A Constructive Survey of Upanishadic Philosophy c9.s5.1

Language: English

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harassed his mind, and the actions from whose result he used to suffer, break away immediately; while one may know the perfected Mystic by this one principal mark, that he has left no doubts to solve. If he is once for all in sure possession of reality—what doubts can he any further have? Then, thirdly, in the Muṇḍakopanishad, we have the great contrast between the want of power in the Mystic before Self-realisation, and the obtainment of power after it. “Though the individual Soul was lying so long with the universal Soul on the same tree, he was yet infatuated and was grieving on account of his complete impotence, but when he has once become atoned with the Highest, who is the source of all power, his grief vanishes immediately, and he begins to participate in the other’s infinite power” (S. 24. c). Fourthly, we have in the Taittirīya Upanishad a classic description of the illimitable bliss that a perfected Mystic experiences after his communion with the Highest—a description which we have had occasion to notice in our account of the beatific calculus in a previous chapter. But the Bṛihadāraṇyakopanishad, in the vein of an almost erotic mysticism, tells us further that the only earthly analogue which we can have for the bliss of God-realisation,—indeed a very imperfect and partial analogue after all,—is the bliss arising from union with a dear wife. “Just as when a man is embraced by his dear wife, he knows nothing outside nor anything inside;

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similarly when the individual Self is embraced by the universal Self, he knows nothing outside nor anything inside; for he has attained an end which involves the fulfilment of all other ends, being verily the attainment of Ātman which leaves no other ends to be fulfilled” (S. 24. d). We do not know how far to justify this analogy. But it seems after all that there might be a difference of kind between the two blisses which the Bṛhadāraṇyakopanishad is comparing, instead of merely a difference of degree ; or, at least, that the one kind of bliss is so insignificant as contrasted with the other that there is as much analogy between them as there is between the light of a candle and the light of the sun. Further, all such erotic analogues have this defect in them, that those who betake themselves to sexual enjoyment may be thereby vainly made to imagine that they are after all experiencing an iota at least of the great divine bliss. In our opinion, it is foolish to regard the relation between the Self and God as in any way analogous to the relation between the bride and the bridegroom, and still more foolish to regard it as analogous to the inverted relation between the bridegroom and the bride as in certain pseudo-mystic teachings. In fact, there ought to be and can be no analogue for the unique relation between the Self and God in the state of ecstasy.

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To return to our argument, however, fifthly, we are told in the Taittirīya Upanishad that the direct result of the enjoyment of divine bliss is that the Mystic is divested once for all of all feeling of fear. The one kind of emotion kills the other, and the feeling of bliss kills once for all the emotion of fear. Whom and what may such a perfected Mystic fear, when he finds infinite joy in all directions and at all times ? “ He becomes fearless,” says the Taittirīya Upanishad, “ because he has obtained a lodgment in that invisible, incorporate, indefinable, fearless, supportless support of all ” (S. 24. e). Finally, we are told in the Chhāndogya Upanishad that “ if such a Mystic should ever want to have any end fulfilled at all, he should wait upon the Ātman, and pray to him, without the slightest touch of egoism, for the fulfilment of his desire : immediately is the end fulfilled for him for which he had prayed to God" (S. 25. a). "The Ātman," says the Chhāndogya Upanishad, "is sinless, without age, without death, without fear, without any hunger or thirst, and has all his desires or ends fulfilled. This Ātman should be sought after; this Ātman should be known. He who realises the Ātman in this way after having sought after him, for him all the worlds are gained, and all desires fulfilled" (S. 25. b).

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The Muṇḍakopanishad tells us also that "a man can have all his desires fulfilled, and obtain any world he may seek, even if he only waits upon and worships a Mystic who has realised the Self" (S. 25. c). We thus see, on the whole, that the immediate effects of God-realisation upon the Mystic are the entire abatement of bodily excitement, the resolution of all doubts, the obtainment of infinite power, the enjoyment of illimitable joy, the destruction of all fear, and the fulfilment of any end that may be contemplated by the Mystic.