"I Am That"

  Most of the Upanishads teach us the fundamental principles of Creation and the 'Reality of our Existence'. In that sense of the scriptural statements, "we (the humans) are not what we appear to be! We are more than what we seem to be! In fact, we do not exist at all in this sense of 'Reality of Existence'. Many examples are given to prove this point. For example, we all exist in three states viz, jagrata (awake), svapna (dream), and sushupti (deep sleep). Since these are ever changing from morning till late night everyday these are not our real state of existence. We can rise above these three and reach the transcendental meditative state and absolute state of samadhi, too. Those who practice yoga can easily stay in samadhi state at their will! Thus, it is clear that we are ever-changing- from childhood to old age in body (physically) and mind, as also, we go on changing from our state of social and economic status in life. Nothing can be said for certain, at any point of time, about the changing status. Hence, the learned sages tried to impart the doctrines and help the disciples to know who exactly are they in real life! But, it is definitely not easy for us, the mortals, to understand and live as per the doctrines. We cannot understand what the illusory world is despite an umpteen  examples given to us! We are told that the basic understanding about our existence is that of 'ignorance'. The entire life is one of birth due to ignorance and living in ignorance and die in ignorance to take birth again and repeat till knowledge dawns on us as to the 'truth'. The 'truth' is very simple. We are not what we seem to be, what we appear to be. We are different! We are the manifest aspect of the Absolute Abstract state of param padam called 'brahmn'. This is similar to Oxygen and Hydrogen that freely exist in air (nature) in vapor form and turn into solid state (of crystal ice, or liquid state (of water) under a particular condition of temperature and pressure. The question also arises asto what exactly is its eternal unchanging state? The same is the question as to the nature of a jiva that is embodied in different forms due to karma.     

 The Learned Sage Aruni Uddalaka taught his disciple Shvetaketu the doctrine of "tat tvam asi" (Thou Art That). But this simple statement is beyond our understanding or comprehension! The Vedic statement is tat brahma, tad Vishnu. tat sat param padam! The term 'tat' is something that connotes the supreme Absolute Abstract that does not come within our normal understanding. In fact, the term 'tat' (tyat) is 'brahmn'. It is a sound (svar) that creates, sustains, dissolves, and finally merges everything within Itself! This abstract concept cannot be either understood by us! The scriptures speak a lot about this. One of the most intriguing aspects of the Vedic doctrine is "so'ham asmi". This statement clearly states the doctrine of 'Atman', the 'Self'. In other words, it says, I am not the body, the mind, the intellect, nor am the ego. All these are the adjuncts of the body akin to the organs! There is something else that makes me call myself 'I! What is that? Is it the imperceptible notion of the Self, the Atman, the brahmn? Yes, it is!

   Now, the question before us is simply, "Whether what we perceive (as the sensuous world, the world that comes within the grasp of our senses) is real, at all?" The answer is an emphatic 'NO'; what all we see, hear, touch, feel or experience is that of the senses of touch, sight, sound, etc. There are the deaf, dumb, blind, etc. who cannot experience the sensuous world! This does not mean that they are completely insensitive and to tally deprived of worldly existence. They possess sixth sense and, in fact, better equipped to experience than us! But all these come to naught when we explore the deeper aspects of our existence. In the strict sense of the term, we do not really exist at all! What all exists is something that is mere reflection of 'That' (tyat), brahmn. This is like a hundred full moons reflected in a hundred water bodies.

  What is mere illusion say, like a mirage in a hot sandy desert, or mere waves of a rough sea, or just what we perceive as a snake on seeing a rope in the dark, or mistake for a person standing when we see a milestone. This is something like the previous impression in our mind and its recurrence as memory! We do not bother to realize that we are the same children that used to crawl on all the four in our infancy! Our memory is too short! It seems strange today if we just remember how, as kids, we used to climb the trees and jump about, and even had our limbs broken! 

  Thus, there is something that runs through our lives as memory, experiences, feelings, etc. At the basis of all these lies abominable ignorance! This ignorance goes only when a tormented jiva seeks the guidance of a learned guide to get rid of this eternal bondage. However, it is well laid down in the scriptures that "It is the prerogative of the Divine Force/Power to grant renunciation and freedom from bondage. The jiva must be lucky enough to get the blessings and has to work incessantly to attract the divine grace by constant adoration and prayer to the devi devata! The good work done in the past as well as the blessings of the elders also count in this! Hence, the jiva has to realize its true nature and get rid of the ignorance,

 Now, if we erase all these memories, experience, feelings and look at ourselves as a body made up of parts, we realize some strange mystic power playing behind all these creations. It is a divine or mystic power that creates a microscopic entity such as an ion, a Majorana fermionic cellular bio-technical-transformation, giving rise to biological entity called life, that too with the help of the basic five elements! Nothing remains if we remove these five basic elements from the material structure! May be, what remains is the spiritual entity, that is beyond the purview of science or rational explanation. In all, what we can say about this illusory world is that it is a mystery that something has been created out of nothing as if it is a magic! So also, we as humans who are made up of parts. Nothing remains if the parts are removed. Anything made of parts, for that matter, reverts to 'nothing' when the parts are removed!

