Man and God particle

There was an air of euphoria among scientists around the world when the news of discovery of ‘God particles known as Higg’s Boson’ was announced. I remembered my grandpa’s words, who was a very successful business man in those days, telling his sons,” Can’t you see the gold lying there in front of you? I can see them but you can’t see them?” What he meant was, there were many opportunities in the world and only few people could identify them. People can see things which are visible to eyes but there are things which are invisible for naked eyes. That is why we need a third eye called ‘Gnana’, the wisdom that can cut across the barriers of human visibility. I described my ‘mirror experience’ earlier in an article that caused a great transformation in my life. I often think about it and try to comprehend the significance of this experience. The more I think about it the more I realize that it is part of my ascent in the ladder of human evolution. We have evolved from primitive beasts to human beings and we are on our way to further evolution to reach our final destination called Divinity. I learnt there were primitive lives that lived millions of years ago and some of them were so primitive that they did not even have a head but they can reproduce and multiply. Nature has provided necessary mechanism for their growth without providing them a brain and intellect. We human beings have not fully evolved into higher intellectual species though we have made progress in science and technology. But human evolution is all inclusive in which science and technology plays a role. The human evolution is more about ethics and moral values that forms the basics core of our evolution. We still have ‘beast’ in us and this beastly quality is an obstacle in our spiritual evolution. This is because we have sidelined the core moral and ethical values with our constant pursuit of wealth and materials though science and technology. We have failed to grow as a society where human beings genuinely love each other without any expectations. There is a fundamental flaw in our path to evolution. The anomalous part is we all have ‘divinity’ in each one of us and we hardly remember them though it can reveal itself sometimes in our everyday lives. Most often we fail to recognize it even it reveals itself. My mirror experience is one such event in my life. It revealed my divine side of my personality. There is a beast and there is a divine nature in each one of us, super-imposed on each other. It is up to individuals to realize this and identify themselves with divinity. This can be done only by ‘discriminative knowledge’. It requires razor like sharpness of ‘pure intellect’ that can identify the beast from divinity every moment of the day and every day of our lives. Only by cultivating ‘Vairagya’ (dispassion) and ‘abyassa’ (practice) one can achieve this ‘discriminative knowledge’. There are many ways to identify the beast and eliminate them and the best tool available to us is ‘our intellect’. One form of yoga ‘called Gnana Yoga’ teaches us exactly how to use our intellect by way of ‘discriminative awareness’ to identify this beast. When you get a ‘new thought’ we have to probe deep into us and question this ‘thought’ its origin and its purpose. Sometimes such thoughts are overwhelming, forcing us to act instantaneously. We need to understand that it is the physical manifestation of a thought that causes physical and mental changes within us those forcing us to act. Every action has a reaction and consequences, whether good or bad depending upon whether the thought is good or bad. This thought and action is called ‘karma’ which creates actions and consequences. Past karma is our vast store house where our past thought and actions manifested with their consequences leaving an imprint in our sub-conscience mind. One can successfully practice ‘gnana yoga’ in everyday life and you will find yourself at the top of the ladder of human evolution. At this evolved stage, you will not be perusing what everybody is persuing, called material wealth. By a discriminative analysis you will come to the conclusion that ‘material pursuit’ will not give you happiness. Even if it gives happiness temporarily, your mind will still for search for something else. Many of us in our society do not really understand what exactly we want and what will make us happy. We seek answers for our questions by trying various things without any discriminative analysis of the beast within us.

Silence and Solitude

I have always enjoyed solitude and silence right from my childhood and this trait has been a part of my personality. But many people mistook me for ‘the proudest’ and some of my friends used to call me ‘a solo man’ during my collage days. I have no specific reason for this trait except that I was born with it. I do not regret it but I understand the negative side of this personality, especially when you have to freely move in a society and make new contacts and friendship to expand your circle for better prospects and future. This is especially true when it comes to business, trade and networking. The positive side of it is, I was able to focus my mind on research and development, innovation and it opened a whole range of new possibilities. When you are silent, your mind works fast and your imagination soars to new heights. Albert Einstein who I always admired as a scientist, once quoted, “Imagination is more important than knowledge”. I can certainly understand why he was walking in a pouring rain in the streets of Berlin, oblivious of his surroundings, while his mind was deeply contemplating about the theory of relativity. He was completely drenched and he did not realize that he was drenched in a pouring rain until his friends remarked about it. In a way he was a ‘karma yogi’ who dedicated his whole life in pursuit of scientific knowledge and unraveling the mysteries of the universe. Silence and solitude was certainly part of his personality. In fact, his parents thought he was dumb child because he hardly spoke to others during his early stages, but sat quietly in his backyard gazing at the sky and stars. Silence is something I always seek, because it helps me in my inward journey of contemplation and meditation. When you withdraw your mind from the external world of sights and sounds, there is so much to discover. It is like diving into a sea where you can witness amazing lives of plants, corals and colorful fishes. It is entirely a new world where one can search and discover pearls. But will the silence and solitude help you progress in your career and profession and achieve your goals of success? It is a question somebody asked Jesus Christ two thousand years before. He said,”You cannot serve two masters”.Obvisouly one has to choose either a prospective carrier and material wealth or choose a secluded life of silence and solitude and pursue your spiritual goals. I have always thought about these two conflicting alternatives and the path forward. I can now say in unequivocal terms that perusing spirituality is the right choice than perusing a success in this materialistic world. One has to only look at the history of so-called successful people who lived and died. Albert Einstein named as the man of the millennium, died as a lonely man, as a recluse, in spite of the pinnacle of success he achieved in science. Look at the kings, queens, presidents, business tycoons, scientists and Philosophers and the list is endless. What happened to their glorious past and memories? People do not remember even their legacies. Everything vanishes into a thin air. As Jesus was leaving the Temple, one of his disciples said,”Look, teacher! What wonderful stones and buildings!”Jesus answered, “You see these great buildings? Not a single stone here will be left in its place: every one of them will be thrown down.” Every beginning has an end, and every end has a new beginning. This is the law of nature. One can choose a path only by an discriminative knowledge and Jesus encouraged people “to seek to find”. After all, one can seek only in solitude and in silence. I do not regret my trait because it is my destiny that shows me a path for an eternal freedom called ‘salvation’.

