TROTA | CHAPTER 2 | SEL0135 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

|| 2.02 | THE CRITIQUE OF DUALITY | CONT ||

It is argued that the artistic poet-souls of the Upanishads lived in the world of diversity and did not fly out of it .

This does not mean that the sages were tied to the plurality-consciousness of the temporal world .

They transcended earthly consciousness and realised that the earth is Brahman itself illumining .

But in such a realisation there is no concession given to the reality of diverse appearances in any case .

TROTA | CHAPTER 2 | SEL0136 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

The conception that the world is God’s revelation of Itself does not fare better .

Revelation again presupposes the operation of the play of space , time and causation , the final validity of which is already repudiated .

A GOD who changes Itself is not a permanent being .

TROTA | CHAPTER 2 | SEL0137 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

God’s self-revelation requires a change in the total existence itself , which process is logically inadmissible .

Divine revelation is in relation to the consciousness of the individual and is not an eternal fact of existence .

TROTA | CHAPTER 2 | SEL0138 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

Existence is itself full and perfect and dissipation within it is not admitted by reason .

TROTA | CHAPTER 2 | SEL0139 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

The denial of multitudinousness does not , as it is sometimes supposed , reduce the rich life of the world to a dream-shadow .

It is not known how variety in existence adds to the richness of the Absolute .

The richness of the part is not equal to the magnificence of the Whole .

TROTA | CHAPTER 2 | SEL0140 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

The grandeur of the relative world is dependent on the imagination of the individual .

To a person who has opened one's eye of true consciousness the world does not appear as such .

TROTA | CHAPTER 2 | SEL0141 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

We cannot see any cogency in the argument that it is possible to have worldly enjoyment together with the knowledge of the Absolute .

TROTA | CHAPTER 2 | SEL0142 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

It is further contended that even if the Atman is the sole reality , the existence of plurality cannot be denied.

If the Atman is the sole reality , it is to be accepted that it is without internal or external differentiations .

If there is thus no plurality in the Atman , and also if nothing exists but the Atman , there is no meaning in holding that existence is inclusive of plurality .

If the Atman or Brahman is non-dual , there can be no plurality , because other than Brahman anything is not .

TROTA | CHAPTER 2 | SEL0143 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

The view that , because it is said that with the knowledge of Brahman " all " is known , Brahman-realisation does not destroy plurality but merely renders the person immune from objective attraction , and that " all " implies the existence of plurality , is a misunderstanding of this sentence .

The word " all " does not refer to the reality of the plurality of things .

It is only a symbolical expression of the Upanishads used for want of words to express unlimitedness .

TROTA | CHAPTER 2 | SEL0144 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

When we say " all " is known , and " all " is Brahman , we do not mean that the trees and the mountains , the sky and the ocean are Brahman differently .

If they are all one , and if Brahman has no heterogeneous qualities , the assertion, " all " is known , does not imply plurality in the natural essence of Brahman .

TROTA | CHAPTER 2 | SEL0145 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

Space and time are swallowed up in the being of the Reality and plurality cannot exist unless there is something second to Brahman , which persists eternally .

Eternal duality or plurality is impossible , as can be seen from an examination of the nature of Consciousness , and we are compelled to admit the homogeneous character of Brahman’s essence .

TROTA | CHAPTER 2 | SEL0146 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

If being and becoming are identical , the cause of the appearance of the world must be attributed to some mysterious and inscrutable ignorance and cannot itself be given a place in existence .

Duality cannot survive and individuality cannot exist in the Truth of Brahman .

TROTA | CHAPTER 2 | SEL0147 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

" Where there is duality , as it were , there one sees the other , — but where everything is one’s own Self , then , whom would one see ? "

—Brih. Up., II. 4. 14.

" Where one sees nothing else , hears nothing else , understands nothing else, that is the Infinite . "

—Chh. Up., VII. 24.