Q&A on पुरुष, प्रकृति and ईश्वर with Swami Chidananda

Swami Chidananda has been a speaker, writer, and teacher of spiritual topics for nearly four decades. He is the founder, trustee and chief resource person of FOWAI FORUM, a non-government organisation (NGO) engaged in dialogues on human values, promotion of spiritual studies, and serving all life forms. Born in 1957 in Kundapura (Udupi District, Karnataka), he received B.E. from Mysore University in 1980) and M.Tech. from IIT Madras in 1982. He served at Hindustan Computers (HCL) in hardware R&D for two years and also taught at Bangalore Institute of Technology for three years. He knows English, Kannada, Hindi, and Sanskrit. At the young age of 23, he was inspired by the uplifting discourses of his mentor Swami Chinmayananda. He served at Chinmaya Mission for 18 years (1984-2002) and later was at Krishnamurti Foundation India, Varanasi for 10 years (2003 – 2013). His thought evolved through coming in contact with the works of several great thinkers, notable among them being Ramana Maharshi and Jiddu Krishnamurti.

I got in touch with Swami Chidananda many years ago at IIT Delhi when I was the coordinator of the Vivekananda Study Circle there, and have had many very interesting and inspiring discussions with him on many topics related to Indian philosophy. This blog is an edited transcript of one such online discussion held with him on July 07, 2023.

Kushal : 

Is पुरुष only the द्रष्टा (seer) or also the क्षेत्रज्ञ (knower)?

Swami ji :

In सांख्य philosophy, there is a clear distinction between पुरुष and प्रकृति। However, in अद्वैत philosophy, these distinctions are at a lower level of reality, and at the highest level, there is only one infinite ब्रह्म without anything second to it। Also, in सांख्य, there are infinitely many पुरुष, one for each individual person, and there is no explicit concept of an ईश्वर। The concept of ईश्वर was introduced later in श्रीमद्भगवद् गीता and पातञ्जल योगसूत्र, and it is श्रीमद्भगवद् गीता 13.2 which refers to ईश्वर as the क्षेत्रज्ञ.  So, in सांख्य, the individual पुरुष is the द्रष्टा and प्रकृति is the दृश्य, and the concept of क्षेत्रज्ञ is not explicitly mentioned. But in अद्वैत, there is only one single पुरुष at the highest level of reality, which is both the द्रष्टा and also the क्षेत्रज्ञ. However, at the lower level, since पुरुष has forgotten its real nature due to ignorance, it only functions as the द्रष्टा.

Kushal : 

Knowledge (ज्ञान) requires memory (स्मृति), which is also a वृत्ति and so a part of प्रकृति। So, how can there be any knowledge in पुरुष since its separate from प्रकृति?

Swami ji :

What we call knowledge from our material perspective is surely a part of प्रकृति only. What we refer to as knowledge from the higher spiritual perspective is the power to know, which is present only in पुरुष. The word knowledge acquires a totally different meaning at the level of पुरुष.

Kushal : 

भक्ति is a central concept in श्रीमद्भगवद गीता and ईश्वर  प्रणिधान is a central concept in पातञ्जल योगसूत्र। Interestingly, the word भक्ति does not appear even once in पातञ्जल योगसूत्र and Krishna does not talk about प्रणिधान even once in श्रीमद्भगवद गीता. So are these concepts of भक्ति and ईश्वर  प्रणिधान one and the same, or are these two texts talking about different things?

Swami ji :

ईश्वर  प्रणिधान is one of the ways of doing भक्ति. Literally, ईश्वर प्रणिधान means to give away all your possessions and belongings to ईश्वर and is a strong form of surrender, whereas भक्ति refers to devotion in general. Interestingly, in श्रीमद्भगवद गीता 11.44, Arjuna does प्रणिधाय (prostration) to Krishna after seeing his विश्वरूप indicating a heightened sense of surrender। And in श्रीमद्भगवद गीता 4.34, Krishna uses the term प्रणिपात which is very similar in meaning to प्रणिधान.

Kushal : 

In श्रीमद्भगवद गीता 15.16, Krishna talks about two kinds of पुरुष : क्षर (perishable) and अक्षर (imperishable)। As per conventional Vedantic terminology, only प्रकृति is क्षर and पुरुष is अक्षर. Here, Krishna is using the word पुरुष even for that which is क्षर (perishable). What is the significance?

Swami ji :

This is a language (or terminology) issue. Let’s take a mundane example. New York may mean, in certain contexts, the State of New York which has many cities like Rochester, Buffalo, New York and Albany. The same word New York may mean, in certain other contexts, just the city of New York! Likewise the word पुरुष means, in certain contexts, the principle on top, above everything else. It is उत्तम, क्षर  and अक्षर, in the threefold nomenclature.

Kushal : 

In श्रीमद्भगवद गीता 15.17, Krishna uses the term उत्तमः पुरुष for ईश्वर। So clearly, he is making a difference between ordinary पुरुष and ईश्वर. How do we understand this from अद्वैत perspective?

Swami ji :

All these differences surely exist at the level of our human experience, and अद्वैत accepts all these differences. What अद्वैत says is that all these differences are mere appearances resulting from ignorance (or माया). At the fundamental level, there is only one universal reality, and at that level there are no differences.  

Kushal : 

Does अद्वैत accept the concept of अवतार?

Swami ji :

Yes, श्रीमद्भगवद गीता is one of the three core scriptures on which अद्वैत philosophy is based (along with उपनिषद and ब्रह्मसूत्र), and so अद्वैत certainly accepts the concepts of ईश्वर and अवतार which are described in श्रीमद्भगवद गीता. However, all these concepts are again valid only at a lower level of reality.