25. Going Beyond Religion

" People have forgotten that religion was only a means to an end. Instead it
has become an end in itself. "

.

The Discoverers : Total Shutdown of
the mind

...Long time ago, certain people through meditation and other practices were able to go beyond this illusion and see that the world is a figment of the mind.. a dream.  They experienced that the truth of the statement that the world is in you and you are not in the world. They could see and feel the truth that all is one.

Having gone beyond the dream , they wanted to define the paths that people could follow to switch off the dream generator..i.e the mind. This was akin to switching off a computer else it will keep you engaged. Broadly, four paths were defined.

A. Jnana (Gyan ) Yoga - Yoga of Knowledge

One can attain liberation by an intense enquiry. This is similar to understanding the design of the software and hardware of the computer and then going straight for the shutdown button. There is no confusion. A keen intellect and inquisitiveness is required. 

B. Raja Yoga - Science of physical and mental control 

This is the yoga of meditation where a person is taught to become temporarily dead consciously and silence his mind so as to see what is beyond. This relies on faith and control of one's mind and body.  This is akin to deliberately fiddling with the computer so as to lead to a controlled  shutdown. It requires perseverance. 

C. Karma Yoga - Yoga of action 

 This is chosen primarily by those who are of an outgoing nature.  It teaches one to become dispassionate to the results and avoid attachments and habits so as to empty the mind. Mantra's are used to focus the mind.  All deeds, be it good or bad are like seeds in the mind. The trick is to prevent the seeds from germinating and the only way to do that is to let go of the fruits of the deed. This is akin to letting the computer run and do its thing and not press any keys as there is nothing more to be done..soon it will shutdown automatically. 

D. Bhakti Yoga - Yoga of Emotion.

This path appeals particularly to those of an emotional nature. Through prayer, worship and ritual, one surrenders himself to God, channelling and transmuting his emotions into unconditional love or devotion. Chanting or singing the praises of God form a substantial part of Bhakti Yoga. The emotinal state generates such a huge spike so as to the shutdown the mind and reveal God. It is akin to a power surge which shuts down the computer.  It is the easiest to follow but also the most dangerous as a highly charged emotional state can lead to hallucinations and fanaticism among other things. All religions are an offshoot of Bhakti Yoga. 

People who were of keen and an inquisitive nature, generally followed the first two paths. Many become introvert and lost interest in the world as they realised that the world was a dream. Nothing mattered to them.  Some tried to educate the general population at large..( Buddha, christ etc ), but largely failed. Some took part in this dream and helped others, ( Like krishna helped the Pandavas ), and  some just wrote a book and went away. 

The General population tried to follow the path of  Bhakti yoga as it was an easy path to follow.  This led to the rise of religions and fanaticism as well. People forgot the aim and the religion became an aim in itself resulting in devastation of this world through the ages.


Perhaps it is time to let people know the truth about Yoga which can lead to their well being and reveal the world hidden inside them. The adoption of 21st June as International Yoga day by the world at large marks a first step in freeing the world and its people from religion. It is the first step towards the light...towards a brighter future for the entire world.....:).


----

P.S -

1. The above are broad paths of yoga. They are not mutually exclusive and one has to adopt or combine  the other paths as per circumstances for faster evolution.

24- Going through Keyhole of a Glass Door

" Great Civilisations have come and then vanished. Only their traces remain. 

Humans have to become a multi-planet civilisation if we need to survive 

the next Apocalypse and the technology window is now open for us to do it "

                                                                                          

- Elon Musk 

Spacex

Interstellar movie- The importance of
being a multi-planet civilisation

"I want to go to space". This desire comes back whenever I watch science-fiction movies. Recently I watched the movie 'Interstellar' and sure enough this desire cropped up again. The movie is set in a time when due to climate change, all crops have been destroyed and majority of people on earth has died. Whoever remains are back into agriculture and some are trying to survive a find a way to get off the planet before the entire agriculture collapses. The movie's premise is not that far fetched as it seems and it may be based on some facts which we, as a human race, are only now beginning to acknowledge.



