Isavasya Upanishad -Discussion-3, Swami Krishnananda.

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Friday, January 07, 2022. 08:20.PM.

Post-3.

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There was a Rishi, it is told, who was sitting on the shore of the ocean and contemplating this great subject as to how God could have created this world, and in what manner. The story goes that while the saint was contemplating on this subject and wanting to get an answer, suddenly a boy appeared nearby—a divine being, who came to instruct this saint. The boy held a mud pot that had several holes at the bottom, and he was using it to scoop up water from the sea and throw it on the bank. He was doing it continuously—a hundred and twenty times he went on scooping and pouring.

The saint asked, “Hey, little boy, what are you doing?”

“I am emptying the ocean,” replied the boy.

“Have you any sense?” asked the saint. “Firstly, the ocean cannot be emptied; secondly, not with this little pot with holes in it.”

“Great Master,” replied the boy, “if you can get an answer to the question you have in your mind, I can empty the ocean.”

They say that God Himself appeared in the form of the boy. No philosopher has finally succeeded in giving us a conclusive answer to this question.

There were others who escaped this problem by saying that God never created the world and, therefore, there is no problem. However, we will be very worried if the answer indicates that God never created the world. If that is the case, what are these problems before us? Do we also not exist? It would mean that you also do not exist; I also do not exist. That will be the conclusion if we say that God never created the world. It is stunning and astonishing, and seems to be apparently more unacceptable than any other answer. This is the creation theory and the acosmic theory, as they both are called. The latter one, called acosmic, holds the doctrine that creation never took place.

I will tell you, in a homely way, why these people say so. Why should you think that creation never took place when actually you can see solid objects in front of you? Here is a little illustration. There is a big boulder, a stone. You see the stone; it is very hard and heavy, and you can touch it as a solid object. Bring a sufficiently powerful microscope and look at this stone. You will find that the stone is a heap of very minute, fly-like, insect-like entities called molecules. It is a heap of certain things, and not one solid object. Bring another, more powerful microscope, more powerful than the earlier one. Even the molecules will not be seen there. There will be still finer elements looking like almost non-cognisable particles which are called atoms. Bring a still more powerful microscope. You will find that even these little particles melt into a continuum of energy, or force, which impinges on the energy centres which are other atoms. It looks as if there is one sea of force everywhere, an indistinguishable continuum. What has happened to the stone? Can you say that this sea of force, these atoms, one day thought: “Let us become a stone”? If the atoms have really become the stone, they will not be there for you to see through the microscope. You will conclude that they have never become the stone. It is only your vision that presents the perception of a solid object. These so-called ‘things'— molecules, atoms, energy centres, etc.—never became the stone. They were never transformed into the stone. They did not create the stone. They exist and have always existed in the same condition as they were when you perceived them through a powerful perception. The only difference is that in one case our perception is gross, and in another case it is subtle and correct. The stone has not been created, though it is solidly perceivable. In the same way, the world has not been created, though it is visible to the eyes. This doctrine is too much for us. We shall put it in our pockets and never talk about it again.

Isavasyam idam sarvam: “This creation is enveloped by the Almighty Supreme Being.” From the conclusion that we can draw out of our considerations on the very first session, it would follow that there is something which cannot be divided into parts, which is infinite in its nature, which is existing everywhere to such an extent that it may appear that it is the only thing existing. That only-existing ‘Something' is the Ishvara that the Isavasya Upanishad speaks of. You have to somehow or other accommodate your mental operations to get tuned up to this interesting situation of there being Something which Alone Is—at all times, and outside which nothing can be. This conclusion follows from the nature of consciousness, whose structure we tried to analyse on the very first day.

To be continued ....

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