Pariprasna

Q & A with Srimat Swami Tapasyananda (1904 to 1991), Vice-President of the Ramakrishna Order.

Approach the wise sages, offer reverential salutations, repeatedly ask proper questions, serve them and thus know the Truth. — Bhagavad Gita

QUESTION: If we resign ourselves to the will of God, would it not amount to our succumbing to a fatalistic attitude? Would there be a place in such a scheme for moral action, which presupposes freedom?

MAHARAJ: According to Sri Ramakrishna and all other great seers, prophets and incarnations, there is only one will behind the universe and that is the will of God. Whether we recognize this or not, this is the ultimate fact. To one who recognizes this in truth and spirit, the question of fatalism does not arise, as there is no place for a second will in his outlook. The sign of such a person is that he ceases to be self-centred or ego-centred in life, is free from the worrying and planning mentality of ordinary men and is always at peace with himself and with the rest of the world.

The question of the fatalistic attitude arises only in the case of men who are still ego-centred, and yet recognize a supreme Divine Will. As long as we are ego-centred, we have to accept the idea of a ‘limited free will’. As in many ultimate questions, the mean between two extremes is virtue, as far as men in general are concerned. At the one extreme there is the idea of absolute free will, which is untenable even from a purely mechanistic and biological point of view. At the other extreme there is fatalism, which implies the recognition of the distinctiveness of individuality without any freedom.

Now we have to assume a middle position which is consistent with the supremacy of Divine Will. We shall call this the idea of ‘limited freedom’. Sri Ramakrishna illustrates this idea with an analogy. The owner of a calf ties it to a tree with a rope. Is the calf free or not? It is both free as far as the rope would allow it to move and also not free beyond that. Though the length of the rope also is ultimately determined by the owner, he has in practice given the calf feedom to move about within a certain area. If the calf exhausts the grass in the given area, the owner may extend the length of the rope.

If we accept this idea of ‘limited freedom’, we can practise resignation without its conflicting with self-effort. At our level of experience a sense of freedom of will is a fact. Until this is replaced by a sense of mergence of the individual will in the Divine Will, the individual will is a fact of experience, and the idea of its ‘limited freedom’, which means freedom within a limit sanctioned by the Divine, has to be accepted and acted upon.

QUESTION: 1. In surrendering oneself completely to God or at least in trying to do so, is it not likely that one becomes fatalistic? 2. How can we distinguish the human will from the Divine Will?

MAHARAJ: Both questions being allied, they are answered together. Resignation may become fatalism, but it need not necessarily become so if both these terms are correctly understood. Both these words are often wrongly used in the sense of complete passivism born of indolence and lethargy. The meaning of resignation is far from this. It is not so much cessation from effort as cessation from attaching ‘ego sense’ to efforts. We succeed in resignation, not if we say “we shall not do anything”, but only if we eliminate the ‘we’ from our actions and feel that all the energies that flow through us are a part of universal Nature and therefore a part and parcel of the Divine Will. If the word ‘fatalism’ also means this, there is no harm in using the words as synonyms.

But the word ‘fatalism’ usually means a sort of wilful passivism, under cover of the feeling that things shape themselves in spite of ourselves and our efforts. This can easily degenerate into sloth and idleness. But if ‘fatalism’ implies energetic action, accompanied by the background feeling that there is an ‘unknown factor’ which ultimately determines everything and that we must therefore be prepared for success or failure without elation or disappointment, it comes very near the ideal of resignation. But true resignation is achieved only when the element of ‘self’ is eliminated from action. Even in the higher idea of fatalism, elimination of the ‘self’ cannot be achieved, and therefore the signs of true resignation, a sense of complete restfulness and freedom from worry and fear, are absent from it.

Regarding the distinction between Divine Will and human will an absolute distinction in this regard is difficult to make. We see only human will but not the Divine will. We only infer it. ‘Will’ is an expression of energy directed by an inherent intelligence and purposiveness. In the whole of Nature we find a highly complex but impersonal intelligence functioning purposively. It is the creative force, the Divine Will. Man is a part of Nature and the same creative force is functioning in him too. But unlike in the rest of Nature, the will in the human being is like an eddy in a flowing stream. Though a part of the whole, it has an individuality and a self-conscious expression and therefore feels itself free. But in our present ignorant condition, we, the eddies, have forgotten that we are parts of the flowing stream from which alone all powers are derived.

So since in our ignorant state we are aware of the human will alone, we cannot distinguish it from Divine Will in a very tangible way. We can only proceed accepting its existence and taking for granted that it works through the human will. So what a sincere spiritual aspirant can do is only to function with a prayerful attitude and keep off his limited individual ego from appropriating credit or liability for the actions accomplished through him.

Mapping Actions to Fire Sacrifice

SWAMI SATYAPRIYANANDA

Today people rarely talk about fire sacrifice; it is criticised for the ‘wastage’ of melted butter and grains which could feed several hungry mouths. However, fire sacrifice has its own profound significance in our daily lives.

A fire sacrifice involves in addition to the time and energy needed for making the preparations, the performer of the sacrifice (yajamana), the instrument used in the sacrifice (arpanam), the materials offered in sacrifice (havihi), and the sacrificial fire (agni), as also the result of the sacrifice. The Bhagavad Gitain its verse 4.24 says: ब्रह्मार्प णं ब्रह्महविर्ब्रह्मा ग्नौब्रह्मणाहुतम् । ब्रह्मैव तेन गन्तव्यं ब्रह्मकर्मसमाधि ना।।

‘The ladle is Brahman, the oblation is Brahman, it is offered by Brahman in the fire, which is Brahman; Brahman alone he attains who sees Brahman in action.’

