Introduction
The real is beyond all conceptions of personality and
impersonality. We call it the Absolute to show our sense of the inadequacy of
all terms and definitions. We call it God to show that it is the basis of all
that exists and the goal of all. Personality is a symbol and if we ignore its
symbolic character it is likely to shut us from the truth. The Real is that
which has no change and remains the same in all periods of time - past, present
and future. It always is. It is that which does not die when the body withers
and that which is not born when a body is born. It is what we call as Atman,
soul or spirit in English. The atman is never born, never dies, and it is
changeless and eternal. The II Cor. (4. 18) states, “For the things which are
seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” It occupies
all matter living and non- living. The real never dies and the unreal never exists as it is
continuously dying (changing). Universal Spirit (Brahman) or God is the only
truth which never changes & always remains the same.
“Words such as
“flower,”, “dog” and “human” are simply names, symbols we attach to patters of
computation. This, in fact, is the Vedic understanding not of life but of the
material body. In the Eleventh Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, Krishna says to
Uddhava that the gross and subtle forms of material bodies have no existence of
their own; they are only temporary patters manifested by an eternally existing
substrate of reality, called the Absolute truth.”[1]
Krishna says in Bhagavad-Gita (2.20) that the soul, the
individual conscious self, eternally exists: “For the soul there is never birth
or death. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not
come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, and primeval. He is not
slain when the body is slain.”[2]
The Supreme is Unmanifest, Supreme, Exhaustless and
Imperishable. It displays itself in the garment if the ever-changing phenomena
and so appears to partake of their character. It transcends all and yet it
pervades and permeates all. Everything is strung on it like gems on a thread
(7: 7), and yet it is above and beyond all modifications (7: 13, 24, 8: 22,
10:22). “It is neither Being, nor not- Being. It appears to possess the
functions of the senses and yet is devoid of the senses; without all beings and
yet within; not moving, yet moving; far and yet so near; undivided, yet seeming to subsist divided in all beings”
( 13: 12-16) a description which brings together several texts of the Isha,
Katha, and Mundaka Upanishads. The Supreme is really neither exclusively
transcendent nor exclusively immanent. It is idle to imprison the Inconceivable
in finite concepts. But that should not
mean that it is an abstraction or a negation. It is altogether too big and too
vast to be confined in concepts, it baffles complete or anything like adequate
description. As Prof. James put it in his picturesque American way, ‘It is
superlucent, super-splendent, super-essential, super-sublime, and super-everything
that can be named.”[3]
On the other hand, the unreal is that which does not remain
the same for two successive moments. Whatever did not exist in the past or will
not exist in the future cannot really exist in the present. That which is not
in the beginning and which will not be in the end, but which seemingly exists
in the present is called un-Real. Any object conditioned by the law of cause
and effect is not absolutely real because every effect is a change brought
about by a cause and every cause is temporary. The Gita uses the much
–discussed term maya, the mystery
which deludes one of the Reality. Maya is not an illusion, or a mirage, but a
veil or an obstacle that hides the Real, the thick strata, physical and mental,
which overlay the Divine in us, the clouds that obscure the Sun in us, and the
golden lid that covers the face of Truth.
Glimpses of real and the unreal in Bhagavad-Gita
The Imperishable is the Supreme Brhaman. The term Brahman
indicates the one changeless and imperishable subjective essence behind the
phenomenal world. It becomes Self, the Conscious Principle which illumines the
body, mind and intellect during all their pilgrimages from birth to death
through the infinite varieties of their vicissitudes. The presence of Self in
each individual body is called Adhyatma. Though the Self is formless and
subtle, it is all-pervading. Its glory and might, power and grace are felt,
experienced and lived by each physical structure. The Conscious Principle is
that which illumines all the thought waves that rise in mind, functioning in
that given embodiment. The Infinite Self being one everywhere, it is the same
Principle that illumines the entire different embodiment, all the thought
experience, at all times. The Self is considered as the most ancient because
the Eternal Truth is that which was before all creation, which ramians the same
all through the ages of existence, and which shall ever remain the same ever
after the projections of the plurality have ended.[4]
The Adhibhuta, as a contrast to the Imperishable (Akshara), is
the perishable equipment (kshara), the world of prakriti, through which the
potential dynamism, vigour and glory of Infinite Self express themselves.