Yoga and myths of modern world

Ancient Indian scriptures stipulated certain conditions for any new aspirants to practice Yoga. They described the type of country one should live, the food, the climate, the rule of law etc.They suggested that if these conditions were not met then, ‘practicing yoga’ was a futile exercise. The purpose of these conditions were based on the fact that yoga involves four stages of developments namely, moral, physical, mental and spiritual and the environment should be conducive to achieve these changes.Moeover, the yoga practice was an integral part of Hindu religion and it was based on the fact that human beings can achieve a spiritual integration with the universal creative divine force in a practical way. These may be viewed as ‘Metaphysical concepts’ by Western countries but those few yogis were able to transcend the physical body and achieve such integration. They were able to survive in ‘suspended animation’ for days together, which today medical world may not accept as a ‘possibility’. But these incidents have been observed by scientists and recorded. In ‘astanga yoga’ (eight stage yoga) the first two stages are moral, namely Yama and Niyma.This is the fundamental requirement for any aspirant to start the practice of yoga. The second stage is physical, Pranayama and Asana. The third is mental Pratihara, Dharna, and Dyana and the final stage is spiritual, Samadhi. Unfortunately, yoga has been interpreted in our modern world as a kind of physical exercise’ and ‘yoga institutes’ commercialized such concepts. In reality, it is only about ‘yoga asana’, the physical postures. Of course each and every asana posture offers certain health benefits to various organs in human body and longevity. But this is only small portion of the big story called ‘Raja yoga’. One has to go back thousands of years in history of ancient India to visualize the environment in which Yoga was practiced. Kings were ruling smaller area of lands (hundreds of kingdoms in ancient India), morals, ethics, rule of law, justice were matters of critical importance for kings and citizens. The population was very thin and the king had a direct access his citizens. They had small army; religious rituals and temple worships were practiced daily. Gods and Goddesses were the main focus of attention for all. The priests were treated with great respect and reverence. Mysticism was accepted as a part of yoga and revered. India was one of the richest and civilized societies in the ancient world. Indus valley civilization was known as the ‘cradle of civilization’ and Sanskrit scriptures opened ways for rise of religions like Buddhism and Jainism. In our modern scientific world, the concept of yoga has been completely misunderstood. For example, yoga stipulates strict vegetarian diet. I can hardly image how many people can practice Vegetarian in our modern life. But one can understand the value of vegetarian diet only by practicing it. My own experience shows that such a diet can completely change one’s personality over the years. It subdues ones emotions and instincts drastically and such as change will reflect in one’s personality. I always wonder how people are struggling with their weights, anger managements and behaviors in their everyday life. Diet, personality and behavior are closely inter-connected. A simple vegetarian food can solve the problems of obesity and anger management. This is precisely why Yoga stipulates certain conditions, because, one’s body, mind and spirit are inseperable.Only with a focused mind and dedication, an aspirant of yoga can achieve integration with divinity in real life. Questioning such integration with a rational mind is a futile exercise. To achieve integration, one should have faith and such faith can come only by practice and realizing its value. Once you realize the value then you have realized the truth of yoga and nothing will change you after. I practice science as well as spirituality, and I fully understand the clear demarcation between these two. Rational mind has its limitations and it cannot go beyond a point. But spiritual practice can take you where science fails to take. This is my personal experience. The reason why people are unable to achieve such divine integration in our modern world is because the first two aspects of yoga (Yama and Nyama) morals and ethics are not practiced. True yogis are ‘extinct species ‘in our modern world.

The observer and the observed

Buddha encouraged people not to accept any doctrine or dogma blindly, including his own teachings, but find out by themselves with their own knowledge and worldly experiences. His suggestion is based on two factors. Once you are born into this physical world with a physical body, then there is a purpose (past karma). This purpose has a past and your present is a continuum of such a past (reincarnation). Only you can find out this purpose by your own intellect and experience. Your knowledge of the past remains elusive, as long as the veil of Maya (ignorance) covers your intellect. Secondly, each individual is unique and they have to find ways and means for their salvation by their own ways, because, they are conditioned by circumstances of their birth, language, culture, relationships and beliefs. It is extremely difficult for an individual to break this mould of ‘conditioned world’ and think ‘outside the box’. Both Hinduism and Buddhism emphasize that ‘discriminative knowledge’ alone, is the key for such wisdom. Human brain is a very powerful tool by which we come to know everything in the world.Togather with knowledge and imagination; human beings have achieved miraculous things. We are able to probe deep into the past several millions years with Carbon dating techniques, and explain how the past existed. We are able to use our imagination and able to project the future, how human beings can achieve things merely by using their ‘thought processes’ using computers. We are reaching the pinnacle of science and technology. In spite of all these advancements, there are sufferings and pain everywhere in our everyday lives. Why this anomaly? The material comforts and scientific knowledge are not sufficient to alleviate our pain and suffering in our day today lives. They are not sufficient to bring our loved ones from their past death. They are not sufficient to mend our ‘broken relationships’. They are grossly inadequate because, we have mistaken material wealth for happiness; we have mistaken this temporary life for permenance.We has mistaken a temporary relationship for permanent. We have mistaken pain for pleasure. These sufferings are our own making by our mistaken identity. In an interactive world, we need two things. One is an observer and another is observed. When there is no observer there is nothing observed. When you witness a person suffering, who feels this pain? It is your body that feels the pain and not you. When you mistake your body for you, then there is a pain and there is a suffering. The purpose of ‘Yoga’ is to teach and train you, to distinguish between your body and you. In deep meditation of Yoga, your body disappears along with pain. Then you can see clearly who you are. You stand alone. Hinduism describes you as a soul; ‘it cannot be burnt with fire, moistened with water or dried by air’. When you identify yourself with body, then there is a pain. When you identify yourself with the soul, there is no pain. During Samadhi the individual ‘I or ego’ identity is simply dissolved into a vast ocean of universal force called Iswara (the creative force).

Contained body in a conditioned world

The wise of the East saw suffering in everything in a worldly life and dreaded the cycle of birth, life and death. Imagine a baby who is just born from the womb of a mother. Suddenly the baby is delivered into this world from the safe and secure shelter of a womb, accompanied by shrilling cry and shivering body with mucous covered with blood and water. The baby enters the world environment which is contaminated with germs, viruses and diseases. The baby is hungry, cold and insecure. The first expression of a baby is a loud and clear cry. A cry for food, shelter and warmth. The life begins with great vulnerability and insecurity. It may be a joyous occasion for the parents but certainly not for the baby because parents have been living in this ‘conditioned world’ for so many years. But the environment is certainly alien to the baby. The baby is entering a ‘conditioned world’ where everything is already set by human beings; the environment, food, climate, language, culture, tradition and beliefs. The infant has no choice but follow the conditioned world. Survival to live is the top priority. The baby needs food, shelter and cloth in order to survive. Once the basic needs are met, then there are emotions. These emotions vary from happiness, anger, jealous, attachment, aversion and disappointment at various hours of a day, sometmes with reason and sometimes without any reasons. These emotions are the result of human interaction with environment and fellow human beings and sometimes in the absence of both. The life becomes complex as the baby grows and survives. The necessity of life grows as the baby grows into childhood and adulthood and so on. It is not just the food ,shelter and cloth but emotions multiply into manifolds in various stages of life and along with these emotions there are suffereings. Nothing lasts forever and we ponder why this impermanence? Why we are brought into this world of sufferings and impermenance? Many of us take miseries of life for granted and conclude that life is full of sufferings and we accept them as a natural process. Only few people in this vast humanity don’t accept ‘suffering’ as a natural process and start questioning them. Why? Prince Siddhartha could not accept suffering as a ‘natural process’ and he wanted to know why this suffering, and what is the purpose of this life on earth? He has to leave his luxurious life in a palace and wander the world as a monk to seek the truth. Why should we live this ‘conditioned life’ where aging, suffering, disease and death become a natural process? Does it make any sense that a human beings are born into this world only to suffer? What is the purpose of this suffering? In this scientific world of men searching for a ‘God particle’, why men don’t look reasons for human suffering? Why we take suffering and misery for granted and waste our time and energy on issues that only compound our problems? Human spirit is free and joyful and it is only our ‘thoughts and actions’ that contain our spirit in a ‘physical body ‘ (like air is trapped in a jar) and bring into this ‘conditioned world’ of sufferings and struggle. Realization of this truth will set the man free. Only our ‘thoughts and actions’ called “past karma” bring us into this constant cycle of birth, life of misery and death. Prince Siddhartha became ‘Buddha’ after this realization. Yet, we continue our path of ‘karma’ and enslave ourselves to this world of ‘Maya’.

