DESIRES OF THE MIND . (KNOW YOUR DEATH - 2)

Desires of the MIND.

We concluded the last article with: “After death the Mind has following options to choose.

1.      To give up available energy A and go to zero. This is the concept of Maha-Nirvana.

2.      To earn additional energy from A to 2.5 A, and then opt for rebirth.

3.      To not to opt for birth and go on earning additional energy -endlessly up to infinity. This is the stage of Moksha”.

What must be the plight of the Mind after death before it chooses its options?  It all depends on the cumulative effect of the journey and the desires pursued by the mind throughout the earlier life(s).

Let us go into the details.

Synonym of DESIRE are wish, want, crave, and covet.

Desire is defined as “Conscious impulse toward something that promises enjoyment or satisfaction in its attainment”. Desire is the basis of Karma.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English defines ‘karma’ as the "sum of person's actions in one of his successive states of existence, viewed as deciding his fate for the next".

Let us see what Indian thinkers say about it.

Bhagwat Gita on Desires. (Chapter 3, verses 39, 40 and 41).

Gita is the gist of Vedas, Upanishads, the precious Indian literature on spirituality, respected world over. On “desire” the comments in Gita are:

“O Son of Kunti (Arjuna)! Constant enemy of wise men is the un-abatable flame of desire, by which wisdom is concealed”.  (Gita  3/39).

“The senses, mind, and intellect are said to be desire's formidable stronghold; through these, desire deludes the embodied soul by eclipsing its wisdom. Therefore, O Best of the Bharata Dynasty (Arjuna), first discipline the senses then destroy desire, the sinful annihilator of wisdom and Self-realization”.  ( Git 3 /40-41).

“Arjuna asks Shrikrishna – How an individual is impelled to do sinful acts, even unwillingly, as if engaged by force”?  (Gita 3.36).

'You are responsible for your actions!’ says Shrikrishna. God (the embodied spirit) does not create actions nor does he induce people to act, nor does he create the fruits of action. All these are enacted by the modes of material nature (your own temperament) i.e. your behaviour is responsible for your sinful acts. (Gita 5/14).

How these actions emanate in life from start to end? This would reveal the outcome of the human desires throughout the life.

The origin of Desire. We are saying here that the birth, life journey, death and re-birth are all based on the mind’s desire. But what is the origin of the desire? Let us see this.

Do you know what your desire is right now? It is for sure that you want something because the mind is continuous stream of desires. You have a desire this moment, you had it in all past moments and you would have it till last moment of the life in one form or the other. If you go deep in to the past, the first moment in the being is the moment of conception. And by the same logic, the last moment will be the moment of death.

Desire has the power to achieve anything, but where from the desire crop up? The moment desire is identified, you can act; but before this moment, where from it emerges? What is the origin?

Vedic Conception of Sound in Four Features - PARA, PASHYANTI, MADHYAMA, VAIKHARI.

(Originally published in "Tattva Prakasha" Volume 1, Issue 7; available online at. www indiadivine.org/)

The origin of sound is described in four stages as below. The origin of the desire can be considered to follow the same path as sound. (Replace the world 'sound' with the word 'desire')

Para. (परा) - Para is the transcendent sound. Para means highest or farthest, and in this connection it indicates that sound (desire) which is beyond the perception of the senses. On the stage of para there is no distinction between the object and the sound (desire). The sound contains within it all the qualities of the object.

Pashyanti. (पश्यन्ती) - Pashyanti is the second level of sound (desire), and is less subtle than para. Pashyanti in Sanskrit means "that which can be seen or visualized". This sound is intuitive and situated beyond rigidly defined concepts. On the stage of pashyanti, speech (desire) is intuitively connected to the object. There is near oneness between the word and the experience described. Pashyanti is the finest impulse of speech. The seat of pashyanti is in the navel or the Manipur Chakra. When sound goes up to the naval with the bodily air in vibratory form without any particular syllable, yet connected with the mind, it is known as pashyanti.

MADHYAMA (मध्यमा) VAIKHARI (वैखरी) - Vaikhari is the grossest level of speech (desire), and it is heard through the external senses. When sound (desire) comes out through the mouth as spoken syllables it is called as vaikhari.

Madhyama is the intermediate unexpressed state of sound (desire), whose seat is in the heart. The word Madhyama means "in between" or "the middle". Madhyama refers to mental speech (desire), as opposed to external audible speech. It is on this level that we normally experience thought.

In the manifestation process, after sound (desire) has attained the form of pashyanti, it goes further up to the heart and becomes coupled with the assertive intelligence. At this point it manifests itself in the form of vibratory mode madhyama. Only those who are endowed with discriminative intelligence can feel this.

Illustration – In case of desire of food the stage wise description could be as follows

.

Para: -       From no desire stage to the generation of some impulse of restlessness.

