Home | First | Previous | Next - Page 31 |
Considering each of these theories, the most correct conclusion is that Brahman is the Prime Cause. Of course, the highest accessible Truth is not the Attributeless, Qualityless, Intangible, Inexplicable Brahman. It is the Saguna Brahman, the Brahman cognizable through the Qualities which It has imposed on Itself. This Cosmos, which is composed of Consciousness and non-consciousness, is the Body It has assumed. The Individual has to be endowed with Consciousness (Chaithanya) so that he can either commit or omit, do or desist from, actions which he feels he should carry out. What has to be done today or put off till tomorrow, which crops have to be grown in the coming year - such thoughts, plans and projects arise only in the field of Consciousness and not in non-conscious stone and wood, hill and dale. Willing is the sign of Consciousness; that which has it not, cannot will at all. When the Will emerged, Brahman became Iswara, God. And by that Will alone, God created the Cosmos or Jagath. From the superficial view (Sthoola Drishti), God and Jagath strike one as distinct. But when examined with subtle insight (Sookshma Drishti), one finds that there is not fundamental distinction between the material (padaarth) and the Maker (Param-aartha), the Living unit (Praani) and the Life Principle (Praana). The Life principle imposes a body on Itself and appears as Praani; and then from Praani, Praana emerges. The Vedic scriptures deal with the Brahman Principle and Its manifestations. They give man the treasure of wisdom and intuitive experience of that wealth (Jnana and Vijnana). But with the passage of time, the hymns, verses and sacred formulae (Mantras) were interpreted ritualistically. They were extolled and expounded as useful for attaining worldly and other-worldly objectives. Rites performed with the recital of these were considered as beneficial Karmas. In fact, there is nothing in Cosmos apart from or distinct from Brahman. All of it emanated from Brahman, all of it is absorbed (laya) in Brahman, and all of it moves and has its being in Brahman only. This truth is made clear by the Sutra, Thajjallaath: Thath (from That)
..Ja (born) ..La (absorbed) ..Aath (grows). These are the four feet on
which the proposition stands and is established. Birth, growth and death
form a Yajna or Sacrifice of the Purusha, the Person. |