METAPHYSICS
Easwaran follows classic Hinduism in his metaphysics. Reality is dual – prakriti and purusha. Prakriti is essentially the material or empirical world and that which changes. Like Kant, he believes our perceptions are not strictly accurate, that is, sensory experience does not reveal the ‘thing-in-itself.’ Nonetheless, things which we perceive are real which is to say the physical world is not hallucination.
Easwaran explains that prakriti is the undifferentiated energy from which all things and principles derive and evolve. He notes this conception aligns with modern physics which establishes that separate phenomena dissolve into a flux of energy at the subatomic level.3 However, prakriti consists of a field of three forces or gunas: tamas (inertia), rajas (activity), and sattva (harmony) akin to the three states of matter (solid, liquid, and gas). These fields then make up the fabric of existence, but also create a veil (maya) that hides the unity of reality within multiplicity.4
Purusha is the immaterial spirit or eternal Self not entangled with the gunas, but instead the witness to prakriti. Key here is that the ‘true’ human is not the body, the mind, the ego, or even the intellect all of which are changing and thus prakriti.5 Rather we are our unadulterated consciousness or Self which is unchanging. This Self or atman is the transcendental knower and the spark of divinity at the human core. Of course, God or Brahman is also immaterial and unchanging and so purusha as well.
A second major metaphysical principle implicit in Easwaran’s teachings is two tiers of freedom. The first level of freedom is the freedom of choice. Easwaran rejects determinism; each of us can choose our course in the world – either to tie ourselves to physical reality (with the consequences of karma) or to seek the higher reality of purusha. The second level of freedom is that which comes from meditation and devotion to God wherein we are freed from the gunas, karma, change, and death. This higher level of freedom is known as moksha in Hinduism and nirvana in Buddhism.
The problem confronting us is that our immediate experience of prakriti is through the veil of maya. Maya is textured as opposites such as happiness and sorrow or pleasure and pain. If we cling to the physical world of likes and dislikes, we are excluded from the higher order of freedom.6 Easwaran offers his particular path to ultimate freedom through an eight step program which we will discuss later.
(further continued next post)
—————————————————-
3Easwaran, Eknath (translator) The Bhagavad Gita. Nilgiri Press, Petaluma,California, 2007. ISBN 978-1-58638-019-9, page 29.
4Ibid. pages 40-44,
5Easwaran, Eknath, Like a Thousand Suns. Nilgiri Press, Petaluma,California, 1979 . ISBN 0-915132-04-4, page 36.
6Ibid. page 84.
—————————————–
Having trouble leaving a question or comment? E-mail me at gregoryciliberti@gmail.com
