Jain Digest 1994 06 Special Issue

Author(s): Federation of JAINA
Publisher: USA Federation of JAINA

Page 13

"TALK ON THE ABSOLUTE"
Talk by Guruji at Siddhachalam Summer, 1984
We have a problem when we try to describe the Absolute. According to the Jain system, there are six principles of creation - soul, matter, space, action, rest and time. You say the Absolute is the cause of all sounds, colors, thoughts, smells, etcetera, but you do not know the meaning of Absolute. We began our relation with this world through sound, but in the level beyond sound there is no relation with this world or nature.
What is the Absolute of a tree? It is the seed. But what is the Absolute of the seed? Seed is tree and tree is ultimately seed. This is expansion and contraction manifesting in all of nature. And when you go deeper into seed of seed, seed of seed, seed of seed - you find the same reality in all. Like a molecule or atom - there is a whole world in a molecule, the same world in the subtlest form of existence. The term Absolute will create many misconceptions. Like "God" and "karma" - in the name of God, how much violence has been committed throughout the world. The same is true with karma. Through religious beliefs many problems are solved, but many confusions also arise. Why have some people accepted the theory of karma? If you are not accepting "God", then you have to accept karma. Karma is a more polished, more intellectual answer to the questions of man and the world. And the "God" answer is devotional. You have to believe blindly. Who created this world? God. Okay, problem is over. But nobody is thinking who created God.
However developed is your mind, this will show your kind of God. The God of the Hindus, Jains, Christians, Buddhists, Muslims - behind all, the intellect is working. What about the God of primitive peoples? Some thousand years ago, mostly all people were worshipping the sun as God. They believed when it was rising in their fields, it was giving life. Through the power of the sun they could survive. They knew the value of the life force coming from it.
People cannot understand what prana is, what life force is. Medical science has created many misconceptions. One is that we take life from oxygen. But this is not life force. If oxygen is life force, then scientists can produce more life force. We can buy some cylinders of life force and fix them
Jain Digest June 1994
Jain Education Intemational 2010_02
in our homes, then no need to die. Think about God, karma, prana, oxygen, death - how many misconceptions there are in the world. We use the term Absolute, but we are talking about our own thoughts. And thought is very gross. If you do not have much vocabulary, you have little thought. You have no dream in your life.. All dreams are based on your language. You can't think without words. Then the meaning is - you have some vocabulary. Animals have small vocabulary, then their thinking is small. If you have a great vocabulary, then your thinking is great. There are so many social and political problems because of this Absolute term. Nationalist pride can create feelings of great prejudice and superiority. You have a boundary and within that boundary, you say, 'This is our country'. What is the meaning of this? When raw materials for industry, natural resources, and food supplies are coming from other countries we are all inter-dependent.
But if you want to fight, if you want to rule, then conflicts start. What is our country? Our country is our mother. The Earth is our mother. That we can agree on. The Earth is giving everything we need. But we create boundaries - 'This is my country! This is my culture!' And if someone crosses you, you will fight. If you can't rule the whole Earth, then you have to make some problems for others. And nations fight each other. We are creating this with the term Absolute. Some people are against the term "God", and others are scared of atheism. So now we have a new word - Absolute. This is your intellectual God. But look at this ignorance - you are using the word Absolute, then you are saying all things are coming from it. If it is Absolute, then it is not producing anything. If anything is the cause of anything, then what is this cause and effect! This is nature. How is it Absolute? The Absolute is "Paratpar Brahma" - this means beyond cause and effect.
It is the same thing when we say God is perfect and complete, and then we say he created the world. Without desire, who can create? Desire can't come without incompleteness. If you are complete - then how can you have desire? When we have eaten enough food that our stomachs are full, we can't eat more. We have no desire. After some time desire can start again. Or if we are missing some special taste, desire for that taste can come. Food desire can come, sex desire, any desire can come, but only if you are missing something, if there is a deficiency.
Is God missing something? Here we have a big story - God
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