WE MAKE OUR OWN DESTINY (KNOW YOUR DEATH - 4)

The Karma-Chakra is created by our own decisions.

For Understanding the actions of mind through brain (creation of the Karma-Chakra), following two links are important. We shall try to examine the role of mind in the life.

Mind, a storehouse of emotions, is a key factor, like an owner of a vehicle, which can have control over the driver and vehicle. However, brain just like a driver, though an employed driver of mind, has a direct control only on the vehicle. The body is just like a vehicle, a medium. Though the impact of emotion equally affects the body and the mind, its effects on the mind are not always visible. To an extent, the brain could be called a connecting link between the two as it physically carries out mind functions.

Inside the brain, emotions, (processed / un-processed by thoughts), can light up the action. The emotion associated with limbic brain (emotional brain) is many times so strong that it does not allow the cortex (thinking brain) to process it. But in normal case the emotional signal gets processed before the action is initiated. The action at each moment taken in the life has the origin in the emotional instinct and thinking rationale.

We create our own destiny.

If you feel you are destined to be unfortunate / fortunate, never forget it’s up to you how to shape your destiny. It’s necessary for us to own up everything. If we take the onus for something wrong, we can always set it right. As this famous saying goes:

Watch your emotions / desires, as one of it becomes your action.

Watch your actions, they become habits;

Watch your habits, they become character; (This is the process of forming sub-conscious mind based on the individual behaviour each moment.)

Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.

 Mind: Storehouse of thoughts, desires, emotions. Thoughts are shaped here based on desires and intellect.

Intellect: Decides the course of action owing to thoughts

Body: Carries out action as per the diktats of intellect

Habits: Repeated actions form habits.

Character: Accumulated habits reflect character.

Destiny: - The cumulative effect of the behaviour.

Our mind gets emotions. Where from they arise? Can you tell what will be the wishes you will feel in next 10 minutes? There is a famous sentence. “If I wish I can smoke a cigar, but I can’t wish to wish!” (In the earlier blog we have seen that past karma is the basis of your desires/emotions)

Out of several wishes lingering at any moment, we pick up one and go for action to fulfill it. 

Who guides this selection? And what is the underlying motives? Our intellect does this selection and mostly it is the motive of self-interest is the influencing factor. This selection results in an action. Repeated actions form habits. The bunch of habits acquired over time form the character. This process at each moment and each step creates imprints in brain/body cells. These accumulated imprints form the subconscious mind which again has influence on our decision making. Thus the accumulated behaviour based on the character results in the destiny at any given moment. And you get wishes as destined.

So for good destiny the bearing directly lies with the “intellect”; (which is accountable for the karma of each moment, please see the chart above). A good decision by an intellect will be helpful for good action, and subsequently for forming habit, character and destiny in that order. The reverse is the result in case of the bad decision. So the formation of the destiny (we may say the Karmic Account) is dependent on the Intellect which decides the Karma.

Training and conditioning of intellect is of the utmost importance as everything depends on this. This is the real knowledge also should be the purpose of education. Once it’s ensured, the rest is assured.

At each and every moment as the desires crop-up in mind, the intellect decides which desires to be preferred for action. This is a vital step as it later goes on to shape the destiny. The intellect has to take a good decision to shape the destiny properly. The intellect has to be nurtured based on knowledge right from the early stage of life. This should be the basis of education.

The theory of karma harps on the Newtonian principle that every action produces an equal and opposite reaction. Normally a person acts for pleasure which results in the opposite act of dis-pleasure. Every time we think or do something, we create a cause, which in time will bear its corresponding effects. It is the intellect of a human being with its positive and negative actions - that causes karma. As the process of doing karma goes on and on with the journey of life the karma Chakra is designed resulting in creation of the available options (i.e. the desires) for the future. (For details refer to my book “Learn to Mind your Mind” published by M.R.C.)

Let us tress the evolution of the basic desires and the instincts behind them as human being evolved from the one-cell amoeba. (Thus the instinct behind the desires which crop-up in the mind which is the basis of the karma Chakra).

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.