Looking Forward 2020s AD

    There are almost 800 crore people allover the world. Of these, nearly half the population is found in East and South-East Asia. There are vast regions of deserts - both hot and cold, forests and high and dry plateau that have no population or scarcely populated. Surprisingly, there are beautiful places that are yet to be explored by man! The life and activities of people of the people range from almost nomadic to tribal, pastoral to farming and industrial; there are backward and progressive people. Now it is difficult to say what holds for these millions of people who are deprived of even basic necessities of life! The future is not all bright. There are many countries waging war with neighbors and some problematic ones are creating problems everywhere inciting hatred and terrorist activities. These rogue countries have to be tamed! It is a difficult proposition to bring the fundamentalists to conference tables and make them realize hatred and strife will not pay in the long run. If people are to be happy, the only way is peace and mutual trust and help! The Year 2020 and the next ten years are crucial for many to survive since there are large scale migrations, illegal entrants to not only their neighboring, but far off countries, too! There are refugee taking risk of crossing seas seeking new homes. The entire world is in a turmoil and, war is no solution. Advancement in science and technology will make little dent in this situation.

Looking Back the Year that was 2019

The Year 2019 AD is marked by nature's fury like, floods, forest fires and bush fiers, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and some parts of the land sinking and totally disappearing in sea in addition to lack of drinking water, refugee influxes, large scale migrants, etc. Global warming, melting of glaciers, and erratic monsoons have added to the human misery. May be, the Third World War is imminent! Much worse people came into streets in almost 180 countries of the world protesting against the Governments and bombings in Syria, Mogadishu, etc are not to be mentioned? What has gone wrong with the world?

  Yes. Everything has gone wrong with the world because of total degeneration. People have lost their sense of human existence and become more and more inhuman in their day to day life. Somebody aptly said, "I hate these humans. I love humanity". Human evolution is not progressing from Australopithecus, pekinenses, javanus, and other state of homo sapiens to more human and divine consciousness. The problem is not the humans, as such! It is the warning!

  This is the last quarter, called Kali yuga of the 7th manvantara, called Vaivasvata manvantara. This is coming to a close leading to the next Savarni manvantara, sooner or later. The first quarter of the Kaliyuga is coming to a close! The Kali yuga will end disastrously, just like the six manvantaras and their 27 yugas, so far! Thus we are at the end of the manvantara! Those who abide by dharma, take to spiritual path will become the seed for the next manvantara! Rest all will perish. The Bhagavad-Gita and most of the puranas, particularly the Vishnu Purana, Padma Purana, the Shiva purana make these points clear.

  So far, so good! Not much damage has been done in the Bharata varsha. the influx of the Western religious cults have done some damage to the great Hindu spiritual pursuits of the saints and sadhus! This is the yoga bhumi and people have forgotten their roots and are aping the Western culture to their own peril. Who cares? Why bother is the attitude. let the world perish. But save your soul!
   However, there is a cliche here as to what exactly is 'time'! In the strict sense of the term, there is no such thing as 'Time'. "Time is an illusion"! It is the ingenuity of the human mind that creates, divides, disseminate what is not there and this the 'ma ya' (that which is measurable)! The Sky or space is another such ma ya! That which is 'nothing' accommodates 'everything' that does not really exist! The moment radiation of electromagnetic waves move out of Stars (Sun included) there begins time and space is created wherever these electromagnetic waves move out (in 360 Deg.). So who will tell us 'when did the light start from Sun', and where did it reach, and how far and how long it lasts? 

From Death to Immortality

    Rise up from this place, O man, do not fall down, but cast off the fetters of Death which now hold you. Do not cut yourself off from this world of men, from the sight of the Fire and the Sun. May the great Wind breathe purification upon you, May the Waters rain immortality upon you, may the Sun warm your body with blessing, may Death show you mercy! Do not perish!  I charge you to rise, O man, not to fall. Long life I impart to you and skill for living. Mount safe and sound on this chariot of deathlessness. You shall speak in old age, full of wisdom! Let not your mind stray away and be lost. Do not spurn the living and follow the Fathers! May All-Gods protect you right here! [Atharva Veda VIII, 1, 1-7]

 tad srushtva tadevanupravishat |

   That Deity thought: 'Let Me now enter into those three deities by means of this living self and let Me then develop names and forms.' [Sama Veda, Chandogya Upanishad VI, III - The Threefold Development, 2]

