The Philosophy of the Panchadasi: Chapter - 6-5: Swami Krishnananda.

 

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Monday 23, February 2026, 05:40.
Books
Upanishad
The Philosophy of the Panchadasi: 6-5.
Chapter 6: Light on the Analogy of a Painted Picture-5.
4.Isvara or the Universal God: 2.

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The nature of Maya, taken independently, is inscrutable. In the Tapaniya Upanishad it is described as Jada (inert) and Mohatmaka (delusive). Its existence is proved by the personal experience, in everyone, of having a sufficient knowledge in regard to it. The inertness of Maya is that which we see in things like an earthen pot; delusion is that wherein the intellect gets stultified and cannot understand anything. For the ordinary people of the world, Maya is a reality, because it projects this world which is clearly seen by them as a fact; but to the logical mind, or the philosophical intellect, it is a mystery, because it cannot be said to be either non-existent (due to its appearance) or existent (due to its ultimate negation in Brahman). It is real from the point of view of popular common sense, inscrutable from the point of view of logical philosophy, and unreal to the illumined sage. It is seen in three different ways from three levels of evolution. The dependence of Maya is seen from the fact of its being impossible where there is no consciousness. It has also a semblance of independence as it manages somehow to present a world to the untainted consciousness. It manifests a world to the unattached Kutastha, and brings about a distinction between Iswara and jiva by manifesting itself cosmically as well as individually. The wonder is that it does not affect the Kutastha, and yet appears to involve it in world- experience. The world appears to be 'there', but is yet inexplicable. The very meaning of Maya is that it can effect marvels and bring about events and occurrences which are usually impossible. The intellect of the Jiva gets divided here, and the only thing open to it is to conclude that mystery is perhaps the stuff of Maya, as liquidity is the nature of water, heat of fire, hardness of stone etc. It intrigues a person, who is involved in it. It is known to be unsubstantial when the light of Brahman reveals itself. No question in regard to Maya will bring a satisfactory answer, because the very nature of Maya is a question as to the origin of things. Maya is a query and a wonder, not a subject for logical scrutiny or empirical observation. The solution lies only in the cessation of the intellect, in the subsiding of all interrogation, and the effacement of individuality in the greatest wonder of Brahman. Sincere seekers, therefore, should not worry themselves as to the origin of Maya and its nature, but endeavour hard in finding ways and means of attaining freedom from it. The answer to the question of Maya lies only in the experience of Brahman. There are explanations and statements satisfying the intellect open to a certain limit, but there is a point reaching which the intellect turns back baffled, and where it finds itself confronted by a mighty wall of ignorance. How did life originate? How did consciousness enter the individual? How is a large tree contained in a small seed? These are questions which the intellect cannot answer. It is wrong on the part of anyone to enter into discussions and arguments in regard to transcendental mysteries, knowing well that such arguments reach their fulfilment and obtain their answer only in the utter surrender of one's individuality in the Absolute. Logical definitions and affirmations are circumscribed by the empirical categories of space, time and causality, and these assertions can be faced with counter-statements in a world of relativity. The wonder of creation is so tremendous to the mind of man, that he cannot even approach it. The wisest position would be to recognise that the true insight lies in real humility before the marvel of Brahman, and a sincere effort to realise it in one's own experience.

The seed of Maya is present in the Jiva as the Anandamaya experienced in sleep, from which rises the tree of dream and waking life. In the condition of sleep are hidden the impressions of all relativistic existence. The Universe is subtly submerged in the state of Isvara. The sumtotal of experiential impressions manifest through the intellects of the Jivas becomes the medium of the reflection of Consciousness as Isvara, like the indistinct appearance of the sky through the widespread clouds.

The existence of Isvara is to be inferred in the same manner as we infer a reflection of space through the clouds. The subtle impressions of the intellects (Buddhis) are embedded in the Cosmic Anandamaya or Isvara, as drops of water exist in the clouds. It is the Anandamaya that sprouts as the Buddhi, both cosmically and individually. Jiva and Isvara appear due to the twofold activity of Prakriti as Avidya and Maya, respectively. Maya is like clouds, the psychic impressions like the particles constituting them, Isvara like the ether reflected in them. Isvara is extolled in the Vedas and Vedantas as Mahesvara (Overlord), Antaryami (Inner Controller), Sarvajana (All-knower) and Jagad-Yoni (Seed of the World). Isvara is the Lord of all, by His being the Self of all, and He has control over them, not by the exercise of an external power, but by the regulation of the very substance of them all. His knowledge of all beings is not mediate knowledge (Paroksha Jnana), as it is in the case of the Jivas. His knowledge is immediate realisation (Aparoksha Anubhava) of the essence of all things, both in their generality and particularity. What Isvara creates by His Will, Jivas cannot change by their efforts. The activity of the Jiva is regulated by the Will of Isvara and the effort of the former is nothing but its personal notion of the manner in which Isvara's Will works through it. The seeds of all Jivas exist in the body of Isvara, and so He is, naturally, the sole Creator of the universe, which is the universal psychic impressions objectified for the experiences of the Jivas that are in Him as parts of a whole. The Jiva has no omniscience, due to its knowledge being exteriorised (Paroksha), and so far as the Jiva is concerned, Isvara is a matter of inference and omniscience an article of faith. In the Antaryami Brahmana, Isvara is extolled as the Inner Ruler of all beings. He is called Antaryami or Inner Regulator and Controller, because He exists within all things as an invisible being and yet the indispensable existence. The Upanishad says that Isvara is seated in the Buddhi, and is within it. The Buddhi does not know Him. The Buddhi is His body. He controls the Buddhi from within, and He is the material substance of all things, right from the intellect to the physical sheath, as threads are the sole material of cloth. Isvara is, therefore, present everywhere. Internal to the cloth is the thread; internal to the thread is the fibre; and thus, if we go on continuing our analysis of the internal stuff of the substance, until its ultimate limit is reached, we would end in Isvara. We may be aware here of one or two layers that present themselves before our eyes, but His inmost being cannot be seen. This can be known only through the teaching of the scripture and in direct insight. As cloth may be said to be the body of the threads, the universe is the body of Isvara, for He exists as all things. As the contraction, expansion, motion, etc. of the threads would immediately bring about a corresponding change in the cloth, so is the world entirely determined by the Will of Isvara, and nothing is independent of Him. The materialisation of His Will is the Cosmos, and as He directs it, so shall it be. The Bhagavadgita refers to this control of Isvara over all the Jivas, in whom He is seated, and whom He revolves, as if mounted on a machine. Here the Jivas are to be understood in the sense of the Vijnanamaya elements or the principles of intellectual intelligence, which have their roots in the Anandamaya, of which the ultimate substance is Isvara, and any modification in His Will, ought naturally to determine the modifications in all the individual wills of the Jivas.

The machine (Yantra) that is referred to in this verse of the Bhagavadgita, is the body on which the Jiva is mounted by means of the Ahamkara or ego. The term, 'revolving,' mentioned in this verse, refers to the involvement of the Jivas in good and bad deeds, through the ego. It is Isvara who ultimately directs the course of the actions of the Jivas, and makes them proceed along particular lines, though by a false consciousness of agency in action, the latter get bound to Samsara. The self-development in the constitution of the body of Isvara, due to His own Power, compels the Jivas to change accordingly, and this is what is meant by 'revolving' them by their individual egoities. This is also the control that Isvara exercises on everything in creation.

People are not wanting in this world, who feel that they know what is right, but cannot do it, and know what is wrong, but cannot desist from it. There is a force above the Jivas, over which they have no control. This does not mean that there is no such thing as free-will in the case of the Jivas, because Isvara Himself appears as free-will, the only difference being that the Jivas do not know that it is Isvara alone who is working from within. Thus free-will does not detract from Isvara's omnipotence. And by this knowledge the supremacy of Isvara and the unattached nature of the Atman in the Jiva are established, and when this truth is deeply felt by the Jiva, within, its liberation is assured. This is strongly advocated in the Srutis and Smritis, which are the Divine Words of God conveyed through the intuition and inspiration of seers and saints.

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Continues 

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