Sky Watch and Earth Watch

Who am I? Where Am I? Am I an alien who arrived here on Earth? What is my true nature of existence? Some of these questions are yet to be satisfactorily answered. We all take our existence for granted and dwell into secrets of nature without knowing the fact that what i am in search of is myself, my 'Self'! The pictures of the Galaxy, Stars, and the Sun as well as the Giant Black Hole give us an idea about the gross objects of the universe, but the subtler forces operating behind these are only left to our imagination! We have made much progress in analyzing the light and electromagnetic waves radiating from distant stars, but we cannot relate them to our birth and day-to-day life and activities, as yet. This is what is carefully analysed here. The principle of "I AM', or so'ham asmi, or 'Shivo'ham' answers this! But, very few can understand this.

Sky watch and Earth watch

    In a sense, we are all aliens who descended to this Planet Earth. We arrived here in the form of an energy particle, a nutrinos, a photon, an energy particle fully loaded with all knowledge, technology, ability to create, modify or transform, produce unbelievably miraculous forms and functions as a celia, biological cell that can create, develop, sustain and disseminate before dissolution or merger. “I am That”, says the Veda. “I am the Universe”, some scientists declare! Aham brahmasmi is the Veda. Now, the scientists have attained the state of the ancient sages and declare that the science and the Vedanta are one and the same! Today, we know more almost everything from a sub-atomic particle to the giant star, the universe, the multiverse and beyond! “I am Shiva” (Shivo’ham or so’ham asmi) is the ultimate truth! Look within and find ‘it’ out. This is explicitly stated in the Atmabodha of Sri Shankaracharya.

    It all starts with the tiny twinkling Star. Great astronomers starting from Aryabhata to Galileo, Tycho Brahe, Kepler and Stephen Hawking did a lot of sky watching and documented their observations. What all we know about the universe from sky watch are mere speculations, probabilities, theories and hypotheses, and postulations. Moreover, our knowledge is obtained from the study of ‘Light’. Scientists have presented the theories of ‘Big Bang’, ‘Black Holes’ and the General Theory of Relativity and Gravitational Theory. The most powerful telescope to get the pictures of the outer boundary of the universe is getting ready and will be operative in a few years; and, till then we have to be contented with what we have obtained from the Hubble telescope and the CERN, the LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory), and Virgo Observatory, and other sources. The discovery of Gravitational waves in February 2016 has opened up a new vista and scientists are excited about it. Already, they have come out with the rate at which the universe is expanding! We have now findings from experiments in molecular biology, DNA studies, Wave theory, quantum mechanics, and particle physics. Some elementary knowledge about the neutron stars, supernova, and white stars, red stars and dwarfs and other types of stars and their structure and composition, and we know how galaxies are formed in space. We also know that all that we see as the universe, the cosmos, is just 5 per cent and the rest are Dark matter (25 per cent) and dark energy (70 per cent). Only four powerful forces- Gravity, Electromagnetism, atomic energy and some strong and weak forces are operating this universe! How the universe is created is a matter of great interest and almost all the ancient Indian scriptures speak about it. The modern scientists do not have even a faint idea bout it!  

 The Vedic statement as well as the Scientific version of the Universe in its infant stage are same. It was all cold. Then it became hot,  hotter, and hottest the extent of exploding into Big Bang. This is 'shukra sphota'. The element that lies at the base is H and this Hydrogen is everything, 'Agnim'. Agni, Fire is everything and the Vedic mantra is agnimeelay purohitam yajnyasya devam Ritvijam hotaaram ratna dhaatamam | 

    The recent observations of the universe through the lens of the powerful electronic telescopes and the interpretations of the images obtained from them, reveal a lot of secrets regarding the origin of the universe. Today we know a lot more than what we learnt during the last hundred years. Twenty-first century heralds a new vision.

