The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad -1.15. Swami Krishnananda

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Monday, September 21, 2020. 7:20.PM.

1.Introduction -15.

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1.

This is to give a bare outline of how thoughts are developed in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. 

We shall take up the study of the First Chapter in its proper order and consider, as the tradition goes, the meaning of the invocatory Mantram : 

"Om Puurnnam-Adah Puurnnam-Idam Puurnnaat-Puurnnam-Udacyate, 

Puurnnasya Puurnnam-Aadaaya Puurnnam-Eva-Avashissyate."

Om Shaantih! Shaantih !! Shaantih !!!

"Om Puurnnam-Adah Puurnnam-Idam Puurnnaat-Puurnnam-Udacyate, Puurnnasya Puurnnam-Aadaaya Puurnnam-Eva-Avashissyate." :   'That is Infinite, this is Infinite; from the Infinite does proceed the Infinite. On removing the Infinite from the Infinite, the Infinite alone remains.' 

This is the chant of invocation which is recited at the beginning of this Upanishad. It is also chanted at the end of the study. This is the tradition. 

2.

And this Mantram, this chant, occurs in the Upanishad itself, a very interesting piece, which rounds up and piles infinities over infinities in a little recitation. Infinity plus Infinity is Infinity. It does not mean, then, two Infinities. Infinity minus Infinity is Infinity only; it does not mean zero. And Infinity divided by Infinity is Infinity, again. There is no mathematics of the empirical type or the geometry of space-time in the Infinite realm. The Infinite is incapable of logical understanding, because mathematics and logic are inter-related they are sister sciences. The invocatory chant tells that the Infinite alone is; and all this creation that has come from the Infinite is also Infinite. It is a wonder how the Infinite can come from the Infinite. That process of coming, also, is Infinite; and if this Infinite that is this creation is supposed to be the outcome of the Infinite which is the cause, and if we suppose, in a human fashion, that the Infinite has been taken away from the Infinite by way of creation, the answer is that what remains after creation, also, is the Infinite. 

3.

This is another way of saying that there is no creation at all, but we cannot be told this truth suddenly, since we see creation with our eyes. So, by a process of reductio ad absurdum, as we have it in geometry, the conclusion is arrived at that the Infinite cannot move and does not move, and therefore there is no evolution or involution within it. The perception of the evolutionary process and the act of creation is relative to the condition of the individual, which fact cannot be enquired into unless one transcends individuality. The difficulty of knowing this secret lies in that the effect cannot know the cause. The enquiry into the Infinite is like trying to climb on one's own shoulders, which cannot be done, because the enquirer into the Infinite is an effect or, at least, stands in the position of an effect. The effect is conditioned by many factors, and unless these factors are known, that which transcends the factors cannot also be known. 

4.

We cannot go behind the veil which covers our eyes, the veil of conditioned perception. The Infinite, the Reality, cannot be visualised by the apparatus of human understanding, because of the conditioning categories limiting human understanding. Mathematical and logical understanding are conditioned by the assumption of a three-dimensional space and a one-dimensional time. We cannot escape these hypotheses. Space is three-dimensional; it cannot be one-dimensional. And time moves in a linear fashion from past to future. This is how we think, and we cannot think in any other way, whether or not this is the only possible way of thinking. These limitations of thought prevent us from knowing what is the Infinite. 

5.

Therefore, it is only an appropriate symbol that can explain what has really happened, not logic. Ultimately, all mystical expositions are symbolic; they are not just logical, and cannot be conveyed by argument, but they can be communicated in some way by image, art and story, and such media which touch the soul better than logic or mathematics. Thus, in this symbolic fashion, the chant tells us that the Infinite rolls within itself, and this rolling process also is the Infinite itself, like the ocean rumbling within itself, and even the rumbling is the ocean alone. So, the Infinite is, and everything is said when we say this, and nothing more can be said – purn?amadah, purn?amidam: Know it as 'That which is', and say not anything more. Any attribute or adjective that we add to it is only going to diminish its connotation and not add to its glory. Say that 'It is', and enough is it. Such is the Infinite. 

The Infinite was, the Infinite is, and the Infinite shall be; nothing else can ever be.

To be continued ....

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