Most scientists today agree that we humans, as a race have become a virus on earth and are killing off other species of this earth. The earth may have become a death trap in the sense that it is now populated by 7 billion people who are now being fed only by pumping crops with huge amount of fertilisers which are poisoning our land and rivers. We are leeching the resources of the earth, poisoning the same air that we breathe ( cars, power plants etc ) and also poisoning the oceans and killing off the marine life. If we do not kill ourselves first, nature will, through a virus ( Ebola? ), an asteroid, famine, Ice age etc. History has been littered with evidences that many great civilisations have been wiped off leaving only traces of their greatness. ( Eqypt, Indian etc..). Moreover, most of the population have lost the basic skill to grow their own food and are dependent on a small percentage of population for meeting their hunger needs. One year of weird climate and we may be looking at a world as depicted in the movie 'Interstellar'.

Enter the modern saviour, Elon Musk. A brilliant geeky kid who started his first company called zip2 at the age of 23. He later sold it to compaq and made a profit of 22 million dollars in 1999. Then he started Paypal, which he sold to eBay and made approx 200 million dollars from it. Having realised the danger to the human civilisation, he formulated  plan A  to save human civilisation. In plan A, he started Tesla Motors ( an electric car company ) and Solar city ( solar electricity company ) to change the automobile and power industry. It made sense as he figured that they are the biggest polluters. Both are today worth billions of Dollars.

He also has a plan B. He figured that if his plan A failed and humanity failed to take appropriate steps, he would need to get people off this planet to save the human species. So he founded the worlds first Private Space company, called Spacex. The company built its own state of the art rockets and also a dragon spacecraft to ferry people from the space station. Further in order to drive down the costs of a launch so that it is affordable to everybody, they have made the worlds first reusable rockets which will be tested for the first time on Dec 19, 2014. If he succeeds, he will change the entire space industry and make it cheap enough for ordinary citizens to go to space and ultimately colonise Mars. He has gone on record to state that he will put people on Mars in 10 Years.

Accessing space today is like going through a keyhole of a glass door. Its very Difficult, expensive and only for a chosen few. We can see whats out there..but cannot hope to be there. Hopefully, Elon Musk's reusable rockets and space craft will eventually break the Glass door and ultimately save the current civilisation by making it the first multi-planet civilisation.

-------
P.S.. Watch out for 19th December 2014. It would truly be a historic day for  Human civilisation. If musk succeeds, he would reduce the cost of launch of a space rocket from 100 million dollars to a mere half a million dollars.

links for  further reading: -

1. Video on the coming ice-age as stated by a Nasa Engineer.
1. Video on Elon Musk by bloomberg tracing his history.
2.Amazing article on Elon Musk.
3. Elon musk believes colonising mars will save humanity

23 - Incredible India- II ( The Butter Fly Effect )

" The world being a dream and creation of the mind, 

can be changed by a powerful thought alone"

- Bhagvad Gita

" One small insignificant action  can lead to unimaginable implications "

- known as 'Butterfly effect'

I cannot imagine that I am writing part 2 of my earlier blog posting, Incredible India, so soon. However, things are changing faster in India than anyone can imagine. To me, this is a huge turning point for India  and its citizens and hence this new blog. 

Looking at recent history of India, Ever Since India got independence in 1947, the ordinary Indian citizen, went back to old ways of slavish mentality which was taken advantage of by the ruling class. The system and governing policies of the  Englishmen - the old laws, the archaic bureaucracy, non sensical rules  continued and nothing much changed. The infrastructure remained the same. There was hardly any planning and forward thinking in the political establishment. Planning and vision  became a job of the Planning commission, leaving the majority of ruling elite free to keep a control of the populace and make money.

Indian politicians became masters of  how to manipulate the masses by utilising the English formula of ' Divide and rule '.  Caste system was entrenched in India and was effectively utilised by the politicians to keep getting back to power.   When education started spreading,  the ruling elite, in a bid to keep their power, started appeasing the poor man with promise ( now turned into law ) of free \ cheap food. The Business community was kept in check by archaic laws giving discretionary powers to authorities etc which was utilised to check and control business activities for the benefit of certain sections. Corruption became a way of life and  a growing rift developed between the common man and the politicians so much that politics became a dirty word and no educated individual would think of it as an option. 

