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 |   As the first blog entry got exhausted. My second book |
| Evolution of Love Part 2 |
Ma and all our spiritual texts say that Brahman is not expressible by language. Bhagavan Ramkrishna Deb used to say any attempt to do so defiles Brahman (‘etho hoye jai’ or ‘jhutha ho jata hai). An indication is what can be best provided for trying to intellectually understand what Brahman is. While our scriptures have many verses for doing so, one most popular is Sat Chit Ananda : Existence Consciousness Bliss. MA’S VANI ON SAT CHIT ANANDA “His innate nature and His real state of Existence cannot be expressed. Because, when one speaks of ‘swabhava’, ‘abhava’ comes in automatically. When He is brought in the domain of language, there is revelation of Him in part. Nevertheless, He is defined as Sat Chit Ananda for the sake of expression. He EXISTS that is why He is SAT. He is the form of KNOWLEDGE (awareness/consciousness) that is why He is CHIT. The KNOWLEDGE (chit) of this EXISTENCE is BLISS (Ananda) . Bliss is there in the knowledge of the Truth (Sat/Existence) that is why He is Sat- Chit-Ananda. But in fact He is above bliss and not-bliss.” Thus a knowledge of Sat or Existence is primal in our search for (ever-lasting) Bliss. EXPERIENCE OF JIVA All our experiences are internal to us. I am happy, I am angry, I am sad…all our experiences are in our awareness within. However, what we are confronted with, throughout our waking (and also dream state) is an external world where we see multiplicity of names and forms. I see an object, I see a person, I see the sky… we see the manifested existence all through. We thus say, ‘The object is’, ‘The person is’, ‘The sky is’ etc denoting the existence of all that we see. Our spiritual masters say a correct vision of existence is paramount to moving forward on the spiritual journey. Ma’s vani, “The Knowledge of Existence is Bliss” corroborates this beyond doubt. The problem for the jiva is that all that we see is the external world as existence, as all our sense organs are outwardly focussed. THE ONE EXISTENCE ‘Sanatana Dharma’, a book published by Benaras Hindu University in 1916, defines Existence so very beautifully and succinctly as: “THERE is one Infinite Eternal, Changeless Existence, the All. From THAT all comes forth; to THAT all returns. Eka meva dwitiyam : One only, without a second. THAT includes within Itself all that ever has been, is, and can be. As a wave rises in the ocean, a universe rises in the All. As the wave sinks again into the ocean, a universe sinks again into the All. As the ocean is water, and the wave a form or manifestation of the water, so is there ONE Existence and the UNIVERSE is a FORM, or MANIFESTATION, of the Existence. All this verily (is) Brahman. This is the primary truth of Religion”. THE MANY : THE ONE AS MANY THROUGH CREATION Swami Tejomayanandaji of Chinmaya Mission, quoting the immortal scripture Pancadasi, says on creation: “Before creation, the Supreme, Blissful, Non-dual Self existed. With his maya, He became the world and entered the world as jiva”. ( Verse 1, Ch 10). Swami Krishnanadaji, in his commentary on Existence as in Pancadasi, writes, “ Ekādaśen driyair yuktyā śāstreṇā pyava gamyate, yāvat kiṁcit bhave detat idaṁ śabdo ditaṁ jagat. It was mentioned that Sage Uddalaka declared that all this is Pure Being alone: sad eva saumya, idam agra āsīd ekam evādvitīyam. Idam: All this. What is meant by “all this”? Whatever is cognisable by the senses of knowledge, whatever is contactable through the five organs of action, whatever is conceivable by the mind, whatever can be known through scripture or instruction from a teacher—all this put together, this whole universe of perception and knowledge—is called idam: this. The entire universe of cognition, perception and action—nama, rupa, kriya, prapancha—name, form, action, world, everything, whatever is conceivable, contactable, measurable or worth dealing with in any way whatsoever, is included within this vast inclusiveness, the whole world, jagat, and the term used to demonstrate this vast universe is idam. This is the manifested jagat or world”. He continues, “ Idaṁ sarvaṁ purā sṛṣṭer-edam-evā-dvitīyakam, sad-ev- āsīn-nāma-rūpe nāstām-ity-āruṇer-vacaḥ . Aruni, which is the name of Uddalaka, the teacher of Svetaketu in the Sixth Chapter of the Chhandogya Upanishad, says that in the beginning, all this was Existence, pure and simple, One alone without a second. Sad-ev-āsīn: Existence alone was. Nāma-rūpe nāstām: The names and the forms of the world did not exist. The whole world of perception is constituted of name, form and action. Names and forms could not be there in the origin of things because they were created later on in terms of the manifestation of space and time (names and forms cannot be there unless there is space and time}. In Pure Existence, space and time cannot be there—therefore, it is concluded that there were no names and no forms whatsoever, no categorisation into