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Aishvarya (Sanskrit: ऐश्वर्य) means lordship or sovereignty, prosperity or royal or exalted rank.[1] Prosperity, power and recognition by society are the three aspects of a man’s life that constituteaishvarya which term also refers to theaishvarya or greatness of God and ofBrahman.
The wordAishvarya is derived from the word ईश meaning supreme, powerful, lord or master or God as in the phrase - ईशावास्यमिदं सर्वं – God certainly resides in all this (Isha Upanishad Mantra 1). It is directly connected with one’s ego at the individual level, and with the assumed nature of God.
Prosperity, power and recognition by society are the three aspects of a man’s life that constituteaishvarya. They are the basic needs and aspirations of a man about which he dreams and he plans and for achieving which objectives he performs varying deeds. He also eagerly strives to know about the timing and extent of their fulfillment for which he has devised different means and methods. InHindu astrology,Vaibhava ('opulence'), which includesPrabhava ('influence'),Dhana ('wealth') andAishvarya ('magnificence'), is represented by the 6th house, the 9th house and the 11th house from thelagna and their respective lords.Mantreswara in the Chapter XX of hisPhaladeepika states that during thedasha of the strong lord of the 6th house one gainsaishvarya and crushes foes, during thedasha of the strong lord of the 9th house a person enjoysaishvarya, and during thedasha of the strong lord of the 11th house one experiences constant increase ofaishvarya.[2]
Shakti as GoddessAnnapoorna fulfills the most basic physiological need of man that of food items and clothes; as GoddessDurga Shakti fulfills the needs such as shelter and safety from natural and man-made threats; as GoddessLakshmi and GoddessSaraswati Shakti fulfills the social needs such as education, social status and recognition in the society; out of the eight forms of Lakshmi,Aishvarya Lakshmi refers to riches andDhana Lakshmi, to gold and money.[3]
The sage of theShvetashvatara Upanishad describes the all-pervading aishvarya or greatness of the Lord (Brahman) in the following words:
The wheel is theBrahma-chakra, the repeated cycle of origination and destruction of inanimate things, and of birth and death of all living beings; the rim is the singular non-dual support of theKarya Jagat which is the unreal whole world of phenomenon of effects and has Maya as its source. TheKarya Jagat is covered by the threeGunasi.e. by (Sattva,Rajas andTamas), and their sixteen transformations or manifestations (the five primordial elements, the mind, the five sense organs and the five organs of action) which give satisfaction and pleasure through contacts with objects and constitute thePrakrti ashtakam (existence and awareness of objects), theDhātu ashtakam (the contact of senses with the objects) and the Aishvarya ashtakam (the psychological forces which bind and cause one to rotate in samsara) which are the three kinds of bondages. The fifty spokes are the fifty psychological forces or misconceptions due toMaya. The one bondage of infinite forms is the fundamental bondage consisting ofVāsanā i.e. desire or emotion. There are the eightsiddhis or successes. "Righteousness", "Unrighteousness" and "Knowledge" are the three paths, and virtue and vice are the two factors that cause delusion.[4]
Bhagavad Gita in its own way, presentsKrishna as the Supreme Godhead and the supreme object of worship. Krishna tellsArjuna:-
"“Nor do beings exist (in reality) in Me – Behold My Divine Yoga supporting all beings, but not dwelling in them, I am My Self, the efficient cause of all beings.” - Bhagavad Gita IX.5.
In this regard,Chinmayananda explains that –“In Pure Awareness, in Its Infinite Nature of sheer Knowledge, there never was, never is and never can be any world of pluralistic embodiment. Pure Consciousness, Divine and Eternal, is the substratum that sustains and illumines the entire panorama of the ever-changing plurality.”[5] andPrabhupada explains that the Lord is everywhere present by His personal representation, the diffusion of His different energies because of which creation takes place and therefore all things rests on Him but He is different from all things, this is theyogam aisvaram, the mystic power of God.[6] Jayadayal Goyandaka explains that when a man realizes God, then nothing exists in his conception of God; therefore in the eyes of him who has attained this state, the world does not exist in God, in reality nothing exists but God. The wordsAisvaram yogam denote the wonderful power of God, that of remaining absolutely detached from everything, and the wordsMaMa Atma refer to His qualified, formless aspect.[7]
TheShaivites knowaishvarya orAishvarya-tattva as theIshvara-tattva, thetattva of realizing what constitutes the Lordliness and the Glory of the Divine Being. It is the stage which succeedsSada-Shiva Tattva as the stage of making a full survey of, identification with, what constitutes the state of the Experiencer, of the pure and undivided "this" aspect of his being as a whole, of the Ideal Universe hitherto lurking as an indistinct picture in the background of the Being.[8] TheSadakhya or theSada-Shiva Tattva state isJnana, the power of being conscious or the experience of the "I", andAishvarya or theIshvara-tattva is true identification or the experience of being identified with and merged into the "this" of thevakya "I am This". It is the fourth step in the evolution of mental aspects of universal manifestation.[9]
Aishvarya is the Sanskrit term derived fromIshvara that refers to the opulence and power of God. According toGaudiya Vaishnavism, God has both a public face and a private face. Manifesting his power and majesty (aishvarya), he is known asNarayana and is served in awe and reverence, when his beauty and sweetness (madhurya) overshadows his majesty he is known asKrishna-aishvarya (God’s supreme divinity and power) is one of the general dimensions of Krishna’s Divinity described byChaitanya school, the other two being –madhurya ('divine tenderness and intimacy') andkarunya ('compassion and protection'). This school favours themadhurya aspect rather thanaishvarya aspect in which theJiva does not experience a love for God as exalted as is experienced by the devotee inmadhurya aspect. Manifestations of theaishvarya aspect assist in the realization of Krishna’smadhurya aspect.[10]According toVishnu Purana,Aishvarya ('Omnipotence or Controlling power or Transcendent majesty' ) is one of the six folds of God’s majesty, the other five being –Dharma orVirya ('Virtue or Potency or Creative power'), Yasha ('Glory, Fame, Universal honour'),Sri ('Beauty, Prosperity or Radiant beauty'),Jnana ('Omniscience, Knowledge, Omniscient knowledge') andVairagya ('Non-affectedness or Dispassion or Renunciation or Serene dispassion'),[11] which attributes eternally reside in God in the relation known assamavaya-sambandha ('perpetual co-inherence'), the inseparable relation that exists between substance and quality. God’s divine potency, inconceivable to human mind, is natural to Him and constitutes His essence; God’s relation with his Divine potency is one of inconceivable difference in non-difference known asachintya-bhedabheda, the recognition of the nature of which relation isChaitanya’s philosophy ofachintya bhedabheda-vada.[12]God’saishvarya includes his embodied life as the universe and hisavatars descending into it.Govinda which term means theIndra of cows and the rescuer of earth that was taken to a secret place also refers to the late evening andPhalguna-masa (month) as doesMadhava which refers to early morning andMagha-masa (month). Govinda isaishvarya and Madhava isvirya.[13]
Sloka I.4
