The Illusion of Incompleteness
Om Poornamadah Poornamidam Poornaad Poornamudachyate; Poornasya Poornamaadaaya Poornamevaavashisyate’
The invisible (Brahman) is Full;
The visible (the world) too is Full.
From the Full, the Full having come,
the Full (Brahman) remains the same.
This sloka from the Ishavasya Upanishads defines completeness as an intrinsic "a priori " state. All manifestation is a tangible expression of the intangible, unmanifest singularity or Brahman"
This singularity is a completeness that is simultaneously conscious and blissful. Creation is merely , pleomorphism of that fundamental singularity.
Creation in all its manifold splendour was embedded with a delusion of incompleteness. The karmic cycle is pedalled by desire.
Desire is based on the assumption that if this incomplete "I " gets a certain "that" , then I will be complete.
Desire of any kind stems from an incompleteness of the subject with a conviction of gratification by getting the object that is desired.
An intrinsically complete subject imagines it will become complete by acquiring an extrinsic object.
A quote from Chuang Tzu, an ancient Chinese philosopher, and an early articulator of Taoism sums completeness in a different light.
"All things -- good, bad, beautiful, ugly -- exist together in a complex totality, or "Way," that unfolds of its own accord, impervious to human desires or interventions."
"The real is originally there in things, and the 'sufficient' is originally there in things. There's nothing that is not real and nothing that is not sufficient," "Hence, the blade of grass and the pillar, the leper and the ravishing beauty, the noble, the sniveling, the disingenuous, the strange -- in Way they all move as one and the same."
Chiang Tzu has used the word 'sufficient' which , in the Upanishads is referred to as Poornam. Both the terms mean: whole, integral, complete. Chuang has explained the term by referring to integration of opposite-pairs to form the whole. True nature of Reality can never be apperceived by a fractured perception.
The symbolic systems we use to describe , comprehend the universe are not separate from the universe: they are a part of the universe. Since we are within the system, our comprehension is incomplete. Completion of the model can never happen because of the basic self-referential paradox: the model is within the universe, so in effect the universe would have to be larger than itself
Completeness can never " want " anything. It's only the illusion of being incomplete that wants to seek. Completeness is in being. incompleteness is in becoming or wanting to become. Completeness is in silence, incompleteness is in words. Incompleteness is the reductionism of scientific thought. Completeness is the wisdom of assimilation. Ego is incompleteness casting a spell on consciousness.. Ego generates an identity, a sense of discreteness. This separateness haunts the internally complete self to look outward. Completeness is within. Incompleteness is without. Effacement of this separateness is completeness.
Knowledge is incomplete. Experience is completeness. The incompleteness of knowledge has been stated beautifully by Ramana Maharishi in "Upadesa Saram."
"Gnyaana varjitaa agnyaana-heena chith"
Understanding God with the logical mind filled with knowledge is impossible and such a desire is itself an obstacle to realisation.
The conclusion of this sloka is "Poornamevaavasishyathay"
With the insight of self-knowledge, one realises there is no sorrow, since the "self" is ever-full, the self is eternal Bliss.
The gist of Poornamadah, Poornamidham has to be experienced like Ramana and not merely understood. Otherwise, our completeness will continue to be gripped by the spell of Incompleteness wanting to seek what we already are.
Dr. Deepak M. Ranade
(The author is a consultant neurosurgeon - deepakranade@hotmail.com)
Om Poornamadah Poornamidam Poornaad Poornamudachyate; Poornasya Poornamaadaaya Poornamevaavashisyate’
The invisible (Brahman) is Full;
The visible (the world) too is Full.
From the Full, the Full having come,
the Full (Brahman) remains the same.
This sloka from the Ishavasya Upanishads defines completeness as an intrinsic "a priori " state. All manifestation is a tangible expression of the intangible, unmanifest singularity or Brahman"
This singularity is a completeness that is simultaneously conscious and blissful. Creation is merely , pleomorphism of that fundamental singularity.
Creation in all its manifold splendour was embedded with a delusion of incompleteness. The karmic cycle is pedalled by desire.
Desire is based on the assumption that if this incomplete "I " gets a certain "that" , then I will be complete.
Desire of any kind stems from an incompleteness of the subject with a conviction of gratification by getting the object that is desired.
An intrinsically complete subject imagines it will become complete by acquiring an extrinsic object.
A quote from Chuang Tzu, an ancient Chinese philosopher, and an early articulator of Taoism sums completeness in a different light.
"All things -- good, bad, beautiful, ugly -- exist together in a complex totality, or "Way," that unfolds of its own accord, impervious to human desires or interventions."
"The real is originally there in things, and the 'sufficient' is originally there in things. There's nothing that is not real and nothing that is not sufficient," "Hence, the blade of grass and the pillar, the leper and the ravishing beauty, the noble, the sniveling, the disingenuous, the strange -- in Way they all move as one and the same."
Chiang Tzu has used the word 'sufficient' which , in the Upanishads is referred to as Poornam. Both the terms mean: whole, integral, complete. Chuang has explained the term by referring to integration of opposite-pairs to form the whole. True nature of Reality can never be apperceived by a fractured perception.
The symbolic systems we use to describe , comprehend the universe are not separate from the universe: they are a part of the universe. Since we are within the system, our comprehension is incomplete. Completion of the model can never happen because of the basic self-referential paradox: the model is within the universe, so in effect the universe would have to be larger than itself
Completeness can never " want " anything. It's only the illusion of being incomplete that wants to seek. Completeness is in being. incompleteness is in becoming or wanting to become. Completeness is in silence, incompleteness is in words. Incompleteness is the reductionism of scientific thought. Completeness is the wisdom of assimilation. Ego is incompleteness casting a spell on consciousness.. Ego generates an identity, a sense of discreteness. This separateness haunts the internally complete self to look outward. Completeness is within. Incompleteness is without. Effacement of this separateness is completeness.
Knowledge is incomplete. Experience is completeness. The incompleteness of knowledge has been stated beautifully by Ramana Maharishi in "Upadesa Saram."
"Gnyaana varjitaa agnyaana-heena chith"
Understanding God with the logical mind filled with knowledge is impossible and such a desire is itself an obstacle to realisation.
The conclusion of this sloka is "Poornamevaavasishyathay"
With the insight of self-knowledge, one realises there is no sorrow, since the "self" is ever-full, the self is eternal Bliss.
The gist of Poornamadah, Poornamidham has to be experienced like Ramana and not merely understood. Otherwise, our completeness will continue to be gripped by the spell of Incompleteness wanting to seek what we already are.
Dr. Deepak M. Ranade
(The author is a consultant neurosurgeon - deepakranade@hotmail.com)
