The Nature of the True Religious Life - 1.5. - Swami Krishnananda.

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Monday, March 13, 2023. 06:00.

Chapter 1: We are Mysterious Somethings - 5.

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In dream a teacher may come and tell us there is such a thing called waking, but we will never understand what it is until we wake up. What is the use of going to a dream college and learning dream lessons from a dream professor in the dream world? Whatever he says has no relevance to reality because waking is something different from whatever is told and heard in the dream world. Such is the learning that we have. Whatever is told to us has no sense finally because all this knowledge is connected to this three-dimensional world which, we are told, is not the true world. It is not the true world, and what we learn from it is also not the truth. We can only infer the presence of a fourth dimension, just as in the dream world we can only infer that there is such a thing called the waking world, though we cannot see it with our eyes.

Finally, philosophy and all deeper studies appear to be inferences drawn by comparison with certain ultimate possibilities, because inference is not possible unless there is a syllogism; and for that, there should be a premise. Without a premise, there is no deduction. Therefore, we cannot infer anything—such as that there is a fourth dimension, etc.—unless there is a premise to hang our arguments on. What is this premise? What is this indubitable referee which we can consult, and from which we can draw enlightenment to understand other things? Knowledge is an association of facts, and to make associations possible, there must be some background. We cannot have only associations without a connecting link between the parts which are associated. When there is such a thing called flying, there must be something that flies. There cannot be only flying without something that flies. Similarly, we cannot have associations, relationships, etc., without items with which we are related or associated. Likewise, we cannot draw a comparison or an inference without some point of reference which will determine the conclusions to be drawn by these associations, logical arguments, etc.

Rene Descartes, a philosopher of France, argued like this in his book called Metaphysical Meditations. All philosophers think like this, and many of you may also sometimes think like this. “Everything seems to be doubtful and unclear. I cannot come to any definite conclusion about anything. This may be true or that may be true. This may be true or it may not be true. How can I be sure of anything? What is the guarantee that what I see with my eyes is true? I may be in an illusion. Who tells me that this is the truth? Who tells me whether I am in a real world or in a phantasmagoria? Am I waking or am I dreaming? Are my conclusions correct or are they not correct? Is there anything indubitable in this world? Is there anything which I cannot doubt, or is everything only a heap of doubts?” The philosopher Rene Descartes went on arguing thus.

In India, Acharya Sankara argued in this way when he wrote his introduction to the famous commentary on the Brahma Sutras. If everything can be a matter of doubt, naturally there must be someone who is doubting everything. The doubts are not the doubters. The doubt is different from the doubter. There cannot be only doubts without somebody who doubts—just as, as I mentioned, there cannot be merely the process of flying without something that flies.

Everything is doubtful, says the doubter. Now, can you doubt the fact that there is such a thing called doubt? Please listen to me very carefully. You can doubt everything, but you cannot doubt the fact that you are doubting. If you doubt that you are doubting, doubt does not exist; therefore, the fact that the doubter exists cannot be doubted. Everything can be doubted, but the existence of the doubter cannot be doubted. If the doubter is also doubted, there is no such thing called doubt. The whole thing is swept away.

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Swami Chinmayananda :

Entering into married life does not hamper spiritual sadhana. Only we have to be under self-discipline and slowly create a disciplined house where both you and your children can grow in spiritual beauty, wafting peace and cheer to all. Realization is possible in a grihastha (householder) : The common factor that rules the Self-realization is one and the same, be he a sannyāsin or one belonging to any other of the three stages in life. It is only constant contemplation upon the universal Reality that takes us to Self-realization. 

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To be continued

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