One old man ( Anna Hazare ) became so disllusioned with it, that he had a  magical  vision of a corruption free India. He believed in it with all his heart so much that  he decided to go on a fast until something could be done about it. From this one man's vision, one thing led to another, ultimately giving rise to a new party called ( Aam Admi Party ) who, like political insurgents, decimated the old ways of fighting elections and shocking everyone by winning the state elections in Delhi and  are now in the process of forming government in the state capital of Delhi. This unbelievable win of AAP has reset the minds of the political bigwigs and pundits who are now in the process of digesting and adapting to this new reality.

I am not trying to belittle anyone or give praise to anyone here, but I am purely looking at the unfolding of the butterfly effect here. Anna's fast has shocked the foundations of the political pillars and it is a turning point for India. Some have and some are still to come to terms with this changed reality. If one man's vision can bring such huge changes, just imagine what can be done if we all started envisioning a corruption free and resurgent India...:)

-----------

"The Butterfly Effect"

The phrase refers to the idea that a butterfly's wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that may ultimately alter the path of a tornado or delay, accelerate or even prevent the occurrence of a tornado in another location. Note that the butterfly does not power or directly create the tornado. The flap of the wings is a part of the initial conditions; one set of conditions leads to a tornado while the other set of conditions doesn't. The flapping wing represents a small change in the initial condition of the system, which causes a chain of events leading to large-scale alterations of events (compare: domino effect). Had the butterfly not flapped its wings, the trajectory of the system might have been vastly different - it's possible that the set of conditions without the butterfly flapping its wings is the set that leads to a tornado.

Wikipedia -butterfly effect.

22 - Teachings from a Sick Cow

" Animals are more intelligent than most humans.
 They rely on their instincts and 

      know how to live with Nature "

The cow became sick after eating
cooked food of the humans.

" Please do not feed the cow. She is sick from eating all the cooked food and has to be fed grass only". Whaat...I looked at the cow owner in disbelief? I had gone to the cow shelter to feed the cow home cooked food as part of an  ancient religious practice ( Shraad ) and I least expected to hear this from the cow owner. I kept the food near the cow..she smelled it and then ignored the food completely...as if it was of low quality. " Comeon, we eat this food..!!! " i wanted to say it to the cow, but refrained as better sense prevailed upon me...:)

The above incident intrigued me so much that I started to concentrate on what i was eating.  Its quite funny actually when one realises what we do to our food.... We first burn our food at high temperatures which destroys most vitamins and all enzymes in it. This ofcourse also makes  the food largely tasteless  until we put salt, sugar and other spices etc to give it enough flavour for us to eat it.  Thankfully, our bodies, in the early years of life have the capacity to manufacture the enzymes needed for digesting this food properly. Its takes huge energy and that is why we sometimes feel sleepy after having lot of cooked food.  This capacity to digest this  food begins to decline as we age and that is why we begin to have problems like diabetes, weight gain etc. It began to dawn on me that we are the only species on this earth who cook (burn) their food before eating and generally avoid food in its raw natural form.

'

Before raw foods
 Cecelia of
rawglow.com.

Fortunately, once people change their diets back to raw food, that the body begins to miraculously transform itself. The first effects are mental ofcourse. One begins to feel happy, mentally alert, tremendous creativity etc. Once these are achieved, which are fairly quick, then the physical body starts to change slowly. I found this to be case after reading lot of experiences of people on the net. Infact i was surprised as how many people have transformed themselves on raw food. 

After raw food.
Cecilia of
Rawglow.com

I also came to know that our staple cereal wheat, when it is cooked, changes its molecular structure and behaves like an opiate..meaning it gives us pleasure and as a result, our body demands more and more of it as if you are addicted to it. Infact one of the foremost doctor have gone on record to state that modern wheat is a chronic poison. ( link below )

After researching on net and getting amazed, i began to change my diet and started incorporating more raw foods. I can myself vouch for the amazing increases in creativity and stamina. Infact, i found the inspiration to start this entire blog  after i changed my diet. I also lost a lot of weight without any exercise. My sleep became more deeper and better. As of today, i am 50% raw but plan to increase it further in future

Unlike animals, we humans have forgotten our instincts in respect of eating the right foods. Maybe..its time we learnt it back from the animals...i did..:)

Links and Evidences

1.  The experience of Cecilia- must read.
2.  Modern wheat is a chronic poison as per Dr. William Davis, Author "Wheat Belly"
3.   Search "Raw food before and after"  Google images. You will be shocked
4.  Search Google for raw food experiences.

