Ultimate
Reality - Adhibhuta, Adhidaiva, Adhiyajna, Adhyatma and Karma
From Divine
Life Society Publication: Chapter 13 - The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgita by Swami Krishnananda
We are supposed to conceive
the ultimate Reality in all its facets — the objective, the subjective as well
as the universal phases of its manifestation; as adhibhuta,
adhyatma, adhidaiva, param brahma, the Absolute-All. One
who envisages the Supreme Being as inclusive of everything that is objective,
inclusive also of everything that is personal and individual, as well as what
is transcendent, and also what is relational, activistic and social — a person
who can visualise the Supreme in this manner has really understood it and knows
it perfectly.
The way in which we visualize
any particular thing is the outlook we entertain in respect of that thing.
Usually, we do not have a comprehensive idea of anything in this world. When we
gaze at an object or think of any particular thing, we regard it with some sort
of blinkers limiting our vision of that object, whereby we ignore certain other
aspects which also go to constitute its existence. A mother will look upon her
child in a particular manner though that child may be the king of a country. To
the mother, the son is not merely a king, there is also some personal
relationship there. This limitation that is automatically imposed upon the
manner of knowing anything gets transferred also to our idea of God, the
Absolute, Brahman, the Ultimate Reality, so that it is not infrequently that we
look upon God as a father, a mother, a creator, a preserver, a destroyer, a
loving friend, a merciful companion, the liberator, and so on. But God can
really be none of these, though he is also, no doubt, the all, everyone and
everything. The universe of external experience does not stand outside the
existence of God. This world of our experience does not exhaust the being of God.
The world cannot contain the whole of God within itself, because it is an
effect, and He is the Cause. At the same time, it cannot exist outside Him, for
it is inseparably related to Him.
The external world consists of
the five elements which rarely attract our attention in our daily existence.
The world of physical Nature is what is known here as the adhibhuta, the world of the
elements, Nature in its completeness. But, to us, the world of experience is
also something else, in addition to the physical elements only. We are not
thinking of what the earth will do tomorrow or the water or the fire or the air
or the sky will be intending to do the next day. The world of activity and the
world of concern is the world of human relationship — adhiyajna. This is the world of
action, the world of adhiyajna, where
we sacrifice ourselves for a particular cause. The motive which drives us into
activity of any kind and compels us to maintain relationships with other people
is comprehended within this restless field of daily sacrifice and mutual
adjustment in various ways.
For us, the world of
experience is the world of human beings and human relationships, which is all
that is important. But if we go a little deep into the details of what we have
observed earlier on a different occasion we may remember that any kind of
experience by the subject, the individual, of any atmosphere outside, is not
possible without the presence of a transcendental element intervening. This
Mystery of life is the adhidaiva, the
Divinity that shapes our ends, which controls our destinies, which decides
every factor everywhere, and which has a say in every matter. It has something
to do with every little bit of thing in the world. There is no event taking
place anywhere, at any time, without the intervention of this transcendent
principle which mysteriously planks itself between the subject and the object,
so that, as the great hymn in the Atharva-Veda, addressed to Varuna, says,
there is always a secret observer of what transpires between two persons
everywhere. It matters not where one is, one’s secret thoughts and
transpirations and feelings will be observed by a subtle principle which is
pursuing all things wherever anything be. That subtle being is the adhidaiva, God himself observing all
in his own mysterious manner, by the very fact of his being. This is the great
Divinity which superintends over all things and all events that happen inwardly
as well as outwardly.
Our own self is the adhyatma, the deepest self in us,
which, again, is inseparable, ultimately, from the Godhead. It is the essential
essence of which everyone is constituted — you, and I, and everybody, and
everything. As every little ripple or wave in the ocean is nothing but the vast
ocean, the secret hidden at the recess of every individual occasion is the adhyatma, the Atman, the self in
us, which is incapable of further reduction, beyond which one cannot go, and
beneath which there is nothing. The deepest and bottom-most being of our
personality is what is called the Atman. And even as the essence of the wave is
the ocean, so is the essence of our own personality the Absolute.
Everyone is familiar with the
word karma, which is
very much identified with action or the result of action. But here, in this
Chapter of the Bhagavadgita, it is used in a special sense. The force which
causes the emanation of beings is the karma spoken of
here, the power which ejects all particulars, every evolute arising from the
Central Cause. And all the little karmas that we perform here, your action and
my action and anybody’s work, is a reverberation, a sympathetic motivation, a
continuation, a reflection or a refraction of this Cosmic Impulse for the great
universal purpose. All action is, in the
end, a universal action, and it is not ‘your’ action or ‘my’ action. There is,
ultimately, no such thing as your activity or my activity. Every rumbling or
little noise made by every wave in the ocean is a work of the bowels of the
ocean itself. So does the Supreme Will operate through every bit of our actions
and even the winking of our eyes. The little breath that we breathe is nothing
but the Cosmic Breath pulsating through our individuality; our intelligence is
a faint reflection of the Cosmic Intelligence; our very existence is a part of
the Universal Existence.
Continue to read:
Cosmology and Eschatology: Chapter 13 - The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgita by Swami Krishnananda
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