Adhyaya 1 Pada 3 AdhikaraNa 1
Ether Is Created
Introduction by shrIla Baladeva VidyAbhUShaNa
vyomAdi-viShayaM gobhir
bibharti vijaghAna yaH
sa tAM mad-viShayAM bhAsvAn
kR^iShNaH praNihaniShyati
May the brilliant sun of Lord KR^iShNa, who with rays of logic destroys
a host of misconceptions about ether and the other
elements, destroy the misconceptions in my heart.
In the Second Pada were revealed the fallacies present in
the theories of they who say pradhAna is the the first cause and
they who claim something other than the Supreme Personality of
Godhead is the first cause. In the Third
Pada will be shown the truth that the various elements of the
material world are manifested from the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, that they merge into Him at the end, that the individual
spirit souls always existed, there not being a point in time when
they were created, that the individual spirit souls have
spiritual bodies full of knowledge, that the individual spirit
souls are atomic in size although by their consciousness they are
all-pervading within the material body, that the individual
spirit souls are part-and-parcel of the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, that Matsya-avatAra and the other avatAras are directly
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and that the variety of
situations into which the conditioned souls are placed is caused
by the previous karma. These will all be proved by refuting the
ideas of they who claim that these statements are not true.
The various aspects of the material world are created in the
following sequence: 1. pradhAna, 2. mahat-tattva, 3. false-ego,
4. the tan-mAtras, 5. the senses, and 6. the gross elements,
beginning with ether. This sequence is given in the Subala-shruti
and other scriptures. The sequence found in the TaittirIya
UpaniShad and other scriptures will also be discussed in order to
show that sequence does not contradict what has already been
said.
ChAndogya UpaniShad (6.2.1) explains:
sad eva saumyedyam agra AsIt
"O gentle one, in the beginning the Supreme
Personality of Godhead alone existed."
ChAndogya UpaniShad (6.2.3-4) continues:
tad aikShata bahu syAM prajAyeyeti tat tejo .asR^ijata. tat teja
aikShata bahu syAM prajAyeyeti tad Apo .asR^ijata . . . tA Apa
aikShanta bahvayaH syAma prajAyemahIti tA annam asR^ijanta.
"The Supreme Personality of Godhead thought: .aI shall
become many. I shall father children..a Then He created fire. Then
fire thought: .aI shall become many. I shall father children..a
Then fire created water. . . . Then water thought: .aI shall
become many. I shall father children..a Then water created
grains."
In this way it is clearly shown that fire, water, and grains
were created. In this, however, there is a doubt.
SaMshaya (doubt): Was ether ever created or not?
PUrvapakSha (the opponent speaks): Because the shruti-shAstra
does not mention any creation of ether, therefore ether was never
created, but was always existing.
This idea is expressed in the following sUtra.
SUtra 1
na viyad ashruteH
na - not; viyat - ether; ashruteH - because of not being described
in the shruti-shAstra.
Not so for ether, because that is not described in the
shruti-shAstra.
Purport by shrIla Baladeva VidyAbhUShaNa
Ether is eternal and was never created. Why is that? The
sUtra explains: "Because that is not described in the
shruti-shAstra." The relevant passage of ChAndogya UpaniShad
mentions the creation of the other elements, but it does not
mention the creation of ether. In the previously quoted passage
of ChAndogya UpaniShad the creation of fire, water, and grains is
mentioned. However there is no mention of the creation of ether.
For this reason ether must not have been created. That is the
meaning.
This idea is refuted in the following sUtra:
SUtra 2
asti tu
asti - is; tu - indeed.
Indeed it is so.
Purport by shrIla Baladeva VidyAbhUShaNa
The word "tu" (indeed) is used here to remove doubt.
The word "asti" (it is so) means, "It is so that
ether was created." Although the creation of ether is not
described in the ChAndogya UpaniShad, it is described in the
TaittirIya UpaniShad in the following words:
tasmAd vA etasmAd Atmana AkAshaH sambhUtaH AkAshAd
vAyur vAyor agnir agner Apo Abhyo mahatI pR^ithivI
"From the Supreme Personality of Godhead, ether was
manifested. From ether, air was manifested. From air, fire was
manifested. From fire, water was manifested. From water, earth was
manifested."
Another doubt is expressed in the next sUtra.
SUtra 3
gauNy asambhavAc chabdAc ca
gauNI - figure of speech; asambhavAt - because of being
impossible; shabdAt - because of scripture; ca - also.
Because of scripture, and because it is impossible, it must
be a mere figure of speech.
Purport by shrIla Baladeva VidyAbhUShaNa
It is not possible that ether was created. This is confirmed
by KaNAda Muni and other great philosophers. The TaittirIya
UpaniShad.as description of the creation of ether is a mere figure
of speech, as when, in ordinary speech one says, "Please
make some space" or "Some space has been made". For what
other reasons is it not possible that ether is created? Because it is
impossible to create ether. It is not possible to create ether
because ether is formless and all-pervading, because it is not
included in the chain of causes, and because scripture proclaims
that ether is not created. BR^ihad-AraNyaka UpaniShad (2.3.2-3)
proclaims:
vAyus cAntarIkShaM caitad amR^itam
"Air and ether are both eternal."