   However, there is nothing new in all these since the Agama Shastra Samhitas (almost 200!), Srividya and the Cosmogram Sri Chakra have already revealed these in very clear unmistakable terms. We have the Pancharatra which describe the powers vested in ‘Sudarshana’. Hence, we do not have any doubt regarding the creation, development and sustenance and dissolution of this universe. In fact we have realized the secret of all these life in its variety and diversity as described in the forgoing paragraphs. The phenomenal objective world is thus a myth! The universe is expanding at a very rapid rate and each is moving farther and farther away from each other, and this includes the nature of the human mind and the behaviour of beings in their relations, too! No wonder, one day, everything will fall apart! Strangely enough, all these are described in the spiritual texts; the great sages like Vashishtha, Vishvamitra, Ashtavakra, Raikva and Avadhuta knew all about these! They were the drushtaras who visualized and handed down their knowledge to us.

  When we watch the earth and ourselves from space, the picture we get is something stranger than that we get from what we get from when we watch the space from the earth. This earth watch and watch of the self by the great sages or yogi of the past has revealed the true nature of our existence. Our existence here on earth as ‘earthlings’ or living creatures dependent on food is purely a transitory one. However, it is not the living body with which we are concerned here but the energy aspect constituting the core of the substance, the Atma. The unborn, eternal, and immortal soul is what all matters here. It is this tiny invisible particle smaller than the smallest (anoraniyan) that is the core of the substance, the universe. It is the same at all the three levels- the cosmos (brahmanda), the body (pindanda) and the cell (andanda). It is that abstract absolute indefinable eternal spiritual entity which acquires mass and becomes matter at a later stage and, thus, becomes a visible entity, called Atman. It is the embodiment of knowledge. It has everything within itself to manifest as it desires! This is the true story of creation. 

   Now, this mystery of the universe seems to be solved to some extent. It is a journey of the soul. It(the soul) may as well say, “I am the light”. I emerge from a distant star, travel down to earth as a particle of stellar particle of light, ‘Energy’, and get embedded in anything and everything. The famous poem “soundarya lahari” by Sri Shankaracharya eulogises the ‘stellar particles’, ‘star-dust’, in the very first verse. Accordingly, the ‘Trinity- hari, hara, virinchi, seated at the feet of “Devi trailokya sundari Adi Shakti Rajarajeshvari ask Her(Devi’s) permission to collect a few stellar dust particles from Her feet. Brahma, virinchi (Im), asks Her permission to create the universe and vishnu, hari (ra) wants Her permission to sustain what is created, and finally, ‘hara’ or maheshvara (ha) wants Her permission to burn all these to dust and smear it on his body! Thus, Shree and the trinity have been eulogised as the bijakshara maha mantra “shreem”. Thus, every jiva is an embodiment of Devi only!

    Thus, the nature of the origin of life, the embodiment of the Atman (soul) as the jiva (jivatman) is very clear. The dust particles of Devi’s feet is significant. Each and every stellar dust particle is intelligent, knowledgeable and has capacity to take any form Devi wills or desires! It is this stellar dust or ‘Energy’ particle that creates a body as per the will of Devi Shree trailokyasundari. Hence, all living beings, jivas, are inseparable part of Devi only and remain so for ever. It(the atman) enters the earth along with the sun rays, electromagnetic waves, and passes through clouds, raindrops, soil and vegetation like a person entering in and out of a car, train, ship or aircraft and comes out. This Atman- a photon, a particle of ‘Energy’ gets embodied and to run errands on this earth endlessly. Once it entered the soil, plants, fruits, vegetables, or food grains as ‘annam’ and has made its way to the would-be father’s body- his blood cell, bone marrow, desire, spermatozoa and entered the would-be mother’s womb it get struck in an eternal journey due to its desires and action (karma)!

