Swami teaches....Part 93

Links to Swami Teaches - Part 92

Light and Love

Swami teaches... 11 - 15 Jan 2007

Part 1. The Awareness of Self; Qualties Related to It

Self-realisation is the merging of the individual Self (Jiva) with Brahman (Supreme Self). In Yoga, Self-realization (Atma Jnana) is knowledge of one's true Self. Cutting across the boundary of physical manifestations and reaching the cosmic end goal of life is what Self-realization truly means.

The Webster’s Dictionary defines Self realizationism as: "The ethical theory that the highest good for human consists in realizing or fulfilling him/herself usually on the assumption that he/she has certain inborn abilities constituting his/her real or ideal self."

Further, Webster’s defines Self-realization as "The fulfillment by oneself of the possibilities of one’s character or personality."

Philosophers refer to the Self as pure Consciousness, (also call as pure Awareness, pure Being, Atma, Brahman, God, etc.). They have mentioned the actions of Self-realization for centuries. (Ramana Maharishi,Indian sage 1879 -1950, who taught the path of self-inquiry; Bhagwadpada Acharya Sankara i.e. Adi Shankara, approximately 788-820 CE, Adwaitha philosopher; Sri Aurobindo,1852 - 1950; Swami Vivekananda,1863-1902; Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948, etc.).

If the Self is pure Awareness, then, we have to do to realize the Self is to quiet the mind, thinking. Where there is no thinking, there is no ego. Where there is no ego, there is the Self. People do not really cease to exist when they cease to think. This condition of being aware of one’s Self reveals one’s own eternal Being. Since God is pure Awareness i.e. Cosmic Consciousness and our Self is too pure Awareness, the two really compare as the water drop compares to the ocean. The Self has the same qualities as God and is in no way different.

Since the Self is at the center of our Being, Self-awareness is actually more correct than Self-realization because realization implies a first Self that could realize another, second Self. However, there is only one Self and to realize the Self means to BE that Self. Our ego can realize the Self. The Self can be the Self, Atma as witness, always the same, timeless, spaceless, eternal,stable.

Spiritual enlightenment lies in distinguishing the Real (the Self) from the unreal (the ego) and that is accomplished entirely by moving the attention away from the unreal and keeps it focused on the Real, the experience of 'I am'.

For 26 years, Buddha sought the realization of the Self by studying scriptures, meeting sages and saints and listening to their teachings. He found that by these means he could not experience reality. He realized that the knowledge of the Self has to be gained through an inward search. Through his enlightenment, he discovered the importance of Dharma and wanted to make it the basis of society.

Other Avatars like Mahavira, Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohammed gained Self-realization in their lifetime. They cleared all the hurdles and reached the pinnacle of their cosmic life. The life for them had come full circle. Beyond Self-realization, there is nothing left to be achieved in the whole of Cosmos.

The seeker of spirituality who desires reaching the stage of Self-realization in the present life has to burn the bonds of karma forever. Before individual reaches the stage of Self-realization he/she needs to gain absolute control over the senses and the mind.

The cosmic life begins with the form of single alive cell formation. As the journey proceeds ahead it further evolutes into insect life, then plant life, animal life and finally the form of a human being. In general, life is a journey of nearly ten million or even more manifestations.

The intermittent stages of heaven (Swarga) and hell (Naraka) never lead to Self-realization. Different animated bodies developed over the yugas through involution (emanating from higher planes to lower planes) and evolution (returning from lower planes to higher planes), including by karma and reincarnation in various states of consciousness.

Only human beings can reach the stage of Self-realization. However, in the present life if a human being indulges in fulfilling wanton desires, which shall never lead to Self-realization.

(The Karma facilitates reincarnation from one life to another. All depended upon the residual balance of karma brought forward from the previous lives. By immersing oneself in the Love of God, one's Karmas - good or bad, regardless - slough off, one's illusions about beings decay and 'truth' is soon known and lived).

Here is essential to understand the relationship between our real Self (the Soul, i.e. Atma, i.e. Atman) and the body taken by it. Unless this relationship is clear to people, as a rule, shall never be able to understand the true meaning of Self-realization. (The claim by many that they have realized Self is arbitrary as in the last 150 years two persons have reached the level of Self realization).

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (1836 - 1886, celebrated mystic; mastered all types of Yoga) and Maharishi Ramana (Indian sage, 1879 ¬-1950, who taught the path of self-inquiry) reached the stage of Self-realization before they left their mortal frame.

The path towards Self-realization during the lifetime is simple to follow for the devoted. There is no need to be a King or an Emperor, a Mahatma or a Priest, a Saint or an Ascetic. Nor are you required to leave your parents or your home to meditate in the jungles (forests). God has destined this privilege to all who have abiding Faith in Him, to achieve the Cosmic goal even while living in the family. Never forsake your Faith. It is the ladder to spiritual success.

