Adhikarana VIII — God as Father

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18. (If it be objected that we cannot so infer) because of the syntactical connection; (we reply) it may be (so inferred): because (the idea of the Supreme Self) is understood (throughout the whole of the second chapter of the Taittiriya Upanishad). — 379.

COMMENTARY

«But», says an objector, «we cannot infer for certainty that the word ‘Atman’ applied to the Anandamaya, must moan the Param-Atman — the universal consciousness; and not the Jiva-Atman — the conditioned consciousness. Because the word Atman has been applied in the previous Anuvakas to Jadam (or Prakritic bodies) like the Pranamaya, and Manomaya; as well as to the Anu-chetana or the Atomic consciousness, namely, the diva, i.e., the Vijnanamaya». To this Ave reply — Syat, namely, that it may be inferred with certainty that the Supreme Self, the Universal Consciousness, is meant by the word Atman in the Anandamaya passages because in the very first Anuvaka. He is referred to in the sentence ‘…’ etc., «From that Atman indeed sprang ether». Here the word Atman distinctly refers to the Paramatman, and this fact is kept or retained (Avadharita) in mind throughout, in studying the succeeding Anuvakas. Otherwise, the text teaching meditation on the Anandamaya would be nullified. The idea of tin; Paramatman, taken from the first Anuvaka (from the text ‘Etasmad Atmanah’), remains latent in the mind, while passing over the succeeding Anuvakas (sections) which treat of the Pranamaya Atman, Manomaya Atman, etc.; but finds no halting place till it comes to the Anandamaya Atman; because there is taught no higher Atman than the Anandamaya. Therefore, on the maxim of showing the star Arundhati, the previous Atmans are rejected, as not being the Paramatman, and the mind finds its full satisfaction in the Atman of bliss, after which no other Atman is enumerated. Thus the opening passage (Etasmad Atmanah and the concluding passage: (‘Sa idam sarvam asrijat’) show that the Anandamaya Atman is the Supreme Self.

Note: hi order to load up to the Paramatman (mentioned in the first section) the Taittiriya Upanishad at first refers to the «Man of Food» — the Annamaya; then to the «Man of Breath» the Manomaya; then to the «Man of Mind» — the Manomaya, then to the «Man of Understanding» — the Vijnanamaya. Every one of these in succession is taken to be the Supreme Self; but this wrong notion is continually corrected by the saying, «Different from this, is the other, the inner self». But when the Anandamaya self is reached, there is no such corrective applied: there is no such saying «different from this, the Anandamaya self, is the other, the Inner Self, the Brahman». The Shruti thus gradually leads up to the Anandamaya and halts there, indicating thereby that this is the Innermost Self, the Paramatman. Hence the meditation on the Anandamaya is meditation on Brahman.

The star Arundhati is barely visible to the naked eye: to point it out, therefore, some very big star near it is shown at first as Arundhati, then it is rejected and a smaller star is pointed out as Arundhati, and so on till the actual Arundhati is located. This method of leading from the gross to the more subtle is called the Arundhati Nyaya.

The author now wishes to show that the attributes of Brahman like those of being the father, mother, etc., should also be comprised in meditation on Him.

Vishaya: Thus says a Shruti:

Narayana is the Mother, the Father, the Brother, Abode, Shelter, Lover and the Path. cf. Gita, IX., 17, 18).

In the Jitanta-stotra, first Chapter, also it is said:

Thou alone art my father, mother, lover, friend, brother, and son. Thou art my learning, riches, and desires — I have nothing else but Thee — (Thou art my all in all.)

In the middle and the last chapters of the same, we find:

From my very birth I am thy slave, I am thy pupil, and thy son, am T. Thou art my Master, thou my Teacher, and my father and mother thou, O Madhava!

Doubt: Now arises the following doubt: Are these various qualities of fatherhood, sonhood, friendliness, masterhood, etc., to be meditated upon in the worship of Brahman or should they not?

Purvapaksha: The Lord must be worshipped as Atman alone, as says the Shruti: ‘…’ should not be meditated upon as father, etc.

Siddhanta: The refutation of this is given below:

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