Pashyanti: - Search for the cause of the impulse, search indicates the feeling of hunger, say breakfast.

Madhyama: – Self talk viz. what type of food is preferable within the available   options? What do I prefer out of 4-5 options?  Shall I go for veg sandwich?

Vaikhari: –    You reach a restaurant and order for the veg sandwich. This is the expression of the desire.

Here we see the stage Para is the starting point of the emerging desire. We defined Para as: “From no desire stage to the generation of some impulse of restlessness”. In order to probe further let us see how one reaches this impulse-stage - ‘pre-Para’?

This will be the subject for next article.

Vijay R. Joshi

Know thyself, the True knowledge.

       
               

 Know thyself, the True knowledge. 

In earlier article we saw some vagueness in the definition of 'knowledge'. We will try to go through the concepts and definitions of 'knowledge' based on the views of some eastern sages, thinkers. Here one comes across the definition of the world ‘knowledge’ and also explanation of what can’t be termed as true knowledge.

Ref. Dasbodha (दासबोध) of Samarth Ramdas Swami, with commentary by Prof. K.V.Belsare, chapter 5, verse 5.

Universe  constitutes in two parts : 1. Soul (आत्मा, स्थूल , स्वयंप्रकाशी ) which is Non - Matter
                                                and  2. Non-soul (अनात्मा )  which is Matter (स्थूल , परप्रकाशी )
               In turn Matter is considered of two parts : 1. Visible Matter ( दृश्य स्थूल ), and 2. Invisible             Matter        (अदृश्य स्थूल ).

1. Whatever can be sensed by sense organs is visible matter. Mountains, oceans, trees, animals, men, women, houses etc. are covered in this type. Invisible matter includes anything which is not visible to sense organs but perceived by instruments, mind, intellect etc. Rules of nature, inner composition of atom, ambitions, virtues, values, passions, emotions etc. are covered in this class. The knowledge acquired through the study and research of the visible and invisible matters is termed as Science. This is considered as the highest knowledge but this is not a correct notion.

2.  आदी करुनी चौसष्टी कला I  याही वेगळ्या नाना कला I  चौदा विद्या सिद्धी सकला I   हे ज्ञान नव्हे II         असो सकल कला प्रविण I  विद्या मात्र परिपूर्ण I  तरी ते कौशल्यता, परि ज्ञान I  म्हणोचि  नये II                              हे ज्ञान होयेसे भासे I परंतु मुख्य ते अनारिसे I जेथे प्रकृतिचे पिसे I समूळ वाव II 

Any person, expert not only in 14 vidya, 64 kala (१४ विद्या६४ कला), but also having abilities to perform in several faculties may be considered as very intelligent, savvy and competent person. We can consider him to have lot of skills, arts and proficiency but it cannot be termed as having real knowledge. The real knowledge has the ability to eliminate all the illusion and deception (माया) from its roots.

After clarifying what cannot be considered as knowledge, now we shall see the explanation of ‘true knowledge’.  Here one finds “knowledge” clearly defined.

3.       ऐका ज्ञानाचे लक्षण I ज्ञान म्हणजे आत्मज्ञान I पहावे आपणासी आपण I या नाव ज्ञान I I 

          मुख्य देवास ओळखावे I सत्य स्वरूप ओळखावे I नित्या नित्य विचारावे I या नाव ज्ञान I I

          जेथे दृश्य प्रकृती सरे I पंच भूतीक ओसरे I समूळ द्वैत निवारे I  या नाव ज्ञान I I

         मन बुध्दी अगोचर I न चले तर्काचा विचार I उल्लेख परेहुनी पर I  या नाव ज्ञान I I

         जेथे नाही दृष्य्भान I जेथे जाणिव हे अज्ञान I विमल शुध्द स्वरूप ज्ञान त्यासी बोलिजे I I 

To know entirely the own self, to know the ultimate truth, to visualize the everlasting reality, is considered as true knowledge. At this stage of realization the awareness takes the person beyond the duality (अद्वैत), minutest form of the matter.  Such true knowledge is beyond the reach of mind, logic and intelligence and the origin of sound vibrations (परा). At the stage of complete realization the sense of vision is subdued and the awareness gets melted. To reach such a state is acquiring the true Knowledge as delineated in Dasbodha.

4.  A person on the pilgrimage of Truth endeavors to find answer to the fundamental query: ‘Who am I?  (कोहम?).’  A person is the unity of the body and a mind. Mind is nothing but the combination of the samskaras (संस्कार) of the past several lives. A conscious action, whether cognitive, affective or conative, assumes a potential and hidden (सूक्ष्म आणि अव्यक्त) form just below the threshold of consciousness. This is termed a samskara (संस्कार). The soul is the purest form of the mind and free from samskaras. Soul (आत्मा) is a very small fraction of the Supreme Soul (परमात्मा). The whole universe is the creation of Paramatma, who also occupies the contents of the universe in the form of Atma.

