The Content of the Mystical Experience of the Brahman-World Relation in Upanishads based on Ibn ʿArabi’s Nondelimited Oneness of Being

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Assistant Professor, Department of Religions and Mysticism, Faculty of Religious Studies, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

The Upanishads incorporate different interpretations of the relation between Brahman and the world, a difference that gives some people a reason to deny the existence of a unique philosophical doctrine in these texts. This article aims to note the internal consistency in the Upanishads with a view to analyzing their content in the words of Ibn ʿArabi and his commentators concerning the doctrine of the nondelimited oneness of being. For him, being is endowed with nondelimited oneness, and the world and multiple existing things limit this absolute reality, and this unique truth manifests itself within their framework, and therefore, it acquires multiplicity at the level of manifestation. In mystical experiences, when a mystic unites himself with God, he would either witness the oneness of being and have an acquaintance with the world as God, or consider the multiplicity within oneness, and hence, find the world distinct from Him. If we consider various Upanishadic phrases as expressions of such dual perspectives, then we will find a more precise understanding of, and we will have sufficient reasons to accept, their internal consistency.

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References

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Religious Inquiries
Volume 11, Issue 1
June 2022
Pages 91-106

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