52.7 “The Panch-Rãtra shãstras describe that there is only one Bhagvãn, who is Shree Krishna Purushottam Nãrãyan. He incarnates into the four svarups of Vãsudev, Sankarshan, Aniruddha, and Pradyumna. It is also He who assumes an avatãr on this earth. A person who offers the nine types of bhakti to Him attains kalyãn.
Up until now, the other Shastras proved the existence of God and the Vedant shastras explained the divine nature of God. Hence, the previous shastras did not explain the perceptible form of God. So the Panchratra shastras establishes that there is one God and there are His various avatars.
The Narad Panch-Ratra is famous Pancharatra shastra available to us. It says that there is only one God, and it describes the various forms of that one God and shows the unity of each form. And the method of liberation/salvation of is to offer devotion to that one God alone. It directs or flow of devotion to God, who is Shree Krishna Purushottam Narayan(the eternal Name of God).
52.12 “There is also a weakness in trying to understand Bhagvãn’s svarup from the Panch-Rãtra shãstras alone. They offer bhakti to Bhagvãn, but they see Bhagvãn’s avatãrs with human traits. Also, they understand Bhagvãn to be present in only one place at any one time, and not as being the antaryãmi of all and absolutely perfect.
Since they offer worship to God in the Human form, they percieve Huam trait in God, the problem begins when they percieve Human faults in God. They think of God as partial, as lustful, as wrathful etc.They do not understand the unity of the divine and the Human nature of God. They also do not understand God’s omnipresence and absolute perfection as they perceive Human faults in Him.
52.13 “These are the types of weaknesses that arise when a person does not realise Bhagvãn using a combination of all four sets of shãstras. However, if a person attempts to realise Bhagvãn using all four sets of shãstras together, then the weakness raised from the understanding of one set of shãstras, is corrected by the understanding of another. Therefore, a person who understands Bhagvãn using all four sets of shãstras is known as being completely enlightened.
52.14 “If he ignores one set of shãstras, he is known as being three-quarters enlightened. If he ignores two sets of shãstras, he is known for being half-enlightened. If ignores three sets of scriptures, he is known for being a quarter enlightened. If he acts according to his own fictional interpretations of the shãstras while ignoring all four sets of shãstras, then even if he is a vedãnti or a person with upãsanã, he is lost. He cannot be said to have found the path of kalyãn. Therefore, such a vedãnti’s gnãn is hypocritical, and a person with such upãsanã is a hypocritical bhakta.”
This is an amazing point raised by Lord Swaminarayan, when one ignores all these scriptures and talks about God, and tries to describe and realise God with no reference to any of these scriptures, then one is to be called hypocritical. Hence we should only believe authoritative scriptures and sects which are proven on those firm grounds.
|| End of Vachanãmrut Gadhadã I || 52 || 52 ||
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