Between the kshara and Akshara, there is as much difference s between a
steam-engine and the steam, a running caar and the horse-power in the petrol, a
singing radio and the electric current that makes it possible for the radio to
sing. In short, perishable (kshara) indicates the whole world of phenomenon of
the universe.
According understanding of Hinduism, the world in which we
live is called unreal not because of that it does not exist, but because it is
unstable, impermanent, unreliable, ever changing and illusory. It is unreal
because it is transient & changing every second. Just check the things
around you, these are changing every second. So this changing world, which is
not permanent is called Maya or illusion & not real. The concept of Maya,
the very existence of an individual as a separate entity is unreal. As long as
the individual thinks that he or she is different from the rest of the creation
and strives to work for his or her own ends, protecting, furthering nurturing
and defending his or her own ego or
individuality, he or she suffers from illusion and his or her ego
continues. The journey into an unknown future shaped by his or her endless
actions and desires continue. We find different characteristics of real or
truth or Ultimate reality in Bhagavad Gita starting from Chapter 2: 11 onwards:
sri
bhagavaan uvaacha
ashochyaan anvashochastwam prajnaavaadaamshcha
bhaashase
gataasoon agataasoomshcha naanushochanti
panditaah (Bhagwat Gita:
Chap. Two verse 11)
Sri Krishna says: ‘You grieve for those who are not to be
grieved for; and yet you speak words of wisdom! The learned do not grieve for
the departed and those who have not departed.’ The cause for Arjuna’s suffering
and distress is because when he looks at his relatives, friends and teachers
lined up on the opposite side, the feeling of ‘me’ and ‘mine’ becomes very
strong in him, the central point being the sense of ‘I.’ A man is grieved when
he categorizes some objects or persons as his own and some others as not his
own. This sense of mine and not-mine - attachment for things considered as
one’s own and indifference for things considered as not one’s own - is called
ego which is the source of all grief, worry, fear and confusion. Rediscovering
oneself to be really higher than one’s ego is the end of all sorrows arising
out of false identification or relationship.
So Krishna went to the bottom of this grief, sorrow, misery
and suffering and explained that a wise man does not have the sense of ‘I’,
‘me’ and ‘mine’. Such a man is not bound by any tie or attachment of any kind.
naasato vidyate bhaavo naabhaavo vidyate satah
ubhayorapi drishto’ntastwanayos tattwadarshibhih (Bhagwat Gita: Chap. Two verse 16)
The English translation of the verse is given as: The unreal
has no existence. The Real never ceases to be (never ceases to exist). Men
possessed of the knowledge of the Truth fully know both these. The material
objects belong to the Prakruti or nature. The nature is an ever changing
entity. The human body and it five sheaths is also a part of nature and it is
subject to birth and death. In fact the changes in the body is so fast and
persistent that it changes by the second, even millisecond so much so that the
body you see before closing your eyes is not the same when you open them. If we
observe closely, we will realize that the body was not there when one was not
born nor it will remain when one dies.
This verse also indicates that the mental tranquility can occur
only through right interpretation of life.
Right interpretation of life involves knowing what is real and what is
un-Real. We know that the life is finite. The body changes every moment, mind
evolves and intellect grows with the passage of time. Each change in the body for example from
childhood to youth and from youth to old age results in the constant death to
its previous state. Body, mind and intellect constitute the continuous
succession of the changes and all of them cannot be real. A thing which never
remains the same for any given period is un-Real. The whole of the phenomenal world must be
unreal because no one state in it endures even for a fraction of the time.