Many people think that Self-realization is limited to the spiritual pursuits of life alone. However, bookish knowledge does not indicate that ones have realized something. Reaching the stage of Self-realization just cannot be expressed in words. Self-realization has to be experienced.

The essential ingredients in the field of spirituality for reaching the stage of Self-realization are many. Some examples.

By ancient spiritual texts the essential ingredient to reach the stage of Self-realization are practicing celibacy for many years. It is only then the awakening of the Kundalini can occur.

Yoga meditation is required to be practiced in the Savasana pose for longer periods. This gives control over breathing as it is traveling the waves of breath that one can reach the inner domains of Atma within.

The process of neti (not this, not this) as practiced and advocated by Maharishi Ramana. Neti is the process, which makes us understand that everything in the cosmos is built up of the Great Oneness.

Explicit Faith in the Lord is the only requirement what the pinpointer to enlightenment is. God has shown Grace to all who have abiding Faith in Him, to achieve the Cosmic goal.

On the path of Self-realization, one has to be truthful in all circumstances of life. Maintaining truthfulness is the most difficult task in the Kali Yuga.

Self Realization is the culmination of all things spiritual.

Swami often gives to devotees Vibhuti or Bhasma (the sacred ash). Many people smear their foreheads with this ash. What is the inner significance of this ash? When any object that has a name and form is completely burnt, it is reduced to ashes. The name and form are gone. All things are the same in the final state as ashes. When Vibhuti is given, Swami wants the recipient to understand this basic oneness. The devotee should get rid of ego arising from the feeling of separateness and sense of "mine" and "thine". These two are based on name and form and when they are destroyed, the underlying unity of the Divine can be realized.

Close related to Self-realization is Moksha. The evolutionary step of Self-realization referred to in all of the great religions and found in the teachings of Lord Krishna, analyzed and explained in many Swami's Discourses in a most easily understandable way.

To be able to cross over the Samsara (physical manifested life) there is the need to understand the essence of Bhagavad Gita. The doctrine of Bhagavad Gita was put forward by Lord Krishna to King Arjuna in the battlefield of Kurukshetra in the battle of Mahabharata. (There were many serials "Swami teaches... “ articles on this topic).

Moksha is the stage when an enlightened individual, who has realized the Self, decides to leave the body, to become free from the cycle of Birth and Death. (To reach to the state of Moksha is possible during the lifetime). Atma within finds finally place in the abode of the Creator of the Cosmos (the place from where it started its journey) and the individual become one with the Creator.

How noble and full of bliss is the path towards Moksha (Salvation).

Moksha (liberation) or Mukti (release) refers to liberation from the cycle of Death and Rebirth and all the suffering and limitation entailed in embodied worldly existence. By Swami and Hindu philosophy, it is seen as a transcendence of phenomenal being, of any sense of consciousness of time, space, and causation (karma). Liberation is achieved by (and accompanied with) the complete stilling of all passions - a state of being in Buddhism known as Nirvana.

Moksha is seen as a final release from one's worldly conception of self, the loosening of the shackle of experiential duality and a re-establishment in one's own fundamental nature, though the nature is seen as ineffable and beyond sensation. However, the actual state of salvation is seen differently depending on one's beliefs.

In Adwaitha philosophy, the ultimate Truth is not a singular Godhead but rather it is the Great Oneness (instead of it I often use the term "Swami's Cosmic Form") without material form or being, Paramatma. Moksha is union with this Great Oneness. The concepts of Moksha and Buddhist Nirvana are comparable. (Moksha is symbolized by Shiva raising his right leg, as if freeing himself from the gravitation of the material world).

In Dualist and Qualified Adwaithic Hinduism, Moksha means union or close association with God.

There are four Yogas (disciplines) or margas (paths) for the attainment of Moksha. They are the ways of selfless work (Karma Yoga), of self-dissolving Love (Bhakti Yoga), of absolute discernment (Jnana Yoga), and of 'royal' meditative immersion (Raja Yoga).

Adwaitha Vedanta what is the source of Adwaitha philosophy has focused on intense meditation and moral realignment, its bedrock being the Upanishads, Brahma Sutras and the teachings of Adi Shankara. Through discernment of the real and the unreal, as a peeling of the layers of an onion, the sadhaka would unravel the Maya (Illusion) of Being and the Cosmos to find nothing within, a Nothingness which was paradoxically Being, and transcendentally beyond both such inadequate descriptions. This was Moksha, this was Atman and Brahman realized as the substance and void of existential duality.

Adwaithins believe in the theory of reincarnation of souls (Atma) into plants, animals, and humans according to their karma. They believe that suffering is due to Maya Reality, and only knowledge (Jnana) of Brahman can destroy Maya. When Maya is removed, there exists ultimately no difference between the Jivi-Atman and the Brahman. One can worship God in any way and in any form.