A discriminative awareness

The most profound concept in Vedanta is about cultivating ‘a discriminative awareness’ in our life time. Some people are born with this awareness and some people cultivate this as they grow and some people can understand only after many years of experience and some people never learn in their life time. This is based on the gift of grace and our past ‘karma’. We face challenges in our every minute and every hour of our life and we are forced to make decisions on way or other, on each and ever issue of our life and act accordingly. This decision making process is critical; and it varies from person to person. Such decisions can vary from one extreme to another extreme, differentiating each individual, in their steps of ascending the path of evolution, culminating in salvation. Each and every decision we make in these steps of our ascent in the ladder of evolution, leaves a residual impression in our conscience we call ‘karma’. These decisions are not simple because they are not just black and white decisions, but every shade of color between black and white and often difficult. The word ‘discriminative awareness’ is a unique word, and it is the most fundamental to our understanding of our ‘shelf’. It is the core concept of ‘Swadiyaya’ (self-study) which make up ‘Kriya yoga’ according to Patanjali.To understand who we are, where we came from, and where we will be going and what is the purpose of this life, all these questions will be answered, as we study our ‘self’. Discriminative awareness is the tool by which one can master ‘swadyaya’. One should be able to discriminate between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ as a basic step. Sometimes right decision at this moment may be proven wrong in the long run, at a different point of our life. If these decisions are based on yogic principles, then decisions we make are always right. Such decisions my affect somebody known or unknown to us but that should not hinder our decision making and we should go ahead and do it. Such decisions are based on moral values and they create good karma. Personally I am often confronted with such decision making in my profession. Supposing a company is planning to invest on a large mining project to extract some valuable minerals from earth and I have to offer my opinion, I will unequivocally deny my support to such a project. It may create thousands of jobs directly and indirectly, support local communities, generate tax revenue for the country. But how long? It may be for few generations and after that what happens? Such mining activity may leave permanent scars on the earth, sometimes several hundred kilometers area; it may pump out millions of gallons of saline water, which may not be suitable for drinking or to irrigate plants. It may pose a serious health hazard to the people living around that area and waste water storage may create many diseases. We cannot support such projects for short term gains. We cannot scar the earth, the gift of Nature to mankind. We have to preserve Nature and we have to pass them on to our future generations. These decisions are based on ethics and morals and we have no right to scar the earth in the name of science and prosperity.They are short sighted decisions and unethical and we will create a ‘bad karma’ that will haunt us in many births. The highest aspiration of a ‘yogi’ is to discriminate between the good and evil and create always a good karma so that he can escape from the eternal cycle of birth, life and death. We have to use ‘discriminative awareness in everyday life on matters of trifling importance or great importance.Everytime you make a decision you create a karma, either good or bad based on the outcome of your decision.

Monotheism and convergence of all religions

When a follower asked Jesus Christ: ‘What is the single most important commandment one should follow because there are too many?’ Jesus replied, “Love your neighbor, like you love yourself”. This single most important teaching of Jesus encompasses the entire teachings of all the religions of the world. Whatever may be the religion, and whatever may be the time period in the history of the world, this single teaching shows a straight and unequivocal path to salvation for mankind. It also clearly demonstrates and proves one single core concept of all theologies namely “Monotheism’; whether it is ‘Torah ‘of Judaism, ‘Koran’ of Islam, or Baghwat Geeta of Hinduism or Buddhism, it emphasize ‘One God’. Ramana Maharishi said: “Ask yourself who am I, and seek an answer with great earnestness and you will find only a silence. The sense of ‘I’ will disappear because ‘I ness “is only construction of your mind, and mind is ‘Maya’ an illusion and not a “Reality”. Ramana was absolutely clear that only the “self” is Real and everything else is only “Maya’. What he calls “self’ is “Iswara” or ‘God”? In other words ‘Only God is within you’- a monotheism. When a man identifies his body and mind with “self’ there is ignorance, and because of this delusion, he suffers in this world. But once he realizes that this body and mind are not the ‘Real self’, there is liberation from the bondage, which is ‘salvation’. Even when you mistake your body for the self, there is great ‘Love’ for yourself. Is there anybody in the world who does not love ‘himself”? Therefore, there are two issues involved; one is self and others one is Love. When you apply the principle of ‘Monotheism’ (one God) and you love the ‘self’ that means you love ‘God, who is within you and within your neighbor’. But Jesus did not elaborate what he meant by ‘your self’ ; and Ramana Maharishi explained by a simple and direct question “Who am I?”. The Ten Commandments, the teachings of ‘eight fold yoga’ and the core teachings of Torah and Koran of Islam, all points to the one and the same ‘one God’. When one ‘identifies’ one ‘self’ with his body and mind then there are conflicts and wars. We are now living in a scientific world and science needs proof for everything we believe. If science can prove that the sense of ‘I-ness” is false then there is a hope for salvation for humanity. Only “Death’ proves that all that happened in our life is nothing but an illusion and with ‘Death’, such an illusion comes to an end. But we don’t accept this reality when we are alive because we are unable to distinguish between our true ‘self’ and our ‘body and mind’. We always take our ‘body and mind’ as our ‘self’. Patanjali of Yoga sutra says that the purpose of yoga is to free a man from such ignorance or mistaken identity of ‘body and mind ‘for the ‘self’. Once we remove this ignorance, then the teachings of Jesus Christ “love you neighbor like you love yourself’ can become easier. That will put an end to all human conflicts, wars and destruction and open a new world order of peace and happiness. When we accept there is only “One God’ and we love ‘that God’ and that ‘God only’ is within each of us then, there is no room for conflicts and misunderstandings. When Ten commandments tell us “”Thou shall not kill”, the meaning is absolutely crystal clear to each one of us.

