In Ánanda Sútram⁽¹⁾ it is said –

Puruśa akartá phalasákśiibhutah bhávakendrasthitah guńayantrakashca.

[Puruśa (the Supreme Cognitive Principle) does not control the operation of energy. On the contrary, Puruśa being established in the nucleus of the guńas (binding principles), controls those very guńas, through which energy emanates. The Supreme witness-ship of every entity lies in Puruśa.]

Puruśa akartá. Puruśa shall carry no visarga [voiceless aspirant sounding like ah]. This is so because here śa is followed by a vowel, the a of akartá.

Then, phalasákśiibhutah; sákkhiibhutah or sákśiibhutah, which one would be correct? Sákkhii, Why so? Why not sákśii? Since ka is followed by śa, the correct expression should have been sákśii. But in Sanskrit, as per the rule, it is sákkhii. In the Rgveda, it is pronounced as cerebral śa and in the Yajurveda, it is cerebral kha. So in the Yajurveda, it is pronounced as sákkhii, and according to the Rgvedic pronunciation it is sákśii. About seven or eight languages of India, for example, Bengali, Assamese, Oriya and Punjabi, follow the Yajurvedic pronunciation. They pronounce it as sákkhii. If I had to say which is correct, I would say that both are correct; one is the Rgvedic style and the other is the Yajurvedic style.

Puruśa akartá phalasákśiibhutah bhávakendrasthitah guńayantrakashca.

Is it pronounced jantrakashca or yantrakashca? While chanting before goddess Cańd́ii should one say, jádevii sarva bhuteśu or yádevii sarva bhuteśu? Is it jantra or yantra? The rule says, Padánte padamadhyasthe ja kára ya uccate [“When ja occurs in the end or in the middle, it is pronounced as ya”]. The semi-consonant ja and semi-consonant ya are not two letters but one. If it occurs in the beginning it is pronounced ja, and if it occurs in the middle or at the end it is pronounced ya. For example, the semi-consonant ya + o + ga = joga but bi + ya + o + ga = biyoga, because here ya occurs not in the beginning but in the middle. Similarly sa+ma+ya is samaya, not samaja because it does not occur in the beginning. Considering that children would find it difficult to know when to pronounce ja and when to pronounce ya, Shrii Ishvar Chandra Vidyasagar put a dot below ya where ya is to be pronounced ya so that small children could understand how it should be pronounced. In Bengali when a dot is added it is pronounced ya.

Actually the semi-consonant ya is a single letter, not two. The ́dot’ is added for the sake of convenience. When it occurs at the beginning it is ja. So, the expression jantrakasca is correct. The expression jantra is correct. Jádevii is correct but not yádevii.

Similarly, when the two letters d́a and d́ha occur in the beginning, they are pronounced d́a and d́ha. But when they occur in the middle or at the end, they are to be pronounced ŕa and ŕha respectively. In Bengali the rule is to put a dot under d́a to identify it as ŕa, i.e., the dot under d́a and d́ha. In Sanskrit there is no letter with a dot beneath the letter. One understands from the context. Since they do not occur in the beginning, we say ŕa and ŕha. It is áśáŕha but it is d́háka (without dot under d́ha). It is áŕhambar (d́a with dot beneath) but not ád́ambar (d́a without a dot beneath) because it occurs in the middle.

Now what does Puruśa mean? Pure shete yah sah Puruśah. Pura means “that in which one takes shelter”. Remember that everyone needs shelter, that is, no one can live without a shelter. Everything needs a base (bhúmi or basu). In Sanskrit vasu means “that in which one lives”. The place where one lives and that provides shelter is vástu, and that which needs a base or place for its existence, is called vastu [object]. The base in which something exists is called pura. Many villages and towns are suffixed by pura because people live there. So pure shete yah sah Puruśah. That which takes shelter within this pura in the form of the body is the átmá [unit consciousness]. That is why átmá is called Puruśa. Why is the word shete used? What does shoyá mean in Bengali? Shoyá may denote a state wherein one is lying down awake and also the state wherein one is actually asleep. In Hindi soná refers to the singular state where one is really asleep. One has to note the difference. In Bengali shoyá means you are lying flat on your back or lying on your side but you are awake, and in Hindi sona means you are completely asleep. There is a great difference between Hindi and Bengali. Shoyá in Bengali refers to a state wherein one is lying down but awake. It is termed as let́ná in Hindi. Here – pure shete yah sah Puruśah. Puruśa is that which sleeps in the pura or body. This signifies that [Puruśa] does not take active part in any action. It does not get involved in any action whatsoever. It does not get attached to any action. Nonetheless it is present in every action.

