Identity of God and World

Identity of God and Manifested World Shrikant Vasudeo
IU Second Stream Part I Verses 4-5 Shrikant Soman

Verse 4
One unmoving that is swifter than Mind; That the Gods reach not, for It progresses ever in front. That, standing, passes beyond others as they run. In That the Master of Life establishes the Waters.

Verse 5
That moves and That moves not; That is far and the same is near; That is within all this and That also is outside all this.

The Supreme Creator and his manifested World of Relations do outwardly appear to be separate from each other. However, essentially they are One Brahman.

All the existence as well as non-existence is contained in the Brahman. Therefore, he is the only one stable and eternal Reality. He is beyond the equations of the Space and Time, and therefore, he is beyond the concept of any movement. The concept of movement is based on the two pillars of space and time. Therefore, Brahman is said to be stable and unmoving. Similarly, there is no increase or decrease in the quantity of Brahman because he eternally contains all the manifested and unmanifested world in himself. There is no change in the relations in him because he is beyond causality and relativity.

The essential attribute of this manifested world is the cyclic movement (samsara) of the Divine Consciousness. This is based on the phenomenon of Space and Time. Its whole system as well as its aim is eternal movement forward. Its very existence is based on this movement. When the movement is stopped, the world ceases to exist. However, it should be noted that the foundation of this movement is not material. It is the energy of Active Consciousness. This consciousness appears to be having different applications of his energy in motion and results in multiplication of its forms. However, in essence it is the same Brahman appearing differently in various forms. It creates the impression of opposition of unity and multiplication, divisions of Time and Space, relations and groupings of circumstance and Causality.

All these oppositions are very much real in consciousness. They are NOT illusory. However, beyond the level of our limited consciousness, they are only symbols of the Brhaman, imaginations of the creative Mind. They are true representation of its eternal reality.

We should note that our limited mental consciousness has no power to create this world. This power is vested in something which is far more puissant, swift and unfettered than the mind. And this entity is the pure omnipotent self-awareness of the Absolute. It is unbound by any law of the relativity. Here we should distinguish between gods and the Brahman. The laws of relativity are supported by gods and is a temporary creation. This world appears to be eternal to our limited consciousness but has a limited duration which in itself is immeasurable to us. These laws are valid within the limited context of this manifested world and the gods as well as our human consciousness are part of this world. However, these laws are NOT binding on the Brahman which contains them. The gods are therefore described as ‘continuously running’ in their course. The Brahman is himself stable, eternal and unmoving while containing this world of movement, progression and duration.

The movement of this manifested world has as its basis the quality of eternal stability of the Brahman. In the larger canvas of eternal Immutability, we see the smaller picture of constant shifting of the apparent relations causing the appearance of change. The expression ‘One Unmoving that is swifter than Mind’ has this implied meaning in it. The Upanishad therefore says ‘That which moves and moves not, the one Stable which outstrips in the speed of its effective consciousness the others who run.’

When we say that the eternal reality is Brahman, it does not mean by inference that the multitudinous world of movement is not Brahman and therefore unreal or illusory. On the contrary, this world of forms is very much real. This world is not the figment of the Mind.

The diversity of creations is a play of consciousness of the One which is the eternal truth of things. The sense of Unity is called Vidya – Knowledge of One. The sense of diversity is called Avidya – ignorance of One. Both Vidya and Avidya are real. When Avidya in its inner understanding gets detached from the concept of One as the eternal source of it all, then only it becomes the cause of suffering. Isha Upanishad does not advocate the pure Monism, i.e. the exclusivity of the One as the sole reality. It accepts One as well as the Many as real. It explains the concept of One in his many manifestation. It advocates the duel reality and utility of Vidya and Avidya.
Isha Upanishad says that :
The twin aspects of aim of human life to be the Vidya and Immortality on one hand and
the reality of Life and Birth arising out of Avidya in this manifested world on the other hand,
are both the reality and part of One Brahman. One is not real to the exclusion of other as unreal. Every single atom in this universe is Brahman. Every soul is divine Purusha. It rejects the theory of illusionist or exclusive Monism. It rather takes a synthetic or comprehensive, all inclusive view of the Brahman and the World.

The concept of Brahman being indivisible One is not a mathematical concept. It is an abstract concept. Mathematical Oneness would exclude multiplicity as inconsistent with its theorem. It may on the other hand wrongly accept the Many as its ‘fractional’ parts which combining make it the Whole Number One. The Unity of Brahman is altogether different concept. It is not amenable to decrease, increase or division.

The many movements in the manifested world are given the symbolic representation with the waves of the sea. If by this example is meant that all the waves together constitute the sea, then it is wrong representation of the reality. In reality, each wave is the whole sea itself and not the part of the sea. They only appear to be different from the sea because of their frontal or superficial aspect caused by the motion of the sea. Each single atom in this universe is in reality the whole universe in itself – nothing more, nothing less. It is only the frontal node of manifestation which appears to be separate. Similarly, each individual soul is Brahman – complete and whole. This Brahman regards Itself and the world from a centre of cosmic consciousness.

Every manifestation in this world in its inner reality ‘identical’ with the Brahman and NOT a singular and individual existence separate from the Brahman. It is eternally identical within the limited concept of Time and Space as well as beyond the world of Time and Space.

This duality of existence have their origin in the Chit. Chit is the all creative self awareness of the Brahman. It views itself variously, infinitely, innumerably. It does not stop at that point. It then proceeds to actually formulate what it conceptualises. Chit is power of Vidya as well as of expressive and creative will. At our mundane level of existence, we treat these two concepts as different. However at higher level of reality, they are combined into one – Chit. It is the power of receptive vision as well of formative expression of this vision. These are not two separate powers but one single power of Chit. This is because the original source of Chit is Brahman and not an empty impotent void. It naturally, seamlessly and automatically manifest in reality whatever it inwardly visualises or ‘dreams’. What it visualises beyond the constraints of Space and Time becomes the manifested reality within the limitations of Space and Time.

It needs to be clarified that by creation we do not mean as it is commonly understood in our world of Avidya. In Truth, the creation is not producing something out of nothing or of transforming one or more things or parts thereof into another thing. It is ‘self-projection’ of Brahman in the limiting conditions of Space and Time. In other words Creation is not making but Be-coming. This becoming happens in the conditions and forms of conscious existence.