Formless Is Difficult

12.5 For those whose minds are set on the unmanifest, the formless, it is more difficult to advance; attaining the formless unmanifest is difficult for the embodied.

Krishna says here what many of us know to be true. Intellectuals find it more difficult to comprehend the Divine.

Brahma and Vishnu had an argument as to who was greater. They could not agree and so they went to Shiva for mediation. Shiva took the form of a shaft of light without ends that spanned the universe and said to them, 'The one who finds either of my ends is greater.'

Vishnu assumed the form of a boar and dug through the earth searching for the lower end of this light shaft. Brahma flew up as a swan to reach the upper end. After a long, long time, Vishnu realized that he was getting nowhere. He returned and sought Shiva's forgiveness for attempting to look for His beginning.

Brahma continued regardless. On his way up, he found a flower floating down. The flower said that it was falling from Shiva's head and it had been falling for many lifetimes of Brahma. Startled, Brahma realized there was no way he would reach the end of the shaft. He forced the flower to go with him to Shiva and support his claim that he, Brahma, had picked the flower from Shiva's locks. Hearing Brahma's lie, Shiva became furious and cut off one of Brahma's heads and forbade him from being worshipped. He also cursed the flower, saying that it would never be used in His worship.

There is metaphoric meaning to this legend. Vishnu represents wealth and Brahma represents intellect. One who has wealth finds it difficult to reach God, no doubt. However, he may have the humility to accept his shortcomings and drop his attachment to his wealth to seek the truth. However, an intellectual person finds it impossible to shed his ego in his search for the truth. Therefore he never finds it.

In one's search for the Truth, the Divine, the Unmanifest, nirguna Brahman, which is what the intellectual seeker is focusing on, the intellect, the mind or ego will be the block that makes the path difficult to traverse.

The individual human being carries not only the body but the mind as well. And with the mind, it carries the ego. Unless the mind-body is transcended, spiritual advancement is difficult, as Krishna points out.

Shedding the ego is the most difficult thing for the mind-body system. Ego provides the mind-body with its identity, with its existence. The French Philosopher Rene Descartes' famous quote, 'I think, therefore I am' is an example of this identification with the intellect.

Whether now or in Krishna's time, the world revolved around the power of thought, the power that seems to provide knowledge and skills. It was essential for one's recognition and status in life. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was an incarnation. Yet, in utter humility, he accepted three people in his life as his Masters. The truth though, was that Ramakrishna was the means for their liberation by helping them shed their egos!

Bhairavi offered to teach Ramakrishna tantric techniques and stayed as a disciple. It took years before she could shed her ego. Only with Ramakrishna's help, did she achieve it.

Totapuri, the great advaitic scholar had never stayed in one place for more than three nights. He wanted to teach Ramakrishna the non-dual nature of Existence. Ramakrishna left saying he had to ask the Mother. A surprised Totapuri followed him and found him conversing with the idol of Mother Kali.

When Totapuri forced him to meditate upon the formless, Ramakrishna objected saying he could not let Mother go. Furious, Totapuri placed a shard of broken glass between Ramakrishna's eyebrows, on his third eye point, and commanded him to cut his Mother Kali into pieces. Ramakrishna went into samadhi for three weeks. Rarely has anyone survived that long in samadhi and returned. After Ramakrishna returned to mind-body consciousness, Totapuri stayed on for many more months.

Then there was Jatadhari, a devotee of Vishnu who came to Ramakrishna with Ramlala, an idol of Lord Ramachandra in the form of a child. To Jatadhari, this idol of child Rama was a living being. He bathed, fed and talked to Ramlala everyday, all the time. After a few days of staying with Ramakrishna, Jatadhari found that Ramlala started spending more time with Ramakrishna. He would come searching, disturbed that his darling Ramlala had now decided to play with another person.

Jatadhari stayed at Dakshineshwar for a long time because he knew Ramlala wanted to be with Ramakrishna. One day finally, Jatadhari came to bid goodbye to Ramakrishna. 'Ramlala said that he wants to be with you. He loves you. I am fulfilled that he has at last revealed Himself to me because of you. I am happy to leave Him with you and go away. I am full of bliss.' Ever since, Ramlala stayed on with Ramakrishna.

It took the no-mind simplicity of a great Master to provide guidance to the learned scholars and to teach them to drop their egos. Dropping the ego is the most difficult thing for the mind-body, especially for one who is focused on the intellect.