Esoterics of GOD: Esoterics of Spirituality - Enlightening Answers Day-to-Day Questions

(By Sudhakar V Reddy)

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PART I - Dharma - The Universal Principle

PART II - Science, Religion and Spirituality

PART III - Post-Enlightenment

PART IV - Nonviolence

PART V - Experience/Life

PART VI - Miscellaneous

PART VII - Vedic Cosmology and Modern Science

>>> Table of Contents >>>

PART I - Dharma - The Universal Principle

Is it our dharma to help others or give others?

Is it our dharma to help others or give others at all times?

What is the ideal form of charity or social service?

What is the supreme dharma of all?

What can I give to another? And what can I give to myself?

What is the purpose of relationship?

What are the keys for a better relationship?

What to do when you feel hurt in hurting others?

Is religious conversion a dhaarmic act?

Can money buy peace and love? Are we here to gather "stuff?"

What is obsession? How can we transcend obsession?

What is the difference between pain and suffering?

What is the difference between guilt and regret?

Does man have dominion over the earth and its creatures?

What is the measure of success in life?

What is karma (action) and how is an action considered whether it is 'elevated' or not?
Can the actions of the body alone create karma?
Can action-impressions be destroyed by another action?
What is justice?
How do you compare the morality of one act with the other? What is moral and what is immoral?

PART II - Science, Religion and Spirituality

What is spirituality?
What is the deepest law of spirituality?
What is the difference between duality, dualism, monism and and Non-Duality?
What is the role of spirituality in science?
Can science arrive at Reality objectively?
Do we have to fear God to be spiritual?
Is vegetarian food essential for spiritual growth?
Is idol worship wrong?
What is renunciation?
What is the difference between the materialistic model (science) and the Consciousness model (spirituality) of the universe?

Is homosexuality a hindrance in spiritual path?
How do the dyads of physical realm compare with the triads of spiritual realm?
What is the difference between religionism and spirituality?
What is a True Religion?
What is the difference between the ultimate knowledge and the scriptures?
What is the difference between morality and spirituality?
Why should we abandon organized religions?
Is nationalism justified?
Are Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva real persons?
Explain doubt (of science), belief (of ignorance), faith (of religion) and trust (of spirituality)?
How can the knowledge help going beyond the knowledge?
Why are politicians and religionists against bringing awareness to people?
Why are organized religions not able to heal the world?
How is an atheist compared to a theist?
What is Raja Yoga?
Who is a true yogi?
How do we pay attention to life's energies and vibes around us?
What is the way to get to the soul?
How do mind and soul combine to produce joy?
If soul is so joyous, why aren't we? What is the difference between the heart and the soul?
How can we feel and release the joy in our heart?
What are the best and the fastest ways to peace/happiness?
What is bondage and what is liberation?
Who is a true guru (master)?
Why do masters sometimes give contradicting responses?
What is action, inaction and non-action?
How is an action considered 'elevated' or not?
Why are we here in the physical universe?
What is the difference between a teacher, a master, a mystic, a saint, a yogi and a messiah?
What is meditation?
How does Reality communicate with us?
Why does Reality allow suffering?
What is the cause of suffering or misery? And what is the clue to experience Peace/Fullness?
Can depression lead to meditation?
What is the difference between contemplation, concentration and meditation?
What is the best time for meditation?
Why is a serpent used as the symbol for kundalini/spirituality?
Is Life for a separate-self predestined or does it have free will?

What is the difference between Creator's free will and an individual's free will?

What is the difference between fate and fatalism?
Does Everything and Nothing mean one and the same?
What is the proof of Reality?
How is Reality "not-Twoness?"
How can we see Maya as Maya and then step out of it?

What are the Mahaavaakyaas of Advaitha Vedantha?

PART III - Post-Enlightenment

What is next after Enlightenment?
Is Enlightenment possible only in the physical plane and in the waking state?
Does samsaara continue for an enlightened being?
Is it possible for everyone living in the universe to be in an enlightened state?
Why would an enlightened being not perform miracles?
Is Awakening instantaneous?
Does the ego disappear completely when Enlightenment happens?
Could a person worship a deity after Enlightenment?
Is it necessary to have a guru (master) or can we reach Awakening on our own?

PART IV - Nonviolence

Can we practice nonviolence/virtues/values?
How can we avoid violence, wars and conflicts?
Can legislation prevent gun violence?
Is self-defense appropriate?
If love is all there is, how can man ever justify war?
Did Krishna provoke/advocate Arjuna to be violent in Mahabhaarath War?

PART V - Experience/Life

What is Experience?
What is the best way to Experience?
How do you celebrate Life?
What is creativity?
What is the process of God "growing?"
What is evolution? Did man come from a monkey?
What are the great principles of Life expression? Is Life a product of chance?
What are the Seven Hermetic Principles of Life?
How do we not get what we don't want in Life?
What is right education?
How should we teach our children?
What are the three cycles of human Life?

PART VI - Miscellaneous

Why is Krishna a complete incarnation?
Why did Krishna divide humanity into four types/varnas? Why is the varna system not working now?
What is a deva (a celestial being, a demi-god)?
What is a stem cell?
Is it incorrect to marry someone from the same lineage (gothra)?
What is a sexagesimal system in astronomy and which culture developed it?
How accurate is astrology?

PART VII - Vedic Cosmology and Modern Science

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PART I - Dharma - The Universal Principle

Dharma is the way of nature and the path of least harm!  Dharma is the fundamental/eternal/intrinsic nature of selves/objects.

Dharma is the Natural Law of the inner dimension, a behavioral norm based on the Non-Dual nature of reality, that causes the least pain and/or suffering! It is a well known fact that no one or no self in this world wants to suffer (this is built into the manifestation/creation). In other words, Non-Injury/'Ahimsa' is the universal law of creation. Dharma is also the way/behavior or the principle of life that maintains the harmony and balance of the creation. How I want to be treated is called Dharma and how I do not want to be treated is called Adharma.  When you follow dharma for a long time, what needs to be done (in the right way) becomes what you want to do!  Dharma also means responsibility or the right conduct.

Dharma is the universal law or principle that lies inherent in everyone and everything. Dharma simply means the ultimate law that keeps the universe together, that keeps the universe in harmony, in accord, the norm that makes the universe a cosmos and not a chaos. The Sanskrit root word for dharma is 'dhri' meaning to sustain, to hold, to carry (together). That which sustains the universe is called dharma! Dharma is not a dogma, it is a very scientific truth. It is like gravitation. Gravitation is the natural law (or dharma) of the outer.  Physicality is not possible without gravitation, without the order. And Consciousness is not possible unless there is something like an ultimate law which keeps everything together. Dharma is that Natural Law ('Prakrithi Reethi').  Dharma of the planets ('grahas') is to follow the law of gravitation (gravity='graha+vritthy' meaning planet's nature/characteristic). Dharma of the water is to flow down, dharma of the fire is to be hot. There is no equivalent word for dharma in English. The word 'morality' is generally used.  Morality ('naithikatha') differs a bit from ethics. Ethics refer to principles/guidelines/rules provided by en external source, e.g., codes of conduct in work places or principles in religions. Morals refer to an individual's own principles regarding right and wrong. Dharma is "beyond" morality and ethics.

Dharma is that which sustains life. "Dharanaath Ithi Dharmaha!"

Again, the four common meanings of Dharma are: 1. The law of nature, 2. The path of least harm, 3. Responsibility and 4. Right conduct and/or the guiding principle of life. Science stands for the search for nature's laws favorable to the external/outer world. There are, obviously, certain laws of nature that exist in the outer world. If we conform to these laws, nature becomes agreeable; if we go against them, it becomes disagreeable.  No matter how high you jump against gravity, you are going to come down.  In a way it is wrong to say nature becomes agreeable or disagreeable; the right way to put it, is whether we are able to take nature's help or not. Rather, one should say that if we conduct ourselves in a manner that nature can be helpful to us, we stand to gain from it. If we conduct ourselves in a manner that nature cannot be helpful, we stand to lose from it.

Similarly, spirituality stands for the search for nature's laws agreeable to the inner world.  Dharma is the law governing our experience—namely the psychological and moral laws. Physical laws exist so that fire is always hot and sugar is always sweet. Psychological laws exist so that certain circumstances, like feeling loved, leave the mind peaceful; while others, like being exposed to violence, leave it agitated. Moral laws exist so that lying, steeling or hurting others feel wrong; and being helpful, cheerful or showing compassion feel right. While we all understand intuitively that there are universal laws, very few people actually understand that to live a relatively peaceful life, all you need to do is follow them!  Dharma simply means the Natural Law of the inner dimension. You cannot worship it. You can only understand Dharma and live it.  Whenever you go against such law you are in misery, and whenever you are in tune with it you are in bliss, in peace. And what is that single and the greatest psychological/moral law to follow?

Jesus Christ: "Do unto others as you would have done unto you!"  Because: As you sow, so shall you reap!

Gauthama Buddha: "Aes Dhammo Sanathano!" (Dharma is the ultimate/eternal law.)

Manu Smrithi: "Dharmo Rakshathi Rakshitah!" (Protect/follow Dharma, Dharma will protect you.)

Krishna in Bhagavad Geetha, 2.48: "Samathvam yoga uchyate!"...Dharma, a balanced state of mind, is yoga (union with God).

Mahabhaarath, Karna Parva, Ch. 69, Verse 58: "Dharanaath Dharma Ithyahu Dharmo Dhara-Yathi Prajaha"...Dharma sustains/holds the world/cosmos/life, Dharma maintains the social order!

The worldview of Dharma consists of a code of metaphysical principles that are universal. These Principles/Behavioral Norms/Responsibilities are of four types:

-Universal Responsibility (Saamaanya Dharma): This includes universal values of life common to all people and all creatures that apply all the time. This can be understood in a very simple manner: whatever I want to be done to me, I should do to others; whatever I do not want to be done to me, I should not do to others.
-Specific Responsibility (Vishesha Dharma): This includes responsibilities based on position, status, age, gender, etc. For example, it is your responsibility as a man to help a woman in her physical needs as she is weak physically.
-Extraordinary Responsibility (Asaadhaarana Dharma): Responsibilities associated with extraordinary features such as talents, riches, knowledge etc. For example, it is your responsibility to give or help others in need if you are rich. It is your responsibility to share knowledge/wisdom with the others.
-Critical Responsibility (Aapath Dharma): This includes responsibilities in case of an emergency or a crisis. Dharma may be overlooked in these situations to help the emergency resolved.

What is the supreme dharma or the supreme right conduct of a human being?...Nonviolence ('Ahimsa')! Nonviolence simply means that killing, destroying, hurting, is ugly. That does not mean that allowing somebody else to do such a thing is not ugly. Which means that allowing somebody else to be violent is Adharma on your part. When you are in doubt about deciding whether an act is dhaarmic/right or not, here are three simple tests: 1. See whether it binds you or releases you from kaarmic debt (bondage or freedom, binding or non-binding), 2. Ask, "What would happen if everyone did it?" If everyone did a thing, and the result was of ultimate benefit/freedom to the human race, then that action is 'dhaarmic.' If everyone did it and it brought disaster/bondage to the human race, then that is not a very 'elevated' thing to do, and 3. Measure or gauge the intention behind the action to see whether it is biologically or socially or intellectually motivated. As higher form of evolution leads to higher consciousness and freedom, intellect>society>biology. We should, almost all the time, be able to decide if any action is dhaarmic or not by these three tests!

Ashok Chakra - Gold v2 - stock footage - YouTube

Is it our dharma to help others or to give others?..........

Yes. The miracle of giving is that the process is self replenishing. Whenever we ask for something, our consciousness closes its doors; whenever we give something, our consciousness opens up. Our heart opens up each time we give, and closes its doors whenever we have a demand.  Whenever you ask for something, that simply shows that you don't have it; whenever you give something, that shows that you have it.  You are the first person that would always feel it in giving. The moment you ask for something, you become afraid: "Am I going to attain what I asked for, or not?" That fear closes the doors of your Consciousness.  That fear creates even more distance between you and the divine. So give! And rejoice!

But watch out! Do not give to get something!  If you give for that reason, then you are not really giving, you are practicing a subtle form of taking. Your happiness will be shallow and temporary.  The idea in giving is for you to feel closer to the other in giving, not for you to experience that the other is feeling closer to you in getting.  Your getting is experienced in the moment of your giving through the self-experiencing/self-expressing act in itself.

Does that mean that we have to give and give and give until people would walk all over us? No!  Giving as a pathway to experiencing the Self is not about excluding the individual self.  When making another happy is at the cost of you being unhappy, you are defeating your own purpose.  Betrayal of yourself in order not to betray another is betrayal nonetheless.  It is the highest betrayal!  So it is not selfish to give to yourself what you wish to give to another. For it is in giving to yourself that you replenish the supply of all that you wish to give to another.

Another cardinal rule in giving. Do not seek to experience Who You Are through others (in a superior way). Allow others to seek Who They Are through you; that's the genuine way. You cannot genuinely experience what you do not allow others to experience!  In other words, if you like to experience God, let someone else experience God through you.  When you allow this, your joy will be deeper and enduring.  When you give something to another with purity of heart—because you see that they want it, need it, and should have it—then you will discover that you have it to give!  Always! And in all ways!

Is it our dharma to help others or give others at all times?..........

No. Help does not work when it is offered in such a way that it creates continued dependence, rather than rapid independence. Help does not work when you allow another, in the name of compassion, to begin to rely on you rather than rely on themselves. That is not compassion, that is compulsion. Because that sort of helping is really power-tripping. For the extent that you allow other persons to make you responsible for them, to that extent you have allowed them to make you powerful. And that, of course, makes you feel worthy.

The goal should be to help the weak grow strong, not to let the weak become weaker. If you want to be of greatest value to others, see them as you know they want to be. Never offer any kind of help that disempowers. Give a man fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime! This is the problem with many government assistance programs, for they often do the former, rather than the latter. Government programs can be self-perpetuating. People must be helped when they genuinely need help but then they should not become addicted to that help, substituting it for their own self-reliance. Governments understand that help is power. That is why governments offer as much help to as many people as they can get away with - for the more people government helps, the more people help the government. Whom the government supports, supports the government. It has become the power politics, vote bank, numbers game.

What is the ideal form of charity or social service?..........

People think that charity is the same as sharing. But it is not. There are some subtle differences. Let us analyze charity/social service and sharing/compassion in more detail to identify those differences.

Charity/Donation ('daanam') is of three kinds: 1. Thaamasic Charity, 2. Raajasic Charity and 3. Saathvic Charity. Thaamasic Charity is a forced, unwanted charity. Thaamasic people worship out of fear or to achieve ignoble ends (like personal favors; this is out of 'kaama').  Charity given contemptuously at inappropriate times and place to unworthy recipients is thaamasic. Thaamasic charity is binding. On the other hand, Raajasic Charity is when you get involved for the attainment of name, fame, power, recognition, etc. Raajasic people worship for a bargain.  Charity that may or may not be painful to give, but is intended to benefit oneself is raajasic (this is out of love/'prema').  This is ego's way of nourishing and sustaining itself; it is a pretext to boost its own pride. This is also binding.  Saathvic Charity is when you share out of joy; you share and and then forget it. You don't dwell on it. There is no expectation in sharing, so it is non-binding. Saathvic people worship the self, the eternity within oneself, to purify their minds and hearts and to eventually realize Truth through discrimination/viveka or Self-Enquiry.  Charity dutifully given at the appropriate place and time to a worthy recipient without expectation of return is saathvic (this is out of compassion/'karuna'). So, binding and non-binding (bondage or freedom), that is the measure.

The test of every act is to see whether it binds you or releases you.  It is not the nature of the act alone that constitutes its goodness. It is also the intention.  For example, if after giving charity, the thought that you have done a good deed sticks to you, it certainly binds you, though only with a golden chain.  If, after doing any charity, you continue to pride yourself over it or even think about it, you are really degrading yourself to that extent. If you continue to criticize the way in which the amount was utilized, it means that you have not actually parted with the ownership of the money. So, it is the mental attitude that counts, in all such matters.

A common misconception is that Karma Yoga, the union through action, is all about charity and volunteer work. But it is not. Karma Yoga, has nothing to do with charity and volunteer work. True, it is about purifying your heart by learning to act selflessly in the service of others, but be careful.  Why so? Because there is only one self so if anything is being done, it's being done by that self and for that self. There is nobody else anyway. There is only you because Reality is Non-Dual. Everything you do is for yourself because it pleases you to do it. The problem is that you think you are a good person when you do selfless service. You think you are getting plus points, 'punya,' and are going to heaven. You can do selfless service and get what? A huge impression/vaasana for thinking you are virtuous and that you are getting somewhere spiritually. That's why you do it. It's for you, never the object. Genuine Karma Yoga is all about correcting the situation of thinking that the fullness/happiness comes from the objects or doing good actions.

Karma Yoga is not about the action and its results but is about the attitude you take with respect to action and its results. These do-gooders are building or reinforcing an identity as a doer. You should not be attached to doing good actions and, so, you do not hesitate to perform disagreeable, unpleasant actions. You should do what is required in the moment. It should not be driven by the ego. It is driven by Totality's demand on you. Karma Yoga is performing actions that are needed to be done (not what you/person want to be done) without any expectation (='nisvaartha seva') and for the universal good (where the beneficiary is not the personal you). This nullifies likes and dislikes ('raaga', 'dvesha') producing no impressions or desires (likes and dislikes are the products of our belief system).

Krishna in Bhagavad Geetha, 2.47: "You (as a separate-self) have a right to perform your prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, nor be attached to no-action!"

And what is sharing?...Sharing is unburdening of your joy, unburdening of your wisdom! The very idea of social service rests on the fundamental misunderstanding that the world as it appears is real and diverse and you are "concerned" for the others. The purpose of the work is the permanent happiness of the worker and of the world alike. But it is impossible to find permanent happiness by a changing mind in a changing object. A spiritual man (sage) also helps others, but he is not concerned. It is natural for him, not a mission, not a passion. It is not something on his mind. He is not seeking and searching for somebody. He is not going to interfere with the perfect world. It is just by the way. Out of his inner treasure, he simply shares - like a flower sharing its perfume. Jesus could have healed everyone, but he didn't. He did not want to interfere with their individual karmic paths. A sage simply feels the pain of others as his; he is not aware of someone as the other. And he is not to change anybody, not to exploit anybody. If the other is you, why would you exploit yourself? You don't, because you love yourself. The best help a sage can give would be to help someone to know his own truth so he could realize that his suffering is not real. And this is a cure once for all. A sage shares his knowledge. A sage is compassionate, blissful. He does not take or expect anything in his giving. He only gives! Society uplifting without Self uplifting is not needed, it should be the other way round. Self uplifting is itself social uplifting from the perspective of Advaitha/Non-Duality. Social uplifting for the sake of the 'other' defeats the purpose as there is no 'other' for a Self-Realized being. And it is impossible to get out of duality ('me' and the 'other' or 'ahamkaara' and 'mamakaara') without Self-Knowledge. 'I' with 'me' and 'mine' is ego, 'I' without 'me' and 'mine' is Self/Aathma. The 'other' will automatically merge into Self once the Selfness is claimed, otherwise not (blind leading the blind).

If you have, you share. Not because by sharing you will be helping others, no, but by sharing you will be growing. The more you share, the more you grow (grow in consciousness). Joy is always a sharing. Joy does not exist alone. In the word 'charity' or 'help' there is some ugliness: it seems that you are having the upper hand and the other is lower than you, that the other is a beggar; that you are helping the other that he is in need. To look at the other as if he is lower than you - you have and he has not - is not good; it is inhuman.  In sharing you have got it too much - that you have to share. When you give charity you expect the other to thank you. When you share, you thank him that he allowed you to pour your energy - which was getting too much upon you, it was getting heavy, so you feel grateful. Can you see the difference?  Charity is for the other's poverty. Sharing is out of your abundance, out of compassion, out of bliss. Sharing is pure love. There is a qualitative difference. The more you give, the more you get - just like love. Never be a miser in giving.

Charity comes from your mind, ego. Sharing comes from your soul or Consciousness.  A humanitarian worker emphasizes the ‘all’ and misses love/peace; a Spiritualist emphasizes love/peace, his own nature, and misses or loses the ‘all!'  Compassion happens in three rungs.  Compassion in the form of sex or pity is egotism ('I-it' relationship), in love form it is sympathy ('I-thou' relationship, both are equal but there is still a little distance, you feel for 'others') and in its highest form it is empathy (distance is collapsed, 'neither I-nor thou' relationship, others' feeling is your feeling). A humanitarian is either egoistic or sympathetic. A sage is empathetic.

Charity is pity, sharing is compassion. Pity is passion directed; compassion is passion transformed; compassion is open, it is simply overflowing.  Passion is towards one person; compassion is towards the whole.  Pity is circumstantial, and compassion is the outcome of a psychological state. They are fundamentally different. Compassion will go on emanating from the heart of a compassionate person even if he is sitting alone. It is like a flower blossoming in solitude; it will go on spreading its fragrance. It has nothing to do with any passerby. What arises in you when you see a beggar on the streets is pity; it is not compassion.  Pity strengthens the ego whereas compassion dissolves it.  Pity is the act of a good man's ego and cruelty is the act of a bad man's ego.

Ego strengthens itself with bad acts as well as good acts.  And it often happens that only when the ego has had no opportunity to strengthen itself with good acts that it tries to nourish itself with bad acts. Both good people and bad people are tethered to the same axis called the ego. The only difference between the "good" and "bad" people is that the bad person will hurt others to fulfill his ego and the good person will hurt himself to fulfill his ego. But as far as hurting is concerned, there is no difference between the two.  The point is that action is not going to get rid of the doer, because the idea that you’re a doer is born out of ignorance (of your nature as Awareness). So by doing (or not doing), ignorance is not removed because action is not opposed to ignorance. In fact, you’re acting because of ignorance, because of the belief, “I am the doer,” and he is the "other." That is what is motivating your actions.  Work/doing for a separate self for the satisfaction of any kind is opposed to knowledge, knowledge that there is no "other" (gnyaana).  Work emphasizing the world brings in diversity. Knowledge/gnyaana destroys it. It is the destruction of variety (world/otherness) that can take one to Truth – one’s real nature.  Whenever you are "concerned" with the other, know well that you have left the Source.

Social service done in a sincere way may help the helper to attenuate his own ego, by giving him an opportunity to sacrifice his own comforts. But, it has to be said, the method is long and arduous, and the pitfalls are innumerable. It may even backfire and breed egotism or separatism. Fire, in itself, is neither good nor bad. According as we use it, it produces in us the feeling of good (warmth) or bad (burning our fingers). Fire is neutral. So also is the world. It is perfect. This world is not made that you or I should come and correct it. From Awareness' point of view, there is no suffering because it does not know anything other than itself, which is Aananda/Peace. Suffering has to be an illusion for an illusory ego.

However, we cannot deny the pain in the world. Suffering needs to be considered from its own level. It is not prudent to say that suffering is an illusion to a person that is in misery. To go out and help or educate others is, therefore, the best thing we can do, although, in the long run, we shall find that helping others is only helping ourselves. Be grateful that a poor man is there, so that by making a gift to him you are able to help yourself. It is not the receiver that is blessed, but it is the giver!  Therefore, the best way to do charity or social service would be to do it and forget all about it immediately.  The idea in helping is for you to feel closer to the other in giving, not for you to experience that the other is feeling closer to you in getting.  Your getting is experienced in the moment of your giving through the self-experiencing/self-expressing act in itself. That is sharing or true-charity.

Therefore help others, educate others, not through thinker-mind, but through compassionate mind. Thinker-mind is calculative, aggressive, cunning. Compassion only knows giving without any expectation or attachment to results. So, the ideal form of charity or social service should be spontaneous, unconditional and prompted from beyond the realm of the mind. It should be selfless sharing or compassion. Charity must be replaced by sharing.

Out of all charities, food charity ('anna daanam') is considered great. But, sharing one's knowledge ('vidyaa daanam') is the greatest of all charities. "Anna daanam param daanam. Vidyaa daanam athaha param!" Why?...Because food charity satisfies a person temporarily; but knowledge stays with a person for his life. "If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime!"

Krishna in Bhagavad Geetha, 4.28: There are four Yagnyaas/Sacrifices/'Daanaas' in the order of increasing importance: 1. 'Dravya' or Material Wealth Charity, 2. 'Tapo' or Physical Service, 3. 'Yoga' or Emotional and Intellectual Sharing and 4. 'Gnyaana' or Sharing of Absolute Knowledge.

What is the supreme dharma of all?..........

Nonviolence is the supreme dharma of all. It simply means 'do not hurt'. Do unto others as you would have it done unto you. It is a universal law. This is the only dharma that is linked directly with Consciousness. Every other dharma is part of morality, part of conscience, which can change from culture to culture.

However...Nonviolence simply means that killing, destroying, is ugly. That does not mean that allowing somebody else to do such a thing is not ugly. Nonviolence does not mean that you have just to be there, beaten. Then you are allowing violence.

Non-indulgence in violence alone is not nonviolence. Nonviolence is much more than that. Treating others with love does not necessarily mean allowing others to do as they wish. Parents learn this very early with children.

What can I give to another? And what can I give to myself?..........

It is important to never reverse the order of these questions. It is very natural and not at all spiritually inappropriate to seek a particular outcome, or to wish for a particular experience, on a personal level - including the experience of wealth, fame, and power. These are among the gifts of life and there is nothing wrong with them. However, achieving these things at the expense of others is not spiritually evolving. Achieving wealth, fame and power while ignoring others, and the needs of others, is the hardest way to get where you want to be going. It is the toughest path. It is the slowest, most difficult route. The Energy of Attraction always works fastest when we ask life's Two Basic Questions in their original order. When the questions are kept in that order, the first question always answers the second. Why does this work? It is due to The Multiplier Effect.

By focusing on yourself you limit the amount of energy that you output, because there is only one of you. Yet by focusing on others you multiply the amount of energy you output by the number of others whom you do so. If everything is energy (and it is), and if energy creates (and it does), then the more energy you use, the more quickly and magnificently you will create! And everything that you create, you experience. This is because, ultimately, all things that proceed from you come back to you. And this is because there is "no one else in the room." There is no one but you, in multiple form. We Are All One.

What is the purpose of relationship?..........

In creating that which is “here” and that which is “there,” Reality made it possible for Reality to know itself through experience. In the moment of this great explosion from within, Reality apparently created relativity—the greatest gift Reality ever gave to itself. Thus, relationship is the greatest gift Reality ever gave to you. Relationships are of two kinds: 1. Conjugate or Temporary Union ('Samyoga'; example: cat sitting on a chair) and 2. Shared ('Thaadaapya'). The relationship of the world to Reality is that of shared (if the shared essence is withdrawn, world cannot exist - like if the gold is withdrawn from an ornament, the ornament cannot exist). However, the relationship from the point of view of Reality to the world is none because the world is of a lower/second order reality like a dream.

The purpose of a relationship is to create joy and happiness, completion and fulfillment, through the expressing and sharing of life with another. The purpose of relationship is not to find completion in/through others, but to create and share your completion. Not to find joy in/through others, but to create and share your joy, share your love. The purpose of relationship is to decide what part of yourself you'd like to see "show up," not what part of another you can capture and hold; it is to be and to decide Who They Really Are through you.

Relationships don't last because you are trying to find fulfillment rather than create fulfillment. You are trying to find joy rather than create joy. You believe relationship is a process of discovery, and it is not. It is a process of creation - like life. Opportunity, not obligation, is the cornerstone of relationship. It is not about fulfilling needs because need is an illusion. If you're trying to find something, and if you do not have it, you will imagine that you need it! Life means change. Depending and hanging on to the change for security is a disaster. Invest your security in something that never changes, i.e., your true-self. Reality's desire is to express more of itself through experience. Reality is already Peace/Happiness. A separate-self is coming from fear and lack and is trying to find Peace/Happiness through the other. And that creates problems as the other is also trying to do the same thing through you!

The need to love and be loved is the source of all misery. Why? Because need-based love is exceptionally volatile, causes tremendous anxiety, and in the fullness of time does not solve the problem of emotional insecurity. This is so because the need for love from outside is a symptom of a lack of self-love. Even if you are lucky enough to find love in relationship, the problem of self-love remains and makes itself felt within the relationship, usually by creating unreasonable emotional demands on one’s partner. This causes a good deal of stress and can very easily sink the relationship.

Relationship is about giving and receiving. What you receive in relationship you receive from yourself. Your illusion is that you receive from another. And so, what you receive is only what you give. That is the secret. If you think you are going to receive what you have not been willing or able to give, you will be sadly disappointed - and will sadly disappoint another.

So never do anything in relationship out of a sense of obligation. Do whatever you do out of a sense of the glorious opportunity your relationship affords you to decide, and to be, Who You Really Are — an opportunity for growth, for full Self expression, for lifting your lives to their highest potential, for healing every false thought or small idea you ever had about you, and for ultimate reunion with Reality through the communion of your two souls.

How do you keep the best relationship?...By faithfulness/trust.

Gauthama Buddha: "Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship!"

What are the keys for a better relationship?..........

Non-expectation, accommodation and creativity!

The most important key for a better relationship is non-expectation. Expectation is a bargain. Expectation ruins relationships. Love is that which is without condition, without limitation and without need and it seeks to damage or hurt no one. Love is the deep urge to be one with the whole. Because it is without condition, it requires nothing in order to be expressed. It asks nothing in return. It withdraws nothing in retaliation. The basis of relationship must be love. And relationship, love, must not be a bargain. Because it is without limitation, it places no limitation on another. It experiences no boundary or barrier. Once the expectation (for the desired result) is completely removed, the action occurs by itself because there is no individual doer/enjoyer. And any such action is automatically motivated by love and brings in love. It is inline with Totality. Relationship without neediness, expectation, jealousy and bargain is pure.

The grandest of all feelings is called love; as all feelings, ultimately, are outgrowths of love. Love is a Complete Feeling. However, do not seek to experience love or Who You Really Are through others in a superior way. Allow others to seek love or Who They Really Are through you. You cannot genuinely experience what you do not allow others to experience through you! So, expect nothing from the 'other.'

The second key/quality to have, for a better relationship, is accommodation.  To cheerfully and calmly accept any type of person or a given situation is to be accommodating.  It is based on a clear understanding that, owing to the law of karma, things cannot be different from the way they are. A person's behavior, in general, is a consequence of his genes and conditioning and is not subject to will power. It is a scientific fact that the conditioning or personality is formed by age seven. (Aristotle: "Give me a child until he is seven and I will show you the man.") Body-mind organisms are seemingly incarnated to work out the universal karma, not to please me, not to annoy me.  Understand that the person is the Self/God, temporarily bewitched by Maya.  Situations are the result of all the factors in the dharma/karma field and are beyond the control of individuals. Therefore, it is unwise to hate them. All successful relationships depend on one's ability to accommodate others. Accommodation means love.  Love means seeing another as Who They Really Are even when they are not acting like it.

Mechanical reactions stifle accommodations. To be free to respond to the person in a creative manner, we must act super-consciously; not react like a robot according to our vaasanas/tendencies. So, the first best way is to accept the person or situation as is. And the second best way is to simply ignore. However, accommodation/love does not mean that you have to be there beaten all the time, no matter what. No. It means act with love. Act inline with his long-term well-being or Totality's well-being. Don't we all punish our children for their long-term well-being?

Jesus Christ: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing!"

The third way/key to a better relationship is creativity. In day-to-day relationships what meaning you give the events depends on whether you are coming from your past or your present. In other words, memory/mind or intention/being. That is the choice. Choice coming from the intention/being rather than from the memory is the magic that can make all your relationship dreams come true.  It is the shift from reaction to creation that makes all relationships feel brand new. Act in the 'now.' Act spontaneously.  The trouble with most relationships is that you pick out the one little thing that you do not like and then give that most of your attention. And then, by the Law of Attraction, you solicit more of what you do not want. The key to better relationship is to give very little attention to what you are not agreeing upon and to give your great attention to the things you do agree upon.  Focus upon those things that you do have in common - focus upon your points of peace/harmony. In true relationships there is no room for authority or hierarchy. Only love.

Relationships don't last because you are trying to find fulfillment rather than create fulfillment.  You are trying to find joy rather than create joy. You believe relationship is a process of discovery, and it is not. It is a process of creation - like life itself. Creativity is the basis of life. Creativity is the opportunity to express and demonstrate Who You Really Are.  Deep down you are Pure Love, that is What You Really Are. Creativity, and not any obligation or forced response, is the cornerstone of relationships! Create yourself new in every situation to realize the greatest and the grandest desire of them all, the desire of Who You Really Are!

The keys to a better relationship, again, are non-expectation, accommodation and creativity!

What to do when you feel hurt in hurting others?.........

When you feel hurt in hurting others, seek forgiveness from those others.  And seek forgiveness from yourself.  If you find it hard to forgive yourself, here is the magic formula.  Forgive the same offense in others.  Forgive the same faults, the same foibles, the same offensive character traits, the same sins in others that you see yourself having and committing. You heal your heart when you heal the heart of others. Ultimately there is no need for forgiveness because there is no judgement (from the perspective of Awareness or Love).

Jesus Christ at the time of his crucifixion made this highest statement on forgiveness: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing!"

Is religious conversion a dhaarmic act?..........

Religious conversion is not a dhaarmic act.

Religion should not be a mission. Missionaries or missionary religions are on the wrong track. They have become concerned with the other - now, in the name of religion, in the name of service - but whenever you are concerned with the other, you have left the Source. Be concerned about yourself, if you want, but not the other. Brotherhood is not the same as Oneness. A spiritual man (sage) also helps others, but he is not concerned. It is natural for him, not a mission. It is not something on his mind. He is not seeking and searching for somebody. He is not going to interfere with the perfect world. It is just by the way. Out of his inner treasure, he simply shares - like a flower sharing its perfume. Sharing is not the same as helping. Jesus could have healed everyone, but he didn't. He did not want to interfere with their individual karmic paths.

A sage simply feels the pain of others as his; he is not aware of someone as the other. And he is not to change anybody! He is not after you to mold you in a certain pattern. Because that is the subtlest violence possible in the world - to try to change the other, to mold the other. That means you are cunning and being aggressive. And you don't accept the other as God has created him. You have better proposals and you have better ideas than the Divine itself. But how can you improve on The Whole? Concern/Passion is out of ego, compassion is out of Awareness. A sage is compassionate. Society uplifting without Self uplifting is not needed, it should be the other way round. Self uplifting is itself social uplifting from the perspective of Advaitha/Non-Duality. Social uplifting for the sake of the 'other' defeats the purpose as there is no 'other' for a Self-Realized being. And it is impossible to get out of duality ('me' and the 'other' or 'ahamkaara' and 'mamakaara') without Self-Knowledge. I with 'me' and 'mine' is ego, I without 'me' and 'mine' is Self/Aathma. The 'other' will automatically merge into Self once the Selfness is claimed, otherwise not (blind leading the blind).

All kinds of conversion are fanatic. All missionaries are simply businessmen - just selling invisible things to gullible people. A Mohammedan comes with a Koran in one hand and a sword in the other. The Christian missionary comes with The Holy Bible in one hand and bread and butter in the other. You can choose. But both are doing the same thing. Monetary help is a pretext. They are trying to enslave you, to destroy your freedom of thinking, freedom of inquiry. They want you to believe, they want you to become part of their politics of numbers.

You need not force anybody towards a religion - a set of beliefs. When the urge arises, it arises. It cannot be artificially created. Nobody can create an artificial urge. That is impossible. One comes to spiritual maturity and understanding, when something has ripened within you, and then the search starts. Nobody can enforce it. But all the religions have tried to enforce it, and they have killed the very possibility of the urge, the very possibility of natural flowering.

Spirituality is not concerned with others; it is concerned with you. Spirituality is personal. It is not a social phenomenon. In fact, there cannot be any sociology of religion; there can only be a psychology. True religion can only be one, just like science. Science of the inner dimension. You don't have a Mohammedan Physics, a Hindu Physics, a Christian Physics; that would not make any sense.

To make you spiritually weak, religions have found a sure method and that is to teach you not to love yourself, but to love others - because if a man cannot love himself he cannot know himself and cannot love anybody else either. The teaching is very tricky and cunning. All organized religions are basically established on this belief. They say: Love others - because they know if you cannot love yourself you cannot love at all. But they go on saying: Love others, love humanity, love God, love nature, love your wife, your children and your parents, but don't love yourself, because to love oneself is selfish according to them. They say: If you love yourself you will become an egoist. It is not true.

A man who truly loves himself finds that there is no ego in him. It is in loving others without truly loving oneself that the ego arises. And these egos keep the religions in business!

The missionaries, the social reformers, the social servants, have the greatest egos in the world – naturally, because they think themselves to be superior human beings. They are not ordinary: Ordinary people love themselves; but they love others, they love great ideals, they love God. And all the religionists' love is false, because all their love is without any roots; blind leading the blind.

A man who truly loves himself respects himself, and a man who truly loves himself and respects himself respects others too, because he knows, "Just as I am, so are others. Just as I enjoy love, respect, dignity, so do others." He becomes aware that we are not different; as far as the fundamentals are concerned, we are one. We are under the same law: "Aes Dhammo Sanathano!" (Buddha). It is only when you truly love yourself, love for others flowers naturally; it will be a by-product.

Love yourself, know yourself (in order to love yourself, you must know your self first; deep down loving is the same thing as knowing; knowing of your own being is loving); the disease of religious selfish interests will automatically disappear. Knowing is first: Without knowing your true self, you will be loving your personality or ego only. Self-love is just the opposite of egomania. In self-love there is no self, only love. In egomania there is no love, only self! Loving yourself without knowing yourself is nothing but egomania! But if you know yourself, you know the truth and the game of blindly following a religion is over. And this is not in the best interest of any organized religion. Get in touch with your own soul first, and then, with the soul of others. It will be extremely difficult to do the second, however, unless you have done the first.

Krishna in Bhagavad Geetha, 6.5: "Uddhareth Aathmana Aathmaanam!"...One should uplift (know) oneself by oneself! (Uplifting of society is a misnomer; society is nothing but individuals).

Gauthama Buddha: "Love/Know yourself and watch!"

You are one in love. Love knows no dualism. So long as you have the idea of distinction or multiplicity you can have no real idea of oneness/true love. True love is the experience of not knowing an apparent other as 'an other.' Missionary religions' highest ideal looks upon another man as a brother, but Pure Love looks upon him as one's own self. Universal brotherhood is not the highest ideal, but identity is. When you truly love someone, help him, teach him. There is no need to convert him. Conversion means including him by excluding someone else. That is dualism; not Oneness, not love. True love is that which is beyond condition, beyond limit and beyond any need and it seeks to damage or hurt no one. The purpose of religion is to share joy and love. Conversion, therefore, defeats its own purpose. Conversion is politics and politics is ugly. Bring your awareness to others. Not by proselytizing or converting, but by example. Be the source of love in the lives of all others.

A person who has not realized Truth should never try to convert someone, because he himself does not know (and he does not know what a true religion is). It's like the blind leading the blind. If you cannot see Truth in yourself, which is nearest you, you cannot possibly see it in those far from you. And a person who has realized the Truth will never convert anyone. There is no need then, because he sees everyone else as himself and perfect! Belief/faith can never lead a person to Truth. In fact, belief/faith hinders the Truth because open mindedness is required for the realization of the Truth. So, try to guide him to his inner Truth, not by belief/faith but by showing/pointing him a way, showing him a means of knowledge. Individual path, individual investigation is the most direct method.

Conversion to a faith is rooted in dualism and promotes dualism. Another word for dualism is dual-vision or delusion or lack of discrimination! "I can improve myself by changing the world" is delusion. And it is madness!

Can money buy peace and love? Are we here to gather "stuff?"..........

Money has nothing to do with peace or happiness or love. In fact it could be the greatest distortion against peace, happiness, joy or love. Money is just a means, means to an end.

The root word for money is Sanskrit's 'maana' meaning valid proof or valid standard or precious. 'Mani' means a precious jewel. Therefore money must be scarce. Money can give you comforts. If you are happy and you have money, you will become more happy. If you are unhappy and you have money, you will become more unhappy. Your money will enhance your pattern, whatsoever it is. Money is neutral. It is what one does with money that gives it value.

It is the idea of money which gives you happiness. If you have money in the bank then it is the idea that money is there which brings happiness. It is not the money itself. Similarly it is only the idea of the loss of money which brings you misery. As they
say money can buy bed, but money cannot buy sleep; money can buy food, but money
cannot buy hunger; money can buy people, but it cannot buy love.

There is nothing wrong in using money. It is the scientific way of exchanging things, exchanging time and energy. It is a tremendous invention. Use it wisely. Share it wisely. Remember that you cannot fully experience it until and unless you share it with others. What good does it do you to have inherited a million dollars if you never spend so much as a nickel of it? You can possess things with money, but you cannot possess love. Love is not docile, love is rebellious. You can even possess a man, you can possess a woman, but you can never possess love. The non-materialistic life is one in which money is just a means: happiness predominates, joy predominates.

However, being rich is not equivalent to being a materialist and being poor is not equivalent to being spiritual. A sage does not run after attractive things; but neither does he reject them when they come his way. He lets the idea be prominent in his mind that all conditions are Reality, whether possessed or not possessed, and thus he achieves happiness.

Money should not become the goal, should not become an obsession; but there is no need to renounce it to become a beggar either. In both the cases clinging is there. You may own a huge mansion, or you may live in a hut - that is not the point. You may be wealthy, or you may not be wealthy - that is not the point. The question is whether you have a feeling of possession, of 'mine' - or not. Money can be beautiful - if it is not possessed, if you don't become obsessed with it. And what is obsession? Obsession is paying too much attention and energy to something which is not that important. Anything that reduces you into a slave, that's the definition of obsession. Money should be ignored for higher purposes in life.

Therefore, money is not an obstacle to spiritual progress but the sense of possession of money is!

Jesus Christ, Matthew, 19.24: "Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man (non-spiritual man) to enter the kingdom of God!"

Money is like blood circulating in the body of society. It helps society to be enriched, to be alive. If money circulates, moves from one hand to another, goes on moving...the more movement the better. The more you use it, the more it multiplies, the more it floats and circulates, and the more richer the society becomes. That is why money is called currency. When no body uses it, money becomes stagnant like clots in blood. Misery will be the result. Increase the supply of goods, money will flow. Demand can never ultimately increase the production of goods, production of goods make the goods more and more affordable and creates demand. Then, abundance can follow.

It is a mistake to think that things are gained by love's concentration on objects. Here is a blunder in the understanding. Then, why does anyone love anything excessively? What is the purpose behind it? The purpose is simple – a miscalculation of the processes of the mind. The mind calculates wrongly when it imagines that excessive love, when poured upon an object, is the source of satisfaction that it gains from that object. It is always imagined that joy comes from things outside, from objects of senses. This is not true. Our satisfactions are not the outcome of attachment to objects. On the other hand, joys are the result of harmony with things. Joy is strictly internal, interior.

The more is man in harmony with the world outside, equally, not with excessive pressure exerted upon any part, the more is he happy. But if he exerts too much in the direction of a particular object – it may be a human being, or an inanimate object; it may be money, it may be property, it may be a building; it may be even a social status, love of name, fame, power, authority; even these are objects or "stuff", if there is too much concentration on these, he dissociates himself from the harmonious relationship that he is expected to maintain with the whole atmosphere.

What are we here for, then? Not to gather "stuff" but to have an interior experience, the experience of peace, of joy, of happiness, of contentment, of wholeness, of awareness, of love, and, ultimately, of the divine. We are not trying to "get stuff," we are trying to achieve the feeling that we have when we do "get stuff." What we are seeking and yearning to create in life is not physical objects or activities, but rather, the experience of ourselves that sometimes flows through them.

We are here to create and experience of positive and uplifting emotions and demonstrate Who We Really Are. Now the question becomes, is there a way to have these feelings without having that "stuff?" The answer is yes. We should use our exterior world, of course. That's what it's there for. But we use it best when we use it in the way it was intended to be used - not as a magnet, but as a mirror; not as a device to draw something to us, but as a tool with which to reflect something in us. Money is not an exception.

Watch what it is that moves you most in a really good film. Is it the scene in which there is a beautiful car? Is it the scene in which there is gorgeous lady half-nude? Is it the scene in which there is a pile of money being thrown around? Such scenes may scintillate our senses, but do they move us? Are we touched by them deeply in our hearts? Or is it the scene in which enormous compassion is being displayed? Is it the scene in which a very real and deep love is being felt and shared?

Of course it is the latter, and we can see this clearly. So, too, is in real life. And so we see that it is inner world realities we seek to create; it is happiness, peace, love, joy, and other beingness experiences, for which we yearn. Indeed, it is such experiences for which we have come here to the physical world. Outer expression can lead to inner experience, but it can never substitute for it. Yet when inner experience leads to outer expression, the circle is complete - and this is the purpose of an individual life.

Thus, you can seek experience that you are the divine by having stuff come TO you or by having stuff come THROUGH you. If you do it by taking stuff, you will forever be trapped in the hope that there will be sufficient stuff to take in the world around you. If you do it by giving stuff, you will never be in that trap, because the world around you has nothing to do with how much you have to give.

Indeed, the more you give, the more you have to give.  And the miracle of giving is that the process is self replenishing as long as you are not giving for this reason.  Whatever comes THROUGH you, STICKS to you. So, be happy and share love and joy! Make someone else experience love and joy through you!

What is obsession? How can we transcend obsession?.........

Obsession is paying too much attention and energy to something which is not that important.  Out of all proportion you have become focused, hypnotized by something. Then everything else disappears in your life and only one thing remains that becomes your focal point. Your life becomes one-dimensional: that is obsession. Anything that becomes a dominating force upon you, that dominates you, that becomes master of your being.

Anything that reduces you into a slave, that's the definition of an obsession.

Working all the time or working all your life is obsession. Gathering money is obsession, thinking about sex is obsession. Thinking about food is obsession; thinking about fasting is also obsession. One is positive and the other negative, that is all. There are people positively obsessed with sex, who only think of sex and nothing else. And there are negatively obsessed people: these people you call celibates, monks, they are continuously thinking of sex too - in a negative way. However, sex itself is not an obsession, money itself is not an obsession. We don't have to be against sex, against money. Obsession means now sex or money has taken the place of everything.

No one thing should become your whole life - everything has its own place, life should be an orchestra. It should not be only food, should not be only sex, should not be only money, should not be only power. It should not be any ONE thing, it should be many things, the whole variety. All the dimensions of life should remain available, then you will be rich. Life has to be multi-dimensional.  Obsessed people miss their whole lives, they cannot enjoy anything.  They are not here-now, they are always focused on their single idea.

How can we transcend obsession?...An obsession simply means a wound in your being, which keeps attracting you again and again, which goes on declaring itself, which wants your attention. You cannot drop it. How can you drop your wound? An obsession is a psychic wound, you cannot drop it. You can only understand it. Therefore, watch it. Pay attention to it. Be meditatively with it.  And the more you are meditatively with it, the more it will be healed.  If you become identified with it you go insane. If you condemn it, if you repress it, you go insane again. Avoid both the extremes.

Keep yourself exactly in the middle, neither condemning nor identifying.  And slowly slowly, it will be healed. Slowly slowly, it will lose all its poison. Slowly slowly, you will see it changing into a positive energy rather than a negative force.  Each obsession is a knot in your being. Once it is opened, great energy is released.  The harm is in the addiction - the harm is not in the act itself. Just be a pure witness and transcend; understand it and go beyond. Transcendence is not concerned with the act; transcendence is concerned with the addiction.

What is the difference between pain and suffering?.........

Pain is an experience; suffering is a point of view about a painful experience.  Pain is of the body (physical/emotional) and suffering is of the mind/intellect. As we can enjoy a movie with sadness but not with any suffering, we can also enjoy the life with pain and pleasure but not with any suffering (distress, anguish).

What is the difference between guilt and regret?.........

Guilt is about feeling that I did something "wrong", while regret is about feeling that what I did is not something I would do again. Regret is a thought that happens vertically/spontaneously and your involvement with that vertical thought produces guilt which is in a horizontal plane. Guilt happens to a "me," to a "doer." Understand that the action that produced the guilt was not under your/ego's control and the other's hurt was part of his/her destiny.

Guilt is the feeling that keeps you stuck in who you are not. Guilt allows you to not love yourself—and that kills any chance that you could love another. Fear and guilt are the two greatest enemies of man. Replace fear with love and guilt with awareness.

Does man have dominion over the earth and its creatures?..........

Man does not have dominion over the earth and its creatures. It is true that man has stewardship of the earth, and as such, has given certain powers and abilities. But man's powers and abilities in no way match those of Mother Earth - nor shall, or can, they ever. Humans want to think of themselves as having dominion over the earth so that they can do whatever they want with the earth and her resources, without regard, to what that does to the earth. This earth will tolerate for only so long, as the peoples of the earth every so often relearn. Earthquakes, droughts, floods, pandemics are some prime examples.

God does not see us as having dominion over the fishes of the sea and the birds in the air in the sense of having power over. This is not true for us any more than it is true about God's own dominion over us. God does not seek to have or to exercise authority over us, but rather, power with us, to protect us, defend us, nurture us, assist us, and cause us to be healthy and joyful. This we should do with the earth and its creatures.

The sort of dominion we have over earth is the sort of dominion God has over us. Not power that exploits, that uses, that destroys, but power that empowers, that enhances, that builds up, that shows responsibility. Our job is to honor our Mother Earth and to do everything we can to nurture her, save her and protect her. She will house us well in the bosom of her love, giving us joyfully of the bounty of her resources, if we do not try to rape her out of our greed, or bleed her dry in our ignorance.

Life expresses itself at many different levels of consciousness, or self-awareness. The higher the level of consciousness, the greater the degree of self-determination, the greater the ability to choose and decide, announce and declare, express and fulfill, the grandest notion one has of who and what one is. Remember: A "higher" level of consciousness is not "better" than a lower level of consciousness, it is merely higher. Being in the sixth grade is not "better" than being in the fifth grade. By the action they take, by their way of being, animals announce what grade they are in.

Look at a grasshopper. Watch its elegance, its beauty, its communication capabilities. Whoever has created this grasshopper has paid as much attention to it as he paid to a human being. When the Source of Creation has paid equal attention to a grasshopper and you, who are you to think that a grasshopper is a lowly creature and you are some super human being? Why are you making this judgement? Look! If all the worms and insects of this planet die, all life will cease within few years. But if all the human beings were to die, life on this planet would flourish! This proves you that you are not the most significant of life. This idea that the world is humancentric is a shameful idea.

Between man and an animal there are biological and psychological differences. However, a man is not superior (better) and an animal is not inferior. You have a rock and you have a flower. Rock is not anything less but the way you handle them has to be different. Flower is more evolved; accordingly it gets treated. This goes for animals and even people also. This does not mean that you don't care for a rock. You care for it, and you do more work with it because it needs more work. If you don't have this distinction, then you will be a fool with life. They are not equal, and they are not unequal either; they are simply different (they are unique).

Humankind can never accept this understanding until it sets aside its seemingly insatiable greed and authoritative/aggressive power. In our utter arrogance have we determined that "we are the boss" here. It is an arrogance beyond imagining. Yet God even has tolerance for that, so great is she. The Source of Creation, Intelligence, is throbbing in everyone and in everything. Of course a grasshopper cannot pay attention to that Source (because it is bound by nature, bound by instinct, it is not self-aware) but a human being can. A human being is self-aware. Meaning that he knows and also knows that he knows. Once a human being gets rid of his arrogance or ignorance by paying attention to the Source, he will have the understanding that all creation is venerable, respectable. The higher level of awareness a man enjoys is not to dominate or feel superior to the rest of the creation but to recognize and treat others (including all creatures and the environment) with fairness, dignity, respect and love like he does with his own children. Being higher is not being "better!" Being a man is not being better than being a woman. Being in 6th grade is not being "better" than being in 5th grade.

Mahabhaarath: "A man of knowledge always looks upon all other creatures as he looks upon himself!"

Animals demonstrate not how life intrinsically is, but they demonstrate their level of consciousness about how life really is. And so, by their actions, do human beings!

What is the measure of success in life?..........

Much of our world works within what could be called the "3 P's System," 3 Purushaarthas, in which it is agreed that the biggest measures of success are Possessions, Pleasures and Popularity. Possessions or Productivity/Security/Wealth/'Artha,' Pleasures of Physical and Mental nature/'Kaama' and Popularity or Power/Fame/Virtue/'Punya.'

First thing that the humans strive for is security/artha (prompted by greed). Once that is taken care of, they strive for comforts/pleasures/kaama (prompted by desires/hopes) . Then only for popularity/virtue/punya (prompted by fear). Popularity is a subtle form of wealth. Under this system, the person who does the most things, has the most people looking up to him, and owns the most stuff, wins. If you choose these definitions, you may have to spend your life attempting to do and have more and more. This can lead to endless and insane competitions - not only with others, but with yourself. Competition is the result of a belief that there is "not enough." Some even kill each other for the stuff of which (they think) there is not enough. There is no comparison or competition in nature. A tiny ant is as happy and blissful as an elephant. So do not compare; everyone is unique and no one is comparable. Comparison is a disease. If the three P's are not acquired through Dharma (righteous means), then we get stuck in a mundane life called, 'samsaara.' We can never get out of it. If you follow this path, you will opt for quantity rather than quality as a measure of success in your life. The 3 P's are the needs of the body and the mind. Look to see if 3 P's system has served others in our world. Did it?...Not really.

