English
Professor. Deussen emphatically says, that the whole world is nothing more than my representation, i. e.j it is only the form in which things appear to me. In other words, things in themselves are beyond our cognisance, and what we perceive externally is only pheno- menal. Dr. J ohnson, when he kicked the ground, and exclaimed, in a fit of passion, that “ that was his external world,” meant only the sensation of kicking the ' ground, and not the ground itself. Thus whatever we know, we know through the sensations, and thus we see that everything is phenomenal. This phenomenal, or illusive, nature of the world is only meant in the following sloka : — ^ I It means that: — “Nothingis real here, and nothing beyond ; wherever . a man goes nothing is real there too; no- thing there is besides ‘ the knowledge of the self and the Tvorld even appears A LEOTtTRE 05T to be^ nothing, when examined well.” But this phenomenal world is not a mere iillusiv^e phantom of the senses. This is real as we are real. This is the Vedan- tic view. Golebrooke also held this view, though he has been very strongly criticis- ed by superjScial thinkers. The misrepre- sentation of this reasonable idea of. Nescience is partly due to viewing the question, sometimes philosophically, and sometimes mythologically. This I have explained already, hfow this Maya or Nes- cience may be viewed in the aggregate as (ajnana) or the collective Nescience of the whole universe. Thus it remains as the body of creation. When viewed dis- tributively, it is used in the plural form (maya), and then it means the indivi- dual ignorance only. So in this view mat- ter or external world becomes a complete phenomenon. It is a thing of which we know nothing in itself. It is therefore indescribable. It passes into many shapes, which are only cognisable, and form the circle of the knowable, which com- prises all our sciences. Now about Nes- cience, we come to understand that it is not .. a negation, and not a blank, but a positive entity, of which wo can know IPHE VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. aothing. Its existence in some form or other cannot be illusive. This whole Maya is noth- ing but name and form. W e are not j ustified in raising the question, “ what is the cause of this Nescience,” as all our ideas of causa- lity fall within the circle of Nescience, and so to find the cause of it would be like mounting upon one’s own shoulders. Instead of going into the details, we pro- ceed to the other doctrine of the Vedanta. It is the doctrine of Metempsychosis, or •Transmigration of the Soul. As the doc- trine of Karman or, action, or act is closely connected with it, we will handle them both together. Transmigration of the Soul means a re-birth of it after death, and a pre-existence of it before the present life. Here the question arises is how we come to know this to be the case ? Gentlemen, it is known to you that the Vedanta starts with the principle that Brahman alone is the true reality, and everything else is only due to Maya or N escience. The plurality of Souls is not the true reality. There is only one Soul, which is eternal. Our bodies with their organs are the effects of Maya, which is only a certain name and form. So death, z. e., the destruction of the body, is not the destruction of the Soul, Itds the destruc- 42 ' A LECTURE 03T tion of its“naine and form only. So far we understand. Now comes the doctrine of. Karman, to enlighten us about the future state of the Soul after death. Knowing the present, we infer the future and the past. W e know that the world is full of miseries. Some suffer, while others are happy. The Vedantist boldly gives an explanation of this state of affairs in the world. He says that the cause of this inequality cannot possibly or reasonably be found in the caprice or injustice of the Creator. It is rather the result of actions performed in a previous life. By Kar- man is not meant the individual action only, but it is the combined action of th,e whole human race, as all actions of men are always directly or remotely related and connected with one another. Actions as causes, cannot go for nothing. They must produce efiects. These actions are eternal as the world is eternal. As the actions of a previous life have received fruition in this life, so the actions of this life will lead us to another, and so on. This satisfactorily explains the question of heredity and the perpetuation of acquired habits. It is for this reason that thoughts ful men have so much admired this doc7 THE VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 43 trine of Karman. The Karman is not to be confounded with destiny or fate. It is rather the law of causation or causa- lity. The last link being beyond our reach to know, since the worId-X3henomenon is without beginning or end, as we shall see, like the tree from the seed and the seed from