Those of you who are students of science know what a catalytic agent is. A catalytic agent is that which helps in bringing about chemical change in another substance without undergoing any change. What is the function of a catalytic agent? When a chemical reaction takes place in a substance, then the catalytic agent does not become a part of the chemical reaction. For example, gold is used to prepare makaradhvaja [aqua regia] and afterwards the gold is also retrieved.

Puruśa akartá. Puruśa is that which lives in the pura of the body (deha pure). Secondly, Purasi shete yah sah Puruśah. Purasi means – “in the front”. Purasi hitam karoti yah sah purohitah – one who comes forward to bring about your welfare. Similarly, one who lies quiescent before you is Puruśa. In whatever direction you go, you find Him before you. There is no way to ignore or bypass Him. Thus Puruśa akartá.

In Sanskrit kr refers to when objects change their place, are moved from one point to another, when there is change of place. There is a pillow in one place; I move it from that place to another. What has happened? I have performed an action as a result of which the object has changed its place. It is called action. Kr is used in this sense. In this sense Puruśa is akartá [a non-doer]. It does not cause the spatial change of the object. Then what causes the change of place? That which causes this change is called Paramá Prakrti or creative faculty. This is the significance of the term Prakrti. Pra – kr + ktin, that is, Prakrti is that whose nature is to cause an action or bring about an action. But Puruśa is a non-doer. How so? Like a catalytic agent, its very existence is necessary. Its presence is indispensable. Similarly there is a necessity of the headman in ceremonies, festivities, rituals, sacrificial rites and marriages. The headman does not serve dishes like curd, sandesh, luci,⁽²⁾ curry etc. He simply observes who is giving water or serving luci. Suppose someone, by mistake, serves sweets before luci. The headman observs everything that is taking place. Everyone remains alert simply because of his presence. The headman must be present. The bride-groom’s party also has a headman. In every such function there is a headman. He does not do anything by himself. Nonetheless he commands great esteem. Everyone respects him and due to his presence everything functions properly.

Puruśa akartá. Everything takes place because of His existence. Take an eye, for example.There is the optical nerve, the eye itself and the light. Even then the eye cannot see if there is no átmá [unit-consciousness]. Often it so happens that the mind of a person stops functioning. There is no átmá either. Again, many times it so happens that the unit-consciousness is there but the mind stops functioning. The mind and the sense organs stop functioning. The doctor says that the person is dead. His physical death has occurred but he is not actually dead. There are many people who are not actually dead but rather their mind is suspended. Since the mind is in a suspended state there can be no expression of unit-consciousness. The person is not able to see, hear or do anything. We cremate such people thinking that they are dead or we put them in a grave. It may be that after five or six hours the person regains consciousness. Then he finds that he is inside a grave.

The person struggles desperately but there is no one to save him. The person meets his real death inside the grave. Such incidents happen very often. Occasionally the mind becomes suspended and inactive due to acute suffering during a disease. Then the existence of the witnessing subject (Sákśii Puruśa), the non-doer Self (Akartá Puruśa), is rendered meaningless because in such a state there is hardly any mental function. In such a state, if a person dies due to some disease, the mind becomes completely suspended.

