The Overture
Written by: atmanandanadha
Who made the Sun, the source of light and heat! Why planets dance around in chain! What are those tiny twinkling lights in the infinite azure! Who gave the life on earth in matter base! Who does ordain all that comes to play a role and quite a day! The myth of myths remains all the same!!!
"Man is the mason Of the world stage Of that, he is the actor And the witness too"
This world is a magnificent temple of work and service. Every object we perceive in this world is simply the sum of its qualities. Since the varieties exist only in mind, the whole objective universe of matter and energy does not exist except as a construction of the consciousness, nay the edifice of conventional symbols shaped by the senses of man.
Nature is the incarnation of a thought,
and turns to thought again
The world is thought precipitated.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Einstein carried further, this train of logic showing that even space and time are forms of intuition. Space has no objective reality except as an order or arrangement of the objects we perceive in it, and time has no independent existence apart from the order of events by which we measure it.
The thought is energy organized. In the field of Consciousness Mind is a localised point. In the mundane physical field, thought-forms manifest with the input of organic energy supplied by the brain. Newton realised the unseen force of gravity while the apple was falling. Similarly, we also understand the invisible wind force causing waves on a still water lake. When we experience a phenomenal unexpected event, we often try to tally the same with the thoughts or wishes we nurture in our mind, and propose that our thoughts manifested in the mortal world! In a way, they are synchronicities and remain a proof to the fact that our thoughts manifest on the mundane platform. This is the inherent but obscured inventive muscle our mind possesses by realising the nuance of which one will advance and transmutes into self-creator vouchsafing accountability to one's thoughts, words and actions. Consciousness is awareness, or thinking, feeling, and doing. The fact that we are capable of reacting is a sign of consciousness, though the reactions to the fillip may differ from person to person or time to time. Individual acts are also performed reflexively without conscious awareness. Thoughts as anger, lust, jealousy, hatred and even desire to harm the other vigorously clutter many minds often, and selflessness predominates in exclusive some wherein they also give up everything and start working for the welfare of the world. It is the subconscious mind that is responsible for these feelings. Our experiences are stored in the form of subtle impressions in our subconscious mind; on interaction with one another these impressions become attitudes regulating us to respond in a personalised way to a given contingency or stimulus within the framework of our aptitude in our subconscious mind. Attitude personified is character. One can, of course, choose to react to the given circumstance with free will, but well within the framework of one's individual personality/character which is the sum total of all past deeds, thoughts, and feelings carried forward from many past lives.
Though it appears as a peculiar catch22 condition, the exit from such impelling subconscious labyrinth is obviated in an individual who is spiritual in disposition. Purer the mind better is the reflection of divinity within. Our life has a higher and noble purpose, and our crowning destiny is to travel up in the cosmic order to reach excellence and apprehend perpetuity and Absolute Ecstasy. Reflection with altruistic religious zeal and devoutness, discernment with an enormous sense of impassivity and repudiation unquestionably help us to muscle over the vagaries of the otherwise infested subconscious mind and unleash our true super-consciousness. Spirituality is one's character that makes one transcend the barriers of empiricism, caste, creed and sensuality; and realize one's connection with the Truth. It may even mean a state of being ethereal.
Only mind is evolving according to Indian Philosophy. Modern Theory says, ‘From where life comes and to where life goes is scientifically unknown and will not be known’. Indian Theory answers by saying that everything comes from and goes to the all-pervading spirit. We are already spiritual; hence no need to work at being spiritual. We need not work at being human. Once an anxious student asked a 'Zen Master', ‘How long to spiritual enlightenment?’ The ‘Zen Master’ answered, ‘A long time, at least 10 years.’ The student said, 'Well, I will work twice as hard.' The ‘Zen Master’ said, ‘Then it will take 20 years.’ ‘No!’ said the committed student, ‘I will work three times as hard.’ ‘Well then,’ said the ‘Zen Master’, ‘it will take 30 years.’ The spiritual path is a process of opening to new dimensions of who we already are. It's a process of animating to our truth; allowing ourselves to be authentic.
The mind is that part of a human being, as contrasted with body, that thinks, feels, and wills with its native muscle reinforced with acuities, objectives, resourcefulness, reminiscences, responsiveness, sentiments, and an aptitude to converse. Mind in entirety is always seething with thoughts, nay impatience and disquiet is mind in the flesh. Surprisingly there is nothing like peace of mind. A composed mind is not a peaceful mind. A thing fundamentally, restless cannot be at peace. Peace, if it's real, can never be bothered. The self is peace itself and not at peace. It doesn't need to be put to rest. Only the noetic mind is restless. What we call progress generally is merely a change over to the agreeable, from the disagreeable. But modifications by themselves cannot bring us to the unchanging, for the one that has a beginning must end somewhere. We can find what we have lost as we can never find what we haven't lost. The correct knowledge of the self is not genuine knowledge.
In the words of Plato, knowledge is 'justified true belief'. Knowledge is but reminiscence, a pattern of thought, and a mental convention. All these are galvanized by pleasure and pain. It is because we are aggravated and motivated by pleasure and pain that we are in search of knowledge. A posteriori empirical knowledge, that which is generated through experience, the one that is acquired through a method of inquiry-based on tangible, quantifiable and equitable empirical evidence got ourselves into our present state through verbal thinking, and we must get out of it the same way. The true peace once realised from within, the one we never lost, will remain with us incessantly. Thus the diligent search should be for what we do not have but to find out what we have never lost.
Passion for pleasure and worry of pain always camouflage clear perception. Psyche clear from both these is the natural state of mind. The ‘Good Book’ and the collective experiences prove the obvious difficulty in giving up desires. Desire and despair are individually mental viewpoints, nay acquired and expected convictions. On realisation of this, they cease to obsess. The real motivation in every human endeavour is in seeking pleasure. More the pleasure more the fear of pain! Pain always aspires at pleasure, and pleasure ends up in pain persistently. When we realize that we are beyond pain and pleasure, aloof and unassailable, then the pursuit of pleasure ceases and the resultant sorrow too. Both pain and pleasure do depend on something, but freedom from both depends on nothing and cannot be lost. Hence we should learn to go beyond and live really. All we need to do is to cease taking ourselves to be within the field of consciousness. The great preceptor is the inner-self, the supreme guru who can carry us to our goal. Grapple to him with hoops of steel, and on the other hand, we require no other guru! (sri guruh sarvakarana bhuta saktih- bhavana up.)
Man indeed, is a great wonder! Spiritual Science has to be developed to understand many mysteries in Nature, both the inner and the outer. The duration of life between birth and death is unknown. But within the life-time how best one can live is the wise thing one can aim at. Conception, Conservation and Obliteration are the phases in the process of evolution and are persistently cyclic. Energy is all-pervading and fathered matter, and in matter life has evolved, thus making life a part of energy. Lord Buddha described that desire was the root cause for all sorrows, sufferings, obligations, births and deaths, and so self-restraint over passion, the self-denial of sensual pleasure and self-control of desires were needed to overcome them. He advised that astute thoughts, compassionate words and placid actions help achieve nirvana (emancipation) in life. Sankara Bhagavatpada suggested that the path of non-attachment is to be followed in exploring and experiencing the Universal Spirit so as to successfully surmount the ocean of life and attain moksha.
A typical Hindu spiritualist always understood and carried a belief that ignorance, either eternal or ephemeral, is the cause of bondage and emancipation is the result of knowledge. Ignorance mothers polarity, egotism and plurality. Ego (false ego) manipulates jiva to identify himself with sense organs, mind, intellect or body; hence bondage. Wiping out of the sense of self through justified, true and believed knowledge, and realisation of the real nature of brahman by identity fragments and degenerates bondage. By being brahman, one is encouraged to cognise brahman everywhere and oneself in all. It fetches multiple statuses as it enables one to figure out the unity and identity of jiva and brahman. Consequently, fear of merit and demerit, attachment and aversion, pleasure and pain, stop impeding and influencing human behaviour. Excellence dawns on human attitude, and one comfortably lives life in absolute freedom and bliss. This is spiritualism. The scratchy elements or aberrations like avidya, maya, moha, raga, dvesha, find no place in the minds/attitude of the evolved, and through proper sadhana one reinvents one’s divine heritage of virtues like courage, power, strength, wisdom, happiness. Thus we remain our own redeemers.
aashaya badhyate loko karmana bahu chintaya;
ayukshinam na janati tasmat jagrata jagrata
- sankara bhagavatpada
You are bound in this world by desires, actions and manifold anxieties. Therefore, you do not know that your life is slowly decaying and is wasted. Therefore wake up, wake up.
kama krodascha lobhascha dehe tishtanthi taskarah jnana ratnopaharaya tasmat jagrata jagrata
- sankara bhagavatpada
Desire, anger, greed, attachment, pride, jealousy - these dacoits are residing within your own body to rob you of the precious gem of spiritual wisdom (atma jnana), and to make you wail and be in ignorance. Therefore wake up, wake up.
In a multidimensional Universe, higher dimensions always help organize life on the lower physical plane. The perception of greater consciousness, in fact quickly leads to god awareness. We believe that God is the omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient being, and that praying will get Him to act on our behalf. We gain access to God through prayer and expect a positive response if we honestly pray. Praying to forms, elements, mythological characters, great human beings, ancestors, spirits, concepts, etc., has given people a sense of solace and courage. Prayer, as an articulation of faith, picks up where hope gives up. Powerful, honest prayer certainly changes us for things instead of changing things for us. Sincere prayer puts ego to rest; consequently, the recognition of one's limitations, the focusing of one's priorities towards the powerful, omniscient force creates an atmosphere of acceptance of what is beyond human ken, and what is in the cosmic order of things. Prayer also succeeds in raising the threshold of our psyche to bear with pain and pleasure by carrying equilibrium.
Self-realization is a metaphysical trans-sensuous experience within the human body, making an individual truly religious. The immanence and transcendence of the supreme in personified epithet cannot be comprehended by the human mind, intellect, or logic. Bhagawan Krishna in bhagavad gita says,
naham vedair na tapasa na danena na cejyaya
sakya evam-vidha drastum drastavan asi mam yatha
- b g XI 53
I cannot be seen in this eternal form either by study of the Vedas, or by austere penance, or by charity, or even by grand rituals and ceremonies. It is not possible to see me as you are
tad viddhi pranipatena pariprasnena sevaya
upadeksyanti te jnanam jnaninas tattva-darsinah
- b g IV 34
Para vidya (Knowledge of the self) can only be instructed by self-realised and holy saints endowed with divine revelation; it is by accepting such spiritual master and by submissive inquiries and rendering service unto him one experiences the Absolute
Such a spot-on guru does not pad the disciple's mind with a prolific description of atman and paramatman. He is one who takes one beyond theories and into direct experience.
In a consummate anecdote sri jiddu Krishnamurthy said, 'Meditation is not a means to an end. It is both the means and the end.'
Being one with the Universe is mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness is to sit silently and comfortably, focusing on an object or process, keeping away from cognitive analysis or desires regarding the contents of consciousness. To be mindful is to be aware of one’s thoughts and actions in the present, without judging oneself. An individual practising mindfulness experiences all objects that arise in consciousness as if it were his first rendezvous with it. Mindfulness can be developed in any situation because meditation encompasses maximisation of both the expanse and lucidity of attentiveness. Meditation releases the unlimited power of the subconscious. Effective meditation helps develop concentration, matured and thoughtful attitude, positive emotions like love, respect, happiness etc. meditation unleashes the power of our subconscious mind.
In bhagavad gita bhagawan krishna proceeds to advise arjuna the distinctions to be cognized in jnana, the indirect and general one that is learnt from scriptures; and vijnana (direct and explicit knowledge learnt from experience and concerning the nature, power and glory of the supreme spirit. Often jnana is taken to refer to the knowledge of the world and vijnana to spiritual wisdom.
bhumir aponalo vayuh kham mano buddhir eva ca
ahankara itiyam me bhinna prakritir astadha
- b g VII 4
Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, spiritual intelligence and false ego; thus these are the eightfold divisions of my energy
The three essential constituent aspects of Nature are - the mode of goodness (satva-guna), the mode of passion (rajo-guna) and the mode of ignorance (tamo-guna). These gunas’ expand, jumble, and project suo motu and sua sponte under the eternal time principle deluding the worlds under karmic law. Satva-guna modifications lead to mind, intellect and the senses of cognition; rajo-guna to vital currents and the organs of action; tamo-guna the physical body and the state of sleep. Thus this psychophysical constitution of the individual is led astray under the influences (moha) of these natural aspects concealing the reality of the supreme spirit and projecting the unreal world! It is indeed difficult for the common man to transcend the mantle of moha. Only those who put their trust and seek out the supreme spirit will be able to pass beyond the delusive power of maya.
The modern science of psychology pronounces that desire, lust, attraction, perish only when they are fulfilled, but leave a deep sense of dissatisfaction when denied. A person feels tensed and suffers from complexity, which affects the whole personality of the person. It is imperative to remove desire, lust and attraction for a healthy brain. Hindu theology, on the other hand, says that when negative feelings are fulfilled they subside for some time, but leave their impressions so that they arise again and again. The cycle rotates and does not stop. Desires do not die if they are fulfilled. If psychologists were true then today the people leading materialistic life would not have suffered from tension, depression, loneliness, disappointment and other mental diseases so often. The present-day countries/societies which have more freedom of enjoyment, are suffering mental disorders most. Attachment destroys memory; it distorts the exact form of any and everything thus dislocating intelligence. The whole basis of intelligence is memory. Attraction and Willingness is the product of attachment, the consequence of disfigured intelligence. As a corollary, the most infectious jealousy and hatred become our companions. In due course, we fall as insects into the trap of the spider's web. This is the most unwanted horrendous and destructive situation we knit ourselves into!
dhyayato visayan pumsah sangas tesupajayate
sangat sanjayate kamah kamat krodho ’bhijayate
- b g 2.62
While contemplating the objects of the senses, a person develops attachment for them, and from such attachment, lust develops, and from lust, anger arises
krodhad bhavati sammohah sammohat smriti-vibhramah
smriti-bhramsad buddhi-naso buddhi-nasat pranasyati
- b g 2.63
From anger, complete delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost, one falls down again into the material pool.
Mother, father, son, wife, relatives, friends, teachers, elders, devotion, desire to live, adoration and attachment towards them always, subjugation and liberation, and merits and sins, and relief in them – this is called samsara. It is the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth; also, it is a general state of overt or subtle sufferings that occur in day to day life. He who stands as the designer of these and the synergist is called samsarin (transmigrator). The visible thus is called samsara, or that samsara is for the visible form of the omnipresent supreme self. The self is one though the frames are many and the individuals are contrasting. In all of them the essence, the bottom line is one. Therefore the entire visible objects aggregate the samsara; God who takes the contracted form is the samsarin (embodied self). The body is stated to be samsara and the self the samsarin (transmigrator). The incorporated one, associated with desire, covetousness, etc., born of the sense of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ is bound by egoity. Propagating ego-sense in the body and sense organs, the embodied one acts continually and is bound to the world by them. He who does his duty with a conviction that he is not the agent of the action, and that the said action does not pertain to him, is not bound by the action in any way. The impression of reality in the unreal and unreality in the real is shaped by the chimerical veil of maya. A snake in the rope and silver in the shell appear even in the mind of the being who knows the truth. Although the rope and the shell are real, the false knowledge of snake and the silver dawn on creating illusion. Similarly, on the unreal serpent and silver, the false knowledge of rope and nacre is unfolded. Maya is perceived to be of two kinds – pure and impure; the pure being metaphysical and the impure empirical. Jiva, though factually the eternal self, identifies itself unwittingly with the empirical form. When karma diminishes, the maya, which is pure and impure, commits beings the liberation, which is of the form of the annihilation of maya itself. Just as in the world the fire in the wood perishes because of the destruction of the wood, so also maya perishes for want of substratum. Isvara is in every form. By whatever manner He is worshipped by people, all that is accepted by the lord.
The Chinese sage, Wei-Lang, in his sutra about the indwelling Buddha (atman) says -
Within the domain of our mind, there is a Tathagata of Enlightenment who sends forth a powerful light which illumines the six gates (of sensation) externally and purifies them. This light is strong enough to pierce through the six heavens of desire, and when it is turned inwardly to the Essence of Mind, it eliminates at once the three poisonous elements, purges away our sins which lead us to the hells, and enlightens us thoroughly within and without.
- Wei-lang
While introducing himself to his acarya sankara, hastamalaka, one of the most prolific jnanis’ among sankara bhagavatpada’s immediate disciples, says the following dependable words -
- I am neither man, god, yaksha, brahmin, kshatriya, vaisya, sudra, brahmachari, householder, forest-dweller, nor sannyasi; I am pure awareness alone.
- Just as the sun causes all worldly movements, so do I – the ever-present, conscious Self – cause the mind to be active and the senses to function. Again, just as the ether is all-pervading, yet devoid of any specific qualities, so am I free from all qualities.
- I am the conscious self, ever-present and associated with everything in the same manner as heat is always associated with fire, I am that eternal, undifferentiated, unshaken consciousness, on account of which the insentient mind and senses function, each in its own manner.
- I am that conscious self of whom the ego is not independent as the image in a mirror is not independent of the object reflected.
- I am the unqualified, conscious self, existing even after the extinction of buddhi (intellect) just as the object remains ever the same even after the removal of the reflecting mirror.
- I am eternal consciousness, dissociated from the mind and senses, I am the mind of the mind, the eye of the eye, ear of the ear and so on. I am not cognizable by the mind and senses.
- I am the eternal, single, conscious self, reflected in various intellects, just as the sun is reflected on the surface of various sheets of water.
- I am the single, conscious self, illumining all intellects, just as the sun simultaneously illumines all eyes so that they perceive objects.
- Only those eyes that are helped by the sun are capable of seeing objects, not others. The source from which the sun derives its power is me.
- Just as the reflections of the sun on agitated waters seems to break up, but remains perfect on a calm surface, so also am I, the conscious self, unrecognizable in agitated intellects though I clearly shine in those who are calm.
- Just as a fool thinks that the sun is entirely lost when it is hidden by dense clouds, so do people think that the ever-free self is bound.
- Just as the ether is all-pervading and unaffected by contact, so also does the ever-conscious-self pervade everything without being affected in any way. I am that self.
- Just as a transparent crystal takes on the lines of its background, but is in no way changed thereby, and just as the unchanging moon on being reflected on undulating surfaces appears agitated, so is it with you, the all-pervading god.
- hasthamalakiya stotra