CONSCIOUSNESS

CONSCIOUSNESS

The so called holy books of the Hindus; Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Ramayan and Mahabharat are actually science books. It talks about the Universe, Life, body, mind and consciousness. The language used is ‘Sanskrit’ literally meaning ‘the refined language’. Even the Hindus who blindly throng about the temples for idol worship may not know this. When other religions make fun of them as cock and bull stories, Hindus abscond and follow modern science and the lifestyle of white people to escape ridicule. One purpose of the book would be to juxtapose Hindu scriptures vis-à-vis the modern science. They simply gel with one another !

Indians invented Zero when none else could visualise a state of nothingness. This requires insight. I hope you get the difference. That is to count 1,2,3…9, one needs to look outside at different things. Different stones or goats for example which are outside. To imagine nothingness, one needs to look inside. That is the difference.

Is looking outside worse than looking inside? Not at all. It needs sheer intelligence and hard work to send a rocket to the space and assess the beginning, developments, size etc of the universe. Similarly knowing the structure of atoms. Realising that the atoms have a similar structure as the solar system with a sun (nucleus) at core and planets revolving around it at various orbits. That there is lot of empty space inside the atom like the planets or stars in space. These details get revealed by looking outside.

It is not a bad idea to look outside for the purpose of knowing.

One has to actually look both inside and outside to know everything inside out.

The innocuous but actually timeless and infinite consciousness which is always within us is our true self. The body or mind which are clearly visible and experienced are not our true identity. We know brightness. We know intelligence. The consciousness is intelligent brightness ! A smart light which can feel, know and take decisions without the aid of a body or mind. Complete by itself. All pervading all knowing, unending, with immense powers at its disposal. The consciousness creates universes with a tool called Maya. A part of this Maya transforms into our minds. Matter is the condensed form of Energy. Matter and Energy can be converted into one another. But cannot be destroyed.  This simple looking consciousness is God who created this universe. Can you believe this? You can’t. None can until you reach closer to this innocuous consciousness and know it better. You will never leave it if you know it close enough !

We are mostly at the body level. At this level we see others as bodies. Males and females are distinguishable. We identify ourselves as body too. In other words the mind engulfs the body and the consciousness accepts the existence of the body. The mind is forgotten. 

We look at the mirror and see the face and adjust the dress to make it look good to the onlooker. Here the mind came out of the body and took the shape of the image in mirror. The consciousness makes the mind aware that the face looks like this.

And we are suckers to believe what the mind saw and know. We never looked behind the mind to see who or what is making the mind aware of all these happenings. The mind is not conscious by itself. It cannot understand anything by itself. It can take the form of the object and the consciousness has to throw light into the mind to see or ‘understand’ things. What is ‘understanding’? To stand under something to know it better.  Consciousness need to show light to the mind to know where it is.

The body is as good as a dead stone without mind. Without consciousness the mind simply does not exist. So if you know that you are thinking about something, your consciousness only makes you aware of that. And you thought you were smart enough to understand by yourself?  ‘Your self is smart enough to understand you’ is a better way of putting it !

 Consciousness is condensed intelligence. Matter Energy and Mind came out of it.  These three are parts of a tool called Maya which are required to create the universe. These were linked in a meaningful way to have the present form of universe by none other than the consciousness itself.

None else is here. No scheming God up in the sky or beyond the space looking for sinners to teach a lesson. No creator sitting in paradise keeping sticks and carrots for us. These are imaginations of human minds. The real God is actually within the body enabling the body to breathe and mind move the way it wants. Wearing an airy dress in public is no offence to this God. After all it only transformed (manifested to be precise) into bodies. Being comfortable is it nature. Abundance is its quality. Those who think otherwise remain trapped in mind and experience hell where there is no love but all hatred, fear, jealousy frustration, death. The other side of life is death. Lets remain this side.

Consciousness is very much within and without us. It is everywhere. The consciousness as the cause or creator of this universe is actually an astonishing discovery, nay invention, nay realisation which would make one freeze, shudder and cry in joy once he reaches that stage. To reach this state requires no money. Travel to the bottom of the mind (our own not the enemy's or neighbour’s or the captured woman's) and conditioning it, what to do and what not. The Rishis sought and realised a state within them having unending happiness, absolute peace, all knowledge and overflowing powers just by cleaning the mind and removing the attachments. A truly magical entity which we cannot normally understand as we are / our minds are used to limited spaces and time. 

Anyone can try this at home. We are actually consciousness. When we think we are the body, we feel the consciousness in the body. When we think, the consciousness makes us aware everything that goes on in mind. Further down in mind, we lose track of the body completely. This is like travelling beyond solar system in a space ship. To break off from gravity, your rocket needs to reach the escape velocity which is 8 KM per Second. Similarly the gravity of society would pull you back when you try to take a journey beyond them !

