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Now, the Upaniṣhad proceeds:
- sa vai naiva reme; tasmᾱd
ekᾱkī na ramate; sa dvitīyam aicchat; sa haitᾱvᾱn
ᾱsa yathᾱ strī-pumᾱṁsau sampariṣvaktau; sa
imam evᾱtmᾱnaṁ dvedhᾱpᾱtayat, tataḥ
patiś ca patnī cᾱbhavatᾱm; tasmᾱt idam
ardha-bṛgalam iva svaḥ, iti ha smᾱha yᾱjñavalkyaḥ;
tasmᾱd ayam ᾱkᾱśaḥ striyᾱ pῡryata eva.
tᾱṁ samabhavat, tato manuṣyᾱ ajᾱyanta.
Here, again, a highly symbolic truth is
stated to explain the state of affairs after creation was effected. The split
which is the cause of creation is a split within the Whole; and it is a split
without losing the Wholeness of the Whole. When milk becomes curd, the milk is
completely destroyed, and there is no milk afterwards. Not so is the way in
which God became the world, because if the milk has already become curd wholly,
we cannot ask for the same milk again, because it has already become another
thing.
If God has already become the world, we
cannot ask for God. He is no more there; He is finished. But He is really not
finished; He is intact even now; and the milk is wholly present, in
spite of its having become a so-called curd. It is not a
Pariṇāma, or a complete internal transformation of the Substance of
the All that is called creation, but only an apparent manifestation.
This appearance of manifestation is described. It was the cause of creation in
the manner mentioned, namely, a kind of desire or will or wish, an urge to
become manifold, the reason for which nothing that is manifold can understand.
We are all manifested beings included in the diversity of creation, and,
therefore, none can know the reason behind the manifestation of this creation.
But the Upaniṣhad is an authority, and it tells us that It did not wish to be alone.
"Let me be many and see Myself as the variety of things." In order to become
the many, It became two, first. Then, perhaps, the two became four, four became
eight, eight became sixteen, and thirty-two and millions and millions; an
infinite variety, uncountable, innumerable in quantity and quality. How did He
become two in the beginning? He became two with a severe impulse which is the
subject of the chant in famous hymn of the Ṛg-Veda known as the
Nāsadīya-Sūkta, the hymn of creation.
There was an indescribable stir in the
whole cosmos, and this command was felt everywhere, just as, when a parliament
passes an act, it is felt in every nook and corner of the country. Something
like that, an Act was passed, as it were, by the Supreme Will of the Divine
Being, and every minute part of the entire Body of the Virāt began to throb
with this Will. And what was that urge? It is a very difficult thing to
explain - what that Primal Wish is. It is an outrush that we feel when we have a
strong desire, for instance. We cannot understand, actually, what a desire is.
Though we think we understand it, we cannot know it fully, because if we
understand it, it will not trouble us. It troubles us because it cannot be
understood. It cannot be understood because it is a contradiction. A desire is
a contradiction, psychologically; therefore it is impossible to understand its
meaning. We cannot desire an object unless it is outside us. This is very
clear; if it is one with us, we will not desire it. And we cannot desire an
object which is really outside us. This is also a very important point
to remember. If it is, in fact, outside us, it would have nothing to do with
us. For, where is the point in desiring it? We have already proclaimed,
psychologically, that it is outside us, and, so, we are not connected
with it in any way. If we are not connected with it, we are not going to get
it. If we are not going to get it, there is no use desiring it. This is one
aspect of the contradiction. But we cannot desire an object unless it is other
than ourselves. Look at the contradiction. Here is a miracle of contradiction, par
excellence. And, such is the desire operating in our individual cases,
available in a very minute form, harassing us from birth to death. No one can
understand what it is and how it works. Only a superhuman, divine being may
master it. But, the Upaniṣhad tell us that the contradiction was, perhaps, already in the Cosmic
Origin of things; otherwise, how could its presence be felt in individuals who
are the effects?
