UNREAL HAS NO EXISTENCE & THE REAL HAS NO NON-EXISTENCE

Unreal has No Existence & the Real has No Non-Existence

(Compilation for a Discourse at Sri Ganesha Temple  by N. R. Srinivasan, Nashville, TN, USA, August 2020)

 

Students of the modern world should shake off their lethargy in studying the Geetā as she can revolutionize our era for us. She can, by the magic of her touch, make a broken and disappointed man full and whole. The student emerges out of high inner gloom into an ampler world, having an appointment with success supreme--Swami Chinmayananda.

Inspired by the above advice I started seriously thinking about the message of Lord Krishna “nāsato vidyate bhāvo nābhāvo vidyate sataḥ-The Unreal has no Existence, and there is no Non-existence of the Real in Bhagavad Gita--2.16.

While going through the Essence of Bhagavadgita in 40 hymns by Ramana Maharshi I was attracted to the following message of Lord Krishna “nāsato vidyate bhāvo nābhāvo vidyate sataḥ-The Unreal has no Existence, and there is no Non-existence of the Real in  Bhagavad Gita--2.16.

That takes my thoughts to my earlier E-mail on the Unknown that can never be known in contrast to what Advaita  promotes  “ayam atma brahma’’ - Self is Brahman alone.  Vedas also say one can know the Self by the pursuit of unbroken direct realization of Truth--(Vedantavijnaana suninischitartah…..)

Please recall David Frawley’s write up an attractive topic “Knowing the Unknown and Unknowing the Known” as the essence of Advaita Vedanta “Brahma Satyam Jagan Mithyam” leaving us wondering whether we should give up all our effort to reach the unknown through Saguna Brahman that   Bhakti Vedanta promotes as one of my commentators remarked.  All that I could comprehend from his elaborate explanation was that unknown can never be known, until unknown Himself reveals to the genuine seeker. In understanding the Unknown all our attempts are futile and it can be known only with his grace.  For that we have to prepare ourselves to turn inwards with a pure heart. When this grace comes from Him we don't have to worry about Knowns or Unknowns!

Purusha Sukta says Tripadasyamritam divi …..Tripadhurva udait purushah--The three quarters of his which is immortal is established above called heaven. His one quarter became this world again and again. Then he pervaded this world comprising a variety of sentient beings and insentient material objects. Vedas also say aatmavat sarvabhooteshu, the same Self abides in all beings.

So when we talk about atma we are only talking about that with reference to one-quarter of His while He is Immaculate Consciousness which again is confirmed by Prajnaanam Brahma where Prajnanam is beyond our conception. With all or Herculean efforts we can only know one fourth of Him and three-fourths is beyond comprehension. What we know as Atman is His Vijnaanam   (one-quarter part). That is why Bhagawan said in Gita: “mamaivamso  jeevaloke jeevabhutah sanatanah”--The living entities in this conditioned world are  eternal, fragmental parts. This also confirms Ayam Atma Brahma referringto   One-Quarter of His. Shwetaswatara Upnishad mentions about Paramatman and Jivatman as dwe suparne sitting on the same tree! It   therefore confirms   why Atman or Self does not get dissolved in Supreme of 4 Quarters but shares or enjoys His cHHHHisompany!  That makes us think of Supreme as Immaculate Consciousness and Self as Attributive or Associate Consciousness. It is also reasonable to believe the Self gets clouded due to Karma by His Reality component Mayasakti and gets caught up in the web of Samsara.

This quarter, by its own deliberate will, embraces the “delusion” (Maya) of mind, intellect, and plays the game of Creation- Existence-Destruction of the Infinite world. This is done again and again. That   makes Jagat alone as transitory or Mithya leaving Isvara and His Maya as Realities in Vedanta concept of Isvara Jagat and Maya.

So, as a particle of One Quarter of that Supreme,  Atma or Self is also real  but due to Mayasakti of the Supreme which is also Reality,  we are  ignorant of the fact  that “we are not the body but  Self” and that  wrong notion can be overcome by Sadhana,  our own effort,   in our ambition to try to  join that one-quarter,  our source. What we do not know yet is three three-quarters that can never be known even by liberated souls. So it is futile to know the Unknown! Some Rishis and Sadhyas were excited seeing this one quarter Purusha and exclaimed “Vedahametam purusham mahantam”-- I know this great personality Purusha that got  expressed in the Mahavakya  “Aham Brahmasmi” -- I am  Brahman  which makes us  not to bother about three-quarter Brahman who is Prajnanam Brahma--Immanent Consciousness,  being already comfortable  with one-quarter!  Those that are struck with wonder at the Unknown three-quarter focused on visible one-quarter of Immanent Consciousness, raised temples for him and worshiped him as seen in modern temple traditions.

