ULTIMATE REALITY –HINDUISM– SYNTHESIS

“If we strip this thought of the various forms – figurative in the highest degree and not seldom extravagant – as it appears in the Vedantic texts, and fix our attention on it solely in its philosophical simplicity as to the identity of the Divine and the soul, the SELF and the self, it will be found to possess a significance reaching far beyond the Upanishads, their time and country, Nay, we claim for it an inestimable value for the whole of mankind.” – Paul Jakob Deussen¹

Last time I summarized ultimate reality in Hindusim as four basic principles: Brahman or God, mystical truths, laws governing reality, and human apotheosis – now presented in outline form:

1 .God – Brahman, singular and total, abstract and concrete, eternal and unchanging, beyond description, form, and understanding, infinite consciousness, Being itself.

2. Mystical Truths

(1) Brahman is both Absolute and non-absolute, creator and destroyer, transcendent and immanent, personal and impersonal, pure love and cosmic judge (karma);

(2) Reality is dual and non-dual, purusha and prakriti;

(3) Inner experience reveals a unity of existence and of consciousness (“Tat tvam asi”).

3. Governing Laws

(1) The cycle of the universe and its parts – creation, preservation, and destruction – interwoven with evolution of change;

(2) Two levels of freedom: autonomy of choice and release from bondage to the physical world; (3) Karma which legislates the consequences of free actions;

(4) Three gunas that condition all entities of the physical world;

(5) The inescapable objective of human existence to return to the original source – Brahman.

4. Human Apotheosis – the innermost Atman, the direct experience of identity with Brahman, immortality as moksha triumphing over samsara, the yogic paths, the dharma of desirelessness and selflessness, grace through faith (shaddra), and finally the summum bonum of union with the Absolute, hyperconsciousness, bliss, prana, and the eternal ‘life divine.’

Let’s see how well this picture comports with science, philosophy, alternate religions, and human experience.

GOD

The Hindu concept of God corresponds well with other theistic religions in that God is singular and defies human conception and description. Likewise all see God’s absoluteness as indescribable and best understood by means of the via negativa. As in other religions, God is entirely beneficent, infinitely loving, and grants grace to the worthy, but also imposes justice (karma) on wrongfulness. As elsewhere God is ‘personal’ meaning direct contact is possible through humility, selflessness, discipline, and contemplation. However Hinduism uniquely, if tacitly, endorses alternative religious beliefs, considering the divine being of other faiths as identical to its own, and de facto recognizing most doctrines as fitting into a universal religion.

To the extent philosophy provides for a divine being, thinkers also settle on monotheism. The philosopher’s ‘God’ must be absolute as the origin of existence, order, intelligence, and truth – that is, an immaterial if also material being. The philosopher notes a mere creator of the universe cannot be ultimate, but is rather a demigod. In addition Heidegger’s procedure of understanding ultimate Being by investigation of dasein or human being finds an analogue in Hindu thought.

Science of course brackets or denies the existence of God. However, the cosmologist’s explanation of the universe springing from an otherwise unexplained primordial singularity comports well with the Hindu belief that the universe arose from the single ‘cosmic egg’ from the ‘unfolding’ of divine consciousness – although the qualitative difference is significant. In addition, some scientists concede the possibility of a kind of consciousness arising from non-organic processes within the universe (or multiverse), also consonant with Hindu scripture.