Jnâna Yoga, Part II · Swami Vivekananda
THE HIGHEST IDEAL OF JNÂNA YOGA
As this is the last of these classes it is better that I give a brief _resumé_ of all that I have been trying to tell you. In the Vedas and Upanishads we find records of some of the very earliest religious ideas of the Hindus, ideas that long antedated the time of Kapila, ancient as this great sage is. He did not propound the _Sânkhya_ philosophy as a new theory of his own. His task was to throw the light of his genius on the vast mass of religious theories that were existing in his time and bring out a rational and coherent system. He succeeded in giving India a psychology that is accepted to the present day by all the diverse and seemingly opposing philosophical systems to be found among the Hindus. His masterly analysis and his comprehensive statement of the processes of the human mind have not yet been surpassed by any later philosopher and he undoubtedly laid the foundation for the Advaita philosophy, which accepted his conclusions as far as they went and then pushed them a step farther, thus reaching a final unity beyond the duality that was the last word of the _Sânkhyas_.
Among the religious ideas that preceded the time of Kapila the first groups that we see coming up,--I mean among recognized religious ideas, and not the very low ones, which do not deserve the name of religion,--all include the idea of inspiration, and revealed book and so forth. In the earliest step, the idea of creation is very peculiar; it is that the whole universe is created out of zero, at the will of God; that all this universe did not exist, and out of nothingness all this has come. In the next stage we find this conclusion is questioned. The first step in Vedânta asks this question: How can existence be produced out of non-existence? If this universe is existent it must have come out of something, because it was easy for them to see that there is nothing coming out of nothing anywhere. All work that is going on by human hands requires materials. Naturally, therefore, the ancient Hindus rejected the first idea that this world was created out of nothing, and sought some material out of which this world was created. The whole history of religion, in fact, is this search for material. Out of what has all this been produced? Apart from the question of the efficient cause, or God, apart from the question whether God created the universe, the great question of all questions has been, out of what did God create it? All the philosophies are turning, as it were, on this question.
One solution is that nature and God and soul are eternal existences, as if three parallel lines are running eternally, of which nature and soul comprise what they call the dependent, and God the independent Being. Every soul, like every particle of matter, is perfectly dependent on the will of God. These and many other ideas we find already existing when the _Sânkhya_ psychology was brought forward by Kapila. According to it, perception comes by the transmission of the suggestion, which causes perception first to the eyes, from the eyes to the organs, from the organs to the mind, the mind to the _buddhi_ and from the _buddhi_ to something which is a unit, which they call the _Âtman_. Coming to modern physiology we know that they have found centres for all the different sensations. First are found the lower centres, then a higher grade of centres, and these two will exactly correspond with the actions of the _buddhi_ and the _manas_ (mind), but not one centre has been found which controls all the other centres, so philosophy cannot answer what unifies all these centres. Where and how do the centres get unified? The centres in the brain are all different, and there is not one centre which controls all the others; therefore, so far as it goes, the _Sânkhya_ psychology stands unchallenged upon this point. We must have this unification, something upon which the sensations will be reflected to form a complete whole. Until there is that something I cannot have any idea of you, or the picture, or anything else. If we had not that unifying something we would only see, then after a while hear, and then feel, and while we heard a man talking we should not see him at all, because all the centres are different.
This body is made of particles which we call matter, and it is dull and insentient. So is what is called the fine body. The fine body, according to the _Sânkhyas_ is a little body, made of very fine particles, so fine that no microscope can see them. What is the use of it? It is the receptacle of what we call mind. Just as this gross body is the receptacle of the grosser forces, so the fine body is the receptacle of the finer forces, that which we call thought, in its various modifications. First is the body, which is gross matter, with gross force. Force cannot exist without matter. It can only manifest itself through matter, so the grosser forces work through the body and those very forces become finer; the very force which is working in a gross form works in a fine form and becomes thought. There is no real difference between them, simply one is the gross and the other the fine manifestation of the same thing. Neither is there any difference in substance between the fine body and the gross body. The fine body is also material, only very fine material.
Whence do all these forces come? According to the Vedânta philosophy there are two things in Nature, one of which they call _Âkâsa_, which is substance, or matter, infinitely fine, and the other they call _Prâna_. Whatever you see, or feel, or hear, as air or earth, or anything, is material. And everything is a form of this _âkâsa_. It becomes finer and finer, or grosser and grosser, and it changes under the action of _Prâna_ (universal Energy). Like _âkâsa_, _prâna_ is omnipresent, interpenetrating everything. _Âkâsa_ is like the water, and everything else in the universe like blocks of ice, made out of that water and floating in it, and _prâna_ is the power that changes the _âkâsa_ into all these various forms. This body is the instrument made out of _âkâsa_ for the manifestation of _prâna_ in gross forms, as muscular motion, or walking, sitting, talking, and so on. The fine body also is made of _âkâsa_, a much finer form of _âkâsa_, for the manifestation of the same _prâna_ in the finer form of thought. So, first there is this gross body, beyond that is the fine body, and beyond that is the _jiva_ (soul), the real man. Just as these finger nails can be pared off a hundred times a year, and yet are still a part of our bodies, not different, so we have not two bodies. It is not that man has a fine and also a gross body; it is the one body, only it remains longer when it is a fine body, and the grosser it is the sooner it dissolves. Just as I can cut this nail a hundred times a year, so millions of times I can shed this body in one æon, but the fine body will remain. According to the dualists this _jiva_, or the real man, is very fine, minute.
