Panchãlã 7 · Vachanamrut · Swaminarayan Scriptures

The ‘Mãyã’ Of A Magician

In the Samvat year 1877, about two-and-a-half hours after sunrise on Fãgan vad 11 [29th March, 1821], Shreeji Mahãrãj was sitting on a decorated bedstead that had been placed on a platform in Jhinã- Bhãi’s darbãr in Panchãlã. He was wearing a warm, red dagli and a white khes. He had also tied a white feto around His head. In addition to this, He had covered Himself with a white pachhedi. A sabhã of paramhans, as well as haribhaktas from various places, had gathered before Him.

In the sabhã, Shreeji Mahãrãj had Nityãnand Swãmi read a passage from the first skandh of the Shreemad Bhãgvat. The first shlok he read was: janmãdyasya yatah-nvayad-itaratash-chãrtheshvabhignaha svarãt tene brahma hrudã ya ãdikavaye muhyanti yat-soorayaha tejo-vãri-mrudãm yathã vinimayo yatra trisargo mrushã dhãmnã svena sadã nirasta-kuhakam satyam param dheemahi

Then, Shreeji Mahãrãj Himself began to explain the meaning of the third line of that shlok: “A person should realise that the entities evolved out of the three gun of Mãyã, which are the five bhuts, the indriyas, the antah-karans, and their presiding devs, are never present in Bhagvãn at any time – past, present, or future. Also, a person should interpret the last line as the shlok, as follows: Bhagvãn, via His own svarup (dhãm), destroyed the deception (the products of mãyã). This is the supremely satya svarup of Bhagvãn. Moreover, just as the svarup of Bhagvãn in Akshardhãm is magnificent with countless divine powers and divine light at the end of ãtyantik-pralay, a person should realise exactly the same regarding pratyaksha Bhagvãn in human svarup. A person who realises this is said to have known Bhagvãn perfectly.

“However, when a foolish person looks at pratyaksha Bhagvãn with a mãyik vision, he sees a human like himself. Also, just as he himself is born, becomes a child, becomes a youth, becomes old and dies, in the same way, he believes Bhagvãn to undergo the same process. But, when he worships Bhagvãn with the sincerity, having faith in the words of the ekãntik sant of Bhagvãn, his mãyik vision disappears. Then, a person realises that same svarup of Bhagvãn as being the supreme chaitanya, which is sachidãnand. The Shreemad Bhãgvat also mentions: sa veda dhãtuha padaveem parasya duranta-veeryasya rathãnga-panehe yo-mãyayã santa-tayãnu-vruttya bhajeta tat-pãda-saroja-gandhama He who, having become free from mãyã, serves the holy feet of Bhagvãn, will constantly follow His wishes, and attain the state of Bhagvãn – who holds a chakra in His hand, has infinite powers, and is the supporter of the universe.

“The phases of childhood, youth, and old age apparent in Bhagvãn, as well as His birth and death, are all seen due to His extraordinary powers of creating an illusion. In reality, Bhagvãn remains absolutely unchanged. For example, a skilled magician arms himself with weapons and ascends to the sky to fight against the warriors of the demons – the enemies of Indra. Then, having been cut to pieces, he falls to the ground. Then, the magician’s wife gathers those pieces together and burns herself on his funeral pyre. After a short while, the magician appears out of the sky, armed with weapons, exactly as he appeared before. He then asks the king for a reward and requests, ‘Please return my wife’. Having seen such an astonishing performance, if a person is unable to comprehend the ‘mãyã’ of even a magician, how then can the extraordinary powers of Bhagvãn possibly be comprehended? A person who does comprehend that ‘mãyã’ of the magician, realises: ‘That magician has not died, nor has he been burnt. In reality, he is exactly the same as he was before’. In a similar way, a person who is said to have realised the svarup of Bhagvãn perfectly, understands Bhagvãn to be eternal and imperishable, and absolutely unchanging. For example, when Shree Krishna Bhagvãn left His body, Rukmani and the other wives of Bhagvãn took His body and burnt themselves along with Him. At that time, the ignorant people thought, ‘Now He is dead’. On the other hand, those who possessed gnãn, thought, ‘He has disappeared from here and has gone elsewhere’. They understood Bhagvãn as being eternal. As a result, Shree Krishna Himself has said: avajananti mãm moodha mãnusheem tanum-ãshritam param bhãvam-ajãnanto mama bhoota-maheshvaram Fools mock me as having a human svarup, but they do not realise my divya svarup as the great lord of all beings.

“So, if a fool understands Bhagvãn as being sãkãr, then he understands Him as being merely like a human; or he understands Bhagvãn as being nirãkãr so that He is not considered mãyik like other mãyik svarups. In this way, a fool misunderstands on both accounts.

