The Religion of Future-Scientific Religion

THE RELIGION OF FUTURE - SCIENTIFIC RELIGION ORIGINALLY WRITTEN IN HINDI BY LATE YUGA RISHI SHRIRAM SHARMA ACHARYA (FOUNDER OF THE INTERNATIONAL GAYATRI FAMILY, SHANTIKUNJ, HARIDWAR, UTTARANCHAL, INDIA, WEBSITE: www.awgp.org)

COMPILED AND PUBLISHED ON THE INTERNET BY MR. ASHOK N. RAWAL

TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY MS/ HEENA A. KAPADIA M.Sc.,M.Phil.

CONTENTS INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1

THE RELIGION OF FUTURE-SCIENTIFIC RELIGION

CHAPTER 2

LIBERATION FROM MATERIAL BONDAGE VIA SPIRITUAL VISION

CHAPTER 3

THE AMAZING MYSTERIES OF THE AMAZING ALMIGHTY LORD

CHAPTER 4

OUR FINITE LIVES ARE DEPENDENT ON THE INFINITE

CHAPTER 5

THE COSMIC ACTIVITIES OF DIVINE CONSCIOUSNESS (GOD)

CHAPTER 6

THE FUN LOVING LORD’S COURT OF ENTERTAINMENT

INTRODUCTION Man knows only that which is perceived directly by his 5 sense organs. The remaining major subtle activities of the subtle world are known to him only because of holy scriptural injunctions and experiences of great saints of the world. This subtle information has not been experienced by majority of world humanity. As a result laymen tend to wrongly label subtle divine information as the figment of the imagination of great saints. These ignorant laymen say that divine subtle principles are not ‘scientific’ enough for them to accept as truths. They have faith in modern material science because they can be proved with the help of the 5 sense organs (ear, nose, eyes, tongue and skin). On the other hand subtle divine laws are beyond the ken of the 5 sense organs and hence they cannot be ‘proved’ directly. If we truly understand the deep import of material science, religion and spirituality can be looked upon as a deeper scientific law which can certainly be experienced with a refined subtle psyche. If we succeed in purifying our psyche so as to make it subtle all so called differences with reference to modern science and spirituality/religion can be easily dissolved to naught. Our revered Gurudeva (author of this e-book) has initially very deftly dealt with modern material scientific principles and then correlated them with subtle divine principles. Thus he has shown us all that what you see in this material world is but a manifestation of divine cosmic consciousness which is otherwise called God. In this book our revered author covers the topic of modern science and its correlation to spiritual sciences.

From the spiritual standpoint what is ‘bondage’ and ‘liberation’? What is ‘Maya’? How can we know that what is perceived directly by our senses is also real? Our revered Gurudeva while answering these questions writes

that if contemporary blind beliefs and dogmas in the field of religion and spirituality can be erased with scientific logic people will accept religion and spirituality whole heartedly. If science is correctly correlated to religion/spirituality and vice versa world humanity will gladly accept both and thus prosper both materially and spiritually. Thus both modern science and spiritual sciences need to march ahead in tandem. The author with the help of sound scientific principles opines that if modern material science fails to accept a spiritual basis it can create havoc and a material/spiritual downfall for the entire world. Today’s dire circumstances all over the world are proof of his deft analysis.

Our planet earth is a part of the solar system. The cosmos is known to harbor innumerable universes. Today modern science is asking this question: In the entire cosmos is it that only planet earth has an advanced human civilization or is it that elsewhere in the cosmos too there are other more advanced civilizations? The author gives details of the cosmic form of divine consciousness along with various cosmic activities. He says that God is an ecological authority that balances the entire cosmos which is made up of galaxies, planets, stars etc. This is a scientific presentation of religion/spirituality and it has been proved beyond doubt via quotations from various scientific and spiritual texts accepted by one and all. While detailing the cosmic form of the solar system our revered author says that the divine authority is present vividly in every pore of the cosmos. Further each individual soul (humans, birds, beasts etc.) are God’s units. Every individual soul must yearn to know this cosmic divine authority and thus realize God. God realization is the key to eternal material and spiritual bliss. This precept is very scientific which is accepted by any wise person.

The scientific basis of theism and that all that we perceive in this world definitely is based on cosmic laws has been detailed and proved in this ebook via sound logic.

This entire e-book proclaims only one thing and that is that modern material science should not limit itself to proof that is obtained by the 5 senses only. Today people wrongly believe that science and spirituality have nothing in common. But the fact remains that science and spirituality complement one another. Thus if material progress is achieved with a spiritual basis one will not see the chaos and strife seen today all over the world. Spirituality and religion control our mental arena. With its help our thinking can be made pure and taintless. Hence we should give more importance to disciplining our very thinking using spiritual tenets/precepts.

If our thinking is apt and pure our actions too will be superior.

While searching for truth it is most desired that all traditions and beliefs be tested with logic and sound scientific argument. Thus only that truth should be accepted by us all that pass this crucial test. This aspect of science is called philosophy (Darshan). It is only when material science unites with

spiritual science that an Omnipotent Science comes into being. Apt thinking, rationality and imbibing of discipline is the basis of scientific religion/spirituality and shall also become the religion of the 21 st century.

When spiritual science which purifies our psyche/consciousness unites with modern material science that augments our material life, it will lead to material and spiritual prosperity. Ultimately the age old dream of great leaders and thinkers of the world can be realized viz. “A BEAUTIFUL BORDERLESS WORLD”. It is only then that Sat Yuga (Golden Era) will manifest radiantly. This is what our revered preceptor Yuga Rishi Shriram Sharma Acharya writes in this e-book.

CHAPTER 1 THE RELIGION OF FUTURE-SCIENTIFIC RELIGION SPIRITUAL SCIENCE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN MATERIAL SCIENCE In the designing of each unit of this cosmos two principles are inseparably conjoined to one another. One is gross (visible) and the other is subtle (invisible). Gross is that which is directly perceived by the 5 sense organs.

Subtle is beyond the ken of the limited knowledge of the 5 senses. Subtle knowledge means wisdom. Gross is called informative knowledge and subtle is called Vijnana or science. In spiritual parlance these 2 aspects are called gross and subtle.

The visible potential and utility of each unit of the cosmos is minor. Its true omnipotence can only be found in the subtle. It is only after understanding its true potential and utility that all round benefits accrue else everywhere one will find dust and only dust. With a superficial eye one can only see ponds, rivers, trees etc. We see laymen walking here and there like toys moving with the help of batteries. If all this was the ultimate goal of life man too would limit himself to eating, procreating etc like other animals and birds of the world. He would hence never think of material and spiritual progress/advancement.

Dust spread on the ground is of no value yet modern science tells us that a tiny atom of a dust particle has immense energy. The blue sky looks like the hood of a huge tent but space scientists and astronomers tell us that its subtle potentials are amazing and infinite in nature. Meaning the potential of that seen with our gross eyes is nothing compared to the omnipotence of the subtle world. This subtle world is beyond the ken of the human mind and intellect. No doubt that the subtle is conjoined to the gross but in order to tap it/understand it the limited human intellect, mind and sense organs are of no use. Instead this human intellect has to undergo focusing and

purification so as to make it subtle and radiant. Only then will the mysterious subtle laws of the cosmos unfold within our pure soul. One has to dive deep within the recesses of the psyche which is like a diver diving deep down in the ocean to grasp priceless pearls. Direct information of the gross world is called Jnana (information) and wisdom of the subtle world is called Vijnana (science). Informative knowledge is attained by all living beings whereas science can be attained only by human beings.

The potential of grossness is very miniscule. Subtleness is an infinite storehouse of energy. Grass growing in the garden seems very green to our gross eyes and when we touch it, it appears soft and smooth. Despite this its subtle form is infinitely more important since medical herbs can be made from it. The subtle chemical form of a blade of grass is priceless because it can cure many diseases as mentioned in Ayurvedic texts. The gross appearance of minerals and ores is that of dust. Each mineral/ore has minor differences like that of color etc. but when subtle chemical analysis is conducted, each of these is classified as iron, gold, silver etc. All this is the result of subtle research and analysis.

Today modern science has given world humanity so much power which is akin to the ferocious powers attained by demons in mythological literature (Puranas). All the 5 demigods (Devatas) serve them. Fire god (Agni) cooks food. Water god (Varun) gives us water in our taps etc. Wind god (Vaayu) whirls our ceiling/table fans. Space god (Akash) transmits sound in radios, televisions etc. Earth god (Dharti) gives us priceless minerals, ores, oil etc that it holds in its womb. Ancient mythological demons were known to overpower all these demigods and thus lived a life of pomp and aplomb.

Whatever material advancement attained by modern material science will definitely amaze our ancient ancestors. If today’s human being of the 21 st century is reborn after a thousand years he too will say in wonder that what was achieved in the 21st century is infinitesimal compared to what is achieved a thousand years later. All this is the gift of material science.

Science means subtle. Subtle means that which is beyond the ken of the senses, mind and intellect. The reason why we human beings can take pride in being denizens of a planet (Earth) that is best amongst all planets of the cosmos is that we have made an apt combined use of material power and scientific curiosity. It is because of this scientific bent of mind that planet Earth which is otherwise just a mass of dust, stones etc. leads all the planets in the solar system. It can be said to be a heavenly kingdom.

We all are indeed blessed to have this heaven like wealth because of the combined efforts of material powers and scientific know-how. We all feel that in future even more advancement will be witnessed. Thus mere words cannot point out the deep import of scientific thinking. Demonic powers are

called energy (Shakti) and divinity is called grandeur. Hence material powers devoid of spiritual values are called demonic.

Now let us deal with the second aspect of creation which is consciousness.

Consciousness dwells in all living beings. Pranis (living beings) have Prana (vital force). Consciousness is the substratum of all living beings and hence is called Prana. Let us not argue further but accept that the gross body of living beings is a mere instrument of its inherent conscious nature. The mysterious potential of consciousness cannot be measured by our limited intellectual powers and sense organs. Man’s gross activities and powers too are thus limited. With its help man looks after his basic needs like food, housing, clothing etc. His life revolves around earning money to support his family. Other living beings too lead such lives albeit at a small scale. Man super-cedes other creatures as far as his special skills are concerned like speech, language, art, music etc. Despite this he fails to capitalize more in the field of creativity because of the illusory lure of the 5 sense organs and their objects. Apart from this, what can I say about those who are praised as great intellectuals? Even they merely eat, sleep and breathe and ultimately enter the jaws of death. Thus what more remains to be added to the description of man’s life and achievements? Since man believes in only that which is gross/visible, his pursuits and attainments too are very limited and ordinary. Man differs from other beasts only as far as possessing an intellect that gives him more physical comforts. As against this animals are ahead of man in certain ways. For example elephants possess more powerful bodies, horses can run at great speed, dogs can smell things very sharply, monkeys can easily jump about here and there and birds can fly up high in the air without the use of scientific technology. Man is classified as a terrestrial animal. Hence the capabilities of water and air based creatures are much more potent. The world of minute germs, bacteria, viruses etc. too is full of wonder. Thus how can man compare his physical capabilities with other so called lesser creatures? Of course we human beings overlook this fact by praising one another’s musical, literary, business etc capabilities so as to label ourselves as the greatest species amongst all creatures.

We human beings must hence realize that our greatness lies not in our gross capabilities but in those that are subtle and invisible. Subtle capabilities are those that lie way beyond our gross intellect and mind. Subtle in other words is called spirituality. Spirituality is that subtle fount of energy that can give us both gross/material and subtle/spiritual prosperity. Know for sure that man’s true powers lie not in this physical body made of flesh, blood and bones but that they abound in the deep recesses of his soul. This vault of soul power is so gigantic that all the material powers of this gross world put together will not even be of the measure of the drop of an ocean.

This is proved by the fact that scientists who have used only a fraction of their soul potential have achieved so much technical advancement and thus have glorified planet Earth. Other planets are gloomy in comparison

because spiritual powers have not been awakened by them. Of course it is impossible to measure the potential of this cosmos since it is so gigantic and infinite. Whatever we discover or unearth amazes us no end but the fact remains that much more lies undiscovered and untapped. Accepted that man cannot create this cosmos but he can certainly unearth its secret mysteries which are an infinite/eternal storehouse of divine energy. The value of diamonds lying in a vault cannot be known to a layman. It is only a jeweler who can differentiate between common glass and precious diamonds and make a glittering necklace etc. out of it. Similarly the onus lies on human beings in discovering the untapped potential of the subtle world just like the jeweler who ignores stones, glass etc and unearths precious diamonds.

Modern scientists are more and more wonderstruck with the increasing unearthing of material powers. As against this if only they start researching into the potentials of the subtle spiritual world they will have to accept in sheer amazement that all the material progress of the past, present and future put together will not be even an iota of the grandeur of the spiritual arena. It is a fact that today’s man is just one step higher than his predecessor species i.e. apes. This is because he limits his capabilities to his physical body and a mind and intellect that have very limited powers. He fails to realize that his true unlimited potential lies deep in the cave of his psyche and soul. One’s personality cannot be measured merely on the basis of its superficial beauty, handsomeness and a fleeting bank balance. With the help of hard currency one can at the most procure perishable material comforts that give momentary and fleeting pleasure. In fact if man truly wishes to become great he should seriously start tapping the infinite vault of spiritual powers that lie deep in the cave of his psyche.

Maharshi Vyas proclaims: I shall now share a secret with you all and that is that amongst all creatures in the world, man is supreme. Over here it should be noted that Vyasji is not talking of man’s material advancement but is pointing towards his inner spiritual potential which is infinite and eternal. Spiritual Sciences help man to understand and unearth these spiritual powers which only has the power to bestow true greatness on mankind. Science deals with the unfolding of nuclear energy from atoms and spirituality deals with the awakening of unlimited divine powers present in every individual’s soul.

Today the layman accepts material scientific progress wholeheartedly because it is presented in a very logical and scientific manner by the scientific world. As against this the layman is not very inclined towards accepting spiritual tenets because they have not been presented scientifically and have wrongly been associated with wild superstitious beliefs. In fact spirituality has faced a lot of flak and mockery because certain ignorant sections of society have put forth some illusory concepts in

the name of spirituality for their own selfish gains. Hence today spirituality has no place in the life of modern mankind because of wrong illusory superstitions associated with it. It is at this juncture that the enlightened thinking classes of the world are requested to ignore these blind concepts and instead research into those eternal spiritual precepts which are true and greatly beneficial for world humanity. These blind concepts are like the fleeting clouds in the sky that ‘cover’ the sun (spiritual precepts). Clouds however dark can cover sunlight for a short length of time but sooner or later it will start shining with full brilliance. The same holds true for spiritual tenets because even if its grandeur is covered for a short time, they can never get erased forever. Spiritual laws are as real as scientific laws. Science has given mankind material wealth and comforts. So the need of the hour is that we now dive deeper into our souls so as to awaken our infinite spiritual potential and thus attain eternal bliss. In this manner world humanity will prosper both materially and spiritually.

As far as the anatomical aspects of mankind is concerned there is not much difference within this species. Exceptions could be in the form of visually, mentally etc challenged people. There maybe differences as far as material means are concerned but not in the realm of circumstances faced by them.

Despite this many are poor, sorrowful and in a demeaned state. A few lead lives of contentment but rare are those who not only reach the pinnacles of progress but help others to attain the same with the help of their inner radiance. These rare brilliant men change the gloomy world environment and transform it for the betterment of world humanity. The question hence arises as to why there is such a difference between the 3 classes of men described so far? If one reflects deeply it becomes clear that the differences have virtually nothing to do with the material means available or conducive circumstances. The bare truth is that the mental states of these 3 classes differ a great deal. It is hence very clear that a radiant, taintless psyche has the capacity to awaken infinite dormant powers of the soul which in turn help bring about desired transformations in the external material world. Not only are the external situations transformed for the better but that spiritual powers attract material powers and means like magnets that attract iron filings. This is the secret that answers why one man lives a demeaned life and why another lives a spiritually and materially advanced life. It is no use blaming anyone for one’s status in life because it is man who can either resolve to remain downfallen or lead an all round exalted life. The golden eternal law of life is: ONE’S MENTAL STATE SHAPES ONE’S EXTERNAL, WORLDLY CIRCUMSTANCES AND NOT THE OTHER WAY ROUND. Man is the father of his own fate. Hence it is very important that one studies these golden precepts and deeply imbibe the same in one’s daily life.

It is not enough merely to see the nature of things instead they should be deeply studied, imbibed and made apt use of. Consciousness is not an

object but is energy in nature. Hence greater caution is required to unearth its potential and then make apt use of. Stones, bricks etc can be moved about here and there but transport of electricity, gas etc. needs more caution and know-how. We are all aware of the dangerous repercussions of misuse of electrical machines, scientific technology etc. Yet know for sure that misuse of energy can bring in much more disaster for not just one region but the entire world. The greatest wealth owned by man is his soul force/consciousness. The human body is an instrument that manifests the Almighty Lord’s divine energy. Thus man is a mini representative of God. Hence it is the prime need of the hour that man first studies his divine wealth and then makes apt use of it for world well being and peace. Great scientists of spirituality (prophets, saints, Rishis, Munis etc) call it the Science of Spirituality or Brahma Vidya. If one rigidly refuses to accept and radiate his/her divine grandeur he sure is courting trouble in the form of a material and spiritual downfall. Today everyone in the world use a lot of time, energy and finances to protect their material wealth like oil, gas, petrol, weapons etc. As against this consciousness is a Super Power which lies deep in cave of the soul of all individuals. It has the capacity to give a boon or a curse. When demigods are insulted they shower curses on the culprit. When they are pleased they give boons of all sorts.

Consciousness itself is called soul-god (Atmadeva). It is totally involved in one’s daily life just as blood, bones etc are one with our physical body. It is consciousness that helps in blood circulation, nerve impulse movements etc. The moment Prana (vital force) leaves the body the latter becomes lifeless and starts rotting. In the same way consciousness propels external and internal movements of one’s life. It has authority over our thinking and hence character. It is this subtle personality of the nature of consciousness that lies deep within the layers of our psyche/soul and is the author of our destiny. When this deep inner personality becomes tainted and distorted man faces poverty, strife and insults in the external world. If this deep personality is made sacred, pure and a vault of spiritual values one will be respected in the external world and will be able to attract material means for one’s own happiness and that of others too. We hear stories from mythological literature wherein the demigods of heaven give boons to their pure hearted devotees. In reality the demigods of heaven are nothing but one’s pure, sacred inner personality which gives boons like fame, material comforts etc in the external world.

Spirituality is nothing but austerities that help purify our soul. How can one ensure that consciousness is not attacked by distortions and taints like envy, greed etc? How does one ensure that instead of this our consciousness marches ahead on the path of spiritual advancement? How does our consciousness become brilliant, radiant and sacred? The science dealing with all these questions and answers is called Spiritual Science. Not only that it is not less important than modern science but that it super-cedes the

latter in terms of value. Of course modern science has given man a lot of material means and comforts so that he can lead a better life. Now what remains is that man should start radiating his inner consciousness by adhering to spiritual values and thus become divine. If one makes use of modern material comforts and scientific technology with a psyche that oozes with spiritual values (integrity, commitment, generosity, divine love etc) one will never face tension and stress that we are all facing today. It is only the use of material comforts without a sound spiritual psyche that is the root cause of our day to day stress full life.

CHAPTER 2 LIBERATION FROM MATERIAL BONDAGE VIA A SPIRITUAL VISION HOW ARE MATERIAL OBJECTS REAL DESPITE US SEEING THEM DIRECTLY WITH OUR GROSS EYES An important question to be dealt with is: Is what we see, understand and experience with our 5 senses true in the absolute sense? At the gross level the immediate answer will be in the affirmative. This is because there is no reason to say that things perceived, seen by us are illusory. We are so dependent on the dictates of our sense organs and mind that we think that objects, individuals and circumstances are absolutely true. And yet if we delve deep into this question the answer is that the so called proof of reality of objects given by our sense organs is unfulfilled and illusory in nature.

Various scriptural scholars since time immemorial have advised us all not to believe our sense organs that say that our daily experiences are true and instead maintain that we should develop a spiritual vision. If we insist on accepting that all that we see and experience is the ultimate truth we sure will face many uncomfortable situations. This can be proved by the ancient example of the proverbial deer running after a mirage in the dessert in order to quench its thirst. In desserts like Sahara etc travelers have often come across mirages which from a distance look like a pond of water. A thirsty deer in a dessert runs after this mirage to quench its thirst. The eyes of the deer tells it that there is water at a few furlongs away but the more the deer tries to reach this ‘pond’ the more the latter ‘runs’ afar.

Ultimately the thirsty deer accepts defeat. Another example is that of a rainbow. Try as much as you can but you can never ‘catch’ the illusory rainbow. The brilliance of solar rays that fall on water creates an illusion in our eyes and thus our eyes tell us that there is a tangible rainbow. Yet the fact remains that the rainbow is but an illusion harbored by our gross eyes.

Take the example of a movie. We see pictures laughing, crying, walking etc on the screen. It seems very amazing and miraculous. But the question asked is whether all this movement clearly visible to the gross eye is real and true? Individual pictures which move at 16 second cannot be seen individually by our eyes. As a result an illusory moving scene is created.

Individual pictures which are actually unmoving can be seen moving by our gross eyes due to the creation of an illusion. Voices emanating from loudspeakers come from one place and the picture is at another place. Yet our eyes and ears are fooled into believing that the picture is actually talking, singing etc.

At dawn in the morning and twilight in the evening the sky manifests amazing hues. Yet are these colors truly real? Actually these different hues do not exist but because solar rays create an illusory effect in our eyes, we all notice these colors. The sky appears to be blue in color but the fact remains that no such blue color exists in space. Our eyes under the influence of illusion ‘sees’ this blue color and fools our intellect in the process.

The function of the human eye is to understand the nature of an object via color perception. Yet the fact remains that majority of the times our eyes succumb to illusory effects and thus gives us wrong information. Let us study the following examples. The chimneys of mills and factories emit a lot of smoke. If you minutely analyze the color of smoke, it differs now and then. When the base of the chimney has trees, buildings etc that are not lit up the smoke color seems black. Bang opposite to this if the building trees etc are lit up with sunshine the smoke appears to be brownish. When smoke emitted from burning coal, wood etc is exposed to sunlight its color appears yellowish. In actuality smoke is colorless. The illusory color is due to the designing of the carbon atom and other material present on fuel. Light gets reflected away from it and thus smoke seems black in color.

In the rail engine the tube of the boiler emits blue steam but when it enters atmospheric air, its particles become larger and appears white in color.

There are many factories which use low quality coal and hence the smoke emitted is dark black in color. If one visualizes the sun through this smoke, the sun appears like dark red.

Many types of germs, bacteria etc are present in water which cannot be seen by the naked eye. They can be seen only with the help of a microscope. With our eyes we can see many stars in space but the fact is that there are infinitely more stars not perceived by our eyes. Thus since our eyes have limited capacity we take the help of gigantic telescopes to view those innumerable stars not seen by our naked eyes.

Even today we are unable to fathom the deeper layers and units of an atom despite the phenomenal success achieved by modern science. Its more gross aspect has been calculated via subtle mathematical calculations. No doubt scientific technology has helped in finding out the overall design of the atom and yet mathematical calculations based on inference have been of much greater help in the research of the structure of the atom.

In order to find true reality we will have to make more widespread and all encompassing our research and testing methods. It is a great error on our part to rely only on information given by our 5 sense organs. Today majority of research laboratories base their testing methods on the ‘direct proof’ given by the 5 sense organs. Hence many a times they fail to come to the right conclusion. In the previous paragraphs we have detailed the fact as to how our eyes can be misled into giving wrong information like the sky appearing to be blue in color when in actuality this is far from the truth. If we insist on relying on our 5 sense organs only then we are bound to stray in darkness for eons together. Modern science uses scientific methods to prove many ancient beliefs and superstitions as false. Despite this if modern science insists on believing that their 5 sense organs are the final proof of all research conducted then know for sure that they have come out of the iron cage of superstitions etc (which is required) only to enter the golden cage of so called direct proof offered by the senses.

Leaving aside some gross facts whatever we see, hear etc as far as other aspects are concerned is believed to be absolutely true. Yet the fact remains that we are far from the truth. We are very much used to believing our day to day experiences with the help of the 5 senses as absolute truth.

And yet if we go deeper into all this we will realize that time and again our senses have led us in the wrong direction. In fact our 5 senses give us various experiences solely on the basis of some gross beliefs. If these beliefs are changed then our previous conclusions and inferences too will have to change automatically.