So far we have seen that man is a being who has first a gross body which dissolves very quickly, then a fine body which remains through æons, and lastly a _jiva_. This _jiva_, according to the Vedânta philosophy, is eternal, just as God is eternal, and Nature is also eternal, but changefully eternal. The material of Nature, the _prâna_ and the _âkâsa_, are eternal, but are changing into different forms eternally. Matter and force are eternal, but their combinations vary continually. The _jiva_ is not manufactured, either of _âkâsa_, or of _prâna_; it is immaterial, and therefore will remain for ever. It is not the result of any combination of _prâna_ and _âkâsa_, and whatever is not the result of combination will never be destroyed, because destruction is decomposition. That which is not a compound cannot be destroyed. The gross body is a compound of _âkâsa_ and _prâna_ in various forms and will be decomposed. The fine body will also be decomposed after a long time, but the _jiva_ is a simple, and will never be destroyed. For the same reason, we cannot say it ever was born. Nothing simple can be born; the same argument applies. Only that which is a compound can be born. The whole of this nature combined in these millions of forms is under the will of God. God is all pervading, omniscient, formless, everywhere, and He is directing this nature day and night. The whole of it is under His control. There is no independence of any being. It cannot be. He is the Ruler. This is the teaching of dualistic Vedânta.
Then the question comes, if God be the Ruler of this universe, why did He create such a wicked universe, why must we suffer so much? The answer is made that it is not God’s fault. It is our own fault that we suffer. Whatever we sow that we reap. God does not do anything to punish us. If a man is born poor, or blind, or lame, he did something before he was born in that way, something that produced these results. The _jiva_ has been existing for all time, was never created. It has been doing all sorts of things all the time. Whatever we do we suffer for. If we do good we shall have happiness, and if bad, unhappiness. This _jiva_ is by its own nature pure, but ignorance covers its nature, says the dualist. As by evil deeds it has covered itself with ignorance, so by good deeds it can become conscious of its own nature again. Just as it is eternal, so its nature is pure. The nature of every being is pure. When through good deeds all its sins and misdeeds have been washed away, then the _jiva_ becomes pure again, and when he becomes pure he goes after death by what is called _Devayana_ (the path of the gods), to heaven, or the abode of the gods. If he has been only an ordinarily good man he goes to what is called the “Abode of the Fathers.”
When the gross body falls, the organs of speech enter the mind. You cannot think without words; wherever there are words there must be thought. The mind is resolved into the _prâna_, and the _prâna_ resolves into the _jiva_. Then the _jiva_ leaves the body and goes to that condition of reward or punishment which he has earned by his past life. _Devaloka_ is the “place (or abode) of the gods.” The word _deva_ (god) means bright or shining one, and corresponds to what the Christians and Mohammedans call “angels.” According to this teaching there are various heavenly spheres somewhat analogous to the various heavens described by Dante in the _Divine Comedy_. There are the heaven of the fathers (or _pitris_), _devaloka_, the lunar sphere, the electric sphere and highest of all the _Brahmaloka_, the heaven of _Brahma_. From all the lower heavens the _jiva_ returns again to human birth, but he who attains to _Brahmaloka_ lives there through all eternity. These are the highest men who have become perfectly unselfish, perfectly purified, who have given up all desires, do not want to do anything except to worship and love God. There is a second class, who do good works, but want some reward, want to go to heaven in return.
When they die the _jiva_ goes to the lunar sphere, where it enjoys and becomes a _deva_ (god or angel). The gods, the _devas_, are not eternal, they have to die. In heaven they will all die. The only deathless place is _Brahmaloka_, where alone there is no birth and no death. In our mythology it is said there are also the demons, who sometimes give the gods chase. In all mythologies you read of these fights between the demons, or wicked angels, and the gods and sometimes the demons conquer the gods. In all mythologies also, you find that the _devas_ were fond of the beautiful daughters of men. As a _deva_, the _jiva_ only reaps results of past actions, but makes no new Karma. Only man makes Karma. Karma means actions that will produce effects, also those effects, or results of action. When a man dies and becomes a _deva_ he has a period of pleasure, and during that time makes no fresh Karma; he simply enjoys the reward of his past good works. But when the good Karma is worked out then the other Karma begins to take effect.