21- The Reset Button

 "Those who worship ignorance enter into darkness,

and they who worship knowledge enter into greater darkness".

- Isha Upanishad ( part of Vedas )

( describes the state of mind necessary to  know god )

The reset button is a standard
button on desktop computers

I remember a time when i used to work ( play? ) on the early version of personal computers. In those days, the computer used to freeze or start behaving strangely on a regular basis.  All I had to do was press the Reset button and the computer would cease all activity and  reboot again.

Reminds me of maths tutor
laughing at maths and me.

Little did I realise the importance of the reset button in real life till my tutor  pressed the reset button in my mind with regard to Maths. I still remember the first thing that he had said to me was ' how come you find maths tough?. Its one of the easiest subjects'. He began making fun of maths and indirectly of me. I remember this cause when you hear something shocking and at the same time are made fun of, it tends to reset your mind easily...trust me!!.From that day on, I pleasantly began to find  maths to be a very enjoyable and easy subject. I guess years of listening to friends and teachers with regard to maths being tough had programmed my mind. Somebody needed to reset it.

As the years went by, the awesomeness of  resetting the mind continued to  amaze me.  I was lucky in finding friends, books and having different experiences which time to time reminded me to challenge long standing assumptions and to reset my thought patterns. I had found a way to continously improve and evolve myself by pressing the reset button. Having gained knowledge of the reset button, I felt superior and wise somehow... as I saw myself free and others as prisoners of their own thoughts patterns.

However, it was only later that I realised that the thought of thinking myself as free was another thought pattern in which  I had got stuck in. I realised this as I dwelt and read the meaning of the above mentioned verse in the upanishads ( part of vedas )

The laughing Buddha.
A symbol of happiness  or
laughing at people who
think they are wise??

The above verse basically said that all knowledge is only a memory and as such is basically a logical thought. As long as a person has a thought, he cannot experience thoughtlessness and without experiencing thoughtlessness, one cannot realise that this universe is just another dream of the mind. No knowledge can even begin to give you a hint about the true nature of your being unless and until you experience thoughtlessness for extended periods of time. Infact, according to ancient texts of India, Once a person experiences thoughtlessness through meditation, he becomes aware of all past, present and future. As such, he begins to possess all the knowledge that is ever required. In a nutshell, the ancients said that  Knowledge cannot make you know god, but by knowing god, one can have access to all knowledge.


As the explanation sunk into me, I was reminded of the statue of the laughing Buddha I had in my office which I use as a paper weight. He began to look more and more like my laughing Maths tutor..prodding me to press the reset button again...

20 - The Brief History of the World

" There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is 

a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle."

- Albert Einstein

The seed expresses itself into a whole
tree and ultimately gives birth to a
seed again...the cycle completes.

" Where does apple come from ?"...my son asked me innocently. Initially taken aback, I hesitatingly answered "From the apple tree which grows from the seed".

I was hoping that he would not ask me the next question as to 'where does the apple seed comes from?'. That would have opened a pandora's box and I would have been left looking dumb had I said that the seed again comes from the apple. Thankfully, he just accepted my explanation and went back to doing his homework.


While he left, I began to wonder at the amazing design and history of this dream world.  The apple tree, like any other fruit tree is there for you to eat the fruit and replenish the body. All we have to do is enjoy the fruit and throw the seed on the ground and nature begins to take care of it by watering it ( rain ) and some unknown process or energy starts to grow a new tree from it to take care of our needs in future. We are left free to enjoy and have new experiences.

Initially tribes controlled regions

Unfortunately, too much 'Enjoyment', among other things, led to increase in population which resulted in fighting for the available  food supply. To solve it, people formed themselves in tribes and divided the land  and the enjoyment once again resumed.