Such incidents happen in the case of smallpox and snakebite. Thereafter the suspended mind regains normalcy. The suspended mind may start functioning again and the unit-consciousness becomes expressed. With this in mind in ancient times, instead of cremating the body immediately, people used to let the body float on water. If the mind started functioning due to the water’s cool air, then the person might be saved. Wherever the person might float to, at least they would be saved. That is why there was the custom that if a person met sudden death due to an accident, snakebite or acute suffering from smallpox, the person was not to be cremated immediately. In the past, the bodies of people who died due to snakebite venom and smallpox were consigned to the water. When the mind is suspended, the doctor may declare that the person is dead. However, the mind is only in a suspended state. It has not become completely non-active.

Now, what does the witnessing átmá do in such a state when the mind is inactive? It remains as a witness to all that has been done. With the help of light you see everything. What does the light witness? It sees that an actor comes to the stage, recite something and departs. A dancer comes, dances and goes back. A singer comes, sings and goes. What is the feminine gender of a gáyaka (singer)? Is it gáyiká? No, it is not gáyiká. This is a common error. It should be gáyakii. As per the Sanskrit grammar, gáyiká is incorrect. Similarly the term seviká is incorrect; it should be sevaká. You should not make this mistake any more. The light that was observing the stage, perceives all that is happening on that stage even now. It witnesses everything, even when there is no one on the stage. It sees that nothing is taking place on the stage; it sees the void. It is the witness. Thus, when the mind remains in a suspended state or when it goes beyond the body, that is, when it leaves the body, then what does the átmá witness? It sees that the mind is in a state of suspension. Now it is not in a position to do anything, think anything or remember anything. In the case of a living person, the unit consciousness continues to see everything. In that case, the átmá witnesses all that the mind thinks, does, remembers, how it regulates the active sense organs, how the person talks, how the person thinks. “I will eat this food, I shall sit here, I will exploit these fools in such and such a way. I shall sit with my body smeared with ash. If any erudite person comes, I shall send my disciple and tell him to say that today Sádhujii is observing silence; so I won’t have to answer his questions. I shall observe silence.” One has entertained all these thoughts and one has decided accordingly. The átmá has heard everything.

What is the thought process? It is an internal monologue. You think internally, “I shall go to Navadwip and I shall meet my maternal uncle.” To think in this way is to talk mentally. Whenever you think of anything, you will find that you are talking within your mind and the átmá is the witness of the mind. So, all internal conversations are being tape-recorded. In other words, nothing is hidden. No one can hide anything. Whatever you are thinking in your mind is being recorded internally by the átmá. Everything is stored. So it is utterly futile to try to hide anything. You are thinking mentally, “Let Mr. So-and-so be harmed, let So-and-so be destroyed, let So-and-so die. Then I will get my promotion.” One may think like this but afterwards one reaps the consequences according to one’s thoughts. One only harms oneself when one thinks ill of others because the thought of harming others is simply a mental action and the mental reactions follow. How shall these reactions accrue? The reactions materialize in the form of harm to you. So, if there is ill feeling in your thinking,i.e., if there is a feeling of malevolence, then that which you wish to happen to others will happen to you. Because somehow the mind has to be restored back to its normal state and that will happen through you. Then, you will say, “O Lord, I have committed no sin, then why did such and such things happen to me?” People behave like this. When one thinks ill of others, one does not say, “O Lord, how much harm I think of doing to others?” In other words, one acts completely to the contrary. This is nothing but deceit and hypocrisy.

Nrtyashálástha diipavat. Like the light on the stage, Puruśa remains as the non-doer. Puruśa akartá, meaning sometimes He sees this and sometimes He sees that, and sometimes He sees that nothing is taking place. When a person remains in a state of ignorance, or when the mental function become suspended for some reason or other, the mind becomes detached from the body, which we term as death. Then what does the átmá witness? The átmá witnesses that the mind is not doing anything at the present time.