But there must be some real entity behind these changes. For the changes to take place there must be
some changeless substratum just as a river bed is necessary for the rivers to
flow. In order to hold together
innumerable experiences at the levels of body, mind and intellect and to give
them a cohesive whole which is called life, a changeless substratum is required
for all.
That something which remains unchanged all through the
changes is the Real and it is nothing other than the Self in all, the Pure
Awareness, and Consciousness. What is changing must be unreal and what is
constant must be real. When the soul is overpowered by ignorance, the un-Real
which is the names and forms of the phenomenal world, veils the unchanging
reality - the Atman, Consciousness - which manifest and which is not
conditioned by causality. This Self is the unchanging Witness of the changes in
the relative world as in the case of the river bed and a flowing river. This
Awareness by which one becomes conscious of things in one's life - because of
which one is considered alive, but for which one will have no existence in the
given embodiment - That Spiritual Entity, Eternal, All Pervading, Unborn and
Undying, the One Changeless factor is the Infinite in him. And this is the Atman, Consciousness which is
the Real.
Maya in Gita
By reason of delusion, man takes wring to be right. We see
how Arjuna was led to make a difference between kinsman and non-kinsmen. To
demonstrate that this is a vain distinction, Lord Krishana distinguishes
between body ( not-Self) and Atman (Self) and shows that while bodies are
impermanent and several, Atman is permanent and one. The gunas or prakriti
within us and without us are maya which dazzales us and blinds us astray. The
bondage, the separateness, the diversity is caused by this maya. The world of
name and form strikes no our senses, the various ornaments of gold, for
instance, appear to us as so many different ornaments, the multitudinous waves
appear to us as so many waves, but we do not see the gold and the unchanging sea,
we do not see the Nameless and the Formless of which we see numerous forms.
Lord Krishna in Bhagavad-Gita gives details about the 'Maya'
in its various chapters.
"mama
yonir mahad brahma
tasmin
garbham dadhamy aham
sambhavah
sarva-bhutanam
tato
bhavati bharata"
(Bhagwat Gita: Chap. Fourteen verse 3)
"Sri Krishna says: O Arjuna, My womb is the great Nature
(Prakriti or MAYA) which is the source of birth of all living entities, and it
is in that I place the germ (embryo of life). Thus it makes possible the births
of all living beings."
"sarva-yonisu
kaunteya
murtayah
sambhavanti yah
tasam
brahma mahad yonir
aham
bija-pradah pita" (Bhagwat Gita: Chap. Fourteen verse 4)
"Sri Krishna says: O Arjuna, It should be understood
that all species of life, are made possible by birth in this material nature
(Prakriti or MAYA), and that I am the seed-giving father."
"prakrityaiva
cha karmani
kriyamanani
sarvasah
yah
pasyati tathatmanam
akartaram
sa pasyati" (Bhagwat
Gita: Chap.Thirteen verse 30)
"Sri Krishna says: O Arjuna, One who can see that all
activities are performed by the nature (Maya) alone and sees that the self does
nothing, actually sees." (The Self is the silent witness).
Ramakrishna on Maya
Ramakrishna acknowledged the power of Maya in life. He was
all love and reverence for maya, perceiving in it a mysterious and majestic
expression of Divinity. To him Maya was God. He discovered that maya operates
in the relative world in two ways and he termed these "avidyamaya"
and "vidyamaya.' Avidyamaya sustains lower planes, but vidyamaya is
enlightening, including qualities like kindness. Vidyamaya elevates a man to a
better consciousness. With the help of vidyamaya he then gets free of maya, if
only for a while. The two aspects of maya are two forces of creation.
In the guru Ramakrishna's experience, Maya was divine.
Ramakrishna "did not, like a Vedantic scholar, repudiate the world as
maya, but gave it a spiritual status, seeing in it the manifestation of Chit
and Ananda." Ramakrishna had a "vision of the divine Maya, the
inscrutable Power of God, by which the universe is created and sustained."
