Introduction To Vedanta - P. Nagaraja Rao 8 страница

⇐ ПредыдущаяСтр 12 из 20Следующая ⇒

and transcending him, we can have Brahman realisa-

tion. God is. a necessary step in the Advaita discipline

for Brahman realisation.

Further, Advaita thinkers have said that without

the grace of God the desire to walk the path of

Advaita will not occur to the individual. Professors

Datta and Chatter jee have clinched the issue in their

excellent manual on Indian Philosophy. “Sankara is

sometimes accused of atheism. This charge stands

or falls according as God is taken.... If God connotes

among other things the Supreme Reality, Sankara’s

theory is not surely atheism, but the logical perfection

of the theistic faith. Indeed, whereas atheism, be-

lieves only in the world and not at all in God, and

SANKARA’S ADVAITA

ordinary theism believes in both, the world and God,

£ ankara believes only in God and God only. For him

God is the only Reality. Rather than denying God,

he makes most of God. ... If this type of faith is to be

distinguished from ordinary theism (or belief in per-

sonal God) the word for it should be, not atheism,

but rather super-theism. ' 9

Sankara’s conception of God is a part of the

living Advaita tradition. . Worship of Isvara is insist-

ed on as the step to the fuller realisation, isvara

is the highest symbol of Brahman. Symbols are in-

dispensable means for the communication of Truth.

The Brahman of Sankara cannot be described. The

human mind cannot but resort to symbols to express

its highest thoughts. Thomas Aquinas says that all

language about God must be necessarily analogical.

Professor A. N. Whitehead writes “Symbolism is no

mere idle fancy or corrupt degeneration; it is inherent

in the very texture of human life. Language is it-

self symbolism. ” Symbol is the only way open to

man to express what is beyond the power of words.

God is the highest logical symbol.

Like all the systems of Indian Philosophy

Advaita Vedanta too looks upon Moksa as the great

spiritual ideal that man should seek. The ideal of

Moksa must be distinguished from another ideal

called dbhyudaya. Abhyudaya indicates the welfare

ideal which is temporary and not eternal. Examples

of this ideal are the attainment of Svarga (Heaven)

or the enjoyment of the goods of life. Men are forced

to return to Saihsara once the merit accrued is ex-

pended. Mok$a is a permanent state from which

there is no return to samsara. It is called nisreyas.

INTRODUCTION TO VEDANTA

The concept of Mok$a implies that men are in

a state of bondage in the world. Bondage is due to

ignorance. Different systems of Indian philosophy

give different names to ignorance which is responsible

for human suffering and bondage. All are agreed on

the point that ignorance is the caus^ of bondage.

They variously call it ajnana, avidya, maya, karma,

mithyajnana. In the state of bondage, man is subject

to all types of suffering and sorrow. Human life is

a vale of tears. Three kinds of pain characterise the

lives of men. The first arises from intra-organic

causes like bodily and mental disorder and anxieties.

This includes all our ailments, somatic and mental.

The second source of sorrow arises from natural

causes like beasts and fellow-men. It includes

murder, snake bite, poisoning, etc. The third source

of suffering arises from supernatural causes, such

as demons, ghosts, etc. All these three sources are

together called tapatrayas (three-fold suffering).

Moksa is a way out of these troubles. It is the highest

human value. It is the destiny of man. It is eternal

and there iS no lapse from it once we attain it. It

is an absolute intrinsic value and not a means to any

other further value. It is the highest purusartha. It

frees man from all the troubles and turmoils of life.

It stands for the peace of the spirit. To attain it is the

prime function of philosophy and not the vain pursuit

of truth. It is at once the religious and the spiritual

ideal of the Hindus. The peace that results from

Moksa dispels all our doubts and disbeliefs and enables

us to overcome moral strife and tension.