Yoga is the mother of all sciences

In a scientific world the concept of ‘God’ is not compatible with scientific principles because science requires ‘proof’; something that is demonsratable and reproducible at will. Science requires certain principles, mathematical equations, instruments and equipments to prove certain concepts and theories. These principles and concepts are then applied to create an apparatus or machine that can demonstrate those theories that people can see, touch, feel and use. Alternatively, scientists observe certain events in Nature. For example, Sir Isaac Newton observed a falling apple from a tree and formulated the concept of ‘Gravity’. The concept is born in a human mind from nowhere or from somewhere in the Nature. This is our understanding and evolution of science and technology and our world is full of them. Where the concept of God will fit into this scheme of things? The science of ‘Yoga’ teaches us a completely a different method. It does not require theories, mathematical equations, instruments or equipments but requires only a quiet, absorbing and focused human mind. It demands a crystal clear mind completely free from any thoughts and memories of the past or present. When a pure mind is totally absorbed on an object, the object ‘reveals’ its true Nature by itself. Patanjali explains in his Yoga sutra: “To him the entire mental modifications are controlled, there eventuates a state of identity with, and similarity to that which is realized. The knower, knowledge and the field of knowledge becomes one, just as the crystal takes itself the colors of that which is reflected on it. When the perceiver blends the word, the idea (or meaning) and the object, this is called mental conditioning of judicial reasoning. Perception without judicial reasoning is arrived at when the memory no longer holds control the words, the object is transcended and only the idea is present. The same two processes of concentration with and without judicial action of the mind can also be applied to things subtle. The gross lead to subtle and the subtle leads in progressive stages to the state of pure spiritual being called 'Pradhana'.All these constitute meditation with seed. When this super contemplative stage is reached, the yogi acquires pure spiritual realization through the balanced quiet of Chita (mind stuff). His perception is now unfailingly exact and his mind reveals only the truth. This particulate perception is unique and reveals that which a rational mind, using testimony, inference and deductions, cannot reveal.” By such super contemplative meditation, sages of the east were able to visualize even the structure of an atom. They have referred to ‘atoms’ in scriptures and in ancient texts several hundred years before Christ. Such masters of yoga had acquired powers and knowledge without any instruments or super computers but by deep contemplations and visualisations. They were strictly prohibited in exhibiting their super powers, which might hinder their spiritual progress to reach their ultimate goal of ‘Samadhi’. No matter how much progress science and technology has achieved and how much more it will achieve in the future, such progress is unlikely to remove human miseries and sufferings because, the ultimate purpose of science is to fulfill ‘human ego’, which yoga describes as ‘Avidya’ or human ignorance.Scientists can search for ‘God particles’ at the expense of billions of dollars but only to satisfy ‘human ego’.

Duality and Reality

Duality is a concept widely accepted in almost all religions of the world. Good and bad, dark and light, wisdom and ignorance, man and woman are some of the dualities we witness in our everyday life. The biggest ‘duality’ that still puzzles humanity is ‘mind and matter’. What is the relationship between mind and matter? In a scientific sense one is able to understand matter with mind in a macroscopic world. But that is not necessarily true with microscopic matters or in a quantum state because they are not visible to human eyes; neither have we had instruments to locate them and measure them. For example, sub atomic particles, which we can hypothesize with imaginary concepts and mathematical equations but they are not verifiable with scientific means. They are hypothesis. But science insists on ‘proof’ which can be repeated over and over by demonstrations. Even if we can understand matter, we don’t know the relationship between mind and matter. When people say ‘beauty lays in beholder’s eyes’, I wonder the real meaning of this sentence. Beauty is a concept. Unless we define the word ‘beauty’ precisely the above sentence has no meaning. We cannot define ‘beauty’ with another synonym. Therefore words describe ‘abstract concepts’ and one cannot grasp a concept with words.Eventhough we all agree what ‘beauty’ is, there is no proof that our agreements are one and the same. Language is the basis of our civilization and survival. Language is nothing but bunch of words that describe various things. We all understand things by exchange of words. Yet, they are only descriptions of abstract things. Abstract things are intangible. We cannot touch, smell or feel. ‘You can draw a small circle on a paper and write at the bottom ‘pumpkin’. Can we make a soup out that ‘pumpkin ?’. This drawing may indicate the concept of a ‘pumpkin’ but they are not ‘real pumpkins’ with which we can make a soup. Abstract concepts do not represent ‘Reality’. I will go one step further and say even the so called reality ‘pumpkin’ is no longer a pumpkin once it becomes a ‘soup’. Everything is changing constantly. Today it is pumpkin’; yesterday it was a ‘pumpkin seed’ and tomorrow it will be a ‘pumpkin soup’. Matter is constantly changing and so our minds. When we accept changes in our everyday life as a ‘process of Nature ’ there is no anxiety. No more quest. Baghwat Gita eloquently explains: “What have you lost that you grieve, what did you bring along that you lost? What did you produce or create that has been destroyed? You never brought anything along. Whatever you gained, you gained it from here. Whatever you lost, you lost it here. You came empty handed, and you will leave empty handed. What is yours today, belonged to someone else before, and will belong to someone else tomorrow, and to another person at some other time. What you take as yours, the material things, relations etc. and feel so contended, those very things and the feeling of contention resulting from such thoughts, are the real cause of your suffering”. You create a bondage with material things and relationships which do not represent the ‘Reality’ and they are mere concepts and illusions , called ‘Maya’.Once you get over that ‘Maya’, then , there is a freedom or liberation from that bondage.

East,west and the middle

We divide the world as east, west and the middle when come to religion, culture and philosophy. This division need not represent the ground reality of today but for the sake of analysis we may use these words. In this world of information technology in 21 century it is surprising how we still divide the world in terms of religion, culture and language. It clearly indicates that the progress in science and technology has nothing to do with deep rooted beliefs, dogmas and cultural values. West represents the western world of Christianity as a predominant religion and culture with their industrialization and technological advancements. The East represents the eastern world with Hinduism and Buddhism as religion and culture, with rising powers of India, China and Japan and their economic prosperity. The middle represents the Persian Gulf region with Muslim and Jewish religions, their oil wealth and prosperity and religious and cultural values. When we look at the fundamental and core teachings of these religions there are some differences. How and why there are differences in their fundamental teachings? Does it mean they are incompatible and irreconcilable with each other? Or have we misunderstood or misinterpreted these fundamental teachings? If there are so many differences, what is the background for these differences.It is a huge task to delve deep into the subject and make a sensible analysis. But we can look at core teachings of these religions and draw some obvious conclusion. In Christianity: Its main points are : a. belief in God the Father, Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Holy Spirit b. the death, descent into hell, resurrection, and ascension of Christ c. the holiness of the Church and the communion of saints d. Christ's second coming, the Day of Judgment and salvation of the faithful. The core teaching of Jesus Christ is to “Love your neighbor as you love yourself”. 2. In Islam: “God is only One and incomparable. Purpose of existence is to Love and serve God”. 3. In Judaism: “There is a single incorporeal God, who gives command which constitutes a moral Law for all humanity.” 4. In Hinduism: “Only God exits and everything else is only an illusion ‘Maya’. 5. In Buddhism: Buddha is not a God and Buddhism philosophy does not entail any theistic world-view. It teaches three universal truths. a. Nothing is lost in the universe. b.Everything changes. c.Law of Cause and effect (Karma) Once can read the above teachings and conclude that all religions in the world except Buddhism teaches about God and the relation of human beings with God. Buddhism does not discuss about God but teaches the universal truths, which sound more like ‘scientific principles’ than religion. It is a practical philosophy and it is appealing to new generation and the ‘New age’ world without discussing about God. By deeply contemplating all religious teachings I am of the opinion that purpose of human existence is to understand God and try to reach him by practicing moral and ethical values. People loving each other with the common purpose of reaching God seems very logical. If there are conflicts and differences between people then the main purpose of reaching God cannot be achieved. If only God exists and everything else is only an ‘illusion’ then there is no place for human conflicts and differences. By loving one another there is a hope for human beings to achieve the goal of reaching God.

