Chapter 1 - Search after Truth

tamevaikaṃ jānatha ātmānamanyā vāco vimuñcathāmṛtasya ṣa setuḥ |

Realize alone that Self,
Give up all flimsy and useless talks,
This is the only one way
To go across the ocean of death.

Nearly two thousand years ago Jesus of Nazareth declared before the world: ‘And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’^[1] The knowledge of truth (satya [satyam]) brings freedom to the soul; this is the quintessence of the religion preached by that illustrious personage, who is worshipped all over Christendom as the only begotten Son of God.

About five centuries before the advent of Jesus the Christ, Buddha declared in India: ‘Happy is he who has found the truth. The truth is noble and sweet; the truth can deliver you from evil. There is no Saviour in the world except the truth.’ Again, centuries before the appearance of Buddha, the holy sages and prophets of the Vedic period announced that truth is the goal of the universe. From truth we have come into existence, in truth we live, and into truth we return in the end. Whosoever has found the truth, is happy, is free, and is blissful. On the one hand, all the religion, all the great spiritual teachers of the world of past ages have taught that the knowledge of truth is the highest ideal, and it brings freedom to the soul; so, on the other hand, all the great metaphysicians, philosophers, and scientists of all ages, and all climes, after realizing that the knowledge of truth is the highest goal of all knowledge, spared no pains in searching after it. To know the truth, i.e. to realize the truth has always been the one theme in the life of the kings and beggars, apostles and prophets, of ancient and modem India. All philosophies, all sciences, all religions are nothing but so many attempts of the human mind to realize the truth, to know the eternal truth.

Scientists of today have held the same ideal. The most eminent of modem scientists, Ernst Haeckel, writes: ‘Every effort of genuine science makes for a knowledge of truth.’ If knowledge of truth is the highest ideal of life, the question only arises in our minds: ‘What is the nature of that truth, by knowing which the soul can become free and attain to happiness, and what are the methods by which that knowledge can be acquired?’ In the first place, if we analyse the various meanings of this term ‘truth’, we shall find that in its most abstract sense, the word ‘truth’ refers to something that is universal, that is one. Its meaning in its most abstract sense is all-embracing, universal; but when it is limited by sectarian ideas, particular doctrines or dogmas, then it loses its original universal meaning. As for instance, the theologians of antiquity in trying to explain that passage: ‘And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free,’ declared that Jesus the Christ was the only begotten Son of God, and that he came to this world to save mankind. This is the truth and you must believe in it. Belief in this truth will bring freedom of the soul from sin and bring pardon. That interpretation has been given by many theologians to this passage. While others have given a little different interpretation that Jesus the Christ came to this earth to preach the highest truth, and that his life was the standard of truth. If we have faith in him and in his teachings, that faith will bring knowledge of truth, and we shall be able to appreciate what truth is, and attain to freedom in the end. No other interpretation will appeal to such thinkers. On the contrary, such thinkers will not accept anything which is outside of the boundary line of their doctrines and opinions.

Similarly, if we go among the Buddhists, and enquire what they understand by truth, they would declare: ‘The truth is Buddha’s essence, and the truth will remain the ultimate standard by which we can discern false and true doctrines. Let us, then, revere the truth; let us enquire into the truth and state it, and let us obey the truth. For the truth is Buddha, our Master, our Teacher, our Lord’. As the Christians hold Christ, his life, and his teachings as the standard of truth, so among the Buddhists you will find that they hold Buddha, his life, and his teachings as the standard of truth. Now here we see limitations. If we go to the Mohammedans, we will find that Mohammed is the standard of truth, and his teachings are truth. They say: ‘You must have faith in his teachings, if you will to be saved.’ As the Buddhists will not accept anything outside the teachings of Buddha, so the Christians do not accept anything outside the teachings of Christ; nor will the Mohammedans accept anything outside the teachings of Mohammed.

By examining all these sectarian ideas, we find that each has its limitations. That universal meaning which was almost lost in the mass of dogmas, doctrines, theories, and ceremonials, has now been recovered, and revealed once more by the scientific thinkers of the present age.

