INTRODUCTION TO BOOK III
ORIGIN AND DESTINATION
It
is not revelation but knowledge which is required to unveil Reality, the
greatest mystery. However, knowledge is not an absolute concept because like
everything else it is subject to the natural law of polarity such as right and
wrong or light and dark. Ignorance constitutes the opposite pole of knowledge
and inevitably precedes it; curiosity, mystery and uncertainty are extensions of
ignorance and play a major role in raising the magnitude of knowledge. As man is
the microcosm i.e. the miniature cosmos, the knowledge of one's self ranks as
the true knowledge. Of course, cosmos is a symposium of interrelationships, but
they remain obscure without the torch of consciousness; existence or
non-existence of the universe makes no sense without it. Since man is the only
(known) being endowed with the power of knowledge, it naturally exalts him over
everything else. Again, the emergence of consciousness implies that the cosmos
wants its presence to be felt. It certainly alludes to a cosmic teleology or
purpose which is obviously inscribed in the atoms and exhibits their capability
of realising it.
Nothingness denotes a passive state
without any purpose, but existence refers to a state which is active and
meaningful. Therefore, existence is its own purpose and the cosmic purpose is
NOT imposed from outside but is self-determined because the cosmos represents
existence.
Since there is no evidence of a
Creator God one can only assume that the universe stems out of nothingness.
Logically, as nothing can come out of nothing, the said nothingness qualifies as
the womb of existence. Again, as things happen on the principle of "simple
to complex", the preliminary conditions of the universe must be so simple
or chaotic that they can't be very different from the concept of nothingness.
Process of simple to complex can be constructive only if it is gradual and based
on some principle. As we know, the universe develops gradually and is subject to
a principle. We refer to the gradual development as evolution which is nothing
but a process of systematic change. Thus change is the governing or evolutionary
principle. Like everything else the Change itself as an evolutionary or the
Creative Principle must be infantile in its initial stage, and evolves gradually
to maturity through interrelationships.
Where do we come from?
I have already answered this
question. To be more explicit, as nothingness is the fountain of existence in
its embryonic shape, the universe has always been here in its potential form,
and as its integral part, so have we. Obviously, we have always existed; each of
us started from the lowest possible state and gradually envolved to the present
stage by a disciplined process of Change or the Creative Principle. One fact we
ought to know: development from particles or the primordial stuff to subhuman
level is strictly governed by the Creative Principle but at human stage, man
exerts his independence and to a great extent, takes his destiny in his own
hand. Since there is no proof that evolution stops at man, any further evolution
largely becomes the responsibility of man himself. This next, the highest stage
of existence happens to be man's destination.
What is man's destination?
It is Godhead. And what is Godhead?
This is the highest state of existence brought about by the combination of souls
the same way as existence of inanimate things is constituted by atoms and the
entity of living beings is composed of cells. Godhead in this sense is entirely
different from the old mystic concept of souls' union with God. According to
this belief, the soul is something entirely different in essence from God, who
exists independently, and relationship between the two is that of a servant and
master; union simply means closer relationship between the two. My view, on the
contrary, holds that Godhead is the merger of souls.
Of course, the entity of Godhead is
over and above the merged souls, say, like the identity of a radio which is over
and above its components. But as there is no radio without its components, there
is no Godhead without its constituents, i.e. the souls.
Change is eternal; it is the
principle, the process and the product. As a principle, it has a purpose. For
example, the purpose of principle (formula) H20 is water, the product, which
comes about through the process of combining two atoms of hydrogen and one atom
of oxygen.
It is the basic characteristic of
Change or the Creative Principle to manifest itself: where there is H20, there
will be water. In other words, water is the manifestation of the principle H20.
Matter can't be shapeless because it is constantly under the operation of
Change.
Change or the Creative Principle
operates through polarity. As electricity has positive and negative poles,
Change itself must have an antithesis, that is stability. In fact, existence is
another description of stability, or put it another way, existence means
stability-through-change. As the Creative Principle has a purpose, stability or
existence is its ultimate goal. Is it not a self-contradiction? Not at all.
