The Eastern Vision of the Universe - Part 5

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Dear All,

 

Part 4 of The Eastern Vision of the Universe ended with:

 

There is a progression from the senses, through the mind, through the intellect,

and through the cosmic mind or cosmic order, to the Unmanifest. Before anything

comes to be manifest, whether physically or psychologically, it has an

unmanifest source which is rooted in the Person, the supreme cosmic Being, from

whom the whole creation comes. (Pg. 71} That is the structure of the universe as

it emerged in the Upanishads in the fifth century before Christ.

 

Here then, is Part 5 of the " Eastern Vision of the Universe " by Bede Griffiths.

 

Enjoy!

 

violet

 

 

 

The Eastern Vision of the Universe

 

(Part 5)

 

(Page 71} Now we take a step further to the Svetasvatara Upanishad, about 300BC,

where we see the figure of 'purusha' emerging more clearly. In the early

Upanishads the interest was primarily in 'brahman', the reality behind

everything, and in the 'atman', the Spirit within everything. Now the interest

moves to the personal God and their understanding of the universe was expressed

in terms of the purusha, the cosmic person, who embraces the universe and yet

goes beyond it; three parts are in heaven and one part is here on earth. The

text says, " What is praised in the Upanishad is the highest brahman and in it

there is a triad. " (Svetasvatara Upanishad 1:7) The highest brahman is the sole

support, the imperishable, but within that brahman there is first of all the

'isha', the Lord. This shows how the personal God comes to be related to

brahman. Brahman is the ultimate Reality, and the Lord, the 'ishvara', the

personal God, is a manifestation of brahman. Beneath 'isha', or Hara, which is

another name for him, is 'jivatman', the individual soul. Beneath that is the

'pradhana', the material universe. So here are the three worlds again, the

'pradhana', the material universe, the 'jivatman', the psychological world of

the soul, and beyond that, Hara, or 'ishvara', the Lord, and all are embraced in

Brahman. Brahman embraces the whole, the material, the psychological and the

spiritual. All are contained in him. This is an insight of great profundity.

 

The Svetasvatara Upanishad is also important because in it for the first time

the god Shiva comes to be recognised as the Supreme Reality. Shiva was a god

from outside the Aryan culture and only here is he being brought into the main

tradition of the Vedas and the Upanishads, and recognised as the Supreme. The

word Shiva means the Blessed, the Kindly One. Having originally been considered

as very fierce, he was given this beautiful name and gradually a most beautiful

character was built up around him. (Pg.72} Eventually he was considered as the

God of love and recognised more and more to be the source of all.

 

The Svetasvatara Upanishad describes the work of 'purusha' when it refers to him

as the creator and supporter of the gods. The Supreme is above the gods. The

gods are on the level of the angels and are the cosmic powers but he, the Lord,

is beyond them all. Earlier he had been known as Rudra, the great seer, the

'maharishi', but now he comes to be understood as the Lord of all, the sovereign

of the gods, the one in whom all the worlds rest, who rules over all beings. The

text goes on to speak of him " who is more subtle than the subtle, in the midst

of chaos creating all things. " Matter is chaos, as we saw in chapter one. It is

potentiality of being, indeterminate, unpredictable, the base from which

everything comes. The idea here is that Shiva, the Lord, is creating

continuously in the midst of chaos. " In the midst of chaos, creating all things,

having many forms and alone enveloping everything. " (Svetasvatara Upanishad

4:14) Creating the worlds from chaos, he takes the form of all the universe. He

is in the earth and in the plants and in the trees, and in animals and in men.

He is manifesting in the earth and the sky and the stars and the sun and the

moon, manifesting in all creation. Enveloping all things, he is within all

things. Embracing all things, he transcends all things. That is the cosmic Lord,

Shiva.

 

We come now to a very important development. The Vedic period, the time of the

Vedas, the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas and the Upanishads came to an end about

500BC, although many of the Upanishads like the Svetasvatara Upanishad, to which

we have just alluded, date from later times. Contemporary with the Svetasvatara

Upanishad is the Bhagavad Gita. Whereas in the Svetasvatara Upanishad Shiva is

the form of the Supreme God, the Supreme Reality, in the Bhagavad Gita the

Supreme Reality is Vishnu. The majority of Hindus are either Shaivites or

Vaishnavites. (p.73} Vishnu belongs more to the Aryan world. He is the god of

heaven, a gracious god, the pervader of all things. Vishnu manifests himself

through a series of incarnations, 'avataras', and the great avatara of Vishnu

was Krishna. The Bhagavad Gita was written to celebrate the avatara of Vishnu as

Krishna. In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna is revealed as the supreme Lord of

creation, the creator God. This is a development along the same lines as the

Svetasvatara Upanishad.

 

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

Christian Faith)

Bede Griffiths

Templegate Publishers - Springfield, Illinois

ISBN 0-87243-180-0

Pgs. 71-73