Posted on: 16 Mar 2021
Note: This article is meant for intellectuals only
[An online spiritual discussion was conducted on February 27, 2021, in which several devotees participated. Some of the questions of devotees answered by Swāmi are given below.]
[Śrī Bharath Krishna asked: Padanamaskaram Swamiji! You said that creation is real for all the souls as well as for God. Creation appears to be real because it has borrowed its real nature from its creator, the unimaginable God, who is absolutely real and who is the only truth. After learning this from You, I remembered sūtras 92-94 from the Parabrahma Sūtras composed by You. There You have explained the relationship between mud and the pot made out of it. In that example, the properties of the mud enter the pot. Likewise, can I say that the reality of this creation is a property obtained by it from its creator, who is the absolutely real Unimaginable God? I remember Your teaching that the property of unimaginability of God has not entered creation. Even in that example given by You, not all the properties of mud entered the pot, isn’t it? So, I thought that while the unimaginable nature remained with God, the property of reality came into creation. Can we even consider reality or unreality as one of the properties of God? I had a real tough time understanding those few sūtras. Kindly clarify my above doubt. Thank You so much for clarifying all my doubts.]
Swāmi replied: Reality is granted to creation by God Himself. As a result, creation, which is originally unreal, can appear to be absolutely-real to God and give Him full and real entertainment. Here, the wish of God is important. The existence (reality) of the mud, which is the cause, enters the pot, which is its effect. Hence, the pot also becomes real (existent). However, the reality of the mud does not enter the pot due to the wish of the inert mud. The mud becomes the pot due to the wish of the pot-maker, who is non-inert. So, we can say that the reality of the mud entered the pot due to the wish of the pot-maker. With regard to the creation-pot, God is both the mud (material-cause) and the pot-maker (intellectual cause). Hence, it is God who has given His existence (reality) to the world by His will. Since the reality of the pot is borrowed from the mud, which is its cause, that property of the reality of the pot is not permanent. It is only an associated or incidental property (taṭastha lakṣaṇam). The reality belongs to the mud forever and that reality (property) is an essential or inherent property of the mud. Thus, existence (reality) always belongs to God and is called the absolute existence or the paramārtha sattā. The reality of the pot is not inherent and is called a relative existence or the vyavahāra sattā.
Similarly, several unimaginable concepts exist in creation, as agreed even by scientists. That unimaginable nature in the deep realms of the world also comes from God. It too is given to the world by the will of God alone. For example, the boundary of the universe is unimaginable. That unimaginable boundary is due to the will of God. The purpose is that God exists surrounding this universe (Sarvamāvṛtya tiṣṭhati—Gītā). If the boundary of the universe is touched by the soul, even in its imagination, God is touched or imagined. When science says that the universe is expanding constantly, it is referring to this very concept that reaching the boundaries of space (universe) is utterly impossible.
Also, the unimaginable nature is exhibited in the miracles performed by the Incarnation of the unimaginable God. We see the miracles, but we cannot imagine their cause. We infer that the effect (miracle) seen by us occurred due to an unimaginable power. That unimaginable power is indentical with the unimaginable God. Experiencing miracles thus proves the existence of their unimaginable source, which is the unimaginable God.
The clay enters the pot by the inevitable rule of worldly logic. When a magician creates magic, the magician does not enter the expressed magic. Of course, magic is only a pre-arranged trick. The creation of this universe by God can be said to be magic without any pre-arranged trick. In worldly cause-effect relationships, the quantity of the cause (mud) must get reduced when a part of it gets converted into the effect (pot). But God continues to exist, exactly as He is in His original position, even after the universe is created. This process of creation is thus, certainly beyond worldy logic. It is an unimaginable process and God, who is its cause, is also unimaginable. Śaṅkara called this unimaginable explanation of the process of creation of this world by God as anirvacanīyatā khyāti.