This is the idea that should be in the mind when one performs a fire sacrifice: The one who sacrifices is Brahman; he is offering oblations which is Brahman with the help of the ladle which is Brahman into the fire which is Brahman. One who sees Brahman in action attains Brahman alone. Attaining Brahman is the fruition of such a sacrifice. Interestingly it is not mandatory to have a burning fire for performing a fire sacrifice! The Bhagavad Gita gives several examples for such sacrifices in its fourth chapter from verse 25 to 30. 1) Karma-yogins worship gods with great devotion through sacrifice. 2) The Jnana-yogins offer the sacrifice in the fire of Brahman (brahmāgni) through sacrifice. 3) Life-long brahmacharins offer the ear and other senses in the fire of self-control (samyamāgni). 4) Householders, being unattached even at the time of enjoying the sense-objects, offer sound and other sense-objects as a sacrifice in the fires of the senses (indriyagni); they offer the functions of the organs of action like talking, and grasping, and the functions of the ten vital forces in the fire of self-control (atmasamyama-yogagni). 5) Some sacrifice through giving of gifts. 6) Some others sacrifice through penance. 7) Some others sacrifice through yoga. 8) Others of austere vows sacrifice through knowledge from scriptural studies. 9) Others devoted to the control of the vital force offer as a sacrifice the outgoing breath in the incoming breath, and the incoming breath in the outgoing breath. 10) There are others who regulate their food and offer as a sacrifice the prana of food into the prana enlivening the body.

All these are said to be knowers of the sacrifices and are purified of their sins through sacrifices. We see that no sacrificial fire is actually lit in the above instances. How do we understand the fire sacrifice in these cases?

These set of verses take fire sacrifice out of the usual fire sacrifice scenario. In attempting to understand this concept let us see the idea of Panchagni Vidya in the Mundaka Upanishad

which explains the process of creation and refers to five fires spelling out the corresponding ‘Altar’, ‘Fuel’, ‘Oblation’, and ‘Result’. (II.i.5).

Panchagni Vidya finds a mention also in Chandogya Upanishad in greater detail. There was a student named Svetaketu who was the son of sage Uddalaka. This student was wellread and finely educated, but alas he was proud. He once visited the court of a king called Pravahana Jaivali, a noble emperor. The king received him with respect, and after offering him the requisite hospitality becoming of a Brahmin boy well-versed in the Vedas and all the branches of learning, asked a question: ‘Are you well educated? Have you studied? Is your education complete? Has your father instructed you?’ The boy replied, ‘Yes, my education is over, and I am well-read.’

Then the king posed some questions which Svetaketu could not answer. The humbled boy then returned to his father Uddalaka with those questions. But as Uddalaka too did not know the answers, he went to King Pravahana Jaivali to learn from him. In the king’s answer to the first question, we find the mention of Panchagni Vidya. The Five Fires, called the Panchagnis, are meditation techniques and the detailed classification of the five fires is listed under the headings: ‘Fire’, ‘Fuel’, ‘Smoke’, ‘Embers’, ‘Sparks’, ‘Offerings’, ‘Offered by’ and ‘Result’.

In the Kathopanishad, Nachiketa goes to meet Yama, the God of Death. As Yama is out of station, Nachiketa has to wait. On Yama’s return, his councillors tell him, ‘A Brahmana guest enters the houses like fire. For him they accomplish this kind of propitiation. O God of Death, carry water for him. If in anyone’s house a Brahmana guest abides, without food, that Brahmana destroys hope and expectations, the result of holy associations and sweet discourse, sacrifices and charities, sons and cattle—all these of that man of little intelligence.’ (I.i.8)

Thus we see that fire sacrifice can be mapped to any mundane action performed even without fire. One has only to associate the actions in its entire detail to the several components of a fire sacrifice listed above and look upon every element which constitutes the sacrifice with the idea that it is all Brahman; thus meditating on Brahman, one certainly attains to Brahman. It is easy to identify the giver, instrument used for giving, the thing given, and the receiver in any act of giving.

Even a battlefield can be viewed in this light: the battle-ground is the ‘altar’, the warring sects are ‘those who sacrifice’, the blood is the ‘oblation’, and the lives of the dead are the sacrifice (bali) with the result, victory for either of the sides and the attainment of the ‘destiny of heroes’ (virgati) for those who die. Conventionally, verse 4.24 of the Bhagavad Gita is chanted before partaking of food with the idea that the individual is offering food using his hands with or without spoons, into the fire in the stomach. Each of these elements is to be identified with Brahman and the eating process is to take place in a meditative spirit and not as a titillation for the taste buds in a noisy scenario!

The receiver being fire, it is apt that the giver kneels down and gives, while the receiver stands up and receives. Obviously, the thing given must be pleasing and needful for the receiver. For those who like the idea of Sopadhika Brahman (Brahman with attributes or Personal God) in place of Nirupadhika Nirguna Nirakara Brahman, one can keep the idea of Ishvara in the receiver when serving anyone. That service will be transformed as Shiva jnane jiva seva or serving fellow beings looking upon them as Shiva Himself.

In the Bhagavad Gita the Lord’s advice to Arjuna sums up the significance of sacrifice: ‘This world is bound by action other than that done for sacrifice (God); therefore, perform actions for the sake of that (God), O son of Kunti (Arjuna), free from attachment.’ (3:9)