{"id":799,"date":"2013-07-13T01:30:29","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=799"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:30:29","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:30:29","slug":"61-isha-upanishad-all-that-is-world-in-the-universe-vol-27-supplement-volume-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/27-supplement-volume-27\/61-isha-upanishad-all-that-is-world-in-the-universe-vol-27-supplement-volume-27","title":{"rendered":"-61_Isha Upanishad-All That is World in the Universe.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n


\nISHA UPANISHAD<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n
\nIsha
\nUpanishad<\/font><\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/b>
\n
\nALL
\nTHAT IS WORLD IN THE UNIVERSE<\/font>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span>                           
\n<\/span>T<\/span>HE<\/span><\/b>
\nSanscrit word <\/span>
\nजगत्<\/font> is in origin a reduplicated and therefore frequentative
\nparticiple from the root, <\/span>
\nगम् <\/font>
\n
\nto go. It signifies "that which is in
\nperpetual motion", and implies in its neuter form the world, universe, and
\nin its feminine form the earth. World therefore is that which eternally
\nvibrates, and the Hindu idea of the cosmos reduces itself to a harmony of
\neternal vibrations; form as we see it is simply the varying combination of
\ndifferent vibrations as they affect us through our perceptions and establish
\nthemselves <\/span>(to)<\/span><\/font>
\nin the concept. So far then Hinduism has reached by analysis to the
\nlast and simplest material expression of this complex universe. The question
\nthen arises, "Does anything lie beyond? If matter is all, then this is the
\nlast and there is no beyond. But is matter all?"<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

       
\nOur first verse is the answer of the Upanishad to this question.
\n"All that is world in the Universe by the Lord must be pervaded." The
\nvery object of our existence is to pierce beyond this last and thinnest veil of
\nmatter to Spirit, the Lord who is behind every manifestation of matter, even the
\nsimplest, he is the Self of all things, matter being merely the body, and
\ntherefore is he the Lord. When we have realised that all this universe of
\nvibration is full of the Spirit, we have set our feet on the right road that
\nwill lead us to the goal of existence. This is what we "must" do, in
\nother words to realise God in the universe is the object of our existence. But
\nwhy does the Upanishad say, "must be pervaded", why does it not say
\nsimply "is pervaded". Is this pervasion then not a fact, but a
\npossibility which each individual soul has to turn into a fact for itself? In
\nwhat sense is it said that the object of the individual soul is to pervade the
\nUniverse with the Lord? We must remember that according to the Upanishad there
\nare only two entities in existence which are not phenomena or manifestations,
\nbut eternal facts, and these two are in reality not two<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/span>Page-291
\n 
\n<\/span><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

but
\none, the illimitable and infinite Self behind phenomena, and the finite self
\nwhich perceives phenomena. The Adwaita or Monistic Vedanta affirms the entire
\nunity of these two and ex- plains their apparent separation by Maya, Illusion or
\nIgnorance, in other words by the theory that the Indivisible Eternal has
\ndeliberately imagined himself as divisible (I speak in metaphors, the only way
\nof approaching such subtle inquiries) and hence<\/span>,<\/span>
\n<\/span>created
\nan illusion of’ multiplicity where the only real fact is Unity. We may take the
\nmetaphor of a sea and its waves; if each wave were to imagine itself separate
\nfrom all other waves and from the sea of which it is a part, that would be an
\nillusion similar to that of the finite self when it imagines itself as different
\nfrom other finite selves and from the Infinite. The wave is not really different
\nfrom the sea, but is sea (not the <\/i>sea) and the next moment will be
\nindistinguishable from sea; in fact the word "wave" merely expresses a
\nmomentary perception, an idea of change or modification which the next moment we
\nperceive not to exist, and not a real object; the only real object is the sea.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span>          
\n<\/span>The Vishishta Adwaita or modified-Monistic Vedanta on the other hand
\nrecognises that the infinite Self and the finite Self are eventually One, but
\nstill there is a distinction, a certain limitation of the Oneness. The finite
\nSelf is of and in the infinite Self and therefore one with it. But it does not
\ncoincide with it or disappear into it, the goal of its existence is the delight
\nof feeling its oneness with the Eternal, but still the very feeling of delight
\nimplies a limitation, a difference, and this limitation is not temporary but
\neternal. An image may be taken from the phenomenon of Light and its vibrations;
\nit is all light, there is no real difference, and yet each of the vibrations is
\nin a sense separate and continues its own existence on its own line for ever
\nthrough infinity. Lastly the Dwaita or Dualistic Vedanta affirms, on the
\ncontrary, that the finite selves and the Infinite are for ever different and the
\nwhole riddle of the world lies in their difference and in their attraction to
\neach other. To become one with the Eternal is here also the goal of the finite
\nbut the oneness is emotional and not essential; it is Union and not fusion. It
\nis difficult to find a close image here, but for want of a better we may take<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n


