Advaitis who propagate the theory of illusion or Maya have a tough time explaining many mundane things they keep doing. Most of these people indulge in worship of some deity or sometimes even their own preceptors who are deified!
Ask them why they do it if they really believe that everything is Atma on the same footing?! They will probably say that it is meant to cleanse their mind and prepare it for ‘realization’. There are many contradictions in these statements and their practices.
However, in the Upanishadic form of Advaita that I have been discussing, there is no such contradiction. A form taken by the Atma and the Atma itself are never identical. Going back to the simile, the actor and the role he plays are never same, though actor is common in both. As long as the form exists, it is bound by limitations. It needs to come out of its limitations. Spiritual practices, worship, accepting someone as a Guru, all make sense since each form has specific limitations as well as capabilities. A form can evolve by surrendering to another form that is more evolved. A teacher is normally more evolved than a student even though he is also a form. So, it makes sense to take refuge in a Guru.
For the same reason, praying to or worshipping a deity also makes sense. But there are certain things we need to keep in mind.
Every deity is also a form no mater how great or capable it is. The God of Abrahamic religions, though claimed to be formless, is also a form since it has human like emotions, biases and so on. So, also all the Hindu Gods. There could be gradation among them, but all the same, they are all forms with limitations.
Only the Atma is formless and limitless. But if you try to define what this Atma is, it also becomes a form matching that definition. That is why the Atma is never defined in a concise way. It is always explained as ‘Neti, Neti’ which could either mean ‘not this, not this’ OR ‘not just this, not just this’. The former explanation puts the Atma outside the range of all the forms taken by the Atma since no form can equal the Atma in all respects. The latter explanation is also valid since it hints the Atma as a conglomeration of infinitely many forms. Mathematically speaking, it is like summing over infinity 😉
Accordingly, it is said that one starts marching in the quest for Atma, assuming the first explanation, and finally ends up in the second explanation at the end of the quest. That is, you keep rejecting everything as non Atma in the beginning, and finally realize that everything IS Atma in a collective sense – I am just quoting the well-known words of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.
When we know that no individual form is equal to the Atma, the natural question is to ask why not surrender to the Atma itself instead of some other form however evolved it is? The answer to this question is given clearly by the Bhagavad Geetha.
Bhagavad Geetha says that it is difficult for a form to imagine something that has no form, far from surrendering to it.
People who are dominated by their bodies find it extremely difficult to conceive something which has no form whatsoever.
-- Bhagavad Geetha 12.5
So, there is nothing wrong if you surrender to a form. If you are a Jew, you can surrender to Jehovah; you can surrender to Jesus if you are a Christian; to Allah if you are a Muslim; to Buddha if you are a Buddhist; to Krishna if you are a Hindu; to Ramakrishna Paramahamsa if you consider him to be your preceptor. All these forms can uplift you and help you since they are more evolved and less constrained as compared to you.
Only thing to be kept in mind is that one should surrender to a form which has lesser limitations and the one which is more evolved. The form can take you only as far as it has reached. It cannot take you further since it itself is bound by limitations. If you surrender or worship a form which is full of worldly qualities, you will end up more bound to the form in which you currently are. You will be more restricted in your vision. Needless to say, there is no chance that you would ever realize the Atma. That is why the Bhagavad Geetha says
Whoever worships the Deities attain the Deities, whoever worships the departed souls attains them, whoever worships spirits attain spirits. But only those who worship the formless God, attain God in the full splendor.
-- Bhagavad Geetha 9.25
But as I said earlier, it is next to impossible to worship the formless Atma. You need some form to worship. That is why a sage in the Isaavaasya Upanishad begs a form called Pooshan for help. Pooshan is a form that is like the sun who can dispel the darkness. So, the prayer to Pooshan goes something like this
hiraNmayEna paatrENa satyasya apihitam mukham
tatvam pooshan apaavrNu
satyadharmaaya dhrShtayE
yat te roopam pashyaami
yah sah asau, puruShah sOham asmi
O Pooshan! I am keen on knowing the Atma. But that knowledge is shrouded as if your dazzling rays are covering the face of the truth. Please withdraw those dazzling rays so that I, who is none other than the Atma, can have a glimpse of that Atma with your help.
-- Isavasyaa Upanishad 15,16
The dazzling rays that this Upanishad is talking about probably suggest the worldly lures and distractions that a form is engulfed in. Who has put those dazzling rays? It is none other than the Atma. So, the seeker is indirectly praying to the Atma to free from the dazzle and eliminate the confusion so that he can clearly see the Atma without any limits. Pooshan is only a form assumed as a mediator.
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