Transcript (Not Corrected)

Opening Prayer

ॐ सह नाववतु ।

सह नौ भुनक्तु ।

सह वीर्यं करवावहै ।

तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु ।

मा विद्विषावहै ।

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ।

हरिः ॐ ।

Transliteration (IAST):

Om Saha Nāvavatu

Saha Nau Bhunaktu

Saha Vīryaṃ Karavāvahai

Tejasvi Nāvadhītamastu

Mā Vidviṣāvahai

Om Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ

Hariḥ Om

Translation:

Om, may Brahman protect us both.

May Brahman bestow upon us both the fruit of knowledge.

May we both obtain the energy to acquire knowledge.

May what we both study reveal the truth.

May we cherish no ill feeling toward each other.

Om, peace, peace, peace be unto all.

Hindu Philosophy: Creation, Suffering, and Liberation

The Human Condition: Questions of Suffering

We are going to discuss a very important aspect of Hinduism today: creation, sustenance, and ultimately death. So naturally, those who experience this kind of suffering in any form, questions arise.

The first question that arises is: why this suffering? What is the nature of this world and where from we have come? Who is the author of this suffering? We never think that we are the creators of our suffering. Who has created? What right has he got to make me unhappy? Others I can tolerate, but me, no. These are the questions that come from the very beginning of human life.

So it is said: man is born crying, lives complaining, and dies protesting. This is the story of human life. Whether we like it or not, one of the things we are forced to question.

Each one of us—none of us want to become old. None of us want to suffer from diseases. None of us want to undergo any type of suffering. There are degrees of suffering, small to the highest. But even the slightest suffering—immediately we struggle. How to get rid of it? When we are happy, did you ever hear anyone struggling, striving to get out of happiness? Never. Only when we are suffering. My simple toothache or headache is as though the whole world is going to drown in the Atlantic Ocean, as far as I am concerned. This is the nature of every creature, from the smallest to the highest creature.

Naturally the question comes—we become philosophers. So funnily it is said, Socrates was once approached by a young man: "I would like to get married. What's your opinion?" He said, "Young man, go and get married. If your wife is a good woman, you will be a happy person. Otherwise you will become a great philosopher like me." So will it or not, we are all going to be philosophers. We are already philosophers—not knowingly, but consciously we are going to be philosophers.

Ancient Questions: The Nāsadīya Sūkta

So this question came in the very beginning of humanity. And naturally we are talking about Hinduism. The earliest scriptures of Hinduism are called Vedas. The earliest part of the Veda is called Ṛg Veda. So there also this question has come: What is the creation? What is this world? Where from it has come?

In Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's time, there was a great disciple of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, and also a great actor and writer of dramas, Girish Chandra Ghosh. He had written a very moving, beautiful drama on the life of Buddha, where he composed a most marvelous Bengali song. It has been translated into many languages. Here is the meaning, which reflects what we are talking, what we are experiencing every day of our life:

We moan for rest, alas, but rest can never find.

We know not where we come from, nor where we float away.

Time and again we tread this round of smiles and tears.

In vain we pine to know whither our pathway leads, and why we play this empty play.

We sleep, although awake, as if by a spell bewitched.

Will darkness never break into the light of dawn?

As restless as the wind, life moves unceasingly.

We know not who we are, nor whence it is we come.

We know not why we come, nor where it is we drift.

Sharp oars dart forth on every side.

How many drift about, now gay, now drowned in tears.

One moment they exist, the next they are no more.

We know not why we come, nor what our deeds have been, nor in bygone lives how well we played our parts.

Like water in a stream, we cannot stay at rest. Onwards we flow, forevermore.

Rise, dreamer, from your dream, and slumber not again.

Shine forth, O shining one, and with thy shafts of light slay thou the blinding dark.

Our only savior art thou. We seek deliverance at thy feet.

O, when will dawn for me that day of blessedness, when He who is called All-Good, All-Beauty, and All-Truth will light the innermost shrine of my heart?

When shall I sink at last, ever beholding Him, into that ocean of delight?

The point is so beautiful. We don't know where from we have come. We don't know why we meet. We don't know why we are forced into a particular family, particular country, particular religion, particular circumstances. And we don't know where we are going to go. We don't know who controls us. Helplessly we are drifting in this stream of life. Whether you like it or not—you are a scholar or an illiterate person, rich or poor—this great stream called time is carrying us.