Adi Shankara was a proponent of devotional worship or Bhakti Yoga. He believes that while Vedic sacrifices, puja and devotional worship can lead one in the direction of Jnana, true knowledge, they cannot lead one directly to Moksha. Adi Shankara believes in the Creation of the world through principle Satkaryavada. (By this the phenomenal nature, with its distinctions of things and persons, is regarded as an evolution out of a primitive state of matter. This conception is based on a theory of causality, according to which an effect is implicitly pre-existent in its cause prior to its production. This latter doctrine is established on the ground that if the effect were not already existent in its cause, then something would have to come out of nothing. There is the original primary matrix out of which all differentiations arose and within which they all were contained in an undistinguished manner). It is like the philosophy of Samkhya, which says that the cause is always hidden into its effect, and the effect is just a transformation of the cause.

By Vedas, the Universe is believed to be the creation of the Supreme Lord Ishwara. Maya is the Divine magic of Iswara, with the help of which Iswara creates the world.

The serial of Creation (principles Satkaryavada) by Upanishads declare that first of all, the five subtle elements (ether, air, fire, water and earth) are created from Iswara. Ether is created by Maya. From ether, air is born. From air, water is born. From water, earth is born. From a proportional combination of all five subtle elements, the five gross elements are created, like the gross sky, the gross fire, etc. From these gross elements, the Universe and life are created.

(According to Satkaryavada, the cause is hidden inside the effect. How can Iswara, whose form is spiritual, be the effect of this material world? Adi Shankara says that just as from a conscious living human, inanimate objects like hair and nails are formed, similarly, the inanimate world is formed from the spiritual Iswara).

Adi Shankara taught that it was only through direct knowledge of non-duality that one could be enlightened.

Although Adwaitha also proposes the theory of Maya, explaining the Universe as a "trick of a magician", Adi Shankara and his followers see this as a consequence of their basic premise that Brahman is real. Their idea of Maya emerges from their belief in the reality of Brahman.

/The Vishistadwaitha and Dwaitha schools believe in an ultimately saguna (with qualities, with form, materialized) Brahman. They believe that his nirguna (without qualities, attributeless) Brahman is not different from the Buddhist Sunyata (wholeness or zeroness)/.

The modern science seems to come close and intersects with the Vedic insights.

(By the way, famous quantum and atomic physicists Erwin Schrödinger and Robert Oppenheimer were Vedantists).

There is the direct relationship between quantum mechanics discoveries, mass, frequency, energy that 20th century physics has established and the Adwaithic 'Unity of the Universe' as the Great Oneness.

These relationships, formalized as equations by Planck and Einstein, suggest too that the whole Universe blend into a One that exhibits itself as many (namely, mass, energy, wave etc). By Adwaithins' view that everything is but the manifestation of an omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent "the Great One".

The De Broglie waves of modern physics can indirectly interpret close to OM. However, the de Broglie waves (or matter waves) are neither optical nor acoustic waves, but are by De Broglie just functions of a probability distribution of finding a particle, which may be represented as a Fourier sum of constituent probability waves. The primordial sound OM is too as some universal potency from the aspect of the Maya Reality.

Fritjof Capra's book, "The Tao of Physics," is one among several that pursue this viewpoint as it investigates the relationship between modern, particularly quantum physics and the core philosophies of various Eastern religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism.

The Creator alone has planted in a human’s mind what is called “free will”. It is God's, Creator's free will, because Atma is the real Self in every person. If a person believes that God alone does everything and God alone is the doer, then he/she will never take a false step as the Cosmic Reason always dictates the action.

A world-known Western physicist Bohm (1917 - 1992) and a world-known Indian spiritual master. J. Krishnamurti (1895 -1986) carried on a dialogue over several years that entailed deep explorations of the ultimate meaning and nature of thought, insight, existence, death, truth, reality, intelligence, etc.

Truth and Reality are not the same. Illusion is a part of Reality, but not a part of Truth. Truth is beyond reality; it comprehends Reality, but not vice versa. Reality is Everything. Truth is Nothingness. We need Truth, but our minds are occupied with Reality. The seed of Truth is a mystery what is beyond Reality.

When Krishnamurti asked Bohm what is the point of the mystery, Bohm gave the following succinct reply:

"Of the mystery? I think you could see it like this: that if you look into the field of thought and reason and so on, you finally see it has no clear foundation. Therefore, you see that "what is" must be beyond that. 'What is' is the mystery." (Krishnamurti and Bohm. 1987, p. 46).

The hologram analogy gives only a limited view of the implicate order because it is a metaphor derived from a classical treatment of the transformations within a light wave. To delve more deeply into the implicate order; Bohm developed a causal interpretation of the quantum field theory.

The "objective reality" by human's mind is largely a construct of thought, and not recognizing this leads us to endless circles of self-deception - in science as well as in life in general.

