Sutra Vahini Index

Heyathwa-Avachanaachcha

When the cause is known, one can know all consequences. The entire Universe, that is to say, the moving and the unmoving, everything formed from the five primordial elements and hence named Prapancha, has been projected by the Divine Will. It is a consequence of Bhagavath Sankalpa, the Will of God, which is the Cause. No consequence can happen without a precedent Cause. The Cause has, however, two aspects, the material cause (Upaadaana Kaarana) and the efficient cause (Nimitta Kaarana).

The material cause is primary; earlier than the product. It is the entire, the total basis on which the product rests. Consider a silver cup, for example. The cup has no existence apart from silver. When the silver, which can be shaped into a cup, is absent, the product too is absent. Silver is the material cause. In other words, before the Form (the Rupa) 'becomes', the 'Being' is and has to be. The cup is the form imposed on silver by the efficient cause, the Nimitta Kaarana. It is the consequence of art, artificial. Silver is the pre-existent Cause, the Upaadaana kaarana. A silversmith prepares the cup. Once the cup is ready, the smith has no affinity with it. But, the cup and silver have close affinity forever.

God is the material Cause of Creation, of the Cosmos, the Universe. He is the substance, the basis, the Upaadaana Kaarana. He is the efficient cause, too, the Nimitta Kaarana. He is both transcendental and phenomenal, both Being and Becoming. As silver in the cup, the Cosmos is all God. He has been manifesting Himself as all this. He has willed to Become all this. In every thing (Padaartha), He, the Paraatha, the Highest Truth, is immanent. In the absence of this Highest Truth, no Padaartha can exist. Each one is sustained by the all-comprehensive Reality. This wondrous mystery is beyond man's grasp. His intelligence cannot unravel it. With his distorted vision (Ku-darsan), he sees only the Name-Form, the Appearance. He is deluded into confusion. He is tossed by likes and dislikes, pleasure and pain, elation and depression. He is aware only of the unreal many, parading diverse names and forms.

Correct vision (Sad-darsan) makes him see the One in the Many. It reveals Unity in Diversity, and confers supreme delight, for, he becomes aware of the One Immanent in the multiplicity, the Supreme Truth, the Parathathwa. Liberation (Moksha) is the realisation of this Awareness, this achievement of Brahma-hood. Each and every living being has to attain this consummation, this goal, the Brahmam. That is its true destination. Some day or other, the urge to win release from the shackles of grief and joy and the bonds of "I" and "Mine", will awaken and emerge. The path that is taken then inevitably leads to Moksha. Seeking that path is the sign of the intelligent person.

Instead of this search, when man considers the objective world as all-important, and feels drawn towards its charm, his life is barren and of no consequence. Nature is the embodiment of matter (Padaartha Swaroopa). One must be drawn to the Person who designed the Principle that underlies Nature, the embodying process. What benefit can a destitute gain if he seeks another destitute? How can a bound person be released from bonds by another who is also bound? When the person who is bound relies on the one who is not bound, he can get rid of his bonds and move about freely. The person who is deep in grief must seek refuge in one who is floating on Ananda, filled with joy. Bondage plunges one in sorrow all the while; the Lord is total Bliss personified. Therefore, one can be completely cured of grief only by resorting to the inexhaustible spring of Delight, the Lord. And what exactly is Moksha? Moksha is release from grief, absence of grief (Duhkha Vimukthi; Duhkha Nivritti), and attainment of Ananda (Ananda Praapti). Paramatma, the Supreme Self, the Sovereign Lord, is the Embodiment of Indivisible Sweetness (Rasa), the Treasure house of Bliss (Ananda Nilaya). Hence, those who seek and secure His grace gain Eternity Itself.

The Eternity thus gained has no place for the sense perceptions of sound, touch, form, taste and smell. It has neither beginning nor end. Man must gradually and steadily endeavour to acquire that victory. He must proceed progressively from the gross to the subtle, from the subtle to the causal, and from the causal level he must finally merge in the Prime Cause. That is to say, the spiritual journey has to be from Sthula to Sukshma, from Sukshma to the Kaarana and from the Kaarana level, one must merge in the Mahaa-Kaarana. This is the regular route.

However, ordinary humans struggle to win material happiness and exterior pleasures. They do not seek the Ananda that the Atma, their inner Reality, can grant. They lose the great opportunity of experiencing it, nor do they take any steps appropriate for the purpose. All the time, their attention is directed towards the external world only. It does not turn inwards. "Pasyathi ithi pasuh" Pasu (animal) is named so, since it 'pasyathi' (looks outward). Looking outward is the characteristic of animals, not of man. The important organs of sense perception in the human body - the eye, the nose, the tongue etc., are all opening outwards, in order to contact external objects; so, one has to conclude that the physical urge, the body's vision (the dehadrshti) is all external.

The inner world is not as easily accessible to man as the outer world is. Perhaps, only one among many, one in a million, does contact and win this inner Atmic Reality through the inward vision. He is the Wise Man (the Jnani). The person born with a sense of the true Mission of human life has to gain the goal, the Goal of ananda, the fundamental eternal Ananda. That is the supreme attainment that renders life valid, meaningful and worthwhile.

In fact, the external world and the inner world are not distinct and distant. They are indissolubly knit together (Avinaa-Bhaava Sambandha). The belief of the common man is that the body is the medium through which he sees and hears, experiences and delights. No, there is another force, which rules and regulates the senses, the mind and the intellect. That force is the Atma. The Sutra directs man to be aware of this and with that awareness constant in him, to contact the world through the sense, the mind and the intellect.