And what is the ultimate destiny? All that we know for certain is death. What happens after death? Do we survive? Is there hope? If there is no hope, then our life will be blighted. We live because of hope. If not in this life, at least in the next life. That is what religion especially is for.

The Promise of Religion

No religion ever promises that life will be a happy, blessed and good experience. No religion would ever promise. But they do promise that after death there is life, and we can end up in a most beautiful place—paradise, svarga, kingdom of heaven, etc.

Why is it so? No religion promises happiness in this world. Why not? Because the very constitution of this life is a mixture of good and evil, a mixture of pain and pleasure, happiness and unhappiness, light and darkness. In fact, we cannot have the knowledge of one without the knowledge of the other. Impossible.

Therefore, no one can promise that we are going to be happy. And what is the proportion, even if it is a mixture of happiness and unhappiness, of good and evil? Fifty-fifty? What is the proportion of happiness and unhappiness? Think for yourself. How much do you work for earning a little bit of money so that you can eat, you can enjoy a little bit? How much time do you take to prepare a beautiful, delicious dish? How much time does it take to eat and enjoy it? So why this disproportion?

Is there any way to get everlasting, unbroken happiness? This is what every religion definitely promises. That is the main business of every religion.

Questions About Creation

One of the questions the Hindus—or for that matter anybody—is forced to ask is: who created this and why in this particular manner? Is it God who created? Is it Devil who created? Is it that both God and Devil together, in partnership, created this world? Yes, there are people who are forced to come to this conclusion. Because the good part of this world is created by God and the evil part of this world is created by whom? Satan, Devil, whatever you say.

Is it an accidental thing? Or is it a chance? Just it happened by chance? Simply, certain things came together and that had happened. It has just taken place.

So we are seeking the answers to this type of questions. In the Ṛig Veda, 10th Maṇḍala, 129th sūkta, a beautiful hymn called the Nāsadīya Sūkta:

Neither being nor non-being existed then.

There was no sky nor heaven which is beyond.

What covered? Where was it? And in whose shelter?

There was no death. Hence, neither was anything immortal.

There was no distinction between night and day.

By its inherent force, the one breathed windless.

Nothing other than that existed.

Darkness there was. In the beginning, all this was a sea without light.

That which becoming, by the void was it covered.

Desire entered the one in the beginning. It was the earliest seed, the product of thought.

The sages, searching in their hearts with wisdom, found the bond of being in non-being.

Their ray extended light across the darkness.

But was the one below or was it above?

Creative force and fertile power was there. Below was energy and will above.

But none knows whence creation has arisen, whether he made it or did not make it.

He who surveys it in the highest heaven, only he knows. Or maybe even he knows not.

A most exalting hymn, this Nāsadīya Sūkta is. What was there before creation?

The Search for Causes

Why is it necessary for us to ask this question? Whenever we suffer, what is the first thing that we do? Seek the cause. If we don't know the cause, we will not be able to deal with it. A patient goes to a doctor. Immediately he has to find out what is the cause. First thing he does is find out the cause, and then whether there is any remedy for it. That is how life goes on. We go on improving certain things.

But Hindu philosophy says whatever you improve, that's not going to change certain facts—existential facts of life: where we are born, how long we are going to live, and what type of experiences we are destined to undergo. This no scientific or technical knowledge is going to alleviate.

You know the grossest example, graphic example is the aeroplane. It is a modern aeroplane. Does anybody know? The post-mortem wisdom will come: for such and such a reason, it has happened. Reason means here, nobody knows the reason. This is one important misunderstanding we have—that science can explain anything. Science doesn't explain anything. Science doesn't know why. It only knows how.

Yes, how did the aeroplane go down? These things happen. But why did it go down at that time? It could have happened before. It could have happened later on, before it took off. But why did it happen at that particular time, at that place, causing more than 200 people to lose their lives? Nobody knows these answers.

The Three Causes

So one of the questions that comes is: who, first of all, created it? And this is very natural for us. Whenever we come across any object, we take it for granted that object came as a result of a cause. If this is an effect, there must be a cause. You see a table. When we see a table, we immediately conclude somebody must have made this table.

Philosophy also goes into these three aspects. So every object in this world has three causes:

Material cause - Take, for example, this table. What is the material cause? Wood.
Instrumental cause - What is the instrumental cause? Implements like hammer, chisel, a saw, etc.
Efficient cause - What is the intelligent cause? A carpenter who has conceived this table and he transformed this wood into this table.