Drop comparison and you will drop jealousy. Let A grow in its own way and let B grow in its own way. Consider other measures of success as something that makes your heart sing; something you can get "lost" in for hours; something that you would do for nothing, without ever worrying about how much you're getting paid. These measures will give you peace and tranquility. Dharma or dhaarmic life coupled with spirituality can lead one to Liberation, 'Moksha', the fourth goal, the fourth P which stands for Peace! Bring in your soul/Consciousness. So, don't stop at the first 3 P's, go for the last P, the Peace/Fullness/Completeness/Love/Aananda! Grow into the last Purushaartha, Peace, advocated by the Vedic scriptures.

Our greatest measure of success should be in knowing (and living according to) our true nature, according to the absolute values. Any value/act that leads to peace and freedom is considered absolute. When you are in doubt ask yourself, "What would happen if everyone did it?" If everyone did a thing, and the result was of ultimate benefit to the human race, then that action/value is 'absolute' If everyone did it and it brought disaster to the human race, then that is not a very 'elevated' thing to do. Keep the absolute values as the background in dealing with the relative values in a relative world. You do not have to disrespect the relative values of money, wealth and power. Go through them, enjoy them in a righteous way but then go beyond them. Do not renounce the money to become a beggar. No. Having money is not the problem, "I have the money" is the problem.

Therefore, the existence within us of positive emotion, positive values, is our greatest measure of success. Positive emotion/values is the one that gives us growth, peace, joy and satisfaction. Negative emotion/values is the one that gives us stagnation and sorrow. Whenever our emotion is positive, we can know that we are in harmony with our inner intentions, our inner being. Life as the masses conceive of it, is a zero-sum game. You cannot win here. For every upside there is a downside. Don't chase competition. Bring meditation into your life! Meditation will put you in touch with divinity or soul. So bring in your soul, not just the body and mind. While body+mind is one wing of the life, soul is the other wing. If materiality is one wing, spirituality is the other wing. Our present technology is threatening to outstrip our ability to use it wisely. Our society is on the verge of becoming a product of our technology, rather than our technology being a product of our society. When a society becomes a product of its own technology, it destroys itself. Therefore, bring cosmology into your life - cosmology of all life, oneness of all life; bring spirituality into your life!

Your soul doesn't care what you do for a living - and when your life is over, neither will you. Your soul cares only about what you are "being" while you are doing whatever you are doing. It is a state of beingness the soul is after, not a state of doingness. Soul is after the feeling of love! Reality/Peace is being, knowing, loving - all at once!

Our success in society is measured by others; our peace and satisfaction is measured by our own soul, heart and mind. So, live your life according to the core concepts of Holistic Living: Awareness, Honesty and Responsibility. Holistic Living is whole person living; it is body-mind-spirit living.

The culture that will arise in the future, if it is truly to be for the evolution of mankind, will be a balance of body, mind and the soul or spirit. This culture will be a synthesis of science and spirituality; it will be either scientifically religious or spiritually scientific. However, while scientific approach is needed in spirituality, in the integration of science and spirituality, spirituality will be at the inner center and science will be at the outer boundary. Spirituality will be the intelligence and science its follower. The body cannot be the master; science also cannot be the master. Soul will be the master; spirituality will be the master. The measure of success in life, therefore, must be the last P, Peace! And then, we will be able to create a better world.

Lao Tzu: "If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present!"

What is karma (action) and how is an action considered whether it is 'elevated' or not?..........

Karma means action through feeling/motive/attachment/personal desire. Karma driven by desires and fears will produce impressions/tendencies/vaasanas.

The nature of karma is not in the actions that you perform, but in the volition, the intention, the motive, the kind of mind that you carry which makes your karma. Karma is not about what you are doing, it is just the way you feel about whatever you are doing. Thinking and doing using your free will creates karma. For a person who is thinking in terms of transcending life and death, right karma (which produces punyam) is as useless as the wrong one (which produces paapam or fall). All karma is a burden for him and he wants to drop/transcend them all. How?...Paapam causes suffering by arrival and punyam (rise) causes suffering by departure. The literal meaning of karma is action. The law of karma is not applicable to any species that doesn't have the sense of 'right' and 'wrong.' Animals can differentiate between 'good' and 'bad' but they cannot differentiate between 'right' and 'wrong.'

If you want a yardstick with which to judge whether an action is good for the human race or not, ask yourself a simple question: What would happen if everyone did it? This is a very easy measure, and a very accurate one. If everyone did a thing, and the result was of ultimate benefit to the human race, then that action is 'elevated.' If everyone did it and it brought disaster to the human race, then that is not a very 'elevated' thing to recommend.

Can the actions of the body alone create karma?..........

No matter where we are spiritually, the actions of our bodies can never create any karma!

Aagyaama-karma (future-karma) is created by the mental activity of the mind, NOT by what the body is doing i.e., praarabdha-karma (present-life-karma) lets the body eat meat, your mind can react to it and either judge that as good or bad. That reaction creates aagaamya-karma, but not the action of the body of eating meat. However, the fruit of any aagaamya that we do now will NOT be experienced by us during this lifetime. It will be stored in a bag of karmas, known as sanchitha karma (complete store-house of karmas of all lifetimes). Creator will then choose certain karmas (praarabdha) in line with one's spiritual advancement for a body/mind organism to experience in a future life. That is how the life (samsara) continues!

Ultimately, there is no karma! Suppose in dream you kill a man, what is this karma? Only a thought, idea, mind itself. When you know this, what is the difference between an action and the idea of an action? None. Thus you learn that karma is only an idea, all ideas are unreal, and henceforth a sage need not trouble himself about karma.

Any little action of the body, anything from the birth of the body until it dies is destined. What food you eat, if you marry or not, if you have kids or not, if you have a healthy diet or not, if you travel to a place or not, etc., etc. Once that is clear one does not have to worry about diets, getting food, being treated for an illness or not, because it is all taken care by praarabdha.

The ONLY job of the ego (jeeva) is to not get attached or involved with anything mentally. Because what will happen will happen, no matter how big or how insignificant the action of the body. If your mind believes that a vegan diet is superior to any other diets it has not only created an attachment, but it also creates fresh karma because now you have to have another life (or lives) to fulfill the desire for vegan food.

If praarabdha gives you meat for a meal and your mind judges it as bad, you are creating fresh karma and life (samsaara) keeps going. If you just eat the meat without judging it as good or bad and when in the next day you get rice and beans and you are oblivious to that too (without missing the meat) then you are on the right track. In other words, go with the flow!

However as long as a separate-self seems to exist, its relationships and the world are as real as the separate-self, so you should behave with the world accordingly. Perform your duties accordingly.

Can action-impressions be destroyed by another action?..........

Action cannot destroy action. Action makes action only more dense. In-action destroys action - in the sense that the identification with action-impressions is stopped.

Non-action is the Non-Dual knowledge of the Self. By means of action a man fulfills various desires. Therefore action is in harmony with ignorance and cannot directly destroy it. And non-action is attained in meditation, in samaadhi, in understanding; when the doer does not exist any more. Any action, whether good or bad, will have fruits. As long as there is a doer, there is an ego behind any action, he will have to face the fruits of his actions.

When we reach that state of consciousness where there is only being, not the doing at all, where the existence has always remained - the being, not the doing - in that moment of being, one suddenly realizes that all the actions that had ever been done are either by the body or by the mind. You as Self had not done any actions at all. The Self is like a catalytic agent where its presence is necessary but it is not involved in the actions. Its presence is so powerful that things start happening.

Simultaneous to this realization the network of all action-impressions, the identification with them, is stopped/destroyed - not because these actions had any way bound you but because they had a never bound you in the first place. This is Self-Knowledge.

What is justice?

Freedom is justice and bondage is injustice.

The group of class that is bent on forcing any kind of bondage on mankind is on the side of injustice. People wanting to impose bondage on others would not say so, they will find a word or a slogan that will put people into bondage without letting them know it. "Equality" is such a new slogan, and it is full of cunning and deceit. Freedom/Justice is an absolutely natural phenomenon, which everyone must have as his right, equality is not. Equality is neither natural nor possible.

How do you compare the morality of one act with the other? What is moral and what is immoral?..........

Morality has to do with the respect you give to another person or another species. One should respect the other person as much as he respects himself. There is no morality higher than this. The day one puts oneself above another, he becomes immoral.

Morality ('dharma') is only that feeling, thought or action which attenuates/reduces the ego and leads one on to Truth. While love is moral, marriage without love is immoral. Actions that result in higher freedom, higher evolution are more moral than the actions that produce the opposite. (Morality differs a bit from ethics. Ethics refer to principles/guidelines/rules provided by en external source, e.g., codes of conduct in work places or principles in religions. Morals refer to an individual's own principles regarding right and wrong.) Ownership over people is the worst kind of immorality.

People are often confused about certain acts, whether they are moral or not. Here is a guide to decide which is the right thing to do when you do not know for sure.

Evolution may be categorized into four levels or quadrants of static value patterns: 1. Inorganic (Pre-life), 2. Biological (Instinctive), 3. Social, and 4. Intellectual, representing the lower level to the higher level in that order. Based on where one act falls in what level/quadrant, we can decide the degree of morality. If two actions fall within the same static value pattern, then the pattern with dynamic value/content/quality will supersede the static value pattern. Why?...Because, static value is based on right and wrong whereas dynamic value is based on - not only right and wrong but also - true and less-true (or false). Dynamic or Enlightened pattern is based on and guided by higher awareness or wisdom or intelligence.

Degree of morality, thus, can be assessed by the intentions behind the actions, as to whether they are biologically, socially, or intellectually motivated. This may be easily understood by the following examples that deal with the most important issues of the present times.

-Germ and a patient: It is moral to kill a germ (biological) and save a patient (intellectual).

-War and capital punishment: A primitive isolated village threatened by brigands has a moral right and obligation to kill them in self-defense as a village is a higher form of evolution. When the Unites States drafted troops for the Civil War everyone knew that innocent people would be killed. The North could have permitted the slave states to become independent and saved thousands of lives.

But an evolutionary morality argues that the North was right in pursuing that war because a nation is a higher form of evolution than a man's body, and the principle of human fairness is an even higher form than a nation. In case of a criminal, if an established social structure is not seriously threatened by him then an evolutionary morality would argue that there is no moral justification for killing him. A criminal needs to be disciplined and educated first. Criminal is not just a biological organism, he is a source of thought, collection of ideas. And these ideas take moral precedence over a society. The Indian story of Vaalmeeki, a dacoit turned a sage by Naarada, is a proof of this. Socrates, Galileo are other examples.

-Abortion: It is moral for an individual or society to prevent the creation of a human life when it is only in the state of organic matter. However, it would be immoral to kill a developing human being when it has reached a state of sentience or mind. A rape victim has a strong moral right to abortion as the fetus is a direct result of a biologically motivated action. The biological level is lower than the social level. Therefore, it is immoral for the social level to allow the biological level (which is the act of rape) to overcome it - especially when it has the ability to (physically) return the girl to the status quo prior to the biological act. If the fetus were to develop sentience it would then be immoral for an abortion to take place as the fetus would then be part of the intellectual level, and as such a higher form of evolution than society. It is thought that a fetus develops sentience between four and half months to five and half months.

-Blasphemy: Religious codices are part of a higher order of intellectual reasoning; it would be immoral for these to be destructed by biological or social forces. However, anti-religious sentiment based on an intellectual argument, such as Galileo, would not be blasphemous. This is a good dynamic quality over static patterns which can contribute to an advancement, expansion and sophistication of man's concept of religion. His argument was based on not only 'right and wrong' but also 'true and less-true!'

-Contraception: This is moral as contraception is essentially a method of the intellect guiding and controlling biology.

-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia: In cases of PVS (permanent vegetative syndrome), the act of euthanasia by society (law) is moral as this is merely the cause of society/intellect overcoming biology, as a human in a PVS state is essentially biological in nature. However, in cases where an individual is terminally ill and suffering, yet mentally alert assisted suicide is immoral as for society (or law) to cause the termination of an intellect is immoral, despite the fact that this may use society's resources. The above is true unless the individual himself decides on suicide. For if this is the only possible method of the intellect overcoming the strains put on it by the biological forces of his own body this then becomes a moral case of intellect dominating biology (as intellect > biology).

-Theft and Taxation: It is moral for a society to impose taxes on its constituent individual's material resources for the purpose of its own survival, as a society is a higher form of evolution than an individual. It is immoral for an individual to steal from the state for his own purposes, unless his purposes are clearly of a higher intellectual order than those of the society. However, it is moral for an individual to steal from society in order to survive (e.g. food), as his actions keep an intellect alive and intellect is a greater value than society. The exception to this would be where the society could not withstand the theft.

-Freedom of speech and association: Freedom of speech or individual actions of an intellectual or idealistic nature must be allowed to act contrary to the wishes of society as these actions are naturally of a higher order than society. However, individual's actions motivated by biological nature (such as riots, theft, murder) are inferior to society and must be prevented or oppressed by society.

-Equality and affirmative action: US racial affirmative act appears to be incorrect in its assumption that 'equality' is synonymous with 'fairness' in that it ignores the little publicized scientific, historical, and social facts that some racial groups are on average genetically different in abilities to others, and therefore are on average more suitable for certain types of employment. So in this respect, it is moral to put more police force to tackle the crime in certain areas unless the police in the process victimize innocent individuals on the basis of this societal statistical perception. Racism is immoral when it results from an individual's biological urge of tribalism (us vs. them mentality) to infringe the rights of freedom, equality, fairness, justice and bodily integrity, as this is a biological pattern of values attacking the intellectual patterns of value. In the same manner, a woman is genetically/biologically different than a man. She cannot be as capable as a man when it comes to physical labor/skills. A woman, thus, cannot be equal to a man; they are simply unique.

You can, thus, see and judge the degree of morality, as to whether an act is biologically, or socially, or intellectually motivated.

PART II - Science, Religion and Spirituality

Science is the form of knowledge which looks for the inner, hidden power in matter. It is focusing on the agenda of the body/object.

Religion is an institution. It is a belief system, set of commands followed by a certain group of people. It is focusing on the agenda of the ego/subject.

Spirituality is the form of knowledge which looks for the inner, hidden power in Spirit/Awareness.  Spirituality is a search for the inner knowing-experience (being) of Oneness/Aananda.  Spirituality is life affirming and universal. It is focusing on the agenda of the soul rather than the body or the mind.  Spirituality recognizes that the ultimate reality of our experience is spirit or Consciousness (The root word for Spirit is 'Sprutha' or 'Spruha' in Sanskrit meaning Consciousness). Absolute Peace is the goal of spirituality. Spiritual journey is from a creature to Creator to Self; an individual to Truth.

What is spirituality?..........

Spirituality is the exploration, understanding and experiencing of Oneness with everyone and everything. Consciousness, our essence, is another word for spirit. Spirituality is exploring the depths of Consciousness. Spirituality ('adhyaathmayam'=about true-self or about absolute science) is the path of knowing/realizing the Self and then abiding in it (in its true nature).

Spirituality is the exploration of your inner/non-physical dimension.  It is the essence of who you are, how do you express yourself with others. Do you respond or react, do you act with awareness or non-awareness, do you act with compassion or anger? A happy person, a spiritual person - one who is in tune with himself, in love with himself and his environment will bring change; change to his love life, to his family life, to his work environment, and ultimately to the world.

For a baby, everything is an undifferentiated or homogeneous mass of experience. He is not separate from the Whole. He is in a pre-egoic state. As he gets older he develops his mind, ego. He slowly starts separating himself from the Whole; he now has the concept of 'me' and the 'other'. And the 'me' is not the same as the 'other'. He identifies himself as the body-mind and separates himself out from the world.  And the moment knowledge comes, division enters. Baby begins to divide between what is good and what is bad.  This is egoic state. This is a natural process and there is nothing wrong with it. Unfortunately, most people stay in this state throughout their lives.

Spirituality is the continuation of this process of 'I' being not the same as perceptions, sensations, thoughts, and feelings, etc. and then start separating himself out from the body-mind. This is traditionally called the 'nethi-nethi' process. You start removing all the identifications one by one from you until you come to a point where you cannot remove anymore. This is realized as your Non-Dual Awareness, which does not come and go but remains with you all the time and in all conditions. You then go back and revisit the world to find out that the world is actually not different from this Awareness. You and the world are one and the same, there is no separation.

This is post-egoic state or enlightened state.  You are a sage.  You are back full circle to the similar level of experience as a baby but with a tremendous difference.  You are now conscious of the Oneness. Divisions disappear.  A baby's consciousness merges (gets lost) in experience resulting in innocence but disorder and valueless whereas a sage's experience merges (gets enlightened) in Consciousness resulting in peace, order and value. The sage recognizes that Awareness is the essence of experience.

Jesus Christ, Matthew 18.3: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven!"

Aithareya Upanishad, 3.3: "Pragnyaanam Brahman!"...Pragnyaanam means mass of undifferentiated or homogeneous experience (like a child), but knowingly.

Peace is a state of being in which happiness and misery (interconnected opposites) are equally acceptable. Peace is the goal of spirituality.

What is the deepest law of spirituality?..........

We know the deepest law of science; law of cause and effect which is limited to matter. We also know the deepest law of religion; law of karma which is psychological. You create the cause and the effect follows. You put your hand in the fire and it will burn. You hurt someone, you yourself will get hurt (either in the present or in the future).  Spirituality knows about another law which is still deeper than these.  Spirituality says produce the effect and the cause follows!  This is absurd in scientific terms. Science says: If the cause is there, the effect follows.

Spirituality says the converse is also true: You create the effect and see; the cause follows. Your beloved has come, you are happy. Spirituality says: Be happy and the beloved comes. Sometimes it is easier to create the effect because the effect depends totally upon you; the cause may not be so dependent on you. The cause is beyond you; depends on various other factors in the field. The effect is within you. Choose happiness, choose love, choose ecstasy and see what happens. This will look magical; you can even call it "The Law of Magic" or "The Law of Love." This is the only law that governs the metaphysical or the spiritual realm!

Most people have the understanding that the life works like this: Have-Do-Be.  That is, when I HAVE the right stuff, I can DO the right things, and then I will get to BE what I want to be. When I HAVE enough money I can DO the thing called buy a house and I can BE the thing called secure.  But these people have it all backwards. The Be-Do-Have is the right way of looking at life! Why? Because all creation starts from the place of BEING.  Coming FROM a state of being, rather than trying to get TO a state of being, assures that the state of being is achieved (because you are creating it arbitrarily!), and the 'havingness' end of the equation takes care of itself.

When you come FROM a state of being, you need to 'have' nothing in order to begin the process of creation. That is the beauty of it.  Because you are thinking, saying, and doing only what a person who is being happy, contended, joyful and peaceful thinks, says and does, then the things that a happy or contended person winds up having...come to you automatically. When you decide that you are secure, or BE secure, then you DO what a 'secure' person does. You drop away any other behaviors that don't harmonize with that. Soon, the only behaviors that are left are behaviors that produce the result, HAVE it!

This is the magnet of creation and most people are not aware of it.  The moment you begin focusing away from the desires of the body-mind and focus on the desires of the soul, the desires of the body-mind automatically begin to be fulfilled.

Happiness/Peace is not created as a result of certain conditions. Certain conditions are created as a result of happiness/peace. In reality, you need nothing to be happy/peaceful. Happiness/Peace is a state of being, it is your nature. You only need to do something - not to be unhappy or not to be miserable. And this statement holds true for every other state of being as well. If you are friends with everyone, you are friends with no one. If you are everywhere, you are nowhere. If you do everything, you do nothing!  Beingness precedes experience, and produces it.

Beingness is the fastest method of creation. Anything else is not.  Don't you perform all of your body's most important functions without thinking about it, whether in waking state or in sleep state? You don't think about blinking an eye, or taking a breath, or beating your heart. These things just happen because you are "being." When you are thinking you are creating, of course. Every thought is a creation. So when you are thinking about a problem, you are seeking to create a solution, which is fine. However, you can either seek to create a solution, or you can simply become aware of that solution that has already been created since all things exist in the Eternal Moment of Now.

Jesus Christ: "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you!"

In truth, there is nothing for you to have to create. All that is necessary is for you to become aware that everything you wish and everything that you seek has already been created.  Your mind must have data to create. Your being needs no data at all. That is because data is the illusion. It is what you are making up, rather than what is. That is why all the great insights come from the state of being, not from the state of thinking. Have you not heard the truly great creators, the truly great problem solvers, say, when you give them a problem, "hmmmm...let me be with it for a while?..."

So the arrival of all good things have nothing to do with what we are doing. It just looks that way. Your soul doesn't care what you do for a living.  Your soul cares only about what you are being while you are doing whatever you are doing. It is a state of beingness the soul is after, not a state of doingness.  You are in the physical world essentially to 'be' something, not to 'do' something. BEING, not DOING, creates (or, rather, re-creates) Who You Really Are. Doing demonstrates Who You Really Are, but it cannot create it. You are a human BEING, not a human DOING!

So, "be" love; and love follows!  It is the deepest law of spirituality, yet, the most simplest!

What is the difference between duality, dualism, monism and Non-Duality?..........

Duality ('dvaitha') is a phenomenon of interconnected opposites which happens naturally to observe or perceive the manifestation.  Duality is mind where all life is endowed with interconnected opposites: good and evil, male and female, long and short, etc. At any moment in life there can never be the presence of one without the other.  Two conditions must exist for duality: 1. one is dependent on the other - one cannot be without the other and 2. one appears as the opposite of the other. A coin is a good example of duality; one face of the coin cannot exist without the other face and one face is opposite of the other face.  Mind is always composed of duality. Mind here inside, knowing the matter there outside. Mind cannot perceive anything that is not-two. Light cannot be perceived without darkness; excitement cannot be perceived without boredom; health cannot be perceived without sickness. People that are color blind for a particular color can never perceive the opposite of that color. Color blindness happens in pairs only!

For any manifestation to exist, it has to be observed. For observing to happen, it requires an observer-object and an observed-object.  In duality there is no subject, other than Reality.  Whatever perceiving takes place, whatever the eyes see, whatever the ears hear, all that is impersonal functioning. In other words, there is the total understanding that I do nothing. I am not hearing, but hearing is taking place through the ears attached to this body-mind organism. There is merely Reality/Awareness and things just happen in its presence just like our body processes.  This basic split of duality apparently happens in Reality as part of the process of perceiving the manifestation. In dvaitha or dualistic philosophies, souls are considered ever separate from Reality.

In humans, however, the split goes deeper into the dualism of "me" and the other. The observer-object assumes the subjectivity of the Reality, saying "I am the subject, the rest of the world is my object." The moment the "me" and the other come into play, duality gets further subdivided into realism ("me-mess", this body is real and independent in its own right and it is me) and dualism ("mine-ness", the other is also real and independent in its own right, separate from me, and I need/don't need the other to fulfill me, 'samsaara').  The observer-object considers himself the observer subject, the experiencer, the doer, the ego. Realism and Dualism happen because you assign reality to duality. Realism+Dualism is the belief that the apparent separation between the subject/mind and the object/matter is an actual separation. Animals and babies do not see the rest of the world's objects as separate entities. Their consciousness is completely merged into experience. It is just one undifferentiated whole. Animals feel separate only as predator and prey. As soon as the danger is gone, however, the matter is finished. Animals do not project anything into the future. Babys' and animals' bliss, however, is without knowledge.

But, remember: It is the Ultimate itself that has apparently descended from the level of duality to the level of realism+dualism (samsaara) and identifies itself with each object and creates these subject-object relations so that this world play may go on. So basically, realism is confusion (illusion, ill-vision, mis-perception) and dualism (delusion, dual-vision, mis-belief) is the belief that the confused state is real. After some time, mind turns inwards and the seeker starts the process of dis-identification.  When the understanding dawns in a particular mind that this dualism is a cosmic joke, "enlightenment" happens which raises the dualism back to the level of basic duality.  This is called an enlightened duality where experience merges into Consciousness! It has an order, a discipline. This is the state where a sage or a 'gnyaani' is in. The sage acts as though every body-mind, including his own, as mere observed-objects and the only real subject is Awareness. So, life consists of duality, realism, dualism and enlightened-duality!

The sage accepts duality that is the basis of life and is always peaceful facing pleasure and pain. His accepting duality means he does not stay in pure happiness all the time. There is pain and displeasure as well as peace and harmony. So he lives out the rest of his lifespan in this fashion.  An ordinary person does not accept duality and he chooses one of the opposites (which is dualism). He only wants good and not bad, beauty and not ugliness. So in his judgment he chooses one against the other.  Thus the individual ends up miserable in dualism, samsaara. Dualism, again, is the belief of taking the duality to be real and separate. Therefore, duality is not the problem; duality-reporting ego/mind is the problem!

Non-Duality (Advaitha) means the absence of duality; the absence of two; the absence of a thinker and a thought, the absence of mind and matter.  Non-Duality means not the non-existence of a second thing, but the non-existence of a second thing as other than the Reality.  Non-Duality means the negation or falsification of all thought. Non-Duality means there are not two things - as in Awareness and objects/thought/experience - but just Awareness. A bangle exists for a necklace, but only gold exists for gold. This is the greatest discovery of spirituality: Reality of the Self (Consciousness) is the Reality of the world (Existence). Am-ness=Is-ness! Aathma=Brahman! In Advaitha or the non-dualistic philosophy, there is nothing other than Reality.

Monism, the Reality of One ('vishishta advaitha'), on the other hand, is the opposite of dualism. In actuality 'One' cannot exist in manifestation, it will always be two (the person who thinks of it and the idea of it, both thinker and thought, seer and seen; when you count 1, you are the 2nd one) and, therefore, the Ultimate is not monism but Not-Two i.e. Non-Duality (Advaitha). (The number) 'One' automatically brings in the concept of two; 'One' derives its meaning from two. If the numbers two and three do not exist, then the number 'One' cannot exist either. To speak of the number 'One' is only helpful if we know two, three, four. If only black color existed and nothing else, we would not know any color existed at all. The moment when we say "black," another color comes into existence. Monism (thus) is only a mental position, being the opposite of dualism. It is often mistaken to be Non-Duality. But it is not. 'One' implies duality. In vishishta advaitha or monistic philosophy, souls are considered as parts/sparks of Reality.

One is simply the opposite of pluralism (just like absolute is opposite of relative; soundlessness is opposite of sound), whereas the Not-Two is beyond pluralism and 'One' (just like pure silence is beyond soundlessness and sound and illumines both).  There is really not a second thing to be ONE with.  Non-Duality is Pure Advaitha, which is a clear negation of both dualism and monism and stands beyond both. No measure exists to evaluate Truth; Truth cannot be counted in numbers. Even when we say "Truth is One" we make the mistake of stating its existence with a number. And this is erroneous. In Advaitha, Truth is sought for the sake of Truth. We cannot think of Advaitha; mind cannot get there. Not-Twoness is the best mind can understand! We can describe these concepts in the following way.

-Duality: A equals A and B equals B, a fact of impersonal manifestation.
-Dualism, Aristotelian logic: A equals A and cannot equal B (Apara Vidya or Samsaara). In simple terms, an object cannot equal a subject - ego cannot equal Reality. An ornament is not the same as gold.
-Monism, Heraclitean logic: A equals A and B (Saguna Brahman); an object equals a subject - ego equals Reality, like sparks of a fire. An ornament is the same as gold.
-Non-Duality, Anti-logic: B neither does nor does not equal A (Nirguna Brahman); subject neither does nor does not equal an object - Reality neither does nor does not equal ego. Why? Because Reality does not even know any ego. Reality knows only itself. There are no two things there. Wave1, wave2, ocean are all water. There is none other than gold.

The trick here is that the mind needs to move to non-mind (not a no-mind or blank-mind).  Non-mind/Non-Duality is the simultaneous falsification of both the subject/mind and the object/matter and the resulting knowledge that experiencer and what is being experienced are not two separate things. Dualism is the belief in two separately and independently existing realities of mind and matter whereas Non-Duality is the knowledge or understanding that there not two separate realities but One which is Consciousness!

Chandhogya Upanishad: "Ekam Eva Advitheeyam Brahman!"...meaning Brahman/Ultimate Reality is Non-Dual, the One without a second!

What is the role of spirituality in science?..........

Science is the form of knowledge which looks for the inner, hidden power in matter. Spirituality is the form of knowledge which looks for the inner, hidden power in Awareness.  There is no conflict between religion and science; in fact they are complementary to each other.

In an age which is only scientific there will be more conveniences, but there will not be more happiness. In an age which is only spiritual some people will know happiness, but mostly, people will suffer inconveniences. Science provides the conveniences, spirituality brings peace. If there is no peace, then many people can acquire conveniences but they will not know how to enjoy them.

Until now all the civilizations that man has given birth to were incomplete, fragmented. The culture that the East gave birth to depended purely on spirituality. It was not interested in science. As a result, the East was defeated; it became impoverished and ruined. The culture that the West gave birth to is at the other extreme: It is based on science and it has nothing to do with spirituality. As a result, the West has triumphed and has accumulated wealth, prosperity and conveniences - but it has lost its soul.

The culture that will arise in the future, if it is truly to be for the evolution of mankind, will be a balance of science and spirituality.  This culture will be a synthesis if science and spirituality; it will be either scientifically religious or spiritually scientific.  In the integration of science and spirituality, spirituality will be at the center and science will be at the periphery.  Spirituality will be the intelligence and science its follower.  The body cannot be the master; science also cannot be the master. Spirituality will be the master. And then we will be able to create a better world.

So there is no conflict between science and spirituality as there is no conflict between the body and the soul. Science excels in objective knowledge/material knowledge/technology and spirituality excels in subjective knowledge/spiritual knowledge or self-knowledge.  But if we were to choose between science and spirituality, we should be ready to choose spirituality.  It would be better to be poor and inconvenienced than to lose the soul of man.

Can science arrive at Reality objectively?..........

The short answer is No. Science can never find God-The Reality because God is not an object but the Infinite Presence which illumines the objects! Let us look at some more in-depth reasons/observations that can throw some light on this subject.

1. Absolute cannot be sought in the Relative because they belong to two different planes of Existence.

Mind's capacity is limited compared with Awareness because mind can only deal with one thought at a time (mind is limited in time) while Awareness can know infinite number of thoughts at a time because Awareness knows no limits. Truth/Awareness is limitless and beyond or "prior" to the mind, so the mind cannot "get" there. You cannot see white snow (Dimensionless Awareness) with orange glasses (one-dimensional mind).  There is a built-in gap between Awareness and thought.  You can journey across it from your side (Awareness' side) and identify with the thought if you wish, but no thought ever made the journey across the gap to visit you (the Awareness). Zero-dimension can assume one-dimension but one-dimension cannot penetrate zero-dimension unless it dissolves or disappears into it. How can a three-dimensional cube fit into a two-dimensional square? An object/sensation cannot know a perception, a perception cannot know a thought and a thought cannot know Awareness. Simple!

There is no corridor connecting mortality to immortality. Absolute cannot be sought in the Relative; Non-Duality cannot be sought in duality.  The power and the make of a telescope tells us nothing about who looks through it. Similarly, the power and the make of the mind tells us nothing about the Awareness which looks through those minds and through those minds sees the corresponding world. The medium used for knowing (mind=instrument/medium) is being imposed on all that is to be known (through that medium). Reality cannot be realized that way.  Remaining within a dream (of 'doing' activities), we can never understand the dream (impossible).  Only Awareness knows Awareness. So if you want to know anything about Awareness or Absolute Reality, ask Awareness, not the dualistic mind!

Kena Upanishad, 1.6: "Mind cannot think Brahman (Awareness), Brahman (Awareness) is what makes the mind think!"

2. A partial view can never take you to the whole. In order to study the world totally, the scientist cannot be a part of the world. He should have a stand outside the world to get the realistic picture objectively. Remaining within the objective world, it is impossible to understand the world fully. A single cell in your body can never know the body in whole. Scientist's observation is biased because it is based on the waking state only. Scientific laws that are applicable in the waking state apply to the waking state only (the law of gravity is not applicable in dream state because you can easily fly) and, hence, not absolute. As a waker (or scientist) you can never arrive at the Truth. Complete knowledge cannot come if anything is left out. It is impossible to arrive at Truth when a scientist rejects so much data of dream and deep sleep and confine himself to waking reality alone. Dream and deep sleep states are the greatest clues available for human being for unraveling the mysteries of life.

3. Informative or relative or objective knowledge is subject to correction (it is incomplete) and can also be forgotten because it is conditioned by various changing factors... so you can never count on it. Mind/thought and matter/object are interdependent and hence illusory because they rise and sink together. To prove the ears, you require a sound. To prove the sound, you require ears. Which proves which one? So, how can an illusory mind understand an illusory matter? Science is a subject-dependent knowledge. One thing that seems like Truth one day may turn out to be erroneous, false, on a later day. The flip-flops happen in science all the time, as we know. Old “knowings” are constantly dismissed as we come across new ones. (For example: John Dalton around 1800 developed atomic theory postulating that an atom is the smallest and the most fundamental particle of matter. The root word for atom is Greek's 'atomos' proposed by Democritus in 400BC, which means indestructible. The much older Sanskrit's term 'atma,' regarded as the most fundamental 'essence' of life in Hindu tradition, also means indestructible and all-pervading. J.J.Thompson in 1897 showed that the smallest particle of matter was an electron. Then in 1899 Ernest Rutherford discovered proton and in1932 James Chadwick discovered another particle called neutron, thus completing the three subatomic particles of an atom. And then Quantum Physics (Max Planck) was developed, further subdividing the three subatomic particles into energies/waves of quanta, etc., etc. Reality=matter=atoms=subatomic particles=energy vortices called quarks and photons=void=space=thought (space is in thought; thought is subtler than space)=??. Is ??=Consciousness (which illumines the thought) next? It is evident that thought can never be away from Consciousness; or, Consciousness pervades any and/or all thoughts. Thoughts come and go while Consciousness is Eternal. Look, that's what mystics have been saying for millennia, All there is, is Consciousness).

All measurements take place or appear in mind. How can the scientists know that their measurements of matter are not a reflection of the limitations of their own minds? They are never going to find out the Truth through observing objects, because it is the Indeterminate Reality, Maya, that is never the same from one moment to the next.  It is made up by its very nature of knowledge and ignorance, so you can never tell what it actually is. That is the reason why scientists and modern cosmology cannot explain the origination of this world/selves because the world/selves have not really originated. World as an appearance, a projection, a superimposition, a dream in Awareness, happening eternally, is the only way we can explain the Unchanging, Actionless Reality/Absolute manifesting an ever-changing finite world.

Indirect/Informative knowledge, no matter how useful, is never completely true to the object. Changing situations are always present caused by time, space and karma.  The more you probe into this illusory world, the more mysterious it becomes (more confusion) and our final answer will be, "I do not know." Illusion can only produce more illusion because that is the nature of illusion, the nature of matter and mind.  The more you know about this illusion, the more you don’t know about this. There is no end to it.  No wonder scientists could not find matter yet, as an independent entity from Awareness!

4. Science has got its model of life backwards! Science says that matter/world/time-space is the reality versus Awareness as the reality. How can the ever-present and never-changing Awareness be a product or property of the ever-changing and intermittent matter? That defies reason and our experience. Only Awareness is aware and it is original. Once it is believed and thought with the premise that the body is aware and start from there, everything we think downstream will contain that original error at its origin. This is, undoubtedly, a great injustice done by the science to the human spiritual development. It is the work of Maya which makes us all think the reverse/twisted way in life and scientist is not an exception.

Science's fundamental mistake is its inability to take note of the changeless/immortal principle, the ‘I’ standing behind, lighting up all the so called experiences.  Without this stand in the changeless/immortal ‘I,' the changes can never be correctly examined, whether in the gross or in the subtle realm.  We believe that the more you think about matter, the more you will get to the Truth; but it is really an error. It remains only a thought and gives you back only a thought. A scientist can never understand the world until he understands the nature of his own mind with which he is trying to know the world. How can the study of pictures reveal the camera?  An effect can never illumine its cause (the illumined cannot illumine the illuminator) even though the cause is inherent in its effect, pervades the effect.  The nature of the world depends upon the medium of observation. Mind is like colored glasses Awareness wears to observe the world. If you are wearing orange glasses, you think that the snow is orange.  You have to "be" Awareness to understand Awareness.  It is not matter or mind that is aware; only Awareness is aware!

In conclusion...There is no world (matter-mind) outside of Awareness.  This irrefutable stand is shown only by the spiritual approach.  The Truth happens to be the very person (Awareness) who is looking for the Truth. The seeker is the sought. A finger thinks that it is moving independently, on its own. But who is doing the moving? Body as a whole.  The paths of science and spirituality are different or divergent. Awareness is ever present but since mind does not have access to Awareness, it confers the continuity to the world/matter. But this is completely opposite to our experience. Body, mind, world, time and space disappear every night in our deep sleep, but we (Awareness) don't. Scientists are also governed by blind faith; they are believers in the validity of sense perceptions. Their blind faith is that the sense organs are the only valid sources of knowledge. Scientific and spiritual fields are different. Science has no right to prove or disapprove God-The Reality. It is like trying to prove the colors with the help of the ears. Scientists will never succeed; and when they do not succeed, instead of understanding their limitations/foolishness, they misrepresent or even reject God. So it it is okay that science deals only with phenomena but it is important to be aware that the scope of science is limited and that it cannot deal with the Absolute.

A wave going in search of water is a worthless effort!

Do we have to fear God to be spiritual?..........

The last thing God would suggest is that we fear God.  God does not even command us to love God. Love is not something God commands.  Love is what God is. What kind of Deity would command us to fear God and to love God at the same time?

In science, no sooner do we make a discovery than we question every assumption on which the discovery is based. The moment we decide that a conclusion we have reached is "right", we question the prior assumption. Yet in the area of our beliefs, we do no such thing. Indeed, we do exactly the opposite. We say that to question the prior assumption is blasphemy, apostasy, heresy. The result is that we are moving deeply into the twenty-first century with the majority of us still devoted to and operating from ideas, beliefs, and conclusions about God from the first century - and before.

If we thought that we had no reason to fear God, the bottom would drop out of most every religious doctrine in the world.  To assume that the things are the way they've always been and that's the way they'll always be is wrong. Is the earth flat? Is the earth the center of the universe, around which the sun and the stars revolve? The fact is that beliefs create behaviors, and what we believe is that we have a vengeful and violent God. A jealous God. A God of wrath and retribution. We have believed, variously, the words in all of our holy scriptures, and - to ask a fair question again - where has it gotten us? Is it not time to question the prior assumption?

Is vegetarian food essential for spiritual growth?..........

Vegetarian food is not essential for spiritual growth but it helps!  Let us look at it from three different perspectives: spiritual, physiological and psychological.

From a deeper or a spiritual perspective, what you do is never essential, what you are is always essential.  Being is essential, doing is not essential.  Consciousness is essential, character is not essential -- because it is not the character that creates consciousness but consciousness that creates character.  If you are spiritual, things will change around you automatically. Your food habits may change. You may become a vegetarian, you may not. It depends -- people are different. But to be a vegetarian cannot be an essential condition for being spiritual. Eating anything will not make much difference.  You can be a vegetarian and cruel to the extreme, and violent; you can be a non-vegetarian and kind and loving. Food will not make much difference.

The most common and important rules (how to eat, not what to eat) to follow in eating are: 1. Eat when hungry. Set-timings are not necessary. 2. Stop eating when you start feeling full. Or, avoid overeating. 3. Do not eat for taste. Or, do not pay too much attention to taste. Develop the feeling that the food you are eating is tasty. Ramana Maharshi once said, "food doesn't have taste, we give taste to the food." 4. Listen to the body on how much water to drink and when, when and how much to eat and when to stop. Let body be the dictator. Do not eat until you are hungry again. 5. Feel the process of eating or drinking. When you are preparing/mixing the food to eat, do not chew; when chewing, do not prepare/mix. The mind will, then, be focused. This is meditative.

In India there are communities who have lived totally with vegetarian food for millennia; many braahmins have lived totally with vegetarian food. They do not cause violence but they are not spiritual.  Well, here is the secret!  If you meditate long enough, deep enough, it is impossible for you to hurt anybody for food; it is impossible!  It is not a question of argument, it is not a question of scriptures, it is not who says what, it is not a question of calculating that if you take vegetarian food you will become spiritual; no - it is automatic. It is not a question of cunningness, you simply become spiritual. The whole thing of eating meat will, then, seems so silly, so absurd. Just for food, killing animals, birds, seems so absurd, it falls down. But the inner change through meditation, through Self-Inquiry, through understanding is the first thing. And everything else is just a consequence. If you reverse the order, watch out, you may miss!

So, the primary aspect is of consciousness, the degree of consciousness. The secondary aspect is of the gross body, physiological. Man, naturally or physiologically, should be a vegetarian, because the whole body is made for the vegetarian food.  Non-vegetarian animals like tigers and lions have a very small intestine, because meat is already a digested food. It does not need a long intestine to digest it.  Man has one of the longest intestines: That means man is a vegetarian.  A long digestion is needed, and much excreta will be there which has to be thrown out.  If man is not a non-vegetarian and he goes on eating meat, the body is burdened - because the meat with toxins stays longer in his stomach.

Just watch what happens when you eat meat: When you kill an animal what happens to the animal when it is killed? Of course, no one wants to be killed. Life wants to prolong itself; that's the nature of life. The animal is not dying willingly. If somebody kills you, you will not die willingly. What will happen to your mind? The same thing happens when you kill a cow or any animal. Agony, fear, death, anguish, anxiety, anger, violence, sadness - all these things happen to the animal. All over his body - violence, anguish, agony spreads.  The whole energy becomes poisonous. Then those poisonous toxins are carried into your body. What will those toxins do? Those toxins/poisons will create a gap between your consciousness/being and your body, and a tension arises, anxiety arises. Your being becomes out of balance which creates physiological and psychological disorders.

Animals, humans have certain processing information or software in their bodies. Whatever a man eats, it transforms into the man; whatever a woman eats, it transforms into the woman. Whatever an animal eats it transforms into the animal. So, the idea is to eat as simple a software as possible. If you eat that kind of life which is a very simple software, your ability to override that software and make it entirely a part of you, is easy. As that software gets complex, your ability to integrate it goes down. Especially if it is a creature which has some sense of thought and emotion, then we should not eat it because you cannot easily integrate it into you. Cow has emotions close to the levels of a human (do you know that cows shed tears when there is a death in the family, when someone in the family is in intense pain, etc.), so beef needs to be avoided. Would you eat your pet's meat? No. Would you eat human meat? No. Why is a cow or a lamb an exception? Cows or lambs have more sophisticated/refined feelings than your pet.

Therefore, one should eat foods which are natural - natural for you. Fruits, nuts, vegetables - eat as much as you can.  The virtue of being a vegetarian is this: The gross part of the food goes to the gross/physical body and the subtle part of the food goes to the subtle part which is the mind.  Foods like flesh and fish are purely lethargic (thaamasic). They make the mind also thaamasic: Incapable of rising to pure (saathvic) heights and to higher logic or higher reasoning.

And then, there is another aspect which is psychological. We are also responsible morally for the injury we cause in that connection.  The butcher, the seller and the eater all partake of the injury caused by meat-eating. You cannot avoid the Law of Karma! You will have to face the consequences of the injury, either now or later.  You might ask if this is not also true of consuming vegetables because you are killing life. Well, the answer is no; the rudiments of mind and feeling begin only with animals. Vegetables have no such active thought or feeling which can react upon you and cause you misery.

Is idol worship wrong?.........

Is idol worship wrong? If not, what is its significance? Belief in any one exclusive form of idol worship with a disregard to the other forms of deities is not conducive to spiritual growth.  When you have the understanding that everyone and everything is an expression of God-The Reality, then worshiping any one idol or many idols is not wrong. Worshiping the idol for the sake of the idol is wrong, worshiping through the idol is needed.  A culture worshiping many gods means that they are worshiping the only one Truth through multiple forms. These forms may include animals, trees, mountains, rivers, earth, water, fire, air, moon, sun etc. There is nothing wrong in it. It is like this: If your wife is in love with one other person, you are quite concerned. But if she is in love with every person in the world, it is compassion; and you will not be concerned, you will not be bothered.

This is the reason why Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) discouraged a single/exclusive form of idol worship. It is a misunderstanding to think that they condemned any kind of idol worship.  Who is not worshiping an idol? After all, all forms are the apparent manifestations of the Formless. We are cleaning our body, clothing our body, taking care of our body, loving our body just like an idol in a temple.  We are certainly not our body. Body is something we have, it is not what we are.  Are we not worshiping our body, then?

However, idol is a bridge between a man and the God, between form and the Formless.  Only something which is manifest, like the form of an idol, can become the bridge - because it is not possible for you to establish a direct link with the Formless. What will you be looking for? No-Form?  Whatever experiences your mind has, are all experiences of some form or shape; you have no experience of the Formless, and words cannot convey anything about that which hasn't been experienced. You will go on talking about the Formless and continue to live with the form.

So if you want to establish a relationship with the Formless, you have to make something which on one side has a form and on the other side is Formless. Can't we see the Formless sky by opening a window?  Don't we use music to open the door to silence? Creation of idols that would make a bridge towards contacting the supreme source of life is one of the greatest discoveries/arts.  You instill life into the idol by worship. And life is shapeless/formless. Wherever there is life, there is a meeting of form and Formless.

When you concentrate on any object, your consciousness is transferred to that object, and then the consciousness of your body/world becomes less. You are thinking too much of this body and the world; therefore, God is apparently cut off from your life. One of the techniques of meditation is to concentrate the consciousness/mind on another thing, an idol. It may be anything. Then immediately the attachment to this body/world gets loosened. This is the first step.

Formless Reality means everything at once. In order to focus on everything at once, you have to focus on nothing. In order to focus on nothing, you have to focus on something in particular.  Part of the problem here is that the mind is almost always focused on many things. It is receiving input data from hundred different sources at all times, and it is analyzing this data faster than speed of light, sending you information about yourself and what is happening to you and around you. By focusing on an idol, you are stopping all this mental noise, all this nonsense. Mind becomes steady. Steadying the mind on one thing will quieten it to such an extent that it will be able to sink backwards towards its source. Sinking or relaxing is true meditation. So try to "be" with the idol. And soon, you will be able to focus your attention/thoughts on nothing.  That is the secret of the idol.

The idol has to serve two purposes: it has to be visible on our side and dissolve into the Formless on the other.  Nobody worships the idol, and nobody can worship without an idol.  When an idol is worshipped with intense love and devotion, the idol comes to life and establishes relationship with the Formless.

How?...When mind is focused on one thing for a long time, mind will either disappear or sleep. Focus your mind away from the mind - that is, away from your story, your prior data. Because mind has to move all the time; that is mind's nature.  Now if you are aware while the mind has disappeared, it is meditation.  Focusing leads to witnessing and witnessing leads to meditation and then to samaadhi. Use your mind to get out of your mind.  The one who sees only the idol does not know what worship is and for the one who knows how to worship, the idol doesn't remain an idol. Worship is the method of obliterating the idol just as the music is the method of obliterating the sound.

The idol is an aid. It is similar to the unknown in a mathematical calculation which when solved gives the right answer for the unknown. Until you know the Truth (Brahman), it is okay to hang on to your Personal-God in the form of an idol. However, believing that your idol is the only idol than can take you to the Truth is a mistake.  The idol is just a tool - worship is the actual purpose.  Personal-God is your imagination, it is a device to help you to pray. Once you have learned to pray, forget all about the Personal-God. Get rid of that walking stick and walk on your own feet. True-prayer means gratitude, bowing down to Existence. Prayer/Worship must lead one to stillness, meditation. In ancient times, temples (as pyramid structures) were built for meditation, not for congregation. Meditation or dhyaana, in turn, will take you to knowledge/gnyaana (Self-Knowledge) through Self-Inquiry. Samaadhis burns up your impurities and prepare the mind for Self-Inquiry (Through meditation, watching/witnessing thoughts without any involvement - absence of I like and I don't like - will cause the thoughts/desires/impressions to get burned and no new impressions are formed. This will make the mind pure so Self can reflect more in the mind). So, idol worship is one verified path to Self-Inquiry.

Idol worship is of four kinds: 1. Worship of Truth ('Sathya,' 'Aathma,' Self or Existence). 2. Worship of a live form or a living master, a guru ('roopa'). 3. Worship of a replica of a known form such as Sai Baba or Jesus Christ ('prathi roopa'). 4. Worship of an imagined form (an idol of Vishnu or Shiva, etc.). Of these, worship of Truth is the most direct path because Aathma or Consciousness is available within you. This path is also called meditation ('dhyaana') plus Self-Inquiry. Idol worship, worship of an imagined form, is the most indirect path and, hence, the longest path of all.

People that do not believe in idol worship do not have to destroy the idols, destroy the temples. That is sheer stupidity. If Reality is not present in an idol, is Reality present in destroying the idols? If Reality is not present in the idol, how can it be present after its destruction?

What is renunciation?..........

We are told that there are four required qualities to remove impurities/obstacles in our spiritual search for liberation/moksha and these are the four D's: 1. Discipline, 2. Desire for liberation, 3. Dispassion or Renunciation and 4. Discrimination or Viveka, viveka to discriminate between the real (liberation/moksha) and the not-real (objects; dharma-artha-kaama)...vi=special, vika=discrimination/investigation, viveka=investigation with true knowledge; viveka=to discriminate between the nature of the being and the being of the nature. These four qualities are considered to be the four pillars of spiritual eligibility. Out of these four D's, Dispassion or Renunciation is the most misunderstood word. It is very important to have the correct understanding of this word.

So, what is dispassion or renunciation? Dropping the idea of ownership is renunciation.  It is not dropping the possession but possessiveness. Dropping the idea of personal doership alone is dispassion/renunciation. Dispassion is not giving up objects, it is giving up the addiction to objects, it is giving up the fear of losing the objects. Renunciation is non-attachment.

A sage was criticized by one of his novice disciples for wearing an expensive fancy silk shirt studded with diamonds and asks, "why does he have to wear this expensive, lavish shirt?" Then the other disciple friend said, "For you it is an expensive, lavish shirt, but for him it is simply a shirt!" The afflictions that possess us exist without leaving us even for a moment, in two forms, as “me” and “mine.” Along with the renunciation of the “mine-ness" (a kind of greediness, 'mamakara'), which is the feeling that “These things are mine,” to renounce the “me-ness" (or ego, 'ahamkara'), which is the feeling “I am this body, I am the doer/enjoyer,” is the highest among all the kinds of renunciation. Me-ness and mine-ness create likes and dislikes ('raaga-dveshas') and likes and dislikes reinforce and create me-ness and mine-ness and the vicious circle continues.

Renunciation/Dispassion is a decision to deny a need for a particular result; it is not a decision to deny action.  A renunciate never denies passion - he simply denies attachment to passion or results.  He gets un-identified to the results of his actions. He is simply indifferent to the results of his actions.  A renunciate is dis-passionate, not un-passionate. To live life without expectation is freedom. Ego/Ahamkara without personal doership (=known as 'Aham-Asthi' or 'Ayam') is what is needed; Aham-Asthi is impersonal ego, the selfness. Renunciation and dispassion are states of mind; they have nothing to do with one’s situations in the outer world. Renunciation is internal. If things, objects, riches come on your way, there is nothing wrong in accepting them, enjoying them. But, do not go after them.  Renounce the obsession with the objects. Dispassion grows into compassion. Compassion is all encompassing.  There is only 'giving' in compassion, 'no taking.'

If you renounce the outer world and go to a cave without renouncing the inner world of attachments, you will be thinking more about the outer world, not less.  Renunciation of possessions is usually and erroneously considered as a means to Self-Realization, but its effect is just the opposite. You may be un-passionate but not dis-passionate.  When you renounce an object, you actually attribute more concreteness and reality to it than when you are indifferent to it.  Thus renunciation of possessions, instead of proving the unreality of the possessions/world, makes it more real and frightful, though you are temporarily and conveniently kept away from parts of it. Unpassion is against passion and only suppresses your desires. Your ego is strengthened in a subtler way. So, renounce the ego, to be free of likes and dislikes. Since a sage renounces the association plus identification with the world, he is neutral to either the riches or the poverty; there is nothing to renounce in material terms because there is nothing that belongs to him!

