The True Nature of the Universe

The True Nature of the Universe

    Can we ever know the true nature of the universe? Sage Ramana Maharshi says, "No, never"! Why? the answer is very simple. In the first place, we are all within it. One can know it(the true nature of the universe) only when one comes out of it! It is, thus, possible to know the true nature of the universe only when we come out of the universe that is constantly changing. The universe is what we can grasp by the senses, mind, and the buddhi. The true nature of the universe reveals itself once we withdraw these senses and mind from their outward going tendency!

    Born as humans, promoted from the state of homo sapiens erectus (with ability to hold) to homo sapiens sapiens (with ability to think), we face a number of riddles like the questions posed by the Sphinx of Egypt. We are baffled with the problems for which we do not know either the causes or solutions. Hence, we look to some ancient scriptures or learned people who know the scriptures for guidance. Even if the answers are forthcoming, our ability to understand is extremely limited.

  Here, “The Advent of the Soul” takes us to unknown depths of the vast ocean of Consciousness, ‘sudha sindho’, and presents an invaluable insight into a world of immense joy and beauty. It is rather trying to present what is inexplicable, the hidden treasures of creation. It unfolds the vista, hitherto unheard of, and what is not heard (anahata) will be heard and what is not seen (adrushta) will be seen here. Since this is a spiritual journey inward reaching the innermost centre, the core of the entity, within, when the traveler realizes that it is one’s self only and there is no another, and the experience felt is one’s own and, as such, incommunicable. At this stage of exalted heights of consciousness one does not exist at all for all practical purposes (with awareness of body mind and senses) since the jiva has entered its own inner precincts- sanctum sanctorum, closing all the doors to the external world. In a way, it is ‘death’ or removal of the outer sheaths of the soul. ‘Death’ here does not mean the end of the journey. It is rather leaving for the next destination. In this long journey of the soul, what all that is experienced is the supreme bliss. It is ‘fulfillment’.

    We do not realize that are living in a magical world. The entire phenomenal objective world can be touched! Everything comes out of nowhere and ‘nothing’ and incidentally, the word ‘nowhere’ and ‘nothing’ contain the words ‘now’ (Time) and ‘here’ (Place), and ‘thing’ (Object) that emanates, manifest from nowhere! Thus, we find the three prime factors- Time, Space, and Object, come into existence from nowhere and nothing! This nothingness is not ‘void’ (shunya) as some are prone to think. It is the supreme ‘Silence’, atyantaabhava (mahattanta shanta), that is called ‘brahmn’; the absolute nothing that is nowhere; thus, what is called Brahmn. The Brahmn contains the entire objective, phenomenal, world as a manifestation of its Self, the supreme Self- paramatman! Further, it may seem surprising that, “that which does not move appears to be moving”. Also, that which is non-existent appears to us as real! Is it not strange that light comes out of darkness, knowledge out of ignorance, sound out of silence, baby out of the mother’s womb, and father out of Father in Heavens?

   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 Kali yuga according to Hindu almanac. We are living in the 28^th Kali yuga, the last lap of the Seventh manvantara called the Vaivasvata. It is the Seventh since the birth of Sun as Vivasvan, the 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 Hijri 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.