{"id":185,"date":"2012-02-27T22:59:54","date_gmt":"2012-02-27T21:59:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/?p=185"},"modified":"2012-02-28T18:13:43","modified_gmt":"2012-02-28T17:13:43","slug":"prehistoric-svabhavavada-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/prehistoric-svabhavavada-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Prehistoric Svabh\u0101vav\u0101da, part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

As is well known, the philosophical teaching of The Secret Doctrine<\/em> is a non-dualism or monism. For this reason, outside observers have more often associated Theosophy with Hinduism than with Buddhism. The Hindu Upani\u1e63ads teach an absolute brahman, described as \u201cone alone, without a second\u201d (ekam eva advit\u012byam, Ch\u0101ndogya<\/em> Upani\u1e63ad<\/em> 6.2.1), and brahman is understood fully non-dualistically in the Advaita Ved\u0101nta school. Since this fundamental teaching in Theosophy is crucial for trying to understand the svabh\u0101va teaching of the Book of Dzyan, it will be worthwhile to review a few statements on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThus, then, the first fundamental axiom of the Secret Doctrine is the metaphysical ONE ABSOLUTE\u2014BE-NESS . . . .\u201d (SD 1.14)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe radical unity of the ultimate essence of each constituent part of compounds in Nature\u2014from Star to mineral Atom, from the highest Dhyani-Chohan to the smallest infusoria, in the fullest acceptation of the term, and whether applied to the spiritual, intellectual, or physical worlds\u2014this is the one fundamental law in Occult Science.\u201d (SD 1.120)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe FUNDAMENTAL UNITY OF ALL EXISTENCE. This unity is a thing altogether different from the common notion of unity\u2014as when we say that a nation or an army is united; or that this planet is united to that by lines of magnetic force or the like. The teaching is not that. It is that existence is ONE THING, not any collection of things linked together. Fundamentally there is ONE BEING.\u201d (notes on how to study The Secret Doctrine given by HPB to Robert Bowen)<\/p>\n

This fundamental Theosophical teaching, then, is directly comparable to the Hindu teaching of the one brahman as understood non-dualistically in Advaita Ved\u0101nta.<\/p>\n

Near the beginning of the 1900s a hitherto secret Sanskrit book, the Pra\u1e47ava-v\u0101da<\/em> by G\u0101rgy\u0101ya\u1e47a, was dictated from memory by a blind pandit named Dhanaraj to Bhagavan Das and a few others. According to Bhagavan Das, who prepared a summarized English translation of it, its language is very archaic. Highly significantly for our inquiry, this book says that prapa\u00f1ca, manifestation, is the svabh\u0101va or inherent nature of brahman, the one (English translation, vol. 3, p. 75). This is also what the Book of Dzyan says about svabh\u0101va, that it brings about manifestation. Since \u201cthe one\u201d cannot act, svabh\u0101va is there shown as bringing about manifestation. The Pra\u1e47ava-v\u0101da<\/em> specifically tells us that this is the svabh\u0101va of the one brahman. In the Book of Dzyan we are not specifically told what the svabh\u0101va it speaks of is the inherent nature of. We can only infer that it is the inherent nature of \u201cthe one.\u201d<\/p>\n

In stanza 1.5, prior to manifestation, \u201cthe one\u201d is termed \u201cdarkness\u201d: \u201cDarkness alone filled the boundless all.\u201d In stanza 2.1, still prior to actual manifestation, svabh\u0101va is first mentioned, where svabh\u0101va \u201crested in the bliss of non-being.\u201d In stanza 2.5 svabh\u0101va is identified with darkness: \u201cDarkness alone was father-mother, Sv\u0101bh\u0101vat; and Sv\u0101bh\u0101vat was in darkness.\u201d In stanza 3, actual manifestation occurs, with the phrase, \u201cDarkness radiates light.\u201d Later in The Secret Doctrine<\/em> we see that this refers to svabh\u0101va, where svabh\u0101va is described as \u201cthe mutable radiance of the Immutable Darkness unconscious in Eternity\u201d (SD 1.635), and this is confirmed in stanzas 3.10 and 3.12. So while The Secret Doctrine<\/em> does not explicitly say that the svabh\u0101va or inherent nature it speaks of is the svabh\u0101va of \u201cthe one,\u201d it would be quite incongruous in a non-dualistic system to understand it as being the svabh\u0101va of anything else. The exact parallel with the Pra\u1e47ava-v\u0101da<\/em>, where svabh\u0101va is also manifestation (prapa\u00f1ca) and this is explicitly said to be the svabh\u0101va of the one brahman, makes this practically certain. Here are a few quotations from that book (for fuller information, see especially vol. 3, pp. 74-80):<\/p>\n