We are no longer referring to the sectarian idea of truth, but we want to know the truth. Scientific thinkers say, the knowledge of truth is the ideal of life, but by truth they do not mean sectarian truth; they want to know the ultimate cause, the reality of the source. The search after truth, according to the scientific thinkers, cannot be limited, cannot be found within the limits of any sectarian statements; on the contrary, science has rejected all the sectarian statements regarding the creation of the universe, and its cause. Science has made free invasion into the domain of nature, and has discovered many truths, which were truths unknown to the writers of the so-called revealed scriptures of the world. It has taken its stand upon reason, and has rejected all that is blind faith.

Five centuries before Christ, Buddha realized this fact, and he understood that blind faith or belief in a set of doctrines or dogmas would not help one in the search after truth and, therefore, he declared before Arara Kalama: ‘Do not believe in what ye have heard; do not believe in traditions, because they have been handed down for many generations; do not believe, in anything, because it is rumoured and spoken of by many; do not believe merely, because the written statement of some old sage is produced; do not believe in conjectures, do not believe in that as truth to which you have become attached by habit; do not believe merely on the authority of your teachers and elders; after observation and analysis, when. it agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.’^[2] Mind, this was uttered by Buddha five hundred years before the Christian era. The same spirit which guided the ancient seekers after truth in India, and which resulted in the discovery of the law of evolution, and many other moral, philosophical, and spiritual laws, which govern or which underlie all phenomena and that same spirit has also forced the scientific thinkers to find out the errors of the scriptural theories, doctrines, and dogmas, and has also made them reject and throw aside all these errors as the result of ignorance.

For two thousand years the prevailing idea has been that this world was created six millenniums ago in six days, out of nothing by some extra-cosmic Being. Has this belief done any good? On the contrary, history tells us that it has done more harm than any good. It has forced the priests to persecute Giordano Bruno, Copernicus, Galileo, who were all imprisoned and tortured, because of their denial of scriptural dogmas which were upheld by the church. For this reason, Bruno was burnt alive in the streets of Rome in 1600 A.D. But today the theory of evolution has given a death blow to the theory of Special Creation in the Genesis; we know that, that description is nothing but a myth; there is no truth in it. No scientist will accept it as truth. And those who do not believe in such an erroneous and dogmatic statement have now gained much in knowledge through science, have discovered new laws, and have gained a new revelation.

If we remember the meaning of truth, that what remains permanently, what does not change, is the ultimate reality of the universe, then we cannot accept anything that is subject to change as the ultimate truth. The theory of creation would have been true i.e. I mean, the theory of creation that is given in the Genesis, if science had supported it and if the theory of evolution were not a fact. Today the theory of evolution is a fact, so we cannot believe that the earth was created before the sun, that everything was created for the earth, and that man is the lord of the earth, of everything, and that all the lower animals were created for the pleasure of man. This was an idea among the Parsees and one which was accepted in those days; but, when we stand upon reason we find that such ideas, having their origin in ignorance, not in absolute knowledge, must go. We are in search after the absolute truth, that which does not change. Where can we find it? With the help of modern science we have learnt many things. We have learnt that this world is full of changes; that every phenomenon of this universe is subject to constant change. This is one of the point which is gathered from the study of modern science. The next point is that all these changes are caused by the natural processes of evolution, governed by natural laws. The third point is that the law of the persistence of force and the indestructibility of matter have shown that there is no such thing as the creation of something out of nothing, or the absolute annihilation of a particle of that which has once existed. That which exists today, existed in the past, and shall continue to exist in future in some form or other. For instance, if we burn a piece of wood, apparently, that piece of wood is destroyed, but, at the same time, if we observe closely, we shall see that it has produced ashes, water, carbonic acid gas, and nitrogen, the total quantity of which is the same as that of that piece of wood. The form of wood is gone, but its elements remain the same. The quantitative substance of that wood can neither be increased nor decreased by any power which human beings have learnt to wield.

