Normally, the belief is that "all that is born shall die!" However, we do not understand that it is the physical body that has been developed on the constant supply of food and water that deteriorates and perishes in the long run. The core of the substance, the soul, remains the same spark of fire whether inside or outside of its embodiment. The Newtonian concept of Energy is at the root of all that exist. "No energy, no mass (body) or velocity (movement) is the rule. Thus, when we realize the fact that we entered the earth a photon, a particle of fire, the spark of the distant star and built a nest of nerves and neurons enmeshed by skeleton, flesh and blood made of earth (food), we will know the truth. The soul is eternal, immortal, unborn and imperishable. However, it is the embodiment that creates the problem!
Lord Shree Krishna says, “Arjuna, there is no time when you and I never
existed” (Bhagavad-Gita, IV-5). We have been in existence (as stellar material
in some elemental form?) even prior to the birth of Vivasvan, the Sun. Several
are our lives and you do not remember
the past ones, whereas I know the past, present and the future. Bhagavan Shree
Krishna manifests here as pure Consciousness, the Witnessing Self (Sakshin) and Arjuna is depicted as born
out of the sacred word (the mantra putra),
blessed son of Indra, the Deity of the Mind!
Now it is certain that all the jivas are taking a long journey on this
earth with repeated births and deaths, as if changing the worn-out clothes.
There is no beginning or end to the jiva’s ignorance. All the jivas live and
work in a mysterious world that has no real existence of its own! The earth is
borne out of the Sun, rather Solar flares, and the jivas survive on sun rays.
Further, the jivas live on an unstable earth- rotating and revolving, subject
to unexpected jerks, shaking now and then due to earthquakes, and volcanoes
spewing gas, dust, boulders and magmatic material and lava flows, besides the
vagaries of climate like storms, cyclones, floods and famines, tsunamis, etc.
These are really the cause of great worry. Our very existence is at stake.
It is no more a surprising fact that the earth is always on the move-
rotating on its axis and revolving at a terrific speed, going around the Sun.
The entire Solar System in our Galaxy called ‘Milky Way’ or ‘Akash-Ganga’ is
racing along with millions of galaxies in the direction of the Pole Star. There
is no safety and security or stability here. Still we all live and work
peacefully, and sleep quietly every night as if nothing happens!
The Earth, as a Planet of the Solar System was born 4.53 billion years
ago from the solar flares. It has undergone cooling, condensation, and
solidification for millions of years to reach the present state- Land (21%)
found within the shallow depths of the earth’s surface and the inner core of
the earth is plasma of boiling Nickel and Iron. The surface history of the
earth is quite interesting. Six great convulsions of earth’s crust, upheavals
have taken place so far and the face of the earth has changed remarkably over
the billions of years by tectonic processes, orogenesis (mountain-building), weathering, denudation-
erosion and deposition. But, these changes are slow and imperceptible. Many a
deep Sea basins have been gradually filled with deposits of sediments by agents
of weathering and denudation such as wind, rain, and rivers and new lands have
been created. Many ancient lands (like the Atlantis) have disappeared under the
sea. Mountains stand where there stood vast stretches of narrow sea. The
Himalayas, for example occupy the place that was once a Sea of Tethys, the
remnant of which is the Mediterranean Sea. There are large areas of land below
sea level, dykes have been built to prevent flooding of the low-lying
Scandinavian countries- Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Netherlands, and the
entire Europe is a low-lying plain. These are exemplified in the epics as avatars of the Lord- varaha avatara,
kurma avatara and matsya avatara to resurrect the earth and restore the
Veda. Upliftment and submergence of land masses have taken place along the Western
coast of India. Crustal movements and subsequent eustatic changes causing
change in seal levels are common.
As regards the origin of the solar system, the Sun is a Hydrogen-Helium
spiraling boiling gaseous body, rotating on its axis and moving at a great
speed in space. It is a million times larger than the Earth. Several smaller
planets and satellites including the Earth and Moon have formed out of the
spilling gas of these solar flares. It is on this unbelievably small
mustard-sized planet, as compared to the Sun, that life is found in multitude
of forms in different ecosystems like the marshes, forests, grasslands and
deserts, mountain slopes, sea coasts, lake-sides and river-sides! May be
several hundred such Earths are there around us!
When we see all these and think about the appearance of life on earth,
one feels that definitely there must be a powerful force, an unseen (adrushta) power (shakti) that create and govern all these. There is a higher power
that sits everywhere, within us, too, driving the universe as a chariot by a
charioteer like Lord Shree Krishna (driving the Chariot of Arjuna) in the epic
Mahabharata War. It is He who creates jivas at His Will and pleasure and
infuses prana, desires, dreams, ambitions, aspirations, thoughts and ideas,
give imagination, forms, and motion and drive jivas around in all their
pursuits. We do not believe that “He, the God is within us” and, do not realize
that “It is He who breathes in and out within us as the life-force and
consciousness!”
