Book – II Chapter – II : Brahman, Purusha, Ishwara — Maya, Prakriti, Shakti – Para 2 (3rd Part) to Para 3

Study Notes

In the ordinary tongue of metaphysical thought we have to be content with a distant indication, an approximation by abstractions, which may still be of some service to our intellect, for it is this kind of speech which suits our method of logical and rational understanding; but if it is to be of real service, the intellect must consent to pass out of the bounds of a finite logic and accustom itself to the logic of the Infinite. On this condition alone, by this way of seeing and thinking, it ceases to be paradoxical or futile to speak of the Ineffable: but if we insist on applying a finite logic to the Infinite, the omnipresent Reality will escape us and we shall grasp instead an abstract shadow, a dead form petrified into speech or a hard incisive graph which speaks of the Reality but does not express it. Our way of knowing must be appropriate to that which is to be known; otherwise we achieve only a distant speculation, a figure of knowledge and not veritable knowledge.

EXPLANATION

     In ordinary philosophical language spiritual knowledge is expressed with a distant indication which is an approximation by abstractions. It can be somewhat useful to our intellect. Because this kind of speech suits our modern mind which proceeds by logical and rational understanding.
     But, if it is to be really useful, the intellect must consent to go beyond the limits of a finite logic to the logic of the Infinite. Our way of seeing and thinking must not be limited by our mental logic. Only then, it becomes no more paradoxical or fruitless to speak of the Divine.
     We cannot insist on applying our finite logic to the Infinite. If we do so, the omnipresent Reality will escape us. Instead, we shall grasp only its abstract shadow. It will be a dead and stony form expressed as speech. Or it will be purely a dry analytic which speaks of the Reality but does not express it.
     Our way of knowing must be appropriate to that which is to be known. We cannot approach the Divine through our limited logical mind. If we do so, we will achieve only a distance speculation. We will not get real knowledge.

PARAGRAPH 3

     The supreme Truth-aspect which thus manifests itself to us is an eternal and infinite and absolute self-existence, self-awareness, self-delight of being; this founds all things and secretly supports and pervades all things. This Self-existence reveals itself again in three terms of its essential nature,—self, conscious being or spirit, and God or the Divine Being. The Indian terms are more satisfactory,—Brahman the Reality is Atman, Purusha, Ishwara; for these terms grew from a root of Intuition and, while they have a comprehensive preciseness, are capable of a plastic application which avoids both vagueness in the use and the rigid snare of a too limiting intellectual concept.

EXPLANATION

     An eternal and infinite and absolute self-existence, self-awareness and self-delight of being (Sat-chit-ananda) is the foundation and the secret support that pervades all things.
     This Self-existence(Sat) reveals itself in three terms of its essential nature. They are self, conscious being or spirit and God or the Divine Being. Brahman the Reality is expressed more satisfactorily in the Indian terms as Atman, Purusha, Ishwara.
     These terms arose from a root of intuition of the Vedic seers. They have a comprehensive preciseness. At the same time they are capable of a plastic application. This plasticity avoids both vagueness in the use and the rigid snare (trap) of the too limiting intellect.

The Supreme Brahman is that which in Western metaphysics is called the Absolute: but Brahman is at the same time the omnipresent Reality in which all that is relative exists as its forms or its movements; this is an Absolute which takes all relativities in its embrace. The Upanishads affirm that all this is the Brahman; Mind is Brahman, Life is Brahman, Matter is Brahman; addressing Vayu, the Lord of Air, of Life, it is said “O Vayu, thou art manifest Brahman”; and, pointing to man and beast and bird and insect, each separately is identified with the One,—“O Brahman, thou art this old man and boy and girl, this bird, this insect.”

EXPLANATION

     In Western metaphysics the Supreme Brahman is called the Absolute (Indian thought calls it Brahman, European thought the Absolute because it is a self existent which is absolved of all bondage to relatives- The Life Divine, Book II, Ch-III, p. 391). Though the Brahman is the Absolute, it is the omnipresent Reality at the same time. It is in Brahman all that is relative exists as its forms or its movements. It takes all relatives in its embrace.
     This fact is affirmed in the Upanishads. They affirm that Mind is Brahman, Life is Brahman, Matter is Brahman; Vayu is manifest Brahman; man, beast, bird and insect, each is identified with the Brahman.

