The knowledge of the Brahman
The atman is different from all the objects that have been mentioned above. The atman is in an individual’s heart. It sees everything and senses everything, but is different from the physical body. It is this that sages contemplate when they meditate. The sky was created from the brahman, from the sky came wind, from wind fire, from fire water, from water the earth and from the earth the five elements. One has to meditate on the physical body gradually disappearing and merging into the brahman.
The brahman is neither true nor untrue. It has neither form nor is it without form. The brahman has several parts, but at the same time it is an integral whole. The brahman cannot be described. It cannot be achieved through the power of action. The brahman is always pure. It has no ties and it is the true form of happiness. What is required is the sense that it is I, the individual, who am the brahman, I am nothing but the atman and the atman is nothing but the brahman. This sense is true knowledge. The brahman is the Lord who is the origin of everything and the individualis part of the brahman. It is this knowledge that frees one from the ties of the world and this is what brahma jana is all about.
The brahman is not the earth; it is beyond the earth. The brahman is not the wind, nor is it the sky. The brahman has no beginning; it is independent of all action. The brahman is huge; it is everywhere all form. The brahman cannot be described with words, it cannot be seen, smelt or heard. It cannot be touched. The brahman has neither intelligence nor mind. It has no sense of ego or vanity. It does not have life, birth, old age or death.
The brahman is neither happy nor unhappy. It does not feel hungry or thirsty. It cannot be measured. At the same time, it is both nothing and everything.
Life has five possible ends. By performing yajnas one can attain heaven. By performing tapasya one can become an ascetic. By performing actions one can attain brahmaloka. By detachment from material pursuits (vairagya) one can merge oneself into nature. And by true knowledge the individual gets absorbed into the divine essence. This is known as kaivalya. Detachment means to withdraw oneself from the feelings of the senses, ascetism (sannyasa) means to withdraw oneself from the effects of all actions. And knowledge means the knowledge that the atman is no different from the brahman. This is known as jnana yoga (the yoga of knowledge).
There are few people who attain this knowledge. One of those was Bharata. Bharata had done a lot of meditation in a place known as Shalagrama. But he became very attached to a deer and when he died, he died thinking of the deer. The result was that in his next life, Bharata was born as a deer. But the deer happened to be a jatismara, that is, it remembered its earlier life. The deer eventually died and Bharata was again born as a jatismara human.
The king of Soubira was once travelling on a palanquin and he wanted someone who would bear his palanquin free of charge. The kings’s servants caught hold of Bharata to bear the palanqun. But Bharata moved slowly and could not keep up with the other beares.
Bharata replied, “I am not strong. Nor am I bearing your palanquin. I am not tired, nor am I lazy. I am my atman and my atman is not carrying you. See, my king, my feet are on the ground. My thighs are borne on to my feet and my body is balanced on my things. My shoulders are on my body and your palanquin rests on my shoulders. But I am not my feet, thighs, body or shoulders. I am the atman. The atman is not carrying you. So why do you say that I am bearing you?”
Bharata then instructed the king on the mysteries of true knowledge. The atman was pure, ever-lasting, calm, without traits and beyond natural characteristics. Since the atman had no traits and since an individual was the atman and not the body, it was meaningless to say that an individual was strong or weak. The physical body was made of the elements and so was the palanquin. What was the point therefore in saying that the physical body was bearing the palanquin?
Hearing these words of wisdom, the king fell at Bharata’s feet. “Forgive me,” he said, “And let go of the palanquin. Who are you?”
“Who am I?,” asked Bharata. “That is not a question that can easily be answered.”
The king answered, “I fail to understand. Surely the form in which you are now existing is who you are.”
“No,” said Bharata. “I am the atman and the atman is the same a the paramatman. The paramatman is everywhere and therefore, the atman is also everywhere. I am everywhere. I am in all physical bodies. It is meaningless to ask who you are and who I am. We are all one and the same. Wood has come from the trees and this palanquin is made of wood. But is the palanquin wood or tree? When you ride on the palanquin, does anyone say that you are riding on a tree? Men, women, cows, horses, elephants, birds and trees, these are all meaningless names. They are all illusions. Everything is one and the same, I am everywhere. If there had been a place or an object where I do not exist, I could have answered the question of who I am. But since I am everywhere, I do not know how to answer your question. Tell me king, are you your head or your stomach? Or is all of it, you? But then, what will you call that which is distinct from your physical body? Think about what I have said.”
Bharata’s words were so profound that the king immediately accepted Bharata as a teacher. And Bharata told the king the story of Ribhu and Nidagha.
The sage Ribhu was Brahma’s son. He was also extemely learned. Nidagha was Ribu’s disciple. After Ribhu had taught Nidagha what there was to be taught, Nidagha went to live in a city. After a thousand years had passes, Ribhu went to the city to see how Nidagha was getting on. Nidagha worshipped his teacher and gave him all sorts of things to eat. After Ribhu had eaten, Nidagha asked him, “Are you satisfied?”