There are people who abuse God for their ills. They do not understand
the fact that, God has nothing to do with people’s behaviour and actions, for
He has given them ‘Free Will’ to do as they like and ultimately pay for
it. Let us be clear that He, the God, has not created anything like a country
by name Aryavarta (India), America, Australia, or Africa, nor did He create the
Varna (colour and creed), Ashrama
and its divisions, dharma such as
Brahmin (priestly class), Kshatriya (fighting clan or Royal families/kings), or
Vaishya (tradesman), or a Shudra (farmer). Nothing prevents a wandering soul
from continuing its journey in any part of the earth taking any form it likes!
Sage Vishvamitra may take birth as an Alexander or a Galileo or Newton if he
wishes so. In fact, He, the Lord says, “Everything is Him only.” These castes
and creeds, the names of States and their divisions and demarcations of
boundaries are all of people’s own foolish making! First they mark a boundary
and then they cry foul! He, the Lord only exists in all. Is it not a miracle
that we live and work together despite all our jealousy, infirmities,
ignorance, poverty, squalor and deficiencies as if nothing happens? Rishis,
discoursing on Brahman, ask: Is Brahman the cause? Whence are we born? By what
do we live? Where do we dwell at the end? Please tell us, O ye who know
Brahman, under whose guidance we abide, whether in pleasure or in pain. Should
time, or nature, or necessity, or chance, or the elements be regarded as the
cause? Or, he who is called the purusha the living self? [Yajurveda, Sveta.
Upa. Part I, Chapter 1, 1-2].
The supreme Lord manifests in numerous forms. In the Bhagavad-Gita, He
asserts that, “maya is created in my seeing. People are mesmerised by this
maya. ‘My’ maya is so sweet, a person cannot understand how very sweet is this
‘I’ is. Oh Arjuna, do not forget me; is you do not forget me, maya will not be
able to do anything to you.” Further, He, the Lord goes on to say, “See the
characteristics of maya! She created a huge lake and birds and insects!
Observing this, it all appears to be true, but it is nothing. There is no
escape from the hands of maya. Yet God saves one who takes refuge in Him. That
person alone whom God bestows his grace can escape the hands of maya.” This ‘i’ is the maya. The jiva goes on saying
‘i did this’, ‘i did that’, and ‘i am so and so’, etc. It disappears as soon
gets into deep sleep (sushupti) every night or day. The moment one gets out of
sleep, this ‘i’ appears! None has understood where this exists and when it
makes its appearance. All the problems of the jiva are created by this ‘i’- the
ego (ahankara). The moment this ‘i’ disappears
(as saint Kanakadasa said), the jiva is liberated from the clutches of maya, that binds the jiva due to
ignorance. Thus, ‘i am’, ‘i is’, i only, is the maya. This i merges in Brahman every night when we are deep sleep
and the jiva enjoys a blissful existence unaware of the world! This i only will
come out ignorance refreshed after a night-long sleep. “This gross body of liberated souls will
decompose; yet, even if the body goes, their powers remain; it does not go.”
The vasanas, karma kleshas form the
seedlings for next birth. People unmindful of this go on quarrelling
themselves. They create divisions. So long as there is divisive thinking,
divisive actions, so long will people create sects. If the divisive attitude
departs, the upadhi, false identification, is destroyed. At the destruction of
the upadhi, the tender hook on which the jiva is suspended one becomes aware of one’s divine consciousness. The realization
comes when one realizes that “One Brahman has manifest as many". When one
becomes pure, one will have the understanding that: "I am verily Vishnu. I am a
child of Vishnu.” 'Shivo'ham' is the total awareness!
Our existence on this planet is almost a miracle. Mysteries surround our
birth and death. So far, no plausible explanation is forthcoming for our
existence. It seems ‘no purpose is served merely eating and sleeping, whiling
away time in seeking joy in extraneous things’. Moreover, all our thoughts and
actions, behaviour, problems of hunger, disease, old age and death are not in
our hands. Life is full of and probabilities. Nothing is certain here. What we
see and believe may not be true at all! Things have to be seen in the
background of an unstable earth, a vast expansive universe that is ever on the
move, a universe of no known magnitude or dimension, and of illusory nature
bound by Time and Space. In fact, this Time that creates Space by its movement
is by itself an illusion! If Time is illusion, the space created by it as well
as the objects that fill it and endure are also illusion. Illusion of illusion
is delusion. Thus, there is no end to this delusion, ignorance. We, as the
humans, should realize the fact that we are nothing but specks of dust,
star-dust at that. These jivas or vibrant life-forms are like sparks of fire
flying out of flames. Once we realize ‘who we are’, where do we come from, and
where do we go from here when we die, or how we give up one mortal body and
take another soon after, the ‘Reality’ dawns on us. We are truly the
spiritual entity- the atman, embodied in an earthen shell like a pot
made of clay susceptible to leakage and breakage. Symbolically, a pot filled
with water is broken at the time of cremation of the dead bodies. This
signifies the fact that the inside and the outside separated by an earthen
shell is no more, and everything is one!