So any object that we see, we assume this must be true. So when we look at this world, we also assume that since this is an effect, there must be three causes. What is the material cause of this world? What are the instrumental causes of this world? What is or what are the intelligent causes of this world?

Immediately, we have to assume because nobody will ever believe that an effect comes into being without the cause. So who created it? Which intelligent being? Out of what material did he create it? And with what instruments did he create it? And above all, why did he create it? There must be a purpose. Nobody would do something without a motivation. There must be a motivation.

The Nature of God and Creation

All this that we are discussing holds good in this world, but it may not hold good as far as the whole world is concerned. Why? First of all, we assume—and every religion inevitably, excepting one religion, accepts—that God is the creator. Or rather to put it this way: the one who created this world is called God, creator, because that is the cause. God means the cause.

You can't go on asking who created God because there would be no end to this question. That's why it is called infinite regress. So who created God? Someone else. And who created that? Someone else. Then there would be no end. So we have to assume that there must be one cause which has no other cause. It is self-existing. It is eternal. And that being, or that power, that force, that energy—whatever it is—must have been the cause of this whole universe.

But then, the second question: we are intelligent beings. So in this world, we see two things—subject and object. A table doesn't ask the question, "Who created me? Why didn't he create me?" Only an intelligent being asks the question, "Who created me?" So if we are intelligent, and we are created beings, intelligent created beings, therefore the cause also must be an extraordinarily intelligent being.

So if we are asking why, then there must be an answer. This is what we presume in this world. But this doesn't apply with regard to God because, by definition, God is one who has no want. The question of why can be answered only when there is a lack. Something God is lacking. He wants something. Does God want anything? Then why did he create?

Hinduism—at least so far—or any religion, no religion can answer. If you want to have the answer, you have to go and ask God. But Vedānta's answer is: when you go to God to ask, your question will not be there because you will not be there. Question also, answer both will disappear when you cross the borderline of duality. Who is there to question? Who is there to answer?

So the problem is only so long as we are here. So the only legitimate question we can answer is: since we are here, why are we here? And since our experience is not a very happy experience—and it is not happy. As long as we think we are happy beings, we are very ignorant. When we understand that we are suffering beings, wisdom slowly is percolating to us.

The Reality of Suffering and Death

So those people who say, "Why are you bothering your heads with all these useless questions?"—they are ignorant people really, because one day or the other somebody is catching hold of their hair and pulling them towards old age, towards oblivion, towards separation. Ultimately, what the Americans call is forced to kick the bucket. It's a wonderful expression. I like it. He doesn't want to go. So there must have been a bucket nearby. So helplessly he kicked it. And with that, his life came to an end. That's why they call it kicking the bucket.

Is there any other explanation why it happened? So why do these things happen? Why do we want to die? And many times we desire death, really speaking. Even to be more real, even more rational, we are dying every second of our life. Yesterday is gone. One second back, it is gone. So you had a choice at half past four to sit here and listen to the lecture, sit outside and sleep. Now that choice is gone.

Vedānta's Response to Suffering

So these questions come. Every religion is forced to deal with them. Vedānta doesn't presume to tell why the world is created, why we are created, why we are struggling, why there is unhappiness. But then Vedānta also counter-questions us: When you are happy, why don't you question? What right does God have to make me happy? I will take him to the court for making me happy. Does any one of us do that? No. Only when we are suffering, we do that.

So this is a fact of life—that we undergo both happiness and unhappiness. But as I said, what is the proportion of happiness and unhappiness? First. Secondly, some people are more unhappy in life than other people. Then, as though if we freely undergo suffering, that is called spiritual life. You know, tapasya we call it. But we are helplessly going through this rigmarole and we don't know who is that.

You know, there was a modern writer called Kafka. I don't know how many of you have heard. The most wonderful writer. I forget the title. He was put in prison. He was wanting to talk to somebody. "Why am I put in this prison? What is the charge against me? And where should I go and defend myself?" He said, "They put you. It put you." It means government. Who is the government? Nobody knows who is the government. Everybody who is coming says, "You know, I am only a worker. I have been asked to put you in jail. I don't know who put me." Most wonderful thing.

We are like that—prisoners in Kafka's story. Why are we born here? And why do we have to undergo all these things? What am I supposed to know? If I don't know why I was put, why I am suffering, then how am I to find out a way out?

That's what religions are there to give us certain answers. But one answer they would not give is: why did God create? Because you are presuming that God is like you. He has a need. Therefore he had to create. He had no need. Then why did he create? We don't know. So that question is out of our way.

But we are here. This is our situation. And are you happy? If you are happy, you won't attend this class. Really speaking, if you are very happy, you would not attend this class.

You know, one man entered into the office of an ophthalmologist. As soon as he entered, the doctor told him, "There is, my good man, something very seriously wrong with your eyesight." The man was astonished. "Doctor, how did you know?" "The moment you walked in through the window." So we are like that. This is what religion is trying to tell us.

Hindu Answers to Fundamental Questions

How does Hinduism deal with this subject? Why did God create? With what material? Why is there so much suffering? Can it be changed? What is our duty? Was there a past birth? Will there be a future birth? And why is so much variation in the fates and destinies of people—poor and rich?

You know how many people suffer without food? Some people suffer from too much food. Some people suffer from lack of food. Some people have no housing. Some people have too many-roomed houses, too many houses. So why all these things? Why this variation?

This is the situation. There must be a cause. A baby is born blind or without limbs, mentally retarded. Maybe his brother or sister is fine. So the question comes: why? We don't know why. So we are forced to either accept there must be a cause or you say it just happened accidentally.

Vedānta or Hinduism tells us there is a definite cause and that cause happened in the past. But it has its own problems. So if God has created all of us together, then when did karma start, really speaking? That's a big problem.

As Vedānta says: don't worry about all those things. You are here now. Take it as a tentative answer to some of your questions. We don't know why we are here. But there is a way out. A religion proposes, claims to give us the answer: How can I make your future life a happy life? You can completely get out of the suffering. There is a complete cessation to these rounds of births and deaths. It is possible.

The Four Pillars of Hinduism

So we will deal briefly with these subjects. Now in the beginning, I said that Hinduism is based upon four pillars. What are those?

Mukti - Liberation
Sākṣātkāra - Direct experience
The theory of the chosen deity (Iṣṭa-devatā)
Karma and reincarnation - The law of karma and reincarnation

So we are coming back. Mukti means liberation. Why are we here? Why is this world created? This is the answer Hinduism gives: We are here so that we can attain mukti, liberation.

That very word means that we are not free. The very meaning that you should try to get out of this prison means you are already in the prison. Liberation is for those who are bound. Are we bound? Yes, we are bound. Even a happy person is terribly bound.

How do we know? Because you see, even a happy person—suppose a person is eating some nice food and he is quite happy. But given an opportunity, he would like to eat more for a long time. Will he not? But how much can he eat? And if he eats more than what he could digest, who would suffer? He would suffer.

So even a happy person, there is a severe limitation, restriction on that person's happiness. Given an opportunity, freedom, every man wants infinite amount of happiness. Is it not? But it is restricted. Even a happy person is severely limited. We don't want the limitation. That we are accepting the limitation doesn't mean we want the limitation. It only means we are helpless.

We have to get out of that. Is there any way out? Yes.

The Purpose of Creation

So here, this is what Hinduism is trying to tell us. We are all born—not only we, the whole creation is born—only for one purpose. What is the purpose? How to get out of creation. Creation is there so that it can help us to get out of creation.

Strangely, that is what a school, a college, a university is for. Have you ever thought about it? What is the purpose of your going to school and studying? Do you know? To get out of this school as soon as possible. Is it not? You study well, then they will give you—"Are you ready now to get out of this school?" If you write well, that means your answer is yes, I am now ready to get out. The school also says we don't want you anymore. Get out.

University. What is the purpose of life? It is a big university. It is a learning process. What is the purpose? To get out of life. What is the purpose of creation? To help us get out of creation. Creation means limitation. So the purpose of limitation is to get out of limitation. This is the truth.

So mukti means also it presumes one thing: that there is a state where there is no limitation.

God as the Three Causes

So Hinduism, when it is asked, what do you mean by mukti? Then it tells us that this whole universe is nothing but a limitation of God. So where from did it come? The answer is, I told you, every object has three causes: material cause, instrumental cause, and intelligent cause.

If you ask what are the three causes of this whole world, then what would be the answer? There is only one—three causes:

God is the intelligent cause
God is the instrumental cause
God is the material cause

It is very important for us to understand this concept. Take this example. Here is a table. What is the material cause of this table? Wood. What is the instrumental cause? It is a hammer, a saw. What is the intelligent cause? A carpenter.