the tree, this law of Karman is accordingly eternal with creation and so with Brahman itself. This Karman is divided into three classes, (1) the Sanchita, .or the accumulated, (2) the Praravdha, or that which is about tp develope, and ( 3 ) the Kriyamana, or the^ actions performed in this life. These three classes of actions are linked together as causes and effects. Thus it ap- pears that all our actions are necessitated^ as it were, and we have np choice in our ac- tions. If so, the question arises where lies the room for our freedom of will, and where is the chance of salvation? If our actions are dependant on our previous actions, we can have no choice in the mat- ter, and are apt to be carried on in the stream of action for ever. The Vedantist proudly, comes to explain this intricate ques- tion reasonably. He says that his philoso- phy considers Jiva, or' theindividualSorfl, td be made up of twoparts, ( 1 ) the Soul VrhJch 44 A LECTURE OST is Sralimany and (2) the body with its en- vironments, As regards his body he is open to this necessity, and is obliged to act under circumstances moulded by his previous actions. But as regards his Soul, which is Brahman, and therefore knowledge itself, he is free. The actions can influence his body, but they have no efiect upon the Soul, which is unchangeable in its very na- ture. The veil of ignorance about its own nature it can cast ojff at any moment, if it wills. Here then lies the freedom of will of an individual Soul. The Maya or Ne- science is its own making and it can throw it off whenever it likes. ' This is by the way. Now gentlemen, to our former po-. sition about births and re-births of the in- dividual Soul. We have seen that birth and re-birth with the Vedanta are only changes in name and form. Our previous actions, as causes, must produce effects, since causes imply effects, and they cannot but produce effects by their very existence. Similarly our present actions must produce future effects, which necessarily suppose a future life. Now as these actions are causes or effects in so far as they affect our body on- ly and no t the Soul, the eternality of actions implies the eternality of bodies of this THE VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 45 individual Soul in the present, past, and future. In fact the theory of causation or Karman and the theory of Metempsy- chosis go together. When this Soul, by virtue of its freedom of will, comes to rea- lise its own nature which is pure, absolute, characterless, and blissful, the actions cease to exist along with its body, as its indivi- duality is then at an end, and it has no more to appear as Jiva or an individual Soul. ■ The origin of this doctrine is to be found in all the Vedas. The Rikveda says u5i; ^ wtm &c., (May the Lord give us in our future birth our organs, our vitality, and our arti- cles of enjoyments.) So also in the Yajurveda and the Atharvaveda, we find many hymns referring to this idea of the Transmigration of Souls. In spite of all this, I may add, that many careless readers have openly announced that this idea of Transmigration is absent in the Vedas, and that it was only a later graft in the Vedanta Philoso- phy. In the Satapatha Brahmana, Bhrigu, the son of Varuna, is informed of this idea by certain man-eaters who were revenging ' themselves for wrongs received in their 46 A tfiOTtrRE ON previous life. This doctrine was freely handled by the Buddhists, and was known to the Greeks, to • the Egyptians, and to most of the other ancient nations of the world. Its moral effect we shall come to see presently. No w we come to the Doctrine of Creation. In this part of our lecture, I shall not de- tain you long. • Creation, in its ordinary sense, cannot find a place in the Vedanta, We have seen that something cannot come out of nothing. This is the first axiom in the Vedanta, and God with His omnipotence cannot act against this axiom. In other words He cannot do that which is impossi- ble. Brahman never creates. Creation only means the act of evolution. Prakriti, the objectified Nescience or ignorance, with its overt or external and its covert or internal action, developes in many forms, and evolves in several ways, accord- ing to peculiar laws of its own. About the laws and order of development the Vedanta philosophy has very little to do, as any supposition will be equally acceptable to it, provided the main doctrine, i e., the doctrine of Brahman and Maya, or N escience, remains ilnafiected. The second provision would, of course, naturally be the reai^nableness of THE VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 47 > . tho^ supposition. Tlie Vedantists are mainly guided by the reasonable idea that bodies have evolved in succession accord-^ ing to the degree of their subtleness or grossness. This main idea perfectly tallies with scientific principles, and is conforma- ble to common sense.