Sanskrit word for renunciation is 'sannyaasa' meaning putting down everything - all of it (Sam=all, Ni=near, Aasa=put down or throw away; giving up the idea/notion that all is not-Aathma; also means well-placed mind on 'samathvam'). Giving up all of the past and taking up something new (or moving into spirituality). Another word for renunciation is 'vairaagya'. 'Raaga' means desire/passion/attachment, 'Araaga' means absence of desire, 'Niraaga' means detachment (de-attachment) or escapism (away from the world) and 'Viraaga' means desire with no contradictions, no conflicts, no personal fulfillment, free of desire, master of desire, dis-passion ('vi'=special or one of a kind). 'Vairaagya' is the state enveloped by 'viraaga.' Vairaagya is keeping things and selves in proper perspective!

A small story!  A master and his disciple were traveling. They met a beautiful woman at a river trying to cross the river but could not. She asked for their help. Disciple said, "I am sorry, I could not carry you." Master agreed to carry the woman and once they reached the other side of the river they parted their ways. Disciple could not believe what his master has done against all the norms. After reaching the monastery, the disciple could not stop but ask, "Master, why did you carry that woman? We, as monks, are not supposed to carry a woman in that fashion." Master leisurely said, "I have left that woman at the river long time ago. Why are you still carrying her?"...That is renunciation!

Jesus Christ: "Be in the world but not of it!"

What is the difference between materialistic model (science) and Consciousness model (spirituality) of the universe?..........

Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds that matter is the most fundamental substance in nature, and that all things, including mind and consciousness, are the results of material interactions. Materialism implies that which is perceiving is made of that which is perceived.  Science believes and uses the fact that we all experience the same world as an evidence that there is a real world outside of consciousness. It believes that consciousness is a property of the matter. But this is just a belief because no one has ever found the stuff called matter.

Scientists think that matter was there first. Then mind evolved out of matter and then consciousness evolved out of mind. This is a direct result of our misunderstanding that I, the body, is conscious; I, the body, is real. Scientists keep extending the argument that animals are conscious, fishes are conscious, plants are conscious, etc. They now say that everything is conscious to a certain degree since they cannot draw a line anywhere between consciousness and unconsciousness. This is known as panpsychism which is an extension of materialism.

But this is not true. Plants are not conscious, animals are not conscious, human bodies are not conscious. Only Consciousness is conscious!  That is the main difference between matter and Consciousness: Matter is not self-revealing and Consciousness is self-revealing.  Consciousness model implies that which is perceived is made of that which is perceiving.  For instance, if a lamp is burning in a dark room, everything in the room is lighted, is known through the light of the lamp. But the lamp is also known by its own light. The light is self-enlightening: Just by its presence it reveals others and it reveals itself also.  It is our experience that we never find or could ever find any stuff outside of Consciousness.  It is our experience that everything arises, appears and subsides in Consciousness.

If Consciousness was produced by matter, it would have had a beginning. Did we ever have that experience?  Can any one of us have the experience of Consciousness either beginning or ending? No, that is impossible. Matter/mind is a subset of Consciousness, not the other way round. Yet our culture is based on the unverifiable belief that Consciousness is a product of matter! Which is more trustworthy, belief or experience.  Consciousness is the only element that is continuous throughout our experience whereas the body, mind and the world are intermittent. It is impossible for an intermittent substance to produce something that is eternal.  The fact is that we all experience relatively the same world because each of our minds is informed by and appears in the same Consciousness. This is Consciousness-only model.

Since world appears and disappears in Consciousness, it is made out of Consciousness, it is made out of Knowing. World can only be the modulation of Consciousness like the images on a television screen. Images are not different than the screen, they are only made out of the screen. For a character in the movie, the screen is separate. In fact, it almost never sees the screen; it sees the other characters. But for the screen itself, nothing is separate or different from the screen.

For centuries man has been aware that he is not the body, but within these two, three centuries, a scientific approach about everything has destroyed that long-cherished understanding. Science is a good method to know about matter or about external things, but it is absolutely impotent as far as the world of Consciousness is concerned. Because science can only know matter it is bound to deny Consciousness; it is beyond its grasp.

If you are trying to see light through your ears you will not be able to do it, and the ears will say, "There is no light." If you try to listen to music through your eyes you will not be able to listen, because your very method excludes it. Every sense has its own limitation. It is perfectly valid within its own circumference; beyond it, it is utterly irrelevant.

Consciousness is certainly out of grasp for science since Consciousness cannot be reduced to an object!

Kena Upanishad: Student: What is it that makes the sensing and thinking possible? Guru: It (Consciousness) is the ear of the ear, the mind of the mind, the speech of the speech. It is also the praana of the praana and the eye of the eye!...By answering thus (precisely and usefully) the guru explained that the "One" Consciousness is not part of any object, not produced by any object (matter/mind), not dependent on any object, not known by an object and yet it is the essence of all objects, pervades them and enlivens them. Language can be used in three different ways: 1. To describe an object while you are experiencing it but is away from you (like a tree in your sight), 2. To describe an object while you are not experiencing it and is also away from you (like a tree not in your sight) and 3. To describe the Self/God while you are experiencing it which is not away from you but with you and you yourself are it. The third way is the most difficult and that is why a master has to be very artful and tricky to point that out to the student! The student has to understand and "claim" Consciousness without objectification.

From a different angle, you cannot experience what you do not know and you do not know what you have not experienced. Yes, this is a vicious circle. What Enlightenment asks you to do is to know something you have not truly experienced and thus experience it. Knowing/Awareness opens the door to genuine/true experience. We usually imagine it is the other way around. Awareness/Knowing is prior to experience and, therefore, experience can never validate Enlightenment/Awareness/True-You. (Any doing/practicing as a separate-self/ego creates desires/vaasanas which in turn create actions in a never ending cycle. So, knowledge that you are ever free of desires and actions is the key. If you understand that the experience is not real as matter/mind, you will stop chasing the experience and then the desires will burn away on their own.) Actually, we know a great deal more than we have experienced. We simply don't know that we know. So we keep waiting around for the experience of Godliness or True Love. And all the while we keep having it. Yet we are having it without knowing - which is like not having it at all. We can try to experience God for trillions of lifetimes, but experience can never "bring" you God. Only Knowing can. Imparting this knowledge to a student is the most difficult and requires skill/art of a master.

Is homosexuality a hindrance in spiritual path?..........

Homosexuality is an unnatural phenomenon that has grown out of male dominated communities such as armies, monasteries, same sex schools, etc. Now the same thing is happening in the world of women also, because the women's lib movement is the first thing in the world up to now where women are meeting with women and basically women oriented groups are being created. Lesbianism is happening. Animals become homosexual only when they are put in a strange situation, otherwise not. In a zoo, animals become homosexual because a male cannot find a female and a female cannot find a male, but never in nature (or very rarely). Man also turns homosexual when he is in an unnatural situation. Everything is artificial these days. Naturally, your sexual energies will start becoming artificial too.

Man and woman are polarities.  Sex is a function of bio-electricity. A woman is negative, a man is positive; a woman is passive, a man is active. When the active energy meets with the passive energy in deep communion, there is a fulfillment. There is conflict in the union which creates challenge and then fulfillment.  A homosexual love affair may not contain conflict but at the same time cannot contain growth.  The relationship remains on plain ground; it will not have heights and it will not have depths. So people who are afraid of heights and depths will find it very comfortable, convenient. Hence the homosexual is called "gay."

And it is part of spiritual growth that a man should come to know the woman and the woman should come to know the man.  In spiritual growth at the last moment, at the sixth chakra (energy center) - Agnya Chakra - one has to come to a tremendous meeting of the man and the woman. You are also divided inside into two: man and woman. You are born out of a meeting between a man and a woman.  You are approximately 50% male and 50% female.  If you cannot meet with the outer woman, it will be very difficult for you to make space for the inner woman.  So if you are interested in spiritual growth, then you have to grow from homosexuality toward heterosexuality. This will later lead you or transcend you to an asexual situation or celibacy.  And only when you have achieved to celibacy will you be able to penetrate to the uttermost core of your being - otherwise not.

But if you are not interested in spiritual growth then there is nothing wrong with being homosexuals. Humans need to understand that there is no form and no manner in which the expression of a love that is pure and true is inappropriate.  Pure and true love is that which is without condition, without limitation, without need and it seeks to damage or hurt no one.  People for whom same-gender sexual attraction feels most natural should no longer be denounced, condemned, isolated or assaulted. Homosexuality is between two consenting partners and should be none of anyone else's business to interfere or condemn it.

How do the dyads of physical realm compare with the triads of spiritual realm?..........

When our true nature of mere 'being' is apparently transformed into the nature of rising as the mind, the three real aspects of our true nature, namely: Existence (which is Formless), Consciousness (which is Knowledge) and Aananda (which is Peace/Completeness), will seemingly become their respective opposites, namely: Form, Ignorance and Incompleteness, and will thus assume the form of the triads ('threeputi'=aggregate of three=three-fold division of experience) in spiritual world and will later manifest as dyads in the physical world.  Dyad means two (the pairs of opposites) and triad means three (three faces of One Reality). But, why the opposite attributes are also manifested? Because the Reality wants to realize it's true nature, realize its magnificence through the experience of the opposites in the physical or gross world. As we all know, you cannot experience Peace without losing it first.  Gross relationships, therefore, are always dyads, whereas relationships of the higher realms are invariably triads. When Reality apparently divided itself into portions (souls) for the purpose of Manifestation, for the first time this and that existed quite apart from each other. Thus, three elements suddenly existed: That which is here. That which is there. And that which is neither here nor there or nowhere - but which must exist for here and there to exist.

All that exists in the physical universe is composed of either Something or Nothing. This is the binary system of all physical life. Metaphysical life, on the other hand, exists in a triangular system (Thrimurthy). Because to create anything you need a minimum of three forces/aspects, less than that won't do.  Religions say there are three main Gods (generator, operator and dissolver...god); yoga says there are three forces or gunas of nature (sathva, rajas and thamas=intelligence/knowledge, power/activity and rest/peace); science says there are three fundamental forces of nature (gravity, electromagnetism and strong nuclear force); quantum physics says there are three principal subatomic particles (proton, neutron and electron); 'puraanaas'/mythologies say there are three worlds - lower, middle and upper indicating thamas, rajas and sathva; etc.  Everything physical initially appears to be, and is understood as, a dyad, whereas everything metaphysical, or spiritual, initially appears to be, and is understood as, a triad.  This Triune Reality is Reality’s signature. It is the divine pattern. It is the Singular Experience - three in one, the Spiritual Realm.

Examples of physical dyads include male-female, up-down, left-right, and so on. Examples of metaphysical triads include brahma-vishnu-shiva, son-father-holy spirit, mind-soul-body, subconscious-conscious-superconscious, rajas-sathva-thamas, here-nowhere-there, or before-now-after. Things are reduced, by design, from their triad form to the lesser state of the dyad form for physical manifestation and for the purpose of "Complete Experience."

An example of how Reality manifests itself at various levels of perception is the human binary experience of warm and cold. We say that a thing is either "warm" or "cold." This is a binary consideration suggesting that a thing is either this or that. In the physical world many people have a way of looking at things that categorizes them as either black or white. This "either/or" configuration is common. Deeper exploration reveals that either/or configurations are simplistic at best.

We find that there is more than simply "warm" or "cold", but that there could also be that which is neither warm nor cold. We call that "tepid." There is a neutral state that exists between the extremities that form the binary system of things physical. This place of neutrality is the balancing point between the extremes of the dyad. It is in recognizing the existence of this balance point that we acknowledge the true nature of all life to be at least a three-point system. All things in physical life are triangles simply appearing to be straight lines with a beginning and an end. That is, all things in physical life are closed systems that appear to be open systems.  In metaphysics this reality is more apparent.

However, in truth, all things in manifestation retain their triad form, merely appearing to manifest as dyads. Ultimately, at the highest level of expression, experience and understanding, all forms become formless.  Even the triad form of metaphysical reality dissolves into the formlessness of a Unified Whole, in which the triad is seen as simply a variation of the Single Thing That Is, which is Reality.

So, what is the best way to experience a dyad world having a triad reality? It is the shift from a dyad to a triad reality that is going to change our entire experience. When we see triads - when we see male-female-both, good-evil-both, up-down-both, fast-slow-both, big-small-both, and so on - then we realize that while a thing appears to be either good or bad, in reality it is both at the same time, which is a third thing altogether. This is about seeing the dyad together, rather than as separate elements. In other words, we stop seeing either This or That, but both This and That simultaneously - which is a Third Thing Altogether. This mysterious Third Thing is so mysterious that we don't even have a word for it. We wonder, how can two things be a third thing called Both?

A thing is neither "good" nor "bad," it is something in between - and it is that in-betweenness that holds "good" and "bad" in place, and makes the experience of them possible.  And making the experience of Reality possible by creating the illusion of "not-Reality," through the production of a contextual field within which Divinity can be fully realized in relative terms, is the way that life works.  Our world of duality is created by the Triune Reality (SathChithAananda), so that Divinity itself may know itself in its own experience. Experiencing the Triune Reality, all three aspects at once, in duality...is Singularity! Singularity happens in now-here, sequentially but instantaneously (sequentaneously). What we have done here on earth is produce the illusion of a dyad out of the reality of a triad, and in this way we have created duality - including the most important of dualities: Love and Fear, Birth and Death.

<<<You see, only a triad creates the possibility of a continuum. A dyad cannot.  Draw a line that creates a dyad. You have one thing "over here" and another thing "over there." You can only go back and forth along the line. You cannot continue going forward. You cannot endlessly move in one direction because sooner or later you reach the end of the line. Then you have to double back. You have to turn around and go the other way. That's the problem with dyads - and with a dyad world.  Dyad violates the first principle of life/evolution: Life/evolution moves forever forward.

Now place a third point on top centered between the two dyad points and draw the other lines to form a triangle. Now you've created eternity. Along this triangular line you can move endlessly forward. You will visit the same places/situations you've visited before, but you haven't gone back to them. You've encountered them again - and that is not the same thing at all. This is what you do in your life. In your endless life. The third point on top is called Reality, that is where we all go after death. And then, after remaining a while, we come down the other side of the triangle. We are, in human lingo, "on the other side." We slip down quietly, reaching the beginning of the line, and then we travel the baseline between what we call Birth and Death all over again. The journey never ends until it does.>>>

The trick to making the life journey a joy is to understand what is actually happening, to understand the nature of Ultimate Reality. All things are One Thing. Yet in this physical reality, this world of our illusion, we do well to think in terms of Three Things in One - the Holy Trinity, Trimurthy.  We do well to get out of our dyad world and into a triad reality; to embrace The Triune Truth: A thing is neither this nor that, but a Third Thing Altogether. The Third Thing that's the One Thing! SathChithAananda! Existence-Consciusness-Fullness!

In the body-mind-soul triad, the soul is the balancing point between the body and the mind.  The body and the mind could be seen as the two extremes of a strictly binary system. In strictly binary thinking, things are either "physical" or "non-physical." That is, they are considered to be either matter or energy-or what we would call "body" or "mind." By thinking triangularly we are able to conclude that things can be body, mind and soul.

Indeed, this is exactly what we are.  This awareness is created by soul, which acts as a linkage, or balancing point, between the two extremities.  It is in the soul (or in buddhi enveloped by soul in the waking state) that we conceive of both the body and the mind, and thus provide ourselves with the opportunity to experience both and, in fact, all three.  From the perspective of Ultimate Reality even the triad of warm-tepid-cold does not exist. Ultimately, the triad is an expression of The One Thing called "Temperature." Similarly, before-now-after are simply limited expressions or perceptions of The One Thing called "Eternity." Likewise, body-mind-soul are limited expressions or perceptions of The One Thing called Being or Reality.

In physical life we usually see (indeed, we usually choose to see) only a portion of the Universal Whole, which is a holograph. This limited perspective is what allows us to sort out data from the holograph in such a way that we may experience ourselves as a portion of the Data itself. In short, perception-how we look at things-is our way of becoming individualized within The Whole. Perception is a function of the mind, which is in between the body and the soul.

The most basic dyad of all physical life is Love and Fear. It is the prime factor. It is the "0" and the "1" of the Computer of Life. Somewhere in between love and fear is a mid-point, at which neither one nor the other is experienced in any degree. This is the place of neutrality, or non-attachment, that is described by many masters. It is a metaphysical place that exists in the soul and not in physical reality. It is the balance point between the two, and it is in this place of perfect balance between the positive and negative aspects of the binary system of physical life where all masters reside. This is the place from which both the known (object/matter/perception) and the knower (ego/mind/thought) are witnessed.

Whereas human masters reside in perfect serenity in the balance point of the binary system, Reality resides everywhere within the system. Indeed, Reality IS the System!  A common man resides in action, a wise man resides in action as inaction (in-action) and the Reality resides in non-action which contains everything! The trick here is: action and in-action are not different to non-action but non-action is not the same as action and in-action! Non-action is action and in-action at once!

What is the difference between religionism and spirituality?..........

Religionism is an institution (a set of beliefs) and spirituality is an inner knowing-experience (or being) of oneness. In Sanskrit, religion is called 'matha' meaning opinion/belief and spirituality is called 'adhyaathmayam' or 'sanaathana dharma' meaning Eternal Truth. Latin's 're-ligio' means re-connecting (you connecting with God meaning two things are there as in duality). Spirituality means the science of the Spirit or the science of Consciousness or the science of Chaithanyam or the science of knowing oneself, where there is only One Self (you realizing that there is nothing other than One Self meaning non-duality).

Religions, to begin with, are institutions built around a particular idea of how life is meant to be. Religions were created to hold cultures together; to assist those who are born into those cultures in knowing and understanding that there is an ever-present source of help in times of need, strength in times of challenge, clarity in times of confusion and compassion in times of pain. When those ideas (or myths) become hardened and set in stone, they are called beliefs, dogmas or doctrines. They then become largely unchallengeable. The other deeper aspects of religion, however, were ethics ('dharma'), meditation ('dhyaana') and samaadhi ('Aathma Vichaara' and 'Aathma Anubhava'=exploration and realization of your inner, non-physical dimension and then abiding in your true nature; anu=along with, bhava=to exist, to be; anubhava=to be knowingly; co-existence of knowledge and feeling). These were really the primary goals of all religions. But these aspects have been, unfortunately, ignored for centuries as the religions became more and more organized. And the divide between religion and spirituality has greatly widened.  Religion (these days) is basically a set of commands followed by a group of people. Religion has become religionism, politics of numbers.  Religionism is the focusing on the agenda of the ego/subject.  All organized religions are based on lower truth.

Every theology is a mistake because every religion talks about one deity or the other and take the deity as an object of experience. For them, the deity is in a remote place, and if the devotee prays, the deity will come, give gifts and go away. The arriving and departing deity is not-Self and that deity is a conditional reality. But for the religionists, their deity is absolutely real. And by default all other deities are unreal. Not knowing the truth, each religion quarrels with the other.  Religion is wonderful if it brings one to the path of knowledge, knowing one own self.

Organized religions rest upon blind faith in so called revelations, scriptures, and a Personal God. Human tastes and tendencies differ, all over the world. Religions respond to the diverse tastes and tendencies, and so inevitably multiply differences.  Religions propose only to help man to lead a good, just and moral life on earth. For that purpose, each religion has invented its own temptations and threats, in the form of heaven and hell. They also recommend a strict code of ethics to guide their followers.  Each religion insists upon the adoption of its ethics, just so far as it can serve its own limited, phenomenal purpose. Organized religions require you to believe in their teachings; they give opium to the people as a “tomorrow,” as an “after death.”

Religionists do not actually encourage one to follow in the footsteps of the founder of their religion by practicing his teachings, but rather, they instruct their followers to worship the image or the name of the founder of the religion through priests.  All religious people think that what the priests know is truth. But that Truth is independent of the human mind, that they do not know! Truth must be the absence of contradiction! Many religious leaders who claim to know God are more miserable than those they attempt to lead; they suffer from egoism, jealousy and selfishness. The purpose of religions is to unite one with God-The All, but look how much destruction, pain, suffering they have caused to humanity during the past two thousand year history.

Religion encourages you to explore the thoughts of others and accept them as your own. Spirituality invites you to toss away the thoughts of others and come up with your own based on reason. Spirituality does not require you to believe anything. Rather, it continually invites you to notice your deepest experience, deepest knowledge and reason that is universal.  In spirituality your personal experience becomes your authority, rather than something that someone else has told you. Spirituality says doubt, do not believe. Doubt even the doubter!

Therefore, religion is a slavery - you are a slave to believe someone else's beliefs or experiences as the truth.  Belief eliminates the need to think.

H.L.Minkins: "We must respect other fellows' religion but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart!"

Spirituality ('adhyaathmayam') is universal. All people participate in it. All people agree with it. Religion is one avenue of life, like politics, like arts. Religion does not contain the whole of life; spirituality does.  True religion can only be one, just like science. Science of the inner dimension. You don't have a Mohammedan Physics, a Hindu Physics, a Christian Physics; that would not make any sense.

The wise saying goes: Where no two religions, saints, yogis, scientists or philosophers agree, no two sages have ever disagreed about the Ultimate Truth.  Religions teach you to love others at the physical and mental levels. But spirituality teaches you to "be" that love, pure and impersonal, beyond the mind’s level.

Spirituality is nothing more than life itself, as it is. Spirituality says that all things are part of life, and that is a statement with which no one can disagree. You can argue all you want about whether there is a Reality, and whether all things are part of Reality, but you cannot argue about whether there is life, or whether all things are part of life. The only discussion left then is whether life and Reality are the same thing. Actually, life and Reality are the same!

Even an agnostic - even an atheist - would agree that there is some force or power in the universe that is holding it all together. There is also something that started it all. And if there is something that started it all, there has to have something existing before the universe as we now know it existed. The universe didn't just burst into being out of thin air. And even if it did, "thin air" is something. And even if you say that the universe burst into being out of nothing at all, still you must deal with the question of First-Cause.

What caused something to arise out of nothing at all? This First-Cause is life itself, expressing now in physical form. It is life, in formation. No one can disagree with this, because this is obviously "what's so." You can, however, argue forever over how to describe this process, what to call it, what to infer from it, what to conclude. But this is what we mean by Reality. Reality and life are interchangeable words.

Spirituality is life affirming. Spirituality is love affirming. Spirituality is Truth affirming.

Spirituality begins where religion ends. Embracing spirituality does not mean giving up religion but it just means respecting all religions equally.  If you follow a religion by the letter of its law then you are a religious person. You are a spiritual person if you follow a religion by the spirit of the law of that religion.  If a Hindu priest denies entry to a non-Hindu person into a temple then that priest may be a religious person but surely not spiritual. If a person hesitates to enter a place of worship of another religion then that person has not understood spirituality.

In religion God has a postal address; while in, spirituality God is everywhere (or more precisely, there is no second thing other than God). A religious person is a believer while a spiritual person is a seeker.  If you had to belong to a particular religion to find Reality, it would mean that Reality has a particular way or means by which you are required to come to It. Reality has no need to require anything of you, because It has no need to receive anything from you.  Reality is large enough to be reached by any route. If Reality is our target, we cannot miss!

Spirituality creates (or re-creates) awareness, then the character follows on its own accord. Religion creates the character, but awareness does not follow the character.  And character is a very superficial thing.

Therefore the purpose of a religion must be to show a way to evolve into spirituality.

In conclusion...Here are some differences between religion and spirituality to ponder over:

1. Religion explains what Truth is. Spirituality asks, "Who and what am I?"

2. Religions use fear to attract you. Spirituality is love affirming, knowledge affirming, knowledge of knowing your own self.

3. Religion says love others, serve others. Spirituality says love yourself, know yourself first. How can you love others if you can't love yourself? It is only if you don't love yourself knowingly, egoism arises and that's what keeps the organized religions in business.

4. Religion says practice virtues and create character. Spirituality says, "be awareness," and character follows on its own accord.

5. In religion, God has a postal address. In spirituality, there is none other than God.

6. Religious person is a believer. Spiritual person is a seeker.

7. Religion means union with God. Spirituality means you are the God.

8. Religion encourages you to explore the thoughts of others and accept them as your own. Spirituality invites you to toss away the thoughts of others and notice your deepest experience, deepest knowledge and then reason what is universal.

9. Religion depends on belief and faith. Spirituality depends on doubt, reason and trust.

10. You are religious if you follow a religion by the letter of its law. You are spiritual if you follow a religion by the spirit of its law.

Embracing spirituality does not mean giving up religion but it just means respecting all religions equally and, more importantly, going beyond them or transcending them.

What is a True Religion?..........

True Religion is the one with no mind between you and the Truth.

Mind is a mirror (or a colored glasses). When True Religion is reflected through a mind (or seen through a colored glasses) a Jainism is born, or Hinduism, or Buddhism, or Judaism, or Christianity or Islam (the six greatest religions of the world). When the religion is not a reflected one, when one comes face to face with reality without any personal mind whatsoever, when there is no personal mind between you and the truth, then there is born True Religion.  True Religions, respectively, are Jainism, Vedantha, Zen, Hassidism, Hermetism and Sufism. They are the core of religions. True Religions don't believe in creeds, ideologies, scriptures, doctrines, dogmas. They know the truth, and when you know the truth there is no need of scriptures.

A real religion, an authentic religion, does not ask what Truth is (or explain what Truth is). It asks: "Who and What am I?"

What is the difference between the ultimate knowledge and the scriptures?.........

Scriptures are born out of an individual's experience; but it is always someone else's experience. There is no ultimate knowledge without direct experience/knowing.  Then only it is your own knowledge.  It is interesting to note that the ancient word for scriptures is shruthi, which means 'to hear' - it does not mean 'to see' - hearing in the depths of their being (intuitive). The ultimate knowledge exists within the scriptures, yet it is beyond the boundaries of all scriptures because the words are limited.

What is the difference between morality and spirituality?..........

Spirituality is not a question of morality, it is a question of understanding.  Spirituality is not the practicing of virtues - because if you practice a virtue it is no longer a virtue.  A practiced virtue is a dead thing, a dead weight. Virtue is a virtue only when it is spontaneous; virtue is virtue only when it is natural, unpracticed - when it comes out of your vision, out of your awareness, out of your understanding.

Ordinarily, spirituality is thought of as a practice. It is not. This is one of the most fundamental misunderstandings about spirituality. You can practice nonviolence, but you will still remain violent, because your vision has not changed. You still carry the old eyes.  A greedy person can practice sharing, but the greed will remain. Even the sharing will be corrupted by the greed, because you cannot practice anything against your understanding, beyond your understanding.  You cannot force life into principles unless those principles are of your own experience.

But the so-called religious people try to practice love, and they are the most unloving people on the earth. They have created all sorts of mischief: war, hatred, anger, enmity, murder. They practice friendship, but the friendship has not flowered on the earth. They go on talking about God, but they create more and more conflict in the name of God. The Christian is against Mohammedan, the Mohammedan against the Hindu, the Hindu is against the Buddhist - that is all they have been doing.

Practice can deceive others, but you cannot deceive yourself and you cannot deceive Existence. When understanding is there, things start changing around you. You will love, but you will no longer be possessive. It is not love that creates misery - love is one of the greatest blessings, a benediction. It is possessiveness that creates misery. Possess your beloved, your friend, your child, and you will be in misery.

Why should we abandon organized religions?..........

The goal of a true religion is to promote spirituality.  We should abandon organized religions because they are not able to promote our spiritual growth. It is in the religion's selfish interest to keep us ignorant and dependent.

All organized religions are childish in a sense because they try to see or know God objectively. Anything that is known to you objectively is relative/dual and, hence, false/illusory (all relativity/duality/dualism is interdependent and interdependency is false because it must depend on something else that is independent; knower and known are interdependent; mind and matter are interdependent; duality=two "realities," one knowing the other, like in a dream) as it is impossible to have two realities co-existing/side-by-side. If they are the same, then it is one. If they are a bit different, then one must be less real than the other (in which case, the less real becomes imaginary; subject knowing the subject is true!).

Understand that in order for organized religions to succeed, they have to make people believe they need them.  In order for people to put faith in something else, they must first lose faith in themselves.  So the first task of organized religions is to make you lose faith in yourself. The second task is to make you see that they have the answers you do not. And the third and most important task is to make you accept their answers without question. In other words, organized religions will make you a slave.

- Most organized religions base their primary appeal on the idea that theirs is the one true path, and that to believe any other way is to risk eternal damnation.  Thus, religions use fear, rather than love, to attract you. Yet that is the last reason God would have you come to it, because God is Love. Love is that which is without condition, without limitation, and without need and hurts no one.  In other words, the essence of love is freedom; that is love's greatest gift.

God gives us the freedom to do anything, to make any choice we wish.  If God tortures us endlessly and damn us eternally for making a choice it did not want us to make, has God made us free? What kind of freedom is that?  It is like a father giving free choice to his child to play any game in the house, but then if the child is found playing video games he will be punished! This is ridiculous! Religions are taking you for a ride!

If you question, you start to think! If you think, you start to go back to that Source within. Religion can’t have you do that, because you’re liable to come up with an answer different from what they have contrived. So organized religions must make you doubt yourself; must make you doubt your own ability to think straight! Religionists do not actually encourage one to follow in the footsteps of the founder of their religion by practicing his teachings, but rather, they instruct their followers to worship the image or the name of the founder of the religion through priests.

Two ways of religious cheating have always existed and are always successful: (1) Say what happens after death--nobody can deny it and (2) Say you have seen God by intuition--who can disprove it?

- To make you spiritually weak, religions have found a sure method and that is to teach you not to love yourself - because if a man cannot love himself he cannot know himself and cannot love anybody else either. The teaching is very tricky and cunning. All organized religions are basically established on this belief. They say: Love others - because they know if you cannot love yourself you cannot love at all. But they go on saying: Love others, love humanity, love God, love nature, love your wife, your children and your parents, but don't love yourself, because to love oneself is selfish according to them. They say: If you love yourself you will become an egoist. It is not true.  A man who truly loves himself finds that there is no personal ego in him. When there is no personal ego, there is no need for religion.

It is in loving others without truly loving yourself that the ego arises. And these egos keep the religions in business! They want to see you in 'spiritual samsaara' for good. And spiritual samsaara is worse than worldly samsaara!  The missionaries, the social reformers, the social servants, have the greatest egos in the world – naturally, because they think themselves to be superior human beings (social service is a misnomer). They are not ordinary: Ordinary people love themselves; but they love others, they love great ideals, they love God.  And all the religionists' love is false, because all their love is without any roots.

If you don't love yourself, who else will love you? No one can love a person who hates himself. Therefore love yourself, first. A man who truly loves himself respects himself, and a man who truly loves himself and respects himself respects others too, because he knows, "Just as I am, so are others. Just as I enjoy love, respect, dignity, so do others." He becomes aware that we are not different; as far as the fundamentals are concerned, we are one. We are under the same law: "Aes Dhammo Sanathano!" (Gauthama Buddha). It is only when you truly love yourself, love for others flowers naturally; it will be a by-product.

Love yourself, know yourself (in order to love yourself, you must know your self first; deep down loving is the same thing as knowing; knowing of your own being is loving); the disease of religious selfish interests will automatically disappear.  Knowing is first: Without knowing your true self, you will be loving your personality or personal ego only.  Self-love is just the opposite of egomania. In self-love there is no self, only love. In egomania there is no love, only self! Loving yourself without knowing yourself is nothing but egomania!  But if you know yourself, you know the truth and the game of blindly following a religion is over. And this is not in the best interest of any organized religion.

Gauthama Buddha: "Love (know) yourself and watch!"

Krishna in Bhagavad Geetha (6.5): "Uddhareth Aathmanaa Aathmaanam!"...One should uplift (know) oneself by oneself!

It is organized religion which has created agnostics. Any clear thinker who looks at what religion has done must assume religion has no God! For it is religion which has filled the hearts of men with fear of God, where once man loved That Which Is in all its splendor. We have used and enjoyed toys while we were growing up; we were very serious. But now that we are mature, it is time to abandon those toys. Grow towards Love, Sharing, Aliveness, Godliness!

Socrates: "The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new!"

Is nationalism justified?.........

Nationalism, standing up to the flag, dying for a country, etc. may be used to build a nation in the early stages to establish a cultural identity, to establish cohesion and discipline. But once the nation is mature, there is no need for this. Nationalism generally creates antagonism, enmity. The whole of human history is enough proof of it. The very meaning of nationalism, ultimately, is treason towards humanity. Love of nation means dividing into parts, boundaries. Patriotism is different than nationalism. A patriot is proud of his country for what it does, and a nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does; the first attitude creates a feeling of responsibility, but the second creates a feeling of blind arrogance.

Human brain develops in three stages; reptilian brain, mammalian brain and conscious brain.  The core part of our brain is a reptilian brain. It helps us to survive, fix boundaries, fix bonding.  Most people are looking in their lives for bonding: for accumulation of things, properties, people, etc. This is their reptilian brain. The smallest expression of a reptilian brain is a family and the largest is a nation.  Both are boundaries.

A person who is nationalistic towards his nation becomes an enemy of the rest of the nations.  A person who is nationalistic towards his state becomes an enemy of the nation. And one who is nationalistic towards his district becomes an enemy of the state.

Concept of a separate-self/ego is needed in duality, in manifestation. But the concept of a separate-self/ego that refers to reality is a belief which leads to misery. Individual ego must be used as a tool to realize the Universal. In a similar manner, concept of nationalism is needed to build a nation. However a belief in a separate nation that refers to a hard reality leads to division, enmity and (finally) destruction.

This whole earth is one. This whole earth is ours.  'Small' must be abandoned for the 'vast' which includes the 'small.' Whoever on this earth who has received a small glimpse of the truth has no boundaries. They do not belong to any country, any community, any class, any sect, any caste. An enlightened being belong to All, and the All belongs to him.

So if a nation employs the methods of nationalism only to unite themselves, to become mature and then unite with other nations, it is purposeful. A nation must grow out of petty divisions. Did the European nations not fight among themselves during second world war and then unite fifty years later once they became mature?  Mature humanity will not and cannot have any national borders or boundaries.

Authentic, mature person cares only one thing: Whether I am living my life according to my own vision or not. It is my life and I am responsible to myself. Therefore, the most important responsibility is not to the church or to the nation or to anybody else. The real responsibility is to yourself. And that is to live your life according to your own light and you have to move wherever it leads, without any compromise. Only the man of character compromises. Character is a very superficial thing.  Character may be useful for the society.  A saint, a priest, a politician has character. The sage, the enlightened being, doesn't. The sage has Awareness. The sage is Awareness. And when you are fully aware, boundary or nationalism automatically disappears.

Are Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva real persons?..........

Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva are not real persons.  They are the names of three energies, three forces of manifestation, three qualities of nature.  The process of manifestation of the universe is threefold: Brahma, the creator; Vishnu, the sustainer; Shiva, the transformer. The literal meaning of Brahma is "expansive/vast/creative/limitless," of Vishnu is "all-pervasive plus all-illuminating," ('vish'=to enter/to pervade, nu=the one or which) and of Shiva is "blissful/that-which-is-not."  Life is a play of these three intelligent powers or intelligent energies representing the Existence, Consciousness and Infinity aspects of the "One" Ultimate Reality or Brahman.

Why three forces in manifestation (and experience)? To create/manifest anything the minimum number of forces required is three; less than three won't do (so also in experience, there are three factors: knower, knowing and known) .  Two are not enough, and one will make manifestation impossible. With one, all diversity disappears and everything turns into monotone. Even two won't work, because to unite two, a third factor becomes essential. Otherwise the two will never unite, they will remain separate, apart. You need an electrolyte ('light') between positive and negative to create electricity. You need desire or love or attraction between a male and a female for them to come together. With three, creation and growth becomes possible.  It may be more than three, but never less. From another angle...The manifestation of any object always involves three aspects: knowledge, energy and material. Knowledge which comes from the light principle, sathva; activity (desire) which comes from the active or energy or time principle, rajas; and inert matter which comes from the principle of inertia or space principle, thamas.  Thamas - inertia - is the element of resistance. If there was no thamas, nothing in the world would remain static.  If you throw a rock in the air, it would keep moving for eternity. Rajas is the force of movement, it is the opposite of thamas.  Thamas stops all movement.  Rajas generates movement.  In manifestation: space is sathva, time is rajas and objects are thamas; In an individual: mind is sathva, prana is rajas and gross-body is thamas.

The whole manifestation is intelligently designed. It is basically made up of knowledge/consciousness/soul. But knowledge is not enough for manifestation, God needs a substance to transform into all the objects in the manifestation. So, God manifests thamas out of its own self. Thamas is matter. It is not conscious so it can't transform itself. And knowledge alone is not capable of transforming matter into forms...so, realizing the need for another power, God dreamed up rajas. Rajas is the power of desire, projecting power, energy, mind. It allows God to manifest and destroy the forms in the so-called creation according to knowledge. This whole thing, of course, happens in the soul of God in an instant! Don't we create our night dreams instantaneously?

Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva have been also correlated to the three states of mind. During the waking state, sathva predominates; during the dream state, rajas predominates; and, during the deep-sleep state, thamas predominates. The Thuriya, or the fourth, is Brahman, the Absolute. It is not really a separate state; it is the substratum of all the states; it is a stateless state.

In scientific terms, the electron is the negative force. It functions in a negative way, just like thamas, just like Shiva (all-auspicious, all-binding). The proton is like rajas, like Brahma (all-creative, all-expanding), the positive or the generative force - hence it is called proton. It creates, it is creative. The neutron is neither positive, nor negative. It is the sustaining force: it balances, it remains always in the middle. Neutron is like sathva, like Vishnu (=all-pervading, it pervades rajas and thamas which makes the plus and minus to come together). Vishnu/Soul conceives and sustains, Brahma/Mind facilitates experience and Shiva/Matter/Body facilitates feeling (the binding force of creation called love or bliss, the material with which the creation is made of). Vishnu is the reflection/manifestation of the Consciousness aspect of Brahman, Brahma is the reflection/manifestation of the Existence aspect of Brahman and Shiva is the reflection/manifestation of the Aananda aspect of Brahman!

Science recognizes that there are four fundamental forces in nature. First, Gravity is the force that pulls us to the surface of the earth, keeps the planets in orbit around the sun and causes the formation of planets, stars and galaxies.  Second, Electromagnetism is the force responsible for the way matter generates and responds to electricity and magnetism.  Next come the less familiar forces. Both act only inside the nuclei of atoms. The Strong Nuclear Force binds the nucleus of an atom together. The Weak Nuclear Force is responsible for certain kinds of radioactive decay.  However, Electromagnetism and the Weak Nuclear Force have been shown to be different facets of the same fundamental force. So this leaves us with three fundamental forces or energies: Gravity, Electromagnetism and Strong Nuclear Force. These forces can be compared with Shiva, Brahma and Vishnu.  Scientific terms are generally impersonal and religious terms are generally personal. Personal terms with personal forms are designed to help common people remember the basic life concepts in an emotional or a story-like fashion. That's the reason. These stories of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva must not be taken literally; we must go beyond the gross concepts to grab the inner truth behind these personalities and stories. These personalities and stories are, simply, symbolic or representations of deeper/subtler truths. That's all.

Brahma is needed once, at the moment of manifestation, at birth. So also, Shiva is needed once, at the moment of transformation, at death. Vishnu comprises the entire span of life between birth and death. It is life energy. That is why every avatar or incarnation is the incarnation of Vishnu in Hindu tradition. Vishnu alone can incarnate because he is life. However, Shiva is also worshipped as much as Vishnu because Shiva is the God of death and people are very much afraid of death, more so than anything else. These three energies, ultimately, are not really three; they are different forms of the one and the same energy, because Reality is One without a second. They are three different aspects; three different names/functions of the same Reality. And because of this, we created the statue of trimurthi - one body with three faces.

In conclusion...Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are not real persons. They are three different aspects, functions or names of one energy called life!

Explain doubt (of science), belief (of ignorance), faith (of religion) and trust (of spirituality)?..........

Belief vs Trust! Important words to understand in spirituality. We need to include doubt and faith also to have a better understanding. So, let us analyze doubt, belief, faith and trust. Doubt (comes from the word 'double', 'samshaya', sa+amsha+ya=made of part/incompletion) is a process of discovering truths of science/life.  To doubt something means you don't know it but you know that you don't know it! Thinking cannot exist without doubt. Doubt is inner and is natural. Doubt is the basic foundation for science (which is the outer or objective knowledge). So is trust. Trust is the basic foundation for spirituality (which is the inner or subjective knowledge or Self-Knowledge).

Concepts are mental representations, thoughts, ideas, abstract objects or abilities that make up the fundamental building blocks of notions and ideas. Concepts are part of necessary functioning of life/manifestation. Concepts are required for life to function. Concept is an imagination, not reality, even though it might point to reality. A concept that refers to knowledge/reality without any substantiation/reasoning and/or experience is a belief ('matham'/opinion/conviction, 'prathyaya', =personal-perspective). A belief turns a concept into a pseudo-reality.  Belief is a conditioning imposed upon you by others; it is a kind of slavery. Belief eliminates the need to think and discriminate.  Belief is knowledge not backed up by your own experience or reasoning. It is someone else's experience or opinion.  Belief is blind, it is part of ignorance.  To believe something means you don't know it and yet you think you know it! The best way to avoid Truth is to believe. Belief is either out of fear or out of greed.  Belief is from outside; it cannot help because it can't reach to the innermost core of your being. Mind looks at things positively and tries to ﬁnd reasons, rationalizations how to support it, how to be for it.  The mind which doubts suppresses belief; the mind which believes suppresses doubt. In doubt, you do not know but acknowledge that you do not know and then seek for answers.

You substitute belief for knowledge. And you hide your ignorance behind the belief. The belief gives you a pretension of knowing. All beliefs are pretensions; all beliefs are deceptions. Whom are you deceiving? You yourself are deceived!   The root of all beliefs is the single belief that you are your body. And this is out of ignorance.

A beautiful quote from Robert Bolton: “A belief is not merely an idea the mind possesses; it is an idea that possesses the mind!”

Gauthama Buddha: "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense!"

Trust ('shraddha', shrath+ddha=truth/heart/center+ddha=direct one's mind/buddhi towards truth) is a third mind whose doubting has simply disappeared – and when doubt disappears, belief also disappears. To trust something means you know it and you know that you know it.  Belief is that which we impose upon ourselves without resolving the doubt, while trust is the outcome of the doubt falling away.  Trust is not belief, it is pure love, it is total. Trust is not a rationalization at all: Neither for nor against, neither this nor that. You don’t ﬁnd any rationalizations for it, it simply is so (but it is not irrational).  Trust is a personal, inner and spiritual experience. Trust is wisdom. Trust is conscious faith. Trust is relying on something that is always present and secure.

Belief makes you closed; it is of the mind, of the thinking. How can you trust a body or a mind which are intermittent?  Trust is of non-mind, of awareness, understanding.  Trust is individual, belief is social.  If any conclusion has to be arrived at through thought, doubt is the way. Science is based on doubt.  Doubt is a state of decision, not of indecision. Indecision is destructive, because it leaves one hanging in the balance. When you go beyond thought, there is no place for doubt. Something opposite of doubt would be of use and trust is the opposite of doubt.  Spirituality is based on trust. Truth shines when your reality coincides with that of everyone else's reality.

Faith ('vishvaasa', =vi+shvaas+a=to draw breath freely or to be free from fear/apprehension; strong support) is a sentimental belief, still non-rational. To be faithful means you know it but you do not know you know it. Faith is emotional, intuitive, of the heart. Faith is unconscious or emotional/sentimental trust.  Faith is also blind, but in a different sense. It is not seeing through reason, it is seeing through the heart/emotion. It has a sort of its own eyes, but those eyes are not of reason, those are the eyes of love. But, love is blind. It is, because it has no rational eyes. Faith is against knowledge and only gives one a false sense of security. Faith means falling in love with someone or something. Faith is the belief of the soul. People say that you are falling in love. True, because you are falling from the head to the heart.

Marriage is like faith, but love is like trust - you have to grow into it, it's an adventure. Faith is not an adventure; you are born into it, it is convenient. Be a Hindu, a Christian; follow the rules. But it will remain a dead thing unless you respond from your being, unless you enter spirituality on your own responsibility, and not because you were born Hindu or Christian. How can you be born a Hindu? How is religion (or spirituality) associated with birth? Birth cannot give you religion or spirituality. It can give you a society, a creed, a sect; it can give you a superstition (which is unnecessary faith).

Superstition is a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown or a false concept of causation. Blindly following the religion of your birth without doubt or reason is nothing but superstition.  Remember, you are not born in a religion. True religion has to be born in you; then it is trust, it is spirituality.  You cannot give your children your religion, they will have to seek and find their own. Everybody has to seek and find his own. Trust happens only with a living master (it could be your own being too because master can only point you to your own being), faith happens with dead masters who are no longer there.  Faith is generally rooted in dualism and promotes dualism; trust is total and promotes Non-Duality.

Belief will not unite you with anyone, it will simply divide you with everyone as is obvious.  Ideology is divisive.  Faith may unite you with someone. However, faith is afraid of doubt - afraid because it has repressed it. Trust is not against doubt, it uses doubt. Trust transforms doubt. Faith, in a sense, is false; it creates a pseudo kind of religion; it creates hypocrites. Faith gives them a false sense of security. Faith is inherently fragile because it is based on the strength of our mind which is always subject to change and weakness.  That is the reason why the religions based on faith alone are so dogmatic, fundamental.

You need to grow out of faith into trust. Faith is a good start. Trust is knowledge/wisdom which is unshakable. And this knowledge/wisdom is based on truth (awareness), not on belief (which is of the mind) or faith (which is of the heart).  Faith is something you are born in; trust is something you grow in. Buddhism is a faith, to be a disciple is a trust.  Faith is dead trust because it represses doubt; trust is alive faith because it grows in doubt. Head and heart are both needed in trust.

Belief has no legs and no eyes, doubt has eyes (it wants to see) but no legs (can't go anywhere until it finds the truth), faith has legs but no eyes, trust has both legs and eyes, and doubt is the method to move into trust! Again...To believe means you don't know it but you think you know it, to doubt means you don't know it but you know that you don't know it, to be faithful means you know it but you don't know that you know it, to trust means you know it and you know that you know it! Belief and doubt are of the mind, faith is of the heart and trust is of the being (mind+heart)! So, if you are on a spiritual path, trust your doubt!

George Gurdjieff: "Conscious faith (trust) is freedom. Emotional faith (faith) is slavery. Mechanical faith (belief) is foolishness!"

Krishna in Bhagavad Geetha: "One with trust gains wisdom!"

How can the knowledge help going beyond the knowledge?..........

'Gnyaana' is the Sanskrit word for knowledge. Gnyaana is of four kinds: 'Swagnyaana,' 'Pragnyaana,' 'Vignyaana' and 'Vritthi/Vishaya Gnyaana.'  Gnyaana is a general word used for all knowledge; its meaning depends on the context. But it is commonly used for the indirect/worldly/mediate/objective knowledge ('paroksha gnyaana').  Swagnyaana (swa=Self) is also called as direct, immediate, subjective, absolute, 'aparoksha gnyaana', 'swaroopa gnyaana,' 'Aathma gnyaana', 'Chaithanya Gnyaana,' and 'Brahman Gnyaana.' Direct knowledge is looking at Awareness as Awareness; it is immediate and direct.  Direct knowledge cannot be forgotten because the "object "of knowledge is always present. It is not a memory. Direct knowledge is existential experience, experience endowed with the absolute knowledge. Direct knowledge is self-evident. It does not require any proof.

Vritthi or Vishaya Gnyaana is also called as indirect, mediate, relative, objective, worldly, 'paroksha gnyaana.' Indirect knowledge is looking at Awareness from the subtle body or mind; it is mediate and indirect.  Indirect knowledge is knowledge of objects, which are not always present and therefore can be forgotten. Indirect knowledge can mainly be obtained either by sense perception ('pratyaksha'=in front of eyes/senses) or by perception-based inference (intellectual, logical, reasoning, 'anumaana'; there is smoke, so there must be a fire).  Indirect knowledge can be either relative (changing, transactional) or firm/non-contradicting. Relative indirect knowledge is information ('vishaya gnyaana'); data coming from the outside; theoretical; knowledge that 'works' in a transactional world; data coming from the senses where the senses are very limited/defective. "That man is handsome" or "the sun rises and sets" is relative indirect knowledge; "fire is hot" is firm and non-contradicting indirect knowledge (agreeable to all). Indirect knowledge is confined to the experiential/material field. Indirect knowledge comes from without, direct knowledge wells up within. Indirect knowledge is borrowed, direct knowledge is original.  Indirect knowledge gratifies ego, direct knowledge (which is "I am the Limitless Awareness") is realized when the ego is understood to be as Awareness itself.  And we need mind's/intellect's help to do that!  Duality/Dualism/Bondage is mind's fault/ignorance, Liberation is mind's knowledge which can destroy ignorance!

>>>Pragnyaana is a special knowledge of the Absolute (Swagnyaana); direct/immediate knowledge known as "I am." When knower and known are meged into Knowing, it is called Pragnyaanam ('pra'=whole/complete/full). Pragnya (uncontradictory knowledge; pure experiencing/knowledge in the absence of names and forms; complete-impersonal knowledge, individual/bodily knowledge/consciousness that has spread infinitely; All-Pervading Consciousness, knower and known merge into knowing) is Consciousness without objects but is endowed with the potential of objects, objects in a seed form (Pure-Awareness/Brahman has no objects even in their seed form). Pragnya means the source of knowing; a seemingly Enclosed Consciousness.  It is transcended form of information; knowledge coming from the inside; existential; experiential; practical; 'aparoksha gnyaana' (meaning beyond senses); intuitive knowledge. Pragnya is the capacity to decide instantaneously, on-the-spot thinking. Pra-gnyaana is intelligence existing 'prior' to indirect knowledge, 'prior' to thought or subject-object relationship. Indirect knowledge is acquired after birth but direct knowledge/pragnyaana comes with you. Objective knowledge is got in exchange of pragnyaana and pragnyaana is forgotten; it has only to be remembered.  Pragnyaana is Awareness as "I am," but still has a thin veil of 'ignorance.' "I am that I am" or "I am Limitless Awareness" is complete/perfect knowledge. Pragnyaana is higher than indirect knowledge and closer to Chaithanya Gnyaana, Brahman. "I am" is neither exclusively a thought nor exclusively Pure-Awareness; it is the (seemingly) Enclosed Awareness. "I am" is where time and eternity intersect, where mind and Reality intersect! "I am" is the meeting point, a dimensionless point between "I am this finite self" and "I am that Limitless Awareness!"  "I am" is the last stop in thinking before we can "be!"  "I am" is the secret key to "I am I" or "I am THAT" or "I-I." "I am" is also known as AUM or OM! Since Pragnyaana is at the intersection point of the Supreme and the Relative, it is effectively used as a meditation and/or Self-Inquiry tool.

Aithareya Upanishad, 3.3: "Pragnyaanam Brahman!"

'Vignyaana' (wisdom) (=special knowledge=knowledge of the subtle; vi=special; experiencing the Absolute through the relative; when gnyaana becomes the way of life) is the capacity to use mind with Chaithanya-Gnyaana/Self; data plus consciousness (data of the whole).  Wisdom is an appropriate/fitting/right application of intuitive knowledge or Pragnya with the objective knowledge...It is the Absolute-Knowledge and non-contracting-knowledge applied to daily life. Intuition is the ability to see things clearly and instantaneously without any analysis/intellect.  Knowledge is knowing how to use a gun; wisdom is knowing when to use it and when to keep it holstered/aside. Knowledge understands that the traffic light has turned red; wisdom applies the brakes. Knowledge sees the quicksand; wisdom walks around it. Knowledge memorizes Ten Commandments; wisdom obeys them. Knowledge learns of God; wisdom lives it or loves it!  Wisdom also means that you understand real as real ('Sathya', Awareness) and not-real as not-real ('mithya', data, dependent reality, appearance). Aadi Shankaraachaarya..."Shaasthra janyam gnyaanam, swa-anubhava karanam vignyaanam">>>

Indirect or relative knowledge is falsehood because it is ever changing, borrowed. However, falsehood can be neutralized by another falsehood. Remember, if any imaginary thorn has pricked your foot, don't try to remove it with the help of a real thorn; it would be dangerous. First of all, the imaginary one will never be removed, and furthermore, the real one will hurt your foot. A false thorn has to be pulled out with the help of a false thorn.  A dream thirst can only be quenched with a dream water.  The only way a plane of reality can be transcended into a higher plane is by losing its identity to that higher plane. A character in a movie can search all over the movie-world but will never find the screen because the screen never appears as an object in the movie.  Mind can only know objects.  Thus, mind has no access to Awareness. Mind has to lose all of its limitations and dissolve into Awareness. Therefore, use knowledge/thought to go beyond knowledge/thought!  Look at sex. Sex has to be used to transcend sex.  Celibacy is the transformed state of sex.  If sex is the coal, celibacy is the diamond.  The diamond does not have any enmity with the coal, it is only a transformation of the coal.  It is a journey of the coal into a new dimension. Celibacy is not in opposition to sex, it is a transformation of sex.  One who is inimical to sex can never attain to celibacy.  When sex becomes suppressed it becomes ugly, diseased, neurotic. It becomes perverted.  One has to go through the sex consciously to attain to celibacy. One has to use sex as an act of meditation.