After a certain level the body is forgotten or we crossed the solar system. Then mind itself is slowly forgotten. At the end only the consciousness would remain. What to do? Weep over the dead body? Cry over the lost mind? Sob about the relatives ? Worry about the property amassed? Nonsense. Just forget everything and plunge into the ocean of consciousness ! Merge yourself into it and forget everything else. This is Brahmanadam. Jeevanmukthi. Samadhi or Salvation.

Many who tried has reached this ultimate state of human existence. Even if you don’t achieve this, do not worry. Because this is not the end. Your efforts can continue in the next life. Lives continue as a sequel because the mind simply cannot die like the old body. When a body dies the mind goes back to the consciousness. If the mind is free and clean, it rests with the consciousness for ever. Else, it has to leave consciousness, take another body and experience life, time and space once again until the inherent desires are fulfilled. .

This cycle would continue until the realisation happens.

The mind is a divine tool. It always exists with the consciousness like a close friend (Arjun to Krishna in Mahabharat) or a faithful wife (Sita to Rama in Ramayan). These are just analogies. There is no friend or wife. Just consciousness and its mysterious creative power called Maya. When the human body expires, if we have already made it and plunged into the ocean of consciousness, then we don’t feel loss of death. Death is after all for the body. Not even for the mind.

If there is no more desire left in mind, you don’t have to take further births and live on earth. You remain in the consciousness for ever with Holy Father.

As someone correctly said "Ours is not a human existence with a few magical moments here and there but a magical existence with a few human moments". Meaningful life actually starts when one gets this thread and start pursuing it. Until then it is more or less Animal Kingdom, Chimpanzee lives, collecting things which we may not actually require but which others consider as desirable, spending life protecting and hiding these unnecessary things from others, fighting for females and recognition / supremacy in society by trampling the weaker ones. All these chaos only until the body expires.

A solo dance of the consciousness. That is you and me and him. Lets progress into a group dance or chorus which is more meaningful than individual merits.

The catch is to realise that the mind is actually not at all a cosmic phenomenon limited by space and time but a tool of the infinite consciousness. Mind does not have weight (like light) or speed limit (unlike light). It can reach the end of the universe in a flash. Mind can take any form. Mind does not age. Mind will not die like the body but will keep all impressions or information one had accumulated during his interaction with the world (life). Thus whatever is left at the end of his term (life) can be read and summarised by the consciousness in a flash. Accordingly the same mind is pumped into a new body which would take care of the pending desires in that mind during last birth.

There is a problem here though. Suppose the mind is left with unsatisfied desires. If it is sex, the next body can be that of a donkey which is interested only in that. If the desire was to have more food, one may reappear as a pig which can consume anything.

A terrorist kills others in anticipation of better life after death. Do you know what he is actually likely to get?

Lets us see. The consciousness would assess the mind of the terrorist after he explodes himself killing a few lives. These lives were actually minds having unsatisfied desires. They were eliminated without fulfilling their desires by an external cause. So they have to be reinstated into appropriate bodies. The mind of a terrorist had the desire to have many wives after death as the last wish. What body can that mind get? Animal or to be precise a donkey. If he is lucky that is !

Because the consciousness is not as stupid as the terrorist likes to believe for his convenience. If the conscience does not like a certain development (killing is one of them. Lives are granted to live and none other than God is the owner of lives). Then special lives may be created by conscious interference  to keep the troublesome terrorist mind away from peaceful other minds. This can be by not allowing the mind to enter any body further and thus left to lurch as ghosts. Or directing that mind to restart the journey from a lower level insect (remember the snake and ladder game). However this is all fun all the way. The God is the most mischievous child in the world ! You claim custodianship of a truant child for some personal benefit or from ignorance? All I can say is that you are inviting trouble, my dear ! See the movie “Problem Child” if you are not convinced. You do not know what God thinks.

Another way of God may be to interchange the roles of the victim and terrorist next time. God has many ways than we can comprehend. The minds deserving bodies in any case. So why be afraid of death? Why fear aborting an ill formed foetus and euthanasia for vegetating bodies? 

This is not the precise way of taking births and mind assuming new bodies. But this is a probable way. For example a particular terrorist today may not transform into a particular donkey of that location. The body that one would get would be commensurate with the pending desires in mind at the time of leaving the body. That is all.

Actually a donkey is still a desirable level ! There are further depths. Like insects or worms, without senses. If you manage to get into one of them, by inviting say the wrath of God for killing fellow beings and not allowing them to fulfil their desires, then the life would go on for a longer time. A donkey is far more developed than an insect. A human body is far more developed than a donkey. To rise from a lower level to a higher level needs divine interference. Some sort of promotion signed by the boss ! This is kindness. This can be achieved through sat sangh (meeting or associating with good people).

The mind can be equated to the air around the body. The individual bodies (people) absorb and keep some air for its internal functions.  This air becomes their ‘own’ and gets their characteristics and live with them albeit with renewals. How the body uses the air makes the body different. One can for example inhale deeply, hold it and then exhale slowly and exercise accordingly. Another may breathe fast like dogs. One may add smoke into the inhaling air. Over the years the bodies change shapes according to way the air was used. The quality of life depends on how the air was used.