When David Bohm's widely known book "Wholeness and the Implicate Order" was published in 1980, the "holographic model" quickly became an active topic of discussion.

Bohm's holographic metaphor has found fruitful application in brain physiology and human consciousness. Neurosurgeon Karl Pribram developed a model of the brain based on holographic principles (1971); Pribram was trying to understand various features of the brain, especially the observed result that the function of memory storage is not localized in the brain. Another striking application of the holographic model is in the spectrum of human consciousness. More than thirty years of clinical research and observation have led psychiatrist Stanislav Grof to the viewpoint that "each of us is everything." meaning that every human being has potential access to all forms of consciousness.

This does not prove anything, but it does show that modern physics can be rigorously consistent with the existence of higher realms of Truth, Order, Existence, and Eternity. (Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Baba. The Divine Discourse. "The Essence of Buddha's Teachings." 11 May 1998, Brindavan; Sathya Sai Baba. The Divine Discourse. "Purity of the Heart is True Sadhana." 9th October 2005, Prashanti Nilayam; Sathya Sai Baba. Essence of Vedic Knowledge.1. Upanishad Vahini; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 20. "God and you are One," Chapter 15).

References:

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2005; Indian philosophy

David Bohm. Wholeness and the implicate order. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1980.

http://www.godrealized.com/selfrealization.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-realization

PS: In this article, the main spiritual designations begin with capital letter.

Namaste - Reet


Light and Love

Swami teaches... 16 - 21 Jan 2007

Part 2. The Awareness of Self; Qualities Related to It

The modern quantum physics can be rigorously consistent with the existence of higher realms. With these thoughts the previous part has finished.

Whatever knowledge an individual acquires, however much develops own powers of understanding, his/her knowledge is confined to things of this world and does not go beyond it. The individual can know about the objects in creation, but cannot understand the Supreme Principle that is at the base of all Creation.

By Vedas and Swami's Works science cannot explain the world totally. People cannot 'fly' beyond the Universe. Human consciousness reflects the world from an own limited point of view by senses, by various body-mind (brain) activity. From certain balance between them depends on human's behavior, human's truths and untruths; human's level of intellect, state of consciousness with the unconscious.

Human's behavior also depends on social rules: rules of which class he/she belongs and legislations of governments. On this level, all is right what is in accordance with laws. However, the laws are relative and mostly reflect the human rights and obligations what is benefit for concrete type of society or class, not for human society as Atmic Unity, the One Unity.

It is spirituality what can promote ethical values, the spirit of tolerance and equal-mindedness. The science of spirit is essential for developing human values.

The holy duty of human is to ever aware of the Atma that is installed in every living being. This is the basis of brotherhood of human and the fatherhood of God.

Three 'C' - cosmology, commitment, and compassion - are vital for development. Cosmology understands the Universe and human's life in the context of the vastness of the Universe where Balance, Harmony, Beauty, and Order are powers. (The Universe exists in general in the conditions of balance).

The basic law of Nature declares that energy cannot be created or destroyed - but it can be transformed. The Sun in the process of stellar fusion transforms energy hydrogen and helium atoms into an electromagnetic energy, including light. Similarly, the spiritual fusion can take place inside human's consciousness. The spiritual power has the capacity to transform negativities tendencies into higher forms of vibrations.

Seeing the life in the infinite Divine context of space and time will deepen one's perception of life.

Physics of elementary particles and quantum fields try to explain the world by the fundamental physical forces. At the same time the worldly known physicist, the author of the Principle Uncertainty Werner Heisenberg (1901 – 1976) has noted that, ”By getting to smaller and smaller units, we do not come to fundamental units, or indivisible units, but we do come to a point where division has no meaning."

In general, from the quotation may be to conclude that without spiritual truths the whole quantum science has no meaning.

The whole cosmos reflects in human's mind. Therefore the role of neuroscience to understand the nature of consciousness and consequently all other phenomena which are related to it is great. This task is hard to solve without entwining neuroscience with spirituality; today some steps towards it have made.

Researchers are trying to find the hidden purposes and causes of human mental life. Here the neuroscience will meet the deep ethical problems.

Computing systems are able to scan activities of axon (so called "molecule of nerve"), neuronal cell body, to create a computer-based "copy" of brain as some machine. It is scientific reality.

Ray Kurzweil, the technologist-turned-futurist has championed the marriage of the biologic and the cybernetic. By Kurzweil human being is a "spiritual machine."

Changing the brain, with or without gene alteration, speaks to what it means to be human. Drugs or magnetic fields that modulate cognition may bend the very definition of who we are.

We are not a body, but this body is a carrier of Atma. From that concluded that everyone has a sense of Atmic responsibility to create harmony, balance, and order between conscience, intellect, mind, senses, and body.

