We Are The Imagination of Ourselves The Principle of Lila in Advaita Vedanta Metaphysics: A Playful, Creative, and Storytelling Reality Shane T. Foster Division III Senior Thesis Project Expected Graduation Date: May 17, 2008 Advising Committee: Phil Kelleher, Chair Ryan Bong Seok Joo, Member Nalini Bhushan, Member Hampshire College Amherst, Massachusetts United States of America Acknowledgements I would like to sincerely thank all of my parents and siblings, all of whom helped shape me into the person I am today in one way or another; all of my friends, who have provided me with myriad lilas and constant laughter throughout my life; my lovely Sarah, who helped me along in the construction and execution of this thesis more than anyone else; and to all of my teachers and professors, both layman and professional, who have over the years taught me everything that I know about the world around me and whose patience, knowledge, and wisdom I benefit from infinitely. Of course, since everyone I know has been a teacher at one time or another in my life, in some form, ultimately I want to thank Everyone: Thank You. Contents Acknowledgements ——————————————————————————————————————— Chapter 1: Introduction: The Principle of Lila in Advaita Vedanta Metaphysics: A Playful, Creative, and Storytelling Reality. Advaita Vedanta Metaphysics 1 What is Lila? 5 Summary of the Chapters 8 Description of Thesis Structure 10 ——————————————————————————————————————— Chapter 2: The Players: Who’s going to play and how? Introduction 13 What is one’s Identity and Ātman in Advaita Vedanta? 14 The Traditional States of Consciousness in Advaita Vedanta 18 The Ātman-Brahman Relationship 22 Discussion on Identity and Consciousness 25 A. Intersecting Thought within Western Philosophy of Mind and Cognitive Science: A Dynamic, Embodied, & Embedded Consciousness Suitable for Cosmic Play? B. Intersecting Thought with Western Philosophy of Mind and Metaphysics: 31 Panpsychism and the Interplay of Ātman and Matter Conclusion: “And All the Men and Women Merely Players…” 36 ——————————————————————————————————————— Chapter 3: The Play: What’s the Story? Introduction 40 What is the Nature of Reality & Brahman in Advaita Vedanta? 42 The Positive and Negative Approaches to Describing Brahman 43 Understanding Brahman Through Metaphor 48 Reality as We Know ‘it’ & Reality as ‘It’ Truly Is: The Function and Form of Maya 53 The Great Debates—In-Depth Analysis and Discussion of Brahman and Maya 58 A. Does Brahman have attributes or not (Saguna-Brahman vs. Nirguna-Brahman)? Is Brahman immanent (Saprapanca) or transcendent (Nisprapanca)? B. What is the nature of the connection between Brahman and Maya? 62 C. Possible Reconciliation through two kinds of knowledge—Paramarthika (Higher) 66 and Vyavaharika (Lower) Jnanas (Knowledge or Wisdom) What Happens When the ‘Game is Up’?—Liberation from the Game 69 Discussion on Reality and Constitution 71 A. Intersecting Thought within Western Philosophy: The Perennial Philosophy and Layered Reality; The ‘real’ and ‘really Real’ B. Intersecting Thoughts with Western Philosophy of Mind and Metaphysics: 75 Monism, Pantheism, Panentheism, or Something ‘Wholly’ Different? Conclusion: “And All The World’s A Stage…” 80 —————————————————————————————————————— Chapter 4: The Motivation: What’s the point of the Game? Introduction 84 Lila In-Depth 86 Metaphor of Play 88 Metaphor of a Game 92 Metaphor of a Story 94 The Name of the Game is ‘Difference’ 97 Diversity is the Spice of Life 98 The More the Merrier 99 Seriousness of Conflict equals Entertainment of the Unity 100 Why Lila: Why a Cosmic Play At All? 102 Critique of the concept of Lila 106 Discussion on the Storytelling, Creative, and Playful nature of Reality: Lila 108 A. Intersecting Thought within Western Philosophy, Psychology, and Modern Physics Existence entails Experience; to Be is to be Conscious B. Intersecting Thoughts within Western Philosophy of Mind, Cognitive Science, and Metaphysics: 117 To Live is to Learn and to Learn is to Liberate Oneself: The Drive for Moksha Conclusion: “The Play, Game, Story Goes On…” 125 ——————————————————————————————————————— Chapter 5: No Final Act—Only Intermissions: Meanings and Morals Introduction 128 Aesthetics in Lila 129 The Theory of Rasa and the Transcendental Creative Experience Creative Expression: A Brahman-eye view 132 Lila and Ethics 134 Treatment of Others: An Issue of Identity—Going Beyond Us vs. Them A Metaphysics Which Entails an Ethics 141 Metaphysical Value of Lila 145 A Place for Suffering and Conflict—Fear is Dispelled; Enjoyment is Enhanced Free Will & Determinism?