Today’s subject of discourse is Párthasárathi in the light of bhaktitattva [the essence of devotion]. Devotion can be explained in various ways: from a psychological point of view, from a philosophical point of view, etc. The fundamental psychology behind bhakti, which I once discussed at Anandanagar, is this: when a person looks upon the awesome greatness of any great entity, his or her own qualities become suspended. He or she develops a special attitude towards that great entity, and that attitude is known as devotion. (This is the primary interpretation of devotion. It has other interpretations as well. When a jiiva attracts an entity other than itself and is attracted by that entity, that spirit of mutual attraction is known as devotion or bhakti.)

When an individual’s psychic feelings get suspended at the sight of the greatness of an entity, then the individual attitude towards that great entity is devotion. Initially it is known as sámányá bhakti [natural devotion]. This sámánya bhakti is present even in many undeveloped creatures. Suppose you look upon the vast Himalayan range. When you gaze at the sky-kissing peaks, your mind becomes overwhelmed and you exclaim, “Oh, how vast are these mountains!” You develop a feeling of reverence for the Himalayas.

In ancient times, whenever people looked upon anything very great, whether crude, subtle or causal, they began to worship it out of a feeling of reverence. If people worship many things then the mind will naturally flow in many directions; rather the mind should be made to flow towards the greatest of the great entities. That Entity alone should be the object of bhakti. Regarding Parama Puruśa, it has been said:

Tamiishvaráńáḿ paramaḿ Maheshvaraḿ taḿ devatánáḿ paramaiṋca Daevatam;
Patiḿ patiináḿ paramaḿ parastád vidáma devaḿ bhuvaneshamiid́yam.

[He is Maheshvara of all the iishvaras (Controller of the controllers); He is the God of all gods. He is the King of all kings, the supreme lord of everything. He is above everything and everyone. I know that supreme adorable lord of the universe. ]

In one person we might discover great intellect; in another person we might find great courage; and in a third, photographic memory. People are bound to revere those with great intellect. Similarly, one who has a wonderful memory is also sure to command respect from others. If one is very kind or has constructive genius, he or she will also enjoy people’s reverence. Such are the people who command reverence from society. But Parama Puruśa is the One who commands reverence from even the revered ones. That is, they admit: “We know nothing. We only think upon Parama Puruśa and work by His grace.”

Now what do we find in Párthasárathi? He knows the inner secrets of all. He knows what and when everything happened not only during the period of the Kurukśetra war, not only ten to fifteen years before – He also knows what happened ten thousand years earlier and all that has happened during the past untold millions of years.

Whatever has been said so briefly in the Giitá has been elaborated upon in the Mahábhárata. He who possesses such vast knowledge is sure to be the master of intellect. No one knows as much as He knows. Thus, from that viewpoint, He is bound to command the maximum reverence from the people. According to the touchstone of bhaktitattva, He is pure gold. In exactly the same way, He is revered for His vigour and spiritedness. He also exhorted the Pandavas to establish themselves in vigour and spiritedness. When necessary He severely admonished them, saying Klaevyaḿ másma gama Pártha – “Do not give in to helplessness.” Endowed with superb intellect, memory and knowledge, He knew when, where and how He was to convey what was needed. Not only in memory and intellect, but in all other forms of human expression as well, He is impeccable, unparalleled. Ekamevádvitiiyam [“He is One and without a second”]. Therefore whom but Him will people revere?

Tamiishvaráńáḿ paramaḿ Maheshvaram. When people notice iishvaratva [the power of control] in others, they begin to revere such personalities, and such personalities possessing iishvaratva revere Parama Puruśa as “Maheshvara”. My beloved Párthasárathi is Maheshvara to all.

Now, who is Iishvara? One in whom all the aeshvaryas [occult powers] are manifest is called Iishvara. They are chiefly eight in number – ańimá, mahimá, laghimá, prápti, iishitva, vashitva, prakámya and antaryámitva. The eight aeshvaryas are clearly manifested in Parama Puruśa. It is not erroneous, therefore, to identify Párthasarathi with Parama Puruśa. I am bound to admit that Párthasárathi was Táraka Brahma and as such He commands universal reverence.

