Purusha and Prakriti

Discourse of Sathya Sai Baba during the Summer Course in Spirituality and Indian Culture
held for College Students at Brindavan, Whitefield, Bangalore District in May 1972
Published by Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust
Web posted at Feb 17, 2002

Who are the friends? Who are the enemies? Who is God? Who is the devotee? Who is the writer? Who is the author? Who is the Guru and who is the student? What is it that we have known? What is it that we have not known? Is what we have not known less or more than what we have known? If what we do not know is considerable, is there anything wrong in calling man a Vanara?

Dear Readers: While in the entire creation there are many things which man has to know, any learned man to whom you may go or any of the Sastras or the Upanishads which you wish to consult will tell you that the first thing amongst all that you should know is about your self. We know that all Sastras only teach us matters relating in some way or other to the soul. None of them teach things which have no concern whatsoever with the soul. When we go into this question 'Who am I?' with some care, we find that the same question is coming up in the Bhagavad Gita. In every place Krishna has been preaching that in every thing it is He that is present. Each one of you may say 'I am Rama, I am Krishna, I am Ranganna, I am Anil, I am Sunil' and so on and so on. When you say these things you are putting the letter 'I' right in front and after stating that, then you add the name that has been given to you. It may be Rama or Krishna. Thus this 'I' is as broad and as widespread like the sky. It is demonstrating to us the infinite quality of this 'I'. If we can understand the real meaning of this 'I' then we will have understood the contents of all the Sastras.

When we say 'Ekam Eva Advithiyam', the reference is to this one and only, one without a second. So also is 'OM'. This one sound 'OM' is telling us that it is identical with Brahman. The sound of 'OM', the Pranava represents the entire content of the Brahman. This sound 'OM' is a combination of three syllables: 'AH, OO and MA'. The isolated sound 'AH' cannot be the 'OM', the isolated sound 'OO' cannot be the 'OM'. Similarly, the isolated sound 'MA' cannot be the 'OM'. AH is something which is connected with the awareness. The same is also being called Visva. The next sound 'OO' is somewhat a subtle one. This has some inner significance and is being considered as Thaijasa. One will have to say that this is not only subtle but has some relationship with the dream-state. Now the sound 'MA' is causal. It is connected with the cause and effect and is related in some way with deep sleep. This is also being called by another name, Prajna. Pranava or Omkara is in the place where these three names - Visva, Thaijasa and Prajna - come together and combine. If we are desirous of getting to know what is behind this Pranava or Omkara, we will have to make an attempt to get Visva into Thaijasa and to get Thaijasa into Prajna. It is only by combining these three in that manner can we really get a Darshan of Atma, the soul, the divine part of the human being. When the sound 'Ah' joins with the sound 'Oo' and when the sound 'Oo' joins with the sound 'Ma' we can get the complete sound of 'OM'. In the same way it is only when we are able to combine the three states, the waking state, the dream-state and the deep sleep state, or combine the gross aspect, the subtle aspect and the causal aspect of the body into one, we have a chance of getting a glimpse of the divine soul.

For the creation of this entire world, the main roots are sounds. If there is no sound, there is no world. If there is no sound, there is no creation. Thus, if the young people who belong to the modern world raise a succession of questions like 'Where is God? Is there God? Where is He to be seen?' I get the feeling that they are only displaying a large amount of ignorance. Does this young man who asks a question like that not realise that the answer to his question is contained in the question itself? What is the question? The question is, 'Is there God or is there no God?' The fact that the word God is contained in the question asked, namely 'Is there God?' is proof that there is God. If there is no God, then the word 'God' would not have come into existence. Can any of you give a name of something which does not exist?

This morning, some explanation of the two words Purusha and Prakriti was given to you. Purusha stands for a large number of different persons. Prakriti stands for a wide variety of manifestations of the world. You have been taught that just as the manifestations of the material world are very many, so also the manifestations of the Purusha or the soul are manifold. But, if we really enquire into this from the point of view of the meaning which we are aiming at, then Purusha can be only one. He cannot be many. The Purusha or the soul is simply the manifestation of the divine. On the other hand, the manifestation of matter, of the material things, is this world. This Prakriti or the world is something which is filled with all the five elements. All these are destructible. They are not permanent. But what is clear, what is clean, what is indestructible and what is effulgent and shining, is only one and that is the soul or Purusha. Our Srutis have described this soul as something which has no attributes, as something which is superior, as something which is eternal and permanent, as something which does not change at all. All these have come from one, the self.

