15.5 The All-Pervasiveness Of Brahman: Its Meaning

The meaning of brahman's all-pervasiveness must be understood. One kind of pervasiveness is like that of fire in an iron ball. You put an iron ball in fire and it becomes red, the fire pervades the iron ball. This is the pervasiveness of one thing in another, pervasiveness of a subtle thing in a gross thing. This is called "moorta samyogitva roopa vyaapakataa". Most people consider this to be the pervasiveness of the supreme self. They think that the world is gross and in this, the subtle entity brahman has pervaded. Even in the Upanishads, this kind of pervasiveness is described.
 
Another form of pervasiveness is that where the material cause pervades its effect. It is like the material cause clay pervades its effect, which is the pot. Here, the cause which is clay, and the effect which is the pot, are not two distinct objects. The pot is of the form of clay alone. All that has happened is that a particular form of the clay has taken place, like the pot, the cup and so on. The variety of names is transactional, not real. Even this kind of pervasiveness is mentioned in the Upanishads. Similarly, pervasiveness of water in wave, fire in spark, wind in vital force, and great space in pot space, all these are illustrations.
 
A third kind of pervasiveness is that like the seed and the tree. Here, the impressions resident in the seed pervade the tree. The five elements are the same in the seed and the tree both. In the materials of the dream, the impressions of the waking state pervade. Similarly, in the person, the prior impressions of the soul pervade. The root will of Ishvara is "may I become many", this is pervaded in the always-growing creation.
 
In the scene of the dream, the mind pervades. The seed of the waking and dream scenes lies in the deep sleep state. Therefore, deep sleep alone pervades in the waking and dream states. This is clearly explained in the Maandookya Upanishad.
 
The fourth type of pervasiveness is like that of the sun rays in the earth planet. The sun is situated distinctly, is disconnected, but its heat and light pervades our planet's space. Similarly, Ishvara is found in some space, but pervades this earth planet by his power. This is the opinion of those devotees who consider Ishvara to be indifferent. This is not accepted in Vedanta. But, in all spaces, in the brahman present in the form of existence, for the purpose of worship etc., the imagination of a specific place etc. in the category of superimposition is also acceptable to Vedanta.
 
The fifth type of pervasiveness is like that of the delusion-created material on the substratum. It is like the rope pervades the snake, sky pervades the blueness, the post pervades the person. In Vedanta, this pervasiveness is accepted. The world in brahman, and the I-sense in the self, is never present in all three times. But due to the ignorance of brahman, the world appears and due to the ignorance of the self, the soul-ness appears. Therefore, from the vision of knowledge, there is neither the world nor the I-sense. There is only brahman alone. Then what will pervade what else. That is why the Tejobindu Upanishad shruti says that pervasiveness and pervaded are illusory. In this meaning, the pervasiveness of brahman reaches its ultimate conclusion.