Swami Prakashanand Saraswati’s discourse on the Bhagavad Gita continues with Part 6, in which he offers a profound exploration of divine philosophy. In this speech he shares the distinction between the personal and impersonal aspects of God, referencing the teachings of Shankaracharya and Guru Nanak. Sharing the knowledge of the Gita, he explains how devotion – whether directed toward a formless Brahm or a personal form of God – ultimately leads to Divine grace.
Speech 6 by Swami Prakashanand Saraswati :
The Divine Souls: In the last meeting we learned that Jain and Bauddh masters, the original masters, they did not mention God in their philosophy. But we must know that they never criticized God either. They simply kept quiet, that’s all.
Now we come to another group of religions in India, and they are those who surrender to impersonal aspect of God. Or, there are some who worship all the forms of God, not a particular form, but mainly those who worship or surrender to impersonal aspect. Around 1500 years ago in India, a great personality appeared – Shankaracharya. His name was Shankar, then he was called Shankaracharya, Jagadgugu, born in South India. And since his childhood, he showed his wisdom, his knowledge, his greatness. It is said that (Sanskrit) he learned all the Scriptures when he was 8 year of age, means all the Vedas and all the Vedas, all the Scriptures, all the philosophies when he was 12 year of age. (Sanskrit) From twelve to sixteen years he wrote all the books and (Sanskrit). He stayed sixteen more years, and at thirty-two years of age he left the world. Extraordinary personality. Descended Divine personality, you can say; Shankaracharya. He was descension of God Shiv, Shankar. So in his bhashya, in his explanation of Brahm Sutra, he describes the impersonal aspect of God. That’s it. He also worshipped Krishn in his life, but in his bhashya he mentions impersonal aspect of God. So his religion was called advait religion, or Shankar religion.
Another religion in India appeared around 500 years ago in Punjab when a Divine personality appeared. His name was Guru Nanak. And the religion after him was called Sikh Sampraday or Sikh religion. Now there are quite a few sects in that Sikh religion. The main Sikh religion stresses on Guru Nanak’s teachings. So Guru Nanak also, he was mostly absorbed in absolute truth. He calls “bhajan”; bhajan means going inside deep in heart and thinking of absolute existence of God any place. He also wrote a prayer book called “Japardi” that’s very popular among Sikh Sampraday and all the followers of Sikh Sampraday. They recite sometimes every day, some people, that Japardi, small book of prayer. In that Japardi he praises Lord. He was great. He was kind, you are only one. You are absolute. How one could reach you without your grace? We look for your grace, your kindness. We are helpless. Please grace me. This kind of prayer. But they are all in local Punjabi language, local.
He says God (Satnam) a word. Just like in Sanskrit we call Ishwar. So (Satnam). Satnam means God is truth. Sat means truth. Nam means name. So what is God? Just Divine truth. He is truth. (Sanskrit quotation)… just an important line. Means “Oh, supreme Lord, you are absolute. You are omnipresent. You exist everywhere equally. Everything comes from You. This whole universe resides in You, and in the end dissolves in You. You are truth” (quotation Sanskrit).
Means “You are the creator of this universe. You are great. You are kind to all the souls. You don’t have any animosity with any soul. You are kind to all souls. Equally kind to all the souls.” So in his writings, in his sayings, in his prayer, he praises Supreme Lord, God, the Absolute, the Nirakar, the formless aspect of God. But he tells one thing, “Without Your grace, no one can receive liberation.” Liberation means kaivalya moksh, entering into the supreme existence of the Divine. That is his moksh.
After him, there were nine more gurus, and the last one was Guru Govind Singh. So the writings, the songs, the sayings of all those ten great masters, they are compiled into a book that’s called Granth Sahib. So Granth Sahib is a compilation of all the teachings of all the masters. So the tenth master said “Now, there won’t be any physical master in this religion. This Granth, this Scripture, this book is your master. Follow the guidelines written in this Scripture. That’s it. No more physical masters”. So Granth Sahib is a big book, huge book. Means all those ten masters’ songs, writings, sayings and prayers, all are there.
Apart from that, there are some more Saints’ writings, and there are also some songs in the praise of Bhagwan Ram, Bhagwan Krishn also are in that book. Because it’s a collection. Collection of Saint Vani. Vani means Saint’s writings. Collection of Saints’ writings. Not only ten, but some more also. In that collection of Saints’ teachings and Saints’ songs, also Krishn comes, Ram comes, but mainly is all Nirakar, the impersonal aspect of God. He also had a son. His name was Shreechand, who was also a descended Saint always absorbed in Divine truth. He introduced worship to all the forms of God, either Durga or Shiv or Vishnu or Ram or Krishn or god sun or God Ganesh, any form of God you can worship. It’s an addition. So after him also there became a small religion in India, those who worship God in any form, also the impersonal aspect of God.
Anyway, this Sikh Sampraday and Shankaracharya Sampraday, they are main impersonal worshippers of God in their original writings. Nowadays, things have changed in both sampradaya, both religions, but originally, they were followers of impersonal aspect of God. Shankaracharya, he wrote many books, all in Sanskrit. As I explained before that he was a born scholar. Probably he knew without studying anything because he was a born Saint. Means Shiv Himself came as Shankaracharya. Although Shiv is a devotee of Krishn, Shankar also was a devotee of Krishn his whole life, but in his writings, he mentions Absolute only. Must be some reason why he wrote that thing. Anyway, only impersonal aspect. He did not deny about any other form of God, but he did not mention. Only supreme truth, impersonal aspect. What is soul? Soul is God – Brahm – not God Brahm. And what is Brahm? The Divine. Soul is Divine. Brahm is Divine. Both are same. A very extensive philosophy. I won’t go into detail. Anyway, so these are both impersonal followers of God. We can see in the Gita how they coincide, these both.
