Veda Cautions Against Spreading Vedanta Indiscriminately

Time is the controller of world experience. Time is the creator of world experience.
If time is not there, then there is no such experience that we undergo on a day-to-day basis.

Everything you see — there is a person standing in front of you.
He was born at a particular point in time — 20 years back, 50 years back.
Birth is a time-based event.
If time itself is not there, then where is the question of birth?

You are able to paint a painting because there is a canvas.
The paint is applied on the canvas.
If the canvas is not there, then you can only paint in the air.
Will it create a painting? Will you be able to see or experience a painting if you are painting in the air?

In the same way, if you take out time, then there is no event called birth.
Without having been born, that person cannot stand in front of you.
You see a person walking — what is it? He moves from point A to point B in a certain period of time.

You keep looking at the sun every second — you will feel that the sun is not moving in the sky.
You look at the sun — you will not see it moving.
But you look at the sun after two hours, you will realize that the sun has got movement.
What does it mean?

Only after you introduce the parameter called time, that too in a certain way,
Looking at the sun every second, you will not be able to see its movement.
When you introduce time in a certain way — that is, in an interval of an hour or two — then you can experience the sun’s movement.

That’s why Veda says:

एकं हि शिरो नाना मुखे
कृत्स्नम् तत् ऋतुलक्षणम्
उभयतः सप्तेन्द्रियाणि
जल्पितं त्वेव दिह्यते

As we saw in the earlier mantras, Samvatsara or year is the primary unit of time.
The others like Ayanas and Rutus are subdivisions of the year only.

And the seven indriyas — Samvatsara is being equated to the head — and other units of time to different parts of the head.
Like the face has two sides — the left side and right side — they are the two Ayanas, the Uttarayana and the Dakshinayana.
But they are still parts of the head only.
The two sides of the face are still part of the head only.

The seven indriyas, the openings on the head — two ears, two eyes, two nostrils, and the mouth.
The seven openings — only thing left out is skin, but skin is included in this.
The seven indriyas — they are also part of the head only.

That means, the sensory organs through which we get world experience — they are also part of time.
They don’t exist independent of time.
They don’t have an independent existence.

But then the Veda cautions:

जल्पितं त्वेव दिह्यते

This division into year, Ayana, Rutu, and other units of time is just for name’s sake.
Because:

वाचारम्भणं विकारो नामधेयम्

Different names and forms arise when you presume that these are all for real.
The world is compared to the fictional son of a barren woman.
A son is born to a barren woman — then you start describing him in a thousand words:
'This is his name, this is his complexion, this is his height, this is his weight, this is his character.'

This is what we are actually doing when we say that year is the primary unit of time and other units are parts of the year —
Describing something that is non-existent.

Because:

नेह नानास्ति किंचन
In fact, there is no multiplicity here.
मायामात्रमिदं द्वैतम् — duality is only maya.

Now the next mantra:

शुक्लकृष्णे संवत्सरस्य
दक्षिणवामयोः पार्श्वयोः
तस्यैषा भवति

This mantra is referring to a mantra in Rigveda — the tenth mantra of this anuvaka:

शुक्रं ते अन्यत्
यजतं ते अन्यत्
विषुरूपे अहनी द्यौरिवासि
विश्वा हि माया अवसि स्वधावः
भद्रा ते पूषन्निह रातिरस्तु

The mantra is addressed to Pushan, the form of Surya as the Poshaka, nourisher.

Who is a nourisher? Someone who wants a certain thing to continue to exist and grow.
Pushan or Surya Deva wants this world to exist and grow the way it is.
He wants this world experience to happen and also go on increasing.

People go for roller coaster rides. People go for bungee jumping.
Is it a pleasure-giving experience? No.
Still, they line up, pay money, and do it.
Why?

Why is Pushan doing this?
Why is he creating this world experience which is so complicated and goes on becoming more and more complex day by day?

We don’t know.
The mantra is saying that — we only know that you are the one doing this.
Why — we don’t know.

You are creating the division into day and night.
Introducing the time factor into a state of calmness.
You are creating this complicated world experience.
And you go on increasing its complexity also — day by day.

Look at the world around you — is it getting simpler or more complicated day by day?
Whatever we try to do to make it simpler, in fact ends up making it more complicated.

We don’t know why Sun God is doing this.
But whatever it is:

भद्रा ते रातिरस्तु — make it easy on us.
Even if this is only maya, we are still under its terrible grip.
You can’t make your hunger disappear by saying it is maya.
You can’t make your thirst disappear saying it is maya.
You can’t make your electricity bill disappear saying that it is maya.
We are all under the terrible grip of this maya.

Do your best for us — Pushan is being prayed to.

Now is the most beautiful part of this anuvaka.

This entire set of mantras is part of a ritual.
You can visualize this like this — a guru is telling all this to his shishya.
He has clarified the role of time as the controller of world experience.
He has clarified that it is Surya Deva who is behind it.
Then he has told the shishya that this entire thing is maya.

Now listen to what he says:

नात्र भुवनम्
न पूषा
न पशवः
नाऽदित्यः

There is no world.
There is no Pushan, there is no sun.
These animals, the living beings that you see around — they also don’t exist.
It is only maya.
It is a maya created by time.
This world experience is created by time.
This is the truth.

But:

संवत्सर एव प्रत्यक्षेण प्रियतमं विद्यात्

People prefer to go through the world experience.
This world runs because people accept the world as it is.
They love to accept it the way it is.

एतद्वै संवत्सरस्य प्रियतमं रूपम्

So don’t disclose all this to the common man. It will confuse them.
If he is convinced that this is maya the wrong way, he will walk across the India-Pakistan border saying that the border is maya — and get shot down.

This knowledge is for a select few who are mature enough.
Others — let them continue as they are.
This yajamana is doing this yajna because he thinks that he will get good results.
The people in the world are behaving because they think that evil deeds will land them in trouble and good deeds will benefit them.

If you demolish these beliefs saying that there is no world, there is no God, there is no punya, there is no papa —
Then what will happen to the world?
It will become a savage place.

So don’t say all this to the ordinary man.

योऽस्य महानर्थ उत्पत्स्यमानो भवति
इदं पुण्यं कुरुष्वेति
तमाहरणं दद्यात्

Let the ordinary man think that good deeds will get him good results and bad deeds will get him problems.
Or you know what can happen.

So tell the yajamana in a simple way:
'Do this punya, do this yajna, it will get you good results.'

Are you able to appreciate this?
Don’t think demolishing this mass ignorance called maya is the solution.
If there is no division into good and bad, doable and non-doable, dos and don’ts...

Let me make it clearer:

नात्र भुवनमित्यादिपरमार्थतत्त्वं नोपदिशेत्
यद्यपि तत्त्वमेवोत्तमम्

It does not mean that don’t spread this knowledge.
But don’t give it to people who are not ripe enough —
Or else they will become confused.

If it says, natra bhuvanam, na pusha...
Understand it rightly — not prematurely.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi