Veda38- This world is like a movie show!

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The analogy and explanation that I am going to discuss now apparently is first put forth by some well known Swami of Ramakrishna order, successors of Swami Vivekananda. This analogy is often used by many modern Advaita teachers to explain the concept of Maya or illusory nature of this world. The analogy is quite interesting and very close. But not quite close. Let us see how.

Veda37- Saying it all in just twelve sentences!

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The world we know of is unfathomable, and infinite in dimension. There could even be worlds beyond the reach of our senses. Added to this, this world has an unfathomable past and hopefully future too. Can we describe this massive entity, at least the intelligent part of it, in just twelve sentences? One of the Upanishads namely the Mandukya Upanishad from the Atharva Veda seems to make exactly such a claim! What does it say?

Veda36- There are things that cannot be inferred by reasoning!

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Many of us over emphasize on logic and reasoning. Rightly so, if you are scientifically oriented person. Science does stress on logic and reasoning and discourages subjective opinions or views. Many of the scientific ‘truths’ are accepted not because some great scientist like Newton or Einstein has said so, but because they can be arrived at using logic and reasoning and of course mathematics. Even when some of their findings are yet to be proven empirically, we take it for granted that they are true since these scientists based their discoveries on sound foundation of logic and reasoning.

Veda32- We are on a wild goose chase!

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I am not even asking – “Are we on a wild goose chase?”. Because I am sure that we are 😉 Looks like all our activities are centered around how to make money! If some activity does not make money, then it is not worth pursuing it. That seems to be our line of thinking.

Veda31- Are Vedas self contradictory?!

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Before I go further talking about the Upanishads, I thought it is essential to clear some questions. These questions may give an impression that the Vedas are self contradictory and can be seen as a bundle of incoherent things. Some of the contradictions that one recognizes immediately are

(B19)- Inert things can not produce intelligence

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In the previous episode we saw how Badarayana defines God. Most religions should have no problems accepting that definition.

 

That definition does not talk about a person or an entity, but a cause. It is more of a way of explaining the origination of the world.

(B18)- Definition of God

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Since our entire discussion revolves around God or Brahma, probably we should first define what this God is. Many people who claim to be believers have tough time defining God. 

 They may describe God as some person in the heaven, or some deity in a temple, and so on. But they probably cannot ‘define’ God.

(B17)- My mother is the most beautiful woman!

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All of us love our mother. So, there is nothing wrong if one declares that his or her mother is beautiful even if she is horrible looking 😉 May be to some extent it is acceptable if we say that “my mother is the most beautiful!”. But the problem starts when we say that “your mother is ugly as compared to mine”.

(B14)- You speak like a drunkard!

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I am sorry to use such harsh words. But they are not my words, nor they are addressed to you. That is how the Brahma supporters admonish their Jain opponents. 

 

Let us continue our debate between the Brahma supporters and the Jain philosophers that we started in the previous episode. 

 

The Jain philosophers have a totally non violent approach even when they debate. They use their AnEkaantha Vaada to accept even the opponent’s view as one of the possible views. They don’t disagree with anyone. That is nice. But the Brahma supporters have problem even with that approach. This is how they refute the Jain views.

(B13)- You are right as well as wrong!

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How do you like it when someone says that to you? Is it meant to be a compliment or criticism? Many a times, even very nice ideas fall apart when it comes to practical application. 

 

Jainism, one of the very ancient Indian schools of philosophy, has many such puzzling things. With all high respect for the great masters of this school, I often see many contradictions in their way of thinking, however much they were well intended.

(B12)- Similarity does not mean identity!

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Many of us often make the mistake of jumping to conclude identity, based on similarity between two things. If two things are similar, that does not mean that they are identical. A cow has 4 legs and so also a dog. That does not make cow and dog same! 

 

The Vijnyaana Vadi Buddhists see the similarity between the dream world and our wakeful world and jump to the conclusion that since dream world is nonexistent, our wakeful world also does not exist! The brahma supporters reject this reasoning. Let us see how.

(B11)- It is all in the Mind!

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There was another sect of Buddhists who denied the existence of the material world. They said that “all that exists is only the minds. What we think as something existing outside is actually inside our mind!”

(B10)- Liberation or Nirvana for whom?

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The Buddhists have a fantastic theory of existence which neither needs the concept of soul nor the God. They say that there is no one who experiences anything. But still they say that you need to toil all your life to free yourself from all the suffering! That is the focal point of Buddhism. The Brahma supporters ridicule this theory of Buddhists not only as illogical but something that contradicts our day-to-day experience. This is how they pull down the Buddhist theory –

(B09)- Nothing is permanent!

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In the previous episode we noted that the Buddhists rejected the concept of soul as well as God. These two were central to the philosophy of the Brahma supporters. Definitely there is a serious difference. Before we sort out the differences, let us first listen to what the Buddhists have to say.

(B08)- There is neither soul nor any God!

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As we discussed in the previous episodes, the supporters of Brahma or God somehow managed to silence their opponents in the Vedic camp. Prominent among these opponents were the Samkhya and the Vaisheshika. 

 

These opponents, though they accepted the authority of the Vedas, were not willing to accept the concept of God. Not at least as a source of the created world. They had their own reasons which the Brahma supporters vehemently refuted.

(B07)- Hit the enemy at his weakest point!

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Continuing our discussion on the debates on Brahma or God, in this episode let us see how the Brahma supporters face the criticisms by the Vaisheshikas or the ancient Indian atomic theorists.

(B06)- Ancient Indian Atomic theorists

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Did you know that there existed atomic theorists in India more than 2000 years before Dalton and others developed our modern atomic theory? 

You may not find their theories as elaborate as the atomic theories of today. But the fact is that they did come up with such a theory thousands of years ago! And without any sophisticated gadgets that we have today. They did not even have an ordinary microscope for that matter. Isn’t that amazing?

(B05)- Does God get bored?

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We human beings get bored sometimes. And we end up doing all kinds of silly things. But does God also get bored sometimes? Does he also do silly things?

(B04)- Punching holes in opponent’s claims

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In the previous episode we saw how the ancient Samkhya philosophers put forward their claims. In one stroke they make the idea of Brahma or God totally irrelevant. 

Apparently, they can explain ‘everything’ without taking recourse to any mystical entity called God! How does the Brahma supporters take on this onslaught of the opponent?

(B03)- Here comes the main wrestler!

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We were talking about the debates between rival Indian groups about their ideas on Brahma or God.

While we discuss these things, we should keep in mind that we are talking about a time period when many of the major world religions of today did not even exist. When even the concept of God was not a matter of mere faith but something that had to pass through the rigors of logic and reasoning. The people in those times too had their scriptures, but they did not accept anything with closed eyes. They questioned everything, even the God!