Man, God, and the Universe

By I. K. Taimni

The deepest concern of every thinking individual must surely be with the three great subjects which comprise the title of the book, and with the relationships between them. The profound concepts inevitably involved in a discussion of such a theme are presented with great clarity and wisdom, and the many diagrams and charts with which the ideas are illustrated are invaluable aids to comprehension. East and West meet here in enlightened synthesis.

Chapters include such topics as Cosmic Consciousness, The Monad and the Logos, Involution and Evolution, Mathematics as the Basis of Manifestation and Reality and Consciousness. The book also includes both a glossary and index.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Quest Books
• Release date: Jul 7, 2014
• ISBN: 9780835631372

Book preview

CHAPTER I

THE CONCEPT OF THE ABSOLUTE—I

VOID OR PLENUM?

THE nature of the Absolute is the most enigmatic though fascinating problem of philosophy and religion and although the problem is bound to remain always unsolved by philosophy, it will continue to engage the attention of philosophers for all time to come. Because the Ultimate Reality which is denoted by the word ‘Absolute’ or ‘Parabrahman’ is the very core of our being as well as the cause and basis of the universe of which we are a part, we can no more get away from it than our solar system can get away from the sun round which it revolves and from which it receives everything which keeps it alive and moving.

Although the Absolute is sometimes referred to by such epithets as the Void, Ever-Darkness, etc. and is beyond intellectual comprehension, still, from the intellectual point of view it is the most profound concept in the whole realm of philosophy. The fact that it is called ‘Unknowable’ does not mean that it is beyond the range of philosophical or religious thought and something on which thinking is impossible or undesirable. The very fact that it is the heart and the basis of the universe should make it the most intriguing object of enquiry within the realms of the intellect.

Although the Vedas and the Upaniṣads emphasize again and again that this highest and subtlest Principle in existence is beyond speech and thought, still, their main purpose seem? to be to give to those who read these revealed books a certainty that such an Ultimate Reality does exist at the heart of the manifested universe and to realize it in increasing measure is the highest object of human endeavour. They are full of indirect hints, beautiful descriptions and symbolic representations of this unknown and intellectually unknowable Principle and the means which may be adopted for gaining more and more vivid realizations of its nature within the unfathomable depths of our own consciousness.

So, it is obvious that thinking and making enquiries about the Absolute or Parabrahman is not discouraged, but is, on the other hand, considered as the highest object of pursuit and enquiry for the intellect. What the student of the Divine Wisdom or the Sādhaka has to guard against is not thinking about this Ultimate Reality but to consider his thoughts as knowledge of that Reality. It is unknowable and yet the highest object of realization, unthinkable and yet the most profound object of philosophical enquiry. But this enquiry must be a joint effort of earnest thought and deep devotion and not mere speculation or exercise of sterile logic if it is to be of any practical use.

In dealing with such a profound and inexhaustible concept all that is possible is to place before the reader, one by one, certain ideas which throw some light on its different aspects. These ideas are like the pieces of a jig-saw puzzle. Each piece when taken by itself may not mean much or anything. But when they are put together properly, one after another, a stage comes when the whole picture flashes suddenly in our mind and we see not only the significance of the pieces which have been fitted already but also catch a faint glimpse of those pieces which are still missing. The intellect can deal only with disjointed aspects of any concept. It is the Function of the Higher Mind, and especially of Buddhi or intuition in the case of spiritual realities, to fuse together these separate aspects and to grasp to some extent that reality of which they are the broken images.

Herein comes the value of intellectual effort in the pursuit of the Divine Wisdom. The intellect cannot give us perception of the truths we are seeking. This comes only from the light of Buddhi. But it can prepare the ground for acquiring that perception by gathering essential intellectual material and working upon it with great concentration and earnestness and with the set purpose of finding those truths which are hidden behind the ideas. In thus straining perseveringly to go beyond the ideas, consciousness becomes more and more free from the obscuring influence of the intellect and acquires in an increasing measure the direct perception of those truths.

Before we begin to clarify our ideas about the Absolute we must remind ourselves of the tremendous limitations under which we are undertaking this difficult but fascinating task. We are trying to understand through the instrumentality of the intellect a Reality which is not only beyond the range of the intellect but beyond the range of Buddhi and Ātmā and even beyond the range of the experiences of those high Adepts who can dive even deeper into the recesses of their own consciousness. We are trying to peer into a mystery which is called the Ever-Darkness and the Unknowable and can only hope that a faint glimmer of light from the deeper recesses of our being will be able to filter down into our minds, at least partially satisfy our hunger for this knowledge, and perhaps draw us a little nearer to that Reality which is shrouded in impenetrable mystery.

