Indian Philosophy v1.c8.s2.52

v1.c8.s2.52

Rta denotes the order of the world. Everything that is ordered in the universe has Rta for its principle. It corresponds to the universals of Plato.¹ The world of experience is a shadow or reflection of the Rta, the permanent reality which remains unchanged in all the welter of mutation. The universal is prior to the particular, and so the Vedic seer thinks that Rta exists before the manifestation of all phenomena. The shifting series of the world are the varying expressions of the constant Rta. So Rta is called the father of all. "The Maruts come from afar from the seat of the Rta."² Viṣṇu is the embryo of the Rta.³ Heaven and earth are what they are by reason of the Rta.⁴ The tendency towards the mystic conception of an unchanging reality shows its first signs here. The real is the unchanging law. What is, is an unstable show, an imperfect copy. The real is one without parts and changes, while the many shift and pass. Soon this cosmic order becomes the settled will of a supreme god, the law of morality and righteousness as well. Even the gods cannot transgress it. We see in the conception of Rta a development from the physical to the divine. Rta originally meant the "established route of the world, of the sun, moon and stars, morning and evening, day and night." Gradually it became the path of morality to be followed by man and the law of righteousness observed even by gods. "The dawn follows the path of Rta, the right path; as if she knew them before. She never oversteps the regions. The sun follows the path of Rta."⁵ The whole universe is founded on Rta and moves in it.⁶ This conception of Rta reminds us of Wordsworth's invocation to duty.