#238 ‘If I am God, why should I pray’?
The pronoun ‘I’ is referred to twice in the sentence. If ‘I’ am God and why should ‘I’ pray?
Can ‘I’ be both the person and God simultaneously? Yes and No.
No, meaning God and the person are not the same if the form and the function is referred to.
I the person have a body-mind to perform my svadharma in the world. God has his limitless form to perform the role of manifestation, sustenance and resolution in the world.
So ‘I’ cannot be Ishvara from the standpoint of the form.
However ‘I’ am both the person, Ishvara and all forms from the standpoint of reality. Sounds like a megalomaniac, right? No.
Vedanta reveals Tat tvam asi. That Ishvara you, the jiva are.
Through enquiry into the reality of the ‘tvam’, you the person and the reality of ‘Tat’, Ishvara, we see that the reality is non-dual, one without a second.
Jiva is not Ishvara. But Jiva is Ishvara in the sense that the reality of jiva is the reality of God or Ishvara.
Reality or Consciousness is not matter but from which all matter including space, water, air, fire and earth have come.
Reality or Consciousness is not a property of an object but is present in all properties of all objects.
Reality or Consciousness is not a product of a process like the Big bang or the sadhanas of a person but is present in and through all processes of nature, untouched by it all.
Reality or Consciousness is that which can never be destroyed nor negated nor dismissed, which always Is present.
And therefore one can say that I am Ishvara, where I and Ishvara both refer to Consciousness
Existence, Consciousness, Fullness as though associated with mayashakti is Ishvara or Saguna Brahman
Existence, Consciousness, Fullness as though associated with avidya, ignorance is the person.
Tat tvam asi is like saying the Ocean is the wave. It is a lakshana vakya pointing to the reality that is self-evident, self-revealing.
From the standpoint of the form, the ocean cannot be identical to the wave.
From the standpoint of the reality, the ocean is but water and the wave too is water.
Water associated with its massive form is called the ocean
Water associated with its miniscule form is called the wave.
The wave is the ocean.
So, then like you perform other activities like speaking, walking, eating, should you be praying?
It depends on your motivation.
One form, the person relates through love and prayer with another form, Ishvara.
One form prays to another form for relief from financial distress, to find a partner, to keep one’s partner, to be free from one’s partner.
One form prays to another form to have a child, for success of the child, to get a job, to keep the job, to be free from the job etc
One form prays to another form to have a better quality of life here on earth and also in the hereafter.
One form prays to another form to have the required qualifications for Vedanta – antah-karana Shuddhi and antah-karana naischalyam so that the truth of the mahavakya – Tat tvam asi be seen clearly.
Seems perfectly fine. What is wrong with that?
If you don’t pray to Ishvara who else will you pray to ? My lords in the Supreme Court?
But some Vedanta students argue, Does not prayer involve duality?
My dear, everything includes duality, the subject and the object and we have no problem with duality.
Why? Because we see the abiding reality that is present in and through the duality.
Ask these same Vedanta students –
How come you are okay with the duality of breathing – you and breath?
How come you are okay with the duality of eating – you and the pastry?
How come you are okay with the duality of listening to your favourite music? You and the music.
How come only the duality of you praying to Ishvara is a problem? And then we unearth some allergy towards Ishvara because of some early childhood conditioning of God being an authority that one must obey or there will be hell, literally and figuratively.
How come you are okay with other dualities but not okay with the duality of praying to Ishvara?
Prayer is always a choice and comes from freedom of choice. Hence prayer is a karma and blesses with punya.
Prayer can be informal like an intimate conversation with Bhagavan or through a puja or a homa or through chants of mantras, stotrams and other Vedic chants.
The person may pray to express gratitude and may also pray to ask for grace for oneself and others.
Most jnanis pray a lot, not for themselves but for others. Since they have accomplished what was already accomplished, discovering their true nature, there is no more personal agenda.
They do not need punya or karma phala for the sake of fulfillment. Our world definitely needs punya and more.
When the person is a jnani, who is present? Just consciousness with a form. So then, the question is valid – Who will pray to what? There is no concern for what will happen to any form. And so jnanis like Ramana Maharishi and Ramakrishna Paramahansa both of whom got throat cancer did not want to be treated. The form would have its dance and fade away. I ever remain as Consciousness.
This very Consciousness identified with and acting as the body/mind can pray. Our revered Adi Shankaracharya composed the Annapurna stotram for the sake of bhiksha,food.
The body requires to be sustained and only Ishvara can provide for his manifestation.
Adi Shankaracharya neither had a problem praying nor in composing prayers which are sung and chanted to this day.
Duality never posed a problem as Advaita that is oneself is present in and through all duality
And some people who have learnt Vedanta from here and there claim to have a problem with praying. Hmm..
Jnanis who are mathadipatis, heads of religious institutions and places of learning, perform hours of puja daily for loka-sangraha, the well-being of all the worlds, particularly all the beings on earth.
Jnanis, wise people uphold the sanctity and power of the mantras and demonstrate the same to the masses.
Having said that, excessive praying for Dharma, Artha and Kaama without regular Vedanta exposure can reinforce the sense of duality which is anyway entrenched.
We call it Dvaita vaasana, strong impressions and entrenchment in duality.
As long as me and the other are taken to be absolutely and equally real, there will always be struggle and suffering whether the other is the crawling ant in my ear or the distant partner or the disobedient child or the irritating colleague. Wishing away duality is not possible.
We don’t try to remove Dvaita Vaasana. We just increase our exposure to traditional Vedanta shravanam such that we are able to see the reality through the duality.
Dvaita perception does not resolve. It does not require to resolve.
Perception does not stand opposed to dvaita.
Dvaita is not what is experienced, dvaita is a conclusion. That conclusion is resolved in the wake of knowledge.
You don’t have to destroy the pot to see that it is clay.
The goldsmith does not have to melt all the gold ornaments – bangle, chain, ring, necklace to remind himself that it is gold.
You don’t have to destroy the body to see that it is Satyam-Jnanam-Anantam.
Additionally, what we call the form is just a manifestation of Consciousness. The water appears as the wave and gets a new name due to its apparent form. But the wave cannot be anything else but water even if it tried.
Whether you pray or don’t pray do you have the grace to see the abiding reality of Advaitam that is you? Accordingly you can decide.
When you do mantra japa, you can pay attention to the mantra and also the silence or the formlessness from where the sound form emerges. That silence is none other than you.
If you think of the subject and object then that is mananam which need not be done during japa. You are clear about the japa being done as a sadhana for naischalyam, steadiness of the mind.
If there are no doubts in your mind about Vedanta then your very japa is nididhyasana, a contemplation on the Saguna and Nirguna Brahman that is you.
By now it must be clear – If you do see the reality, you will not ask the question – If I am, why should I pray? If you do not see the reality clearly, then you definitely need consistent Vedanta exposure, clarification with a guru about your understanding and a lot of grace that can only be received by praying and relating to Ishvara.
As one respected Swami rightly shared with me – Rather than bhakti towards Ishvara, we have bhakti towards ourselves and only want to apply viveka to Ishvara. Instead, what is required is bhakti towards Ishvara and viveka towards oneself.
We can learn from Hanuman who did not have a problem in praying nor in his devotion to Sri Rama.
Deha Buddhya tu Dasoham
Jiva Buddhya Tvadaamsakah |
Atma Buddhya Tvamevaham
iti me nishchita matih ||
From the standpoint of the body, I am your servant. From the standpoint of the form, I am a part of you. When I see myself as the Atma, I am you alone.
Such is the wisdom of Advaita Vedanta where you are free enough to play any role, including the role of a human being.
