Prayer to Formless God.....Part 1

Oh God! We bow down to you, pray to you. You are the formless Brahma. You shine with the attributes Truth, Knowledge, Infinitude, Bliss, Immortality, Tranquility, Holiness, Omnipresence, Purity and Flawlessness.

ॐ सत्यं ज्ञानमनन्तं ब्रह्म | आनन्दरूपममृतं यद् विभाति | शान्तं शिवमद्वैतम् | शुद्धमपापविद्धम् ||
(Satyam jnaanam anantam Brahma | Aanandaroopam amritam yad vibhaati | Shaantam shivam advaitam | Shudham apaapavidham || )

After a deep study of Upanishads Maharshi Devendranath Tagore put forth in this small verse the attributes of Formless God. Since then this verse has become, what can be called, an essential part of Brahma Upasana, the prayer service conducted in Brahmo and Prarthana Samajes.

God is Truth. God is Satyaswaroop (सत्यस्वरूप). The word Satya (सत्य) means something that is always there, Satat(सतत). Satya(सत्य). Truth, thus, means something which doesn’t change; which is Nitya (नित्य), eternal. Every movable and immovable thing in the universe has a motion in time. This motion, Gati (गति), goes along the route : creation -> sustenance -> end. God has neither beginning nor end. God is Anaadi and Ananta. God is Satya(सत्य), Nitya (नित्य), Truth, Eternal. In this mortal world driven by “motion” we come across a game of hide and seek between truth and untruth. Often the truth is not obvious right from the beginning. Sometimes, for the sake of achieving some selfish motives, truth is hidden by some smart, cunning people. But finally the truth reveals itself. ‘Satyameva Jayate‘ (‘सत्यमेव जयते‘).

Innumerable things are happening in the universe all the time. Sometimes the cause and effect relationship between them is seen easily, but often becomes evident only by putting in some effort to find out the same. In some cases dedicated research is required to discover the truth. As of today, not everything in the universe is understood by man. The universe, on the other hand, is full of knowledge. Science discovers this knowledge and correlates different pieces of knowledge with each other, but is unable to explain the few, most fundamental laws of nature such as attraction between opposite polarities. The universe, along with its laws, is created by Almighty God revealing the attribute ‘Knowledge‘.

The universe is infinite. Its creator, God, is Infinite, Ananta (अनंत). It is impossible to comprehend God in totality.

Some time or the other, every living being naturally goes into an excited state. But, attainment of the relaxed state with no kind of tension is revelation of the attributes ‘Peace‘ and ‘Bliss‘ of the All-pervasive Almighty. The Pure principle which is the Immortal, Holy Supreme Consciousness that connects all the components of the universe with each other is God. God is not blemished by any kind of vice, sin or wrong incident anywhere, anytime. Formless God is Flawless.

What is meant by prayer to Formless God who has the attributes Truth, Knowledge, Peace, Bliss, and so on? We get the answer to this question in the poetry of medieval Saints. In modern times, one of the sources to get the answer is the poems of Kaviguru Ravindranath Tagore. In one of his prayer songs Kaviguru prays to God in these words : “Sanchar Kar Sakal Karme” (“संचार कर सकल कर्मे“), “Oh God! You be there in all my deeds”. These words also explain the true meaning of prayer, worship or Upasana. Upasana of Formless God can not be done just with words alone. True Upasana of God is the deed impregnated with an attribute of Formless God.

When we pray to God having the attribute ‘Truth‘, we have to be truthful in our behaviour; and we must stick to truth in all our deeds.

When we pray to God having the attribute ‘Knowledge‘, we must pursue knowledge throughout our life, apply the acquired knowledge to do righteous deeds by keeping the reasoning power of our brain alive throughout.

Our persistent endeavour to conquer over the six enemies, viz. Lust, Anger, Greed, Temptation, Ego and Jealousy, would imply the prayer to Almighty God with the attributes ‘Peace‘ and ‘Bliss‘. This would also include rendering service to spread happiness and peace among all people.

The service rendered to conserve nature and establish natural cleanliness is prayer to God having the attribute ‘Purity‘.

In short, prayer to Formless God is to inculcate in us the attributes of God through our acts and deeds, keeping ego away all through. It is a very difficult balance to strike! One way to achieve this balance is to follow the path of devotion, Bhakti (भक्ती) to God, which is shown to us by Saints. Devotion to God instills humility which transforms the righteous deeds into a prayer.

In one of his Abhangs Saint Tukaram says

सर्वांभूती झाला लीन | टाकुनिया अभिमान ||
(Sarvaan bhooti zaalaa leen |
Taakuniyaa Aabhimaan ||)
तुका म्हणे जन्मुनिया | शान्ति सुख लाभे तया ||
(Tuka mhane janmuniyaa |
Shaanti sukh laabhe tayaa ||)
सत्य बोले निरंतर | तोचि पुण्याचा सागर ||
(Satya bole nirantar |
Tochi punnyaachaa saagar ||)

The person who sticks to the path of Truth, and is polite to all the beings, relinquishes ego, gets peace of mind and happiness.

असतो मा सद्गमय | तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय |
मृत्योर्मा अमृतं गमय ||
आविराविर्म एधि | रुद्र यत्ते दक्षिणं मुखम् |
तेन मां पाहि नित्यम् ||
(Asato maa sadgamaya | Tamaso maa jyotirgamaya | Mrityormaa amritam gamaya|| Aaviraavirma edhi | Yatte dakshinam mukham | Tena maam paahi nityam ||)

Oh God! Keep the torch of truthfulness burning in our hearts always and may its light reflect in our deeds. Oh Lord! Take us away from the darkness of hatred and ignorance to the light of bliss and knowledge. Oh God! Give us determination to conquer over our vices and inspire us to do righteous deeds. Bless us.

ॐ ब्रह्मकृपा हि केवलम् |
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः |
हरिः ॐ ||
(Om Brahmakripaa hi kevalam |
Om shantisshantisshantihi |
Harihi Om ||)