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CHAPTER IX
THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE ABSOLUTE SELF
Therefore, the Rsi
gives, in the beginning, a formal answer to that question by
saying: "Yes, He may be knowing the answer to it'’ ; but,
immediately thereafter, this Bsi who seeks by his Reason
to fathom the knowledge of even Brahmadeva, ultimately and
in a state of doubt says: "Or, He may even not be knowing
it ' "Who can say ?; because, as He also falls within the
category of sat, how can this 'adhyaksa' or king of the
universe, who lives in what is in fact ether (akasa), though
you may call it ' parama ', have a definite knowledge about
something which existed before sat or asat, ether or water,
came into existence?" But, although he does not know how
this ONE, asat, that is, imperceptible, and qualityless Substance
came into contact with the variegated Name-d and Form-ed
sat, that is, Prakrti, yet, he does not swerve from his Non-
Dualistic conviction that this fundamental Brahman is ONE
and only ONE !. This is an excellent example of how the
human mind fearlessly roams about like a lion in the
impregnable forests of unimaginable things, on the strength
of its sattvika devotion and its pure inspiration, and defines,
to whatever extent it can, the unimaginable things existing
in that forest; and it is really a matter of great surprise that
this hymn is to be found in the Rg-Veda. The subject-matter of
this hymn has been very minutely examined in our country,
and also by Kant and other philosophers in the Western
countries, by considering the Brahmanas, the Upanisads, and
the later treatises on Vedanta philosophy [1].
But, nobody has so far gone beyond giving to the opposite
party convincing arguments like the Vivartavuila for making
firmer, clearer, or logically more unquestionable those very
doctrines which inspired the pure mind of this Rsi, as.
appearing in this hymn; and we need not entertain any hopes
that anybody will do so. The chapter on the philosophy of the Absolute Self,
(adhyatma) is now over. Before I go further, I will, following
the usual practice of the 'kesari' (lion), and look back on the
subject-matter or road which I have so far traversed; because,
unless such a lion-look has been given, there is a risk of the
link between this subject-matter and the next being lost, and
of one's going astray. In the beginning of this book, after
introducing my readers to the subject-matter, I have concisely
explained to them the nature of Karma-jinasa ( Desire for
Action), and shown to them in the third chapter, that the
science of Karma-Yoga ( Proper Action ) is the subject-matter
of exposition in the Gita.
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