BRAHMOPASANA

Oh all pervading omnipresent God, Oh all knowing omniscient God, you are One with no second. Several thousand years ago sages described you as Brahman, the Greatest One. But, we, your children, forgot this with passage of time. About two hundred and fifty years ago Raja Rammohun Roy was born. He told us to meditate upon You the Supreme One.

भाबो शेइ ऍके…..Bhabo shei eke….

Meditate on the One |
Water, earth and space
Who equally pervades Alone |
Meditate on the One |
Created this universe Who has |
No beginning no end Who has |
Who knows everything
No-one knows anything about Him the One|
Meditate on the One |

तमीश्वराणां परमं महेश्वरम् | तं देवतानां परमं च दैवतम् |
पतिं पतीनां परमं परस्तात् | विदाम देवं भुवनेशमीड्यम् ||

This Sanskrit hymn from Shwetashwatar Upanishad is usually sung together with this composition of Raja Rammohun Roy. The hymn reads like this…
“May we know the One who is the God of all Gods, the Deity of all Deities, the Lord of all Lords, greater than the greatest? May we know the Supreme Lord of the universe, Who is worthy of worship?”

Man has been witnessing and experiencing various happenings in the world around him and the unfathomable universe for ages. Realising that many of these happenings are beyond his control, he recognised the Supreme power, far greater than his own, behind the running of the universe. In different times, in different parts of the world, different people recognised the Almighty God in different ways and gave different names to God. But it is the same Supreme principle which is named differently.

Attributes of the Supreme One are so vast, and knowledge and intellect of man is so limited that the Supreme One can not be comprehended completely by man.

The story of an elephant and four blind men is well known. When left near an elephant and asked to describe it, one blind man described the elephant to be like a pillar, the second one like a rope, the third one like a hose pipe, and the fourth one like a hand fan. They fought with each other over their descriptions. None of them was wrong; none of them was totally right either! Their problem was that they could not see the elephant in totality, but could feel it only in parts!

In the same way the Supreme One is difficult to be grasped in totality. Man has, therefore, to realise that, though different people use different names to describe God, God is One and the same with no second. एकमेवाद्वितीय.

एको देवः सर्वभूतेषु गूढः सर्वव्यापी सर्वभूतांतरात्मा |
कर्माध्यक्षः सर्वभूताधिवासः साक्षी घेता केवलो निर्गुणश्च ||

(The One God dwells mysteriously in all the beings. He is all pervading, and the inmost Spirit of all beings. He superintends all actions and is the Refuge of all creatures. He is the Witness, He is the Consciousness. He is without any associate and is above all qualities found in created beings.)

God dwells within us, one and all. God is the Principle that connects all the beings with each other. This revelation naturally leads to ‘Brotherhood of man and Fatherhood of God’, a natural tenet of pure religion. But it is easier said than done.

The story of Amthabhai will be found very illuminating in this regard.

There lived one Amthabhai who started feeling that he was a mouse. This hallucination became so severe that he crawled instead of walking. At the sight of a cat he would get so frightened that he would hide under a cot. His wife took him to a psychiatrist. After a number of counseling sessions the psychiatrist found him to improve. He asked Amthabhai, “You are now fully recovered, you are a man, not a mouse. Are you convinced?” “Yes”, answered Amthabhai. “I, now, know that I am a man, not a mouse. But, does the cat next door know this? If the cat still thinks that I am a mouse, then my belief that I am man is of no use!”

What is the moral of the story?

“God dwells in me, and also within others; and therefore I have to love others. But do others know that God dwells within all? If others don’t know this, only me knowing this is of no use!” This is how most of us think.

We do not seem to come out of hallucination, like Amthabhai.

That is why hatred spreads and love shrinks!

Oh Lord! You are omnipresent, omniscient. Inspire us to realise your presence within every being. You are the Epitome of Love. You are the Epitome of Bliss. May Your Power shower love upon us; and kindle the light of love within us. May the hatred in us melt out. May love shine and illuminate the world.

May all be happy. May all be healthy. May all see wellness. May no-one be distressed.

सर्वेऽपि सुखिनः सन्तु | सर्वे सन्तु निरामयाः |
सर्वे भद्राणि पश्यन्तु | न कश्चित् दुःखभाग् भवेत् ||

ॐ ब्रह्मकृपा हि केवलम् |
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः |
हरिः ॐ ||