Ańimá: Ańimá means the ability to become very small. Parama Puruśa is a vast Entity, but He lies covert in the deepest recesses of the mind, in the innermost regions of the human heart, and in the controlling point of human sentimentality. You cannot do or think anything secretly. Whenever you think of something, that thought is carried by your nerve cells to your ectoplasmic body, where a sympathetic vibration is created. This is the process of thinking. He is seated in your mind. Every thought is witnessed by Him. He is the master of your mind.

Ańu means very small. Ańimá means the capacity to become very small. That is, He remains in your mind in the form of the smallest possible particle.

Suppose you start thinking about how you would like to prepare some pát́isápt́á [a fine cake] and serve it to a loved one. Your desire sets in motion a particular psychic process. If there is a wave of desire in your mind to serve pát́isápt́á to that loved one, that very wave has an object, a physico-psychic object. As you move around, every wave of your inner desire is directed towards making this one dish. (The whole matter is interesting, but a little complicated.)

If, moreover, the person whom you want to feed is also there in your mind, obviously he or she will see that pát́isápt́á with every rise and fall of your psychic waves, and he or she will develop a desire to eat it. So on the one hand, you have mentally created that desire on his or her part, and on the other hand, with each trough and each crest of your mental wave you have prepared some pát́isápt́á, meaning that in one second you have mentally created at least a million pieces of pát́isápt́á. Naturally the creation of millions of pát́isápt́ás in your mental arena will linger for several days. That is, in the process of action and reaction, it will produce a lasting impression on the nerve cells, and three or four days later you are likely to say to the members of your family: “We haven’t had any pát́isápt́á for a long time, one of these days we should make some.” That is why it is said: Yádrshii bhávaná yasya siddhirbhavati tádrshii – “As you think, so you become.” Whether you prepare the food or not, you develop an intense desire to eat it. So it is not proper to cherish such desires. If you do think about it, you should think about it just for a second, not more than that. If the desire persists, you will be assailed afterwards by its reaction. For instance, if someone thinks of thieves for a considerable length of time, the idea of stealing may creep into the mind, so these types of undesirable thought should always be discouraged. Whenever any thought arises in the mind, it should be immediately channelled towards Parama Puruśa. You should say: “O Parama Puruśa, Thy will be done,” for His ańimá lies covert in your mind. Just as sugar in syrup is undeniably mixed with every water particle, similarly His ańimá is also pervasively associated with your thought processes.

Mahimá: Mahimá means vastness. The entire microcosmic world is sheltered within the Macrocosmic mind. If the unit is a drop of water, then the Cosmic mind is the ocean. Every rise and fall of your sentimental waves takes place within Him, within His vast oceanic mind. You cannot think of anything outside of Him. You are surrounded by Him in all directions – east, west, north, south, north-east, north-west, south-east, south-west, above and below. How will you go outside of Him? You cannot. So long as you are not aware of the fact that you are surrounded by Him in all directions, you may think occasionally that He may not know what you are secretly thinking or doing. But once you have understood the fact, you can no longer turn back, because it is too late. Rabindranath Tagore said, perhaps in regard to the state of those who do not realize that they are forever encircled in ten directions by Parama Puruśa:

Vishva joŕá phánd petecha kemane di-i phánki,
Ádhek dhará paŕechi go, ádhek áche bákii.

[O Lord, You have set Your traps all over the world; half of myself is caught, the other half is not caught.]

When the sádhaka realizes his or her condition, that of being surrounded by Him in ten directions, then he or she will not say “half of myself is caught,” rather he or she will say: Puro dhará paŕechi go, kichui náhi bákii [“My entire self is caught, nothing is left out”]. This is His mahimá. This is His second aeshvarya.

Laghimá: Laghimá means lightness. When people grow a little older, say twenty-five or thirty years, they start to behave more seriously and conduct themselves with dignity before their juniors. For example, they laugh on a ration basis. That is, they do not laugh as much as they really should, lest their juniors think less of them. They try to make themselves grave unnecessarily. In their hearts they are not serious but they pretend to be serious. In fact they are not so grave. What about Parama Puruśa? He prefers to remain as light as a small child. He does not pretend to be serious, for He who carries the entire weight of the universe has no reason to increase His load.

Prápti: Human beings desire so many things but in actuality they are not able to get all they wish for.

