82. Subjective Knowledge is no Illusion

DISCOURSES ON

RADHASOAMI FAITH

BY

MAHARAJ SAHAB

Pandit Brahm Sankar Misra, M.A.

82. SUBJECTIVE KNOWLEDGE IS NO ILLUSION

            122. The account we have given of the two eternal poles, of course, represents a description at the contemptibly low plane of human intelligence. But if it be contended that such a subjective representation does not portray the correct condition, the rough sketch we have attempted to present becomes a matter of problematical accuracy. It, therefore, behoves us, before proceeding further with the subject, to remove the doubt introduced by the possible objection indicated above. The theory which gives rise to the objection may be briefly stated as follows. The knowledge of the creation, we see, is always obtained from the subjective impressions it produces within us. In the absence of subjective impressions, we know nothing of the creation. The impressions, in question, constitute the effect, and the creation, which produces those impressions, is the cause. Now, if we are aware of the effect, it does not follow that we know the cause also. If, accordingly, all sentient entities who receive the impressions were to disappear, the cause would remain, but the effect would be gone, and there would be a state which would not be the state of the effect. The knowledge of creation, as we possess, is, therefore, a knowledge of the sentient entities and not an absolute knowledge.

            123. This story is irrefutable, if the assumption involved in it, viz, that sentient entities alone possess the functions of subjective knowledge and that there is nothing else in creation which possesses such functions, holds good. It will, however, be seen from what we have stated previously (vide Articles 16 to 22), that all sentient entities are emanations of various degrees from the infinite spiritual source, the Supreme Being that the distinctive features of the spirits, viz, intelligence, bliss, and energy are derived from His essence; and that the frame a spirit-entity has created for itself has been built up on lines similar to those employed for the evolution of creation, in other words, the spirit-frame is a microcosm or an image of macrocosm. It is hardly necessary to remark that the subjective functions, too, of a spirit are infinitesimal image of the subjective or intelligent attribute of the Supreme Being. The inference, therefore, is irresistible that the creation appears to us substantially in the same form in which it appears to the Supreme Being; and that alone is its correct form. Our subjective knowledge, if based on facts and correct application of inductive reasoning, should not, therefore, even in the abstract, be relegated to the category of illusions.