The Essence of Dharmam - 6. Swami Krishnananda.

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Tuesday, June 08, 2021.7:10.AM.
(Spoken on February 11th, 1973)
Post-6.
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1.

Here is the parting point with science. We bid goodbye to science at this point. While up to this time it was a great aid to us, in future it shall not be an aid to us because here is a thick wall or a black curtain in front of the scientist through which he cannot pierce, or which he cannot scale.

2.

The universe contains a peculiar principle called intelligence or consciousness which is responsible for our thinking, and for our saying anything at all. Even to be a materialist, consciousness is essential. We must be a good conscious being in order that we may be a good materialist. It is the consciousness that says, “I am a materialist.” It is consciousness that says that only matter exists. Do you understand this mystery? It is consciousness that asserts that consciousness does not exist. Who makes this assertion that consciousness does not exist? Consciousness. Very interesting it is. Consciousness says that consciousness does not exist, because matter has no intelligence and cannot say this.

3.

Now I am coming to another aspect of this question which is very intimately connected with the earlier one. The universe is a continuum, an undivided being, according to physical discovery. So is consciousness. Consciousness is a continuity. It is an undivided flow, as it were. It should not be called a flow, but for want of a better word I will call it a flow because it is permeating and pervading every bit of existence. But it does not pervade another object like water permeating cloth in a bucket of water.

4.

Inasmuch as consciousness is undivided, there cannot be externality to it. Even a universe cannot exist outside it, but the universe exists. We are seeing it. So we have two continuities, two continuums – the universal continuum and the consciousness continuum. This double continua of consciousness and matter has led some people to imagine that there is an infinite matter and an infinite consciousness. This is the Sankhya philosophy of India, which says there is an ubiquitous and eternal matter and also an ubiquitous and eternal consciousness, Purusha. But what is that which is between the two? Nobody knows. 

This is a no-man’s land. As there cannot be a no-man’s land between consciousness and matter, Vedanta comes to the forefront and says, “Sankhya, you are wonderful. You have gone ahead of the scientists in positing the existence of consciousness. You have won a victory over the ignorance of the scientists. But you are also mistaken inasmuch as you have created an unbridgeable gulf between consciousness and matter. How does consciousness know that matter exists if there is no connection between the two?” If Sankhya is ultimately right, how does the Purusha know that matter is? The very fact that consciousness knows the existence of matter shows that consciousness pervades matter. It is not an unbridgeable gulf between the two.

To be continued ...

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