Study Notes
PARAGRAPH 13
Once we admit a divine government of the universe, we must conclude that the power to govern is complete and absolute; for otherwise we are obliged to suppose that a being and consciousness infinite and absolute has a knowledge and will limited in their control of things or hampered in their power of working. It is not impossible to concede that the supreme and immanent Divinity may leave a certain freedom of working to something that has come into being in his perfection but is itself imperfect and the cause of imperfection, to an ignorant or inconscient Nature, to the action of the human mind and will, even to a conscious Power or Forces of darkness and evil that take their stand upon the reign of a basic Inconscience.
EXPLANATION
We have seen that it is the power of the Divine that must be constantly determining or atleast sanctioning all the phenomenal actions in the world; there cannot be any other power that governs this world than that of the original and eternal Brahman.
If we accept the fact that the universe is governed by the Divine then we must conclude that Its power to govern is complete and absolute. Otherwise, it would mean that a being and consciousness which is infinite and absolute has a knowledge and will which is limited in their control of things; or hampered (hindered) in their power of working. It cannot be so.
Yet it is quite possible to admit that the supreme and immanent Divinity may give a certain freedom of working to something that has come into being in its perfection; that something is itself being imperfect and the cause of imperfection; It may allow a certain freedom or working to an ignorant or an inconscient nature; It may allow a certain freedom of working to the action of the human mind and will; It may allow a certain freedom even to a conscious Power or Forces of darkness and evil that take their stand upon the reign of a basic Inconscience.
But none of these things are independent of Its own existence, nature and consciousness and none of them can act except in Its presence and by Its sanction or allowance. Man’s freedom is relative and he cannot be held solely responsible for the imperfection of his nature. Ignorance and inconscience of Nature have arisen, not independently, but in the one Being; the imperfection of her workings cannot be entirely foreign to some will of the Immanence.
EXPLANATION
But none of these things have an independent existence of their own. They can act only in the presence of the Divinity and by Its sanction or allowance. Man thinks that he has total freedom. But his freedom is relative. He cannot be solely responsible for the imperfection of his nature.
It is in the one Divine Being, Ignorance and inconscience of Nature have arisen. They do not have independent existence. There is some will of the indwelling Divinity behind the imperfection of Nature’s workings.
It may be conceded that forces set in motion are allowed to work themselves out according to the law of their movement; but what divine Omniscience and Omnipotence has allowed to arise and act in Its omnipresence, Its all-existence, we must consider It to have originated and decreed, since without the fiat of the Being they could not have been, could not remain in existence.
EXPLANATION
The forces of Nature set in motion are given certain freedom to work themselves out according to the law of their movement. But the fact remains that it is the divine Omniscience and Omnipotence that has allowed these forces (of inconscience and ignorance) to act in Its omnipresence, Its all-existence. It must have originated and ordered their presence. Without the sanction of the Divine Being these could not remain in existence.
If the Divine is at all concerned with the world He has manifested, there is no other Lord than He and from that necessity of His original and universal being there can eventually be no escape or departure. It is on the foundation of this self-evident consequence of our first premiss, without any evasion of its implications, that we have to consider the problem of imperfection, suffering and evil.
EXPLANATION
If we admit the fact that the Divine is concerned with the world He has manifested, then, there is no other Lord than He. Nothing can depart or escape from the necessity of His original and universal being. This is the self-evident consequence of our first premiss (proposition). This should be the foundation on which we have to consider the problem of imperfection, suffering and evil.
PARAGRAPH 14
And first we must realise that the existence of ignorance, error, limitation, suffering, division and discord in the world need not by itself, as we too hastily imagine, be a denial or a disproof of the divine being, consciousness, power, knowledge, will, delight in the universe. They can be that if we have to take them by themselves separately, but need not be so taken if we get a clear vision of their place and significance in a complete view of the universal workings. A part broken off from the whole may be imperfect, ugly, incomprehensible; but when we see it in the whole, it recovers its place in the harmony, it has a meaning and a use.
EXPLANATION
We must realise that the existence of ignorance, error, limitation, suffering, division and discord in the world need not by itself a denial of the divine being and the divine aspects.
We think them to be so only by our hasty conclusion when we take them by themselves separately. We need not think them to be so, if we have a clear vision of their place and significance in a complete view of the universal workings. A part broken off from an object may look ugly, imperfect and incomprehensible. But when we look at the whole it recovers its place in the harmony, its meaning and use.
The Divine Reality is infinite in its being; in this infinite being, we find limited being everywhere, —that is the apparent fact from which our existence here seems to start and to which our own narrow ego and its ego-centric activities bear constant witness. But, in reality, when we come to an integral self-knowledge, we find that we are not limited, for we also are infinite. Our ego is only a face of the universal being and has no separate existence; our apparent separative individuality is only a surface movement and behind it our real individuality stretches out to unity with all things and upward to oneness with the transcendent Divine Infinity.
EXPLANATION
In the infinite being of Divine Reality we find limited being everywhere. Our existence in this world starts from this apparent fact. This is what our own narrow ego and its ego-centric activities are concerned with.
When we rise beyond our ego and attain an integral self-knowledge we realise that we are not limited; we are also infinite. Our ego has no separate existence but is only a face of the universal being. Our apparent separate individuality is only a surface movement. Behind our apparent self, there is our real individuality. It stretches out to unity with all things and upward to oneness with the transcendent Divine.
Thus our ego, which seems to be a limitation of existence, is really a power of infinity; the boundless multiplicity of beings in the world is a result and signal evidence, not of limitation or finiteness, but of that illimitable Infinity. Apparent division can never erect itself into a real separateness; there is supporting and overriding it an indivisible unity which division itself cannot divide. This fundamental world-fact of ego and apparent division and their separative workings in the world existence is no denial of the Divine Nature of unity and indivisible being; they are the surface results of an infinite multiplicity which is a power of the infinite Oneness.
EXPLANATION
Our ego seems to be a limitation of existence. In reality, our ego, being a face of the infinite universal being, is really a power of infinity. We find in the world manifestation boundless multiplicity of beings. This multiplicity is not the result of limitation and finiteness. Rather, it is a result and signal evidence of that illimitable Infinity.
We find in this world apparent division. But this can never establish itself into a real separateness. Because there is an indivisible unity which is supporting and overriding this apparent division. The division itself cannot divide this unity.
We come across this fundamental world-fact of ego and apparent division and their separative workings. But this is not a denial of the Divine Nature of unity and indivisible being. They are the surface results of an infinite multiplicity which is a power of the infinite Oneness.