With this background let us understand our present theme  of study in Gita that had been the subject matter of discussion between Krishna and Arjuna in Bhagavad Gita.

nāsato vidyate bhāvo nābhāvo vidyate sataḥ | bhuayorapi dṛiṣhṭo ’nta stvanayos  tattva-darśhibhiḥ --2.16

The Unknown is eternal (Sat Atma) and the Known that is visible world including the physical body is transitory.  The reality of these two is indeed certainly seen by the seers of Truth (the definite ascertainment of both is seen by the Seers of the Essence of Truth). ii.16

All the Veda mantras state that these three entities—God, the individual soul, and Maya are all eternal---1. God is everlasting 2. The soul is imperishable and 3. The entity Maya from which the world has been made is eternal, or sat.   While the world itself is asat, it is only the entity of Maya that is sat or eternal.

According to the Śhwetāśhvatar Upaniṣhad, there are three entities in existence:

bhoktā bhogyaṁ preritāraṁ cha matvā sarvaṁ proktaṁ trividhaṁ brahmam etat (1.12) 

kṣharaṁ pradhānamamṛitākṣharaṁ haraḥ kṣharātmānāvīśhate deva ekaḥ (1.10)

sanyuktametatkṣharamakṣharaṁ cha vyaktāvyaktaṁ bharate viśhvamīśhaḥ (1.8) 

All these Veda mantras state that these three entities—God, the individual soul, and Maya—are all eternal.

1. God is everlasting. Thus he is sat (eternally existing). Hence, a name for him in the Vedas is sat-chit-ānand (eternal-full of knowledge-ocean of bliss).

2. The soul is imperishable, and hence it is sat. However, the body will cease to exist one day, and hence it is asat (temporary). The soul is also sat-chit-ānand, but it is also aṇu (tiny). Hence the soul is aṇu sat, aṇu chit, and aṇu ānand.

3. The entity Maya from which the world has been made is eternal, or sat. However, all material objects we see around us came into existence and will be destroyed with time. Thus, they can all be termed as asat, or temporary. So while the world itself is asat, while the entity Maya is sat.

Those that are seers of the truth, have concluded that of the nonexistent there is no endurance, and of the existent there is no cessation. This seers have concluded by studying the nature of both.

There is no endurance of the changing body. That the body is changing every moment by the actions and reactions of the different cells, is admitted by modern medical science; and thus growth and old age are taking place in the body. But the spirit soul exists permanently, remaining the same despite all changes of the body and the mind. That is the difference between matter and spirit. By nature, the body is ever changing, and the soul is eternal. This conclusion is established by all classes of seers of the truth, both imp-personalist and personalist. In the Vishnu Purana it is stated that Vishnu and His abodes all have self-illuminated spiritual existence--"Jyotimsi vishnur bhavanani vishnuh." The words existent and nonexistent refer only to spirit and matter. That is the version of all seers of truth.

This is the beginning of the instruction by the Lord in Gita to the living entities who are bewildered by the influence of ignorance. Removal of ignorance involves the re-establishment of the eternal relationship between the worshiper and the worship-able and the consequent understanding of the difference between part and parcel living entities and the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One can understand the nature of the Supreme by thorough study of oneself, the difference between oneself and the Supreme Being understood as the relationship between the part and the whole.

When we say that the world is asat, this should not be confused with mithyā. Asat (temporary) does not mean mithyā (non-existent). Some philosophers claim that the world is mithyā, or “non-existent’’ quoting Sankara--Brahma sathyam jagat  mithyam! They assert that it is only the ignorance within us that is making us perceive the world, and once we are situated in Brahma-jñāna (knowledge of the Supreme) the world will cease to exist. However, if this were true, then the world should no longer have remained for the God-realized Saints. Since they had destroyed their ignorance, the world should have stopped existing for them. Why then did these Saints write books even after attaining the state of God-realization? Where did the paper and pen come from? The fact that brahma-jñānīs use the objects of the world proves that the world exists even for them. Besides, even brahma-jñānīs need food to nourish their bodies. The Vedic scriptures state: paśhvādibhiśhchāviśheṣhat   “Even God-realized Saints feels hungry, just as animals do, and need to eat food.” If the world does not exist for them, then how and why should they eat?

Further, the Taittirīya Upaniṣhad repeatedly informs us that God is all-pervading in the world:

so ’kāmayata bahu syāṁ prajāyeyeti sa tapo ’tapyata sa tapastaptvā idaṁsarvamasṛijata yadidaṁ kiṁ cha tatsṛiṣhtvā tadevānuprāviṣhat tadanupraviśhya sachcha tyachchābhavat niruktaṁ chāniruktaṁ cha nilayanaṁ chānilaynaṁ cha vijñānaṁ chāvijñānaṁ cha satyaṁ chānṛitam cha satyamabhavat yadidaṁ kiṁ cha tatsatyamityāchakṣhate tadapyeṣha śhlokao bhavati (2.6.4) 

This Vedic mantra states that God not only created the world, but also permeates every atom of it. If God is truly all-pervading in this world, then how can the world have no existence? To say that the world is mithyā is to contradict the fact that God pervades the world. In this verse, Shree Krishna explains that the world does exist, but it is fleeting.  Thus, he calls it as asat, or “temporary.” He does not call it mithyā, or “non-existent.”

