THE ESSENCE AND PHILOSOPHY OF MAHAPURUSISM

If lacking in noise of a mere dialectician, Sankardew has his faith founded on the rock of practical spiritual experience so deep with its philosophy again strong and clear as a crystal to minds not opaque in themselves, Sankardew begins his master-piece, the holy Kirttan:

"Prathame pranamo Brahma rupi Sanatan:
Sarva awatarar karan Narayan."

'First of all I bow to the Eternal Narayan who in the nature of Brahma (Ego) is the cause of all incarnations.' As we may see, this makes Brahma an intermediary, and not as "Etat param Brahma veda, natah para astiti" (Taittiriya Up. II, 8; also Prasna Up. VI, 7)-'Then there is Brahma (Ego), and nothing beyond it.' Thus the originality of Sankardew's philosophy must strike us presently. Then we come to the prayer, highly significant, in the same work:

"Namo namo Madhaw Vidhir vidhi-data:
Tumi jagatar gati mati pita mata.
Tumi paramatma jagatar Isa eka:
Eko bastu nahike tomata byatireka. 520
Tumi karyya karana samasta caracar:
Suvarne-kundale yen nahike antar.
Tumi pasu paksi surasur taru trna:
Ajnanat mudhajane dekhe bhinna bhinna,"521.

'Twice do I bow to Thee, O God, the Giver of Law to the Ordainer (Brahma) himself. Thou art the Deliverance, the Intellect, the Father, the Mother (all in one) of the world.' 'There is nothing else than Thee. Thou art the Effect, the Cause, the whole Universe, as there is no difference between gold and gold-earings. Thou art all beasts and birds, gods and demons, trees and creepers. It is for sheer ignorance that dullards see them different.'

Is it Sankarcarya's Absolute Monism or Ramanuja's Qualified Monism? Certainly it is neither this nor that. It is Sankardew's own philosophy. It is of course not the world soul of Pentheism, nor the Absolute of bare Philosophy: for Sankardew was certainly much more than a philosopher if only there were eyes to notice it. His conception of Godhead is that of one who is ever living and loving, and the force with which the world is connected with God is both centripetal and centrifugal. Or as Tennyson says in his In Memoriam:

"The same God who ever lives and loves,
One God, one Law, one Element;
One far-off Divine Event
To which the whole creation moves."

According to Sankardew, jiwas (Life) are not entirely exclusive nor inclusive of God, like sparks of fire. They neither are nor were borne; but they are contained in bodies as fire in wood. Again like fire which is yet different from the wood, is Life (jiwa) different from the body which alone has the so called birth and death. Then what happens to life when the body is no more? The same thing that occurs to ether confined in a pot when the pot breaks. As the ether suffers no loss, so does life. As a lamp means the contact of fire with wick and oil, and its extinction only means the ceasing of such contacts, so death means only the cessation of contact of life with the body. Also, an extinction of the lamp cannot mean annihilation of fire which is ever present as light (or heat), so death does not mean destruction of life, but simply means that life in a body has merged in universal life which is ever present. So life (jiwatma) or the Great Life (Paramatma) is in the body, but is not of the body. (Dvadas, vs. 204-210).

Sankardew's Anadi Patan gives an account of Mahapurusiya cosmogony. It tells us how in the arc of descent life has come down from Brahma through Prakriti with the enveloping medium of this body and the physical world, and how Mind came to be born out of Maya which alone is responsible for this conception of the so-called universe. Sankardew puts it excellently:

"Hrdyat thaki kare bhal manda kam:
Eke Man cari rup suna tar nam…
Nana karma karibak kare alocan:
Eko karye sthir nohe tak bole Man:
Samkalpa vikalpa dharma kare alocan:
Buddhi nam buli tak janiba laksan.
Samasta karmak Mai karo buli mane:
Ahamkar buli tak janiba apone.
Nana sad karmak karay nitya nitya:
Niscay janiba Raja tar nam citta…
Manar kalpana mane samasta samsar:
Jagan svapan nidra tini brtti tar.
Ache Man samasta pranir sarirat:
Iswarar pratibimba lagiche manat.
Take buli Jiwa Man-ere bhinna nui:
Ek pinda bhaila yene loha agni dui.
Mane duhkha paile Jiwe bole mai pao:
Mane yaika yawe Jiwe bole mai yao.
Mane yiba kare Jiwe bole mai karo:
Manar marane Jiwe bole mai maro.
Yena surya bimba lare jalar lagat:
Jal sthit bhaile bimba thake purvavat.
Manar karmak Jiwe mor buli mane:
Karma pase bandi Jiwe ehise nidane.
Atmar prasange Man howe acetan:
Manatese ache ito caidhyaya bhuvan.
Mane pap mane punya manese narak:
Manese kariche bhin apon parak.
Yatek indriyagan Manar adhin:
Manarese ajna pali thake ratri-din.
Mane opajay jana Manese maran:
Manusyar Mane Moksa-bandhar karan.
Yata dekha dewa-dharma Manar pravandha:
Tawe bandi thake Jiwa, nerai karma-bandha."

'(Mind) resides in the heart and does all good and evil deeds. Mind is one, its forms are four: hear their names….It is Mind that proposes to do so many things, but is not settled in any of them. That is Intellect which plans any making or unmaking. That is pride which considers itself as the author of all things. That is heart which does all good deeds from day to day… This world as a whole is the creation of the mind. Walking, dreaming and sleeping are the three faculties of the mind. Mind is there in the body of every being. The Mind catches a reflection of God. Life is that which is inseparable from the Mind, like a lump of iron which becomes one with fire. Whenever the mind is afflicted, 'So am I' says Life. Whenever the mind dies, 'So die I' says Life. It is like the reflection of the sun that moves or remains as does the water. Life is ensnared by the consequences of its own actions of this or the previous birth only because the mind thinks them to be its own doing. Mind is inanimate in reference to the soul. The fourteen universes are there only in the mind. Mind makes vice, mind makes merit, mind makes the hell. It is mind that makes people near and distant. All the organs of sense are subservient to the mind. They obey the commands of the mind day and night. Mind makes one born, mind makes one dead. Man's salvation or bondage is due to the mind. All worship of minor gods or goddesses is effort of the mind. It is why life is enslaved and cannot free itself from the bondage of consequences of acts already done.

So we are placed at the threshold of the arc of ascent. Everything returns to its source. Life that shot from Him must go back to Him-"God who is our Home." We must rid ourselves of the tribulations of the cycle of birth and rebirth. And how can we do it? We must free ourselves from the consequences of our action by which we are ensnared. "No joy but has its sorrow, that is life", said by Mephistopheles in Faust can none-the-less be denied. This escape from the consequences of our actions can only be affected by getting rid of the tyranny of the mind which is a creation of the maya. Sankardew chalks out a clear path for this getting out, and we have only to follow. ###