Vārshṇeya Adhyātma Kathā: Vāsudeva as Paramātmā

The Vārshṇeya Adhyātma Kathā fills Chapters 210–217 of the Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, of the Mahābhārata. It is a long adhyātma (teaching about the Self) in which a guru, who is not named, teaches an earnest śishya (student) the highest secret of the Vedas. The secret is that Vāsudeva, who is Nārāyaṇa and Kṛshṇa of the Vṛshṇi family, is the Paramātmā and the source of all creation.

The teaching covers the Sāṃkhya order of creation from the avyakta (the unmanifest) to the five bhūtas (elements), the sixteen tattvas (principles) of a living being, the nava-dvāra-pura (the nine-gated city of the body), the answer to the question whether effect and cause are the same, and the picture of the saṃsāra-cakra (wheel of rebirth) with the kshetrajña as its rider.

Context

This teaching comes right after the Jāpakopākhyāna and the Manu-Bṛhaspati-Saṃvāda in the Mokshadharma Parva. Bhīshma tells it to Yudhishṭhira as an ancient teaching called “Vārshṇeya”. The name means that it shows the truth about the one born in the Vṛshṇi family, Vāsudeva Kṛshṇa, as the Paramātmā (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Chapter 210).

The student’s questions (Chapter 210)

The student has great prajñā (wisdom). He longs for the highest good (śreyas-kāma) and his mind is steady (sthira-citta). He goes to a great ācārya (teacher), who is the best of ṛshis (seers), a store of tejas (spiritual radiance), true to his word (satya-sandha) and master of his senses (indriyas). The student bows down and asks with deep inquiry:

“Revered ācārya! How did I come to be? How did you come to be? What is the highest reality? From what were we made? The five bhūtas are the same for all. How then do differences of growth, decline, dharma and adharma arise?”

In other words he asks where the jīva (the living being) comes from, what the highest reality is, and why there are differences if all things are made of the same five elements (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Chapter 210).

The guru’s first teaching: Vāsudeva is the Paramātmā

The guru begins by saying that this is the brahma-guhya, the highest secret of the Veda, and the wealth of all vidyās (branches of knowledge). He then states the first truth:

“This whole reality, truth, knowledge, yajña, patience (titikshā), self-control (dama) and honesty (ārjava), all of this is Vāsudeva. Those who know the truth of the Vedas call him Purusha, Sanātana, Vishṇu. He is the unmanifest, the eternal Brahman. He is the maker and the dissolver of all that is.”

So the Vārshṇeya teaching is called the Vedic itihāsa (history) of the Vṛshṇi tattva. It is more than an account of creation. It is also a teaching of devotion, because the whole adhyātma teaching rests on the Paramātmā being Vāsudeva. All four varṇas, the brāhmaṇa, kshatriya, vaiśya and śūdra, are equally fit to hear it (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Chapter 210).

Creation from the unmanifest to the five elements

The guru sets out the order of creation in the way of Sāṃkhya.

Avyakta (the Unmanifest). This is the first ground of everything, beyond all manifestation. It is one with Vāsudeva as the Paramātmā. From the avyakta the manifest world comes forth, driven by karma.
Mahat (also called Buddhi). This is the first thing to arise from the avyakta: cosmic intelligence, the first separation into individuals.
Ahaṃkāra. From mahat comes the sense of “I”, the principle of self-individuation.
Ākāśa (space). It comes from ahaṃkāra and carries śabda (sound) as its tanmātra (subtle element).
Vāyu (wind). It comes from ākāśa and carries sparśa (touch).
Agni (fire). It comes from vāyu and carries rūpa (form, light).
Jala (water). It comes from agni and carries rasa (taste).
Pṛthivī (earth). It comes from jala and carries gandha (smell).

These eight, which are avyakta, mahat, ahaṃkāra and the five bhūtas, are the mūla-prakṛtis (root natures). The whole jagat (world), with every moving and unmoving being, is made from them (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Chapter 210).

The sixteen tattvas of a living being

Beyond the eight mūla-prakṛtis, the guru names sixteen more tattvas that make up the manifest being.

Five jñānendriyas (organs of knowledge): śrotra (ear), tvak (skin), cakshu (eye), jihvā (tongue), nāsā (nose).
Five karmendriyas (organs of action): pāda (feet), pāyu (organ of release), upastha (organ of generation), hasta (hands), vāk (speech, mouth).
Five vishayas (sense-objects): śabda, sparśa, rūpa, rasa, gandha.
Manas (mind), the sixteenth. It joins and coordinates the five streams of the senses.

The guru says that every sense-object is made by manas alone. What is called nāsā is really the mind working through that organ when smell is known. What is called jihvā is the mind working as taste. He says: “All of this is manas alone. Manas pervades as all of these.” A śruti line agrees:

“manasā hyeva paśyati manasā śṛṇoti”

One sees with the mind and one hears with the mind (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Chapter 210).

The kshetrajña and the sixteen devatās

The sixteen devatās (the sense-powers and their objects) that live in the body are always “attending upon” the kshetrajña (the knower of the field). The kshetrajña sits in the nava-dvāra-pura as the one who knows. He is the witness, the pure purusha, who lights up all action without being any of it.