Now if you want to find the carpenter, carpenter and table have nothing to do with each other. Carpenter may be, after making the table, he has gone to the other side of the world. He might even go out of this world also. Similarly, the hammer and other things might have been thrown into the Thames. But there is one thing which can never remain separate from the table. What is it? It is material cause, wood. Because the table is nothing but wood with two additions: name and form.

So if God is the cause, he is the intelligent cause, he is the instrumental cause, because you can't say there is something besides God. If there is something besides God, then God will not be infinite. He will be finite. Therefore, if this world is there, it must only have come out of God.

Therefore, what is this world really? Nothing but—if this is the material, the material cause of this world is God. If you understand that, then what is this world? What are we looking at? When you are looking at this table, what are you looking at? When we are looking at this world, what are we looking at? Only God.

And why is it that we can't recognize God? It's because of the name and form. So that is what Hindus call Māyā.

Liberation as Knowledge

So when we say, or Hinduism says, liberation is the goal of life, it is not saying anything, because you cannot separate this world from God. Can you separate this table from wood? All that you need to do is to have the knowledge: this is nothing but wood with a particular name and form. When we can evolve to such a state where we can look at this world—this is God with name and form—then we are liberated. This is called Brahma-jñāna, knowledge of Brahman.

So if this world is coming from God, then what can it be? It must be God. And we know God is divine. If God is divine, what are we then? We are also divine, only we have forgotten for some reason.

When God, as it were, appears to be limited—I will come to that point, I have to be very careful using these words, I will explain shortly—as it were, when God has become this world, then we are only looking at the name and form, forgetting that we ourselves are nothing but God. So as though a veil has been put over our knowledge of ourselves, that is called by Hindus Māyā, Prakṛti, etc. Different names are given.

Involution and Evolution

So this process that this world has come from God, that is known in the language called involution.

So Hinduism tells us—and most of you who have read some books on Vedānta know—from Brahman (Brahman is the name for God, for ultimate reality in Hinduism, in Vedānta), from Brahman came Ākāśa, space. From space came air, Vāyu. From Vāyu or air came fire, Agni. From fire came water. From water came Pṛthvī or this earth. And a combination of all these things put together is what we call this whole universe: human beings, animals, birds, plants, living, non-living—absolutely no difference. Everything is nothing but different combinations of these five elements.

That's why in Sanskrit, we use three important words:

Jagat - Jagat means what? Gati. Gati means movement. That which is always moving from one particular form and name into some other particular form and name, that is why it is called jagat, constantly moving.
Prapañca - You know what is the meaning of prapañca? Pañca means five. Prapañca means that which is made out of five elements. That is why we call it prapañca.

This is called involution. As it were, from consciousness into slowly limited consciousness, into so-called unconsciousness, God has descended. This is matter: clay, rocks, minerals, iron, etc. As it were, no consciousness. This process is called involution.

But involution also presupposes evolution. Just like a cycle, it's called Brahma-cakra, the wheel of Brahman. As though the wheel which was uppermost, it has gone down. And now, what will happen? Again it has to come up. That process is called evolution.

Now our whole universe, we are in the process of evolution. So in the evolutionary process, human body is the peak of biological evolution. Then the next two stages of evolution are moral evolution and spiritual evolution, which is not an outward movement but an inward movement.

Why We Are Here

So this is what Vedānta or Hinduism is trying to tell us. We are here, that means we are in the process of evolution. And where is the peak of evolution? When we reach our true nature. When we realize who we are. That is the end of the process of evolution.

So this is why we are here. Again as I told you, don't ask: why did God need to go down in order to go up? He is not happy as it is. No answer. We are here. God is playing as it were. The first question: let us get out of here.

Why is this world not for enjoyment, not for suffering? It has only one purpose. It is the process by which we are slowly proceeding towards our home.

Mano chalo Nija Niketane

Shangshar o bideshe, bidesheri beshe

Bhromo keno okarone?

Let us go to our own home. That was the song Swami Vivekānanda sang.

So we are going—willingly, knowingly or unknowingly, consciously or unconsciously, willingly or unwillingly. Helplessly we are being carried, not into hell, but into heaven or our true nature.

