Acharya Mahaprajna
Deccan Herald
The world we live in constitutes an alliance of sensuous consciousness and concrete matter. Our knowledge is contained within the circumference of our senses and all material substances subsist within the periphery of speech, form, smell, taste and touch.
Five senses with their objects these constitute our small world. In fact, this world is not so small, it is very extensive. But the power of the senses is very limited. They apprehend only gross material objects. Atoms are concrete enough, yet the senses cannot apprehend them. Innumerable atoms unite to form a mass which is yet too subtle for the senses to apprehend. They can apprehend only those substances which are made up of an infinite number of atoms and have developed gross concreteness. Our senses cannot even apprehend the whole of the corporeal world. So the question of their apprehending the incorporeal, intangible world does not arise.
The incorporeal elements are beyond sound, smell, taste and touch. Their atoms are different from those of the material world. Thus the effort of one who seeks to know the incorporeal world through the senses will not be successful. The starting point of religion is extrasensory consciousness. One endowed with only sensory perception cannot appreciate it. Only that person may be said to be religious who is able to appraise both the concrete and the abstract. From the transcendental aspect, a man stands alone. From the empirical aspect, each man lives in co-operation with others, each providing assurance and refuge to others.
The empirical truths are directly linked with thought whereas ultimate truths pertain to spiritual knowledge which lies beyond thought. That marks the dividing line between thinking and non-thinking, between the concrete and the abstract. The Ultimate, too, descends upon the ground of thought, but it still maintains in its abstract form. The sphere of both the concrete and the abstract is very extensive, but to those living within the periphery of sensuous knowledge, the field of the abstract does not appear to be large enough.
Consequently, they do not attach as much importance to abstract thinking. The sun of spirituality is generally overcast with clouds of selfishness. For those moving from darkness to light, and for those wishing to move in that direction, it is essential to proceed from the concrete to the abstract.