| And so, he put six questions to Bhisma in order to elicit the teaching which he wanted very much to receive.
The following were the six questions:
- What is that one Godhead that is declared in all the knowledge-disciplines?
- What is the one supreme goal?
- Praising which do men attain the goal?
- Worshipping which do they gain the good?
- Among all the dharmas, which is thought to be the supreme dharma?
- By reciting what, is a living being liberated from the bondage of birth and transmigration?
Bhisma replied to the questions as follows: 2
- The supreme Godhead is the purest of the Pure, the most auspicious of all that is auspicious, the God of Gods, the imperishable Father of all beings. Here, as it is clear from Sri-Sankara's commentary, what is referred to is the highest non-dual Reality which is also called the Supreme Deity or Person, who, when meditated on, seen, sung about, praised, worshipped, remembered, and bowed to, removes all sins completely; destroys the cause of the bondage of
samsara,
i.e. karma in its dual form, as merit and demerit, as also its cause which is ignorance, by revealing the true knowledge of the Self.
The one Godhead is of the nature of the supreme bliss; it is the self-effulgent deity, the ground of all existence, generating all beings, as it were, while itself remaining unchanging.
2. In the text, the answers are given to the questions in the following order: vi, iv, iii, v, ii, i. |