And the same thing is true in the case of relative knowledge. Knowing/Awareness or going beyond the knowledge seems to be a difficult process because it's a catch-22 process.  The Awareness has to be apparently set free from the Body-Manas-Buddhi (BMB) using the BMB itself. Awareness is the "Creator" and BMB is the Creation. Like a spider gets caught in its own web, the Awareness gets caged in its own BMB. Awareness had to apparently forget itself in order to experience the world (more precisely, experience itself). And when that happens, the BMB has to work hard to set the Awareness free - to remember/recognize itself as the Awareness.

Why?...BMB has to work hard because we ourselves are a part of the dream world and we firmly believe it to be real.  The reason for this is that while dreaming we do not experience ourselves as the one who has projected the dream, but as one of the people in the dream world that we have projected; so since we experience ourselves as one of the projected phenomena, we seem to be a creature rather than the creator.  As the creator we projected the dream world, but as a creature we are just one among the projections. Our power of imagination is so intense and vivid that whenever we imagine something, we become ensnared in our own imagination. Our night dream is a clear proof of this.

Accumulation of knowledge is needed for all the people; it is natural.  For a baby, everything is an undifferentiated or homogeneous mass of experience. He is not separate from the whole. He is in a pre-egoic state. As he gets older he develops his mind, ego. He slowly starts separating himself from the whole; he now has the concept of 'me' and the 'other;' and the 'me' is not the same as the 'other.' He identifies himself as the body-mind and separates himself out from the world.  And the moment this knowledge comes, division enters. Baby begins to divide between what is mine and what is not-mine, what is good and what is bad. This is called 'nethi-nethi' process (not this, not this) which is natural. This natural process is part of evolution (happens unconsciously) and takes the baby to a stage where he identifies himself with his body and then leaves him there (around age seven). The baby is now a conscious individual. He now has the responsibility to progress further on his own. This is egoic state. Unfortunately, most people stay in this state throughout their lives.

Self-Inquiry/Self-Investigation is the continuation of this 'nethi-nethi' process of 'I' being not the same as perceptions, sensations, thoughts, and feelings, etc. and then start separating himself out from the body-mind-knowledge. Self-Inquiry is to resolve the question whether you are complete or incomplete.  You start removing all the identifications one by one from you until you come to a point where you cannot remove anymore. This elimination of false identification is done knowingly/deliberately/consciously. Awareness then recognizes itself as the Limitless Awareness but was never a finite ego.  This 'nethi-nethi' technique is part of Advaitha Vedantha teaching and is well documented; it is not the focus of this article.  This is post-egoic state or enlightened state.  You are a sage.  You are back full circle to the similar level of experience as a baby but with a tremendous difference.  You are now conscious of the Oneness. Divisions disappear. A baby's consciousness merges (gets lost) in experience (of diversity) resulting in innocence but disorder and valueless whereas a sage's experience merges (gets enlightened) in Consciousness (of One) resulting in peace, order and value. A bay is under non-apprehension (root ignorance), but not under mis-apprehension (error). Personal doership (thinker-mind or unconscious-mind) has completely dissolved in a sage. A sage still has an impersonal ego with a working-mind (being-mind/soul) to transact in the world.

For centuries people have been condemning Adam and Eve. They are said to have committed Original Sin. For without this event, the partaking of the knowledge of good and evil, you would not even know the two possibilities existed! Indeed, before the so-called Fall of Adam, these two possibilities did not exist. There was no “evil.” Everyone and everything existed in a state of constant perfection. It was, literally, paradise. Yet you didn’t know/feel it was paradise—could not know/experience it as paradise/perfection—because you knew nothing else. Adam and Eve should really be thanked for what they did!

Knowing ourselves is the absence of not knowing ourselves as something!  Use mind to clean up the mind (layers of conditioning that we have accumulated over the lifetimes that causes you to think that you are a separate-self/ego, but not-Awareness). Mind is the only instrument you have got.  When the tongue says, "I am happy," it does not mean that the tongue is happy; it is the mind that is happy. Similarly, a thought can be used to point to Awareness which is beyond thought.

A limited thought can never take you to the Unlimited Awareness. However, an illusory limited thought that "I am a separate-self" can only be removed by another illusory limited thought to reveal Awareness which you already are!

Amrithabindu Upanishad, Verse 2: "The mind is, verily, the cause of bondage as well as liberation; engrossed in objects of sense, it leads to bondage; free from attachment to objects, the same mind leads to liberation!"

Knowledge/thought is a necessary evil!  Unknowing is necessary for Knowing!  Mind is a double-edged sword! Use mind to become free of mind!

Why are politicians and religionists against bringing awareness to people?.........

The politicians and the religionists have a vested interest in keeping the people unaware of the future. Why? The reason is very simple: If the people are aware of the future and that the darkness ahead, the death that is coming every moment closer, there is going to be a tremendous upheaval in the consciousness of humans all around the world.  And the politicians and the religionists, who have dominated humanity for millennia, know perfectly well they cannot solve any problem that is going to be faced by humanity in the future.  They are absolutely impotent. The problems are too big. The only way for them to save their faces is not to let the people become aware of what is going to happen tomorrow.

It is a fact that politics attracts only the mediocre minds in the world that are suffering with inferiority complex, because politics give them power. What is politics?...Politics is ambition, politics is ego, politics is aggression, politics is corruption, politics is control, politics is violence, politics is an ego-trip. Politics talks about love, but it actually sows the seeds of hatred. Politics and love cannot be together. (So, there is nothing wrong in hating the hatred as long as it is not prompted by the ego. Nothing wrong to be violent to stop violence as long as it is not prompted by the ego.) Worthlessness/Inferiority or Lack can seemingly be removed in two ways: one is politics, the other is organized religion. But politics (or organized religion) does not really remove it, it only covers it.  Inferiority creates ambition, because ambition simply means an effort to prove yourself superior. There is no other meaning to ambition but an effort to prove yourself superior. But why make an effort to prove yourself superior unless you are suffering from inferiority?

And through power they can convince themselves and others that they are not inferior, that they are not mediocre.  But just attaining power makes no difference to their intelligence.  Politics does not attract scientists, musicians, artists, intellectuals, etc. The politicians are not the most intelligent part of the humanity. Otherwise there would not have been five thousand wars in three thousand years. Politicians are either fighting a war or preparing to fight the next war. They have only destroyed, but have not created anything useful.

Genghis Khan alone killed forty million people (which was 10% of the world's population, it is also known that he killed 1.75 million people in one hour); Tamerlane killed seventeen million people; Nadir Shah killed over ten million people. The exact numbers Alexander, Napoleon Bonaparte and Ivan the Terrible killed are not available. But they must have succeeded in killing far more than Tamerlane, Genghis Khan, Nadir Shah.  But numbers for Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler are available. Joseph Stalin alone killed more than one million people after the revolution in Russia. Adolf Hitler killed six million Jews inside Germany and in the whole second world he was responsible for about thirty million deaths! And we know that the deeper cause of Adolf Hitler's killing of the Jews is religion/separatism, not politics!

Politicians are adopting laws that favor them (the rich) which create/widen the gap between the rich and the poor. This greed, this insane competition, has created gaps between nations encouraging nationalism. This deep inferiority complex, this lack also causes superiority; superiority in race, superiority in color (in other words racism). There is social injustice and economic injustice in almost all of the governments. There is unfairness in the tax system, unfairness in the monetary policies centered around a centralized and/or controlled and/or manipulated finance system, a deficient/incomplete education system, an extreme socialism, etc., etc. Almost all of the world's governments beyond any doubt - whether they are communist, socialist, capitalist, democratic - have turned out to be autocratic, corrupt, full of laws and laws, unjust and problematic.

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Religionists of organized religions, on the other hand, have created wars – just like politicians have done. Their names may be different... politicians fight for socialism, for communism, for fascism, for Nazism; and organized religions have been fighting for God, for the so-called love, for their concept of what truth is. Both are belief systems; beliefs in some sort of personal or group or separatist ideologies, faiths, concepts. It is a fact that millions of people have been killed in the clashes between Christians and Mohammedans (Crusades), between Christians and Jews, between Mohammedans and Hindus, between Hindus and Buddhists. The top ten religious wars are: 1. Eighty Years War, 2. Thirty Years War, 3. French Wars of Religion, 4. Nigerian Civil War, 5. German Peasant's War, 6. First Sudanese Civil War, 7. Second Sudanese Civil War, 8. The Crusades, 9. Lebanese Civil War, 10. Second War of Kappel.

The bottom line is: Politics and religion have contributed to almost all of the human suffering and human destruction.

Look! In order for people to put faith in something else, they must first lose faith in themselves. So the first task of organized religions was to make you lose faith in yourself. To make you spiritually weak (or lose faith in yourself), religions have found a sure method and that is to teach you not to love yourself, but to love others - because if a man cannot love himself he cannot know himself and cannot love anybody else either; it is like blind leading the blind. The teaching is very tricky and cunning. Religions say: If you love yourself you will become an egoist. It is not true. A man who truly loves himself finds that there is no ego in him. It is in loving others without truly loving oneself that the ego arises. And these egos keep the religions in business! The second task of the organized religions was to make you see that they have the answers you don't. And, finally, the third task was to make you accept their answers without question. In other words, organized religions will make you a slave.

Religionists have also created the fear for God so that people may fear the priests because they are the representatives of God. Priests get people involved in rituals without explaining their purpose or establishing their validity. They have been exploiting humanity and, thus, crippling human efforts to evolve and attain the next step of civilization in which people will learn to live with others in mutual understanding and love. The vast majority of the human population practices religious rituals in some way or other, but no ritual exists that can eliminate the ignorance that causes pain and misery in life.

True-Religion/Spirituality has nothing to do with competition, ambition, rituals, fear, group mentality and beliefs; it is an internal search for peace. But religionists are not interested in peace – they are interested in becoming more and more powerful and dominant. And this is nothing but politics. Politicians and religionists feed on each other!

The politician has the political power; the religionist has the religious power. The politician protects the religionist, the religionist blesses the politician – and the masses are exploited by both. The politicians and the religionists have always been in deep conspiracy. They have divided man: The politician rules the outside, and the religionist rules the inside; the politician the exterior and the religionist the interior. Government and religion compel everyone to say, do, and think in this manner or that manner. You are bound by their rules, their laws, their norms, ethics, morality, etc. And that is nothing but bondage or slavery; a modern-day slavery, a sophisticated slavery, a hidden slavery!

This lack, this inferiority, this separation, this ignorance can only be removed by the knowledge of universality, by the knowledge of the true nature of the self. The antidote for this slavery, therefore, is...Spirituality! A spiritual being does not believe in anything, he simply knows that there is no real separation! A democrat prefers to see the whole world as democratic, a hindu prefers to see the whole world as hindu. A spiritual or an enlightened being sees the whole world in himself and himself in the whole world!

Why are organized religions not able to heal the world?..........

One of the biggest problems in the world today is organized religion. Organized religions have been around for thousands of years. They may have touched many individual lives, but in our collective society it has changed little. As a group we are still dealing with the same problems: The problems of greed, jealousy, righteousness, inequality, violence, and war. Years and years of religious crusades are a prime example, during which millions of people were slaughtered mercilessly in the name of God. The root cause of the most of the political wars, including World War-I and World War-II, is religion. Religion, undoubtedly, accounts for almost all of the killings on earth. The problems of the three basic desires (to exist forever, to know it all, to be happy all the time) cannot be solved in relativity/duality as relativity is vast, illusory and a mystery. Non-Duality/'Advaitha' is the answer. Religion reinforces relativity/duality and, therefore, makes one stuck there.

The more a religion is well-organized, the less is the possibility of its being a true religion.  Truth (the goal of a true religion), by its very nature, cannot be organized. Truth means freedom, love. To organize truth, freedom or love - is to kill it. Truth is alive when organization is only functional, loose. Organization makes the religion very tight, bureaucratic, hierarchical. Because of this kind of organization, it has become more a game of power politics than the flowering of religious qualities, flowering of consciousness.

True religion must be an inward step, an inward and individual journey. But religion these days is about belonging to groups; that is all it is doing to people. Religion should have made people divine, but it is not even making them human. Religious fanatics are becoming like animals, because, the moment you belong to a group, you want to protect your group at any cost.  That is a natural reaction within us. Once we are identified with a particular group, we are always a threat for another group; the moment the lines are crossed, it is a war.

Religions are failing utterly to bring world peace and world harmony because of the following five faulty teachings/activities:

- Separateness: Separateness from God, freedom, joy. God is Life. God is Love. God is The All. By definition, God is not separate and it does not need anything. But, the religions teach that God needs something and it fails to get what it needs. And God separated you from it because you have not given it what it needs. They teach that God is vengeful and it will destroy you if you do not meet its requirements.

Religions have done more to bind and shackle and restrict the human spirit, presenting long lists of rules and rituals about what one must and must not do, must and must not wear, must and must not eat, must and must not think, must and must not enjoy. Indeed, some organized religions have encumbered many human joys with guilt by proclaiming that much of what you love is bad. Money is bad, power is bad, sex is bad, music and dancing is bad, in some places even being seen is bad. It is a fact that the creation of anti-sex attitudes, below-sex attitudes will provoke warring and fighting attitudes. Transcended sex, however, is not the same as anti-sex. Go beyond or above sex, do not stay below sex. They don't want violence, but would allow you to watch violent movies, play violent games. They want love, but would not allow you to watch loving/romantic scenes! What kind of rationality is this?!

Almost all religions teach that this material world is made of suffering and we need to go to the spiritual world to enjoy everlasting happiness. Different religions prescribe different rules to get there emphasizing/reinforcing separate views and separate paths. This divides and splits. But the fact remains that it is only in the physical world where dualities exist that you can realize yourself as God, The Infinite and The Peace/Happiness. This realization is not possible in the spiritual world where there are no contraries, no dualities. How can we ignore this truth? You are here in the physical world to know/feel Who You Really Are and demonstrate it.

- Inconsistent truths: Different religions have different understandings about the same subject. This will result in differences among religions. For example, reincarnation: Judaism, Islam and Christianity do not believe in reincarnation. Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism believe in reincarnation. Even among the religions believing in reincarnation, their interpretations/theories are different. So who is right? Similar is the case with other subjects such as idol worship, afterlife, creation, etc.

- Violence: War and killings remain the central part of a few world religions. This kind of ideology (based on separateness) brings 'warrior mentality' and can never bring a closure to the violence that has been taking place within and among the nations for centuries.

- Superiority: If you had to belong to a particular religion to find God, it would mean that God has a particular way or means by which you are required to come to it.  The idea that there is only One Right Way, One Right Messenger and One Right Book to return to God has caused more death and destruction, and therefore caused more people to run from God, than any other single notion.

This idea is very unscientific as we do not ask, "Who is the author of Physics?" There are thousands of scientists exploring thousands of paths. There is not "one" founder scientist, there is not "one" book of Physics. And Truth/God is much more complex subject than Physics; it must entertain millions of ways to reach it!  A religion is called 'matha' in Sanskrit meaning an opinion. Truth remaining eternal, religions must change/adopt to suit the prevailing conditions, knowledge and evolution of the society. That is why we have avatharas, messengers, prophets, etc. at different times preaching different ways/opinions to attain to the same Eternal Truth. A true religion must be a way of life; must accommodate different paths to meet the needs and demands of the society.  Not to change with times is called fundamentalism.

God has no need to require anything of you, because it has no need to receive anything from you.  All paths lead to God, some are less arduous than the other. But, all organized religions teach that theirs is the only true religion. They preach that their religion and their prophet is the only way to reach salvation.  Whenever there is an assertion of superiority or ownership, only hatred is created.

- Conversion: Religion should not be a mission. Missionaries are on the wrong track. They have become concerned with the other - now, in the name of religion, in the name of service - but whenever you are concerned with the other, you have left the Source. A spiritual man (sage) also helps others, but he is not concerned. It is natural for him, not a mission. It is not something on the mind. He is not seeking and searching for somebody.  He is not going to interfere with the perfect world.  It is just by the way.  Jesus could have healed everyone, but he didn't. He did not want to interfere with their individual karmic paths.  Out of his inner treasure, the sage simply shares - like a flower sharing its perfume. His sharing is out of his compassion, out of his bliss.  He does not take or expect anything in his giving. He only gives.

A sage simply feels the pain of others as his; he is not aware of someone as the other.  And he is not to change anybody! He is not after you to mold you in a certain pattern.  Because that is the subtlest violence possible in the world - to try to change the other, to mold the other. That means you are cunning and being aggressive. And you don't accept the other as God has created him. You have better proposals and you have better ideas than the Divine itself. But how can you improve on The Whole?

All kinds of conversion are fanatic. All missionaries are simply businessmen - just selling invisible things to gullible people. A Mohammedan comes with a Koran in one hand and a sword in the other. The Christian missionary comes with The Holy Bible in one hand and bread and butter in the other. You can choose. But both are doing the same thing. Monetary help is a pretext.  They are trying to enslave you, to destroy your freedom of thinking, freedom of inquiry. They want you to believe, they want you to become part of their politics of numbers.

You need not force anybody towards a religion - a set of beliefs. When the urge arises, it arises. It cannot be artificially created. Nobody can create an artificial urge. That is impossible. One comes to spiritual maturity and understanding, something has ripened within you, and then the search starts. Nobody can enforce it. But all the religions have tried to enforce it, and they have killed the very possibility of the urge, the very possibility of natural flowering. Natural flowering comes on its own.

Spirituality is not concerned with others; it is concerned with you. Spirituality is individual. It is not a social phenomenon. In fact, there cannot be any sociology of religion; there can only be a psychology. True religion can only be one, just like science. Science of the inner dimension.  You don't have a Mohammedan Physics, a Hindu Physics, a Christian Physics; that would not make any sense.

You are one in love. Love knows no dualism.  Love is the experience of not knowing an apparent other as 'an other.'  When you truly love someone, help him, teach him. There is no need to convert him.  Conversion means including him by excluding someone else. That is dualism; not oneness, not love.   Love is that which is beyond condition, beyond limit and beyond any need and it seeks to damage or hurt no one.  The purpose of religion is to share joy and love. Conversion, therefore, defeats its own purpose. Conversion is politics and politics is ugly.  Bring awareness to others. Not by conversion, but by example. Be the source of love in the lives of all others.

A person who has not realized Truth should never try to convert someone, because he himself does not know. It's like the blind leading the blind.  Belief can never lead a person to Truth. In fact, belief hinders Truth.  Try to guide him to his inner Truth, not by belief but by showing/pointing him a way. Individual path, individual investigation is the only method.  Why should one be a Buddhist? It is ugly. Be a Buddha if you can be, but don't be a Buddhist. A Buddhist, a believer, tries to adjust Truth to himself; the seeker adjusts himself to Truth. A Buddhist believes. But, a Buddha knows!  And a person who knows, who has realized Truth will never convert anyone. There is no need then, because he sees everyone else as himself!

So heal yourself first, know yourself first, love yourself first! Then, All is love!

How is an atheist compared to a theist?..........

Why are arguments between a theist and an atheist? Because...The theist is pretending that he knows there is God. The atheist is pretending that he knows there is no God. Both are believing. And belief is ignorance, belief is an escape. Here an atheist's belief is more subtler than theist's. Neither the theist has tried to look into the whole of experience, nor has the atheist tried.  What is the whole of experience? It consists of: 1. deep sleep: body and mind inactive, 2. dream: body inactive and mind active, 3. waking: body and mind both active, 4. meditation: body active and mind inactive, "I AM" state, 5. enlightenment: meditative state reflected in mind/buddhi in the midst of objects, "I AM THAT" state, 6. Pure Being/God: enlightenment state without a body which is really not an experience, it is "I-I," the stateless state. We may say that Consciousness is simply knowing, it simply is. The first five states belong to Consciousness-in-movement and the sixth state belongs to Consciousness-at-rest and all there is, is only Consciousness! Both, theist and atheist, being impartial to all of experience, the atheist's work is more difficult than the theist's work, because the theist is trying to find something - its Presence, its Existence; at least he has a hypothesis to work upon. The atheist has no hypothesis at all; he begins with the idea, "There is no God." Then what are you going to seek and search for? For no-God? It is very difficult to have the idea of what God is; it is more difficult to have the idea of what no-God is!

Perhaps the theist may stumble by chance on God, but the atheist cannot stumble on no-God by chance, because no-God simply means something absent. You cannot stumble on something absent. The theist at least has a possibility of transforming his belief into a hypothesis that, "I don't believe that God exists, but hypothetically I assume God exists, and I will try to search for him." What hypothesis can the atheist have? He is denying.  Negativity cannot be the hypothesis. Positivity can be hypothesis. The atheist is in more complex situation.  Theism is a scientific approach, atheism is not.  But the atheist, in another way, is more comfortable (on the surface): There is no God - so there is no question of doubt. You cannot doubt something which is not. You can doubt something which is, or may be.  But if you have decided there is nothing like God, you cannot doubt. You are more comfortable; but you cannot progress.

The atheist has thrown away doubt far more deeply, far more profoundly than the theist. With the theist the doubt is just hiding behind his belief. With the atheist there is almost no doubt to hide; he has thrown the doubt very far away, very deep into the unconscious.  Of course you cannot get rid of doubt completely, unless you know. But you can deceive. The atheist can deceive himself more easily than the theist. Hence atheism has been growing, theism shrinking.

An atheist's "Prove me God?" implies that God is separate from him and the moment he considers himself separate from God, he has reduced God from Infinity to a finite entity (=a belief) which cannot be (because by definition, God/Existence is Infinity which precludes the existence of any second entity). When you say, "There is no God," you have already made up in your mind what it looks like, where it is, what its properties are (you already have a belief system about God). You have already decided that God is not currently here.

Since neither the theist nor the atheist has explored all of experience, it is wrong to conclude whether God exists or not.  In order to avoid the fact, that "I am not interested in my own being," theists and atheists are creating all these questions and beliefs about God. Why? Because belief eliminates the need to think, discriminate and inquire.  To believe something means you don't know it and yet you think you know it. Belief systems destroy the very possibility of knowing higher truths.  These questions are strategies to avoid their central question: "Who am I?" True religion consists in the inquiry "Who am I?," "What am I?" and "What is the world?" "I" is the closest "thing" to you and nobody else can answer it except you. You need to dig deeper into your being.

Therefore, the theist is wrong, the atheist is wrong and man needs a new vision so that he can be freed from both the prisons. When you take a position that you do not know, the longing to know will arise within you. The seeking will arise within you and then the possibility of knowing.  God, by definition as the Absolute, must be ever-present, unchangeable, non-contradictory and self-knowing and, and, thus, is neither an object nor a person.  It is the one that knows or illumines the objects.  Once you start looking at God as the Presence of Love, there will be a radical change in your approach. Look at God as Godliness, Creativity, not as a Personal and Powerful God.  Then belief/faith is no more valid; prayer/asking is no more valid; meditation becomes valid; inquiry becomes valid. God will then be recognized as the Intelligence behind Life, flowing through Life and expressed by Life. God is simply, Consciousness, the all-pervading, non-negatable and the non-reducible element of life. It is meaningless to argue God as this or that or not this or not that.  God/Consciousness is nothing (as in no-thing) and God is everything! God/Consciousness is also nothing (no-action) and everything (action) at the same time!  With infinite speed, you can be everywhere in zero time. This is action and at the same time no-action. This is non-action. And that's where or what God is!

What is Raja Yoga?.........

Raja Yoga is the path of meditation. Sanskrit word for meditation is 'dhyaana.'  'Dhyaayi'=thinking and 'na'=no, meaning no-thinking or still-mind. 'Dhya'=pay attention, 'ana'=double negative, 'dhya-ana'=complete/total attention (=relaxation) or just seeing with no thinking-mind or no conceptualizing-mind. Meditation, in reality, cannot be learned because there is comparison/duality in learning. Meditation is natural like sleeping (how can you learn how to sleep?).  Meditation is what you are, not what you do. Dhyaana is the seventh of the eight steps prescribed as part of this Yoga method. And what is Yoga?  Yoga means union - union with God or the Absolute Reality.  Remember, God is neither a person nor an object. It is simply an intelligent, eternal presence. Raja Yoga is a synthesis between religion and science. It is not a scripture, it is not a belief, it is not a philosophy. Raja Yoga/Meditation is a discipline, a technology.  It is a science of the inner. It is an experiment of the inner dimension. Yoga is very ancient, thousands of years old. Indian sage, Pathanjali (500 BC) brought it to light when he first spoke/wrote about it. Yoga Suthras of Pathanjali contains 196 suthras or shlokas. Then everything fell in line and he apparently became the founder of Raja Yoga. He defined yoga in his second shloka (and the most important of all) as: "Yogaah Chittha Vritthi Nirodha-ha!" Yoga is the removing of the fluctuations of the mind. Yoga is the prevention of arising of thoughts. Yoga (Dhyaana) means no thinking or still-mind or 'nischala manas' leading up to equanimous mind or a balanced mind or merged-mind or 'nirmala manas.' Pathanjali was a brilliant and rare personality. He prescribed eight steps/limbs/parts to Raja Yoga; five limbs related to the outer and three limbs related to the inner (also called 'Ashtaanga Yoga). These steps are:

Pathanjali Yoga Suthras, 2.29: "Yama Niyama Aasana Praanaayama Prathyaahaara Dhaarana Dhyaana Samaadhayah Astha Angaani!"

1. Yama (yama=controller, don't do's, self-restraints, avoidances, vows; yama also means time): nonviolence (ahimsa), non-truthfulness (asathya), non-stealing (astheya), non-excess (vow for celibacy or brahmacharya), non-possessiveness or non-greediness or non-attachment (aparigraha).
2. Niyama (do's, observances, disciplines): purity (saucha), contentment (santhosha), self-discipline (tapas), self-study (svadhyaaya), surrender (Eeshwara Prannidhaana).

These five self-restraints and the five observances together may be called as the "Ten Commandments" of Raja Yoga! These observances create a conducive atmosphere for the next higher steps.

3. Aasana (body postures). Why? Postures help make the body comfortable and un-distracting during this process. This is also called 'Hathya Yoga.'
4. Praanaayama (breathing exercises to slow breathing so you can calm your mind as mind is connected to breathing; control of praanic forces in your body so you can redirect energy from Eedha and Pingaala Naadis to the central/main Sushumna Naadi; it is to be noted that there are a total of 72,000 naadis in a human body; why?...control of energies will aid you in the control of senses which leads one to the next step).
5. Prathyaahaara (withdrawal of senses and mind; mental restraints; 'prathi'+'aaharathi', withdrawing from ahamkaara and mamakaara or withdrawing from worldly roles; withdrawal from sense objects for personal reasons; gaining mastery over external influences; withdrawal from wrong food, wrong impressions and wrong associations; to have a contemplating mind or mind staying in a line; dispassionate mind; focused mind; contemplative mind).

6. Dhaarana (concentration; mind staying at an object like in a tip of 'dhaara'; "ekaagra-manas"; In actuality, 'eka' means 'advaitha', so keep the mind not on the object but the is-ness of the object; 'mano-dhaarana'; concentrated mind). Pathanjali, 3.1: "Desha-Bandhah Chitthasya Dhaarana!"...Dhaarana is the binding of the mind/thought to one location/place/subject. Effort/Control is needed in dhaarana.
7. Dhyaana ('dhyaayi'=thinking and 'na'=no; meditation; just to be, not doing anything - no action, no thought, no emotion; highest form of relaxation; you are just a watcher, not a doer; a no-mind or a still-mind state; "nischala manas"; 'mano-sthimitha'; ability to merge with the object on which you are concentrating so the watcher ultimately becomes the watched; the best object for meditation is sound as sound is the closest thing to silence and God; Remember God is beyond sound and silence; God is the knower of both silence and the sound). Pathanjali, 3.2: "Thathra, Prathyaya Eka-Thaanatha Dhyaanam!"...Meditation, therein, is the one continuous flow of cognition/thought towards a point. Dhyaana is effortless, but you are knowing that you are in meditation.
8. Samaadhi (='oneness'=thoughtless awareness; sam=total/homogeneity, aa=merged, dhi=buddhi, 'aadhi'=to be; buddhi merged or withdrawn into silence/soul/anandamaya-kosha totally while body is active; buddhi pervading homogeneously everywhere; intellect merging in/grasping satthva quality which is a temporary state called 'mano-laya,' or silence; merged-mind or absorbed-mind; staying or being in your soul; 'sam'=well, 'aadhi'=placement=well-placed; 'vi-aadhi'='vyaadhi'=discomfort=ill-placed; conscious experience of soul/anandamaya-kosha while body is active; absence of duality while the mind/world is dormant; temporary absence of 'aavarana' or sleep and 'vikshepa' or projection; "nirmala manas"; however, Awakening is knowing that you are Aathma or the knowledge of the presence as well as the absence of duality=non-mind or non-duality; "nirmoha manas"; desire-free state; non-mind is also called 'mano-naasha' which is buddhi/intellect dissolved by the Reality; enlightened mind, dissolved-mind). Again, samaadhi is mano-laya (mind merged/withdrawn into soul/silence/chidhaabhaasa temporarily while body is active; merged or absorbed mind will sprout back in waking state as the ego) and gnyaana is mano-naasha (mind dissolved by Aathma/Awareness while body and mind are active like shade absorbed into light; mind will not rise as the ego but only as the witness; 'nah-a-sha'=no-no-light=positive light or positive absorption into light). What do you achieve with meditation? Pathanjali clearly mentions what you can achieve with meditation or dhyaana. Pathanjali, 3.3: "Thath-Eva-Artha-Maathra Nirbhaasam-Swaroopa-Shoonyam Eeva Samaadhi-hi!"...Samaadhi is that same meditation of continuous flow of thoughts on a point alone when there is the shining of the object alone, as if devoid of form ('thath'=that, 'eva'=the same, 'artha'=object/point, 'maathra'=only/alone, 'nirbhaasam'=shining forth/appearing, 'swaroopa'=of own form, 'shoonyam'=devoid of/empty, 'eeva'=as if, 'samaadhi'=deep merging of meditation as the final step/mano-laya). In other words, Samaadhi is the shining of Formless Awareness alone (Aathma)! In samaadhi, you are not even there to know that you are meditating because you are 'that.' Samaadhi='Oneness.'

Pathanjali says: 1.1: "Atha Yoga-Anushaasanam!"...Now, the instruction/method for Yoga. 1.2: "Yogaah Chittha Vritthi Nirodha-ha!"...Raja Yoga/Meditation is the prevention of arising of thoughts. 1.3: "Thadha, Dhrashtu Swarupe-Avasthaanam!"...Then (in/through that process), the seer/meditator resides in his own nature. 2.29: "Yama Niyama Aasana Praanaayama Prathyaahaara Dhaarana Dhyaana Samaadhayah Ashta Angaani!" 3.2: "Thathra, Prathyaya Eka-Thaanatha Dhyaanam!"...Meditation, therein, is the one continuous flow of cognition towards that point. It is also mentioned (in Sankhya-Suthras) that "Dhyaanam Nirvishayam-Manah!"...Meditation is mind without thoughts/feelings/will. In other words, meditation purifies mind. Mediation, thus, can never culminate in Moksha because meditation is in a form or a doing and Moksha is not an event/doing. Moksha/Liberation is an ever existing fact/knowledge to be owned up or claimed by you/mind. And what is that? The knowledge: "I am the Unlimited Awareness, the experience is Me but I am not the experience!" Looking forward to a special experience called 'Moksha' through any yoga experience is like trying to meet the horizon, or trying to meet the blue color of the sky. You can never do that. Experience can never lead one to Awakening, only knowledge can, only remembrance can - similar to the awakening from a dream. Experience/Effort/'Saadhana' can, however, help, can pave the way to Knowledge/Awakening. How so?

Through Self-Inquiry or Aathma Vichaara or Gnyaana Yoga. Any dualistic or experience-based yoga or path ('dvaitha') must culminate into Gnyaana Yoga, the non-dualistic or 'advaithic' path. All other paths, such as Karma Yoga, Roopa Yoga, Bhakthi Yoga, Kriya Yoga, Thanthra Yoga, etc, etc (and including meditation or Raja Yoga) can only bring one to this point of purified mind. Gnyaana Yoga must be the last step because the solution for the problem of ignorance ('avidya' or 'agnyaana') is only gnyaana or knowledge. Twilight's rope-snake can only be freed by light, not by any action. Trying to empty darkness by effort/saadhana is meaningless, you only need to know how to turn the light on. Remember: Any result from an action is temporary, only knowledge is permanent. Awakening through Self-Inquiry (or knowing your self or Aathma Gnyaana, Self-Knowledge) is the most important step of Self-Realization after repeated samaadhi experiences. Samaadhi experiences burn your hidden desires or 'vaasanas' or 'raaga-dveshas' from your subconscious mind and prepares the mind for Self-Inquiry or Aathma Vichaara.

Self-Inquiry is the inquiry (called discrimination or 'viveka') into the three main questions: 1. What is God-The Reality? 2. Who and What am I? 3. What is this world? So, think, discriminate, contemplate until these questions disappear. Not that the questions will be answered, but the questioner and the questions will disappear. This is Awakening, Aathma Gnyaana. Remember: Without knowing yourself first, you cannot know anything else. It is like junk in and junk out! Wearing a mind of orange-colored glasses gives you only orangish-white, orangish-red, orangish-blue, etc. So, know yourself first. Know thyself! Knowing the source of the orange-colored glasses as the real eyes, then you remove the glasses and see with your real eyes. Similarly, knowing the source of your ego/mind as Pure-Awareness, then you can see the world with a pure mind. Once awakened, explore the world, reason the reality of the world; experience and feel the world and realize that the world is also you. This final step will be very easy upon Awakening as you will find that the entrance to you is the entrance to all. Easy. Tasting of a drop of salt water is like tasting the ocean. This is called Brahman Gnyaana, the Supreme Knowledge! Then there is only Self. Or more precisely, there is nothing other than the Self, nothing other than God, nothing other than Brahman, nothing other than Love!

You have finally arrived! Chandhogya Upanishad proclaimed: "Sarvam Khalu Idham Brahman!"

Who is a true yogi?.........

A true yogi is devoid of all material desires and is not subject to likes and dislikes (raaga-dvesha). He sees God in all beings and also sees every being in God.

How do we pay attention to life energies and vibes around us?.........

We can pay attention to life energies and vibes by seeing, listening and sensing.  These are the three levels of reception. The energy that you see is called light. The energy that you hear is called sound. The energy that you sense/intuit is called feeling.  Souls use the language of feeling to communicate.

What is the way to get to the soul?.........

The way to find our path to the soul is meditation.  Meditation is not about emptying the mind, it is about focusing the mind. It is virtually impossible to "empty the mind." That is, to "think about nothing." It is not impossible, however, to focus the mind - to think about something specific, but that has nothing to do with your worries, your problems, your frustrations, or anything in your everyday life. Focusing leads to witnessing.  (God means everything at once. In order to focus on everything at once, you have to focus on nothing. In order to focus on nothing, you have to focus on something in particular. With constant practice you will "become" a witness.)  Witnessing then leads to "no-mind."  Use your mind to get out of your mind.

Another way, may be the fastest, to find your soul is to look into your own eyes in a mirror!  This is a deceptively simple and incredibly powerful tool. The trick is not to turn away if this deep looking becomes uncomfortable. If you are able to hold your own gaze for more than a count of ten, you will begin to experience such compassion and love for yourself that you will almost not know what to do with that feeling. It could be very difficult for you to take in this feeling if you are not used to loving yourself - and most people, sadly, are not. Just be with that feeling and embrace it. Continue looking deeply and more deeply into your own eyes. Now, all at once, after looking deeply into your own eyes for as long as you can, simply and quickly close your eyes - and be with the feeling that follows. Very often you will feel merged with the Essence. This could last only for a moment - or for the rest of the day.

Why does this work? When your eyes are still, static, when the energy is not moving in the two eyes it will seek another path that is least resistant. That is the third eye center which is right in between the two eyes.  It is so near just half an inch deeper. It is already there, complete; any moment it can function. But it needs energy to function, and that same energy has to be diverted. And when the energy moves into the third eye, the two eyes will become unseeing. They will be there, but you won't be able to see through them. The third eye is not really a part of the physical body. It is part of the second body which is hidden - the subtle body. It has a corresponding spot in the physical body, but it is not part of it.

Then, with the third eye functioning, if you look at a person you look at his soul, at his spirit, not at his body - just like you look at the physical body through the physical eyes, but you cannot see the soul. The same happens when you look through the third eye: you look and the body is not there, just the one who occupies the body.

Jesus Christ: "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light!"

This is a process by which you become more and more self-aware. You may not come to a full understanding of Who You Really Are, but you will come to an awareness that you ARE. Once you know you have a Consciousness - that is, a part of you that is larger than you, that can separate itself from the Little You and talk back to you - you are well on your way to discovering the truth of your being.

You cannot become aware of anything outside of yourself without seeing it from inside of yourself, and you cannot become aware of anything inside of yourself without seeing it from outside of yourself!  Mind can only create experience.  Mind cannot experience Experience.  Nor can it experience itself stepping outside of its experience to experience itself experiencing Experience. Only the soul can do this! Mind is an internal instrument. Mind is not conscious, only Consciousness is conscious.

You may also try a variation of this process by looking deeply into the eyes of another who is very close to you. You cannot look into the eyes of any living creature without becoming fully present. When you become fully present this way with another living being, you may very well start to love them. It is especially difficult to look another human in the eyes for any period of time at all without beginning to fall in love. That is why people look away from each other so quickly. They don't dare to look each other right in the eyes for very long. The love that will follow will overwhelm them. Yet it is because they do not know what to do with that love that they are overwhelmed.  What you are seeing when you look deeply into the eyes of yourself or another is the soul. The eyes are the windows of the soul!

Yet, another way to get to your soul is to embrace the "Is-ness." Stop arguing with Life. See the perfection.  Move into gratitude. Re-contextualize your experience.

How do mind and soul combine to produce joy?..........

Joy is produced by adding mind's experience with Self's wisdom, awareness and total knowing.  What the mind holds is experience. What the Self holds is knowledge.  The mind bases its understanding on the present moment on a very limited storehouse of data, called Prior Experience. The soul, on the other hand, holds the knowledge of All Experience. Put simply, the mind is time limited, the soul is timeless. The mind is temporal, the soul is spiritual. The mind's experience is finite, the soul's knowledge is infinite. Limited experience produces assumptions, unlimited knowledge produces wisdom.

If you base your decisions and responses and choices on finite resources, your actions will emerge from your experience, which produces assumptions. Much of the time your assumptions are very astute and quite correct. So your mind serves you well. Its job is to guarantee your physical and emotional survival, and it does that well. If you base your decisions and responses and choices on infinite resources, your actions will emerge from your knowledge, which produces wisdom. This creates an entirely different expressions of life.  Put the mind and soul together and you have a powerful combination.

The only way to get to the soul is through the mind. The mind is the doorway to the soul and the only way to get to the soul.  Sometimes we sidestep the soul and go directly to the God. So we use our mind to go around the soul. One way to do this is by praying. You can get to God that way, but it's the long way around. Using the soul can get us there much faster. This is because the soul is our direct connection to God. Soul is part of God that resides in us. So when we connect to the soul, we connect with God at the same time.

What are the steps on the path to the Self?...

1. Step out of the mind.  The mind must agree to step out of itself. Yet, don't abandon the mind. Be there with it. Focus your mind away from your story, away from your data, away from your history, away from your experience. Relax into your being.

2. Now, focus on a state of being; any state of being.  However, you must have a huge desire to choose that state of being. The higher the desire, the lower the mind's resistance. It is axiomatic. The place of being is where the soul resides. The soul is being love. It is being compassion. It is being forgiveness. It is being wisdom. In spontaneous moments in our lives the mind is totally out of the way. This all happens lightning fast...like when a man jumps in front of the car and pushes the kid out of the way. So if we choose a high, high state of being, the mind can and will get out of the way very quickly. Holiness is one of the best such states.

3. Expand consciousness.  Pay attention to what you are aware of. It is more of a relaxation. You are always aware, but now you are paying attention. But it's not what your mind is aware of, because now you are in the beingness of holiness. You pay attention to what holiness is aware of. You are aware of being aware. The way to get to your soul is not to stop thinking, but rather, to start thinking of what your soul is knowing at any particular moment.

If soul is so joyous, why aren't we? What is the difference between the heart and the soul?..........

The answer lies in our mind.  We must "be of a mind" to be joyful if we are to release the joy that is in our heart.

The physical heart is not our real heart.  The real heart exists just behind the physical heart. The real heart is not part of our physical mechanism at all.  The real heart exists in the soul - it is the center of the soul. The physical heart is the center of the body and the real heart or spiritual heart is the center of the soul. They both exist together, side by side. Just behind the physical is the spiritual heart.

However, between the physical heart and the spiritual heart is the mind.  That is the only barrier.  The whole effort of meditation is to disperse the mind or open the mind. Once the mind is dispersed, the physical heart and the spiritual both start dancing together.  The joy that is in our soul can now move easily through the physical heart.

When the spiritual heart starts opening, we will have ripples in our physical heart too. In fact, we will first feel it in our physical heart because we do not know anything about the spiritual heart.  Our first awareness of it will be of the physical heart getting some strange feelings.

Sometimes it can be that of burning, sometimes it can be that of throbbing, sometimes it can be that of bursting, sometimes it can almost be like a heart attack. The spiritual heart starts trembling, opening, the petals bloom, and the physical heart starts catching the vibrations, echoes. But this is a beautiful sign. Soon we will become aware of the spiritual heart, then all symptoms from the physical will disappear.

When we become well acquainted, well known, it will give us new kind of joy, peace or silence. And great love will arise out of it. Then a great beauty arises. And it is not only spiritual, it will be seen in our physical faces too. A grace, a new quality of energy will be around us. And not only will we feel it, others will feel it too. We will have new vibes.

Feelings are the language of the soul. They will back up in your physical heart if you have a closed mind. That is why, when you are feeling very sad, you say that your heart is breaking. And that is why, when you are feeling very happy, you say that your heart is bursting (bursting with joy). So open your mind, allow your feelings to be expressed, to be pushed out, and your physical heart will neither break nor burst, but be a free flowing channel of the life energy in your soul. Notice your experience without an agenda.

Joy not fully expressed is the feeling of sadness. Joy/Peace and sadness are different levels of the same energy. That is why we can sometimes express these two feelings in the same moment.

How can we feel and release the joy in our heart?..........

Joy is always there in the heart. The secret is that you cannot feel joy until you let it out. And how do you let it out? Release the joy that is inside of another, and you release the joy that is inside of you.

This can be done with something as simple as a smile. Or a complement. Or a loving glance. With these devices you can release joy in another, and with many more. With song, or a dance, or the stroke of a brush, or the molding of clay. With the holding of hands, or the meeting of minds, or the partnering of souls...with the mutual creation of anything good and lovely and useful.

You can also do this with yourself. Remember, you are never alone. God is always with you, whether you know it or not. Write a book, take a walk, be in prayer, be in meditation, listen to music. There are thousands of ways to release the joy in your heart!

What are the best and the fastest ways to peace/happiness?..........

Let us first be clear, happiness is peace in movement and peace is happiness at rest. They are one and the same. And the best way to peace/happiness is to know yourself as Peace/Happiness! No action can genuinely/completely alleviate misery/unhappiness; only knowledge can. So, know thyself!

The fastest way to peace/happiness is to embrace Is-ness. Is-ness is That Which Is. See the perfection in the present state of things. There is nothing more perfect than what is going on right now - and the proof of this is the fact that it is going on. How wonderful? It is useless and pointless to argue with Life. Remember: What you resist, persists; what you look at, disappears. Look at "what is so," right here, right now. Drop the idea of a separate-self/ego with the sense of personal doership. Peace is in your attitude towards life, not in the flow of life (nothing to do with life) which is always pleasure and pain. The pathway to peace and happiness is total acceptance. Life is perfect the way it is!

Suffering arises when you or the other act against your ideology. The secret to peace/happiness according to Buddha is: "Events happen, deeds are done (appear to be done), but there is no individual doer of any deed!" Therefore, there is no question for anybody to blame himself or anybody else to be blamed in life. The basis of manifestation is duality; day and night, good and evil, happiness and sorrow, etc. There was never a time when there were no ugliness, no misery. Life is always made of inter-connected opposites.

A man of understanding will live with the inter-connected opposites as part of Life but will not choose or prefer any one of the two over the other. Therefore, drop personal or individual doership. Accept life in its totality.

Gauthama Buddha: "Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without!"

Krishna in Bhagavad Geetha: "Accept both the polarities, because both are there together. Go with them, because they are. Don't choose one against the other!"

Another faster way for you to be happy/peaceful is for you to make others happy. Your life is about everyone whose lives you touch and it is about how you touch them. How to touch them determines how you experience your self - and how you experience your self determines how happy you are. That which you wish to experience for yourself, cause another to experience. Give away that which you wish to receive. In this sense, your life is about you...in a "reverse" kind of way. You are to pay attention to yourself by paying attention to others. You are to help yourself evolve by helping others evolve. When we see others as divine and treat others as divine, the energy of attraction will be used, at last, as it was designed to be used: To bring to us the reality of us.

This does not mean that you must focus on making other people happy to the exclusion of yourself. No. When making another happy is at the cost of you being unhappy, you are defeating your own purpose. So we are not talking here about rolling over and playing dead, or turning yourself into a mat to be walked all over. Your happiness must never be held hostage. You are offering your gifts in order to experience and express a part of yourself that speaks of you Who You Really Are. Yet, if Who You Really Are (Love) is not valued, but ignored or abused, then you actually hurt the other person, rather than help, to whom you are giving your gift - for you have taught them that the way to continue receiving the best from others is to return their worst. And this is not something that you want to teach anybody. It is actually unkind/wrong to teach someone this.

Jesus Christ: "Do unto others as you would have it done unto you!" Why?...Because, ultimately, there is only One of You!

What is bondage and what is liberation?..........

It is bondage when the "me" is present. It is liberation when "me" is dissolved.

An impersonal experience is always in the present moment and when that experience is gone the mind no longer thinks about it.  If the mind is attached to any experience, it is bondage.  When the mind is detached/free from all experience, it is liberation.  Detachment/Freeing from all the five 'anaathmaas' (in increasing scale of stronger attachment: possessions/objects, pleasures/relationships, popularity/fame/pride/power/merits, mind and body; out of these five anaathmaas, the first three can be dissolved through dualistic yogas and the last two through gnyaana yoga) is necessary for liberation. A sage remains open to whatever life might bring, without rejecting it. He is one who never chooses or judges because choosing/judging is in duality.

A sage never chooses good against bad. A sage simply moves, just like a sunflower, towards the direction which is that of good.

Consciousness to object is bondage; object to Consciousness is liberation!

Who is a true guru (master)?..........

A true guru (master) always gives you the Highest Thought, the Clearest Word, and the Grandest Feeling.

Guru is the one who dispels the darkness or ignorance. The Highest Thought is that thought which contains joy. The Clearest Word is that word which contains truth. The Grandest Feeling is that feeling which we call love. Guru does not produce knowledge or anything. He throws light on something that is already there.  The highest authority always lies within you.

A guru is the one who can guide you to your innermost wisdom. All we have to know is our truth, not someone else's. There is no truth except the truth that exists within you; and you can only take you there. Everything else is what someone else is telling you. When we understand this, we understand everything else.  A guru is like a tiger in an elephant's dream. He will simply help you to wake up.  A guru/master is known not by the number of disciples he has, but by the number of disciples that became enlightened in his presence!  If a guru tells you that you need (or you need to follow) his faith, his way, his place and his book - stay away from him.  A true guru will never tell you to follow him, but to follow the Reality which lives within you.

The ultimate guru is your own self!

Why do masters sometimes give contradicting responses?..........

Masters sometimes give contradicting responses because they are free; free to say anything!  They cannot be bound by a single answer.

Their response is spontaneous. Depending on a situation, on a person etc., their comments may differ, but they are always appropriate. For someone traveling south to go to New York, he will say "take I-95 South." For someone traveling north to go to the same New York, he will say "take I-95 North." Absolute can never be expressed in words. Language is dualistic. Contradictories become complementaries in the Absolute.

What is action, inaction and non-action?.........

Action is that which you do as a doer, as en ego.  A doing with a doer (me-ness and/or mine-ness), in which one thinks himself as a doer, is action (karma).  Even renunciation becomes an act if a doer is present in the act. Action with a feeling or intention or volition is karma.

Inaction (vikarma, free-of-action) is action without a personal doer or personal doership. Inaction does not mean absence of action, but it certainly means absence of the doer. An egoless action is inaction. Inaction is not laziness as is generally understood. It is action through inaction. There exists a sense of doing.

Between action and inaction is non-action, which means a special kind of action.  When there is neither a doer nor a sense of doing, yet things happen, there is non-action (akarma). For example, we breathe, which we are not required to do by our own effort. Similarly the blood circulates through the body, the food is digested, and the heart beats. They come in the category of non-action, which means action happening without a doer and without a sense of volitional doing.

Krishna: "The one who knows action in inaction and inaction in action is indeed wise!"

An ordinary person lives in action, a sage lives in inaction, and Reality lives in non-action.  In Reality, things just happen; it is just happening. If someone understands rightly what non-action is, and comes to know its mystery, he will soon enter into a state of inaction which is acting without a center, an ego. Then he knows that every significant thing in life happens on its own; it is utterly stupid to try to be a doer. And he is a wise man.

How is an action considered 'elevated' or not?.........

If you want a yardstick with which to judge whether a thing is good for the human race or not, ask yourself a simple question: What would happen if everyone did it?  This is a very easy measure, and a very accurate one. If everyone did a thing, and the result was of ultimate benefit to the human race, then that action is 'elevated.' If everyone did it and it brought disaster to the human race, then that is not a very 'elevated' thing to recommend.

Why are we here in the physical universe?..........

We are here in the physical universe to realize, experience and demonstrate the grandeur of our true nature!

We cannot 'experience' something that is 'unknown' to us and also we cannot 'know' of something that is 'not', and so, first we must 'be' it. Thus the Process: Being-Knowing-Experiencing/Being-Knowing-Experiencing/Being-Knowing-Experiencing...continuously through all eternity. Reality is eternally BEING what Reality IS....KNOWING what it is BEING....and EXPERIENCING what it is KNOWING!

What is the difference between a teacher, a master, a mystic, a saint, a yogi and a messiah?..........

On our spiritual journey, we are all exposed to different teachings and/or teachers. We need to be careful about whom we listen to, whom we follow, whom we approach. This presentation is intended to identify the differences among the teachers, their capabilities, the roles they play in society so you can be more knowledgeable and be more vigilant.

First, who is a master or guru? A master ('guru') helps you to unlearn. A guru directs you to your innermost wisdom because all we have to know is our truth, not someone else's truth.  A master helps you to become innocent again, childlike, but with complete awareness. The literal meaning of guru is the dispeller of darkness or ignorance. Between a disciple and a master, trust is the method, love is the method. It is the greatest love affair. A master, in reality, is not a person, he is only a presence. The disciple surrenders his ego to the master before he surrenders it to the Truth.

A master identifies himself with Brahman, the Ultimate Reality, which is his own real nature, and sees everything as Brahman.  A master is not one who never experiences a negative emotion, a master is one who never experiences any emotion as 'negative.'  The master is one who masters all emotions, and uses them on purpose, with intention, for a specific reason, to produce a particular result. He uses every emotion to create, rather than to react. The master knows that all emotion is chosen. And how can anything that is chosen be negative? The job of a master is not easy. A few masters are also called incarnations or 'avathaaras.'

A mystic ('maha yogi,' the one who has gone beyond the mystery or maya) is in the same state of being as a master, but he is not as articulate as a master.  He is silent. He has tasted the sweet, it is not that he does not know that it is sweet.  A mystic is full of sweetness, but he cannot say anything about it, he is simply quiet.  A master tries to create a science to help people move into the unknown way, towards the unknowable, without failing, without going astray. It is the greatest art in the world; any other art will be a minuscule compared to it. Not every enlightened being is capable of this art.

A seer or a sage ('rishi') is the seer/knower of Truth/Brahman/The Ultimate Reality. Rishi is called "mantha dhrashta," the seer of thought, the seer of experience.

A prophet (messiah, messenger) is an enlightened being who has compassion for the whole society. He is not worried about the individuals but takes the whole society as one unit. In the East enlightened beings have existed and masters have existed but never a messiah. The messiah is not Eastern concept at all. Krishna is not a messiah, neither is Mahaveera, nor Buddha, nor Lao-Tzu. They are masters, perfect masters; their approach is to the individual, direct, personal. Jesus is a messiah, so is Moses, so is Mohammad. Their approach is not individual, their approach is social, communal. They are interested in changing the whole lot of humanity. Judaism, Islam, Christianity are all messianic; Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Taoism are non-messianic. That's the reason the East has not coined a word for messiah.

An enlightened being or "gnyaani" is another name for a master, a mystic, a sage, and a prophet.

