Inquiries into the Absolute: Digest 47

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Digest 47, Dec 6, 2002

 

Answers by His Holiness Romapada Swami Maharaja

 

Q.1) What is dependently complete? If there are two things like dependently

complete and independently complete - what is incomplete?

 

Answer:

Here we are talking about completeness with respect to an object's purpose. For

example, an earthen pot is said to be `complete' if it looks and works the way

its designer intended it to be. If it has a dent or a hole that makes it unfit

to store water, it is incomplete or imperfect. I would not call it imperfect

because it is unable to contain the Atlantic ocean, because it is not intended

to do so!

 

The same goes with the example of the finger in relation to the body. This is

just a crude analogy, and the earthen pot is just an inert material object.

 

But by the same principle, the living entity, by his constitution, is a minute

fragment of the Absolute Whole and his purpose is to enjoy in loving relation

with the Supreme Whole by serving Him. God expanded Himself so that He could

enjoy loving relationships with His parts and parcels (eko bahu syam). And for

this purpose, the living entity is completely endowed with all that he needs.

 

An individual soul may not be omniscient, omnipotent or the supreme controller

of everything and everyone else, but that does not interfere with the soul's

completeness.

 

Q.2) Isn't perfectionism / completeness of God an assumption we make so that

our picture of Him as "above the rest", leaves no room for debate?

 

Answer:

I would like to make a clarification on this point: Yes, we can say God is "by

definition" perfect, but it does not stop with just being an `assumption'. Such

an assumption is a good place to start with, but as one progresses on the

spiritual path, one can personally realize this to be a fact, and history

recounts many such persons who have had that realization. In other words, God

is not a 'concept' made by man to fill some gaps. God is a reality, and the

Vedic scriptures describe that God is ultimately realized as a Person. It is

knowledge that is *meant* to be directly perceived!

 

See BG 9.2

pratyaksAvagamaM dharmyaM

su-sukhaM kartum avyayam.

TRANSLATION

This knowledge is the king of education, the most secret of all

secrets. It is the purest knowledge, and because it gives direct

perception of the self by realization, it is the perfection of

religion.

 

Q.3) In that case God is perfect /complete by definition and we as beings

moulded by the perfect entity should again be perfect by definition - then why

aren't we?

 

Answer:

In addition to above, I would like to add this: the Isopanishad mantra we are

discussing (Invocation Mantra, Isopanishad) essentially says this: from the

complete Whole, many complete units have emanated, and yet the complete Whole

remains unchanged. Thus, there are two distinct categories here: the whole and

the units. We refer to these two identities as Paramatma (Supersoul) and atma

(soul). While affirming both of their `completeness', "purna", the Upanishad is

NOT indicating that they are equal in all respects.

 

Rather, the purport of the mantra is this: the Absolute is complete, and from

the Absolute many entities have emanated - marginal entities like us, and the

material energy. Now that so many entities have emanated, the Absolute has not

become reduced in any way. This is what we shortly refered to by saying 1-1=1.

 

The minute units are perfect, but minutely perfect. This goes to say that

although we perceive imperfections, one should not conclude that living

entities are all imperfect; all such imperfections and short-comings can be

overcome as soon as one realizes one's real identity in relation with the

Absolute.

 

I hope this clarifies your questions!

==================================================

 

Q.4) One other question, from an Asst Professor in Dept. of Philosophy

In Western philosophy, the most radical treatment of the question is Spinoza's

theory of "substance" (ultimate reality, which he calls, interchangeably, God

or Nature) in Book One of his Ethics. I cannot speak to how the question is

resolved philosophically in the Gita, though I am aware that, in the vision of

the 11th teaching, and probably before, all the powers of the cosmos are

presented as fragments or facets of the divine brilliance--expressing it in

different and partial ways, rather than as it is in itself. I would be

interested to hear more on this issue.

 

Answer:

Vaishnava theology does not accept that the Absolute has become fragmented into

multitudes of little sparks, as Spinoza's theory seems to suggest. The

Upanishad Mantra under discussion (Invocation mantra, Isopanishad), in fact,

directly contradicts such a hypothesis. According to Isopanishad, although so

many fragments have come into being from the Absolute, still the Absolute

remains unchanged, the Complete Whole in Itself. It is NOT like cutting a paper

into pieces and then the original paper ceases to exist any longer. How is

this possible for God, the Source of all, to cease existing? Rather, by the

inconceivable powers of the Absolute, the Absolute is inexhaustible!

 

When we consider "the fragments of the divine brilliance" within Spinoza's

theory, we see that each of those individual fragments are not in themselves

manifesting the entirety of the perfection of the Absolute, is it not? Would

this indicate that they are all individually imperfect? Even accepting that

taken all together, they comprise the Absolute, then how do we explain the

discrepancies and limitations we find in ourselves and the world around,

without any unifying entity in the picture?

 

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the greatest teacher of Vaishnavism and bhakti science

who appeared about 500 years ago, resolved this question by establishing the

`acintya-bheda-abheda tattva' vada or doctrine (literally, 'The Inconceivable

Truth of Simultaneous Oneness and Difference'). This is not a new theory, but

is found in the Bhagavad- gita itself. See Gb. 9.4-6. Thus, in one sense, the

Absolute Whole comprises of God, the living entities, and all material

manifestations (Cf. Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Introduction, pg. 13 last para) ---

yet simultaneously, the Absolute has its independent existence in the Complete

Personality of Godhead. This Absolute Personality is known as Krishna (the

all-attractive), and He is that unifying principle.

 

Bhagavad-gita explains that all that is beautiful, opulent and glorious is but

a spark of the opulence of that Absolute (Bg, Ch.10, specifically Text 40-42).

Further Krishna says, "All beings are in Me, but I am not in them. And yet

everything that is created does not rest in Me. Behold My mystic opulence!"

(Bg. 9.4-5)

 

The concept of "substance" or divine brilliance in Spinoza's theory seems

comparable to the "Brahman" or Brahmajyoti of Vedic literature, but the Gita

concludes that the Brahman rests on the Personality of Godhead, or in other

words, It is nothing but His bodily effulgence (Bg. 14.27).

 

In this sense, I agree with you that Absolute perfection (as found in the

Personality of Godhead) is unique indeed, i.e. the individual souls are not

omnipotent or omnipresent etc. The individual completeness and the very

existence of the fragmental sparks is dependent on this ultimate reality of the

Absolute Whole, Personality of Godhead. When disconnected from Him, the living

entities lose their original brilliance, just as a spark that is separated from

the flame gradually dies out.

 

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Dec 09 2002, Monday Odana sasthi

 

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