Thus Spake the Divine - How One Becomes Many?

Thus Spake the Divine

How One Becomes Many?

People following other philosophies ridicule Advaita followers thus: “Though you say, “Aham Brahmasmi”, “Shivoham” etc. and claim that “You are Brahmam and Shivam”, you all look different”. While everything is Brahmam, there appear to be many different things. Why is there such contradiction? Advaita has to substantiate its stand on this issue. Its answer for this question comes in two ways.

If “God” has to become “we”, there are two ways. One: In bright Sunlight, if you dip your hand deep in water and sprinkle it across, thousands of drops get scattered. You can see thousands of Suns glittering in them, one in each drop. The size of the Sun gets adjusted to suit the size of the substance from which Sun’s rays are refl ected. Similarly, the one “enlightened awareness (Aitareya)” of Brahmam refl ects from different life forms and creates diversity. In reality, Sun is only one and it is only the Brahmam that exists. This substantiation is called “Bimba-Pratibimba Vadam (Theory of Refl ection)”. When all the droplets are no more, there are no more reflections. But the bright, radiant Sun continues to exist. The difference in the number of reflections is a creation of our minds. When a generator runs in a Power House, electricity gets generated and there is light.

If the generator stops, generation of electricity also stops and so does the light. A mind is nothing but the way it oscillates. If the mind stops its oscillation and wanders, there will be no refl ections. At that juncture, we, who are possessed with limited awareness like bits and pieces of Sun’s refl ections, can become the real effulgent Sun itself with ‘enlightened awareness’. Let us compare Paramatma with the Sun and Jeevatma with drops of water refl ecting so many Suns. When droplets evaporate, refl ections also vanish. The question here is: Has the evaporated droplet transformed into Sun?” Explaining this aspect, Advaita Siddhanta puts forth another point known as “avachcheda Vadam (Theory of limitations)”. See these two metaphors. One: A well is full of water.

We are drawing water from this well using a pot and a rope. The pot is submerged deep inside before drawing the water. Now, the water inside the pot and water inside the well are one and the same. There is no variation between the two. But when we draw the pot up, we feel the water in the pot is separate from water in the well. Two: One vast sky permeates all across. It accommodates the entire universe and is known as “Mahakasham (Maha + Akasham)”. In the open space, if we keep many empty pots (Ghatams), space permeates within these pots too. The sky inside the Ghatam is called Ghatakasham (Ghatam+ Akasham). When the Ghatam breaks, does the Mahakasham break? It does not.

What has been Ghatakasham now unifi es with Mahakasham. When Ghatam is intact, the space inside the Ghatam appears as a separate entity to us. Once the pot breaks, Ghatakasham became Mahakasham. The difference in the quantum of space is based on the size and shape of the pot. Similarly, One Paramatma manifests Himself differently in different minds of various life forces. The quantity of water inside the pot appears as more when the pot is big and vice versa. Once the pot is broken, all these differences disappear.

It is our mind that is responsible for such differences. Once the mind disappears, differences too disappear. This is what is known as Avachcheda Vadam, the Theory of Limitation. The concept of Paramatma appearing as Jeevatma is similarly explained with these two theories viz. Bimba-Pratibimba Vadam (Theory of Refl ection) and Avachcheda Vadam (Theory of Limitation). Just because Sunlight is refl ected in a droplet, it does not mean that another Sun has emerged in place of the original.

Nobody has captured another sky in the pot that is separate from Mahakasham! Was there any other water inside the drowned pot in the well other than the well water itself? Likewise, Jeevatma is no distinct from Paramatma. It is the same Paramatma who is seen in various Jeevatmas differently, until our ignorance gets erased. Similar to refl ection of the Sun, like the Mahakasham inside the Ghatam, and akin to well water inside the pot, it is all one Sat-Chit-Anantam (bliss in awareness), which is there in every iota and being of existence. What we call Brahmam and Shivam are one and the same. Just to inculcate the feeling of “oneness amidst seeming diversity”, we keep saying “Aham Brahmasmi” and Shivoham”!

This article is a snippet from the Book Thus Spake the Divine, is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Specialty Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.