| Philosophy and Religion / J. C. Chatterji: Hindu Realism |
Jagadish Chandra Chatterji
Hindu Realism
B—The Synthetic Aspect
‘Noting New Under the Sun.’
9. (i) Further, as the Atmans are eternal, and all ideas and impressions are retained in them and are even remembered, in their entirety by Rishis and in part or as general memories or Samskaras by others, and as it is these Atmans with past experiences which really build up a new Universe,—it follows that a new creation proceeds along the lines of the old.1 It is very much like the building up, by men of an old country, of a new colony wherein things are done naturally on the lines of the old.
That is to say, there is behind a new Universe always the ideas, impressions, and experiences of various grades, high, middling and low, of a past Universe. This being so, it follows:—The past and old always reproduce themselves in the present and new. There is, therefore, nothing which is really and absolutely new. All appearances are but reappearances and ‘there is nothing new under the sun.’
(ii) There is no time in the life of the Universe when any phase of thought and experience is wanting, although Atmans having all types of thought and experience may not always be found incarnated on earth, or even in the sensible Universe as a whole.
(iii) Therefore, there is no such thing in the Universe as an absolute progress of all things, all starting at the same time from the lowest stage and then gradually advancing to higher and higher ones. Progress and evolution from a lower stage to a higher one is always with reference to individuals or groups of individuals, but never of the entirety of beings all starting at the same time from the lowest level.
Footnotes
1. On ‘Nothing new under the sun,’ see Vivr., IX. ii. 7; Shar. Bhash., I. iii. 30. It is a common Hindu idea.
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