As the 'Enjoyment' continued and the population began to further increase, food shortage again became an issue. To resolve it once again, some smart person then realised that we need to grow our own food so that we can adequately feed ourselves and continue to Enjoy.  However who would sacrifice their 'Enjoyment' time by devoting time to growing food??? To seduce people to grow food for others, money was created which promised increased 'Enjoyment' at a later time.

Once the idea that 'Enjoyment' can be bought and sold through the medium of money took root, the imaginative humans began to think of imaginative ways to buy and sell 'Enjoyment' in all its forms and thus the modern economy was born. To govern the economy, people decided to make a system and called it ' Government ' who would look after them and ensure their 'Enjoyment'.

However, as the act of growing food became separated  from the majority of the people, people started forgetting the Miracle of nature and began equating money with 'enjoyment'. As such, the entire focus of people and the government turned to  how to earn more and more money forgetting the fact the money is only a medium which was created for the benefit of the people at large.

Money only matters in this
 Age.

Now Initially, people focussed on earning money to fulfill their needs. However, as greed creeped in the human psyche,  focus shifted on borrowing money instead of only earning it. Complicated systems began to be put in place for enabling borrowing and lending. Soon however, unchecked growth of borrowing and lending led to the institutions getting bankrupt and the entire world economy collapsed  in 2008.

The people thought that the only solution to all this problem was ..u guessed it... MORE MONEY. As such, more money was printed to save the Banks and other institutions and presently all seems normal again.

But is it really normal? I mean 'normal' was what got us into the financial mess in the first place?  Everybody knows that something is wrong with the system yet nobody  knows how to change it. Maybe the answer lies with the kids and our education system? Maybe the kids should be taught more about where the apple and other fruits and vegetables comes from and how to grow them rather than just learning some tables and poems.?

If the kids are taught how to grow food, maybe then they would  realise that food is a miracle of nature and is free and that money is only a creation of man and as such unnecessary. A new age will begin and then maybe one day.. a child would ask his father as to what is money and where did it come from...:)

Links

1. British Town grows own food - reduces crime and improves community relations.
2. This woman is living her life without money for 16+ years now.

19- The reason for Life

'God sleeps in the minerals, 

dreams in the flowers, 

awakens in the animals, 

and in man knows that He is awake.' 

- Paramhansa Yogananda

A child being programmed to
take life seriously..:(

'..The Universe has been created only for time-pass..', my father had said to me with dismissiveness. On my questioning glance,  he clarified that  that this had been said to him by his guru. Hmm.. studying was then just another boring time-pass.. I logically concluded. My mind started to fill with all the other things I could be doing to pass time in this universe.   Thankfully, my mother, realizing the thought process going on in my mind,  scolded me to get back and study..Life is no timepass..its serious work..she reminded me.

Joy in climbing a mountain

My mother's view about the seriousness of life stuck with me till my father passed away. Seeing his body turn to ash made me realise that maybe life is not meant to be taken too seriously. After all, one day, my body also will turn to ash and all the mundane worries of this world will not matter anymore. It was this thought that made me realise that there has to be a purpose why god created the universe in the first place. Surely, God could not be sadistic!

There is a saying that 'when the pupil is ready the guru will appear'. The guru appeared in the form of various books, the most important of which was the book ' Conversation with God'. The book mentioned a story which went like this..

" In the beginning, there was just  'one supreme being'. This 'being' was all and everything. There was nobody else. It got bored as there was nobody else with whom it could talk or communicate with. There was no struggle as it got everything it wanted. So the being decided to do something about it. He utilised his sole power of dreaming and dreamt the universe. At first, he divided himself into innumerable things, both animate and inanimate and the drama began.

But there was a problem, no matter how much he divided himself, every part knew that all are the one and the same being. As such, there was no excitement or fear. So the 'being' decided to alter the program of the dream so as to make everybody forget who they are  and also that they are the one and the same being. And as such the universe came into existence and the drama of life started."

Joy in Exploration

The above story amused me initially as it meant that this world is a dream and that I am part of god. But when I thought about it deeply, it began to make sense. If I am part of god, then I should have the power to dream.... which I have. Infact, I create my own universe in my dream and I do not know I am dreaming while I am in the dream. A solid thing in a dream feels like a solid thing. A pain in a dream  feels like a real pain. Talking to a person in a dream feels real.