So, the form may be destroyed, when a person dies. Death means the destruction of the form, or disintegration of that particular form into its elemental condition; but the particles of matter, the forces, the energy, remain the same; they are not destroyed, and the sum total of that energy, force, and elements is always the same, and can neither increase nor decrease. There is no power in the universe that can destroy an atom or a force. But transformation of force or transformation of energy is possible; light can be transformed into heat, heat can be transformed into motion, but it cannot be destroyed; the difference is only in degree, not in kind. So, therefore, by studying science we come to the fourth conclusion that the sum total of all the forces of nature, the sum total of the cosmic energy can neither be increased nor decreased. Fifth, the sum total of matter and force which is exhibited in various forms, is beginningless and endless. No one has ever seen a particle of matter, coming out of nothing, to take some form of existence. So, matter is uncreatable and indestructible, the same as the nature of forms. Force is uncreatable and indestructible, and the sum total of matter and force can neither be increased nor decreased. Matter, energy, and force are eternal, infinite, beginningless, and endless and these are the truths which are being carefully studied by the most advanced scientists of the present age. The appearance of things may change, a piece of stone may change into something else. But matter is indestructible, force is indestructible, ether is indestructible. The sum total of this universe in its most primordial condition is one homogeneous substance, which we cannot perceive with the senses; we can arrive at this conclusion by experience and logical inference. No one has ever seen this substance, but it is known to us through the process of logic.

By studying the exemal world, the objective world, science helps us in arriving at the conclusion, that the universe with all its variety of phenomena has come out of this eternal substance which is beginningless and endless. This substance is infinite. It does not change in quality or quantity. It may appear to change, taking different shapes and forms, but, in reality, it does not take form; forms exist in time and space, and this substance is beyond time and space. If you analyse time, you will find that it means nothing but succession, which is a condition of thought; and space means co-existence. One thought following another gives us a conception of intervals which we call time; while, when two ideas rise simultaneously, that which separates them is what we call space.^[3]

But, when there is no manifestation, there is neither succession nor co-existence, i.e. neither time nor space. Therefore, the substance is not in space, but space is in the substance, and time is in the substance. The appearance of a thing may seem to be real for the time being. For instance, we see in the dark a piece of rope; we imagine that it is a snake. We are frightened. Palpitation of the heart takes place; but, when we look at that thing in broad daylight, we find it was an error. Now you see that palpitation and fright which took possession for the time being was real; we suffered from false

perception. The reality was that it was not a snake, it was a piece of rope. This will give you an idea of the effect of the appearance of a thing. We see that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west; but this is not a fact, this is an error. The sun does not rise in the east nor does it set in the west, but we see it so. We do not call this ultimate reality. But the revolution of the earth on its axis produces this idea. As, in going on a fast train, it appears, as if, all the trees were moving backward. So, in the same way, when we are moving twenty-five thousand miles in twenty-four hours, we find that the planets and everything else are moving in an opposite direction. Thus, we see many things as moving, but they are, in reality, the results of false perception. Although we perceive that our ideas are the results of these false perceptions, still they produce certain images in our minds. Then we jump to a conclusion, and that conclusion may be right or wrong; so that, the study of science will help us to discriminate between false perception and right knowledge. We see the colour of the sky as blue. The cause of it was explained by the old theologians thus: there was a blue dome over our head, and beyond that a heaven. But science has exploded that false explanation.

