Don’t slip into Hiranyakashipu syndrome in the name of Vedant!

By Vivek Sharma

The soul never dies, it is the body that dies. But as long as the soul (atman ) is attached to ego, lust, greed and anger, it experiences death when the body dies. It is good to know the Gita fact that each soul is divine, cannot be cut, dried, burnt or drenched, but it is about the soul eternal and not for the soul+ego+lust+greed+anger complex = you, me and them.

I am Atman—You Aren’t

But some of you, me and them, take the Gita’s na hanyamane shareere literally and live in a false belief that they are atman and shall never die and they remain being greedy, angry and lustful through and through, believing that when atman cannot be burnt, cut, drenched or dried then it should continue to enjoy things in the world, ethically or unethically. I call this Vedantic hypnotism— I am atman ( with an underlining thought ‘you are not ) ! This gives rise to spiritual ego. Hiranyakashipu, Prahalad’s papa, had this and believed none could kill him anywhere in the air, in the space, the fire and the water. He asked all to worship him and stopped the Vishnu worship in his kingdom. His own son Prahalad respected him as his father and worshipped Vishnu as an All Pervading, All Nourishing , All Dissolving Reality.

Vishnu represents a true concept of atman — vishati yo anuparmanushu sarveshu sardikshu so hi Vishnu. That Reality which remains pervading all , everywhere, in every direction to the smallest known existing body of atoms and molecules, is Vishnu.This very fact makes one feel himself in his body as in other bodies too … it is like the space running with the same, unbroken, continuity in different enclosures. Here this existing everywhere reality of Vishnu makes Him a true atman—- it is everywhere, not restricted to one body. That means it is within and without and hence it is beyond the bodies and hence the fate of the body doesn’t apply to it. Vishnu is a logical true Vedantic realism, which is opposed to Hiranyakashipu Vedantic hypnotism, that has kept most of us behave like Hiranyakashipu in varying degrees.

Experience first that soul is in everything, the seed, the stone and trees. When the seed is pulverised, the soul remains as it is and the seed becomes powder of certain name and characteristics and hence remembers the experience of pulverisation as wheat flour or barley flour ! The body is the cloth of the atman. Right? It is like a shirt you wear. If you know how to take off the shirt and take it on again, you will do so when it is set on fire, drenched, cut or dried and remain unharmed. But if you are attached to the clothings on fire then you will obviously feel cauterised, wet, wounded or dried. The same way when the soul has learnt its non identity with the body, it won’t get affected by the changes in the body. The atman assumes its true nahanyate bhaav only when it knows for sure that it is within the body and without it and not restricted to or bound to the body. This is a true Vedantic experience. The soul being a body cannot know itself and hence cannot say that it doesn’t die . Soul is like the space in the room. By breaking down the room, the space remains undamaged. Unless you have had this experience, you shouldn’t egoistically claim that you are the atman. Because, in reality, you are not that till you experience that !

Kachcha Mango Syndrome
A stone of an unripe mango cannot be separated from the pulp, it is one with the pulp and hence cannot be separately identified. When you burn it, the stone too is burnt. When you crush it, the stone too is crushed with the pulp. So we are like kachcha mango— still to experience ripening to be able to feel our separate identity as a stone (soul). You crush a ripe mango, the stone shall squeeze out all by itself . The same way, the soul has to undergo ripening to understand how the atman is nainam chindantee shastrani …. The same way we barely understand neti neti (not this not this of Vedanta. A Vedantic sadhak practises I am not this earth, I am not this water, I am not this fire, this air or this space . I am not this body, sensory system, mind, intellect and ego . This pernicious denial of the obvious reality is nothing but a systematic way to raise one to what is beyond that — Vishnu . So , I am not the body has the echo I am Endless All Pervading Ecstatic Existence instead. In fact, realising this hidden echo by demolishing walls of the room is true Vedant and Vedantic realism. You can experience the same fact by the process of denial or the process of all acceptance — everything is Vasudeva . In fact, Krishna suggests this all accepting way more appropriate . He says rare is the mahatma who has realised Vasudevah Servam Servamiti — Vasudeva — the Reality which pervades everything alone is everything. In fact, it is a beautiful principle that takes care of Shradhdha, Gyan, Karma and Bhakti in one go. It has no counter effects, as Krishna says. It is safe and the right way to approach , experience and manifest the atman.