Our brain centre has the capacity to give levels of information that is very common. If we remain satisfied with this then we can say that whatever we see, experience etc is truth. Yet the bare fact remains that our very hypothesis on which our 5 senses and brain function is itself erroneous to a great extent. Hence how can such an intellect realize the absolute truth and reality? This question is so tedious that it is very difficult to answer with ease.

While selling fruits, vegetables etc weighing scales are made use of. The basis on which we measure weight itself is based on a hypothesis. Without this all businesses will come to a grinding halt. Yet the question remains as to whether our very basis of weighing materials is true in itself? When one thinks deeply about this our intellect will get rattled. Weight by itself has no

existence since it is very relative. Weight of an object is nothing but the force required to obstruct the influence of earth’s gravitational force on the object. An object that weighs 37.33 kg on earth weighs 18.7 kg when raised at a height of 3.5 miles. The more you raise an object higher up in the air the more weight it sheds. There is an area between earth and the moon wherein if an object is weighed there it will be weightless. Even if a gigantic mountain like Everest is placed there it will be weightless. This mountain will hang in space in this area. The force of gravitation on other planets is varied. The weight of an object on planet earth will differ significantly when weighed on other planets like Mars, Neptune etc. Thus we can conclude that weight of any object is relative. This is because weight depends on certain hypothesis and circumstances.

In our daily transactions we make use of the measure of speed a great deal.

Speed too is as important as weight. We can reach from one place to another with the help of various vehicle options like car, plane, ship etc which have various speeds to cover distances. But the question asked is whether the basis on which speed is calculated is factual or hypothetical?

While writing something seated on a chair and table we feel we are not moving and instead are steady. Yet it is a fact that we are moving at a speed of 1000 miles per hour in one direction. This is the movement of planet Earth. It is because we all dwell on Earth, we too perforce move while the Earth is revolving and rotating on its axis. Our sense organs fail to experience this speedy movement and hence it is under the illusion that or body is steady and unmoving. The sense organs experience movement only when we walk, ride a horse, move in a car etc.

The Earth rotates on its axis and hence we come back to our original position after moving for 24 hours. But even this is not totally correct because the Earth revolves round the sun at a speed of 666,000 miles per hour. The Earth returns to its original position in space after 365 days or 1 year. Even this is not totally true because the sun revolves around the ‘Super Sun’ along with the Earth and other planets of the solar system.

Further this ‘Super Sun’ too revolves around another ‘Super Sun’ and God alone knows how many more such cycles of circumambulations take place.

Hence the gist of all this is that we cannot return to the same destination in which we are situated today at least in this birth of ours. If we move from our space we do so eternally. And yet our deluded minds insist on falsely conveying to us that we are static all the time and that we are not moving along with planetary etc movements.

The measurement of speed too is illusory just akin to that of area. If 2 trains move side by side at the same speed it will appear as though both are moving and swaying identically. If 2 cars approach each other from opposite directions at a speed of 40 miles/hour they will feel as though their car

speed is 80 miles/hour when they whiz past side by side. Same is the case with 2 trains that move in opposite directions (side by side). They too will feel that the speed is double while they pass each other. If the speed and direction of the movement of other planets, galaxies etc were to be ditto as that of Earth interstellar space too would appear motionless and static. The sun, stars etc would never arise nor set under such circumstances. All planets etc would remain where they were for eternity. At that time despite all of them moving at same speeds they would appear motionless.

Speed is very much relative. One can measure speed in many ways. If you subtract 90 from 100, 10 remain. If you minus 20 from 30 or 40 from 50 even then 10 remain. In order to get the same difference (10 in the above example) different sets of numbers are made use of. Despite these varied numbers the difference remains the same. If you want the difference to be 1000 you can use so many numbers to get this difference. The same holds true for measuring speed. Ancient geography specialists measured speed by saying that the sun is motionless. Lunar/solar eclipses, the rising and setting of stars, planets of the solar system which gives day and night etc too has so far been measured on this basis. Yet the measurements have been totally apt so far. Despite this the premise that the sun is motionless which aids in the above measurements itself is baseless and false. When illusory premises give correct results how does one differentiate between the true and false.

When one deeply reflects on this subject one’s intellect becomes dizzy.

In ones daily transactions it is necessary to measure distances. Without this travel would not be possible. The Earth is divided into latitudes and longitudes. Without measuring distances air travel etc would be well nigh impossible. The 10 directions (north, south etc) are an important basis for ones successful travel. And yet by themselves they too are illusory and have no absolute existence.

If you gaze at a very large pond while traveling beside it in a parallel manner it will appear that it is absolutely straight. Yet the fact is that after traveling for sometime you will reach the original position from where you started. This is because the pond is circular in nature. Even if you draw a straight line on a rubber ball, it will actually be circular. A straight line is one whose 2 ends never meet and that the distance between them is constant. In the above case of the pond and ball, a so called straight line too is ultimately circular. Even if you draw a straight line on a piece of paper, floor etc it will ultimately be circular and never straight. Minute circular lines may never be identified by us yet they will always be circular. The ground which appears flat to the naked eye too is in reality circular. The sea appears flat and yet when ships travel in it, it becomes clear that just like the ground on which water exists, the sea too is circular. The point at which the sky and sea appear to meet is called horizon. Whenever you watch this horizon it will always appear to be at a distance of 3 miles from

where you stand gazing at it. If you stand at a height of 200 feet above the ground the horizon appears to be at a distance of 20 miles. All this proves that the Earth is a globe i.e. round. Despite this our naked eyes cannot perceive the Earth to be circular. Thus our measurements of distances too are faulty.

The Moon is definitely seen to be higher up in space when gazed at from Earth but if after landing on Moon you gaze at Earth the latter seems to be higher up. If we could manage to station ourselves in interstellar space beyond the solar system it will be clear that there is nothing like north, south, east etc. Meaning no directions exist. Thus directions too are very much relative and not absolute. New Delhi (in India) is west of Lucknow, east of Mumbai, north of Chennai and south of Haridwar. Thus when directions to reach Delhi are given they are relative and that by itself Delhi is directionless.

In worldly transactions time measurement is very much important. It is on the basis of time that offices open/close, railways/buses run etc. Our daily life revolves around time. Yet the premise or basis of time too is no less faulty. The time designated for sunrise and sunset is not as we actually believe it to be. When we actually see the sun arising, the fact remains that it had already arisen 8.5 minutes previously. This time is the time taken by solar rays to reach Earth. When we see the sun setting at dusk it has actually done so 8.5 minutes previously. There are many stars in the sky which although visible to us today have actually set thousands of years previously. This illusion is the result of the light of stars reaching Earth after thousands of years. We become actually aware of the stars setting after thousands of years. The same holds true for all the planets, satellites of the solar system. They have arisen or set much before or after the time calculated by Indian astrologers in their Panchangs (diary).

One may visualize a star in the sky as straight ahead of us yet this need not be true. Light does not always travel in a straight line. Light rays too are material in nature and that it too can be weighed. Light rays falling on an area 1 mile in diameter for 1 minute weighs 1 ounce approx. It is but natural that gravitational force influences objects. When light of various stars enter the solar system it becomes zigzag or staggered in form because of the influence of the force of attraction of sun and the other planets.

Despite this our eyes fail to perceive this staggered light and instead out of illusion we see it as straight. It is quite possible that it lies on the periphery of another star, sun or planet yet our eyes see this light as straight. In the same way if our eyes see a star right above our head in the sky the reality is that it could be much lower or diagonal than the position seen by us. In this manner not only directional data but also time measurements too are no less illusory in the absolute sense.

Philosophical discussions do include time and space related topics. This space is certainly not some country, region on Earth etc nor is time an hour, minute etc. All these are only technical terms. The length, width and breadth of an object is called space and changes taking place in them is called time. Ordinarily objects are seen on the basis of its length, width and breadth whereas while discussing and describing it the 4 th ‘dimension’ of time too should be included. But the problem is that speed and direction keep varying and are illusory too. Time is itself based on them and hence if the basis itself is erroneous how can the result of time be apt? Even if objects are said to be 4 dimensional instead of 3 yet this problem remains unsolved. What exactly are objects? What are its form, nature and quality?

This cannot be described in totality because the manner in which its atoms move speedily disproves our description of it in the very next moment because of its uncertain position (something like the great scientist Heisenberg’s principle).

What is big and what is small? Even this question cannot be answered satisfactorily. A stick measuring 5 feet is smaller than another which is 6 feet and is bigger than a stick of 4 feet. A tree trunk with a diameter of 2 feet is thinner than another of 3 feet and is thicker than that which has a diameter of 1 foot. We cannot say whether an object is in absolute terms.

An object is labeled thin or thick only with reference to another object. By itself it is neither thick nor thin.

Who is rich, who is poor, who is happy, who is sad, who is a saint and who is a rogue? These questions cannot be answered in absolute terms because all these qualities (richness, poverty etc) are relative in nature. Before let us say calling a person rich or poor we must find out whom we are comparing this person with? With reference to a beggar a person who has a job that pays him 1000 dollars per month the latter is rich. A person with only 1 sorrow in life is happy when compared to another who has 4 sorrows to contend with in life. Thus is reality we cannot say as to who truly is happy or sad. With reference to a dacoit a small time robber is more gentlemanly but with reference to a person of good character the robber is lowly. With reference to a great saint a man of good character is lower in stature. With reference to an Avatar or Prophet of God a great saint too is if a lesser class.

We measure objects, individuals, situations etc only in relation to one another. Comparison is the highest measure used by us all to make ‘apt’ decisions. What exactly are the things which we measure? It is very difficult for our sharp intellect to decipher them because all of them are limited and not omnipotent in nature. In fact in a certain sense they can be called illusory too. In movie theatres pictures are seen moving on the screen whereas in reality each picture is static. These individual pictures move so fast that our eyes fail to see them in a static manner. Thus out of illusion

we see these otherwise static photos in motion. Meaning actors are seen to walk, eat, run etc.

Many a times our experiences are bang opposite to the actual situation. Our senses (eyes, ears etc) not only give false information but also tend to give non-existent illusory information. If we insist on depending on our sense organs to give apt information i.e. think direct visible proof as the be all and end all of life not only can we not attain true divine wisdom but that we will fail to even understand it.

For example take the concept of light. What exactly is light? It is an eddy of electro-magnetic waves. The fact as to whether it is intense or weak depends on its measure but yet its overall effect is singular. It moves at a terrific speed of 1 lakh 86 thousand miles/hour (I mile=1.61 km). Light rays have 7 colors. Various types of admixtures of these 7 colors give other resultant colors.

THIS WORLD HAS NO COLOR: One will gasp in disbelief when one is told that various colors seen in this world of objects are actually non-existent. Every object is basically colorless but when it is exposed to solar rays these objects absorb certain colors from the rays and reject others. It is only on this basis that we see ‘colored’ objects. That color not absorbed by an object is sent back i.e. reflected. This reflected light enters our eye and thus we think that object to be of the reflected solar ray’s color. Plants in reality are not green in color since basically they are colorless. Yet they appear green because plants cannot absorb the green color of solar rays falling on them. Since this green color gets reflected it enters our eye which assumes that the plant is green in color. When the green unabsorbed color gets reflected it enters our eyes and thus the latter out of delusion says ‘the plant is green in color’. This illusory information is taken to be a die hard truth by us all. Bye and bye we keep proving to the world with various hypotheses that plants are green in color. If someone challenges these hypotheses he/she is mocked at and called a deluded fool. No one is willing to delve deep into the fact that our senses and mind are all the time giving illusory information from the absolute standpoint. It should be noted over here that no doubt the mind and senses are needed to carry out worldly transactions yet what we are trying to say is that such information cannot be taken as an absolute truth. They fail to accept that our mind and senses are deluding us by falling prey to the illusory wiles of Mother Nature (Prakriti). Over here the green color of plant is merely an example. This example is meant to show how our senses deceive us with reference to the colors and other qualities of various objects in the world. We say that our eyes, ears, mind, intellect

etc is the ultimate proof. But if they are prone to get carried away by illusory information the very theory of direct proof becomes faulty.

According to us all black is darkest among all colors and that there is nothing like white color. Yet the reality is bang opposite to or above observations. Black color is perceived when no other color is experienced and an admixture of the 7 colors is white color. Darkness in reality can be called ‘just about nothing’ when it is perceived as blackness. Hence the state of no-thinking is experienced. Vaisheshik Darshan (Indian Philosophy) does not accept darkness to be material in nature. Other philosophers emphatically proclaim darkness to be a principle. Darkness absorbs all light rays in its womb. Thus nothing is experienced by us due to the resultant darkness.

Those objects that are incapable of absorbing any color appear white in color. All the unabsorbed colors get reflected from the object and enter our eyes. All these colors being an admixture appear white to our eyes. This is indeed an irony as to how our eyes get deluded. From the worldly transaction standpoint we cannot ignore our sense experiences but from the absolute standpoint our sense organs and mind are all the time giving us illusory information. The question torments us all as to how could we ignore modern scientific achievements like technology etc. Heaviness, lightness, darkness etc are definitely great puzzles. Darkness is sometimes very intense and elsewhere it is very little. All this depends on how much light is absorbed in a particular area. The proof that black color results when an object absorbs all colors lies in the fact that in daylight it becomes hotter with greater speed in comparison to objects of other hues.

Now the question arises as to where the 7 colors present in solar rays come from? The answer to this question becomes even stranger. The difference of the width of light waves gives an illusory effect called color. In reality the very concept of color is non-existent in the entire cosmos. What we see as color (red, blue etc) is in fact sheer illusion.

Light is nothing but electro magnetic waves. The width of each type of wave is different. Hence our intellect experiences their resultant effect variedly.

These varied experiences give us illusory information of various colors. The 7 colors and their resultant colors due admixture is nothing but the experience of the intellect which is exposed to waves of varying widths.

Principally colors have no absolute existence.

Our wonderment does not end here. The world of colors is gigantic and in this melee our identity is very small in stature. All else remains very much ignored. In an area of 1 inch the number of red waves present is 33,000. In 1 inch area green colored waves number to 16,000. In 1 inch infra red waves only 80 are present. As against this the widths of radio waves vary

between 20 to 2000 miles. All this is with reference to excess width. If we deal with very small widths an example that comes to mind is light green colored waves. A 1 inch area holds 2 million of these waves. A 1 inch area holds more than 0.5 billion of X-ray waves and 220 arabs of Gamma rays.

Despite this their movements are similar i.e. these different waves move at a speed of 186,000 miles/sec.

Instead of seeing the abovementioned light rays with scientific apparatus if our eyes had the capacity to see them with naked eyes one would be amazed that instead of the 7 colors perceived today we would be capable if visualizing 469 (67x7) other new colors. Today modern science has unearthed only 7 basic colors (VIBGYOR) which on mixing give other innumerable hues.

One gets a glimpse of the illusory nature of the concept called color when we see the red ball of sun shining in the early morning hours of the day.

The sun in fact is colorless but during early morning hour it is not vertically up in the sky and is in fact diagonal. Hence its rays have to cover a greater distance in the Earth’s atmosphere. While traveling thus these rays come across a lot of dust particles which cannot absorb the color red. Thus by the time the rays reach our eyes the red reflected color enters them and we say that the ball of sun is red.

How our eyes and frail intellect fall a prey to illusion is proved via the concept of color. In other areas of life too our senses and intellect get deluded intensely. In a certain sense they have totally misled us as far as life’s nature and goal is concerned. They wrongly tell us that material objects are the ultimate reality and that attaining them is the sole goal of life. They also falsely induce us to accept that the vicious cycle of transitory pleasures and pain are a part and parcel of life and that there is no cure in sight. If only one could attain divine wisdom i.e. God/Self Realization could one realize that this world of material objects is one long painful dream and hence illusory. True bliss is attained only via divine wisdom and that too for eternity.

Indian Vedanta Philosophy calls this world Maya (illusion from the absolute standpoint). It says that this world is a long painful dream. This does not however mean that the objects perceived and used by us have no existence at all. In the present tense these objects very much do exist but the fact is that they were not there in the past and that they will not exist in future. If this were not the case why would the Theory of Karma (actions) be valid?

What need would there be of performing meritorious deeds (Punya) and enduring hardships while performing penance? What then would be the difference between a man working hard daily and another remaining idle and indolent? Why would one aspire to imbibe great ideals and human

values in life? Why would one abstain from and fear illegal and unwholesome acts?

According to Vedanta Philosophy Maya means that which is not real principally. The world appears real in a superficial/relative sense but it is non-existent from the absolute standpoint. The question asked is whether the material world perceived by us all is in fact real from the absolute standpoint? The answer is that whatever we perceive with our 5 sense organs is not exactly as it appears to us. Our intellect collects information based on the directives given by our sense organs. But the problem is that time and again our senses fall prey to illusion and hence the information gathered by our intellect is not free from error.

When we consume alcohol, drugs etc our inner intoxicated state does not allow an apt contact between the sense organs and our brain. The result being that our senses say one thing and our intellect interprets information erroneously. An intoxicated state does not allow a person to think, talk, view things etc aptly. There are other more intense intoxicants which induce our brains to become that much more deluded (example cocaine, LSD etc).

Ordinarily even in our daily lives we experience certain situations etc which cannot be called real from the absolute standpoint. Are the scenes perceived on the movie screen absolutely true? Individual static pictures move so speedily one after another that our eyes falsely visualize them as ‘moving’. That is we see actors walking, talking, running etc. The speech of actors heard by us actually comes from another audio gadget. It is the light from the projector that helps us see various scenes on the movie screen.

Thus movies too are illusory from the absolute standpoint.

A moviegoer least realizes that he has spent 3 hours in a maze of cinema technology. All his emotional experiences like sorrow, joy etc experienced while seeing a movie are nothing short of an illusion. There was no real event experienced in a movie theatre. It was only the movie projector that created illusory scenes on the screen which made people cry, laugh etc.

The moviegoer falsely thinks these scenes to be real events and hence gives vent to his/her emotions. Maya is nothing but the sense organs falling prey to illusory situations and looking upon them as real in an absolute manner.

From a gross standpoint Maya is ‘real’. If this were not the case how could movie projectors and hence scientific technology induce emotional and other experiences in the bosoms of people using them? If one delves deeper on this subject movies can be called a mesh of illusion due to the efficiency of technology and the fact that our eyes are as a result unable to pinpoint this illusory effect of technology (movie projector). Both these aspects are right in their own way. The fact that this material world is very much tangible its events too are very vividly experienced by us. Hence at the

gross level these events appear real but a deeper analysis tells us that relatively this material world and its events are real but certainly not from the absolute standpoint. In fact from the absolute standpoint this world and its events are illusory like a dream.

It is very clear that material objects are but the manifestation of various permutations and combinations of varieties of molecules. Every atom is moving speedily. In this manner all atoms of various objects are moving at amazing speeds. Despite this our naked eyes fail to perceive this movement and instead say that all objects are inert and motionless. The same thing happens to our planet Earth. 1) Earth rotates on its axis very speedily. 2) It revolves around the sun. 3) Along with the solar system it circumambulates the super sun. 4) While moving thus its movement is akin to a rotating top which sways on either side. 5) While moving in the cosmos it goes far away from its previous position in inter stellar space. Thus the Earth moves in 5 ways as mentioned above. This ‘ecstatic dance’ of Earth is not experienced by us at all and we erroneously believe that right from our birth to death our planet has remained static in its appointed place in inter stellar space.

It is only when our intellect starts deeply analyzing the ‘direct proof’ given by our sense organs that it will realize that in the absolute sense they are misleading us totally. This ‘direct proof’ is only relatively true that helps us carry out our worldly transactions but from the absolute standpoint it is totally null and void. In Vedanata Philosophy this power of illusion which induces our senses, mind and intellect to experience the material world as real from the absolute standpoint is called Maya. Maya means existence of the world only in the ‘now’ or present tense and hence the world did not exist in the past and will not do so in future. This is like a dream which appears true temporarily but disappears the moment you wake up. Our daily dreams are for a few hours only but the dream of Maya lasts for eons together. It is only when spiritual wisdom dawns in our heart can this terrible dream of Maya end.

The reflections of the sun and moon can be seen in ponds, rivers etc. and it appears as though their waters are dazzling with light. Their reflection falls on every rising wave and hence we erroneously see many moons and suns dancing on each wave. A man traveling in a train wrongly thinks that he is seated motionlessly and that the trees, stars in the sky etc perceived by him outside the moving train are moving speedily in various directions. The question to be answered is that are all these experiences true or illusory?

Many of us get dreams at night. The events seen in a dream seem very real while the dream lasts. At that time we feel joyful, sorrowful etc. While dreaming we sometimes yell etc also. But as soon as you wake up you realize that all the events seen in the dream are actually non-existent. In the dream it was our subconscious mind that weaved various movie-like events which appeared very vivid while the dream lasted. Our subconscious

mind and intellect was fooled into thinking that the dream events were tangible and real.

If you trek in a dark forest the bushes appear to be ghosts. A rope seen in very dim light appears to be a snake. A mirage in a dessert gives an appearance of a water pond from a distance. All these vivid experiences are far from what they appear to be. Gigantic air planes flying very high up in the sky look like tiny birds from the ground level. There are stars far away in inter stellar space which are n-times larger than planet Earth and more brilliant than the sun. Despite this we denizens of Earth perceive these stars to be like a small flame lamp. The question that needs to be answered seriously is whether all the above experiences of our naked eyes are as real as it appears to be? The same question arises with reference to other sense organs apart from the eyes. We have to perforce conclude that our sense organs have serious limitations while interpreting external worldly events and that there are many instances as mentioned above where the information gathered by them is nothing short of an illusion. When someone gets fever in the winter season he/she experiences heat and in summer he/she experiences cold. When one feels nauseous even a delicious cake appears bitter. A bout of common cold makes us experience foul smell all round us. An attack of jaundice makes our eyes yellowish and objects perceived by the eyes appear yellow in hue. The question asked is that are all these ‘tangible experiences’ true in the ultimate sense?

The taste of an object is not exactly as it seems to be. For example neem leaves seem bitter to a healthy human being but for a camel it is tasty food.

The reason why one particular food item tastes differently to animals, birds etc of various species is that the overall designing of their taste buds differ.

When food enters our mouth these taste buds experience a particular reaction depending on its anatomical structure and this information is passed on to the brain. The brain then categorizes the taste as bitter, sweet etc. The actual chemical nature of the food eaten is very much different from the taste experienced by taste buds of various creatures of the world.

Anatomists tell us that the body is made up of billions of cells. Amongst these many die and many more are produced. This trend goes on continuously and time and again old cells die which are then replaced by new cells. In this manner our bodies are transformed again and again. Older cells are destroyed and newer ones replace them. One could say that there is a permanent ‘graveyard’ in our body since old cells die continuously and that there is a permanent ‘womb’ because new cells are generated to replace dead cells. Despite this, what is amazing is that none of us are aware of these tremendous activities taking place in our own bodies on a continuous basis. Our 5 senses on whom we depend cent percent for our daily life’s transactions not only have no power to change external circumstances but that they fail miserably in even giving us information of

our own inner bodily activities. Thus how can we emphatically say that our 5 senses give us ‘direct proof’ of various events taking place in the external world? Our intellect too is incapable of telling us whether our body is suffering from a particular disease or not. For this we have to take external help from the medical fraternity to diagnose our illnesses. Thus if our own intellect cannot inform us about our own inner bodily state how can one be so sure that its analysis of external worldly events would be error free?

Knowledge/wisdom is the most vital aspect of human lives. Hence it has to be apt and error free. If our consciousness gives us knowledge that is illusory and error prone know for sure that this consciousness has been veiled by the darkness of ignorance (Ajnana). If this veil of ignorance is not lifted and destroyed our consciousness is bound to lead us astray in this world of illusion not for merely one life but for innumerous lives put together. This veil of ignorance is called Maya in Vedanta Philosophy which is the root cause of strife and pain undergone by spiritually ignorant human beings. Maya is not some external object or event of sorrow in the external world. Maya is the deluded state of our individual minds. If we succeed individually in lifting this veil of ignorance i.e. Maya our bondage to the material world will be cut asunder eternally. Salvation which is the eternal limitless fount of spiritual bliss (Ananda) can be attained by just about anyone and everyone.

THE ROOT CAUSE OF ALL MATERIAL SORROWS IS SPIRITUAL IGNORANCE I.E. MAYA Progress can never be correlated to amassing of material wealth or sense pleasures and nor can it have anything to do with attainment of conducive circumstances in life. In fact progress is totally dependent on how much wisdom has been imbibed by our souls. The more ones inner wisdom is limited the more one is backward. Ones all round powers and capabilities are irrevocably related to how much knowledge/wisdom based wealth is present in ones psyche/soul.