In the Vedas there is no mention of hell. But afterwards the _Purânas_, the later books in our Scriptures, thought that no religion could become complete without a proper attachment of hells, and so they invented all sorts of hells, with as many, if not more, varieties of punishment than Dante saw in his _Inferno_, but our books are merciful enough to say that it is only for a period. Bad Karma is worked out in that state and then the souls come back to earth and get another chance. This human form is the great chance. It is called the _karmic_ body, in which we decide our fate. We are running in a huge circle, and this is the point in the circle which determines the future. So a human body is considered the greatest body there is; man is greater than the gods. Even they return to human birth. So far with dualistic Vedânta.
Next comes a higher conception of Vedânta philosophy, which says that these ideas are crude. If you say there is a God who is an infinite Being, and a soul which is also infinite, and Nature which is also infinite, you can go on multiplying infinites indefinitely, but that is illogical, because each would limit the other and there would be no real infinite. God is both the material and the efficient cause of the universe; He projects this universe out of Himself. Does that mean that God has become these walls, and this table, that God has become the animal, the murderer and all the evils in the world? God is pure, how can He become all these degenerate things? He has not. God is unchangeable, all these changes are in Nature; just as I am a soul and have a body, this body is not different from me in a sense, yet I, the real “I,” in fact am not this body. For instance, I am a child, I become a young man, an old man, but my soul has not changed. It remains the same soul. Similarly the whole universe comprises all Nature, and an infinite number of souls, or, as it were, the infinite body of God. He is interpenetrating the whole of it.
He alone is unchangeable, but Nature changes and soul changes. In what way does Nature change? In its forms; it takes fresh forms. But the soul cannot change that way. The soul contracts and expands in knowledge. It contracts by evil deeds; those deeds which contract the natural knowledge and purity of the soul are called evil deeds. Those deeds, again, which bring out the natural glory of the soul, are called good deeds. All these souls were pure, but they have become contracted by their own acts. Still, through the mercy of God, and by doing good deeds, they will expand and become pure again. Every soul has the same chance, and, in the long run, must become pure and free itself from Nature. But this universe will not cease, because it is infinite. This is the second theory. The first is called dualistic Vedânta; the second teaches that there is God, soul, and Nature, that soul and Nature form the body of God, and that these three form one unit. Believers in this second theory are called qualified non-dualists (_Visishtadvaitins_).
The last and highest theory is pure monism, or as it is known in India, _Advaita_. It also teaches that God must be both the material and the efficient cause of this universe. As such, God has become the whole of this universe. This theory denies that God is the soul, and the universe is the body, and the body is changing. In that case what is the use of calling God the material cause of this universe? The material cause is the cause become effect; the effect is nothing but the cause in another form. Wherever you see effect, it is the cause reproduced. If the universe is the effect, and God the cause, this must be the reproduction of God. If it be claimed that the universe is the body of God and that that body becomes contracted and fine and becomes the cause, and out of that the universe is evolved, then the _advaitist_ says it is God Himself who has become this universe. Now comes a very fine question. If God has become this universe, then everything is God. Certainly; everything is God. My body is God, and my mind is God, and my soul is God. Then why are there so many _jivas_? Has God become divided into millions and millions of _jivas_?
How can that infinite power and substance, the one Being of the universe become divided? It is impossible to divide infinity. How can the pure Being become this universe? If He has become the universe, He is changeful, and if He is changeful, He is in Nature, and whatever is in Nature is born and dies. If God is changeful, He must die some day. Remember that. Again, how much of God has become this universe? If you say “X,” the algebraical unknown quantity, then God is God minus “X” now, and therefore not the same God as before this creation, because so much of Him has become this universe. The answer of the non-dualist is that this universe has no real existence, it exists in appearance only. These _devas_ and gods and angels and being born and dying, and all this infinite number of souls coming up and going down, all these things are mere dreams. All is the one Infinite.
The one sun reflected on various drops of water appears to be many, millions of globules of water reflect so many millions of suns and in each globule will be a perfect image of the sun, yet there is only one sun, and so it is with all these _jivas_, they are but reflections of the one infinite Being. A dream cannot be without a reality, and that reality is the one infinite Existence. You, as body, mind, or soul, are a dream, but what you really are is Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. Thus says the _Advaitist_. All these births and rebirths, this coming and going are but parts of the dream. You are infinite. Where can you go? The sun, moon, and the whole universe are but a drop in your nature. How can you be born or die? The Self was never born, never will be born, never had father or mother, friends or foes, for it is Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. What is the goal, according to this philosophy? That those who receive this knowledge are one with the universe; for them all heavens, even _Brahmaloka_, are destroyed, the whole dream vanishes, and they find themselves the eternal God of the universe. They attain their real individuality, infinitely beyond these little selves which we now think of so much importance. No individuality will be lost; an infinite and eternal Individuality will be realized. Pleasures in little things will cease. We are finding pleasure in this little body, in this little individuality. How much greater the pleasure when this whole universe is in our one body? If there be pleasure in these separate bodies, how much more when all bodies are one? The man who has realized this has attained to freedom, has gone beyond the dream and known himself in his real nature. This is the teaching of Advaita, the non-dualistic Vedânta.
Ideas discussed in this chapter
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.