Gyān and Vigyān
Fritjof Capra[12] writes in The Web of Life……… …..
“This is how quantum physics shows that we cannot decompose the world into independently existing elementary units. As we shift our attention from macroscopic objects to atoms and subatomic particles, nature does not show us any isolated building-blocks, but rather appears as a complex web of relationships between the various parts of a unified whole.”
◊ The Upanisadic concept of Ātman was now touched upon by the West. To truly understand this let us start with the words of S. Radhakrishnan[13]… “as Brahman is the eternal quiet underneath the drive and activity of the Universe, so Ātman is the foundational reality underlying the conscious powers of the individual”…
The various Hymns of Creation in vedic writings dwell on this Brahman – Ātman dichotomy in a variety of ways – it is like a matrix of metaphysical concepts. The author-rishīs tip-toe through ontological and conceptual difficulties with the help of myths and metaphors. Dr. Paul Deussen gives an extensive review[14] of the vedic literature and says…… “The motive of the conception that dominates all these passages may be described to be the recognition of the first principle of the universe as embodied in nature as a whole, but especially and most of all in the soul (the universal and the individual) Hence the idea arose that the primeval being created the universe, and then as the first born of the creation entered into it.”
(See Appendix –‘Poetry’ – “MAN” by A.C. Swinburne)
Let us first look at a part of Brihad-āranyaka Up. 1.4.10 – The First adhyāy belongs to the Madhukānd – and its fourth Brāhmana is titled “The Creation of the World fom the Self” by S. Radhakrishnan….
b`a*ma vaa [dma Aga` AasaIt\ td\ Aa%maanama\ evaavaot\ AhM b`a*ma Aisma [it. tsmaat\ tt\ sava-ma\ ABavat\ td\ ya: ya: dovaanaama\ p`%yabauQyat sa eYa td\ ABavat\ tqaa ?YaINaama\ tqaa manauYyaaNaama\ td\ h etd\ pSyana\ ?iYa: vaamadova: p`itpodo AhM manau: ABavama\ saUya-: ca [it. td\ [dma\ Aip etih- ya evaM vaoda AhM b`a*ma Aisma [it sa [dma\ sava-ma\ Bavait tsya h na dovaScanaa|BaU%yaa [-Sato. Aa%maa ih eYaama\ sa: Bavait Aqa yaao Anyaama\ dovatama\ ]pasto Anyaao AsaaO Anyaao Ahma\ Aisma [it na sa vaod yaqaa pSaurova Ð\ sa dovaanaama\. ……
Indeed, this world was in the beginning Brahman itself, which alone knew itself. And it realized : “I am Brahman !” – Through that it became this world. And whoever among the gods became aware of this (through the knowledge : ‘I am Brahman’), he became just the same; and so also among the Rsis (seers) as also among men. Realizing this, Vāmadeva, the Rsi exclaimed[15] :-
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yasyaaonmaoYainamaoYaaByaaM jagat: p`layaaodyaaO . tM Sai>caËivaBavap`BavaM SaMkrM stuma: ..1.. yasya ]nmaoYa inamaoYaaByaaM jagat: p`laya ]dyaaO. tM Sai>caË ivaBava p`BavaM...
Mishraji, quoting his grand-guru Ojhaji, also corrects the categorization of the six Darshanas or schools of philosophy given by western scholars. These schools evolved as a cross...