Consciousness

Consciousness is not mental alertness. Mental alertness will help you survive better. You know that you exist right now only because you are conscious. When you are asleep, then you don't know that you exist. You also don't know that the world exists simply because you are somewhat unconscious. Are you completely unconscious? No. You are not conscious enough to notice the presence of many things.

Consciousness is not a thing like if it is present or absent. The question is only the intensity and volume of it. Lets say, lights are focused on us. There are people hiding in darkness. Suppose, we dim the light further, all these people will disappear. If you increase the voltage, all will appear again. They were always here and all the time. This is what consciousness is.

To increase consciousness, what have we done in the society? Our entire education is about survival, one being better than the other. How can we be conscious when we are competitive? When we all want to do is better than others, our only joy is other peoples failure. How will you be conscious? I think it is sickness. From Kindergarten, you want your kids to be like this and want them to be fantastic. It won't work like that.

So, Do we need to change systems?

Oh! Definitely.

It is going to be change anyways in five to ten years. Not because everyone will be conscious, but because of Artificial Intelligence.

For a long time, even when I went to a school, some idiotic person who has read a book few years ahead of me, suddenly acting, he is superior. How can you be superior, if you had read a book few years ahead of me? All this will be demolished in 5-10 years. My phone will be able to do ten PhD's a day. Enough memory is there. All scholars, religious people vomiting their stuff, read else where. In Mumbai, When the first Gantry was installed, some 40 years ago, all the labor protested. I enquired about the vessels at that time (Size, to load and unload) and now. At that time, the biggest vessel was 39000 tons. Today most of the vessels are 100000 tons to 1/4th million tons. But, at that time, they were taking 26-28 days to unload the ship. Today, they unload 20 ships at the same time in 12-24 hours. We did this because, we moved from mans muscle to machine. Right now, all professors and scholars, are worrying about what will happen to their jobs?

All the best to our children of the future because they have to go through this torture. Simply trying to retains something in your memory and believe that memory is intelligence. Your memory is not intelligence. Your memory is a certain capability and Intelligence is certain capability.

Consciousness is pure intelligence unsullied by memory.

Now, if I look at you, I know this is Yelda. She is good, she is nice, this and that. So, much nonsense in our head and I don't see the way you are right now. If my intelligence is sullied by my memory, I cant experience you the way you are right now. If I don't see you the way you are right now, I can't see the flower the way it is and I cant see the sunrise the way it is. For everything, there is stupid meaning in our head. Actually, there is no meaning to the phenomenon of life, there is no meaning to sunrise, no meaning to flower etc., Each is fantastic that is all. Meaning exists only in the psychological frame work of human being. These meanings are because, we are constantly dipping into our memory.

When we see in India, people living in memory, we say "Ayyo!! Karma." Past memory is ruling them and they will never experience life. They recycle the same stuff. Memory need not to be shed but it is to be carried little lose. It should not be sticking to you all the time. Entire body is just a memory. There is evolutionary memory, Genetic memory, Karmic memory, Articulate and Inarticulate memory, Conscious and unconscious memory. In yoga, we identify there are 8 forms of memory. You may not remember, how 10 years ago, your great grand mother looks like. But, her nose is sitting n your face. Body remembers. It doesn't matter, where you go, what you do, this body retains every bit of memory. So, this existence, is memory. But, do you want to use this body and the bank of memory as a platform upon which you sit or do you want to carry on your head? This is the difference. Being conscious means you sit on the platform and being unconscious means you carry on your head (the burden of it).

This is the narration of Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev to Yelda Hakim.

Source: 

Sadhguru and Yelda Hakim Interview

Salient Aspects of Hinduism (Sanatana Dharma)

The word 'Hindu' or 'Hinduism' is more modern than ancient. The word 'Religion' is based on a Latin word 'religare' which means 'to bind'. The only issue here is that, in Hinduism, there is no such thing to bind with and there is no emphasis that every Hindu has to follow certain rules to be a Hindu.  For the sake of simplicity, we can bind it with beliefs. Hinduism is a logical thought that one has to understand, contemplate and experience the way of life. This power of understanding is with every human and to become a good 'Hindu', one has to understand the salient aspects of Hinduism. There needs to be clarity on these salient aspects for every person. With clarity, you will get the belief. With clarity and belief, there is faith. With clarity, belief and faith, you will be sure that what hinduism is talking about.


Essential Aspects:

1. Vedas are the source of knowledge.
2. Doctrine of Reincarnation.
3. One Reality, Many Paths.
4. Doctrine of Incarnation.
5. Doctrine of Mental Shades and Stages.

