Thursday 19 November 2015

Name and Form

   Time and again we are harping on one thing and that is about the illusion of name and form impressed on the mind. Whenever we hear a name we try to remember it so that we will not ask him/her again and embarrass the person; also, we try to remember the form such as color, height, face-cut, mannerisms, etc. Thus, all that  we have is just, an impression on our mind and nothing else. Everything in this world is just the impression we get and, the reality is just the memory, not the reality. Memory is a dead horse, one of the past! Hence we carry all dead carcasses or what?
    Now, the Sage Wisdom we are discussing in these blogs are also slightly weird. There are quotations from old scriptures attributed to so and so, like Vashistha, Avadhuta or Ashtavakra or Agastya and the like. It is amusing to note that Pancharatra gives almost 125 Samhitas and some of them state that the Gods and Goddesses spoke to the learned sages, or learned sages spoke to learned Kings, and the like until one day it was realized that all kings referred to are Janaka only. It all starts like the Teacher told his students.....
    As already stated in these blogs earlier, whether it is Galileo, Einstein, David Bohm or Stephen Hawking, or for that matter, Sage Vishvamitra, Bhrugu Muni, or Shankaracharya, Buddha, or Krishna- are all just names and impressions and memories. People go into the past and try to dig their antecedents, write about their history and biographies. The most surprising thing is that a person drops all his past in his/her grushasthashram and assumes a new role in the vanprasthashram like Sri Raghavendra Swamy; he or she becomes an ascetic and drops all his associations and assumes a new name (like some Anandajis of various Missions). But, the foolish people hold on to that new name and adore him/her! In some cases, these names are just characters in a fiction as in the great epics. There are no such persons living or dead ever!  William Shakespeare has created more such characters than what even the Creator Lord Brahmaji could ever think off! By the way, the name Lord Brahma itself stands for the creative power and nothing else. The truth is that whether these names existed or not, they stand for the genius, the height of certain intellectual attainments, that is all; in this sense, it is just the height of one's level of understanding, consciousness that revealed certain truth at that part of time! Each person can understand to his ability and so far none can ever understand his Self as 'brahmn'.
   The scientific advancements may erase what has been presented at one time at a later date what all impressions these names have created become obsolete. Thus, Galileo goes and Newton comes, and Newton gives place to Einstein and Stephen Hawking. Nothing is certain. However, there is a larger truth, and that is the Self. No one can erase the truth arrived at by the Self and "Self is the Truth".
    We use the names, forms, and functions in our discussions here in order to impart the truth, not about the contributions of the person; It is the knowledge, 'chit', consciousness- the only truth and all else its vibration, sometimes aberrations, too. Ultimately, the jnyata, jnyeya and jnyana become one; the preceptor and the perceived are one.
    We will not arrive at the truth, chit, light, unless we drop the names and forms, and the impressions created by them. The names that are used here may be symbolic and, may be, there is a deeper meaning and connotation to all these. For instance, Vishva Mitra is the friend of the world. From the childhood days to the ripe old age one may attain several states in journey of life and display different levels of consciousness and attainments in the worldly sense. But, all these are of no avail unless the jiva has realized the Self. Whether a person is recognized as a Nobel Laureate, or a distinguished person in public life with honors showered for the achievements or a person dies incognito it does not matter. But, it definitely matters whether the jiva has realized its Self or not before its stipulated time on this earth expires!

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