The Role of Pain and Pleasure

Then why do we suffer? Because suffering—somebody told, one Swami was asked: what is this business of pain and pleasure? How do they help us? He said: pleasure pulls us towards God, and pain pushes us towards God. Two engine trains, you know. One is pulling from—if it is an uphill movement, then one engine is pulling it, another engine is pushing it.

Pain has this great function: whenever we suffer, it pushes us forward one step as it were. If it is a big pain, it pushes us faster towards God. We would wish, without pain, only pleasure pulls us towards God—that usually doesn't happen. Both are necessary. That is the explanation of Hinduism or Vedānta, why there is pain and pleasure.

Hinduism never answers one-sided questions. Why is there suffering? It has to answer both. Why is there pain? Why is there pleasure? Why is there life? Why is there death?

Rebirth and the Nature of Saṃsāra

So in that process also, Hinduism specifically tells us: what do you mean by death? If you are thinking death means non-existence, that is not the idea of Hinduism. We had births before, we are going to have births later on. There is a past birth, there is a future birth. So what is the purpose? We are slowly evolving towards our true nature. This is the nature of saṃsāra.

Saṃsāra means what? Another word we use, saṃsāra. Always moving. There is nothing that is stationary. Everything is changing, means not merely changing from one to the other. There is a forward movement. Saṃsarati iti saṃsāraha.

So where is this movement taking us? Like a huge river, so many things float. The river is also going. Where is it going? Towards the ocean. What is its destination? To become one with the ocean. And what is the relationship with the ocean? The river has originated from the ocean only. The water rises in the form of steam and then it goes driven by the wind and again it comes back. This is the most beautiful explanation.

So we are like sticks floating on that huge fast flowing river. Ultimately this river will not allow us to stop anywhere. Temporarily you can get stuck with another piece. Two pieces get stuck but it is only temporarily. Then you become unstuck. Hinduism doesn't believe in super glue. All temporary glue only. Ultimately it will take us to the ocean which is our birthplace, which is called God.

This is the explanation Vedānta gives. If we understand this then we can understand so much.

The Three Fundamental Questions of Philosophy

So to understand some of these questions—philosophy. Philosophy means what? Ask questions and try to answer them. I told you philosophy has to solve three important questions. Answer three important questions. What are they?

Who am I?
What is this world?
Is there any God?

If then, what is the relationship between us three? Me, world and God—like a triangle. Every philosophy has to answer these three questions.

The Six Schools and Three Views

So before, you know, over a number of years Hinduism has produced six schools of philosophy. I will not go into detail because it is not necessary for us. Briefly it is good to know the names:

Sāṃkhya and Yoga
Nyāya and Vaiśeṣika
Pūrva Mīmāṃsā and Uttara Mīmāṃsā

Six schools of philosophy. But in course of evolution—because they also evolve—in course of evolution these six schools of philosophies, they became harmonized. And three distinct views about this world, about God, about liberation, about our relationship with the world and God have evolved out of these six schools of Indian philosophy.

Now modern times when we use the word Vedānta, Vedānta is not one particular school. Vedānta means philosophy. There are three schools of philosophy and you know them:

Dvaita - Duality
Viśiṣṭa-dvaita - Special relationship with God. We are part of the whole.
Advaita - There are no two, there is no part or whole, there is only one reality.

These are the three schools of philosophy.

So is there any conflict between these three? Apparently yes, really no. Swami Vivekānanda, he was a harmonizer. So you know what he said? Advaita is the ultimate state of experience. But dvaita and viśiṣṭa-dvaita are like two steps which take us. So really speaking they are not three parallel roads running to the ultimate reality but two steps leading to the ultimate roof which is called advaita.

Two Theories of Creation

Now coming back, two theories of creation are there in Hinduism. All these three schools have to deal with that. So these three schools again roughly are divided into two only: dualism and non-dualism.

Non-Dualism: Vivarta-vāda (Apparent Transformation)

According to non-dualism, nothing can become anything else. God cannot become this world. Yes, they have one theory. It is called apparent transformation (vivarta-vāda).

For example, a rope is seen to be a snake. As long as you start seeing the snake you don't see the rope. But really was there any snake? No, the reality is only rope. So this apparent means so long as we are ignorant we think we are different from Brahman or Ātman. But when we have knowledge we don't see any difference.

In fact, every day of our life for several hours we have this experience. When we are in deep sleep then there is no duality at all. We don't know the distinction between me and the world and God. There is only one experience: I, I, I. That is why it is the most wonderful experience.