Vedas:

Vedas were not written by any one person but these are sruti's (that which is heard) or revelations to Rishis. These are the texts that were preserved since ages immemorial.

There are fourteen aspects of Indian Knowledge System.

Vedas - Rig, Yajur, Sama, Atharva
Vedangas - Siksha (Science of Pronounciation), Kalpa (Science of Action / Rituals, Vyakarana 
                 (Science of Grammer), Niruktha (Science of Etymology), Chandas (Poetry), Jyotisha          
                 (Astronomy and Astrology)
Puranas
Nyaya
Mimansa (Purva Mimansa and Uttara Mimamsa)
Dharma Sastra (Science of living)


Doctrine of Reincarnation:

Energy or Matter can neither be destroyed nor created but it can only be transformed from one form to another. Mind (Emotions, Thoughts, Intellect etc) is considered as a subtle matter unlike body, which dies. There are several other explanations why Mind is not a epiphenomenon created by Brain rather Mind uses Brain as an expression. Consciousness shines on the mind (thoughts etc.,) and thus giving us the awareness. After death, Mind survives and Body dies and is destroyed. Mind takes new form or embodiment. This is the reason of incarnation and more logical explanation of a belief.

One Reality, Many Paths:


Each of our mind is very different and we all have different interests. When we have freedom to think, we approach a problem or an issue differently. The goal is same but approach is different. There is no one way to realize the transcendental reality or truth or dharma. This is the reason why Hinduism has different gods and different ways of realizing the truth. Hinduism embraces all religions in this world except that it doesn't believe in 'this alone approach' rather it believes in 'it is another way'. There is a beautiful sanskrit verse - "Aakasa Tatpitam Toyam, Yadha Gacchati Sagaram" which means that rain water from the sky falls down into rivers and rivers lead into ocean, thus, different streams leading into one.

Doctrine of Incarnation:

God comes down (avatar) as a human anywhere in this world to take action when there is a massive imbalance in Dharma (The word 'Dharma' in Sanskrit has various meanings and it has to be understood based on the context). Mankind needs to follow 'Dharma' (here it is righteousness). If there is misinterpretation or misrepresentation of facts by taking scriptures in a out of context way, for their own selfish gains, there will be imbalance. I believe, this is what is happening now in this world. For example, if an issue arises anywhere ,say home or in the corporate world or in an organization or in the country, decision making is escalated to the leader. There will be a time, when god or truth has to take an avatar, when leaders themselves fail and chaos or imbalance exists in this world. This is incarnation. Incarnation happened many times in this world for various reasons. For Eg. Rama, Krishna, Jesus, Mohammed can all be considered as Avatars.


Doctrine of Mental Shades and Stages:

Varna in Sanskrit means Color and different stages of life is called 'Ashrama' in Sanskrit. Unfortunately, this color got misinterpreted and is misused in India and around the world. The feeling of superiority arose among some sections of the people who are predominantly white, pushing the ethics to a corner. In India, I experienced and still see this superiority complex based on color. It is a pity this still exists. Let us talk about the Varna aspect in Hinduism. Varna is our inner mental color and not external color. The shades of mind or color is of three types

Satva (Serenity) - Calmness, Intellect
Rajas (Dynamism) - Action, Brave
Tamas (Inertia) - Dullness, Laziness.

Every person in this world have different proportions of mental shades and no person in this world is misfit. Many people misinterpreted words in Gita "catur-varnyam maya srstam
guna-karma-vibhagasah" for selfish ends and it is sad that we still have this vertical caste system. Why people or administrators never took this wordings positively? Why the rulers have to malign it?  From our experience, we can see that in a family, not everyone has same intellect, same braveness and same dullness. This is what, Sri Krishna talks about varna. Varna is not by birth.

1. If Serenity is high, Dynamism is low, Inertia is low - Such people can be Thinkers, Teachers, Visionaries, Discoverers etc.,   (Bramhins)

2. If Dynamism is more, Serenity is less, Inertia is low - Such people can be Managers, Leaders, Administrators etc.,   (Kshetriyas)

3. If Dynamism is more, Inertia is greater than serenity - Such people excel in business. (Vaishyas)

4. If Inertia is highest, followed by dynamism and Serenity - Such People are capable of executing things when you guide them. (Shudras)

This classification based on Guna (qualities) and attributed work exists in every part of the world, ancient and modern. But, the caste system, killed it all. People were misled, divided and maligned by misinterpreting what Gita said.

In a family, we can have a Bramhin, Kshetriya, Vaishya and Shudra. No one should be left behind and we need all natures.

Different Stages of life is called Asrama.

