Someone using the name “dattaswami” submitted four different entries to SEB yesterday covering a wide range of topics which, beyond the subject line, didn’t seem to make a lot of sense. Still it’s been a few days since I last had anything to post and there’s always the possibility the guy might make sense to someone out there so I figured I’d go ahead and post the entries. Rather than do them individually, however, I opted to combine them all into one big post.

Perhaps someone will find them useful, say as a cure for insomnia or as a reminder of the importance to take one’s mediation each and every day, or perhaps not. Either way all four entries are after the jump.

Can we understand God through Logic?

Adi Shankara( a previous human incarnation) made certain assumptions, which are hypothetical to preach the spiritual knowledge to the devotees at various levels. Generally the devotees are trained in the logic pertaining to the imaginable items in the world. The development of a concept by them is from a worldly example and also its application is to another worldly example. For example since the black color of the mud (cause) is entering into pot (its effect), the conclusion is that the nature of cause enters its effect. This conclusion is applied to another worldly example and they say that the bright color of the gold lump (cause) must also enter the chain (its effect). Here, mud, pot, gold lump and chain are imaginable items and are worldly examples.

Hence, all their logic is limited to the imaginable items only and that cannot be extended to the unimaginable God and His link with creation is also unimaginable because it is a link between unimaginable God and imaginable creation. This does not mean that logic is useless. It is useful in denying an imaginable item claimed to be unimaginable.

For example in the ancient time the awareness is thought to be independent energy like a free electromagnetic wave in space. But today due to advancement of science and analytical faculty it is clearly proved that awareness is not an independent item but it is completely dependent on the co-existence of functioning nervous system and the inert heat energy produced by the oxidation of food. It is only a special work form of energy appearing through a complicated special technology of brain and nervous system. It is not independent even like the electromagnetic radiation traveling in the space. That which was wonderful yesterday is clear today. It was unimaginable but now is imaginable. Therefore, there is a knowable region extending up to space in the creation.

In this knowable region there are certain layers of attained knowledge and certain layers of unimaginable nature. But the layers of unimaginable nature will certainly be analyzed by logic and science in the course of time. But there is a dead limit of this logic and analysis of science, which is the space beyond which the region of eternal unimaginable nature exists. Therefore, by conquering the unimaginable layers within the knowable region, it does not mean that one day or other the logic or science will cross the dead limit of space also and capture the unimaginable God existing beyond space. That is impossible.

You may try and try and one day you may touch the roof of your house by the constant practice of high jumps. But this does not mean that one day or other you will also touch the sky by the continuous practice of high jumps. Today the unimaginable layers within the knowable region may appear wonderful and these layers can be called as Maya. The word Maya comes from root meaning “wonder” (Maya vaichitrye). The word wonder does not mean that it will be always unimaginable. The temporarily unimaginable systems also look wonderful before the analysis. The magic show looks wonderful but it can be analyzed and the wonder may disappear after analysis. Hence, wonder need not mean the permanently unimaginable item only.

The deeper layers of this universe are wonderful without analysis but may be realized in future. These layers are temporarily unimaginable and the word wonder is used in the case of these also. Therefore, Gita says that you will find the universe as wonderful (Mayamtu Prakrutim…..). The Universe is infinite with unimaginable beginning and unimaginable end. This means the cause from which the Universe started and the same cause in which the Universe ends on dissolution is the unimaginable God. Mud is the beginning stage of the pot and also the end stage since the pot ends in the mud on destruction.

The Universe exhibits the unimaginable God by its unimaginable limits of beginning and end. The space is generated from God and the dissolution of space can only show the real nature of its cause (God). When the chain is dissolved in fire, then only the gold lump, which is the cause of the chain, appears in its original form. But even if you imagine for millions of years, you can never imagine the dissolution of space and therefore you can never imagine the original nature of God.

God is beyond space and God is the permanently unknowable region even for the intelligence enriched with science and logic. Hence, God is a permanent wonder and the creation consists of some knowable regions of knowledge without any wonder and also some temporarily unimaginable regions with temporary wonder. Now the word Maya can be used for the wonder, which is both permanent (God) and which is temporary also (the deeper layers of the world up to the space).