Bodies are like balloons. They appear in different colours and shapes because of he body shape or skin colour. The air inside all the balloons are the same. Further when the balloons break, the air inside merges with the atmosphere and now we can't say which air came out from which balloon. All air all around. When inside a body or a balloon, there is an identity. This identity is unfortunately not permanent. Better looking balloons might want the show to go on as they think they are brighter, better or bigger than the rest. 

Similarly the universal mind emanating from the consciousness is all over the universe and all around us. The body is born because of a mind with a certain desire or goal. Once inside the body, the mind becomes that body’s personal property or it is treated so. When it gets attracted and attached to something or someone. The mind is trapped by the world. Now the mind feels that whatever it is attached to be its own and others are outsiders and competitors. Life starts going round in circles instead of the straight path.

The mind gets polluted because of the attachments. The mind is actually dumb by itself. You teach the mind that a particular woman is your own. From that moment onwards, the mind starts collecting information about her and would tell you who else eyes her and what all she does ! Until you told the mind about the ownership, your mind never bothered what she did ! See the difference of attachments. It is not that one should not  be concerned with anything. One does it with minimum attachments (loose strings) or maximum  choking stranglehold according to the state of the mind. Just ask your woman in what category you are !

Once the mind spots another male eyeing your ‘own’ female or property or relatives, the mind gets restless. Fear, hatred, anxiety, insecurity, trauma, jealousy etc fills the mind. Welcome to the ocean of emotions. You may sink in the ocean or watch the tides with uneasiness. All because your mind got attached to something. Why do this apparently senseless act of getting attached to something? Can you view all the developments with a smile?

Can we love someone without getting attached? We have not grown to that level yet. Can we live without personal properties? Common property for all? Human greed has not really allowed this idea to fructify. Those in the top brass would start having a ball and the idea of communism collapses. The people need to grow into nearly selfless understanding ones to live like a global family. Until then lets wait and watch.

To someone or a mind which is clear and without attachments, there is nothing its own. This does not mean nothing is his own. That way everything becomes his own. This is the twist and magic of the mind. This may also be seen as the fun and mischief of the Krishna consciousness. This entire universe (time and space) can be owned in totality by anyone (including Bill Gates and the Beggars at his Gate) if they simply let go off the things and people from mind whom we think as our own. In fact the mind is trapped into believing this ignorance (world) as truth and forgets its real self, the supreme consciousness which makes the mind exist and experience all these. This is the power of Maya.

To know everything, just look into your mind. Listen to the consciousness. Your mind is not as simple as you think. We use it mostly for thinking or imagining. It has many other capabilities as it is directly linked to God. Does the word God irk you? Do you think God is some entity imagined by the mind? Then change that word with consciousness. The consciousness is behind all these. And it is very much within you, me and him. Try to find out wherever it is and claim it as your dearest most desirable possession. Those who realised were told by the consciousness 'Tat tvam asi' meaning "You are that”. You are not the body or mind but the consciousness.

Whew ! The head spins like the planets.

Does your consciousness differ from somebody else’s consciousness? There is only one consciousness. We are all parts of that. When we know this truth we reach the core and merge with one another and become one and only consciousness. There are no individual bodies or minds. Like a statue made of salt dissolves into the ocean and become one with it, we dissolve into the consciousness and become the consciousness. Like the rivers merge into the ocean and become the ocean losing all local and nomenclature identities. Until the desires or sun’s heat make the rivers reappear all over again. This cycle repeats.

Until we reach there, let’s at least not compete or fight let alone eliminate one another. The Pandavas fought and killed Karna, their own brave elder brother without knowing it. This is the problem of this world also. We can’t realise the elder brother. Instead we deny and deprive him. Do you think you will win? There is consciousness watching all your actions.

If you hurt your brother now, knowingly or not, rest assured that you would be made to feel how your brother felt when he was hurt because of your innovative weapons of selfishness and deceit. In short the consciousness is not unconscious. It knows. It is dynamic. Life is a surreal game. A certain Balachandramenon designs scripts acts directs (even watches) the universe. Similar to the humans making and playing video games.

Can this consciousness be reached by poojas and rituals? You tell me for a change. Any action at the body level which makes the mind free and clean is beneficial to realise one's self. In other words any deed that pollutes the mind and strengthens the link to body would render us in the body level, on earth along with the animals. These are the two extremes. At one end you are at the body consciousness. At the other end you are the pure consciousness. We are mostly in between these two extremes. We need to transcend the body consciousness to mind consciousness and then to pure consciousness to complete the journey. Else we keep shuttling between body and mind without ever knowing this wonderful consciousness lying just under the mind, even if we get the Nobel prize for science or become a billionaire or an actor or leader with fans adoring them all around.