The nature of Moksa and the way to attain it dif-

fer widely from school to school in Indian philo-

sophy. But all of them are agreed that bodange is

SANKARA’S ADVAITA

due to ignorance and realisation is due to knowledge.

The way to Mok$a is jnana. Two things clearly stand

out: bondage is due to ignorance and Moksa is the

result of jnana.

The Indian systems of philosophy have submitted

the goods of the world to a thorough rational exa-

mination and have found them transitory and im-

perfect. They declare that all the things of the world

are full of pain. They would agree with Hardy’s des-

cription of the world as a “universal drama of pain”

in which joy is only a passing episode. They point

to the experience of men. Too few of us attain

the good of which we are capable; too many are

capable of too little and all are capable for a short

time. The quest for Moksa arises from this initial

pessimism. The grand note of optimism is struck by

the concept of Moksa. Moksa aims at a radical ter-

mination of all suffering. It is not an intellectual

experience but a spiritual realisation. It is not dis-

cursive knowledge but immediate vision. It is not

mental perspicacity but spiritual illumination. Moksa

is total transformation.

Sankara’s conception of Moksa is unique and

has no parallel in other systems. Moksa is a form of

self-realisation. It is a discovery of the true nature

of the self i. e., Brahman. Brahman and the self are

identical in essence. It is the function of maya that

is responsible for the appearance of the world and

the souls. With the onset of Brahman realisation the

world is negated. The ontological status of the world

is not the same as that of the souls. In the case of

the soul what is denied, with the onset of Brahman

realisation, is not the soul as such, but its finitude and

ignorance. The individual soul is treated with great

104 INTRODUCTION TO VEDANTA

respedt by Sankara. Moksha is the realisation of the

oneness of the soul with Brahman. Maya is respon-

sible for the separatist feelings. The separatist view

(bheda buddhi) is at the root of all egoistic impulses

and desires. It veils the truth that all is Brahman.

The moment we feel that we are separate and different

individuals, competition and hatred arise in us. We

try to outdo others and regard our pleasure as en-

tirely different from that of the others. This brings

about the evils of an acquisitive society. The funda-

mental oneness of all is forgotten because of Maya.

The realisation of the fundamental oneness of reality

leads to the fellowship of men. Religion in the words

of Vivekananda is the manifestation of divinity in

man.

Divinity is not external to man. It is his birth-

right. We are all eternal and immortal. We are

like the fabulous musk-deer that hunts for the frag-

rance which exudes from its own body. Moksa is

native to the soul of man and is not derived. It is

one’s spiritual birth-right. It is making known what

is already there in man. It is not bringing in some-

thing which is not. It is like the finding of the for-

gotten golden ornament which as all the time on our

person. It is not a gift from above but an inward

realisation.

. The soul of man is obscured by the thick layers of

unreality in the form of Maya. Once it is cleared we

see the true nature of the self. Sankara in his com-

mentary on the Vedanta Sutras observes “as long as

the soul is associated with the adjunct of buddhi, so

long only is the jiva a jiva. In reality however there

is nothing like jivahood apart from what is fancied

to be such by the reason of this adjunct. ” Moksa

SAtfKARA’S AD V AIT A

is the realisation of the true nature of man. It is

not a product, utpddya. It is eternal. If it is regard-

ed as a product brought into being by grace or as

the result of Karma, there is the contingency of its

destruction. The simple law that what is born is des-

troyed is true in all cases. Hence, Sankara argues

that Moksa is eternal and not produced. Neither is

Moksa a transformation of something into another

entity. We have already seen how clearly illogical

and self-discrepant is the concept of change. Hence,

Moksa is not vikdrya or samskdrya. Moksa is not an

attainment to a state after death. It is a realisation

which can be had here and now. The realisation of

Moksa in an embodied state is called jivanmukti. One

can realise the true nature of the self even in his very

life. The Upanisads declare “that art thou” and not

“thou wilt become that”. Moksa is a realisation like

the one that the prince of the legend experienced. He

was brought up from his infancy as a hunter among

huntsmen. He suddenly discovered that he was a

prince. It is an integral, immediate realisation attain-

ed here and now.