The nava-dvāra-pura, the nine-gated city, is the body. It is made of:

the five jñānendriyas (five gates of knowledge),
buddhi and manas (two inner gates),
the physical body and prāṇa (the remaining two).

Vāsudeva as the Paramātmā fills this city and “sleeps” in it. He is the ātmā (Self) that fills all space. For this reason he is called purusha, from purī (in the city) and śaya (one who rests). He is ajara (without aging), amara (without death), both manifest and unmanifest (vyakta-avyakta), all-pervading (vyāpaka), bearing the cosmic qualities of knowing all (saguṇa), too subtle for the senses (sūkshma), and the support of all the guṇas and of all beings (sarvabhūta-guṇāśraya) (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Chapter 210).

The saṃsāra-cakra (Chapter 211)

The guru gives a strong picture to explain bondage, the saṃsāra-cakra or wheel of rebirth:

“The avyakta is the nābhi (hub). The vyakta, the body and the senses, are the ārāḥ (spokes). The vikāras, the actions and changes of the jīva, make the nemi (rim). The snigdhā (the oil) is rajo-guṇa. The kshetrajña rides on this wheel. In this way the great wheel turns without rest.”

Sesame seeds are crushed by the millstone to give oil. In the same way the jīva is crushed and squeezed by bhoga-saṃsarga (contact with pleasures), because of its rāga (attachment) and ahaṃkāra. Karma gives the motion. Ahaṃkāra and tṛshṇā (thirst for results) keep the wheel turning. The jīva passes from body to body, driven by kārya-vāsanā, the impressions that past karma has left. It is like iron filings rushing to a magnet, because of the cause that is its own nature (svabhāva-hetu).

The guru adds a point about rebirth. Birth from the unmanifest (avyakta-prabhava) and return into the unmanifest (avyakta-nidhana) cannot be seen directly. They are as hidden as the first sprout inside a banyan seed, or as a dream when one wakes. The impressions (bhāvas) of a former life rush to join a new jīva. They do not travel in a physical way. Karma decides what is alike in nature (svabhāva-hetu-jāḥ bhāvāḥ) (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Chapter 211).

Kārya and kāraṇa (Chapter 211)

The guru takes up the question whether kārya (effect) is the same as kāraṇa (cause). He answers in the way of vivartavāda (the teaching of appearance). A rope is mistaken for a snake. The snake does not really enter the rope. The snake is adhyāsa (a false laying-over) on the adhishṭhāna (the ground beneath). In the same way the cause and effect that seem to be in the world are a laying-over of the manifest on the unmanifest ground. The effect does not really enter the cause, and the cause does not enter the effect. What brings about the showing of the laid-over thing on its ground is kāla (time), working together with adṛshṭa-hetu (the cause that is unseen) (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Chapter 211).

Moksha: burning the seeds of kleśa (Chapters 212–213)

Chapters 212–213 teach the way to moksha through step-by-step purifying of buddhi.

The nivṛtti-mārga. Those who hold to karma (karma-nishṭhā) are drawn to the dharma of pravṛtti (active life). Those who hold to vijñāna (direct knowledge, vijñāna-nishṭhā) are drawn to the nivṛtti-mārga, the path of full withdrawal from the activity of nature. The great ṛshis of old honoured this path. It leads to the highest goal (paramā gati), which is moksha.

Purifying through dhyāna (meditation). The kleśas (afflictions) must be rooted out little by little. They are avidyā (ignorance) and what comes from it: rāga (attachment), dvesha (aversion) and abhiniveśa (clinging to life). Seeds that have been roasted in fire cannot sprout. So kleśas purified by jñāna (knowledge) cannot give rise to more karma. Dhyāna is called an iron chain (ayaḥ-smaya). When it is applied to a pure buddhi (sāttvika buddhi), even the dark flaws (tāmasika doshas) that are born with the body die together with the refined buddhi itself. This is like alum (indupiṅgaja), which draws the dirt out of water and then dissolves itself.

The three guṇas.

Sattva gives prasāda (bright clearness), harsha (joy), prīti (love), dhṛti (steadiness), smṛti (memory) and freedom from doubt.
Rajas gives kāma (desire), krodha (anger), pramāda (carelessness), lobha (greed), moha (confusion), bhaya (fear) and ālasya (laziness).
Tamas gives vishāda (gloom), śoka (grief), lack of prīti, māna (pride), darpa (arrogance) and nīcatva (lowness).

The sādhaka (seeker) must watch with care the amount and play of these guṇas inside his own antaḥkaraṇa (inner instrument). He must note which doshas he has pulled out, which are still there and which come back (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Chapters 212–213).

Sources

Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapters 210–217
Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Chapter 210 (the student’s questions, Vāsudeva as Paramātmā, the order of creation, the sixteen tattvas, the nava-dvāra-pura)
Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Chapter 211 (the saṃsāra-cakra, kārya and kāraṇa)
Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Chapters 212–213 (the nivṛtti-mārga, dhyāna, the three guṇas)