  Thus, the scriptures emphatically lay down the fundamental principle of Atman- Brahman combine! It is the 'brahmn' that manifests as 'Atman' that takes numrous forms and perform functions. What all we see is the Atman that is invisible, a driving force in this universe. The Atman only takes the forms as the Vedic doctrine says, Eko'ham bahusyam!

  In this sense of the term, what all we see here is 'brahmn' only! It is 'brahmn; that appears as the material sensuous perceptible world, where there is actually 'none whatsoever'!!

Mahabharata

 The Epic Mahabharata by Sage Veda Vyasa is one of the eighteen that covered all the three segments of Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara mythology. This epic Mahabharata is also considered to be a historical even that took place just 3500 years ago! Apart from the epic, the historical aspect is one of the great War that took place between the Pandava Kings and the Kaurava Kings. The cause of the war is acceding the flourishing kingdom of the Pandava who were known for equity, justice and pious rule. As the story goes, The Pandava King conducted the Rajasuya Yaga and invited all kings for the function. Sri Krishna invited the guests and even washed the feet of Kings and Nobles! The wealth displayed and the consequent jealous is said to be the root cause of the War. The Kaurava to usurp the flourishing kingdom through a game of dice. The Pandava lost everything in the game due to cheating!

   The present Kaliyuga started after the Great Mahabharata War. It is dated back to just 2000 to 2500 years old! The characters depicted here in the history of Dvapara yuga (that preceded the present Kaliyuga) has a number of mystic aspects that cannot be answered in any rational way. The Central figure of the Mahabharata War is supposed to be Sri Krishna who is an avatar purusha incarnate Vishnu! The Sage Vedavyasa has brought out the childhood days of Sri Krishna in the epic Bhagavata and characterized Him as a King of the Vrishni Kingdom who shared his army with the Kauravas in the epic war. He Himself stood on the side of Dharma supporting the Pandava kings who lost their kingdom in the game of dice where the Kaurava cheated with the help of their Maternal uncle Shakuni. It has along long story dated back to Gandhara days (today's Afghanistan). The Pandava lost their Kingdom in the game of dice and were sent to wander in the forests and even hide or be incognito for a year! Finally, the Pandava never got their kingdom back! This is the state of decline of dharma with the lapse of time from Satya yuga down to kali yuga! Sri Krishna is portrayed by Sage Vedavyasa as a witness here.   

  Sri Krishna is portrayed as the maternal uncle of the Pandava, as also, a King, a Statesman, a divine soul, and the supreme Lord of the Universe (as shown in the Vibhuti Yoga of the Bhagavad-Gita). The story of Mahabharata portrays Sri Krishna in many colorful shades and teaches us how any normal man can rise up to the status of a God! We all know how a person who is selfless, helpful to the needy is already a God for the distressed and the needy! The term God here means the helpful nature compassion, kind and sympathetic to the oppressed, downtrodden, and humane (besides purity of the blemished soul- full of greed selfishness and cruelty, etc.) 

  Hence, the epics are our handbooks of guidance, and it is the history and tradition of our village community to assemble in the temple premises and hear these epics after the hard work in the fields! In fact, it is now an urgent need to revive this culture and also introduce in our school curriculum. The word secular introduced by the corrupt and selfish rulers should be removed since it is only the sick liars who are taking advantage of this and ruining our ancient culture. There is no need to change or twist the history of India to please the 18% and another 4% who are the converts and invaders' clan! India, ie., Bharat is almost a 10000- ears old land of great civilization and there was neither Prophet nor a Messenger of God ever there in India prior to 2000 year. It is indeed a land of the Buddha, the Mahaveera, and the Guru Nanak and Shankaracharya, Madhva and Ramanuja. Forget about the misrule and misadventure of the Mughals and the Europeans who came to loot and cheat and overstayed here and regain the historic culture and tradition of the prosperous civilization! 

'Fire-God'

 Fire-God or Agni Deva is eulogized in the Rk Veda in 64 suktas,  The first verse begins with the worship of Agni. agnimeeLay purOhitam yajnyasya dEvam Rutvijam hOtAram ratna dhAtamam! Meaning, "Oh, Agni deva, our obeisance to You; You are the Chief Priest for Us Who prays for Us and offer our havis to agni deva, we worship you, you are the One Who sits in front of the Sacrificial Fire, offer our havis to Fire-God; You are the One  Who Prays for us, and carry our prayers to Higher-ups and bring us in turn the Blessings from the Gods in heavens! 

