Understanding Reality: Satya-Mithya Prakriya Analysis

To understand the nature of reality, we first need a proper method. We cannot simply look at an object and declare its nature – we need a systematic approach to analyze what we're seeing. This is where the ontological categories of Satya and Mithya come in.

Shirt Analysis

Let's begin with a simple example. Take this shirt we're wearing. At first glance, it appears to stand independently – we might call it Satya. However, let's perform a small experiment: if we start pulling out the yarn, thread by thread, we'll see the shirt slowly disappearing. As we continue pulling, we end up with a ball of yarn in our hand, and the shirt is no more.

Now we face an interesting dilemma. The yarn now appears to be Satya – it stands independently. But what about the shirt that was once here? We cannot call it Tucham (complete illusion) because while it existed, no one was imagining it – it had real function and utility. Yet we also cannot call it Satya because it no longer exists independently – the yarn is now Satya. This predicament reveals the need for a third category.

This is where Mithya comes in – that which has a dependent reality. The shirt was neither completely real (Satya) nor completely unreal (Tucham / asat). Rather, it depended on the yarn for its existence. This understanding helps us move beyond the black-and-white thinking that plagues our modern discourse, where things are either labeled as “real” or “fake.”

Clay-pot Analysis

To deepen this understanding, let's examine the classic example of clay and pot. Here we have one substance with two names. Though we call it both “pot” and “clay,” there is actually only clay here. The pot name exists purely for transactional purposes. When we ask “which is more right – pot or clay?” we must conclude that clay is more right. Why? Because if we remove the clay, no pot remains, but if we break the pot, the clay continues to exist. Clay is closer to the actual nature of what we're examining.

Furthermore, if we try to locate the “pot” in relation to the clay, we find ourselves unable to point to any specific part and say “this is the pot.” We cannot find a “pot” separate from clay. The entire thing is just clay appearing in a certain form.

Just like we can't find a chariot. Is the rim the “chariot”, is the seat the “chariot”? You can't find the chariot because “chariot” is mithya made up of parts.

This relationship reveals something profound: Mithya neither adds to nor subtracts from Satya. When we convert the pot into a plate, we haven't added or removed any clay – we've only rearranged the form. In a Satya-Mithya relationship, all is one. The apparent duality exists only in reference to names and forms.

Applying clay-pot to the world…

When we analyze further, we find clay resolves into atoms, and atoms resolve into quarks. Modern physics continues this search for the final building block but faces a fundamental limitation. Using only perception (pratyaksha) and inference (anumana), scientists can only reveal another level of Mithya, never reaching the final cause.

Introducing Ishvara: The Universal Intelligence

Ishvara is an intelligence in constant flux, reorganizing itself moment to moment. When we drop an object, this intelligence reshuffles itself to manifest as particles moving through space. It's like frames in a movie – each moment Ishvara rearranges itself here, now, here, now, creating the appearance of continuous movement.

Intelligence Organizing Intelligence

Ishvara (intelligence) not only organizes forms, but is the very substance being organized. The quark itself is intelligence, which then intelligently organizes into particles. These particles, themselves being intelligence, organize into atoms. The atoms then intelligently combine to form molecules, and this intelligent organization continues up through all levels of creation. Notice how at the atomic level, everything appears relatively same, but as we move upward, differences are more pronounced and more knowledge is involved. To know the human brain is a lifetime study. To know the atom, a semester.

The Final Resolution: Awareness

Knowledge cannot exist without awareness to illuminate it. Just as an idea cannot exist without your awareness, this universal intelligence requires awareness to put together the universe.

Conclusion

Just as the pot depends on clay, and clay depends on atoms, and atoms depend on intelligence, and intelligence itself depends on awareness. This awareness is unchanging, ever-present, and independent. While Ishvara remains in constant flux, awareness (Brahman) stands as the ultimate witness to all change.