What kind of privacy safeguards has needed if a machine can read your thoughts? Will cognition enhancers exacerbate differences between rich and poor? Alternatively, instead, will they relegate social diversity to the status of historical artifact? What happens if we deduce through neuroimaging the physiological basis for morality? What happens to free will what is the Divine Will in essence? These questions arise before modern neuroscience.

The technologies of mind and brain are special. They differ from genomic and other biomedical fields in one telling respect: most scientists and ethicists alike acknowledge that the essence of what we are is not all in our genes, that it is not all in our heads.

It is one spark towards spirituality as some neuroscientists have come to conclusion that the essence of what we are is not only in our genes. Vedas, ancient scriptures (modernized, generalized, analyzed by Swami) thousands years ago declared the same.

The technological milestone of the past decade was the emergence of magnetic resonance imaging for taking detailed pictures of brains enmeshed in tasks ranging from doing arithmetic to listening to music.
Neuroscience, the attempt to deduce how the brain works, has succeeded in unraveling critical chemical and electrical pathways involved in memory, movement and emotion (behavior).

By the way, the modern neuroscience has discovered that in old age areas of the brain, when they are 'busy' can renew themselves. Beyond producing new nerve cells, the brain also rewires itself in response to experience. A deep understanding of so-called neural plasticity may reveal how far we can go with physical therapy, not only to repair the brain but also the spinal cord.

The prospect of enhancing normal brain function is real. In addition, with it will come a host of ethical issues concerning who has access to what? Will a "smart divide" separate elite who can afford to self-administer a memory pills or different modern medicines from the rest of society that copes with rote learning by burning the midnight candles?

Real equality among people has to be achieved not by the equal distribution of material things but by the cultivation of love, which promotes a sense of the Divinity that is inherent in all beings. The equal distribution of wealth through socialism is declared as the ideal, but is it possible to bring about such equality? Even if material wealth is distributed equally, can you ensure equality in desires and aspirations? By taking away a part of a rich person's property and giving it to a poor one, you may give satisfaction to the latter, but what about the dissatisfaction caused to the person who has deprived? You must look beyond material things to the Supreme Being who is the provider of all things.

Swami underlines that today is considerable progress in various fields - scientific, economic, political and so on, but all human's actions are motivated by selfishness. Human has become a plaything in the hands of own selfishness. There is no unity among people. Unity can come through thyaga (sacrifice), not through the pursuit of desires and comforts. You must cultivate chatty, which does not mean giving some money to a person in need or to an organization. A person may call him/herself a great devotee, or sadhaka or scientist, but without a spirit of sacrifice, there is nothing great in person.

The recent experiments has showed there is altruism and selflessness deep in human's mind is hidden.

People have the marvelous capacity to think about and imagine what is true and good. People can easily imagine and feel the emotional content of the quality of kindness, the qualities of bravery, compassion, justice, love, etc.

For many years, psychologists and neuroscientists have discussed over the tendency of humans to engage in altruistic acts for benefit the organism, incur no direct personal benefit, and sometimes bear a personal cost. Experts note that altruism does not seem to provide individuals with any survival edge.

The recent study of human's brain declares that some areas of brain linked to perceiving others' intentions show more activity in unselfish versus selfish types. (The neural mechanisms of altruism remain unknown for neuroscience, empathy and its component abilities, such as the perception of the actions and intentions of others, by the team researchers have proposed).

By Scott Huettel (an associate professor of psychology at Duke University Medical Center, in Durham, N.C.) selflessness (altruism) did not grow out of a feeling of doing good for others, but out of the recognition that there is another person that has too the similar intentions and goals.

Huettel's team had a group of healthy young adults engage either in a computer game or watch as the computer played the game itself. In some sessions, the computer and participants played for personal gain, while in other sessions, they played for charity.

The researchers used high-tech functional MRI (fMRI) to observe "hot spots" of activity in the participants' brains. Participants were also asked to complete a questionnaire aimed at assessing their personal levels of altruism.

The team observed the whole brain region, called the posterior superior temporal cortex (pSTC), kicked into high gear as altruism levels rose. The pSTC is located near the back of the brain and is not focused on reward. Instead, it focuses on perceiving others' intentions and actions. (It was less clear why pSTC activity gets ramped up in the brains of altruistic people).

The researchers found that pSTC activity was highest when study participants were observing the computer play the game on its own, not when they were playing themselves.

The researchers concluded that altruism may rely on a basic understanding that others have motivations and actions that may be similar to our own. (People who had damage to that brain area were much less altruistic).

In spite of the study has many unsolved questions, it shows that selflessness is hidden in human's mind as a fingerprint, pattern of human's true Self, Atma what is equally illuminates all brains.

In addition, from aspect of recent scientific experiments we will come close to the same statement that the ultimate goal on the spiritual path is Self-realization, often called also Enlightenment. Self-realization is a state attained by an individual, in which one knows that Atma within is the true and alone Reality. Self-realization is a strongly individual endeavor. Information from outside is on the role of receiving knowledge, motivation, awaking interest, creating the skill, obtaining experiences, etc.

