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Dear Chintana,

Pranaams. People like me overlook the fact somethings need explanation. Therefore your first question is quite pertinent one. Let me explain.

Prajapathi wanted to know from his father how to create the world. Why? Because he had observed that all fathers were teaching their trade to their sons. He also knew that his father is referred to as the creator a title such as a potter, weaver etc.

By his answer the Father did not admit that he is indeed the creator! Instead he said "I am the creation." If there was a creation then there must be a creator. This is how the westerners understand. However when the Father says he is the creation, the implication is that there is no two such as the creator and the created.

This has left Prajapathi with only one recourse viz. that he know his father to understand what he and others have held all along as a 'creation'.

Thus Prajapathi has got two clues which are (a) that his Father is the creation and (b) if he has to know what he set out to know in the first place then he has to devise the method himself. So he is clear of (a) the goal which is to know his father because he stands corrected that the creation is non-different from his father and (b) the path to that knowledge is Vicharam or inquiry. So he devises the method of inquiry that would lead to the very essence of what he had all along known though as creation. Because that very essence has to be his father for the Father has admitted it.

It does not matter if Chandra Gupta Mourya or Ashoka make the Mauryan Dynasty important. I just picked Ashoka because he is known world over and the Govt. of India picked his Chakra to be part of the the national flag. What matters is to know that there is certainly an essence that would make something else important. Suppose if I have said 'Prana' is the essence of the body because the body would be unimportant without it. (I am not asking you to argue that something other than Praana is the essence! We have to understand that understanding is always developed under narrow confines to lead us to higher knowledge. Let me give you an example. What we call a day is the single revolution of the earth on its axis. You cannot impose this principle on Mars or Venus because what is an earth time is not the same for others. Also there was a time when there was no earth and there would be a time when there would be no earth. We do not bring those things into consideration when we talk of the time in our daily life.)

your final question is why are the steps important. It is the same as you answer to a math question in your exam. You don't just give the answer but tell the examiner how you arrived at the answer and to prove that each step the right one so the final answer is inescapable. This method is called Vichara.

This story of Prajapathi extracting the essence of the universe step by step to know the Father is nothing that I made up. It is from the Chandogyopanishad and I have made it into a story without in the least disturbing the message of the Veda.

I clarified this to the best of my ability.

With Narayana Smrithi,
Anbu