The contradiction of desire is of such a
character. It may be ostensibly seen in individuals of the male and female
species in creation. That is what the Upaniṣhad makes out here. The desire can be seen in the various aspects of
psychological manifestation, and, primarily, it can be seen where the species
of a particular variety intends to maintain itself by an interaction of its
male and female characters. That kind of urge which is available in individuals
is, perhaps, a faint indication of what could have happened at the beginning of
things, though that must have been very different in nature from what we see in
individuals. Yet, in its general form, it was present there; in its particular
form, we see it only in individuals. It splits Itself in this manner into the
positive and the negative elements - the Cosmic Positive and the Cosmic Negative,
we may say. And, that was the origin of desire. Nevertheless, it remains an
indescribable something; we do not know what it is, why it arose and how it
could be explained. It had to be split, else, there could be no will or wish.
There was a simultaneous urge to become two, and also to become one. Here is
the enigma of desire.
The desire is actually a desire to fulfil a
desire; and the fulfilment of a desire means the completion of the intention
behind the mind or the consciousness to come in union with the object of desire
in an indivisibility of 'being'. For that, the indivisibility is first accepted
for the purpose of manifesting the desire. So, there was a double urge of
rushing outward into the counterpart which is the split 'other', and a simultaneous
urge to become one with that part, which is called the satisfaction felt in the
fulfilment of a desire. So, there is pain and pleasure simultaneously in every
moment of desire. If it is entirely pain nobody would desire. But if it is only
satisfaction, there would be no frustration of desire. Thus, there is an
inscrutable peculiar character in this form of urge.
The Origin of Cosmic manifestation
necessitates the acceptance of an original split which caused a
self-contradictory feeling of separation and unity simultaneously, as is there
between a husband and wife, for instance. As Yājñavalkya, the sage,
says, every individual is only a half; nobody is complete. And inasmuch as
every individual is a half, no one is happy. The half wants to be complete by
fulfilling itself in contact with the other half, which it has lost.
The perception of an object, when it is
driven by a strong desire, is really a perception of a counterpart of that
desire. This is why there is such an urge in the mind towards that object. What
one lacks in oneself, one sees in that object; otherwise, the mind will not
move towards the object. The lack felt in one's own self is supposed to be
completed by the character of the object which is outside, and, so, no one can
love everything in the world, and no one can hate also everything.
There are only certain sections of objects which can attract and repel, on
account of the peculiarity of the psychological structures of individuals. Yājñavalkya proclaims
that every individual, whether it is human, subhuman or superhuman, whatever it
is, every individual is only fifty percent. The other fifty percent is the
object thereof. And, therefore, every individual is forced to go towards the
object, to complete itself by communion with that object which is its exact
counterpart, which it will find instinctively without any logical examination.
Everyone is like an empty hole inside, like
a space without content. Therefore, one feels unhappy. Whatever be given to
that person, he is not satisfied. There is some want, a kind of emptiness,
vacuum, felt in each individual, because it cannot be fulfilled by anything
other than that which it lacks, which is the content of that whole. So,
satisfaction cannot come to any individual unless the exact counterpart of that
lack is provided. Any other attempt is not going to satisfy the subject. There
is this rationality behind creation, cosmically as well as individually. Thus
are all beings born due to the Primary Impulse. Men were born, and everything
else was born - manuṣyā ajāyanta.
- sᾱ heyam
īkṣᾱṁ cakre, kathaṁ nu mᾱtmᾱna eva
janayitvᾱ sambhavati, hania tiro'sᾱnīti; sᾱ gaur
abhavat, ṛṣabha itaras tᾱṁ sam evᾱbhavat, tato gᾱvo'
jᾱyanta; vaḍavetarᾱbhavat, aśva-vṛṣa
itaraḥ, gardhabhītarᾱ gardabha itaraḥ, tᾱṁ
sam evᾱbhavat, tata eka-śapham ajᾱyata; ajetarᾱbhavat,
vasta itaraḥ, avir itarᾱ, meṣa itaraḥ, tᾱṁ
sam evᾱbhavat, tato'jᾱvayo' jᾱyanta; evam eva yad idaṁ
kiṁ ca mithunam, ᾱ-pipīlikᾱbhyaḥ tat sarvam
asṛjata.
