The True State of the Jiva

   Sri Krishnananda of 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 taken when you take a crash course in Transcendental meditation and ashtanga yoga. It must be remembered, the first four steps of Patanjali yoga sutra such as yama, niyama, pratyahara 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 Msters and Swamis who advice to stay in family, develop vairagya. 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 here, to present altogether a different version of our understanding of the universe, and our place in an ever-changing universescape 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).

     Some people believe in things happening, luck or fate, divine will ruling the jiva’s life and work while others assert that they are their own masters! According to the Gita, things should happen by will of God! The Lord says, it is my lila! Jnyanis say,

   “Oh Lord, not a blade of grass stirs without your will”; na trunamapi chalati te na vinaa |

   The memory chip inscribed within the DNA and RNA and inserted in the jiva runs its course and the personality blooms as and when it should! There is nothing one can do on the face of it. Once the jiva has entered the earth as a particle of stellar dust, a photon, radiating from a distant star, it takes up all that is earthly (pancha mahabhutatmika), or elemental; it depends on food from soil and thereby acquires all the qualities of the earth. The form assumed by the jiva is immaterial.

  Now, the jiva runs its errands as per the divine will. Everything happens as ordained by fate, destiny. But there is what is given to jiva as "free will". This 'free will'- 'sva-icCha' and the subsequent action, karma, accomplished with desire decides its fate. Whatever the jiva does in svecCha does not come under Lord's will since it is subject to individual's whim and fancy; however, a small antar-dhvani, inner voice of consciousness warns the jiva, if it cares to hear!  This is where karma bandhana starts (as seed for rebirths). Some people are cautious in exercising this free will and thereby escape the clutches of maya.

  When things happen on their own, the divine will is operating taking the jiva on its 'right path' (sat-nyasa) to the logical end- mukti. The jiva gets knowledge (para vidya), knowledge of scriptures by grace of Lord, intuitional knowledge and ability to decode the scriptures, practice yoga and even get a 'guru' to take him on the preordained sanyasa!

  The natural state of the jiva is sat chit and ananda. The ‘sat’ only vibrates as ‘chit’ (consciousness) and becomes a vibrant mind, chitta, mind full of thoughts, ideas, images, dreams and aspirations, (chittavrutti); it is the Energy, Chaitanya, chetasa, chaitya and chetana and the Life-force (prana-shakti) of the jiva. The jiva vibrates with prana and gets embodies a prani like the animation of a toy. Purandhara Das said it in a beautiful song that the world is a play of toys; we are all toys tied with invisible threads (sutrada bombe, Kan.) in His hand.

    Thus, the mula- svarupa, true nature of the jiva, is satcidananda. The grip of prakruti, maya, over the jiva is such that the jiva forgets its true nature and suffers dualities. “This is that eternal Ashvattha Tree with its root above and branches below. That root, indeed, is called the Bright; That is Brahman and That alone is the Immortal. In That all worlds are contained and none can pass beyond. This, verily, is That.” [Yajur Veda, Katha Upa. Part Two, Ch. III, 1].

   Whatever there is- the whole universe, vibrates because it has gone forth from Brahman, which exists as its Ground. That Brahman is a great terror, like a poised thunderbolt. Those who know It become immortal. From terror of Brahman, fire burns; from terror of It, the sun shines; from terror of It, Indra and Vayu and Death, the fifth, run. If a man is able to realize Brahman here, before the falling asunder of his body, then he is liberated; if not, he is embodied again in the created worlds. As in a mirror, so in the buddhi; as in a dream, so in the World of the Fathers; as in water, so Brahman is seen in the World of the Gandharvas; as in light and shade, so in the World of Brahma. [Yajur Veda, Katha Upa., Part Two, Ch. III, 1- 5]

   “He, the One and Undifferentiated, who by the manifold application of His powers produces, in the beginning, different objects for a hidden purpose and, in the end, withdraws the universe into Himself, is indeed the self-luminous- May He endow us with clear intellect! That Supreme Self is Agni (Fire); It is Aditya (Sun); It is Vayu (Wind); It is Chandrama (Moon). That 'Self' is the luminous stars; It is Hiranyagarbha; It is water; It is Virat.”

The Transient World

   The Biblical saying is: “Let there be Light”, said the Lord, “Lo, there was Light”. The vast, deep, dark, space consists of innumerable galaxies. There is unimaginably dark space (distance) between each star. The distance between the Sun and the nearest star Sirius (Jyeshta) is 1.4 Light Years. The ‘Milky Way’ in which the Sun, a moderate sized Star, of our solar system is a spiral disc containing myriads of stars and planets. The Sun, a hot gaseous mass, is said to be born 4.56 billion years ago and would last another 7.44 billion years during which all its energy would radiate rendering it a cold, gross, inert body. We are all bound by this time and time is energy.

   Time begins with the radiation of solar energy; but, our Almanac, Calendar, does not reflect this although it is based on the Solar Principle (Surya Siddhanta). During the last 4.53 billion years (since the origin of the earth), seven manvantara have elapsed (each manvantara consisting of four quarters called the ‘yuga’ – each of multiple duration, together lasting 3.42 million years) and another seven more manvantara would follow. Each one begins with a Sun as the first manu (from which the word ‘manvantara’ is derived). We are supposed to be living in Kali yuga, the fourth lap of the Seventh manvantara called the vaivasvata manvantara. The Calendars followed by different religions, castes and sects tell different stories and all these do not bring out the exact date of the beginning of the origin of the universe, the solar system, or that of the date of birth of the Earth and the Moon.

  To be precise, the Calendar that we follow reads like this- As on April 2014- vaishakha masa, Uttarayana, Shree Jaya nama samvatsara- 5114 years have elapsed from the first day of the First Quarter (prathama pada) of Kaliyuga according to Hindu almanac. We are living in the 28^th Kaliyuga, the last lap of the Seventh manvantara called the Vaivasvata. It is the Seventh since the birth of Sun as Vivasvan, First Manu. So far, 18025 kalpas (Six manvantara) are over and we are in the 18026^th kalpa called Shveta varaha kalpa. The life span of Solar System is about 36,000 kalpas and the earth would last for 8640 Million Years. However, these figures may not agree with the Gregorian or Christian and the Hijari Calendars. In India, the Hindu calendar, Shalivahana Shakha Panchanga, we have the paksha masa of two weeks from pratipada to Amavasya or Purnima based on the revolution of the Moon (constituting a year from April to April) around the earth and, the Solar calendar of a year from January to December.

     Vedanta, however, gives us a clear idea about the nature of the origin of this phenomenal world. These fundamental principles are explained later. However, it suffices to state that, “This phenomenal world always exists. It was there when I appeared here as a jiva, and would continue to exist even after I leave my carnal body.” This life span of a Hundred years of a Jiva is a is a short period, as if a wink of an eye when compared to billions of years of the life span of some of the stars and their family of planets and satellites.

  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, 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 lands 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 spirally 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 breathes out within us, sustains us with life-force (prana) and consciousness (prajnya)!”