Man’s ethical, cultural and spiritual status is directly related to how sacredly cultured, is his/her consciousness or soul. Mental advancement should also include amassing of material powers and their enjoyment capability. In ancient times man must have been more powerful physically if compared to today’s man. Despite this the state of ancient man’s consciousness was not advanced and hence his all round state too remained lackluster. When one cogitates over the backward state of ancient man it is clear that his/her mental ignorance was so painful and full of shame.

The Associate Curator (Bird section) of the American Museum of Natural History has penned some thoughts wherein he says that tribal men of New Guinea roasted meat of other human beings to fill their hungry bellies.

Once, a group of bird hunters reached that area from another alien land.

Papua tribes are known everywhere for their barbaric, inhuman acts. No one is allowed to enter this region without a proper security cover yet somehow this bird search group reached this area. The result was that all its members were horrifically killed.

For 45 years a Christian Missionary named Father Ivoschaefer preached Christ’s teachings in Papua region. With his love and kind service he greatly influenced these cannibals. With the help of proper education, health services etc. this great missionary transformed Papua cannibals for better.

These cannibals looked upon him as a great saint and hence revered him.

Initially this compassionate and dedicated saint very wisely carved a place for himself amongst these cannibals. Schaefer writes in his book that when he entered this region for the very first time along with a friend all the cannibals surrounded them. These cannibals shouted aloud in order to call 40-50 more man eaters. They all had spears in their hands and started dancing wildly while surrounding Schaefer and his friend. These cannibals were overjoyed because they could now eat human flesh of 2 white skinned men. They would see to it that these 2 men would not escape their clutches. These cannibals were dancing so as to appease demigods before partaking human flesh.

The saintly priest decided to use a ploy. He took out a mirror from his bag and placed it right in front of the face of the cannibal’s leader. The leader was frightened to see his image in the mirror. For these cannibals an object like a mirror was an entirely unknown entity. One by one each cannibal was shown the mirror by the priest. All the cannibals were terrified and thought that this white man is a magician. Hence they were in two minds whether to kill the priest and eat him up. All of them threw their weapons away and bowed down to the priest for blessings. The priest displayed one more magic. The priest had dentures instead of teeth. He removed these dentures from his mouth and waved it in the air for all the cannibals to see.

Then again he placed these dentures deftly back in his mouth. The cannibals were so amazed with this ‘feat’ that they truly thought this priest to be a great magician. This gave the priest enough opportunity to work for the betterment of these cannibals. Previously the priest had partially mastered the language of the cannibals so as to help him in communicating with the cannibals.

The priest further writes that cannibals of New Guinea are fighters, heartless, terrorizing, tough minded and lack generosity. If a cannibal of one group enters the area of another cannibal group so as to merely fell

even 1 tree the latter become so furious that they see to it that the culprit is killed come what may. While writing about one such attack the priest says that Kangna group of cannibals once attacked the Kararan group of cannibals. The Kangana cannibals chopped off the heads of about 30 Kararan cannibals and brought these heads to their homes. One of these heads was offered as a gift to the priest too.

These cannibals make intense efforts to become a leader or fighter of the cannibal group. At the age of 16 years in order to pass the test one has to chop off the head of his own or a rival group person and present it to his group. For this generally a woman bought from ones own or another group is made use of. These women are easily bought by handing over tamed birds, bird skins, feathers etc. On the day of the festival of killing this unfortunate woman is taken to a shrine of demigods. Over here the 16 year old ‘student killer’ pierces the skin of the woman mercilessly. Once she dies her head is chopped off and presented to the cannibal chief. Now he is elected as a fighter in the cannibal group. Amongst these many such fighters one is elected as the cannibal chief. Once some white skinned men were staying with the priest and the cannibals surrounded all of them menacingly. The cannibals demanded that one white skinned lady be handed over to them for killing. In return the cannibals promised to hand over 20 cannibal women to the whites. This perilous situation too was tided over by using an ingenious ploy.

In ancient times man remained a laggard because of ignorance. Today we take pride in our progress only because of knowledge based materials available for our use. If we so desire that we attain eternal peace in days to come we will have to reach the pinnacle of imbibing human and spiritual values. In the past India had passed through a Golden Era only because of spiritual values imbibed in great abundance by its citizens. Today there is a dire need of world humanity imbibing more and more spiritual values for heralding heaven on earth and making world human beings divine. If one analyzes the past and present world situations it becomes crystal clear that without apt spiritual wisdom a bright future can never be attained by world denizens.

Regarding this wisdom based spiritual practice (Sadhana) Upanishad Seers of yore say: “Paraanchee khaanee vyatrinat swayambhoo Staramatparanga pashyati naantaraatman.

Kaschidheeraha pratyagatmanamaikshya Davrutachakshuramritatvamicchan.” (KENOPANISHAD 2/1/1).

It means: “The self manifested Almighty Lord created the doors of our sense organs in such a way that they opened externally. Hence we see only external objects and not our inner self. It is only a rare wise soul who in

pursuit of immortality encouraged his sense organs to turn inwards (soul) and thus experienced his immortal self or Atman.”

We know a great deal about our external life and the material world of sense objects and yet what is most amazing is that we just do not know anything about our inner self and our inner world. We are so engrossed in our external worldly transactions (eating, sleeping, earning wealth etc) that not only do we fail to study our true inner self but that we do not even think it to be very important to do so. If only we truly realize our true nature, goal of life and duty towards society we will be able to transform our relationship with the world for the better. In this manner this ordinary looking human existence can attain pinnacles of human and divine glory.

In order to carry out our daily life’s chores we possess 9 means to do so: 1) eyes 2) tongue 3) nose 4) ears 5) skin 6) mind 7) intellect 8) psyche (Chitta) 9) ego. It is via these mediums that one gains worldly information. We think this information to be absolutely true and yet a deeper reflection with reference to this tells us that the above 9 means have limited capabilities and give us only relative information. In fact this information is not true in the absolute sense and is also not omnipotent. Vedanta Philosophy calls this unfulfilled knowledge a dream or Mithya.

Due to various causes in the world many sound vibrations are created and each type of vibration has a different speed and movement. Man’s ears can catch only those vibrations that have speeds between 33 and 40 per second. Our ears fail to catch vibrations below 33 and above 40 per second.

The flow of sound vibrations beyond this band is so gigantic that we can say that more than half the sound vibrations existing in this world goes unheard by our ears. Thus we can say that our ears hear only a few drops from the mighty ocean of sound vibrations of the world. The rest is totally unheard by us all. This helps us conclude that the sound based information/knowledge attained by mankind is very negligible. Hence we cannot say that we know everything possible about the world.

Knowledge attained via touch (skin) too is as incomplete as that attained via the ear. Further touch sensations give illusory information too. Place a piece of ice on the palm for 1 minute and then dip the palm in ordinary water. The water fells warm when actually it is not. Now place a slightly hot object on your palm for a minute and then place it in ordinary water. This water will feel cold. The water was of one temperature but because the skin touched a cold and hot object at different times the water too appeared hot and cold respectively. Thus how can we depend on our skin for reliable and full proof information? The difference between heat and cold is perceived by our skin only to a limited extent. Our skins cannot bear extreme heat or extreme cold. Thus can we emphatically proclaim that such

a skin with limited perception potential can be capable of giving us true knowledge?

At night in sheer darkness our eyes fail to see anything. And yet an owl, cat, cheetah etc can see things very clearly. Modern science says that light exists everywhere at all times. There is nothing like ‘darkness’ in this world. Human eyes can perceive light vibrations only in a limited manner.

When the speed of light is less than the power of human eye perception it experiences darkness.

Light waves of various colors move at varying speeds in space. Man’s eyes perceive only a few waves of the 7 colored waves of light. The rest are not perceived by our eyes. A person ill with jaundice sees yellow color everywhere. A disease called retinocytis pigmentasia results in the patient seeing a straight line as a blob or a drop. Take the case of the sky. We all see it as an endless sheet of blue color. Within it we see stars hanging. Yet the question asked is, is this information true in the real sense? Is the sky as limited as perceived by our eyes? Are all the stars uniformly placed in space? Is the color of the sky actually blue in color? Astronomers will definitely answer in the negative and yet what to say about our eyes which insist that the sky is blue in hue?

The same holds true for our nose. We feel that many objects are devoid of smell and yet the fact is that they do possess smell. The levels of their smell too are varied. The nose of a dog can smell all of these and when we get lost our dog can lead us to our homes solely on the basis of smell perception. Specially trained dogs are known to nab criminals who commit theft, murder etc solely on the basis of their smelling capacity. This holds true for the differences as far as fragrance and foul smell is concerned.

Many abhor the smell of garlic, onions etc and yet there are others who feel that their meal is not complete without the addition of garlic etc. The same is the case with alcohol, cigarettes etc. Thus how can one depend on the nose sense organ for factual information?

Even our tongue which tastes various food items fails to give us apt information. When a food item mixes with certain secretions from our taste buds our intellect categorizes it as a particular taste (bitter, sweet etc.). If the information given by the brain were to be uniform why would a neem leaf taste bitter to human beings and delicious to camels? Thus it is clear that the taste buds of camels give information of a particular food item which is totally different from that given by human taste buds. The tongue sense organ fails to uniformly identify the taste of a particular food item.

Various creatures taste a single food item variedly because their taste bud designing. Uncooked or raw meat is abhorred by human beings but animals, birds etc eat it with pleasure. Dirty food is unacceptable to the human tongue but for pigs etc it is ‘yummy’. When one gets ulcers in the mouth or

when one is very ill or when ones taste buds are inactivated with certain herbs etc one does not get any taste while eating delicious food. Thus how can when get ‘direct proof’ of various tastes from our wavering taste buds?

The famous philosopher Faravi says that every object is principle in nature.

Every object not only has movement but consciousness too as its substratum. This movement and consciousness pervades not only in objects but in living beings too. Thus how can we deny that behind animate and inanimate objects lies a substratum principle? This substratum can be known by inference and proof too. Which other proof is needed to prove the existence of divine consciousness which is otherwise called God, soul, Atman etc?

EACH ONE IS IMMERSED IN HIS/HER OWN WORLD!!!

The world perceived by us all is not exactly as it appears to be. The reality is this that the material world is but the manifested effect of the movements of various atoms and molecules. Our experiences of various objects, events in this world are directly dependent on the designing of our eyes and level of intellectual perception.

If one person’s eyes sees something in a particular way it is not necessary that others too will visualize it in the same way. Our eye perception varies in accordance with a sharp, dull, diseased etc eye sight. One person sees an event right in front of him in one particular way and another person may experience it differently. This holds true for taste perception too. A person who is very ill finds any delicious food item bitter in taste. If our tummies are full or if we get indigestion delicious food too is unappealing to our taste buds. The matter does not end here because the gland secretion of every individual differs chemically. As a result of this one particular food item tasted by various individuals gives different tastes to all of them. At the gross level everyone finds salt salty and sugar sweet in taste. And yet a deeper analysis tells us that even saltiness and sweetness have many classes. Thus all tastes perceived by various people differ from one another in many ways. This holds true for our eyes too. The differences seen in the designing of the eyes of various people along with that of the brain lead to varied perceptions of a single object or event by different people.

The designing of the eyes of birds and human beings differ a great deal.

This holds true for their brain designing too. Thus birds do not see various things in the world in the same way as human beings do. Birds perceive colors differently when compared to the color perception of mankind.

A Russian animal/bird research centre says that a bull cannot perceive red color. For bulls, white and red color perception is synonymous. Even honey

bees cannot differentiate between white and red color. Glow worms perceive ultraviolet hue which cannot be perceived by human beings. Birds perceive only 4 colors viz. red, blue, yellow and green. Birds fail to visualize 7 colors and their various classes as human beings do.

In the same way the greenness of grass is not perceived in the same way by everyone. Our language proficiency has its own limitations and hence we cannot describe the subtle differences in the perception of colors by various creatures. If only we become capable of demarcating these differences it will become clear that the various differences as far as taste and color perception are concerned will widen enormously. These differences will be akin to differences between various human beings is concerned at the level of their voice, face and character. In the same way differences exist as far as color perception is concerned. The same holds true for taste. Smell perception too has such differences. As far as hearing and touch sensation is concerned each individual perceives them differently. These differences are very subtle and hence although grossly they are not detected they definitely exist subtly.

The fact remains that just as differences exist as far as individual taste perception is concerned, color perception too is varied for various individuals. These differences are so subtle that our limited speech fails to express them in totality. When 2 people eat the same piece of let us say a cake their taste perception will definitely differ from one another. The problem is this that the differences in perception of the sweet taste are so subtle that it needs a medium of measurement in order to gauge it which is at present unavailable.

Suppose our eyes perceive a particular color in an object seen by it. The question asked is, is the object actually of that color perceived? Is the color of an object perceived by man similarly perceived by other creatures? The answer is an emphatic ‘no’!!! The bare fact remains that basically all material objects are colorless. The differences in atomic configuration of various atoms of objects give the illusion of colors. Atoms per se are devoid of color. Thus the question arises as to what is color?

Material objects absorb only the white color of solar rays and disallows any one color of these rays from entering it. Leaves of a plant appear green in color because these leaves fail to absorb green color of solar rays. As a result this reflected green color enters our eyes and hence we say that leaves are green in color.

Spiritualists and philosophers who opine that ‘every individual lives in his/her world’ are certainly true if analyzed deeply. Each individual creates his own world and lives in it. What exactly is this world? The answer is one and that is that the world is merely the movements created by various

atoms and molecules of inert objects. It is like dust constituted of various atoms and molecules which moves in a directional flow of various types.

Over here there is nothing tasty, tasteless, beautiful etc. We find neem leaves bitter in taste but the camel finds it ‘yummy’. Maybe neem leaves are delicious cakes and pastries for camels. The reality remains that food is not sweet, bitter etc by itself. It is only our taste buds and brain that give them various labels like sweet, salty etc. The designing of our taste buds, intellect etc give us various perceptions like taste, color, sight, smell etc.

The same holds true for the concept of likes and dislikes. It is our beliefs and prejudices which tells us this is ‘mine’ and ‘not mine’. The truth is this, that none are our own and nor are they alien to us. In this garden called planet earth many children run around playfully. Many play in one particular ‘team’ and the others in an opposing ‘team’. If analyzed deeply these associations and dissociations are momentary and yet because we give it undue importance due to the influence of our frail psyches and intellects we say that things/events are conducive or otherwise as the case may be.

The external events are not to be blamed but it is our weak psyche which labels them as joyful or painful. The differences seen amongst saints and criminals as far as reacting to a particular situation is concerned are solely based on their mental states and attitudes. Thus to a great extent external events are not to be faulted for our lapses.

Just as our 5 sense organs gauge and analyze the nature of the external world so too the 4 conscious centers of our mind too are responsible for this task. Thus the mind too is a medium that experiences external events. All our knowledge and information is attained via the senses and psyche. The different states of the psyches of various human beings are responsible for the varied reactions evoked while they face one particular common situation. If the fact was singular in nature the reaction to it too should be of one type only. One man executes criminal activities and another loves serving the world in various ways. One loves fleeting sense pleasures and the other is a hermit (Tyaagi). One person loves flaunting his achievements, wealth etc and another lives a simple life full of high thinking. One is immersed in amassing wealth etc and the other live a life of a mendicant.

These differences clearly prove that the external events are not their root cause but that it is their different mental states and attitudes that are responsible for them. If only this cosmic truth had been accepted by us all there would have been no place for fanatic differences of opinions. Our sense organs are known to misinform us but the bigger culprit is our mind which makes illusory inferences regarding external worldly situations/objects.

The experiences of joy and sorrow are very much relative. A situation is joyous or painful only when compared to another situation. A middle class family is poor when compared to a very wealthy family but it is rich when

compared to the poor class families. A patient who has a common cold is less fortunate than a healthy person but is definitely more fortunate when compared to a cancer patient. Apart from the 10% bodily ailment associated pain the remaining 90% joys and sorrows are very relative in nature. A single situation makes one person happy and another sad. On the basis of the various conclusions drawn it is difficult to pinpoint the truth.

This world is made up of material objects. Material objects are made up of molecules. Molecules are made up of atoms, atoms made up of electrons, protons etc and the latter are manifestations of waves. Modern science says that this material world is nothing but a manifestation of waves and vibrations. These vibrations manifest as sound, taste, smell, vision, touch, thoughts, intellectual prowess, experiences etc. Over there nothing other than vibrations exists.

Within Mother Nature or Prakriti the Supreme Power ceaselessly manifests as vibrations that are responsible for union, give & take, attraction, repulsion etc. These vibratory movements in turn manifest as material objects. Whatever is perceived by our eyes is nothing but the manifestation of vibrations at the root level. Our soul based experiences of these objects/events sometimes increase or decrease which in turn manifest as mental likes and dislikes. All the atoms of animate and inanimate objects are heading in certain directions following a definite pattern of movement.

If anyone so desires he/she can enjoy the blissful flow of its direction akin to being seated on the sea-shore and enjoying the waves of the sea rising and dashing on to the ground. Only a deluded person will cry in agony when the wave dashes on to the shore and go overboard with joy when the wave rise higher up in the air. The waves of the ocean will definitely continue with this activity of rise and fall. It is up to us as to how we react to them.

We can either calmly and detachedly enjoy this scene or get entangled in the mesh of agony and ecstasy with every rise and fall which in turn can induce nothing but stress and tension in our psyche. Today’s creation will definitely lead to destruction one day. A person who dreams of a world that will remain static and unchanging will always remain unfulfilled. Over here a state of changelessness has no place. Anyone who yearns for an unchanging world is in for a rude shock followed by sheer agony and strife.

WHAT IS THE CAUSE OF SORROW? Sorrow and pain manifest when we are unaware of certain underlying realities. Maharshi Vasishtha while explaining to Lord Rama the cause of sorrow says that it is spiritual ignorance (Ajnana or Maya). This ignorance can be overcome via attainment of divine wisdom via the path of Yoga of Wisdom (Jnana Yoga). As per the scripture Yoga Vasishtha: “AAYADHO VYAADHAYASHCHAIVA DWAYA DUKHASYA KAARANAM.

TANNIVRITIHI SUKHAM VIDYAAT TATKSHAYO MOKSHA UCHYATAY.” MEANING: “This material world gives us to types of sorrows i.e. bodily and mental. They can be overcome via wisdom (Jnana) based austerities.

Moksha or salvation is nothing but this overcoming of material sorrow in totality.”

Thus it is a spiritual law that salvation is attained only when all sorrows are destroyed lock, stock and barrel. Eternal spiritual bliss means destruction of all sorrows. Thus salvation and divine bliss (Ananda) are synonymous. If material sorrows are overcome totally salvation oriented divine bliss manifests in our psyche eternally. Many a times we see people attaining joy time and again in their life. They laugh, sing, dance, crack jokes etc and thus experience joy. The question asked is that is their inner state liberated? Meaning have they attained Mukti or salvation?

Definitely not! The above inner state of man can never be called salvation or Mukti. The state of salvation is ceaseless, balanced, imperishable and uniform and it does not require an external cause to manifest it. This state does not ‘come’ from anywhere nor does it ‘go’ anywhere. It is not created due to an external factor nor is it destroyed by it. It is self manifesting and causeless. It is attained in totality, experienced in totality and exists eternally. It is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent eternally. After attaining the true bliss of salvation no other bliss remains to be achieved.

True salvation or Moksha is devoid of any desire, self fulfilling and infinite bliss in nature.

The previously mentioned material pleasures like watching TV, dancing in discos, drinking alcohol, drug addiction etc do not have the qualities of the true bliss of salvation. Material pleasures require external causes and mediums. It manifests due to a cause and when the cause is removed the pleasure too ends. Many a times even if the cause persists, the pleasure diminishes and leads to aversion. Material pleasures are fleeting because they ultimately lead to sorrow and strife. Today is someone is happy because of a certain cause/medium, later at some point in time he/she will definitely get pain precisely because of this very cause. Even if you get intense material pleasures yet your psyche is never satiated and hence begs for more and more. Material pleasures can never satiate us nor can they lead to complete contentment. How can it e called eternal bliss if it is plagued with discontent and lack of a sense of fulfillment? Even if someone is surrounded with innumerable pleasures, it takes only one undesirable event that makes him/her wallow in sorrow. Such a person’s smile is totally wiped off in a second and so does his previously overjoyed bosom experience pain. THUS IT IS CLEAR THAT THE BLISS OF SALVATION CAN NEVER BE COMPARED TO FLEETING MATERIAL SENSE PLEASURES.

Material pleasures are an exercise in futility because they are false and illusory in nature. Their experience is akin to sighting a mirage in a dessert.

This illusory experience is the root cause of labeling material pleasures as lowly. True bliss can only be experienced at the soul level and that too without the influence of any external cause/object/event. It is only the bliss of salvation/liberation/Moksha that is true and eternal in the absolute sense.

We are dealing with the subject of the illusory nature of fleeting sense pleasures so as to caution world humanity that we are all wasting our entire life span in amassing material pleasures and clinging on to them as though they are our very lifeline. Since our psyches are immersed in this delusion we fail to first even understand what absolute reality is let alone making sincere efforts to attain it. A deluded mind whose sole aim is to amass fleeting pleasures can never even think about the absolute reality. Thus how will it even think of attaining it? A deer in a dessert chases mirages in search of water to quench its thirst. Time and again it thinks ‘just a few feet of running and the water is mine’. Alas! It results in delusion and nothing but tiring delusion. The deer’s thirst thus remains unquenched. If this deer had only realized that this mirage is not a water pond but an illusion of its eyes, it would have instead endeavored to hunt for a real water area and could have quenched its thirst easily. But no! The lure of the mirage makes it run madly in that direction only to end its life without quenching its thirst. Similarly mankind is running after mirage like sense pleasures for his entire precious lifetime. Ultimately he dies discontented and devoid of satiation. Instead if he had realized that material pleasures are like illusory mirages he would have first tried to realize where he could find absolute eternal bliss and then would have made necessary efforts to attain it. It is in this sense that material pleasures are called illusory and fleeting like dessert mirages. True bliss lies not in amassing material pleasures but lies in the eternal bliss of the salvation. One should intensely work hard to attain true salvation since it is the true goal of all human lives.

Thus it is clear that sorrow after all is sorrow because material joy ultimately results in anguish only. It is only when the burning desire for fleeting material pleasures is overcome that eternal divine bliss can be attained. Hence the important question asked is: How does one attain this eternal bliss? An Indian scripture called YOGAVASISHTHA gives the answer: “JNAANAANNIRDUKHATAAMAYTEE JNAANAADANAANA SANKSHAYA. JNAANAADEVA PARAASIDHIR NAANYASYAADRAAM VASTUTAHA.” MEANING: O Rama! Only divine wisdom can ward off all sorrow. Divine wisdom destroys spiritual ignorance. Divine wisdom leads us to or ultimate goal of life. There is no other way to do so.

Further elaboration says: “PRAJNAAM VIJNAATA VIJNAYAM SAMYAGA DARSHAN MAADHAYAHA. NA DAHANTI VANAM VARSHAAM SIKTAMAGNISHIKHAA IVA.” MEANING: He is a realized saint who knows what is truly to be known with the help of his sacred hindsight (Viveka). Such a saint is never overcome by sorrow just like fire can never burn a forest which is wet with rain water.

WHAT EXACTLY IS DIVINE WISDOM OR TATTVA-JNANA? At this point before understanding the true nature of divine wisdom it is important to know as to what exactly is the root cause of the manifestation of sorrow and strife? Actually at the root level all creatures are blissful (Ananda) in nature. Thus it is clear that a definite cause exists which creates sorrow, pain, anguish etc. This too has been dealt with in YOGAVASISHTHA: “DEHA DUKHA VIDURVYAADHI MAADHYAAKHAM MAANASAAMAYAM. MAURKHYA MOOLAY HATAY VIDYAA TATTVAJNAANAY PAREEKSHYAHA.” MEANING: Bodily pain is called Vyaadhee and mental anguish is called Aaadhee. Both of them are Maurkhya i.e. are created from spiritual ignorance or Ajnaana. Thus they can be destroyed only via spiritual/divine wisdom.

The fundamental cause of all material sorrows of the world put together is none other than spiritual ignorance (Avidya). Just as lack of light results in darkness and vice versa, in the same way lack of divine wisdom leads to spiritual ignorance and vice versa. Divine wisdom helps us attain eternal bliss, peace etc and spiritual ignorance results in pain, sorrow etc.

For eons together it has been proved beyond doubt that sorrow is the creation of ignorance or spiritual darkness. This priceless truth has been accepted by great thinkers, saints, scholars etc of the entire world at all times. In this manner none should doubt this age old truth proclaimed by all great souls of the world. One of them called Chanakya says: There is no other greater foe of mankind apart from spiritual ignorance. The great philosopher Plato says: It is better to remain unborn instead of remaining a spiritually ignorant being because ignorance is the root cause of all our miseries. The great bard of Avon, William Shakespeare writes: Spiritual ignorance is equivalent to darkness.

The root cause of all life’s distortions, sorrowful experiences, problems, discontent etc is spiritual ignorance of man’s psyche. It is the greatest enemy of entire mankind. It is solely due to ignorance that man finds himself in a demeaned/downfallen state like other creatures. Lack of divine wisdom leads to diminishing of ones discriminative faculty (Viveka) and thus our minds remain steeped in sorrow and anguish. Spiritual ignorance induces man to make wrong decisions in life by veiling the true goal of human life. Thus he executes undesirable acts and weaves a net of misery and pain for himself. Thus in order to ward off sorrow if one understands its underlying cause, one can overcome it and thus one can dispel strife and pain lock, stock and barrel in our day to day lives. The result will be bliss and only bliss on a permanent footing. SPIRITUAL IGNORANCE CAN BE DISPELLED ONLY VIA DIVINE WISDOM. COLD CAN BE DESTROYED BY ITS OPPOSITE FIRE ONLY. DARKNESS CAN BE DESTROYED ONLY BY LIGHT. THUS IT IS THE RIGHTEOUS DUTY OF ALL MANKIND TO TREAD ON THAT PATH WHICH AIDS IN THE DESTRUCTION OF OUR SPIRITUAL IGNORANCE SO AS TO MANIFEST DIVINE WISDOM IN OUR SOUL. What exactly is the true nature of knowledge? Mere information about the material world and its objects cannot be called knowledge. True knowledge is that which helps man realize God whose nature is infinite, eternal bliss.

Knowledge means understanding ones true self and its relationship with the world. Man should know the difference behind desirable and undesirable actions and thus he should follow the path of Truth after renouncing unwholesome activities. The definition of knowledge cannot be limited to merely undergoing school, university etc education, that help us earn money and solve day to day problems. Knowledge is that which not only gives us a deep understanding of life-death, bondage-liberation, actioninaction and truth-falsehood but that it also helps us in imbibing that which is apt and renouncing unwholesome activities for both material and spiritual gains.

Spiritual ignorance is the root cause of our unwholesome actions. All the joys and sorrows of the world are but the results/fruits of our past actions.

It is but natural that unwholesome actions are executed under the influence of spiritual ignorance and thus man gets penalized in the form of sorrow, pain, strife etc. Apart from this righteous actions carried out with the sense of doer-ship (‘I’ eat, ‘I’ sleep etc) no doubt gives joy but this joy is transient because it later gets converted to sorrow. Thus it is action (Karma) that gives bondage and hence pain to mankind.

THE FOUNT AND CENTRE OF TRUE BLISS-OUR SOUL Our belief that the source of joy is material objects is full of illusion. If this belief were to be true all material pleasures would have given satiation to

all mankind in an equal manner. Or else all of mankind would have attained eternal joy without a speck of sorrow by now. Today all over the world we find people who have amassed plenty of wealth and grandeur and yet their lives are full of despair, agony and hopelessness. These material objects (TV, computer, cars, aircrafts, AC, movies etc) do not help in alleviating their pain and sorrow in a permanent manner.

The fact remains that all material objects are inert. Thus inert is after all inert. It has no potential of its own. On their own inert objects are incapable of giving us both, joy or anguish. Material objects lack the potential of joy and sorrow since they are inanimate. Thus they cannot induce sorrow or joy in us on their own. When we contact material objects with our sense organs, our mind gets attached to them which in turn induce joy or pain as the case maybe. Thus it is our mind/psyche, a conscious entity that manifests joy and pain in our inner self.

When man’s joyous soul contacts a sense object the object seems desirable and when a sorrowful soul contacts that object the object seems undesirable. All worldly objects are inert and hence by themselves cannot induce joy/sorrow in our psyche. It is man’s soul principle which contacts inert objects so as to label them as ‘joy’ or ‘sorrow’. THE BELIEF THAT ETERNAL JOY CAN BE ATTAINED VIA MATERIAL OBJECTS IS NOTHING BUT AN ILLUSION AND AN EXERCISE IN SHEER FUTILITY. The sad part of life is that man under the spell of spiritual ignorance refuses to accept that sense pleasures can give only transient joy and never eternal, infinite peace. Thus without realizing that it is an exercise in futility he hunts for joy day in and day out in material pursuits. He wastes his precious human life in amassing material wealth with the illusion that he will find eternal contentment and bliss. This is because he erroneously imagines that joy is in the object (TV, house, car etc) when in reality it is in his own soul. Thus while amassing material wealth he stoops as low as carrying out criminal, illegal and heinous acts which ultimately create his downfall. JOY LIES IN ONES SOUL AND NOT MATERIAL PLEASURES. JOY SHOULD BE SEARCHED FOR IN ONES SOUL AND NOT IN EXTERNAL MATERIAL OBJECTS, RELATIVES, PROFESSIONS ETC. Material objects are enjoyed via the 5 sense organs viz. eyes, ears, tongue, skin and nose. It is only when are organs are active can we enjoy sight, smell etc. As long as man is youthful his sense organs are active and agile.

During this youthful phase of his life he can fully enjoy sense pleasures but the more his body ages these very objects become distasteful and inconsequential. Suddenly an old person finds that all his pleasures attained via sense enjoyments have dried up to naught. The fact remains that when old age sets in our 5 sense organs become weak and thus are unable to enjoy those sense pleasures enjoyed in youth. These aged sense organs lose

the capacity to enjoy sense pleasures. It is this weak potential of the sense organs that induce lifelessness and a sense of distaste for sense pleasures in ones old age.

Why restrict the above observations to old age merely? Many a time in one’s prime youth one experiences distaste for sense pleasures. This happens either if one is afflicted with an illness like typhoid, malaria etc or that an event like death of one’s beloved is announced. If our tongue is afflicted with ulcers even the most delicious food item induces aversion in our psyche. Indigestion too induces aversion for tasty food. Eye related diseases stop us from enjoying even the most alluring scene. THUS WE CAN SAFELY CONCLUDE THAT JOY LIES NOT IN SENSE OBJECTS/PLEASURES BUT IN THE EXPERIENTIAL CAPACITY OF OUR SENSE ORGANS. Now the question to be asked is what is the nature of the capacity/potential of sense organs that enjoy sense objects? There are many people in this world whose eyes are attractive and beautiful to look at and yet they cannot see anything i.e. they are blind. In fact the anatomical structure of their eyes too has no defects as proved by medical tests. Their nerve functioning too is in proper order. Despite this they are blind. These observations have been noted for other organs of the body like nose, ear, hand etc too. The anatomical designing and nervous systems are in proper shape and yet these organs do not function. This proves that it is not the physical/anatomical organ (eye, ear etc) that is enjoying/experiencing their objects. Obviously there lies a separate and yet related entity/principle that is the one which is experiencing/enjoying sense objects. What is the precise nature of this experiencing principle? The answer is Consciousness. It pervades man’s entire physical body and thus bestows capacity on our senses in order to experience/enjoy sense objects. This conscious principle that pervades every pore of our body without exception is called soul or Atman. Eternal infinite bliss or Ananda lies in our soul. A living being experiences bliss in his soul. Bliss or joy lies not in material objects or in our physical sense organs. It is the sole monopoly of our soul.

It is man’s own soul that is the be all and end all of life. Without his soul man is but a heap of dust. When the soul leaves man’s body at the time of death his body is called a corpse. A corpse is quickly disposed off via burying, cremating etc. All relationships that exist in this world have their basis in our soul. If ones soul is related to an object, individual etc one loves that thing or person until then. When this soul based connection is snapped all our love, attachment too disappears. Someone is very attached to his/her friend. When one meets this friend ones heart rejoices. When one is physically away from this friend ones heart experiences the pain of separation. But the day this friendship ends (due to any reason) this very friend no longer is important for us and that he/she is just another ordinary human being in our eyes. Now no longer is one overjoyed on seeing this

friend (of the past) nor is one unhappy when this friend goes far away from us. In fact sometimes this friendship becomes so much soured that when we meet this friend we find him/her very obnoxious. Thus love, joy etc are all related to ones soul and not to an individual, object etc. The world of joy lies in ones soul (Atman). SEARCH FOR JOY AND ETERNAL BLISS IN YOUR SACRED SOUL. SEARCHING FOR JOY IN MATERIAL PURSUITS DEVOID OF SPIRITUAL VALUES IS LIKE A THIRSTY DEER RUNNING MADLY TOWARDS A MIRAGE IN A HOT DESSERT IN SEARCH OF WATER ONLY TO LOSE ITS PRECIOUS LIFE DUE TO UNQUENCHED THIRST. It is man’s own qualities and character that attract love and affection. Lack of such qualities and character renders his life futile and demeaned. Thus he is no longer liked by anyone and none look upon him as attractive. In order to understand this, take the relationship between a mother and her infant. As long as a child gets breast milk and affection from its mother, the child clings to her. The child loves its mother intensely. Not for even a moment does the child like to stay away from its beloved mother. Even if for a few minutes the mother goes somewhere the child wails aloud. But when this very child grows up and no longer needs its mother’s milk, he or she no longer cry or hanker for her attention. In fact these grown up children tend to stay separately from their parents and instead of breast milk they get attached to a bottle (could be milk or alcohol etc.). It is man’s inner personality that creates situations of love, affection etc in relation to others.

So the question asked is: Where is the source/fount of man’s special qualities? The answer is none other than our soul. We have already pointed out that without the soul man’s body is nothing but a stinking corpse. There is no question of love and affection existing in a corpse that is totally inert.

It is the soul’s subtle power that controls man’s mind, vital force (Prana) and physical body. The moment the contact between the soul and the above 3 becomes imbalanced or weakened all our bodily activities too get disarrayed. An otherwise healthy and balanced body is now rendered weak and imbalanced. The vital force weakens a great deal and the mind becomes imbalanced and lunatic.

Under such fearful circumstances no individual of the world can love another individual nor harbor any goodwill towards anybody. Thus it is man’s own soul who is his true friend, relative and benefactor. The onus lies on man himself that he augments his character for the better and thus augments the value of his presence in society. It is most required that man turns to his beloved soul for joy, happiness and creativity. Man should search for joy, peace etc on an eternal basis in his very soul.

Joy does not lie in an individual’s body, sense objects etc. True joy rests in ones own soul. All the objects of the world are inert and lifeless. By

themselves they cannot give joy or sorrow to anyone. We experience joy and sorrow only when our soul contacts objects or individuals. When this soul contact is snapped we neither experience pain or pleasure. It is our soul that influences objects etc so as to make them desirable or otherwise.

Without this soul’s influence all material objects are insipid and lifeless.

Inertness renders objects ugly and unwanted.

The more one’s soul gets attached to a person, object etc the more the latter become dear to us and the lesser the attachment of the soul the more one detests them. Bliss is related to ones sole only and not to any object etc. Thus love your soul and make it radiant and attractive. With this radiant soul one can contact the world of material objects and beings without undergoing bondage. Our soul is the centre of knowledge and wisdom. It is the foundation stone of bliss and peace. The seed of prosperity and all round progress lies hidden in it. It is the very substratum of heaven and salvation. The proverbial wish fulfilling tree (Kalpa Vriksha) grows not outside but it does so in our own very soul. Everything exists in the soul and the soul is the be all and end all of everything. One should meditate and worship the soul because it is the infinite store house of peace, prosperity and eternal bliss. He who masters his soul, masters the external world too.

He who has seen his soul has seen all that needs to be seen. He who attains the soul has definitely attained all that requires to be attained. This is because the soul abounds in joy, peace and eternal infinite bliss.

It is sheer stupidity on our part to search for eternal joy in external material pursuits when the fact remains that true joy lies within i.e. in our very soul. Inert objects can neither give joy nor sorrow. If one analyzes this observation more closely it becomes clear that it is more prudent to search for joy within ones soul and not go astray like that deer which runs after an illusory dessert mirage in order to quench its thirst. Maya is nothing but our spiritual ignorance which erroneously induces human beings to focus on gross material aspects of the world. Such ignorant men do not make efforts to make a deeper and subtle analysis of life and this material world and thus they run miles away from true reality. Great seers of ancient India called Rishis have pointed towards eternal peace and happiness by saying: The light of research should be turned inwards (soul). The famous Western philosopher Carlisle too proclaims: Turn the search light inwards.

No force of attraction exists in objects or individuals. When our soul experiences oneness with them they appear dear to us. We all are attached to some special set of people and objects. But the moment we succeed in attaining them our attraction for them starts depleting. If for some reason our attachment towards these objects/individuals diminishes we feel a sense of aversion to them in spite of the fact that very recently they were very dear to us. The object/individual is the same yet for some time they are dear to us and later they fail to attract us any more. The reason for this

is very clear; our attachment at the mental level towards these objects has diminished.

If we succeed in deeply imbibing this precept we can continue our attraction for people/objects for a long time span by remaining attached to them. But the idea is to enlarge our attachment to a wider range of objects/individuals of the world and ultimately a day will dawn when every pore of the cosmos will be dear to us eternally without exceptions. Despite being aware of this great spiritual truth people feign ignorance. In order to search for joy they run amuck after a few individuals and objects. If only one renounces this illusory mirage one can manifest oneness with the entire world and thus enjoy untold eternal bliss and peace.

Generally one experiences grief and pain when one is separated from ones beloved people/objects. If one truly realizes that separation is bound to follow union just as death follows birth one will always be mentally prepared for separation at any point in time. When we inhale air we know that the very next moment it will be exhaled and thus our breathing activities continue smoothly and uninterruptedly. When we inhale there is no joy and when we exhale there is no grief. One dies and the other is born. Birth in any household is strongly related to the grief of death. It is only when one businessman incurs losses that another makes profits. If we mentally imbibe the fact that just like darkness-light, day-night, heat-cold etc separation follows union and that losses follow gain one will neither experience too much joy or sorrow in the realms of attachment/aversion and loss/gain in ones daily life. Our spiritual ignorance is that culprit which induces intense pleasure when we like something and intense hatred when we dislike something. Thus like pendulums or waves in the ocean we arise to great heights and then dash on to the ground with the same intensity.

This is the root cause of our transient joys and grief which lead to emotional and mental stress. If only our thinking which is ensnared by spiritual ignorance is freed from the latter’s shackles and if only man deeply understands the relentless cosmic cycle of birth, death, creation, destruction etc he can become mentally serene, poised and contented on an eternal basis. In a flash this divine mental state can give us heavenly bliss and joy. It is the virus called spiritual ignorance or Maya that deludes our psyche and thus like children seated on a seashore we foolishly clap our hands in joy when waves arise to great heights and lament when they dash down with a bang on to the shore.

Nature has covered a bag of urine and feces with an attractive wrapper called the human body so that this foul smelling bag does not spread its stench everywhere. People are mesmerized with this attractive covering along with its youth. The eternal thirst for beauty can be easily satiated right from an enchanting flower to the innocence of a child but our distorted minds full of lewd lust agitates every male and female. Thus they

end up doing things which they should totally refrain from doing. Slight scratching of the lowly urinary area can induce human beings to carry out undesirable lustful acts. If only the veil of illusion called Maya had been lifted from our psyche all our lustful thinking could be destroyed. Such a person overcomes all attachment and attraction for this transient body and instead the ever radiant soul full of bliss and serenity would have manifested in his/her bosom. Lewd lust could have been replaced by sacred divine love for all. Such sacred hearted couples could then have jointly showered this all encompassing love for world welfare and well being.

Today’s hell like married life based solely on physical attractions could have been made more sacred and all encompassing. Households with the pillars of sacred ideals and human values could have then made the entire earth heavenly and divine. It is the witch called spiritual ignorance which mesmerizes our senses to mere physical attractions and consequently we lose the paradise of eternal soul bliss and peace.

If only man understands his true nature, goal of life and righteous duty his thinking and endeavor can become outstanding both materially and spiritually. Such a person is none other than God Himself because even the dust of his feet spreads the fragrance of sanctity in all directions of the world. But alas! The veil of ignorance in his mind has made a beast of him and he does not think twice while indulging in unethical lowly acts. It is ignorance that makes our life a living hell and thus we hear wails of anguish and grief just about everywhere.

Our perception and visualization of the material world is based on prejudiced deluding beliefs along with the information given by our sense organs, mind and brain. If once and for all we accept this basis as irrational and inapplicable and instead start scientifically analyzing our true nature and our relationship with the world of animate and inanimate beings the reality that will emerge will be totally in tandem with Vedanta philosophy expounded in Vedic scriptures.

Just as we wake up at dawn and sleep at night in the same way at a macro level the cycles of birth and death occur. The sun rises and sets everyday.

Our life starts and ends for a particular time span. Just as one day of our life ends and another day commences the following day so too one entire life span of our ends one day (death) and another life span commences (birth). For this there should be no sorrow or fear. If we always maintain this awareness we can truly glorify our lives and live without constant fear and stress that nags us all day in and day out. If in order to make our future bright we have to undergo certain trying times in the present no one will abhor it because the law ‘this moment too shall pass’ will definitely take its course. A wise man will never carry out unwholesome actions which no doubt gives him temporary pleasure but which in the long run will give him nothing but strife and agony. If we remain constantly aware of the transient

nature of both happy and sorrowful circumstances all our mental taints like greed, avarice, lust etc would come to a grinding halt. With the result such a pure minded person will make apt use of objects and circumstances he faces with the intention of working hard not only for his own material and spiritual advancement but that of world humanity too.

Man erroneously thinks that his present life is the ultimate life and hence fritters it away by eating, drinking and procreating. Thus his future becomes bleak and dire. Instead if man learns to look upon each birth of his amongst infinite other incarnations akin to 1 day of his life he would work as hard as a college student or a farmer in his field so as to render his future bright and radiant. He will look upon all hardships he has to undergo due to the fruits of his past actions spanning over millions of lives as very light like a blade of grass. Alas! Does man ever imbibe this attitude so as to avail its benefits? It is spiritual ignorance of his psyche that makes him think his present life to be the one and ultimate life. Such erroneous thinking induces man to act undesirably and thus he accrues sins. In order to overcome this flaw the veil of ignorance in our psyche must be destroyed in totality we will give up childish attitude of ‘eat, drink and be merry’ and instead imbibe mature ways if living ones precious human life.

All of us are living our lives like travelers living in rest houses, hotels, motels etc. We individuals of the world gather together like blades of grass flowing in a huge river. Hence it is most required that we observe the rules and disciplines of rest houses, hotels etc. Let us all learn to carry out our duties selflessly like cogs in a wheel. This will help us overcome the spiritual ignorance of our psyche which erroneously induces to like certain people by saying ‘mine’ and hating the rest by saying ‘not mine’. The right perception is ‘all of us belong to God’ and that God is our ultimate benefactor. Every human being is rotating on his/her axis by being tied to it with the rope of his/her Karma (actions). It is cosmic time that unites people for sometime only to separate them later. If we truly imbibe this fact we will refrain from getting mentally attached like glues to objects and individuals and thus bondage will run miles away from us. We must learn the spiritual art of relating ourselves to all individuals and objects of the world in a cosmic and all pervasive manner. When we attach ourselves to a few individuals like say our family members our psyche gets deluded and hence we will stoop to any level so as to satisfy their lowly desires. There are households who are used to feeding their members by availing free ration etc distributed by governments and other agencies. It is perfectly alright to take free ration in times of hardships but the problem is this becomes an unwholesome habit. Thus these people instead of making apt use of their intellect and hard work live lives of beggary and indolence.

Forget working for world welfare such people cannot even uplift themselves either materially or spiritually. All these are the dire fruits of Maya or ignorance that binds us painfully to illusion. Thus the true goal of life which

is first the material and spiritual advancement of an individual and then such a person contributing towards world welfare eludes us like the proverbial mirage in a dessert.

Material pleasures have been created so that we make the most apt use of them and thus not only uplift ourselves both within and without but the entire world at large too. Material means lie in the realm of an inert material world and they keep changing their color and form so as add beauty to the world. Where we err is that we wish to possess these inert objects and thus our ego becomes fat and bloated. We will definitely enter the portals of hell and downfall if we insist on bloating our illusory egos, satisfying unholy desires etc. Thus we can lead only selfish and narrow minded lives and fritter away this precious human life meant for higher material and spiritual goals.

It is certainly not wise or farsightedness on our part to look upon this illusory ego ‘I’ and our mind as the be all and end all of life’s potential. This is because our true ‘I’ is an unlimited ocean of divine cosmic consciousness which in daily parlance is called God by us all. If we divert our efforts in the direction of attaining this cosmic divine consciousness instead of running after transient material pursuits devoid of spiritual values, we can attain those divine glories which have been attained by saints, sages, great men, leaders etc all over the world right since time immemorial. It is amazing to see people give up great spiritual gains by immersing themselves in unholy acts for some transient pleasures. Such unholy acts definitely reap fruits of pain and sorrow in future. A wise person will never stoop low for the sake of some fleeting pleasures that ultimately pave the way for his long term downfall both materially and spiritually. It is the play of Maya or spiritual ignorance that induces us to execute unwanted acts for short term so called gains. Just as one mistakes land for water so too man mistakes loss for profits. It is like attacking ones own feet with an axe.

Man is so hypnotized by spiritual ignorance and mental taints that he himself creates his overall downfall in life. Thus he swims in his self created ocean of sorrow and grief. If instead man makes optimum use of 3 mediums available viz. 1) soul 2) mind/psyche and 3) 5 sense organs he not only can uplift himself but can also like a cog in a wheel contribute to world welfare, peace and prosperity. Our sense organs have been designed so wonderfully that in ordinary daily chores one experiences extraordinary ease. It is natural that we eat food to fill our bellies. The Almighty Lord is so great that he has designed our body in such a manner so as to perform our daily chores naturally with ease. By eating healthy food our soul finds contentment and peace.

The function of our eyes is to see external objects and beings for smooth functioning of our lives. Hence our eyes are so amazingly designed that our

soul exudes bliss and joy on seeing beauty, grandeur etc in the world. The world undergoes the cycles of creation, propagation and destruction since eons together. In the middle stage everything is youthful/new and beautiful to look at. Be it man, bird, flower etc all have to undergo birth, growth and death. The middle phase appears beautiful. In reality all these 3 stages are beautiful in their own way. Despite this our eyes categorize these stages as desirable or otherwise. Thus whatever is in the growing stage appears desirable to us all. From the absolute standpoint nothing like ‘beautiful’ and ‘ugly’ exists but it is our amazing eyesight that categorizes certain objects, scenes etc as beautiful and radiant so as to manifest joy and peace in our soul.

The same holds true for our genital organ functioning. Procreation is carried out even by mosquitoes, birds, worms etc. This is the natural straightforward function of the world and yet the human genital organs are imbued with so much ecstasy that not only during sexual intercourse but the mere thought of it excites our psyche no end. From the absolute standpoint all this is illusory and non-existent. What is so extraordinary for one human body to touch another body? What is the wonder in this? What does one gain from it? We can understand that actual touch sensation excites us but the important question is why mere imaginations of this touch sensation titillate our senses and psyche? The fact of the matter is that these emotions exist relatively but not from the absolute standpoint.

This is because our genitals have been designed in such a way that physical contact between man and woman or either a mental visualization of it evokes excitement in our psyche. Thus our otherwise listless life experiences ecstasy and joy.

In the above paragraphs we discussed the tongue, eyes and genitals. The same can be applied to our ears and nose. We have been given eyes, ears etc so that our lives are filled with joy, zest etc. Without these sense organs our life becomes insipid and dry. The idea is to make apt and optimum use of these sense organs so that both our material and spiritual lives are enlivened and made radiant.

Apart from the 5 sense organs God has given us a psyche/mind so that by ‘touching’ our soul and consciousness we can attain pinnacles of unalloyed bliss and joy. Our sense organs are conjoined to the inert physical body.