There, it seems, a puzzle is. When a person claims to teach Self-realization, then it is natural to suppose that person him/herself is a Self-realized one.

However, a sincerely Self-realized i.e. Enlightened person have obtained the feeling of equanimity, oneness of the all Creation. When all is the Great One what is developing in infinite diverse forms by the flute of the Divine Will, at first sight is there a need at all to write books, have discussions, send mails, etc. about this topic?

Even if it has done with the whole heart and with the best wishes, there is always the Ego involved in it. However, Self-realization and Ego are mutually exclusive.

Is the mundane activity (to share, to teach, to discuss, to explain and so on) the inner, spiritual contentment what has programmed to human’s mind, a prerequisite for Self-realization?

It is as an aspect of Self-realization. Here the Self-realized person as live in this world and still not has tainted by Ego. For example, mother Theresa lived normal life but reached to the heights of Self-realization. Avatars in their body forms have a sincere desire to help humans understand their True Self. This desire was as their Duty before the humanity. For instance, Swami lives among humans the life comparable with all others and Swami does not tire to teach the humanity, but at the same time, He is the Self-realized Avatar.

The Self-realization seems to have different aspects.

1. Self- realized one has fused into the Great Oneness. He/she illuminates around the Divine Light of Awareness silently, without any word, mundane action. This silent is holy.

2. The other is Avatars aspect. Being Self-realized during their lifetimes, they continue to do their Divine duty - to teach the humanity. Near to this have reached the great human Souls, Mahatmas, Sages, from past to present days who had realized the Self also during their lifetime and teach through their experiences the humans. They are Messengers of Avatars.

3. Many noble human beings are jet on the path of the Self-realization. They are the seekers of the Truth. They are continuing to write the books and held on different discussions with the aim to share with others their insights, to receive from others rewards, feedbacks, as positive, so negative. All this circle of sharing serves to the seeker as pinpointer to find own path for realization of the Self.

For the seekers of Truth the role of good company and good conduct are significant. (Morality is the basis of right conduct. Whether it is the state, the society or the individual, the basis for all of them is morality). Sharing the thoughts and insights with such company is as symbol of unity in diversity. Swami many times underlines this. This unconscious feeling of eternal unity, Atma has programmed in human's mind.

The sage Narada, who was proficient in 64 branches of knowledge, suffered from lack of peace, so he went to Sanat Kumara. He appealed to him: "Swami! Dispel my ignorance and teach me the way to attain peace". Sanat Kumara said, "Narada! There is no field of knowledge in which you are not proficient. You know all the methods prescribed by the Vedas, the Upanishads and other Sastras. However, all this knowledge has not conferred any happiness on you. All this knowledge is concerned with the phenomenal world, which is transient in its character. You cannot secure peace till you gain knowledge of the Eternal."

Scientific and whatsoever humans' achievements are dependent on the body and mind. Even the Divine can be realized through the body. But the body is only an instrument for realizing God. Moreover, the Supreme Atmic Principle is immanent in it.

"The Lord, give me the courage to change the things which can and ought to be changed, the serenity to accept the things which cannot be changed and the wisdom to know the difference," is often said in West.

(Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Baba. The Divine Guru Poornima Discourse. "Quest for Truth" 9 July 1998, Prasanthi Nilayam; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 13. "The Sai Religion," Chapter 23; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 18. "Equality through Love," Chapter 28; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 22. "Religions and morals," Chapter 24; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 20. "Spiritual basis for value education," Chapter 20).

References:

Dharol Tankersley, C Jill Stowe and Scott A Huettel Scott Huettel. "Altruism is associated with an increased neural response to agency." Jan. 21, 2007 online issue of Nature Neuroscience.

http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nn1833.html or when you have no password the brief summary available:

http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nn1833.html

PS: In this article, the main spiritual designations begin with capital letter.


Namaste - Reet


Light and Love

Swami teaches... 22 - 26 Jan 2007

Part 3. The Awareness of Self; Qualities Related to It

In the real life, we experience that in spite of the seeds of altruism within; there is also something, which keeps us from remembering kindness in the moments when we are angry. There is something inside of us, which keeps us from knowing forgiveness when we harbor resentment toward someone. In addition, the same human's mind causes pollution, whether physical or emotional.

Human's greed is the greatest pollutant. Greed stops human from sharing with others. Greed also obstructs the preservation of ecology. This greed not only pollutes the gross, physical environment but also contaminates the subtle atmosphere; it stimulates negative emotions in the subtle mind. These negative emotions influence the minds of all the people around; if one person is angry and agitated, the anger and agitation does not stay limited to that one person but rubs off onto all those whom person comes in contact with. Negative feelings of hatred, anger, jealousy are the root cause of all disasters and misery in the world, whether they are economical, political, or social. Most of the wars are triggered off by such feelings; and war is always accompanied by waste and natural disasters, which take ages to balance out.