\nPage-292
\n <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n


\nthat of a river and the sea to which it is hasting. It is water hasting to water
\nand the whole aim of the river is to fling itself into the sea and towards that
\nit strives with all its might and with all its soul, and finally it reaches the
\nsea and mixes with it. And yet there it is still a river and not the sea. So the
\ntwo live in a perpetual embrace, ever united and yet ever different and feeling <\/span>their
\nseparate existence.<\/span> <\/span>–<\/span>
\n<\/span>Now
\nthese three philosophies really <\/span>image
\nthree different states of soul and three different roads to the realisation of
\nGod. There is the intellectual state of soul which reaches God through
\nknowledge; this naturally attaches itself to Monism, for it seeks only the
\nknowledge of its identity with God and its tendency is to discourage all action
\nand emotion which interfere with this aim. Then there is the actional state of
\nsoul which reaches God through action leading to knowledge and inspired by
\nemotion; this aims at the knowledge of its identity with God, but its actional
\nstate requires a certain sense of difference from God without which action.
\nbecomes meaningless; its tendency therefore, if the knowledge-impulse
\npredominates over the emotional, is to rest for a time in modified Monism,
\nthough it recognises pure Monism as a far goal beyond; but if the emotional
\nImpulse predominates over the intellectual, its <\/span>tendency
\nis<\/span> <\/span>–<\/span>
\n<\/span>to
\nadopt modified Monism as a final solution. <\/span>Lastly
\nthere is the emotional state of soul which reaches God through divine love; this
\nnaturally attaches itself to Dualism; for the only desire of love is to attain
\nthe loved one and go on loving for ever; an impossibility unless the feeling of
\ndifference in Union goes on forever. The three philosophies are therefore simply
\nthree different standpoints from which we envisage one single truth, that
\nnothing eventually matters in the world except God and the goal of existence is
\nto attain Him. And I may add my own conviction that all three are necessary
\nsoul-stages. By pausing too long in Dualism or even in modified Monism, we debar
\nourselves too long from our final emancipation, but by leaping too quickly to
\nMonism we fall into a dangerous tendency towards the premature dissolution of
\nphenomena which if largely followed upsets the fine balance of the world. The
\nright progress of the soul is first to realise its difference from God, so that
\nwe may feel attracted towards Him, then to realise that that diffe-<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n


\n
\nPage-293<\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n


\nrence is a temporary or at least not an entire difference, that there is unity
\nbeyond, so that we may advance towards Him by the right road and under the laws
\nof that phenomenal existence through which He reveals Himself to us, and finally
\nto perceive that we and God are One and all phenomena temporary and illusory, so
\nthat escaping from name and form we may lose ourselves in Him and attain our
\nsoul’s salvation. Well then, here are three standpoints; which is the standpoint
\nof the Upanishads? They do not, in fact, confine themselves to any, but
\nregarding them as three necessary stages, speak now from one, now from another,
\nnow from a third. Here it is speaking in a spirit of very slightly modified
\nMonism. There are two non- phenomenal existences, the Infinite Self and the
\nFinite Self; from the point of view of the Infinite Eternal Self, the universe
\nis already pervaded with God; but we must also consider the point of view of the
\nFinite Self; which is really Infinite but considers itself to be Finite. To this
\nFinite Self the Universe is only the mass of its own perceptions. If it
\nperceives the Universe as mere Matter, then for its purposes the Universe is
\nMatter and not pervaded by the Lord; if I consider yonder tree as so much wood
\nand pith and sap and leaves, such it is and no more so far as I am concerned; if
\nI look within and perceive God there, then it is I who have put Him there; for
\nthe moment before He was not there for me and now He is. In more Monistic
\nlanguage, the Self at first imagines itself to be confined within its own body,
\nbut as it grows in thought it looks into object after object and perceives
\nitself there and so it goes on putting itself into everything until it has
\npervaded all that is in the world with itself; it then realises that there is no
\nself or non-self but all is God. We see that it is merely a difference of
\nlanguage, of outlook, of perception; but these are the things through which
\nhuman thought proceeds and they must be given their due place. To recognise the
\ndifferences they involve and yet to perceive the unity into which they merge, is
\nthe law and goal of all Hindu thought.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span>          
\n<\/span>But whatever the standpoint we take, dualist, monist or semimonist, the
\nVedanta lays this down as the great essential step to realise that when we have
\nresolved this universe of forms and names into a great harmony of vibrations, we
\nmust still go
\n<\/span><\/p>\n


\nPage-294<\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n


\nbeyond and perceive that the whole is but the material expression of one
\npervading Spirit. And when we have realized this, what is the practical result?
\nFor it must be remembered that the Vedanta is always profoundly practical\u2026<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

(Incomplete)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


\nPage-295
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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