Vital Force By Naithrupan

 In this Brahdaranya Upanishad’s series, the present article deals with the Vital Force in the body which needs to control three factors – name, form and action. Some liberties have been taken with a view to make the concepts clear, though the core thoughts have been kept intact.   -  The Editor.

As per Brahdaranya Upanishad, this Universe consists of three things. They are name, form and action.

 

Let us examine each one by one.

 

Let us take the case of Name. The actual source of name is speech. The source of speech is sound and the source of sound is tongue, an organ in the body.

 

The next thing is form. The source of form is sight. The source of sight is eyes, which are the organs of the body.

 

The last one is action. The source of action is body. The source of body is its organs including mind and intellect.

 

The man should realize that these three factors viz. name, form and action need to be abandoned to realize the presence of God in him. To achieve this, the mind, which is also considered an organ in the body, should come to the rescue of the man.  

 

By learning, by speaking and by sermonizing, a man can get Name and Fame. Such achievements are simply straw to know the Ultimate Nameless God

By sights, one is fond of forms – even whether it is his own body. His fondness for forms may extend to possessions of house, car, gold, silver – the list is endless. Such possessive natures may fetch temporary joy and these are heavy hurdles to know the Formless God.

 

All actions of man are normally directed towards these material aspects of name and form leaving him bound for ever in this world, without any inkling of salvation. Real Actions are to be Service Oriented towards needies and such actions are service to God.

Chanting God’s names, Sharing possessions with others as charity and Acting to serve others selflessly are all paths to reach the lotus feet of God through salvation.

 

But, how can one achieve this height?

 

By controlling speech, sight and other sense organs, one can achieve this height. For that, one should control the mind through meditation. 

You are walking along the street. You noticed your friend by name Ram. You make a common sound as ‘Hey’ and many had turned their faces towards you. Then, you call ‘Ram’. Now, your friend Ram alone turns towards you. ‘Hey’ is the cause and the effect is not as expected by you, but when you call ‘Ram’, that is the correct cause to attract the desired effect i.e. making the specific person, your friend to respond to your call. Hence, sound is cause and name is effect. Yet, names are also just sound.

One should try to call sincerely the Real God, residing in everyone as soul by means of prayers and meditations to attain God.

Similarly, form is to be discarded only to attain the Formless Self called God.

All actions spring from the body. The body does its actions through its organs – five in number apart from the mind and intellect.

Actually name, form and action can be considered as three sticks supporting one another like a cone and the top common point of support is the vital force in the body. Name and Form are Truth and the vital force is based on this Truth. The Vital Force is in the nature of organs supporting the body from within and it is the hidden force to realize the Immortal Entity viz. the God within.

Reality in Name and Form is God’s name and form, which is termed as Truth. To realize this truth, the vital force in the body is to be tuned to know and understand the God within through the control of senses through mind and meditation.