Infact, research has proved that every living and moving thing be it animals and even  babies are born with an innate power to dream and create their own universe.

Wow.. it was so simple I thought. From this perspective, when I went deep into science , the entire mysteries of science, be it the formation of the universe, the emptiness of atom, the power of thought over matter etc.. began to seem so simple and no mystery at all.

God definitely created this universe for time-pass and enjoyment by having nice and different experiences. This is also implied by the design of the human body which is made for enjoyment and begins to age faster in the presence of stress.

Understanding the reason for life made me a lot less serious.  My dad's guru was right..life is for time pass and enjoyment..I am doing it  by  writing this blog..and you are doing it by reading this blog....:)

( ofcourse..do not tell the same to your kid right now..else their studies will go down the drain..)

Evidences

MIT research proves that animals dream

Infants have the power to dream

P.s

Ofcourse, the higher purpose of life is to continuously evolve higher and higher and ultimately be one with god. Knowledge of reality is essential. Also, the sages  have said that meditation is the fastest way..control the mind and u control this dream. This is for another blog though..:)

18 - Steve Jobs: A Dreamer by default

" In Steve's mind, there wasn't the slightest doubt :

 Mac was destined to change the world,

 and it would be the most insanely great product ever".

- John Sculley, 

Ex-CEO of Apple
The man who fired steve jobs

 from Apple

"..This is too amazing!..I wonder why somebody did not think of this before..". I was talking to myself when I first got hold of the Ipod Touch. I got such a delight from using it that I cannot put it in words.   Over the course of the year, I got hooked on to all things apple especially the mac and the ipad. For the first time, I understood what was meant by the term 'user experience'. It was just fantastic!!

Steve's apple finally
changed theworld.

Ofcourse, the man behind  apple's fantastic and industry changing products was no ordinary guy. He was the rock star of the tech world. He was a guy, who at birth, was put up for adoption by his real mother. He went to college only to drop out to purse his interests in calligraphy  and then leave everything behind and come to India to look for enlightenment. He returned later to his home country with a shaven head and in Buddhist clothes. While he admitted that he did not find god, he did however begin to perceive things in a different way. He began to see and desire  beauty in whatever he did. This ofcourse helped him in designing the mac while he was in apple which became a run away hit and was later copied by Microsoft when windows was first made. He was later fired from his own company because of his individualistic way of doing things without taking the company board into consideration. He started another company called Next and another one called Pixar Animation.  Years later, in a remarkable turn of events, apple bought Next and as a result, he got back into apple which was on the brink of financial collapse. Within a decade, apple became one of the most valuable company in the world on the strength of its products which were designed by steve jobs personally.

The most successful
executive almost always
wore his Levi's and black
turtle neck t-shirt

How did he do it? Did he really know that the world is a dream and can be changed by intention and visualisation? Reading about his thoughts and other people's understanding of him,  it seemed to me that he did not know this  but he instinctively followed this approach. He always visualized  that the mac would change the world and never had a doubt about it. He would say to his designers many times that he has visualised a product with an amazing user experience. He would not take 'no' for an answer because he never had a doubt about it. The entire apple engineering team set about turning steve's vision into reality.

Rest in Peace Steve

On October 5, Steve Jobs died. Did he change the world before he died? Some would say that he did, some would say that he did not. But to me, when I see my son ( 4 year old ) doing maths puzzles on the ipad and being excited about it, it becomes obvious  that he did change the world in a very profound way that we as yet, cannot fathom.

Links

Steve Jobs on Wikipedia
The stanford University address ( video)

17 - The Illusion of Being Old.

"Happy is he who still loves something he loved in the nursery:  

He has not been broken in two by time; he is not two men, but one, 

and he has saved not only his soul but his life."

 ~G.K. Chesterton

'Mind your age..You are 60 now'...the wife told her husband in a stern voice.  The rebuke came because her husband suddenly became very enthusiastic like a kid while  showing me his house with a view of the swimming pool and describing  what joy it is to stand in the balcony and watch people (meaning..women ) swimming. He became silent ( sad perhaps ..) as soon as he was reminded of his age. My initial reaction to it was that of amusement. I smiled thinking that the old man has forgotten to act according to his age. I felt sorry for him.