If we are conscious of our tremendous limitations and regard our efforts merely as trying to get information about a country with the help of a map, and not to know it in any sense of the term, we may be able to maintain the right attitude of reverence and humility. This is the only way of avoiding the error into which the ordinary scholar or divine falls when he mistakes his intellectual knowledge for real knowledge and on the basis of this begins to consider himself superior to those who do not have even this knowledge. Consciousness of our ignorance is the beginning of wisdom and the first step toward acquiring true knowledge. There is no greater enemy of real knowledge than complacency which completely stops our progress by making us live in a world of false and illusory security and satisfactions.

Although for the sake of convenience in dealing with the subject we have separated the concept of the Absolute from the other two concepts, namely those of the dual Father-Mother Principle and the triple Unmanifest Cosmic Logos, we should remember that the three together are the Ever-Unmanifest and really constitute one indivisible, impenetrable Mystery which lies at the basis of the manifested universe. Therefore, after we have considered the three aspects of the Unmanifest separately, we should take them together and by bringing out their relationships integrate them into one concept which is self-contained and a harmonious whole.

In considering the nature of the Absolute, as far as this is possible within the realm of the intellect, it would be of great help if we first consider a few facts and natural phenomena which by their analogous relationships can give us some insight into this Mystery of Mysteries. By a strange irony of circumstances these facts have been provided by Science which owing to its hostility to the doctrines of religion and philosophy was generally considered an enemy by orthodox adherents of religion and philosophy. These, and other instances of this nature, show how the discoveries of Science, instead of being prejudicial to the Occult Doctrine are really of great help in enabling us to understand and appreciate that doctrine. This is so because the phenomena in the lower worlds are shadows of realities in the higher and by examining and understanding the shadows below we can sometimes gain a clue or glimpse into the nature of the realities above. It is this fact which made one of the Adepts say, ‘Science is our greatest ally’. Truth has nothing to fear from any quarter, least of all from Science which is also devoted to the discovery of Truth, although at a much lower level and in a very limited field. If some things are proved wrong in some of the minor occult doctrines or in the investigations made by occultists it is good that they are proved wrong in the interest of the greater Truth, for the occultist also, like the scientist, wants the Truth, and nothing but the Truth.

The first of the natural phenomena which we shall briefly consider is the dispersion of white light by a prism as shown in Fig. 1. Those who have knowledge of even elementary science are familiar with the experiment in which a beam of white light is passed through a prism and the emergent beam Screen allowed to fall on a white screen. The image which is produced is not that of the original beam but we get a band of colours which is called a spectrum. If the original beam of white light was derived from the sun then there is also an invisible spectrum on either side of the visible spectrum which is called infra-red and ultra-violet. What has happened is that the beam of white light has been dispersed or differentiated by the prism and all the vibrations, visible and invisible, have been separated from each other, according to their wave lengths, forming a continuous spectrum. By putting another inverted prism in the path of the emergent rays it is possible to recombine or integrate them again into the original beam of white light. So the whole process is reversible.

FIG. 1. Dispersion of White Light.

Let us now note a few facts about this simple experiment which will throw some light on the problem we are considering. The first point we note is that it is possible to integrate a graded series of things in a perfectly balanced state in which none of the individual things is present as such but it is possible to get all the constituent things by differentiation. Considering the phenomenon further we see that the conditions prevailing on the two sides of the prism are entirely different. On the side on which the light enters the prism we have only the integrated white light and no colour, as such, and on the side on which it leaves the prism there are only colours and no white light. If there is an entity who has lived only on the side of colours and has never been to the other side he cannot have the slightest idea of what white light is like from his experience of different colours although they are all derived from white light. He will have to pass through the prism and emerge on the other side to realize what white light is like. And also, if he has always been in the realm of white light he can have no experience and not even an idea of colours as long as he does not pass into the realm of colours. The two experiences seem to be mutually exclusive. Another fact we should note is that the wholeness of the incident white light is not destroyed when in its progress it passes through the prism and is broken up into colours on the other side. The white light on the side of incidence is not affected by what happens to it on the side of emergence because it is not a static but a dynamic phenomenon ever renewing itself.

The significance of this light phenomenon in its various aspects in enabling us to understand to some extent the nature of the Absolute in a very general way is quite obvious and we need not go into it beyond pointing out the analogies which are self-evident. We can see at once how the Absolute itself can be without any attributes although it is the source of all those principles, tattvas, forces which invest all things in the realm of the manifest with attributes. To a world which knows only colours the absence of colours can only be interpreted as darkness and not as white light which is fundamentally different from darkness, for darkness means the complete absence of colours while white light means the presence of all colours but in an integrated form. So it is easy to see how the Absolute is said to be without any attributes whatsoever, the Ever-Darkness, or the Nirguna-brahman.

Again, we see how it is impossible to know a principle or reality from which a series of derivatives have been obtained by differentiation until we can transcend the realm of these derivatives and emerge into the realm of the parent principle. We must transcend the realm of particulars if we are to know and not merely conceive the archetype from which they are derived. We must leave the world of shadows if we are to know the realities which cast these shadows. We must leave the world of the mind if we are to know Consciousness in its purity and, lastly, we must leave the world of relativity if we are to know the Absolute, if this is at all