Brahman is the Consciousness that knows itself in all that exists; Brahman is the Force that sustains the power of God and Titan and Demon, the Force that acts in man and animal and the forms and energies of Nature; Brahman is the Ananda, the secret Bliss of existence which is the ether of our being and without which none could breathe or live. Brahman is the inner Soul in all; it has taken a form in correspondence with each created form which it inhabits.

EXPLANATION

     In all that exists Brahman is the Consciousness (Chit) that knows itself. It is the Force(Chit-shakti) that sustains the power of God and Titan and Demon. It is the Force that acts in man and animal and the forms and energies of Nature. It is the Ananda, the secret Bliss of existence without which we cannot breathe or live. It is the inner Soul in all. Brahman inhabits each form. In correspondence with each created form it inhabits, it has taken a form.

The Lord of Beings is that which is conscious in the conscious being, but he is also the Conscious in inconscient things, the One who is master and in control of the many that are passive in the hands of Force- Nature. He is the Timeless and Time; He is Space and all that is in Space; He is Causality and the cause and the effect: He is the thinker and his thought, the warrior and his courage, the gambler and his dice-throw.

EXPLANATION

     The Lord of Beings is that which is conscious in the conscious being. He is also conscious in inconscient things. He is the master and in control of the many that are passive in the hands of Force-Nature (Prakriti). He is manifesting Himself in Time, yet He is the Timeless. He is all-pervading in Space, yet He is in all that is in Space.
     He is the cause and effect of all that happens in the universe and He is also the relationship between the cause and effect, Causality. Since He is the One without the second, He is the person and at the same time is his action- thinker and his thought, the warrior and his courage, the gambler and his dice-throw.

All realities and all aspects and all semblances are the Brahman; Brahman is the Absolute, the Transcendent and incommunicable, the Supracosmic Existence that sustains the cosmos, the Cosmic Self that upholds all beings, but It is too the self of each individual: the soul or psychic entity is an eternal portion of the Ishwara; it is his supreme Nature or Consciousness-Force that has become the living being in a world of living beings. The Brahman alone is, and because of It all are, for all are the Brahman; this Reality is the reality of everything that we see in Self and Nature.

EXPLANATION

     All realities- those which are true in all things, all aspects- those which are qualities in all things, all semblances- those which are appearances in all things are the Brahman.
     Brahman is the Absolute, the Transcendent and incommunicable. Brahman is the Supracosmic Existence – that which is beyond cosmos. Yet It is that which sustains the cosmos. It is the Cosmic Self that upholds all beings. But It is also the self of each individual. The soul or psychic entity is an eternal portion of the Ishwara. It is his supreme Nature or Conscious-Force (Chit-shakti) that has become the living being in the world of living beings.
     In this universe there is nothing which is not Brahman. Brahman alone is. All exist because of Brahman. All are Brahman. This Reality is the truth of everything that we see in Self and Nature.

Brahman, the Ishwara, is all this by his Yoga Maya, by the power of his Consciousness- Force put out in self-manifestation: he is the Conscious Being, Soul, Spirit, Purusha, and it is by his Nature, the force of his conscious self-existence that he is all things; he is the Ishwara, the omniscient and omnipotent All-ruler, and it is by his Shakti, his conscious Power, that he manifests himself in Time and governs the universe. These and similar statements taken together are all-comprehensive: it is possible for the mind to cut and select, to build a closed system and explain away all that does not fit within it; but it is on the complete and many-sided statement that we must take our stand if we have to acquire an integral knowledge.

EXPLANATION

     The Brahman, the Ishwara is all that is manifested in the universe by his Yoga-Maya. It is all this by the power of his Consciousness-Force put out in self-manifestation. He is the Conscious Being, Soul, Spirit, Purusha. It is by his Nature, the force of his conscious self-existence that he is all things.
     He is the Ishwara, the omniscient and omnipotent All-ruler. It is by his Shakti, his conscious Power that he manifests himself in Time and governs the universe.
     These and similar statements taken together are all-comprehensive. It is our mind that makes the division. It cuts and selects and builds a closed system. It explains away all that does not fit into the system. But we must take our stand on the complete and many-sided statement in order to get an integral knowledge.