SATCHITANAND |
That which is a Cause, and a Cause only, can never be an Effect because it is only a Cause. That which is a Cause only, must be Eternal, otherwise it would be an Effect. No effect can be Eternal because all effects are caused, and before they are caused they do not exist (except potentially). There are three Eternals: GOD (Paramatman, the Supreme Self), the innumerable Souls (Atman, the Self), and Matter (Prakriti, primordial Substance). These three are uncaused. This Trinity is the original cause of everything. Since these three are uncaused, they are not the effect of anything. When it is said that they are ‘uncaused’ it means they can never become an effect. That which is uncaused and eternal is unchangeable—because whatever It ‘is’ is forever (eternal) and cannot be made (caused) to become an effect. In other words, these three eternal Causes are unaffected by anything. If something is affected (influenced or changed in some way), the affect has been produced by a cause. Only a cause which is also an effect can be affected. Causes which are causes only, cannot be effects and are not affected by anything. God, Soul, and Primordial Matter (Prakriti) are in actuality unaffected by anything. All effects have no affect on God, Soul, and Matter (unmanifest Matter). The ‘appearance of being affected’ is the effect called Creation, which includes the ‘creation’ of God (in the form of various deities), the ‘creation’ of souls (in the form of the innumerable Jivatmans—souls embodied in mind and matter), and the creation of the visible (measurable) Universe. God and Soul are not ‘things,’ because only objects are things, and God and Soul do not have any objective existence; they are purely subjective. If God and Soul were objects, then who or what is the subject in which God and Soul are objects of awareness? God and Soul are eternal subjects; their objectification is simply the imagery of the mind. Where there is no mind, God and Soul are inseparable conscious beings. God is the Supreme Being Who eternally pervades the eternal souls—innumerable conscious beings (you, I, and everyone else). Unmanifest Matter is pure ‘nothingness’ but it is not ‘nothing.’ From this nothingness are born ‘everythingness’ and ‘somethingness’. Since something and everything come from nothing, they are essentially nothing. This entire Creation is not really real because it is not eternal. Its existence is cyclical and the cycles are perceptible only in the context of Time. Time is the observation of change. Since the Three Eternals are changeless (and therefore timeless), the observation of change in changelessness is itself unreal (a drama). The Drama is really a drama, the Drama is not really real (it is just really a real drama). Everything:
you, I, everyone, God, the Universe, time, place, and space---all are a drama.
Beyond the drama is the Reality: God (Paramatman), the innumerable Souls
(Atman), and the Unmanifest (unevolved Prakrti). Beyond this is THAT which is Ultimate Reality:
SatChitAnand. |