“What do you mean?,” asked Ribhu. “The question of satisfaction would have arisen had I been hungry or thirsty. I am my atman and the atman is always satisfied. So what is the point of asking me that question. I am part of the brahman that is omnipresent and so are you. You are not distinct from me, we are both part of the same whole. I came to teach you this knowledge. Now that you have learnt that the brahman is everywhere, let me leave.”
After another thousand years had passed, Ribhu came to the city again and discovered that Nidagha no longer lived in the city. He had begun to live on the outskirts of the city.
“Why have you given up living in the city?,” Ribhu asked Nidagha.
“Because I do not like to live in the city, where there is a king,” replied Nidagha.
“Who is the king?,” asked Ribhu. “Point him out to me in this procession that is passing. And point out to me the subjects.”
Nidagha said, “The king is the one who is as tall as a mountain peak. He is the one who is riding the elephant. The ones who are walking are the subjects.”
“What do you mean?,” asked Ribhu. “The brahman is in the king and the brahman is in the elephant. How do you distinguish one from the other, how do you say that one is riding the other? Is the king the physical body or the atman? Who is riding on whom? I do not understand.”
This knowledge, that the atman is the same as the brahman, is known as advaita (unified) brahma-jnana. Ribhu taught this to Nidagha and Bharata taught this to the king Soubira. This is the knowledge that all elements are one and the same. It is only those who suffer from illusions who think that different elements and different beings have different identities.
The Gita
Krishna had taught Arjuna the lessons of the Gita on the plains of Kurukshetra. The Agni Purana now relates the essence of the Gita.
If the physical body is alive, that is no reason for rejoicing. Just as, if the physical body is dead, that is no reason for mourning. The atman does not die. It does not decay, it cannot be destroyed and it is immortal. The atman does not warrant any tears that might be shed over it. People who are addicted to sensual pleasures cannot realize this. The person who is addicted to the atman alone has no desire for anything else. He has no action to perform. He has neither gains nor losses. The knowledge of this is like a raft that rescues one from the flood of illusions.
This knowledge frees one from the shackles of all actions (karma), since all actions are vested in the brahman. A person with this knowledge is as pure as a drop of water on a lotus flower. Such a person sees himself in everything and everything in himself. There are four types of people who worship Vishnu. The first category consists of people who are in trouble, the second consists of people who desire wealth. Third consists of people who are merely curious, while the last consists of people who hanker after true knowledge. It is the last category of people who realize the union and identity of the atman and the brahman.
The brahman is there in the smallest blade of grass. It is there in the most powerful and sacred of people. The physical senses mean nothing, they merely further the illusion of one’s physcial identity. The brahman extends beyond all these senses. The brahman has neither traits, nor is it without traits.
The brahman creates and destroys, it is th most powerful of all energies. Some realize the identity of the atman and the brahman through meditation, others through actions.
Yama Gita
There was a king named Vajashrava. His son was Nachiketa. Vajashrava arranged for a wonderful sacrifice at which he gave away all his wealth.
Nachiketa asked, “Father, whom have you given me to?”
His father did not reply, but Nachiketa kept asking again and again. At this, Vajashrava became angry and said,”I have given you to Yama.
Faithful to his father’s word, Nachiketa decided to go to Yama’s abode. The road was difficult, but Nachiketa got there and waited for three days to see Yama. No on returns to the earth from Yama’s abode. But Yama was so pleased to have met Nachiketa that he granted him the boon that Nachiketa could return to the earth. Nachiketa however, had no desire to accept such a boon. Instead he wanted to know from Yama the true nature of the atman. The instructions that Yama gave to Nachiketa have come to be known as the Yama Gita.
The Agni Purana now recaptitualtes the essence of the Yama Gita.
Yama said that it was indeed strange that men craved after positions, possessions, houses and clothes. The sages have all taught that one should not get addicted to these sensual pleasures. And yet, man did not learn.
The brahman is that which possesses nothing and everything. It cannot be seen and yet it is everywhere. The atman is like a warrior on a chariot, the physical body being the chariot, the intelligence the charioteer and the mind the bridle. The senses are the horses and the warrior’s job is to control the horses and target his arrow at the knowledge of the brahman. Those who are truly learned know of the identity between the atman and the brahman. Samadhi is nothing but the recognition of this union. When the physical body comes to an end, the atman is free and can merge with the brahman.
The Agni Purana’s Virtues
The last chapter of the Agni Purana describes the virtues of the Purana.
The Agni Purana is most holy. It gives health and ends nightmares. It spreads happiness. Ill omens vanish from houses where the Agni Purana is kept. A man who listens to the recital of the Agni Purana every day, has no need of pilgrimages, alms, sacrifices and fasts. Reading one chapter of the text yields the same punya as may be obtained from donating a cow. Even if one only wishes to hear a recital of the Agni Purana, the sins committed over the duration of a day are forgiven. Reading the whole of text gives one the punya that can be obtained by donating a hundred cows at a sacred place of pilgrimage. Enemies and thieves dare not frequent a house where there is a a text of the Agni Purana. Ghosts give such a house a miss.
A brahmana who listens to a recital of the Purana becomes learned in the Vedas. A kshatriya becomes the ruler of the world, a vaishya becomes rich and a shudra attains good health. Nothing is so sacred as writing down the text of the Purana and donating it to brahmanas.