Part 6 - Ultimate Realization

The realization of the nature of ultimate reality may again be of a twofold nature: abstract, i.e., as Brahman, and concrete, i.e., as personal God or the supreme soul (Paramātman). In the latter case the richness of the concrete realization is further increased when one learns to realize God in all His diverse forms^[1]. In this stage, though the devotee realizes the diverse manifold and infinite powers of God, he learns to identify his own nature with the nature of God as pure bliss. Such an identification of God’s nature manifests itself in the form of the emotion of bhakti or joy (prīti); the devotee experiences his own nature as joy, and realizes his oneness with God through the nature of God as bliss or joy. It is through the experience of such joy that the ultimate cessation of sorrow becomes possible, and without it the devotee cannot realize God in association with all His diverse and infinite powers. By the intimate experience of the joyous nature of God His other attributes, characters and powers can also be revealed to him. Man naturally seeks to realize himself through joy; but ordinarily he does not know what is the true object of joy, and thus he wastes his energies by seeking joy in diverse worldly objects. He attains his true end when he realizes that God is the source of all joy, that He alone should be sought in all our endeavours, and that in this way alone can one attain absolute joy and ultimate liberation in joy. The true devotee wishes to attain kaivalva ; but kaivalya means “purity,” and, as the true nature of God is the only ultimate purity, kaivalya would mean the realization of God’s nature. The joy of the realization of God and God alone should therefore be regarded as the true kaivalya, the ultimate nature of God.

In the state of jīvan-mukti the individual, through a true knowledge of himself and his relation to God, comes to realize that the world is both being and non-being, and has therefore no real existence in its own true nature, but is only regarded as part of himself through his own ignorance (avidyā). The mere negation of the world is not enough; for there is here also the positive knowledge of the true nature of the individual as dependent on God. In this stage the individual realizes the falsity of associating world-experiences with his own nature, and learns to identify the latter as a part of God. In this state he has to experience all the fruits of his deeds which are on the point of yielding fruits, but he feels no interest in such experiences, and is no longer bound by them^[2]. As a further culmination of this stage, the functioning of māyā in its individual form as ignorance (avidyā) ceases with the direct and immediate revelation of the true nature of God and with participation in His true nature as joy; the complete cessation of māyā should therefore be regarded as the final state of mukti^[3].

It should be borne in mind that the jīva is a part of the ultimate reality in association with the energy of God as represented in the totality of the jīvas. The ultimate reality is like the sun and the jīvas are like the rays which emanate from it. From their root in God they have sprung out of Him, and, though seemingly independent of Him, are yet in complete dependence on Him. Their existence outside of Him also is not properly to be asserted; for in reality such an appearance of existence outside Him is only the effect of the veil of māyā. The comparison of the jīvas with the rays merely means that they have no separate existence from that body whose rays they are, and in this sense they are entirely dependent on God. When the jīvas are regarded as the power or energy of God, the idea is that they are the means through which God expresses Himself. As God is endowed with infinite powers, it is not difficult to admit that the jīvas, the manifestations of God’s power, are in themselves real agents and enjoyers, and the suggestion of the extreme monist, that to assert agency or enjoyability of them is illusory, is invalid; for agency in an individual is a manifestation of God’s power. It is through that that the jīvas pass through the cycle of saṃsāra, and it is through the operation of the essential power of God that they learn to perceive the identity of their own nature with God and immerse themselves in emotion towards Him. The view that there is no experience of joy in the state of emancipation is invalid; for in that case the state of emancipation would not be desirable. Moreover, the view that in the state of emancipation one becomes absolutely identical with Brahman, which is of the nature of pure joy, is also wrong; for no one wishes to become identical with joy, but to experience it. The extreme form of monism cannot therefore explain why the state of emancipation should be desirable; if emancipation cannot be proved to be an intensely desirable state, there will be no reason why anyone should make any effort to attain it. It may further be added that, if the ultimate reality be of the nature of pure bliss and knowledge, there is no way of explaining why it should be subject to the obscuring influence of māyā. The conception of whole and part explains the fact that, though the jīvas are not different from God, yet they are not absolutely identical, being indeed entirely dependent on Him. The proper way of regarding God is to recognize Him as presiding over all beings as they are associated with their specific conditions and limitations—as varied personalities and yet as one; this is the way to unify the concept of Paramātman with that of Bhagavan^[4].