5. The concept of real knowledge is also explicitly explained in chapter 13 of the Holy Gita (भगवत गीता) 

           क्षेत्राणि हि शरीराणि I बीजम चापि शुभाशुभे I तानी वेत्ती स योगात्मा I  ततः क्षेत्रज्ञ उच्चते I I 

The body is termed as Farm (क्षेत्र), the owner of the farm is the Soul. God has the full knowledge of all bodies and minds and souls. The God is termed as the Farmer (क्षेत्रज्ञ), who knows about the farm. Real knowledge (ज्ञान) as per Holy Vedas is to fully comprehend the concepts of body, mind, and soul. One, who possesses Dnyana (ज्ञान), is called as Dnyani (ज्ञानी).  Holy Gita chapter 13 describes in details both the concepts viz. Dnyani (ज्ञानी) and Adnyani (अज्ञानी).

While commenting on the Gita chapter 13, Rev. Vinobaji says: During the journey to know the self, one can’t totally rely on intelligence. This is because the soul and intelligence are separated by the layered partition of the samskaras accumulated during the past incarnations (पूर्वजन्म). The shell of the past samskaras has to be removed by the purification of the mind by practicing the penance. To acquire such a state of purified mind, is reaching the destination of Knowledge. Continuous efforts to shed the ego and efforts for qualitative progress of desires and karma from Tama (तम ) to Raja (रज ), Raja to Satwa (सत्व )and ultimately beyond Satwa (गुणातीत), is the mode for the mind purification.

6. Now, we have clearly understood the definitions of day-to-day knowledge, science and real knowledge. Step-by-step guidance to achieve the status of Dnyani; is also available from Rev. Vinobaji commentary on Chapter 13 of Holy Gita.

1. To discriminate between self and others with the motive that ‘My gain is the goal and others are just means’. This is the stage of ignorance.
2. To limit the sphere to ‘Me and my family and others’. My family is really the mean for my gain but I do some sacrifice from my family, and utilize others as means.
3. As above. Here, I consider me and my family together for our gain and consider others say society as means for our gain.
4. In the next step with some advance in attitude, person considers society as extension of own family and starts serving society along with self and family. This is termed as Karma Yoga.
5. The attitude considering self as a servant and society as a master, matures to a stage where self turns into a devotee, the society turns into deity and all the available means of service as the offerings to the deity. Here the Karma yoga advances to the stage of Bhakti yoga.
6. The highest stage of penance is reached which creates the feeling of ‘Self in the form of God, through all the available Godly means serving the society which also is in the form of the God’. At this stage the duality is entirely dissolved. The Bhakti Yoga gets transformed to Dnyana Yoga.
7. This is the stage at which real Knowledge i.e. Truth is realised.                                                                                                                                                                                                                Every person has to identify and follow his/ her own path to reach the destination of Truth.“Objective reality, subjectively known, told with detached mind is truth”, says Swami Vijnananand while describing Truth in his book "God Reconsidered".

Vijay R. Joshi.

 Knowledge: Most sacred path.

New Way Philosophy delineates the knowledge of Body, Soul and the Mind. Science deals with matter, the spirituality deals with mind, soul. The mission of both is to discover the ‘Truth’ for happiness of the humanity. Since human being is composed both of matter (body) and non- matter (mind, soul), both the missions are vitally important. Swami Vijnananand has endeavored to put together the tenets of science and spirituality in the new way philosophy. The findings are useful in day to day life of common person.

Let us probe further in the details of ‘knowledge’ which is considered as the most sacred path for the progress in the human life.

Holy Gita recapitulates the combined knowledge of the Vedas and Upanishads. This knowledge is helpful to lead successful life.  In our effort to review the concept ‘knowledge’, let us refer to Gita chapter four, verses 38 and 35.

na hi jñānena sadṛśaḿ  pavitram iha vidyate

tat svayaḿ yoga-saḿsiddhaḥ  kālenātmani vindati   (4/38)

In this world, there is nothing so much sublime and pure as transcendental knowledge. Such knowledge is the ripen fruit of all mysticism. And one who has become accomplished in the practice of devotional service enjoys this knowledge within himself in due course of time. When we speak of transcendental knowledge, we do so in terms of spiritual understanding. As such, there is nothing so much sublime and pure as transcendental knowledge. Ignorance is the cause of our bondage, and knowledge is the cause of our liberation. When one is situated in transcendental knowledge, he need not search for peace elsewhere, for he enjoys peace within himself.

yaj jñātvā na punar moham  evaḿ yāsyasi pāṇḍava

yena bhūtāny aśeṣāṇi  drakṣyasy ātmany atho mayi (4/35)

Having obtained real knowledge from a self-realized soul, you will never fall again into illusion, for by this knowledge you will see that all living beings are but part of the Supreme power.

