Triveni Journal

1927 | 11,233,916 words

Triveni is a journal dedicated to ancient Indian culture, history, philosophy, art, spirituality, music and all sorts of literature. Triveni was founded at Madras in 1927 and since that time various authors have donated their creativity in the form of articles, covering many aspects of public life....

Sri Rama Krishna Jnana and Vijnana

Nirod Baran Chakraborty

SRI RAMAKRISHNA:
JNANA AND VIJNANA

NIROD BARAN CHAKRABORTY, Ph.D.

(Dr Nirod Baran Chakraborty’s lectures on the above subject are continued from the previous issue and concluded here.)

HE [SRI RAMAKRISHNA] observes: ‘The Mother Kali has shown me that She has become everything. She has shown me that all things are Consciousness. The image is Consciousness. The platform is Consciousness. The utensils for worshipping are Consciousness. The Threshold is Consciousness. The marble stone is Conscious­ness. Everything in the room is in the delight (rasa) of Existence-­Consciousness-Bliss.”11 This is why Brahman has been compared to the sky (akasavat) and conceived of as immanent (sarvagatasca) and eternal (nitya) in our sastras. This is the realization of a vijnam.

This realization may be interpreted in two ways. First by following Sankara one may say that Brahman or Consciousness is the locus of everything. As we see a snake on the locus of a rope so we see the world on the locus of Brahman or Consciousness. As the rope becomes the snake in the sense that the rope appears as the snake, so Brahman or Consciousness becomes the world in the sense that the Consciousness appears as the world. This is vivartavada. The world is an appearance or vivarta of Bhrahman. In the Chandogya Sruti we find -Yatha, saumya, ekena mrtpindena sarvam mrnmayam vijnatam syadvacaram-bhanam vikaro namadheyam mrttiketyeva satyam (just as, my dear, by one clowd of clay all that is made of clay becomes known, the modification being only a name arising from speech while the truth is that it is just clay),’ As when we know clay we know everything made of clay and clay alone as real, so when a man knows Brahman he knows everything as Brahman.

Secondly, the realization in question may be interpreted as the experience of the world being a transformation (parinama) of Brahman. The devotional Vedantins like ramanuja subscribe to this view. This is Parinamavada. But if Brahman is admitted as transformed into the world, the question will be: Why does the perfect Brahman admit of change? This he does in sportive spirit (teta). The limitless Being has limitless sports. Sri Ramakrishna used to say: As He is all-powerful, everything is possible for Him. We cannot understand His sport with our limited intelligence. In the Smrti we get ‘Acintyah khalu ye bhava na tamistarkena yojayet’, that which transcends thought should not be argued about.

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