The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad - 4. Swami Krishnananda.

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Wednesday, 19 Jul  2023. 06:15.

Article 

Scriptures

The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 

Post-4.

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Why are we so much attracted towards things; and when we are pulled in the direction of something lovable or dear, we seem to lose our senses? We become crazy and mad. Why does it happen? It is because the whole universe is at the back of even this little drop of consciousness which appears as the object. A little wave that is rising up on the surface of the ocean has the entire sea at the back of it, which wells up as this eddy or the wave. The power of the entire sea is behind the wave. The infinite is incapable of resisting, because nobody can resist an attraction. This is because attractions, which are also loves, arise on account of a psychological impasse created unconsciously by the involvement of consciousness in the sense organs and through the sense organs coming in contact with the object, not knowing the fact that the sense organs themselves are propelled by an inward consciousness of the subject and that there is also something in the object which is basically consciousness.

There is another psychological factor in the process of attraction. We do not get attracted to everything so easily. A rock on the bank of the Ganga may not attract us so powerfully as the rose flower for instance, that is blossoming in the garden, and so on. There are varieties of circumstances which differentiate one kind of perception from another kind of perception. Attractions are the outcome of a sympathy that is established between the subjective consciousness and the contour that is presented by the object outside, notwithstanding the fact there is consciousness. Now I am touching upon another aspect of the matter altogether – not the metaphysical one.

There are three aspects of this issue. Why is it that we are pulled towards something? One is what has been already told in the Bhagavadgita – gunas propel themselves toward gunas. Prakriti, as the subject, working through the sense organs, is pulled towards itself, as it were, outside, in the form of an object, which also is constituted of the very same prakriti. That is one answer to the question of why one feels pulled or drawn towards another object. The other one that I mentioned is that the consciousness that is infinite in nature is ‘infinitudinously' – to take one's understanding beyond ‘multitudinously' – pulling the subject consciousness, and there is a vice versa action; subject and object pull each other. The third aspect that I am mentioning is that the attractions are conditioned by certain features of the object. The Atman, the Soul, the Self, the consciousness in us is a perfect symmetry in perfection. It is the most beautiful of things. The Soul is the most beautiful thing. Nothing can be beautiful like the Soul. Nobody has seen the Soul, but if you can imagine what beauty is, if you have seen any surpassingly beautiful thing in the world – not a little beautiful thing, but enchanting, absorbing, enrapturing beauty – if you have seen that anywhere, you may say the Soul is something like that. Now, the Soul cannot be attracted to anything unless it sees some sympathy, that is to say, unless some quality of it is also present in that object to which it is attracted. Symmetry is one of the qualities. Any kind of hotchpotch arrangement cannot attract us. We are attracted to methodological arrangement, symmetry, proportion and meaningfulness. A meaningless object cannot attract us as much as a meaningful object can.

You may ask me what ‘meaningful' is. Meaning is that character in the object by which we can consider that object to be of some utility to us. If it is totally non-utilitarian, if it is a meaningless hotchpotch, then our mind cannot be attracted. Thus, symmetry of contour, perfection of presentation, precision and orderliness, together with the meaning that we see in it, pulls the subject towards the object. However, considering any aspect of the matter, it does not mean that we love the object for its own sake. There is some subjectivity involved in it. Unless a meaning is seen in the object, we will not be pulled towards that object. We want to put that object into some utility. If there is no meaning at all, no attraction takes place. So, na va arey sarvasya kamaya sarvam priyam bhavati; atmanastu kamaya sarvam priyam bhavati: Nothing is dear for its own sake; for the sake of the Atman, everything is dear. When we love a thing, we are loving our Atman. Now, you may again make the mistake of thinking “My Atman is inside. How is it that I am loving something outside?” Do not make that mistake. Again and again the same idea will come to the mind: “How can I say that I am loving my own Atman when I am loving something outside?” This Atman is not inside you only. Here is the point that you should always remember. The Atman is somehow or other masquerading in the form of all things outside. The Atman is infinite existence. The Infinite pulls the Infinite. The Supreme Self it is that pulls the Supreme Self.

Therefore Yajnavalkya says to Maitreyi, “Nobody loves anything for its own sake.” All love is love of the Self, in the pure spiritual sense. Not this self or that self, myself or yourself, itself – this kind of self is not the point. It is the universal Self that is actually pulling you in some form, and you are not able to catch the point. There is an illusion that is presented to the sense organs, and under the impression, due to the delusion you go to the object thinking that it is beautiful, that it is necessary, that it is meaningful. There is no meaning in anything in this world except the meaning of the Selfhood of that object. If the Self is absent in that object, it is a non-entity, and a non-entity cannot attract you. So if the Self it is that pulls you, it is yourself only that is pulling you.

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To be continued

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