Here, again, we have a fine analogy which
tells us that the split part, the other of the 'Being' which became two, was in
a very unenviable condition. It did not know what to do. The object does not
know what to do at all when it has come from the Supreme Subject Itself. What
is this object? It is nothing but the 'other' of the True Subject. They are
correlatives of each other. They are brother and sister, come from the same
parent. So, the blood of the original parent is found in these two aspects, and
they are unable to understand the relationship between themselves. 'A' and 'B',
which may be supposed to be the two aspects of the Supreme Being, the split
parts, are in a very delicate position. So, 'A' is trying to grab 'B' which is
the object of 'A'. 'B' is feeling very disconsolate. "How is it possible that I
be grabbed by 'A' when I am only the counterpart born of the same parent?" The
object is afraid of the empirical subject. "Why should I be possessed like
this? Why should I be hunted? Why should I be eaten, swallowed? I come from the
same origin from which 'A' has come, and, therefore, I enjoy the same status,
as 'A'." It is really indecent on the part of a subject to run after the
object, as if the object has no status of its own. But this is what happens.
The object, the other side of the split
part, felt delicate in itself and wanted to escape the notice of 'A'. But this
'A' would not leave it like that. It did not keep quiet. It assumed the form
which was taken by 'B' for the sake of escaping the notice of 'A'. What is
meant by escaping the notice? A taking of another shape. One goes from one
place to another place, or changes one's features. But, 'A' put on the same
features as the features of 'B', which was assumed by the latter for the
purpose of extricating itself from 'A'. And whatever feature, form or structure
was assumed by 'B', 'A' also assumed. Thus, there was a communion between 'A'
and 'B', the subject and the object, in all the species of creation, right from
the highest celestials to the lowest creatures as ant.
Now, the Upaniṣhad in this
section tells us that all things - animal, human, superhuman, subhuman - everyone
became the effect of this Cosmic Will for creation on account of the
irresistible nature of this Urge. It is impossible to resist its force because
it is cosmically present and propelling. No desire is capable of being resisted
until it is intelligently fulfilled in the way in which the Upaniṣhad will
describe further on.
Everything was created by this one Being,
down to the lowest of created beings, and all these are the dramatic
appearance of that one Being; That becoming the subject; That becoming the
object; That becoming the process of the urge called desire - a real drama,
indeed. Then what did It feel after having completed this creation? 'I am
satisfied.' The director of the drama is very pleased that the enactment has
been well done - beautiful! 'I have wonderfully worked this creation.' 'I am all
this creation.' There was a Desire, Wish, Urge, to become the All in the
multiplicity of forms; and having beheld all these forms as identical with
Itself, It was deeply satisfied with the conviction that, after all, 'all this
that I have created is Me, and none else'. 'I am seeing Myself; and even the
process of seeing is I alone. It is not that some other instrument is there
which becomes the procession of Me as another, in the form of the objects
outside. I am the All.' Creation is an inscrutable play which is beyond reason
and intellectuality, because reason is the art of splitting things and then
uniting things, which is a function that has come about after the process of
creation, after the assumption of space, time and causality.
- so'vet, ahaṁ vᾱva
sṛṣṭir asmi, ahaṁ hīdaṁ sarvam
asṛkṣīti; tataḥ sṛṣṭir abhavat,
sṛṣṭyᾱṁ hᾱsyaitasyᾱm bhavati ya evaṁ
veda.
