Gita Rahasya -Tilak 237

Gita Rahasya -Tilak

CHAPTER IX THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE ABSOLUTE SELF Some Metaphysicians say that this Element must for ever remain uncognisable by our organs ; and Kant has even given up the further consideration of this subject-matter. In the Upanisads also, the uncognisable form of the Parabrahman has been described by saying "neti. neti'"-that is. It is not something about which something can be told— the Brahman is beyond that ; It is not visible to the eyes ; and "yato vaco nivartante aprapya manasa saha", that is, "It is beyond speech and also beyond the Mind". Nevertheless, the philosophy of the Absolute Self has come to the conclusion that even in this difficult position, man can, by his Reason, determine the nature of the form of Brahman. We must first find out which one is the most superior and comprehensive of the various imperceptible things mentioned above, namely, Desire, Memory Determination, Hope, Life, Knowledge etc., and look upon the highest of them all as the form of the Parabrahman ; because, it is an indisputable fact that the Parabrahman is- the highest of all imperceptible substances. 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 . 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.