Parashat Ki Tavo 5784 – 09/21/2024
Beginning with Bereishit 5781 (17 October 2020) we embarked on a new format. We will be considering Rambam’s (Maimonides’) great philosophical work Moreh Nevukim (Guide for the Perplexed) in the light of the knowledge of Vedic Science as expounded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The individual essays will therefore not necessarily have anything to do with the weekly Torah portion, although certainly there will be plenty of references to the Torah, the rest of the Bible, and to the Rabbinic literature. For Bereishit we described the project. The next four parshiyyot, Noach through Chayei Sarah, laid out a foundational understanding of Vedic Science, to the degree I am capable of doing so. Beginning with Toledot we started examining Moreh Nevukim.
Devarim 26:1-29:8
Rambam begins chapter 68 with a beautiful description of the virtual, Observer-Observed-Process of Observation structure within Pure Consciousness:
You already know that the following dictum of the philosophers with reference to Gd, may He be exalted, is generally admitted: the dictum being that He is the intellect as well as the intellectually cognizing subject and the intellectually cognized object, and that those three notions form in Him, may He be exalted, one single notion in which there is no multiplicity. We have mentioned this likewise in our great compilation [Mishneh Torah, Fundamental Principles of Torah, I], since this, as we have made clear there, is one of the foundations of our Law; I mean the fact that He is one only and that no other thing can be added to Him, I mean to say that there is no eternal thing other than He.
Vedic Science asserts that Pure Consciousness is a unified whole. Since it is consciousness, it is aware, and can only be aware of itself, since there is nothing outside itself. Thus, at least conceptually, Pure Consciousness is both the Observer and the object of Observation. The process of Observation must also be within Pure Consciousness – it is kind of invisible since the Observer and Observed are not different or separated from one another. In any event, within Pure Consciousness the Observer, the Observed and the process of observation are actually one. In Sanskrit this is called the samhita of rishi (Observer), devata (Process of Observation) and chhandas (Object of Observation). This virtual structure is what gives rise to all creation.
Rambam identifies this idea as a “dictum of the philosopher,” harking back to Aristotle. Both Aristotle and Rambam are considered to be great intellectuals, divorced from “mysticism.” I argued some time ago that the use of the word “intellect” in ancient and medieval philosophy means something different from what we call the “intellect.” We think of the intellect as our rational faculty, as opposed, say, to the emotions. But it appears from this passage that Rambam, and presumably Aristotle as well, mean something much broader. By talking about Gd’s essence being the intellect, which cognizes itself, it seems like they are talking about Pure Consciousness, which, as we just saw, has the same internal, virtual structure which Rambam describes as the “intellect.” If this is so, then “intellectual understanding” and “direct experience” are not opposed to one another, but are actually one and the same thing. Of course, in our common use of the language, there is a difference – I am just pointing out that there may not have been such a difference some centuries ago (10 for Rambam, 25 for Aristotle).
Rambam goes on :
For this reason it is said, by the Lord the living, and not, by the life of the Lord. For His life is not something other than His essence, as we have made clear when speaking of the negation of attributes. However, there is no doubt that anyone who has not studied the books that have been composed concerning the intellect has not grasped the essence of the intellect, has not acquired knowledge of its quiddity, and has no understanding of it other than one that resembles his understanding of the notions of blackness and whiteness, has great difficulty in understanding this notion. In fact our saying that He is the intellectual cognition as well as the intellectually cognizing subject and the intellectually cognized object will appear to him as if we had said that whiteness, that which has become white, and that which whitens, are one and the same thing.
Rambam is here making the point that the unity of the Observer, the Observed and the Process of Observation is only available on the level of Gd, and not in the created world. This we know from our common experience of waking state of consciousness. When we observe something, that something is outside of us, and in fact, as Maharishi describes waking state, the object actually overshadows our awareness of our Self. When we reach Cosmic Consciousness our Self is established in our awareness, and our perception of the outer world is the same as before. The divide between Observer and Observed is maximum. In Unity Consciousness both the Self and the object are evaluated as the same infinite, unbounded Pure Consciousness.
As Unity Consciousness matures, the Self permeates the entire cosmos, and there is no difference between inside and outside, between Observer and Observed. This level of awareness seems to correspond most closely to the actual structure of reality. It is from this level of Unity Consciousness that one no longer has any question how Gd’s essence and Gd’s existence can be one and the same thing, because we no longer perceive our status as Observer and the world’s status as Observed as something separate.