However, the purpose of our existence is yet to be defined. The ancient
scriptures are our best guides. But, we neither have the complete texts of
these, nor do we ever understand their coded language. The story of the arrival
and departure of a jivatman on this planet is narrated here. It is an
autobiography of the soul. Thus, the soul only speaks here. It is an
intuitional knowledge obtained from parame vyoman in yogic trance.
This spiritual study, like any other discipline calls for determination,
steadfastness, keen interest, focused attention, concerted effort, and serious
practice of yoga, and devotion to Guru. There should be a sense of purpose in
life in order to attain to the highest level of existence and enjoy supreme
bliss that is possible for any human being. Spiritual journey is more arduous
than the journey in the material and sensuous world. Material world is also
hazardous full of uncertainties, failures, disappointments, disillusionment,
and frustrations. It is endless, with countless wants, insatiability, cravings
for more and more, and finally, ordained to repeated births and deaths. The
spiritual path is no less unpredictable and hazardous- full of unknown twists
and turns and glaring mysteries, secrets, and coded secret words (mantra) that may often lead to doubts
and disbeliefs, and sudden loss of faith and interest.
Another hazard of this spiritual journey is that the sadhaka moves
slowly away from the lower, ’here’, the concrete, the sensible, logic and
sensuous gibbering towards the higher, ‘there’, abstract, nonsense, rather
senseless(?), and silence. Worldly people are prone to treat this as madness.
Most of the teachings of Great Masters are based on these principles and still
people run to them! It seems paradoxical that people want solace in times of
their distress and look to these renunciates, but do not want to follow their
teachings in their daily life! For instance, if one tries to become a
Raghavaendra Tirtha, one should follow in his footsteps and take to sanyas at
the early age. If one follows his footsteps, the first casualty would be his
wife and the next, his mother. As we know, Raghavaendra Swamy’s wife Saraswati
Bai committed suicide and his mother died in distress. In fact, most of the mystics
have undergone untold misery and sufferings in their life before looking to
higher spiritual power for solace.
The teachings of Acharyas like Shankaracharya, Madhava (Vidyaranya), or
Badarayana can never be understood unless one experiences the times and way of
life they lived. Shankara experienced untold misery and things have changed
over time. It seems thus impossible for a common man to come to spiritual
field, adhyatma, giving up the hearth
and home, sensuous worldly life. Nobody wants
to leave the cosy life of comforts and take to a life of a recluse and do
severe askesis (tapas). Hathayoga is
out of question. Even those who have tried and succeeded to some extent have
suddenly fallen from grace!
What we mostly see around us as spiritual seekers or teachers of yoga
are not what they should be, with exception, of course. Self-Realization (Atma sakshatkara) is not easy. Those who
have attained to this highest state of spiritual state, pure consciousness, do not have any interest in
worldly affairs for they have crossed the Mental-mental
state of evolution and have stepped into Spiritual realm (See Aurobindo) after discarding conscious
awareness of their mundane existence, albeit, they spend time here till they
cast off their physical body. They live a life of absolute bliss unaware of the
happenings to other earthlings. This should not be construed as a selfish way
of life since these blessed souls have been emancipated, redeemed, or
liberated! They rejoice in Brahmn consciousness.
Sri Krishnananda, Shivananda Ashrama, Hrishikesh, says: “Nothing that
comes from outside is of any help in attaining to the knowledge of the Self.’
In fact, thousands of teachers and preachers go on talking and talking without
any substance. Many do not know what they are talking about. This can be
verified from their life style. If some boast of 50,000 followers, some boast
of 400 ashrams all over the world; some say, they have never read a scripture
in their life but still talk like “devil quoting the scriptures’. The truth is
very simple: “If i suffer from stomach pain, i only should take the medicine”.
Unless i learn to sit in a place for just two minutes a day nothing is
possible. The first step is taken when you take a crash course in
Transcendental meditation and ashtanga yoga. It must be remembered, the
first four steps of Patanjali yoga sutras such as yama, niyama, pratyahara, aparigraha, and Ishvara pranidana can never be followed
in this life.
It seems impossible to attain to Samadhi remaining in worldly life,
hearing lectures on philosophy, religion and spirituality. This is the reason
why some serious seekers leave everything and rush to Himalayas and undergo
tremendous hardships. We want bed-tea and timely breakfast, lunch and dinner
and friends to chat, and at the same time aspire for enlightenment! Lo! There
are guru and swami who advice to stay in family, develop anasakti yoga,
get vairagya (renunciation). The result is riding two horses (suti and asuti) at the
same time. Contemplation, dharana and Samadhi are very important for attainment
of atma jnyan and emancipation. This
needs solitude.
An
attempt is made here to present altogether a different version of our
understanding of the universe, and our place in an ever-changing universe in the light of recent findings in physical and biological sciences, as well
as, the ancient scriptures. In fact, even the existing scientific theories are
subject to change, but not the findings in Vedanta. What is so special about
it? It is intuitional knowledge (shuddha
vidhya) derived from a transcendental state, meditative or contemplative mode
is samadhi, that needs no proof (pramANa).
No comments:
Post a Comment