representational incarnation of the Supreme Lord is nondifferent from Him. Such an incarnation or representation is as good spiritually as the Supreme Lord. O\u1e41-k\u0101ra<\/i> is therefore the ultimate representation of all the Vedas<\/i>. Indeed, the Vedic mantras or hymns have transcendental value because they are prefixed by the syllable o\u1e41<\/i>. The Vai\u1e63\u1e47avas interpret o\u1e41-k\u0101ra, <\/i>a combination of the letters a, u<\/i> and m,<\/i> as follows: The letter a<\/i> indicates K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the letter u <\/i>indicates \u015ar\u012bmat\u012b R\u0101dh\u0101r\u0101\u1e47\u012b, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s eternal consort, and the letter m<\/i>indicates the living entity, the eternal servitor of the Supreme Lord. \u015aa\u1e45kara has not given such importance to o\u1e41-k\u0101ra<\/i>. But such importance is given in the Vedas,<\/i> the R\u0101m\u0101ya\u1e47a,<\/i> the Pur\u0101\u1e47as<\/i> and the Mah\u0101bh\u0101rata,<\/i> from beginning to end. Thus the glories of the Supreme Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, are declared.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHAPTER TWENTY The Goal of Ved\u0101nta Study It is concluded that Lord K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, or Vi\u1e63\u1e47u, is not of this material world. He belongs to the spiritual world. One who considers Him to be a demigod of … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[138],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-area9"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-03 16:03:37","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66872\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}