The concept of jivanmukti has strengthened the

metaphysics of Advaita. The jivan mukta is the com-

petent teacher who speaks from experience. These

spiritual seers stick to their cosmic office and dis-

charge their duties. Some of them are psalmists

absorbed in the glory of their realisation. Others re-

turn to the world and crusade for the fulfilment of

their vision. They drive the rest of humanity to at-

tain the vision and the experience they had. The jivan

muktas are the great exemplars of the Advaitic rea-

lisation. They experience no conflict. They are

spontaneously virtuous. “In them impulse and desire

106 *' INTRODUCTION TO VEDANTA

are one. In the words of Professor Hiriyanna they do

not realise virtue but reveal them. They have no

narrow selfish love. Their love is universal. In the

words of the UpanLgads they are not troubled by

thoughts like “Have I done the right? Have I done

the wrong? ” They are above all sense of duality and

moral conflict. They do not feel the constraint of obli-

gation, the struggle with temptations, the distinction

between rights and duties. . The words of the fivan-

mukta are wisdom, his work is worship, his conduct

is consecration. The restraints of social obligation

are replaced in him by the spontaneity of love. This

does not mean that they are immoral or take a holiday

from morality. They do not experience the strain

and stress of morality. The morality of the jivan

muktas is open morality. The Brhadaranyaka de-

clares that “evil does not overcome him; he over-

comes all evil. Free from evil, free from impurity,

free from doubt he becomes a knower of Brahman. ”

Prof. Hiriyanna in an important article on the

ethics of the Upanisads argues that the morality of

the jivanmukta is neither egoism nor altruism. Both

altruism and egoism are correlates and necessarily

imply each other. It is possible to be altruists only

when we perpetuate the particular and affirm our

ego and have the flattering feeling that we are deny-

ing ourselves happiness for others’ sake. The moral

agent feels that he has benefited the world. In the

last analysis such an activity affirms the ego of man.

The jivanmukta rises above this state. He is utterly

unselfish. He has realised the true metaphysical

nature of reality. So he regards the whole world as

his family. Having realised the divinity of men, he

loves all.

SANKARA’S AD V AIT A

Sankara’s conception of the divinity of man

has made Advaita a universal religion. We find echoes

of the same in all great mystics. Meister Eckhart

writes: “The knower and the known are one.

Simple people imagine that they should see God as

if he stood there and they here. This is not so. God

and I are one in knowledge. ” He adds “To get at

the core of God at his greatest, one must first get

into the core of himself. at his least, for no one can

know God who has not first known himself. He asks

us to go to the depths of the soul, to the root, to the

heights, for all that God can do is focused there. ”

Hugo St. Victor adds “The way to ascend to God is to

descend into oneself. ”

Sankara’s conception of Moksa is not the pecu-

liar privilege of some alone. He does not divide souls

into the fallen and elected ones. He speaks of salva-

tion as universal. Speaking about universal salvation

the European mystic William Law writes: “There is

but one salvation for all mankind and that is the life

of God in soul. That is God’s gift to all Christians,

Jews and heathens. There is not one salvation for

the Jew and another for the Christians and a third

the heathens. Know God is one. Human nature

is one and salvation is one, and that is the desire of

the soul turned to God! ”

The two Advaita doctrines of Universal Salva-

tion and Jivanmukti speak of its catholic outlook

and make for its wide application. They distinguish

Advaita from all other sectarian, denominational and

prophetic cults which make for religious fanaticism

and conversion.