“But, if Bhagvãn did not have a svarup, then what about the fact that Shrutis have said that during ãtyantik-pralay, ‘sa ikshata’, meaning, ‘That Bhagvãn saw…’. If Bhagvãn ‘saw’, then He had to have a svarup, possessing eyes, ears and other organs. Moreover, it is said: purushenãtam-bhootena veeryamã-dhatta veeryavãnã Purushottam became the svarup of Purush and impregnated Mãyã. “Therefore, Bhagvãn has always had a svarup.

“Moreover, when that Purushottam Nãrãyan takes the svarup of Purush for some task, that Purush is hidden by the divine light of Purushottam, and only Purushottam remains. In the same way, when Purushottam takes the form of Mãyã, that Mãyã is also hidden by the divine light of Purushottam, and only Bhagvãn remains in that svarup. Then, Bhagvãn takes the svarup of maha-tattva, then the svarups of others evolved from maha-tattva, then the svarup of Virãt, then the svarup of Brahmã and others created from that Virãt-Purush, and then the svarup of Nãrad and the Sanakãdik. In this way, in whomever that Purushottam Bhagvãn ‘enters’ for the purpose of fulfilling many types of tasks, He hides that entity by His own divine light, and He Himself reigns supreme through that entity. Moreover, in whomever He resides, He suppresses their own light and displays His own divine light – just as when fire enters iron, it suppresses the quality of coldness and the black colour of that iron, and exhibits its own quality.

“Also, when the sun rises, the light from all the stars and the moon, merges into its own light, and only the sun’s light remains. In the same way, Bhagvãn overpowers the light of whoever He ‘enters’ and exhibits His own divine light to a greater degree. Then, after completing that task for which He had ‘entered’ that entity, He separates from the entity; and the entity remains as it was before. Therefore, the additional powers that the entity appeared to have should be known to actually be the power of Purushottam Bhagvãn.

“In this way, the pratyaksha Purushottam Nãrãyan is the cause of all; He is forever divya and is sãkãr. A person should not perceive any type of imperfections in that murti – it is like a murti made of sãkar. Also, he should perform dhyãn, bhajan, and offer bhakti only to the murti that he has seen. Furthermore, whichever human traits seem apparent in that Bhagvãn should be understood to be like the ‘mãyã’ of a magician. A person who has such an understanding does not develop delusion for that Bhagvãn in any way.

“These talks can be understood by a person with the following firm belief: ‘Even at the time of ãtyantik-pralay, Bhagvãn and His bhaktas remain in Akshardhãm, where the bhaktas enjoy divya bliss, having attained a divya murti. Moreover, the murti of that Bhagvãn and the svarups of the bhaktas of Bhagvãn possess divine light that is equivalent to the light of countless suns and moons’. Only a person with such firm understanding is able to understand these talks.

“Also, that Bhagvãn – who has a luminous and divya murti – becomes like a human out of compassion, to give kalyãn to the jeevs and to allow those jeevs to offer the nine types of bhakti to Him; and He always does so with all of His strength, divine powers, and pãrshads. Even then, those who realise this complex truth understand the human svarup of Bhagvãn on this earth as being exactly the same as the svarup of Bhagvãn residing in Akshardhãm – they do not feel that there is even a slight difference between that svarup and this svarup. A person who has known Bhagvãn in this way can be said to have known Bhagvãn perfectly. For him, mãyã can be said to have been eradicated. A person who realises this is called a bhakta with gnãn and an ekãntik bhakta. Moreover, if by chance a person possessing such firm upãsanã of pratyaksha Bhagvãn were to behave inappropriately due to the influence of kusang or due to the influence of his own prãrabdha karmas, even then he would attain kalyãn. On the other hand, a person who has doubts in realising Bhagvãn in this way, even if he is a strict urdhvaretã naishtik brahm-chãri and a great tyãgi, attaining kalyãn would still be extremely difficult for him.

“If a person has, from the beginning, developed a firm belief that Bhagvãn is sãkãr even at the end of ãtyantik-pralay, and if he were to listen to shãstras describing Bhagvãn as being merely full of divine light and nirãkãr, or if he were to hear such talks from someone, even then he would not have doubts. This is because he has realised, ‘Bhagvãn is eternally sãkãr and is never nirãkãr. Furthermore, that very Bhagvãn assumes different murtis, such as Rãm and Krishna’. A person with such firm understanding should be known to have perfect nishchay.”

In this way, for the purpose of enlightening His bhaktas, Shreeji Mahãrãj talked about the unparalleled nishchay of His own svarup. On hearing this, all the paramhans and bhaktas strengthened their nishchay in Shreeji Mahãrãj’s svarup as described. || End of Vachanãmrut Panchãlã || 7 || 133 || || End of Shree Panchãlã Prakaran || || SHREE SWÃMINÃRAYAN VIJAYTETRÃM || Shree Gadhadã Madhya Prakaran