|
CHAPTER IX
THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE ABSOLUTE SELF
The word 'tapa’
in this rca is intended to describe the wonderful Spiritual:
power of the fundamental Brahman, and the same thing is'
described in the fourth rca. [1]. It need not be'
said that that Fundamental Substance, the result of the-
prowess of Which is this entire universe, according to the-
saying : etavan asya mahima 'to jyayams ca purusah" [2], is beyond such universe and superior to and different
from everything. But, though this Rsi had, in this - way, at a
stroke cast off all Dualistic couples like, the object to be seen
and the observer, the enjoyer and the enjoyed, the clother and
the clothed, darkness and light, mortal and immortal etc., and
come to the conclusion that there was fundamentally only one
unmixed wonderful Parabrahman in the form of Consciousness
( i. e., cidrupi ), yet, when he was faced with the problem of
having to explain how the diverse, perishable, qualityful,
Name-d and Form-ed universe, consisting of the couples of
water etc. or the three-constituented Prakrti from which it
( the universe ) sprang, had come into existence out of this
ONE and sole, indescribable, and qualityless Element, he had
to take shelter under the Dualistic terminology of Mind,
Desire, asat, sat etc., and he ultimately frankly admits that
this question is beyond the grasp of human Reason. In the
fourth k5, the fundamental Brahman has been referred to as
asat; but that ward cannot be interpreted as meaning 'nothing';
because, already in the second rca, there is a clear statement
that ' It is'. Not only in this hymn, but in the Rg-Veda and
the Vajasaneyi Samhita, moot questions have been asked,
making use of the language of ordinary parlance, by comparing
the visible world with a sacrifice ( yajna ), and asking from
where the ingredients such as, clarified butter, dried sticks etc.
necessary for performing the yajna were initially brought
[3]; or, by taking the illustration of a house, and
asking the question as to from where the timber ( funda-
mental Prakrti ) for constructing this imposing edifice of ether
and the earth, which is actually visible to the eyes, out of one
Fundamental qualityless Substance, was brought; such as,
"kim svid vanam ka u sa vrksa asa yato dyavaprthivi nistataksuh
[4].
|
|