Vivekananda on the Vedas (part 66)

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Parts 1 to 65 were posted earlier. This is part 66. Your comments are welcome... Vivekananda Centre London

Earlier postings can be seen at http://www.vivekananda.btinternet.co.uk/veda.htm

 

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA ON THE VEDAS AND UPANISHADS

By Sister Gayatriprana

part 66

 

b) Overcoming Our Limitations in Understanding Maya

1. The Intellect Cannot Answer the Riddle of How the Infinite Became the Finite

The one question that is most difficult to grasp in understanding the Advaita philosophy, and the one question that will be asked again and again, and that will always remain is: how has the Infinite, the Absolute, become the finite? I will now take up this question and, in order to illustrate it, I will use a figure: Here is the Absolute (a), and this is the universe (b). The Absolute has become the universe. By this is not only meant the material world, but the mental world, the spiritual world - heavens and earths and, in fact, everything that exists. Mind is the name of a change, and body the name of another change, and so on; and all these changes compose our universe. This Absolute (a) has become the universe (b) by coming through time, space and causation ©. This is the central idea of Advaita. Time, space and causation are like the glass through which the Absolute is seen; and when It is seen on the lower side, It appears as the universe. Now, we at once gather from this that in the Absolute there is neither time, space, nor causation. The idea of time cannot be there, seeing that there is no mind, no thought. The idea of space cannot be there, seeing that there is no external change. What you call motion and causation cannot exist where there is only One. We have to understand this, and impress it upon our mind, that what we call causation begins after, if we may be permitted to say so, the degeneration of the Absolute into the phenomenal, and not before; and that our will, our desire, and all these things always come after that.

A stone falls and we ask why. This question is possible only on the supposition that nothing happens without a cause. I request you to make this very clear in your minds, for whenever we ask why anything happens, we are taking for granted that everything that happens must have a why; that is to say, it must have been preceded by something else which acted as the cause. This precedence and succession are what we call the law of causation. It means that everything in the universe is by turns a cause and an effect. It is the cause of certain things which come after it and is itself the effect of something else which has preceded it. This is called the law of causation and is a necessary condition of all our thinking. We believe that every particle in the universe, wherever it be, is in relation to every other particle. There has been much discussion as to how this idea arose. In Europe there have been intuitive philosophers who believed that it was constitutional in humanity, others have believe it came from experience; but the question has never been settled. We shall see later on what Vedanta has to say about it. But first we have to understand that the very asking of the question why presupposes that everything around us has been preceded by certain other things and will be succeeded by certain other things. The other belief involved in this question is that nothing in the universe is independent, that everything is acted upon by something outside itself. Interdependence is the law of the whole universe..... Coming from subtleties of logic to the logic of our common plane, to commonsense, we can see this from another side, when we seek to know how the Absolute has become the relative. Supposing we know the answer, would the Absolute remain the Absolute? It would have become the relative. (16)

The Vedantist... has proved beyond all doubt that the mind is limited, that it cannot go beyond certain limits - beyond time, space and causation. As no one can jump out of his or her own self, so no one can go beyond the limits that have been put on him or her by the laws of time and space. Every attempt to solve the laws of causation, time and space would be futile, because the very attempt would have to be made by taking for granted the existence of these three. What does the statement of the existence of the world mean, then? "This world has no existence" - what is meant by that? It means it has no absolute existence. It exists only in relation to my mind, to your mind, and to the mind of everyone else. We see this world with the five senses, but if we had another sense, we would see in it something more. If we had another sense, it would appear as something still different. It has, therefore, no real existence; it has no unchangeable, immovable, infinite existence. Nor can it be called non-existence, seeing that it exists, and we have to work in and through it. It is a mixture of existence and non-existence. (17)

Cross reference to:

Isha Up. peace chant

Cha. Up., 6.2.1