Personal Reflection
We need to know the difference between body and Atman because
body is impermanent while the Atman is permanent. Effort is within the man’s control,
not the fruit thereof. All he has to do is to decide his course of conduct or
duty on each occasion and persevere in it, unconcerned about the result.
Fulfilment of one’s duty in the spirit of detachment or selflessness leads to
freedom. St. Ignatius of Loyola would say in this line, work as though
everything depends on you and pray as though everything depends on God. We are very much aware that none of us is
fully governed by one the three gunas- sattva, rajas or tamas. We need to rise
to a state in which we are governed predominantly by the sattva principle,
until at last we rise beyond the three and are Perfect Man. The illustration
from the physical world would suffice our wish. Take water, which in its solid
state remains on the earth: it cannot ascend until it is rarefied into steam.
But once it is rarefied into steam it rises up in the sky where at last it is
transformed into clouds which drop down in the form of rain and fructify and
bless the earth. We are all like water, we have to strive so to rarefy
ourselves that all the ego in us perishes and we merge in the infinite to the
eternal good of all.”[5]
The purpose of human life is to realize the truth and work
for unity with the Divine. The senses draw us towards the sense objects and
through the process of attraction or
repulsion give us feelings of joy or suffering, rendering our minds unstable
and vulnerable most of the time. The
world draws us into its vortex of confusion and misery as we try to embrace it.
There is no escape for us from this world of illusion, unless we wriggle out of
our individualities and realize our true nature. We all are subject to it.
Those who think they are not are in fact in greater danger because their minds
have already become intoxicated by its blinding influence. Keeping us chained
to our individual selves, making us do things which would result in frequent
conflicts with the outside world, it binds us to our selfishness and our
respective interests, building walls of isolation and ignorance all around us.
We cannot overcome this problem of our existence unless we
learn to look at ourselves with a different awareness, hold back ourselves and
our petty interests, and accept life as it comes to us. We cannot qualify for
liberation from this world, unless we cease to be ourselves and stop all manner
of struggling and striving and protecting and furthering our individual
interests. There are of course divergent views about the true nature of the
sensory world that exists all around us. These beliefs subsequently gave birth
to the Dvaita and Advaita and Vishistadvaita schools of thought with further
variations among them.
Conclusion
The true knowledge is that with the eye of which one sees
each and every being in the universe in one’s self and then in God. True
spiritual knowledge makes one rest in the vision of con-substantiality of the
Self in man and God. The Gita succinctly sums up that the long section of the
Mandaka, declares knowledge to be the sure boat to take even the most abandoned
sinner across the ocean of sin, and describes the ways and means to find that
knowledge of loving homage and service and repeated questioning and inquiry of
a Master of knowledge.
The Bhagavad-Gita gives its own verdict on this subject, ‘The
self is the enemy of the self and the self is also the friend of the
self’. The outer self is an enemy of the
inner self when we become attached with the external world, turn selfish and
egoistic and it is a friend when we become selfless and detached innerly. It is only through self we can ultimately
raise ourselves beyond our limited awareness and our illusory attitude towards
life. It is fallacious to believe that God would come and rescue us from this
problem, without the necessary effort from our side. Thus we find three gunas:
sattvika, rajasa and tamasa at work in us. These three kinds of agents, act,
perception, understanding, will, happiness, are described in order that man may
ever bend his energies zestfully and without thought of success or failure (18:
26) to rise from the impure to the pure, from selfishness to selflessness, from
darkness to light, from ignorance to knowledge.
[1]
Richard L. Thompson, “Life: Real and Artificial,” God & Science: Divine Causation and the Laws of Nature (Delhi:
Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Ltd., 2010), 114.
[2]
Ibid., 114.
[3]
Mahadev Desai, THE GOSPEL OF SELFLESS
ACTION (Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House, 1946), 41.
[4] Swami
Chinmayananda, THE HOLY GEETA
(Bombay: Central Chinmaya Mission Trust), 480.
[5] M.
D. Weekly Letter, Young India
12-01-1928)
6. Internet
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