 Everything in the Universe is pervaded by Fire, Agni. Agni or Fire is worshiped by our forefathers since very ancient times. There are some who worship Fire at home 24/7 and see that the fire is not extinguished any time! These are the 'Agnihotri'. Sun is the prime source of all heat and fire for us. The Sun is not even one amongst the giant Stars; it is supposed to be just a dwarf, at that! It is enough to sustain our small universe that contain the Planets and their satellites. The Sun provides us all that we need for our survival! The position of the Earth as a Planet in the Solar system is such that it is the only planet that creates and supports life. 

  In a way, the Fire is an inherent aspect of everything that we find here. The fire is hidden in every micron of the mineral or metallic element. The atomic energy is one of the wonders that can either create or destroy this universe! The source of this Energy is traced to Ions, particularly the Fermion and its transformed or manifest aspect of Majorana ion. There are secrets that are yet to be unraveled! Not much is known beyond the Infra-red and the Ultra-Violet, the X-Ray, the Alpha, Beta and the Gamma rays!  Research works are continuing in this field of Energy, Light, Heat, etc.

  It is interesting to find how Agni/Fire is hidden in everything starting from a sand particle, a s piece of stone or wood. Our entire body is Fire! Conscience and Consciousness are fire. Intelligence is Fire.1ntellect is fire. The Mind. thought force or thinking process itself generate fire! The physical body is sustained by the fire. The food we take is fire. Fire digests the food and the metabolism is maintained by the fire in the body. There is nothing beside this Fire/Agni!

  No wonder the Yagniks or the priestly class engaged in the worship of sacrificial fire since very early times in our country. The story of Worship of Fire is traced to the Parsis community. the Aryans, the ancient Mayans and the Mexicans, and the like! However, the Veda have well documented the beginnings of the worship of Fire beyond all doubts!

 But, what is interesting here is that of the Vedic Pundits who worshiped Sun-God and offered cooked rice and dosa as havis with prayers for good rains, good harvests, welfare of not of just the Indians, but the entire mankind world-over. The prayers always started with Om and ended with Shanti mantra (Peace Chants). 

'Gitopadesha'

 What prompted Bhagavan Sri Krishna to impart 'Gitopadesham' to Arjuna in the epic Battlefield of Kurukshetra is indeed a puzzle! In fact, this 'Gitopadesham' was imparted to Sun-God Vivasvan first, at the beginning of Creation as stated in the Text- imam vivasvate prathamam praahaa...| Another strange thing is that the need for imparting dharma tp the Pandava, particularly Arjuna is very strange, indeed. None of these Pandava are humans - born of flesh bones and blood. These are the mantrasya putraah, the Blessed children of the power of the 'sacred word' (mantra), just like Karna born to Kunti when she was just an 8-yearold! Kunti's husband died or disappeared on the very day of the marriage and, hence the Pandava had no father, as such! In sum and substance, the entire Gita is riddled with a number of strange things. it teaches Sankhya, Knowledge (jnyan), Devotion (bhakti), Meditation (dhyan), Renunciation (vairagya), and finally transcendence (samadhi) in yoga!

   When the Blessed Lord says, I imparted this yogashastra and brahmavidya upanishad to Vivasvan, the first Manu, what is it that is imparted? Is it the secret of creation, sustenance, dissolution and merger? Truly it is everything! The entire Bhagavad-Gita is now considered a handbook or manual of Administration! It is now the panacea for all ills of social discord, unrest, strife and warfare. The Gita teaches how to work out a practical way of achieving world peace. It is more relevant today when the cold war days are over and there is better communication among nations to work towards a progressive prosperous development-oriented policies world over creating better standards of life for everyone everywhere.

  Many countries have now realized the importance of teachings of the Gita and want to adopt these teachings. It is now more relevant to adopt the teachings of the Gita than ever before. Fight poverty, hunger, unemployment and ignorance. Fight injustice and establish equanimity, social justice, and dharma. The days of war ae over and these are days of peaceful co-existence. Extend cooperation to uplift the downtrodden! There is nothing to gain by burning arms and ammunitions killing people! It is now the urgent need of the hour to extend mutual help and cooperation for betterment of life of the poor and the neglected. Bhagavan is the word used to denote the divine souls that work toward this universal welfare. Hence, everyone has to strive for this. Divinity is an inherent aspect of the jiva and it should be allowed to play its full role in everybody's life!

   Thus, the central theme of the Gitopadesham is to establish love, compassion, mutual understanding and cooperation, and peaceful co-existence. The entire episode of Mahabharata war started due to the cheating in the game of dice and usurp the rich and prosperous kingdom of Pandu by the cousins of Kuru King dynasty. The Pandava stands for the noble qualities against the hundred and odd bad qualities (avagunas) like cheating, usurp others property, hatred, jealousy, etc. Ultimately, what is gained in this war is well-known! Nothing accrued to the Pandavas and the Kaurava perished! This is a bitter lesson who want war to solve petty regional problems today, isn't it?