Chapter VI. The Philosophical Justification of Altruism
The philosophical justification for this outlook is provided for in the fundamental position of Vedanta. so'ham,
I am He; Thou too art He; there is therefore no I and Thou, but only He.
Brahman, Isha is my true self, the real Devadatta; Brahman, Isha is the true
self of my neighbour, the real Harischandra. There is therefore really no
Devadatta, no Harischandra, but my Self in the mental and bodily case called
Devadatta and my Self in the mental and bodily case called Harischandra. If
therefore Harischandra enjoys untold riches, it is I who am enjoying them: for
Harischandra is my Self, —
not my body in which I am imprisoned or my desires by which my body is made miserable, but my true self, the Purusha or real Man within me, who is the witness and enjoyer of all this sweet, bitter, tender, grand, beautiful, terrible, pleasant, horrible and wholly wonderful and enjoyable drama of the world which Prakriti enacts for his delectation. Once I experience this truth, I can take as much pleasure in the riches of Harischandra as if I myself were enjoying them; for I can thenceforth go out of my own self and so enter into the self of Harischandra, that his pleasure becomes my own. To do that I have simply to break down the illusory barrier of associations which confines my sense of self to my own body, mind and vitality. That this can be done, is a common experience of humanity, to which the name of love is given. Human evolution rises through love and towards love. This truth is instinctively recognised by all the great religions, even when they can not provide any philosophical justification for a tenet to which they nevertheless attach the highest importance. The one law of Christianity which replaces all the commandments is to love one's neighbour as oneself, the moral ideal of Buddhism is selfless benevolence and beneficence to others; the moral ideal of Hinduism is the perfect sage whose delight and occupation is the good of all creatures (sarvabhūtahitaraḥ1).11 It is always the same
great ideal expressed with varying emphasis. But love in the sense which
religion attaches to the word, depends on the realisation of oneself in others.
If, as Sankhya and Christian theology say, there are millions of different
Purushas, if the real man in me is different and separate from the real man in
another, one in kind but not in essence, there can be no feeling of identity;
there can only be mental or material contact. From material contact nothing but
animal feelings of passion and hatred can arise; from mental contact repulsion
is as likely to arise as attraction. A separate individual Self will live its
own life, pursue its own gratification or its own salvation; it can have no
ground, no impulse to love another as itself, because it cannot feel that the
other is itself. The Vedanta provides in the realisation of a single Self and
the illusory character of all division the only real explanation of this higher
or spiritual love. Altruism in the light of this one profound revealing truth
becomes natural, right and inevitable. It is natural because I am not really preferring another to myself, but my wider truer self to my narrower false self, God who is in all to my single mind and body, myself in Devadatta and Harischandra to myself in Devadatta alone It is right because by embracing in my range of feelings the enjoyment of Harischandra in addition to my own I shall make my knowledge of the universality of Brahman an experience, and not merely an intellectual conception or assent; for experience and not intellectual conception is true knowledge. It is inevitable because that is my way of evolution. As I have risen from the animal to the man, so must I rise from the man to the God; but the basis of godhead is the realisation of oneself in all things. The true aim and end of evolution is the wider and wider realisation of the universal Brahman. Towards that goal we progress, with whatever tardiness, with whatever lapses, yet inevitably, from the falsehood of matter to the truth of spirit. We leave behind, first, the low animal stage of indolence, brutishness, ignorance, wrath, lust, greed and beast violence, or as we call it in our philosophy the tamasic condition and rise to various human activity and energy, the rajasic condition, from that again we must rise to the sattwic condition of divine equipoise, clarity of mind, purity of soul, high selflessness, pity, love for all creatures, truth, candour, tranquillity. Even this divine height is not the highest; we must leave it behind and climb up to the peak of all things where sits the bright and passionless Lord of all, lighting up with a single ray of His splendour a million universes. On that breathless summit we shall experience the identity of our Self not only with the Self of others, but with the All-Self who is the Lord and who is Brahman. In Brahman our evolution finds its vast end and repose.
1 busied
with and delighting in the good of all creatures.
not my body in which I am imprisoned or my desires by which my body is made miserable, but my true self, the Purusha or real Man within me, who is the witness and enjoyer of all this sweet, bitter, tender, grand, beautiful, terrible, pleasant, horrible and wholly wonderful and enjoyable drama of the world which Prakriti enacts for his delectation. Once I experience this truth, I can take as much pleasure in the riches of Harischandra as if I myself were enjoying them; for I can thenceforth go out of my own self and so enter into the self of Harischandra, that his pleasure becomes my own. To do that I have simply to break down the illusory barrier of associations which confines my sense of self to my own body, mind and vitality. That this can be done, is a common experience of humanity, to which the name of love is given. Human evolution rises through love and towards love. This truth is instinctively recognised by all the great religions, even when they can not provide any philosophical justification for a tenet to which they nevertheless attach the highest importance. The one law of Christianity which replaces all the commandments is to love one's neighbour as oneself, the moral ideal of Buddhism is selfless benevolence and beneficence to others; the moral ideal of Hinduism is the perfect sage whose delight and occupation is the good of all creatures (sarvabhūtahitaraḥ1).11 It is always the same
great ideal expressed with varying emphasis. But love in the sense which
religion attaches to the word, depends on the realisation of oneself in others.
If, as Sankhya and Christian theology say, there are millions of different
Purushas, if the real man in me is different and separate from the real man in
another, one in kind but not in essence, there can be no feeling of identity;
there can only be mental or material contact. From material contact nothing but
animal feelings of passion and hatred can arise; from mental contact repulsion
is as likely to arise as attraction. A separate individual Self will live its
own life, pursue its own gratification or its own salvation; it can have no
ground, no impulse to love another as itself, because it cannot feel that the
other is itself. The Vedanta provides in the realisation of a single Self and
the illusory character of all division the only real explanation of this higher
or spiritual love. Altruism in the light of this one profound revealing truth
becomes natural, right and inevitable. 