These senses contact inert objects and give us pleasure. Inertness touching/contacting inertness can give joy as can be seen via the medium of sense organs contacting their objects. When consciousness contacts consciousness, living being contacts another living being etc. one experiences bliss, joy, friendship, affection etc. Under adverse circumstances hatred, aversion, dislike, violence etc tend to manifest and yet their very existence depends on positive emotions like friendship, affection etc. If there were no darkness light would never have been given

due importance. Our psyche has been designed so as to contact others and manifest love, cooperation etc for ones own well being and that of the entire world. This is why we love going to parties, discos, fairs etc. When people gather in large numbers, a sense of camaraderie manifests and thus they experience joy.

Man is attracted to sense pleasures, joy attained in congregational functions (parties, fairs, community gatherings etc) and wealth. By itself wealth has no potential of attraction. It cannot directly excite our senses or psyche.

How can a coin made of metal or a currency note made of paper attract our mind? The modern day social arrangement is such that via currencies of all nations one can buy sense objects like TV, computer, delicious food etc and thus gain joy from using them. Hence wealth attracts the human psyche forcefully. This leads to wealth being included in the list of mediums/instruments that give pleasure.

A living being has 3 bodies. All three give joy and pleasure. Previously we have discussed 2 of these bodies. The grandeur of the physical body is conjoined to the 5 sense organs. The functions of food intake, sleep, sexual intercourse etc are performed by the senses. The subtle body is our mind/psyche. Proper mental functioning is dependent on contact with other people and objects. Mind attains joy due to family attachments, contact with society, leading organizations, celebrations, public programs etc.

External events influence our psyche and thus we get affected by movements of various sorts in the world. Thus our psyche experiences both desirable and undesirable sensations. Novels, newspapers, movies, TV, computers etc are hence found attractive and pleasurable by the mind.

The 3rd instrument which experiences joy is our soul. It functions in the realms of the ‘causal body’. It endeavors to establish greatness, progress and glory. These are achieved via tasks carried out with sacred ideals and human values. In order that man’s greatness and yearning for walking on great paths remain undeterred an experience of bliss is added to it. This is called ‘Gaurav’ or leadership, fame and glory. Man influenced by the yearning to attain glory aspires for success in all walks of life so that in comparison to others he remains outstanding, wise and great. Thus he not only gains glory himself but sets an example to others too to follow suit.

Briefly we have discussed the taste of joy of 3 bodies of mankind. All our endeavors, aspirations, desires and activities revolve around the 3 fundamental activities of the 3 bodies mentioned above. Whatever man thinks and how he acts can be classified in 3 ways. The Almighty Lord has given us these 3 varieties so as to live a life of bliss and contentment. They also exist so that man always remains active devoid of lethargy and indolence. In order to attain these 3 types of bliss all 3 bodies will perforce remain active. Thus lethargy, insipidness, hopelessness etc run far away

from us and that life will not become a heavy burden because of lack of joy.

The world exists with activity as its substratum which can hence continue unobstructed. If our soul, psyche and senses gain opportunities to walk on the path of truth our life will ooze with zest and bliss.

Man starts erring when he tries to attain the above mentioned bliss via foul means or carrying out acts in haste which leads to undesirable consequences. He will not think twice to carry out illegal and unethical tasks which temporarily give you pleasure but in the long run are the very cause of your material and spiritual downfall. This undue haste is the cause of sins and mental stress/tension. Imbalance and chaos in ones life manifest due this unwholesome attitude. Overall downfall is the result of this error.

One becomes a criminal, vile person etc because of our attitude of attaining sense pleasures in a jiffy without working hard with integrity and instead using foul/illegal means for their attainment. A man in haste loses his mental poise and hurriedly performs vile/unethical acts so as to amass perishable wealth, property etc. This makes him unruly and violent which then paves the way for his demeaned state both within and without.

Whatever he had previously attained by the sheer dint of hard work in an ethical way too is now out of his grasp since he has adopted illegal and criminal means to attain sense pleasures. Thus our precious human life becomes a living hell full of diseases, mental strife, social boycott, financial lack and lack of soul peace. Man who is in a hurry to amass more and more loses his peace of mind and instead slowly but surely gets ensnared by poverty, tension and unbearable stress. This error is generally executed by a major portion of world humanity and the chief culprit is Maya/spiritual ignorance/Avidya. This Maya wrests away all peace and contentment bestowed on us all by God Almighty. With the result man instead of aspiring for higher material/spiritual goals demeans himself and those associated with him.

The goal of Spiritual Science is to help man master his thinking and righteous duty and manifest zest and sense of right & wrong so as to stay away from vileness and lowliness. Man should try and truly understand the nature of his very existence, goal of life and social relationships. He should march ahead on the path of all round progress by imbibing spiritual values like integrity, compassion, sense of service, humility etc in all his material and professional pursuits. He should transform his present unfulfilled state into that of omni-potency. The ultimate goal of Spiritual Science is to help us imbibe spirituality in our day to day lives (in our jobs, professions, household chores etc) with great spiritual masters (Gurus, prophets, messengers of God, saints etc) as instruments of God who ooze with divine radiance and vibrations.

We must all remember that man has been created from both inert/material and conscious principles. As long as consciousness exists in our body until

then our sense organs will function smoothly. But the moment consciousness departs from our body the latter if but a heap of lifeless dust.

A dead body is devoid of movement, vibration and activity. Thus it is crystal clear that man’s material body conjoined to consciousness can become a powerful source of spiritual energy but the moment consciousness departs the body is lifeless and valueless. Every second of our life is being used for amassing material pleasures (TV, computers, telephones, bungalows etc) and enjoying their fleeting joy. Despite this, when death glares at us ferociously, not even a small percent of our desires are satiated. In fact great saints of the world have time and again cautioned us that the more you try to fulfill even one desire infinite number of new ones manifest in our psyche. Thus desire satiation is nothing but a losing game.

IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE ALL GOALS OF HUMAN LIFE IT IS MOST REQUIRED THAT WE MAKE INTENSE EFFORTS NOT ONLY FOR MATERIAL PROGRESS BUT EQUALLY WORK HARD FOR SPIRITUAL UNFOLDING. BOTH, OUR MATERIAL AND SPIRITUAL LEANINGS SHOULD BE MADE SACRED, ADVANCED AND GLORIOUS. IGNORING EITHER ONE OF THEM (MATERIAL OR SPIRITUAL LIFE) WILL DEFINITELY DOOM OUR LIVES AND MAKE IT A STRESSFUL BURDEN.

ALMIGHTY LORD’S FORM/NATURE IS EXISTENCE-CONSCIOUSNESSBLISS I.E. SAT-CHIT-ANANDA The units of our world’s very existence are 1.God 2.Living being or Jiva 3.Mother Nature or Prakriti. God has 3 qualities viz. Sat-Chit-Ananda or Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. ‘Sat’ means existence. Meaning that which existed in the past, which exists in the present and which will remain in future too. ‘Chit’ means consciousness. Meaning that, which can think, make decisions and express various emotions. ‘Ananda’ means bliss and infinite joy. Thus Almighty God exists at all times, is consciousness in nature and oozes with infinite, eternal bliss. Hence in Indian Philosophy God is called Sat-Chit-Ananda.

Life has 2 predominant aspects viz. 1.Sat and 2.Chit. Life exists at all times.

It has no doubt manifested from God yet it has its independent existence like wave manifesting in the ocean. Life exists in such a way that its existence cannot be destroyed that easily. Even after attaining salvation its individual existence persists. In the states of Nirvikalpa (seedless) and Savikalpa (with seed) Samadhi (trance) states too a living being experiences the bliss of 4 types of salvation or Mukti called Saaroopya, Saayujya, Saalokya and Saameepya as mentioned in Bhakti oriented scriptures of ancient India. No doubt during Pralaya (world annihilation) everything

becomes one and yet in a very subtle way each living being maintains a subtle existence in seed form. Even when one becomes unconscious, during sleep, during dream and trance state a living being i.e. Jiva has a separate identity. Even after death this independent identity persists. Thus the Sat state (existence) of all living beings, persist eternally.

The second quality of a living being is called Chit. Consciousness exists in all creatures. This consciousness is their very own called ‘I’. It is also called ego, self and soul experience. This state is found in all without exception i.e. in saints, sinners, great men, criminals etc. The Lord is an ocean of infinite eternal bliss. A living being is constantly in search of this bliss and makes various efforts to attain it. All the time man perseveres in various ways, be it ethically or otherwise so as to attain this elusive bliss.

Mother Nature or Prakriti has only one quality i.e. Sat or eternal existence.

It exists at all times and is seen as atoms/molecules, visible/invisible activities etc. The activity of both God and His creatures is strongly associated with Mother Nature. During Mahapralaya or Great Annihilation of the cosmos Nature becomes subtle wherein its 5 elements (earth, water, air, fire, space) become a single principled entity. Thus during annihilation Nature will merge into the Sat aspect of God. All creatures will merge into the Chit aspect of God and God’s 3rd quality i.e. bliss will continue to exist independently.

The process of beginning of world creation too is as mentioned above.

According to great spiritual seers a vibration-like yearning manifests in cosmic consciousness called God by us all. This yearning is: Let Me become many from One. God starts manifesting various ‘parts’ which are nothing but the individual existences of various creatures/living beings. After this preliminary vibration like desire (Sphuranaa) more such yearnings manifest which are called Icchaa or desires. In order to give a name and form to the otherwise formless bliss of God, material objects are required. The result of desire is nothing but need, invention and manifestation. (Modern science says ‘Necessity is the mother of all inventions’). This is why Mother Nature has manifested. After creation of living beings via yearnings and Nature via desires, God or cosmic consciousness or Brahman pervades the entire cosmos as a Saakshee or Witness (also called Drishtaa or Seer). After designing the self controlled activities of the entire cosmos, God exults in the bliss of His own activities and ‘doer-ship’.

THE SUBSTRATUM-CREATOR OF THE COSMOS In today’s modern era there are many who doubt the very existence of God. From an ordinary standpoint there are many proofs which prove God’s existence. Of course, it is another thing that a prejudiced person is hell

bent on proving non-existence of God. Else even a mere glimpse of the gigantic rising sun in the morning hour is a very vivid and direct proof of God’s existence. For example there is a doer of every action and an artist behind a painting. Agra’s Taj Mahal (India) is one of the 7 wonders of the world. Every day 20,000 workers were required to build this great monument and as per data given by knowledgeable historians, 6 crore rupees were spent. Totally 18.5 years passed by before Taj Mahal was built completely. The materials used were Rajasthan’s marble, Tibetan sapphire, Sinhal island’s jewels, Punjab’s diamonds and Baghdad’s topaz. A single individual’s intellect was working behind all the minute arrangements to build this historical tomb. His name was Shah Jehan and has today become a very famous historical ruler.

Korea’s Melolium is the 2nd wonder of the world. The 4 walls of it are 62 hands long and 62 hands wide. Within it there are 36 pillars which are 40 hands tall which are thick at the base and become thinner in the upward direction. On the ladder right from the base to the top region very precious statues made of marble have been installed. This famous shrine was built by the great artist duo Paithis and Matiram. Yet the main intellect which directed them to build this great wonder was their Queen Artimisia.

The Jupiter idol of Olympia was 25 feet high and 20 lakn rupees were spent to construct it. This was the result of an intense heartfelt desire on the part of Athen’s Emperor Paraclis. The Diana temple of Iphisas is the dream of Chandfin that came true. Acharya Sunanda of Pravar Sen Era is the brain behind the 26 caves of Ajanta that had 5 temples and also the 24 Buddhist monastries. The Sikandaria light pillar was built by Sikandar. The Hanging Garden of Babylon was built by the then Babylon ruler. Rome’s Colosius, Pisa’s Leaning Tower, Rhode’s idol, Egyptian Pyramids, the images of Sistine Chapel Pietti, Paris’s Eiffel Tower, American White House, Delhi’s Red Fort etc were all the creation of great minds with pure hearts. Thus any material object of the world can never be the result of self creation and hence a creator is always a part and parcel of any creation.

If such small materials cannot be created without a creator/doer how can we say that this gigantic cosmos with its brilliant sun, stars, planets etc has come into existence without a creator? Night gives solace to tired people, stars give us light, weathers keep coming and going at their appointed hour and so on and so forth. Every creature gets its required food items, wind and water arrangements go on smoothly and thus Mother Nature is on her toes round the clock for the well being of all creatures. If there had been no cosmic intelligence behind world’s creation these innumerous stars and galaxies would have been out to ‘kill’ one another. If we allege that there is no calculation involved in the designing of the cosmos how could we humans predict that at a particular date/time/year solar eclipses, lunar eclipses, winter/summer solstices etc will occur? Such a mastery of cosmic creation is

impossible to achieve without a creator who is omniscient, who can hear each and every cosmic sound vibration, who can make such apt cosmic laws and mete out impeccable justice to each and every animate/inanimate object of the cosmos.

Without a controller apt arrangements can never be made. Without a government a country becomes chaotic and anarchic. We can argue that for a short time span things can go on functioning smoothly without a controller or a government. But the fact is that our cosmos has existed for billions and billions of years and hence it becomes obvious that for it to exist for such a gigantic time span, a cosmic intelligence/creator definitely is at work round the clock for its smooth functioning. In many households it is the elderly members who direct household activities by taking apt decisions. A village has a chief who is answerable to the regional chief. The latter takes orders from a collector who in turn takes orders from the states chief. And the final head of a country is a President. In mills and industrial concerns if there were no managers and directors, the entire business goes haywire.

Hence just think that if a company can go topsy-turvy without a director/manager how can the infinite cosmos function smoothly without a creator with its cosmic intelligence? Inert objects may possess energy but they certainly cannot have intelligence. Cosmic laws can be made only by a conscious/intelligent principle. Thus we can safely say that God definitely exists.

Many years back an article was published in the National Herald which said: Why do scientists have faith in God’s existence? The scholarly author wrote: Every atom of the material world works on the basis of a well defined cosmic law. Assuming that even a minute deviation from this law takes place, the very existence of this gigantic cosmos will be at stake. A blast lasting for a mere second can set fire to infinite nature and thus this cosmos can come to naught.

The very fact that certain cosmic laws exist proves that a cosmic intelligence exists. Our very existence depends on the sun shining brilliantly in the sky. It sends its rays from a distance of 10 crore, 30 lakh miles and the time taken to do so is 8 seconds. During day time so many means of comfort are gathered that our night passes by undisturbed. In this cycle of day and night even if one day or night is added or subtracted our lives will go haywire. From the sun’s standpoint our planet Earth is as insignificant as a drop in the gigantic ocean. Hence what to say of the importance of the existence of an ant living in the hut of a big snow clad mountain of Siberia?

Despite this even this ant lives a life of joy in its own way.

The sun in turn is a tiny star of mighty inter stellar space. In the past a magazine called Readers Digest printed an atlas wherein the solar system was a mere dot and by attaching an arrow to it a message written quite far

away from it said: Our solar system does not exist over here. It is like our tear drop entering the mighty ocean and thus losing all its identity. The Regal star is bigger than our sun by 15,000 times. The Antayers star can harbor 3 crore 60 lakh globes of the size of our sun. In June 1967 Graham Berry wrote in Science Today: There exist smaller planets than our Earth in the cosmos and galaxies with gigantic peripheries measuring 5 Kharab miles.

Despite this all these move unimpeded in this infinite cosmos. If someone argues that no specific arrangement exists in the cosmos how does he/she explain the fact that all these innumerable stars, planets, meteors etc are not ‘banging’ into one another? Why do they move in a particular sequence without hindering the movement of its neighboring planets, stars etc?

The sun possesses heat of 1 crore 60 lakh degree centigrade. If planet Earth was devoid of its Ionosphere it would have been burnt to ashes by now. Lest the sun moves away even minutely from its normal position not only will our polar regional ice melt and drown our continents but that denizens on earth will get cooked to pulp as in an incinerator because of exposure to massive solar heat exposure. The other extreme reaction that could be faced would be our planet Earth becoming a freezing ball of ice. All this proves that the entire cosmos has been designed intelligently by a cosmic creator. Hence apart from Almighty God who can create it?

Despite this there are many who insist that there is no ‘concrete’ proof of God’s existence. In one of his books Karl Marx says: If any laboratory of the world can give scientific proof of God’s existence only then will I accept it.

DESPITE LACK OF ‘CONCRETE’ PROOF………

Even the very premise of Atheistic Philosophy says that God’s existence cannot be proved. Hence they say that whatever cannot be proved can never exist. But this argument is one sided and incomplete. The belief that ‘whatever cannot be proved scientifically has no existence’ could be true let’s say until 100 years previously because scientific research was yet in its infancy. But today when modern science has taken measured steps in the realms of the ‘invisible’ and ‘unknown’ and has come out with some amazing discoveries it goes without saying that there are many more areas which have yet to be discovered by modern science simply because so far they have not gone in this direction. A day will come when they will go deeper and deeper into the mystery of creation and come out victorious with more discoveries.

Until the past few decades it was believed that the minutest particle of matter was a molecule and that there was no way to break it up further.

Hence in those times the molecule was considered to be the subtlest form

of matter. And yet after a few years passed by scientists were able to break up molecules into further smaller units called atom. At that time scientists said that the atom cannot be further broken down. Again history is witness to the fact that the atom too was pierced by later well known physicists.

When the atom was further broken down scientists were amazed to note that a great gush of energy manifested. This energy can either be used to fulfill our fuel needs or it can be misused to make let’s say nuclear weapons and heartlessly kill millions of innocent lives.

But even today the atom is not accepted as the subtlest form of matter. In fact modern deep thinking scientists, physicists etc opine rightly that there exists an even more subtle principle in the atom. It is on this very basis that Prof. Richards writes in his book “Thirty Years of Psychic Research”: Fifty years back it was believed that whatever was not proved by material science had no existence. Despite this within the realm of material science such scientific data has been unearthed which says that let alone spiritual principles even the nature of matter has not been understood in totality by modern science. Hence how can one challenge the existence of a subtle conscious substratum of this material world just because modern science fails to prove its existence? We must all realize that spiritual sciences are beyond the ken of material science.

Sir A. S. Edigran elaborates further: A conscious force is at work in inert objects which can be called Prana or vital force. Toda we are unaware of its true nature and function and yet we can from the experiential standpoint say with conviction that everything happening in this material world is certainly not accidental or without the working of an intelligent principle.

Modern science even today is incapable of unearthing the subtlest principle of matter. For example when the atom was broken up a gush of energy emitted from it. And yet even today science has failed to fully understand its true form and nature. For example light is not a material object. A material object exists in a particular place, has some weight and which can be disintegrated. Light has no weight, has no particular place for existence and cannot be further disintegrated. The subtlest form of matter which is subtler than an atom too is akin to light in form and yet there is some strangeness attached to it. The strange thing is that along with it being a wave in form it exists in a certain place too. Modern scientists call this subtle form of atom as ‘quanta’.

What we are trying to say is that with due respect to modern science, it has failed to fully elucidate the subtlest form of matter. Hence how can we use modern science as proof for the existence of a subtle conscious principle which is the substratum of this inert material world? In other words just because modern science fails to prove the existence of a conscious cosmic principle can we deny out rightly the latter’s existence? In the human body

the chief centre of consciousness is said to be the brain. Thoughts, thinking and emotions are said to primarily manifest in this region. Despite intense scientific research anatomists and physiologists have not fully understood the mysteries of the all important brain centre. Dr. Mcdougal in his book “Physiological Psychology” says: Even if the anatomical structure of the brain is studied very minutely, yet the question as to how human beings have gone beyond their animalistic behavior so as to become thinking, intellectual beings will remain unanswered. Why are human beings capable of expressing refined emotions unlike their animal counterparts? Thus we will have to accept that a subtle, formless principle exists within human beings. This principle can be called the soul, sensitive consciousness etc.

If at all there is a difference between a living man and a dead body with reference to their bodily chemical content is concerned is that the living man’s body is all the time ‘growing’ and the growth of a dead body comes to a standstill. Many have tried to induce growth in a dead body but all their hard work came to naught. Even today research is conducted in this realm but in a different manner. Today researchers are trying to find a way of inducing consciousness which had left a living body (so as to render it dead) to re-enter the dead body and thus bring it back to life. The great scientist Sir James Jeans in his most widely read book “The Mysterious Universe” writes: Today science is now moving on to the realm of that conscious cosmic principle which is the controller and substratum of this material world. Science yearns to unravel the mystery of what is the nature of this conscious principle without whose existence the existence of our material world is impossible? It is because of the fact that the self regulating mechanism of material objects is so weak that merely on its basis one cannot explain the existence of the untold potential of the power of thought present in the human psyche.

The very fact that this world functions so smoothly, its advancement and amazing potentials of consciousness in the human body all point out to the fact that a divine ‘director’ does exist (whom we call God). Arguments against this observation say that all creatures and objects are nothing but manifestations of matter; apart from matter nothing else exists.

As a counter argument the well known scientist Tendell in his book “Fragments of Science” writes: To say that life emanated from inert atoms like hydrogen, oxygen etc which are devoid of intelligence does not make sense. The reason being that the movement of life’s consciousness is so well managed and well directed everywhere that it cannot be called an ‘accident’ or ‘chance’. The great poetical works of Homer or the unearthing of the mathematical principle of Differential cannot be the result of a dice thrown or a roulette game in a casino.

The author of “Fragments of Science” writes that inert machine like activities cannot account for manifestation of the acts of seeing, hearing, dreaming, emotions and other sensations. Apart from carrying out ones daily chores whatever man thinks, desires etc and whatever is seen in this external world cannot be the result of various atoms uniting with one another.

As of today in spite of hectic scientific research being conducted all over the world, the mysteries of this material world have not been fully unearthed. Hence how can we use such scientific research to ‘prove’ the existence of a cosmic conscious principle (God)? Thus it is futile and prejudiced to say that God does not exist simply because modern science cannot prove its existence. There was a time in scientific research history when the atom was not yet discovered. Does it mean that the atom did not exist at that point in time? The atom definitely existed in the past and today even if via vain logic one tries to disprove the existence of the atom, the latter will continue to exist. Whether we accept something or not, whether we know something or not yet if something exists it will continue to do so without paying heed to our acceptance etc.

THE CONTROLLER/DIRECTOR OF THE ‘SAT’ (EXISTENCE) PRINCIPLE One gets proof of the world’s management executed by the cosmic controller from life’s manifestation. This world is managed in such a way that all our daily life’s requirements are easily available so as to fulfill them. Without oxygen living beings cannot survive even for a few seconds and hence there is an abundance of air available in this world. After that water is most required by all and this too with a little effort can be obtained by one and all. The third requirement is food and hence for animals, birds etc there are fruits, leaves etc. Man being intelligent works hard to earn money and cooks food from raw materials available. Apart from this other requirements are fulfilled by hard work. Thus without a cosmic director (God) how can these arrangements of food, air etc be made on such a gigantic scale?

It is because of certain cosmic principles accepted by everyone that not only living beings co-exist but that the creator too has to follow the laws designed by him. Lest a fetus be left out in the open for growth it would be killed in a moment and hence a fetus lives for 9 months in its mother’s womb which provides the unborn one all required materials and an apt environment for growth. Hence does this not prove that an invisible cosmic intelligence is at work? A fetus in a womb is akin to a prisoner in jail since it has no direct contact with the external world. And yet all requirements like

food, air, water etc are supplied to it in this ‘jail’ i.e. the womb. Moreover as soon as the child is born arrangements for its food have been made ready in the form of its mother’s breast-milk. There is an ocean of compassion at work which gives an environment of love and affection to the new born babe who is weak and helpless. In this manner a living being starts maturing into an adult. Yet it is amazing that this adult who has become mature and independent simply because of help from friends, family, society etc not only does not gratefully give back to the world its due but questions the very existence of Almighty God who is ultimately the beloved father of all beings?

Despite all this our compassionate father (Almighty God) enters into the youth of the child so as to fulfill its desire of siring children. God like a divine match maker unites males in females by getting them married (Are not marriages made in heaven?) and thus they fulfill each other emotionally. Further out of sheer compassion the Lord has given all creatures an inherent strength to combat diseases (immunity in our blood).

He has given our eyes to see objects, ears to hear sound and a brilliant intellect that can make apt decisions. Our brain has been designed with such precision that none can dare say that he/she can design a better one.

We can definitely infer that a master intellect is at work when we see the retina in our eyes, ear drums in our ear, kidneys that evict dirt from our body, heart that purifies our blood and legs that help us move from one place to another. No doctor or engineer of today’s advanced world can say that he/she can out perform God’s divine brain. God is a master of all type of skills like art, engineering, medical etc. Thus when we arrogantly challenge and say, where is God? We are not only being ungrateful but that we are opening the gates of our material and spiritual downfall.