\u201c. . . this prapa\u00f1cha is verily Self-established by Its own nature, the Sva-bh\u0101va, the Self-being, of Absolute Brahman, . . .\u201d (Pra\u1e47ava-v\u0101da<\/em>, vol. 3, p. 75)<\/p>\n

\u201c. . . sva-bh\u0101va which is declared everywhere to be the cause of the world, having no cause of its own.\u201d (vol. 3, p. 77)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no duality, no unity, no manyness\u2014All is Sva-bh\u0101va and Sva-bh\u0101va only.\u201d (vol. 2, p. 329)<\/p>\n

\u201cAll \u2018becoming\u2019 whatsoever, every event in the World-process, tiniest or most enormous, is brought about by the Universal Necessity of the Absolute Nature, Sva-bh\u0101va.\u201d (vol. 2, p. 31)<\/p>\n

At this point, we have references from one hitherto secret book, the Pra\u1e47ava-v\u0101da<\/em>, helping to explain the svabh\u0101va teaching of another hitherto secret book, the Book of Dzyan. Both of these books are said to be from a time that predates known history; they are prehistoric. Can we trace this teaching to any known text? Yes, the same teaching is briefly given by Gau\u1e0dap\u0101da in his M\u0101\u1e47\u1e0d\u016bkya-k\u0101rik\u0101<\/em>. It was soon interpreted away, but it is there. Like in the \u015avet\u0101\u015bvatara Upani\u1e63ad<\/em>, Gau\u1e0dap\u0101da reviews various proposed causes of the world. Here are his verses 1.6-9 (translated by Vidhushekhara Bhattacharya):<\/p>\n

\u201c6. The settled opinion of sages is that all things have their origin. (Some hold that) the Breath, the Puru\u1e63a (self), creates all\u2014the rays of the mind, differently.<\/p>\n

7. Other theorisers about creation assert dogmatically that the creation (of the world) is (his) expansion, while others imagine that creation is of the nature of dream and magic.<\/p>\n

8. Those who are assured about creation say that creation is the mere volition of the Lord, and those who theorise about Time consider the creation of beings to be from Time.<\/p>\n

9. Some (say) that the creation is for the sake of (his) enjoyment, while others (are of opinion) that it is for the sake of his sport. It is, however, the nature of the Shining One, for how can desire be in one for whom every object of desire is (already) secured.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the latter half of the last verse Gau\u1e0dap\u0101da gives his own position, that creation (s\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e6di) or manifestation is the nature (svabh\u0101va) of the Shining One (deva). In the next verse he tells us that the shining one (deva) is the turya, the fourth of the four conditions taught in the M\u0101\u1e47\u1e0d\u016bkya Upani\u1e63ad<\/em>. This is \u0101tman or brahman.<\/p>\n

\u201c10. The Turya \u2018fourth one\u2019 is said to be all-pervading, efficient in removing all miseries, the shining one, changeless, and of all things without a second.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is the one without a second. Lest there be any doubt, he again equates the shining one (deva) with \u0101tman in 2.12 and 2.19. So Gau\u1e0dap\u0101da\u2019s position is exactly the same as what was said in the Pra\u1e47ava-v\u0101da<\/em>, that creation or manifestation is the svabh\u0101va or inherent nature of the one, \u0101tman or brahman. We have already seen the direct parallel of what was said in the Pra\u1e47ava-v\u0101da<\/em> to what the Book of Dzyan says about svabh\u0101va, that it brings about manifestation. So in addition to the direct parallel to the hitherto secret Pra\u1e47ava-v\u0101da<\/em>, we now have historical evidence, in the form of a direct parallel to a known text (Gau\u1e0dap\u0101da\u2019s), that the svabh\u0101va spoken of in the Book of Dzyan is the svabh\u0101va or inherent nature of \u201cthe one.\u201d This is a very different kind of svabh\u0101va teaching or svabh\u0101vav\u0101da than that which is historically known, so I have called it prehistoric svabh\u0101vav\u0101da.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As is well known, the philosophical teaching of The Secret Doctrine is a non-dualism or monism. For this reason, outside observers have more often associated Theosophy with Hinduism than with Buddhism. The Hindu Upani\u1e63ads teach an absolute brahman, described as \u201cone alone, without a second\u201d (ekam eva advit\u012byam, Ch\u0101ndogya Upani\u1e63ad 6.2.1), and brahman is understood […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-svabhavat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":186,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185\/revisions\/186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}