Part XLI
- vAsanA-s part 2
If we examine our lives, we go from
one environment to the other to fulfill our likes
and dislikes. We are driven by our vAsanA-s to
seek environments that are conducive to fulfill
our vAsanA-s. In the process of fulfillment, we only reinforce
those vAsanA-s. Thus we get caught up in this whirlpool of
vAsanA-s - desires - agitations - actions - vAsanA-s - more
desires, etc. Every ego-centric action that we perform will
leave its characteristic vAsanA-s in the mind. There are vAsanA-s
that cannot be exhausted in this life and they are stored into
our total account. The total account of vAsanA-s that each
person has is called saMchita karma. Of the total account,
we can only bring into this life those that can be exhausted
or those that are ready to germinate. The ones we bring with
us are called prArabdha karma and one can loosely translate
it as our destiny.
We always seek an environment that is conducive
for the fulfillment of our vAsanA-s. Thus, we
seek birth in a particular place and to particular
parents so that we may exhaust the set of vAsanA-s
that are ready to germinate. In the course of
living and being a ‘will-full’ person,
we act. In the process of acting, we accumulate
a new set of vAsanA-s that can, in turn, either
be exhausted in this life or put back into our
total account. The new set of vAsanA-s that are
being deposited into our account are called AgAmin
karma. Thus we have a total account (saMchita
karma) and, from this, we have brought only those
elements that can be exhausted and can be regarded
as destiny (prArabdha karma), and the new ones,
that are being freshly accumulated and deposited
into our account, are called AgAmin karma.
The vAsanA-s are also called the ‘causal
body’, since they are the cause in determining
what type of body, what type of parents and what
type of environment or world that I need around
me in order exhaust my vAsanA-s. In this model,
every cause and effect is perfectly accounted
for. No one gets anything to which he is not
entitled. If there is a God up in the sky, he
can only be God if he gives each one what he
or she deserves. Or, to put it bluntly, everyone
gets what he deserves, whether one wins millions
in a lottery or looses them when the stock market
crashes.
My vAsanA-s determine the sort of world that
is needed to exhaust those vAsanA-s. The world
that you need is determined by your set of vAsanA-s;
her world is determined by her vAsanA-s. Hence,
the total world is determined by the total vAsanA-s
of all beings in this universe. Now whom should
we blame for the type of the world that is created?
If we do not like the world we are in, we must
blame ourselves, since it is the world that is
required to exhaust each of our vAsanA-s, including
the vAsanA-s of a mosquito that is trying to
get its share of the food that it needs for its
survival. If I change my vAsanA-s; if you change
yours and she changes hers and everybody changes
their vAsanA-s then we create a new world that
is more conducive to our new set of vAsanA-s.
If there is a God up in the sky, He is bound
to bless the type of environment that incorporates
all the demands of all the vAsanA-s of all beings
in this universe. The total vAsanA-s become the
cause for creation for the total world.
Now we can define God or Ishvara. Total consciousness
or Brahman takes the role of Ishvara and creates
the total universe based on the total vAsanA-s
of all beings in this universe. It is like Starbucks’ coffee
shops springing forth all over the country, in
order to satisfy the coffee vAsanA-s of all coffee
lovers in the country. If nobody wants to drink
coffee, all the coffee shops will close in no
time. Just as the individual has vAsanA-s, so
the family has collective vAsanA-s that bring
them together to exhaust their mutual vAsanA-s.
The same principle applies to groups and to nations
at large. Hence Vedanta says, if you want to
change the world, begin that change first in
yourself.
Now we are ready to define what a soul or jIva
is. When I die, I take with me my subtle body
(consisting of all the nineteen entities that
we discussed), along with my causal body which
is nothing but my vAsanA-s, and gravitate towards
a field that is conducive to experience my next
powerful vAsanA that is ready to fructify. To
look at this total scenario correctly, we need
to look at the problem from both the totality
or macro-cosmic viewpoint (or total vAsanA-s
viewpoint), and from the individual or micro-cosmic
viewpoint.
To address this issue correctly, we can examine
the subject from three reference points. Firstly,
from the absolute standpoint, 'I am' stands for
the absolute, immutable pure consciousness-existence
that I am. This is what Vedanta calls ‘Brahman’ -
infiniteness or limitlessness is my nature. 'I
am = Brahman' is absolutely infinite; it is one
without a second, advitIya. We cannot say anything
more since words, which are limited, and mind,
which is also limited, cannot describe that which
is unlimited. The only descriptions that are
possible are ones such as indescribable, infinite,
imperceptible, etc; i.e. all negative descriptions
to negate what it is not.
Even these descriptions are only from the point
of view of finite, mutable and perceptible things.
Brahman is beyond all words and there is nothing
beyond this. It is the very substratum of the
entire universe, since it is an ever existent,
conscious and infinite entity. From that reference
point, there is nothing other than it. Since
it can only be one, there is nothing else to
differentiate it from. This can be stated as
follows:
Brahman is free from three fundamental possible
differences - called in Sanskrit - vijAti, sajAti,
svagata bheda-s.
jAti means family or class of the same type.
We can say chairs are one family or jAti, which
is different from the jAti of tables. The differences
between different jAti-s are called vijAti differences.
The differences within the family are called sajAti
differences. For example, within the family of
chairs, there will be differences between one chair
and another. Finally, within the chair itself there
could be internal differences called svagata bheda-s.
For example, arms are different, legs are different,
etc. These internal differences, svagata bheda,
are possible, since a chair is an assemblage of
parts. Brahman is a homogeneous mass of pure consciousness,
which has no parts for it to be parted. Vedanta
says ‘I am that Brahman’ and that is
the absolute truth. Since Brahman is infinite or
limitless, Vedanta calls its intrinsic nature satyam,
j~nAnam and anantam, brahma - It is of the nature
of pure existence-knowledge and is limitless. Realization
of that as my intrinsic nature is called self-realization,
God realization, mokSha, nirvANa, liberation or
freedom from all differences and discriminations
- it is the very goal of human life itself. It
is a fearless state since fear comes from something ‘other’.
Vedanta defines this absolute reference point as
pAramArthika satyam, supreme reality.
Proceed to the next essay.
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