Atma Bodha - Post 69

Verse 59

तद्युक्तमखिलं वस्तु व्यवहारस्तदन्वितः ।

तस्मात्सर्वगतं ब्रह्म क्षीरे सर्पिरिवाखिले ॥ ५९॥

TADYUKTAMAKHILAM VASTU

VYAVAHAARASTADANVITAH

TASMAATSARVAGATAM BRAHMA

KSHIIRE SARPIRIVAAKHILE

[All objects are pervaded by Brahman. All actions are possible because of Brahman: therefore Brahman permeates everything as butter permeates milk.]

Acharya is here pointing to the all pervading Brahman by giving the example of the butter in the milk. Brahman is but consciousness and everything that exists is but consciousness.

Hence all the objects, world that is perceived exist only because of consciousness and in the consciousness. Hence it is Brahman i.e. consciousness alone that exists and pervades all the illusory objects of the world. All the actions are hence possible only because of this consciousness.

“Ksheere Sarpirivakhile”: Like Butter in Milk

The simile for ‘seeing’ God in all is ‘seeing’ butter in every drop of the milk. We know that butter pervades the milk, because we see the butter after churning the milk.

Butter, from which ghee is made, may be said to be the best part of the milk. It is certainly where all the energy comes from. Without the butter, what is left is not milk but only water.

The simile thus points out two things:

(i)  God is there in every part of this creation in the same subtle way as butter is in every drop of the milk. We have to look beyond the physical and consider the essence of things to be able to see God.

(ii)  The underlying presence of God is the only real part of creation. The physical manifestation, arising from Maya, is illusory like Maya. As butter is the essence of milk, so also God is the essence of creation. Non-dualists would say, “God alone is”!

There was a king who wanted to have proof of the existence of God. So he offered a big prize to the wise man who could explain this to him. A young man came forward and said he would explain.

He asked the king to get some milk. Then he asked him if there was butter in it. Then he asked if he could see the butter. In this way he was able to explain to the king that it was only by the churning of Sadhana that one could get purer and be able to see the “butter of God” in all things.

Upanishads proclaim that just as how milk pervading butter is extracted by churning, so also the Atman has to be separated from the world of names and forms by intense meditation and Self knowledge.

Amrita Bindu Upanishad gives this same example in sloka 20 as:

DHRITAMIVA PAYASI NIGUUDHAM BHUUTE BHUUTE CHA VASATI VIGYAANAM

SATATAM MANASI MANTHAYITAVYAM MANU MANTHAANABHUUTENA

(Like the butter hidden in milk, the Pure Consciousness resides in every being. That ought to be constantly churned out by the churning rod of the mind)

Shvetaashvatara Upanishad also explains the same in 1.15 as:

TILESHHU TAILA.N DADHINIIVA SARPI

RAAPAH SROTAHSVARANIISHHU CHAAGNIH

EVAMAATMAA.ATMANI GRIHYATE.ASAU

SATYENAINA.N TAPASAAYO.ANUPASHYATI

(As oil in sesame seeds, as butter in curds, as water in underground springs, as fire in wood, even so this Self is perceived in the self. He who, by means of truthfulness, self-control and concentration, looks again and again for this Self, which is all-pervading like butter contained in milk, and which is rooted in self-knowledge and meditation – he becomes that Supreme Brahman, the destroyer of ignorance.)

Dear All,

The above verses along with the butter and milk simile can be contemplated in 2 ways.

At Macrocosm Level - At creation level, in this apparent creation (like milk), Brahman exists inseparable from the creation (like butter)

At Microcosm Level - as Jiva, as Sadhaka

Extending the example of king, it is only by the churning of Sadhana that one could get purer and be able to experience the “butter of God”, within himself, the milk of his existence.

Butter cannot be seen at surface level in milk. But in essence, butter is contained in every bit of milk.

Atman, the SELF, cannot be experienced by a sadhaka till the time he has churned himself inside out, in the fire of his sadhana and is able to experience the essence of Butter (SELF) in his entire existence so much so that he no more exists a jiva with Body, Mind, Intellect and Vasanas in essence, though he appears to the outside world as a normal human being, doing things the normal beings do, walking, eating, dressing, talking like a normal human being walks / eats / dresses and talks!!!

World sees him as milk (physical existence), He exists eternally as butter (Atman / Self / Pure Consciousness).

Love.