Sathya Sai Vahini - Post 23

Contemplation / Essence of the previous post form chapter IX

 

Swami Starts with a question

“How could God become these walls, these tables? Here is another doubt that comes uppermost to some: God is supremely pure, so how could He become these impure things”

And Swami answers when He explains the Advaita school of philosophy,

“God is not outside the cosmos, that He became the cosmos, and that He is all that is. There is nothing except God, no other, no second. This truth has to be accepted by all. This is the highest truth.”

Swami further reveals this beautifully when He writes,

“The cosmos is the effect, God is the cause — these statements stress only the fact that the cosmos is but God in another form. To the argument that the body is limited and subtle and that it leads one to the cause (God), or it was from God that it evolved and took shape, the non-dualists would reply that it was God Himself who manifested in the form of the cosmos.”

Now, coming to the objects of the world, not only walls / tables etc. as pointed by Swami but all objects, including living and non-living objects, the question of “How they can be God?” essentially arises because the one who is asking this question is not existing as God/SELF.

One has to realize SELF and exist as SELF, abide in SELF and then, another one who sits at His feet, would realize that in his master’s state, the thought of whether the tables/ walls/birds/ animals/ human beings are all divine or whether they are all not divine, cannot arise at all.

For any such thought, he knows that the master must come down from His state of abidance in SELF  and the disciple knows it is not possible for his master to come down to ever have these questions in his mind.

The master sees the table as table, bird as bird, human as human exactly in the same way as the disciple is seeing.

But the disciple or let us say, a visitor, an on looker, yet to evolve spiritually to higher level, sees  all objects and his senses carry the sight of these objects to his mind and the mind draws an experience and he comments about the objects seen, out of such an experience.

But when the master sees the objects, with that sight, the process gets over and there is nothing carried to his mind to draw any experience at all.

The mind itself is rendered pure to the extent that there is no difference between his mind and the state in which He exists as (SELF).

So, it can only be inferred that since the master does not have varied experience / perception of various objects / human whom He faces / sees / interacts with, all of them are same for the master and all of them are nut consciousness.

Here, the following expression of Swami comes true - “There is nothing except God, no other, no second.”

 

Sri Ramana explains the above truth in His answers to couple of questions, thus: -

Question: In the Vedanta of Sri Sankaracharya the principle of the creation of the world has been accepted for the sake of beginners, but for the advanced the principle of non-creation is put forward. What is your view on this matter?

Maharshi: "There is no dissolution or creation, no one in bondage, nor anyone pursuing spiritual practices. There is no one desiring liberation, nor anyone liberated. This is the absolute truth." This sloka (verse) appears in the second chapter of Gaudapada's Karika. One who is established in the Self sees this by his knowledge of reality.”

Question: Is not the Self the cause of this world we see around us?

Maharshi: “Self itself appears as the world of diverse names and forms. However, Self does not act as the efficient cause (nimitta karana), creating, sustaining, and destroying it. Do not ask `Why does the confusion of Self, not knowing the truth that it itself appears as the world arise?' If instead you enquire `To whom does this confusion occur?', it will be discovered that no such confusion ever existed for Self.”

Ramana further says – “Where are you now? Are you in the world or is the world within you? You must admit that the world is not perceived in your sleep although you cannot deny your existence then. 

The world appears when you wake up. So where is it? Clearly the world is your thought. Thoughts are your projections. The "I" is first created and then the world. 

The world is created by the "I" which in its turn rises from the Self. The riddle of the creation of the world is thus solved if you solve the creation of the "I". So, I say, find your Self.

Again, does the world come and ask you `Why do "I" exist? How was "I" created?' It is you who ask the question. The questioner must establish the relationship between the world and himself. He must admit that the world is his own imagination. Who imagines it? Let him again find the "I" and then the Self.”

 

Love.

 

 

 

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Sivoham, Sivoham was the exclamation that rose from the souls that knew the truth in a flash of illumination, after long years of cleansing the mind through the process of Tapas.

I am Siva, Siva am I!!

Though denoted by many names, and recognized by many forms, the divine principle is one, without a second.

God is the seed, which has expressed itself as all this creation!!

(Divine Discourse, 20 Feb 1974)

Sathya Sai Vahini - Post 22

 Chapter IX. 

One with the One 

 

“The cosmos (jagath) was created by God out of Himself, so He is the originator as well as the material of the cosmos. As a result, He is full (paripurna). Creation is also full, as is the individual Atma. Therefore, many full entities are postulated. God made the cosmos manifest from Himself. 

 

When this declaration is made, the doubt may naturally arise: How could God become these walls, these tables? Here is another doubt that comes uppermost to some: God is supremely pure, so how could He become these impure things?

 

Humanity is fundamentally divine

Let us seek the answers. People are fundamentally Atma but they have the encasement of a body, right? From one point of view, a person is not distinct from the body, yes? 

In spite of this, however, one feels that one is not this body, that one’s reality is distinct from it, that one is not the baby one was, or the old man one is, that one is neither male nor female, and that one persists through babyhood, boyhood, middle age, and old age, masculinity and femininity, and all the other stages and changes. 

