The Realisation of the Absolute

A Treatise on the Vedanta Philosophy and Its Methodology
by Swami Krishnananda

The differences among the discriminative powers of different men are explained by the priority or the posteriority of some among them in the scale of development, whether they have arisen from an animal state or fallen from a celestial status quo. No two individuals rise up from the animal state or fall from the divine state at the same time; else, there would be identity of these individuals. So no two minds can ever coincide. In the pure self-attuned state of individuality there cannot be the question of Free-will or kriyamana-karma, for there is only Necessity or Ishvara’s Law of Being. But once the ego begins to function, the individual exercises its Free-will and subsequently may show signs of pain and suffering, if its efforts were not rightly directed to a non-selfish end, to the extent possible for it then. In the egoless state there can be no painful experience, as such a birth is directly caused by the Law of Necessity and not by individual Free-will. Man is a mixture of the divine consciousness and brute instinct, and so in the former aspect he has a little freedom of choice, but in the latter aspect he is under subjection to Necessity. In the case of men fallen to lower births, through their own actions, however, what functions is neither fresh Free-will nor Ishvara’s Law, but the result of the previous Free-will which has caused that fall. When we say ‘man’, we have to include therein all individuals like the Gandharvas, the Devas, etc. also, who may be not merely men risen-up due to good karmas and who therefore will certainly fall on the exhaustion of the force of their virtues, but also those who have been manifested directly by Ishvara’s original Will. Even the latter have egoism in them and so are subject to further descent, though they need not fall if they use their discrimination. Free-will is a function of the higher consciousness, but it is always connected with an ego, for it is absent in subhuman and super-individualistic beings who have neither egoism nor, consequently, a separate Free-will other than the Will of Ishvara or the Universal Law. In subhuman beings it is complete subjection to and ignorance of Law, and in super-individualistic beings it is knowledge of Truth and complete freedom that causes the absence of egoism and a separate Free-will. As long as this egoism persists there is a joint operation of Free-will and Necessity, midway between complete subjection and complete freedom. The freedom or Free-will that one has is inversely proportional to the sense of individuality that one has of oneself, and the Will of Ishvara or the Cosmic Force or Necessity that constrains one is directly proportional to it. Free-will is a symptom of desirelessness and expansion of consciousness to the extent indicated by it, and Necessity is the symptom of the opposite thereof. Absolute freedom is the consciousness of one’s being identical with the Absolute Necessity or Law, and it appears to constrain the individual as long as the individual is devoid of the consciousness of Unity and is attached to dualistic consciousness. Truly speaking, even the little freedom of choice which the human being seems to possess is a limited reflection of this Absolute Law in a particular degree.

The question of Free-will and necessity can be answered only by understanding the relation of the jiva to jagat and Ishvara. There is always a very intimate connection of the one with the other. None is prior to the other or posterior to the other. The three rise simultaneously in the consciousness and also subside simultaneously. There is no cause-and-effect- relationship among these necessary categories of experience. Ishvara is the name given to the Supreme Absolute appearing to operate in the universe of dualistic experience and giving a value to all conceptions and perceptions within it.

Brahman appears as the Supreme Person… etc.—If there is no cessation of the essential nature of Brahman, and if Brahman appears as Ishvara even as a rope appears as a snake, Ishvara can have no reality as distinct from Brahman.

If it is said that… Who created the individuals?— Even the view that Ishvara merely acts through his very existence itself as a cause of the manifestation of the potentialities of the previous world-cycle does not warrant the position of an Ishvara who can be completely isolated from Brahman. This could as well be effected by Brahman itself, for Ishvara’s part is only causing activity through his mere existence. If it is said that there is possible activity on the part of Ishvara, which cannot be attributed to the immutable Brahman, the question, “What prompts Ishvara to act?”, is still left unanswered. Even the theory that Ishvara imagined Himself to be many is open to the same objection. Compassion, necessity and sport (lila) cannot give a satisfactory answer, for Brahman cannot have compassion for itself, is not compelled by any necessity to act, and being supreme perfection does not feel the need for diversion or play. Without the perception of duality there can be no showing of compassion, feeling any necessity or desiring to sport. These views are inconsistent with the Non-Duality of Brahman.

Further, the view that the freed souls should wait… etc.—There can be no waiting of the liberated souls in Ishvara until the end of the world-cycle unless the world-cycle is an objective fact even to the Absolute. There is, however, no reliable proof for the existence of an objectively eternal process, except with reference to the jivas or the individuals of the universe. Is the world eternal or non-eternal? If it is eternal, what happens to it when the jiva attains Self-realisation? If it still persists, the Absolute Self would be a subject knowing an external world, which would mean that there is something second to the Self. If the world is non-eternal, it should have an end, and Ishvara would be only another name for Brahman and not a separate reality, since the world which is the defining form of Ishvara becomes non-existent. Such being the case, there can be no waiting of jivas in Ishvara till the end of the world-cycle, provided the individuality is completely transcended. This immediate self-transcendence is sadyo-mukti. But, if there is something of the individual left in the jiva, which prevents it from experiencing immediate kaivalya, still, it cannot be that it has to wait till the end of the kalpa of another person, for, to it, the end of kalpa is the end of its own individuality, after which nothing can prevent it from experiencing the Absolute. Hence, there can be no such thing as sarva-mukti or universal salvation except as the liberation of all the jivas independently and at different times. This does not, however, conflict with the theory of krama-mukti, for the latter only means the jiva’s temporary assuming of the form of a subtle and pervasive mental being until the potentialities of such an objective experience are exhausted through experience itself. Ishvara is real as long as the jiva is real, and when the latter realises Pure Consciousness there can be none holding it back from that realisation. But, until that state is reached, it has to be accepted that Ishvara, the Law of the Absolute, will definitely control the jiva. If, on the other hand, we are to assert that even the freed soul is barred in the state of Ishvara from attaining complete Perfection, it would mean the introduction of a tyrant independent of the liberated souls, who can act as he likes, even against the liberated ones who have become one with Truth, which theory would also indirectly give rise to the possibilities of partiality on the part of Ishvara, eternal damnation of souls, and such untenable positions. Such an Ishvara may hold these souls in himself eternally and there is no reason why he should release them even at the end of the kalpa. If it is said that they are held in on account of the existence of an objective Ishvara till the end of the kalpa, the question again arises, “What makes Ishvara stay till the end of the kalpa?” Further, that there can be an object in relation to the freed Self is without meaning. The whole of such a theory lends itself to absurdity when pressed on to its logical limits.