Many negative feelings in life come focusing on things outside of our direct influence. So long as we continue to focus on these things, we are bound to feel frustrated. There is only one thing over which we have total control and that is ourselves - the attitude to the situation and what we do about it.

Control the mind's actions and emotions, Swami ceaselessly has repeated.

If compassion and care are kindled within the Self, they reflect in the surrounding people and environment; a sense of sacredness follows. People should be encouraged to treat the planet as sacred, to treat trees and rivers as sacred, to treat people as sacred, and to see God in nature and in people. This will foster sensitivity; and a sensitive person cannot but care for nature. Insensitivity makes a person act callously towards Nature and other human beings.

What has happened with the climate of the Earth in recent years? Every one can experience and observe this phenomenon.

(For example, here are several hot topics of global ecological disasters in nature caused by human's unbalanced actions and spiritual darkness.
A chilled and unbalanced by climate planet

Allergies get worse
Animals change behavior
Animal DNA changing
Deserts to grow
Glaciers ?disappear?
Greenhouse gas hits record high
Greenland melts
Ground collapses
Human's DNA probably changing
Hurricanes and tsunamis get stronger
Ice-free Arctic summers
Lakes disappear
Less drinking water
Less sunlight will reach to the Earth
More earthquakes
Seas rise
More wildfires
More rain but less water
Mountains grow
Overwhelmed storm drains
Rivers melt sooner in spring
Unbalanced plant production?. and so on, there are many other problems will arise. How can human survive in such conditions, which will change our planet in short terms?

The impact of such a change on the planet, and on humans will be enormous. Not all parts of the Earth will be affected equally. While some regions will experience warmer winters, others might see more rain, or no rain, or less snow, or stronger hurricanes, or weaker winds).

What the advanced technology and science develop today should not become a noose around your neck tomorrow, when the actions are not accord with the laws of Nature. For instance, concrete jungles mushrooming in cramped spaces with no regard for civic infrastructure inevitably give rise to negative consequences ? air pollution, water shortages, housing and labor problems, and escalating costs of living.

Development is imperative, but a shortsighted approach is often the cause of great harm. (The global climate change is an example of this). Ravaging natural resources without a long-term vision will destroy the ecology, which is the very source of life. The purpose of development should be to support and sustain life. (Sustainable development is that which keeps in mind the long-term effects and benefits of any program). With the bigger picture in mind, with the spiritualized ecological consciousness all development plans will factor in the ecology, sociology, and psychology. Then the very process of development becomes a conscious endeavor to preserve the planet and its resources.

Environmental (ecological) consciousness is pictorially inbuilt in the human mind similarly as the seeds of selflessness and altruism. Throughout history, Nature (or Prakriti) has always been adored in India; mountains, rivers, the Sun, the Moon, the trees have been revered. Ancient cultures all over the world have exhibited a deep reverence for Nature. For many of them, God was not in temples or churches, but was inherent in Nature, in the five elements (earth, water, fire, air, and space). Hinduism, the most ancient religion, adores Nature through the five elements and has even defined spirituality as tatvabodha or understanding the Principles of Nature. When we start moving away from Nature, we start polluting Nature. Today there is a pressing need to revive the ancient practice of honoring and conserving Nature.

The goal of sustainable development is to build a healthy and happy society. Suppose you have built good infrastructure and have in abundance all the material things you aspire for, but the human psychology is destroyed. In such a scenario, the dream of sustainable development will remain a far-fetched goal. There can be no sustainable development in a society, which is full of stress and violence. A disease-free body, a stress-free mind, a violence-free society, and a toxin-free environment are vital elements of sustainable development. Access to more hospitals beds and availability of more prisons are not signs of development.

Sustainable development also means freedom from all types of crimes. Destroying the environment is also a crime; cutting down trees is also a crime; dumping toxic waste is also a crime; using non-recyclable materials is also a crime. Environment is our first body, and then come the physical body and the mind, the mental sheath.

By Vedas and Swami's works, there are nine levels of consciousness. Eight of them - eye, ear, tongue, nose, body consciousness and three levels of mind consciousness. They control the perception of the outer, material, and inner spiritual world, store of Karma. The ninth level of consciousness is the basis of the Atmic Reality and always remains pure and uncontaminated.

A human's mind longs for unity and harmony, longs for Love, often without knowing what this Love in essence is. This is as some kind inner, hidden awareness of human's mind on the path towards the Self-realization, what reflects from the ninth level of consciousness.