So too, the cosmos and all creation are but the billion bodies of God. He is all this and in all this, but He is changeless and eternal.

 

Nature is amenable to change. The Atma can also contract or expand, blossom or fade, shine or be befogged. Bad deeds will diminish its splendour by clouding its brilliance. Its innate and genuine truth and wisdom may be hidden by evil thoughts and deeds. Acts and practices that can disclose the native splendour and glory of the Atma are termed “good”.

Three schools of Vedanta

The Atma is “unbound” at first; but later it is seen as limited and restricted. Through good deeds and activities, it resumes its vastness and boundlessness. Everyone, without any difference, has the opportunity to achieve this transformation. When the time gets ripe, everyone can succeed in this and liberate themself from the bonds and bondage. But the cosmos (jagath) will not end. It is eternal, incapable of being destroyed. This is the explanation of the second school of philosophy in India.

The first school of philosophy is dualism (dwaitha). The dualists posit that the cosmos is a vast machine designed and operated by God. 

The second school is qualified non-dualism (visishta-adwaitha). This second, higher, stage in spiritual enquiry and experience posits three entities —God, the Atma, and nature— and speaks of an integration of the three. The qualified non-dualists declare that the cosmos is a phenomenon that is interpenetrated and imbued with the Divine. 

The third school, non-dualism (adwaitha), asserts that God is not outside the cosmos, that He became the cosmos, and that He is all that is. There is nothing except God, no other, no second. This truth has to be accepted by all. This is the highest truth.

To say that God is the Atma and the cosmos is like the body in which He operates and lives is not correct. To assert that the Atma (God) is eternal and changeless but the cosmos that is His body can be subject to change and transformation is also not satisfying.

What does it signify when it is said, “God is the proximate cause (upadana-karana) of the cosmos”? Proximate cause means the cause that produced the effect. The “effect” is the “cause” in another form. It cannot be separate from the cause. Every effect that we notice is but the cause that has assumed a new form. 

The cosmos is the effect, God is the cause — these statements stress only the fact that the cosmos is but God in another form. To the argument that the body is limited and subtle and that it leads one to the cause (God), or it was from God that it evolved and took shape, the non-dualists would reply that it was God Himself who manifested in the form of the cosmos.

Integral unity of God, nature, and humans

It may be doubted that all this multiplicity of things and beings are really God. Yes — it is the truth. All these that the senses cognize, that come into the awareness, are God. There is nothing else but He. Our bodies, minds, intellects, consciousness —all are God.

Here, another doubt may arise. Why should God be so many individualized beings? Why should He be so many souls (jivatmas)? Will God, who is of one Form, manifest Himself as so many? How did this happen? If God had transformed Himself into the cosmos, He should have subjected Himself to change; all things in nature that are by their very composition subject to change suffer both birth and death. 

And, if God has come within the precincts of change, does it mean that He too has to die some day? Does he have to undergo change and ultimately end? Keep in mind this point also. Then, there is another point to be considered. How much of God, what portion of God becomes the cosmos?

The non-dualists say the following. Whatever portion you may allot, or guess, remember this: The cosmos does not exist. It is an illusion. It never is, has been, or will be. The creation of the cosmos, the dissolution of the cosmos, these billions of individuals emerging and merging, all this is but a dream. 

There is no individualised soul (Atma) at all, no separated Atma. How can there be billions of souls? There is only ONE indivisible complete Absolute. Like the one sun reflected as a billion suns in a billion lakes, ponds, and drops of water, the souls are but reflections of the One in the minds on which it shines. This is what Indian (Bharathiya) thought emphasizes most clearly through the non-dualist thinkers. Those who cannot grasp this truth are under the influence of delusion (maya), it can be said.

Cosmos, the dream of God

Dreams also have to be based on reality. Without a basic reality, the “dependent idea or fact” cannot exist. Without a basic thing, subsequent things cannot emanate. Without a basic being, subsequent beings cannot mani- fest. That base is God (Iswara). He is full; He is the mind, the body, the Atma. You are only as real as a dream. For the eye that can see reality, the cosmos is not this multiplicity of name and form, but mere being-awareness-bliss (satchidananda). 

 

Just think of your dream. It does not arise from somewhere outside you, nor do the varied images and activities disappear into some place outside you. They arise in you and disappear into you. While dreaming, you consider the events and persons as real, and you experience, as really as in the waking stage, the feelings of grief, delight, fear, anxiety, and joy. You don’t dismiss them at the time as illusory.

 

The cosmos is the dream of God; it arises in Him and merges in Him. It is the product of His mind. These lives and repeated arrivals are all fanciful weavings of delusion (maya), unreal fantasies, illusory agitations, un- real appearances. You are the Full, you are God. God is you. Those who have experienced this highest wisdom can attain oneness with the ONE, here and now.”

 

We will contemplate on today’s part of the SSV, in the next post.

 

Love.