Impressions-unspeaking mind
Why Are We Here
Why are we here? Is it to realise the greater truth / realise God?
There are accounts where people have mentioned seeing a vision of god just before death. So do you really have to work for it during your life time?
Also by certain accounts our aatma is part of the larger Paramatma.
Thus the paradox that comes up is why does the soul need to realise God / Parmatma, if it is a part of it? It will at a point in time become one with the larger self / ‘Param Atma’. Or is it that the Soul is lost & is looking for the correct path to get back, or is there more to it?
If we see it in a different light, then the soul is here to gain certain experiences during its earthly stay. If that is so then the soul / person will be born in an environment or take a path of actions to experience that reality. The related implication is that should we really then be judgemental towards people who as per us are not living or acting as per societal norms. Hence, in a sense all actions good or bad have a purpose & thus justifiable & we should not judge it.
The whole concept of good & bad is to be questioned in the light that there is a need to experience one of them to understand the other.
When you don't empathise, you can’t understand the other soul and have to experience that again in the next life. With empathy you gain that experience and you don't hold that thought which in turn doesn't hold you back. With empathy you can be free of all earthly thoughts which hold you.
The whole concept of good & bad is to be questioned in the light that there is a need to experience one of them to understand the other.
When you don't empathise, you can’t understand the other soul and have to experience that again in the next life. With empathy you gain that experience and you don't hold that thought which in turn doesn't hold you back. With empathy you can be free of all earthly thoughts which hold you.
The other thought that comes is, if the path is pre decided / predestined then why make an effort, you will get what you deserve. But it does not work that way, you get the environment that you sought / your soul seeks but it depends on you as to how you experience it / react to various situations.
WHO AM I: WHAT IS REALITY
1. Who Am I? I wear so many masks in everyday life, by now; I also don’t know who am I? A father (different to son & daughter), son, husband, brother (within that also different), friend, colleague etc. will the real me please stand up.
2. Being Judgemental. How can I judge people on their behavior when I can’t control mine? What do I know of the circumstances behind their actions? And with which mask do I judge them? We are here only for different experiences, take them as such, don’t judge them.
Reality
3. What is OM & Shiva and how are they same? As per scriptures, Om is the source of creation or creator, Shiva is the destroyer. What is this paradox, how can that be? So I ask not who Shiva is, but what is Shiva? It is us. It is qualities within us, which can destroy everything viz, moh, maya etc. Shiva is depicted with a snake, ash covered, who takes drinks, liquor etc, and so it is the qualities within us that destroy Brahman within us.
Universe- uni+ verse=one verse=Om
4. Interpretation of Gita. It is the senses which make us believe in physical reality. As Krishna says in Gita-we need to control our senses, rein them to understand the real reality.
5. In Gita, Arjun is advised by Krishna to kill those, who are close to him. What it means is conquering yourself by killing the numerous attached things like, fears, desires, ego, expectations, attachments, senses (Indriya) and materialistic things.
The Speaking Mind (Some thoughts)
6. What does it mean to be not affected by Joy or Sorrow? It is not to be taken in its literal word value. We have to feel joy & sorrow, it is the essence of life, it is required to gain experiences. Our soul needs them to grow and complete itself. What it truly means is that you should not get carried away by these emotions; they should not take hold of your physical self and change you. Too much attachment to these emotions fester other negative qualities like- ego, anger, frustration, revenge, hatred, low self esteem etc.
7. River of Life. Life is like a river, from the spring like origin, pure & pristine; you have to travel along taking everything, good & bad with you till you reach the unmoving ocean. The beginning and the end (both calm) are a given, it has to happen. However, the path you take, in spite of meeting obstacles and being hit by numerous stones and rocks (turbulent journey), is totally up to you.
8. A drop into the ocean becomes the ocean-that is the reality if we have to understand relation between Atma & Paramatma.
9. The closer you are to God, larger will be your shadow of influences.
10. We are all like glass prisms (empty) reflecting a single light. Depending on the characteristics & quality of the prism, the shade and colour will differ.
11. What is Brahma. Brahma is the creator of world, also Brahm in Hindi means misconception / Maya / Fantasy / Not Real. And Brahman (universe) is the creation of Brahma, so what world are we living in?
12. What is Manthan. It is to purify your ocean like mind.
13. Rainbow of Life. How blind are we to reality? There are hints around us that we don’t understand. For e.g a Rainbow. What is a rainbow, how is it formed? Rays of sun, i.e white light, on passing through a water droplet, which acts as a prism, gets split into VIBGYOR, which are 7 colours-Violet, Indigo, Blue, green, Yellow, Orange and Red. The sequence of colors is in that order only and is right there out in the open, for all to see. So what is its relation to reality / us? As per our shastra’s our body has seven chakras, starting from head to base of spine. Each of these chakras have a colour assigned to them, starting from head is Violet and then in the same sequence as in the Rainbow-VIBGYOR, down to the base of the spine. So when the spiritual white light / energy enters our body from the head, our body / chakra in the head acts as a prism and splits the light into the seven colours of each of the Chakra.
14. What is the significance of Chakras?
It divides your soul as it enters the body (from white light) to the seven different chakras (into different lights-VIBGYOR). This creates a sense of separation for the soul & hence the Brahm about its duality/ being separate from universal energy. That is why as per yog it is recommended to channelize your energies of all chakras into your head - merging into one white light / one energy / soul.
14. What is the significance of Chakras?
It divides your soul as it enters the body (from white light) to the seven different chakras (into different lights-VIBGYOR). This creates a sense of separation for the soul & hence the Brahm about its duality/ being separate from universal energy. That is why as per yog it is recommended to channelize your energies of all chakras into your head - merging into one white light / one energy / soul.
15. Stained Glasses. People are like stained glasses on windows. They sparkle and shine. But when the darkness sets in, their true colours / beauty is revealed and they shine only if there is light from inside.
16. Kundalini is like a snake in the stomach which makes us work/ keeps us attached to the physical / materialistic world. It controls our senses in order to maintain Brahm(an). It overpowers most of the senses. The same can be correlated withBiblic Paradise, which is lost due to the forbidden apple being eaten by Eve on insistence of the snake.
16. Kundalini is like a snake in the stomach which makes us work/ keeps us attached to the physical / materialistic world. It controls our senses in order to maintain Brahm(an). It overpowers most of the senses. The same can be correlated withBiblic Paradise, which is lost due to the forbidden apple being eaten by Eve on insistence of the snake.
I DON’T BELIEVE IN GOD; SO GOD HELP ME
1. “I don’t believe in God”, when I say that, the usual reaction is, oh so you are an Atheist. Well, no I am not, however, there is a subtle difference, I don’t believe in God in the form others believe in. Most people would have stages in life when they would have had questions about –whether God is there or not. Well I too have had my doubts.
2. Apropos above, a number of questions have arisen from time to time:-
(a) What is God? Is it the idols / what is mentioned in scriptures, i.e, a finite object.
(b) Where is God? In places of worship or omnipresent?
(c) Is God finite / infinite or both?
(d) What is more important, knowledge of scriptures or understanding of scriptures?
(e) What is important, knowledge of rituals to please gods or our behavior / actions due to the knowledge gained.
(f) What is important, doing the rituals, incantation, and recitation of shlokas or understanding them?
(g) What is the importance of chanting Mantras, rituals like blowing the conch or ringing of bells in a temple?
3. I don’t think there are any finite or concrete answers to that and everyone in his / her journey needs to find their own answers to it. As for my thoughts on these, they are in the succeeding paragraphs.
My Thoughts
4. There are two groups of people, one who are proficient in rituals, chanting of Shlokas etc, and those who understand the Infinite. Their paths may be different, but their goal is same.
5. There are two theories, one is as per what is taught to us by family, scriptures and pundits, which gives us a finite perspective of God as a person, at the same time however, Gods action portray it as an infinite being.
6. The other theory believes in everything being a manifestation of energy, which is omnipresent and manifests as God. In terms of our scriptures it relates to Atma / Parmatma.
7. I believe the first theory is for the 1st group of people, wherein they believe in a finite entity and are awed by the infiniteness (powers) of the God. The second theory relates to the 2nd group of people.
8. There are various forms we see in following of the religious path:-
(a) Bhakti. A person immerses in God totally, losing himself / herself in the conscious world, moving away from physical reality.
(b) Rituals. A person is engrossed totally into, bhajan, pooja, procedures to get away from physical reality/ to please the Gods.
(c) Meditation. Through this learns to control mind, self and ultimately realise self.
Some Questions
9. Why do we have the following during pooja:-
(a) Blowing of conch.
(b) Recitation of Mantras.
(c) Ringing of bells.
(d) Bhajans.
10. If we see, all of them are closely related by one thing, i.e, the vibrations they generate. So both the theories mentioned above are interrelated, only we tend to see them at face value / at finite level.
11. Para 9(a) & (c) are clear as source of vibrations, so how do others create vibrations? Remember the age old adage, ‘that being in good company / listening to bhajans, (mind it just listening and not even understanding it), will give you peace and happiness’. But surely not enlightenment.
12. For recitation of mantras, let’s take the example of ‘OM’ or ‘AUM’, as it is pronounced. It’s chanting / recitation involves all three vocal locations which are involved in producing speech, i.e, throat-‘A’, nose-‘U’, mouth/lips-‘M’. Thus correct pronunciation & correct length of breath in which it is chanted, produces vibrations inside & outside the body. So our body acts like a vessel which holds & create these vibrations.
13. Here are some of the writings of Upanishads[1] which I happened to read after I had written this piece:-
(a) As per Rig Veda, AUM transcends three realms of time.
(b) Sound is the shakti, the creative energy, of the absolute, and through the power of sound, the whole universe is created.
(c) The unstruck sound, the primordial vibration from which the rest of manifest creation emerges is OM.
(d) As per Mandukya Upanishad, “Each object, being essentially vibrating energy, has its own subtle form composed of sound. These sounds comprise the fundamental ‘language of natural name’ in which a perfect correlation exists between the name of any object and its physical form. And Sanskrit is the nearest language to the language of natural name”. – Hence the relevance of Sanskrit for pronunciation of Mantras and Shlokas, in order to produce the correct vibrations and to be meaningful / have some effect.
How We Look At Things And Not See Them
14. Power of 7. Have been thinking about the correlation of 7 with the life, energy source, nature etc, haven’t found a satisfactory answer to it. It is all around us in plain view, but we don’t correlate or understand it. Even enquired from a very learned old Pundit from Varanasi, but unfortunately he had no answer to it. So here goes:-
(a) Oceans.
(b) Continents.
(c) Rainbow.
(d) Chakras in the human body.
(e) Raksha Sutra is to be tied 7 times around the wrist.
(f) Chakras around the fire during marriage.
(g) Days of week.
(h) Seven Rishis in hindu mythology.
(i) Lunar planets.
(j) Lunar Constellations.
(k) Music Notes.
(l) Religions.
(m) Organs.
(n) Levels of Aura.
(i) Physical auric body - Physical sensations. Simple physical comfort, pleasure, health.
(ii) The etheric auric body - Emotions with respect to self. Self-acceptance and self love.
(iii) Vital auric body - Rational mind. To understand the situation in a clear, linear, rational way.
(iv) Astral (emotional) body - Relations with others. Loving interaction with friends and family.
(v) Lower mental auric body - Divine will within. To align with the divine will within, to make commitment to speak and follow the truth.
(vi) Higher mental auric body - Divine love, and spiritual ecstasy.
(vii) Spiritual (intuitive) body - Divine mind, serenity. To be connected to divine mind and to understand the greater universal pattern.
(o) As per Mundaka Upanishad:-
(i) There are 7 worlds.
(ii) Flame / Agni has 7 licking tongues (Kali-dark, The terrible, Swift as thought, Crimson, Smoky colour & sparkling)
15. Rainbow & Human Chakras. Both are formed out of white light and are 7 i.e VIBGYOR, in the same order from top to down.
16. Probably black hole is absolute- unmoving, unchanging.
17. What if we are colour blind to Black.
Some Interesting Teachings from Upanishads
18. There is lower knowledge and higher knowledge, lower knowledge being person pursuing rituals, probably fitting into the 1st group of people I mentioned earlier. These people think they are wise & learned, but are actually fools lost in ignorance without direction. It mentions, scriptures are not to be learnt & memorized but to be understood. Probably answers the questions posed in para 2.
19. From the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (the great forest teaching), which is oldest i.e. 800BC & longest (400 verses) and is said to have all Upanishads teachings within it- “Nature of life is one of transformation of energies”. –My thoughts on that- if world is all energy, then how is it generated? How did aum / vibrations create world. Probably that is why you need positive and negative energy to create a flux and create and maintain a universal energy. So primarily both Good & Bad are necessary, and any disequilibrium is going to create a problem.
20. Universe is maintained by a hierarchy of energies, known as Devas (meaning the shining ones).
21. Purusha is the Almighty one. The name Purusha comes from- “in previous times (purva), he burnt up (ush) all evil”. Thus he is called ‘Purusha’.
22. He spoke, ‘I am’, thus ‘I-ness’ was born. Even now when someone is asked, who is it, he replies ‘It is I’ and then adds his name.
23. Another interesting thing which Upanishads mention about is the fallacy that we have that if a person gets immersed in God / absolute/ gets enlightenment then he needs to get away from material realm. It mentions that a person can truly be peaceful, content and enjoy life if he is in both worlds-physical & absolute, and will understand both worlds better. Isha Upanishad mentions- The relative & the absolute aspects of Brahman are botheexperienced in their completeness yet are simultaneously appreciated as one wholeness. It may appear to advocate a path of renunciation and the need to withdraw from material life in order to cultivate the life of the spirit. …..Returning to activity and infusing pure consciousness into everyday life is as important as meditation itself. It emphasis that fulfillment comes from living both sides of life- a full material existence along with a full spiritual one.
24. Worship without learning and not applying/ changing yourself is like a drum which is making noise / music without substance.
[1] The Upanishads, Translated by Alistair Shearer and Peter Russel.
[i] All Text in Blue and italicized is Quoted text from Upanishad.
