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Archive of posts tagged Self

Science without conscience is destruction (Bhagavad Gita 2.42 – 2.44)

15 June 2011, 8:37 pm

Flowery speech is uttered by the unwise, who take pleasure in the eulogising words of the Vedas, O Arjuna, saying: “There is nothing else!”

Full of desires, having heaven as their goal, they utter speech which promises birth as the reward of one’s actions, and prescribe various specific actions for the attainment of pleasure and power.

For those who are much attached to pleasure and to power, whose minds are drawn away by such teaching, that determinate faculty is not manifest that is steadily bent on meditation and the state of higher consciousness.

— Bhagavad Gita 2.42-44

The ancient Indian religious scripture, the Vedas, is not just about religion and philosophy, it’s a complete manual on living, fully relevant to the civilization at that point of time. In addition to some of the deepest philosophical inquires on the nature of the Self, it has a huge ritualistic portion that prescribes specific rituals to attain specific results, like health, wealth, power, a better afterlife, etc.

The ritualistic portion of religion is helpful, but Self knowledge is essential. Self knowledge and Self-realization enables a person to understand reality and experience the oneness and connectedness of all life, so it’s the real basis of peace and morality. With Self-knowledge, one can apply the rituals in a meaningful way that’s helpful to oneself, helpful to the society and the environment. But without Self-knowledge, there is selfishness and narrow-mindedness, there won’t be right perspective. Without the right perspective, and without the right kind of wisdom, the rituals could be used in a way that’s harmful to the environment, to the society and ultimately prove to be harmful to oneself. Without knowing this, the unwise become so engrossed in materialism and obsessed with the ritualistic religion, they don’t even consider the possibility of Self-realization. To them, pleasures and material achievements is all that is there to live for, at best they think about performing some rituals to attain a more pleasurable afterlife. The wise ones are careful, they give the highest priority to Self-knowledge, Self-realization and spirituality, and use the rituals whenever needed.

We can draw a parallel between this and how we use science and technology in modern era. Scientific understanding of the material world has developed exponentially in the past century and we are able to harness the power of nature in a way that makes our lives simple and easy. Communication across the world has become easy, travel has become easy, finding knowledge has become easy, washing clothes has become easy, there is a device for everything. Nothing wrong with that, such a development is entirely welcome. When used in the right way, it can be very helpful in the evolution of consciousness in a manner that’s harmonious with the environment. But not everything is going the right way. Has our understanding of the material world matched by the understanding of the self? Self-realization, which is the real basis of inner peace and morality, is lacking. Without this kind of real morality we are still a primitive race even though we polish the outside with all kinds of technological gadgets and quote all kinds of scientific theories. And when very powerful technologies go into the hands of people who are still primitive at heart, the result could be destructive. As Eckhart Tolle puts it in his Power of Now, “Humans have learned to split the atom. Instead of killing ten or twenty people with a wooden club, one person can now kill a million just by pushing a button.” He asks, “Is that real change?”

So it’s important that wisdom prevails and we get our priorities right. Self-knowledge and Self-realization is the most important thing. One has to look inside as much as one looks outside. We have to learn to connect with each other and all of life from the level of the heart as much as we connect with each other through phones and internet and Facebook. With the right kind of perspective we can use the rituals and scientific knowledge in a way that’s helpful to ourselves and all life around us.

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The Self neither kills, nor is it killed (Bhagavad Gita 2.17-21)

27 September 2010, 12:12 pm

Know for certain that That which pervades all is imperishable. None can cause the destruction of That, the Imperishable. (Bhagavad Gita 2.17)

Only the material bodies of the Self are subject to destruction, it is said, while the Self itself is indestructible, immeasurable and eternal. Fight therefore, O descendant of Bharata. (2.18)

The basic thing to understand: ‘I am the body’ is a false idea. The bodies come and go, they change form, they each have a beginning and an end. The body you have now is entirely different from the body you had when you were a newborn baby. Therefore identifying oneself with the body is an illusive idea. The real Self, of which the body is just a tool, is indestructible, immeasurable and eternal.

Here is a quote from Ramakrishna Paramahamsa that helps us understand the Self by which all is pervaded.

