
Is God Impersonal?
Written by: atmanandanadha
God from the times' immemorial, is either pervasively viewed as impersonal, or passionately venerated as personal. The Vedic literature gives comprehensive instruction on both personal and impersonal countenances of the God and named the impersonal as the brahman and the personal the atman. The concept of the brahman was initially developed in the upanishads. The nature of the brahman is chronicled as transpersonal, personal and impersonal by different philosophical schools of vedanta and other darsanas’.
yattadresyam agrahyam agotram avarnam achkshuh
srotram tadapani padam nityam vibhum sarvagatam
susukshmam tadavyayam yadbhuta yonim paripasyanti dheerah
yadhorna nabhih srijate grihnate ca yadha pridhivyam
oshadhayah sambhavanti yadha satah purushat kesa
lomani tadhaksharat sambhavateeha visvam
- mun. up. 1.1.6-7
The source of all beings is ubiquitous, interminable, imperceptible, imperishable, cannot be viewed or captured, has no limbs, no family nor caste; but is only discernible by a jnani.
Akshara purusha, on his own volition and all by himself, manifests the world of names and forms as the spider weaves its' cobweb, as the flora emerges from the soil, as the hairs grow on the human body without external intervention.
- mun. up. 1.1.6-7
satyam eva jayate nānṛtam, satyena panthā
vitato deva-yānaḥ, yenākramanty ṛṣayo
hyāpta-kāmā yatra tat satyasya paramaṁ nidhānam.
bṛhac ca tad divyam acintya-rūpaṁ sūkṣmāc ca
tat sūkṣma-taraṁ vibhati, dūrāt sudūre tad
ihāntike ca paśyatsv ihaiva nihitam guhāyām.
- mun.up. 3.1.6,7
We hear about the potency and intensity of satya and the perks one profits once he takes to satya. The afterlife once one leaves the mortal body (utkramana) is once again meritorious because he was a satyavadi and lead a sterling life, his soul passes through the devayana path, and finally he will be decisively put to paramapada (advaita siddhi).
The abode of brahman, paramapada, while the satyavadi is alive is the scintillating cavern of buddhi, and visible to those truth-loving chieftains; brahman is atman who is beyond human comprehension, infinitesimal, radiant and eternal.
Advaita doctrine of sankara bhagavatpada (maya-vada) was based on the famous maha-vakya – ‘tat tvam asi’ - of the chandogya upanishad, meaning that thou art. He taught, through his doctrine of vivarta, that tat and tvam were the same, and not to be discriminated and observed as object and subject. He suggested that atman was constant and unalterable while the body, mind, intellect, and ego are objects of knowledge and changeable. Brahman is of the nature of truth, knowledge and infinity (satyam jnanam anantam brahma – taittiriya up). Thus, brahman is the origin and end of all things, material or otherwise (upadana/nimitta causes). Brahman is only the root source and divine ground of everything that exists according to sankara bhagavatpada.
adhyaropa apavadabhyam
nishprapancham prapanchate
- sankara
Knowledge of the apparent appearance is adhyasa; the grasp of the senses within their built-in limitations, and in dearth of the knowledge of the hidden phenomenon within the human. This false knowledge is because of the influence of tri-guna on the antahkarana (mind complex) of the individual. Midhya derives from the verb-root mith, meaning, to altercate; and midhya indicates incorrect, contrary, only apparent knowledge. This is called as midhya-adhyasa (artha-adhyasa). Bhranthi, on the other hand is false knowledge. Nishprapancam is atma tattvam. Apavada is a process of negation by antithesis. Adhyaropa is summarily a process of or an act of putting upon or superimposition. If we may have to explain advaita intelligibly, we can recapitulate the short narrative of sankara bhagavadpada which says – “brahma satyam-jagan mithya-jivo brahmaiva napara’ - truth is brahman, world is midhya, jiva is analogous with brahman.
Advaita brahman is inconceivable, and truth-consciousness-bliss (sat-chit-ananda). The crux of the doctrine of monism is to realize that the atman is essentially brahman. Maya-vada philosophy, nevertheless, covering brahman spiritual abundance, defends the theory of impersonalism. According to sankara bhagavatpada the nirguna brahman is homogenous with the supreme personality, whatever qualities are attributed to the divine. By the power of maya, the supreme personality gleefully creates numerous worlds, deludes all beings; yet, the essence remains corresponding to It. This world perceived is only relatively real, and the real self is not affected by it. One can deify the supreme personality as atman or as distinct from it. Saguna-brahman, as narrated by sankara bhagavatpada, refers to the supreme personality indistinguishable with his infinite jnana. This saguna-brahman is the paramartha, immutable, and analogous with the nirguna-brahman. Saguna-brahman of the vaishnavism is the brahman with infinite attributes, and forms; is immortal, imperishable, eternal, and thus the basis of the impersonal nirguna brahman.
