Parables of Rama
by Swami Rama Tirtha | 102,836 words
Stories in English used by Swami Rama to illustrate the highest teaching of Vedanta. The most difficult and intricate problems of philosophy and abstract truths, which may very well tax the brains of the most intellectual, are thus made not only simple and easy to understand but also brought home to us in a concrete form in such an interesting and ...
There came an inspector into a school, and he put this question to the boys, “if a piece of chalk is allowed to fall in air, when will it reach the earth?" A boy answered, "In so many seconds." 'If a piece of stone is allowed to fall from such and such a height, in what time will it fall?" The boy answered, "In this time." Then the inspector said, 'If this thing is allowed to fall, what time will it take?" The boy answered. Then the examiner put a catch question, "If the earth falls." The boys were confounded. One smart boy answered, "First let me know where the earth will fall?"
Similarly, we can put the question, when was this lamp lighted, when was this house built, when was this floor set, etc. But when we ask the question, 'When was the earth created, when was the world created,' this catch question is ' of the same sort as the question, 'During what time will the earth fall?' 'Where will the earth fall?' Why, when, and wherefore are themselves a part of the world, and when we are speaking of this why, when, and wherefore of the whole world, then we are arguing in a circle, making a logical fallacy. Could you jump out of yourself? No. Similarly, why, when and wherefore being themselves the world, are part of the world, they cannot explain the world, the whole Universe. This is what Vedanta says.
MORAL: Why, when, and wherefore are themselves part of the world; so arguing about them is reasoning in a circle and hence a logical fallacy.