A swami is the knower/master of his self (swa), an awakened person. A swami is an Aathma gnyaani, not a brahman gnyaani yet.

A sadhu is the follower of Sath or Truth.

A saint ('santh') is one who follows the path of devotion to a Personal God and develops an intense love towards him. This love, in course of time, purifies the devotee’s heart immensely and makes it saathvic, though he still cannot transcend the limits of his own personality. His concept of Reality also develops, until it reaches a high point.  Here he is stranded and has sometimes to wait for years to get help from a master to take him beyond.  If he is fortunate enough to keep his sense of reason alive, and if he succeeds in keeping himself away from the mire of fanaticism, he will be able to obtain a master and will be liberated.

A yogi is a practitioner of yoga. A yogi, who like the saint, confines his examinations and his experiences to the waking state alone. The yogi sets before himself a mental ideal of his own creation (a mere thought-form) and begins to concentrate his mind upon that ideal. During concentration, he gets into a state of blissful ignorance of everything else. It is a state almost akin to deep sleep, and he calls it ‘samaadhi.’

This state is accompanied by a sense of happiness that captivates him; and he thus becomes engrossed and entangled in it. The concentration of mind releases the immense potentialities of the mind, in the form of powers or siddhis. These also, in turn, seduce and entangle him.  Thus entangled in a vicious world of his own creation, the yogi finds it difficult even to aspire for a master, and liberation is lost sight of.  But there is a class of yogis who follow the path of Raja Yoga mixed with a course of Gnyaana practices chalked out by a master, of course in the cosmological way.  They will certainly reach the Ultimate Truth, though with some delay. All yogis and siddhas, other than this class of Raja Yogis, have to be scrupulously avoided.

A teacher makes you more knowledgeable.  He helps you to learn whether it is a material science ('upaadhyaaya') or spiritual science ('aachaarya').  Between a student and a teacher, doubt is the method. A teacher is there to help your doubts disappear, he is there to answer your questions. You may be, however, fed with more information, more data. A teacher is also not a realized master. A teacher's help may take you further but never to the Truth.

Thus, a teacher makes you learn, a master/guru makes you unlearn and all the other teachers fall somewhere in between. Well, realization is not learning something new because you are already Realized (that is your nature); it is rather losing something, losing all your conditioning, all your beliefs, all your misconceptions you have built up, layers upon layers upon the real-you. Realization is all about unknowing. Therefore, seek a master or a guru! A guru is, almost all the time, required for you because he knows where you are and also knows how he can get you out of your situation (because he himself had been there). It is difficult for you to get out of illusion while in illusion (although that is the only tool available) without a guru's help because anything you do in illusion usually brings you more illusion. Four things are important in any spiritual journey: guru, scriptures/shruthis, experience and reasoning. And what is the criterion to pick a guru?  If a guru (or anyone for that matter) tells you that you need his truth, his book, his way or at his place - stay away from him.  A true guru will never tell you to follow him, but to follow the Reality which lives within you. And he will guide you to realize that you, yourself, is that Reality and that there is none other than that Reality!

What is meditation?..........

Meditation is just to "be," not doing anything - no action, no thought, no emotion.

Meditation, 'dhyaana,' means 'no-mind,' or still-mind.  You cannot do it, you cannot practice it: you have only to "be" it. Being is staying in your Self/God and knowing the Self but not knowing yourself as the God! Meditation, in other words, is staying with your soul.  The essential core, the spirit of meditation, is to learn how to witness.  A cuckoo singing...you are listening. There are two - subject and object. But can't you see a witness who is seeing both? - the cuckoo, the listener and still there is someone who is watching both. It is such a simple phenomenon. Watching/Witnessing is meditation. Meditation is the art of witnessing and samaadhi is its climax (still mind or absolute silence). Attention/Consciousness/Focusing is a technique towards witnessing. Witnessing is a technique towards Awareness. Witnessing bereft of object/other is Awareness/Self.  That's the whole secret of meditation, that you are not the doer but the watcher.  Meditation is the highest form of relaxation; you are relaxed into your own source.

So, first watch your body. Then watch your mind/thoughts. After that, watch your feelings. Once you are aware of all these three, they all become joined into one phenomenon. And when all these three are one - functioning together perfectly, humming together, you can feel the music of all the three; they have become an orchestra - then the fourth happens, which you cannot do. It happens on its own accord. It is a gift from the Whole.  And the fourth is the Ultimate Awareness that makes one awakened. One becomes aware of one's Awareness - that is the fourth. The body knows pleasure, the mind knows happiness, the soul knows joy, the fourth knows peace/fullness/completeness or itself. Awareness only knows Awareness. Peace/Fullness/Awareness is the goal of sannyaasa, of being a seeker, and meditation is the path towards it. And what is the pre-requisite for meditation? An unwavering or undistracted mind.

The important thing is that you are watchful, that you have not forgotten to watch, that you are watching..watching...watching.  And slowly slowly, as the watcher becomes more and more solid, stable, unwavering, a transformation happens.  The thing that you were watching disappears. For the first time, the watcher itself becomes the watched, the observer itself becomes the observed. You have come home.

Lord Shiva was the first yogi of the world that has expounded all possible ways of meditation techniques. There are one hundred and fourteen chakras (energy centers) in a human body out of which two chakras are outside the body. That leaves one hundrerd and twelve chakras within a body. This is the significance of Shiva's one hundred and twelve mediation techniques presented in the text of 'Vignyaana Bhairavi Thanthra.' Any method in existence has to fall in line with one of these methods.

But, be careful about the obstacles/impediments in meditation. There are four. The first one is 'laya,' mind getting into sleep because of the rise of inertia/thamo guṇa (resulting in unconscious mind; 'aavarana'). The next one is 'vikṣhepa,' the wandering of the mind, a highly active mind because of the rise of activity/rajo guṇa, disturbances because of the day-to-day likes-and-dislikes or 'raaga-dveshas' in the conscious mind. The third one is 'kaṣhaaya,' the unmanifest or hidden disturbances because of hidden likes-and-dislikes, 'raaga' and 'dveṣha' (desires and fears) in the subconscious/unconscious mind resulting in stagnation of the mind and so not available for the task at hand (this is due to the combination of rajo and sathva guna). The fourth one is 'rasa-svaada,' or 'bhajanaananda,' getting lost in the experiential 'bliss' that may come in meditation (resulting in temporary freedom from ego/ignorance). When the mind is tranquil, the experiential bliss, which is the reflected aspect of 'Aananda,' comes up and this can make the intellect/buddhi unavailable for the proper meditation. This rasa-svaada is because of the rise of purity/sathva guna.

Nirvikalpa Samaadhi is the highest stage/state in meditation. Nirvikalpa=no thoughts; Samaadhi=balanced state of intellect=state of equanimity=no difference between self and not-self=no difference between a lump of gold and a bird poop. It is even higher state than the Savikalpa Samaadhi. You experience Self/God directly while the body is active in Nirvikalpa Samaadhi. Unity/bliss/peace is experienced, without a subject-object relationship, but this state is temporary. How does the meditator/ego know that what he finds in this samaadhi is Brahman/Truth? It is possible to gain inferential knowledge that the ego does not exist as an independent entity, but this does not reveal the nature of the Self/God (except by implication). So, this cannot be Pure-Awareness or Brahman which is stateless. Mind/ego is dormant in this Superconscious State of Nirvikalpa Samaadhi. It is a kind of negative enlightenment but without anyone there, except the Self, to enjoy it. It is like seeing the screen without the movie. In deep sleep you are identifying yourself with causal body (an ignorant thought that "I knew nothing") but in Nirvikalpa Samaadhi you are free of causal body. That's the difference.

Permanent Self-Knowledge can’t take place in Nirvikalpa Samaadhi because there’s no one there to receive it. If the ego is responsible for ignorance, how will the samaadhi remove it if it is not there in samaadhi? One doesn’t speak of discrimination in this state because there’s nothing to discriminate; discriminate between Self and Not-Self, discriminate between Awareness and Experience/Mind. Therefore, should the meditator/ego happen to return to the world he or she will not be enlightened since his or her self ignorance will not have been removed. If the meditator/ego can realize through discrimination that he or she is the Self, there will be no need to turn the mind into a void. However, through meditation, watching/witnessing thoughts without any involvement (absence of I like and I don't like) will cause the thoughts/desires/impressions to get burned and no new impressions are formed. This will make the mind pure so Self can reflect more in the mind.

In this sense, Savikalpa Samaadhi is more useful in gaining knowledge because when your mind is in a saathvic state (pure buddhi) with thoughts/objects in an equanimous state and when Self/God reflects in intellect/buddhi you must grab the knowledge (not feeling) by investigation. Knowledge that you yourself are the Self, the knower of that feeling of happiness and silence. Self reflects both as knowledge and as feeling. Knowledge always comes in as a thought, feeling as an experience. Experience is in duality which comes and goes. Knowledge is permanent. One must grab the knowledge alone. However this yogic method is also indirect in that one will not grab the knowledge but will go for the blissful experience, almost always. That is the trap. However, meditation leads one to one's soul and the soul is our direct connection to God. Soul is part of God that resides in us. So when we connect to the soul, we connect with God at the same time. And this is very important! The practice of meditation regularly, purifies the mind and prepares the mind for Self-Inquiry. We may call this 'Aspharsha Yoga,' or The Touchless Yoga.

Meditation, which is no-mind, must lead one to non-mind. Non-mind is in spite of mind. Doing is ego, being is meditation and being-knowingly is God! Meditation is the closest thing to God, the Real You! So, meditate!

How does Reality communicate with us?.........

Reality communicates with us mostly through feelings. Feeling is the language of the soul. And your soul is your truth. Feelings are simply truths. If you want to know what's true for you about something, look to how you're feeling about it. Feelings are sometimes difficult to discover - and often even more difficult to acknowledge. Yet hidden in your deepest feelings is your highest truth. Make sure that these feelings are born in the soul, in the now-and-here, not constructed in your mind/time. Get out of your mind, get back to your senses. It is a returning to how you feel, not how you think. Body is in the 'now' and responds to 'now.' Your thoughts are just that - thoughts. Mental constructions. "Made up" creations of your mind. Mind is the 'ghost' needing a 'host' or the 'body' to feel the feelings, to feel the love. But your feelings, now-and-here, are real. Failing to express your truth/feelings would hardly be appropriate. Yet people do this all the time. So afraid are they to cause or to face possible unpleasantness that they hide their truth altogether.

Reality also communicates with thought. Thought and feelings are not the same, although they can occur at the same time. In communicating with thought, Reality uses images and pictures. For this reason, thoughts are more effective than mere words as tools of communication.

In addition to feelings and thoughts, Reality also uses the vehicle of experience/emotions as a grand communicator. And finally, when feelings, thoughts and experience/emotions all fail, Reality uses words. Words are really the least effective communicator. They are most open to misinterpretation, most often misunderstood. Words are mere utterances: noise that stand for feelings, thoughts and experience/emotions. They are symbols. Signs. Insignias. They are not Truth. They are not the real thing.

Words may help you understand something. Experience allows you to know. Yet there are some things you cannot experience as in a subject-object type relationship. That is the reason for feelings and thoughts. Now the supreme irony is that we have placed so much importance on the Word of God, and so little on the experience! In fact, we place so little value on experience that when what we experience of Reality differs from what we've heard of Reality, we automatically discard the experience and own the words, when it should be just the other way around!

How do you differentiate the messages from Reality with the data from other sources? Reality's messages are your Grandest Feeling, your Highest Thought, your Clearest Word. The Grandest Feeling is that feeling which you call Love. The Highest Thought is always that thought which contains Joy. The Clearest Words are those words which contain the Truth. Love, Joy and Truth!

Why does Reality allow suffering?..........

The short answer is Reality/God does not know suffering; It knows only Itself, which is Love/Peace/Happiness!

What is suffering? Limitation is suffering! Resistance to experience is suffering!  Suffering or misery ('dhukkha' or 'shoka') consists of guilt ('aparaadham'), blame ('nindha'), pride ('madham'), worry ('chintha') and expectation ('nireekshana') and is basically a deep expression of a belief system that is rooted in limitation/separation (due to ignorance). A belief that you are a doer and the other is also a doer, and that we make things unfold at our choices. Most of the world's suffering is based on this one single belief, belief of personal doership.  The second most important belief that causes human suffering is the belief that you require pleasure, pleasure, pleasure in order to be complete. Any pain in the moment is seen as an attack on who you are or who you think you are, so you are forced to resist the flow of life which will, in turn, cause suffering. Acting out of desire and fear ('raaga-dveshas') will create suffering. Well, for whom is this suffering?...For a separate-self or an ego!

From an individual's or relative standpoint...good and evil, happiness ('sukham') and suffering ('dukham') are part of the relative world governed and caused by our thoughts, words, deeds (the three tools of creation, or, rather, re-creation) and karma (cause-and-effect). From Reality's or Absolute standpoint...suffering and happiness; good and evil are not part of Reality. They are both appearances or imaginations in Reality and do not belong to Reality (because Reality is "one" without a second and, hence, has no parts). Reality only shines and experience just happens in its presence. If a rope is mistaken for a poisonous snake, is the rope poisonous? No, there is no snake and no poison; just the rope. And you are that rope, you are that Reality. Nothing touches you, the Reality, because pain ('baadha') and pleasure ('bhoga') and suffering ('dukkha') and happiness ('sukha') are merely appearances in Reality and are revealed by it!

Reality is not only "whole" but is also "pure." Does the fire in a movie burn the TV screen?...No.  Reality is the only "thing" that is pure which reveals everything else that is impure, mixed, dual. If it was not pure, it could not reveal all the mixtures. If light was not pure, it could not reveal all the millions/billions of mixed colors. Reality (as purity) doesn't resist anything just like the space doesn't resist anything. Reality is quality-less or dimensionless. The best way to understand this further is to transcend your mind, transcend suffering for yourself because the suffering is in the mind only. How? By knowing or remembering your true nature or by Self-Realization.

Who is feeling the suffering? It is you as the ego/mind. You (the ego) are the cause of your own suffering. Find out who the Real You is, you's (ego's) true nature. When there is suffering in your night-dream, you, as the dream-ego, are the sufferer. However, when the dream-ego gets cut, the sleeper/waker won't be cut. As soon as you wake up from the dream-you to the Real You (relatively speaking), the suffering disappears without a trace. So, wake up from this waking-dream. Reality is beyond happiness and suffering. You can be the cause of your Peace!

People act out of fear and desire, the hall marks of a separate-self/ego, and create suffering. Take away ignorance and everything is totally fine.  Furthermore, in this world of duality nothing exists without its opposite. You cannot have heat without cold, sweet without bitter, or beauty without ugliness. What would you have ‘beautiful’ to compare with if everything were beautiful? Life is a zero-sum game! So, don't be obsessed about choosing one against the other.  Choosing of one act against another act is ignorance because one is not able to see non-duality in all acts or everywhere. Self-Knowledge helps alleviate ignorance—the cause of suffering—and it promotes healthy habits like gratitude and acceptance (letting go)—two of this world’s best remedies for alleviating stress/suffering. Gratitude and acceptance!

What is Reality? Reality/God is the one that must be agreeable to all, at all times and in all states. Therefore, it must be ever-present, independent, unchanging and self-knowing. And what is that?  Consciousness/Awareness. Consciousness, like space, allows everything. The rope is not affected by the snake. The poisonous nature of the snake is not transferred to the rope. The illness contracted by the dream 'I' or the happiness of begetting a child in a dream is not transferred to the sleeper/waker. Like that, the good and evil of the world does not affect Consciousness. Suffering is only in the mind, only for an illusory/pseudo finite ego or separate-self.  Consciousness, however, never really "becomes" a mind.  Mind gives birth to itself within its own imagination; we cannot blame Infinite Consciousness giving birth to a finite mind. But if you go deep into suffering, you will only find Peace/Happiness/Love which is itself Consciousness. All feelings are the manifestations of this Love, in some form or the other. Hatred is a manifestation of Love.  Suffering, therefore, is an illusion.  A screen cannot feel or burn if a fire scene is taking place in a movie! There is suffering only for an illusory character in the movie that is seeing her people suffer and die in the flames. Once we realize that we are the screen, the separate-self dissolves. Then you are one with everyone and everything. There is, then, no question of violence, hatred or suffering.

Reality/Consciousness is, therefore, innocent.  For example, you may call someone ugly, but there is no ugliness in Existence itself because there is no beauty. The distinction is human, it is not existential. You have made the definition: you have defined something as beauty and something else as ugliness. You have made the distinction and then you ask, "Why does God allow suffering?"  You say, "that is evil" and "this is good." But if, for example, Genghis Khan's mother had killed him during his childhood, would it have been good or bad? She would have had been a criminal and they would have punished her for her act. But now, looking back, we can say that it would have been the most moral act: by killing her child she could have saved millions of lives. This physical world or mind is given to you to go through and to go beyond. Distinctions or choices in life are to be understood as part of life. Do not pick one against the other. So, transcend your mind.

Reality/God doesn’t cause the mind's/ego's problems. Ignorance of Reality/God does!

What is the cause of suffering or misery? And what is the clue to experience Peace/Fullness?..........

Chandhogya Upanishad, 7.23.1: "Yo Vai Bhuma Thathsukham, Na Alpe Sukhamasthi!"...Limitation is suffering or misery! Resistance to experience-as-is or non-limitation/"now" is suffering or misery! The root cause?...Ignorance...Ignorance of your true nature.  Manu Smrithi, 4.160, defines misery and happiness as: "Sarvam Para-vasham Dhukkham, Sarvam Aathmaa-vasham Sukham"...Suffering/Misery is the dependence on external factors and happiness is the dependence on the True-Self. In other words...Consciousness apparently knowing something other than itself is suffering and Consciousness knowing itself, as it is, is happiness. You don't know Who You Really Are and that you are already full and complete. So, you, as separate-self (ego) lacking completeness, go out into the world to find completeness through the objects. Separate-self is confused by what is real (Self) with what isn't (objects).  When personal doership is taken seriously due to an assumed/illusory limitation, an attack on who you are - who you think you are - brings suffering.  Suffering happens because you expect something different; or if you don't get something you want and get something you don't want. Flow of life is an Impersonal Functioning by Maya/Eeshwara; there is no personal doership. In other words, suffering arises when the other or you act against your ideology - resulting in uncomfortableness with the other and (ultimately) uncomfortableness with yourself.

Suffering consists of guilt, blame, pride, worry and expectation and is effectively a deep expression of a belief system that is rooted in separation/limitation (due to ignorance). A belief that you are a doer (and the other is a doer) and you make things unfold they way they unfold. Most of the world's suffering is based on this one single belief, belief of personal doership.  The second most important belief that causes human suffering is the belief that you require pleasure, pleasure, pleasure in order to be complete. Then any pain in the moment is seen as an attack on who you are or who you think you are. You are forced to resist the flow of life.

Vedantha points to five reasons why humans suffer: 1. Not knowing the true nature of Reality, 2. Grasping of things/possessions that are not real, 3. Running away from and fearing things that are not real, 4. Identification with a false/constricted self (enlarged ego) and 5. Fear of death. Vedantha then says that all of these are contained in the First-Cause (root cause) of suffering - not knowing your true nature (which amounts to ignorance)! Sanskrit word for suffering is 'dukkha'. 'Du' means suffering/unpleasantness and 'kha' means hollow or insubstantial. The traditional example is bamboo. It looks very solid and substantial from the outside but it is hollow or empty within.

What is Peace? Peace is absence of suffering, absence of binding desires.  Peace is unbroken Happiness.  It is the absence of blame of the self and the absence of blame of the other. Peace/Love/Aananda = Knowing of our own Being; In other words, Peace/Love/Aananda = Conscious of Existence without the other (or any objects). This is the most important equation of Life for Self-Realization.  If there was a purpose to life, we may say that it is for this experience of Peace/Reality - to "be." An individual-self experiences this Peace only intermittently because it limits its infinite nature to a finite body in ignorance.  Suffering is attitudinal, not circumstantial. Suffering causes you to seek, seek an end to suffering.  The purpose of an individual with a sense of personal doership is to seek happiness/fullness (at all times) through peace of mind, because if we get anything else the seeking carries on! However when suffering stops, seeking stops. So peace must be the ultimate purpose of an individual.

The best clue, therefore, to be out of misery is to know yourself as Peace/Fullness! No action can alleviate misery, only knowledge can.

The fastest way to Peace/Fullness in day-to-day world is to know yourself and to know the other also as yourself!  You will then be comfortable with yourself and with the other. You will see life as an Impersonal Functioning with pleasure and pain occurring as usual but not causing any attractive and aversive reactions in you (binding desires: raaga, dvesha). Even if they do, they do not affect the continuous flow of impersonal love (personal love is an obstructed love).

Krishna in Bhagavad Geetha: "The doubts which have arisen in your heart out of ignorance should be slashed by the weapon of knowledge!"

Chandhogya Upanishad: "Sarvam Khalu Idham Brahman!"...There is nothing other than God!

The second fastest way to Peace/Fullness is to embrace "Is-ness." Life is perfect the way it is. Drop the idea of a separate-self/ego with a sense of personal doership. Peace is in your attitude towards life, not in the flow of life (whatever happens in life, whether pleasure or pain). Life is not set up to work for you, the ego. It is set up to work for life. Life works for you (the ego) when you work for the real you, the Awareness. See the perfection in the present state of things. Know the other as yourself! There is nothing more perfect than what is going on right now - and the proof of this is the fact that it is going on. It is useless and pointless to argue with life. Remember: What you resist, persists; what you look at, disappears. Look at "what is so," right here, right now. The pathway is total acceptance of personal non-doership.

A man of understanding will live with the inter-connected opposites as part of life but will not choose/judge or prefer any one of the two against the other. Because the other is part of the whole, you cannot reject it. He has dropped his personal, individual doership. His acceptance of life is total. He looks at things from a balanced point, the point of 'being.'

Krishna in Bhagavad Geetha: "Accept both the polarities, because both are there together. Go with them, because they are. Don't choose one against the other!"

Krishna accepts duality, the dialectics of life, altogether and therefore transcends duality. Transcendence is only possible when you choicelessly accepts both parts together, when you accept the whole. Yes, you may prefer one over the other, but not one against the other.

Gauthama Buddha: "Events happen, deeds are done (appear to be done), but there is no individual doer of any deed!"

Another (secondary) way to Peace/Fullness is to make others happy.  Your life is about everyone whose lives you touch and it is about how you touch them. How to touch them determines how you experience your self - and how you experience your self determines how happy you are. That which you wish to experience for yourself, cause another to experience.  Give away that you wish to receive!  In this sense, your life is about you...in a "reverse" kind of way. You are to pay attention to yourself by paying attention to others. You are to help yourself evolve by helping others evolve. When we see others as divine and treat others as divine, the energy of attraction will be used, at last, as it was designed to be used: To bring to us the reality of us. Do unto others as you would have it done unto you.

This does not mean that you must focus on making other people happy to the exclusion of yourself. When making another happy is at the cost of you being unhappy, you are defeating your own purpose.  So we are not talking here about rolling over and playing dead, or turning yourself into a carpet to be walked all over. You are offering your gifts in order to experience and express a part of yourself that speaks of Who You Are.  Yet if Who You Are is not valued, but ignored or abused, then you actually hurt, rather than help, the person to whom you are giving your gift - for you have taught them that the way to continue receiving the best from others is to return their worst. And this is not something that you want to teach anybody. It is actually unkind to teach someone this.

Therefore, watch out! You cannot give to receive! If you give for that reason, then you are not really giving, you are practicing a subtle form of taking.  The idea in giving is for you to feel closer to the other in giving, not for you to experience that the other is feeling closer to you in getting.  Your getting is experienced in the moment of your giving through the self-experiencing/self-expressing act in itself.  Therefore, the best way would be to do it and forget all about it immediately.  The test of every act is to see whether it binds you or releases you.  It is not the nature of the act alone that constitutes its goodness. It is also the intention.  For example, if after giving charity, the thought that you have done a good deed sticks to you, it certainly binds you, though only with a golden chain.

Can depression lead to meditation?..........

Yes...Depression can lead one to meditation because it is certainly more real, it is yours, it is authentic.  Laughter is shallow, happiness is shallow; it is not yours, it depends on something, somebody. And anything that makes you dependent - however happy you can feel for a few moments, soon the honeymoon will be over. Deep down lovers hate each other, for the simple reason that they are dependent on each other for gaining happiness - and nobody likes dependence. Slavery is not the intrinsic desire/nature of human beings; complete freedom is. That is why hatred is moving underneath the facade of happiness.

But intense sadness is more authentic, because you are not dependent on anybody. It is yours, absolutely yours. Deep sadness gives you depth. Deep sadness gives you a great contextual field with which you can experience happiness more fully. This should give you great insight, that your sadness can help you more than your happiness. Avoidance of sadness is not the right approach. Get acquainted with sadness/depression, go deeper into it and you will be surprised. Sit silently, and be sad; it has its own beauties. Deep sadness as a measuring stick tells us more about ourselves, more quickly, than any other tool.  Do not repress sadness.

Whatsoever is the case is the case. Accept it and let it come in front of you.  What you do not hold, you cannot heal.  Repressed sadness goes on moving deeper into the unconscious, hides in the darkest corner of your being where you cannot find it.  And of course the deeper it goes, the more trouble it is - because then it starts functioning from unknown corners of your being and you are completely helpless.

The outcomes of extended-sadness/depression are three: 1. Addiction...It could be drugs, alcoholism, workaholism, smoking, obsessive eating, obsessive watching of tv, etc., 2. Suicide and 3. Spirituality. Very small percentage of people could come out of depression and get into the path of spirituality. When you choose spirituality, depression becomes an ambassador to the divine. It is a great opportunity; it is a blessing. How?...When the situation/mood or the depressive-emotion is hot, seek the source! Meditate on it. Because the path is now clear, visible inside, you can move on it easily. That is the reason why sometimes the deepest depression can take you to the highest love. You will find that the source of it is Pure Love.  If a tiger is attacking you in a night dream (a nightmare), aren't you forced to wake up upon doubting and then finally by knowing (or remembering) that the dream-ego is not the real you?

Sadness is giving you a chance to go deeper into your aloneness. Rather than jumping from one shallow happiness to another shallow happiness and wasting your life, it is better to use sadness as a means for meditation. Witness it. It is a friend. It is a blessing in disguise.  Sadness opens the door of your eternal aloneness. Sadness creates a contextual field within which our happiness/peace may be more richly and fully experienced.  Deep sadness and the highest happiness meet at the top of the circle where there is simply peace/bliss. One can be blissfully sad or blissfully happy. For bliss/peace is the experience of Self; fully expressed and fully known.

So, the next time you feel sad, experience it full out. Then watch how happy you feel. There is nothing like a good cry, cleansing grief of loss can open you as nothing else. It is sadness that is repressed, rather than expressed, that creates unhappiness, leading to chronic depression. People who seem to be continually sad are not expressing sadness, they are merely talking about it.  Sadness fully expressed, disappears!

Sadness is an extraordinary powerful emotion that can tell us extraordinarily important things. The degree to which one feels sad about any particular thing can provide deep insight and opportunity for self-reflection. Fleeting sadness can bring us one kind of awareness, while deep and prolonged sadness can bring us another.  Enormous sadness can transform people into compassionate, sensitive and deeply caring human beings as we all know. They are uniquely prepared and perfectly equipped to help others who have faced huge sadness in their lives, and may find great satisfaction and joy in doing so.

The concepts of both bondage (suffering) and liberation abide in the mind. Suffering is to the mind what pain is to the body. Pain is the intelligence of the body to alert you that the body is in trouble. Similarly, suffering is cooperating with your desire on the level of mind for peace/happiness.  Mind alone is the door to the external world, it alone is the ladder to the internal being. Depression leads one to meditation and then to Self-Inquiry.

Suffering/Sadness/Depression is telling you that you have mistaken yourself for a separate-self/ego. Suffering says, "Take a look!"

Sadness/Depression gives you emptiness. Complete emptiness is nothing but meditation and, consequently, Enlightenment. Perfection is not only when nothing more can be added but also nothing more can be taken away!

What is the difference between contemplation, concentration and meditation?..........

In ordinary thinker-mind moves as a madman. In contemplation the mad man is led, directed; he cannot escape anywhere. It is allowed to move somewhere. It moves in one line. Directed thinking (staying in one line) is contemplation. Concentration is staying at one point. Mind is not allowed to move. The ability to concentrate is not something to feel blessed about. It is a frozen state of mind, a very narrow state of mind. Useful, of course, useful - for others. Useful in scientific inquiry, useful in business, useful in the market, useful in politics - but absolutely useless for yourself.

If you become too attuned with concentration you will become very, very tense. Concentration is a tense state of mind; you will never be relaxed. Contemplation is like a torch, directed; concentration is like a laser, focused; and meditation is like a lamp, unfocused. In meditation, mind itself is not allowed at all. Meditation is no-mind. Remember, Enlightenment is non-mind. (No-mind is a still-mind. Non-mind is the simultaneous falsification of both the mind and the world and the resulting knowledge that the knower/experiencer and what is being experienced are not two separate things.)

If you become meditative, any moment you want to concentrate on a particular problem, you can. It is not an issue. But if you become too focused with concentration the vice versa is not true: You cannot relax. A relaxed mind can always concentrate easily, there is no trouble about it. But a focused mind becomes obsessed, narrow. It is not easy for it to relax and leave the tension. It usually remains tense.

What is the best time for meditation?..........

Best time for meditation is during Brahma Muhurtha which is 96 minutes (2 muhurthas or 4 ghadias) before sunrise. During this time breath generally flows through both nostrils equally and mind is inherently calm. Essentially we are all a combination of the three gunas (qualities or factors); sathva (purity), rajas (activity), and thamas (inertia). Brahma Muhurtha is the time when our sathva content comes to the forefront. So it is the ideal time for worship, reflection on the truths, and meditation.

Sandhya times—early morning and late afternoon—are two other times that are best for meditation because the energy of the universe is switching at those points. The raajasic energy is going thaamasic in the late afternoon and there is a balance period where you don’t have rajas or thamas. It’s saathvic time. It’s easy to meditate then because you don’t have a lot of external vibrations or mind noise. It’s the same early in the morning when the night energy is changing to the day energy. Thaamasic energy is shifting to raajasic energy. There is an in-between state and that’s a good time to meditate.

Why is a serpent used as the symbol for kundalini/spirituality?

The serpent symbol for the kundalini is very apt and meaningful. Perhaps there is no better symbol. Nowhere in the world is there a religion in which the serpent has not been depicted somewhere. This is because the serpent has many qualities that fit with the kundalini.

The motion of a serpent is of sliding, crawling. The very first experience of kundalini is that of something moving within. The serpent has no legs, yet it moves. It is sheer energy. When a serpent sits it forms coils. When the kundalini lies asleep within us too rests in the same manner. When kundalini awakens fully it reaches up to the sahasraara, the seventh chakra center. It opens and spreads like the hood of the serpent, it expands enormously.

When the serpent stands up it is a wonderful sight; it stands erect on its tail. It is almost a miracle, and yet it can perform this act. It stands by the strength of its own willpower; it has no material strength to rely on. So it is also when the kundalini awakens: it has no physical support; it is an immaterial energy.

Is Life for a separate-self predestined or does it have free will?..........

Two different understandings from two different perspectives, Absolute and Relative, are presented along with an Enlightened approach to our daily life.

How do we define destiny and free will?...What you come across is your destiny, and the way you respond is your free will. What you cannot control is destiny, and what you can control is free will. Remember: Thoughts...Words...Actions...Habits...Character...Destiny!

In ultimate, or the highest level of understanding (from a Non-Dualistic standpoint, Absolute standpoint), there is no such thing as destiny and no such thing as free will, No and No!

How?...From an Absolute standpoint, separate-self/ego does not exist as an independent entity.  Free will is just an ego concept; there cannot be anything like free will.  It does not, then, mean that you are a dependent and a slave. Mind moves into opposites very easily. It creates dichotomies: Either you are a free agent (free will) or you are a slave (destined).  Both concepts - free will (individual will, 'sankalpa' or 'purushaartha' or 'swaadheena itchha') and destiny (Totality's will, fate, 'vidhi' or 'praarabdha-karma') - are untrue from an Absolute standpoint, both are false concepts because 'the you' are not, so you cannot be a free agent and you cannot be a slave. Free will and destiny are both ego concepts, based on personal doership. Because for both, that 'you' will be needed. For who is it that has either of them? It is the ego. But, ultimately, ego/separate-self does not exist as a separate/independent entity. Hence, understanding that the real-you are free of the ego and that the ego is mithya or insubstantial causes the whole question to collapse and vanish.  In unconsciousness the ego exists but there is no true free will; only the 'experience/feeling' of free will or the 'illusion' of free will.  In Consciousness the free will (freedom) exists but the ego disappears.  Then there is no point of asking "...my will and Totality's will?" Then there is no distinction between you and Totality. You are Totality and Totality is you.  The whole problem can be reduced to a simple thing: to be Consciousness or not to be Consciousness. But, you are always Consciousness.  And there is really no question of free will for Consciousness because Consciousness itself is Freedom! So, these concepts, destiny and free will, won't apply to you, the real-you; so, No and No!

In lower level of understanding, from an individual/relative standpoint, however, the answer is Yes and Yes!

By definition, separate-self has free will - bound by The Law of Karma.  What you come across is your destiny, and the way you respond is your free will.  One can always present the argument that you come across a situation, which is destiny, and you respond to it in a certain way, which you call free will. But why did one person respond in one way and the second person respond in a different way? May be destiny controls how we use our free will? So, figuring out whether there is destiny or free will is an insolvable problem. All we can say is that both of them are there.  'What all you have' is destiny. The choice you have within the 'what all you have' is your free will.  It is like if you are the captain of a train, you can go wherever you like, but you are bound by the tracks to wherever they can take! The tracks, in this metaphor, are analogous to The Law of Karma or Destiny. It is like this: your height is destiny but your weight is your free will. So, Yes and Yes! Remember Life is a paradox. Two apparently contradicting truths can exist at the same time coming from two different angles or viewpoints.  If the mind says that only one of them can be true, either destiny or free will, there lies the potential for misery.

Matter/mind or unconsciousness means slavery (body is bound by the laws of nature). However, Consciousness means freedom because it is Limitless. From the point of view of Consciousness, Consciousness has infinite freedom to take any form or any shape it likes in Life (Consciousness is Dimensionless). Consciousness is not watching a mechanical system that was set in place at the beginning of time unfold. Where Consciousness is concerned, there is no past and future. It sees the whole picture in the ever-present 'now.' Things happen sequentially and simultaneously. If you watch one ant going from one side of a ball and another ant coming from the other side of the ball, with your viewpoint you can say, in a few seconds they will meet. But for the ants it is predestination!

You, as an individual mind, can project (free to project) any dream you like. Everything in the dream is your creation. But once you enter into your own dream as a subject/ego, you are limited and bound.  As the Creator we project the night dream world, but as a creature we are just one among the projections. The same thing happens for a separate-self in the waking-dream! You are freedom as Infinite Consciousness and you are bound as a finite body-mind complex, yes and yes; this is from an individual perspective.  So yes and yes from an individual or Relative perspective and no and no from an Absolute perspective. The amount of freedom depends on the proportion of how you identify yourself.  The further you are from the center (Consciousness), the more you are bound; the nearer the center, the more you are free! It all depends on the perspective, from where you are looking.  And, of course, that freedom comes with a responsibility towards the whole, towards the Totality; it is not a license to do anything you like as a separate self!  With the disappearance of sense of separation as a doer/enjoyer, our behavior will automatically be in line with the Totality and serves the Totality.

However, as long as you firmly believe and identify that you are an independent separate-self with complete free will, in this life's drama you will take on new parts - life after life after life - and most probably suffer. But as soon as you realize (self-inquiry is learning about the Ultimate Reality through a guru and scriptures, realizing that you are that Ultimate Reality through inquiry and experiencing that Reality through the world) that you are not a separate-self but the Self/Consciousness simply acting in an impersonal way, you will be free! Free of the person you think you are, free of the ego, free of incompleteness. The ego is you but you are not the ego. But, remember: As long as a separate-self seems to exist, its relationships and the world are as real as the separate-self, so we should behave with the world accordingly, according to the laws that govern the relative plane, and prudently.

So what is the most prudent way to correct this situation, to limit the misery of samsaara, before you can realize that separate-self/ego is a shadow/phantom and that you have always been free of it? The following is an Enlightened perspective.

Totality/Maya/Creator/Eeshwara makes people (in their dreaming state) experience things in dreams without actually creating those dream objects. In night-dream, the dream character thinks that it has the true free will. Similarly, Maya makes people (in their waking state) experience this world as if they have true free will without actually creating a true world! An ego does not have true free will because it is programmed and conditioned; it is going to act in a certain way. The activation and the result of any action may be either due to destiny or free will, but there is no way you can figure this out. You will go mad trying to figure this out. So, it is better to think that what we feel like doing is what is destined to happen and yet we don't feel like slaves.

In other words...Free will is a description of the feeling in a moment, it just so happens that what you feel like doing is nothing but Maya's/Eeshwara's will. Choice is being made, but that is part of the story, part of the Impersonal Functioning of Maya. Creator has already decided your choice but you don't know that. You simply confirm Creator's decision. Choice is an essential part of the unfolding of Life/Manifestation, but it is not your choice. Choice is simply another thought in the sequence of thoughts. It is a choosing thought (but without a real chooser). Chooser is simply a filler thought. You don't really choose thoughts, they just happen to you. Yes, you may have free will, but it's worth nothing. This should be the understanding. One important point here: Although the ego does not have true free will, it does have the "experience" or "feeling" of having free will. And this is a great gift from Reality - unique to human beings - because it makes the separate-self seek and know/realize Reality!

Actions and effects are taking place. New body/mind organism are created and destroyed continuously as part of the Manifestation (Evolution) according to the law of cause and effect (Law of Karma). Cause and effect only relates to actions, not to any individual. Important...Cause and effect only relates to actions, not any individual. Choice is being made as part of the Impersonal Functioning. No individuals are involved. Individuals are there merely as instruments for the actions to take place. No "one" is reincarnating to bear the effects of past actions. Dis-identification process continues through many lives, but these are not the 'lives' of the same entity. There is no individual karma, only impersonal or universal karma which keeps the evolution going. There is only One Player, playing this game. That One is Indivisible Consciousness. Nothing ever goes wrong, nothing has ever been wrong, nothing can ever go wrong is the understanding. Life is like a movie, but it is happening 'live.' It is like reading a book sentence by sentence, but the whole story lies in your hands. So think from the top-down, not from the bottom-up.

Krishna in Bhagavad Geetha, 3.27: "Under all conditions, all actions are done by the gunas (aspects/qualities) of prakrithi (nature). One, whose mind is deluded by ahamkaara (ego), considers "I am the doer!""

Gauthama Buddha: "Events happen, deeds are done, but there is no individual doer thereof!"

Therefore, in conclusion, in each moment do exactly what you think or feel right to do, understanding that what you end up doing is what is destined to happen!  Feeling of free will is a gift; belief in free will is suffering.  Feeling/acting as if you have free will but knowing that it is illusory and with the understanding that it's all Totality's will is liberation! You, as Consciousness, are the knower-witness of this drama (Maya's drama), so enjoy the drama!

What is the difference between Creator's free will and an individual's free will?..........

The main difference between Creator's and an individual's free will is that Creator has true free will and the individual has the "experience" or "feeling" of free will! Experience as though he has free will.

Creator's/Eeshwara's will creates everything including individual's free will. Separate-self's (pseudo) will makes him create choices in life. Pseudo because the choice has already been made but is hidden from you so you get the feeling that you are making the choice.  Imagine that you are your little finger. Now when you move, who is doing the moving? Is it you as a finger? Or is it your body (as that of which you, a finger, are a part)? Well, we are all part of The Body of Eeshwara.

At the end of your spiritual journey, however, you will realize that your so-called free will is not different from Eeshwara's free will.

But, remember one important thing: Even though you do not actually have true free will as a separate entity, you should act as though you have one! Why? Because you can and you do have the "experience" of free will! Experience as though you have free will! And that is a gift from Reality which makes you seek and experience Reality!  Unless you seek, you can never find the Ultimate Truth. Truth is hidden from all life forms unless they seek for it. And seeking is possible only if there is the feeling of free will. Human beings are the only ones in the entire creation of 8.4 million species that have the experience of choice, the experience of seeking, the experience or feeling of free will (despite having no true free will)!

Trying to act in this world as if it were unreal (no free will) is futile and meaningless, because our actions and the person who feels "I am doing these actions" are all part of this world. As this person, we and our actions are as real or as unreal as this world of which we now seem to be a part, so this person should outwardly act in this world as if it is as real as himself or herself (which it is), but should inwardly doubt the reality of all these things and should therefore try to investigate the ‘I’ who seems to experience them.

Moreover, even if we wanted to act in this world as if it were unreal, in practice we would not be able to do so consistently. If someone held our head under water, we would not be able to calmly dismiss the feeling that we are suffocating and drowning as being unreal or just part of a dream, but would struggle to raise our head above water in order to breath. Likewise, when we are crossing a road and see a speeding car coming towards us, we run out of its way, and do not just think, "This is only a dream, so let it hit me, because even if it hurts me, it does not matter."

Deep down, know that it is all Eeshwara's will.  Why? Because the idea of free will is an inevitable side effect of the belief in a separate entity.  If we believe there is a separate entity, we will by definition, whether we know it or not, believe there is free will. That is implicit in the separate-self.  Then act as though you have free will until you have the understanding that you are not a separate entity (as a doer) but Awaresness having no personal responsibility.

And strangely, understanding that there is no personal responsibility (meaning that there are no separately existing real and independent persons) does not make us behave in irresponsible ways.  It is when we believe that there is personal responsibility, that we find ourselves behaving in irresponsible ways. That feeling of separateness gives rise to the irresponsible behavior. What enabled Hitler to behave like he did? The founding thought behind his behavior was the deep sense of being a separate-self. When that sense of separation goes, we don't find ourselves going around and trashing people behaving in an unkind, ugly, irresponsible ways. No! If a man is truly in love with his wife, giving him freedom to beat her is not going to induce him to beat her. The understanding can only produce/create what is contained in that understanding itself which is pure love!

With the disappearance of sense of separation as a doer, our behavior is in line with the Totality and serves the Totality.

If, as this apparent entity, we believe that there is no free will, then that is simply a belief that we superimpose onto our much deeper conviction that we are a separate doer, chooser, decider etc. This view is nihilistic and dangerous.  Instead of dropping personal doership or accountability as a separate entity, we are assigning a new task of doing something else - doing nothing or acting irresponsibly, etc.

Peace/Fullness is simply in dropping personal doership or personal accountability or unconscious mind.  With it, the thinker-mind (or the knower-mind) is dropped. And you are left with working-mind (or being-mind) alone or just the biological conditioning of your being which is programmed to be always in Peace with yourself and with others.

What is the difference between fate and fatalism?..........

Fate, destiny or 'praarabdha-karma', is one of the factors which influences the future. Fate is a balanced and healthy attitude in life. The second factor that will influence our life or future is our 'free will.' Fatalism means fate is the only factor which determines our future. Fatalism is a dangerous and unhealthy attitude which will lead to irresponsibility and destruction.

Does Everything and Nothing mean one and the same?..........

Yes. Everything and Nothing (No-thing), Whole and Emptiness, – they look contradictory but they both mean the same. They are both Absolutes.

In dictionaries they are opposites but in life they are not. Look at it in this way: If we say that I am everywhere, it means that I am nowhere. If we say that we love all, or if we say that we love no one (in particular), it means the same. If we love someone, then only is there a difference. If we love all, it means the same as loving no one (no one in particular). There is no difference then. The difference is always in degrees, relative. And these are both two extremes, they have no degrees, no differences: The total (infinity, 'poornam') and the zero ('poojyam') have no degrees. So you can call the total a zero, or you can call a zero the total. In their wisdom, scientists have identified infinity with two zeros! Remember: At infinite speed it takes zero time to get anywhere!

The Whole means that Nothing can be added to it, and the Emptiness means Nothing can be deducted from it. It always needs two to create a boundary between them. So the Whole has no limits. In the same way the Emptiness can have no limits, no boundaries, because if it can be limited, it is something - then it cannot be Nothing. Only something can be limited. Therefore, the Whole and the Emptiness are two ways of saying the same thing. That's the reason why Hindus, in their highest wisdom, have called the Ultimate Reality as Brahman, meaning Limitlessness...Nothing and Everything. Experience always happens in the Now-Here (Chith-Sath). Now is a moment that is infinitely small or nothing and Here is a point in space that is infinitely large (because wherever you go in space, it is Here) or everything. Nothing (as in no-thing) and Everything simultaneously! Apparent time and apparent space simultaneously (time and space depend on each other and always co-exist)! It is perception that refracts the dimensionless/infinite Here and makes it appear as space, and it is thought that refracts the eternal Now and makes it appear as time.

Eesha Upanishad: "Om Poornam-Adah Poornam-Idham; Poornaath Poornam Udachhyathe; Poornasya Poornam Aadhaaya, Poornam Eva Vashishyathe!"...That is whole (emptiness/absolute/zero) and this is whole (all/relative/infinity), from within the whole comes the whole (from gold comes the ornaments); by getting/grabbing the whole from the whole, only the whole remains (getting/grabbing the gold from the ornament, only gold remains)!...From Absolute point of view...You are Whole/Consciousness, world is also the same Whole/Consciousness (world is a modulation of Consciousness; whole/perfection can only come out of the whole/perfection), if you can see/grab the world as Whole/Consciousness, you realize and remain as Consciousness/You!

That’s why some enlightened beings have called the inner space Emptiness, Shoonya, The Void, Nothingness, Anaathma – and some have called the inner space The Whole, Everything, Absolute Being, Brahman, Aathma, The Supreme Self, the Reality.  These are the two ways to describe it. One is positive, the other is negative.  Either you have to include all or have to exclude all – you cannot describe it with any term which is relative. An absolute term is needed. Both the contradictory poles are absolute terms. Reality is Whole ('poornam') from the point of view of Awareness and spirituality; Reality is Emptiness ('shoonyam') from the point of view of mind and objective science. But Shankara's "poorna experience" and Buddha's "emptiness experience" are one and the same!

Buddha called the Absolute as Shoonyatha, Anaathma or Nothingness, for he did not want people to hang on to another concept called soul, Jeevaathma. Buddha's approach was completely ego-negative.  Nothingness does not mean simply nothingness; it means no-thing-ness.  Shoonyatha means "hollowness" in Sanskrit.  It really means the void of everything, void of things. But the void itself is there, with utter presence, so it is just not void as we think. It is void of objects, i.e. the experiencer and the objects of experience. It is like the sky (without clouds) which is empty, which is pure space, but which IS. Everything comes in it and goes, and it remains. It is vibrant with all possibilities; it is absolute potential. Buddhist monk Saraha's disciple Naagaarjuna (one of the greatest philosophers of the world) refers to the wisdom of Shoonyatha - "no rise, no fall, no addition and no deletion." Buddha has chosen one of the really potent words - Shoonyatha. Buddha's nothingness has been simply misunderstood by Hindus. Never think that Buddha's nothingness is a negative state, an absence...no. No-thing-ness means things disappear; only the ultimate substance remains. Forms ('Naama-Roopa') disappear, only the Formless (Brahman or Sath-Chith-Aananda) remains.

Therefore Buddha's nothingness and Upanishad's wholeness are two sides of the same coin. Shoonyatha=Brahman; Nirvaana=Moksha; Buddha taught the illusoriness of ego and soul, but did not go farther probably because he thought the world could not understand the higher truth. Hence followers go with him to that point of his, and then deny the Vedanthic doctrine of one Supreme Reality when Buddha himself neither denied it nor advocated it. Buddha denied a Creator-God, soul, scriptures and heaven. But he never denied Godliness. Buddha was neither a theist nor an atheist, but a trans-theist. H.G.Wells on Buddha: "He is the most godly and the most godless man in the whole history of man!" If science were to agree with one of these two positions of wholeness or nothingness, it would agree with Buddha's nothingness as it cannot find any substantial thing anywhere in the universe!

Naagaarjuna: "Chathushkoti vinurmuktha-thathvam shoonyam!"...Shoonyam is beyond the four possibilities of truth.  <<<We have four categories/classifications of truth: 1. true ('sath'; eternally unchanging, absolute, independent existence, has no beginning and no end), 2. untrue ('asath'; a square circle; a barren women's baby, 'thuchha', non-appearing no-existence), 3. both true and untrue (true from one point of view but untrue from a different point of view; 'sath-asath'; ex: the doctrine of karma and reincarnation; has no beginning but an end) and 4. neither true nor untrue ('mithya'; world as an appearance is mithya; not-real; a mystery; apparently-real, appearing non-existence, has no beginning but an end).  As we all know...Science deals with the objective knowledge and/or the physical world or the observed world; religion deals with the ethical, moral, psychological and/or the subtle world or the non-observed world; spirituality deals with the knowledge of the Spirit or Consciousness or Awareness and/or the deeper nature of the observer himself.  The doctrine of Karma and Reincarnation is in the realm of the metaphysical/subtle which is true from an individual point of view but untrue from the Absolute point of view.  However, Brahman is neither sath nor asath; it is the one that illumines the both; it is Yoursef!

Krishna in Bhagavad Geetha, 13.13: "Anaadi Math Param Brahman, Na Sath Thath Na Asath"...I/Awareness, that knows the duality of Sath/Cause and Asath/Effect, is the Ultimate!>>>

There also have been some enlightened beings who have remained totally silent. They have not called it anything, because whatsoever you call it – whether you call Truth being or non-being – the moment you give it a name, a term, a word, you have erred, because it includes both. Lao Tzu says: He who knows, does not speak (that he knows). He who speaks (that he knows), does not know.

But get this! Truth is neither nothing nor everything! The positive always has a taint of the mind in it. When the world is negated as not-real, it does not mean that the Truth is positive. Positive is also a relative term, within the realm of the mind. Truth is beyond both positive and negative, and is the background of both. (Beyond=/means in and through the world but not affected by the world or unreachable to the world - like light pervading a hand; 'asangathva'; beyond/transcendent means it is both the absolute and the relative at the same time). Truth cannot be put into words, cannot be talked about. But it has to be conveyed. Then there is no choice but to express it in absolute terms, either nothing or whole, either positive or negative. Some techniques involve using ‘positive’ as a legitimate means to eliminate all that is negative in the pursuit of Truth. When everything negative is thus disposed of, what remains over as the supposed ‘positive’ no longer appears positive. Its relativity being lost, it stands in its own glory as the Ultimate Truth. Therefore, the Ultimate can also be pointed out to be in a negative manner.

Reality is whole.  For example, if you say, “Reality is alive,” it is meaningless, because then who will be death? It includes all. It must have death in it as completely as birth, otherwise to whom will death belong? And if death belongs to someone else and aliveness belongs to Reality – then there are two Realities, and then there will be many problems which cannot be solved. Reality must be both birth and death.  Reality must be both the Creator and the Rejuvenator.  If you say Reality is the Creator, then who is the Destroyer? If you say Reality is good, then what will be evil?

Because of this difficulty, Christians, Muslims, Zoroastrians, and many other religions have created a Devil side by side with Reality, because to whom will the evil belong? They have created a Devil. But nothing is solved – the problem is only pushed one step back because then it can be relevantly asked, “Who has created the Devil?” If Reality itself creates the Devil, then it is responsible. And if the Devil is something independent, not related to Reality, then it itself becomes the Reality, a supreme power. And if Reality has not created the Devil, how can Reality destroy Devil? It is impossible. Theologians go on giving some answers to a question but that answer again creates more questions.

This duality – to save Reality from the negative pole – creates problems. Eastern seers have not created the other pole. They say Reality is both: The Creator and the Rejuvenator, the good and the bad because Reality is the Source (Source of everything). This is difficult to conceive of because the moment we say “Reality” we cannot conceive of it being bad. But in the East they have tried to penetrate the deepest mystery of life – that is, Oneness.  Somehow, good and bad, birth and death, negative and positive, meet somewhere, and that meeting point is Life, Oneness. What will you call that meeting point? Either you will have to use a positive term, or a negative one, because we don’t have any other terms.

If you use positive terms, then you call it “Being” with a capital B – Reality, Absolute, Brahman. Or if you want to use s negative term, then you call it Nirvaana, Nothingness, Shoonyatha, Non-being, Anaathma. Both indicate the same.  That is why sometimes we call it Being, and sometimes we call it Non-Being. It is both. It depends on you. If the positive appeals to you, then call it Being. If the negative appeals to you, then call it Non-Being. It depends on you. Whatsoever feels good, whatsoever you feel will give you maturity, growth, evolution, call it that.

We cannot say "Reality is," we cannot say "Reality is-not" - because Reality is both.  Reality is Non-Duality which does not mean the non-existence of a second thing, but the non-existence of a second thing as other than the Reality. It is so comprehensive that -is and -is-not- are both implied in its being. Is-ness is its periphery and Is-not-ness is its very center. At the very center Reality is nothing but Pure Nothingness. Out of that 'ex-nihilo' Everything seemingly arises. The universe is just on the circumference; at the center there is Nothing, or there is only No-thing.

