- atha trayo vᾱva
lokᾱḥ, manuṣya-lokaḥ, pitṛ-lokaḥ. deva-loka
iti. so’yam manuṣya-lokaḥ putreṇaiva jayyaḥ,
nᾱnyena karmaṇᾱ. karmaṇᾱ pitṛ-lokᾱḥ,
vidyayᾱ deva-lokaḥ, deva loko vai lokᾱnᾱṁ
śreṣṭhaḥ: tasmᾱd vidyᾱm
praśaṁsanti.
There are three worlds, as we have already
studied - this world, the atmospheric world and the celestial world: Manuṣya-loka,
Pitṛ-loka and Deva-loka, as the scriptures tell us. We have to gain entry
into all these worlds and have mastery over them. Renown in this physical world
is attempted to be perpetuated by people. Even after death, they want to be
known to men. How can you perpetuate your greatness even after death? The
progeny of yours is the perpetuation of your glory. The son says his father is
such-and-such a person. So, the great man's name continues through the son. The
progeny is the continuation of the glory and the value of the person. So, one
gains renown in the physical realm by the progeny that he has. The family
continues its tradition; otherwise, he would be cut off root and branch by the
death of the physical body. The physical world remembers the individuality of a
person through the legacy that he leaves in the form of the family tradition
and the children. Hence, one gains this world, as it were, through the progeny - manuṣya-lokaḥ
putreṇaiva jayyaḥ. Nᾱnyena karmaṇᾱ: You
cannot achieve renown in this physical world after your death by any other
means than by this that is suggested.
Karmaṇᾱ
pitṛ-lokᾱḥ: But, if you want to
gain entry into the world of the forefathers, the ancestors, there is no other
way than to perform certain rites which are of a sacrificial nature. Certain
libations, certain Yajñas are performed whose effect, called Apurva, produces a
force which carries the soul after death to Pitṛ-loka wherein the soul
enjoys the results of its deeds until their momentum is exhausted, and then it
comes back to this world to repeat the same actions, and so on, endlessly, in
the cycle of time.
Vidyayᾱ deva-lokaḥ: The higher, celestial realms are to be attained only through
knowledge, not by progeny, not by any kind of ritual, but by understanding, by
spiritual contemplation. Here, Deva-loka is to be understood in the sense of
every realm that is superior to the Pitṛ-loka. There are seven realms,
according to the tradition of India's culture particularly, also recognised in
many other cultures. The first three are temporal; the last four are spiritual,
ethereal in their nature, and connected to divine ordinance. The celestial
realms, the divine regions, are to be attained by knowledge and not by action
of any kind, not by ritual, not by progeny, not by possession, not by wealth.
The lower ones are attained by action, but
the higher ones by worship, adoration and knowledge. The higher does one reach,
the more one comes near to one's own self. That is the reason why actions
become less and less applicable as the soul rises higher and higher. The more
distant is the object of one's quest, the greater is the effort that is needed
in the acquisition of it. The nearer it comes, the lesser is the effort, both
in quantity and quality, so that, when it becomes almost inseparable from
oneself, the question of action does not arise. There is then an awakening, an
understanding and an enlightenment by which one realises one's affinity with
the object of one's attainment; this is called knowledge. By worships or
adorations, which are also meditations at the lower levels and are called Upāsanās
or devotions, one gains entry into those higher realms due to the force of
thought which is exerted upon those ideals which one wishes to attain. Yathā
yathā upāsate tathā bhavati: As you contemplate, so you
become. And that also is the nature of the object which you attain. Thus it is
that knowledge is regarded as the highest of achievements, and the divine
regions, the celestial realms transcending even the paradise of angels, are
attainable not by ordinary action, but by deep contemplation, Upāsana, worship, which
is the knowledge spoken of in this section.
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