The existence of mind is demonstrated while it is engaged in worldly actions. Children play marbles. While playing, the marble is released by the fingers using a particular technique. Then only the marble shoots away. At that moment, there is a thrill in the mind of the child. There is a change in the psychic state. The mind takes on a definite form because of that particular thought. However, the mind will have to return to its normal form. How can it return? It is restored to its normal state through the nerve fibres and nerve cells. But after death, or when the mind is in a suspended state, the mind has no connection with the nerve cells. When a person is dead, they no longer have any physical existence. They do not have any nerve cells, cranium, or nerve fibres; they have nothing at all. Hence, at that moment, there is no scope for the mind to return to its normal state from the state of distortion (vikrti), which occurred when the person was alive or conscious. When is it possible? Only when one can activate the nerve cells and nerve fibres. Hence the need for a new body, because these mental distortions still persist. The mind seeks to return to its normal state, even after death. So what kind of body will it receive? The mind needs an appropriate body with which it can return from the state of distortion to the normal state through the medium of actions, through the medium of its nerve cells and nerve fibres. What will happen if it gets an unsuitable body? The mind will be unable to return to its normal state through that body. So it needs an appropriate body.

Gold ornaments cannot be fashioned with a blacksmith’s hammer. A goldsmith’s hammer is necessary. According to the nature of the task, an appropriate instrument is necessary. The body is an instrument. So one needs an appropriate body. Suppose a person is obsessed with the thought of doing this or that, to harm another person. They will receive the body of a pig or a dog. One who desires to do something good and noble, will receive a good physical body accordingly, because the mind has to be restored to its natural state by whatever means necessary. After death, the distorted mind moves about the cosmos under the impetus of the mutative force (rajoguńa), searching for an appropriate physical base according to its reactive momenta (saḿskáras). For example, a person dies in Kolkata. They may take rebirth on a different planet or a satellite, because they have to go to that place where they can find an appropriate body for their saḿskáras, those yet unexhausted reactions of their previous actions. One may be born in Kolkata, even in the same family, or one might go to another planet and inhabit an appropriate physical body there. One needs an appropriate base.

Today I am explaining Puruśa akartá. Now, given what I have explained, what should an intelligent person do? You see, while working one is likely to commit some mistake. What is the way out? An intelligent person will definitely find a way. Suppose someone donates a large sum of money and thinks that he has done a very good thing. All right, he has done some charity, quite a bit in fact, but he can hardly sleep that night. The next morning while taking tea, he looks for his name in the newspaper that Mr. So-and-So, the great benefactor, has donated such a vast sum. He is restless until he sees this in print. It means the propensity of greed is further increased by such acts of charity, which were done in order to earn virtue (puńya). The very next day, he has a desire to see in the newspaper how much he has donated.

Whether one be a philanthropist or a star athlete, one desires to see what is written about them in the newspaper. This means that in trying to do some good work, what are they really doing? They are falling under the sway of one propensity, the propensity of greed. Now if this act is encouraged by the society, that is, if the newspapers dedicate a lot of attention to such news, or if people in general say, “Sir, whatever you are doing is unparalleled in history. Sir, we are not eulogizing you. We are simply telling the truth” – if they praise such a person in this way and then try to extract some money from them (there are such intelligent people around) – then what does it amount to indirectly? The propensity of greed increases. Which animal is the greediest among the animals with which we are all very familiar? It does not like to give up greed in spite of ill treatment and humiliations. It is the cat. Yes, after moving a few steps ahead, the cat forgets that it was beaten. So, that particular person is reborn as a cat after death, because that body affords an opportunity for the satiation of their greed. When the housewife looks around inattentively, the cat sneaks into the kitchen through the small opening in order to reach the milk or fish in the kitchen. So in order to exhaust the saḿskáras one needs an appropriate body. Some people obtain a new body immediately after death and others obtain it later. But one has to obtain it somehow.