BramhaCharya - Study (Student Life)

Gruhasta   - Serve and Work (Household and Community)

Vanaprastha - Semi Retired Life (Focus on deeper aspects of life)

Sanyasa   - Retired or Renounced Life (Focus on Ultimate Truth)

Hinduism says to do your duty as per the stage of your life. It is natural that some realize the later stages very early in their life.

Let us teach our children positivity from any scripture and try our best to correct this. Choose your work based on our mental shade. The clarity of what work best suites us comes naturally at a certain point in our life and until then do your present duty. 

(Source: Some quotes are from my notes on Swami Advayananda lectures)

PS: Highest authoritative sources of Hinduism might have meant differently when they say that Varna is by birth. Caste and Castism is not by birth and rather, it was created by the ego of man.  Varna (inner color) is by birth. We all should remember that in order to build a society, there needs to be team work from different shades. Everybody can't do everything and we need work from different sources of sociecty to have fulfilling life. What has happened is that money and wealth changed the hindu dharma system by various forces and the greed of person.  Focus should be on learning what to do now based on what Gita said and the need of the hour is to contemplate every moment in a positive way by interpreting the sacred texts positively.

Happiness - Modern and Ancient Perspective

The purpose of human lives is to be happy. What is the source of happiness? Can we get happiness externally from an object or thing? If we can get it externally, is it ever lasting? Is there something in this world, by getting which we will be happy forever?

The answer to the above questions sounds obvious from our life experiences or our daily experience. The answer is that happiness that we get from the external world is not ever lasting and is limited. For example, when we get our favorite food to satiate our hunger, we will be happy for sometime and it doesn't last long. Do we go back to the same favorite food again to get that happiness? May be!! But, there is a law in economics which explains about the diminishing nature (Law of diminishing marginal utility) of the things we like. So if you do the things you like, continuously, you will not get the same happiness that you got the very first time. After some time you want some change or you may want a different flavor when talking about food or a different destination talking about vacation.

This clearly make us believe that it is not just the pleasure that brings you happiness in life.

Modern Perspective: (From the lectures of Swami Sarvapriyananda)

According to Martin Seligman, Happiness is equal to a sum of pleasure, engagement and meaning. If you are lucky to land up in a job that you want to work even if they do not pay you, that job will provide you not only pleasure from the work you do but also, you will be engaged in that as you love to do it forever without seeking any return and thus providing a meaning to your life.  You can check Martin Selegmans experiments on positive psychology.


Ancient Perspective: (From the lectures of Swami Sarvapriyananda)

Vidyaranya, in his PanchaDasi writing, takes the reader in a metaphoric journey from unknown to known. He explains, We like things that makes us happy and We do not like things that doesn't make us happy. Whatever we like, we will try to get them and keep them. If we do not like, we will try to get rid off or avoid it. Every one of us wants to exist and do not want to die. So, in essence, you don't want to get rid of yourself and always wants to be there. As said earlier, whatever we like, we will retain them which means we like ourself and this also means that you are the source of your own happiness. This highest bliss is self within which is pure consciousness or witness consciousness. All things are loved for the happiness of self and the happiness of self is not loved by anything else. So, Self is not an object. Since self is not an object, it cannot bring happiness but it is happiness itself.

When we have a desire, until we get it, our mind will be restless with so many thoughts and once we get it, the desire subsides and happiness is uncovered or discovered or you feel happy. Happiness is within always.

We can also take another example. Swami SarvaPriyananda says, that which we love for the sake of another, that another is loved more. A mother loves her child and the child loves his/ her toy. Mother loves the toy for the sake of her Child. So, Mother loves the Child more than the toy and that will get her happiness. In essence, for the happiness of the self within, we love everything else.

Martin Seligman ( Martin E. P. "Marty" Seligman is an American psychologist, educator, and author of self-help books. Since the late 90's, Seligman has been an avid promoter within the scientific community for the field of positive psychology.)

Vidyarnaya (12th Jagadguru of the Śringeri Śarada Pītham from 1380-6 and he is the author of the Sarvadarśanasaṅgraha, a compendium of different philosophical schools of Hindu philosophyand Pañcadaśī, an important text for Advaita Vedanta)

Swami Sarvapriyananda (Swami Sarvapriyananda is a monk of the Ramakrishna Order. He is stationed at Belur Math in Howrah, West Bengal, India and teaches at the Monastic Probationers' Training Centre there. His main interests are in religion, spirituality and philosophy, both Indian and western)

Many Paths of seeking God - Sanatana Dharma / Hinduism

Sanatana Dharma or Eternal Law or Hinduism is a way of realizing Self or God. On the way, there are many paths for achieving this goal. From the lectures of Swami Sarvapriyananda, we can really get a clear understanding of what religions are and what hinduism is. All religions are based on faith and whole of science is based on observation (inferring based on results). Is Hinduism a Religion? Is there only faith or worship of a supreme importance being in Hinduism. The answer is, it is more than a religion, which offers many ways of realizing self or our true nature. The picture below shows how one can realize the Self or Atman or Brahman or God or Jesus or Allah or Krishna or Vishnu or any Supreme importance for any one. This eternal law is for the humanity as a whole. Whatever path you choose, there is space for selfless work, space for devotion or love, space for meditation and space for knowledge.