We take one verse of the Gita from 12th Canto, 12th chapter. (Sanskrit) The eternally existing omnipresent Divine absolute: it cannot be described—there can’t be example – beyond human intellect. Avyakt means he is just a Divine existence, omnipresent… Those who follow or dedicate that path – are dedicated to that path, those who worship or adore that path – so then what happens? Krishn says in the Gita (Sanskrit) “Oh Arjun, they come to me (Sanskrit) They come to me because they are (Sanskrit), they have no feeling of violence to any being. They are kind to all the beings of the world. They are established in natural kind consciousness, natural kindness, natural benevolence. So, when they are established in that natural kind of peace and benevolence, and they worship Me, but in impersonal form. So, they are worshipping My impersonal form.” That’s it. Means they don’t deny the existence of God. They have to seek the grace of God. Grace. “Oh Divine Brahm, please grace me.” Whatever Divine Brahm is, absolute or omnipresent or impersonal, but they are seeking for His grace. Seeking for Brahm’s grace.
So when they are seeking for grace, though, grace only relates to personal aspect of God. Only personal God has grace. Only personal God. So Krishn says “They are looking for My grace, but they are looking to Me as an impersonal God; doesn’t matter. I am both. I am impersonal. I am personal. I am absorbed in all the molecules of the world as impersonal God. But for my bhaktas, I am personal. Anyway, so when they are looking for the grace, that belongs to Me only. So because they are looking for the grace, I grace them with liberation, because they only desire liberation. Nothing else.”
Other worshippers of other forms of God? Krishn says, see in the Gita again (Sanskrit). Again Krishn says, “A worshipper of any form of God. Say for instance he is worshipping God Shiv. Very fine. Perfect. He is worshipping Supreme God as Shiv and seeking His grace, has fully surrendered, fully dedicated, purified his heart, so I become Shiv for him. Because the grace, the gracing part, that aspect belongs to Me. (Sanskrit) In any form a devotee worships Me wholeheartedly, selflessly, I become same for him.” So, in the Gita, worship to any form of God is also described. Worship to any form of God. But further Gita says that there is something further beyond that. In Gita there is impersonal worship and personal worship to any form of God. Both are there. But Gita says that’s not total Divine realm. There is something further ahead. What is further ahead? Just take the first instance of impersonal aspect of God. Gita says (Sanskrit). “Arjun, you know that absolute impersonal aspect of God? People call it Brahm and look for His grace. The true worshippers of absolute form of God. True worshippers? Yes. So, what is the impersonal aspect? Do you know?” Arjun says “No”. Krishn says that “You know that this impersonal aspect, nothing separate, is one of my aspects (Sanskrit), and established within Me.”
Just like the radiance of something comes from something. Like you see light around here. The radiance coming from somewhere, some lamp, some source of light. So source and the radiance, they are two things. Without source, there cannot be radiance. So radiance cannot be independent. The radiance is established in its source. Just an example. So “I am omnipresent with My Divine personal form. And My radiance also is omnipresent as an impersonal aspect of My form. Both are there. Both are omnipresent; My personal form is also omnipresent, and radiance is also omnipresent. So it’s good if they come to Me” Why? Because (Sanskrit) In that path of impersonal worship, in true sense, is a very, very difficult path to follow. One has to be fully renounced. No worldly desires, no worldly attachments, no greed, no jealousy, no anger, no hatred. Then he can follow that path. “But because that is established in Me, why don’t you come to Me? Why don’t you come to me? (Sanskrit) Oh Arjun, a simple path. Come to Me as Krishn.”
So, we see that Gita also explains the impersonal path in a few verses, but those few verses have very deep meaning explaining every aspect of impersonal worship. Gita also tells devotion to any form of God in a few verses. But Gita further tells that all those forms are established in Krishn, and the impersonal aspect is established in Krishn. So why don’t you come to Krishn? (Sanskrit) “Oh, Arjun, you come to Me.” So those who understand this truth that the impersonal aspect is an aspect of Krishn’s omnipresent form as Krishn, and all other forms of gods and goddesses are also in the body of Krishn, although they are also omnipresent, but they are also established in Krishn. So, the impersonal aspect and other personal forms of Gods and Goddesses, they are all established in Krishn Himself. Means Krishn is the source of all other forms of God, impersonal or personal. So come to the source. When you come to the source, that’s Gita knowledge. So the rest I’ll explain from tomorrow.
Conclusion:
Swami Prakashanand Saraswati emphasizes that worshiping the formless Brahm may ultimately bring liberation through divine grace. He further explains that both Formless and all personal Forms of God are established in Krishn Himself. Since all forms are established in Krishn, and one must surrender to Krishn with or without Form to achieve the end result of all paths of devotion, Swamiji emphasizes the value of surrendering directly to Lord Krishn. His discourse provides deep insights into the Bhagavad Gita’s teachings, guiding seekers on the path of devotion and God realization. In Part 7, he will continue to elaborate on this topic, further illuminating the essence of spiritual surrender.