Prakruti-Purusha

   tvam Adideva purusha puranamstvastya vishvatma param nidhanam || (Ch 1. Verse 39)
   This verse eulogises the Lord as the 'Adi deva purusha'. the primal Deity, primordial seed of creation! He has created andentered it (His creation). He dwells in us all! the supreme Lord is immutable, self-effulgent, and eteranl being.  As to the term 'Being', the verse 37 explains thus,:"Being is that which exists! Non-being is that with reference to whichthe idea of non-existence arises. Thus, He is both Being and the non-being- param Atman and Jiva Atman. The Immutable is transcendental to being and nob-being.The learned sages have declared as 'One'. He is everything. sarvam khaluvidam brahma || 
  Prakrutim purusham chaiva (Ch.13. Verse 19). This verse makes it amply clear that there is no beginning or end to this jivatman and the prakruti. The individual soul (jivatman) is the manifest form of the one supreme unborn, eternal, and His nature. The Bhagavad-Gita has clearly defined the concepts of ''Prakruti and 'Purusha'  (Ch. XVIII Verses 40-41). Everything is born of 'guna', qualities of Nature (prakruti). 'One only becomes many' is the principle. It is tamas becoming, rajas and sattva by its own nature. Here again, 'guneshu gunanuvartante' is the principle. Everybody presents these qualities day and night all through life! A person shows tamas in the night, becomes sattvic in the morning and evening and rajasic throughout the day. Rajas makes one active, while tamas makes him/her indolent, lazy and inactive. Sattva is normally short-lived in all! Sattva makes a person almost contemplative on higher aspects of life. 

    Nature means the guna, prakruti, maya of God. (Verse 40). God is the 'mahapurusha' who manifests as jivatman. The One who inherits the pura (body) is the purusha! Purusha is the embodied soul, jivatman. His nature is the quality of the person!

  It may be surprising to know the way the living beings take certain forms from almost the invisible brahmn! The Bhagavad-Gita has narrated how the jiva takes shape. The soul comes to earth as an ion of electrical spark from solar radiation carrying the radiant energy of other distant stars, as well! This is evident from the hydrogen and oxygen ions in our atmosphere and water-vapor in the clouds. The rain drops that fall to earth gets mixed with the soil and create life forms of all sorts! The life-force enters and departs at will! It creates life forms like plants, animals, humans, whenever and wherever it enters as a biotic entity, Thus all are just the hydrogen, oxygen, carbon content at its root! The scriptures praise the Lord as Hari sarvottama and vayu jeevottama!

   The soul, indeed, is the purusha and the body is His own creation! Since the soul is all-knowing and all-powerful it is capable of entering anywhere and create a body of organs of His like! Thus we all have entered the earth and the food and became the spermatozoa creating a form when impregnated in the woman's egg-cell. We have created our own tissues, organs and body from cell division and cell multiplication in the woman's body and make them mother and father after our birth!

   This is stated as Atma eva brahma | ayam Atma brahma | Atmavai vedgm sarvam | aham brahmasmi |

In the Beginning

   In the beginning, my dear, this universe was Being (Sat) alone, one only without a second. Some say that in the beginning this was non-being (asat) alone, one only without a second; and from that non-being, being was born. Aruni said: But how, indeed, could it be thus, my dear? How could Being be born from non-being? No, my dear, it was Being alone that existed in the beginning, one only without a second. It (Being, or Brahman) thought: 'May I be many; may I grow forth.' It created fire. That fire thought: 'May I be many; may I grow forth.' It created water. That is why, whenever a person is hot and perspires, water is produced from fire (heat) alone.  Homage to Death, the end of life! Here rest your breath, both inward and outward! May the life of this man be maintained in the realm of the Sun, in the world of deathlessness! The power of God has raised him up, the heavenly Drink has raised him up, the powers of the Storm, of Heaven and of Fire, have raised him up to well-being. [Atharva Veda VIII, 1, 1-2].That water thought: 'May I be many; may I grow forth.' It created food (i.e. earth). That is why, whenever it rains anywhere, abundant food is produced. From water alone is edible food produced.[Samavda, Chandogya Upanishad VI, II - Brahman: the Cause of the Universe,1-4]

