TROTA | CHAPTER 4 | SEL0297 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

|| 4.01 | BRAHMAN AS EXISTENCE OR BEING | CONT ||

It is Being that gives existence even to non-being .

Being covers non-being from both sides .

In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad ( V . 5 . 1 ) , the word " satyam " is explained as constituting the three syllables

" sa " , " ti " and " yam " ,

the first and the last syllables being truth and the middle one untruth , thus , truth covering untruth from both sides , and the unreal world acquires the semblance of truth by being within the Truth which is incorruptible Being .

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And , further , Truth alone is said to triumph , not untruth ( Mund . Up , III . 1 . 6 ) , thus giving a distinct reality to what " is " as contrasted from what " is not " .

That which changes is untrue and that which is constant is true .

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Non-being vanishes into Being which comprehends in itself the highest possible values which are the aim of the general aspirations of all individuals .

No one wants not-to-be , everyone wishes to exist in some form or the other .

The truth of Being as the highest principle is ingrained in the consciousness that underlies all cogitating beings .

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The Maitrayani Upanishad says that Brahman is

" One and limitless , limitless to the east , limitless to the south , limitless to the west , limitless to the north , and above and below , limitless in every direction ; for it , directions like east exist not , no across , no below , no above ; this Paramatman is incomprehensible , infinite , unborn , not to be reasoned about " . ( VI . 17 )

Such a one cannot be a non-being .

It is existence in its greatest completeness .

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Extreme and intense existence appears as non-existence .

The extreme of positivity of the Real appears as a negation of everything .

It is dark due to the excess of Light .
It is imperceptible , for it alone is the perceiver .
It is unknowable , for it alone is the knower .
It appears to be nowhere , because it alone is everywhere .
It appears to be nothing , for it alone is everything .

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Brahman is established " on ITs own Greatness , or , rather , not on greatness at all " . ( Chh . Up , VII . 24 )

It is the divisionless , partless , mass of plenitude — on what can it establish itself ?

The Self-existent Brahman is supported by nothing , for everything is supported by it .

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It is childish to say that it has established fame , though its Name is " Great Fame " ( Svet . Up , IV . 19 ) .

" Here , on earth , people call cows and horses , elephants and gold , servants and spouses , fields and houses as constituting greatness "

; but Brahman is not of the greatness of this type , because here greatness is dependent on an external object . The greatness of Brahman lies in its own Being , and not on anything second .

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" Brahman alone , the Greatest , is this whole universe . " ( Mund . Up , II . 2 . 11 )

" Verily , that Great , unborn Self , undecaying , undying , immortal , fearless , is Brahman . "

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The whole of Reality is not exhausted in this world-process .

" Encompassing the whole universe IT extends beyond it to infinity . Whatever is here is this Purusha alone , whatever was and whatever will be . IT is the Lord of immortality . Such is ITs greatness yet the Purusha is greater still . All beings are one-fourth of IT , ITs three-fourths hail as the immortal beyond the dust of the earth . " ( Rigveda , X . 90 )

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" Unmoving , IT is swifter than the mind " , for the Real which is the Self is presupposed by all forms of thought .

" The senses fall back in trying to reach IT . "

" Ahead of others running , IT goes standing . "

" IT moves , and IT moves not " ; IT is other than what is static and kinetic .

" IT is far , and it is near ; IT is within all this , and IT is outside all this . " IT is the Self , the being of all .

" Sitting , IT goes far . Lying , IT moves everywhere . "

" IT is manifest and hidden . "

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Such metaphorical definitions of Reality point to the central meaning of its absoluteness of character .

That which does everything does nothing in particular .

All speculations about the nature of the Ultimate Principle finally lend themselves to the unanimous conclusion that it is eternal , infinite , unconditioned , non-dual , absolute , existence .

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" IT is without an earlier and without a later , without an inside and without an outside , the Being of the Self of All , the Experiencer of Everything . "

Yajnavalkya describes the Supreme Being thus :

" An Ocean , the One , the Seer , without duality IT is . This is the State of Brahman . This is the supreme goal . This is the supreme prosperity . This is the supreme abode . This is the supreme bliss . On a part of this bliss other creatures are living . "

" It does not become greater by good action , nor inferior by bad action . "

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In the words of the famous Nasadiya Sukta of the Rigveda , the original condition of existence was a total absence of the world , the sky and all manifestation .

There was neither death nor immortality , for both of these are correlates which have no valid recognition in Reality .

There was neither night nor day , but That One , the source of light existed without motion and change .

It existed as identical with its Power , there was no difference between temporality and eternity . Other than it there was nothing .

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Even the gods cannot say how this creation was caused , for even they were born after creation .

That Source from which the universe sprang , That alone can sustain it , none else .

That One alone knows the truth of its creation , or else , who can know it ?

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The Real alone knows the Real . None else can know it . To know the Real is to be the Real .

We cannot stand apart from it and at the same time know it .

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The moment we undertake the task of seeking the Real , we simultaneously start digging the grave for our separate individual existence .

The glorious consciousness of the supreme Truth is the complete transcendence of the miserly clinging to forms which appear to be other than one’s own Self , and to one’s own apparently individual localized life .

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To live in The Absolute which is Real is to die to the individual which is unreal .

" One becomes non-existent , who knows that Brahman is non-existent .

Who knows that Brahman Exists , is said to Exist Truly . " ( Taitt . Up , II . 6 )

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Not to know the Whole is to be limited to the part-consciousness which is not truly existent , which is mortal , and hence , equal to non-being in the Absolute sense .

To truly live is to be conscious of the Real Existence which is without the disease of transformation and death .