This proves that ether was never created.
However, if the passage from the TaittirIya UpaniShad used
the word "sambhUta" (created) only once to refer to the
list of elements beginning with fire, how is it possible to claim
that this word is used literally for all the elements and
figuratively for ether alone?
The opponent of VedAnta replies in the next sUtra.
SUtra 4
syAc caikasya brahma-shabda-vat
syAt - may be; ca - and; ekasya - of one;brahma - Brahma;
shabda - the word; vat - like.
It may be for one, as in the word "Brahman".
Purport by shrIla Baladeva VidyAbhUShaNa
In the TaittirIya UpaniShad (3.2) it is said:
tapasA brahma vijij~nAsasva tapo brahma
"By performing austerities strive to understand
Brahman, for austerities are Brahman."
In this passage the word Brahman is used in two ways. Used
to describe the object of knowledge attained by performing
austerities, Brahman is used in its literal sense. Then, equated
with austerities, it is used figuratively to mean, "the
way to know Brahman". In the same way the word "sambhUta"
in the previously discussed passage can be use literally and
figuratively simultaneously. In this way the fact that the
passage of the ChAndogya UpaniShad makes no mention of it refutes
the description in other UpaniShads that ether was created.
The author of the sUtras refutes this idea in the following
words.
SUtra 5
pratij~nAhAnir avyatirekAc cabdebhyaH
pratij~nA - statement of intent; ahAniH - non-
abandonment; avyatirekAt - because of non-difference;
shabdebhyaH - from the statements of scripture.
It is affirmed because it is not different and because of
the statements of scripture.
Purport by shrIla Baladeva VidyAbhUShaNa
The ChAndogya UpaniShad (6.1.3) affirms:
yenAshrutaM shrutaM bhavati
"Now I will teach how to hear what cannot be heard."
In these words the intention to teach about Brahman is
expressed. If this intention is not broken, then all that follows
must be about Brahman and it must be affirmed that nothing is
different from Brahman. The idea that something is different
from Brahman is to be rejected. If everything is not-different
from Brahman, then Brahman is clearly the ingredient of which
everything is made. Thus, simply by knowing Brahman one knows everything. Ifthis is accepted then it is also accepted that
ether was created.
The ChAndogya UpaniShad (6.2.1) again affirms:
sad eva saumyedam agra AsId ekam evAdvitIyam aitad-Atmyam
idaM sarvam
"O gentle one, in the beginning the Supreme
Personality of Godhead alone existed. He was alone. There was no
one else. Everything has Him as its ingredient."
These words affirm that in the beginning everything was
manifested from Him, and after the creation was manifested
everything had Him as its ingredient. This should be accepted.
Here someone may object: There is no clear statement in that
UpaniShad that ether was created. How can you talk like that?
In the following words the author of the sUtras replies to
this objection.
SUtra 6
yAvad vikAraM tu vibhAgo loka-vat
yAvat - to what extent; vikAram - creation; tu - indeed;
vibhAgaH - creator; loka - the world; vat - like.
Indeed, if there is a creation there must be a creator, as
we see in the world.
Purport by shrIla Baladeva VidyAbhUShaNa
The word "tu" (indeed) is used here to remove doubt.
The ChAndogya UpaniShad explains:
aitad-Atmyam idaM sarvam
"Everything has Him as its ingredient."
This statement shows that there is both a creator and a
creation. When the Subala UpaniShad and other scriptures explain
that the pradhAna, mahat-tattva, and other things are created,
they imply that everything that exists was created. That is the
meaning.
The following example from the material world may be given.
A person may say, "All these are the sons of Caitra." In
this way he affirms that they were all born from a man named
Caitra. In the same way, when the UpaniShad affirms that,
Everything has the Supreme Personality of Godhead as its
ingredient," it is clear that pradhAna, mahat-tattva, and
everything else has come from the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Thus when the UpaniShad states that fire, water, and grains come
from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it means to say that everything comesfrom Him. In this way it is understand that
ether also was created.
The word "vibhAgaH" in this sUtra means
creation". SUtra 3 affirmed that it is not possible for ether
to have been created. However, the shruti-shAstra affirms that the
Supreme Personality of Godhead has inconceivable powers. Even
though it may be inconceivable, He can do anything without
restriction. In some passages it is said that ether is immortal,
which means that it is neither created nor destroyed. These
statements may be taken as figures of speech because we can find
other passages describing the creation and destruction of ether.
Because ether is counted among the elements it must be
created and also destroyed. Because ether has temporary material
qualities, as fire and the other elements do, it must also be
temporary, as the other elements are.
Whatever is not matter is spirit. Ether is not like spirit.
It is different. In this way the idea that ether was not created
is disproved. Modern philosophers that state the contrary are
wrong. It must be accepted that ether was created.
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