Gnana or Knowledge alone is sufficient for many, who can comprehend and realize the true nature of a being. Many greats gave commentaries or bhashyas based on the Upanishads (Vedanta) in Veda's / Sruti's (Revelations heard by many Rishis). There are commentaries based on these commentaries, for a common man to understand who they are. When one cannot comprehend, there are other paths in the Vedas, that can be used to achieve this goal.

Meditation or dhyana under the guidance of a competant teacher within the bounds of morality, can help stabilize our thoughts and with practice, our mind will be filled with thoughts that slowly move like clouds in the sky. But, if mind is not pure enough, meditation is difficult. Then comes, devotion/ love to God or selfless work (Nishkama Karma), that can make our minds calm as there is no stress involved. With devotion or love, we generally push all the problems and sufferings as God's problems and thus alleviate the stress. With Selfless work, there is no unnecessary stress as you will not wish anything in return and you will see god in everything (Shiva Gnana Jeeva Seva).

Veda's when understood or learned with Shraddha (Focus and Faith) within the bounds of dharma or morality, can help a person to realize the ultimate reality.

If you want to know about Sanatana Dharma, here is a good article.

http://www.sanskritimagazine.com/indian-religions/hinduism/hinduism-sanatana-dharma-bharat/

Sanatana Dharma

I will be writing a series of blogs on Vedanta based on lectures of  Swami SarvaPriyananda, a renowned monk of Sri Ramakrishna's order. Swami SarvaPriyananda is a great orator, who can connect well with the younger generation as well as older warriors. My goal, in all of these blogs is to understand the rich cultural heritage that India has to offer in the name of Vedanta.

Here is a brief introduction of Sanatana Dharma that will be followed with my opinions.

Lateef Terrell Warnick (Authors Biography at the end) writes in the internet about Santana Dharma as follows -

Sanatana Dharma also known as Sanatana Dharma is a sanskrit term meaning "eternal law," "eternal religion" or "the eternal unchanging occupation of the soul in its relation to the Supreme Being." Thus one who follows the principles of Sanatana Dharma is led back to a pure state of consciousness of a unified relationship with the Source. Many make the mistake of equating Hinduism and Sanatana Dharma as the same concept which isn't necessarily true.

First, one must understand that the term "Hindu" or "Hinduism" isn't even a Sanskrit name. It isn't found in any of the Vedic literature. The term "hindu" doesn't seem to appear until around 325 B.C. One account states that Alexander the Great upon invading the area now known as India first began calling the Sindhu River simply as the Indus deleting the "S" supposedly because it was easier for Greeks to pronounce. His Macedonian armies thereafter called the land east of the Indus as India which became the norm during the British regime.

Later as Muslim invaders came to the area they began calling it "Hindu" and the inhabitants of the area as Hindus. This is supposedly because the Sanskrit sound of "S" converts to "H" in the Parsee language. Eventually the Indians began to conform to these standards and used the names Hindu and Hindustan. Of course this led to greater confusion when the word was also used to identify the religion of the inhabitants which became "Hinduism." This became a tem of convenience for the British to identify the Muslims in the area from the Hindus in the area. It is said that this also served the double benefit of keeping the Muslims and Hindus at odds and therefore allowing for continued British control of the area through means of "divide and rule."

Thus those that state "Hinduism" is the oldest religion may be correct and yet it is somewhat of a misnomer as well. What they are actually attempting to convey is that the "spiritual practices" based upon the Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and Puranas are the oldest religious systems known. This may be the closest synonym to Santana Dharma but in fact the "eternal law" transcends even the Vedas for prior to even the Vedas being written down the laws of the relationship between soul and Spirit were ever present.

Sanatana Dharma represents this "Universal Truth" that all of creation even down to the atom is merely a conscious projection of the Creator and is ultimately destined to merge back consciously into the Supreme Spirit. It is said that in the beginning of creation the soul is an eternal aspect of Spirit. The best analogy may be that of the relationship between the sun and the sun-ray. As long as the sun shines, the sun-ray is an intrinsic part of it and possesses all the qualities of its source. The further the sun ray travels from its source the "less potent" it becomes. Because the Source is aware of this characteristic, It makes for a way for that sun ray to always return back to its True Essence - this is Sanatana Dharma! Therefore, Sanatana Dharma doesn't belong to any one religion. It is a universal path applied by all people, in any part of the world, in any time in history and in any religion.