particulars in the original state of Being, which was One alone without a second. It has no internal differentiation, external variety or any kind of contact with anything”. THE SEEN WORLD But why did Infinite become finite? Why? In the school of thought of ‘duality’, the belief is that God created the world – Divine Lila. But Vedanata says it has not become finite. Brahman is even Brahman right now. They say the world is an appearance – appearing as jagat,jiva , Ishwara due to Maya, the ‘creative’ potency of Brahman, operating in the domain of time and space and causation( cause –effect). ILLUSION AND SUPERIMPOSITION In Vedanta, the world that we see is like a mirage out in the desert. Water is seen by the thirsty traveller , but in reality it is not there. Or, for example, we see a sky to be blue in colour when in reality it is a phenomenon of the Law of Optics. The spiritual masters site many examples to support this. The ‘snake and the rope’ story is oft quoted. In the dim twilight, we see a snake lying out in the distance. Scared, we run hither and dither and come back armed with a stick and a lamp. A closer look shows it is a rope lying on the ground. With this knowledge, the fear of the ‘illusory snake’ is gone. The snake was real as long as we were ignorant of the reality. But knowledge helped us see the substratum, the rope, on which the image of the snake had been ‘superimposed’. Out in the midst of a forest on a no-moon night, we see a ghost standing amidst the bushes. Scared and trembling, we shine a torch to see it is only a post. The ghost existed as long as we were under an illusion. Once knowledge shown on us, we realized that the imaginary ghost was on the post as a substratum. The snake and the post were real experiences for a time. Like the world with its variety of names and forms is. But once the true essence of Existence dawns on us, we see the unifying unitary reality of the world and understand it is merely a superimposition of names and forms on it. THE ESSENCE (OF EXISTENCE) We are thus confronted with an existence which we see for ourselves as jagat (external world) and One which can be intellectually perceived as the substratum for all experiences. Spiritual masters explain this by turning our focus on what the essence of a thing is. There are many varieties of ornaments which we can make from gold – a ring, a bracelet, a necklace and so on. They all have different names and forms. When the ornament is melted to be cast into another design, what we get back is gold. Thus the essence of all the various gold ornaments is gold only. A stitched cloth has a hue of colours when woven into variety of fabrics. When we take out the threads one by one, we understand that the essence in the fabric was threads. When we introspect further, we realize it was the cotton on the threads which was the essence of the garments. The essence of a thing is without which the thing is not a thing. For example, heat is the essence of fire. Without it, the fire is not fire. What is the essential nature of this world without which it could not exist? Nothing can exist without the PRINCIPAL OF EXISTENCE. Hence, Brahman, which is the nature of Existence, is the very essence of the world. What supports the entire world? That Supreme Self which supports the entire world is Brahman. Hence, the manifested world that we see is supported by that ONE PURE EXISTENCE. THE VISION WE SEEK Swami Krishnandaji writes in his commentary, “Paramātmā vaśeṣo’pi tat satyatva viniścayaḥ, na jagat vismṛtir no ceñ jīvan muktirna saṁbhavet . The unreality of the world is, at the same time, an affirmation of the reality of God. When the forms and names are brushed aside as finally not valid in this process of creation, we will get awakened to the consciousness of the background. When we do not see the ink, we will then see the cloth. Even in a cinema we can see the screen behind the film if we concentrate our mind properly. We have to adjust our eyes in such a way that we refuse to focus on the dancing pictures, and then we can see the cloth in spite of the movements. (In conclusion), we can see the consciousness of the Absolute pervading all things, notwithstanding the fact that (we perceive) there is a variety of names and forms. This condition of seeing the variety and yet being conscious of the Universal Being at the same time is called jivanmukti or LIBERATION in lifetime”. Spiritual masters unequivocally say that PERCEPTION itself is not BONDAGE; the IGNORANCE attached to the perception is bondage. Freedom form THIS bondage gives us eternal bliss (Ananda). This is why perhaps Ma says, “He EXISTS that is why He is SAT. He is the form of KNOWLEDGE (awareness/consciousness) that is why He is CHIT. The KNOWLEDGE (Chit) of this EXISTENCE is BLISS (Ananda).” Kind counsel of CAROL GRAYSON and her involved participation in the manuscript is gratefully acknowledged. May this be an offering to the Lotus Feet of Ma. This is the prayer. |
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