Transcriptions
Dev Priyānanda Svāmī Bhagavān
Video Link: YouTube
So, let’s begin. Namaste.
So okay, I opened up a can of worms by mentioning upādhi. Upādhi is kind of a complex technical difficult Sanskrit term. And a couple of comments have shown me that, you know, even some of our more intelligent viewers really haven’t understood it properly.
So I’m going to have to explain the whole thing. And I’m going to have to explain it in concert with another term, viśeṣaṇa. viśeṣaṇa: two different sha sounds there.
So viśeṣaṇa and upādhi are the two types of relationships between the subject and the object, or Brahman and Mahāmāyā.
So we’re going to go into that in detail. I shouldn’t have even mentioned it. But anyway, now that I did, I have to explain it all.
You know, I found over the years that people don’t like these technical videos. But what can I do? It’s a technical subject. And if you understand it only superficially, you’re guaranteed to get it wrong, and misapply it and misunderstand the whole philosophy. So let’s look into it.
In the Reality, there are two categories: the subject, Prakāśa, and the object, Prakṛti. So the subject means the seer, one who is aware, the knower. And Prakṛti means the seen: that which is that object that we are aware of.
So anything that we are aware of is Prakṛti, is Māyā; is, that is, form.
Now, of course, Māyā is still nothing but Brahman. But it’s an overlay on Brahman. Well, I’m getting ahead of myself. First, let’s look at four categories of subjects.
First, we have Brahman, the unconditioned, pure awareness without an object. Then we have Īśvara, Śiva. Īśvara means the controller.
Then we have a category that’s called Kuṭastha. Kuṭastha means the multitude. Or in this particular context, means like the most prominent or the head of a whole category of many, many members.
So we have in this category is Paramātmā or Viṣṇu, Mahā-Viṣṇu, or actually Kāraṇadakśāya Viṣṇu to be very, very technically precise. He’s called the supersoul.
Why? Because he is the sum total of all the individual souls, the Jīvas or Jīvātmā.
And that’s the fourth category: jīvatma, I have a picture of a crowd of people here. It’s not too clear, but it’s a big crowd in a city coming to hear. What’s her name? Greta Thunberg. So I thought it was appropriate.
Anyway, so the jīvatma, jīvatmas are a multitude of souls. They’re all Ātmā. They’re all actually Brahman. But because they’re covered over by these upādhis, as we’ll see, they consider themselves individual and separate from Brahman.
So that’s Māyā for you.
Okay, so the object, the Prakṛti, the nature, the elements and the manifestation and so on, is Mahā-Māyā. Okay, we’re studying Her, Her path now, the Śrī Vidyā. Śrī of course means beautiful, but it also refers to Lakṣmī. And She is the source of wealth, the source of opulence for everyone.
So anyway, now we have this relationship, subject-object relationship between Brahman and Prakṛti, Mahā-Māyā. But what is the particulars of these relationships?
There are four relationships here between Mahā-Māyā and the four categories of subject: Brahman, Īśvara, Paramatma and jīvatma. The relationship between Maha Māyā and Brahman is called upādhi, which means superimposition as a limiting adjunct.
Okay, in other words, Brahman is fundamental. Brahman is the source of everything, actually is everything, nothing but consciousness.
Okay, and then Mahā-Māyā superimposes on Brahman this world, this creation, the universe and all the creatures in it, moving and non-moving. And so because it’s a superimposition, it means it’s dependent on Brahman. Actually, all the other categories are dependent on Brahman.
So the thing of it is, because it’s merely a superimposition, it does not change Brahman. Brahman remains always eternally the same. But this superimposition of the world, the creation, the manifestation is simply something that is like built up like a superstructure over the foundation of Brahman.
So then what about Īśvara? The relationship between Mahā-Māyā and Īśvara is called viśeṣaṇa, which means particularization. That’s a good one, viśeṣaṇa. In viśeṣaṇa, it is also a type of upādhi. But in this case, instead of being a superimposition, the viśeṣaṇa is actually an integral part.