Mithya in Hinduism

As per Hinduism, Mithya is a construct of the mind, which is inexplicable. According to Advaita, Brahman is the only reality. Everything else is non-real and is superimposed on it. The concept of adyasa (superimposition), which is in general linked with the concept of non-real is defined by Shankara in his commentary on Brahma Sutras as appearance elsewhere with a nature like recollection of what was seen before and cognition of something that does not exist. 

The common example given for Mithya in Hindu religion are that of a rope in the dark perceived as a snake and a piece of shiny sea shell mistaken for silver. The nature of such an illusion is inexplicable (anirvachaniya) and is in reality identifiable with the underlying substratum.

To hold that the world is illusory or false does not mean that it is absolutely unreal. The Advaitins contend that the third category of in-determinability is either real or unreal. The world is not real just because it has a physical reality nor it is non-real because it is beyond physical reality.

The concept of non-real reality is discussed elaborately in many Advaitic texts like Tattva pradipika, Tarka sangraha of Anandagiri, Advaita-siddhi of Madhusudana Saraswati, Pramanamala and other texts of Anandabodha.

The Advaita-siddhi, Madhusudana Saraswati gives twenty six inferential arguments regarding mithya.

The general five definitions of Mithya are:

•       Not being the locus of either reality or unreality (this definition is attributed to Padmapada)

•       What is eternally negated in the same locus where it is cognized (mithya is an entity which appears in a place.

•       What is contradicted by knowledge (illusory cognition is sublimed where knowledge of underlying substratum arises)

•       The locus of which is equally the locus of its eternal negation (attributed to Chitsukha). To put it differently, an object which is invariable absent where it seems to be present is called mithya

•       That which is other than reality (attributed to Anandabodha).

--The Advaita Concept of Falsity (1967) Nirod Baran Chakraborty – Sanskrit College Kolkata

 In the   verse 2-16 Sri Krishna draws Arjuna’s attention towards the comprehension   the essential difference     between the sat and asat--existent and non-existent, real and unreal. The Real always remains the same while the Unreal changes every moment.  Everything that is seen manifested in the world, it comes into existence, it is sustained for a while and then it perishes (as in Pralaya). Sri Krishna tells Arjuna that there is one unchanging reality that pervades the entire universe. It is the Supreme Consciousness the supra-soul and the essential being of everyone and everything. “Sat or the Real connotes the Supreme Spirit which is all pervading and eternal. The words “it never ceases to be” convey the idea that at no time and under no circumstances the soul undergoes any change or cease to exist” says Jaydayal Goyandka.   The asat or Unreal is within the comprehension of human mind that is why the mind interprets everything in the world in relation to the unreal. Everybody dwells in his life, with the notion of accepting unreal to be real, and the transitory to be permanent. The ordinary human mind with its finite powers can’t grasp the difference between sat and asat. But the wise sage who lives in the consciousness of the Divine, has the experiential knowledge of both existent and non-existent. He transcends the limitations of the mind and the body and lives in the blissful state of Sat-Chit-Ananda. He understands perfectly that whatever passes through birth, death and rebirth that has to be unreal; it is only the soul that exists as permanent and unchanging through all the changing circumstances and modifications. There is one unchanging reality which is imperishable, immutable and omniscient. “Just as the swan separates water from the milk, the goldsmith segregates  the pure gold by heating the alloy  or one takes the butter  skillfully churning the  curd, so  when the wise man cognates upon the creation, the world disappears and there remains only Self” says Jnaneswari. The man of wisdom does not assign any reality to transitory, ever changing things of the mundane world because he has realized the essence of both.

Universe does not mean the cosmos as revealed to us.  The Universe also includes the higher planes of existence --heaven and its denizens etc. The Gods ( Devatas), elemental forces that expresses through Air, Fire, Sun , Moon etc., as conceived in the Vedic lore as Celestial deities are also ordered by the Virat Purushsa, meaning Narayana who is himself the Universe and  Controller or Ruler (Esanah) of the powers of the phenomena (amritavasya)--Ut-amritatavasy-esanah (Purusha Suktam). Purusha is the controller of the very Gods (amritatvasya esanah).

Spiritual seekers understand that the World is Not God but the World Has God. They become God-centered and ennobled--in short they enter the spiritual life and easily come to live the divine values of the nobler life. To recognize Him as the very essence in all names and forms, to detect   Him in all the cosmic happenings around us, to perceive His Infinite might, expressed in insignificant fractions through the incomprehensible forces of nature, is to readily render all sincere seekers to live this greater life of the “larger awareness” constantly worshipping and adoring the Lord of the Universe, the Jagadeesvara.  That is why the worship of Saguna Brahman of One Quarter   that we may call Attribute Consciousness or Associate  Consciousness that we witness in Modern Temple Traditions and the Agama Worship.

REFERENCES:

1.   Swami Vimalannda, Mahanarayana Upanishad, Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, India.

2.   Prabha Duneja, The Legacy of Yoga in Bhagavad Gita. Govindaram Hasananda, Delhi, India,

3.   Swami Prabhupada, Bhgavad-gita As It Is, he Macmillan Company, New York, NY, USA.

4.   Swami arshHHHHarshananda,  The Purushsukta, Ramakrishna Math, Bengaluru, India,,

5.   Abhilash Rajendra, Hindu Blog.