Bhagavad Vishayam – Why should anyone think beyond this body?

We all wonder about what exactly is the reason to think beyond this body. Is it necessary? Can we just live by each moment and experience whatever comes across and die on a day like anyone, not worrying about anything else beyond this.

Imagine you are mountaineering to Mukthinath carrying a backpack. You have been trekking for more than 10 hours a day for almost a week now.  You stand at a point where there is a spot for resting your back and lean towards a narrow paved hill. If you look down, it is a deep valley. If you look up, it looks like a series of endless peaks. But, the brief moment you stopped leaning and resting your back feels like ‘heaven’. But, is it really the end? Is it really the heavenly happiness? Can you end your journey there and settle down there? No. That is exactly what our state is in these bodies, these bodies that are temporary and limited in capabilities. That is why there is a need to think beyond this body.

Now that we begin to think beyond the current body and wonder what our ultimate goal is, our ‘pramanam’ takes us to ‘Sriyahpathi’, as the ultimate and the only saviour and the goal too.

So, who is this Sriyahpathi? He is the one who has come down and stays within us as ‘antharya:mi’, whose power keeps us alive in this body. He is also the one who is in the temples as Deity. He is also the one who reaches us through wise words from Gurus. He has certain qualities that make him ‘God’.

There are two scales that Vedam gave in order to identify Sriyapathi

1. First scale: Supreme and yet accessible to everyone
2. Second scale: Vedam says, ‘Sriyah pathiya:y ava:ptha samastha ka:mana:yi samastha kalya:na guna:thmakana:na sarve:swaran’ as the definition of Parathatvam referring to the ultimate goal, saviour as ‘Sriyahpathi’.
   1. Sriyahpathi (one who owns Sri – the giver of all great things)
   2. Ava:ptha samastha kamudu (one who has only fulfilled wishes)
   3. Samastha kalyana guna:karudu (one who has uncountable and matchless great qualities)
   4. Sarveswarudu (one who can control anything and everything)

But, why does this Sriyahpathi want to save us? Isn’t that also a desire? Is it right for him to have a desire? If he has a desire, how is he different from us?

Desires are of two types

1. Natural (Example: wanting to eat something at regular intervals to keep the body working)
2. Unnatural (Example: wanting to eat only specific food item, such as Ice-cream)

So, God also has a desire that is natural for his thatvam. The desire is that he wants to save us from this bonded times and give us the state of boundless joy that he enjoys.

We all may be now wondering – First of all, why are we born unequal? Why are there so many differences? Why should God create us unequally and then try to help us? Isn’t it because of these differences that we commit mistakes of hating each other, or being jealous etc?

These are most common questions to many of us. There are some fundamentals that we should know with regards to these questions.

• God did not create us. He (God), We (Souls) and The Prakruthi (nature – physical elements like water, air…) are the three entities that always existed
• The basics of the three entities
  • The souls (i.e.: us) are entities that have knowledge naturally. It is as natural as saltiness is to salt, or spiciness is to a green chilli
  • The prakruthi does not have knowledge. It goes through transformation or change in a continuous mode
  • God is one who is also knowledgeable naturally and has the capabilities and power to let the entire existence run as it should
• Soul is a small entity and therefore is attracted to this ever changing look of the nature and so it gets attached and bonded

• God has the quality of compassion and therefore he wants to save the souls from being attached to the temporary states. His qualities make him eligible and equipped to save us. However, he gets bound to being strict w.r.t to ensuring we learn from our mistakes. Then she steps in, our mother SRI. She makes his love for us overtake the strict nature in him. She makes him cut down the punishments that we actually deserve for all our sins. She also works with us to promise in not repeating the mistakes. Just like a mother who tells the father that she will ensure the child is punished, but secretly she works with both of them individually in cutting down the punishment period and brings them together sooner than later. The very powerful mantra, Dwaya Mantram talks about Sri as the mediator between the souls and God who enriches the services we offer out of love to God when she brings us to HIM. So, HE who owns HER is the ultimate saviour, Sriyahpathi.

Thus, we seek Sriyahpathi as our Ultimate and Only Saviour – Respects and Love for the Divine Duo!

– From the ‘Bhagavad Vishayam’ discourse of Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swami