Science teaches us that space is infinite. We cannot imagine, where it begins or where it ends.^[4] From the study of modem science, we have come to the conclusion that all this variety of phenomena has been produced by the processes of evolution from one homogeneous mass, and that nothing besides is known. Our scientific researches begin upon sense perceptions, continue on sense perceptions, and depend upon sense perceptions. But that which is beyond sense perception, science cannot bring to us. Science says that beyond this we cannot go, that we must stop here. So, modem science, after having described this substance as the cause of the universe, has stopped here. Some have gone beyond, but they are not considered as scientists; they have transcended the limit of science, and are metaphysicians or philosophers. But scientists tell us that this is false speculation. We cannot tell anything beyond our sense perceptions and that inference is not the same as direct perception. In India, centuries before Christ, seekers after truth came to the same conclusion that there was one substance that was the mother of all substances; they called it Prakriti (Latin, Procreatrix) or Cosmic energy, which means the creative energy. Some understood by this term, Mother, and some called it maya, the eternal energy or substance of the universe. According to Vedanta, maya, or the ‘Undifferentiated’ (avyakta), is the divine energy. It is beginningless and endless. It cannot be perceived by the senses; but it can be inferred by looking at the manifestations. If we observe the manifestations, and step by step follow the process of logic, and the deductions of reason, then we come to this homogeneous mass which manifests all these phenomena of the world.

Science has brought us almost to the gate of the reality of Truth; go through, and you will find the Truth that is beyond time and space. But shall we remain content with knowing that there is one substance? Science declares it to be insentient and that intelligence and knowledge have been produced by this insentient substance. Shall we remain here satisfied with this conclusion and seek no further? The earnest seekers will go on. We must know the unknown, otherwise life would not be worth living.

The school of Vedanta tells the scientists that they have gone so far, that they have studied the objective phenomena, which are part and parcel of the sense perceptions. But the objective world is only one-half of the source, and they cannot come to the same conclusion by studying one-half of the universe, nor can they discover the ultimate truth by the study of the objective phenomena only. When the scientists study the subjective world, they will come to another conclusion—perhaps a better one, they will discover the relations that exist between the subjective world and the objective world, and until that discovery is made the search after truth is not complete. We must put the discovery of the external world aside and search further. All scientific researches -begin with the sense perception; that is the solid ground to begin with, and, starting from that ground, we go on to that which is beyond sense perceptions.

Physiology tells us that, when we see a thing, a certain impression is produced by light upon the retina, and then that impression causes a stimulation which is carried by the optic nerves into the brain cells, where a certain molecular change is produced. This molecular change is translated by the conscious ego into sensation. So, in order to see a thing, we must have three things: the organs of sense, which must be in proper condition; a retina, capable of receiving an impression; and an optic nerve to carry the impression to the brain cells, the molecules of which must be in a normal condition. Under these three conditions, the perception of the thing with the eye, or the sight of the thing, is possible. Similarly, when we hear a sound, we must have auditory nerves to carry the impression to the brain cells. When these three things come together, we have an impression of light, sound, taste, touch, or smell. These are the gates of knowledge or perception. But that is not all. There must be mind behind these gates. When we go to sleep our ears are still open. But we do not hear in our deep sleep the noise going on in the street continuously. The physical conditions are all fulfilled. But mind is not there. Therefore, we hear no sound. In order to have the perception of sound, there must be mind attached to the organ of hearing. For instance, when you are sitting in your library reading intently, your mind is absorbed in the passage or the thought. The tick of the clock is going on all the time, yet you do not hear. Similarly, you may have your eyes wide open, but you do not see the clock, you are abstracted. Mind behind these brain centres must be active. And what does mind do? Mind cogitates, and has different impressions. Mind again, after cogitating and reflecting upon the particular nature or character of the sensation, carries it, as it were, before intellect (buddhi) or the determinative faculty or the faculty of judgment. Intellect compares it with other impressions stored up in the subconscious mind, and comes to a certain determination that, this is so, or that it is not so. Thus, when any sound is heard, it is intellect which determines whether it is a whistle of a steamer, a musical note or the cry of a baby. Then, after determining its nature, intellect ultimately presents it before the subject or the knower of all mental changes.

The subject or the knower is the conscious self in us. Mind and intellect are but instruments. Thus, when the whole process is complete, we are conscious of the object. Therefore, Vedanta says that all knowledge comes from the knower within us and not from the external objects. Do you think, when you see a flower, the flower gives us some knowledge which you had not before? No. You are the source of all knowledge and the flower gives only a suggestion. It gives a knock to you being, and in response to that knock you bring out the knowledge from within. You have never learnt anything from outside.