Of all these living beings, there are only three origins: those born from an egg, those born from a living being and those born from a sprout.[Sama Veda, Chandogya Upanishad VI, III - The Threefold Development, 1]

These glorious drops are my health and salvation: they strengthen my joints as thongs do a cart. May these droplets guard my foot lest it stumble and chase from my body all manner of ills.Make shine brightly like fire produced by friction. Illumine us, make us ever more prosperous. Enthused by you, Soma, I find myself rich! Enter within us for our well-being.With hearts inspired may we relish the Juice like treasure inherited from our Fathers! Lengthen our days, King Soma, as the sun causes the shining days to grow longer[Rig Veda VIII, 48,5-7]

"Jnyani is Very Dear to Me"

   Bhagavan says, "Jnyani, the man of knowledge, is very dear to Me". (Ch. 7 Verse 17). Who is a jnyani is also explained in this verse. The person endowed with 'Knowledge' (jnyan) is steadfast, single-minded, totally devoted to Him. Further, it is also stated that 'shruddhavan labhate jnyan...| Knowledge is available only to those who are devoted to Him totally, with focused attention, single-minded, always thinking of Him.

   'Knowledge (Jnyan) is stated to be the one pertaining to the Lord, not the materialistic world. The knowledge pertaining to the materialistic world is of lower type (apara vidya). But this superior knowledge is higher, 'para vidya'. The knowledge pertaining to worldly sensuous life is of no use since it is ever-changing and is of mundane nature. The joy and happiness obtained from worldly knowledge is temporal, disappointing, sooner or later. It will not give a lasting, permanent happiness. Higher knowledge, on the other hand, pertains to liberation, emancipation, mukti and breaks the shackles of births and deaths, and gives eternal happiness. The embodied soul, indeed, looks for liberation!
   A jnyani is one who has taken to yoga (at the earliest?) and steadfastly adhered to it. Thus, he has excelled the ordinary mundane worldly seekers.  He has realized the futility of mundane existence. He has attained to the 'turiya' and thereby transcended 'time-space' bondage, duality, crossed beyond causality and karma klesha. He is sarvasha, sarvabhava and sarvarambha parityagi, nirasakta, in the Lord's own opinion,as stated by him!

  Thus, all those who aspire for the higher knowledge are yogi, blessed and redeemed! They are dear to Him. 

The Self

   "He who inhabits the mind, yet is within the mind, whom the mind does not know, whose body the mind is and who controls the mind from within-He is your Self, the Inner Controller, the Immortal. He who inhabits the skin, yet is within the skin, whom the skin does not know, whose body the skin is and who controls the skin from within-He is your Self, the Inner Controller, the Immortal. He who inhabits the intellect (vijnana), yet is within the intellect, whom the intellect does not know, whose body the intellect is and who controls the intellect from within-He is your Self, the Inner Controller, the Immortal.He who inhabits the organ of generation, yet is within the organ, whom the organ does not know, whose body the organ is and who controls the organ from within-He is your Self, the Inner Controller, the Immortal. He is never seen, but is the Seer; He is never heard, but is the Hearer; He is never thought of, but is the Thinker; He is never known, but is the Knower. There is no other seer than He, there is no other hearer than He, there is no other thinker than He, there is no other knower than He. He is your Self, the Inner Controller, the Immortal. Everything else but Him is perishable. Thereupon Uddilaka, the son of Aruna, held his peace.[Yajur Veda, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad III, VII-Yajnavalkya and Uddalaka, 16]

   Accept the healing remedy your mother and your father bring together with your sister and your brother. I make you one who reaches ripe old age.Live on, O man, with your spirit unimpaired. Do not follow the messengers sent by Yama! Remember the cities where the living dwell! [Atharva Veda V, 30, 6]

  Come back hither in response to our calls, you who know the path that lies ahead, the way and the ascent of every living person!. [Atharva Veda V, 30, 7]