Thinking and Writing about the One and the Many

February 19 2019

"By knowing a single lump of clay, all objects made of clay are known. Changes are words, in name only. Clay is the reality (यथा सोम्यैकेन मृत्पिण्डेन सर्वं मृन्मयं विज्ञातं स्याद्वाचारम्भणं विकारो नामधेयं मृत्तिकेत्येव सत्यम् yathā somyaikena mṛtpiṇḍena sarvaṃ mṛnmayaṃ vijñātaṃ syādvācārambhaṇaṃ vikāro nāmadheyaṃ mṛttiketyeva satyam 6.1.4)."

In interpreting the analogy of the Chāndogya Upaniṣad, it is very easy for commentators to go to the extreme of devaluing and rendering the many insignificant. Of course, one can understand this exegetical move in light of the emphasis in the text of clay as reality (satyam) and the molded objects as word-dependent for their existence. I believe, however, that this reading of the text, though understandable, must be contested. The purpose of describing the many as word-dependent is not to undermine their value but to teach that, in the bringing forth of the many, nothing ontological is added to the being of the one. The truth is that the many are not dependent on words for existence but on the one reality. In the absence of a name, an object continues to exist, but nothing exists without the One. It is in this sense that the Chāndogya text speaks of clay as satyam. It points to the dependence of the effect on the cause for the continuity of its existence.

———

Copyright © Anantanand Rambachan 2019. All rights reserved. Nothing on this website can be used, reproduced, or published without the author’s explicit written permission. Contact author for questions.