    The spermatozoa is the seed of the purusha carrying the blue-prints and design of the jiva. It is the ‘chetana’, vital (pranic) energy, ‘I’ only that passed through all these! Thus, this ‘i’ (the jiva) is the ‘I’ brahman, who as a tiny energy particle Atman, emanated from a distant star as a particle of light and traversed the sky and entered the earth. This journey of the Atman (soul) is narrated in the Bhagavad-Gita. This particle of chetana Shakti (like sparks or electrical charges), as vital (pranic) energy, and has imbibed the powers of the Devi. It has knowledge, power, resources, strength, potency and the light emanating as the radiant rays (mayukha) and as such can take any form and function, however, in a limited way. It has entered all that is found here as water, minerals, fire, air, soil, food, plants, and, finally got embodied in different forms of living and non-living beings, as moving and non-moving beings. It has all the knowledge, information, technology, and ability to transform itself and design its own tissues, organs (like the heart, kidney, lungs, liver or brain) and becomes the living beings. The Mind is well developed in the humans. What governs the life of a man is his mind and moods (manas and chitta), buddhi, ahankara, and the imagination, thoughts and desires. Since the Atman or soul as prana has the ability to enter anywhere and everywhere it has consciousness- prajnya. It matters very little what form of living being, whether a fish or frog, pig, horse, dog or a cat, or a man. Whatever form of livings being the prana enters it comes out as their kind! It makes no difference what forms it takes since the purpose is only to experience the world.

    Is there any doubt as to the true nature of the jiva now? 

The Embodied Soul (Jivatman): The jiva located on this planet earth is a mysterious one. The earth is supposed to be an ideal place for living beings (jivarashi) to breathe, eat and drink, and survive and propagate. It is now clear from research findings in the fields of astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology and genetics that a few fundamental particles like hydrogen, carbon, oxygen (H + C + O) go to make the entire living entity, the living biotic world. Even the universe consisting of the galaxies, stars, planets and their satellites are mainly gaseous elements that later condensed into gross objects. The living beings (jiva-rashi), and all that we find on earth are essentially the made of these subtler energy in the form of light, electricity, magnetism and gravitational force. The humans are endowed with intellect, mind and thought force, intellect and energy. Basically, the fundamental particles are subtler subatomic particles (as in a shooting Star), a meteorite that burnt out as it entered the earth’s atmosphere, that radiate energy and light. This has prompted the scientists to speculate whether the life force (prana) of the jiva has come from the interstellar space!

    The four types of physical forces that govern the universe are classified as: 1. Gravity, 2. Electromagnetism, 3. Strong Nuclear Forces, and 4. Weak Nuclear Forces. The true nature and power of Gravity are yet to be clearly understood. While the Strong Nuclear Forces binds atomic nuclei. The Weak Nuclear Forces cause radioactive decay (like Uranium becoming lead) and it also creates earthquakes and continental drift.  Yet another important essential missing force which acts as a catalyst, or that binds all these, is believed to be there, yet to be discovered!

   The concept of ‘Space’ in scientific literature is different from the one that is used in Vedantic texts. The term ‘space’ used in science is matter, energy like any other object of observation. But in Vedanta, it is ‘Akasha’, the very subject, that holds all! It is called ‘brahmn’. Akasha and brahmn are one and the same. Not only that the akasha is there far above but it is much deeper within! There is no place where ‘akasha’ does not exist and “Everything is akash, brahmn”. Thus, there is aksh within us as well as outside of us! These inner (antar) and the outer (bahir) akasha are separated by the physical component (body) like a pot; the space within and without the pot are the same but for the separation by an earthen wall and they become one again when the earthen pot is broken. This is what is done symbolically breaking the pot during cremation of the dead body in our rituals. 

    Ancient scriptures give classification that is not much different from the present-day scientific one. The language may be different but the sum and substance are the same. Briefly, the scientific method is one of experimentation, observation, generalization and universal application. However, the findings are subject to further investigations and change; nothing is certain. They have thus presented hypotheses, postulations, theories of probability, etc. But, this is not the case with the scriptures that are intuitional statements, each one personally experienced by the learned ones through deep contemplation in transcendental meditation. These have been pronounced as final! There is no further question about it. Thus we have the opinions of the Spiritual scientists (vedantin) and the material scientists (padartha vijnyani). The views of the great sages are in aphorisms or cryptic verses, coded language with symbolism, imageries, and esoteric verses, and these need be properly decoded with the help of learned teachers; so also, the mathematical equations, formulae, and the theories of great mathematicians and scientists! Thus, nothing is easy. The common man remains ignorant of all these and somehow ekes out a living. Most of the people do not even bother to know about the spiritual aspects and simply live on.  So, the question of ‘what is it I am doing here’?  The search goes on.