How to overcome worry

Try to enjoy the worry
When worry is inevitable, enjoy it and be wise
Even continued happiness leads to mental worry
Thus happiness and worry must be alternative
If you are worried by the continued happiness
You are worried at the cost of the result of your good effort

Instead of this it is better to get worry at the cost of your sin
Let the sin give some trouble and then you worry out of it
In this way the result of the sin is spent and the not the result of good effort
The loss in your present worry may be compensated in the future
But the time lost in your past worry cannot be compensated
Because the life span of any human being is fixed

Your loss may be compensated by million times in the future
But even one second of your lost time can never be compensated
Therefore, understand this and think about the value of the time
This knowledge of the value of time is called as ‘Kala Janana’
Which means the knowledge of the future that you should know,

Which provides the possibility of the compensation of all the loss
Except the loss of time, therefore, time is the most precious.
You may waste anything that can be again procured in the future,
But never waste the time, which you can never compensate.

There are two ways to escape the mental worry in this world
The first way is by obtaining the peace, which is zero
The second way is by achieving the bliss, which is plus
Worry is minus, peace is zero and bliss is plus
To escape minus, either you should be in zero or in plus

Bliss can be obtained only from the Lord in this world
Since Veda says that the Lord alone is bliss “Anando Brahma”
Veda also says that the Lord alone can give you the bliss
“Esha Hyeva Anandayati” this is quite logical in fact
The water is alone cool and so it alone can give coolness
Whatever is said in the Vedas, it is always logical

How to enjoy worry

Never allow the worry to enter your heart in difficult times. When it knocks the door, shout at it to go away. Don’t open the doors of the mind. If you allow it, it is a thief which steals away your energy. It is like the dog that steals away your food. It is like the cat that steals away your milk. Food is your energy and milk is your courage. When you loose courage and energy tension is created, which is the source of all chronic diseases. Doctors say that the tension raises the level of lactic acid in the blood, which opens all the doors for all the chronic diseases. The physical health is spoiled because the mind and body are related to each other. The illness in the body affects the mind. The tension in the mind affects the body. Such tension results in the loss of memory and loss of intelligence.

In such state you are completely inefficient to plan for the solution. Your body is incapable of executing any plan. The worry cannot solve the problem and moreover it weakens you so that you will become permanently incapable to solve the problem.

Therefore neither should you run away from the life nor should allow the worry to enter your mind. If your realization about the unreality of the cinema, which is this life, continues, instead of worry, you can enjoy the problem in your life, which is as good as a tragic scene in the cinema. You may argue that you are involved in the life and not standing outside the life to be a spectator. This argument is not correct. The answer for your argument is that you can enjoy the tragic scene even if you are involved in it just like an actor acting in a drama.

If you are aware that the drama is unreal and if you are aware that you are only acting the role which is also unreal, you can still enjoy the drama as a spectator of the cinema even though you are involved in it.

Whenever you face difficulties and if you have not realized the unreality of the world (forms and feelings), there are two ways to solve your problem. One way is in natural level and the other way is in super natural level. The nature is the separated power from the Lord, which follows the rules of the logic and is called as Prakruti. The nature is separated because it becomes the separate object to be observed by God who is the spectator. God created this universe to see it for His entertainment. Even if He enters the world as human incarnation the spectatorship and entertainment continues because there is no difference between cinema and drama as far as its unreality is considered. Therefore if your problem is at the level of the nature, try to solve it using your courage and energy without allowing the worry into your mind which steals both these.

If your problem is beyond the level of the nature, then also you cannot solve it by allowing the worry. In such case the super power (Maya) has to enter into this world sent by God. The Maya is never separated from God unlike the Prakruti. Now, only the super power of the God can solve your problem and for this you must concentrate on God. For such concentration also, you need the energy and therefore you should not allow the worry to enter your mind even in this case. For doing concentration on God, you require the congenial atmosphere of real devotees around you. Therefore whenever the problem that requires the super power to interfere enters your life, you have to immediately prevent the entry of the worry into your mind and you have to enter into the association of real devotees so that you can concentrate on God for help.