Now, the above incident just appeared in my mind after reading the popular vedic fable, which goes like this :-  


"A god and a demon went to learn about the Self from a great sage. They studied with him for a long time. At last the sage told them, "You yourselves are the Being you are seeking." Both of them thought that their bodies were the self. 


The nature of the demon was ignorant, clouded; so he never inquired any further, but was perfectly contented with the idea that he was God, that by the Self was meant the body. 


The god had a purer nature. He at first committed the mistake of thinking: I, this body, am Brahman: so keep it strong and in health, and well dressed, and give it all sorts of enjoyments.


But, in a few days, he found out that that could not be the meaning of the sage, their master; there must be something higher. So he came back and said, "Sir, did you teach me that this body was the Self? If so, I see all bodies die; the Self cannot die." The sage smiling  said, "Find it out; thou art That." 


Then the god thought that the vital forces which work the body were what the sage meant. But. after a time, he found that if he ate, these vital forces remained strong, but, if he starved, they became weak. The god then went back to the sage and said, "Sir, do you mean that the vital forces are the Self ?" The sage said, "Find out for yourself; thou art That." 


The god returned home once more, thinking that it was the mind, perhaps, that was the Self. But in a short while he saw that thoughts were so various, now good, again bad; the mind was too changeable to be the Self. He went back to the sage and said, "Sir, I do not think that the mind is the Self; did you mean that?" "No," replied the sage, "thou art That; find out for yourself." 


The god went home, and at last found that he was the Self, beyond all thought, one without birth or death, whom the sword cannot pierce or the fire burn, whom the air cannot dry or the water melt, the beginningless and endless, the immovable, the intangible, the omniscient, the omnipotent Being; that It was neither the body nor the mind, but beyond them all."

I understood the above fable as it resonated with my theory that the world is a dream and that the soul is dreaming this world. As such, the dreamer is unaffected by the dream. It all made sense... But I could not understand as to why the incident about the swimming pool popped in my mind right after reading this fable. I figured that the answer will present itself in due time and as such did not think much about it.


I was right. The answer came while I was browsing a website. My eyes went on a quote mentioned on the website.

"A child-like man is not a man whose development has been arrested; 

on the contrary, he is a man who has given himself a chance of 

continuing to develop long after most adults have muffled themselves 

in the cocoon of middle-aged habit and convention."

 Aldous Huxley

After reading the above quote, my conclusion about the swimming pool incident changed. Instead of feeling sorry for him, I thought he must be feeling sorry for me. Perhaps, God was teaching me that Age.. is just a number...:)

XVI- The Magic of Mantra's

" All that is comes from the mind; 
It is based on the mind, it is fashioned by the mind"

- The Pali Canon
( A Buddhist Scripture  )

Mantra's are an important
aspect of Buddhism

I remember  my father's Guru saying that mantras have real power behind them. To get any specific result, there are specific mantras for which the pronunciation has to be proper along with a focused mind and intent. Infact, he was adept at Atharva veda, the ancient science of magic and charms, having learnt it from the Himlayan masters. He had even written a book on Atharveda. 

After he passed away, I forgot about his book and his words regarding the power of  mantra's. Moreover, I did not believe that few innocuous  words alone can change an outcome. It did not fit into any science or any logic that I had been made aware of.

Sound creates patterns like above
in water. The new Science
has been named as 'Cymatics'

That was until I  discovered a video on Ted.com  entitled ' Making sound visible through cymatics. '. It showed that sound vibrations can make matter fall into various design patterns. Wow..this was something which was not expected by me.  My curiosity was aroused.

Wanting to know more, I searched youtube. I  came across a video titled Bringing Matter to life  wherein it was shown that sound vibrations can make matter reorganise into specific patterns mimicking life forms, galaxies etc. The video gave me a rude jolt. This could not be real...I reasoned. How can something as fine as sound vibration have the power to  create patterns mimicking life forms ??

Swami vivekananda
A spiritual Scientist

My question was answered pretty soon ..as soon as I  got hold of another book by Swami Vivekananda.  In the book, Swami Vivekananda reasoned that ultimately, the greatest power is really in the fine and not the coarse. To explain this concept with an example,  I quote from his book..

