Gita Rahasya -Tilak
CHAPTER IX
THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE ABSOLUTE SELF
When one considers Desire, Memory, Hope, Determination etc. from this point of view, one sees, as has been shown in the chapter on the Body and the Atman, that these are all natural faculties of the Mind ; that the Mind is, therefore, higher than them all ; that knowledge is higher than the Mind ; that Reason is higher than Knowledge, as Knowledge is only an inherent faculty of Reason; and that ultimately that Atman of which the Reason is a servant, is the highest of all [1]. If the Atman is higher than Desire, the Mind and the other imperceptible substances, it naturally follows, that the Atman must be the form of the Parabrahman. The same argument has been adopted in the seventh chapter of the Chandogyopanisad, and Sanatkumara has said to Narada, that the Mind is higher (bhuyas) than speech, Knowledge is higher than the Mind, and Strength (bala) is higher than Know- ledge; and in as much as, going up in this way, the Atman is the highest of all (bhuman), the Atman must be the true form of the Parabrahman. From among English writers, Green has accepted this doctrine; but as his arguments are slightly different in nature, I will concisely mention them here in Vedantic terminology. Green says that there must be some substance uniformly underlying the various Names and Forms in the external universe, which (substance) is the counterpart of the Knowledge created by the Atman by synthesising the various impressions of Names and Forms made on the Mind through the organs; otherwise, the Knowledge resulting from the synthesis made by the Atman will be self-conceived and without foundation, and will fall flat like the Vijnana-vada- We call this ' Something ', Brahman; but Green accepts the terminology of Kant, and calls it the Thing-in-itself (vastu- tattva) : this is the only difference between us and Green. In. any case, the vastu-tattva (Brahman) and the Atman remain- ultimately the only two correlative things. |
References And Context
- ↑ (Gl. 3. 42)