One who is doing philanthropic work today, tries to find out tomorrow whether or not their name appeared in the newspaper. They have no desire to read the other news. They read the news that relates to themselves twenty times but do not go through the other news with much enthusiasm. If someone asks they might say that today there was only one important piece of news, nothing else. That is how a person comes under the sway of a propensity and remains subject to the cycle of birth and rebirth. But when they perform the act of charity, átmá or Parama Puruśa witnessed it. He heard the language of their mind while they were performing that act of charity. Parama Puruśa also sees when a particular person in the form of a cat steals milk and rice, and this saḿskára will come to an end when the saḿskára of greed is exhausted. Only then is one elevated to a higher state. From a cat one may become a dog, and from a dog one becomes a monkey, and then one day they get a human body in the process of exhausting saḿskáras, because an animal cannot do anything independently. The animal, of course, is guided by instincts, inborn saḿskáras.

By looking at a buffalo we can say that this is the nature of a buffalo. From seeing a cat we can tell what is the nature of a cat. But we cannot say this by looking at a human being. Every person falls into a unique category. For example, one person refuses to eat because of a slight affront. But another person will have hardly any sense of shame and will not mind taking food even after being thrashed with a broom or a stick. Human beings each have their own characteristic nature. This is how people are capable of independent thinking. This is the characteristic of the human species. A person’s movement is according to the nature of their actions, because they are capable of independent thought. However, an animal does not move according to its actions. Gradually it moves to a higher level by possessing a body with greater consciousness. A cat becomes a dog, a dog becomes a monkey and a monkey becomes a human being. Human beings possess greater consciousness. They are the most conscious of all beings. So, what is the means to escape from this karmic cycle?

The means is an intelligent path because dharma sadhana [spiritual practice], Ishvara sadhana [meditation on the Supreme] or Ishvara prema [love for the Supreme] are the prerogative of the wise. That is why Thakur Narottama Das has said –

Krśńa nám Harinám baŕai madhur,
Yei jan Krśńa bhaje se baŕa catur.

[O human beings, take the name of Lord Krśńa. All other entities are unreal. If you forget the Lord where will you go? The God of death is waiting just behind you. The name of the Supreme Entity is the sweetest. Wise are they who take His name.]

Taking the name of Krśńa is the wisest way. One should take the name of the Lord everyday and sing kiirtana. What happens then? That person lives in the awareness of being existentially and intricately bound to Parama Puruśa. The benefits of living in intimate proximity with Parama Puruśa are twofold. First of all, one grows averse to ignoble and lowly actions realizing what they are doing; and secondly, if at all you commit a mistake and you go to hell, the Lord is with you. If the Lord is with you in hell, then it is no longer hell; it is heaven. Therefore, Vidyapati Thakur says –

Kiye mánuś pashu pákhii kiye janamiye
Athavá kiita patauṋga;
Karama vipáke gatágati punah punah
Mati rahe tuyá parasauṋga.

“I become a man, a bird or a worm according to my actions. O Lord, I have only one prayer for you. Whether I become a man, animal, bird or worm, let my mind always remain in you.” This is the way of the most intelligent. For this you should remember that when you are doing sadhana, you are then engaged in sadhana. But when you conduct your worldly activities, beginning with buying supplies from the ration shop, buying tickets for a sporting event or buying a railway ticket, everything is fraught with anxieties. Whatever you do, repeat your Guru mantra in your mind. In other words, while doing your work take the name of Parama Puruśa so that your action will be sanctified. If you find that you are not in a position to do anything else, then sing kiirtana loudly. In this way you will always remain close to Lord.

What do you gain by doing kiirtana? Several sense organs become engaged. The tongue is occupied. So during that time you won’t have thoughts like, “I will eat this, eat that;” no kind of greed will remain. The sense of taste and taste buds are obstructed. The ears are busy hearing the kiirtana, so they have no scope to go elsewhere. The mind is always thinking of that, so it also has no scope to go elsewhere. And if kiirtana is combined with dance then one’s attention is directed to the rhythm of the dance. As a result of the dance, hormones are secreted from the glands. So under no circumstances can the mind degenerate. There is no way for it to go down. This is the way of the wise.

Footnotes

(1) Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti, Ánanda Sútram, 1962. –Trans.

(2) Luci – saucer-shaped bread fried in ghee. Sandesh – an Indian sweet made from fresh cheese and sugar. –Trans