[Sri Ramakrishna] VML-4/11/02

April 11, 2002

May I briefly comment on these important points?

First, it is a modern reinterpretation of religious cosmogony that " God " is

outside the creation as a cause. Causality, in the modern western sense,

belongs to the relations between created things. In Medieval Christianity

and earlier, the creation was understood to exist " within " God, not

outside, and to be a kind of manifestation of God in visible form.

The Vedantic view is, of course, that the idea of a division

between God and the universe is an illusion - " the " illusion. It " appears "

so, but is not so in truth. The universe is not an effect of any cause,

but appears to ordinary perception to be distinct from its ground. The

difficulty here is not a rational one, since logical reasoning cannot

overcome the distinction, but of being a separate consciousness from the

universal consciousness. In other words, the illusion of separateness

arises through the notion of a separate selfhood. This cannot be overcome

through rational theory but only by coming to realize that one is not separate.

Joseph

At 05:38 11/04/2002 -0400, you wrote:

>So the explanation of a Personal God as the creator of the universe

>has to stand that test. If that God is outside of nature, having

>nothing to do with nature, and this nature is the outcome of the

>command of that God and produced from nothing, it is a very

>unscientific theory, and this has been the weak point of every

>Theistic religion throughout the ages. These two defects we find in

>what is generally called the theory of monotheism, the theory of a

>Personal God, with all the qualities of a human being multiplied very

>much, who, by His will, created this universe out of nothing and yet

>is separate from it. This leads us into two difficulties.

>

>Sri Ramakrishnaye Namah

>Vivekananda Centre London

>

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