LETTERS NO. 31
Dear.................*
The
eschatology will be explained from the Advaitic standpoint only. That is to
say, the dualist claims that the soul after death passes on to the Solar
sphere, thence to the Lunar sphere, thence to the Electric sphere. Thence he is
accompanied by a Purusha to Brahmaloka. (Thence, says the Advaitist, he goes to
Nirvâna.)
Now
on the Advaitic side, it is held that the soul neither comes nor goes, and that
all these spheres or layers of the universe are only so many varying products
of Akasha and Prana. That is to say, the lowest or most condensed is the Solar
sphere, consisting of the visible universe, in which Prana appears as physical
force, and Akasha as sensible matter. The next is called the Lunar sphere,
which surrounds the Solar sphere. This is not the moon at all, but the
habitation of the gods, that is to say, Prana appears in it as psychic forces,
and Akasha as Tanmâtras or fine particles. Beyond this is the Electric sphere,
that is to say, a condition in which the Prana is almost inseparable from
Akasha, and you can hardly tell whether Electricity is force or matter. Next is
the Brahmaloka. where there is neither Prana nor Akasha, but both are merged in
the mind stuff, the primal energy. And here — there big neither Prana nor
Akasha — the Jiva contemplates the whole universe as Samashti or the sum total
of Mahat or mind. This appears as a Purusha, an abstract universal soul, yet
not the Absolute, for still there is multiplicity. From this the Jiva finds at
last that Unity which is the end. Advaitism says that these are the visions
which rise in succession before the Jiva, who himself neither goes nor comes,
and that in the same way this present vision has been projected. The projection
(Srishti) and dissolution must take place in the same order, only one means
going backward, and the other coming out.
Now
as each individual can only see his own universe, that universe is created with
his bondage and goes away with his liberation, although it remains for others
who are in bondage. Now name and form constitute the universe. A wave in the
ocean is a wave, only in so far as it is bound by name and form. If the wave
subsides, it is the ocean, but those name and form have immediately vanished
for ever. So though the name and form of wave could never be without water that
was fashioned into the wave by them, yet the name and form themselves was not
the wave. They die as soon as ever it returns to water. But other names and
forms live in relation to other waves. This name-and-form is called Mâyâ, and
the water is Brahman. The wave was nothing but water all the time, yet as a
wave it had the name and form. Again this name and form cannot remain for one
moment separated from the wave, although the wave as water can remain eternally
separate from name and form. But because the name and form can never he
separated, they can never be said to exist. Yet they are not zero. This is
called Maya.
Yours
affectionately,
VIVEKANANDA.
*[You
may treat these letters as if addressed to you]
SOURCE: The Complete Works of Swami
Vivekananda,
Volume-5 [Epistles-First
Series- LVII]
