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Advaita Vedanta in Srimad Bhagavatam
By S. N. Sastri

It iswell known that Srimad Bhagavatam, considered to be the greatest amongthe eighteen Puranas attributed to Sage Veda Vyasa, is devoted to theexposition of the path of Bhakti and that the various episodesdescribed therein are intended to strengthen devotion in the minds ofpeople. It is however not so well known that it also expounds the pathof Jnana or knowledge by conveying the essence of the Upanishads in avery lucid and attractive manner. Such expositions of the path of Jnanaare found in almost every chapter. Here a few verses from the tenthSkandha are taken and explained to illustrate this.

The tenthSkandha of Srimad Bhagavatam describes Krishna Avatara in detail. Inchapter 14 of this Skandha it is said that once Brahma, the Creator,wanted to know the extent of Krishna's power. He therefore took awaythe cowherd boys and calves who were with Krishna in the forest and hidthem. Krishna, who knew what Brahma had done, took the form of all thecowherd boys and calves as well as of all the things which the boyscarried such as slings, staff etc. In the evening Krishna, in the formof all these, went back to Gokula. There each boy went to his own houseand each calf went to its mother. The mothers and fathers of the boysdid not see any difference between their own sons and these boys. Thecows also accepted the calves as their own. The next morning Krishnaand all these boys went to the forest along with the calves as usualand returned in the evening. This went on for a year. Then Brahma cameto the forest to find out what was happening. He was astonished to seeall the boys and calves there, though the boys and calves he had takenaway were still in the place where he had hidden them. As he waslooking on in utter amazement, he saw each one of the boys assuming theform of the Lord Himself, with four arms bearing a conch, discus, maceand lotus, adorned with a diadem and a necklace of pearls and clad inyellow silk. Then all of them became cowherd boys again and Krishna wasstanding in their midst, holding a morsel of cooked rice in his hand,exactly as he was at the instant when Brahma took away the calves andthe boys. Realising that Krishna was the Supreme Brahman Himself,Brahma prostrated before him in great humility and began to extol himwith hymns. The gist of the Upanishads is brought out in these hymns.Some of these verses are taken and explained below.

Bh. X.14.22:

"Theuniverse appears by Maya in you, the Infinite, the eternalBliss-consciousness. Though the universe is only like things seen in adream (and so unreal), and is devoid of consciousness and ever full ofmisery, it appears as real (and also conscious and blissful)".

InVedanta Reality is defined as that which does not undergo any changewhatsoever in all the three periods of time, i.e., past, present andfuture. Brahman is the only Reality. Because of Maya, Brahman appearsto us as the universe of names and forms. Maya conceals Brahman andprojects the universe. Just as everything seen in dream ceases to existas soon as the dreamer wakes up, the universe ceases to be real whenBrahman is realized. The universe appears to be real only as long as weare under the spell of Maya (or Avidya or ignorance). The fundamentalprinciples of Advaita Vedanta are brought out in this verse, namely,that the universe has no absolute reality, it is only a superimpositionon Brahman and appears to be real only because of our ignorance of thesubstratum, Brahman, just as a rope appears as a snake in dim lightwhen its real nature is not known.

Bh. X.14.23:

You(Krishna, the supreme Brahman), are the non-dual Self, the primordialPerson, the Reality, self-luminous, infinite, the first Cause, eternal,imperishable, ever Bliss itself, taintless, perfect without a second,devoid of all adjuncts (Nirguna) and immortal.

This is exactlythe description of the supreme Brahman as contained in the Upanishads.The expression "devoid of all adjuncts" indicates Nirguna Brahman orBrahman without attributes. The concept of Nirguna Brahman is peculiarto Advaita Vedanta.

Bh.X.14.25 to 28:

Those who do not knowthe Atman as their own Self, look upon the entire phenomenal universeas real because of ignorance, but the universe disappears whenSelf-knowledge dawns, just as a snake seen on a rope disappears whenthe rope is known. Bondage and liberation, which are both products ofignorance, have no existence apart from the Atman whose nature is Truthand Consciousness. For, rightly considered, there can be neitherignorance nor bondage, and neither knowledge nor freedom from bondagefor the supreme Self that is eternal and absolute Consciousness, anymore than there can be night and day for the sun. Taking the Atman forsomething else, and something else for the Atman, the Atman is soughtfor outside oneself; how marvellous is the folly of the ignorant! Menof discrimination seek the Infinite within the body itself, negatingthe unreal; without negating the unreal snake first, how can one knowthe rope, though it is very close?

There are many such instances in Srimad Bhagavatam where Advaita Vedanta is expounded.

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