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OCTOBER, 1928]
VEDANTA AND CHRISTIAN PARALLELS.
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VEDANTA AND CHRISTIAN PARALLELS: By A. GOVINDACHARYA SVAMIN. The Trinity.
VEDANTA axiomatically adopts the definition of God (Brahman) to be: Janmådy asya Yataḥ' (Brahma Sutra) or God is that to which (to whom) is due the birth, life and dissolution of the Universe. The Upanishadic passage on which the Brahma Sûtra is constructed is :Yato vâ imâni bhûtâni jâyante yena jâtâni jîvanti yat prayanty abhisamvisanti.'
Bhútáni is literally that which comes to exist; or existence (quiddity) as an abstraction. Here then we have Existence as the one fact which is axiomatic. This Existence, whether it is in the form of manifestation or non-manifestation, owes its existence by virtue of something, which is to it causal, and which is given a name, to whichever language the name belong. In the Vedic language, the nomen is Brahman. Differential existence then evolves from Brahman, is sustained through a series of living transformations, which have an order and rhythm about them. The Law of Periodicity prevails, which is a curve, not a straight line, so that the curve starts from a given point, works round a spatio-temporal system, and returns to the point. The system is a closed system, corresponding to Einsteins' theory of relativity. Beyond this curvilinear system lies the region, which is not therefore spatio-temporal; in other words it is transcendental, or transcendence itself as an abstraction. That we have existence, not nega. tion is hence a necessity of thought. Religion has this as its fundamental thought. The term abhisamvisanti, meaning 'enters,' is of the utmost importance to Vedanta. The term literally means entry in all its entirety, which signifies that the manifestation totally disappears, but remains in absorption. Where? In Brahman, God. When all else is not apparent, God alone remains as an eternal and infinite entity or existence. Here the terms eternal in reference to time and infinite in reference to space import the idea that God transcends all spatio-temporal systems or manifestations. These are events in the history of God so to say. Existence is system which also means Reality or Truth. We have thus:
Brahma (God)='Satyam Jñânam Anantam Brahma,' i.e., God is Existence which is Truth and Reality; and He is Limitless. He is besides Knowledge.
Now we have in the first article of the Christian Religion the definition of God as the one (ekam) living (chit) and true God, everlasting'; that he is the maker' and preserver of all things both visible and invisible'; and that he is of infinite power, wisdom and good. ness'. These attributes, especially wisdom, are all subsumable under the one term 'knowledge.' Scholars may thus discern the commonness of fundamental ideas about Deity contained in the Vedanta and in the Christian Religion.
The first article further speaks of the Godhead as comprised of the three persons, or Trinity, namely, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, of one substance, power and eternity'. Students might here consider the Vedantic Trinity, Mother, Father and Teacher, as contained in the passage:
Mâtri-devo bhava, Pitri devo bhava, Acharya-devo bhava' is God who is manifest to us as the Father, which would be the Father of the Christian Trinity; the Mother, which would be the son of the Triad; and Teacher, the Holy Ghost, or the Church, which continues the function of the Father and the Mother. Vedanta has another Trinity comprised in the Holy Pranava AUM, of which A, represents Fatherhood; U, Motherhood which is the Teacherhood, and M, the Sonhood. Philosophically A, is the satyam, reality or existence which is God; .M. is the soul or the kingdom of souls; and U, the link or intermediary power which link the Souls with God, or God with Souls. Inasmuch as these three elements are never separable from each other, but subsist in a unity or a complex, we may see the Christian idea of 'one substance', of the Trinity in the unity: Ekam ev-advitiyam.
We have the theological Trinity besides of the Vedantic Brahma, the creator, Vishnu, the preserver, and Siva, the destroyer, which is here not considered, except by stating that this
