Page:Philosophy of bhagawad-gita.pdf/34

10 are placed—which bears these attributes, as it were, the essence itself being unknown to us.

All Vedantic writers of old have formulated the principle that Parabrahmam is the one essence of everything in the cosmos. When our old writers said "Sarvam khalvidambrahma," they did not mean that all those attributes which we associate with the idea of non-ego should be considered as Brahmam, nor did they mean that Brahmam should be looked upon as the upadana karanam in the same way that earth and water are the upadana karanam of this pillar. They simply meant that the real thing in the bundle of attributes that our consciousness takes note of, the essence which seems to be the bottom and the foundation of all phenomena is Parabrahmam, which, though not itself an object of knowledge, is yet capable of supporting and giving rise to every kind of object and every kind of existence which becomes an object of knowledge.

Now this Parabrahmam, which exists before all things in the cosmos, is the one essence from which starts into existence a centre of energy, which I shall for the present call the Logos.

This Logos may be called in the language of old writers either Ishvara or Pratyagatman or Shabda Brahmam. It is called the Verbum or the Word by the Christians, and it is the divine Christos who is eternally in the bosom of his father. It is called Avalokiteswara by the Buddhists; at any rate,