The Realization of the Absolute
Divine Life
Society Publication: A Treatise on the
Vedanta Philosophy and Its Methodology by Swami Krishnananda
Conclusion
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 discussed in these pages, are: (1)
Brahman or the Absolute is the only Reality. (2) It is Undifferentiated,
Non-Relational, Supra-Mental, Transcendental, Consciousness, 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 externalized 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 realization 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 further implications of this statement are the
different theories of spiritual philosophy. 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. The whole process of the
realization of Truth is, therefore, a sacrifice of the ego, and is a great
pain. Suffering in the process of the experiencing of Infinitude cannot be
abolished for the individual so long as the individual itself is inconsistent
with the Infinite. Hence, the attempt towards the attainment of the perfectly
Real is generally looked upon with a sense of fear, disgust and even hatred.
The human being is always
attached to the immediate concerns of life. He has no eye to look to the
beyond. He is grieved about the past, doubtful about the future and worried
about the present. He is ever diseased in his spirit due to his violation of
the eternal law. He is caught in the whirl of ignorance, passion and sin, and
is constantly dashed by the huge waves of uncontrollable sorrow. Every moment
he finds himself in a fix. He ceaselessly dies to himself in time, and seems to
recover new sense just then and there. His whole life is a flux of states—now destroyed,
now renewed. He has no idea of anything besides himself, anything that is
vaster and truer. He is imprisoned within his fragile body, within his
whimsical mind, within his childish intellect, within his conceited
individuality. A shower of superphysical knowledge upon him seems to be music
played before the deaf. He thinks too highly about himself.
The Upanishads are not unaware
of the futile attempts of man to grasp the Limitless Being, and they warn him
that it is not to be comprehended through logic, but to be heard from the wise
one (Katha Up., II. 8, 9). Reason is meant to strengthen belief in what is
heard from reliable sources, and not to walk unaided. It is an empty pride to
think that one can depend totally on oneself and reach the Eternal. Reason and
faith should go hand in hand if the desired fruit is to be reaped. That which
is agreeable at present does not remain so the next moment, nor does the
disagreeable appear so forever. The immutable Reality is unperceived and
unfelt, and the apparition seems to give us life, light and joy. The sole
purpose of the Upanishad teaching is to disentangle man from the chain of samsara, to show him the way to the
Glorious Light that shines within himself. Man is not a sinful mortal creature
in truth; the Upanishad calls him “son of the Immortal”— amritasya putra (Svet. Up., II. 5).
But he can know himself only through sacrificing himself. The highest sacrifice
is the offering of the self to the Absolute. The greatest yoga is the sinking
of the self into unity with the Absolute, by denying the separate, and
asserting the One.
Such an act which refuses to
feed the individual self-sense with its diverse requirements, compels the
relative self-interest to dissolve itself in the Absolute-Interest, which soars
high above the limitations of Space and Time, and engages itself in its
establishment in the perfect satisfaction and uncontradicted experience of
completeness and utter Reality. The awareness of the state of the Pure Self
unimpeded by phenomenal laws or separative restrictions, and the infinite
rejoicing in the free flow of the law of the Spirit, is the life of the exalted
Self-realized one. He exists as the Divine Being, which is the supreme
condition of the fullest freedom of Eternity. Without such a knowledge of the
fundamental nature of existence, life becomes intense with conflict and war
between the opposing forces. It is impossible for the individual to blossom
into Infinity in the midst of such a heated strife among disturbant powers of
Nature, without reconciling and pacifying them in a more expansive
consciousness and a higher order of reality where they disclose their inner
truths and melt into the bosom of Being with a fraternal embrace. The
difficulties in coming to any settled opinion of things as they are the
miseries of everyday experience, the quandaries in determining the essential
truth and falsehood of life, the concomitant selfish desires, the failures, the
kicks, the blows, the burning anxieties, the vain beliefs, the mocking
expectations and hopes that confront the human being in his struggle for
existence, give him opportunities to discriminate the Eternal, and direct him
on the way that leads to the realization of the Absolute.
Continue to read:
A Treatise on the
Vedanta Philosophy and Its Methodology by Swami Krishnananda
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