4.
Real World is Beyond the Mind
Questioner:
On several occasions the question was raised as to whether the
universe is subject to the law
of
causation, or does it exist and function outside the law. You seem
to hold the view that it
is
uncaused, that everything, however small, is uncaused, arising and
disappearing for no known
reason
whatsoever.
Nisargadatta:
Causation means succession in time of events in space, the space
being physical or mental.
Time,
space, causation are mental categories, arising and subsiding with
the mind.
Questioner:
As long as the mind operates, causation is a valid law.
Nisargadatta:
Like everything mental, the so-called law of causation contradicts
itself. No thing in existence
has
a particular cause; the entire universe contributes to the existence
of even the smallest thing;
nothing
could be as it is without the universe being what it is. When the
source and ground of
everything
is the only cause of everything, to speak of causality as a
universal law is wrong. The
universe
is not bound by its content, because its potentialities are
infinite; besides it is a
manifestation,
or expression of a principle fundamentally and totally free.
Questioner:
Yes, one can see that ultimately to speak of one thing being the
only cause of another thing is
altogether
wrong. Yet, in actual life we invariably initiate action with a view
to a result.
Nisargadatta:
Yes, there is a lot of such activity going on, because of ignorance.
'Would people know that
nothing
can happen unless the entire universe makes it happen, they would
achieve much more
with
less expenditure of energy.
Questioner:
If everything is an expression of the totality of causes, how can we
talk of a purposeful action
towards
an achievement?
Nisargadatta:
The very urge to achieve is also an expression of the total
universe. It merely shows that the
energy
potential has risen at a particular point. It is the illusion of
time that makes you talk of
causality.
When the past and the future are seen in the timeless now, as parts
of a common
pattern,
the idea of cause-effect loses its validity and creative freedom
takes its place.
Questioner:
Yet, I cannot see how can anything come to be without a cause.
Nisargadatta:
When I say a thing is without a cause, I mean it can be with-out a
particular cause. Your own
mother
was needed to give you birth; But you could not have been born
without the sun and the
earth.
Even these could not have caused your birth without your own desire
to be born. It is desire
that
gives birth, that gives name and form. The desirable is imagined and
wanted and manifests
itself
as something tangible or con-ceivable. Thus is created the world in
which we live, our per-
sonal
world. The real world is beyond the mind's ken; we see it through
the net of our desires,
divided
into pleasure and pain, right and wrong, inner and outer. To see the
universe as it is, you
must
step beyond the net. It is not hard to do so, for the net is full of
holes.
Questioner:
What do you mean by holes? And how to find them?
Nisargadatta:
Look at the net and its many contradictions. You do and undo at
every step. You want peace, love,
happiness
and work hard to create pain, hatred and war. You want longevity and
overeat, you
want
friendship and exploit. See your net as made of such contradictions
and remove them -- your
very
seeing them will make them go.
Questioner:
Since my seeing the contradiction makes it go, is there no causal
link between my seeing and
its
going?
Nisargadatta:
Causality, even as a concept, does not apply to chaos.
Questioner:
To what extent is desire a causal factor?
Nisargadatta:
One of the many. For everything there are innumerable causal
factors. But the source of all that
is,
is the Infinite Possibility, the Supreme Reality, which is in you
and which throws its power and
light
and love on every experience. But, this source is not a cause and no
cause is a source.
Because
of that, I say everything is uncaused. You may try to trace how a
thing happens, but you
cannot
find out why a thing is as it is. A thing is as it is, because the
universe is as it is.