The Philosopher the Theist and the Gnani

The Philosopher, the Theist and the Gnani



Medieval Philosophy maintained that God created ex-nihilo, literally- out of nothing. It is also held that from nothing, nothing comes. We are in the realm of philosophy, mind you. What is held is that God had nothing separate from which to create. God was all there was, and somehow, out of Nothing, God created all of this. That’s the philosophical belief. "How did it happen?" The answer comes. "God did it. Nothing is impossible for God." Here, philosophical belief jumps to faith.

The existential discovery is different. The gnani’s discovery is not philosophical. He does not begin with God, but with himself. He looks to his own separate existence and asks, "Who am I?" "Am I the body?" Thus, the inquiry begins. The first obvious question is who is asking the question? The body, of course, is not. Thus, the gnani sees, he is not the body. The one who asked the question, "Am I the body?" is who he is. So who that is, he endeavors to find out.

"Perhaps, I am the mind? What is the mind?" He sees a connection between himself and the mind. He notices a connection between the ego, the sense of a separate me, and thought. But who notices this connection? "It is I," but what is I? Here the mind stops and he enters into Mystery. The inquiry of the mind can go no further. He cannot know what That is. It is unknowable. The Truth is unknowable, and for him, it is enough. The mind surrenders to That in awe and homage.

For faith, belief that God created is very important. For the gnani, God is just a concept, similar to that of creation. It is theory. He is not satisfied with the imposition of beliefs and theories. Not beginning with anything borrowed, he wants to know his own self. This question arises as, "Who am I?" His discovery is I is just a thought, from which all other thoughts come, but I itself comes from nowhere. The difference between the gnani and the philosopher or believer is that the gnani doesn’t jump from his direct experience into knowledge based on beliefs or additional thinking. He doesn't reflect, he dissolves. He remains with the realization that I is a thought and that thoughts come out of nowhere, and that nowhere cannot be described.

Upon this discovery, he surrenders to That. He does not jump back into the idea of separation and intellectualize some more. The mind has gone as far as it can go and there is a seeing that - That is beyond anything which can be conceived. It is clear that the source of separation is I and I came from nothing knowable. The ego, or cause of separation, now endlessly adores the Mystery. It bows and is speechless. Anything else would be less.