It is essential that we decipher the microcosmic code of the Vedanta and the Purana if we desire to understand the rationale behind sole-refuge (eka sarana). It is essential because without knowing what the different personalities and entities really represent—and, as an extension, what their functions really are—one cannot hope to perceive the difference between the dharmic religion of microcosmic emulation and the bhaktic path of pure devotion; the diametrically opposite nature of these two paths will not be known. Most importantly, in such a scenario, one will not know the difference between a minuscule-part (amsa) manifestation of primal matter (prakrti) and a minuscule-part (amsa) manifestation of God (Isvara), which is critical (from an adherent's point of view) to obtaining release from prakrti. It is only in ignorance (avidya, ajnana, maya) that the pure personality (purusa) does the worship of prakrti and its evolutes; only in the state of ignorance he thinks himself to be a part of primal matter and considers himself one of the material entities of the microcosm—mind, senses, organs, vital airs, etc.—which are now his friends and family-members, as it were!
It is this false apprehension and non-discrimination that forms the basis of his entrapment in the cycle of births and deaths (samsara). The spiritual purusa, instead of knowing himself to be the ksetrajna, the ‘knower of the field,’ thinks himself as wholly material and follows internally the ‘religion’ (dharma) of the material units and serves the powerful material microcosmic units, the ‘gods’ (devas), ‘sages’ (rsis), etc. who are, in truth, none else but the powerful sensory and motor entities of the microcosm. Externally, this takes the form of emulation; of certain ‘ordained’ acts (karmas) which imitate his internal microcosmic activities. It is the sum-total of these microcosmic emulations that have come to be collectively known as ‘dharmas.’ These dharmas are also referred to as ‘vidhi kinkara dharmas’ on account of their microcosmic origin and roots.
The term ‘vidhi kinkara’ means ‘mind-ordained;’ ‘vidhi’ is an epithet for Brahma, the personified material mind (referred to in this discussion as simply the ‘mind’). As these dharmas are aimed to simulate the material processes of the body, specifically the sensory-motor neural processes which are overseen, as it were, by the brain—the material ‘mind’ or vidhi—, they are known as vidhi kinkara (mind-ordained).
Such a system of dharma can be sustained only in ignorance (avidya, maya).
Only when purusa is in ignorance regarding his true self; only when he does not know himself to be a purely non-material (spiritual) entity—a part (amsa), as it were, of Isvara—can such a dharma be sustained. It is only for this reason that the supreme verdict of the Gita, which encapsulates its entire teaching in a single utterance, is:
sarva dharman parityajya mamekam saranam vraja.
‘Forsaking completely all these dharmas, take sole-refuge (eka sarana) in me alone.’
Further, pursuing such a course of microcosmic material emulation would prove wholly ruinous, spiritually, for the practitioner. ‘Propitiating’ material entities will sink the purusa further into prakrti. Instead of serving as a means to release, such a path will only lead to the entrapment of purusa.
In summary, the whole set of vidhi kinkara dharmas are for the kinkaras (subjects, slaves) of vidhi—of Brahma, the microcosmic mind. It is for those individuals that are a servant or a slave of vidhi. These are for the material entities of the body that are subordinate to the mind. This dharma, therefore, is simply incompatible with the philosophy of one who has known himself to be a part of Isvara (and not of prakrti); as a wholly spiritual personality (purusa, atman) that is ontologically superior to and different in kind from the unconscious material entities of prakrti. It is only when one is in ignorance that one performs these acts (karmas) on account of non-discrimination (which results in identifying oneself with the mind and the body, thus becoming a slave, kinkara, of the mind, vidhi). The vidhi kinkara dharmic system is diametrically opposite to the bhaktic path of pure devotion.
In this manner, we see how the great philosophy and meaning of the Gita (and indeed of the Vedanta and the Purana) would not be understood, let alone appreciated, if the microcosm and its constituent elements and ‘personalities’ are first not understood. We have, in order to decipher the meaning of the Vedanta and the Purana—and the Purana is here regarded as the continuum of the Vedanta—, first decipher the microcosmic code contained within these texts. As a preliminary, we have to know what personalities like Brahma represent; we have to know what the devas and the rsis represent and also the real internal—microcosmic—meaning of words such as ‘yajna.’ Only when we have entered into the world of the microcosm will our intellect open up to a deeper comprehension of meaning.
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