I AM THAT: Chapter 4 Real World is beyond the Mind

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Nisargadatta, ameyhng@a... wrote:

4 REAL WORLD IS BEYOND THE MIND PG9

 

Q: On several occasions the question was raised as to whether the

universe is subject to the law of causation, or does it exist and

function outside the law. You seem to hold the view that it is

uncaused, that everything, however small, is uncaused, arising and

disappearing for no known reason whatsoever.

M: Causation means succession in time of events in space, the space

being physical or mental. Time, space, causation are mental

categories, arising and subsiding with the mind.

 

Q: As long as the mind operates, causation is a valid law.

M: Like everything mental, the so-called law of causation contradicts

itself. No thing in existence has a particular cause; the entire

universe contributes to the existence of even the smallest thing;

nothing could be as it is without the universe being what it is.

When the source and ground of everything is the only cause of

everything, to speak of causality as a universal law is wrong. The

universe is not bound by it is a manifestation, or expression of a

principle fundamentally and totally free.

 

Q: Yes, one can see that ultimately to speak one thing being the only

cause of another thing is altogether wrong. Yet, in actual life we

invariably initiate action with a view to a result.

M: Yes, there is a lot of such activity going on, because of

ignorance. Would people know that nothing can happen unless the

entire universe makes it happen, they would achieve much more with

less expenditure of energy.

 

Q: If everything is an expression of the totality of causes, how can

we talk of a purposeful action towards an achievement?

M: The very urge to achieve is also an expression of the total

universe. it merely shows that the energy potential has risen at a

particular point. It is the illusion of time that makes you talk of

causality. When the past and the future are seen in the timeless now,

as part of a common pattern, the idea of cause-effect loses its

validity and creative freedom takes its place.

 

 

Q: Yet, I cannot see how can anything come to be without a cause.

M: When I say a thing is without a cause, I mean it can be without a

particular cause. Your own mother was not needed to give you birth;

you could have been born from some other woman. But you could not

have been born without the sun and the earth. Even these could not

have caused your birth without the most important factor: your own

desire to be born. It is desire that gives birth, that gives name

and form. The desirable is imagined and wanted and manifests itself

as something tangible or conceivable. Thus is created the world in

which we live, our personal world. The real world is beyond the

mind's ken; we see it through the net of our desires, divided into

pleasure and pain, right and wrong, inner and outer. To see the

universe as it is, you must step beyond the net. It is not hard to do

so, for the net is full of holes.

 

Q: What do you mean by holes? And how to find them?

M: Look to the net and its many contradictions. You do and undo at

every step. You want peace, love, happiness and work hard to create

pain, hatred and war. You want longevity and overeat, you want

friendship and exploit. See your net as made of such contradictions

and remove them – your very seeing them will make them go.

 

Q: Since my seeing the contradictions makes it go, is there no causal

link between my seeing and its going?

M: Causality, even as a concept, does not apply to chaos.

 

Q: To what extent is desire a causal factor?

M: One of the many. For everything there are innumerable cause

factors. But the source of all that is, is the Infinite Possibility,

the Supreme Reality, which is in you and which throws its power and

light and love on every experience. But, this source is not a cause

and no cause is a source. Because of that, I say everything is

uncaused. You may try to trace how a thing happens, but you cannot

find out why a thing is as it is. A thing is as it is, because the

universe is as it is.

 

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message number 347

first posted on feb 14, 2001