Hinduism-The One Existence.

The One Existence. 

There is one Infinite, Eternal, Changeless Existence, 

the All. 

From That all comes forth ; to That all returns. 

“ One only', without a second.” * 

That includes within Itself all that ever has been, is, and can be. As a wave rises in the ocean, a universe rises in the All. As the wave sinks again into the ocean, a universe sinks again: into the All. As the ocean is water, and the wave a form or manifestation of the water, so is there one Existence, and the universe a form, or manifestation, of the Existence. 

“All This verily [is] Brahman.” 

This is the primary truth of Religion. Men have given to the All many different names. The name in the Sanatana Dharma is Brahman. English-speaking people use the name God, adding, to make the meaning clear, “God, in His own Nature." Sometimes the Hindu speaks of the All as Nirguna Brahman, the Brahman without attributes, or the unconditioned Brahman. This is to distinguish the unmanifested state of Brahman, the All, from the manifested state, in which Brahman is called the Saguna Brahman, the Brahman with attributes, or the conditioned Brahman, the Supreme Ishvara with His universe. 

These are called “ the two states of Brahman ’ the subject is very difficult, and it is enough for a boy to understand that the Saguna Brahman is Brahman revealed— not " a second ”, but Brahman shining forth as The One, the Great Lord of Being, Thought and Bliss, He is the self-existent One, the Root and Cause of all beings. He is also sometimes called Purushottama, the Supreme Spirit, The Self. With Himself as Spirit He reveals the other side of the All, which is named MQlaprakriti, the Root of Matter. Prakriti, Matter, is that which takes form, and so can give bodies of all sorts and shapes and kinds ; all that we can touch, taste, smell, see, and hear, is Matter, and a great deal more besides, which our five senses are not yet developed enough to perceive. The solids, liquids and gases of the chemist are made of Matter; all the things around us, stones, trees, animals, men, are made of Matter. But the whole of them is not Matter; inaudible, invisible, un-smellable, un-tastable, intangible, the Spirit is in each, an Amshah, a portion, of Ishvara. We call the Matter part a Shariram, body, or a kosah, sheath, or an Upadhih, vehicle ; that which embodies, clothes or carries the Spirit. Thus Ishvara is in everything, and it is He who gives life to all things. He is  Atma, the Self, the Immortal, the Inner Ruler, dwelling in all objects, and there is nothing that can exist apart from Him. An amhsa(portion) of Him in a body of Matter, is called a Jiva, or a Jivatman, a separated Self. 

There are some very important differences between Spirit and Matter, as well as the differences just spoken of, that the senses, when completely developed, can perceive Matter, while they cannot perceive Spirit, and that Matter takes form while Spirit is formless. It is the Spirit that is life, and that thinks, and feels, and observes, that is the “ I "in each of us. And the Spirit is one and the same in everybody and in every- thing. But Matter cannot think, or feel, or observe ; it is Jadam, without consciousness. And it has also the tendency to be constantly dividing itself into many forms and to become many. So that Spirit and Matter are said to be the opposites, one of the other ; Spirit is called the knower, the one that knows, while Matter is called the object of knowledge, that which is known. 

Students should try to understand these differences, and must never confuse Spirit and Matter ; they are opposites, the first “ pair of opposites,” out of which a universe is built up. 

Just as Spirit has three qualities —सत ,चित ,आनंदनम - Sat, Chit, Anandanam-Being, Thought-Power and Bliss, so has Matter three qualities,सम:,रज:,सतवं , Tamah, Rajah, Sattvam — Inertia, Motion, Rhythm. Inertia gives resistance and stability to Matter;Motion keeps Matter active, moving about ; Rhythm makes the movements regular. You may say, " A stone does not move of itself.” But science tells you that every particle in that stone — ^particles too small for you to see — is moving rapidly and regularly to and fro, is vibrating, to use the scientific name. The शक्तिः, Shaktih, or the Divine Power of Ishvara, which makes Matter begin to take form, is called माया,Maya, and sometimes दैवीप्रकृतिः, Daiviprakritih, the Divine Prakriti. Shri Krishna speaks of "My Divine Prakriti " as " My other Prakriti, the higher, the life- element, by which the universe is upheld.” ^ 

The student may think of the great pair of opposites, Ishvara and Molaprakriti, standing, as it were, face to face, and the Divine Power of Ishvara shining out on Molaprakriti and making the qualities, called Guna,acts on each other, so that many forms begin to appear. This Divine Power is Maya, and so ishvara is called the Lord of Miya, 

Even young students 'must try to remember these names, and what they mean, for they cannot otherwise understand the teaching of the Bhagavad-Gita which every Hindu boy must try to understand. It may be good to say that the word Prakriti is generally used instead of Molaprakriti,the prefix Mola,Root,being usually left out. 

शेयं  यततं प्रवशायामि  यज्ज्ञातवामृतमश्नुते  

“I will declare that which is to be known, that which being known immortality is gained — the beginningless supreme Brahman, called neither Being nor Not- 

being. 

'‘Everywhere That has hands and feet, everywhere eyes, heads and mouths, all-hearing He dwell in the world, enveloping all. 

"Shining with all sense-faculties, without any senses ; unattached, supporting everything ; and free from properties, enjoying properties. 

"Without and within all beings, immovable and also movable ; from his subtlety indistinguishable ; at 'hand and far away is That. 

"Not divided amid beings and yet seated distributively. That is to be known as the supporter of beings ; 

He devours and He generates. That the Light of all Lights is said to be beyond darkness; .wisdom, the wisdom to be gained, the end of wisdom, seated in the hearts of all." 

This was in the form of Darkness, unknown without marks [ or homogeneous ], unattainable by reasoning, unknowable, wholly, as it were, in sleep. 

“ Then the Self-Existent, the Lord, un manifest, (but) making manifest This— the great elements and the rest— appeared with mighty power. Dispeller of Darkness. 

“ He who can be grasped by that which is beyond the senses, subtle, un manifest, ancient, containing all beings, inconceivable, even He Himself shone forth.

“ I, 0 Gudakesha, am the Self, seated in the heart of all beings ; I am the beginning, the middle, and also the end of all beings.” 

‘‘There arc two Purushas in this world, one destructible and one indestructible ; the destructible is all beings, the indestructible is called the unchanging. 

“The highest Purusha is verily another, declared as the Supreme Self; He who pervade and sustain-the three worlds, the indestructible Ishvara. 

"Since I excel the destructible, and am more excellent also than the indestructible, in the world and in the Veda I am proclaimed Purushottama." 

"An eternal portion of myself, in the world of life a living being, draw round itself the senses, of which Manas is the sixth, placed in Prakriti." 

" Seated equally in all beings, the supreme Ishvara, indestructible within the destructible; he who thus seeth, he seeth. 

"When he perceive that the varied natures of beings are rooted in Oxe and proceed from It, then he reaches the Brahman. 

*‘As this one sun illuminate the whole earth, so the Lord of the field illuminate the whole field, O Bharata." 

“ Earth, water, fire, air, ether, Manas and Buddhi also and Ahamkra — these are the eight-fold divisions of my Prakriti. 

*‘This the inferior. Know my other Prakriti, the higher,the life-element, O mighty armed, by which the universe is upheld." 

“Sattva, Rajas, Tamas, these are the Gunas, born of Prakriti, O great-armed one ; they bind fast in the body the indestructible dweller in the body."