Even the above examples do not fully give proof of God’s omniscient and omnipotent nature. We should not forget that God has ‘put’ heat into fire and atoms in matter. Like rays in the sun God himself is seated in our hearts and eggs us on to progress both materially and spiritually. When man is about to err or sin God gives a warning signal in his conscience. But man arrogantly ignores this warning which later plagues his life with diseases, poverty, spiritual bankruptcy etc. Despite this man’s desires never get satiated and hence he is born again and again as a human being, animal, bird etc for eons put together so as to reach the shores of fulfillment. Over here it is important to note that whether man re-incarnates as an animal, bacteria etc God is always by its creatures side albeit subtly in order to shower his divine compassion. At every stage God inspires us to give up vile and unwholesome qualities and instead aim for soul purification so as to attain salvation or Mukti. This salvation is nothing but attainment of eternal, infinite bliss of the soul. Despite this man turns a blind eye to the presence of divinity in his soul and thus remains discontented and unfulfilled. Man’s

precious life is wasted due to his blind rush for fleeting material pleasures under the influence of Maya or spiritual ignorance.

But not every scientist challenges the existence of a divine controller of this material world. According to Herbert Spencer God is a cosmic super power which controls all world activities and movements. God is a controller of this world just like the head of a family, chief of a village, district collector, Governor of a state etc. All of us follow the laws of our country because we fear punishment if we fail to do so. We also are fearful of not executing ethics in our daily transactions despite the fact that we are given full authority to execute them or not execute them. This is proof of the fact that a subtle supreme power is controlling this material world and directing its movements very wisely. The fact that only an ethical individual with sound human/spiritual values can be totally fearless proves that God loves his creatures and is an impartial judge too.

The great philosopher Kant while throwing more light on Spencer’s observations says: Our acceptance of ethical values and laws are a direct proof of God’s existence and that God is nothing but an omnipotent form of ethics, values and sacred ideals. Even the most wicked person in the world is ethical in some minute area of his life viz. love for his child etc. They have affection for their near and dear ones and carry out their duty perfectly despite the fact that they execute criminal acts to earn their bread. The fact that our conscience always inspires us to live ethically shows that the world and its denizens exist only for the sake of these great values. The world is created, propagated and nourished with the food of spiritual values. Hence it is apt to say that God’s essential nature and form is ethics, values and sacred ideals.

Hebrew scripture says God is ‘Jenovah’ which means he who eternally gives us truth based values. Philosopher Plato calls it ‘thoughts of goodness’.

Every creature of this world including bacteria, germs etc desire goodness.

Goodness of heart gives you true bliss and fulfillment on an eternal basis. A pure heart gives us beauty of the body and self control. It spreads honesty, fairness, humility and integrity in all corners of the world. A focused and sacred psyche spreads the feeling of world unity and brotherhood so as to achieve the sacred goal of “A BEAUTIFUL BORDERLESS WORLD”. Such a grand world can never lack in the 3 basic necessities of life viz. food, clothing and shelter. Thus God is that imperishable seed of goodness which is divinely glorious and dear to our eyes.

ALMIGHTY GOD IS A BLAZING FIRE AND THE SOUL IS A SPARK Almighty God is that conscious power which pervades the gigantic cosmos both internally and externally. Apart from his other innumerable activities

God is responsible for the smooth functioning of cosmic activities. Only God can conjoin the inert material nature with consciousness in the human body and other creatures. Thus came into being Prakriti (inert nature) and Purusha (conscious power). This world is nothing but a combination of matter and conscious energy. Our desires, yearnings, aspirations etc are limited within the periphery of this world. Our intellect has been designed in such a way that it can think and make apt conclusions only within the limits of the known and yet undiscovered aspect of the world.

On the basis of modern scientific research, only a small portion of the mysteries of material nature have been unraveled. Hence in comparison to what yet remains to be discovered whatever has been unraveled is very infinitesimal. Today the discovery of atomic energy is said to be a great scientific achievement and yet great scientists of the world opine that the more science dives deep into the subtle nature of the world even greater amazing mysteries can unfold. In comparison to a pile of dust the miracle of atomic energy is supreme. In the same way in comparison to atomic energy, the power inherent in the nucleus of an atom is that much more manifold. If the atom is the solar system its nucleus is the blazing sun at its centre. All the planets of the solar system depend on the sun for light and energy. Lest the sun gets destroyed the entire solar system will collapse. One will never know where and how it petered away to naught. A scientific intellect will indeed be wonder struck to note how powerful the nucleus of the atom is and its method of directing atomic movements. There is a great possibility of an even more powerful energy existing in the cave of the atomic nucleus and that even deeper than that an even more intense power is present.

Today topics like ‘anti-universe’ and ‘anti-atom’ are being discussed animatedly all over the world. It is believed that bang opposite to our world lies another magical world which is very close to it. This unknown world is becoming so powerful which can be compared to the soul force of ones body. Just in case one unfolds the mystery of the anti-universe and antiatom and gains mastery over it only then can man (who claims to be supreme amongst all living beings of the world) truly proclaim that he is the master of the world.

So far we have dealt with the aspect of subtleness. We will fail immensely in even partially dealing with the topic of the vast gross world. The stars seen by our eyes lie at a distance of millions of light years away from us. Light travels with a speed of 186000 miles/sec. It means that 1 light year is equal to the distance traveled in 1 year. Imagine how many miles are covered in millions of light years. Of course this startling information is restricted to merely those stars seen by the limited human eye sight. Thus it is beyond our grasp to calculate the distance between our planet Earth and those infinite stars that cannot be seen by the frail human eye. It is said that our galaxy itself has 1 arab suns. Amongst these many are n-times more gigantic than the sun of our own solar system. Just like our galaxy there are billions

of other galaxies present in the cosmos. Hence it is crystal clear how virtually impossible is it for the frail human intellect to imagine the vast expanse of the gigantic cosmos.

Even the very imagination of the subtle nature of the atom and the depth and height of this gigantic cosmos’ gross form can only amaze us no end. As of now even the findings available as far as gross material nature of our planet is concerned are very little and hence it is clear that a lot more needs to be known in the realm of the atomic and chemical structure of other stars, planets, galaxies etc along with their climates, atmospheric conditions etc. The overall structure and conditions of each of these planets etc is vastly different. In order to unearth a few scientific discoveries and then make practical use of the same, many years of scientific research had to be executed. Hence the million dollar question asked is: What will be the total time taken and the amount of hard work required to unfold the mysteries of infinite stars, galaxies etc present in this infinite cosmos? Is it really possible for man’s limited intellect to unravel these mysteries in totality?

So far we have talked about the gross and subtle nature of the world. The direction of the flow of consciousness which is at work in the deep recesses of the world is even more amazing. There are such amazing differences as far as the form and inner nature of all living beings is concerned. Each species have their own expectations and methods of fulfilling their needs. If you compare the thinking, likings, food habits, procreation methods, efforts, social behavior etc of fish in comparison to human beings a great disparity is seen. Further within the fish clan there are many more varieties of classes and sub-classes. Each class has their own typical anatomical, physiological and psychological structure. Ere fishes possessed the intellect of human beings they too would have unearthed the anatomical, physiological etc data of each of its varieties and this data could be at par with that achieved by modern scientific data of present times. Over here the subject of our discussion is not limited to the fish family only. There are millions of water based creatures who have different life styles. Moving on to terrestrial and other creatures one can easily see vast differences in anatomy, physiology etc of birds, elephants, butterflies etc. All of them differ from one another as far as their procreation, eating, thinking etc is concerned. There is very little common between the nature of a tiger and a hare and in fact their way of life, eating habits etc are very much different from one another. If one is amazed to note all the above innumerable differences between various creatures of the world one will be even more wonderstruck on realizing how their substratum i.e. consciousness harbors these differences within it. It goes without saying that this is the divine play (Lila) of that all pervasive divine power whom we call God in layman’s parlance.

The world of subtle forms of life is even more mysterious. Creatures invisible to the human eye fly in air or swim in water. They pervade the very dust of earth and are also present as bacteria, viruses etc in the body.

The analysis of these bacteria etc are dragging scientific research in various directions. Anatomists, doctors etc all over the world are at a loss while trying to find ways of overcoming this ‘army’ of brave germs? The culprit that induces malaria i.e. the mosquito remains invincible despite devouring large amounts of DDT. Thus the question asked is how far will we succeed in vanquishing other smaller germs like bacteria, viruses etc in totality that are causes of grave diseases like AIDS, bird flu etc? We can somehow find a way to defeat an army which welds weapons. But it is a totally different story when it comes to finding ways of overpowering a plethora of deadly germs which changes in form like the skin color of a chameleon. These subtle life forms have their own world. Even if one of them is given the capacity to depict the history of their species and its way of living man will humbly realize that in comparison to their (bacteria etc) world his own world is tiny and less advanced in a certain sense.

Today the science of the principles of chemical substances, molecules etc is creating its own kind of problems and debates. In every nook and corner of the world one can find an area which can be subjected to scientific research. No doubt man can take pride in all scientific discoveries/inventions that have been attained so far and yet we must realize that so much more remains yet a mystery that as of now it seems as though it is well nigh impossible to solve all scientific mysteries of the world. Man will realize his intellectual limitations when he will move on from analyzing the gross material world to the subtle and invisible world of consciousness.

The above lines give a small glimpse of the nature of inert matter and structural make up various creatures of the world. It says that the material world of animate and inanimate beings is so vast that it is virtually impossible to understand it fully by the limited human brain. Thus the grandeur of our world too can be called unimaginable, beyond our ken etc.

Hence it is clear that even via modern scientific techniques God’s nature, aim and activity cannot be defined or understood. This is because cosmic consciousness or God is present not only subtly in every pore of the cosmos but that he exists in the external world too. In God’s eyes this vast cosmos is merely a castle of sand built by him playfully for sheer enjoyment and bliss.

THE SUPREME POWER’S DIVINE PLAY OR LILA Great thinkers of the world like Kant, Hegel, Aristotle etc accept that a certain supreme authority exists which has created this world. And yet they

were unable to throw light fully in this realm of thought. All the religions of the world like Christianity, Hinduism, Islam etc accept that God exists. Each religion depicts God in its own manner and yet none of them have done full justice in defining God’s true nature. Of course all of them agree in one voice that God is all powerful and hence omnipotent.

One can say that it was the great thinker-scientist Charles Darwin who commenced the scientific enquiry with reference to research on God’s existence and nature. Darwin was a great biologist and had studied various species of animals, plants, birds etc while traveling all over the world. In 1859 and 1871 he published 2 books based on these research findings and laid down a scientific principle of evolution. This principle says that all creatures have evolved from a primeval creature. Darwin said that when you compare all the classes and sub classes of various species of creatures of the world you will find certain similarities and certain differences amongst them. The similarity revolved around the fact that all these creatures were created from one basic principle and yet their chemical components differed from one another. Hereditary qualities passed on from parents to children have a chemical basis. And yet the underlying principle that manifests it is very subtle.

Later Mendel, Hugo de Vries carried out more experiments to prove that a creature’s genetic progress is dependent on the chromosomes present in the cells of their parent’s body. Harvard University’s Dr. James Watson and Cambridge University’s Dr. Francis Crick conducted further research on the structure of the cell and discovered the existence of chromosomes. They showed that chromosomes are made up genes. It is said that if this chromosome which is a tightly packed cluster of genes is unwound its measure would be of the periphery of this entire world. After the discovery of genes modern science has taken up other directions of research. So far scientists have failed to unearth the omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent principle that is the substratum of the gene and which creates and demolishes this world. No doubt scientists have conclusively proved that 1.The entire world of animate and inanimate beings has evolved from one single principle and 2.Living beings evolve on the basis of various qualities imbibed by them.

Although this information is incomplete yet definitely man gets inspiration to search for true knowledge. The great author of the book “Contemporary Thoughts of Great Britain” A.N.Widgary writes: Although scientists have given us information of those principles that create life, yet this knowledge is not complete. Today the need of the hour is to find out that principle which is the substratum of human existence instead of laying stress on unraveling the substratum of material nature. It should not be searched for merely using scientific technology but by the focused human intellect too.

Our material existence i.e. the anatomy of our body has no correlation to

the existence of the culture of mankind. It cannot fulfill our emotional and sensitive needs. Hence we must endeavor to search for the very fount/source of human existence. Between the vast past and gigantic future lies a relatively minor present. Hence we should ask ourselves whether it is alright to search for information about the present only. The answer clearly is in the negative because we need to know about our past inner state and that what changes will take place in our consciousness in the future. Why do we take birth in this world? Is there an underlying substratum that which binds us to this world? All these questions must be looked into. These observations of the author concur with what we have said so far. Modern science may have yet not unfolded the mystery of consciousness which is the substratum of human existence and yet it has blessed world humanity by making them think deeply. Science encourages research, analysis etc in a very compact and methodical manner. The Brahma Sutras proclaim“Athaato brahma jijnaasaa”. It means that only when our curiosity awakens can we set about finding the supreme reality or God. We can confidently say that the meaning of divine wisdom existed in Vedanta Philosophy since time immemorial. Following are some more quotes: “Eko brahma dwiteeyo naasti” “Ek noor say sab jag upajiyaa” “Sankalpyati yannaam prathamosau prajaapatihee” “Tattadayvaashu bhavati tasyaydum kalpanam jagat” (YOGAVAASHISHTHA 6/2/186/6) It means only Brahma (creator) existed before creation of this world.

Brahma made many Sankalpas (mental resolves) and based on these this cosmos manifested.

“Ekamayvaadvayum brahma” (CHAANDOGYA UPANISHAD 6/2/1) It means THAT exists non-dually as cosmic consciousness or God. “Ekodevaha sarvabhootayshoo goodhaha sarvavyaapee sarvabhootaantaraatmaa.

Karmaadhyakshaha sarvabhootaadhivaasaha saakshee chaytaa kayvalonirgunascha.” (SHWETASHWATAR UPANISHAD 6/11) It means that one God pervades all animate and inanimate beings and exists in the form of their inner soul/conscience. It is the director of this human body which carries out various actions/Karmas. God is formless and yet possesses conscious energy. Previously it has been said that God is the witness of every action executed by all living beings. In each body God imbibes vital force or Prana and is thus called a Jeeva or living being.

There is great similarity in what sacred scriptures of the world say and the observations made by modern scientific research. Both of them in unison

say: ALL THE OBJECTS OF THE WORLD HAVE BEEN CREATED FROM ONE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLE OF THE COSMOS. Vedanta Philosophy had been proclaimed thousands of years in the past. Hence if we test Vedanta injunctions in isolation no doubt should remain as far its compactness and scientific nature is concerned. When THAT was ONE it was omnipotent God. When THAT because of desires became a limited living being or Jeeva, nonduality (Advaita) got converted to duality (Dwaita). When a living being reflects on its relationship with the world and God, non-duality becomes Trait or 3-centric. Vishishtaadvaita is the state wherein a living being’s soul merges into God’s cosmic soul. Over here there is no room for illusion or difference of opinion. This observation has been made by Vedanta for the understanding of living beings with various mental states. Principally it exists on the basis of scientific facts. Kaivalya Upanishad has brought on one dais western scientific principles and its own ancient philosophy. While depicting their very similar nature it says: “Yata param brahma sarvaatmaa vishvasyaayatanam mahat.

Sookshmaat sookshmataram nityam tatvameva tvameva tat (16).

Anoraneeyaanahameva tadvanmahaan Vishwamidam vichitram.

Puraatanoha Purushohameeshaa Hiranyamoham shivaroopamasmi (20).

MEANING: You are that Almighty Lord who is imperishable, who cannot be seen even by very subtle instruments, who is the substratum of all the cause/effects of the cosmos and who is the very soul of all beings. Indeed you are that. The Lord says: I am smaller than the smallest and bigger than the biggest. This wonderful world is my own form. I am Shiva and Brahma. I am God and Viraata Purusha.

There is no difference in what has been mentioned above and scientific data regarding cells, chromosomes etc. The nucleus of every cell is a manifestation of an imperishable principle. It does not get destroyed and in fact has the power to create more such cells. Thus the conscious energy of every cell can be called the unit of God. This unit being conscious in nature is spread out in every pore and atom of the cosmos. This state can be called a living being or Jeeva and all the cosmic powers of God are present in it albeit subtly. It is like all properties of the water of an ocean present in every drop of the vast ocean. Scientists say that there are billions of cells in the human body. Modern scientists have not fully elucidated the nature of this underlying conscious principle and yet Vedanta Philosophy looks upon it as our sense of “I-ness”. Vedanta further says that depending on the likes and dislikes of this ego or doer-ship of an individual it creates a human body that can fulfill these desires. This doer-ship is not destroyed at the time of death although the body made up of bones, blood etc does perish. The physical body does not have the capacity to manifest emotions, desires,

experiences etc. These desires etc are part and parcel of the living being’s ego which is conscious in nature. God is not an object but is a subjective experience. God realization is attained via divine wisdom.

GOD OR COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS IS BEYOND THE GRASP OF OUR MIND AND INTELLECT TOO God is called divine thought because his nature and form is subtle. But great scriptural scholars proclaim that God is beyond the grasp of our mind and intellect. Spiritual seers to some extent have detailed God’s form and yet have accepted the limitations of human speech and thought as far as describing the true form of God is concerned. Hence Indian Rishis said “Neti-Neti” meaning “God is not this, God is not this….”.The fact of the matter is that God being so subtle in nature it is impossible for even the most brilliant intellect to describe his form in words. So the question asked is why are sermons being given by various saints, priests etc that discuss the nature of God? Over here we must say that when one fully understands the nature of God and a living being albeit in an indirect manner (Paroksha knowledge) only then can one actually experience God’s divine form in high states of meditation and trance (Aparoksha knowledge).

The region where the sky and earth meet is called a horizon. At dawn and dusk one can enjoy the beauty of a sunrise and sunset near the horizon.

When 2 colors are mixed a third color emerges. When the earth and a seed combine a sapling sprouts forth. When a husband and wife unite in conjugal bliss a beautiful baby is born. One can say that when a living being unites with divine consciousness that state is called God. When hydrogen gas combines with oxygen gas we get water. When vital force unites with the physical body, life manifests. Heat and water combine to form steam.

Electricity manifests when a positive charge combines with its negative counterpart. We come in contact with that Almighty God who is the resultant experience of the individual soul (creature) uniting with the divine cosmic soul.

Vedanta Philosophy leads as far as describing the principle of God’s nature and form is concerned. Vedanta has many Sutras/aphorisms like “Tattvam Asi”, “Ayamaatmaa Brahma”, “Shivoham”, “Sat-Chit-Anandoham” etc which means that the individual soul (living being) is God. Over here the individual soul is that whose mind is focused and sacred and not one that has petty desires and other taints like lust, greed, ire etc. Phrases like Super Mind, Super Ego, Poorna Purusha, God, Paramhansa, Sthita Pragna etc all mean describe that inner state of saintly men which is divine in nature and hence they are worshipped as none other than Almighty God himself.

This state is the goal of the path of Self Realization. Liberation from bondage or Jeevan Mukti is this state of God vision.

If the individual is a spark Almighty God is like a raging forest fire. All the qualities of this raging fire (God) are present in the spark (living being). At an appropriate time this spark can merge into the fire i.e. the individual soul can merge into the cosmic soul and thus become God himself. A seed has all the qualities of a gigantic tree albeit in a subtle form (like a blue print). If the environment is not conducive for growth the seed rots in a demeaned state for ages and ages. And yet the moment the conditions become conducive this seed slowly but surely first become a sapling and then a gigantic tree. A tiny sperm harbors an adult human being in itself albeit subtly. If the environment is not apt it remains in its ordinary state but the moment it unites with an ovum it takes the form of an embryo and starts growing in the pregnant mother’s womb. And later after coming out of the womb at birth it starts growing into a mature male or female. The inner structure of an atom is like that of the solar system. The difference seen is only as far as shape and amount of space taken up by both is concerned. A living being is a part of God. A part always possesses qualities of the whole from which it manifested. The only difference between a lump of gold weighing 1 pound and another weighing 10 pounds is the amount of space taken up by each of these lumps. And yet the principal characteristics of the element gold are present in both of them.

With the hammer of spiritual practices and meditation the living beings mind can be carved in such a way that it becomes an image of God. Spirituality means the science and vision of the soul at the experiential level. All spiritual practices prevalent in this world have one single aim in mind and that is, purification and concentration of each individual psyche so that it becomes divine and all pervasive. This attainment of divine cosmic consciousness is equal to attainment of God or Self Realization. Self Realization or God vision (Darshan) means the individual soul merging into the cosmic soul (which is called Almighty God in layman’s terms) via spiritual practices. In other words duality is replaced by non-duality in a total manner. This is the supreme goal that each individual of the world should aspire to attain. And hence man must give up his animal like tendencies and thus attain a divine radiant state of the mind.

We must all admit that illusory concepts and beliefs too exist in the realm of spiritual sciences. Childish and immature people who feel that purification of the psyche which does involve hard work and a very high level of endurance foolishly look out for ‘short-cuts’ so as to avoid hardships. They stupidly envisage that by merely waving a lamp in front of God’s image or offering it a small plate of sweet pudding etc one can twirl God on the tips of their finger. These foolish men have only one aim in mind and that use (or should we say misuse?) God to satisfy their petty desires (begetting a

son, getting a promotion, generating wealth etc.). Subconsciously they thus vow to remain in a lowly demeaned state. In order to make ‘conducive’ they blindly follow so called Pandits (scriptural scholars) who ordain certain worship rites that are to be followed strictly and that no questions dare be asked. Thus they out of delusion think that now God is well within their ‘grasp’ and that it gives them a free hand to pursue their unwholesome desires. Majority of the times this sort of delusion and illusion is seen behind rites and rituals. The concept of worshipping God’s idol for fulfillment of desires that are mainly lowly is stoutly followed by so called ‘devotees’. They err by believing that worship of God means fulfillment of their unwholesome desires. And these very people shun God and insult their chosen deity when their desires remain unfulfilled. Isn’t it ironical that a tiny dirty pond (so called devotees) trying to become masters of the great ocean (God) instead of humbly accepting its limitations and merging into the ocean so as to achieve true glory?

Almighty Lord is that supreme consciousness which pervades the entire cosmos both within and without in the form of cosmic laws. Every action of the Lord has a well meaning and well designed goal to achieve. Those people who adhere to these cosmic laws attain the Almighty Lord’s compassion. God can be compared to electricity. If electricity is made use of aptly, many machines start working for our benefit (TV, radio, computer etc). Lest this very electricity be misused it can prove fatal for many. God is worshipped for the purification of ones psyche and certainly not to please him. A small motor gives less power and thus minor activities are carried out on using it. A large motor gives much more power and thus greater benefits accrue from it. As against this a power house has a gigantic storehouse of electricity. If you want to make use of this electricity there is no need to pray and beg for procuring it. In fact what is most required is that the level of the meter, motor etc in your house should be raised appropriately so that the electricity of the power house can manifest in them aptly. Today everywhere people discuss the fruits of praying to God. We further hear of amazing miracles due to God’s grace. The fact of the matter is that when any devotee tunes his/her mind to God’s divine consciousness with unswerving faith, his/her thinking and action too becomes divine. If this condition is fulfilled rest assured the Lord’s grace is bound to manifest. Bang opposite to this when so called devotees make a superficial show of devotion and as a result fail to purify and focus their minds on God, divine grace will run miles away from them.

Almighty God’s cosmos is so vast that it is totally beyond the ken of our frail imagination. It is impossible to count the number of creatures dwelling in this cosmos. The number of creatures in this cosmos is so infinite that even if you convert our planet Earth into a huge sheet of paper we will fail to write the exact number. It is impossible for God too to monitor the activities and the thinking process of every creature of the universe. In fact

if this were the case we creatures would allege that God is partial and thus all cosmic movements would turn haywire. Instead the compassionate Lord has created an irrevocable law which is based on our Karmas/actions. Thus every creature is given an equal opportunity devoid of any bias to either act appropriately or otherwise and thus endure their fruits/results of actions executed. Meaning if you perform wholesome actions you will climb the ladder of material/spiritual progress and if you insist on performing lowly/undesirable actions you are pushing yourself downwards to a demeaned material/spiritual state. The Lord is a witness and friend of all creatures and is watching each and every action of ours (It is as though God has a hotline connection with every creature of the world without prejudice or bias). God’s stature is so glorious that it is apt on his part to be a friend and impartial witness of his beloved creatures. As against this ere God had shown partiality to those who superficially worshipped him and manifested wrath at those who failed to ‘cajole’ him, most definitely this world would become a breeding ground of crime, illegal acts, dishonesty etc. People who pompously worship God so as to ‘cajole’ him with eulogies etc with the sole aim of fulfilling petty desires are definitely under an illusion that these tactics will work in their favor. Worship does not mean superficial dry rituals and rites. It is only when a mind full of devotion and faith that carries out worship rites reaps the divine fruits of material and spiritual prosperity. We must truly realize that what is required from us all is that we surrender our actions and thought process to the wise will of God instead of superimposing our frail will on God. Know for sure that God can never become our puppet so as to dance to the tune of our whims and fancies. Such a whimsical approach to rites and rituals is nothing short of foolishness and childishness. Thus instead if inducing God to dance to our likes and dislikes it is more appropriate that we as God’s responsible devotees adhere to divine cosmic laws authored by the Lord himself and thus climb the ladder of both material and spiritual advancement.

