The Eastern Vision of the Universe - Part 3

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Dear All,

 

Part 2 of The Eastern Vision of the Universe ended with:

 

" In this way then the seers of the Upanishads began to meditate and they made

the great discovery that this 'brahman', this power in the universe, (P.64} this

power which was believed to be in the sacrifice which sustained the universe,

this power is within each person. The 'mahavakya', the great saying of the

Upanishads, is 'prajnanam brahman', " Brahman is consciousness " . That was a

tremendous step, for it was a movement beyond the physical world. 'Brahman' was

understood previously to be manifesting in all the universe, in the heaven and

the earth, and in man; 'brahman' is everywhere. But now came the discovery that

'brahman', that reality without, is one with one's own inner consciousness. This

is the awakening of the inner self for the first time. Previously man had been

living in the outer universe and experiencing God, brahman, the reality, in that

outside universe but not in himself. Now man discovered himself. The word for

self is 'atman', so now it is said, 'ayam atman brahmanasti', " That self is

Brahman " , meaning that this self which I discern within me, is one with brahman,

one with the reality of the universe outside me. The third great saying or

mahavakya is, 'aham brahmasmi', " I am Brahman " . This means that if I go to the

depths of my being, beyond my body, beyond my thoughts and my feelings, I

discover the " I " , the atman, and come to know that brahman in myself, as my true

being. The fourth mahavakya is, 'Tat Tvam asi', " Thou art that " . It occurs in

the Chandogya Upanishad where the guru tells the disciple to take a fruit from a

tree, break it open and then take a seed and break it open, and he asks the

disciple what he can see. The disciple says, " I see nothing, " to which the guru

replies, " In that nothing, that hidden essence which you cannot see, the power

of the growth of the whole tree consists. " So also there is a secret essence in

all creation, in everything which exists, which is the source of all being; and

" Thou, Svetaketu, art that. " (Chandogya Upanishad 6:12) In other words, the

source of the universe around us is the source of our own being. This was the

great breakthrough of the Upanishads, and still today in India these four

mahavakyas are considered the supreme wisdom of the Vedas. "

 

Here is Part 3 of the " Eastern Vision of the Universe " by Bede Griffiths.

 

Enjoy!

 

violet

 

 

The Eastern Vision of the Universe

 

(Part 3)

 

 

(Page 65} It was in the sixth century that the 'Aranyakas' gave way to the

Upanishads, the last stage of the Vedas, or Vedanta, as it is called. The

Upanishads are the discourses of the rishis to their disciples, revealing the

great discovery that had been made. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, which is the

earliest we have, gives the greatest insight into this understanding of the

universe in terms of 'brahman'. There are two particularly important sayings.

The first is, " Verily in the beginning this was Brahman, one only " .

(Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1:4:11) This is a very important insight, for what it

means is that behind the phenomena of the universe, behind all the phenomena of

human existence, the rishis had discovered the brahman. They had found the

source of the universe and the source of humanity. In the beginning was that

brahman, one only, and the whole physical and psychological universe comes forth

from the one. That was the profound insight that was reached at this time.

 

The second saying is, " In the beginning this was atman alone in the form of

Purusha " , or, " This was the Self, the Spirit alone, in the form of a Person " .

(Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1:4:1) So there were three words now to describe this

ultimate Reality. The first was 'brahman'. When you look at the world around

you, you see the source of all in brahman. The second word is 'atman'. You look

within yourself and you see that the source of your own being and consciousness

is the atman, and that the atman is one with brahman. Thirdly, there is the

conception of the whole universe as being a great person, a 'purusha', who

contains the whole universe in himself. The purusha occurs in the Purusha Shukta

of the Rig Veda, where it says, " A thousand heads has Purusha, a thousand eyes,

a thousand feet, on every side, pervading the earth. " (Rig Veda 10:90) This

purusha is the supreme Person who fills the whole creation. A thousand is the

sign of completeness, perfection. All the creation is filled with this purusha.

