A discussion on Svetasvetara Upanishad
Is the Brahman the cause of this universe?
Where have we come from?
Since we came, who has sustained us?
Where shall we go when our end comes?
Who control us so that we become subject to certain rules about pain and pleasure?
(Svetasvetara Upanisha -1)
It used to be the practice among scholars to meet together on special occasions, and they would ask each other questions—all kinds of questions. Why this? Why that? Sometimes they would try to find out who among them was the most clever, or who knows more. And they would try to show off their own scholarship. Listening to their debates was an interesting experience.
The Svetasvatara Upanisad starts out with such a meeting. One scholar asks the others, Is Brahman the cause? Is Brahman the cause of this universe? If so, what is the nature of that cause? Is Brahman the material cause or the efficient cause? A table, for instance. The material cause of a table is wood, and the efficient cause is a carpenter. But what about this universe? Where did we come from? Some people might say: 'Why waste time with such questions? They are irrelevant. These people had nothing better to do, so they wasted their time discussing such things.' But these questions are very important. Unless you look into these things, you never go to the heart of the problem.
Here is the heart of the problem: Where did we come from? Who support us? Where shall we go when we die? What happens to us?
This is the question that Naciketa asked Yama in the Katha Upanisad: What happens to a person when he dies? Where does he go? Does death mean that he no longer exists, that there is complete extinction, or does something remain?
By whom are we controlled? Who decides our fate? Sometimes we are happy and sometimes we are unhappy. Who controls us, putting us sometimes in the midst of joy (sukha) and sometimes in the midst of sorrow (duhkha). No one says, 'I am always happy. We live according to some plan, some schedule. Everything seems to be pre-arranged, as if something or someone is controlling us. I am not my own master. If I were my own master, I would have said: 'I will be happy all the time. I will laugh all the time.' But this does not happen. I am not my own master. Who controls us?
Time, the very nature of the thing, cause and its effect, accident, the elements such as earth, water, etc., or the individual self—is any of these the cause of the universe? This is the question. [No, none of these is the cause.] And all these put together are not the cause either. Only an individual self can bring them together, but no individual self is its own master, it being subject to pleasure and pain [caused by its own deeds] we should consider this question. We should ponder over it again and again. What is the cause? Kalah—is it time ? Or is it svabhavah, the very nature of the thing? Is it destiny, fate, the outcome of the cause and effect process (niyatih), or is it accident or chance (yadrccha)? There are many people who believe that life came about by accident, that certain factors came together by chance and then an amoeba appeared. No one knows how it happened. Or could it be that all the elements (bhutani)—space, air, fire, water, and earth—came together and this universe evolved ? Are any of these things the source? What about the purusah, the individual serf, the jivatman? Is he the creator? This is what we should consider. This is the question that comes to our mind. Or is it that all these factors combined have worked together and brought about this universe? But that does not seem reasonable because there must be someone to put them together. You may say that it is the individual self who has created this universe, but we human beings are very weak creatures. A human being is a slave, not a master. He is anisah, not Isah, not the Lord, the master. A human being could not bring together all these factors and create this universe. Furthermore, a human being is a victim of joy and sorrow (sukha-duhkha-hetoh).
If he were the creator he would have created a better world. Sometimes we hear people say: 'If this world is God's creation then he is a very bad craftsman. He has done a poor job. If I were in his place, I would have created a much better world.' We find that this world is a mixture of good and had. Sometimes it is pleasant and sometimes it is unpleasant. Sometimes we are at the top of the world, so happy. But the next moment we are on the ground, crushed. We say: 'Oh, I am gone. I am finished.' This would not have happened if a human being were the creator. He would have made a very fine world so that he could enjoy himself. So the Upanisad says that the individual self cannot be the cause of I his universe. Its contention is that none of the I hint's mentioned here, singly or collectively, could have produced this universe. It is Brahman that has manifested itself as this universe.
The brahmavadins felt this was a matter they should deeply ponder.
The sages went into deep meditation and saw the power of the luminous Cosmic Self as the cause of the universe. Maya [with its three gunas] hides the Self behind the universe. The Self, one and the same, controls everything mentioned previously, including the purusa [the individual self] and time.
If you look at the history of human civilization you will find that there are certain landmarks. All of a sudden a discovery was made and drastic changes took place. For instance, the discovery of the wheel became a turning point in history. How some of these discoveries were made is a mystery, but others have become legend. Many of us have seen apples falling from trees. When they are ripe they fall to the ground. This is a common sight. But why is it that only one person, Newton, saw this and it struck him as unusual? He began to ask himself: 'Why do apples fall to the ground? Does something pull them, or attract them, to the ground?' He thought about it, and in a flash the answer came. In a flash—we call it intuition. Most of our discoveries have come through intuition. What is intuition? It is not merely scholarship. Maybe a person needs some sort of scholarship. But there is something more. Intuition comes from the depth of your mind. The answer was lying there all the time, unnoticed, but when you concentrated your mind, the answer came to the surface.
Now this knowledge, again, is inherent in man. No knowledge comes from outside; it is all inside. What we say a man "knows", should, in strict psychological language, be what he "discovers" or "unveils"; what a man "learns" is really what he "discovers", by taking the cover off his own soul, which is a mine of infinite knowledge.
We say Newton discovered gravitation. Was it sitting anywhere in a corner waiting for him? It was in his own mind; the time came and he found it out. All knowledge that the world has ever received comes from the mind; the infinite library of the universe is in your own mind. The external world is simply the suggestion, the occasion, which sets you to study your own mind, but the object of your study is always your own mind. The falling of an apple gave the suggestion to Newton, and he studied his own mind. He rearranged all the previous links of thought in his mind and discovered a new link among them, which we call the law of gravitation. It was not in the apple nor in anything in the centre of the earth.
All knowledge, therefore, secular or spiritual, is in the human mind. In many cases it is not discovered, but remains covered, and when the covering is being slowly taken off, we say, "We are learning," and the advance of knowledge is made by the advance of this process of uncovering. The man from whom this veil is being lifted is the more knowing man, the man upon whom it lies thick is ignorant, and the man from whom it has entirely gone is all - knowing, omniscient. There have been omniscient men, and, I believe, there will be yet; and that there will be myriads of them in the cycles to come. Like fire in a piece of flint, knowledge exists in the mind; suggestion is the friction which brings it out. (Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Vol. 1 Page 28)
Here also we find that, after asking each other these questions, the scholars began to meditate. They began to meditate deeply. Then, they saw. But this is not physical seeing. They intuited. The answer came through intuition. They discovered it. What did they discover? They say the power called Maya, of the luminous Cosmic Self as the cause of this Univese. Brahman and maya are not separate. Sri Ramakrishna says that they are like fire and its burning power. You cannot separate them. When Brahman is manifest, it is maya; when Brahman is unmanifest, it is pure Brahman. The Maya is ‘Svagunaih nigudham’ This maya is hidden (nigudham) by its own gunas, by its own qualities (svagunaih). So this atmasaktim, this maya, is hidden by the veil of the gunas. What are these gunas? sattva, rajas, and tamas. Sattva is the quality of balance or wisdom; rajas, of activity or restlessness; and tamas, of inertia or dullness.
Why is it that there is so much diversity in this world, even among human beings? It is because of these gunas. This universe is nothing but a play of the three gunas. The gunas are acting upon each other, and because of them you cannot see Brahman. Brahman is hiding itself, as it were, behind this veil.
Brahman is the source of everything, the ultimate cause of everything. There is only One. When that One manifests itself we see many. For instance, there is only one sun, but that sun may have many reflections. If you have a dozen pots of water sitting outside, you can see a dozen suns reflected in them. Each reflection appears to be a separate sun, but there is really only one sun. So also with Brahman. This one appears as everything— from time, to the Atman, the individual self.
To be continued…………
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