Deities and Human Ascension

Meditationtime Forum Post

Date:  Posted 3 years before May 28, 2016

MiBeloved 3 years ago

I wrote:

[Please understand that the each of the chakras has a subtle counterpart and a limited spirit does not have the natural power to rid itself of these chakras unless it takes up very heavy-duty yoga penance or unless some deity does something miraculous for the devotee.]

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You queried:

Michael, Is this scriptural? Deities doing something miraculous, has power to affect the course of human ascension? Which sampradayas believe this? I thought it was all up to the individual.

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The recipe for release or as you term it ascension, has both the individual’s effort and the deity’s grace. Both are required.

As for lineages from India (sampradayas), there are basically two approaches. One is the path where the deity is prominent. The other is the path where there is no recognition of a deity. In the case where a deity is prominent, some lineages either deny or affirm the importance of individual effort as supplemental to final release (ascension).

This is similar to Christianity where some denomination says that it is all going to be accomplished by the grace of God with the individual effort having very little or no value at all; and where other denominations say that the individual has to have good works or has to surrender, or has to do some other aspect to secure the complete grace for release.

The other path is the one where there is no deity. Mostly the systems without deity are called Advaita or Mayavada. These systems have two approaches. In one there is no deity. In the other deities are there but they are not important or essential to anything. However even in these non-deity systems, there is a system of honor and respect shown to the guru of the lineage. In fact some of them say that unless one gets the grace of the guru or the effective darshan of the guru one cannot make progress.

The loner pioneering spiritual geniuses like Adi Shankara and Gautam Buddha had followers. Note well that these persons were disciples of other ascetics initially and then broke off and did novel austerities which were so exceptional, that many others followed their path. Even though these persons were pioneers they created very few pioneers after them but mostly created followers who relied on their verbal or written instructions.

This is evidence of the reliance either on deities or on the exceptional lineage gurus.

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Now let us shift to the Bhagavad Gita. There we see that Arjuna got an ascension (using your terms) and was shifted into a supernatural body where he had supernatural perception, and then he was shifted again into a spiritual body where he had spiritual perception. And then both of these conditions collapsed for him and he was back into our kind of perception, but with memory of what he experienced.

He went through ascension into two higher planes of existence but did not remain in either level. He returned to this level. It is clear in the statements that he was allowed this by the deity who was present before him in a body which was visible to material sense perception (avatar).

Arjuna was not that comfortable when he was shifted upwards and he actually asked the deity to please put him back down where he was before.

मा ते व्यथा मा च विमूढभावो

दृष्ट्वा रूपं घोरमीदृङ्ममेदम् ।

व्यपेतभीः प्रीतमनाः पुनस्त्वं

तदेव मे रूपमिदं प्रपश्य ॥११.४९॥

mā te vyathā mā ca vimūḍhabhāvo

dṛṣṭvā rūpaṁ ghoramīdṛṅmamedam

vyapetabhīḥ prītamanāḥ punastvaṁ

tadeva me rūpamidaṁ prapaśya (11.49)

Mā — not; te — of you; vyathā — should tremble; mā — not; ca — and; vimūḍhabhāvo = vimūḍhabhāvaḥ — confused state; dṛṣṭvā — having seen; rūpam — form; ghoram — ghastly; īdṛn = īdṛḥ — such; mamedam = mama —of my + idam — this; vyapetabhīḥ = vyapeta — freed from + bhīḥ — fear; prītamanāḥ — cheerful in mind; punaḥ — again; tvam — you; tat — you; eva — indeed; me — of me; rūpam — form; idam — this; prapaśya — look at

You should not tremble nor be confused after seeing this, My ghastly form. Be free from fear and be cheerful of mind. Again look at this form of Mine. (11.49)

संजय उवाच

इत्यर्जुनं वासुदेवस्तथोक्त्वा

स्वकं रूपं दर्शयामास भूयः ।

आश्वासयामास च भीतमेनं

भूत्वा पुनः सौम्यवपुर्महात्मा ॥११.५०॥

saṁjaya uvāca

ityarjunaṁ vāsudevas tathoktvā

svakaṁ rūpaṁ darśayāmāsa bhūyaḥ

āśvāsayāmāsa ca bhītamenaṁ

bhūtvā punaḥ saumyavapur mahātmā (11.50)

Saṁjaya — Sanjaya; uvāca — said; iti — thus; arjunam = Arjuna; vāsudevaḥ — Kṛṣṇa , the son of Vasudeva; tathoktvā = tathā — thus + uktvā — having said; svakaṁ — his own; rūpaṁ — divine form; darśayāmāsa — he revealed; bhūyaḥ — again; āsvāsayāmāsa — he caused to be calm; ca — and; bhītam — frightened person; enam — this; bhūtvā — having assumed; punaḥ = punar — again; saumyavapuḥ = saumya — pleasing + vapuḥ — attractive appearance; mahātmā — great person

Sanjaya said: Krishna, the son of Vasudeva, having said this to Arjuna, revealed His own Divine Form. And once again that great person assumed the pleasing, attractive form and caused the frightened Arjuna to be calm. (11.50)

अर्जुन उवाच

दृष्ट्वेदं मानुषं रूपं

तव सौम्यं जनार्दन ।

इदानीमस्मि संवृत्तः

सचेताः प्रकृतिं गतः ॥११.५१॥

arjuna uvāca

dṛṣṭvedaṁ mānuṣaṁ rūpaṁ

tava saumyaṁ janārdana

idānīmasmi saṁvṛttaḥ

sacetāḥ prakṛtiṁ gataḥ (11.51)

arjuna — Arjuna; uvāca — said; dṛṣṭvedaṁ = dṛṣṭvā — having seen + idam — this; mānuṣaṁ — human: rūpaṁ — form; tava — of you; saumyam — gentle; janārdana — O motivator of human beings; idānīm — now; asmi — I am; saṁvṛttaḥ — satisfied; sacetāḥ — with mind; prakṛtiṁ — to human nature, to normal condition; gataḥ — gone back, returned

Arjuna said: Seeing this gentle, human-like Form of Yours, O Janardana, motivator of human beings, I am satisfied with my mind returned to the normal condition. (11.51)

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Later after the battle of Kurukshetra, when Arjuna and his brothers were having a good time in royal life, Arjuna had a concern, which was that he lost touch with the apparitions which Krishna allowed him to perceive. He asked Krishna to please show it again and explain the whole universal situation from Krishna’s perspective but Krishna flatly refused. Basically to paraphrase, Krishna said that Arjuna was a bad student and that Krishna was pissed off at Arjuna’s lack of persistence in the vision of the apparitions and the transcendental information. It was at that time that Krishna spoke what is known as the Anu-Gita.