So this is the theory of creation. God hasn't become but God appears for some mysterious reason to become this world. This world is like a snake. God is like a rope. So God because of ignorance appears to be this world.

Dualism: Pariṇāma-vāda (Actual Transformation)

What dualism says is: no, it is not appearance. Really God becomes transformed. How? Like milk becomes transformed into yogurt. Milk becomes transformed into yogurt.

There are problems which again I will not go into. If milk becomes transformed into yogurt then where is the milk after it becomes yogurt? It's not there. So if God has become this world then God has disappeared. There are serious problems. That means, you know, where are you going to go after that? Can the yogurt ever go back into the state of the milk? There is no way.

So this is called pariṇāma-vāda, actual transformation. So to counter this question: if God has become this world, what happens to the status of God? So the answer, nobody can give the answer. Apparent answer: God has such a power that even though he undergoes transformation, he still remains the whole. But that is not logically acceptable, really speaking.

But these theories may not concern us really—whether it is vivarta-vāda or pariṇāma-vāda, actual transformation or apparent transformation. Whether I am actually being threatened by a terrorist or I am imagining that some terrorist is going to shoot me, the result is misery. I am suffering. That is, there is no pariṇāma-vāda there. It is absolutely, it is the truth. How to get out of that suffering, that is the idea.

The Nature of Creation

Now, this world, what does it consist of? God became the world. Here also we use the word creation. Creation means not like a potter making a pot. You know, here a potter is making a pot. That means what? The potter is different. The pot is different.

But when God becomes this world, is he like a potter? No. He himself, as though the potter himself has become the pot, as though the wood itself has become the table, the clay has become the pot. That is the idea we have. Creation means projection. God himself becoming this world.

Why is this necessary? Because you know, some other religions, God created this world out of nothing. He is there. We are separate from him. We can never become him. Whereas Hinduism says it is not like that. It is God who has become. Therefore, invariably, who are we? Or what is this whole universe? Nothing but God.

If it is God, there will come a time when it will recognize its status: this is my real nature is divinity. I am God. Otherwise there is no chance. That is why depending upon our understanding of what is this creation, what is the relationship between God and us, our idea of liberation also has to change.

According to some religions, if God is gracious, you lead a good life, then what happens to you? You will go to God. Will you become God? No. There is no chance. He is the Lord. You are only a creature. He is the creator. Creature can never become the creator. At best, you will be nearer to him. And now and then, he will leave some crumbs.

This is not acceptable to Hindus. Who the hell is God? What does he think about himself? If at all, I will leave some crumbs for him. I must be one with him. So this is the idea Hinduism gives. We are nothing but divine. We do not know that we are divine. To know that we are divine, that is the purpose of this life. So slowly we evolve towards that understanding. That is the idea.

The Two Bodies

This world I said, these five elements—space, air, fire, water and earth—this whole thing created. Individually speaking, we are having two bodies:

The gross body (sthūla-śarīra)
The subtle body (sūkṣma-śarīra)

And as we know, the gross body, it falls at some point of time. That's what we call death. But the subtle body, consisting of the mind, where all our information is stored, what we have done in the past, what we are doing now—this, the soul as it were, carries to the next birth, until it realizes its true nature.

I am not going into details of Vedānta. I am only talking in a very general way. Two bodies, gross and subtle. The gross body is very limited. The subtle body is also limited, but much more freedom than the physical body. So it is this physical body which helps the subtle body slowly learn its lesson in this world.

The Fourteen Worlds

And to create that opportunity, as it were, God had created, according to a shortened version of creation, three schools—means three lokas. Tribhuvana we call it, triloka we call it. What is in the famous Gāyatrī Mantra? Bhūḥ, bhuvaḥ, svaḥ.

Whatever we are experiencing now, this is called bhūloka. Whatever we are going to reach the highest, that is called heavenly world, is called suvarloka. And in between what is there, that is called bhuvaḥ, bhuvarloka.

But a more detailed explanation of these lokas or worlds, created by God, they are called caturdasya bhuvana, fourteen worlds. So there are seven higher worlds, and our earth is not included in them. And there are seven lower worlds, and the first of that lower world is our earth. Then there are six below us, which is atala, sutala, vitala, talātala, mahātala, rasātala, pātāla. Pātāla is the lowest one.

So accordingly, our happiness goes down. So how is this classification made? Based upon the amount of happiness we experience. When we experience more happiness than earthly happiness, that is one world higher. In which still more happiness, that would be the second world, that means the ninth world. In the tenth world, we experience still more happiness.