Because though operation of Change cannot be eliminated, it can be controlled in
such a way that Change as the Creative Principle, operates as the agent of
stability and maturity only, and ceases to be the source of Revolution. There is
certainly no exaggeration in this statement: we have harnessed the lethal power
of electricity to act as a housemaid, and it is we who decide whether it will
roast or refrigerate.
The point at which the Creative
Principle becomes solely the agent of stability, it forms part of Godhead to
constitute the Reality. This is the highest state of consciousness and
immortality, and also happens to be the final aim of the cosmos which strives
through a process of self-elevation to reach the apex of existence. The cosmos
attains this goal through man, the cosmic baby, whose piety, purity and probity
act as the medium of achieving this noblest purpose. Thus, it is unwise to think
of the cosmos as a machine; it is a live and kicking organism.
This miracle of immortality is
brought about by the birth of soul. However, one should remember that nobody is
born with a soul. It is the seed of future life and comes into being at the
point of death, depending upon one's piety, purity and probity. Those who lack
these elements of survival, perish; they just become Part of the dust but there
is no hell to roast them. Contrary to the usually-held belief, it is not God who
creates man but it is man who is the fountain of Godhead - no souls, no God.
Life-after-death is a distinct
possibility. Since all things evolve from the same source, they vouch for their
unity of origin. It is reasonable to assume that the things having a common
origin should also have the unity of end. This unity of end can't be anything
but the common destination. Of course every sprinter does not complete the race
successfully, every arrow does not hit the target and every climber cannot reach
Mount Everest. Similarly, everything cannot gain the point of final unity, that
is, the destination. Out of millions of species, it is only man who has the
ability to attain this goal. Yet every member of the human race is not capable
of doing so because all of us do not possess the virtues of piety, purity and
probity. Most of us ride the horse of faith to enjoy self-deception because it
does not have the flying power and thus takes off nowhere. The lucky ones who
make righteousness of deeds as their guiding star generate sufficient force to
carry them to the final destination which is Godhead.
It is not difficult to realise that
the destination is something different from the origin or starting point. Those
who reach their final destination, leave the pangs of mortality behind.
Immortality, in fact, is the state of dynamic equilibrium where things are
constantly subject to change but change takes place to conserve the basic
identity and not to disturb it. This is the wonder of Godhead, which comes into
being as a result of immunity from Revolution. At this stage, there is nothing
more to evolve. Everything is subject to evolution and Revolution except
Godhead. Since Godhead represents the apex of evolution, it follows that God is
not in the beginning but at the end.
Godhead is the dream of the cosmic
evolution because reversion to total Revolution denotes chaos and flouts the
concept of the evolutionary success. It is only the hope of reward that creates
a destination. If distinction between destination and origin cannot be
maintained, the entire cosmic process begins to loom as a nonsense.
Of course, Godhead is the state of
dynamic equilibrium but its continuity is subject to the constant supply of
souls. When evil increases to such an extent that it stops the formation of
souls, the rule of Final Rejection comes into operation and intelligent life
perishes. It happens only when despite numerous chances man becomes
incorrigible. Since Godhead constitutes supreme intelligence and wisdom, God
interferes with the law of nature on other planets to make up deficiency of
souls caused by the condemned planet.
I must confess that the thoughts
expressed in this book, have occupied my mind for a long time but I did not know
how to state them. Eventually, I decided to use physics and biology as the
medium of expression. However, I must warn the reader that modern sciences are
far from being perfect, and secondly, I am not a scientist but a lay student of
these subjects. It must be clearly understood that science on its own cannot
explain the mystery of Godhead. I have used it only as a medium of expression in
keeping with the spirit of time. The views expressed in this book are
independent of the existing scientific opinions, and have illustrative values
only.
Lastlv. I should add that criticism
for the sake of criticism represents destructive mentality. To be beneficial,
criticism must be reformative. Therefore, the critic has the duty to suggest an
alternative to what he has criticised. It is for this reason that I have
attempted the outline of a metaphysical system in Book III but without
pretending to be a God, Messiah or Prophet.
I am sorry if this book proves to
be a bit abstruse and complex. This is the nature of the subject though I have
tried to make it easy to understand.
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