Take the case of the infinite ocean. There is no limit to its water. Suppose a pot is immersed in it: there is water both inside and outside the pot. The jnani sees that both inside and outside there is nothing but Paramatman. Then what is this pot? It is ‘I-consciousness’. Because of the pot the water appears to be divided into two parts; because of the pot you seem to perceive an inside and an outside. One feels that way as long as this pot of ‘I’ exists. When the ‘I’ disappears, what is remains. That cannot be described in words. (The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, p. 915)

Even the idea that the material body undergoes destruction is such a false idea. Matter doesn’t come out of nothing. We know that energy can neither be created nor be destroyed, it only changes from one form to another. Similarly, the basic particle of matter, call it ‘atom’ if you want, can neither be created, nor be destroyed. The particles only combine and recombine with each other to change forms. Even after the death of the physical body, the particles that made up the body don’t go away. They just disperse and recombine with other particles to form or feed up other bodies. So what is born and dies is just the idea of a particular form and the name you attach to the form. Take away the name and form and the whole idea of birth and death, creation and destruction, goes into pieces.

One who takes the Self to be the slayer and the one who thinks He is slain, neither of them knows; The Self slays not nor is He slain. (Bhagavad Gita 2.19)

This (the Self) is never born, nor does it die at any time. This has never come into being, never comes and never will come into being. This is eternal, permanent, the most ancient, is not killed when the body is being killed. (2.20)

One who knows this Self to be indestructible, eternal, unborn and immutable, O Partha, how can that person slay or cause to be slain. (2.21)

Also, the idea of separation exists only when we identify with this body, a particular name and form. We say ‘I’ and ‘the other’ only with respect to name and form. When we understand that the identification with name and form is just an illusion, there is no more separation, there is only One. Then there is no more selfishness, there is no harming somebody else to do good for yourself. All ideas of fear, hope, worry, anxiety, desire, craving, killing, being killed, all these ideas vanish. You know yourself to be the One Self, you are the only one. With this knowledge, you live in the present and do the most appropriate thing you can do at this moment.

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The motorcycle analogy to understand self (Bhagavad Gita 2.11 – 2.13)

16 September 2010, 11:46 am

Sri Krishna, with a smile on his face, speaks these words to Arjuna:

While speaking learned words, you grieve for what is not worthy of grief. The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead. (2.11)

Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be. (2.12)

The embodied soul, just as it continuously passes from childhood to youth to old age in this body, passes into another body (after death). The firm ones never grieve about this. (2.13)

Let us try to understand this with the help of an analogy. Say, for example, you commute half an hour by walk between your home and workplace everyday. You want to save time, so you think it would be a good idea to purchase a motorcycle. Thus an idea is born, the idea of having a vehicle that will help you save your time. After a while, the idea takes shape, you purchase a motorcycle and start using it everyday.

After a few months, some part of the motorcycle gets worn out, and you change the part. After some time, something else goes wrong with the motorcycle and you replace certain parts. So, as you use the motorcycle regularly, you keep changing different parts of the motorcylce. After a few years you have replaced most parts of the motorcycle, that it’s physically not the same motorcycle you purchased years ago. But then… physically it may have changed, but to you it’s the same motorcycle… just think about it.

And then there comes a time when the vehicle has become too old it can’t be used anymore. You throw it away and buy a new motorcycle.

The physical parts of the motorcycle may change, the motorcycle itself may be replaced, but what holds it together is the idea of having a vehicle that will help you save your time, and as long as this idea remains in your mind, you will have a motorcycle that gives shape to the idea. The motorcycle may even evolve into a car, but it’s the same original idea that manifests in all these different forms.

Now, let us go back to the 13th verse in chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gita. The Lord says,

The embodied soul, just as it continuously passes from childhood to youth to old age in this body, passes into another body after death. The firm ones never grieve about this.

It’s all clear now. Just as the idea of ‘having a vehicle that will help you save your time‘ passes through different states of the motorcycle from new to old, the idea passes into a different motorcycle when the old one is dead. The idea itself never dies. What’s there to grieve about that?

Now to verse 12:

Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.

What you refer to as ‘my motorcycle’ not the physical motorcycle made up of metals and stuff. The real motorcycle is actually the idea, the original idea of having a vehicle that will help you save your time. The idea is non-physical. There never was a time the idea did not exist. The idea has always been there, it doesn’t have any birth or death. In fact, it’s wrong to say that ‘the idea is born’. Just that that idea that’s always been there crossed your mind at a particular point of time. It will remain in your mind for sometime and then leaves you. The physical motorcycle may be destroyed, the idea may leave your mind, but the idea never ceases to be. So, what’s there to grieve?

So, if you are not the physical body that changes state from childhood to youth to old age, if you are ‘that’ which goes through these different states in this body, and ‘that’ which takes up a different body when this body dies, then what is ‘that’? What are you?

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'I' love 'you'?

2 March 2009, 9:34 am

Love is not of the self. Self cannot recognize love. You say ‘I love’; but then in the very saying of it, in the very experiencing of it, love is not. But when you know love, self is not. When there is love, self is not.

— J. Krishnamurti, The First and Last Freedom

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