Being an eternal spiritual truth, Sanatana Dharma is beyond all time and worldly designations. All religions may come and go but Sanatana Dharma or the principles of Sanatana Dharma shall forever remain. Thus every spiritual expression of Truth who has ever walked the face of the earth has taught the principles of Sanatana Dharma. They never came to start a religion or to preach a new truth. Jesus, Krishna, Buddha, Mohammed or any other saint understood the eternal nature of Spirit. It is only through their varied individual expressions of this One Truth that led to the many forms of religion such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.

Sanatana Dharma is not a man-made religion but rather how God brings all things into manifestation and how every soul, each a "prodigal son" can return and merge back into Source. It is said Sanatana Dharma isn't a revelation in and of itself but more so the "fruit" of revelation. It shows people how to achieve for themselves the Highest Truth which may often manifest Itself as Infinite Love, Peace, Light, Sound, Bliss and so forth. St. Paul described it as "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding." Yogis describe it as Samadhi - "spiritual ecstacy!" Buddha called it "Nirvana" - the perfect state of being free from all suffering. And St. Teresa of Avila described it as "the formless Christ."

It is only when individuals who have not experienced the state of Oneness that people become at odds over semantics. If we were to try and describe fire we would get all sorts of answers. Some might say its red, orange or yellow... unless of course it's white hot like a burning star. If you get too close you may say it's hot unless of course it is cold outside then you may say its warm. If you get burned by it then you may say it is painful but if it helps you to see your way then you will say it is benevolent. Fire is still fire it just depends upon your experience of it and your own mental perceptions. Either way words are always limiting in attempting to define an "experience" or "state of being."

Sanatana Dharma emphasizes the need for inner, direct communion. The Vedas refer to this state as Kavailya meaning complete soul-liberation and eternal union with God. Jesus described it as "the kingdom of God within you!" Thus, Sanantana Dharma itself is the same everywhere within the created universe. It concerns the path which all manifested beings must take who desire eventual reunion with their Divine Source. In truth, there is nothing but Spirit in actuality. Everything in creation is a mere transitory appearance of the Changeless Spirit.

Sri Ramahkrishna described Sanatana Dharma using the imagery of sweetness to explain the Eternal Truth. He says honey, sugar, chocolate, sweetmeats and candies may all vary in form but they contain the same essence in nature - sweetness! Similarly, all religions, religious practices, rituals, prayers, yoga and spirituality all capture some element of Sanatana Dharma to greater or lesser degrees... this is the Eternal Truth! Only the person who transcends all relativities and dualities and comparisons will discover the indescribable state of Absoluteness.

Author's Bio: 

Lateef Terrell Warnick is former U.S. Naval Officer, Licensed Financial Advisor and lifelong metaphysician, yogi and expert in comparative religious studies. He has authored "Journey of the Soul: Day One" the first book in a seven-part series giving us a complete spiritual science to reaching your greatest potential.
He is also founder of 1 S.O.U.L. | Spiritual Nexus for Holistic Living which is a social network and non-profit organization among many other activities. 1 S.O.U.L. is an acronym for "One Source Of Universal Love" and provides teachings founded in love, personal growth and enlightenment. One of its many goals is to assist in nurturing the complete person in body, mind and spirit.

My Opinions:

There is complete misunderstanding of the word 'Hinduism' as Religion and Hindu as a word. People always somehow think in communal angles when any one speak about Hinduism or as a matter of fact any religion. First of all, all Religions are based on faith and promises realization of God in this life or next life. There is nothing wrong with this. Hinduism is more than that and it is more than a religion. It is a metaphysics and has the final conclusion of who we are. For an atheist, as well, Vedanta offers a solution to dwell upon 'Who am I' and 'Why do I Exist'. The need of the hour for the humanity is to work for oneness. We need a competent authority to understand the inner meaning of any scriptures in a positive way. Like the great sanskrit verse -

Teacher-Student Prayer

OM saha navavatu

saha nau bhunaktu

saha viryam karavavahai

tejasvi navadhitamastu

ma vidvishavahai

OM shantih shantih shantih

English Meaning:

May we be protected together.

May we be nourished together.

May we create strength among one another.

May our study be filled with brilliance and light.

May there be no enmity between us.

OM Peace, Peace, Peace

Let us start this adventure together!!