Realisation thought scriptures
Chapter-52
Spiritual liberation and four scriptures
On the third day of the second fortnight of the month of Magh of Samvat 1876, Shriji Maharaj was seated in the verandah of the upper floor
of the Dada Khachers residence in Gadhada. He had put on all white clothes. Munis and the devotees from the various places were assembled
before him. The holy book of Mokshdharma - a chapter from the Mahabharat - was being recited in his presence and for the assembly.
During the course of reading the words Samkhya, Yoga, Vedanta and Panchratra were referred to as the media for knowing God fully well in
all his divine aspects. Where upon Muktanand Swami asked, "How can God be known with the help of these four Shastras ? And, what is the
deficiency if a devotee does not accept all these four shastras to know God?
Shriji Maharaj then said, "Samkhya says God is beyond the twenty four Tattvas and therefore is the twenty fifth. God is concomitant, is
the Jivas and Ishwaras, is also concomitant in twenty Jour Tattvas and therefore Jivas and Ishwaras are counted with the twenty four
Tattva and God is placed as twenty fifth. The Tattvas along with Jiva and Ishwara are termed Kshetra and God is their - Kshetragna. The
Yoga Shastra recognises Jiva and Ishwara as the twenty fifth above the twenty four Tattva and God as the twnety sixth having a divine
form. Yoga advises that Atma5 should be realised as separate from the twenty four Tattvas and meditational worship to God should be offered with such Atmic-Bhav. Vedanta
recognises God as immanent, supporter, Nirgun, Advait, Niranjan, all doer and still immune from the influence of his doership. He
possesses no mudane attributes and is full of divine attributes. The Panchratras lays down that Shrikrishna Purushottam descends on the
earth as Avatara and accepts the nine types of devotional worship of the devotees to redeem them. He is the form of Vasudev, Sankarshan,
Aniruddha and Pradyumna, is also involved in the creation, sustenance and destruction of the cosmos. One who aspires to have
the knowledge of God in all his divine attributes should read all the four Shastras togather, as they supplement one another.
If Samkhya only is accepted as an authority, Jiva and Ishwarah according to Samkhya are included along with the twnety four Tattvas And
when the Jivatma is separated from the twnety four Tattvas, the Jivatma will be counted as twenty fifth, and God, who is rated as the
twenty fifth, will have no position. Again, according to yoga, God is said to possess a divine form. But he lacks fullness and all pervasive powers since he is looked upon as
seated in his divine Abode.
Vedanta describes God as the supreme cause of million of macrocosms,immanant and Nirguna. This understanding however constitutes a
drawback in as much as God is taken as formless, but not having a divine form, which is devoid of the evolutes of Maya.
According to Panchratra, when God descends on earth in human form, all the human attributes are imposed upon him. He, therefore, can not
be visualised as absolutely perfect, immanent and all pervasive.
Therefore, if all these four shastras are separately studied and rated upon, each with its own drawback, will fail to provide a thorough
knowledge of God. But if each is supplemented by the other, the drawback of the one will be made good by the other. Therefore, Samkhya,
Yoga, Vedanta and Panchratra- should be read togather for having a complete knowledge of God. If anyone omits to study one of these, he
remains deficient in the knowledge of God to that extent and if all these four Shastras are discarded and one relies upon his own
understanding even if he possesses the knowledge of Vedanta or is an Upasaka, he is on a wrong track and possesses a perverted
understanding both of Vedanta and of Upasana.
Thus Ends Vachanamrit : Gadhada First - 52.
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