The objects of which we are conscious are apparent objects or things as they appear to our senses. We cannot know things per se, as they are in reality, but only our relations to them, or, in other words, we know only those mental changes which are produced when we come in direct contact with the objects of senses. Therefore, by studying our internal nature or the subjective side of the universe, we realise the existence of the conscious self, which is the knower of the intellect, mind with its various modifications and sensations, and which is also the knower of the external objects.

This knower cannot be known by anything else. Therefore, the Vedanta asks:

yenedaṃ sarvaṃ vijānāti taṃ kena vijānīyāt
* * vijñātāramare kena vijānīyāt
     —Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, IV. 5. 15.

“How can you know that by which we are capable of knowing everything else? By what can the knower be known?”

Or, in other words, He who is the source of knowledge and from whom proceeds all knowledge cannot be known by mind or intellect. There is nothing in the universe which can help us in knowing the knower or the conscious self. This conscious self is called in Vedanta, Atman. It is not something which is produced by the mind, but it is always there as the knower; without that conscious self we cannot know anything.

The analysis will help us in understanding our subjective world. Psychological truths will help us in studying our ownnature, and in realizing the ultimate truth that underlies the subjective world, as physical science was absolutely necessary in studying the external world. So, physical science and psychology are absolutely necessary in our search after truth. And thus, we shall be able to determine the connection between the truth that underlies the objective world and the truth which underlies the subjective world.

What is that truth which underlies the objective world and the subjective world? We have found that the truth is that substance which is one and not many. It underlies the objective world. And here we have found that the conscious self is the one fundamental Truth of the subjective world, because without the conscious self nothing can be known. All the schools of the Western philosophy have traced these phenomena, but have not been able to discover the connection between the truth underlying the subjective world and that of the objective world. Even Kant did not realize that the Thing-in-itself (Ding-an-sich) of the objective world and the Ding-an-sich of the subjective world are one and the same.

Vedanta on the contrary, has gone beyond the position which Kant took, and has proved that the underlying reality of the subjective world and that of the objective world is the conscious soul.

Modern science, studying the objective world, has rejected God, and the existence of the soul as an entity, and there it has shown its limitations. Still, in studying the Vedanta, you will find that the same truth which was discovered by the scientists, and by different branches of science, has been accepted; yet the follower of truth, the follower of the Vedanta, does not remain confined within any limitation. The knower, or the self in us, is the knower in the universe. Vedanta tells us that this conscious self, which is not the same as mind, which is not the same as intellect, but is a source of self-consciousness, is the same in all living creatures. Your Atman is not separate from that of others in its most universal sense. Every one has consciousness. You cannot bring any differentiations into that consciousness. Your conscious self is the source of all knowledge. The conscious self of the whole universe is the same everywhere, and, therefore, it is said that there is only one universal knower in the universe, and that universal knower is the only knower. We, as individual knowers, are parts of this cosmic knower. The sum total of this conscious self is God. Beginning with the minutest animalcule up through the universe to the personal God, the sum total of this conscious self of the universe is one: it is the source of all knowledge, and the source of all phenomena, and from that conscious self everything has come into existence. Mind and all the powers of the intellect are contained in this conscious soul. That which was considered by modern science as insentient, is considered by Vedanta as the universal Being or the Reality or the unknown and unknowable Being. Vedanta tells us that it is true that it is unknown and unknowable by the mind, but it is known and knowable by our true self. By spirit, spirit can be known. Spirit cannot be known by anything else. God can be known only by God. When a mortal comes face to face with God, he is no longer a mortal. We cannot face the Absolute until we become Absolute. Then all scientific knowledge or all philosophy becomes religion. Vedanta can turn our science into a system of religion. We must stand on the solid around of reason and ultimate research to understand the final goal of religion. Vedanta tells us that religion is nothing but the science of the soul, and that science of Being is not distinct and separate from the science of the universe—that universe is but one Being.

