Shevi’i shel Pesach 5785 – 04/19/2025 – Seventh Day of Pesach
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.
I had two interesting insights into the Haggadah, both from a close reading of the English translation in the Artscroll edition. Since this is still Pesach I thought I’d begin by sharing them. You might want to refer to the Haggadah to understand the references.
1. When we speak of Gd we often use the expression “The Holy One Blessed be He.” That is exactly the way one of the participants in the first Seder I attended read it. But if you look at what’s actually printed in the Artscroll Haggada, it says, “Blessed is He.” Now if you remember your High School English grammar class you’ll remember that the difference between a subjunctive and an indicative mood. “Blessed be He” (subjunctive) is an aspirational mood, indicating doubt or hope for the future. So this means that we hope that Gd’s blessedness will be open and obvious to all. This is similar to a discussion in the Gemara about the verse (from Zachariah, used at the end of Aleinu): On that day Gd will be One and His Name will be One. The Gemara asks, “Isn’t Gd One right now and eternally!?” And it answers, on that day Gd will be universally recognized as One. So by using the subjunctive most of the time we are really saying that we look forward to a day when Gd will be revealed and there will be universal harmony, etc. etc. — but we’re not there yet, we’re still in waking state of consciousness with all its attendant misery. Artscroll, on the other hand, is asserting that Gd is One, right now and forever. This is Unity Consciousness. Artscroll’s translation is telling us to wake up and live that reality. Usual disclaimer: I’m not going to put words in Artscroll’s mouth or printing press. This is what I read into what they’ve done.
2. In the telling of the story of the plagues, Rabbi Eliezer proves that the plagues at the splitting of the sea were really 200 plagues, while Rabbi Akiva (who was R. Eliezer’s disciple-colleague), using the exact same verse, proves that there were 250 plagues. “Behold I am a man of 76 years and I could never figure out why they came up with different answers until I looked carefully at the punctuation Artscroll used.”
R. Eliezer: “He sent forth against them the fierceness of his anger: wrath, indignation and trouble, a band of evil angels…” (1) wrath, (2) indignation, (3) trouble (4) a band of evil angels.”
R. Akiva: “He sent forth against them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, indignation and trouble, a band of evil angels…” (1) anger, (2) wrath, (3) indignation, (4) trouble (5) a band of evil angels.”
(The translation is actually from the Maxwell House Haggadah [1965] but the punctuation is from Artscroll.)
Can you see the difference? In R. Eliezer’s case there is a colon after “anger” indicating that what follows are the four aspects of Gd’s anger. The expressions after the colon explain what “anger” is, but anger is not part of the list. In R. Akiva’s case there’s a comma after anger, indicating that it’s just part of the list. Therefore, R. Akiva has a multiplier of 5, while R. Eliezer only has a multiplier of 4.
Now, back to Rambam. Rambam continues his discussion of the structure of creation by noting that every organism has a governing part, which he identifies in humans as the heart, and in the creation the “fifth encompassing body.” It is the continued motion of this governing part that guarantees the continued existence of the organism. He writes: “Accordingly, every motion existing in the world has as its first principle the motion of heaven, and every soul existing in the beings endowed with souls that are in the world has as its principle the soul of heaven.”
Now in Vedic Science, we understand the highest heaven to be the most subtle level of manifest creation, right on the border of absolute Pure Consciousness, absolute Being, and the manifest creation. It is often perceived as a glow (visual) or a hum (auditory). In both these cases there is a vibration, a motion that is eternal, as it is the fundamental mode of the eternal Consciousness that is at the basis of creation. Now Rambam describes the constant motion of heaven as the motive force behind all of creation. Although he describes it as a circular motion, we know that harmonic motion – the simplest form of wave motion – is intimately related to circular motion. If we project the position of a point moving in a circle at a constant speed onto one of the axes of the circle, the motion of the projection will be harmonic motion. So perhaps the idea of the outermost sphere’s moving in a circle is not so inconsistent with the idea of a fundamental vibration at the boundary of Pure Consciousness.
Rambam continues:
Accordingly, it behooves you to represent to yourself in this fashion the whole of this sphere as one living individual in motion and possessing a soul. For this way of representing the matter to oneself is most necessary or most useful for the demonstration that the deity is one, as shall be made clear. By means of this representation it will also be made clear that the One has created one being.
In other words, it seems to me that Rambam is saying that the finest manifestation of absolute Pure Consciousness is itself as unified as Pure Consciousness itself. The diversity we see is only on the surface. The One becomes many, while maintaining its One-ness, and the celestial (heavenly) level of manifestation is, as it were, a transition layer between the absolute One and the relative diversity, which itself a unified whole. This perception, that Unity is the basis of diversity and is the ultimate reality of life, is fully realized in Unity Consciousness. I think we’ll let Rambam speak further before going more deeply into this matter.
A joyous end-of-Pesach to all!