God plays dice

I have always struggled to choose between ‘science’ and ‘philosophy’ because my current knowledge and understanding of science is not compatible with my beliefs and traditions. When I read Albert Einstein’s famous equation E=mc2 and his concept of space and time and his revolutionary explanations about our universe, I was deeply fascinated. Yet I had to differ with him when he said “God does not play dice”. He argued that there must be some underlying, deterministic ‘clockwork’ running the universe and giving the appearance of probability at work in quantum systems. He firmly believed in his words. However he spent most of his last years to find a unified theory combining gravity and quantum mechanics (especially electromagnetism)without any success.The world recognized him by awarding ‘Nobel prize’ and named him as ‘ Man of the Millenium’.He spent his last days as a recluse until he died. When Albert Einstein published his theory of relativity in the journal ‘Annals of physics’ in Germany, a genius from India by name Ramana Maharishi preached something completely different. He said there is nothing to be observed when there is no observer. Ramana said “when the mind, which is the cause of all cognitions and all actions become quiescent, the world will disappear. What is called mind is a wondrous power residing in the self. It causes all thoughts to arise. Apart from thought, there is no such thing as mind. Apart from thoughts, there is no independent entity called world. In deep sleep there are no thoughts, and there is no world. In the state of waking and dreaming, there are thoughts and there is also a world. Just as the spider emits into a thread of web out of itself and again withdraws into itself, likewise the mind projects the world out of itself and again return into itself. When the mind comes out of the self, the word appears to be real and the self does not appear. When one persistently enquires into the nature of mind, the mind will end, leaving the self as a residue. What is referred to as the self is Atma.The mind always exist only in dependence of something gross, it cannot stay alone. It is the mind that is called the subtle body or the soul (Jive)”. His observer theory was not published widely but was recognized after his death by famous Physicist like David Bohm, a quantum physicist. However Albert Einstein never came to terms with ‘Copenhagen interpretation of Quantum theory arguing that “God does not play dice”. Modern physics is still grappling with problems like wave-particle duality of light and grand unified theory Einstein dreamt. Scientists are still hoping to find the elusive sub atomic particles such as Bosons known as ‘God particles’. In deep contemplation of ‘Samadhi’ there is no observer and observed. The whole concept of science and our life on earth comes to an end with ‘Death’.Philoshopy has the final word and all our struggle in this scientific world comes to an end when we approach the death. .

We may depart empty handed

I am always fascinated by the teachings of Jesus Christ, though I was born as a Hindu and we were practicing Hinduism for generations. What fascinates me the most is , his parables and teachings. They imply that he was a practicing yogi. When I read ‘The text of Gospel of Thomas’ (the secret sayings of living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas recorded) it was clear to me that his teachings and the aphorisms of yoga sutra by Patanjali are exactly the same. Most of the Hindu scriptures dating back to 3300 BC at the times of Indus valley civilization written in Sanskrit language formed the basis of Vedanta and Puranas.Fundamentally, all these scriptures taught only about the importance of moral values in life. The main goal of true Hindu practitioners is to escape the ‘cycle of life and death’ because life on earth is nothing but suffering and misery. The purpose of teaching yoga is to rescue the aspirant from further sufferings in this world. It is a step by step guide for an aspirant to evolve from a simple human being into the highest level of Divinity, here and now in this world. The fact that only one or two among billions of people can reach the level of Divinity indicates how crude or ignorant human beings are and how arduous the path of evolution by practicing Yoga. According to the Gospel of Thomas: Jesus said,’ “I took my stand in the midst of the world, and in flesh I appeared to them. I found them all drunk and I did not find any of them thirsty. My soul ached for the children of humanity, because they are blind in their hearts, and do not see, for they came to the world empty, and they also seek to depart from the world empty.But’meanwhile they are drunk. When they shake off their wine, then they will change their ways”. Clearly he implies that people cannot see the reality because they are ignorant; yoga terms this as ‘Avidya’ or ignorance by which we mistakes ‘false’ for ‘truth’ and ‘pain for happiness’ and ‘impermanent’ for ‘permanent’. All our actions are based on such false notions and they end only in misery and sufferings. When we can truly distinguish the truth from false then we are liberated from further sufferings. People can be easily carried away by false notions because we live in a materialistic world and everything is based on materialism and consumerism. End results are more important than means. My own personal life is a clear example. I suffered so much because of my false hopes and ambitions. I was hoping that things would become better but it was getting worse. I believed ‘darker it gets, nearer the dawn’ but that darkness prolonged for ever until I realized that the path I took was wrong and I had to change my ways completely in an opposite direction. I believe this is happening in many people’s lives. People may be continuing in the same path without realizing the truth. We are now witnessing so much turbulence in the world. Increasing unemployment, poverty, violence and innocent deaths are all signs of impending disaster unfolding in our lifetime. We clearly lost our way and unless we change our directions by shaking off our drunkenness we may have to depart empty handed only to return to the world of sufferings once again.

Memories survive death

How to understand death; here was a person who was born in 1960 and then lived in this world for sometime and then suddenly died in 2000 for certain reasons. Where was he in 1958 and where he will be in 2001? How to comprehend his life that came into existence for a while and then vanished into a thin air? Is death a termination and the final end? Is it an irreversible process? Most Westerners believe death is the final and the irreversible. People remember the dead and cherish their past memories of them. Those memories too fade away over a period of time. But for me personally, such an abrupt end of a life does not make any sense. Hinduism believes that death is not a termination but a transition. In fact they celebrate death rather than mourn the death. Patanjali explains in his Yoga sutra:”the depth memory and its latent impressions are of a piece, their dynamics of cause and effect flows uninterruptedly across the demarcation the birth, place and time”. He implies that deep memories embedded in the conscience mind survive death and this flow of memories is not interrupted by their type of birth, place or time. He says that ‘the will to exist’ is eternal. Even a toddler who has never heard or seen a death has a fear of death. Unless this toddler had experienced death previously and such a death had left a deep scar in his depth memory he would not have acquired this instantaneous sense of death. Scientists have now started believing that ‘conscience’ survives death and a number of NDE (near death experience) support this belief. A growing number of clinical Psychologists around the world are using past life therapy in their practices. There are quite a number of parapsychologists now seriously documenting purported cases of reincarnation. One of the pioneers in the field is Dr.Ian Stevenson, professor at the University of Virginia Medical School. In 1966 he published a well documented work titled ‘Twenty cases suggestive of reincarnation’.He has documented cases of reincarnation in many different cultures as diverse as those of India,Tukey,Thailand,England,Canada and the Inuit people of Alaska. Jesus too has implied in his speech according to John 11.25: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies: and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”. Our thoughts, actions and their fruitions in our life time leaves impressions in our deep memeory, which we may forget over a period in our life time. But those good and evil thoughts,actions,fruitions and their residual impressions cause rebirth. Such a conscience is always witnessed by ‘Pure awareness’. This cycle of life, birth and death continues indefinitely until we realize the eternal truth that only ‘Iswara’ exists and everything else is an illusion or ‘Maya’. Every thought and action born out of ‘avdidya’ or ‘ignornce’ leads to failure to distinguish the difference between ‘conscience’ and “pure awareness”. The reincarnation will come to an end once the difference between the ‘ conscience and the pure awareness’ is clearly understood by witnessing one’s life experience. By using past life therapy one can understand those deep seated, dormant memories of their past and the cause of their birth. The ultimate realization leads to the fact that the ‘Seer, the Seen and the process of seeing’ is just one piece of continuum without any separation. “Pure awareness stands alone”, as explained by Patanjali under ‘Kaivalya Pada’ the final section of ‘Yoga sutra’.

