by Sri Bmal Mohanty
VOL No. 18
April.. 2002

CHAPTER Nineteen- LOOKING FOR GOD BETWEEN REAL AND UNREAL - an approach

"QUESTIONS FROM READERS"

Question 1 from Sri Harsh Mehta

If GOD has created the world, who created GOD? Why GOD created the world? Are souls created?

Answer:

It is always commonly stated that God or Bramhan created this world. This is indeed true. However in the context of sanatan philosophy this english word `creation' needs to be understood in its proper perspective.

This phenomenal world which we experience and recognise through our gross senses only, evolves out of Bramhan. It is better understood as a projection or manifestation of Bramhan itself. Bramhan is pure consciousness, pure omniscient and intelligent energy. The material world that we comprehend through our sense faculties is a transformation of this energy into material form. It exists only within the sphere of our senses. When we transcend our senses it ceases to exist and only that primordial conscious energy remains. Only Bramhan remains. Thus the phenomenal world is not something separate from Bramhan but verily the Bramhan himself manifested. The source and root of everything is That Bramhan.

Beyond Bramhan nothing exists. Therefore there is nothing else that could possibly be the source or creator of Bramhan. Bramhan ever existed, exists at any time and shall remain to exist all the time. It itself is its cause, described as swayambhu -self created. This omniscient conscious energy is its own source. This character of ever existence is Bramhan's most original definition.
 
As said earlier this world or creation is only a conditional manifestation of Bramhan. Its existence is only within the sphere and limits of the gross sense faculties like eyes ears and mind etc available to the created beings. When one goes beyond these limits i.e. transcends the gross consciousness level, the world ceases to have any reality. This is one of the most profound truths discovered and subscribed by the sanatan or vedantic philosophy

Why does the Bramhan subject itself to this play of manifestation? To understand this one must dwell upon the very purpose and ultimate goal of all created beings - humans and others. Our ultimate objective is to develop fully to that sublime spiritual state whereby we become one with that total consciousness- purna chaitanaya or consciousness par perfection. When the evolution and develoment is complete we rediscover our source The Bramhan and merge back with him. This process of evolution of the jiva or individual soul is a continuous process of learning about the ultimate light of truth and shedding away all the darkness of ignorance. In the scheme of The Bramhan, this world around us provides the very foundation for our evolution, the classroom for our education, the laboratory for our development. Everything about and in this world, when observed in the right perspective is packed with lessons that teach us this truth. The opposites like pain and pleasure, misery and happiness, light and darkness, the qualitative characteristics such as satvic, rajasik and tamasik (pure, desire driven, and foolish) of all worldly things, the principle of cause and effect etc which are inherent characteristics of the world, provide us continuous lessons as what to do ,what not to do, what to accept and what to discard, which path to take and which to abandon etc. Seen through our wisdom, the world points to only one direction - the satchidananada which is THE TRUTH, its realisation and the ensuing permanent bliss.


If this world were not there, our development would not take place?

So this creation or projection of the phenomenal world is again part of a grand cosmic design. All created beings from a rudimentary conscious inert object to a highly intellectual human being are the constituents of this created universe. The creation has no existence without its constituents and the constituents depend on the creation for their evolution. It is a wondrous divinely conceived interlinked and interdependent matrix. All along our understanding of this metaphysical truth, one should however never forget that all of these are part of and within that single Bramhan as nothing exists beyond Bramhan.

For the created beings to remain engaged in action for the sustenance of the creation and also work their way through the ladder of evolution, each has to have a life force. The essence of this life force is the prana (not the life breath but the vitality of the life breath). And finally the controller of this prana, as well as all activities of the body, mind and intellect is what is termed as the soul. The soul is not created but a mere extention again of that same single Bramhan. When the cycle of the evolutionary process is complete the individual soul retains no separate existence. It becomes one with that supreme soul, like the space inside a pot, when the pot breaks merges with the infinite space. We call it Mokshya.

Question 2 from Ms Jyoti Nagar

Could u tell me what happens to people when they die...where do they go and why do we feel sad about it?. Why cant we see or hear them?.I would be very grateful if you could help me.

Whenever people are in the midst of grief and heartbreak, it is also in the divine nature of things that ensures and gives strength to see things in their true perspective. Some see it quickly while some take time, but everyone eventually sees the light. It is very natural for all of us to feel sad about the demise of a near relation. In a personal misfortune, it is indeed difficult for anyone not to grieve. Yet strange as it may sound, banishing the grief from one's mind and contemplating on the spiritual transmigration of the soul is indeed the only balm for a perturbed mind and beneficial for us and most importantly for the departed soul.

The cessation of one life form through which the soul migrates is not in the hands of yours, mine or any body else. It is purely dictated by the need of that particular soul and the next opportunity which the benevolent Lord arranges for it. By grieving over it we only unnecessarily inflict pain on ourselves and distract from our ordained role in life.

One should contemplate quietly on the following truth.

Every transmigration (punarjanma), irrespective of the subject, time and mode, happens only when the Lord is satisfied that the present form and life is no more assisting the soul in its progress towards ultimate perfection and a different form and different environment has become necessary. Indeed it is not a misfortune but a gift of another opportunity from the Lord to regain our progress which for various reasons the present life no more provides. In the pilgrims progress towards continuous development this is another positive step. We are all in the hands of the Lord continuously being moulded and assisted towards a better being, a higher conscious soul. If in the judgement of the Lord, a particular soul needed a more conducive opportunity for its development, then The benevolent Lord provides this gift. Should any one that?

Never should we judge God's actions through personal mindsets born out of our ignorance and selfish attachments.

Why we do not come to know what form the departed soul has taken or what it is doing now after death? Because it serves no beneficial purpose and we are in no position to help the soul anyway. Our desire to know about those who are gone, is not free from the influence of a purely selfish motive. The concern is more for what we have lost or shall not receive any more and not for any consideration towards the departed soul. To a selfish mind like ours any such knowledge, can give rise to many negative thoughts and actions like anger, envy, hatred, despair etc. God shields us from all that misfortune. Emancipated and enlightened people (siddha purushas)who have no trace of such desire in their heart and have transcended all desires can only acquire that knowledge. Lord Krishna explains so to Arjuna " Both you and me have undergone many many births. I know them all but you do not."

(Articles 4(&3) in the pages of Ahwan deal more with the question of continuous development.)

The Lord not only assists the departed but by inflicting grief on the living is indeed assisting them in instilling in their hearts the urge for meditation, an urge for understanding the essence of one's own existence. That is how His Love towards all flows. The best the living can do is to send positive thoughts for the departed soul that may assist it in its further development(sadgati or movement towards reality), and turn ourselves to God for new enlightenment. That is the origin of the concept of shraddhatarpan or rituals for the dead

SPECIAL INFORMATION FOR AHWAN READERS