So, what did God know? He knew only Himself
as all this creation. The, Absolute knew Itself; and that was all. 'I have
become this All, and I am the All. I see Myself as the All, and the Supreme
satisfaction is Me only, My own Being.' His Being was His satisfaction. One who
knows this truth, becomes highly satisfied as the Supreme Being Himself was in
creation. How can we be satisfied, as the Supreme Being Himself was? Provided
we can think also as the Supreme Being thought. If we can contemplate, assume
the status as the Supreme Being assumed at the origin of things, identifying
Itself with all creation, feeing Itself in all forms, if this contemplation
could be affected, we also can be so happy as the Supreme Being Himself was at
the beginning of things; and we shall have all that It had, and all the powers
that It wielded. Everything that It was, we shall also be.
The process of creation is complicated. The
Upaniṣhad,
and scriptures like the Śrimad Bhāgavata Māhapurāṇa,
throw some sidelight on the pattern of creation. It is said that God willed to
be the many, and suddenly He became the many. That is one theory. "Let there be
light, and there was light." He simply willed, and there was everything, all at
once. This is a sudden creation of all multiplicity at one stroke, not
gradually, stage by stage, one after another. But there is also a doctrine
which holds that creation is a graduated manifestation from causes to effects,
until it became the lowest of manifestations. There are others who think that
there is no contradiction between these two doctrines. Both are true. That is,
there was a fiat of God, Īshvara; He Willed to be many; suddenly He became the All. But this act of
suddenly becoming the All was conditioned by certain factors. What was the type
of the All that He became? The variety varies from creation to creation,
according to certain theories. The particular shape which the universe takes in
a particular cycle (Kalpa) of creation, depends upon the potencies of
individuals who are left unliberated at the time of the previous cycle. So it
does not mean that every creation is identical with the prior one in every
detail. Though the process of creation, the mould of Primal Impulsion may be
the same, the pattern, the shape, the contour and the mode of operation of
individualities are not the same.
The Upaniṣhad, here,
mentions that creation began in a particular fashion, in an ordered form. The
celestials were created first, simultaneously with human beings; then came the
creation of plants, and the five elements - ether, air, fire, water, earth. This
tallies with the creation theory of certain other Upaniṣhads, also.
Agnī, Indra, Vasu and Pūśhan - these are supposed to be the
celestials who were created first, representing the presiding principles over
the social group that is mentioned afterwards, namely, the spiritual group, the
political group, the economic group and the working group. These
classifications seem to be in the heavenly region also, and they are supposed
to be wherever individuals are. The creation of human beings is, perhaps,
simultaneous with the creation of the gods in heaven, as we would be told in
other scriptures.
The Purāṇas go into greater
detail and tell us that the One became two in a peculiar way, a detail which
we cannot find in the Upaniṣhad here. A little indication of it is given
in first chapter of the Manusmṛiti, also. The One Being produced an image
which is called the Brahmānda, or the Cosmic Egg. Here was a complete
totality of things. We conceive it as a kind of egg, cosmically - as Hiraṇyagarbhanda,
as Brahmānda. And, this Cosmic Egg split itself into two, which did not
affect the unity of the One; these split parts are called, in the
Purāṇas, Manu and Śatārūpa, the First Man and the
First Woman, the Adam and the Eve of creation, one may say. Thus, in the
creation, various species were formed. And the species are not confined merely
to animate beings, but extend also to inanimate structures or organisms, for
there is no such thing as the inanimate, ultimately. All things are a condition
of Being which withdraws in different degrees the conscious element in it into
Itself, so that there is in matter existence only, minus consciousness, as
consciousness has been absorbed into It. In inanimate matter like stone, there
is only the existence-aspect of God, not the consciousness-aspect or the
bliss-aspect. But in individuals like human beings, there is the existence-aspect
and also the intelligence-aspect revealed, but the bliss-aspect is withdrawn,
and so men are not adequately happy in spite of their having intelligence,
because, here Rajas and Tamas cover the activity of Sattva, which last is
necessary for the manifestation of happiness. Thus is this beautiful creation,
whose description goes on to a further detail in the Upaniṣhad.
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