There are two types of persons: One who cannot feel any affinity with negativity and the other who cannot feel any affinity with the positivity. Buddha is the negative type. He cannot feel affinity with the positive, he feels affinity with the negative. He grew up with riches. He uses all negative terms. Shankara doesn’t feel affinity with the negative. Shankara comes from a poor family. He talks about the ultimate reality in positive terms. Both say the same thing. Buddha calls it Shoonyatha, and Shankara calls it Brahman. Buddha calls it The Void, Nothing, and Shankara calls it The Absolute, The All. But they are saying exactly the same thing!

Buddha preached no-self and did not enter into scriptural interpretation. So the Hindus threw him out of their religion.  Shankara however although he agreed in nearly all points with Buddha, was a tactician and wanted to teach these truths within the Hindu fold. Hence he did it in Rome as Rome does! He made himself outwardly appear as an orthodox Hindu, and thus secured his aim!

<<<Zero is the facilitator between Numbers and Infinity (like in 1/0, 2/0, 3/0.....=Infinity).

Similarly, Maya/Mind is the facilitator between Many/World and Brahman.

Nothing (as in No-Thing) is the facilitator between Everything and Brahman.

World/Maya=Brahman.

Brahman manifests Everything out of Nothing/Maya/Mind/Illusion. World is an Appearance in Brahman.

Nothing is the highest state of meditation.

Nothing and Everything at-once is Truth/Brahman.>>>

"If they ask you, What is the sign of your Father in you?, say to them: It is movement and (as well as) rest!"...Jesus Christ, Gospel of Thomas, Saying 50.

What is the proof of Reality?..........

Reality=Existence-Consciousness-Infinity (Absolute). According to Vedantha, Nature (Names and Forms) is a five-fold elemental existence: space, air, fire, water and earth (in order of subtlety; that is why the universe is called 'prapancha' meaning an expression of five elements). The three gunas of Nature (sathva, rajas and thamas) give rise to five states of matter. The subtler the matter, the more powerful it is (ice is less mobile/powerful than water; water is less mobile/powerful than steam, etc...observe power in atomic, hydrogen, neutron and anti-matter bombs; observe degrees of consciousness in rock, plant, ant, animal, human, demi-god and Eeshwara). Science only recognizes four: gaseous, plasma (radiant), liquid and solid. They have missed the space, ether, ('aakasha'=all-pervading appearance=light+space+time) which is the subtlest elemental state of all. (However, scientists have claimed to have found the fifth state of matter in 1995 called BEC.) Nature or Energy or Mind or Manifestation is constantly changing (caused by time, space and karma). That is the intrinsic process or nature of Nature - appearing and disappearing.

In our minds, content constantly changes. But we remain conscious through all of these changes. Consciousness remains changeless.  Memory is also not possible without a continuous consciousness. Unless the same consciousness which was there at the time of experience is still there at the time of remembrance, one cannot say that one remembers. A momentary-consciousness cannot know that it is momentary because it is not there when it is born and it is not there when it dies (like thoughts which are discontinuous/momentary; one thought cannot know another thought). But who is there to know that consciousness is momentary?  The consciousness of change (or time) is the proof of the Changeless/Timeless Consciousness (which is eternal existence that cannot be in time). Motion can only be noticed from a motionless point. However, absence of time implies absence of space (they rise and sink together always). That means, this Consciousness must be existing beyond time and space! We call this Pure Consciousness+Pure Existence!

From another angle...If The Cause "produced" time-space-world, it is called Pure Existence because it was existing alone prior to "Creation" with no parts which apparently gave rise to all "created" things including time and space (names and forms). The names and forms are temporary and also dependent on Pure Existence, so they don't qualify as real entities because they are not parts of Existence; they are simply projections or appearances or modulations of Existence (in other words, mithya, a second order reality).  Existence/Truth or The Cause, thus, by definition is beyond time-space-attributes (free of all limitations) and, so, Real, Unchanging, Formless (Infinite) and Attributeless.  The idea that there are spacious limitations or boundaries in existence is also the proof of there being something beyond the spatial boundaries (which is infinite existence that cannot be in space), because if finitude is the final reality there would be no consciousness of finitude.

The Changeless Self is available inside as the uninvolved Chith, the Consciousness Principle (beyond time) in and through every changing thought. The Formless Self is available outside as the uninvolved Sath, the Existence Principle (beyond space) in and through every finite form. Chith is the internal changeless entity of the subject (mind).  Sath is the external limitless entity of the object (matter). Sath, Chith (Being/Existence, Knowing/Consciousness) are, therefore, the backgrounds/essences of matter and mind.

Thus the contingency of all changing and finite things in Nature (subject/object or mind/matter) - right from the atom to the largest star and cosmos - is a proof for the existence of that which is changeless and limitless (i.e., beyond time and space).  This existence of an unchanging (eternal) and limitless (infinite) conscious presence behind the phenomena is Reality! (This does not mean that the phenomena is not-Reality; waves are nothing but water; ornaments are nothing but gold. Phenomena is also Reality, a second order reality. Phenomena is Reality but Reality is not phenomena.  A wave is different than ocean in name and form, but it is the same as ocean in essence, as water.  Yes it is a paradox!) In other words, Changing and Limited Nature is the proof for the Unchanging and Infinite Reality!

If there is one thing that does not require proof, Consciousness is it. Consciousness does not require a proof because every thing is proved by Consciousness!

A small story...A disciple was arguing with his guru about the proof of existence. So the guru asked the disciple to fetch him some water to drink. The disciple ran to the river and brought his guru a glass of water. Guru then said, "I have only asked for water, why did you bring me a glass too?" The disciple understood the meaning in a flash! (Existence of forms is the proof of Formless Existence just like the consciousness of change is the proof of Changeless Consciousness. The Formless Existence, as the background, needs forms (perceptions) to express itself.  Doesn't a moving car borrow its space from the Formless Space without affecting the Space? Similarly, the Changeless Consciousness, as the background, needs names (thoughts) to express itself....names and forms ('naama-roopa')!)

Reality is not involved in the process of Nature (participating or doing), but Nature seems to get involved in the Presence of Reality (Reality is just pure being)! Reality simply illumines the gross, subtle and causal bodies (and gross, subtle and causal universes). These bodies are actually inert matter but they seem to be alive and conscious because they are illumined by Awareness.  Sun doesn't directly participate in the activities of a tree; but a tree simply grows, simply happens in the presence of the sun.  Experience belongs neither to Reality/Self nor to the mind-matter. It apparently happens when Awareness/Reality shines on the mind!

Let us look for the proof of Reality/Manifestation scientifically...Basic laws of logic or laws of thought are four (INEC): the law of identity (a thing is whatever it is, A=A); the law of non-contradiction (a thing cannot simultaneously be and not be, NOT (A and A+1)); the law of excluded middle (a thing must either be or not be, either (A or not A)); and the law of causality (for every condition or event, there must be a cause). These laws are the basic foundation of reasoning and knowing and are, thus, universal. Validity of thinking is dependent upon the validity of these laws. They apply to thought or time or physicality.

The laws of thought dictate us that the physical universe (Manifestation) cannot have been always existed, infinitely, in its form of physicality because infinity (cause of a cause of a cause...) can never be actualized in physicality or in The Realm of Possibility (universe has limits/properties, any limit/property will have to have come from a source, so must end up in its final source/origin which is unlimited/complete/whole/propertyless at some point - wholistic source will not require another source; propertyless substance can manifest properties like light manifesting a rainbow, like a circle can manifest infinite sides and not the other way round). Actual infinity in physicality is irrational, it defies the laws of thought. Because saying that a thing is x and not-x simultaneously violates the law of non-contradiction (science and religions agree on this).  An infinite number of sides of a figure inside a circle can never equal a circle which has zero sides.  Thus there has to be a beginning for Manifestation and Manifestation demands a cause, a First-Cause.

However, an infinite duration of the First-Cause meets with a logical Impossibility (again) from the law of non-contradiction.  Actual infinity is not possible in the Realm of Possibility or Physicality. But wait!  You can have an actual infinity outside the Realm of Possibility or Physicality!  You can locate a Root-Cause of infinite duration there in the No-Thought-Realm as the laws of thought do not apply there (For any Manifestation, two causes are required. Thus, First-Cause must include a Material-Cause or Sath/Nature/Prakrithi/Shakthi and an Intelligent-Cause or Chith/Consciousness/Shiva. The Material-Cause, Sath, apparently changes or modulates into the world and the Unchanging Chith witnesses the Manifestation! If everything was Consciousness, it would not be possible for Consciousness to see/observe itself. It needs an inert entity with qualities).  The Root-Cause/Reality cannot be spatially or temporally located, but it can be conceptually located outside the Realm of Possibility/Physicality.  If the Realm of Possibility includes whatever is or can be, the Realm of Impossibility or Inconceivability includes only whatever is not and cannot be. Impossibility/Inconceivability or Potential Possibility consists entirely of non-being; in short, consists of Nothing. Reality is No-thing.  So Reality must be conceived as inconceivable. Posited as impossible.  Reality, in short, does not exist (stands out) as mind knows/thinks. In Vedanthic lingo, the First-Cause is called Eeshwara/Creator and the Root-Cause is called Brahman/Source. Creator is Self-Aware (I AM) and Brahman is neither Self-Aware nor Not-Self-Aware.

The universe cannot be infinitely old as infinite duration is not possible in time-space or Physicality or Manifestation; therefore, it must have come into existence at a definite point in the past. The universe cannot have come into existence without a cause (proposition #1); therefore, it requires a First-Cause with an infinite duration (First-Cause having another cause ends up in infinite regress) to account for its existence (proposition #2).  The two propositions seem irreconcilable, but each one is dead certain, as dead certain as the laws of thought themselves.  So, how do we conclude? Since an actual infinity violates the laws of thought and cannot exist in Physicality or Manifestation; therefore, even though Reality - as First-Cause - does not exist as Physicality, Reality must have manifested the universe!

So if we locate the First-Cause of the universe outside the Realm of Possibility, that Cause becomes the Impossibility or Inconceivability (Realm of the Reality/Brahman). First-Cause having been caused again ends up in infinite regress. This Impossibility which is beyond time and space, then, accounts for the possibility; the No-Thing by which and out of which all things seemingly emerged. From the Realm of Impossibility/Inconceivability, only the insubstantial/illusory things can emerge. In other words, they can only be appearances.

What it really means is that Reality does not exist as a person or a thing or in physicality but manifested the universe as an illusion, as a dream! Nothing manifested Everything, Nothing as in No-Thing. The No-Thing is what holds Every-Thing together. This No-Thing is a Presence, Consciousness, or simply...Is-ness, Alive-ness, Godliness. Reality is Existence/Being itself! Reality illumines existence as well as non-existence...both!

Albert Einstein: "A true genius admits that he/she knows nothing!"

If they ask: "What is the sign of Father in you?" Reply: It is movement and it is rest!...Jesus Christ, The Gospel of Thomas.

Reality is No-thing (zero or potential or 'maya') out of which Everything (infinity or all things or 'mithya') emerged/appeared! (Remember: No-thing is Everything with a twist!) And Reality is also No-thing and Everything at the same time! And Reality is free of No-thing and Everything at the same time! If Reality was sathya/truth/existence alone, then there would be no knowledge of asathya/non-existence. You cannot put the Reality into one part because Reality is whole/partless; it is a third principle altogether. Take an example of a Rock. Atoms inside the Rock are moving at blazing speeds in relation to one another (relativity) and yet the Rock as a whole is not moving (Absolute). The Rock is both - moving and unmoving at the same time! The Unmoved Mover! The world has not originated (birthed) but appears; it does not exist as a real entity but only appears. The world’s appearance is never refuted. World appears and disappears. From Vedanthic lingo, Reality is known as Brahman (Brahman cannot cause anything as there is no second thing for Brahman), No-Thing is known as Maya or Potential and Everything is known as Eeshwara or Creator or Cosmos. Maya is the Inherent Power of Brahman/Supreme Reality, like sweetness is the the inherent property os sugar. Eeshwara=(Reflection of Brahman in the Cosmos)+(Maya). Brahman as the Whole is Non-Dual. When there is no second thing, the universe (as matter/mind) can only be an appearance, an illusion, a dream. Therefore, the cosmos is neither real nor unreal; it is 'mithya' meaning seemingly real, a second order reality or a dependent reality. Cosmos is real because its source is Brahman, it is unreal because it emerged from Impossibility. Dream is the only way Brahman can manifest a world without sacrificing its intrinsic nature as Infinity/Limitlessness. Eeshwara, as a Reflection of Brahman plus Maya, seemingly "becomes" Everything through Maya or Impossibility. The Reflection can take part in Manifestation, not The Original Brahman. Brahman simply IS, as The Source, as the Absolute or Pure-Awareness not affected by anything...just like a dreamer not affected by any actions from inside the dream!

How do you reach Awareness/Brahman?...Nothing from inside the Possibility/Manifestation can reach Awareness. The Limitless Awareness can only realize Awareness by dropping the notion (through the intellect/buddhi) that it has never been anything limited from "inside" the Manifestation! It is like the absolute temperature (-459.67 deg F, the point at which there is absolutely no heat energy remaining to be extracted from a substance) - where we can never reach/achieve this coldest conceivable temperature in Physicality/Possibility and yet it is the base/fundamental value that includes all other temperatures and against which all other temperatures are measured.

Maha Naarayana Upanishad: "Anoraniyaan Mahatho Mahiyaan!"...Brahman is subtler than the subtlest and yet greater than the greatest!...Means it is dimensionless. Subtlest form produces the greatest power (observe ice, water and steam; observe power in atomic, hydrogen, neutron and anti-matter bombs; observe degree of subtllety in rock, plant, ant, animal, human being and Eeshwara/Creator). There are no two here. There is only one without a second. Because there are no there and somewhere but here, and there are no past and future but now. There is just here-now. Likewise, there is no above or no below. There is just here-now. The Principle of Correspondence confirms this fact: As above, so below; As below, so above! The effect is hidden in the cause!

How is Reality "not-Twoness?"..........

In actuality 'one' cannot exist in Manifestation, it will always be two (the person who thinks of it and the idea of it, both thinker and thought, seer and seen) and, therefore, the Ultimate is not monism but not-Two i.e. Non-Duality (Advaitha). (The number) 'One' automatically brings in the concept of two; 'One' derives its meaning from two. If the numbers two and three do not exist, then the number 'One' cannot exist either. To speak of the number 'One' is only helpful if we know two, three, four. If only black color existed and nothing else, we would not know any color existed at all. The moment when we say "black," another color comes into existence. Monism (thus) is only a mental position, being the opposite of dualism. Monism indirectly assigns reality to mind and matter. It is often mistaken to be Non-Dualism. 'One' means duality.

One is opposite of pluralism (absolute is opposite of relative; soundlessness is opposite of sound), whereas the not-Two is beyond pluralism and 'One' (pure silence is beyond soundlessness and sound and illumines both).  There is really not a second thing to be ONE with.  Non-Dualism is Pure Advaitha, which is a clear negation of both dualism and monism and stands beyond both.  Advaitha does not mean everything is Reality, it means Reality only is and all else is not.  Naama-roopa are superimposed on Brahman like a shadow is superimposed on a man; i.e., naama-roopa are not away from Brahman, but they are not part of Brahman.  No measure exists to evaluate Reality; Reality cannot be counted in numbers. Even when we say "Reality is One" we make the mistake of stating Its existence with a number. And this is erroneous. In Advaitha, Truth is sought for the sake of Truth. We cannot think of Advaitha; mind cannot get there; not-Twoness is the best mind can understand!

Advaitha/Brahman or "not-Twoness" is what remains over, after rejecting all that stands as ‘this’ or ‘that!'

Chandhogya Upanishad: "Ekam Eva Advitheeyam Brahman!"

Differences are of three kinds: 1. Difference among parts of a singe entity, like parts of a body, 2. Difference among same kind of entities, like man-A and man-B and 3. Difference among different kind of entities, like a man and a lion. Brahman/Advaitha is devoid of all these three differences. How so?...In Brahman there are no internal parts because It is Pure - names and forms are not parts of Brahman like an imagined snake or a stick or a garland are not parts of rope. Is not Brahman all alone 'prior' to names and forms, 'prior' to (the apparent) Creation? The world has apparently emanated from Brahman. Names and forms, therefore, are not real. They have no existence of their own. World is Maya as Infinity can never become finite. World is an appearance in/on Brahman. Brahman is mis-perceived as the names and forms through the filters of senses and mind.  A table has parts, but wood does not have any parts. An ornament has parts, but gold does not have any parts. Are waves and bubbles parts of water? No...waves and bubbles are nothing but water!  In Brahman there are no differences of the same kind either, because you cannot distinguish between one Pure Existence and another Pure Existence. How many Absolutes can there be? The differences come only in the names and forms. A pure entity has no attributes.  And finally, in Brahman there cannot be any differences among different kind of entities because anything other than Existence is no-existence and no-existence does not exist.

Thus, Absolute-Existence/Brahman has no second thing other than Itself! This is Advaitha, no differences of any kind whatsoever!

Ponder the following:
-Dualism, Aristotelian logic: A equals A and cannot equal B (apara vidya). In simple terms, an object cannot equal a subject - ego cannot equal Reality.
-Monism, Heraclitean logic: A equals A and B (Saguna Brahman); an object equals a subject - ego equals Reality.
-Non-Dualism, Anti-logic: B neither does nor does not equal A (Nirguna Brahman); subject neither does nor does not equal an object - Reality neither does nor does not equal ego. Because Reality does not even know any ego. Reality knows only Itself. There are no two things there. Contradictories become identities in Reality! Reality is Infinity and Zero at the same time!

Non-Duality teaching, known as Advaitha Vedantha, is the oldest of all philosophies and comes from the highest teachings of the Upanishads dating at least three thousand years old. Actually it is not a philosophy (thinking), it is a valid and scientific means of knowledge, 'dharshan', seeing. It is experiential.  Non-Duality is just knowledge. It is the knowledge that what appears to be separate is not separate at all.  Non-Duality means that you know that duality is a false projection…and you find it funny.  Water flows and water stagnates. Element-Water does not flow, nor does it stagnate. Element-Water is always H2O irrespective of its states: Water, ice or steam! H2O just only knows itself. Reality is both in activity and in inactivity. However, It is neither active nor inactive! Names and forms do not affect H2O, but they are affected by H2O (water)!

The object/world is composed of the background (being/knowing) and the qualities, where the qualities merely change their place and are not destroyed.  Because some passengers have alighted from and some others have boarded a train at a particular station, can you say the train (object/Existence) has changed? No. And because some passengers have alighted from the train and boarded a ship, can you say that the passengers (subject/Consciousness) have changed? No. Neither the train nor the passenger has changed.  Not-reality of the world means that everything is continually changing, is momentary.

This may also be understood through the following analogy. Imagine that you are in a dark room with a firebrand (an incense stick). The glowing tip of the firebrand represents Brahman, which is One, and the surrounding darkness is the Maya. Suppose you start moving the firebrand. Even though it is one glowing tip, as it moves, different patterns will appear in the dark room depending upon the type of movement. This movement is the seeming vibration or seeming modulation/vibration of Brahman. This is like a reflection of the sun in a lake moving with the waves. The patterns are duality because several patterns appear and disappear. Thus we have the Non-Dual firebrand and the dual patterns or appearances. There is no cause-effect relationship between the firebrand and the patterns.  Nothing is born out of a second thing. The world is not produced out of Brahman. All we have in reality, is Brahman!

Therefore, in fact, nothing changes; only qualities change their place.  Cause and change is in imagination only! Life is a play of Consciousness - a display of sound and light (like a TV screen displaying images).  Experiencing is not an action on the part of Consciousness, just as illumination is not an action on the part of light!

There is activity from the point of view of a dreamed-ego, but the dreamer is sleeping restfully untouched by any activity. Dreamer is not affected if the dreamed-ego got cut in the dream.  From the standpoint of the dreamer, there is no movement because the mind is everywhere in the dream. There is no relativity.  The incredible movement that is taking place in a rock makes the rock what it is, an unchanging solid piece. Reality is everywhere at once!  Illusory landscape is real from the point of view of an illusory character in the movie. From the true point of view of the screen, however, both the character and the landscape are neither separate nor different from it!

Reality shines unchanged: Before, during and after every activity or inactivity!  The gold doesn’t become a substance called ornament because the ornament is only an appearance with no actual existence. Gold always remains the same irrespective of many names and forms it apparently takes! Is the ocean inside the water or is water inside the ocean? Neither. The ocean is water! Is the perceived world inside Consciousness/Reality or is Consciousness/Reality inside the world of objects. Neither!  There is no inside or outside Reality.

In scientific terms...Reality is Singularity (Single Reality). It means Reality is the Reality in which contradictories merge into identities; Reality is that at which is and is-not become one; Everything and No-thing become one. An infinite circle is an infinite line; a plane surface with infinite sides is a circle with zero sides; a sine wave at infinite frequency is a line. At infinite speed it takes no time to get anywhere; one is everywhere at once, one is at zero distance, omnipresent, in a state of total rest.

Therefore Reality is not a person, It is a Presence (Is-ness) - Presence like beauty, like joy, like Love. You cannot talk to Love, you can only live it. Prayer is not needed (there is nobody to pray to, there is no possibility of any dialogue between you and Reality), only prayerfulness. Prayerfulness means Love with the whole, the cosmos. In this regard, theism with a Personal-God and atheism with non-existing God - both are wrong concepts. Theist believes in the Personality of God without experience/understanding. Atheist denies not only the personality of God but also the possibility of experiencing/understanding God. (Atheist is the one who does not believe in the existence of a God or who owns no Being superior to nature.)  "Show me God/Prove me God?" implies that God is separate from you and the moment you consider yourself separate from God, you have reduced God from Infinity to a finite entity which cannot be (because the definition of God is Infinity).  When you say, "There is no God," you have already made up in your mind what it looks like, where it is, what its properties are (you already have a belief system about God).  You have already decided that God is not currently here.  This means that the atheist has his own concept/belief about God.  The theist is pretending that he knows. The atheist is pretending he also knows that there is no God. Both are believing. And belief is an escape.  Belief is a conditioning imposed upon you by others; it is a kind of slavery.  Belief eliminates the need to think or discriminate. Belief is blind. However, an atheist's belief is more subtler than theist's.  Neither the theist has tried to look into the whole of experience/existence, nor has the atheist tried. And the atheist's work is even more difficult than the theist's work, because the theist is trying to find something - its Presence, its Existence; at least he has a hypothesis to work upon.

(Whole of experience/existence = 1. deep sleep: body and mind inactive, 2. dream: body inactive and mind active, 3. waking: body and mind active, 4. meditation: body active and mind inactive, 'I AM' state, 5. Enlightenment: meditative state reflected in mind/buddhi in the midst of objects, state of moksha/nirvaana, 6. pure being/Reality: Enlightenment state without a body, 'I-I', which is really not an experience but a 'being', state of mahanirvaana. The first five states belong to Consciousness-in-movement (=energy, nature) and the sixth state belongs to Consciousness-at-rest and all there is, is only Consciousness!)

The atheist has no hypothesis at all; he begins with the idea/belief, "There is no God." Then what are you going to seek and search for? For no-God? It is difficult to have the idea of what God is; it is more difficult to have the idea of what no-God is.  Negativity of an atheist cannot be the hypothesis. Positivity of a theist can be the hypothesis. The atheist is in much more difficult situation.  The atheist may be more comfortable with his position but he can deceive himself more easily than the theist. When an atheist says, "There is no God," he does not have to prove anything.  Theism, at least, is a scientific approach. Atheism is not.  Perhaps the theist may stumble by chance on God, but the atheist cannot stumble on no-God by chance, because no-God simply means something absent. In order to avoid this fact, that "I am not interested in my own being," theists and atheists (both with their belief systems) are creating all these questions and beliefs about God. These questions are their strategies to avoid their central question: "Who am I?" True religion consists in the inquiry "Who am I?" And nobody else can answer it. You will have to go digging deeper and deeper into your being. One day, when you reach the very source of your life, you will know. That day, the real question and the real answer will have happened simultaneously!

The theist is wrong, the atheist is wrong and man needs a new vision so that he can be freed from both the prisons. When you take a position that you do not know, the longing to know will arise within you. The seeking will arise within you and then the possibility of knowing. Once you start looking at Reality as the Presence of Love, there will be a radical change in your approach.  Then prayer is no more valid; meditation becomes valid. Meditation makes your mind pure and sharp to grab the understanding of your true nature.  Reality is the Intelligence behind Life, flowing through Life and expressed by Life. Reality is both the Expresser and the Expressed, the Creator and the Created, the Birther and the Birthed, the Watcher and the Watched. Reality is not separate as a Creator because there is no real Creation; the so-called Creation is continuous. Reality is Creativity (Separate Creator needs another Creator!).  And Creativity is spontaneous. Reality is Here-Now!  Reality is No-thing (Self, Aathma, Brahman) and Reality is Everything (Maya, Creator, world)! Reality is also No-thing and Everything at the same time!!

Reality is Pure Silence; Reality is Is-ness; Reality is Lovingness; Reality is Alivenes; Reality is Godliness!!

Then the greenness in the tree, then the flowering of the rose, then the bird in flight, then the flowing of the river -- all are part of Reality. Then Reality is not separate from the universe; Reality is the very soul of the universe. Then the universe is vibrating, pulsating, breathing. It is flowering of one Existence in millions of forms, in millions of flowers.  It is Godliness!  Godliness is the fragrance of the man who has "attained" Enlightenment!

How can we see Maya as Maya and then step out of it?..........

The trick to making the illusion a joy is to understand that All things are One Thing.  Causality is a double-edged arrow where whatever is happening is Impersonal, Universal. There is no personal doership.  We normally think that A caused B and B caused C, a one-pointed arrow. With this higher understanding, we can say that A had to happen for B to happen, B had to happen for C to happen.  So drop your personal doership and watch the play.  The way to use Maya (Illusion) is to know that it is Maya, and one of the the ways to know that it is Maya - is to use it.

Yet in this physical reality, this world of our illusion, we do well to think in terms of Three Things in One - the Holy Trinity.  We do well to get out of our dyad world and into a triad reality; to embrace The Triune Truth: A thing is neither this nor that, but a Third Thing altogether.  When Reality apparently divided itself into portions (souls) for the purpose of Manifestation, for the first time this and that existed quite apart from each other. Thus, three elements suddenly existed: That which is here. That which is there. And that which is neither here nor there - but which must exist for here and there to exist.  The Third Thing that's the One Thing.  This Triune Reality is Reality’s signature. It is the divine pattern. The three-in-one is everywhere found in the realms of the sublime.  Within the realms of sublime relationships, nothing which exists has an opposite. All is One, and everything progresses from one to the other in a never-ending circle.

In the body-mind-soul triad, the mind is the balancing point between the body and the soul.  The body and the soul could be seen as the two extremes of a strictly binary system. You will not find the Triune Truth in any of life’s gross relationships. In strictly binary thinking, things are either "physical" or "non-physical." That is, they are considered to be either matter or anti-matter-or what we would call "body or soul," "object or subject."  By thinking triangularly we are able to conclude that things can be both body and soul, both object and subject.  Indeed, this is exactly what we are.  This awareness is created by mind, which acts as a linkage, or balancing point, between the two extremities.  It is in the mind that we conceive of both the body and the soul, and thus provide ourselves with the opportunity to experience both.

The most basic dyad of all physical life is Love (likes) and Fear (dislikes). All Life/Experience comes down to this: Love and Fear. It is the prime factor. It is the "0" and the "1" of the Computer of Life. Somewhere in between Love ('raaga') and Fear ('dvesha') is a mid-point, at which neither one nor the other is experienced in any degree. This is the place of neutrality, or non-attachment ('vairagya' or 'sannyaasa' or 'gnyaana' or 'samathvam'), that is described by many masters. It is a metaphysical place that exists in the mind and not in physical reality. It is the place/experience of love.

Non-attachment is the balance point between the two, and it is in this place of perfect balance between the positive and negative aspects of the binary system of physical life where all masters reside.  It is a point of "being."  "Being" is the point where you see the illusion as an illusion.

Once you see the illusion as illusion, how do you manipulate it?...The best way of creating and manipulating the illusion is from the place of being.  Because all Creation starts from a place of BEING.  Coming FROM a state of being, rather than trying to get TO a state of being, assures that the state of being is achieved (because you are creating it arbitrarily!), and the 'havingness' end of the equation takes care of itself.  In truth, there is nothing for you to have to create. All that is necessary is for you to become aware that everything you wish and everything that you seek has already been created. Your mind must have data to create. Your being needs no data at all. That is because data is the illusion. It is what you are making up, rather than what is. That is why all the great insights come from the state of being, not from the state of thinking. Have you not heard the truly great creators, the truly great problem solvers, say, when you give them a problem, "hmmmm...let me be with it for a while?..."

Don't you perform all of your body's most important functions without thinking about it? You don't think about blinking an eye, or taking a breath, or beating your heart. These things just happen because you are a being. When you are thinking you are creating, of course. Every thought is a creation. So when you are thinking about a problem, you are seeking to create a solution.  You can either seek to create a solution, or you can simply become aware of that solution that has already been created since all things exist in the eternal moment of 'now' where being resides.

Awareness is a state of being. And being is simply a choice. You are being aware. From this state of awareness, you can choose any other beingness. You can choose to be wise, or wonderful. You can choose to be compassionate and understanding. You can choose to be patient and forgiving. Choosing is quite arbitrary. And what you are being, gives birth to what you are doing or thinking.  Thinking is another form of being in a dream state.  Because what you are thinking about is the illusion. And it is okay.  You are living in the illusion, you have placed yourself there, so you should give it some thought. But remember, thought creates your reality, so if you've created a reality that you don't like, don't give it a second thought!

So, step out of the illusion but not away from it.  Live with it, but not within it.  Do this and you will be in this world, but not of it.  You will know your own magic, and what you know, you will grow. Ever larger will be your idea about your magic, until you one day understand that you are the magic.  The best way to step out of the illusion is to use the Illusion.  If, when you confront the illusion, you believe it is an illusion, you will see it as an illusion, even though it seems very real.  You will be able to use the illusion as it was intended to be used - as a tool with which to Experience Ultimate Reality.

Krishna in Bhagavad Geetha (6:27): "May you keep the external world outside!"

Do you know anyone who sets his clock or watch ahead fifteen minutes in order to never be late? They actually set their clock or their watch five or ten or fifteen minutes ahead of the time that it actually is. Then when they look to see what time it is, they motivate themselves to hurry up, because they are pretending that it is several minutes later than it really is. Some people actually forget that they are playing this little trick on themselves, and think that it really is the time that it is not. This is when the Illusion no longer serves them. It does not serve its intended purpose. The person who understands that the time on his watch is an illusion that he has created himself relaxes when he sees the time, because he knows that he has a few more minutes. He goes into high gear and becomes very efficient, precisely because he is relaxed. He understands that the Illusion is not the reality. The person who has temporarily forgotten that the time on his watch is an illusion, and one that he has created himself is filled with anxiety because he thinks that the Illusion is real.

Thus, two people have two entirely different reactions to the same circumstance. One experiences the illusion as an illusion, and the other experiences it as reality. Only when an Illusion is recognized as an illusion and lived as an illusion can it lead to an experience of Ultimate Reality. Then it serves the purpose of its Creator. First see the world as Maya and then see Consciousness as the essence of Maya. You will not then escape illusion but be liberated from it. You will step outside of the illusion, but will continue to live with it, free of its ability to control you or your reality. You will never choose to end the illusion, once you understand its purpose, until your own purpose is fulfilled.

Just as a scientist simultaneously sees the table and yet knows it to be atoms, so a sage sees the table and at the same time knows it to be Brahman. In both cases there is no conflict between the sense-perception and the mental knowledge. Once Brahman is realized, the eye which sees Brahman and the eye which sees the matter work stereoscopically just as the two physical eyes see a single object.

Your purpose is not only to Know and Experience Who You Really Are (to feel Complete), but to Create Who You Next Will Be. This is the process we call evolution which is always moving forward.

What are the Mahaavaakyaas of Advaitha Vedantha?

(PATAS); (ABC-MC)

1. "Pragnyaanam Brahman!"...Aithareya Upanishad of Rig Veda (States our nature, 'Swaroopa Vaakyam', authored by the sage Aithareya Mahidasa)

2. "Aham Brahmaasmi!"...Brihadaranyaka Upanishad of Yajur Veda (Shows the fruit, 'Phala/Anubhava Vaakyam', taught by the sage Yagnyavalkya during Janaka kingdom)...Think that Brahman is Aham rather than Aham is Brahman...Shaanthi Manthram of Asathoma Sath Gamyaya...is also from this Upanishad.

3. "Thath Tvam Asi!"...Chandhogya Upanishad of Saama Veda (Shows the path, 'Saadhana/Prabodha Maargam'; Udhaalaka's teaching to Shwethakethu)

4. "Ayam Aathma Brahman!"...Mandukya Upanishad of Atharva Veda (Shows the path, 'Saadhana/Prabodha Maargam')

5. "Sarvam Khalu Idham Brahman!"...Saadhana Maargam...Chandhogya Upanishad of Saama Veda

All Upanishads are part of Vedas which were compiled by Vyaasa Maharshi in 33rd Century BC.

Other important statements are:

Thaitthiriya Upanishad, 2.1.1: "Sathyam-Gnyaanam-Anantham-Brahman!" (Existence-Awareness-Limitlessness-Absolute=Brahman)...This is a direct definition.

Thejobindhu Upanishad, 3.11: "Aathma=Sath-Chith-Aananda!" (Existence-Awareness-Fullness-Absolute)...This is an indirect definition (from the point of view of an apparent individual)

Mahaavaakyaas are so special: Any sentence talks about two things: subject matter and predicate (its properties). When we say gold is yellow, gold and yellowness co-exist. We can also add other properties like gold is heavy, etc. Gold and heavy-ness co-exist. However, in the case of Mahaavaakyaas, when we say "Ayam Aathma Brahman," the individual is gone and Brahman remains. And the other thing is that we cannot add any other properties to it. Brahman is it. So is the greatness of these Mahaavaakyaas!

PART III - Post-Enlightenment

What is next after Enlightenment?..........

There is no ‘next’ because the spiritual path branches off in infinite directions from this point!

A famous Zen saying: "Before one is enlightened, mountains are mountains and waters are waters; after a first glimpse into the truth (half-way stage), mountains are no longer mountains and waters are no longer waters; after Enlightenment, mountains are once again mountains and waters once again waters!" In the first stage, world is made out of matter and mind (real, consciousness merged in experience); in the half-way stage, world is an illusion (Maya); in the last stage, world is made out of Consciousness which is Total Freedom (real, experience merged in consciousness).

The most salient/important feature/quality/characteristic of Enlightenment is that the seeker stops seeking. At this point everything stops and there is a subtle shift in awareness in which the foreground becomes (merged in) the background and the background the foreground. The ego/mind, the subject, meditating on the God/Self, the object, becomes the object and the God/Self, formerly the object, becomes the subject. This foreground in a sage takes the form of a Witness, a 'Saakshi,' simply watching the life unfold with no trace of any separation ('Saakshi'=The Seer/Knower of Oneself as the One and Only). And this never changes, because it is obtained through the knowledge that “what I experience is me, but I am not what I experience.” In other words, one merges into the Self/God. Unlike an experience, the Self can never be lost, because it is me, the basis of everything – and there is nothing other than it to lose.

The common stages in the process of Self-Knowledge are recognized as the following four: 1. Have strong desire/obsession for Moksha or Self-Knowledge; 2. Think and know that Pure-Consciousness is in your body; 3. Learn to identify Pure-Consciousness as yourself, as your essential nature. Accept body, mind, intellect and soul as your incidental identifications. Take a stand in Pure-Consciousness; 4. Upon firmly owning/claiming that you are Pure-Consciousness, it becomes spontaneous over time.

Gauthama Buddha defined Enlightenment as the end of suffering, where suffering is caused by the sense of personal ownership/doership. So, Enlightenment does not suddenly make us immune to pain or make us in control of the universe. It does not mean that everything works as we wish and will. It is simply the condition of someone abiding in his or her real nature. That's all.  Enlightenment is not a transcendental state, a higher state, an altered state, a “fourth state” or any other kind of state. No particular experience of special bliss or happiness comes with Enlightenment, although enlightened beings tend to be blissful. Enlightenment means that you know that you are the knower of every conceivable experience.  It means that you never confuse what you are experiencing, and that, the experiencing is you but you are not the experiencing!

Enlightenment is simply the (remembrance of) hard and fast knowledge that “I am whole, complete, ordinary, unchanging, actionless Awareness.”  And when this knowledge is firm, it does not produce a permanently blissful mind.  However this knowledge produces a sense of rock solid confidence in the person (intellectual as well as emotional). The person knows that henceforth he can handle any situation in life without any discomfort.  When it is clear that you are the knower of the experience, the craving for pleasant experience ('raaga') and the aversion for unpleasant experience ('dvesha') disappears or, more precisely, becomes non-binding (a binding desire causes repetitive unconscious behavior). This allows the love to flow continuously to all selves and to all objects.

Upon realization, appearance ('Eeshwara-Dvaitham' or non-binding-duality or projected-duality) stays but ignorance ('Jeeva-Dvaitham' or binding-duality or perceived-duality) goes/disappears (this question is actually not relevant as the world as matter and mind was never there in the first place). Concepts stay but the belief that the concepts refer to Reality goes!  A sage sees both variety (illusion) and unity (Reality) simultaneously. He sees a table and knows it as Self in a single simultaneous operation. That is the test of Knowing.  He is fully aware of the differences in the world yet is aware of the underlying unity. A person who expresses the physical and the spiritual at the same time is a being who is fully enlightened.  An enlightened being never denies duality, only its reality as matter and mind, because, like the snake in the rope, it isn’t actually there. We may call this Enlightened-Duality or 'Saakshi-Dvaitham.' We can participate or enjoy the duality/manifestation but can invoke the Non-Duality at will.

Duality still exists but the knower knows that they have not got separate existence in Reality. The seeing is not altered, only the knowing. He denies dualism (me and the other). A sage's ego has "become" the Witness (Saakshi, Aham). A sage has an intellectual advantage (I know the entire truth of manifestation) as well as an emotional advantage (I depend on Brahman/Me, not the world). The flow of life (whatever happens in life, whether pleasure or pain) will continue to unfold, sometimes in line and sometimes out of line with our preferences. A sage is able to enjoy the pleasure with peace without the pleasure being shattered and bear the pain with peace without the pain being intensified. Life is not set up to work for you (the ego). It is set up to work for life. Life works for you (the ego) when you work for the real-you (the totality)!

So, an enlightened being realizes Peace/Love in his attitude towards Life, not in the flow of Life! Life always delivers pain and pleasure as part of the flow of life which will be registered biologically and then a body/mind organism will react as designed per its biological preferences. On the other hand, suffering which is a psychological reaction, is not on the level of flow of life but always in relationship to our attitude towards the flow of life. A sage realizes this truth and remains peaceful in his attitude in any circumstance. He is neither uncomfortable with himself nor uncomfortable with the other; sense of personal doership has been completely uprooted. Ahamkaara (I-doer, me-ness) has become ahamtha (I-sense) because he still identifies with his body for a day-to-day living. He has completely surrendered his individual will. He has realized that his will is the same as Totality's will.

The sage's position is that if enjoyment comes, he accepts it; if it does not, he keeps quiet. Even when he is taking pleasures, however, he is not deluded by them and he regards them as a game he is playing for he knows their unreality: he does not take them seriously. And there is no coincidence, and nothing happens “by accident.” Each event and adventure is called to your Self by your Self in order that you might create and experience Who You Really Are and demonstrate it. All true sages/masters know this. That is why masters remain unperturbed in the face of the worst experiences of life (as we would define them).

This means that an enlightened being or a sage has converted his identification with the ego to a seeming or an apparent association with the ego. That's it! His doing coincides with the Happening; doing and Happening become one.

Then, what will an enlightened being get?...An enlightened being loses ignorance or we may indirectly say that he gets peace of mind! Peace of mind is to be at ease with oneself and also at ease with the other! Therefore, search for Peace/Love; not for Enlightenment. If you search for Enlightenment, you may never find it! According to Vedantha, an enlightened being (who has realized the three aspects of Reality all at once: Existence, Consciousness and Completeness) is benefited by SSS: 1. 'Swathanthryam' (...i) psychological independence or freedom=mithya/world is me but I am not mithya, I am sathya; ornaments are me but I am not ornaments, I am gold; I only depend on Me ii) intellectual strength/fulfillment, I know the entire truth of manifestation), 2. 'Samathvam' (equi-poise, equanimity through ups and downs, likes and dislikes, raaga-dveshas, patient endurance of pain and suffering with calmness, emotional strength to face ups and downs of life, emotional stability, state of balance with no extremes or obsession; equal-vision internally and externally or 'samadarshanam') and 3. 'Sampoornathvam' (fullness=I am complete=I am Peace/Aananda myself). The first S is freedom from dependence, the second S is freedom from ups and downs or raaga-dveshas or dualism and the third S is freedom from limitations. All three freedoms, ultimately, free you from ignorance! In other words: they give intellectual, psychological and emotional freedoms and also freedom from separateness/mind. How can a sage be identified?...It is almost impossible. The identification of Peace or Inner-Experience of any one individual is difficult to be identified, let alone an enlightened being. However, as a general guide an enlightened being may be identified by the qualities of SSS: 1. Sense-pleasures-absence, 'vairaagya' or dispassion or withdrawing from 'ahamkaara' and 'mamakaara' or me-ness and mine-ness ('raaga-dveshas'); 2. Sacrifice, 'thyaaga' or renunciation (not renouncing the belongings but renouncing the illusion that belongings belong to me); sacrifice for a noble cause; and 3. Service, 'seva'; upliftment of society, especially in education and/or spiritual knowledge. "Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime." An enlightened being, thus, has increased CCC: 1. Confidence in facing one's future, 2. Cheerfulness that flows naturally to others and 3. Calmness in attitude. Invocation of higher "I" works as a shock-absorber for life's problems. So, the benefits are: SSS and CCC. The greatest benefit, in other words, is that you get rid of the ego which keeps asking "what is the benefit!"

With Enlightenment, certain psychological/attitudinal genes and conditioning are dropped (ignorance or unconscious-mind has disappeared, sense of personal doership has been dropped) leaving the biological genes (that came with the birth) and some basic conditioning intact. (It is a scientific fact that the basic conditioning or personality is formed by age seven. Aristotle: "Give me a child until he is seven and I will show you the man.") Cellular memory that was part of the body that came with the birth (programmed at the moment of conception) can never be dropped. If a sage has an inclination for sweets, it will stay. Since the Self-Knowledge takes place in subtle body (a mental level, not a physical level), the effects of knowledge/Aathma gnyaana are derived only at the mental level. Vertical reaction to events/thoughts will happen automatically, but the horizontal involvement with the undesirable/selfish acts will drop. Ahamkaara (the notion of 'I' as a thinker/doer, me-ness) and Mamakaara (mine-ness) are dropped, but Aham-Asthi (Selfness, I AM, I-sense, 'Ayam') has to stay as long as the sage lives (in a body) for the day-to-day transactions to take place. Since he has already shed his subtle and causal bodies, there is no need for him to take another birth when his gross body sheds. A sage lives physically until the body-mind's praarabdha-karma runs out, and with the full benefits of SSS and CCC, and complete awareness! He lives due to the vaasanas of the Totality so he could teach gnyaana!

Constantly repeating desires (impressions, vaasanas, raagas and dveshas) are binding. An enlightened being does not need to get rid of all of his desires; he just needs to make all of his binding desires non-binding, so that the desires no longer dictate his actions. Desire in purity is not a problem, desire contaminated by ignorance is the problem.  Life, now, happens to him. Functioning of Manifestation is like a dream. He is simply a witness/saakshi. He is a lucid-waker, witnessing all the phenomena in the waking-dream including his body. Attractive and/or aversive reactions (raaga-dvesha) do not arise, if they do they are simply witnessed as not-Self. Love flows continuously to all selves and to all the objects (personal love is an obstructed love).  An enlightened being deals any situation with LOVE! He treats everyone as if they are his own children (remember that a child may be punished if needed). Love is the only law in spirituality! A sage's actions are no longer 'for' happiness, but are 'out of' happiness because he is Happiness/Peace/Aananda himself!

There is a common misunderstanding that when ‘one wakes up' form the waking state dream, that the dream goes away and, in it’s place, a better one emerges. In actuality, the dream simply continues as it did before; Maya/Illusion does not change. The difference is that you now know Maya as Maya and that the body/mind is involved. You enter a new phase of life: it is similar to lucid dreaming. The dream does not go away. The only thing that changes is our recognition of the illusion, that what you experience is not the Ultimate Reality of what you truly are.  Just as a scientist simultaneously sees the table and yet knows it to be atoms, so a sage sees the table and at the same time knows it to be Brahman. In both cases there is no conflict between the sense-perception and the mental knowledge.  This allows one to become playful and approach life as a celebration. You live in the timeless moment and the contentment of your aloneness, permitting the mind to chatter on since you are no longer married to it.

A sage has the freedom, however, not to attend to the consequences or happenings by refraining from rising of his thinking-ego to get (personally) involved further and by turning inward (remember, any "beingness" act is free). His identification is with Consciousness/Love. He understands that actions taking place through all body/mind organisms are not of any individual's actions but are part of Impersonal Functioning (Maya). Experience simply goes right through him without any resistance. He reacts biologically in vertical time but he has no egoic reaction in horizontal time. Similarly, in a sage a desire can arise but the sage does not pursue the desire unless it is God's will.

He does not, thus, identify himself with thoughts, feelings but simply witnesses them. They get cut off without any further involvement/engagement/judgement. No fear, no problems attach to them.  A sage is in duality, not in realism and not in dualism.  He is back in the 'now' like a child. However if the situation demands, a sage may respond (i.e., deliberately act) in the interest of Totality (without any tint of personal doership). His action is rooted in inaction.  Such a person no longer makes decisions based solely on fears and desires. He will start to interpret experience from the point of view of the Self/God.

Therefore the notion that a sage should never get angry or never pretend to anger is erroneous. He may do so if it is not in his egoistic interest, if he sees harm is being done or if it is for the benefit of others/world. Did Krishna not urge Arjuna to fight, even to kill? A body part infected with cancer may be removed in the interest of keeping the organ working. Legs infected with disease may be amputated in the interest of keeping an individual alive.  A sage will live as he pleases, above codes but this does not mean he will do wrong, harm others or cause suffering; for his self-identification with them will prevent this.  Masters are those who have chosen only Love. In every instance. In every moment. In every circumstance.

The enlightened man does not criticize or praise men, but he does criticize or praise actions. He does not speak ill of persons, but he must condemn or discourage wrong actions and praise or support right actions. The ignorant however condemn or slander the persons concerned. For he must set an example and guide people into the paths of right action which are stages of discipline that will gradually lead them towards Reality/Brahman whereas wrong actions lead them away from Brahman.

Thinker-mind is a conceptualizing mind, the "me." What is absent after Enlightenment is the thinker-mind (dualism), the "me" distinguishing itself from the other. The conceptualizing thinker-mind (which is either in the past or in the future), the mind which draws upon memories and project fears, hopes and ambitions: That is absent. The working-mind (Embodied-Enlightenment or the mind in the 'now') is what remains.  Working-mind is merely concerned with what is happening, with what it's doing right now and right here.  The working-mind may draw memory for its present work but it doesn't project anything into future. It draws on the memory only to the extent of the job at hand.  Memory for a sage is mere data/information; it is disassociated with a "me."  That is the big difference.  The thinker-mind and the working-mind may also be called as the knower-mind and the being-mind. When the thinking is concentrated at one job/object, the space disappears because there are no two objects. And since there are no two events, time disappears. Working-mind is in the here-and-now (absolute plane; infinity). In complete attention to one object, thus, mind/thought is transcended.

Then there is no subject perceiving an object. When the "me" and the "other" drop off, what remains is (Impersonal) Love. There is only the happening of a perception without judging, a mere witnessing. Witness is the form Self takes in Embodied-Enlightenment. Working-mind only knows Love and acts in the interest of Love without any choosing/judging. Choosing/Judging of one act against another act is ignorance because one is not able to see non-duality in all acts or everywhere. Remember: Love is the only law that applies in the Realm of Consciousness.

An ordinary person does not accept duality of inter-connected opposites and he chooses one of the opposites (which is dualism). He only wants good and not bad, beauty and not ugliness, etc not realizing that one cannot exist without the other. So in his judgment he chooses one against the other (for his personal interests).  Thus the individual ends up miserable in dualism.  A sage never chooses good against bad; he simply moves, just like a sunflower, towards the direction which is that of good, that of love. His nature is love, Completeness, Aananda, and he has recognized it.  What needs to be done, in a loving and dhaarmic way, becomes what he wants to do!  (If you want a yardstick with which to judge whether a thing is good for the human race or not, ask yourself a simple question: What would happen if everyone did it?) A realized person will not violate responsibility/dharma because he or she is in harmony with it. If you are in harmony with the world there is nothing to follow or avoid.  The law applies to one who knows a little, not to children (who do not know anything) or the enlightened (who knows the essence of everything and so inline with everything).

Therefore, Total Acceptance is Peace. Follow the flow of life but change your attitude towards life. Remember, choosing/judging involves thinking/doing and that will further entangle you in samsaara, the Wheel of Karma.

Krishna in Bhagavad Geetha: "Accept both the polarities, because both are there together.  Go with them, because they are. Don't choose one against the other!"...Choosing/Judging of one act against another act is ignorance because one is not able to see non-duality in all acts or everywhere.

So, who is a true sage/gnyaani?  Krishna in Bhagavad Geetha 6.29: "A true sage, with equal eye, sees all beings in him and himself in all beings!"

Is Enlightenment possible only in the physical plane and in the waking state?..........

Yes. Experience or Feeling plus Knowing is the reason why liberation is possible only in the physical plane and in the waking state.  Life is a single occurrence, an event in the cosmos that is happening right now. All of it is happening. Everywhere.  There is no 'time' but now. There is no 'place' but here.  Here and now is All There Is.  Yet you chose to experience the magnificence of here and now in its every detail, and to experience your Divine Self as the here and now creator of that reality. There are only two ways—two fields of experience—in which you could do that. Time and space. Space-time, as we know it, does not exist beyond Physical Realm.  Therefore, physicality gives you the highest contextual field to know-experience, or "be," (in time and space) Who You Really Are and also to demonstrate Who You Really Are.

The following are few other reasons. Life after death is like a dream state, Evolution and Enlightenment is not possible.  Enlightenment is possible only with mind plus discernment (buddhi/intellect/free will). Buddhi, as we know, does not operate in the dream state. Mental states beyond physical life operate with beliefs/tendencies alone.  All the three bodies in the form of the five sheaths are contained in the feeling "I am this gross body."  If that feeling "I am this gross body," which is a limitation, alone is removed in the waking state, all the three bodies will be removed automatically and with that the ignorance.

Another reason is that in the physical plane, a right balance of manas (feeling/emotion) and buddhi (thought/discernment) coupled with a right atmosphere of pleasure and pain, good and evil, right and wrong etc. permits an easier/natural realization. When you have too much of misery (hell) or too much of pleasure (heaven), it would be difficult. You usually get depressed/lost in misery and forget yourself in too much pleasure and, therefore, don't think about liberation in either of these cases.

The waking state includes the other states because it is only when you are awake that you know dream and deep sleep exist. During dream itself you take it for the time being as though it were waking, and you are unable to know otherwise. The necessary contrast to enable you to distinguish between the states can only be affected whilst awake, when only you can perceive that waking is only a state that comes and goes; you cannot perceive this during dream or deep sleep. Hence realization can only be affected in the waking state.  It is wakeful state alone which gives you knowledge of the other states. It is impossible to arrive at truth when we reject so much data as deep sleep and dream and confine ourselves to waking reality alone.

Here is even a higher reason. You are aware of your ignorance in the waking state alone! Hence you can get rid of it only whilst awake. And what is the test?...Sit quietly and say to yourself, "I." If any thought of the body or the mind comes to you (instead of Consciousness), then you are not yet enlightened!

Does samsaara continue for an enlightened being?

No. Samsaara exists only for an ego, a limited individual. Awareness is neither born nor dies. Awareness stays where it is eternally, knowing its own being.  Having understood the absence of duality other than names and appearances, the sage transcends all the causes of saṃsaara.  Therefore, the sage is free from the cycle of birth and death. His subtle body gets dissolved/disintegrated into Nature/Maya.  The Consciousness principle is not the cause of saṃsaara. Self/Aathma does not have birth or karma. The absence of birth for Aathma is always the case. When ignorant, birth and death are taken to be real. After knowledge, birth and death are seen to be not-real for Aathma.

