PRAYER TO GOD THE VIJNANATMA

Let us start the prayer by recitation of a Sanskrit verse by Pt. Gaur Govind Ray, a disciple of Brahmanand Keshub Chandra Sen, in which the Brahmo philosophy is put in nutshell.

सुविशालमिदं विश्वं पवित्रं ब्रह्ममंदिरम् |
चेतस्सुनिर्मलं तीर्थं सत्यं शास्त्रमनश्वरम् ||
विश्वासो धर्ममूलं हि प्रीतिः परमसाधनम् |
स्वार्थनाशस्तु वैराग्यं ब्राह्मैरेवं प्रकीर्त्यते ||

O Paramapita Parameshwar ! You are the all-pervading principle Brahma. You dwell in all the components of this vast universe made from the Five Elements (Panchamahabhutas); and thereby the entire universe is Your holy temple the Brahmamandir. We, Your devotees, Brahmos, believe that a clean clear mind from which the dirt of the six enemies, namely, lust (काम), anger(क्रोध), greed(लोभ), lure(मोह), ego(मद) and jealousy(मत्सर), is removed is the pilgrimage. Truth is the imperishable guiding rule, the scripture, for us. Our faith in You as the all-pervading, transcendent God is the basis, the foundation of our day to day behaviour in this mortal world. To understand and attain You is the goal of our life and the best means to achieve this goal is love towards everyone. We believe that rising above selfishness is asceticism.

यतो वाचो निवर्तन्ते अप्राप्य मनसा सह |
आनन्दं ब्रह्मणो विद्वान्नबिभेति कदाचन ||
(तैत्तरीय उपनिषद् २-९)
आनन्दाद्धेव खल्विमानि भूतानि जायन्ते |
आनन्देन जातानि जीवन्ति |
आनन्दं प्रयन्त्यभिसंविशन्ति ||
(तैत्तरीय उपनिषद् ३-६)
O Dear Parameshwar! You are Bliss, You are Love. All the beings are born, created out of You; You are the Father, the Author. The created ones sustain because of You; You are the Sustainer. At the end all the created ones enter in You; You are the Destroyer. O Blissful आनन्दरूप Parameshwar! Our frail speech and mind are unable to describe, understand, comprehend You in fear. But You beget confidence in us making us realize that You are Love.

ॐ सत्यं ज्ञानमनन्तं ब्रह्म आनन्दरूपममृतं यद्विभाति |
शान्तं शिवमद्वैतं शुद्धमपापविद्धम् ||

O Parabrahma! You are the ultimate Truth. You are the epitome of Knowledge. You are Infinite. You are the highest Bliss. You are Imperishable. You are Peace Infinite. You are the ultimate Piousness and the highest Purity. You are in unison with the universe. You are the All-pervading One. You are Unblemished with evil. You are Formless yet an Epitome of all these Attributes. You possess all these qualities to the highest extent beyond our imagination. You are Sagun Nirakar Brahma.

ॐ असतो मा सद्गमय | तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय| मृत्योर्मा अमृतं गमय ||

O Parabrahma! Lead me, lead us from the untruth to the truth. Lead me, lead us from the darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge. Lead me, lead us from mortality to immortality, eternal peace.

O Parameshwar! You are the epitome of knowledge; and You pervade the universe. We feel, experience You as the knowledge dwelling in the universe. We find that the universe, nature are filled with knowledge. We name this knowledge in the universe as the laws of nature or the laws of science. The Sun rises every morning in the East and sets every evening in the West. Planets and stars are also seen to follow a regular transit. We explain these movements by the laws of gravitation. Similarly we have discovered many other laws of Science such as the laws of electrical and magnetic forces. All the laws of Science or Nature imply that You pervade the Nature by Your virtue – quality – attribute – गुण called knowledge – ज्ञान. The knowledge that dwells in the Nature and is discovered by Science is named as विज्ञान. You are the essence of विज्ञान or विज्ञानात्मा (VIJNANATMA). The verses in Prashnopanishad describe You as VIJNANATMA as follows:
एष हि द्रष्टा स्प्रष्टा श्रोता |
घ्राता रसयिता मन्ता बोद्धा ||
कर्ता विज्ञानात्मा पुरुषः |
स परेऽक्षर आत्मनि सम्प्रतिष्ठे ||
(Prashnopanishad IV – 9)
(He is/ You are the One who sees, touches, hears, smells, tastes, thinks, knows, does, is the essence of Vijnan, the first One, the Supreme One, the imperishable Who dwells in the soul.

विज्ञानात्मा सह देवैश्च सर्वैः |
प्राणा भूतानि सम्प्रतिष्ठन्ति यत्र ||
तदक्षरं वेदयते यस्तु सौम्य |
स सर्वज्ञः सर्वमेवाविवेश ||
(Prashnopanishad IV – 11)
You are the essence of Vijnan in Whom live all the creatures, all senses, all lives and all beings….

O VIJNANATMA Parameshwar! May we realize that the laws of Science are the expression of Your attribute Knowledge – ज्ञान ? We are able to unfold, discover the laws of Nature, the laws of Science by following a certain approach called Scientific Temper or Scientific Attitude. As the Scientific Temper leads us to one of Your attribute Knowledge, it is our natural duty to adopt Scientific Temper in all the walks of our life, and keep ourselves away from superstition and blind faith. The month of February is celebrated in our country as Science Month. We pray to You on this occasion to help us to adopt Scientific Approach in all walks of our life including religion, and thereby become a true Brahmo.

Bless us, bless us, bless us.

सर्वेऽपि सुखिनः सन्तु | सर्वे सन्तु निरामयाः |
सर्वे भद्राणि पश्यन्तु| न कश्चित् दुःखमाप्नुयात् |

भवतु सब्ब मंगलं भवतु सब्ब मंगलम् |

अन्यथा शरणं नास्ति त्वमेव शरणं मम |
तस्मात् कारुण्यभावेन रक्ष मां परमेश्वर |

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