We have numberless cells in our body. Each cell has its life, mind, and memory and may be considered as conscious of itself. And so the whole universe may be considered as one universal whole, and each separate individual is like a cell in that cosmic body. Each individual has consciousness, has life of its own, but the sum total of these makes up the consciousness of the universal Being. The knower cannot be known by anybody else. When science tells us that this absolute unknowable truth is unknown and unknowable, it presupposes the existence of a knower, and that knower is your true Self. So, the search after truth may begin with the external phenomena first, but it must come back to your true Self in the end. Then we have realized that the ultimate reality of the universe is not far from us; that it is after all our own being, a part and parcel of the universe, the Soul of our souls, the life of our life, the ultimate Reality, because God is the cosmic knower, the Reality of all. When we understand that, we are no longer confined within the limitations of the body, and disease and suffering no longer have dominion over us. Vedanta comes to us then with the knowledge of truth, and that freedom is freedom from the bondage of the flesh. All the desires which we have—the running after things of the world—are produced in us by our not knowing ourselves; so, when we know our true Self, we have known God, we have known the universe. Then we can never die, death being but a change of body. And knowing this, we spiritually worship the supreme Being, the highest ideal.

After giving us the highest ideal of the absolute truth, Vedanta tells us how to approach it, how to reach it. Each path is called a ‘Yoga’. There is Raja Yoga, to be attained through the practice of concentration, meditation, breathing exercises, etc. Karma Yoga, the path of work; Bhakti Yoga, the path of devotion and love. These different methods are preparatory. We can reach the highest goal by following any of these methods. These various methods are given to suit the different tendencies of individuals. Some have tendency to work and cannot concentrate their minds upon anything else. They are not blessed with intellect, and so, must learn the path of work and purify their own hearts, for, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.’^[5] Thus studying Karma Yoga, when we learn the, secret of work, all our acts will be looked upon as a form of worship; whether we walk, or shop, or gossip even—all will be looked upon as acts of worship. Then we can turn all the feeling of our heart to the ultimate knower of all, and make our life happy and peaceful. So, also human affection and human love, when turned towards the Reality of the universe, brings freedom from the bondage of flesh, and ultimately we realize that grand Truth—the oneness with the universal Being—which was realized by Buddha, Christ, and Ramakrishna. That oneness is the ultimate goal of all religions, and cannot be realized until we know the truth and become one with it. By following this analysis, we can easily understand how deep will be our search after truth; how we must go below the surface of the world, before we can realize the ideal of all religions, and before we can declare as Christ did: ‘I and my Father are one’^[6]. When we realize our true birthright and become free from the bondage of hatred, discord, and greed for possessions, we let all else go but the heritage of peace in our souls; then we transcend all conditions, for we know that death can never come to us. We can embrace death and say: ‘Come, sister death! come, take the offering of my material body; we are glad to give it to you’, but always knowing that we are eternal, and immortal, deathless and changeless.

Vedanta says that he who realizes the true knower, the true Self, which is deathless in our bodies, which is changeless in the midst of changes, attains to the eternal truth. His search after truth is fulfilled, and he enjoys eternal peace and happiness in this life, and for ever and ever he remains in the abode of infinite joy, infinite peace, and everlasting life.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

St. John VIII. 92.

[2]:

Kalama-Sutta.

[3]:

Vide Swami Abhedananda: Doctrine of Karma, p. 53.

[4]:

But Vedanta tells that space is finite. It has a beginning and an end. And this conclusion has also been confirmed by the scientists of the twentieth century. In the Taittiriya Upanishad we find that space arose from the Atman: “tasmādvā etasmādātmana ākāśaḥ sambhūtaḥ” Taitt. Up. 2.1). Atman, i.e. the knower, transcends space and time. Material science, in its search after truth, does not know what can exist beyond space and time.

[5]:

St. Matthew, V, 8.

[6]:

St. John, X, 30.