The Ultimate Reality – Truth being One,
their Forms must be False
From Divine
Life Society Publication “The Realisation
of the Absolute” by Swami Krishnananda
(A Treatise on the Vedanta Philosophy and Its
Methodology)
A study of the Ultimate Reality
of things reveals to us that their truth being one, their forms must be false.
That which is one can appear as two or many only through imagination. Both the
individual that perceives and the world that is perceived can only be
projections of a powerful Universal Thought, while, in truth, there is only the
undifferentiated Pure Being.
The main points are:
(1) Brahman or the Absolute is
the only Reality.
(2) It is Undifferentiated,
Non-Relational, Supra-Mental, Transcendental, Conscious- ness, without the
distinctions of knower, knowledge and known.
(3) It is immaterial, so far as
practical empirical life is concerned, whether Brahman is Impersonal or
Personal, Nirguna or Saguna, so long as there is nothing second to Brahman, so
long as there is no objective reality and no externalised knowing. In the
process of philosophical meditation, however, the Absolute is envisaged in its
pure perfection, free from superimposed attributes, as an ‘other’ of every form
of thought, as the supra-cosmic, eternal consciousness.
(4) The universe is an appearance
of the Absolute, and, being of a presented or objective character, it is
relative, transitory, unintelligible, and a perversion of Reality.
(5) There is, in fact, neither
the individual nor the cosmos, neither the subject nor the object because these
are merely experiential standpoints of viewing the one undivided existence.
(6) If God is taken to mean
something different from the universe and its contents, that is, if God is a
subject or an object of something—then, such a God would be as transitory as
any mortal being.
(7) The only purpose of the life
of every individual is the realisation of the Absolute.
(8) Knowledge and meditation are
the two main ways to attain Perfection. Knowledge is jnana or anubhava of the Nirguna Brahman,
and meditation is dhyana or upasana on Saguna Brahman.
The whole theme of the Upanishads
is centred in two fundamental conceptions of Reality—Brahman and Atman. Both
words are often used to mean the same thing. “This Atman is Brahman” (Mand.
Up., 2.). The philosophy of the main declarations of the Upanishads, however,
consists essentially of the eight conclusions drawn above. This is the Ultimate
Truth, transcending empiricality, extending beyond the egoism of human nature.
Continue to read:
“The Realisation
of the Absolute” by Swami Krishnananda
“Comparative
Philosophy on the Ultimate Reality” by Swami Krishnananda
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