The Universe Is Sri Hari Himself
एको देवः सर्वभूतेषु गूढः सर्वव्यापी सर्वभूतान्तरात्मा
कर्माध्यक्षः सर्वभूताधिवासः साक्षी चेता केवलो निर्गुणश्च
सर्वभूतेषु गूढः – hidden in all beings. Hidden in everything. Why do we say he is hidden? Because he is apparently not visible. He is there in the tree, he is there in the ant, he is there in the stone — he came out from a pillar. He is there in every man, every woman. But we don’t see that. So he has hidden himself in everything.
सर्वव्यापी – spread out everywhere. He is everywhere. There is not a place on earth, in the sky, under the ocean, in sun, moon, in distant planets — Saturn, Venus, in distant stars and galaxies. There is not a single point in space in the whole universe where his presence is not there.
सर्वभूतान्तरात्मा – the antaratma of all beings.
कर्माध्यक्षः – the supervisor/overseer of all actions. All actions happen under his guidance/supervision. He makes sure that everything goes according to his scheme, his plan.
सर्वभूताधिवासः – he has made every being his abode, his dwelling place.
साक्षी – the witness to everything. He supervises and he witnesses everything.
चेता – the provider of consciousness, the consciousness in everything.
केवलः – the one and only.
निर्गुणः – devoid of sattva, rajas, and tamas gunas.
यो ब्रह्माणं विदधाति पूर्वं यो वै वेदांश्च प्रहिणोति तस्मै
तँहि देवमात्मबुद्धिप्रकाशं मुमुक्षुर्वै शरणमहं प्रपद्ये
First he creates Brahma. He appoints Brahma as the creator. Then he gives Vedas to Brahma. Brahma creates according to the Vedas. Veda is the shabda brahma, which at Brahma’s hands manifests itself into the creation — the universe.
आत्मबुद्धिप्रकाशं – आत्मबुद्धि — knowledge of the self. Who really am I? Am I this body? Am I this role that I am playing — as the father, as the policeman, as the banker, as the singer? Is this truly what I am? The realisation of who you really are is called atmabuddhi. Sri Hari gives that knowledge. When he throws light — prakasha — you realize your true self, your real self, who you really are.
In him I take refuge. To him I surrender. I seek his protection — the sharanagati.
सेयं देवतैक्षत हन्ताहमिमास्तिस्रो देवता अनेन जीवेनाऽऽत्मनाऽऽनुप्रविश्य नामरूपे व्याकरवाणीति – says Chhandogya Upanishad.
Then that devata contemplated, willed — ‘Let me enter into these three devatas, that is Agni, Jalam, and Annam, as Jeevatma and manifest as the various names and forms.’
This is very important. In Hindu religion, fire is a devata, water is a devata, food is a devata. The five elements are devatas. The universe itself is Brahma transformed into various names and forms. As a matter of fact, since everything is Brahma himself transformed into various beings and objects, there is nothing in the universe which is not divine.
सदेव सोम्येदमग्र आसीदेकमेवाद्वितीयम्
At the beginning, all this was pure being — sat, one/single — ekam, adviteeyam — without a second.
You go to the marketplace in the morning and see a potter buying a lump of clay and taking it home. You go again in the evening and see him having come back with two pots, one jar, and three cups made of that clay. To begin with, it was only clay. Later, the clay transformed itself into two pots, one jar, and three cups — with distinct names and forms.
The only difference is — in the case of clay, the potter is an outside agent — apparently — who converted the clay into various objects. In the case of creation, since there was no second, only one, only the clay at the beginning — the clay transformed itself into various objects on its own.
This transformation into various names and forms is inherent in the original pure being — like how milk turns sour on its own. You don’t have to do anything. It happens on its own.
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Vishnu Sahasranama
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