The Lord is made ones idol in order to attain him. Over here idol means goal. We must make our psyche pure and radiant so as to become divine.

Thus all the characteristics of God like compassion, impartiality, justice, integrity, apt management etc. will manifest in such great souls. The more we purify our psyche and move in the direction of divinity the more we will contact God and his eternal bliss which is imperishable. Thus the gist of spirituality is to constantly work hard for mental purification and concentration. A point to be noted is that concentration of the mind without purification creates havoc in our lives. Thus emphasis should be laid on mental purification so as to make it radiant and sacred. This is that supreme royal path which helps us attain God and his divine powers for our own well being and that of all creatures of the world.

CHAPTER 3 THE AMAZING MYSTERIES OF THE AMAZING ALMIGHTY LORD THE SUBTLE WORLD IN THE FORM OF PRAKRITI (MATERIAL NATURE) AND PURUSHA (GOD) Ordinarily the world appears to be as big as per the experience of our sense organs. Only that perceived by the 5 sense organs are thought to be the be all and end all of this otherwise gigantic world. We thus contact only a very minor portion of the world. We therefore look after and manage this tiny world. And yet the world is not that tiny as experienced by our gross and limited understanding.

The body is directly perceived by our eyes etc. Hence we utilize all our energy, time and wealth to look after its needs. The conscious aspect of our mind and intellect is invisible and subtle and thus no thought is given to its needs. This attitude can be called ‘showing disrespect to the invisible’. On a daily basis we use water, air for breathing etc and yet we never pay heed to their chemical and germ content so as to know whether they are useful or harmful.

When we gaze at the sky we see stars, sun, moon, clouds etc. and yet we are unaware that a flow of infinite energy founts of life based principles exist in them. This observation can be understood only by specialists who have a sharp focused intellect. Those laymen with limited intellectual capacity fail to understand it. The oxygen present in the wind flowing in space is responsible for life existing on earth. If even for a few minutes the oxygen levels in wind decrease all of us will gasp for life. Our life is dependent on food and water too and yet their roots lie in the vast space perceived as blue sky by all of us.

Radio waves, UV rays, X-rays, alpha/beta ray etc rule in interstellar space.

They carry out their respected tasks in the ocean of the cosmos. Our planet Earth sustains various life forms like plants, birds, humans etc simply because it lies at an apt distance from the sun. Meaning the temperature of solar rays entering Earth are conducive for various creatures to exist. If Earth were to lie very close to the sun it would burn like a fire ball (Mercury planet) and if it were to lie further away from the sun it would become a freezing ball of ice (like Pluto). Hence whatever exists on our planet is due to the blessings of interstellar space and its entities.

It is not only the sun but other entities of the cosmos too who gift us many vital things required to sustain life on Earth. If Earth is our mother and the

Sun our father, other planets, stars, galaxies etc should be considered our aunts, uncles, cousins etc. The value of the blessings of our aunts etc is no less than that given by our own parents. Alas! How many of us realize that our efforts that lead to material/spiritual prosperity can never realize this goal without the blessings and help of the above unknown benefactors?

The invisible and subtle world has a gigantic existence. In comparison to it the Earth would be of the size of an eel. As long as the sea water quality is apt the eel continues to live in it. Lest this sea water quality turn mediocre this eel will struggle to remain alive.

The onus lies on the North and South Pole to maintain a balanced relationship between the Earth and the sun. All desirable and undesirable things first reach the North Pole from space and after these things are sieved by the North Pole unwanted material reaches the South Pole which evicts them back into interstellar space. In this manner a give and take of materials of space takes place all the time. There are many who say that life is not a creation of planet Earth. They feel that by chance Earth which was a portion of another advanced planet in space broke away from it and exists in its present form as seen by us all today. On this basis man is called a ‘straying demigod’.

So far we spoke of the inert life of material nature. Apart from this there exists a conscious aspect of the cosmos which is infinitely more important and priceless when compared to this material world of animate and inanimate beings. The human body may be very beautiful and exquisite to look at and yet if its psyche which is conscious in nature were to desert it, the body would rot like a mass of dirt. When human beings become unconscious or go into coma the physical body becomes listless and inert like. When a person dies we all are in a hurry to dispose off the foul smelling corpse despite the fact that just a few minutes back that person was so dear to us. Bacteria, germs, vultures etc make a yummy meal of this corpse. Hence we either burn the dead body or bury it in burial grounds.

Although it seems as though the hands work, legs move etc in reality it is the body’s vital force (Prana Shakti) that is responsible for all bodily movements. Although the body rots on dying the soul within is never destroyed and hence it is called immortal. Hence it is our soul which is conscious in nature that is important and priceless.

Material science has time and again tried to unfold the secrets of the subtle world which is strongly related to the gross material world of names and forms. To a certain extent they have tasted success in the form of the invention of television, radio etc. X-rays, lasers etc are made use of today extensively and satellites are being used in the functioning of TV, mobile phones etc. Most definitely a time will come when modern science will imbibe the art of controlling cloud, wind etc movements and that solar

energy would provide all energy requirements of world humanity in abundance. Further there is a great possibility that cities will be built in interstellar space and that various planets and satellites will build a relationship of give and take for mutual benefit.

And yet the subtle world of consciousness is more vast and powerful than all the attainments of the material world put together. Material scientists no doubt found the keys of material forces of the subtle world but more subtle and powerful is the world of consciousness. This world of consciousness can be contacted at a subtle experiential level only by a psyche that is very focused and taintless. Such pure minded saintly men/women can definitely make optimum use of this world of subtle consciousness for the material/spiritual prosperity of all creatures of the world. Ultimately the age old dream of great leaders, thinkers and saints of the world can be realized viz. “A BEAUTIFUL BORDERLESS WORLD”.

This topic is related to the individual soul and Almighty God. The soul is micro and God is macro. The soul is a drop of an ocean and God is the mighty ocean itself. Both of them are related to one another like an atom and the solar system. Both have relationship of give and take along with an attitude of cooperation. All this takes place on the basis of certain well defined cosmic laws and it is followed explicitly by every atom and their sub units. Cosmic consciousness is called God by the layman. Individual souls are part and parcel of cosmic consciousness and possess all the divine powers present in the latter. And yet their gross relationship is never perceived by us all. Externally the state of individual souls and Almighty God appear to be very different. And yet at the subtle level, invisible to the gross eye, they maintain a light bond. If via spiritual practices this faint bond is made intense and eternal the give and take between God and the individual soul will get a strong foothold. Rishis are those great souls who have succeeded in merging their individual soul with the cosmic soul (God) and hence they become instruments that manifest divine powers and glories (Ridhi-Sidhi).

When we desire that divinity manifests in mankind we mean that divine powers should manifest in abundance in the human body.

Indian scriptures proclaim that living beings incarnate in 84 lakh species.

This incarnation takes place at the level of the individual soul in the subtle world and is called Parloka or the other world. The law of Karma (actions) works in this arena. Between the stages of death and rebirth creatures roam in their subtle bodies in this area called heaven and hell based on the results of each creature’s past actions. The gigantic waves of divine powers rise high in this vast ocean of cosmic consciousness and they control/direct/nourish all living beings. These divine powers manifest as Brahma (creator), Vishnu (propagator) and Mahesh (destroyer).

A sage full of austerities attains the potential of attracting these divine powers from the ocean of consciousness as per his requirements. These divine powers are called Ridhi-Sidhi too. The joy of heavenly liberation is achieved in this mighty ocean of divinity. In one corner lies the arrangement for hell. The entire substratum of spirituality depends on this invisible/subtle world. It is this subtle consciousness which takes up the ‘role’ of God (cosmic soul) and his creatures (individual soul).

CHAPTER 4 OUR FINITE LIVES ARE DEPENDENT ON THE INFINITE THE POWER THAT CONTROLS THIS COSMOS Every human being of this vast world is solely responsible for the joy/sorrow, bliss, agitation, peace, wrath etc that he/she faces in his/her daily life. It is he who is responsible for sowing seeds that grow thorns or fragrant flowers. Once a person executes an action he/she has no control whatsoever as to what type of fruits of actions will be generated. Ere this choice was given to mankind, he/she would promptly execute lowly/criminal actions and choose joy/happiness as their fruit/result. Thus someone’s bad action would create discomfort and strife for another person and the doer of the vile action would go scot-free.

Hence it is said that man has full freedom to perform any action under the sun, but the results of these actions are totally in the hands of Almighty God. God is that governing authority who ‘dishes’ out the fruits of our actions and controls all movements of these results. God is thus infinite and cosmic in nature. Hence we must never doubt the fact that the lives of all human beings are totally dependent on this infinite governing authority.

Even in our day to day lives it is seen that every activity has a doer, every creation has a creator and every arrangement has a manager. Those who adhere to theism (the belief of faith in God) tend to put forth this very theory of actions and their fruits. In this manner they prove that God i.e. a governing cosmic authority does exist. Of course! The following question too can be asked: If every creation has a creator, God too must have been created by another creator? If someone refutes this argument saying that God is self manifested, a counter question can be asked: Why is it that this material world too is not self manifested? Meaning why should this material world need a creator to create it?

In this manner there is no end to questions and counter questions, arguments can counter arguments etc. In order to flaunt ones intellectual prowess many so called logical arguments can be put forth so as to run down ones opponent. Thus it is very essential that if one is a seeker of absolute truth one has to give up all mental prejudices including this burning desire of flaunting ones ‘brains’. A very focused and taintless mind is the need of the hour and only then one can unfold the underlying reality of this material world.

Does God exist or not? This question is not that important in comparison to the following question: How exactly was this world created eons ago? Who created it? Both these questions have created a lot of differences as far as various answers given to them are concerned. Modern scientists say that inert molecules on their own unite to form various objects of the world and thus this world coming into existence is a result of it. All the various objects combined together along with conscious forces to form this world of matter.

According to theists every object has a creator and hence the entire world too should be having a creator that is conscious in nature. This creator is called Almighty God by theists. Theists have 2 predominant beliefs: First that God’s subtle form is a witness (Saakshi) of this cosmos. Meaning God controls this world just as a puppeteer controls movements of his puppets.

Secondly this entire world is a gross manifestation of God’s subtle infinite form. Hence they say that every movement of each animate/inanimate being of the cosmos is directed by the presence of God’s subtle form present in every pore of the cosmos. The macro form of God is cosmic consciousness and micro form is all individual souls/creatures/living beings of this gigantic material world.

Over here the need of the hour is to deeply cogitate over the above mentioned beliefs. If we accept the theory of modern science which says that the world came into being because of union of various atoms and molecules, a new question crops up viz. every living being has an ego or ‘I’ and hence does science also say that this ego is also the creation of union of atoms? If scientists reply in the affirmative one more question arises viz. do various machines like computers, nuclear reactors, cars, trains etc invented by modern science too possess an ego or ‘I’? Apart from this do rivers, hills, grains, ores etc have an ego? Do they have the capacity to think for themselves and take decisions in an intellectual manner? Do these machines express emotions like love, hatred etc towards others? Do their souls harbor aspirations, thoughts and activity of any kind? If this were true all inert objects would make various plans and execute various activities like any other living being.

The main point to be discussed is whether consciousness is the underlying substratum of inert matter or whether inert matter is the substratum of consciousness. Matter possesses its own distinct characteristics. When

different types of matter unite new materials are created whose qualities differ from their ‘parent’ materials. Chemistry is a subject that deals with union of various chemicals. On the face of it, it seems acceptable when scientists argue that if 2 different chemicals can combine and create electric sparks why can’t they create consciousness? Its counter argument says that no doubt when 2 chemicals combine a new substance is created but the fact remains that this new substance lacks intelligence. Water exposed to fire results in creation of steam and yet this steam lacks intelligence. Friction does create light and electricity but do they possess intelligence? Modern man has invented some mind boggling technology and machinations. Many super computers are known to give information more accurately and speedily than the human intellect. And yet they do not have the capacity to think on their own. We must always remember that these computers have the above amazing capabilities only because it was man’s intellect that designed its technology. Even space crafts, rockets etc sent to interstellar space function only when it is remotely controlled by scientists on Earth. Further these machines, computers, space crafts etc have no power whatsoever to decrease or increase their skills to carry out their various functions. If some technical problems arise in these machines it is the human intellect that corrects them. And hence how can inert matter create consciousness? So we can conclude safely that although the combination of various material objects produce new materials yet, these new materials lack intelligence. Consciousness possesses wisdom and intelligence. That entity which lacks wisdom although it possesses movement cannot be called consciousness.

All important scientific achievements to date are the result of the scientific intellect of mankind. If this were not the case nature’s electrical force would have pointed at its existence long back. Electricity would have functioned in an amazing manner as it does today, eons ago. Energy found in matter can merely induce physical movements in them. Bang opposite to this consciousness has an original quality of self wisdom/knowledge.

Although radium, uranium etc manifest intense energy yet it cannot think and lacks self knowledge. It can work only when it is guided by an intelligent human brain. Many scientists say that energy and consciousness are synonymous but this thinking is erroneous.

Consciousness does not exist in matter and neither matter exists in consciousness. This is because both have their own importance and existence. But yes both work in tandem with one another. Consciousness gets the chance of fulfilling its desires and aspirations from material nature.

In turn consciousness enhances the utility value of matter so as to make apt use of it in ones daily transactions. Our worldly life definitely reflects this observation. Even the very basis of cosmic creation should be accepted as this.

Modern science believes that only what can be proved scientifically should be accepted as true. But credit should be given to these scientists who do not say that only what is known as of today is the ultimate knowledge and that nothing more remains to be known. As a result modern science cannot be called atheistic because the door of their intellectual curiosity is wide open so as to continuously aspire for new knowledge. Although scientists do not accept God as visualized by atheists there lies a great possibility that these very scientists will march ahead to prove the independent existence of consciousness. Thus the onus lies on true atheists to have faith that in future modern science too will prove the existence of cosmic consciousness called Almighty God by laymen.

The cosmos is well managed and well controlled and works on the basis of certain cosmic laws. This too proves the existence of God. Everyone accepts that there exists a doer behind every action executed and that every design has a designer. Agra’s Taj Mahal (India) is one of the 7 wonders of the world. Every day 20,000 workers were required to build this great monument and as per data given by knowledgeable historians, 6 crore rupees were spent. Totally 18.5 years passed by before Taj Mahal was built completely. The materials used were Rajasthan’s marble, Tibetan sapphire, Sinhal island’s jewels, Punjab’s diamonds and Baghdad’s topaz. A single individual’s intellect was working behind all the minute arrangements to build this historical tomb. His name was Shah Jehan and has today become a very famous historical ruler.

Korea’s Melolium is the 2nd wonder of the world. The 4 walls of it are 62 hands long and 62 hands wide. Within it there are 36 pillars which are 40 hands tall which are thick at the base and become thinner in the upward direction. On the ladder right from the base to the top region very precious statues made of marble have been installed. This famous shrine was built by the great artist duo Paithis and Matiram. Yet the main intellect which directed them to build this great wonder was their Queen Artimisia.

The Jupiter idol of Olympia was 25 feet high and 20 lakn rupees were spent to construct it. This was the result of an intense heartfelt desire on the part of Athen’s Emperor Paraclis. The Diana temple of Iphisas is the dream of Chandfin that came true. Acharya Sunanda of Pravar Sen Era is the brain behind the 26 caves of Ajanta that had 5 temples and also the 24 Buddhist monastries. The Sikandaria light pillar was built by Sikandar. The Hanging Garden of Babylon was built by the then Babylon ruler. Rome’s Colosius, Pisa’s Leaning Tower, Rhode’s idol, Egyptian Pyramids, the images of Sistine Chapel Pietti, Paris’s Eiffel Tower, American White House, Delhi’s Red Fort etc were all the creation of great minds with pure hearts. Thus any material object of the world can never be the result of self creation and hence a creator is always a part and parcel of any creation.

If such small materials cannot be created without a creator/doer how can we say that this gigantic cosmos with its brilliant sun, stars, planets etc has come into existence without a creator? Night gives solace to tired people, stars give us light, weathers keep coming and going at their appointed hour and so on and so forth. Every creature gets its required food items, wind and water arrangements go on smoothly and thus Mother Nature is on her toes round the clock for the well being of all creatures. If there had been no cosmic intelligence behind world’s creation these innumerous stars and galaxies would have been out to ‘kill’ one another. If we allege that there is no calculation involved in the designing of the cosmos how could we humans predict that at a particular date/time/year solar eclipses, lunar eclipses, winter/summer solstices etc will occur? Such a mastery of cosmic creation is impossible to achieve without a creator who is omniscient, who can hear each and every cosmic sound vibration, who can make such apt cosmic laws and mete out impeccable justice to each and every animate/inanimate object of the cosmos.

Without a controller apt arrangements can never be made. Without a government a country becomes chaotic and anarchic. We can argue that for a short time span things can go on functioning smoothly without a controller or a government. But the fact is that our cosmos has existed for billions and billions of years and hence it becomes obvious that for it to exist for such a gigantic time span, a cosmic intelligence/creator definitely is at work round the clock for its smooth functioning. In many households it is the elderly members who direct household activities by taking apt decisions. A village has a chief who is answerable to the regional chief. The latter takes orders from a collector who in turn takes orders from the states chief. And the final head of a country is a President. In mills and industrial concerns if there were no managers and directors, the entire business goes haywire.

Hence just think that if a company can go topsy-turvy without a director/manager how can the infinite cosmos function smoothly without a creator with its cosmic intelligence? Inert objects may possess energy but they certainly cannot have intelligence. Cosmic laws can be made only by a conscious/intelligent principle. Thus we can safely say that God definitely exists.

Many years back an article was published in the National Herald which said: Why do scientists have faith in God’s existence? The scholarly author wrote: Every atom of the material world works on the basis of a well defined cosmic law. Assuming that even a minute deviation from this law takes place, the very existence of this gigantic cosmos will be at stake. A blast lasting for a mere second can set fire to infinite nature and thus this cosmos can come to naught.

The very fact that certain cosmic laws exist proves that a cosmic intelligence exists. Our very existence depends on the sun shining brilliantly

in the sky. It sends its rays from a distance of 10 crore, 30 lakh miles and the time taken to do so is 8 seconds. During day time so many means of comfort are gathered that our night passes by undisturbed. In this cycle of day and night even if one day or night is added or subtracted our lives will go haywire. From the sun’s standpoint our planet Earth is as insignificant as a drop in the gigantic ocean. Hence what to say of the importance of the existence of an ant living in the hut of a big snow clad mountain of Siberia?

Despite this even this ant lives a life of joy in its own way.

And yet as an when necessary Almighty God uses his potential to destroy for managing his existence aptly. He creates such situations of destruction that all living beings start trembling with fear. This situation is created solely with the aim of awakening untold spiritual potential in mankind. A worldly father tolerates his beloved child’s tantrums and mischief only so long as it is not hurting anyone else. The father scolds or reprimands his children so as to discipline them. In the long run it benefits the child greatly when he/she become adults. Similarly Almighty God lovingly disciplines his children (all creatures) time and again by creating scary and fear oriented situations. God’s name is synonymous with discipline. Every pore of this cosmos is pervaded by a disciplined cosmic law. The more man disciplines and controls his mind and intellect the more he becomes the lord of his self.

In this world nothing lies beyond the boundaries of discipline. Planets, stars, galaxies etc of interstellar space are all controlled by cosmic laws. The beneficial arrangement of creation, propagation and transformation exist everywhere. All living beings and inanimate objects complement each other’s requirements. Procreation and sexual passion help increase the lineage of all creatures and this is an amazing cosmic arrangement. Atoms and molecules of various objects are so well arranged that none ‘bang’ against one another. If this were not the case there would be mayhem and chaos in this world. Our bodily cells exhibit their own independent existence and with each others help they carry out well managed activities like digestion, excretion, blood circulation etc. Look around everywhere, in all directions and it will be crystal clear that discipline predominates. Even famines, earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones etc are not accidental because at their very roots certain cosmic principles are at work. It is only our gross superficial eye which calls these natural calamities accidental or ‘chance’ occurrences. In reality they are not so because an underlying disciplinary arrangement is at work for world well being. It is none other than Almighty God. At the superficial level waves of the ocean seem to be separate entities and yet they are nothing but manifestations of that one single gigantic ocean.

Similarly all rays of the sun put together are the scorching sun itself. Society is nothing but a congregational form of various individuals. The tiniest unit of the world is an atom and all of them put together are called the cosmos.

The individual souls ‘add up’ to form the cosmic soul and this is called God

by all devotees of all religions. All individuals of the world breathe from that same infinite ocean of air which is akin to infinite fish surviving in a single gigantic ocean. The underlying principle of all beings is cosmic consciousness/God. This cosmos is a congregation of atoms and molecules.

Although the existence of various creatures and material objects appears to be separate and yet they all are nourished by the underlying infinite ocean of consciousness albeit invisible to the gross human eye. All of them are created and nourished in this divine ocean. This super vital force and super disciplining power is called God. Neither can the leg see itself nor can the hand see itself. It is only the light of the eye that helps in their visualization. Even the eye cannot see itself although the light of visualization is present in it. And hence it is more difficult for the hand, leg etc to see this light present in the eye. Thus an important question needs to be asked: How can our sense organs like eye, ear etc perceive divine consciousness when they themselves are created from inert matter? Thus just because our sense organs fail to experience cosmic consciousness i.e. God can we err and conclude that God does not exist? The fact of the matter is that God can be experienced but the condition is that our mind and intellect which are gross must be refined and focused. A taintless (lack of lust, greed, hatred etc) and subtle mind can sure enough experience God’s presence albeit subtly during higher flights of meditation. Inert matter can measure another inert matter. For example a speedometer can measure the speed of a car. A measure tape can measure the length of one’s skirt, pant etc. Similarly only consciousness can experience consciousness. It is not difficult at all for a pure and focused psyche to experience God consciousness.

The great thinker Pascal said: Just because something is at present beyond our ken it does not therefore mean that it does not exist. A few centuries back there was not even a minor talk of radio, TV, computer etc. Even in the ancient past this matter did not cross the minds of great people of those times. Before an invention or discovery takes place a thought process commences in the psyche of some great scientist. Even at such times there is no proof of its existence externally simply because the invention is yet in its stage of invisible thought. This did not deter scientists to work hard in their laboratories so as to convert this thought process into a reality (example the idea of a computer not seen by the world initially is actually proved by designing a computer for all to see). Thus various inventions which were first only a concept/idea in the minds of a few great scientists not perceived by the rest of the world were actually made concrete for one and all to experience in a visible manner.

It is certainly not wise to insist that God does not exist just because he is beyond the ken of the 5 sense organs and advanced scientific machines.

God is consciousness in nature. Even the substratum of the inert world of

matter consists of many forces albeit invisible to the human eye. Great researchers full of faith that these forces do exist put in a lot of effort and money to prove their existence. As against this if they had insisted in a prejudiced manner that since these forces are invisible to the human eye and hence they do not exist, scientists would have not conducted research and reap success in discovering these important forces. And thus the fabulous advancement seen in the arena of modern science would not have been attained if prejudices had not been set aside.

Thus it is absolutely clear that the creator of this world (God) is a great mathematician, engineer, doctor, weather forecaster and nuclear scientist.

If we insist on denying God’s existence we are ourselves opening the dire doors of a tremendous material/spiritual downfall. Hence it is most required that we make great efforts in attaining God realization which is the gateway to eternal, infinite bliss (Ananda). Anyone who attains God Realization has attained the supreme goal of human life.

One can easily perceive the cosmic management skills of the creator of this cosmos by studying the process of manifestation of life in this inert world.

