PLURALISM AND UNITY RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY Pluralism and Unity SWAMI ATMAPRIYANANDA his is a very interesting topic that number of books being published on this evokes in mind the analogy of the subject, especially the revolutionary Tocean and its waves. The ocean discoveries in physics at the turn of the 19th remains in the background while the waves century, namely the theory of Relativity and constantly rise and fall without disturbing the Quantum theory. The third is the the ocean. The waves find their unity in the psychological dimension which is also ocean. If you are asked what an ocean is you extremely important because man does not have to say—oceans are the waves. Without live on philosophy or science alone, he has a waves there is no ocean—it could be a lake mind which is constantly seeking meaning at the most. So the oceanness of the ocean is of life. Unless you find the meaning of life, given by the waves. life has no meaning at all. So we ask Rabindranath Tagore as you know, the fundamental questions about life like why remarkable poet of this age, had made a we are here? What we are? What is the goal wonderful statement in one of his poems and purpose of life? Where we come from, which has been translated into English. and finally where do we go? So, to seek There is the following dialogue between the meaning is a fundamental characteristic of ocean and the waves: human being. The fourth is the social dimension or the sociological dimension. ‘What language is thine, O Sea?’ We should remember that unless philosophy ‘The language of eternal question.’ has a bearing on society, unless it transforms ‘What language is thy answer, O sky?’ ‘The language of eternal silence.’ the thinking of the society and turns it into new channels to improve the quality of That is to say, the ocean is constantly human life, it is no good. In other words, the throwing up the waves which roar highest truths of spirituality and philosophy questioning eternally and they are being have to become most practical in everyday answered at every point by silence which is life. very alive and active, and that is the sky. Swami Vivekananda was once asked at Now, this question of pluralism and the Harvard Philosophical Club to explain unity has several dimensions. It can be the Vedantic idea of civilization. And approached variously. So I will discuss the Swamiji replied: ‘That society is the issue from four perspectives or aspects. The greatest, where the highest truths become first is the philosophical dimension which is practical. and if society is not fit for the well described in the Hindu scriptures. The highest truths, make it so; and the sooner, second is the scientific dimension which has the better.’1 So you may have the highest become very popular—thanks to a large thoughts possible, but they have to be Bulletin of the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture September 2017 7 SWAMI ATMAPRIYANANDA practicalized—made living and poetic and The philosophical dimension run through the lives of hundreds and thousands of people who constitute the So, you see, these ideas have to come society. No doubt, this is a very difficult through society. That is the social task. All the same, Vivekananda said: The dimension. Anyway, the philosophical Vedanta which has been confined to the dimension of the concept of pluralism and forests and the hills and in the caves of the unity has been hammered out in the Indian Rishis and the munis, I want to bring it and scriptures called Vedanta or the Upanishads. broadcast it in the market place. ‘If the The burden of the song and the bedrock of fisherman thinks that he is the Spirit the entire Upanishadic philosophy is ekatva [âtman], he will be a better fisherman; if the vijnàna, the science of oneness. That is, by student thinks he is the Spirit, he will be a knowing the one you can know the many. better student. If the lawyer thinks he is the The famous dialogue between the great Spirit, he will be a better lawyer, and so householder Mahàshàla Shaunaka and Rishi on. .’2 In other words, what Vivekananda Angirasa as mentioned in the Mundaka said was that the highest spiritual truths of Upanishad (I.i.3) highlights this truth. The Vedanta have to be made living, poetic, and Upanishad says, practical in everyday life. à à Swamiji himself defined his life’s work Shaunaka ha vai mah sh lo’ngirasam vidhivat upasannah paprachha / in a very remarkable letter written to his Kasminnu bhagavo vijnàte sarvamidam disciple Alasinga Perumal on 17 February, vijnàtam bhavatiti // 1896. There he said: The great householder Shaunaka goes to . to put the Hindu ideas into English and the great sage Angirasa and asks the very then make out of dry philosophy and interesting question: ‘Sir, what is that by intricate mythology and queer startling knowing which everything can be known?’ psychology, a religion which shall be easy, simple, popular, and at the same time meet Angirasa smiles and says that two types of the requirements of the highest minds—is a knowledge are to be known. One is called task only those can understand who have paràvidyà (higher knowledge) and the other attempted it. The dry, abstract Advaita must is aparàvidyà (lower knowledge). The become living—poetic—in everyday life; terms—parà and aparà—do not exactly out of hopelessly intricate mythology must mean superior and inferior. The first denotes come concrete moral forms; and out of aparoksha jnàna; one that gives you direct bewildering Yogi-ism must come the most knowledge, and the second refers to scientific and practical psychology—and all paroksha jnàna or indirect knowledge of the this must be put in a form so that a child may grasp it. That is my life’s work.3 supreme Reality. Angirasa says, ‘Dve vidye veditavye iti ha sma yadbrahmavido vadanti In a letter written to E. T. Sturdy on parà caivàparà ca’ (I.i.4). Interestingly, 13 February, 1896, Swamiji said, ‘I want to aparà vidyà consists of all the Vedas and the give them dry, hard reason, softened in the Upanishads and all the spiritual texts. sweetest syrup of love and made spicy with And what about parà vidyà? It is that by intense work, and cooked in the kitchen of which the undecaying, the immutable Yoga, so that even a baby can easily digest it.’4 Supreme Being, the eternal substance, 8 Bulletin of the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture September 2017 PLURALISM AND UNITY âtman or Brahman is known. Everything Ramakrishna Order which underline this else which indirectly indicates the nature of truth. He remarked that there is a joy in âtman or Brahman belongs to the category being chosen, used and broken, there is an of aparà vidyà. equal joy in being set aside. Now, the crux of the whole thing is: Now suppose the Durgà image as well How is it that you can get the knowledge of as the other images are immersed into the everything by just knowing one thing? Ganges and somebody says, ‘Oh! you have Science is now almost coming to it. It is thrown them into the Ganges! Bring me struggling, knocking at the door which is some mud from the Durgà image.’ What known as the TOE or the Theory of happens then? Because there is no Durgà Everything. Many of you have possibly read image there, no Ganesha image there; the famous book, The History of Time, by everything has become mud. You can at best Hawkins. There he says that the Theory of bring some mud but you can’t bring the mud Everything is a single theory by which you of Durgà, the mud of Ganesha, the mud of will be able to explain all theories. So this is Kàrtika. Why? Because everything has the eternal question—What is that by dissolved into its cause, which is called knowing which everything can be known? kàrana. Hence, in this illustration, the cause is the clay and the names and forms which it Vedantic solution assumed have vanished. Therefore the Vedanta solved the problem by Chàndogya Upanishad very famously says, exhorting us to go to the root of everything. ‘Yathà somyaikena mritpindena sarvam When you have a pot made of clay, when mrinmayam vijnàtam syàvàcàrambhanam you have a clay image of Durgà, when you vikàro nàmadheyam mrttiketyeva satyam’. have thousands of objects made of clay—all (6.1.4)—‘O Somya, it is like this: By of them are made of clay essentially, knowing a single lump of earth you know all although they have different forms and objects made of earth. All changes are mere names. They call it nàma and rupa. Nàma words, in name only. But earth is the is name and rupa is form. Eliminate the reality.’ names and forms. Then what you have is The only satya which we handle is the clay. mrttikà or earth; nàmadheyam, the names I’ll give you a simple example. All of and forms are only vikàra, only you know that on the Dashami day, the transformations of this kàrana. The entire image of Durgà and her entourage— world, therefore, the Vedanta says, is only Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha, Kàrtika etc different manifestations of nàma and rupa. are all mercilessly thrown into the Ganga. A One essential substance is called drunkard once said jocularly: Mother, be Consciousness, the Brahman, or the âtman. aware! They will worship you today, treat Brahman plus nàma and rupa give you the you to all kinds of delicacies.