Cosmology in Bhagavadgita

 T Subba Row in his first lecture on Bhagavad-Gita (1885) says:

Any system of practical instruction for spiritual guidance will have to be judged, first with reference to the nature and condition of man and the capabilities that are locked up in him; secondly, with reference to the cosmos and the forces to which man is subject and the circumstances under which he has to progress.

We can subdivide the study under into many topics and still each falls into two categories viz. Man and Cosmos. Study of one necessarily leads to the other. Man and Cosmos could not be studied in isolation and in separation for the simple reason that the two are interrelated and interdependent. Cosmos contrives into the man and the later is the cosmos in miniature. Hitherto this was a mere philosophic statement but today the scientific revelations and affirmations vouch for this.

The correspondences between the Cosmos, which is in itself a stepped-down form of the Divine Principle, and the Physical man (outer vesture) not to speak of the Real Man are very vividly drawn out and explained by Madame H P Blavatsky in her The Secret Doctrine (Diagram 1 in vol.5). More one becomes proficient in the assimilation of the idea of these correspondences easier will it be his task of living the life to its full brim (in other words, the living of the spiritual life).

1. Parabrahmam exists before all things in the cosmos. It is the one essence from which a centre of energy arrives into existence. We shall call this centre the Logos.                  

2. Logos is not different in substance or in its essence from Parabrahmam. Yet it as an individualized existence. It exists in a latent condition in the bosom of Parabrahmam, at the time of pralaya.

     Logos of is the first manifestation of Parabrahmam. This is the beginning of all evolution and the end too. It is the One Source of all energy in the cosmos. Parabrahmam is its Moolaprakriti. It is the material to it.

3. This Moolaprakriti is not Parabrahmam now. Parabrahmam is an unconditioned and absolute reality, and Moolaprakriti is a sort of veil thrown over it.

4. The first manifestation of Parabrahmam is a Trinity. This is a highest trinity about which we do not understand anything. (I) Moolaprakriti (2) Logos (3) Conscious energy of Logos, which we call as Daiviprakriti.

Moolaprakriti is known as Avyaktam(Samkhya) and Kutastha(Bhagavadgita)

Man is the child of this Light, Daiviprakriti (as the Logos manifests in him).

[Daiviprakriti is the mother of the Logos is also the daughter of Logos. Gayatri symbolizes this Light but this energy is not drawn from the physical sun but the Central Sun of the Light of Wisdom. This LIGHT is called the Mahachaitanyam of the whole cosmos. It is the life of the whole of nature.

The other way of looking at the Order in Cosmos is Parabrahmam, the Logos (Iswara), Daiviprakriti and the veil over the P. the Moolaprakriti.  Creation is commenced by the Intellectual energy of the Logos.

[This Light of the Logos is called Fohat in the Buddhist books.] 

We shall now look to the process of manifestation.

Within Logos springs up an image or a conception of what it should be in the cosmos. The Light of the Logos catches this image and impresses it upon the cosmic matter, which has already manifested.

Then come up into existence all the manifested solar systems.

The four principles we stated above are Eternal. They are common to the whole cosmos.  [Four fold classification of the manifestation flows from these elements, naturally.]

The manifested solar system in all its principles and in its totality   --- constitutes the Sthulasarira of the whole cosmos.

Light that emanates from the Logos is the Sukshma Sarira.

Logos, which is the one germ from which the whole cosmos springs, is the Karana sarira.

Parabrahmam is the Absolute of this system (comparable -- Atma to Man).

We shall now look into the four principles that make the Solar system.

1.Vaishwanara                                 --- the physical base

2. Hiranyagarbha

--- the subtle base

3. Sutratma                                     --- the karana base

4. Parabrahmam                               --- the Absolute/ Avyaktam.

We shall also now see the four principles that make the Man.

1. The physical body( Sthula sarira)
2. The subtle body (Sukshma sarira)
3. The causal body (Karana sarira)  -- this is the centre of prajna, the centre of the force which is differentiated as is the case with sutratma above.
4. The light of the Logos .

The reflected Image of the Logos formed by the action of this Light or Karana sarira may be considered as the 4^th principle in man and it has been so considered by certain philosophers.  But in reality the real entity is the light itself and not the reflected image. 

The names and terminology adopted here is of the Tharakayoga. Tharam=Pranava, is the symbol of the manifested man. The three Matras symbolize the three principles or the manifestations of the original Mulaprakriti in the solar system.

The whole of the manifested solar system is within the field of physical research.  In course of time, physical science will be able to penetrate deep into the underlying basis,  that corresponds to the Sutratma of our Vedic writers.

Occult Science does definitely formulate the existence of finer planes of the being.
Deva does not mean 'GOD'.  All the devaganas mentioned in Puranas are not in Swarga. Vasus, Rudras, Adityas and some other classes are strictly called Devas. Yakshas, Gandharvas, Kinneras and several other ganas are those who exist in the plane of asrtal light.  They go by the name 'elementals' in theosophical literature.

Our astral body has affinity with the elementals; and similarly the Karana sarira with the Devas.

Hindu system has divided the cosmos into three planes of nature (lokas). Bhu-Bhuvar and Suvarloka-s.  Bhuloka is the physical plane, Bhuvar loka is the astral, also called Antariksham in the Upanishads. Suvarloka is called Swargam; and it is the Devachan. Higher orders of the devaganams live here.

Karana sarira is the body in which the 'higher individuality of man' exists. It is capable of existing independently of the astral body. Its plane of existence is sutratma. Successive personalities are strung on this karana sarira.

All the associations and ideas of mental states a human being experiences are not necessarily communicated to the astral man or karana sarira. It is moreover but consistent with justice that all our mental states should not be preserved.

 All that goes into the intellectual nature of man, all the higher emotions of the human soul and intellectual tastes generated in man with all his higher aspirations do become impressed almost indelibly on the karana sarira. The astral body is the seat of the lower nature of man.

Karana sarira is the real ego that subsists incarnation after incarnation.  It is primarily the result of the action of the light of the Logos, which is its life and energy and its source of consciousness on that plane of Mulaprakriti (Sutratma) and which is its physical or material basis.

All great religions have inculcated the great truth, that man should not (for the sake of gain or profit or for the acquisition of any object) worship any such powers but should wholly devote his attention to the one true Logos accepted by every true and great religion in the world. That alone will lead him on the true moral path. He shall then only rise to the level of manifested Eswara of the cosmos, and as the source of spiritual enlightenment to generations to come.

Mahavishnu is a god, and is representative of the Logos.

Narayana, whose energy and wisdom were manifested through the man Krishna, was a separate spiritual power manifesting itself for the time being through this individual.

This Mahavishnu is the Dhyan Chohan that first appeared on this planet when human evolution commence during this Kalpa. He has set the human evolution in motion and it is his responsibility to watch over the interests of humanity until the seven manvantaras (thro' which we are passing through now).

The Logos, its Light and Mulaprakriti constitute the Tatwatraya of the Vaishnavites. [Easwara, chit and achit are their names in that school]

In itself Logos has no form; clothed in its light it assumes a form which is, a symbol of the impulses operating, or about to operate, in the cosmos at the time of the manifestation.

What is needed is a purer faith in the philosophy of religion and this is the only way for enlightenment.             

                                                                                                                                         Dr N C Ramanujachary                                                                    

###