We have so far examined the content of the in-

tellectual beliefs of Sankara’s Advaita. His philosophy

108 J INTRODUCTION TO VEDANTA

is not a mere theory of Reality set forth in rational

terms for the satisfaction of the intellectual pursuits

of man actuated by the love of knowledge for its own

sake. The Advaita is a spiritual guide and not merely

a system of philosophy. It is a way of life that helps

man to achieve spiritual realisation. Philosophy does

not stop for Sankara with the discovery eft truth. But

it ends only with the realisation of it. To attain Moksa

we need a hard discipline. It is like walking on a

razor’s edge. The path is hard to cross and difficult

to tread. Its realisation is not merely a matter of

intellectual gifts. It requires moral and ceremonial

purity also.

To realise Moksa we have to go through a hard

and ethical training. The goal is not achieved ex-

cept by treading this way. This aspect of the train-

ing is treated in Advaita religion and ethics. Sankara

lays down that the spiritual aspirant should qualify

himself before he undertakes the quest. Sankara in

his independent treatises (prakaranas) gives us a

clear picture of the way to achieve the goal. Man is

at the crossroads of evolution. Nature leaves him

to take care of himself. He is distinguished from ani-

mals by his power of thought and his knowledge of

good and evil. He is free to make his future or mar

it. He can climb heaven high or sink back to animal

savagery. He has the power of choice in him. San-

kara writes that the importance of man consists in his

capacity for thought and action. Man is no longer

nature-directed. He is self-conducted and not nature-

directed. Hence he has to make the choice and re-

move the ignorance that clouds his vision. Ignor-

ance is the cause of all ceaseless activities. The ego

SAttKARA’S ADVAITA

of man longs desperately to be happy, it seeks freedom

and security in, all its activities. Man searches happi-

ness in the finite things of the world where it is not.

Ignorance is destroyed by self-knowledge. Self-

knowledge is achieved not by mere learning. Katha

Upanisad declares “The self cannot be attained by

instruction or by intellectual power or even through

much hearing. It is to be attained only by the one

whom the self chooses. To such a man the self reveals

his nature. ” It is an experimental understanding of the

reality. It is not a blank acceptance nor blind obedi-

ence to the Vedas. It is not an inherited authority.

It is not as if the teacher expounds the truth, declares

the ultimatum and the pupil has only to accept it in

its entirety. It is not the result of clever argumenta-

tion or sharp logic. The Brhaddranyaka declares that

the repetition of scriptural passages and words is mere

weariness of speech.

Intellectual knowledge does not by itself result in

Moksa. In the celebrated dialogue between Narada

and Sanatkumara we see the futility of much learn-

ing. The encyclopaedic knowledge of Narada did not

put an end to his sorrows. It only augmented his sad-

ness. So, he sought spiritual instruction from Sanat-

kumara. So was Dr. Faust of Goethe. Faust says:

“I have studied now philosophy

and jurisprudence and medicine

and even, alas theology,

with vision keen, from end to end

and yet poor fool, with all my lore

I am no wiser than before”.

In similar words Narada confesses his sadness. He

declares that he was only learned in mantras and

110 y INTRODUCTION TO VEDANTA

did not know anything about the Atman. So he sought

that knowledge of the Atman which puts an end to

all sorrows alike.

Earthly possessions like wealth and strength do

not give us Mok$a. The sage Yajhavalkya declared

to his intelligent wife that of Moksa, however, there

is no hope through wealth. Ceremonial purity and

ethical training are the indispensable necessities for

spiritual realisation. The path to the goal is clearly

worked out in the Upanisads and the Gita. The

average human being has to face the choice between

the way of life and the way of death. In the language

of the Upanisads everyone of us is presented the

two goals, the good and the pleasant. “Different is

the good and different indeed is the pleasant. ” “These

two with different purposes bind a man. Of these

two, it is well for him who takes hold of the good,

but he who chooses the pleasant fails of his aim. ”

“Both the good and the pleasant approach man; the

wise man, pondering over them, discriminates; the

wise chooses the good in preference to the pleasant.

The simple-minded, for the sake of worldly well-being,

prefers the pleasant. ”

It is not in the power of man to evade the choice.