So different names are given. The 14th world is called Brahma-loka. And there, the maximum amount of dualistic happiness is obtained. And nobody can attain, with this body and mind, happiness which is greater than that of Brahma-loka.

Similarly, beginning with this earthly planet, this is the eighth. Starting counting from Brahma-loka, this is the eighth. So this is here, we get some amount of happiness, some amount of unhappiness. As we go down, the fifty-fifty percentage slowly starts to change. It is not one horse, one rabbit. It is one elephant, one rabbit. Like that, the proportion of unhappiness increases and the proportion of happiness decreases. Until we get, you know, pātāla, there is point, point, point, 1% happiness and the rest is pure unhappiness.

This is just a figurative way—do not take it literally—of counting how these worlds are created. But do not take it that these are all imaginary worlds. No. All these worlds are really true. How do we know? From two sources:

Scriptures, which we have to believe, no other way.
The saints like Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa. You know, he said: "My mind went up and I went to Saptarṣi-maṇḍala, the planetary place where seven great sages are completely merged in God."

Now do you think it is just he was imagining or is it a reality? It's a reality. There are worlds. In the dualistic world, there are upper worlds, lower worlds. So we have to believe, never think they are untrue.

But ultimately, everything is untrue, including this earthly world is untrue. The only reality is our true nature as Brahman. Until we reach that realization, you cannot say 50% I believe in the reality of this earth, but I think the other is heaven and hell—they are all imaginations. Either 14 worlds or three worlds.

That is why Śiva is called Tripurāri, who destroys, who puts an end to these three worlds, so that we will become completely free from this bondage of these three worlds.

The Five Sheaths (Pañcakośa)

In the Vedāntic language, pañcakośa we call it. We are sheaths, five sheaths. The soul is covered as it were in the five sheaths. It is important for us to understand because when we progress in spiritual life, what happens? Gradually, we start identifying ourselves, leaving identification with the grossest, identifying a little bit higher and subtler than that.

So first we identify with this gross body (ānṇamaya-kośa), then with the sheath of the vital force or life force (prāṇamaya-kośa), then with our mind (manomaya-kośa), then with our intellect (vijñānamaya-kośa), ultimately with the sheath of bliss (ānandamaya-kośa). Ultimately. And then that is also a bondage. And afterwards, we break that cocoon and then we attain ultimate oneness with our true nature.

So the world, this world is maintained like a sheath. It is there both to protect us, to bind us at the moment. It is the only instrument we have. But ultimately, the purpose of this instrument is so that we can destroy these kośas.

Now who is going to destroy our bondage? Yourself. What is the bondage? Body and mind. What is the instrument to destroy this bondage called body and mind? It is body and mind is the bondage and body and mind is the instrument with which we ultimately destroy the body and mind, get out.

The Purpose of Saṃsāra

So this world is a wonderful opportunity or a school and there are 14 such schools. So we evolve from the lowest school to the highest school and that is the idea of evolution. This world is created not for enjoyment, not for suffering, not for karma, but as an instrument, opportunity to learn our lesson. This is the idea of saṃsāra.

This is how we are, God as it were, created himself and become involved like this world and now he is slowly evolving towards his own self. Why he is doing we don't know, but how he is doing and what we should do this is very clear. We are potentially divine, so the goal is to manifest the potentiality by controlling nature external and internal.

How do we control nature? It is through evolving, take help of these instruments and slowly evolve towards higher states of mind which is called spiritual progress or in tantric language from lower cakra state of consciousness to a higher state of consciousness until we reach the highest state of consciousness which is called sahasrāra and then we become illumined, then we become liberated, then we know what we are. Aham brahmāsmi, sarvam khalvidam brahma: I am Brahman, everything is nothing but Brahman. That is the purpose of this creation.

Conclusion

This is called saṃsāra. This is at the moment bondage, limitation and this limitation has only one purpose. Suffering has only one purpose. What is that purpose? That we must get out of suffering. So God also has created a means how we can get out of it. There are ways.

So we will discuss what are those ways? How are we supposed to evolve? What is the speciality of Hinduism with regard to this means of achieving liberation? In our future classes very briefly we will discuss.

Closing Prayer

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः

Om Śānti, Śānti, Śāntih.

Om, peace, peace, peace be unto all.

Hinduism 24

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