If you remain in the association of the ordinary human beings, they will magnify the impossibility of the solution and force the worry to enter your mind. If you leave the association of these dirty people, who do not want to solve your problem and if you enter into the association of real devotees, you can easily concentrate on God for help. God will give an immediate stay because the problem cannot be cancelled forever due to the cycle of deeds presided by justice. However, the temporary stay has the possibility of permanent solution also. After the stay, there may be a chance for you to become a liberated soul by entering into the service of the God in which case your file may be condemned permanently.

If you are ungrateful to the help which involves the super power of God, your file will be opened after some time and the punishment can be given to you in some other form so that your impression about the cancelling of that problem by God is not disturbed. Therefore, at every step of your life, become grateful to God and transform yourself as a liberated soul through service to Him which alone can give the permanent solution.

You may be compensated regarding your loss in course of time. Thus you may recover the loss but the time you spent in worry can never be compensated.  Since your lifetime is a fixed quantum, the loss of time cannot be compensated. If you entertain yourself with enjoyment even during the time of loss, the time is not lost. When the loss is compensated you have gained both the time and the lost thing.

Spiritual Solution for Tensions and Anxiety

Realisation and repeated memorization of the true knowledge is the only one solution for this problem. The ignorance is responsible for all the anxiety and tensions. One should know that every one has climbed the time (Kala), which is the running train. Death is the station at which one has to get down. Then every one should face the Lord for the enquiry.

After the enquiry one will get either permanent happiness or permanent misery. The journey of this train to that station is the human life, which is only a fraction of second when it is compared to the infinite stream of time set up from the beginning of the creation. To think that the life is very long itself is ignorance. Every one is sitting in a closed compartment and realisation of the truth is the window through which every one should peep to find the infinite time stream. Only on such comparison the human life becomes a small fraction of a second. When the realization is absent and when there is no comparison the lifetime appears to be very long. First one should cross this illusion of time. Similarly, the illusion of the place. The earth looks very large under the ignorance.

But if one realises the infinite space of this universe the entire earth is a small fraction of a pinhead. Similarly one gets a comfortable seat and sits on it thinking that he is settled in the life. Another person is moving in the compartment in search of a comfortable seat and according to him he is not settled. But when both these people look out through the window, which is realisation of truth, then both realise that both are moving. Similarly one thinks that his co-passengers are his close relatives and is worried about them. But they get down at their respective stations and do not remember this fellow at all. Nobody remembers their relatives of his previous birth. If one realises that the so-called close relatives like parents, wife, children etc., are only the co-passengers who get down at their stations, he will not have any tension or anxiety about them. He does his duties without these two. Similarly when one thinks that he is his body itself, he feels that diseases damage him.

But if one realises that this body is only a dramatic dress needed for his role in the present drama, he is not worried about the damage of the body. He feels that as if his shirt is damaged. During the journey in the train one must constantly think about the interview and prepare for it. In such case he gets permanent happiness after the enquiry even though he is traveling in a comfortless third class compartment. If one forgets the interview and is attracted by the factors in the closed compartment, he is going to get permanent misery even if he travels by a first class compartment.

Thus, something is good according to the ignorant people and that is bad according to the realised scholars. This world is full of ignorant people and only very few realised scholars are present. Therefore the behaviour of a realised soul is criticized and mocked by the large public. But all the souls will realise the truth after the death when they face the enquiry. But it becomes too late by that time and nothing can be rectified. Thus, a realised scholar never cares for the public and proceeds in the true path decided by the true realisation. Only such true knowledge can remove the tensions and anxiety. The path of devotion can make you forget the pain temporarily for some time. It cannot remove the pain and anxiety on a permanent basis. No other methods like rituals, worships, etc., can solve this problem except the frequent memorization of the true knowledge. True knowledge is the comprehensive outlook of the whole situation i.e., realised by looking through the window of the train. Ignorance is the limited look inside the closed compartment, which is related to the comforts of seats and the bonds of co-passengers.

At the Lotus Feet of His Holiness Sri Dattaswami

Anil Antony

http://www.universal-spirituality.org
Universal Spirituality for World Peace