"..when we see a man lift a heavy weight, we see his muscles swell and all over the body we see signs of exertion.  But it is the thin thread like things, the nerves that bring the power to the muscles. If we cut off these nerves..the muscles will not work at all. These tiny nerves bring the power from something finer still... thought... and so on and on"

As I thought about it, it began to make complete sense..a car  runs because of fuel transferred to the engine through a thin pipe.  Similarly, an electric motor spins because of electricity transferred to it through a thin wire. It quickly struck me that the world being a dream, everything actually comes from the fine and the unknown power of the mind. So it is actually no surprise that the everything which moves in this world ultimately moves from the power of the fine and the unseen. 

Researching further to understand why and how mantra's work, it became clear that the ancients understood that sound can make intentions manifest faster in this dream reality. In a sense, they used mantra's as a tool to unify thought patterns and bring it into alignment with the highest and the best desires.

Wow..It was a new perspective which I had gained..I  realised that all the power is  in the fine and the unseen..  and size alone does not matter...:)

References
check the video links above..its a must see..unbelievable!!!!
Swami Vivekananda- The Power of the Fine.
The Pali canon
Is sound behind Crop Circles?..A thought provoking article

XV- The Birthplace of ideas and solutions

" If you cannot find the solution to your problem..sleep on it".

                                                                                                         - An old adage

" The intuitive (sub-conscious ) mind is a sacred gift

    and the rational (conscious ) mind is a faithful servant.
 We have created a society that honors the servant 

 and has forgotten the gift."

                                                              - Albert Einstein

It was the year 1994. I had my board exams and as such had to wake early. My mother told me that not to worry and just tell to the pillow ( yes!! ..just before going to sleep )  what time to wake up, and I will. I did not think much about it at the time. I did as was told and was later surprised that my sub-conscious mind did wake me up at the exact time. I had successfully commanded my sub-conscious mind !!

I wondered how and why it worked but did not put my mind on it  as I had a lot of other mundane things  on my  mind those days. But as I researched the subject of the mind, I began to realise the beauty of the sub-conscious mind. I began to realise that it can not only be commanded but can also give us solutions and ideas that we search for.

Indeed, the Industrial revolution was started by the AC motor, the design of which came to Nicole Tesla in a day-dream.  Further, theory of relativity on which modern science is based came to Einstein in a dream. The structure of benzene and carbon also came to Kekule in a dream.


Further, Dr.  Otto Loewi, popularly known as ' The father of Neuroscience' , attributed his nobel price in 1936  for his work on the chemical transmission of nerve impulses in brain, again to a dream. Infact, after analyzing many discoveries, Dr. Loewi noted " Most so called 'intuitive' discoveries are such associations made in the subconscious".

It is not only discoveries that have come to people in dreams but also creativity has struck people in dreams. The song ' Yesterday ' by the Beatles came to Paul McCartney in a dream. He was so amazed by it, he mistakenly thought he must have heard it before somewhere.

Why is the sub-consicous mind so intelligent and our thinking and rational mind so dumb and merely a servant?. With this question, I slept..thinking that I would get an answer in my dreams..:)

well..I waited. some days passed..no answer came. I remembered that  I am one of the many persons  who hardly get any dreams while sleeping. My enthusiasm wained and  I forgot the question. However a few days later.. there was a black-out in our area. I held a torch in my hand and had just begun to climb the stairs..that the answer just came to my mind. Our 'conscious or rational mind' acts like a  torch. It can only see and work as far as the light reaches. In other words..its just a very small part of the entire mind. On the other hand, the sub-conscious mind works in the dark. It does not have to deal with limitations of the torch.

I was so  surprised that the solution came to me while I was awake and not in a dream as was the case with all the scientists and artists..but... just then another question struck.... isn't this reality also a  dream???....... :)

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P.s- Would love to hear about your dream or comments on this blog. Please add your comment below..would be useful to others for correlating  their own experiences.

Evidences

BBC article on the creativity of the sub-conscious mind.
Just google  " famous discoveries in dreams. "
A wonderful article on sub-conscious and typing