All the requirements in order that life sustains in this world are present in abundance. Without air living beings cannot live even for a minute and hence air has been supplied in abundance. Water too is equally important for sustenance of life and it can be procured with minimum efforts. Another requirement is food. Those creatures who cannot cook food are supplied with fruits, roots, raw vegetables etc. Human beings who possess a sharp intellect first earn money to procure grocery and then cook it in the way they so desire. Thus without these arrangements of air, water, food etc supply how could life sustain even for a moment in this inert world? And hence can we even then insist that no creator (God) exists?

It is not as though only creatures of the world are required to adhere to cosmic principles based on ethics and spiritual values. This is because the creator or God Almighty too follows these principles implicitly. Consider a situation where a fetus is exposed to the external world for growth instead of allowing it to mature in its mother’s womb. Obviously the fetus would die in the external environment because of lack of proper temperature, air, water etc. A mother’s womb is most required for the immature fetus since it ensures that air, water etc are fed to it in an appropriate manner which is conducive for its smooth growth. Again does this not prove that an invisible intelligent force is at work which laymen call God? Before a child is born its mother’s breast is ‘packed’ with easily digestible milk. This is sheer compassion on the part of Almighty God to make this arrangement for every new born babe. This newborn child who is fragile and dependent on others for sustenance is provided with not only material needs but also emotional needs. Its sensitive/emotional requirements are

fulfilled by its immediate family first and society too at a macro level. And yet alas! This very fragile child who later matures into an adult simply because of aid from its family and society not only ignores his duty towards them but also pompously challenges: Where is God? In spite of all this, the compassionate Lord, who is the Holy Father of all creatures, instills fatherhood, sexual passion etc. in the psyche of every young individual so that when he marries, he can sire children. The institution of marriage is meant for the fulfillment of the emotional needs of both men and women. Meaning the husband fulfills his wife’s emotional needs and vice versa. God has given both of them a healthy body and the capacity to face trials and tribulations in life. The RBC and WBC of blood help fight germs that try to make our bodily diseased. He has given us eyes which can see things, ears which can hear sound and a mind that can think.

It is beyond doubt that God is a master creator because the eyes, ears, minds, intellect designed by him cannot be designed even by the most brilliant human brain of this world. God’s intelligence is so razor sharp which can be perceived by us on analyzing the structure of the eye’s retina, the ear drums, pumping of the heart etc. Can we thus not conclude that no human engineer can match the engineering capacity of Almighty God? Only God can be the most skillful designer of the cosmos who compassionately has given us a brilliantly designed human body so as to achieve the supreme goal of a human life viz. God/Self Realization. Hence if we insist on arrogantly challenging the very existence of God it is we who will be on the losing end. As far as God is concerned he continues to shower his grace equally on those who challenge his existence and those who are unswervingly devoted to him.

And yet God’s benign grace does not end here. Just as sparks pervade fire, atoms pervade matter and light rays pervade the sun so too Almighty God in the form of divine consciousness is seated in the cave of the hearts of all creatures without exception and silently/invisibly urges them all to aspire for higher material and spiritual goals. The moment a vile thought arises in ones mind which can lead one in an unethical direction, God seated in our heart lovingly ‘nudges’ us not to do so. Despite this man refuses to listen to his conscience and continues his unwholesome activities. Initially such a person might be seen living a life of luxury and pomp but sure enough his vile deeds catch up only to induce misery, pain, diseases and strife in ones life. And yet man’s desires are so infinite in number that many remain unfulfilled and hence is reborn in species like animal, birds, bacteria etc.

Over here it must be noted that God continues to remain by the side of each creature whether in a downfallen state or that of an uplifted state. All along our compassionate Lord Almighty eggs us on to give up vile actions and instead aspire for higher material and spiritual goals that are inspired by ethics, values, integrity, service etc. If one pays heed to God’s voice in ones heart indeed one can attain eternal, infinite and divine bliss. But alas!

Deluded man refuses to listen to this divinely compassionate counsel and thus remains thirsty like a deer chasing illusory water of a dessert mirage.

The veil of Maya (illusion) is so powerful that man wastes his precious life chasing illusory material objects and thus there is no end to his woes.

Scientists do not out rightly claim that a controlling power exists subtly in every atom of the cosmos whose nature is divine consciousness. According to the great scientists Herbert Spencer God is a cosmic power who controls every cosmic activity just as a village head rules his village, a governor rules his state and a President rules his country. All of us follow the rules of our country as per its constitution because we fear that by not doing so we will face penalty, fines and jail sentences. We are free to act aptly or in an undesirable manner. Despite this we adhere to ethics and values because if we refuse to do so there is the fear of being punished by the court of law.

All these observations point out to the fact that most definitely, an invisible supreme authority (God) does exist in this gigantic cosmos. Only a man who scrupulously follows ethics and imbibes human/spiritual values in life can truly be called fearless. This fact too proves that like his father Almighty God, he too loves all creatures equally and will mete out justice in a fair manner to one and all.

CHAPTER 5 THE COSMIC ACTIVITIES OF DIVINE CONSCIOUSNESS (GOD) A COSMIC PRINCIPLE/REALITY WHICH IS PRESENT IN OUR LIVES TOO Life in this world is advancing and progressing and this fact is accepted by all. Ancient man slowly but surely strived hard so as to reach today’s advanced state. Divine consciousness seated in man’s heart albeit subtly urges him to make progress both materially and spiritually. Not only is this apt but is also most desirable. All living beings have one common desire and that is to attain self fulfillment which they lack as of now. It is not as though only human consciousness that aspires to evolve as a self fulfilled being but that even at the cosmic level the law of evolution is at work.

Amongst the major scientific discoveries made so far tell us that the cosmos is ceaselessly becoming widespread. All galaxies, solar systems, planets etc are making their areas in interstellar space more widespread. It is believed that billions of years back a terrific explosion occurred in the central area

of an opaque mass situated in the deep recesses of the cosmos. As a result many smaller hot masses were emitted which later cooled down to form planets, stars etc. And all of these are continuously straying away from one another. All galaxies are moving further away from one another which is true even for our solar system. It is said that this movement can still continue for billions of years in future and yet a time will come when this movement will stop. As per their speed with reference to their circumference these planets etc will return to their original places from where they manifested. This state can be called Mahaa Pralaya or total extinction/annihilation.

From the standpoint of understanding and describing interstellar/cosmic space, its 4 areas can be considered: 1. Our earth along with its atmosphere which possesses magnetic pull. A major portion of the upper region of the atmosphere consists of atoms, molecules and electrons. In this region of space one can easily perceive and contact inert matter.

2. The second area covers the space between planets (Venus, Mercury etc) of the solar system. It is filled by the thin and all pervasive gas emitted by the sun’s corona. It is called plasma or solar air. It is because of this plasma that the tails of meteors points in the opposite direction from the sun. This very solar air renders the magnetic fields of earth’s atmosphere into a tail like shape.

3. The third area is the space between the stars of our galaxy (measuring about 50 times the distance between earth and sun) called Milky Way. This region too has thin gas made of neutral materials and charged particles.

4. The fourth region is that space which encompasses within it infinite other galaxies apart from ours that in turn include infinite and strange planets, constellations etc.

The above scientific data has been obtained via advanced scientific techniques including giant telescopes, radiation technology, satellites techniques etc. Further advanced rocket technology and computerized spacecrafts have done yeomen service in augmenting our knowledge of interstellar space.

From the above observations it is clear that right from birth to old age the law of evolution is at work. As of now our cosmos has completed its youthful stage and is now entering its mature stage. Hence various galaxies, constellations etc are widening the area occupied by them. They are augmenting both horizontally and vertically and are thus ‘straying’ away from one another at a fast pace. We can label this as the evolution and propagation of the cosmos.

The divine desire of ‘one becoming many’ created an explosion in the subtle world (not yet manifested). It is called Hiranyagarbha in the Vedas and Upanishads. From its womb manifested infinite galaxies, stars, constellations, meteors, asteroids, satellites etc. After birth the next stage is advancement or evolution. Hence it is clearly visible when we see our cosmos expanding and progressing towards an advanced state. The activities and movements of majority of galaxies etc of interstellar space are in this phase of expansion. Keeping this in mind we human beings too should get inspiration from nature and thus strive for both material and spiritual excellence which have their basis in integrity, ethics, humility and an attitude of cosmic welfare.

When we minutely analyze the state of various planets many cosmic laws are clearly perceived. These laws are equally applicable to both material objects and conscious principles. Amongst many special qualities exhibited by our Earth is that its upper layer has a fair amount of coolness and lightness (weight-wise). It is because of this that life exists on Earth along with nature blooming beautifully. The same law applies to our lives. If we learn to develop a psyche that is light hearted and give up hoarding material objects at the external level and innumerable desires at the mental level not only will man attain eternal peace but that he will march ahead with greater strides towards the peak of progress. But alas! Those who have burdened their lives heavily both externally and at the mental level will encounter only discontent, strife and anguish both materially and spiritually. The deep recesses of Earth are heavy and very hot too. Hence life and nature’s grandeur is virtually non-existent in this region. Over here everything is a raging fluid of heat and nothing but heat. During earth quakes and volcanic eruptions this raging lava manifests for us all to see.

Till today the Earth has been dug up to a depth of a few miles only whereas the central point is deep down at a depth of about 4 thousand miles. What lies at greater depths is known only when geologists conduct studies after earthquakes occur and volcanoes erupt.

The Earth consists of great amounts of oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron etc.

The cosmos predominantly consists of hydrogen, helium and other light weight materials. They add up to around 90-99%. In comparison our Earth consists of merely 0.1%. The inner core of Earth has a great pressure. The pressure measured in the bigger layer of Earth which commences where the upper crust of Earth ends is about 10 thousand ton per diameter-inch.

Despite the fact that an egoistic superficial viewpoint gives utmost importance to sheer heaviness and qualities of terror yet the state of Earth clearly points out to the fact that where on the one hand its deepest core predominates with heat and intense pressure over there it is only a gigantic ‘furnace’ that burns hotly. It is from these regions that earthquakes,

volcanoes etc emanate and thus create agitations on the surface of the Earth which is known to be tranquil and calm. The upper atmosphere of Earth has a superb balance of lightness and tranquility and hence life along with various other material-means exists in abundance. If we try and truly understand this fact we too can make apt changes in our daily activities so as to taste the joy of peace and contentment in an otherwise stressful life.

It is most required that all denizens of Earth should strive to become independent in life and yet it must be kept in mind that in order to tap our inner soul potential external help too is required now and then. All this is related to social help and support. Not only our own progress but that life too advances further because of mutual cooperation and support.

The very existence of planets, galaxies etc of interstellar space along with their activities/movements too is dependent on mutual support and cooperation. Take the example of our planet Earth; it takes a lot of help from the sun for sustenance. But this does not mean that Earth in turn does not give aid to other planets etc. It is a fact that taking in turn requires giving too. Anyone who insists on just taking but refuses to lend help will definitely create a downfall for himself. No doubt Earth too lends its support to other planets but in order to protect its special qualities it takes a great deal of help from the sun.

The great British astronomer Sir William Herschel had deeply studied the changes taking place on Earth due to various solar movements and activities. He concluded that extraordinary transformations occur in the growth of plants, physical bodies of all creatures and the psyche of all mankind due to changes seen in the activities and structure of the sun.

From this it is clear that not only climatic and other changes are perceived but that man’s physical body and mind too undergo changes (positively or negatively) due to various solar activities. An Uzbek scientist called N. Kenosarin said that quick sand increased/decreased due to the influence of solar spots. Moscow’s Prof. Cijeski conducted research studies and said that in the annals of Earth’s history whenever intense reactions were seen on the sun our planet saw a rise in illnesses like stomach upsets, plague, typhoid etc. The great Prof. concludes that the bacteria causing these diseases become more virulent due to solar changes. Further he opines that man’s psyche too undergoes changes due to this solar influence.

What kind of a bond or relationship exists between planets? Everyone agrees that they have a bond of mutual cooperation and give and take. Who indeed is whose brother, father, son etc? Such analysis does not yield any positive information. What is old, what is new, who is a great donor, who is insolvent, who is big, who is small etc, all these questions are futile. This is because their answers can either inflate one’s ego and hence arrogance or make a person feel very inferior and demeaned. And hence what is required

is that all world beings cooperate with one another like true brothers and sisters. When a person helps someone he should realize that he himself has taken help at some point in his life. So the ego that says ‘I am the giver’ should be renounced slowly and instead world humanity should help one another with humility and a sense of service (Seva).

This very belief is being applied predominantly between various stars, planets etc. How is the Moon and Earth related? A lot of research has been conducted on this topic and it has been proved that none of these planets etc are dependent on others in an absolute manner. This is because when one planet gives the other takes and later the latter gives and the former takes help. Hence all of them mutually cooperate with one another. The cosmos is like a single family with the planets, galaxies etc as various family members. Thus they coexist with a bond of cooperation and support for each other.

Is the Moon planet Earth’s brother, son, friend or guest? This question has not yet been answered fully. Sir George Darwin said that the ground of the tranquil ocean due to some kind of partial annihilation (Khand-Pralaya) erupted and that became the Moon. The hollow created because of this became the ocean. The ground that broke away started hovering in space which started revolving around planet Earth. This became our satellite Moon. Thus we can say that Moon is Earth’s ‘son’. Further it has been said that there was a time when the Earth burnt ragingly like red hot fire and it rotated with tremendous speed (I rotation in 3 hours). At that time the magnetic pull of the sun too was very intensely experienced by Earth and an ebb and flow of hot lava waves too were manifested by our planet. At that time many firebrands banged against Earth which resulted in the creation of ponds, rivers etc.

The French scientist Bufo says that the Moon is Earth’s brother. He opines that all planets and satellites came into existence at one and the same time.

Initially only the Sun existed. From somewhere in space another gigantic Sun came and banged against our Sun. The dust that resulted from this banging flew into interstellar space and when it became more concentrated.

This concentrated dust became the planets/satellites of our solar system.

Great astronomers like Latlas Weis Srecker, Gerard Cooper etc believe that billions of eons ago when a great explosion took place for the very first time a great deal of dust was emitted and this later became all the galaxies, constellations, stars, planets etc of the entire cosmos. Although all of them are bound by the forces of attraction and repulsion and that they maintain an apt balance as far as their rotational and revolutionary movements are concerned, yet none of them have been created from one another. Meaning all planets etc came into being independently of each other and its root cause is the explosion of the ‘womb’ of the cosmos. In this manner every

planet, star etc is a friend and neighbor of each other. This relationship applies equally to the Moon and Earth.

On the one hand where all members of the cosmic family are undergoing growth and evolution, there they are also subjected to the cosmic law of creation, propagation and destruction. Thus it is clear that one day in future this gigantic cosmos too will ‘die’ (destroyed). Many stars, galaxies etc after passing through ‘old age’ die and this process will continue as long as the cosmos exists. When the entire cosmos will become ‘aged’ or ‘old’ Mahakaal or Cosmic Time will devour it in its entirety. After birth one grows, after growth one becomes old and dies. This law applies to all animate and inanimate beings i.e. the entire cosmos.

After observing the speed at which our Milky Way is losing energy, great scientists suspect that solar systems related to it are heading towards ‘death’. An astronomer of Maryland University says: That day is not far when planets attached to our Milky Way will stray far away from it and instead will exist independently in far flung regions of interstellar space.

This influence will be seen not only in various solar system family members but also in satellites attached to those planets. This in turn will lead to a cosmic ‘anarchy’ or chaos that everywhere loneliness will predominate.

Further the ‘give and take’ relationship between various planets, stars etc will be destroyed which in turn will destroy their special qualities. Thus planets, stars etc will end up with limitations, handicaps and distortions.

Over here everything takes birth, everything grows and ultimately dies. This holds true for the entire cosmos. If man deeply recognizes this fact he will always remember at the back of his mind that one day he has to die. This will induce him to find out what is the true goal of human life. Hence not only will he glorify his life but out of sheer love and compassion for fellow denizens/creatures of the world he will work hard for their material and spiritual prosperity too. Ultimately the age old dream of great leaders and thinkers of the world can be realized and that is: CREATION OF A BEAUTIFUL BORDERLESS WORLD.

CHAPTER 6 THE FUN LOVING LORD’S COURT OF ENTERTAINMENT THIS ENTIRE COSMOS IS NOTHING BUT CONSCIOUSNESS ‘NA JADAM KWACHIT SARVA CHINMAATRA MEVA HEE’

MEANING: NOTHING IS INERT IN THIS COSMOS BECAUSE EVERYTHING IS NOTHING BUT CONSCIOUSNESS. These wise words of great scriptural scholars will not be accepted or understood by laymen of the world. Maharshi Ramkrishna Paramhans after attaining the highest trance state expounded in the Yoga scriptures would embrace Goddess Kali’s idol at Dakshineshwar (Kolkatta, India) and say “O beloved Mother!”. For laymen and gross minded human beings this divine emotion would appear to be illusory and insane. With nose in air they would scoff at the very thought of ‘talking’ to an inert idol. And yet today’s well known scientists accept that nothing is inert in this world. They all agree that everything is energy in nature.

With our gross vision the above observation seems to be half true. No doubt some energy and movement is seen in the sun, stars, moon, train, bus, car, birds, bacteria, animals etc and yet the ground that we walk on, vessels like plates, buildings, trees, books, chairs etc seem inert totally. Assuming that our buildings are not inert a humorous situation could occur wherein we go to sleep in our building situated in lane number 1 for example and next day on waking up our building could ‘move’ to another lane number 10!!

But this does not mean that the precept ‘everything is conscious and nothing is inert’ is false even a wee bit. It is just that our level of understanding differs else in reality nothing in this cosmos is inert. The fact remains that an external object appear to be inert only to those people whose minds are gross, unfocussed and impure. The more ones intellect and psyche are gross to that extent objects along with this world appear to be inert. If this gross psyche undergoes concentration and purification objects that previously appeared inert to us including our physical body will be actually experienced as nothing but cosmic consciousness. Every atom of the cosmos without exception is on the move ceaselessly. Everyone is experiencing lack of ease while trying to achieve their goal. One fails to understand how man’s psyche has become so deluded that he never finds time nor the inclination to find out what exists beyond inert time and space. Today the world over man leads a very stressful life without realizing that the root cause is the state of his psyche. A psyche that gets attached to external objects (house, car, TV, mobile, relatives, friends etc) and madly runs after them in order to fulfill his never ending desires is fundamentally responsible for adding stress and strife in today’s jet cum computer age.

Once a scientist caught hold of one end of a long iron rod in his hand and exposed the other end of the rod to fire. Slowly the heat spread from this end to the other end of the rod held by the scientist in his hand. Since the rod’s heat was unbearable the scientist threw it down. Someone asked the

scientist: Why did the rod become hot? He replied: Fire is energy in form and hence when it contacted the electrons of the atoms of the iron rod, the electrons (energy in nature) changed their direction of movement.

Previously the electrons were moving within the outer limits of each of the atoms but the moment heat energy of fire contacted the electrons ‘ran away’ just as ignorance runs away when wisdom dawns in the soul. These intense movements seen in electrons due to heat contacted at one end transferred heat to the other end of the iron rod. Of course! The external appearance of the rod remained unchanged i.e. before it was heated and after it became hot. Energy is a force and as long as it exists man or any object appears full of life, hot and brilliant. But the moment inertness takes over all these qualities are no longer perceived. Thus we can safely conclude that those whose psyches abound with positive emotions (love for all, humility, integrity etc) can truly be called powerful.

Why have our psyches/intellects become so inert and deluded? The answer is that when our psyches fail to deeply reflect and meditate on the subtlest nature of consciousness it remains listless and inert. Our Earth seems inert to us simply because we have never made efforts to perceive it with a psyche that manifests positive and sacred sentiments. For the moment think that you are a child. In one hand you hold a hammer and in the other planet Earth akin to a ball of clay. Now hammer this Earth to powder. In this manner mountains, rivers, trees etc are now merely powder in form. Take a pinch of this powder and observe it under a microscope. If things appear hazy expose the same powder to an electronic microscope. Units of atoms like neutron, proton, electron, positron and chromosomes, genes etc of cells have been unearthed in this manner. Similarly the smallest unit of the powder will show tremendous movement when viewed under the electron microscope. If you cannot imagine its miniscule area gather those atoms in an area measuring 1 cm. It can be gauged that in 1 cm 10 million atoms can easily be housed. Thus it is so tiny that our gross minds can never imagine their miniscule size.

If you observe the nucleus it appears that much more miniscule. Thus in 1 cm area 100,000,000,000 nuclei can easily be housed. Even in this most tiny form so much movement is seen. Lest if one could see it he/she would say: “AAKAASHAY BHOOJALAM VAAYURAGNIRBRAHMAA HARIHI SHIVAHA. YATKINCHIGHANNAM KINCHITVA SARVAM CHINMAATRA MEVAHI.” …………TEJABINDUPANISHAD (1/28) MEANING: Space, earth, water, wind, fire, Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh and just about everything is consciousness in nature. ‘Na jadam kwachit’…..Nothing is inert.

In Yog Vasishtha (3/94/20 to 3/94/29) Maharshi Vasishtha throws more light on this topic by saying: Just as waves of an ocean are on the move majority of the times, light emits from a flame lamp, sparks emitted from fire, flowers/leaves growing on trees etc in the same way only that person truly knows God who perceives and experiences divine consciousness that pervades every pore of the cosmos. “YATHAITATPRATIBHAA MAATRAM JAGATSAGAVIBHAASANAM” which means that all objects perceived by us in this world have manifested from this divine consciousness.

Along with the fact that this divine consciousness not experienced by our gross minds is subtle, is also very gigantic and cosmic in nature. One atom of water circumambulates 3,000,000,000,000 times in 1 second. The circumference of a single circumambulation is 100 millionth of an inch. And yet this seemingly miniscule atom is so powerful that if it explodes it can destroy our gigantic Earth to dust in a flash of a moment. Nuclear bombs are designed so as to utilize this atomic energy released on explosion. We have already witnessed its destructive power in Hiroshima-Nagasaki (Japan) and even today the very thought of it sends shivers in our spines. And yet what is very important to note that potentially man’s positive emotional consciousness is n-times more powerful than the atomic energy described above. So far in world history this conscious power has manifested only on rare occasions.

In Kolhapur (India) there once resided a great Paramhansa saint. Whenever he entered an emotional trance he ate anything and everything offered to him by everyone present. One day some wicked men decided to harass this saint. They gave this saint 2 big bottles of strong alcohol which the saint drank unquestioningly. Nothing happened to the saint and yet a very deadly disease of leprosy attacked the bodies of these wicked men.

In ordinary psyches the above divine power exists in a latent/inactive state and hence one fails to experience its presence. And yet if via spiritual practices like meditation, prayer, worship etc one purifies and focuses the psyche one pointedly this divine consciousness becomes active and radiant.

Such a person truly becomes all powerful like the brilliant sun that shines in the sky. The time taken by sun light to travel from the sun to Earth is 8 minutes. The atoms of light travel at a speed of 186,000 miles/sec. These particles of light emanate not from the periphery of the sun but from an area that is deeper and it measures 420,000 miles. This is the core or soul of the sun and from it manifests solar heat and energy. If sun light were to move at its original speed its heat would have overpowered this core region of the sun in 2.5 seconds flat! And immediately it would travel to Earth and other planets so as to burn them to ashes within moments. Hence in an ordinary state it is kept latent and uncontrolled.

The movement of molecules is uncontrolled and hence it takes many years for light molecules of the core region of the sun so as to reach the periphery of the sun. When the negative and positive charges of the molecules of solar heat bang against each other they jump up at a height of only 1 cm. Hence even if the molecules jump at tremendous speed they take a lot of time to reach the sun’s periphery. In between they get partitioned into many types of rays and get scattered. Thus only a small amount of the terrific heat of the sun manages to reach planet Earth. In this manner this apt amount of sunlight helps sustain life and their various activities on Earth. The energy oriented part slowly continues flowing.

This energy of the sun helps oceans, wind, trees, plants and all creatures, especially human beings to function optimally. Ere this solar energy did not to reach our planet life would come to a total standstill. Hence it becomes clear that solar energy and light are absolutely necessary for life on Earth to sustain. In the same way when consciousness leaves man’s body it renders his body dead and lifeless.

Our speech, hearing capacity, eating, drinking, emotions, sentiments, ego, desires, hopes, aspirations etc are all conscious in nature. Even when the physical body dies the above potentials (eating, desiring etc) called psychic imprints or Sanskars continue to exist in ones consciousness which then enters a new body called birth. Hence great scriptural scholars of the entire world time and again urge us to realize divine consciousness via purification and concentration of the psyche. Consciousness never ‘dies’; it only undergoes transformation. Hence never doubt the immortality of great men who have purified their minds so as to merge into God consciousness.