Biologists say that if there is a desire to see, eyes develop. If the desire is not there to see, then eyes will just drop. The whole body comes into existence because of desires. That's why, if a person dies without desire, then he will not be reborn; because now there is no necessity, no causality to create a body again.

Karma/desire is reduced to names and appearances which has no existence of its own. The karma of the dream is seen to be only names and appearances upon waking up. Similarly, in the waking state, all the laws of karma apply to the body-mind and upon shifting the vision to that of the higher nature, Aathma, they are seen to be naama-roopa. However, from the body-mind standpoint, the laws of karma are operational until the end but they are not operational from Aathma/Self, the Consciousness standpoint.  Your mind (desires) has stopped but your body will continue because it has momentum (like a released arrow).  The body-mind has to reap the consequences of karma.  If the Enlightenment happens before the age of thirty-five or so, the body may die soon (like an Aadhi Shankaraachaarya, like a Vivekaananda, like a Jesus Christ). If it happens after thirty-five, then it is down-hill; it may continue longer (like a Gauthama Buddha, like a Vardhamaana Mahaaveera).

Krishna in Bhagavad Geetha, 2.20: "This (Self) is never born; nor does it die. It is not that, having been, it ceases to exist again. It is unborn, eternal, undergoes no change whatsoever, and is ever new. When the body is destroyed, the Self is not destroyed."

Is it possible for everyone living in the universe to be in an enlightened state?..........

No. If everyone is enlightened (understanding that he is not the doer), then the egos wouldn't be there functioning and bringing about inter-human relationships. And if inter-human relationships didn't happen, Life wouldn't happen. So the egos are there for Life to happen, which is called Maya - Reality's Play. It is the nature of Reality/Life/Awareness to express itself. That is what Life does. It cannot not do this, or it would not be!

Why would an enlightened being not perform miracles?..........

To whom does the enlightened being to perform miracles when there are none different from him?

Is Awakening instantaneous?..........

Yes. Awakening is instantaneous! The path of Knowing is sudden.  The removal of ignorance is instantaneous because ignorance has no parts; it is one whole.  Death happens in a split second. Awakening from sleep happens in a split second. Awakening from night-dream happens in a split second. Similarly, the destruction of the delusion of individuality happens in just a split second as it is mere remembering of our true nature.  That is why self-realization is called 'Awakening.'

Awakening is the simple noticing of this presence-awareness, which has seemingly been overlooked for so long. Seeing it is immediate, and there are no levels involved.  However the deliverance of Enlightenment, the experience of Enlightenment, the experience of Brahman is a process; an endless process.

Does the ego disappear completely when Enlightenment happens?..........

Ego disappears completely after the Enlightenment is complete, in the sense that the sense of personal doership disappears.  Then for all practical purposes, the ego has disappeared. The identification with the body continues because the body-mind has to function. The identification as the individual doer disappears.

Mind may be divided into the working-mind (being-mind/vertical-mind/soul) and the thinker-mind. Thinker-mind is a conceptualizing mind, the "me". What is absent after Enlightenment is the thinker-mind, the "me" distinguishing itself from the other.  The conceptualizing thinker-mind (horizontal-mind), the mind which draws upon memories and projects fears, hopes and ambitions: that is absent.  The working-mind is what remains.  The working-mind is merely concerned with what is happening, with what it is doing. The thinker-mind is in time i.e., past and future while the working-mind is in the present, ever-present now.

After Enlightenment, the binding fears and desires will have been neutralized by the knowledge and that the pursuit of security, pleasure and virtue, will no longer be active. If you say you are enlightened but continue to chase and cling to objects, you are not enlightened. You may know who you are intellectually but you do not actually know who you are.  You fall back onto your default identity as the Seer, Pure-Awareness. It is like being a witness to experience. You see a part of yourself involved with experience but you know that you are insulated from experience and its effects. It is like watching a movie. You know it isn’t real, nonetheless you enjoy it. It’s a lasting sense of wholeness because the Seer, your Self, is full. Full means complete. There is the very real sense that nothing is missing, that everything is perfect as it is!

Could a person worship a deity after Enlightenment?..........

If an enlightened being can play various transactional roles with various transactional identities, why can’t he play another role as a transactional devotee? He plays the role with the understanding that it is only a role but does not have the attitude of a samsaari.  Bhakthi can be an appreciation of Maya/Life without the sense of delusion/moha/samsaara. If a sage can enjoy various worldly things, the sage can enjoy devotion also. There is no denial of transactional life, duality of devotion.  There is no threat to duality after the realization of Non-Dual knowledge. It is like watching a movie with the knowledge that it is only a movie. Even though I know that it is only a movie, it does not deny me the enjoyment of the movie. Non-Dual sathya and dual mithya need not be repeated/distinguished/separated every time. I can continue dual transactional life and I can invoke the Non-Dual knowledge at will.

Aadhi Shankaraachaarya: "Before Self-Realization, duality can throw you into moha/delusion/samsaara. Upon Self-Realization, the duality conceived for love and bhakthi is more beautiful/sublime than the non-duality!"

A sage's Non-Duality is not the absence of duality but in spite of duality!

Is it necessary to have a guru (master) or can we reach Awakening on our own?..........

It is possible that one can reach Awakening on the strength of one's own aspiration. However, if one gets help from a qualified person, then he can make the fastest progress. You need an impartial guide, not your own interpretation of experience, because ignorance can make what is false seem to be real. Remaining within a dream (error plus ignorance), it is almost impossible to understand the dream. We will be groping in the dark. Illusion begets illusion. You will be going in circles. Spiritual knowledge is not only informative (like worldly knowledge) but also points or shows a way to the Self-Knowledge deep within. It is tricky. You are the last person who should be an expert on who you are because ignorance is hard-wired!

It is important not to seek a guru, however. The guru should come to you. If you seek a guru, your unpreparedness will cause you to choose the guru for the wrong reason and you will find yourself in a relationship based on some need other than the need for freedom.

PART IV - Nonviolence

Nonviolence is the basic understanding of co-existence with everyone and everything.

An action becomes violent, only when there is the desire to enjoy the sensual pleasure and/or ego gratification as a result of that action.  An action becomes nonviolent if nothing of the ego comes in to prompt the action and to claim the result.  Vedic scriptures define nonviolence ('ahimsa') as: Avoidance of hurt to living beings through actions emanating from mind, speech or body. (As we all know, thought, word and deed are the three tools of creation, or, rather, re-creation.) To the extent we don't hurt others, to that extent we don't get hurt ourselves!

Nonviolence is the supreme dharma of all. It simply means 'do not hurt.'  Do unto others as you would have it done unto you.  It is a universal law. This is the only dharma that is linked directly with Consciousness.  No action which causes hurt to another leads to rapid evolution. What you do to others, you do to yourself.  Every other dharma is part of morality, part of conscience, which can change from culture to culture.

Jesus Christ: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets!”

Nonviolence and love go hand in hand. Nonviolence leads to love, love leads to nonviolence. Deep down they are one and the same.  However, the right way to start understanding spirituality is with nonviolence, not with love. Love can be an outflow of nonviolence, love can be a byproduct. But nonviolence first.  If you hurt others, you hurt yourself.

If you practice love without the understanding of violence, it will not work. Love is not a doing, not a relation.  One does not do some thing in order to be happy, one is happy and, hence, acts in a certain way.  Love is a state of being. You can 'be' loving; but you cannot 'do' loving.  Love, nonviolence, peace, happiness is what you are.  You can practice something what you are not, but you can never practice something what you are! For example, you cannot practice happiness, you can only practice how not to be unhappy. Because happiness is your nature. You can walk to anything other than yourself, how can you walk to yourself?

If you practice happiness, you can only impose something against happiness/yourself (otherwise why practice?). This only leads to the repression of unhappiness. What to do? If unhappiness/anger (something which you are not) comes, go deep into unhappiness/anger and see what it is. Seek its source. You will not find it there. Awareness and anger can never co-exist. By constant practice, you will see the stupidity of anger. You will then simply drop it!

If you are established in nonviolence, all enmity disappears. Even an animal filled with anger comes in front of a nonviolent person, its anger will evaporate. It will become friendly. How?...Because whatever feeling or quality you experience, you will radiate it. You cannot hide it even if you wanted to. Animals can sense your feelings, your intentions easily. That is the medium of their language, medium of their communication. If you do not have a thought that there is a snake right next to you, the snake will not have a thought that there is a human being right next to her. Establishing nonviolence through understanding and realization, uncovers love and radiates love! And that is what your soul is after. In other words, a soul wants to feel love knowingly. A soul uses the body and the mind to realize that it has never parted with God and it itself is God!

Is turning the other cheek nonviolent? Turning the other cheek is not a nonviolent act. It is a misconception. If you are weak and follow Christ's advice and remain passive in all circumstances, the adversary always goes away with his ego highly inflated and sinks more into ignorance, not having anything positive to hold on to. The result is injury to both.

On the other hand, if you are not weak and yet remain passive then you are reducing the other into a non-human being. He has hit you on your cheek, and you are giving him your other cheek; you are becoming superior and you are putting him into a position of inferiority. This is not nonviolence; this is pure egoism.

Christ’s advice, as it stands, is ambiguous. However, he said that to his twelve disciples whom he was hoping will spread his word. It was appropriate given the conditions and the context. This should not be applied to all situations and it is most likely to be misunderstood by an ordinary, ego-ridden man. He might easily pass into passivity either out of strength or out of fear; and nothing is suggested by which the ego can be crippled, without which spirituality is impossible.

Nonviolence simply means that violence, killing, destroying, is ugly. That does not mean that allowing somebody else to do such a thing is not ugly. Killing for the sake of violence is ugly. If somebody hits you on the cheek, you should hit him more strongly on his cheek — for two reasons. One, that you are nonviolent and you don’t allow any kind of violence to anybody, including yourself.

Secondly, you have to hit him harder because you respect the other person; if he gives you one dollar’s worth, you give him two dollar’s worth. You don’t make him inferior, you make him superior. Do not say, “Turn the other cheek.” Hit on his cheek as hard as you can so he learns a lesson; otherwise, he will start hitting other people’s cheeks. And you will be responsible for all that violence. So nonviolence does not mean that you have just to be there, beaten. Then you are allowing violence.

Violence is a state of mind. The root of violence is the personal, illusory ego which results from the ignorance of your true nature. A man who finds pleasure in killing others, enjoys killing others, hankers for violence and looks for the right opportunity to kill others...such a man commits sin. Violence in itself is not a sin, but an act of violence is a sin. Desire for violence is a sin. If you think that being nonviolent simply means to prevent a person from being harmed, then certainly nonviolence is meaningless.

Nonviolence simply means you should be so powerful that nobody can be violent towards you. It should not be out of weakness; it should be out of power. Of course you will not hurt anybody out of your power — you will protect, you will not kill. But you won’t allow anybody else to kill you either. Nonviolence should result from an abundance of power. Don’t use that power to kill, to destroy; but use that power to create, to protect. And if anybody tries to harm you or anybody else, do everything to prevent that harm.

Violence has to be completely removed from the world, but it can happen only if nonviolent people are powerful; otherwise, how can you manage? If violent people are powerful and nonviolent people are powerless, then the violent people will overrule the nonviolent. That has been our experience of two thousand years. Don’t support weakness. Support power; but power with compassion, love and creativity.

Nonviolence does not mean that you will allow someone to practice violence on you. Non-indulgence in violence alone is not nonviolence. Nonviolence is much more than that. Treating others with love does not necessarily mean allowing others to do as they wish.  Parents learn this very early with children.

A man of peace is creative. He is not a pacifist. He is not against war, because to be against anything is to be at war. He is not against war, he simply understands why war exists, and out of that understanding he becomes peaceful. Withdrawal is not the way to attain peace. You say, "Peace of mind can be gained by withdrawal." Never. It has never been gained that way. Withdrawal is escapist. Withdrawal can give you a kind of death, but not peace. Peace is very alive.  Peace is more alive than war — because war is in the service of death, peace is in the service of life. Peace is very alive, vibrant, young, dancing.

A real man of peace lives with the world, in the world, and yet is not of it. He will do everything that he can do — if the house is on fire then he will do everything that he can do to put the fire out — and yet he will remain undisturbed, undistracted. He will remain unwavering.  That integration is real peace. Only when there are many people who are pools of peace, silence, understanding...will then violence disappear.

Benjamin Franklin: "Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God!"

Can we practice nonviolence/virtues/values?..........

Nonviolence is not a question of morality. It is a question of vision, understanding. If you practice a virtue, it is no longer a virtue. A practiced virtue is a dead thing, a dead weight. If ethics, morality, values, virtues, epistemology or aesthetics are predefined, they are as good as dead. They can only be defined best in context; always in context; in the moment itself. Beingness (being with the real you, thinking from an universal standpoint or thinking impersonally) must be the foundation for doingness. Why? Because Beingness precedes experience and produces it. If we have our own definition of what the right action is going to be, such as whatever is better for the world, then whatever is better for the world will depend on our predefined values. If you are a Hindu, whatever is better for the world is for everyone to become a hindu; if you are a republican, whatever is better for the world is for everyone to become a republican.

The society, the religion says that the values have to be there first present in you (a society is nothing more than a group of people formed around a particular way of seeing things; these people share traditions, mutually created institutions, activities and interests). But this concept is upside down. Unless you are spiritual you cannot be moral; morality is only a by-product. If you make the by-product into the goal of human character, you will create such a troubled, miserable humanity. How can a man be truthful if he does not know what truth is? How can a man be honest if he does not know even who he is? How can a man be compassionate if he does not know the source of love which is within himself? All that he can do in the name of morality is to become a hypocrite, a pretender. Everything will remain superficial and skin-deep. Putting morality/values before spirituality is like putting a cart before the horse. Morality should be relaxed and easy - just like your shadow; you don't have to drag it with you, it simply comes on its own. Virtue is virtue only when it is spontaneous; virtue is virtue only when it is natural, unpracticed - when it comes out of your vision, out of your awareness, out of your understanding. Do you love a baby or you practice loving a baby?

Practice may bring the goal. Practice is desire, practice is mind. And remember: whenever you practice something, you are imposing something against yourself, otherwise why practice it? Against whom are you practicing? For example, you cannot practice happiness, you can only practice how not to be unhappy. Because happiness is your nature. When you practice, truth, love, nonviolence, what will you do? You will repress the untruth, hatred, violence - but they all remain there, deep inside you, ready to explode any moment. It will go on accumulating. Similarly when you practice compassion, you will repress anger. Whenever you practice any virtue, you are angry at it. Naturally so - because all practicing divides you, makes you schizophrenic. The repressed, the rejected will become part of your being, a layer on your being and the practiced will remain just a coating, a painting on the surface. Practice/desire is personal; vision or understanding is all-inclusive.

You and I are not here to help/save the world. You are here to work on yourself; to know your true-self, your being, through knowledge+feeling - knowledge of your true nature and the feeling of love. The world isn’t the problem; it’s our lack of vision, lack of understanding that is the problem. So love yourself, know yourself (in order to love yourself, you must know your self first; deep down loving is the same thing as knowing; knowing of your own being is loving). So, Knowing is first: Without knowing your true self, you will be loving your personality or ego only. True Self-love is just the opposite of egomania. In true Self-love there is no self, only love. In egomania there is no love, only the individual self! Loving yourself without knowing yourself is nothing but egomania! But if you know yourself, you know the truth. And the values, virtues automatically follow; there is no need to practice. If you don't love yourself, how can you love someone else?

Spirituality is thought of as a practice. It is not. It is Knowing, or rather, Unknowing. So when you practice a virtue, say, nonviolence you will still remain violent, because your vision has not changed. You still carry the old eyes. You are only repressing violence. Ordinarily if you are angry, you are angry at the person who has provoked it. But when you practice nonviolence, you will be angry at yourself, you will make it introverted. Because one part of you is trying to manipulate the other part. You could go on a fast, you could become suicidal and torture yourself. In a subtle way you are torturing the other!

A greedy person can practice sharing, but the greed will remain. Even the sharing will be corrupted by the greed, because you cannot practice anything against your understanding, beyond your understanding. You may practice vegetarianism all your life without awareness, but the non-vegetarian tendencies will remain deep down. You cannot force your life into principles unless those principles are of your own experience.

In the true order of things one does not do something in order to be happy—one is happy

and, hence, does something. One does not do some things in order to be nonviolent,

one is nonviolent and, hence, acts in a certain way. The soul’s decision precedes the body’s action in a highly conscious person. Only an unconscious person attempts to produce a state of the soul through something the body is doing. The mystic first creates awareness, then the character follows on its own accord. The moralist creates the character, but awareness does not follow the character. And character is a very superficial thing.

Awareness, love, nonviolence, peace, happiness is what you are. You can practice something what you are not, but you can never practice something what you are! What you are is not at any distance from you. What you are is closer than the closest thing to you. You can change your actions, but that will not make you more aware. You become more aware, and your actions will change--that's absolutely simple and scientific.

Morality happens only through understanding, not through practice. And what is the difference? Understanding will say: Remain where situations arise, remain where challenges surround you. Test yourself there. Go into situations. If anger comes, go into anger and see what it is. See yourself - don't trust anybody else's judgement about it. Go into it. Be burnt by it. Seek its source. Be aware in the act, in the thought and in the feeling. But first in the act.  The source of anger is the separate-self and the separate-self is a phantom!  Deep down, its source is Pure Love. And you are that Pure Love. When the situation/mood/anger is hot, the path is clear, visible inside, you can move on it easily. That is the reason why sometimes the deepest depression can take you to the highest love. It is an opportunity; it is a blessing in disguise.

Remember: if you love deeply you will not have much energy to be angry. (Similarly if your energy is expressed through sex, you will be less violent. That is the reason military will never allow sexual relationships for the soldiers. If it is allowed, the military will become absolutely impotent to fight.) So let anger leave scars on your being - because one certainly learns the hard way. Only your experience will tell you again and again that anger is stupid - not that it is a sin. It is simply stupid.

And as the understanding goes deeper, anger will be coming less and less. One day the understanding has touched your very core of being, the light has penetrated you.  You have seen through and through that anger is futile: in that very moment anger has disappeared and there has not been any repression. Anger energy is moved back to its original source where it becomes formless energy or Pure Love. Indulgence is not so bad, because indulgence can one day bring understanding, but repression can never bring understanding.

By understanding and recognizing violence and by seeking the source of violence within, one awakens gradually towards violence, which then subsides on its own.  When violence fades, what remains is nonviolence. When non-morality fades on its own through knowledge and understanding, what remains is morality which you, yourself, are!

How can we avoid violence, wars and conflicts?..........

All wars, violence and conflicts arise from desires and beliefs which serve body's and mind's agenda alone. Wars are basically created because somebody has something that somebody else wants or somebody does not agree with what somebody else thinks that his ideology is 'right.' Wrong beliefs (especially wrong religious beliefs) create wrong behaviors. The one belief that is at the root of all these wrong beliefs is the belief in a separate-self or ego or an illusory nature. And, therefore, the root cause of all violence is ignorance, ignorance of our true nature.

Exclusivism (nationalism, racism, casteism, etc.) and organized religion are the two main causes of our world being in a constant state of turmoil for centuries.

Fallacies about life have produced exclusivism and fallacies about God have produced organized religion.

Fallacies about life include: 1. Human beings are separate from each other, 2. There is not enough of what human beings need to be happy, 3. To get the stuff of which there is not enough, human beings must compete with each other, 4. Some human beings are better than other human beings, and 5. It is appropriate for human beings to resolve severe differences created by all other fallacies by killing each other.

Fallacies about God include: 1. God needs something, 2. God can fail to get what he needs, 3. God has separated you from him because you have not given him what he needs, 4. God still needs what he needs so badly that God now requires you, from your separated position, to give it to him, and 5. God will destroy you if you do not meet his requirements.

You cannot solve the conflicts of the world at the level of behavior which is quite evident from our history. Behavior means your relationship with others - but they cannot change you. Rules/behavior may temporarily change your actions, but not you. You are not your actions. Seek to change beliefs, not behaviors. After you change a belief, the behavior will change by itself. Because, belief creates behaviors. All behaviors. Change your beliefs because your new beliefs announce more accurately who you are. Change is an act of freedom, not an act of compliance.

You can alter a belief in two ways. Either by changing it completely, or by enlarging upon it. You can review the old and see what parts of the old no longer work. You can expand the old to make some parts of the old work better. You can add to the old to make some parts of your belief system new. You don't have to declare that you were "wrong" about your religious scriptures or about anything, because you weren't. You simply did not have a complete understanding. You needed more information.

You do not need to completely reject the old. That would be a discredit to what has been taught and what has been understood; so much good has been done until now that you would not want to destroy the old belief system. Transcend, enlarge and move on with your lives in a new way. The only peace in all the world that is sustaining is Internal Peace which your soul gives. When you find your soul/peace within, you also find that you can do without. This means simply that you no longer need the things of your outside world. "Not needing" is a great freedom. It frees you, first, from fear: fear that there is something you won't have; fear that there is something you have that you will lose; and fear that without a certain thing, you won't be happy. Secondly, "not needing" frees you from anger. Anger is fear announced. When you have nothing to fear, you have nothing over which to be angry.

Currently, the beliefs that undergrid human society are beliefs that serve the body's and mind's agenda. Body's and mind's agenda is to survive, to be fed, to be kept safe, and to feel pleasure. Soul's agenda is quite different. The soul knows that survival is not an issue, nor is keeping safe or feeling pleasure. The soul understands that the soul is life itself, God itself, locally manifested. Safety and pleasure are its inherent qualities. The soul does not seek safety and pleasure, because soul is these things. Soul seeks to know and experience - remember, feel and demonstrate - all of the individual aspects of God with full awareness in the physical world and to expand and re-create itself anew - to become a larger version of itself.

Therefore, every geopolitical problem, every economic problem, just as every personal problem, breaks down to a spiritual problem ultimately.

All of these are spiritual problems at their base. All of life is spiritual (body/mind+soul), and therefore all of life's problems are spiritually based - and spiritually solved. Change your beliefs in line with your soul's agenda. This one simple change - seeking and finding the soul within - could, were it undertaken by everyone, end all wars, eliminate conflict, prevent injustice, and bring the world to everlasting peace. Because Soul is One (Non-Dual).

World peace is a personal thing!

Can legislation prevent gun violence?..........

Legislation cannot prevent gun violence ultimately. The gun is neutral. It is a tool, amoral. The gun has no value of its own. The values come from the person who holds it. If Gautama Buddha is holding the gun, the quality of the gun is no more the same as when Adolf Hitler is holding the same gun. With Gautama Buddha, the gun is not going to be used to harm anybody, but in the hands of Adolf Hitler it is certainly going to be used to harm people, kill people. Legislation may be a necessary means to prevent gun violence in a society that is behaving unconsciously, that is maturing. But this is not the final solution. The law applies to one who knows a little, not to children or animals (who do not know anything) or the enlightened (who knows the essence of everything and so inline with everything).

Behaviors are caused by people's conditioning and beliefs. Therefore, change the beliefs. Beliefs of separation - separation from God and separation from one another. What can rules do? Rules can tell you what to do and what not to do, but they cannot change you, they may force you to change your actions, and actions are not you. Actions come from you, but you are deeper than your actions. Rules may change your behavior temporarily - behavior means your relationship with others - but they cannot change you. Only in your total aloneness/silence are you your being, not in relationships.

A man of rules changes himself on the periphery. A man of understanding changes himself, then the periphery changes automatically. When the center changes, periphery changes automatically; it has to change. But when the periphery changes there is no necessity for the center to change with it. If ethics, morality, values, epistemology or aesthetics are predefined, they are as good as dead. They can only be defined best in context; always in context; in the moment itself. It is, therefore, essential to bring the other wing of life, spirituality (not religion), in to the forefront to access the being.

Is self-defense appropriate?..........

It is important to defend and protect yourself. That is your right. You defend yourself so someone else cannot commit or practice violence against you.  Self-defense promotes nonviolence.

If love is all there is, how can man ever justify war?..........

War needs to be avoided just for so it does not hurt and harm life.  War should be the last resort. War must not be supported for war's sake. But what if life itself is hurt and harmed by preventing war? Then its prevention has no meaning.  If a moment comes when, for the good of mankind, war becomes necessary - and such moments do come - then it should be accepted gracefully and happily.

Sometimes man must go to war to make the grandest statement about who man truly is; he who abhors war. There are times when you may have to give up Who You Are in order to be Who You Are. In order to 'have' yourself as a man of peace, you may have to give up the idea of yourself as a man who never goes to war. You may have to prove Who You Are by demonstrating an aspect of Who You Are Not. This does not mean in human relationships that if you are being hurt, you have to 'hurt back'. Nor does it mean so in relationships between nations.  It simply means that to allow another to continually inflict damage may not be the most loving thing to do for yourself or the others.

Did Krishna provoke/advocate Arjuna to be violent in Mahabhaarath War?..........

Krishna's advice to Arjuna that it was acceptable to kill others because nobody ever dies - needs a deeper understanding. If you want to kill others, but at the same time you want to save your own life - is wrong. Krishna never expressed that idea to Arjuna. He talked about fighting for dharma (righteousness) from the plane of Absolute Reality, from the plane of Pure-Awareness, from the plane of Non-Duality where everything is One. He never indicated Arjuna to be careful about his own life while killing others.

An action becomes nonviolent if nothing of the ego comes in to prompt the action and to claim the fruit. You can be violent to violence as long as it is not prompted by the ego. You can hate the hatred as long as it is not prompted by the ego. Arjuna did not want to fight because few people on the other side were 'his' people. When 'mine-ness' comes in, Arjuna has already divided; 'mine' and the 'other'. That itself is violence.

He wanted to leave the battle field and go to the forest. If he did that, he would have surely hunted. That is not nonviolence. Arjuna killed all his life. That was his nature. Trying not kill his own people and kill others is confusion. The goal of the fighting was for dharma not for his enjoyment. Krishna was teaching him the right attitude towards life. Arjuna did not have the right attitude. He was depressed. Krishna was teaching Arjuna from a Higher Reality.

We have three Realities; Absolute and/or Ultimate Reality (Paramaarthika Sathyam; 'paramaartha'=supreme/highest or source), Relative, Observed or Transactional Reality (Vyavahaarika Sathyam) and Imagined or Distorted Reality (Prathibhaasika Sathyam; 'prathibhaasa'=reflection of relative reality; 'bhaasa'=appearance). We can take an analogy from one Reality to understand something in another Reality, but it is not appropriate to mix two Realities. That will result in confusion.

Thamas (reluctance) may often assume the form of sathva (resolution). There is no direct jump from thamas to sathva. You must go through rajas (action). It was thamas that was overpowering Arjuna in the form of cowardice, and he was speaking to Krishna as though his problem arose in the plane of sathva. Krishna saw through it and Arjuna was made to act (fight). Krishna's advice was neither to underestimate nor overestimate any relative reality. If you do your duty, you are not underestimating. When you are underestimating, you refuse to do your duty. If you are worrying over your duties, you are overestimating. Krishna says, "do your duty and do not worry." If you act according to Krishna, you are faced with two possibilities and two alone – either to die in battle, or to win and not desire the fruits of the victory. In either case, the ego or body idea is considerably crippled and you rise to that extent on the spiritual ladder.

Krishna’s advice does not advocate raw violence, as the war maniacs of the present day do. He was advocating only activity or action. An action can be condemned as violent only because of the motive behind it, and the motive is the expression of the ego. But Krishna had already crippled the ego by removing the desire for the fruits of the action, which alone can act as the incentive to an ordinary man. Thus the spiritual ground was well prepared even before Arjuna was called to action, if necessary even violent action. Courage was the one essential requisite for the performance of such an action. Courage is the offspring of the saathvic or the selfless or the egoless.

Violence is a state of mind. A man who finds pleasure in killing others, enjoys killing others, hankers for violence and looks for the right opportunity to kill others...such a man commits sin. Violence in itself is not a sin, but an act of violence is a sin. Desire for violence is a sin. If you think that being nonviolent simply means to prevent a person from being harmed, then certainly nonviolence is meaningless.

Nonviolence of Buddha and Mahaveera has a completely different meaning: they wish not to harm life, they wish not to hurt any form of life. They do not draw pleasure out of hurting others; they rejoice when they can save any form of life. When Mahaveera walks, he tries not to step on ants; but this does not mean that the ant is saved because Mahaveera is not stepping on it. But Mahaveera's feeling, which lays behind his action, is valuable. Mahaveera's feeling may not benefit the ant, but for sure is beneficial to Mahaveera.

What really matters are not the actions in themselves - whether one is violent, or not-violent - but the feeling behind those actions. Mahaveera's nonviolence is a by-product of a creative feeling; a creative attitude towards the world. Hitler's violence is a by-product of destructive attitude towards the world.

And Krishna's advice to Arjuna to kill was a creative attitude which would protect and save life as a whole. Life can be harmed in the interest of bigger or fuller life, when there is no choice. A doctor kills a germ in the interest of saving an organ; he amputates a leg in the interest of saving a body. Krishna says that if good comes through peace, we should welcome peace, and that if good flows from war then war is equally welcome. Sometimes man must go to war to make the grandest statement about who man truly is: he who abhors war. There are times when you may have to give up Who You Really Are in order to "be" Who You Really Are. There are masters who have taught: you cannot have it all until you are willing to give it all up. Thus, in order to "have" yourself as a man of peace, you may have to give up the idea of yourself as a man who never goes to war. This does not mean in human relationships that if you are being hurt, you have to "hurt back." It simply means that to allow another to continually inflict damage may not be the most loving thing to do - for your Self or the other. Krishna's teaching was full of love and compassion. We can understand the significance of Krishna's words only when we will rise to his level. Let us not pull Krishna down to our level.

To harm is ugly. To allow someone to harm you or the world is the same, it is ugly. Life in both the cases is harmed.

PART V - Experience/Life

What is Experience?..........

(Dualistic) Experience is Reality filtered through the mind. Consciousness+thought=Experience! Chaithanyam+Vritthi=Anubhava! (anu-bhava=in accordance with - absolute existence or being; object has to lose its name and form and become absorbed in you/knowledge for experience to take place; once object loses its name and form it becomes knowledge/consciousness).  Reality/God/Awareness is independent and exists without experience, but experience cannot happen/exist without Reality. Consciousness=Self-Evident Principle=The ever-present knowledge that I am=I am conscious of being conscious=I know I exist. Dualistic Experience happens in the mind. Mind consists of the Unchanging Consciousness and the changing thoughts (plus emotions, feelings and perceptions).  Experience belongs neither to the Awareness, nor to the mind. Experience happens when Awareness shines on the mind.  Experience is arrived at three different portals of perceiving, thinking and feeling, the three realms of experience. A body perceives, a mind thinks and a soul feels.

Experience is the direct perceptual participation in an event. Pure Knowledge is the grasp of what is. When you have knowledge it includes seeing - it includes experience. But experience does not have to include knowledge.  Experience may or may not coincide with knowledge.  Experience, however, can lead to knowledge.  Pure Knowledge or Truth cannot be contradicted. Objective/Worldly knowledge is Truth in relative terms! Experience is Truth in relative terms!

Experience is composed of two indivisible/inseparable parts: Experience is intertwined with Consciousness (conscious and independent principle) and Matter (inert and dependent principle), the two indivisible/inseparable parts (they can only be separated intellectually as master and servant, the knowledge of which is Self-Knowledge or Self-Realization). In other words, experience consists of: 1. the background, the subjective part (soul=Reflection of Pure-Consciousness), which is the Reality itself (Existence-Consciousness-Completeness or Sath-Chith-Aananda); and 2. the expression, the objective part, Names/Concepts-and-Forms or Naama-Roopa, which is only a superimposition of the mind and senses upon that background/substratum of Reality. The objective part, names-and-forms, gets further subdivided into name (mind or concept or pseudo-subject) and form (matter or object).  In examining any experience to see what it is in its essence, we must give up the expression or non-essential part of it as belonging entirely to the mind and senses, and take only the background which alone is permanent and real, the essential part. Thus examined, every experience reduces itself to Pure Knowledge/Ultimate Reality.  The test of every experience is to see whether it is strictly subjective or objective.  The subjective part alone is real and the objective part a 'mithya,' meaning dependently real or illusory.  Space, though not perceptible to the senses, is certainly conceivable by the mind.  So it is really objective in nature; it is the subtlest object.  If we take out space, this last taint of objectivity, it ceases/refuses to be dead and inert, becomes self-luminous, and it immediately shines as its background – the Reality.

Experience is of two kinds.  Normal experience we refer to, is dualistic - a pseudo-subject experiencing an object. It is a subjective experience (phenomenal experience, name-ful experience). Normal experience could be intellectual/theoretical or intellectual+feeling. You may know all about apple intellectually, but when you taste it you have the feeling also. This is a deeper experience. Normal experience is indirect, through an object, through a 'second.' But there is another kind of experience: Awareness knowing itself.  It is a unique and direct experience in that there is only one real-subject knowing a real-subject (non-phenomenal experience, name-less experience).  Subject knowing a subject alone is a pure, conscious, undifferentiated experience. We may call this a Singular Experience. The Middle Path.  Awareness is not really aware of anything - any thing in particular. It is too close to itself to know itself in subject-object relationship. Think about space. Wherever you go there is space. You are not conscious of space as an object. Awareness is like space except that it is even subtler than space, in that it is also aware. Awareness stands in itself. Awareness knows itself simply by being itself. Sun shines itself by simply being itself. If the experience of being aware is unknown, each of us would answer "no" to the question - "Are you aware?" But each of us would answer "yes" to the question - "Are you aware?" It is not known by a mind, but Awareness knows Awareness. It IS.

Remember that all the things that happen to a soul happen at the selfsame instant. All experience is experienced simultaneously and sequentially--with each new experience ‘erasing’ the old. And so it is as if the old never happened. You ‘are’ what you ‘are’ Right Now, and it is very much as if you never were anything else. Because mind can only access experience thought by thought, because it is not possible to have more than one thought at a time. Awareness has no such limitation (it is dimensionless), so all seven billion thoughts occur at the same time which is always 'now.' Time is not a continuum. It is an element of relativity that exists vertically, not horizontally. Any experience happens in the 'now,' and without a subject (it is a name-less experience). It is the 'working-mind' (spontaneous-mind or vertical-mind or natural-mind or being-mind or non-projecting-mind or non-conceptualizing-mind or the impersonal-mind or 'aham' which can use/draw memories) that is in movement acting only on the job at work ('aham'=sense of 'I' which is impersonal but in duality; 'ahamkaara'=sense of 'I' as a doer/separate-self which is personal and in dualism; impersonal-I has transformed its association with a personal-I to an identity with that personal-I; impersonal-I is the true subject/witness whereas the personal-I is the pseudo/fake/imaginary subject; Aham is an I-sense with an association with a body-mind-complex/object and Ahamkaara is an I-sense with an identification with a body-mind-complex/subject as the doer-enjoyer-knower).

It is a 'moment' you "sent" yourself before you had a thought about it. So, "be" in the 'moment.' Remember, you sent your Self this 'moment' as a gift, as a present (Observed Reality/Apparent Reality/Objective Reality/Factual Reality/Changing Reality). This 'moment' contains the seed of a tremendous truth so you can "be." You cannot experience what you do not know and you do not know what you have not experienced. Yes, this is a vicious circle. What Enlightenment asks you to do is to know/realize something you have not experienced and thus experience it. Experience it by "being" in the 'now' knowingly (meaning with Complete Awareness, or, aware of being aware). Knowing opens the door to genuine/impersonal/true experience. Knowing precedes creation, and produces it. We usually imagine it is the other way around. Actually, we know a great deal more than we have experienced. We simply don't know that we know. So we keep waiting around for the experience of Godliness. And all the while we keep having it. Yet we are having it without really knowing for what it is - which is like not having it at all. We can try to experience God for trillions of lifetimes, but experience can never "bring" you God. Only Knowing can. In Knowing, you and God are one, subject and object are one without a second ("I and my Father are one!"). If the experiencing of an event is the same for everyone, then that experience is genuine/impersonal. And this will happen when people don't have time to think.

This 'now' experience is like that of a baby, if one's consciousness is fully merged in experience (name-less experience). It is like witnessing of an enlightened being, if one's experience is fully merged in Consciousness (Non-Dual experience where any identification with names-and-forms is transcended). Both are natural ways of experiencing. And what is the most natural thing in life?...Loving (Being-Knowing-Loving). Ego comes in later (also in the 'now') and claims 'I had the experience in the past.' Ego reacts to the thought that comes from outside/causal-body/soul based on ego's genes and conditioning. Ego-thought weaves a web of a linearly continuous past and future (time) and places the experiences there because it has no access to the 'now.' This is called the 'thinker-mind' or the 'conceptualizing-mind' or the 'personal-mind,' the 'me (knower/doer/enjoyer/experiencer).' Instead of Impersonal-Consciousness experiencing itself, it is the 'me' as the doer/knower/enjoyer experiencing the world. In the impersonal experiencing in the 'now,' association with the body-mind complex by a thought must still be there for the functioning to happen (clock or chronological time). However, personal doership (the 'me' or dualism or 'ahamkaara') is absent, and the other is absent, so there is no 'judging.'

Experience always happens in here-and-now (the absolute plane; infinity; it cannot happen there or in past/future; past and future are finite) and the ultimate content is knowledge. Wherever you are it is here. Whenever you are it is now. Therefore, here is not a place in space and now is not a moment in time. In relation to space, here is Infinity and in relation to time, now is Eternity. Here is spaceless space and now is timeless time. They are one and the same, a single "thing." Here-and-now is the Absolute (absence of duality, the knowledge I AM or Self-Awareness), and is nothing but Pure/Dimensionless Awareness. Experience (knowledge) appears in Awareness and is made out of it. Experience ('anu-bhava'=in accordance with Existence; object has to lose its name and form and become absorbed in you/knowledge for experience to take place; once object loses its name and form it becomes Knowledge/Consciousness) happens when the knower, the known and the knowing become one - the Knowing/Awareness. Experience always happens in the first person ('aparoksha'). The known and the knower have to lose their finite forms and become one formless knowledge. All experience is also known. Since here-and-now is always with you, you are that! You are Awareness/Consciousness! In a personal dream, "your" Consciousness/Potential projects the dream. It seems that the dream experience happens in time and space, but it really happens in here-and-now (which you will realize upon waking). From the perspective of the dream-character, that Consciousness/Potential is nothing but you. Experience appears in that Consciousness, known by Consciousness and is made out of Consciousness. It is the same in waking state because here-and-now in a personal dream and here-and-now in the waking is the same here-and-now!

Thinker-mind is limited by time and completely imaginary (Distorted Reality/Imagined Reality/Subjective Reality). Thinker-thought can never touch the here-and-now. Knowing anything other than ourself is synonymous with thinking. It is unnecessary for a spiritual seeker, but necessary for the Totality/Life to function to bring on relationships, problems, etc. Remember: A thought comes from outside in the 'now' (in vertical time) but a thinker-mind stretches that into a horizontal time of past and future and identifies himself with the thought (psychological time). Thought itself is not a problem, identification with the thought is. In the 'now-here' experience (chith-sath experience), experience/object comes to you (the Awareness); whereas in the 'time-space' experience, separate-self/thought goes out to object. Now-here or being present is not any doing. In order to be present, you need not do anything. Trying to be in present, you will be getting in your own way. Thoughts/thinking is, of course, required in life. Thought is necessary for three reasons: i) to attend to practical situations (if an animal jumps in front of our car, we need to think about a proper action and to respond with intelligence and love), ii) to explore the nature of our mind or being and iii) to celebrate life. If thoughts are not rising for any of these three reasons, then they must be rising for an illusory separate-self (in which case you must question these).

Ultimately, however, the Observed Reality/Factual Reality/Apparent Reality and the Distorted Reality are nothing but Pure-Consciousness (Ultimate Reality/Supreme Reality) because all experience arises and subsides in it, known by it and also made of it. Perceptions resolve into thought, thought resolves into knowledge and knowledge resolves into Consciousness/Knowing. Remember: Factual Reality is Ultimate Reality but Ultimate Reality is not Factual Reality. We can know all the facts about gravity, but if we do not have an awareness of why gravity works, we know nothing. 'Now' is an absolute state like deep-sleep state that is endowed with a potential/desire to "become." It is passive non-duality because it is still a dependent state, there is an element of duality hidden in it. 'Now' is a window into Eternity. 'Here' is a window into Infinity. 'Now/Here' or 'I AM' is the closest gate from where you can easily jump into the Ultimate Reality. Body is always 'here' in the space. Feeling is always 'here' in the space ('here' is the dimensionless place where experience takes place). Mind, however, is in past and future - in time. Bring mind to the body/'here' so you can be in the 'now.' This is meditation. Witness 'now-here.' This 'now-here' is the gateway to 'nowhere,' or 'everywhere.' Ultimate Reality is desire-less, void of any desires. It simply IS and AWARE (Sath-Chith). Ultimate Reality is not an experience but illuminates any and all experience!

Think of time as a spindle, representing the Eternal Moment of Now. Imagine picture leafs of paper on the spindle, one atop the other. These are the elements of time. Each element separate and distinct, yet each existing simultaneously with the other. All the paper on the spindle at once! As much as there will ever be—as much as there ever was; All of It! There is no Beginning to this, and there is no End. It—the All of Everything—just IS. It is like a book vs. reading the book. While all the story of hundred years life is right there in your hands, you (as mind) are only reading one segment/chapter at a time.

Jesus Christ (Matthew 6.22): "The light of the body is the (third) eye (i.e., the soul). If, therefore, thine eye be single (i.e., convert the pseudo-subject and the object which are the two eyes of duality into soul which is singularity), thy whole body shall be full of light!"

Krishna in Bhagavad Geetha, 2.11: "Gatha-asoona A-gatha-asoona Cha, Anu-shochanthi Pandithah!"...Past life and Not-Past life (=present and future) is not worth worrying...Only Now exists (what is there in Now?,...Timelessness or Awareness)!

Experience happens at three levels. Being, Doing and Having. All experience apparently springs from Being. Whatever you are Being will determine what you are Doing, and what you are Doing will determine what you are Having. Most people have the understanding that the life works like this: Have-Do-Be. That is, when I HAVE the right stuff, I can DO the right things, and then I will get to BE what I want to be. When I HAVE enough money I can DO the thing called buy a house and I can BE the thing called secure. But these people have it all backwards. The Be-Do-Have is the right way of looking at life! Why? Because all creation starts from the place of BEING. Coming FROM a state of being, rather than trying to get TO a state of being, assures that the state of being is achieved (because you are creating it arbitrarily!), and the 'having-ness' end of the equation takes care of itself. When you come FROM a state of being, you need to 'have' nothing in order to begin the process of creation. That is the beauty of it. Because you are thinking, saying, and doing only what a person who is being happy, contended, joyful and peaceful thinks, says and does, then the things that a happy or contended person winds up having...come to you automatically. When you decide that you are secure, or BE secure, then you DO what a 'secure' person does. You drop away any other behaviors that don't harmonize with that. Soon, the only behaviors that are left are behaviors that produce the result, HAVE it! Living happily is about being something, doing something and having something (in that order) that makes your soul dance and your heart sing and your mind blow.

So, what is this Singular Experience?... To experience Love knowingly. Or, to "be" Love.  Experience is the Knowing of the Absolute in relative terms. Knowing+Feeling produces Complete Awareness/Pure Love. Pure Love or Aananda is unconditional and it is our nature. Know yourself as Love first and then know everything else as Love also to realize that all there is, is Love! If a man cannot love himself he cannot know himself and cannot love anybody else either.

For the soul ('chidhaabhaasa') to experience Perfect Love or Complete Love knowingly, it must experience every human feeling (because all feelings are ultimately Love).  How can you have compassion on that which you don’t understand?  How can you forgive in another that which you have never experienced in yourself? So, we see both the simplicity and the awesome magnitude of the soul’s journey. We understand what it is up to: The purpose of the human soul is to experience All of It—so that it can "be" All of It - knowingly! Grander and grander experience of God through only a few emotions we encounter over and over throughout our life. Western world says there are only five natural emotions in life whereas Hindus say that there are nine natural emotions. Use emotions/experience to feel and know God simultaneously!  The soul, therefore, never condemns that which is not grand, but blesses—seeing in it a part of itself which must exist for another part of itself to manifest. Darkness must exist to appreciate the light!

Imagine that you are your little finger. Now when you move, who is doing the moving? Is it you, as a finger, or is it your body, as that of which you, a finger, are a part? Well, we are all apparent parts of The Body of the God/Absolute. God/Reality, which is Pure Love, is apparently trying to know and experience itself, it's magnificence, through its individuations/souls. Or, through you and AS the real-you.

A Sufi Saying: "When you go inside yourself you find the world. When you go out into the world you find yourself!"

What is the best way to Experience?..........

You can create Experience in any one of three ways: 1. By using the Mechanics of the Mind, 2. By using the System of the Soul and 3. By using both.  The road to Experience, for most people, looks like this: Event..Data..Truth..Thought..Emotion..Experience..Reality. These are the Mechanics of the Mind. Most people live in their Mind most of the time. Some people actually think their Mind is Who They Are. But we are Body, Mind and Soul combined. We are Three-in-One life form. We are The Holy Trinity, personified.

When we use the System of the Soul, the road to Experience can also look like this: Being/Consciousness/Awareness..Perspective..Perception..Belief..Behavior..Experience..Reality. This Soul Experience will be decidedly different from the Experience to which we are led by the Mind. However, ignoring the present data for a larger perspective may not be the best choice. And it is possible that this new Experience will not always serve us, as it could place us in a Distorted Reality of another kind (like the experience under the influence of drugs).

A third road to Experience, another pathway altogether, is achieved by combining the above two paths. In this scenario, Being replaces physical occurrences at the top. Your life is no longer controlled or driven by what is happening, but, rather, by Who You Are. Now, Being becomes The Event.  This alteration will certainly produce transformation of the individual. Make your choosing of a State of Being as the biggest Event of your life. When Event and Being are united, the Line of Causality moves in two directions at once - and towards the middle ground between them.

In this way, Perspective and Data meet, enlarging both. Perception and Truth meet, enhancing both. Belief and Thought meet, expanding both. Behavior and Emotion meet, empowering both. And the Experience of the Mind couples and combines with the Experience of the Soul to produce a whole new Reality.

This new path from the Event called Being to your new Reality is what Buddha called The Middle Way.

How do you celebrate Life?.........

Three-Way Path to celebrate Life is: Have fun, spread joy and share love.

Fun, joy and love is who you are. It is the natural you. Have fun doing whatever you're doing. Spread joy around you. You can do that with something as simple as a smile, a laugh, a word of encouragement to a fellow traveler, a favor for a friend, a helping hand for a parent. Share love with everyone, in the form that your soul tells you is most appropriate to the moment and to the kind of relationship that you have with each person - and with yourself.

What is creativity?.........

Creativity is the loving quality that you bring to the activity you are doing.

It is an attitude, an inner approach - how you look at things. Whatsoever you do, if you do it joyfully, if you do it lovingly, if your act of doing it is not purely economical, then it is creative. If you have something growing out of it within you, if it gives you growth, it is creative. When your creativity comes to a climax, when your whole life becomes creative, you live in God. That is why God is called Creator.

Creativity means loving whatsoever you do - enjoying, celebrating it, as a gift of God!  A creative act enhances the beauty of the world; it gives something to the world, it never takes anything from it.  Money, power, prestige, are generally uncreative; not only uncreative, but destructive activities. A man who is after money will become destructive, because money has to be robbed, exploited; it has to be taken away from many people, only then you have it. Power simply means you have to make many people impotent, you have to destroy them - only then will you be powerful, can you be powerful.

What is the process of God "growing?".........

In absolute terms, God cannot "grow" because everything that God ever was, is Now, or ever will be, is Now. There is no time and there is no space in God's Realm. The cycle of life is occurring simultaneously everywhere.

But in relative terms (or human terms), God is growing - becoming more of itself - through the process called life. God is this process. God is both the process of life itself and the result of it. Thus, God is the Creator and the Created.  The Alpha and the Omega. The Beginning and the End. The Unmoved Mover. The Unwatched Watcher.

What the human mind wants to call God's "growth" is the process by which Individuations of Divinity experience, and thus become aware of, more and more of what God already know itself to be. Yet even this would seem to require the sensation or condition called "time" in order to occur...unless...all the content of life is, in Ultimate Reality, manifest all at once in a single place - even as, on the DVD of a movie, the entire story exists in its totality right now, yet we experience the story unfolding by simply looking at the totality in a particular way.  This process by which God causes its individual parts or souls to experience the Whole piece-by-piece is what has loosely been called evolution.

Not all of this is easily or completely explained in human terms. No finite form, by the very reason of it being finite, could hold the infinite consciousness, awareness, and experience of the Whole, yet each individuated form was designed uniquely to reflect a particular aspect of divinity itself, with the Whole dividing itself (not to be confused with separating itself) from itself, re-creating itself in smaller and finite form. Putting all these aspects together again, as one puts the pieces of puzzle together, produces a picture of what all the pieces create. Namely: God. All the pieces are part of the picture, and no piece is less a part of the picture than any other.

Now some forms of life have been endowed with a level of Essential Essence (the raw energy from which everything springs) sufficient to produce the possibility of that Essence Knowing Itself. This is the quality in certain living beings that is called Self-Awareness. Human life was designed in such a way that what we call "expansion" of consciousness and experience is possible. In fact, human consciousness can expand even to a point where it once again knows itself as part of The Whole. Jesus, for instance, said: "I and the Father are one."

Take one piece of puzzle away and the picture is not complete. The experience of becoming fully self-aware occurs through a process by which the Individuated Aspect (soul) does not grow, actually, but simply becomes more and more aware (remember) that it does not have to grow, but truly is, in its individuated form, Divinity Itself. The Individual Piece recognizes itself as the puzzle itself, simply divided. The spectacular physiological, psychological, and theological transition into that higher level of self-awareness occurs only once in the epochal history of every sentient species or soul in the cosmos and is known as "Awakening or Enlightenment!" A wave of ocean realizes that it is water!

What is evolution? Did man come from a monkey?.........

Evolution is the creation of a situation in which the soul evolves.  The essence of human, the soul - the Reflection of Pure-Awareness in a body-mind-complex, passes through many forms starting from amoeba to a human. It happens unconsciously. No volition is needed, no conscious effort. It is just natural and collective. Not every human has come to be a human from being a monkey; different people have traveled different lines of evolution. All are coming from different animals, and that is one of the reasons why they are so unequal. Different bodies are created for different actions to take place as part of the cosmic show.

<<<Body is gross matter. Mind is subtle matter or energy. Mind/energy is in every cell of your body, concentrated in the brain. Soul/Intelligence/Individual-Consciousness is everywhere in your body including the empty space (your body is more than 99% empty space). It is the soul that holds you, your body and mind, together. Even though the Intelligence is everywhere in the manifestation (there is only "One Soul"), individual soul seems separate like the air in a dining room versus the air in a living room. Air is just one. Soul is like an aura around you. The soul is that which holds you together - just as the Soul of Reality is that which contains the cosmos and holds it together. Energy concentrated is matter. Energy dissipated/thin is mind. Energy-Pure is the Soul, "One Soul" that is apparently individuated. Experience of love is made at the soul level. The soul is part of you that is connected to everything else. The body is the part of you that is separate. The mind is the bridge between the two. If your soul could be described by a feeling, it would be freedom and love. Love expressed Freely is what Pure-Consciousness is! Pure-Consciousness needs matter and mind/energy to express itself. Matter and mind/energy is lifeless without Consciousness because they (or nothing) cannot become matter/energy all by themselves. Nothing "matters" in and of itself. As Jesus Christ said, "Without the Father (Consciousness), I am nothing!"

The three aspects of Self - body, mind and soul - are in no wise unequal to each other. Each has a function, but no function is greater than another, nor does any function actually preceed another. All are interrelated in an exactly equal way. Conceive - create - experience. What you conceive you create, what you create you experience, what you experience you conceive. At any point in this process, soul never overrides the body or the mind. That is why it is said, if you can cause body to experience something (take abundance, for example), you will soon have the feeling of it in your soul, which will conceive of itself in a new way (namely, abundant), thus presenting your mind with a new thought about that. From the new thought springs more experience, and the body begins living a new reality as a permanent state of being. Your body, mind and soul are one, working in unison for the soul to evolve, for the soul to know "Who It Really Is" in its own experience!>>>

Evolution of soul is an intelligent design in motion. Through evolution you (the soul) elevate your experience and expression of self, moving it to the next level.  Monkey itself never becomes a human.

Life in the physical realm is a tool, a device, a mechanism through which the soul evolves. This process of soul evolution cannot fulfill itself in the realm of the spiritual. In the realm of the spiritual you can notice everything that you have and are - right there in front of you. It is like looking at the back-end programming on that CD chess game and seeing all the moves. Yet seeing all the moves is not the same as making all the moves. In order to make the moves you have to play the game!

Once soul evolves in a human, collective evolution stops.  Then the whole responsibility falls upon soul itself. Now it is up to you to evolve. Below human everything is unconscious or automatic. With human a new factor has entered - the factor of awareness, the factor of consciousness. Now you are aware, now you know; and you are also self-aware, i.e., you know that you know. When you know this way, you are responsible for your evolution.

