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1 Musings on yogavAsiShTha PART- III ORIGINATION (utpatti prakaraNa) 1. Introduction Sage Vasishta, an exemplary teacher that he was, had been imparting his teaching to Rama according to a well thought out plan. After vairAgya prakaraNa and mumukshu vyavahAra prakaraNa, the first and the second chapters respectively in yogavAsiShTha, the Sage took up the third chapter, ‘utpatti prakaraNa.’ The origination of the world was discussed from several perspectives in this chapter. Towards the end of the second chapter Sri Rama asked: tad®tadaÆ bhagava nbr£hi kimidaÆ pari¸a¿yati kimidaÆ j¡yat® bh£yaÅ kimidaÆ parivardhat® || vairagya. sarga 12 , ¿l°ka 17 Revered Sir, please explain who is it that dies, who is it that is born and who is it that grows and develops. In reply to the question, Maharishi Vasishta stated: utpadyat® y° jagati sa ®va kila vardhat® sa ®va m°kÀam¡pn°ti svargaÆ v¡ narakaÆ ca v¡-- sarga 1, ¿l°ka 7 Whoever it is that is born will grow. Only he will attain heaven or hell or liberation. But what exactly does it mean ‘to be born’? The seven thousand verse strong chapter on utpatti provides the answer to the question. The chapter is like a huge maze. We often miss what direction it takes and where it leads us to. It appears very confusing. Maharishi Vasishta, hence provided us with a summary of the chapter right in the beginning. He called it appropriately as sangraha sarga – The summary canto. 2 idaÆ prakara¸¡rthaÆ tvaÆ sa´kÀ®p¡cch¤¸u r¡ghava tatassa´kathayiÀy¡mi vistaraÆ t® yath®psitam || sarga 1, ¿l°ka 9 I shall first give you a summary of the chapter and expand it later on. In spite of the canto summarizing the chapter, one finds the subject matter discussed very counterintuitive and difficult to follow. Therefore, we shall adopt a different approach in order to comprehend the subject matter of the discourse properly. 2. Space and Time: Maharishi Vasishta tells us in the chapter that there is no such thing as birth (utpatti) at all! This position can hardly be convincing to anyone. If you take any object in the world, you can definitely say that the object originated or formed at so and so place and at such and such a time. We can also say that it did not exist before that time. Thus we can locate its origin in a Four Dimensional space-time plot. The three axes x, y, and z of the graph determine the location of the object in Space. In Vedantic parlance, space is called ‘desha.’ The fourth axis, namely t-axis, will fix the time of birth. In Vedantic parlance, time is called ‘kAla.’ The four axes together fix the object’s origin in the 4-D space-time. Though it may sound very modern to think in terms of the 4-D graph, the ancient seers in India were quite familiar with this concept and often used it in their work. In order to understand clearly the chapter, one has to remember the x, y, and z axes whenever the word ‘desha or location in space’ is mentioned and t-axis whenever the word ‘kAla or time’ is mentioned. It will then be easy to follow the logic of Sage Vasishta without any difficulty. The Sage raises a revolutionary and fundamental question here: “In order to find the location of a point or object, you may take the help of the four axes; but what is the basis in locating the origin for these axes?” There is no answer to the question in mathematics. The point of origin, ‘O’, of the axes is taken axiomatically. Axiom means that it is a self-evident truth. It is accepted with no further discussion over it. It is this point on which the Maharishi focuses his discussion. He questions: ‘Where is the point of origin for these four axes? What is its locus? ’ The discussion with regard to the above question takes many twists and turns. Ultimately the sage demonstrates that such a point as ‘O’ does not exist at all! Moreover, he impresses that it is simply a belief that ‘O’ exists. In other words, its existence is imagined. It is an illusion. Believing in its existence, you draw certain coordinates and call them ‘Axes.’ Based on these axes you fix the point of origination and fix` the three directions in space. The entire edifice of origin or birth is thus built based on your illusion, but not on any really 3 existing point. Hence, there is no such thing as origination or creation. That forms the sum and substance of the Maharishi’s teaching. The Sage does not use the term axis. As per his terminology, they are desha and kAla, space and time. So what he says is that neither space nor time is existent! (From here onwards whenever the word space appears, it is to be understood as desha or vice versa). Can we imagine a situation without space and time? It is impossible for us. The Sage presents such counterintuitive concepts in the chapter. In order to make it easy for us, he tells the story called ‘Leela upakhyAna,’ also called ‘Mandapa upakhyAna.’ He begins the actual story in the 15th sarga. The preceding 14 sarga-s to it give the theoretical framework of the story based exclusively on logic. Hence we may say that the first 14 sarga-s are of an introductory nature for the story ‘LeelopakhyAna.’ The first sarga briefly explains the entire concept. Hence, it is also called sangraha sarga, (The summary canto). 3. When did creation happen? Maharishi Vasishta begins his discourse in response to the query by Rama regarding the creation of the world – how and when did the creation take place? But who could have seen the beginning of creation? How is one to be sure of any claim made over it? The origination is something that none could have witnessed. It cannot be a matter of belief also. One has to inquire into it by oneself and find out. Therefore, the Sage suggests a new approach. You perceive the world in the now. So it undoubtedly exists in the now. You saw a world in your dream. It existed then during your dream. What happened to the dream world? It dissolved into the suShupti (deep sleep) state. Likewise, the world you see in your wakeful state will dissolve at the end of the present kalpa or aeon. When the dream world got absorbed into suShupti, what is it that remained? Only you remained. Similarly, when the wakeful world dissolves at the end of the kalpa, there remains one Real Thing called ‘satpadArdha.’ You remained after your dream ended. What is your nature compared to your dream world? Are you made up of the five elements of the dream world? Are you the illuminating light in the dream or are you its darkness? Actually nothing of the dream world can be attributed to you. You are clearly distinct from it from any angle. You are the only entity that exists after the dream world dissolved. tataÅ stimita gambh¢raÆ na t®j° na tamastatam an¡khya manabhivyaktaÆ satkiµci dava¿iÀyat® Upasama 1-13 Similarly, the sole ‘remaining thing’ after the dissolution of the wakeful world, cannot be anything that belongs to the awake world. It cannot be the light or darkness of the wakeful world. It cannot be a thing born of the five elements of the awake world. It has to be something which is not cognized in the wakeful world. Whether the wakeful world exists or 4 not, that ‘remaining thing’ should be existing. In other words, it has to be a truly existing thing or ‘satpadArdha.’ Our ancient savants called that Real thing which is ever-existent by various names such as RRita (Truth); Atma (Self); para (Supreme); brahman (Pervading); shAstra (Definite). As a matter of fact It has no name and It is unnameable! The Real thing, in course of time owing to indiscretion, becomes an individual. The name given to him is ‘Hiranyagarbha.’ The reason for the indiscretion is avidya – nescience or ignorance. It is simply mentation. It is the material cause for the origination of Hiranyagarbha and later on the world. Knowledgeable elders gave many names to the mentation like: avidya; (individual ignorance); samskriti (worldiness); bandha (bondage); mAyA (cosmic ignorance) tamas (inertia or indolence). 4. mAyA is ‘Plus’: It is said that the Pure Real Thing became Hiranyagarbha or Brahma due to illusion or avidya. It is also mentioned that the illusion binds Hiranyagarbha. We will see shortly very elaborate philosophical discussions on avidya. Let us try to understand what avidya is from a modern perspective. Everyone knows the mathematical symbol ‘plus’ (+). We use it often in our work. We are so much used to it that we introduced it even into linguistics in statements like Do + not = Don’t. What exactly does ‘+’ mean? What is its function in an equation? Let us examine its significance. The ‘+’ sign is called an arithmetic operator. It stands for addition. What exactly does the sign ‘+’ do? For example, let us say that there is one banana. I place another banana next to it. Then we can express it in the form: 1 + 1 The formulation introducing ‘+’ has not brought to bear any change upon the first banana or on the second banana. Next we write the equation: 1 + 1 = 2 How could we formulate the above equation balancing the left hand and right hand sides? Wherefrom did the numeral ‘2’ get generated? 5 The two ‘1’s representing the first banana and the second banana on which ‘+’ has no effect, obviously, could not have generated ‘2’.

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