He has to make the choice. Th& choice is the result

of rational reflection and the faith in spiritual values.

These alone make man choose rightly. It is the right

choice that leads men from the world of disvalues

to the world of values. “From the unreal to the real,

from darkness to light, from death to immortality”

is the progress of the pilgrim. The choice involves

a form of faith to begin with. The more firm the

faith, the greater the chance of its being realised.

Aldous Huxley remarks that “faith is the pre-condition

SANKARA'S ADVA IT A

of all systematic knowing, all purposive doing and

decent living. ” “Faith, ” our poet Tagore adds “is

the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn

is dark. ” To begin with, ethical discipline in the form

of self-control is absolutely necessary for spiritual

life. The natural life of man is a state of distraction.

We are an animal organisation and require constant

stimulation. The stimulation always comes from out-

ward excitements such as drugs, alchohol, sex, etc.

The stimulation is not supplied by reason, nor is it

easy for the will to control it.

Human activity is mostly prompted by impulses

and the overpowering passions govern it. The bell

of reason is not heard. The impulses are strong,

irresistable and ungovernable. It is painful to con-

trol them. The prospect of evil consequences of the

act of indulgence, does not deter the indulgence.

Reason, the slave of passions, argues that the conse-

quences can be bypassed. It is at this stage that the

will or self-control comes to play its part.

Self-control is the control of the impulses and

their proper direction in the light of some strongly

desired ideal. It involves faith, intelligence, fore-

sight and skill. Self-control is an antidote to mecha-

nical repetitive living. In the words of Dr. Radha-

krishnan, self-control is freedom from routine. It is

conscious goal-directed activity. It is a false psycho-

logy which holds that we can overcome our tempta-

tions by indulging in them. Manu wrote long ago that

there cannot be the quelling of desires by indulgence.

It would be like attempting to quell the flames of

the fire by pouring ghee into it. Marcus Aurelius

declared: “The desires of the senses draw us hither

112 INTRODUCTION TO VEDANTA

and thither, but when the hour is past, what do they

bring us but remorse of conscience and dissipation of

the spirit? ” He adds that man can never subdue his

desires by the power of enjoyment. “Hopest thou

perhaps to subdue desire by the power of enjoyment;

but thou wilt find it impossible for the eye to be satis-

fied by seeing, or the ear to be filled with'hearing. If

all visible nature could pass before thee in review,

what would it be but vain vision? ”

Self-control is the first step in the ethical train-

ing of man. It keeps us vigilant. Sloth must be

overcome. It is the great enemy of all efforts. It is

the inspirer of cowardice, irresolution and self-pity.

It is sloth that makes the body resist the will to

sabotage by alarming the unconscious urges. Wake-’

fulness is absolutely necessary for effective self-con-

trol. Heraclitus writes: “Those who are wakeful have

One common world; those that are sleeping, each a

different world. ” Gautama the Buddha devotes a whole

chapter to vigilance in his Dhammapada. Vigilance

is the path of eternal life; thoughtlessness is the path

to death. Diligence and unremitting inner fight is

necessary for spiritual life. The Upanisads exhort

us to “arise and be awake. ” Further, the senses are so

constructed as to look out and the will of man must re-

direct them and reverse their process and look in. We

must not allow nature to work its own way. We must

fight nature hard and bring about an inversion of the

natural orientation of our consciousness. Lack of

self-control leads to attachments and aversions which

in their train bring us grief and trouble. In inimitable

language the Gita, describes the chain of reactions

thus:

SANKARA’S ADVAITA

Thinking about sense objects

Will attach you to sense objects

Grow attached, and you become addicted

Thwart your addiction, it turns to anger;

Be angry, and you confuse your mind.

Confuse your mind, you forget the lesson of experience.

Forget experience, you lose discrimination.

Lose discrimination, and you miss life’s purpose.