Pure knowledge removes all illusions. Feeling of love and compassion towards all living is generated. Devil deeds get redeemed and the stage of self-realization is attained.

How the pure knowledge enables dis-illusion state?

Any allurement gives pleasure is the assumption of a layman whereas selfless duty adherence is the only way to realize the bliss is the belief of a Gita follower. One who dines with delicious tasty food would never want to eat road side junk food. Gita followers never falls prey to materialistic allurement and ego pleasures!

Sounds good! But can one practice this in prevailing hedonist, materialistic way of modern life? We are allured with not a single but several pleasures and attractions. That is the reason we turn blind eye on Gita based knowledge.

Are we averse to acquire knowledge? No, Not at all! The numbers of schools, colleges, universities have multiplied as never before. In fact we are witnessing the state of information explosion due to fast spread of internet and web service. We try to learn so many things from internet. We are acquiring varied degrees in diverse disciplines. What all this learning would be termed as? Can this be termed as ‘Knowledge’?

It can be termed as the general knowledge useful for day to day purpose in managing our daily needs.

We cannot belittle this knowledge as it serves us for so many purposes. Any information which helps us to fulfill our needs, we call it a knowledge. The knowledge category varies depending upon time to time varying needs. You need one type of knowledge for admitting your child in proper school, which would not serve the purpose to select good week-end outing place. The home maker in a large family should be equipped with some specific knowledge which would not serve the purpose to win a fierce competition in sports or business. The skills necessary for success in politics would be totally different than managing a social service center. An individual is constantly engaged to acquire different skills to meet the changing needs in the life.

Human needs –There are endless human needs. In an organized manner, Abraham Maslow (1908 – 1970) classified the human needs in the order of hierarchy as follows.

Physiological needs

These include the most basic needs that are vital to survival, such as the need for water, air, food, and sleep. Maslow believed that these needs are the most basic and instinctive needs in the hierarchy because all needs become secondary until these physiological needs are met.

Security needs.
These include needs for safety and security. Security needs are important for survival, but they are not as essential as the physiological needs. Examples of security needs include a desire for steady employment, health care, safe neighborhoods, and shelter from the environment.

Social life needs.
This category includes needs for belonging, love, and affection. Maslow described these needs as less basic than physiological and security needs. Relationships such as friendships, romantic attachments, and families help fulfill this need for companionship and acceptance, as do involvement in social, community, or religious groups.

Esteem needs.
After the first three needs have been satisfied, esteem needs becomes increasingly important. These include the need for things that reflect on self-esteem, personal worth, social recognition, and accomplishment.

Self-actualizing needs.

This is the highest level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Self-actualizing people are moral-conscious, duty bound, self-aware, concerned with personal growth, less concerned with the opinions of others, and interested fulfilling their potential.

Fulfilling all such desires dose require a variety of skills and knowledge. All these put together can be termed as materialistic knowledge. But can this be termed as real knowledge? Let us see how ‘knowledge’ is defined by authorities.

Oxford dictionary defines knowledge:

1. Facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.
2. Awareness or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation:

Wiki:

In philosophy, the study of knowledge is called epistemology; the philosopher Plato famously defined knowledge as "justified true belief." However, no single agreed upon definition of knowledge exists, though there are numerous theories to explain it.

Bertrand Russell (1926) ,‘Theory of Knowledge’:

“At first sight it might be thought that knowledge might be defined as belief which is in agreement with the facts. The trouble is that no one knows what a belief is, no one knows what a fact is, and no one knows what sort of agreement between them would make a belief true.”

The 21^st century is often considered as ‘century of knowledge’. Having entered this century and first decade already passed, in conventional references we find certain vagueness in defining the term “knowledge” itself.

But we find the knowledge clearly defined by eastern thinkers, sages. The definition of knowledge is crystal clear in ancient treaties such as Holy Gita. Some reference from Gita is provided above. The concepts of Dnyana (knowledge) and Adnyana (Ignorance) have been clearly defined in a number of treaties by saints and sages.

-          The vast skills and organized information required to meet diverse life needs, such as ‘14 VIDYA 64 KALA’ is one variety of knowledge.

-          Science; which endeavors to investigate the facts of the matter based on experiment, observation, evidences by the best available method can be considered as another level of knowledge.

-          And the logical, rational objective imagination to foresee the facts beyond the limits of scientific investigations, which can be termed as ‘rational philosophy’ is yet another variety of knowledge.

All these levels have their own vital role and importance to fulfill the needs of human life. In his books “Science and Philosophy” and “ShaktiYoga” Swami Vijnananand has provided information of relevance on this issue. We shall refer to it later in articles to follow.

Vijay R. Joshi.