Yáhá cái táhá bhul kare cái;
Yáhá pái táhá cái ná.

[Whatever I want, I misguidedly want. What I get, I get without wanting it.]

Human beings do not know what their real needs are, but Parama Puruśa knows the needs of each and every person. He needs nothing for Himself. He wants only to give to the world. He provides jiivas with everything according to their necessity. He provides these things either directly, or indirectly through other jiivas. He teaches human beings to move in a certain way so that their needs might be easily fulfilled. If they do not act according to His counsel their needs will not be fulfilled. If the people, however, sincerely follow the path laid down by Him, all their needs will be met and their bondages removed. This is His fourth aeshvarya.

Iishitva: You see, my Párthasárathi is endowed with the quality of omniscience. He has ańimá and mahimá. He has His extraordinary greatness, before which everyone surrenders. He has laghimá. And He has His bewitching smile – Suhásarainjitádharam.⁽¹⁾ That is, His lips are not coloured by betel preparations, but there is a sweet charming smile on His lips, and the rare occult power of prápti, through which He has provided everything for the jiivas, that also is His. Either He has given them what they needed or shown them the path to take wherein their wants will be fulfilled. Iish means “to rule”, “to administer”. He ruled His empire with an iron hand. He ruled over the virtuous and made them more virtuous. He ruled the wicked and brought them back to the path of virtue. There was not the slightest slackness in His endeavours. It follows that He was established in iishitva.

Vashitva: Vashitva means to keep everything under control. If the horses are not kept under proper control – the human mind can be compared to a team of horses – if there is no rein, they may run amok and will be the cause of one’s downfall. So everything has to be regulated and controlled. This is otherwise known as parama vashiikára siddhi. My Párthasárathi possessed this rare quality, this unique occult power.

Prakámya: Whatever my Párthasárathi desired was accomplished. Atoms, molecules, electrons, protons and ectoplasmic particles start rushing to translate His wish into reality. Things take shape accordingly. Suppose someone is suffering from asthma. Disease is natural for every human body. People die of this disease, also. Yet if He wishes Mr. So-and-so to be rid of his chest pain, all the atoms, molecules, ectoplasmic particles, etc., immediately become busy to give practical shape to His desire, and the disease gets cured. This is prakámya. Párthasárathi certainly had this prakámya. We can easily cite many stories from the Mahábhárata to illustrate this. That is why people say:

Kii habe iccháy iccháte kii hay,
Krśńa icchá biná phal phale ná.

[What is there in a desire? A desire cannot implement itself. Nothing can take place without the desire of Krśńa.]

Antaryámitva: We can ask the question, are ańimá and antaryámitva one and the same? The entity which remains in the mind smaller than an atom and witnesses all psychic phenomena may also be called antaryámitva. On the practical side, however, there is some difference. Antaryámitva means to enter into one’s being and know everything inside the body and mind. It is not enough to know the inner workings of the mind alone. It is also necessary to enter into each limb of the body and know what is what. For instance, suppose a person suffers from some psychic ailments. Someone may be weighed down with the cares and anxieties of life. Only to enter the mind and know all this will not suffice. The entity who wants to bring about the well-being of all will have to know every secret people hold. Then and then alone will he or she be able to do the maximum good for them.

So we see that the eight aeshvaryas to which human beings, even all other created beings, bow their heads in reverence and devotion, were fully manifested in my beloved Párthasárathi. So if we analyse His personality in detail in the light of bhaktitattva, we find that my Párthasárathi is fully entitled to our devotion, and at the same time I will add that no one else is entitled to our devotion, for there is no other entity who possesses the eight aeshvaryas.

Regarding Párthasárathi I will say this – human beings have no capacity to judge Him, for in order to judge One who possesses the eight aeshvaryas, infallible wisdom is required. He is the Lord of the eight aeshvaryas. Only one who possesses the eight aeshvaryas in a greater degree than Párthasárathi has the right to judge Him. No human being is capable of this. He is beyond human judgement, beyond the scope of human intellect. Instead of trying to attain Him through intellect one should try to attain Him by complete surrender. That is the only path. There is no other way.

Footnotes

(1) Referring to song in “Vraja Krśńa and Sáḿkhya Philosophy”. –Eds.