Thus we see that viveka leads to vairagya. Self-

control must be quiet and sane and not a process of

fanatical self-punishment. The body must not be

brutally beaten but must be handled firmly as a

gallant rider treats his horse sparingly using the

spurs. The images employed by the Katha Upanisad

and Plato are picturesque and powerful. They de-

clare and ask us to “Know the self as the Lord of the

chariot and the body as the chariot, know the intel-

lect as the charioteer and the mind as the reins. ” The

senses are the horses, the objects of the senses are

the paths; the self, associated with the body, the

senses and the mind, is the enjoyer. “He who has no

understanding, whose mind is always unrestrained,

whose senses are out of control, has wicked horses for a

charioteer. ” “He, however, who has understanding,

whose mind is always restrained, senses under control

is like a charioteer who has good horses. ”

Courage is the soul of self-control. It is the basis

of all virtues. Fear is the most degrading of all vices.

It destroys our mind and corrupts our morals. Faith,

hope, charity and all the rest of the virtues become

virtues only when you have courage to express them.

Courage takes on two forms: (1) physical courage

and (2) moral courage. Physical courage makes a

ipaan risk injury or death for a cause. But moral

114 v INTRODUCTION TO VEDANTA

courage enables an individual to face coolly, stake hi&

all for what he thinks to be right. Fearlessness

(abhaya) is the result of philosophic knowledge. The

perception of spiritual truth is in proportion to the

degree of moral perfection we have attained. Without

courage and self-control it is not possible to be bold.

Ceremonial purity and ethical excellence cleanse the

mind of all impurities.

Spiritual courage makes us self-confident. It en-

ables us to get up and to go to our work and remove

the obstacles. It prevents us from lying down under

obstacles and indulge in self-pity.

Ethical training and self-control tame the animal

in us. It enables us to hold back and not throw our-

selves into the fray. It builds moderation in our ways

of life. It makes us avoid the extremes, choose that

golden mean, that safe middle course between oppos-

ing extremes. It enables us to hesitate, halt, weigh

the pros and cons, resist the sway of passions and

the pressure of circumstances. We must banish hurry

and avoid senseless movements and cultivate the

poise. The Gita, lays down the eternal law of spiritual

development when it says “There is no happiness

for those who have no peace. ” It describes the mid-

dle path as Yoga. “Yoga is not for him who eats

too much or abstains too much from eating.

It is not for him who sleeps too much or

keeps awake too much. ” “For a man who is temperate

in food and recreation, who is restrained in his ac-

tions, whose sleep and waking life are regulated, there

ensues the discipline which destroys all sorrows. ”

It is Yoga that enables us to obtain a stable and

steady mind governable by our will and frees us

from animal cravings. It enables us to achieve a

SAtfKARA’S ADVAITA

resolute single-mindedness (vyavasayatmika) without

which we would all be infirm of our purposes. Single-

mindedness gives us a commanding position over the

actions in life. In the words of Charles Morgan,

“singleness of mind can be achieved only when the

will of man is in union with one idea. ” Without self-

control, in the words of Gandhiji “we will all be men-

tal voluptuaries at the hand of chance desires and un-

disciplined impulses. ”. The mind must attain “the

steadiness of a lamp that flickereth not in a windless

place. ”

All these ethical efforts pre-suppose the freedom

of man's will. Self-effort is necessary to overcome

passions. The Gita might speak of self-surrender as

the great ethical value. But the Master of the scrip-

ture has throughout exhorted Arjuna to overcome

passions with self-effort. Sri Krsna describes the

passions as veiling wisdom and deluding us. Hence

the exhortation to control the senses and to slay the

constant enemy of the wise. In the words of Blake:

“If the doors of perception are cleansed, everything

will appear to man as it is, infinite. ” In the words of

Buddha “no heaven is too high for those to reach,

⇐ Предыдущая 7 8 9 10 111213 14 15 16 Следующая ⇒