A mistaken identity

The Sanskrit word ‘avidya’ cannot be translated precisely in English language because it has a religious connotation of ancient India. I use the word ‘mistaken identity’ to represent a closer meaning of this word. But the following example should be able to convey the meaning to the readers. India is known for deadly snakes like ‘cobra’ and even now, many Westerners think India is a country full of snakes and snake charmers. It is true that snakes are even worshipped as ‘God’ in some parts of India, and for that matter, any living creatures are treated as some form of God in India. But a common man has a grave fear for such snakes and they are very careful and avoid any direct encounter with snakes. On one evening, when the sun has already set, a man was walking on a street. Suddenly he noticed a snake lying, curled up in the middle of the road. The man had a grave fear for the snakes and he was hesitant to go past the snake. He was in dilemma, and he was overwhelmed with a fear of death by a snake bite. He waited for some time to see whether the snake will move away but the snake was lying in the same place without the slightest movement. He then started wondering whether it was really a snake or something else. He became little bolder and pelted a small stone at the snake hoping to chase it away. But the snake remained unmoved. Then he was convinced that it was a not a snake and he took a closer look at it. It was just a rope! It was a ‘mistaken identity’, described by the word ‘avidya’ in Sanskrit. The man identified a ‘rope’ for a ‘snake’. It was an incorrect identification that set the mind of the man racing with fear of death. The purpose of ‘Yoga’ is to remove such ‘avidya’, which causes suffering in life. This avidya is the fundamental cause for all forms of suffereings.Patanjali explains in Yoga sutra about five causes of sufferings beautifully in Sanskrit “ “Avidya,Asmita,Ragha,Dvesha,Abinivesha-klesa” Avidya is an ignorance, a mistaken identity; Asmita is a sense of “I” ness or ego; Ragha is a desire, passion or attachment; Dvesha is aversion, hatred; Abinivesha is clinging to life or self-preservation from death.Klesha is the cause of suffering, a hindarance.The purpose of yoga is to release a human being from all sufferings by removing ‘avidya’ and instill ‘wisdom’ in him. Due to lack of this wisdom one mistake impermanent for permanent, impure for pure, distress for happiness and emptiness for self. Any action based on ' avidya’ cause enormous sufferings and by removing this ‘avidya’, man can relieve of his impending sufferings. These wrongful actions due to ‘avidly’ leaves latent impressions deep in the mind, to be activated and experienced later in this birth or lie hidden awaiting a future one. So long as this root source exists, its content will ripen into birth, a life and experience. Such ‘avidya’ can be subdued or completely eliminated by the deep absorption and integration with “pure awareness” which is the purpose of ‘Yoga’. One can avoid such ‘avidya’ by carefully examining each and every thought and action by discriminative knowledge. A wise see suffering in all forms of worldly life.

Death,the mark of a new beginning

I am always fascinated with the concept of death because it is the single biggest secret in the world and man has absolutely no clue about it, whether we look at it scientifically, philosophically or spiritually. It is a metaphorical concept of termination. It need not be a physical being but a termination of conscience. When it comes to spirituality, linguistic words are inadequate to describe certain experiences which are too valuable for humanity to dismiss. We can feel or experience certain things in life which cannot be adequately described by words, by which fellow human beings can understand. Attaining ‘Samadhi’ through the practice of ‘Yoga,’ is one such concept. People who have experienced this deep contemplation and integration with universal conscience and attained a complete bliss, were unable to express them in words. We human beings with our mundane concepts dismiss them as a sort of “pipe dream’ and even ridicule such thinking because of our misconception that we are “scientifically more advanced”. In this physical world human beings have concepts which have nothing to do with reality.Patanjali describe this beautifully in Sanskrit: “Sabdha jnana anupathi vastu sunyo vikalpha” meaning, “conceptualization is derived from linguistic knowledge and not from contact with real things”. Therefore, concept is a form of human conscience and nothing to do with “Reality’. If a Neurosurgeon believes that he can cut the brain into pieces and examine them under microscope and he can discover the secrets of that mind (brain), then it is a concept. It has nothing to do with “Reality”. We live in a world of concepts, dreams, ideas and plans which, over a period of time vanishes into a thin air because all these things have nothing to do with “Reality”. “Reality” is beyond all human concepts and you can only experience “Reality” and you cannot concpetualise”Reality” by linguistic words.Thats is why absolute silence is a pre-requisite to calm the raging mind through the practice of “Yoga”. By the processes of purification of body and mind as I described in my previous articles, one can calm one’s raging mind and bring it under tranquility. It is a state of mind where there is no desire for anything; sages describe it as ‘Sat-chit-anand. To translate, it literally means, “being-conscience-bliss”. Just be yourself with no desire or thought or concept and then there will be only a bliss or quietness or without any sorrow. That is the “Reality” and it can only be experienced. Many people practice “Sahaja Samadhi’ which means you can practice “Samadhi” even when you are physically doing some work. Your mind will be in deep contemplation and integration with “Reality” while your physical body will be busy working. There will be no expectation in the outcome of the work you are doing, such as a reward or earning for the work. A creative work by a painter is one example of such ‘sahaja samadhi’.The painter is deeply engrossed in his work with no other thoughts in mind. It is a way of life and one can practice this ‘Samadhi while at work”. But the purification of body and mind is a pre-requisite to practice this because an impure mind can never concentrate and enter into deep contemplation leave alone integration. Morals and Ethics are fundamental for all spiritual pratcise.Othewise it is simply a concept which can be described only by linguistic words such as in “advertisements”. It never serves the purpose of “Yoga”. Death is also a concept in which the past disappears or vanishes into a thin air. Like Jesus said, “You must be born again to see the kingdom of God”. It does not mean that you must physically die and be reborn; rather you must bury the “past’ and make a ‘new beginning’. Your past may be unethical or sinful but your past must die for the future to be born again. One need not be afraid of death because it is the mark of a new beginning.

Yoga and Meditation

Morals and Ethics are two pillars of yoga. Any aspirant, who wants to practice yoga and gradually rise to the final stage of ‘Samadhi’, has to start with the process of purification called ‘yama’ and ‘niyama’, the external and internal purification processes. Patanjali explains three paths to yoga in Sanskrit: “tapa-svadhyaya-iswara pranidhanani-kriya-yogah”. Yoga has three components, Self discipline, self-enquiry and orientation to the ideal of pure awareness. He never uses the word ‘God’ but he mentions “pure awareness”, which is a separate entity within us other than our conscience, but ever present and ever witnessing. The self-discipline includes the purification of body and mind. In our present world it is almost impossible for an individual to adopt this purification process as Patanjali describes. It is similar to what Jesus Christ said, “Love your neighbor, like you love your-self”. How many of us can do it that can truly reflect the actual meaning of his words? The yama, external purification requires Ahimasa (non-violence, not harming others), Satya (Truth), Asetya (not stealing), Bramacharya (Celibacy, impeccable conduct), and Abarigiraha (not being acquisitive). Similarly the Niyama, the internal purification requires such as Succha (purity), Santosha (contentment), Tapa (intense discipline or austerity), Svadyaya (self-study), Iswara Pranidhanani (dedication, surrender, alignment with ideal of pure awareness). The yoga aspirant should take a universal vow to follow the above, crossing all boundaries of land, sea, nations, languages, religions, cultures etc. He has to strictly follow his vow, irrespective of any circumstances. I share here my own personal experience in practicing yoga. I have been trying to practice yoga for nearly 10 years but with very little success.I became a vegetarian for the past 10 years but I could not give up alcohol. But recently, I decided to follow vigorously and I became very conscience of each and every word and action of mine. I can now say with certainty, that there is a gradual change in my personality and my outlook. I remember the Autobiography by Mahatma Gandhi, “My experiments with Truth” in which he explains his very intimate feelings so openly and honestly to the readers, which makes this book one of the greatest in the history. It is a rare gem. The changes in personality happen very gradually but steadily. When I kicked off my alcohol habit overnight, which I followed for the past 25 years of my life, then I knew I changed. Where did I get that will power and steadfastness? For me, it is a simple miracle. I did not attend any ‘Alcohol anonymous’ or take any medical treatment, nothing.The only reason to kick off this habit is my self-realization. I realized that my body is a ‘temple’ in which the ‘the pure awareness’ called ‘Iswara’ is ever-present and ever-witnessing. I cannot do anything that will taint the presence of this eternal and formless “pure awareness” within me. This self-realization changed me completely. Any of my physical act due to intoxication of alcohol is an insult to the presence of ‘Iswara’ within me.It is unpordanable.I changed for good. I even stopped all my medications for high blood pressure and cholesterol overnight. I decided that anything other than natural materials consumed by my body may taint the presence of “pure awareness”. My blood pressure now is normal and I have no health problems. The whole purpose of ‘Yoga’ is to distinguish this difference between your conscience and the “pure awareness”. But you can distinguish this pure awareness from your conscience only by using your conscience. When you mistake your conscience for “pure awareness” then there is a conflict. This mistaken identity is called ‘Avidya’ ignorance, the root cause for all the human sufferings in the world.

The other side of the Valley

I started publishing articles on my blog a month ago about clean technologies. The main idea of the blog is to create awareness about the environment and how we should treat Nature with respect and reverence. It is a human nature to ignore certain things when they are within our reach. We always take such things for granted and look for something beyond, because we believe ‘the other side of the valley is always green’. I had several such experiences in my life. Once you ignore what you have on hand and move away seeking better things, only then you realize that other side is not as green as you think. We learn from experience. ’Wisdom comes from experience; but experience comes from foolishness”. It was absolutely true at least in my life. Human consciousness is constantly expanding and evolving and exploring. This constant quest for something new allows our conscience to expand exponentially. As our conscience expands we start acting physically trying to implement certain ideas without knowing the consueqences.We believe such action will yield certain results, which should be beneficial and expect certain positive outcome from all our actions. But most of these thought and actions are actually irreversible. You cannot reverse what your thought and you cannot reverse your actions. Once you finished thinking and acting then, you can see the results. Only based on the results, you can retrospectively look back your thought and actions, and evaluate how far your thoughts and actions helped you achieve your goals. This process is never ending and we peruse our thoughts and actions till our death. Science is nothing but a form of human thought, orginates from human mind. It speculates, hypothesizes, experiments and draws certain conclusions by physical observations. Seeing is believing and proving is science. This is how the science and civilization evolved over many certuries.All such thoughts and actions are available for us in the form of document or product or books from which we learn lot of things, even without thinking or experimenting. It is the result of a set of human beings who were born before us and died before us. But does it all make any sense? Nothing makes sense to me when human beings die one day. What happens to all their lifelong pursuits and goals and achievement? It comes to an abrupt end. It looks like a dream which vanishes into a thin air as you wake up. Hinduism describes this as ‘Maya; a grand illusion. Can science explain this ‘Maya’ with theories and instruments? Therefore, the beginning of all these pursuits starts with simple expansion of your consciousness. This is what patanjali explains in yoga sutra eloquently.He defines ‘Yoga’ in Sanskrit. Yoga is ‘Chita vriti nirodha’. Yoga is nothing but restriction of expanding conscience.When conscience is not allowed to expand exponentially, and the mind is quieted or subdued, there is an absolute silence and there is no mind. In the absence of human consciences ( “I” thought) and in that silence, what remains in only Universal consciousness or supreme consciousness, called ‘Iswara’ (The God). Eastern philosophy says only when your mind becomes calm, silent and serene, you can witness the ‘seeker’. During this process you realize that you the ‘seeker’ is the ‘sought’. You have not realized it earlier because of your ‘Avidya’ ignorance. When the expansion of mind stops completely what remains is your physical body. In order to achieve this quietness of mind and integrate with supreme conscious, one should be able to meditate. Meditation and integration is not possible without purification of mind. That is why purification of mind and thought is the fundamental to ‘Yoga’. In fact such purified existence is not practical because they cannot survive in this world. That is why the wise men of the East practised ‘Samadhi’, a suspended animation by which one’s body can exist in this world but his consciousness merged with super consciousness in a great bliss. Aravinda of Pondicherry in India is an example of one such human being who achieved this ‘Nirva kalpa samdhi’ an eternal bliss, while his physical body remained alive.

"When the student is ready-the teacher appears"

I mentioned in my previous article that my life transformed completely after the ‘mirror experience’. This transformation is nothing but a spiritual manifestation. There is no more fear of death because I am always one with divinity. In other words, the seeker became the sought. In deep meditation the subject is no longer in existence. There is only the object. Patanjali explain this meditation beautifully in his ‘Yoga sutra’: “One can become fully absorbed in any object, whether vast or infinitesimal . As the external disturbances of consciousness subsides, a transparent way of seeing, called coalescence, saturates consciousness; like a jewel, it reflects equally whatever lies before it - whether subject, object, or act of perceiving So long as conceptual or linguistic knowledge pervades this transparency, it is called coalescence with thought At the next stage, called coalescence beyond thought, objects cease to be colored by memory; now formless, only their essential nature shines forth In the same way, coalesced contemplation of subtle objects is described as reflective or reflection-free. These four kinds of coalescence - with thought, beyond thought, reflective, reflection-free - are called Integration that bears seeds of latent impressions. In the lucidity of coalesced, reflection-free contemplation, the nature of the self becomes clear. The wisdom that arises in that lucidity is unerring Unlike insights acquired through inference or teachings, this wisdom has as its object the actual Distinction between pure awareness and consciousness” The knowledge of this meditation is unique and unparallel and no science can offer this wisdom. The above process of complete integration is the whole purpose of yoga and meditation. It is a step by step practical guide for an aspirant to meet God personally. During that meeting only God exists and nothing else. This is the moment of awakening from worldly dream when everything ceases and only God exists. When the spirit of God descends upon you, the spiritual manifestation takes place. You will be born again, though you continue to live in this world as a normal human being till your end. But this manifestation will expand your conscience and you will realize that the whole universe is a just a tiny part of universal conscience and there will be only deep compassion and love. There will be no more expectations but a complete surrender. Can anybody achieve this spiritual manifestation? Absolutely. If you want to build a healthy body muscle or reduce obesity, then you need to pay attention to your diet and regular exercise. Similarly, the practice yoga and dispassion Vairaghya are only two requisites. Of course you need faith and a positive attitude. Yoga is a spiritual practice that trains your mind and body. Yoga asana is not just a physical exercise or just a mechanical act. It is a physical posture while the mind is in deep contemplation and concentration. It is the third part in the eight part practice of astanga yoga namely yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, prathihara, dhyna, dharna and Samadhi.The first two stages are about purification of your mind and body, the next three stages are about bringing the mind under control and the last three stages are about contemplation, deep concentration and integration with universal consciousness.During the above practice of yoga, you need to practice vairaghya, a mentality of dispassion or indifference to the worldly affairs. You will reach a stage where nothing matters anymore. What is the result of all these things? You will understand the purpose of your life and there will be peace and real happiness, which no money fame or material can buy! There is so much of struggle and suffering all over the world and people get depressed and turn to woman, alcohol, drugs and violence. Happiness comes from within and not from outside. When you struggle and get depressed and there is nobody to turn to, then you wonder what life is all about. You question yourself “Who am I?” That is the moment of reckoning and time to look for a solution with complete earnestness and integrity. That is the time, “The student is ready and the teacher will appear” miraculously from nowhere to show you the path.

