Brahman – The Self
Divine Life
Society Publication: Mantras 4-8: Kenopanishad – Essays on the
Upanishads by Swami Krishnananda
Brahman should be known to be
other than what can be expressed by speech, thought of by the mind, seen by the
eyes, heard by the ears, or revealed by life’s functions. The nature of Truth
can be known through denials alone.
We cannot call Brahman sat,
because it is the opposite of asat. It cannot be called asat,
because it is the opposite of sat. It cannot be called sadasat,
i.e., a combination of sat and asat, because this becomes
self-contradictory. It cannot be said to be beyond sat and asat,
because this is unintelligible. Thus we are cornered in every way, and all
definitions of Brahman become impossible. The only way of ascertaining it is,
therefore, to deny everything that we know through the senses or through the
mind.
Brahman is sometimes called in
the Upanishads asat or non-existence, because the seers of the
Upanishads wanted to make it clear that Brahman is nothing that exists
according to our conceptions of existence. Brahman is also called many times asamprajnata
or the unconscious or the unknown, because it is nothing that is known to us,
and it is not knowledge as we understand knowledge to be. It is therefore
called super-being or transcendental being, super-consciousness or
transcendental consciousness. It is called sat or Being because the
world is asat or non-being or perishable. It is called chit or
consciousness because the world is achit, jada or
unconsciousness. It is called ananda because the world is Duhkha or
sorrow. It is called great because everything else is small. Thus, every
characteristic which we attribute to the Divine Being is the opposite of what
we experience here. But we cannot know exactly what the Divine Being is as it
is in itself.
Our knowledge of the perfected
condition is the result of a logical deduction from our imperfect experiences.
Its experience is admitted because nothing can be accounted for without such an
admission. It is the one factor that gives meaning to life and explains our
thoughts and behaviours, speeches and actions. Brahman, therefore, should not
be mistaken to be anything that is experienced by any individual in any of its
conditions.
The experience of Brahman
means the destruction of individuality. The expressions of individuality are
always partitioned into the knower and the known.
The upasana (devoted
worship) of a personal Divinity, no doubt, integrates the mental consciousness,
collects its rays, makes it one whole being, raises the individual above the
pains of the world. But it is not the same as brahma-sakshatkara
(realisation of Brahman), because, in upasana, duality is not destroyed.
Every object of upasana is based on purusha-tantra; the
nature of the object of upasana depends upon the desire of the upasaka.
The objects of upasana, therefore, differ from one person to another;
but Brahman cannot differ like that. Brahman is vastu-tantra. Its
knowledge is unshaken and dependent on nothing. It is the grand, immobile
Self-existence. Upasanas are, therefore, helps, means, to the knowledge
of Brahman. But the object of upasana is not Brahman.
The nature of the object of upasana
is not characterised by pure consciousness, but it is defined by the devout
thought of the upasaka. Truth, as it is in itself, is, chinmatra-svarupa
(of the nature of pure consciousness alone), not defined by thought. The word
Brahman is derived from the root brimh, which means to swell, to grow
great, to pervade all space, to be complete and perfect. All qualities that we
attribute to Brahman are the effects of our devotion. Even the best qualities
super-imposed on Brahman are what we consider as the best. The realisation of
the Absolute means the renunciation of all our ideas, good or bad, great or
low. It is to rest simple and silent, calm and undisturbed, in the state of
wanting nothing. It is to be nothing at all, in the strictest sense. Supreme
attainment is the result of supreme renunciation. When we, as persons, become
non-existent, we are said to exist as Supreme Existence.
Conceptions, perceptions and
forms of experience given rise to by personal interests cannot have ultimate
value. Perfect and disinterested existence means the renunciation of all
particularised forms of experience. It is not possible to bring down the Self
to the level of what it is not and what is less than it. Knowledge, desire and
action connected with the human being are guided by the Self and therefore they
cannot guide the Self; they are dependent. Whatever is expressed is mortal, and
whatever is not the Self is expressed.
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