“He who has not understanding, who is unmindful and ever impure, reaches not the goal, but goes on to transmigration. He, however, who has understanding, who is mindful and ever pure, reaches the goal from which he is born no more.” – Katha Upanishad1
In the last seven blogs we have examined ultimate reality in the Hindu scriptures called the Upanishads. These thinkers developed an astonishingly insightful description of ultimate reality composed of the following elements:
- The eternal cosmic rhythm of Creation, Maintenance, and Dissolution
- Brahman – the universal spirit (possibly manifesting as three demiurges – Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Maintainer, and Shiva the Destroyer)
- Âtman – our deepest inner self.
- Samsara (reincarnation) and moksha (liberation from rebirth)
- The eternal fire within the human heart: will (and perhaps for the unenlightened, desire).
- Karma – actions and their lasting consequences (in current and future incarnations).
- The Highest Good – Knowledge (especially of the unity of Brahman and ātman) which transcends good and evil, but which uncovers the innate goodness of ātman.
- “Om” (or “Aum”) – the sacred sound which symbolizes of God or the Absolute, and the optimal focus for meditation.
We also learned that the two great discoveries of the Upanishads were (1) the equation: ātman = Brahman and (2) karma terminates with Brahmātmaikyan (the identity of Brahman and atman) through a single focal point – desire.
For the Hindu practitioner this may be the stopping point, but for the Western philosopher (who may doubt the fact of literal reincarnation and other Hindu doctrines) we still need to re-interpret these elements for our purposes. The reader must forgive a certain naivety or audaciousness on my part imbued in my more metaphorical understanding.
THE ETERNAL COSMIC RYTHM
I believe the eternal cosmic triad – restated as (1) appearance, formation, or birth, (2) existence, subsistence, or life, and (3) disappearance, decay, or death – does in fact apply not only to matter and life, but also to cosmic entities such as stars and galaxies. This is among the most fundamental realities with which we must all come to terms.2 The wise person recognizes that the middle phase must be the focus of the meaningful life, that is, our time as living beings.
BRAHMAN
The Hindu notion of Brahman as the entirety of reality, the World Soul, and a divine being is mirrored in the scientific and Western philosophical notions of the cosmos (arguably a human construct). Neither the scientist nor the philosopher can prove the universe has consciousness (much less a soul), but then neither can this be definitively refuted. Consciousness and will remain mysterious even to those of us who have it and there remains no final test of its existence outside oneself, so we simply cannot know either way. The strict scientist and positivist philosopher may consider untestable theories as nonsense, but on the other hand, many individuals claim to experience a kind of mental immanence from the cosmos, an experience which remains unexplained.
(continued next post)
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1 McGreal, Ian P. (editor) Great Thinkers of the Eastern World. HarperCollinsPublishers, New York, 1995. ISBN 0-06-270085-5, page 158.
2 I am reminded of a similar if more poetic description by Laozi:
“All things in nature work silently. They come into being and possess nothing. They fulfil their function and make no claim. All things alike do their work, and then we see them subside. When they have reached their bloom each returns to its origin. Returning to their origin means rest, or fulfilment of destiny. This reversion is an eternal law. To know that law is wisdom.”
(from Will Durant’s Our Oriental Heritage, page 656-656.)
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