The sage who showed me the path

I wrote my personal experience in my previous article “You don’t’ die”, which was just the beginning of a great transformation into my life. When I witnessed my own image in the mirror for a split of a second, it was my rebirth. I must say I was born again. What really happened was a total annihilation of my personality and I looked at my own image with so much indifference in that brief moment. That was the moment of transformation. Suddenly I realized that it was my body that reflected on the mirror and yet I lost a sense of ‘me or I’ for a short moment and witnessed the image, as if it belonged to somebody else. That sense of witnessing continues till today and it transformed me and the world around me completely. I am absolutely convinced that I am not the body but something else. What is that ‘something’ is a question that is nagging me constantly till I delved deeply into my conscience? When you believe that you are not the body and start witnessing your body and its behavior, then you go through whole new experiences in your life and you change forever. Imagine your body commits a crime then you become a witness and when you body has to go through a punishment, you may feel compassionate but you agree that the body should be punished. The witnessing voice becomes powerful. There is no sense of attachment or ego. You judge your body with detachment. Like Jesus said, if one part of your body commits a sin, then cut off that part. It is better to live without that part which committed the sin rather than live with that part. In Sanskrit, it is called ‘Vairagya’, a dispassionate attitude towards life. You live in a society but never mix with the society like a ‘lotus leaves, which are permanently floating on the water, yet it never get wet’. I was not born as a Christian but I used to read bible occasionally and many times wondered about the ‘parables’ and ‘preaching’ of Jesus. Some of them never made sense to me then. I clearly remember few of them: Jesus once told his disciples “To tell you the truth, you will not be able to see the kingdom of God if you are not born again”. In another incident he quotes “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” On another occasion Jesus said to a man,”Follow me”. But the man replied, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God”. He clearly implied through these sayings that you are not just a body but a spirit. If you don’t realize that you are not the body then you are just a carcass. Most of us live and die as carcass without questioning ourselves ‘Who am I?” even once in our entire life time. This is an important question and you need to seek an answer to this question with great earnestness and integrity. We all live with family, friends and colleagues in a society and we take many things for granted. We claim to be scientifically advanced and we believe we can solve all our worldly problems with wealth and richness. We donate few thousand dollars to charity and feel good about it. Do all these things make any sense? Bhagwad Gita says “You were not in this world before you were born and you will not be here after death. How can the one who lived briefly in this world can be eternal?”

If we carefully think about human life on earth, it makes absolutely no sense, if we are to die and never be born again. What is the purpose of this life then? Hinduism clearly says that “every beginning has an end and every end has a new beginning”. Death is only a transition but not a termination. Gita says that ‘Death is like getting rid of an old dress’ and ‘rebirth is like wearing a new dress’. Will anybody cry to get rid of an old dress and wear a new dress? Death is a constant reminder that we have to get rid of this old dress one day but you need not wear a new dress, if you are not going to be born into a new body of flesh and bones. You can become a spirit and become one with God into an eternity, your original form. It is called ‘returning to your source’.

You don't die

It was a unique moment in my life when this incident happened. Though it lasted only few seconds, it left such an indelible mark in my mind. I kept thinking about it over and again for a long time, before I decided to probe deeply into this incident. One day, early in the morning, I went to the bath room and looked at the mirror, and I realized that I was looking at a man. Though it was only my image on the mirror I was looking, that experience was unique and strange; and in reality, ‘I was witnessing a man’ in the mirror. It was an unnatural phenomenon. I could feel the Goosebumps all over my body. Somehow I got over that experience very quickly, but the impact is still lingering in my mind, even after several years. It was completely an ‘out of body experience’. But when I started searching for an explanation for the incident, I happened to read a book on Maharishi Ramana, an Indian ascetic. His true story was very fascinating and inspiring. In a way, his teachings on spirituality, the purpose of our life on earth, eventually culminating in death, was very lucid and uncanny. He explained an incident in his own words, that happened in his childhood, as follows: “It was about six weeks before I left Madura [Maharishi’s home town] for good that the great change in my life took place. It was quite sudden. I was sitting alone in a room on the first floor of my uncle's house. I seldom had any sickness, and on that day there was nothing wrong with my health, but a sudden violent fear of death overtook me. There was nothing in my state of health to account for it, and I did not try to account for it or find out whether there was any reason for the fear. I just felt "I am going to die" and began thinking what to do about it. It did not occur to me to consult a doctor or my elders or friends; I felt that I had to solve the problem myself, there and then. The shock of the fear of death drove my mind inwards and I said to myself mentally, without actually framing the words: "Now death has come; what does it mean? What is it that is dying? This body dies." And at once I dramatized the occurrence of death. I lay with my limbs stretched out stiff as though rigor mortis had set in and imitated a corpse so as to give greater reality to the enquiry. I held my breath and kept my lips tightly closed so that no sound could escape, so that neither the word "I" nor any other word could be uttered. "Well then," I said to me, "this body is dead. It will be carried stiff to the burning ground and there burnt and reduced to ashes. But with the death of this body am I dead? Is the body I? It is silent and inert but I feel the full force of my personality and even the voice of the 'I' within me, apart from it. So I am Spirit transcending the body. The body dies but the Spirit that transcends it cannot be touched by death. That means I am deathless Spirit." All this was not dull thought; it flashed through me vividly as living truth which I perceived directly, almost without thought-process. "I" was something very real, the only real thing about my present state, and all the conscious activity connected with my body was centered on that "I". From that moment onwards the "I" or Self focused attention on itself by a powerful fascination. Fear of death had vanished once and for all. Absorption in the Self continued unbroken from that time on. Other thoughts might come and go like the various notes of music, but the "I" continued like the fundamental sruti note that underlies and blends with all the other notes. Whether the body was engaged in talking, reading, or anything else, I was still centered on "I". Previous to that crisis I had no clear perception of my Self and was not consciously attracted to it. I felt no perceptible or direct interest in it, much less any inclination to dwell permanently in it.” His death experience and his explanation of death were absolutely crystal clear to me. His explanation was able to unravel the mystery of my own ‘mirror experience’. It is true that I was able to witness my own body, even though ‘that witnessing lasted only few seconds’. That explained ‘I am not the body, but a spirit that resides in this body’. I got over the fear of death. I remember Jesus saying, “Know thyself ”. My mirror experience changed my life forever.