The Mandukya Upanishad 6.1 Swami Krishnananda

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Sunday, November 15, 2020. 07:37. PM.

Section 6: The God of the Universe-1.

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ISVARA:

The third quarter of the Atman, called Prajna, is identified with the third quarter of the Universal Consciousness called Isvara. Isvara is omnipotent and, therefore, He is regarded as the source and the end of all creation. This Prajna is the causal state of the universe, both outwardly and inwardly. Macrocosmically, we regard this consciousness as the Creator of the whole universe, while microcosmically, the very same consciousness is the creator of this internal world of the Jiva.

This Consciousness as the cause of all things is also the Lord over everything – Esha sarvesvarah. Now, this epithet 'Sarvesvara' as also the other qualification, 'Sarvajna', omniscient, cannot be attributed to the Jiva, because the Jiva is not Sarvesvara, and so not also Sarvajna. The Mandukya Upanishad seems to make no palpable distinction between the individual and the cosmic, and it harmonises the relation between Jiva and Isvara. The causal condition of the Jiva, namely Prajna, is regarded only as a part of the Cosmic Causal State of Isvara. 

To this Upanishad, there is only one Reality, and the distinctions that we usually make between the Cosmic and the individual, between Isvara and Jiva, are overcome in the higher analysis of the Upanishad. It is all God, and God alone, Isvara everywhere, and the Jiva has no place to exist apart from the Being of Isvara. So, when you describe the nature of God, you have also described the nature of all creation including the contents thereof, together with all the Jivas. We need not describe the drop separately when we describe the ocean; and so, the ocean is being described here, the ocean of causality that is designated as Isvara, from whom proceed Hiranyagarbha and Virat. 

Esha sarvesvarah : 

This is the Overlord of all; the Master of all things; supremely powerful. 

Esha sarvajnah : 

This Being is all-knowing, omniscient. Nothing can be hidden from the perception of this Being. Isvara is omnipresent and so He is also omniscient; therefore, also, He is omnipotent. The All-pervading Presence of Isvara explains His omniscience. 

The Jiva is not characterised by this knowledge because of its being localised in spots in space, because of the mind of the Jiva not being capable of moving outside its own body, because of our thoughts being confined to our personalities. We are, as Jivas, Aikadesika, present only in one place, while Isvara is Sarvagata, present everywhere. 

The' knowledge of Isvara is not a 'cognition' of objects, and no 'cognition' or 'perception' can be regarded as a part of omniscience, because the objects of cognition do not come under the control of the cogniser, necessarily. Though we cognise objects outside, we cannot be said to have a power over them, fully. We see the whole world with our eyes, but what power have we over thc world. Our knowledge does not bring us power, though it is often said that knowledge is power. Knowledge is power, but not sensory knowledge. It is some other knowledge, altogether, that can be equated with power. 

Sarvajnatva becomes identical with Sarvasaktimatva only under a given condition, and not always. Though we may have vast knowledge in the sense of learning or information, we cannot be said to have power over the things or objects of this type of knowledge. While the Jiva's knowledge is sensory, perceptual and cognitional, Isvara's knowledge is intuitional. While the Jiva's knowledge cannot be identified with the existence of its objects, Isvara's knowledge is identical with the existence of everything. While 'Sat' and 'Chit' unite in the Being of Isvara, they get separated in the case of the Jiva. 

This is the reason why the Jiva is neither Sarvajna nor Sarvesvara, the reason being that the world is outside the knowledge of the Jiva, though the Jiva seems to have a cognition of the objects by a process artificially brought about through the relation of space and time. The knowledge of Isvara is above space and time, and is non-relational. The Jiva's knowledge is relative; Isvara's knowledge is absolute. Isvara is, and His Being itself is all knowledge and power, while the Jiva's being cannot be equated with knowledge and power. The Jiva's existence is separated from its knowledge, and knowledge from power, while all these are one in the case of Isvara. 

So, it is only Isvara who can be called Sarvesvara and Sarvajna; and the Mandukya Upanishad, while describing the third Pada or phase of the Atman as the cause of all things and qualifying it with the epithets Sarvesvara and Sarvajna, obviously refers to the Universal Isvara.

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To be continued ...

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