Ishvara’s creation cannot be explained in terms of the different individuals… etc.—The individuals are objects of perception and their reality is not established as long as they are not contained in a real conscious cause or perceiver. This cause is certainly not anything that is directly perceived through the senses or the mind. It has only to be inferred on the basis of Scripture and empirical necessity. The effect is proved to be real through a cause which is postulated as real, and the cause is proved to exist through the perception of the effect. The reasoning ends in a vicious circle and no objective reality is established to be true, for nothing objective can be a constituent of consciousness.

It is also said that Ishvara divided himself… etc.— If Ishvara has not really become the many, but merely appears as the manifold world, the causality of Ishvara can only be an appearance, and there remains no real thing second to Brahman.

These difficulties in proving the existence of Ishvara … etc.—Ishvara is nothing more than the object of a logical understanding of Reality underlying the universe. He is to be posited because the universe is perceived. The presence of an Ishvara forces itself, by way of necessity, upon the experience of the universe. This Ishvara is dissolved in Pure Consciousness when there is Self-realisation.

And, wherever Ishvara is identified with the Supreme Self… etc.—Ishvara is many times referred to in the Upanishads as Brahman itself, for they consider every degree of reality—anna, prana, manas, vijnana, etc.—as manifesting Brahman in a lesser or a greater degree. Sometimes they even consider these as the entire Brahman. They would never see anything but Brahman in everything. Many a time they do not make any distinction between form and essence; to them, all is the essence, even the form is nothing but the essence. This is a very highly developed view. But when Ishvara is made a real link in the chain of causation we are constrained to make a distinction between this empirical conception we have of Brahman and Brahman as it is in itself. If the causal notion is discarded, there is no objection to identifying Ishvara with Brahman. Sometimes Ishvara is called the Self of all beings, the Supreme Lord, the Reality of the universe, and the like. Here it is the Consciousness in Ishvara and not his causal nature that is thus identified. In spiritual perception Ishvara and Brahman are one. In empirical judgment Ishvara appears as a category involved in the universe.

The Method of the ‘Denial’ of objectivity.— The aspirant should practise profound meditation on the Non-Dual Consciousness by negating the objective consciousness which is inconsistent with the eternity of the Real. The meditating consciousness should ground itself firmly in its own Source by understanding clearly that duality cannot be real, and the distinctions among jiva, jagat and Ishvara are not true, since (1) everything is relative, one depending on the other for its empirical existence, and nothing in its isolation can be independent or genuinely existent, (2) everything has a presented or objective character, it being involved in space, time and causation, and is not really connected with the eternal experiencing Consciousness, and also nothing is certain or free from dubitableness except the deepest Consciousness of one’s own existence, (3) the waking-experiences have all the characteristics of dream-experiences, and vice versa, notwithstanding a higher degree of reality manifest in the waking-world, (4) no empirical experience persists for all time, but everyone is contradicted by another that takes its place, (5) causation is merely a belief based on practical relative experience and is not logically warranted or established by any valid proof, and (6) in Self-realisation the whole dualistic universe is negatived.

The brahmakara-vritti.—The brahmakara-vritti is the subtlest, the purest and the most expansive state of the higher mind which reflects within it the Consciousness of Brahman. Even this vritti, though the highest of psychical functions, is ultimately relative, for it is meant to destroy the primal ignorance which is also relative. There can be no relation between the destroyer and the destroyed except when both these occupy the same locus, i.e., when the two are relative. An absolute principle cannot be destroyed; nor can what is absolute and unrelated be the destroyer of anything. Ignorance is not absolute but relative, and it can be destroyed only by a knowledge which is also relative. It is vrittijnana or psychic intelligence, which has an object, and not svarupajnana or the Essential Consciousness which has nothing second to it, that becomes the destroyer of ignorance. When its work of sublating ignorance is completed, the brahmakara-vritti subsides by itself for want of an object, and there is then the Absolute- Experience.

The Factor of Devout Meditation.— meditation should be practised by one sitting in one asana, preferably padmasana, with fingers showing chinmudra and arms stretched straight to touch the knees or with arms bent and with palms opened upward and kept one over the other midway between the two heels (in padmasana). Though there is no restriction regarding posture in the practice of Jnana-Yoga, it is helpful for one to start meditation or manana and nididhyasana being seated in padmasana. Meditation should be continued till death, or till the rise of Self-Knowledge.

In the beginning, it is advisable to select a suitable place and time for meditation, conducive to the psychological factors that are likely to promote it. When, however, the sadhaka is well established in meditation, it can be practised at any place or time, by merely withdrawing the mind from awareness of externals.