—Chance and Natural Processes in Lila 147 A Vast Cosmology: Many Myriad Worlds—More Cosmic Fun? 148 Conclusion: “Onwards and Upwards” 152 ——————————————————————————————————————— Chapter 6: Conclusion: Playing the Game of Life, Telling the Story of the Self, and Creatively Dreaming the World into Being A Summation of Sorts 155 Just How Far Out Does The Game Go? 156 A Final Query: Why seek Moksha—Why Not Simply Keep Enjoying the Game? 159 Relativism Reigns: All Paths Lead to One 162 ——————————————————————————————————————— Glossary 167 Bibliography 169 Chapter 1: Introduction The Principle of Lila in Advaita Vedanta Metaphysics: A Playful, Creative, and Storytelling Reality. The most beautiful and most profound emotion or thing we can experience is the sensation of the mystical, the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. So to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed. — Albert Einstein Advaita Vedanta Metaphysics What is the fundamental nature of reality? This question has been the focus of the branch of philosophy known as metaphysics for centuries. It has perhaps occupied the minds of mankind for arguably as long as we have had the capacity to ask questions at all. In India there has been a rich tradition of philosophical inquiry into all aspects of existence that has been going on for thousands of years, one that is as diverse, complex, and comprehensive as that of any other country’s tradition. From this long, wide-ranging philosophical tradition stems the darshana (philosophy) of Advaita Vedanta and with it a metaphysics that is perhaps as complex as it is possibly profound. And from Advaita Vedanta comes the philosophical principle of Lila, the core subject of this thesis which shall be addressed directly in the next group of passages to follow. To get to the subject of Lila though, it is necessary to first understand Advaita Vedanta and its origins. What is Advaita Vedanta exactly? “Advaita” Vedanta is itself a sub sect of the overarching darshana (philosophy) of Vedanta, which is itself one of the six orthodox schools of philosophical thought in India.1 “Vedanta” is a Sanskrit word whose translation means “the culmination of knowledge”—“veda” means knowledge and “anta” means conclusion; the word Page | 1 also means “the end essence of the Vedas,” which refers to the Upanishads, ancient sacred texts that appear at the end of the Vedas.2 This focus upon and clarification of the nature of the Upanishads is important because it is from these texts that Vedanta philosophy derives most of its contemplative source material. In conjunction with the Upanishads, which consist of thirteen principle major texts (although there are a number of minor texts), there is the Brahma Sutras, also known as the Vedanta Sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita. These three sources make up the tripartite canon of Vedanta philosophy and are collectively referred to as Prasthanatrayi or “Three points of departure.”3 The three main Vedanta sub-sects and their corresponding founder philosophers are: Dvaita, which is associated with the philosopher Madhva; Vishishtadvaita, which is associated with the philosopher Ramanuja; and of course, Advaita, which is associated with the philosopher Shankara. Coming from a line of equally revered and astute philosophers,4 Shankara, a truly brilliant philosopher who is said to have lived approximately from 780 CE to 820 CE, was the first Indian philosopher to take all of the various concepts from the ancient texts and their various commentaries from the entire Prasthanatrayi and synthesize them all into a single composite philosophical system. Shankara wrote bhashyas on the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, and the Brahma Sutras, and all of his works became the school of thought that is collectively known as Advaita Vedanta. Since the time of Shankara, many other philosophers have developed and continued on the tradition’s lineage, including the revered likes of Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, his disciple Swami Vivekananda, and the more contemporary philosopher-scholar Sri Aurobindo Ghose.5 Page | 2 According to the Indian philosophical tradition, Shankara and other Advaita Vedantists also derive their philosophical expositions from the Mahavakyas, a selection of short profound sayings or “Great Philosophical Utterances” that are described as concise interpretations of the nature of Truth and ultimate Reality (Brahman). There are anywhere from four ‘classic’ to six general Mahavakyas, depending on the opinion of the philosopher in question. These are used to illustrate profound insights into the advaita character of reality which is the obvious focus of Advaita Vedanta metaphysics; throughout this thesis there will be reference to and analysis of specific Mahavakya phrases in our elucidation of various Advaita concepts. The word “advaita” itself means “non-dual” and refers to the concept of an ultimately monistic and unified theory of reality. The concept of a monistic, non-dual reality will be analyzed and explicated in-depth throughout this thesis in the following chapters; suffice it to say for now though that it is the concept which lies at the heart of Advaita Vedanta philosophy. Before continuing any further, a note on intention is advisable: to avoid confusion, let me clarify by stating again that Advaita Vedanta is a school of philosophical thought, a darshana, not a religious belief system. Therefore, the kinds of discussions and intellectual exploration that will be undertaken here will be of a philosophical character, and not one of a theological nature.