It goes on, " This Purusha is all that has been and all that will be, the Lord of

immortality. " (Page 66} Then it says, " With three fourths Purusha is in heaven;

one fourth is here on earth. " This means that this purusha transcends the whole

creation with regard to three fourths of his being and he is immanent in

creation with one fourth. There is here the concept of a unified creation which

has the character of a person who embraces the whole universe and at the same

time transcends it. So brahman, atman and purusha are the three terms for

ultimate Reality.

 

'Brahman' is the ground, the source, of everything. There is a beautiful

illustration of this in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad where Yagnavalkya, one of

the great sages, is talking with Gargi, his wife. Women at this stage took part

in discussions on equal terms with men although later they were not even allowed

to read the Vedas. Here Gargi asks Vajnavalkya, " Everything here is woven like

warp and woof in water, then what is that in which the water is woven like warp

and woof? " The point of this question was the attempt to discover the source of

the universe. A very common view was to say that it all came from water. In the

Greek philosophers there was the same questioning as to the origin of the

universe, and often the same answers. Thales, for instance, in the seventh

century, said that everything comes from water. It is a simple idea because

water is liquid, but when heated it becomes vapour and when frozen it is solid,

so water embraces the three states of matter. Later, Anaximines asserted that

everything comes from air. Later still Heraclitus said that everything comes

from fire and finally Empedocles held that everything comes from the four

elements, the earth, the air, the fire and the water. In this way the Greeks

built up their understanding of the universe. The same kind of process is taking

place here. Gargi said, " Everything here is woven like warp and woof in water.

In what is the water woven? " And Yajnavalkya replied, " In the air, O Gargi. " She

continued, " Then in what is the air woven like warp and woof? " and he replied,

" In the sky, Gargi. " (Page 67} Then she said, " In what is the sky woven? " to

which he replied, " In the 'gandharvas, " which means the spirits.

 

This is going beyond the physical to the psychological world, the world of the

spirits and angels. Gargi then asked, " In what is the world of the 'gandharvas'

woven? " and he replied, " In the world of the gods, O Gargi " . Then she asked, " In

what is the world of the gods woven? " " In the worlds of Indra, " he replied.

Indra is the supreme god, so there is an upward progression from the spirits, to

the gods, to the Supreme. Gargi then asked, " In what are the worlds of Indra

woven? " and Yajnavalkya replied, " In the world of Prajapati, O Gargi. " Prajapati

is the lord of creation. Gargi asked again, " In what are the worlds of Prajapati

woven, O Yajnavalkya? " and he replied, " In the worlds of Brahman. " She then

asked, " In what are the worlds of Brahman woven like warp and woof? " to which he

responded, " O Gargi, do not ask too much lest thy head should fall off. "

(Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 3:6) That means that there is no going beyond

'brahman'; brahman is the limit.

 

This is a beautiful example of how at this stage the ancients were investigating

the universe, asking, " What does it all come from? " " How is it built up? " " What

is the source? " It is very elementary in a way, but to see here the human mind

first asking these questions makes it fascinating.

 

'Brahman', then is the ground in which the whole creation is woven. Everything

comes out from 'brahman', emerging as from a source. The text says, " As the

spider comes out with its thread or as small sparks come forth from fire, thus

do all the senses, all the world, all gods and all being come forth from that

Spirit. " It is the source. The text goes on to say, " That Atman is the satyasya

satya " , which means " the truth of the truth " , " the real of the real. "

(Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2:1:20) The world of the senses is real, but the

'atman' is the reality behind the senses. It is the source behind the sense

world. In this context the terms 'brahman' and 'atman' are interchangeable.

 

A New Vision of Reality (Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and

Christian Faith)

Bede Griffiths

Templegate Publishers - Springfield, Illinois

ISBN 0-87243-180-0

Pgs. 65-67