“For
from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory
forever! Amen”.
[Romans 11: 36]
In my childhood days I
used to ask people about the existence of God. One of my friends introduced me
to Advaita, a popular Hindu belief or philosophy that would help a person to
know God in a better way. Advaita means non-dual or "not two." This
oneness is a fundamental quality of everything. Everything is a part of and
made of one non-dual consciousness. Often the question arises, "If it is
all one thing, why don’t I experience it that way?" This is confusing
oneness for the appearance of sameness. Things can appear different without
being separate. Just look at your hand for a moment. Your fingers are all
different from each other, but are they separate? They all arise from the same
hand. Similarly, the objects, animals, plants and people in the world are all
definitely different in their appearance and functioning. But they are all
connected at their source—they come from the same source.
This one Being that is
behind all life has an infinite number of different expressions that we
experience as different objects. To continue with the hand analogy, your
fingers are all made of the same substance. They are made up of similar
tissues, cells, atoms, and at the deepest level, subatomic particles.
Similarly, when your experience of reality becomes more subtle, you discover
that everything is just different expressions of one field of non dual Being.
Most people who believe
in Advaita use the expressions of Christ such as, “I and my father are one”, “I
am in my father and my father is in me” and “Kingdom of God is within you” as
supportive evidences of their theory by claiming that Christ was a person who
had this “self realization” and by “I” he meant the realization of the
universal consciousness and by saying that “I and my father are one” he meant
this non duality.
Advaita seems to be
true and looks great on paper as it offers us the unique opportunity for us to
become Gods or realize that we are essentially God himself but the fact is that
this non dual being referred to as consciousness doesn’t have an active role/
involvement in everything that happens in the universe or in the life of an
individual.
Since Advaita believes
that this non dual element alone is the reality and everything else is just an
illusion all actions of mankind whether good or bad become an illusion and do
not have any eternal significance. If we follow this belief, very soon we shall
lose the purpose of our existence and life shall become pointless and
meaningless, the whole mankind shall become lazy for there is no purpose left
for its existence. A series of questions would follow, “If you say that your
life is just an illusion then why do you work, live or do good deeds? If these
deeds don’t have any eternal significance then what’s the point in living good
lives? If both good and evil are illusions then why do good?”
Besides, the key point
is that Faith in Advaita means that a seeker should somehow by his own effort
remove all the hindrances [through bhakti, meditation, knowledge or nishkama
karma] in order to realise that his essential nature is this non-dual
consciousness. Though advaita offers a solution to the problem of peace it does
not really bring peace. To realise that all that was there was an illusion and
the only thing that really ever existed [from the beginning] was ‘The Self’
ends up as an eternal quest, there is no assurance whether you will reach that
state and if at all you reach it, when? You may have to take little less than infinite rebirths to accomplish the goal.
People who believe in
Advaita think that the creator would become imperfect if he needs a
creation....but the point is that the creator has created everything not
because he NEEDS something else in order to become perfect but because he WILLS
[the faculty of conscious and deliberate choice of action] to create something.
Advaita also questions the omnipresence of a creator who has a separate
existence from the creation. But the point is that the creator being a spirit
can still remain omnipresent because his spiritual nature allows him to pervade
the whole creation just like air pervades everything under the sky. The Bible
says that nothing is hidden from him because he pervades the whole creation.
Besides, the Bible doesn’t project a creator who is outside of the creation.
Instead it proposes a creation that is created for, by and within the creator.
“For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory
forever! Amen”. [Romans 11: 36] “For by him all things were created: things in
heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers
or authorities; all things were created by him and for him” [Colossians 1: 16].
Now, the question we
should ask is which belief is more logical, complete and meaningful, the belief
in an omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient creator who purposefully designs,
maintains and finally absorbs the whole creation within himself and gives
purpose and meaning to everything seen and unseen or the belief in a non-dual,
simple, self–existent, consciousness that pervades everything and yet has
nothing to do with anything, which neither creates nor destroys, which doesn’t
influence anything seen or unseen and is least concerned about the condition of
mankind in general, let alone the life of an individual? Another question we
should ask ourselves is what is easier for us to do, unite with this so-called
universal consciousness by our own effort/works or God to choose us to unite
with him spiritually by sending His Spirit to abide in us?
From the above
discussion it would be clear that faith in a creator who is personally
interested in an individual’s life on earth sounds more logical and acceptable
than the faith in a certain consciousness whose existence cannot be proven as
it does not influence nor is influenced by anything seen or unseen. The Holy
Bible leads us to such a faith in a creator who loves his creation [man-kind]
unconditionally and wants them to unite with him and become like him. In order
to do that he humbles himself and incarnates as a man named –Jesus [the
Savior]. He makes atonement for the sins of mankind on a cross, resurrects the
third day and ascends to heaven with a promise that he would return to collect
those who believe in him, at the end of days. Then He sends a counsellor, the
Holy Spirit, who works in the life of the believers to help them attain
perfection and finally presents them to the creator at the end of the age to
live with Him and in Him forever. Faith in Advaita means that a seeker should
somehow, by his own effort remove all the hindrances [through bhakti, meditation,
knowledge or nishkama karma] in order to attain perfection but the Christian
faith presents a creator who willingly sacrifices his own life to redeem human
beings from their sins and reunites with them by sending His own spirit in to
them in order to make them perfect, all by His grace and grace alone.
Written by: Dr. Manoj
Kumar Khatore
Copyright © 2012 Dr.
Manoj Kumar Khatore
http://shalomchristianministry.org/
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