So you have this particularization or individualization of Brahman into a particular identity, which we call Īśvara or Parama-śiva, Sadāśiva. Really, technically, Sadā-śiva.
Parama-śiva is Brahman. But when Brahman becomes individual and enters into his own creation, he does so as Īśvara. And he is the consort of Mahā-Māyā. Okay, they have an intimate relationship, a very deep relationship. No one can comprehend it, actually.
But a very beautiful relationship in which He plays the role of the husband and She plays the role of the wife. But actually, of course, they’re both Brahman. And they have all this knowledge and powers that are actually incomprehensible to us.
Okay, the next category, then, is the Kuṭastha, Paramātmā, Viṣṇu. And the relationship between Mahā-Māyā and Viṣṇu is that avidyā becomes an upādhi, a limiting adjunct, which is superimposed over Viṣṇu.
What does this mean? Before, we had upādhi as simply individualization. But now we have upādhi as avidyā. avidyā means ignorance. Vidyā means knowledge, so avidyā means ignorance.
Ignorance of what? The real truth, the real existence. So, on the level of Viṣṇu, especially Kāraṇadakaṣai-Viṣṇu, lying on the snake of Ananta-Śeṣa in the Karaṇa Ocean, the causal ocean, He identifies with the universe. He thinks, “I am responsible for the maintenance of this creation.” And He’s attached. And if anybody threatens the universe, then He becomes very much engaged in solving the problems and so on.
So, that’s why we see all these pastimes or activities of Viṣṇu, where he’s fighting the demons and stuff like that. And sometimes Māyā will help him, you know. But actually, She’s also creating the demons. So, it’s a big drama and hard to understand.
But not really. If you look from the point of view of Śiva, of Īśvara, it’s not difficult to understand because it’s līlā, you see. It’s pastimes.
He creates the situation—They create, Śiva and Śakti—create the situation where Śiva gets to be like the great hero and save everybody up to and including Viṣṇu, when they get in trouble. And so, Māyā makes sure that they get in trouble on a regular basis. So, Her husband can come riding in on his bull and save the day, right?
So, finally, we have the jīvātmās, the jīvas, the individual living entities like you and me. And what is their relationship with Māyā? In their relationship, avidyā is a viśeṣaṇa, a particularization, an individualization, but also an integration of avidyā, ignorance, into their very nature.
That’s why we don’t see Brahman or Śiva or Viṣṇu, you know, just walking down the street, right? Even though They’re present in some way, They’re present everywhere, They’re all-pervading, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, right? That’s God.
But we don’t perceive Them directly, because avidyā or ignorance is a part of our very nature. So, the whole idea of sādhana then is to decouple ourselves or distill our conscious nature from the avidyā, the ignorance that both covers it and permeates it.
In other words, we want to change our category from jīvatma to Paramātmā, and then from Paramātmā to Īśvara, and then from Īśvara to Brahman Itself.
And this is the progressive path of sādhana, which anyone can do. Everyone has the necessary equipment, which all you need is yourself. But without the knowledge to counteract the ignorance, the avidyā, that’s part of the viśeṣaṇa of the jīvatma, then you can’t make it.
And that’s why the guru is necessary. The guru helps by educating you, explaining all these things, and answering your questions. So, I hope I see some good questions in the comments today.
It’s New Year’s Eve. Y’all, instead of going out and going to some nonsense thing and doing a bunch of crazy stuff you’ll be sorry for tomorrow; instead, you know, watch some of these videos, especially if you haven’t seen the ones leading up to this: watch, you know, the whole playlist.
I’ll post a link to the playlist. Actually, I’ll post it right here. And you can watch this series, The Big Picture, it’s called.
Because this gives the fundamental high-level relationships among all the pieces in the worldview of the Śrī Vidyā. So, if you want to get on this path of Śrī Vidyā—which I highly recommend, I’m so happy since I took this up—that you need this information to understand our point of view and get the benefits.
Āūṁ Tat Sat. Āūṁ Śakti Āūṁ.