In the questions that were formulated yesterday by the students, there was one question: "How does creation go on?" In that context, there is one question which I want to ask and that is "How do you get a dream?" Can any one give a reply to this question? For getting a dream, the cause is your sleep. If there is no sleep, you won't get a dream. Just as for a dream, the sleep is the cause, so also for creation what is called Maya is the cause. For Maya there is no beginning and there is no end. Thus this creation or the world you see around you is something which is related to Maya. Maya always loves the soul, loves the Purusha. It wants to be with Him, wants to reach God. So also the creation wants to reach God all the time. So, sometimes in some Puranas, it is said that Purusha has attached himself to the world. In the material world, although many shapes come about and although we may make a distinction between men and women with many different names, while this distinction can be made in Prakriti, so far as Purusha is concerned there can be no such distinction.

Here is an example. In Anantapur, we have established a college for girls. In that college, on an occasion such as a college day, they will be having a drama. On that day, when they enact a drama, one girl plays the role of a Maharaja. Another girl acts the part of a Maharani. The one who puts on the part of a Maharaja has a moustache, puts on a Dhothi, a crown, and all the insignia which make up the Maharaja. While the audience are forming the idea that one girl is looking like a Maharaja and that another girl is looking like a Maharani, so far as the particular girl who has put on the part of the Maharaja is concerned she will always think that she is a girl and that she belongs to the girls' college. She will never think that she is a Maharaja.

In the same manner, this world is like a girl's college. Here, in this world, in the drama of our life on the stage of this world, we are putting on the part of many appearances. Just because you have put on a part, you cannot become man. In the aspects of either these five elements or the five Kosas or the five Thathwas, all these people are equal and there is no difference. Therefore, when you talk of manhood, what you have to regard as man, as Purusha, is the strength, the energy of Purusha that is contained in him. Thus it is by the coexistence and by the combination of these two, the soul, or the Purusha, and the Prakriti or the world of matter, that creation is going on.

For such creation there will have to be some one who is responsible. We have seen the mud in the tank. We are also seeing the water in the river. Water alone from the river will not enable you to make a pot or a pan. The mud alone from the tank will not enable you to make a pot or a pan. It is the combination of water and mud that will enable you to create either a pot or a pan. Simply by the combination of water and mud, the pot or the pan is not going to be ready. There has to be a potter who will prepare the pots and pans. Such a potter is God. The energy or the power is the water. Prakriti or nature is the mud. The combination of these two things are the human bodies. These pots and pans of human beings some day or other will have to fall down and have to break. Because these human bodies are pots and pans, and have been constructed, have been created in time, therefore, they must be destroyed also in time. The transformation or the changes that will come about for such pots and pans should not disturb us to any extent. But immersed in our ignorance, we are simply feeling that these pots are ours, these pans are yours and so on. We are not really able to understand what the significance of these pots or pans is.

I will give a small example to show to you the amount of ignorance we are enveloped in when we look at this natural world. A blind man has got a child. Being blind he has not got the fortune to see that child with his eyes. Even if the blind man is not able to see his child, he knows that it is his child and he will be spending a lot of effort in making the child happy. In the same way, like the blind man, we think and get into an illusion that this Prakriti or the natural world has come out of us. Although we are not able to see the reality of Prakriti, we develop some kind of affection, like the blind man, who although he is unable to see the child and recognise the child, is calling her 'his' child.

To establish and to know the true nature of God, there are eight different paths. The first one is concerned with Sabda or sound. The second one is concerned with motion or movement. The third one is concerned with brightness or light, and so on in this manner, there are eight different paths. That is the reason why we have created what is called 'Ashtanga Yoga' which means the eightfold paths or practices. These eight ways, by eight different kinds of practices, can take one to the destination of the divine. They have been named to you as Yama, Niyama, Asana, and so on. These things refer to various kinds of practice.

In another example, there is a light. By the breeze, you will find that light moves a little, hither and thither. It will also have some smoke. If some water falls on the light then it makes a crackling noise. If there is a lot of breeze then the light itself will be extinguished. There are so many changes in the lamp. But there is no change at all in the light that is coming from this lamp. To any one who may come here, the lamp is handing on its brightness. In the same manner, God, who has no attributes, is handing his pure effulgence to everyone, irrespective of who he is. Because this aspect of God, which has no attributes, goes and enters some other abode like the body, or divinity gets joined to something else, there the differences appear. But the original divine thing is one and the same and does not change at all.

