The Realisation of the Absolute: Swami Krishnananda.

 

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Wednesday 26, February 2025, 10:45.
Books
Upanishads
The Realisation of the Absolute: Swami Krishnananda.
Foreword

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The Upanishads have always been acknowledged and acclaimed as veritable Mines of Transcendental Wisdom. They are fountain-sources and treasure-houses of Divine Knowledge. But they are something more, too. They also harbour within their precious bosom the key to gain access thereunto. In them we have not only the revelation of the radiant realms of the Supreme Brahman-Consciousness, but also the shining pathway that leads one to it—the secrets of Vedanta-Sadhana or Jnana-Yoga.

In "The Realisation of the Absolute" of Swami Krishnananda, we have a forceful and brilliant monograph on this theme which forms the central core of the Upanishadic texts. He has presented us with a well reasoned-out, clear and illuminating analysis of the problem of the appearance of pluralistic consciousness, and simultaneously given a bold and precise picture of the practical method of shattering this illusion and soaring into the empyrean of the Undifferentiated Absolute-Consciousness, the Reality, the nature of which has been explained by him very elaborately. His treatment of the subject of Vedanta is at once direct, inspiring and compelling, for the statements therein are such as have been tested by the author's own practical personal experience. He is one who is himself living the life of strenuous quest after Truth. Though quite young in age, Swami Krishnananda (whom I know very well indeed) is a seeker of high attainments, full of fiery aspiration and a monk of a very high order. Himself an advanced Sadhaka, nay, a seer-sage in the making, possessing intense renunciation, deep dispassion and keen aspiration, he has indeed rightly emphasised these factors so indispensable to fit one for the path of Jnana-Yoga-Sadhana.

Expositions on pure philosophy there are a good many. Works touching on the broad aspects of Jnana-Yoga, more or less upon the conventional orthodox lines, too, are there. But here you have an erudite consideration of the graduated anatomy of the structure of the practical process through which to realise the FACT about which philosophies but speculate. "The Realisation of the Absolute" is a practical Seeker-Sannyasin's revelation of Jnana and Jnana-Sadhana. It is replete with the sublimest conception of the Vedanta. It is a dazzling light focussed upon the true essence of Vedanta-Sadhana and meditation and valuable hints and clues that reveal the pathway to Self-Realisation. In producing this profound treatise the one supreme urge in the author appears to be to fire the reader with a thirst for the Transcendent Experience of Reality, Brahma-Sakshatkara. I am glad to say that he has succeeded commendably in this purpose. The work is powerful and rousing. One who studies these pages will definitely find himself or herself transformed both in the attitude to life and in aspiration. The sincere reader cannot but feel with the author that "the quest for the Absolute should be undertaken even sacrificing the dearest object, even courting the greatest pain... It is a mistake to be interested in the different forms of perception... Nothing is worth considering except the realisation of Brahman."

I wish this work the reception, acceptance and approbation it richly deserves.—Swami Sivananda

8th September, 1947.

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Preface:

It is always with a full preparation to face the contingency of being caught in vicious circles and to come out of them victoriously that one can attempt to explain anything concerning the Absolute or the Infinite. It is an extremely difficult task, and it many times appears idle to engage oneself in trying to understand the nature of eternal verities ranging beyond the intellect. Man is nothing if he is divested of the intellect, and yet this intellect is a very inadequate means of ascertaining Truth. But, however much imperfect, it is the only human faculty of knowledge nearest to Reality. We can either know Reality imperfectly, or not know it at all. Anyhow, fully to know Reality through a process is an impossibility, for Reality is not a process. It is not expected, however, that in these pages will be found statements not open to further consideration and discussion. It is not possible to enunciate anything without being set in opposition to something. To express what is complete is not within the capacity of the knowing process. All knowing is a process, and all process is imperfection. To know the perfect is to be the perfect, and not to express it. Expression involves relations, and nothing that is related is complete in itself. Intuition, however, is said to be complete; but, then, no philosophy is complete, for philosophy is intellectual judgment. Intellect is not a revelation like intuition, though even intellect is an imperfect revelation. By true revelation is meant the integral vision, not a relational understanding. Intellect is never free from subject-object-relationship, and every such relation falls short of Reality. We can never expound a philosophy which can stand before the light of intuition, for all relations are transcended in intuition. The declaration in the Mandukya Upanishad on the nature of Reality strikes terror into the heart of all speculative philosophy, which vainly tries to know Reality through transitory categories. If the philosopher is not prepared to accept that, until Self-Experience, he simply glories in shadows, he cannot at least deny that his statements are not self-sufficient and self-existent truths. Philosophy appears to be an apology for Truth-realisation, and it fulfils itself when it meets the requirements of intuition.

Let us accept that the intellect is imperfect. But without this imperfect instrument, we do not seem to be better than mere instinctive animals. There are some universal standards of intellectual ascertainment of the Reality behind forms. Positive affirmation of and meditation on such universal truths will not go without leading the meditator to what is real in the absolute sense. We can rise above the intellect through the medium of the intellect itself backed up by faith in and devotion to the Ideal. As long as the highest Reality is not experienced, universal ascertainments through philosophical enquiries should not be allowed to battle with one another. It is true that all real philosophy ends in Absolutism, but the intellectual categories do not go without creating forms of Absolutism, which seem apparently to rival with each other. The wise course would be to consider each form as the highest logical, as long as its sphere is the Absolute, and enough to lead man to the Transcendental Being. To mention one instance, Saguna-Brahman and Nirguna-Brahman, the Personal Absolute and the Impersonal Absolute, should not be considered as antagonistic, so long as they are not subjects or objects of anything, for both are Absolute in their own spheres, and do not involve relations, though the reasoning faculty tries to see a difference between the two. If hostile relations are developed between one absolute and another absolute arrived at through forms of intellectual comprehension, life will end in failure and misery. The intellect should not be stretched beyond itself to the breaking point. Otherwise, there is the danger of self-deceit and knowing nothing. Reason should always be aided by tolerance, and should not forget its own limitations.

How far this work is a success in this direction is for the intelligent seeker after Truth to judge. This is not an attempt to present something new, but to suggest a method to him who is blazing with an aspiration to realise the Highest. The purpose of this work is to provide a leaning staff for those who are determined to plunge themselves in the duty of the struggle for Self-realisation. The pure and the sincere will certainly be benefited by this honest attempt to investigate Truth in the light of the Upanishads. It is impossible for anyone with a penetrative thinking, coupled with a dispassionate heart, to desist from the enterprise of seeking the trans-empirical Reality, whatever worldly loss one may have to incur thereby. Those, however, who do not want it, have to grow wiser and become truer men. The baser nature always finds joy in its aberrations and cannot tolerate what it thinks to be destructive to its dear egoistic relations.

We can very happily console ourselves by admitting that reason cannot determine the nature of Truth. Then, all philosophy is only child's play. Even the Upanishads are truths expressed through words, and words cannot be understood without the intellect. It cannot, somehow, be denied that, at least to some extent, we can convince ourselves, through a carefully guarded intellect helped by faith, about the nature of Reality. The only condition, however, is that the aspiring intellect should be pure and unattached.

The main problem that arises out of the Upanishadic philosophy is regarding the validity of the rise of thought in the Absolute. The universe is explained as the wish or will of Brahman. If wish cannot be attributed to Brahman, the universe has no reality. If wish is attributed to Brahman, Brahman becomes limited and temporal. Somehow, we see something as the universe. But, if we have to be faithful to ourselves, we cannot be so by denying either our critical intelligence or our practical experience in this world. Our common sensory experiences, anyhow, are more untrustworthy than our deepest intelligence. Our sense-experiences are often meaningless, and even in daily life we can see how unwisely we are led by our mistaken notions which cause experiences. Even death occurs through wrong belief, and even life is saved through mere belief. We cannot ask why, then, we see a world if there cannot be change in Brahman. We have to simply admit that we are, somehow, befooled by the world-appearance like many of our other daily weaknesses, in spite of the intelligence ascertaining something other than what we actually experience. Though the reason itself is ordinarily influenced by our practical experiences in the world, it reveals a sort of independence when it is purified of the dross of desires, and then it gives reliable guidance. If the One Brahman is the Undifferentiated Reality, there can be no world of differentiations and relativities. If we experience something else, we have to reject it by force of intelligence, without further deepening our ignorance by questioning about the why and how of it. If, however, through the stress of experience, we admit the reality of a spatio-temporal world-manifestation, we have to deny thereby the existence of the Eternal Reality. If we can ascertain nothing, we have to resort to a static inertia, which, however, we are not willing to do, by our very nature.

Experience tells us that it is always movement tending towards the unity of consciousness that shows signs of greater perfection and wider joy. Here reason and experience coalesce and form one being. This directs us to draw the conclusion that undifferentiated Ness and infinitude of experience must be the nature of Reality. Further, this inference agrees with the sacred scriptures, the Upanishads. An idea cannot spring from eternal existence.

And, we are here advised to take the creation-theory as only figurative, meant for the understanding of the less intelligent, and intended for leading their minds upwards through the progressive process of relative reality. This, moreover, is suggested in the Upanishads themselves, though not quite explicitly. Our empirical experience is, somehow, to be taken as a kind of self-entanglement which cannot be easily explained in the realm of appearances. It is explained when the Absolute is realised. In this task, reason should be guided by a dispassionate heart, lest there should be misrepresentation of facts.

While expounding the philosophy of the Upanishads here, portions with a theological and ritualistic bearing have been omitted, as they are not essential to understand the fundamental teachings of the Upanishads, though they may be useful in the practice of certain specific upasanas. Such of those seekers as would be interested in these upasanas, etc. are requested to study the Upasana-Kanda with a suitable commentary. The various lower vidyas or meditations on the lower manifestations, also, are not included in this book, as they are outside its scope.

The translation of the original Sanskrit passages is, for the most part, literal. But where it was thought that a literal rendering would be unintelligible, and it would be better if the spirit of the passage is conveyed in a readable manner, a paraphrase or the main idea is given, either by supplying certain words which are needed for a correct comprehension of the passage, or by omitting what is not required for that purpose.

On account of certain unavoidable uncongenial circumstances, a more detailed exposition of the subject could not be offered. However, some of the points which have been briefly stated in the book are explained further in the Notes appended.—Swami Krishnananda

1st August, 1947.

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Continued

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