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Commentary by Steve Sufian
Parashat Ki Tavo (When You Come In)
All the parshiyyot (parts) of Torah have levels: At the deepest level, they are vibrations of Gd, Gd’s Name, The Liveliness of Gd. Listening to these vibrations helps us to attune to Gd, Totality, to gain teshuvah, restoration to the Primordial Oneness.
But they also have meaning, stories, commandments that give us principles, values, rules for living life in the everyday way and attuning us to Gd through our sacred behavior, our religious behavior.
In this parshah, as in all of the Book of Devarim (Deuteronomy), Gd, through Moses, is preparing the Children of Israel to enter the Promised Land. Torah is for everyone, for all times, so he is preparing us, too, to enter the Promised Land – not only the physical Land of Canaan, but more importantly, the Real Promised Land – dwelling in Gd, Totality.
1. The first words are encouraging: Ki Tavo means “when you come in”, not when you go in. The encouragement is that Gd is inviting the Children of Israel to come in – to join Gd in the Promised Land, not just sending us out from the familiar land into an unknown one where we will have to fend for ourselves.
2. Encouragement is also given by the part of the parshah in which Moses says, (paraphrase) “You have selected the Lrd this day, and the Lrd has selected you.” This means whenever we move toward Wholeness-Gd – Gd moves toward us. A little love on our part brings Infinite Love from Gd.
3. Encouragement is given by the last words of the parshah: “And you shall observe the words of this covenant and fulfill them, in order that you will succeed in all that you do.” Moses tells us we will observe and fulfill, not that we must, but we will.
4. Encouragement also comes from the fact that our ancestors claimed Torah for everyone, not just for the Levites – the teachers and priests. Moses rejoiced over this, “…until this day, the Lord has not given you a heart to know, eyes to see and ears to hear.” But today you have chosen Torah, chosen Gd, and you have become a people – a community, not just a collection of individuals.
Fortunately, for us, Gd has given our hearts enough Knowingness that we choose Gd ; enough eyes and ears that we can appreciate the beauty of Gd’s Creation, the Impulses of Gd, Flows of Gd that are our primary food, shelter, clothing, that are the Joy of Being Alive and Together.
And, fortunately, Gd Is, as Gd told Moses earlier, Beyond Time, “I Was, I Am, and I Will Be” so Gd is All, always guiding us to open our hearts to Gd – to our Self, to One.
And, also fortunately, we have examples, in our Jewish tradition, of Tzaddikim, the righteous, people whose hearts, eyes and ears were open enough to follow Torah well and to pass on traditions of openness. These examples confirm for us that the Goal is near, not far. (paraphrasing, “It is within us to achieve”)
5. We can gain encouragement from the command to offer the first fruits – symbolically, the first fruits of any of our actions – to Gd: it means fruits will be there and we will have hearts open enough to express gratitude by offering them.
6. Similarly, the command to tithe to Levites, stranger, orphan and widow gives us the chance to keep our heart open and to share what we have earned in the awareness that our earnings are gifts from Gd to be shared. We are encouraged because Gd only commands us to do what we are able to do and so this commandment assures us that we will not be living bare-bones lives with not a penny to spare but we will have enough to share.
7. Through Moses, Gd commanded our ancestors to set up huge stones plastered with lime on which “you will write the Torah.” For us, hardbound copies or Torah on our computer or the Internet will serve. But in reality, it is our good actions that lead us to be aware of Torah in our hearts, Torah as the Liveliness of Gd, One with Gd. And it is our good actions that make Torah in our hearts, tablets of Joy and Love, not of stone.
8. Fortunately, even the curses that will be spoken from Mt. Ebal (as proclaimed in Parshah Re’eh) will have a quality of blessing in them because they will be proclaimed from the mountain on which Gd has put Gd’s Name and an altar has been built and because they issue from the Mouth of Gd and are intended to restore us to act with Gd’s Will and no longer to praise ourselves as if we were the Author of our accomplishments.
So this parshah gives us encouragement today that by reading Torah, listening to Torah, following Torah we can attune ourselves to Gd and enter the Promised Land, Oneness with Gd, full restoration of our awareness.
Baruch HaShem!