I must tell you the difference between these three aspects, the bodily aspect, the soul aspect and the divine aspect. A potter, in order that he may make his pots and pans, goes to a tank and takes the mud out of the tank, thereby creating a big deep pit. He would take the mud by creating the pit and taking clay out of the tank. He removes that mud and brings it in a cart to his house. In this way, because every day he is bringing mud from the tank and putting it in front of his house, there is a big mound or heap that has been formed. It means one has to go down the ditch or the depression in the tank. In front of the house, one has to climb up the heap or the mound. The mud from the pit in the tank is the same as the mud in the mound in front of the house. The potter takes some mud and goes on preparing every day some pots, some vessels, some pans and so on. Gradually, as he makes the pots, the mud which filled the mound goes on slowly diminishing in volume. The potter is preparing pots and he is putting them in fire and hardening them and is selling them to various people. Before the pots have been made and sold, when he puts water on the mud which is in the mound that gets into the mud and mixes with it. On the other hand, after making the pot, if you put water into the pot, which is made out of the mud that water is not absorbed. It remains as water inside the pot. Wherefrom has this change or this transformation come? The mud which was got from the tank or the mound or which went into the making of the pot is all the same. But it has taken the shape in one case of the pot, in another case of the mound and in another case of the pit. For the depression, for the mound and for the pot, the root cause is mud. But in course of time, this pot is going to break. In course of time, the mound in front of the potter's house will become smaller and smaller. But the mud remains all the time as mud.

By some desires and by some actions of our parents and also by the Sankalpa or the wish of God, this body, the human body which we may call the pot, comes into existence. This life, Jiva, can be compared to the mud in the mound which goes on diminishing time after time. The body is the Dehatma. This is going to be destroyed. This mud or the basic constituent of the human body is the Paramatma. All these human bodies in time are going to be destroyed and converted back into mud. When they die, all that is going to go to its original place from which it has emanated. Like the pots and pans which have come from mud, and in course of time after usage they break and go back as mud, so also we have to accept that the contents of all these human bodies which have come from the primary spirit, after they have been used and destroyed, will again return to the source.

At this stage, we have to make an enquiry and ask: What is it that is born? What do you mean by 'I was born?' What was born was the body. If we make the enquiry 'What existed before we were born?' then if it did exist, there is no question of its being born. Suppose we take the view that it did not exist at all. If it did not exist, where is the question of something which did not exist and does not exist being born? How are we to find this out? How do we get the knowledge of what is this 'I'? What is the way by which one can understand this question also, we should ask ourselves. Those texts which tell us and teach us answers to these questions are called Upanishads and Sastras. To know myself, you may ask, why should I go and hanker after what is contained in the Upanishads. To know myself, why should I go and seek knowledge from those who are experienced elders. Such ego is not desirable and you should give it up.

It is not possible to understand yourself, without seeking it from experienced people and without seeking it from Upanishads and without practising what these texts teach. If you have the cup, if you have the oil and also if you have the wick, then are you going to get the brightness of a lamp? Somebody has to light up this wick. You have the flowers, you have the needle, you have the thread. Will it become a garland of its own accord? There must be someone who will put these flowers together. You have gold. You have diamonds. Will ornaments come into existence on their own? Someone has to make them. You have intelligence, you have education. But are you going to realise the nature of the self? There is a small example. We write all the letters A, B, C, D, on the board. We do know how those letters sound. If the teacher simply writes those letters on the board, even if your intelligence is very high, if you are not told what sound is to be associated with each one of those letters, it will remain something which you cannot learn by yourself. However intelligent you may be, someone who is a teacher has to tell you what sound has to be associated with each one of those letters. Only then can you learn the sound appropriate to each letter. Of course, in this world, we are seeing the five organs, the five Kosas, the five elements and even the Atma or the soul, we are able to realise and see. But those that have to tell you what the paths are which you have to adopt in order that you may realise fully the meaning of these things, are our Sastras. So we say that Sastras are time-honoured, old and ancient.

God is one who had no beginning and will have no end. Thus if the newcomer wants to know what the one without an end and without a beginning is, you have to go and ask the Sastras to tell you the method of knowing. If you go to a new place, you generally meet with people called guides, whose duty is to tell you all about that new place. If you have gone there for the first time, you are a new person to that place. That place has been there all the time. The one who tells you about the place which has been there for all time, that guide will be referred to as the Purathana or the ancient. How long will this new man who has gone there remain new? So long as the ancient person who is there, who is telling the newcomer all the things needed and so long as you do not know them, you remain a new man. But when you have learnt through the guide who has been there for a long time, then you become experienced and you can understand the nature of Sanathana or this eternity. This understanding has also been called the understanding of Brahman, the eternal. He Himself becomes the Brahman. So if you want to understand the full significance of this Sanathana or the eternal truth, the way to do it is to join these Purathanas, those who have been there for some time, like the Sastras, and through them and with their help you understand the nature of this divine and you yourself join the divine by that process.