Adhikarana XXVII — The Lord may be meditated upon

Adhikarana XXVII — The Lord may be meditated upon

in the various parts of the body

 

It has been determined before that the devotees, who worship the Lord with the attitude of a servant or a friend, from the very beginning of their worship, meditate on Him in the highest ether and see Him there. But there are some who do not see the Lord in this aspect, but whose attitude is one of quietness, and who worship the Lord not in the Supreme ether, but in the various parts of their body, such as stomach, etc. Thus in the Aitareya Upanishad, it is said that the Sharkarakshas worship Brahman in the stomach, that the Arunayas worship Brahman in the heart, etc. Here these words, stomach, heart, etc., give rise to doubt.

Doubt: Is Hari to be worshipped in the stomach, heart, etc., or not?

Purvapaksha: The Purvapakshin says: Brahman is not material, and so should not be worshipped as stomach, heart, etc. He does not manifest His glory in these transitory objects, but he exists in the non-material highest ether, which is itself eternal, and in which the Lord is eternally manifested.

Siddhanta: This view is set aside in the next Sutra.

SUTRA III. 3. 55.

 

एक आत्मनः शरीरे भावात्॥३.३.५५॥

eka ātmanaḥ śarīre bhāvāt ..3.3.55..

 

… Eke, some. … Atmanah, (the worship of and the meditation on) the Lord, …Sharire, in the body, or in the heart, or in the Brahmanic hole. … Bhavat, because He is (there).

 

55. Some Sakhins hold that the Atman (Vishnu) should be meditated upon as various members of the body, because He exists there also. — 416.

 

COMMENTARY

 

Some Sakhas hold the view that the worship of Vishnu, the Supreme Self, should be done in the body, namely, in the stomach, heart and top of the head, etc. Why? Because the Lord exists in these places also. They say, that if a thing is to be obtained near at hand, why one should search for it in a distant place; if honey is to be found in house-tree, why should one go to the hills in search of it? They mean to say, when the Lord is so worshipped in stomach, etc., He being pleased with His devotees, must necessarily give them the highest region or Mukti. In the Bhagavata Purana (X., 87.18) also it is said:

The Sharkarakshas worship the Lord as stomach, following the paths of the Rishis. The Arunayas worship Him as the ether of the heart, as the easiest road of reaching Him. But higher than these two, O endless One! Is Thy abode in the head? Those who worship Thee in the head, rising thereto by Sushumna from the heart, they never fall into the jaws of death again: (for head is the Vaikuntha).

Thus in the Aitareya Aranyaka, II., 4. 1:

The Sharkarakshas worship the stomach as Brahman, the Arunayas meditate on the Heart as Brahman, etc.

Adhikarana XXVIII — The perception of the Lord