In vedanta everywhere, two types of self have been conceived. The empirical self (vijnana atma) is the enjoyer and bound while the metaphysical self (paramatma) is immutable and eternally liberated. Forgetting his eternal self the jiva identifies himself with the empirical form. The essential nature of the jiva is, however, the metaphysical self. To remove this dualism by establishing the identity of the self is the aim of vedanta. Hence the jiva or vijnana atma requires study, meditation, penance, upasana, archana, etc., to achieve liberation. Sankara bhagavadpada strongly advocated the four-fold means of salvation (sadhana chatushtaya) as necessary for a student to become worthy of pursuing spiritual elevation. 1. Faculty to discriminate between eternal and ephemeral (viveka), dispassion towards worldly and otherworldly enjoyments (viraga), possession of the six-fold affluence (shad sampatti) viz., the tranquillity of mind brought about through eradication of desires (sama), rational control of senses (dama), faith in scriptures (sraddha), focused mind on spiritual practices and knowledge (samadhana), aversion from non-spiritual practices (uparati), the power of endurance, pain and pleasure bearing capacity (titiksha); and intense desire for liberation (mumukshatva) constitute the four-fold virtues. Once equipped with these virtues, the sadhaka should listen (sravana) to the guru’s given maha-vakya, reflect on the purport (manana), and profoundly meditate (nididhyasa) to attain advaita siddhi.
The impersonalistic school advocates that the supreme spirit is an impersonal force, a void, or great effulgence from which everything has emanated and back into which everything merges.
hiranamaye pare kose virajam brahma nishkalam
tac chubhram jyotisam jyotis tad yad atma-vido viduh
na tatra suryo bhati na candra-tarakam nema
vidyuto bhanti kuto 'yam agnih tam eva bhantam
anubhati sarvam tasya bhasa sarvam idam vibhati
brahmaivedam amritam purastad brahma pascad
brahma dakshinatas cottarena adhas cordhvam ca
- mun up. 2.2.9,10,11
The realised souls consistently experience the parama purusha (brahman) in their brilliant daharakasa (hiranmaya kosa). Brahman is integral, complete, pure and permeated brilliance.
That hiranmaya kosa is the forerunning eminence which has imparted brilliance to the sun, moon and the stars; the flutter of lightening stands pale, the flicker of fire stands repressed before It. Succinctly, It is jyotishampati, the seigneur of splendour.
That brahman is in omnipresent escalating everywhere, immortal (amrita), and transcendent.
In the words of the brihadaranyaka upanishad It is:
pornamadah pornamidam
pornatpornam udatyate
pornasya pornamadaya
pornameva avasishyate
- brih. up.
That is infinite, and this is infinite; this infinite progresses from that infinite taking the infinitude of that infinite, and remains as the infinite alone.
Mundaka upanishad convincingly confirms the personal facet of the supreme which is saguna; and states that It originates from the impersonal, the nirguna.
yah sarvajnah sarvavid yasya jnanamayam tapah
tasmad etad brahma nama rupam annam ca jayate
- mun. up.1.1.9
That akshara-brahman knows everything (sarvajnah), knows everything of all (sarvavid), is the ascetic imbued in jnana; and from It nirguna-brahman unfolds manifesting as the world of names and forms.
Svetasvatara Upanishad confirms this as follows:
Sa vriksha kalakritibhih paro anyo
Yasmat prapancah parivartite ayam
Dharmavaham papamadam bhagesam
Jnatvatmastham amritam visvadhama
- sveta. up. 6.6
Universe (samsara) is compared to a tree. Brahman is different from samsara, kala (time), name and form; is the source of dharma, is the one who douses papa (demerit), evil, etc. Those, who realize this and experience brahman as the in-dweller, attain liberation (mukti).
Another relevant and interesting verse in katha Upanishad, from where we can clearly understand that God is the supreme person, who is the source and controller of everything.
nityo’nityᾱnᾱṁ cetanaś cetanᾱnᾱm
eko bahῡnᾱm yo vidadhᾱti kᾱmᾱn,
tam ᾱtmastham yenupaśyanti dhīrᾱḥ;
teṣᾱṁ śᾱntiḥ śasvatī, netareṣᾱṁ.
- katha up.5.13
One who perceives brahman in the soul as the one who is eternal in the transient, who is conscious amid the unconscious, the one amid who grants desires, is blessed with eternal peace.
Thus in many vedic texts, it is established that the absolute is a personal entity, and meditating on him is the highest form of meditation.
Maya avesya mano ye mam nitya-yukta upasate
Sraddhaya parayppetas te me yuktatama matah
- b. g.12.2
Sri Krishna through bhagavad gita said, that of those who are endowed with firm faith beyond material conceptions; who always engage exclusively worshipping meditating on him; are considered as superior of all. When the sadhaka’s mind is fixed in intense transcendental faith on the personal form of Krishna, he is considered to be the most perfect. Thus sri krishna unequivocally declared the pre-eminence and incomparability of personal brahman and its’ worship
Mattah parataram nanyat kinchid asti dhananjaya
Mayi sarvam idam protam sutre mani-gana iva
- b. g. 7.7
O arjuna there is nothing superior to Me; everything existing is connected to Me like pearls on a thread.