Soul creates individuality in a human. From now on, evolution becomes an individual process.  It is a revolution, more precisely a rebellion!

What are the great principles of Life expression? Is Life a product of chance?.........

Life is neither a haphazard arrangement nor its events a product of chance. Do you imagine that a life which designs something as intricate and unique as a rose flower produces something as random as a "chance" encounter? Everything is occurring in perfect order. If there was "random chance," then things would be out of control. What kind of a God would allow things to get out of control?

Life manifests according to certain "laws." Because these "laws" are so broad-based, they often produce events and outcomes that seem to be the product of chance. This is part of the great illusion of life. Yet we do live in a Cause-and-Effect Universe, and that every effect we see on our planet - from terrorist attacks to hurricanes in Haiti to the Gulf of Mexico oil leak disaster - is the result of the cumulative causes of humanity. "Chance" is but a name for a law not recognized.

Imagine two ants moving from the bottom of an egg on opposite sides to the top. When they meet at the top, it feels like their meeting is a coincidence for the ants. But for someone looking from above and tracking the movements of both the ants, it is not a coincidence. They are destined to meet at that point!

The physical world runs according to these five Great Principles of Life ('Suthras/Niyamas/Reethis'). We will do good if we make use of these five Principles:

1. The Law or Presence of Cycles ('Karma Chakra Suthra' or 'Kaala Chakra Suthra'), which gives you eternity. All of life moves in cycles or spirals obeying karma. There is no straight line in the universe. Everything ultimately curves in on itself. This means you have 'forever' to experience that which you wish to experience of Who You Really Are, individually and collectively. God cannot have a limit. The purpose of the 'attraction' is to elevate not the personal-self, but the Other, to expand not the personal-self, but the Other, to enrich not the personal-self, but the Other - for it is by so doing that the personal-self is elevated, expanded, enriched, and experienced most fully. It is the fullest experience of the self for which the soul yearns. This is, in fact, the purpose of all life (if any).

2. The Law of Opposites ('Vyathireka Suthra'), which gives you opportunity; opportunity to experience God knowingly. It states that no sooner will you call something into your reality than its exact opposite will also appear and always first. This law is based on the fundamental and founding principle of all life: "In the absence of that which you are not, that which you are is not." In the absence of such a contrasting field, the experience you desire would be impossible. Indeed, this is the entire reason for your having come to the Realm of The Physical to begin with.

For example, there is only one way to experience yourself as The Light, and that would be to find yourself in darkness. You, therefore, must create the darkness. This gives you opportunity. Yet if you see the opposite not as opportunity but as opposition, you will see it not as something that empowers you, but as something that takes power away from you. Do not resist the opposite of anything that you wish to experience. Instead, embrace it. Accept it. What you resist, persists.

Why so? Resistance is a form of energy - and energy is creative. When you resist something, you give it energy. When you fail to resist something, you do not give it energy. You literally starve it of the Energy of Life. The reality then "dies." Resisting something places it there. You cannot lean against a wall that is not there. You cannot push back against something that is not there. Therefore the act of pushing back against something, places it there in your reality. Resisting something every time will guarantee its reappearance throughout your life. It is as simple as that. So, by focusing angry or frustrated energy on the opposite, you actually give it more life. Never oppose that which opposes you; otherwise you will be moving in circles and will not get anywhere. Take the incoming negative energy as a helpful vibration that acts as a building block for the experience you seek to call forth. Use the tool called Gratitude.

Gratitude or thankfulness is the antidote to the poison of negativity. Therefore, do not Oppose but Compose. Modification is creation, resistance is the end of creation. If nothing we see is real, then what does anything mean? And the answer is: The meaning of everything is the meaning you give it! You may not have changed anything in your outward reality, but remember, it is the inner experience of it that we are out to change.

Remember a cardinal rule: Do not seek to experience Who You Really Are through others (in a superior way). Allow others to seek Who They Really Are through you; that's the genuine way. You cannot genuinely experience what you do not allow others to experience through you!

3. The Law of Attraction ('Aakarshana Suthra'), which gives you power. Attraction is an energy magnet. It pulls to itself everything like itself. Life obeys, absolutely, the principle: Like Attracts Like. The energy of attraction responds not only to what we desire, but also to what we fear. It is a matter of what we focus on, whether we want to or not, whether we do it consciously or not. Remember, Opposites Never Attract. There is no vibrational evidence, anywhere in the universe, that supports the idea that opposites attract. They do not. A shy man attracts an outgoing woman because his intention is to be more outgoing, so he is actually attracting the subject of his intention.

The Law of Attraction does not respond to the words you use or the thoughts you think. It simply responds to how you feel about what you say and how you feel about what you think. The speed at which the Law of Attraction manifests your desire is in direct proportion to how much you allow that feeling. Allowing is the absence of doubt, and doubt is often created from limiting beliefs. A limiting belief is a repetitive thought that prevents you from attracting your desire. It simply responds to your vibration. We cannot hold two vibrations at the same time. Therefore, choose to make your vibration a positive one so that you will get what you desire. Appreciation and gratitude are the highest forms of vibration. You can take time to admire anything. It's the feeling that's attached to your appreciation that is important. Attract love, see and appreciate love in anyone or in anything!

4. The Joy of Wonder ('Adhbhutha Suthra'), which gives you imagination. For only in imagination and/or illusion can we have anything we want, and do anything we please, and create anything we desire. All things are filled with wonder ('adhbhutham'), for wonder or magnificence is the Nature of God. You spread wonder throughout your world and achieve the purpose for which you came to this world. That is to Enjoy; to "be" God knowingly and to express and/or demonstrate God over and over through eternity! And, God in simplest terms is PURE LOVE or MOKSHA or AANANDA!

5. The Gift of Wisdom ('Vignyaana Suthra'), which gives you discernment, 'vichakshana,' 'viveka,' 'buddhi.' Wisdom is a tool given to all sentient beings, more so to humans. Discernment allows you to see things as they really are and not fall prey to darkness or SATAN (Seeing Any Thing As Negative). It is through true wisdom that we understand something quite extraordinary about life in physical form: all of physicality is an illusion. The fact that we are living in an illusion is what makes our lives so exciting, and their possibilities so endless. The trick is to know how to live with the Illusion, and not within it. Jesus Christ says, "Be in the world, but not of it." Time and space appearing in you is Peace-Happiness and you appearing in time and space is misery-suffering. Nothing in life is what we imagine it to be. This does not mean that it is not there. What it does mean is that it is not "real." That is, it is not "really" what it "looks like." It is not what we assume it to be. The life is like a dream; it is a waking-dream; it is an Appearance/Maya. Know it through buddhi/discernment/discrimination; understand it! Discernment/Buddhi is to discriminate between what is real and what is not-real.

What are the Seven Hermetic Principles of Life?.........

Hermes Trismegistus, a contemporary with Abraham, was an Egyptian sage that taught occult principles and truths of life centuries ago. He was one of the earliest and greatest philosophers ever known to the world. All the fundamental and basic teachings embedded in the esoteric teachings of every race may be traced back to Hermes. The Seven Hermetic Principles of Life or Truth, upon which the entire Hermetic Philosophy is based, are as follows:

1. The Principle of Mentalism - The All is mind; The Universe is mental.

2. The Principle of Correspondence - As above, so below; As below, so above. The effect is hidden in the cause because there is only "one."

3. The Principle of Vibration - Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates.

4. The Principle of Polarity - Everything is dual; everything has poles; everything has its pair of opposites; like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree.

5. The Principle of Rhythm - Everything flows, out and in; all things rise and fall; life is cyclical.

6. The Principle of Cause and Effect - Every cause has its effect; everything happens according to law; chance is but a name for law not recognized.

7. The Principle of Gender - Everything has its masculine and feminine principles, positive and negative.

How do we not get what we don't want in Life?.........

Do not give thought to that which you do not want - for your attention to it attracts it. However, when you say, "I am not going to think about that subject anymore," in that moment you are still thinking about that subject. So the key is to think about something else - something that you do want. With practice you will be able to tell by the way you feel, if you are thinking about something wanted or unwanted.

What is right education?.........

Right education is to teach knowledge as well as wisdom. Teach children what to think as well as how to think. Wisdom is information applied. When you give your children wisdom, you do not tell them what is believed to be true, but, rather, how to get to their own truth. Information can be lost but wisdom can never be forgotten. Information is like knowing all about sex and wisdom is like having a sexual orgasm; there is much difference. Information resides in mind while wisdom resides in soul. So teach them less on subjects and more on concepts. Devise a new curriculum based on awareness, honesty and responsibility.

How should we teach our children?.........

First you be happy.

Second, spend more time with your children. Stop acting as if they’re on their own from age eleven. Get involved, and stay involved, in their lives. Talk to their teachers. Make friends with their friends. Exert an influence. Have a real presence in their lives. Don’t let them slip away from you. Every child does have the necessary intelligence to live his life fully. You create an atmosphere for them to grow mentally, rather than impose your ideas upon them. Play a role in allowing children's intelligence to bloom. In whichever situation they are placed, they should be able to live joyously.

Third, take an active stand against violence, and role models of violence, in their lives. Images do teach. Indeed, imagery teaches faster, and imprints deeper, than words. Insist that those in charge of retelling your cultural story (movie makers, TV producers, video game manufacturers, and other purveyors of imagery, from comic books to trading cards) create a new cultural story, with a new ethic— an ethic of nonviolence.

Fourth, do what it takes to make sure that instruments of violence and tools of violence are unavailable to your children and your teenagers. Prevent easy access and effortless acquisition.

Most importantly, eliminate violence from your life. You are the greatest model for your children. If they see you using violence, they will use violence. Your behavior is something you can control, and the behavior of others is something you can influence!

Does that mean that we shouldn’t spank our children?...Can you think of no other way to teach those that you say you deeply love? Is startling them, scaring them, or hurting them the only way you can think of to instruct them? Ours is a culture that has long used physical pain as a punishment for unwanted behavior not only in children, but also in adults. We actually kill people to get people to stop killing people.

It is insanity to use the energy that created a problem to seek to solve the problem. It is insanity to repeat the behaviors you want to stop in order to stop them. It is insanity to model behaviors all over our society that we say we do not want our offspring to copy.

What are the three cycles of human Life?.........

The mind functions in a cycle. According to yogic tradition, there are three cycles in human existence; cycles of 23 days, 28 days and 33 days. The first is the physical. It takes 23 days to complete, and it affects a broad range of physical factors, including resistance to disease, strength coordination, and the other basic body functions, and the sensation of physical well-being.

The second cycle is emotional. It takes 28 days to complete, just as it takes 28 days in the feminine body for the menstruation to come. Just now science is becoming alert that even man has a kind of monthly period and that after each 28 days it happens. The feminine period is visible and physical. Man's period is not visible and not physical; more psychological, more emotional, but it happens. The emotional cycle governs creativity, sensitivity, mental health, mood, perception of the world and ourselves. This is a 28-day cycle in the body; it follows the moon. So whenever there is full moon you will be happy, and when there is no moon, you will be less happy.

And then finally, the third cycle. The third cycle is the intellectual cycle. It takes place over a 33-day period. It regulates memory, alertness, receptivity to knowledge and the logical and analytical functions. The first half of each period is positive and the second half, negative. When all the three cycles are in the positive, peaks of happiness and joy happen. And when all the three are in the negative, one lives in discomfort.

PART VI - Miscellaneous

Why is Krishna a complete incarnation?..........

Krishna is the complete and the greatest incarnation the world ever had! Krishna is the most significant person in all of history!

Life as we know it never received such a deep and unconditional acceptance at the hands of any other enlightened soul.

In the midst of this blossoming, the image of a renunciate and naked Mahaveera will lose its relevance. Jesus says, "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Bliss, according to Krishna, is not opposed to the happiness of this world: it is the highest rhythm of the same music, the same dance. The world is really the extended hand of God, and God is the innermost being hidden in the world. The difference between the world and God is no more than this.

Buddha, Mahaveera and Christ are all one-dimensional; predictable. Buddha emphasizes meditation, Mahaveera emphasizes nonviolence and Christ emphasizes service to others - all are single paths. Of course they are complete paths in themselves, but they are complete in a particular dimension. Krishna is multi-dimensional, unpredictable. He synthesizes all aspects of life; emphasizes all paths...karma yoga, bhakthi yoga, raja yoga and gnyaana yoga. The personalities of Buddha, Mahaveera, Christ, Mohammed and Moses are like single notes, not harmonies, not symphonies. Krishna's personality is all-inclusive, colorful, symphonic, blissful. Krishna reaches the goal from many, many directions which is significant.

That is why Krishna, among all of them, has a universal appeal. The variety of his character is amazing. He is full of life - childhood, youth and a complete age. His whole life is full of plays and dramas, miracles and manly acts, struggles and successes. Krishna made his plays divine. He steals butter as a child, and enriches a childhood friend as a king. If he disrobes gopikas’ clothes on the bank of river Yamuna, he covers Draupadi when Dushaasana pulls away her clothes.

He is liked, loved and worshiped at a time; simultaneously; by men and women; by young and old. Krishna is a warrior and a cowherd at a time. He is a sage and a householder simultaneously. He handles both flute and a bow with equal apt and expertise. He is an able politician and a statesman alike. He is the friend, philosopher and guide to one and all.

Krishna says that the world is a unity of opposites. Violence and nonviolence always go together, hand-in-hand. There was never a time when violence did not happen, nor was there a time when nonviolence did not exist. So those who choose only one of the opposites choose a fragment, and they can never be fulfilled. Krishna says, "Accept both the polarities, because both are there together. Go with them, because they are. Don't choose!"

It can be said that Krishna is the first person to talk of choice-free-ness.

A person who is whole in one dimension is going to be a total stranger in so far as other dimensions are concerned. Where Krishna can even steal skillfully, Mahaveera will be a complete failure as a thief. Where Krishna will shine in the battlefield as an accomplished warrior, Buddha will cut a sorry figure if takes his stand there. We cannot imagine Christ playing a flute, but we can easily think of Krishna going to the gallows. Krishna will feel no difficulty on the cross. Intrinsically, he is as capable of facing crucifixion as of playing a flute. Christians say Jesus never laughed. We cannot think of Christ in the image of Krishna. Buddha, Mahaveera and Christ renounce happiness and riches, Krishna does not renounce them! Krishna is the only incarnation that emphatically says, "I, the God/Awareness" - not an intermediary, not a meesenger, not a prophet!

Krishna makes an extraordinary statement on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, one no other man of Enlightenment has ever made. He tells Arjuna, "I will continue to come whenever the world is in trouble. I will continue to come whenever religion declines and disintegrates!" Mahaveera, Buddha, Moses, Muhammad and Jesus cannot say this. There is no statement of theirs on record that parallels Krishna's statement. Mahaveera and Buddha talked about emptiness, void. Moses talked about a God high above that gave him the Ten Commandments. Muhammad talked about Allah as the Supreme God and him as the last messenger. Jesus talked about his Father (Awareness) in heaven. But Krishna is the only one that says "I" with such an authority. He always talked from the highest platform i.e., Paramaarthika Sathyam or Pure-Awareness.

Krishna: "All beings are in Me (Awareness), but I am not in them!
"The one who knows Me (Awareness) is Me alone!"

Krishna will be increasingly relevant and meaningful in the future! All incarnations are born ahead of their time. But Krishna was born far ahead of his time!

Why did Krishna divide humanity into four types/varnas? Why is the varna system not working now?..........

Krishna's concept of the varna system ('varnaashrama dharma') was based on an important psychological truth. It was based on the structure of human mind. Human attitude is of two types; introvert and extrovert. An introvert person embraces emptiness; an extrovert person encompasses the whole. The words 'emptiness' and 'whole' have the same ultimate meaning. We can think of the truth in terms of either a negative way or a positive way; those who feel affinity for the word 'negative' are introvert, and those who feel affinity for the word 'positive' are extrovert. Truth is actually beyond the opposites but shines them both and shines through them both.

For example, Buddha feels affinity for the word 'negative.' Buddha talks about nothingness, emptiness, hence his experience of the ultimate reality is expressed in a negative way. There are these two paths, and you can choose either of them. As far as the path is concerned, there are contradictions, but there are no contradictions as far as the experience is concerned. No body needs to change his own path, because both paths lead to the same goal. Each individual has to look within himself and recognize his own path, which is closer to his nature. An intellectual may choose the language of negation, of denial; an emotional person may choose the language of the whole. Krishna divided society into four types ('varnas'); introvert, introvert fully blossomed, extrovert and extrovert fully blossomed; shudra, braahmin, vaishya and kshatriya. These are laborers, intellectuals, businessmen and warriors. The varna system, based on the natural psychological traits of humanity, was spoken by Krishna more than five thousand years ago to benefit the society. Krishna's concept is really an extension of the modern psychologists' division of mind as introvert and extrovert, which allows for one's spiritual progress. The literal meaning of 'varna' is color or choice. It has nothing to do with the modern day 'caste.' Thereis a difference between varna/type/class and caste. The class is fluid - it is easy for one to move from one class to another; and the caste is rigid, fixed - it is not fluid, resilient.

According to Vedic scriptures, this division is based on: 1. birth ('jaathi'), 2. profession/action ('karma') and 3. qualities ('gunas'). Profession is based on whether one is an intellectual, a warrior, a businessman or a laborer. The three qualities of nature and of an individual are: sathva (purity), rajas (activity/desire) and thamas (lethargy/fear). Based on this classification of qualities: shudra=predominantly thamas, braahmin=predominantly sathva, vaishya=predominantly rajas plus thamas, kshatriya=predominantly rajas plus sathva. There is no gradation in birth-based or profession-based (all are equal) divisions, but there is gradation in quality-based division. A guna braahmana is certainly "higher" to guna kshatriya who is certainly "higher" to guna vaishya, who is certainly "higher" to guna shudra. Because guna shudra is closer to animal nature and guna braahmana is closer to God. This gradation, based on the level or degree of consciousness, is simply based on merit. This kind of hierarchy is natural in nature.

Remember: A "higher" level of consciousness is not "better" than a lower level of consciousness, it is merely higher. Being in the sixth grade is not "better" than being in the fifth grade. The varna system may also be viewed from the angle of the four human goals of dharma, artha, kaama ('thrivarga') and moksha (righteousness, possessions/security, pleasures/comforts and liberation). Shudras are the type of people wanting security ('artha'), vaishyas are the ones wanting comforts/pleasures ('kaama'), kshatriyas are the type of people working to maintain order, righteousness ('dharma') and braahmins are the ones working to "attain" freedom ('moksha') from life ('samsaara').

A person can be a braahmanna by birth and suppose he becomes an MP or a senator or a minister, he becomes what? Karma kshatriya or kshatriya by profession...and suppose he exploits that position for amassing wealth, business, then he becomes a guna vaishya or vaishya by quality. Thus one person can himself be a braahmanna by birth, a kshatriya by profession and a vaishya by quality. These designations are not fixed. It all depends upon the norms that you face.

All of us are born on the first rung of the ladder, but we can grow. We are born as shudras or businessmen - these are our seeds - but the seeds can sprout, and we can become either braahmins or warriors. When an introvert person flowers and blooms, he becomes a braahmin. When an introvert person does not flower, he remains a shudra. When an extrovert person flowers and blooms, he becomes a warrior. When an extrovert person does not flower, he remains a businessman. Buddha and Mahaveera were both born as warriors, but were braahmins by quality or nature.

From the psychological point of view, each individual should know his own type, so that he may not go astray in his life, so that his journey may not be meaningless and he may not move in the wrong direction. One cannot follow both paths at the same time; one cannot walk on two different roads at the same time. Every individual should understand that, by nature, if he is an extrovert type, or an introvert type, he should follow the right path accordingly. You should not go astray even for a single moment, because if you miss this opportunity in life, you may not have such an opportunity for many life times.

Since a person's jaathi varna was already decided by birth, it was easier for a soul to take a new birth. This is the foundation upon which the varna system was established. As soon as a person dies, he starts searching for a new womb. All the achievements of his past life, all his thoughts, all his actions, all that he has created in his past life - all that becomes the foundation of his search for a new womb. The varna system was helping the souls to find new wombs. Whenever a braahmin died, he would start searching for a womb in a braahmin family. It was easy; it was not difficult. This is the reason why, generally a braahmin would be reborn in a braahmin family for a countless number of births; a warrior would be reborn in a family of warriors for an infinite number of births.

This system has produced very significant results. When a man like Einstein has to search for a new womb, he may be reborn in a family of shopkeepers, and his new life may take a wrong turn, compared to his previous life. This system allows a person to carry the gains of his past lives into his next lives. The varna system worked like a network of channels, so that the souls could be given a certain direction.

The varna system, as it is implemented today, is meaningless, and the current varna (now known as caste) system is not the true system. The modern caste system (casteism) is only a sickness, a disease; caste is not. All systems degenerate. Truth never degenerates. The essence of that system has been lost since a long time ago. The soul has disappeared since a long time, only body remains. In the true varna system, there were different types of individuals, but no one was considered higher/better or lower/worse than any other. The concept of higher/better and lower/worse varnas is very dangerous.

Someone may be five feet tall, someone else may be six feet tall. The person who is five feet tall is not inferior to the person who is six feet tall. In the true varna system, the differences were accepted - without any judgments. The moment the differences are not accepted without any judgment anymore, there is turmoil and unrest within the society. The caste system as it is today is not going to last, but one day the true system will come back when the human mind will evolve in a more scientific way. Then it will become obvious that there are four types of individuals. This is a fact which cannot be denied. Even if we deny it, all we can do is reduce human beings to a single caste type, and destroy completely the individual soul. This is how people become machines.

You are different from others because you have a soul; you are different from others because you have an individuality. If you would not be different from others, you would not have any individuality of your own, you would not have a soul. As long as man has a soul, it is impossible to deny the varna system - even though we deny it. Today we may condemn the varna system, but the essence of the varna system can never be denied. A society can be healthy, only if it does not deny these differences, because the laws of life don't disappear simply because you deny the differences.

Between man and woman, there is a biological difference. Between braahmin and a warrior, there is a psychological difference. We are trying to eliminate the difference between a man and an woman these days, but this is pure madness - the differences should remain. However, this does not mean that man is superior (better) and woman is inferior (worse). The more a woman becomes feminine and a man becomes masculine, the deeper will be their relationship, the greater will be their attraction. There will be a deep current of love between them. You have a rock and you have a flower. Rock is not anything less but the way you handle them has to be different. Flower is more evolved; accordingly it gets treated. This goes for people also. This does not mean that you don't care for a rock. You care for it, and you do more work with it because it needs more work. If you don't have this distinction, then you will be a fool with life. In the name of equality, you will destroy all the beauty of life! (See the Note below.)

The varna system is based on psychological differences - and a society which is based on these differences produces the music of attraction. Life is a music: it is an orchestra with many different notes. It needs the shining armors of the warriors, it needs the service of the shudras, it needs the sharpness of the braahmins, and it also needs the willingness to explore of the businessmen. Life needs everybody - and nobody is superior (better), nobody is inferior (worse).

Krishna: "The four-fold division (of society) has been created by Me based upon guṇa and karma. Know me to be its author. Also (know me) to be a non-doer (and) changeless!"

Krishna's varna system was, thus, intended to: 1. make the society more functional/efficient and 2. offer an individual (or a so-called individual) a clear path (at both the mind and the soul levels) for his/her spiritual progress.

<<< Note: Man has his own qualities and woman her's. For centuries women have been treated unfairly, true, but what the so-called women's liberation movements are doing these days is not liberation but reaction. They are teaching women to be lesbians against men. They are spreading hatred. But a woman who cannot love a man loses something. They are asking for equality with men. Why equality? Women is woman, man is man; they are unique beings. They are not equal, they are not unequal either; they are simply different. They are opposite polarities. Equality does not mean that you have to do everything that man is doing. Biologically there is no equality, physiologically there is no equality, psychologically there is no equality; there is only uniqueness. The woman has to assert her uniqueness, and she has a different way of expressing herself. It is not only when you make a painting that you are a creator; when you make delicious food, you are an even greater creator, because nobody can eat the painting. You just have to make certain that whatever you are doing is done as a worship, as love, as creativity. Your soul cares only about what you are "being" while you are doing whatever you are doing. It is a state of beingness the soul is after, not a state of doingness.

However, it is obvious that women have been suppressed, their mysteries crushed by men. They have been used only as a production factory - not given the human rights which are basic. And that had made the world boring, ugly. Women need their whole freedom. A woman is neither inferior nor lower to a man. The world had lived under man's domination for too long. It is time that women had their share in participating in everything that is happening in the world. A woman has to contribute her part, which is going to be different from man's part. Life has to become total - man and woman together, contributing to the world all that they are born with: their different potentials, their different ways of thinking, seeing and being. >>>

What is a deva (a celestial being, a demi-god)?.........

Consciousness/Reality is One and All-Pervading, but, there appears to be two forms of consciousness occupying our bodies. One is a 'knowing-consciousness', (or local/personal/identified-consciousness) which is easily dislodged from our body by a relatively mild blow on the head (or by anesthesia, a less painful way of doing it). Then there is another, called, rudimentary consciousness or 'being-consciousness' or praana or non-local/impersonal consciousness, which knows how to run the body, even when the knowing-consciousness is gone.

This rudimentary consciousness which runs the body when we are out - that is, lose consciousness or asleep or, for that matter, awake - consists of or reflected in our gross/physical body as well as the subtle/mind body. The knowing-consciousness is a being superimposed on the gross and subtle bodies and using them as vehicles to experience this physical reality. This acts as an observer that includes our mind, interprets our sensory experiences, and gives us our self-awareness as individuals. This is commonly known as the soul or the causal body. Consciousness reflected in a mind/subtle body gives it movement. If reflected in just a physical body without a subtle body (like a stone), there is no movement because the degree of consciousness is lot less. Gross and physical bodies are finite whereas the soul or causal body is infinite. Soul only seems finite and inside or limited to our gross body. It is like a space in a pot versus the space. There is no actual division between the two, only an apparent division.

A single cell in our body is relatively ignorant, while the composite consciousness of all the cells of an organ is an intelligent being and an expert in its field. Now, if we put together the consciousness of all the organs in our body we end up with even a higher intelligent being who is the total consciousness of all the living cells in our body. Now think of our planet as a big body. We can also say that there must be someone occupying this big body, just as the soul occupies our physical body. There is a consciousness, to be sure a very big one, that is the knowing-consciousness, the observer or the soul of this planet. Similarly the sun is a bigger body of consciousness. Its rudimentary consciousness contains the rudimentary consciousness of all the planets, just as our bodies contain the rudimentary consciousness of all our organs.

This knowing-consciousness of the sun uses the body of the sun as a temporary focus or garage. This knowing-consciousness or soul contains within it all the planetary gods and is in charge of them and of the whole solar system. The name given to a being that is the knowing-consciousness or soul of any structure is Deva. The root word for deva is 'div,' meaning shining. So Deva means the shining one, divine. Divine, divinity come from the Sanskrit Deva. Deva is a good short word that means god of a form. For instance, there is a Deva of a tree, a mountain, a planet, a sun, etc. Sometimes these beings are visible to persons with highly developed sight or the internal eye or the third eye! And people worship these Devas or demi-gods; Devas of natural forces, Devas of planets and moons, Deva of sun, etc. But remember, all forms are imaginary. So, don't get carried away by the Devas and their forms. You may worship them as long as you know that they are not-real as their forms. However, if you think that your body and this world are real, Devas are also real! Mind and matter are, ultimately, imaginary and illusory. Life is an appearance in Consciousness made out of Consciousness and known by Consciousness.

The Deva of an individual body is called Jeevaathma, the shining principle in us, Consciousness/God/Reality in an apparent movement, the soul. The Deva of the cosmos is known as Eeshwara. Ultimately, Jeevaathma=Eeshwara=Aathma=Paramaathma. The space inside a pot is not separate from the space outside the pot. All is space only. Then the prefixes jeeva and parama drop out. Only Aathma remains. Another name for Aathma is Brahman/Reality! Wave is same as the Ocean and the Ocean is same as the Water! It all depends on your perspective, lower or higher, whether you associate Deva with a body or with Pure Consciousness!

What is a stem cell?.........

It is a well known fact that our bodies contain the blueprint of the universe. Our body chemistry holds the secret to the mechanism of all life. We have been carrying around the greatest secret of life in our own body, and looking for it everywhere else. At the basis of everything in our bodies is what our medical biologists call "stem cells." These stem cells have two 'God-like' qualities. First, they are immortal. Second, they are 'shape-shifters'.

Most living cells divide a finite number of times and then perish. Stem cells, on the other hand, can be cultured to divide indefinitely. In other words, under the right conditions, they can replicate themselves forever. Under the right conditions, they can also turn themselves into anything - any other cell. It is now possible for our medical science to produce, from pure stem cells, everything from bones to heart muscle to brain tissue.

What we call 'God' is the undifferentiated Pure Cell of all of Life. Pure Cell is to the universe what stem cell is to our bodies. The secret of God lies in the mechanism inside our own bodies. It is the mechanism of all Life. From the beginning of time, mystics have said that when you understand yourself you will understand God. This was meant spiritually as well as physically!

Is it incorrect to marry someone from the same male lineage (gothra)?.........

Yes, it is incorrect to marry someone from the same male lineage ('gothra'). The gothra is a system which associates a person with his most ancient or root ancestor in an unbroken male lineage. Hindus identify their male lineage by considering themselves to be the descendants of the eight rishis. All other gothras have evolved from one of these eight root gothras. The rule of the gothra system is that the gothra of men remain the same, while the gothra of the woman becomes the gothra of their husband after marriage.

And the most important thing in the gothra system is that a bride and a bridegroom belonging to the same gothra are considered to be siblings and hence it is prohibited for them to marry even if they belong to distant families. This will be like a brother marrying a sister which is known to cause genetic disorders in their offspring. And here is the science behind the gothra system:

Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes and in each pair one chromosome comes from the father and the other comes from the mother. So in all we have 46 chromosomes in every cell, of which 23 come from the mother and 23 from the father. Of these 23 pairs of chromosomes, there is one pair called the sex chromosome which decides the gender of the person. During conception, if the resultant cell has XX sex chromosome then the child will be a girl and if it is XY then the child will be a boy.

Since only men have Y chromosomes, son always gets his Y chromosome from his father and the X chromosome from his mother. On the other hand daughters always get their X chromosomes, one each from both father and mother. So the Y chromosome is always preserved throughout a male lineage (father-son-grandson etc) because a son always gets it from his father, while X chromosome is not preserved in the female lineage (mother-daughter-grand daughter etc.) because it comes from both father and mother. A mother will pass either her mother's X to her children or father's X to her children or a combination of both because of both her X chromosomes getting mixed (called as crossover).

On the other hand, a son always gets his father's Y and that too almost intact without any changes because there is no corresponding another Y in his cells to do any mixing as his combination is XY, while that of females is XX which hence allows for mixing as both are X chromosomes. And the gothra system is designed to track down the root Y chromosome of a person quite easily. This also makes it clear why females are said to belong to the gothra of their husband after marriage. That is because women do not carry Y chromosome, and their sons will carry the Y chromosome of the father and hence the gothra of a woman is said to be that of her husband after marriage.

Unlike other chromosomes, there is no way for Y to repair itself by doing crossover with its chromosomal pair. All other chromosomes come in similar pairs and whenever the DNA of one chromosome gets damaged the cell can, most of the time, repair it by copying over the DNA from the other chromosome in that pair as both the chromosomes in all other pairs are almost identical in nature. This copying (or crossing over as it is called) also allows different combinations of mix and matches to happen between the genes of mother and father and allows the best of the matches to survive and hence make the chromosomes stronger as they evolve in successive generations.

Even X chromosomes in female undergo this mix and match since there are two X chromosomes in women. However, Y chromosomes do not have any corresponding equivalent chromosome in its pair. Y can exist only in a XY combination and X cannot mix and match with Y except for a small 5% of Y which matches with X, while the remaining 95% of Y which is crucial in the development of a male has absolutely no match at all! It is this 95% of Y chromosome which is completely responsible in humans for creating a male or a man.

But at the same time, Y has to depend on itself to repair any of its injuries and for that it has created duplicate copies of its genes within itself. However this does not stop DNA damages in Y which escape its local repair process from being propagated into the offspring males. This causes Y to accumulate more and more defects over a prolonged period of evolution and scientists believe that this is what is causing the Y chromosome to keep shrinking in its size continuously.

Scientists are not sure whether any other chromosome in the 23 pairs will be able to take over the role of Y chromosome or not. If not, Y chromosome may not be able to survive for more than a few million years into the future causing males to become extinct!

Now we know in modern genetics that marriage between cousins will increase the risk of causing genetic disorders. Say a male is carrying a dangerous abnormality-causing-gene in one of his chromosomes. There are fair chances that his offspring will be carriers of these genes throughout successive generations. As long as one keeps marrying outside his genetic imprint, there is a fair chance that the defective gene will remain inactive since others outside this (male) person's lineage most probably do not have that defective gene.

Now if after 5-10 generations down the line say one of his descendants marries some other descendant who may be really far away cousins. But then there is a possibility that both of them are still carrying the defective gene, and in that case their children will definitely have the defective gene express itself and cause the genetic abnormality in them as both the chromosomes in the pair have the defective genes. Hence, the marriages between cousins always have a chance of causing an otherwise recessive, defective genes to express themselves resulting in children with genetic abnormalities.

Ancient Vedic rishis had observed the degeneration of the Y chromosome and devised a mechanism where in a given Y chromosome had very little chance of adding more genetic defects in it with the hope of slowing down further degeneration of the Y chromosome or even probably completely stop any further degeneration of the Y chromosome. And the only way to stop it was to ensure that the 5% of the Y chromosome which can be mixed and crossed over with its X counterpart be protected so that the remaining 95% which does not take part in the mix and match process (which self heals by having duplicate copies of its genes) stays healthy.

What is a sexagesimal system in astronomy and which culture developed it?.........

Any system of measurement with a base of number sixty is called a sexagesimal system. The measurement of time and astronomy is based on number sixty. There are sixty seconds in a minute, sixty minutes in an hour. When we measure angles in geometry, we use the sexagesimal system to express units in degrees, minutes and seconds. This system is based on the cycles of nature which is not only natural but very sophisticated because it is a bridge between the micro/individual and the macro/cosmos. It takes both the micro and the macro into account. This method of measurement is familiar to both the Hindu and Mesopotamian cultures. But then, who borrowed it from whom? There is a miscalculation in the Western world that this system was originated by the Mesopotamian culture. Well, observe the following method of Hindu time measurement.

1 respiration=1 prana=3.99 seconds or approximately 4 sec

6 respirations=1 vinadi (24 sec)

60 vinadis=1 nadi or 1 ghadia (24 min)

60 nadis or ghadias=1 sidereal day/night (24 hours, rotation of earth about the north-south pole axis)

6 days and 6 nights = 1 week (was the system in vedic times; now, as we all know, it is compromised)

30 days/nights=1 month

60 day/nights=1 season (two month seasons are only used in India)

6 seasons=1 year (samvathsara, revolution of earth around the sun)

60 weeks=1 year (360 days, used in vedic times which is a luni-solar calendar, 360 is an average of 354.36 and 365.24 days of lunar and solar years)

60 years=1 cycle of years (planets come to the same relative place in the zodiac every 60 years, that is the reason Hindus celebrate 60th birthday in grand scale as they are "kind-of" re-born, Hindus have names for these sixty years which then repeat, they use this system in astrology called 'jyotheesh' or 'panchaanga' even today). <<<Jyotheesh is one of the six vedaangas (appendices) of Vedas; 1. Shiksha (phonetics); 2. Chhandhas (prosody or discipline in poetry); 3. Vyaakarana (grammar); 4. Niruktha (etymology); 5. Jyotheesh (discipline/knowledge/science of light/sun/stars/planets; 'jyothi'=light, 'sh'=discipline/knowledge/science); and 6. Kalpa (ritual instructions). Jyotheesh is based on five attributes: 1. Thithi, a lunar day; 2. Kaarana which equals half of thithi; 3. Nakshathra, "Na ksharathi ithi nakshathra" meaning non-moving or non-changing, a 'thaara'/star, a second meaning=naksha+thra=map+instrument=an instrument used for mapping, there are a total of 27 nakshathras; 4. Yoga, angular relationship between sun and moon=13 degrees 20 minutes, there are 27 yogas in 360 degrees; and 5. Vaara, a week day. The seven days of the week represent the seven planets/luminaries. Sunday=Sun, 'ravi', meaning the sun, the first day of the week; Monday=Moon, 'soma' meaning water/nectar or made out of water/sea representing mind or 'mun' or emotions; Tuesday=Mars, 'mangala' meaning fortunate and brave or 'angaaraka' meaning red and angry; Wednesday=Mercury, 'budha' meaning wise, son of the moon; Thursday=Jupiter, 'guru' meaning the biggest and auspicious and also the dispeller of darkness; Friday=Venus, 'shukra' meaning the bright; Saturday=Saturn, 'shani' meaning slow moving. There are also two other false/shadow planets called 'Raahu' and 'Kethu' in Jyotish which serve as the mathematical/invisible points representing north and south nodes of the moon. They are points on the ecliptic where the moon is in alignment with the sun and the earth. Panchaanga=pancha+anga=five limbs=the above five attributes.>>>

1,200 years=1 kali yuga (this is on a cosmological scale but still based on the number sixty)

2,400 years=1 dwaapara yuga

3,600 years=1 tretha yuga

4,800 years=1 kritha yuga

12,000 years=1 maha yuga or 1 chathur yuga (partial destruction such as floods, famines, earthquakes, wars, etc takes place at the end of each yuga)
26,000 years=earth's precession (rotation of earth around the fixed star called 'Dhruva')
860,000 years=1 Manvanthara (1 era, time of deluge such as a great flood or a great famine or a great disaster)

1,000 maha yugas=Brahma's Day=12 million years

1,000 maha yugas=Brahma's Night=12 million years (all life forms are withdrawn every 24 million years after Brahma's day signifying a colossal destruction)

360 days of Brahma=1 year of Brahma=8.64 billion years

100 years of Brahma=1 life of Brahma=864 billion years (the whole of physical universe is dissolved every 864 billion years and the cycle repeats)

This system of time and astronomy measurement is completely based on number sixty, the sexagesimal system, which goes from an individual person to the cosmic Brahma. The meaning of Brahma in Sanskrit is ever-expanding or huge or infinity. Hindus have adopted this system from time immemorial and, amazingly, it is still in use now. No other culture has used a complete system like this even if they are now extinct like the Mesopotamian culture. If the Mesopotamian culture (or any other culture for that matter) has used only a few elements of this system, they must have borrowed it from someone else. Therefore, this clear-cut evidence proves that the sexagesimal system was developed and used by the Hindus or the Vedic culture which has been adopted by various other cultures over time.

How accurate is astrology?.........

In the name of astrology, ninety-plus percent of astrologers are only bluff/fake. Only a very few percent know that astrology is a vast subject. Something essential between your life and the universe is, obviously, connected; it is in a rhythmic harmony. We are not separate or isolated but joined together in an organic way. Life is a whole. Whatever is happening anywhere in the universe also affects man and vice versa. Like we say: when a blade of grass moves, the sun shakes!

Every child, every new life, insists on a specific moment for conception and for birth - both are interdependent. He will choose an appropriate constellations according to what he wants to be, whatever his innate possibilities, whatever the shape his previous lives have taken in their entirety, whatever his motivating consciousness is. He, here, means a bundle of desires/vaasanaas/karmas. At the time of birth, the condition of a child's mind is exactly like a very sensitive plate. When a child is conceived, this is the first exposure. The day the child is born is a second exposure. These two exposures are registered upon the sensitive mind of the child, as if on film. The world, as it is at that moment, is imprinted upon the child's mind. We may not realize this, but this is natural - just like we only remember certain highly emotional events of our childhood throughout our lives. This, more or less, determines the child's sympathies and antipathies for his entire life. These are facts.

Taking the above facts into consideration, we may postulate that astrology consists of three layers. The first part of astrology is the outermost layer, which is a non-essential or unimportant layer. There, everything is circumstantial, uncertain, unpredictable. Whether you will fall or not because of a banana peel is not that important. The second part is the middle layer, the semi-essential layer. There is possibility of transformation if the right choice is made in this middle layer. The third part is the core, the essential, the most important. This essential part cannot be changed. It is absolutely predetermined like your DNA. When the essential part is known, the only way is to cooperate with it, not resist it. The body-mind organism has been designed that way.

Again, between these two conditions of the outermost and the essential layers - meaning in the middle layer - there is ample room to affect changes by exercising one's so-called freedom of choice. Here, someone with awareness or complete consciousness will make the correct choice, and will start moving towards his center. A person who is in the darkness of ignorance, though, will drift into his destiny, putting up with whatever comes his way. He will be bound by the nature/destiny.

So...everything, to some degree or the other, affects you. Planets do affect you. True. But, why do you want to believe that insentient objects such as planets, even though they are large and support life as a whole, have influence over you while God-The Reality lives inside you and as you? Don't blame someone else or something else for your happenings. Take responsibility onto your own shoulders!

Planets are, rather, indicators not really influencers; what influences your life is your past karma or past actions and your present free will!

PART VII - Vedic Cosmology and Modern Science

Vedic concept of time is cyclical, whereas the western concept is linear. Like the cycles of day and night, cycles of months, cycles of seasons, cycles of years, cycles of precession there exists also the cycles of unending Yugas. The rise and fall of civilizations, intellectual and spiritual capacity of mankind was thought to be governed by these yugas.

According to the Vedic and puranic texts from India, one Yuga Cycle consists of four yugas or world ages - Kritha/Sathya (ready-made/projected or truthful; 4,800*1.08=5,184 years), Tretha (third or 3/4th truthful; 3,600*1.08=3,888 years), Dwaapara (second or 2/4th truthful; 2,400*1.08=2,592 years), and Kali (dark or 1/4th truthful; 1,200*1.08=1,296 years) - of 12,000*1.08=12,960 sidereal years in total (here 8% represents 'sandhi' or transition between each yuga). This is also called as one Chathur Yuga, chathur meaning four. Two Chathur Yugas complete a circle, one Chathur Yuga of ascending consciousness/intelligence and the other Chathur Yuga of descending consciousness/intelligence. This circle of two Chathur Yugas is called a 'Great Year.' Therefore, a Great Year consists of 24,000*1.08=25,920 years. Based on Krishna's death date of February 18, 3102 BC, we are presently in Dwaapara Yuga and will be going into Tretha Yuga in 2082 AD. We are now in a transitional/transformational phase where significant world changes would take place (like extreme rains, tsunamis, earthquakes, wars, plagues, famine, economic and political changes etc).

Universe, when manifested, starts out with Kritha Yuga (ready-made, with few intellectuals and sages/rishis that have complete or transcendental or Vedic knowledge). One thousand Yuga Cycles of one Chathur Yuga make one day of Brahma, the Creator, and is called Kalpa. Another such thousand Yuga Cycles make one night of Brahma, another Kalpa.

Each day of Brahma is sub divided into 14 epochs or cycles which are ruled by 14 different Manus or Devas. Manu gives birth and governs the human race in that epoch. The word "man" comes from Sanskrit's "Manu." At the end of each Manu a colossal destruction of the earth (deluge such as massive flood) takes place. This deluge destroys the existing continents and swallows up all living beings except the few preserved for the re-peopling of the earth. This period of a Manu is called a Manvantara or a Divine Cycle. The root word for "divine" is "deva" which means God in Sanskrit.

At the end of Kalpa or the day of Brahma, all life forms on the earth are extinguished or, more accurately, unmanifested. The characteristic of this destruction is that the earth continues to exist but is made uninhabitable. After the duration of Brahma's night, life forms are brought forth from the unmanifest condition to start the next day. Thus, we have a cyclical 25.92 million year period of partial cosmic creation and dissolution much like the 24 hours of day and night. It is astonishing that this timescale closely matches the recent paleontological evidence that every 26 million years there is a mass extinction of species on the earth!

Again,
1 Yuga Cycle = 1 Chathur Yuga = 4 Yugas = 12,960 years (Each year consisting of 360 days)
2 Yuga Cycles = 2 Chathur Yugas = 8 Yugas = 25,920 years ('Great Year')
1 Day of Brahma = 1 Kalpa = 1000 Yuga Cycles = 12.96 million years
1 Night of Brahma = 12.96 million years

(The numbers of these yugas are not correctly shown in Hindu almanacs. The astronomers and astrologers who calculate the almanacs had been guided by wrong annotations of certain Sanskrit scholars, such as Kulluka Bhatta, of the dark age of Kali Yuga and now maintain that the length of Kali Yuga is 432,000 years of which about 5,000 years have passed away leaving 427,000 years still remaining. By way of wrong conciliation in their calculations, they fancied that the ordinary years of our earth are "god" years, where one god day is 360 earth days.)

According to Hindu scriptures,
Partial Destruction (such as Floods, Earthquakes, Wars, Etc) = End of each Yuga
Total Destruction or Extinction = Withdrawal of all life forms = At the end of each full day of Brahma = 1 Night + 1 Day = Every 25.92 million years = Every two Kalpas
1 Manu = 1 Divine Cycle = 1/14 of Kalpa = 1/14 * 12,960,000 = 925,714 years
Colossal Destruction or Deluge = At the end of each Manu or Divine Cycle = Every 925,714 years

Ratio of Divine Cycle or Manu to Yuga Cycle = 925,714/12,960 = 71.4285 which is nothing but the fraction of 1,000 /14, where 14 represents 14 Manus or Divine Cycles of Vedic system. This compares too well to the modern value for the rate of earth's precession, one degree in 71.5861 years! Or earth's precession of Vedic 25,920 years vs science's 25,771 years! How can this be a coincidence? In other words, one Divine Cycle or Manu (the period between two colossal destructions) consists of 12,960 degrees of precession which is the same number as the years in Yuga Cycle. According to the Vedic Cosmology, then, 12,960 years of Yuga Cycle is the rise and fall of civilizations and 12,960 degrees of precession is the rise and fall of the colossal destructions or deluges of the world.

It is, therefore, quite evident that Vedic cosmological time cycles took into consideration all the daily motions of the earth (in reference to any particular fixed star) including earth's precession! By the way, king Dhruva's story from the ancient Vedic text, Vishnu Purana (prior to 3,100 BC), complements this cosmological science of earth's precession (of 71.4285 years per degree*360 degrees=25,714 years=approximately 25,920 years of Great Year)! The meaning of Dhruva in Sanskrit is 'fixed,' or 'the one that holds/sustains,' or 'unending.' Dhruva is the fixed star (or Pole Star) around which our planetary system revolves (that was Lord Vishnu's boon to king Dhruva so he can be remembered for ever after his rule). It is mentioned that Dhruva ruled the world for 26,000 years!

1 year of Brahma = 360 days = 360*25.92 million = 9.33 billion years
1 Life of Brahma = 100 years = 100*9.33 billion years = 933 billion years.

At the end of Brahma's life (933 billion years), whole of universe is dissolved. Nothing physical would exist.

According to Vedic scriptures, we are now in the first day of Brahma's 51st year. Within this day of Brahma, we are in the seventh Manvantara, in the 28th turnover of its 71 yuga cycles.

The age of the present universe can be calculated as,
50 years*9.33 billion + 6 Manus*925,714 + 28 Yuga Cycles*12,960 = 466.5 billion and 5.92 million years.

Since it is already past Brahma's 50 years, the universe is contracting not expanding. Vedic texts maintain that the cosmos is Brahmaanda or Brahma's egg. Interestingly enough, the cosmos is now thought to be an ellipsoid!

Per modern science, the age of the universe is about 13.77 billion years. But this value is consistently moving higher with every new estimate. Dr. John Lightfoot in 1644 proposed the age of the universe to be between 5,000 and 6,000 years! This discrepancy should be resolved as we sophisticate our scientific methods of observation and calculation which will then move the age of the universe towards the vedic 466.5 billion years!

After Brahma's life of 100 years, or 933 billion years, the universe is unmanifest for the same period and another Brahma is born to start the cycle. And this cycle repeats, repeats, and repeats forever! It is more of a spiral. It comes to the original point but never on the same plane. It comes again and again but always on a higher plane.

According to the Big Bang theory, nothingness exploded in to everything. Nothingness as in no-thingness. However, explosion cannot exist without implosion; they both go together. That is the nature of life and the circle will be then complete. Look at a seed. A seed explodes and becomes a tree. And in the tree then millions of seeds; and then they explode. A tiny single seed can fill the whole earth with greenery. A single seed! That is what explosion means. And if you break the seed what will you find inside it? Just nothingness, just pure nothing. Out of nothingness, the 'whole' has evolved.

Where is the seed now? When the tree implodes, again it is a seed! The seed was carrying a tree; it opened itself and became a tree. Now the tree again closes itself, caves in, becomes a small seed. The scientists talk only about explosion, they don't talk about any implosion yet - which is very illogical.

Because if explosion is possible, then implosion is also possible. Everything in nature is moving in a circle. So why should there be an exception for Big Bang? Naturally, the idea of such a pulsating universe would be aesthetically more satisfying than a one-shot universe. Since all the processes in the universe seem to be cyclical, it would be most unlikely that the largest process of them all would not be so. By the law of correspondence, the smaller process should mirror the larger one. There will come a time when the energies driving the expansion will dissipate, and the energies holding things together will take over pulling everything “back together” again.

Scientists may, someday, firmly accept that there is not one Big Bang but an infinite number of Big Bangs like points on a circle!!

But then, if the so-called creation is like a dream (or an appearance) in Reality's Mind, WHO cares? This the reason why Hindus call the life as the Reality's Play, God's Play, called "Leela!"

- Sudhakar V Reddy

For Further Reading:

Esoterics of GOD-The Reality! And How to Realize IT?
https://sudhakarvreddy.blogspot.com/2018/04/esoterics-of-god.html

Esoterics of Death and Life After Death!
https://sudhakarvreddy.blogspot.com/2017/12/esoterics-of-death-and-life-after-death.html

Esoterics of the Seven Bodies of Man!
https://sudhakarvreddy.blogspot.com/2013/09/esoterics-of-seven-bodies-mysteries-of_2.html

2 comments:

YYNovember 23, 2020 at 10:00 PM
Hi Sir, I have been reading your posts and really appreciate your effort putting everything together!

I have a question regarding free will and would like to get your insight. I understand that in the relative reality, I (as an apparent individual entity) do not have true free will, but only feel as if I do, which means I do not truly choose the action I take. If I don't freely choose my action, and my action produces future karma, which in a way determines/shapes my future actions, then where does the "seeking" of ultimate truth come into play? If the seeking is not my free will either, does it mean Creator is making decision all along and I (as an apparent separate entity) only "play" this role throughout this story based on the script written by Creator? And through Creator's will I make decisions / take actions which inevitably will lead me to liberation?

I feel there's a disconnect somewhere and hope you could help me figure out. I am not sure if I don't fully understand the scope of free will here, or missed some subtle point about the apparent distinction between individual entity, Eeshwara, and Consciousness, or simply am pondering on a meaningless question.

Thank you!
Yang
sudhakar v reddyNovember 24, 2020 at 4:44 AM
Hi Yang!
Thank you for an excellent question!
This apparent individual will have an apparent freewill. When it appeared in this world, it brought a portion of its total karma with it to fulfill in this life. Present impressions created by the apparent freewill are either experienced in this life or stored for a future life. The problem here is this apparent individual cannot know which karma it brought with it and which karma it is freshly creating now. Therefore, the best option is to be God-centric, dharma-centric. Think, as this apparent individual, you are creating karma using your freewill but with the understanding that it is all Creator's will!

The point, here, is that you are not this apparent individual! This karma game is universal. Why bother? That's why Hindus call it 'leela,' a play. You are Consciousness simply witnessing this universal game. When Consciousness is present (which is eternally), experience/life happens (like when the sun is present plants grow). This apparent individual is you, but the real you are not this apparent individual! Your shadow is you/yours, but the real you are not your shadow! Please contemplate on this!

Esoterics of GOD

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Esoterics of Spirituality - Enlightening Answers Day-to-Day Questions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-IhoLB3foc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6s6uktv0vw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioFbVuankTc&t=433s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLInT3LOPak&feature=youtu.be

PART I - Dharma - The Universal Principle

PART II - Science, Religion and Spirituality

PART IV - Nonviolence

PART V - Experience/Life

PART VI - Miscellaneous

PART I - Dharma - The Universal Principle

PART II - Science, Religion and Spirituality

PART III - Post-Enlightenment

PART IV - Nonviolence

PART V - Experience/Life

PART VI - Miscellaneous

PART VII - Vedic Cosmology and Modern Science

PART I - Dharma - The Universal Principle

PART II - Science, Religion and Spirituality

PART III - Post-Enlightenment

PART IV - Nonviolence

PART V - Experience/Life

PART VI - Miscellaneous

PART VII - Vedic Cosmology and Modern Science

2 comments: