Philosophy and Religion / J. C. Chatterji: Hindu Realism

Jagadish Chandra Chatterji

Hindu Realism

B—The Synthetic Aspect

Orders and Grades in the Universe.

The Universe Consists of Various Grades of Existences. The Sensible and Supersensible Worlds and beings.

This beginningless process of universal manifestation, or series of Universes, is called, as said before, Samsara.

2. The next doctrine is that the Samsara consists of various orders of experiencing beings, inhabiting what may be called various worlds or modes of specific existence.¹

In regard to the worlds, the existence of the sensible is obvious to all.

But wo have seen that the originating sources of the sensible are themselves super-sensible realities. And in addition to these there are the Atmans with their various Samskaras and Adrishtas—things to be explained presently. There are also the Manases which serve as the direct instruments of experience on the part of the Atmans.² | ³ There is no reason why these in themselves as super-sensible Realities should not constitute another order of things, besides the sensible—other worlds or spheres, which we may call the transcendental or super-sensible. Not only is there no reason why they should not constitute such super-sensible worlds, but there is every reason to believe that these worlds, constituted by the transcendental entities as transcendental, exist. For, as we shall see, a world or sphere of existence is nothing bat a condition of the experience on the part of experiencing beings; and therefore there must be as many varieties of worlds as there are fundamentally different types of beings.

In regard to these beings, we find that there are, in the sensible world, a great variety of them, and that they form themselves into a number of orders and grades. These grades, we also find, form a series, one extremity of which lies in that order of beings, whose experiences are the most limited.⁴ Beginning from this grade, as we come up towards man, we find what may be called an ascending series, each successive order in which is found having experiences which are wider in range than those of the beings of the preceding order.

In this way finally we come to man, who undoubtedly stands at the head of this series. But there is no reason to suppose that man is absolutely the highest order. On the contrary, seeing that man is limited and that he is often frustrated or unexpectedly helped in his endeavours by unseen powers, we must admit there are beings who are higher and more powerful than men, and who exist in unseen forms.⁵ If what is super-sensible in man can exist in an unseen form after death, why not other beings who habitually exist in such forms?

And if these beings exist in unseen, i.e., supersensible forms, then there are also states of existence or worlds which, are also super-sensible. In this way we find that there are in the Samsara different orders of things, i.e., different worlds sensible and super-sensible, as there are different orders of experiencing beings. Man belongs to one of them.

Footnotes

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