In the modern psychology is considered that source of activity of consciousness is a requirements. Also there is considered that requirements have connection with motivation sphere and have connection with involves, desires, will, etc... There are different standpoints what represent the insight of "bookish knowledge." The theory of Georgian scientist Dimitri Uznadze seems to be more close to awareness of consciousness as a spiritual quality.

D. Uznadze defined this problem as, "The objective reality influences on a psyche directly. This direction defines actions". D. Uznadze understood necessity to introduce gap level between external world and own person's actions. This gap is "course of action" named by author as the Set. The Set - it is a tendency to move in order to which was defined. Also the Set is be ready to do the actions after the some kind inner mental patterns. The Set depends from little changing of situation as in external world so in internal world. It seems that Uznadze's Set is quite near to the Self, the Divine Spirit within.

Consciousness is as a 'supernet' of activities what consist consciousness and the unconscious* (the last seems to be in relation with conscience, intellect and the Self).

By psychology consciousness cannot be separate from unconscious, similarly as human beings cannot be separate from the Self. The consciousness is always in connection with the unconscious components.

In view of ordinary life by Uznadze there are three levels of consciousness within every human being. They are the conscious, the sub-conscious, and the unconscious. One is conscious of what person knows: skills, experiences, memories are as sub-parts of conscious.

There is a large area of the unconscious, what is a topic of discussion of modern psychology, neuroscience, and biophysics. Nobody exactly knows what really under the unconscious is hidden, but there are thoughts, hypotheses, theories. Modern psychologists point out that the conscious mind is associated with a much broader and deeper mental system, with the unconscious mind.

Consciousness always seems to favor novel information. However, recognizing novelty requires an implicit comparison the old knowledge that is represented contextually. Probably the unconscious shapes conscious experience. Probably the unconscious contextual assumptions can become consciously accessible. Every percepted statement has presupposed hidden information that has to be understood before it can make sense. (The quality of conscious and unconscious perception seems to depend on the person's awareness of the Self).

All cultures have periodic ceremonies, festivals, and initiation rites using dramatic or even traumatic symbolism; a major function of these events may be to create and renew memorable conscious experiences that invoke and reinforce the unconscious contextual assumptions of the society.

Probably many of the scientific discoveries (which have largely unconscious contexts) reflect the reality of the unconscious activity what will guide humans to their Divine nature. Today many branches of modern science search the integration with spiritual outlooks, because without the lasts they cannot develop. How is possible to create as God knowing nothing about God?

There is one interesting feature to be noted. The religion has no one Founder as the others have. That invisible unknown founder is God, the source of all wisdom. He is the Prophet of this Sanathana Dharma. He is the Founder; His Grace and His Inspiration manifested through the pure Sages and they became the representatives of this Dharma. When the moral purity of people degenerates, God takes form as grace and inspiration in sages and teachers. He has also given through the Upanishads the Sathya-Jnana, the Wisdom concerning the Reality.

The creative aspect of this Divine Wisdom is Love. When there is Love in the heart, all that you utter will be truth. Love in speech is Truth. Love in action is Dharma. Love in thought is Peace. Love in understanding is Ahimsa (nonviolence). Therefore, Love is the underlying Principle of Truth, Righteousness, Peace, and Nonviolence.

Love itself, and not the object of Love is significant. This Love should not be based on expectations of a reward or return. It is not an article of commerce. It is a spontaneous offering. No one can describe the nature of the Divine Love. It is beyond the reach of poets. The one who is immersed in the waters of the Divine Love will be unable to speak to anyone. Those who speak about God in the world do so only from superficial experience, but those who are wholly saturated with God's Love will find no words to describe their bliss.

Love begins to turn from the head into heart. Love pictorially becomes our companion and teacher in whatsoever situation. Human's relationships are not only changeable sensational feelings, but they are also as mirrors for learning about themselves, and others.

The oneness of the Divine subsumes everything. Worldly love is based on the desire to receive. The Divine Love yearns to give. Spirituality is opposed to the ways of the world. However, worldly activities cannot be avoided. But, if whatever is done is made an offering to please God, it gets sanctified. So individuals can realize their true humanness.

There is a wish to try to define Love, as a part from sensual perception, quality consciousness and unconsciousness together. However, it seems impossible. By neuroscience and philosophy one can try to explain only excerpts from it.

Is it essential at all to find the definitions? The basis is Paramatma with the Principle of Creation, as activity beyond of human consciousness, in all its aspects, properties which are themselves parts of this creation.

Everyone should regard him/herself as a Messenger of God. It is the royal road for human to realize the Divinity in him/her and in everyone.
The Realized Divinity i.e. Self individual can ......

"To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And the eternity in an hour."
William Blake (1757 ? 1827).

(Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Baba. The Divine Discourse. "Human Values and Education." 26 July 1999, Prasanthi Nilayam. Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 2. "Sprouts of faith," Chapter 51; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 10. "Truth of Truth," Chapter 35; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 20. "Spiritual basis for value education," Chapter 20.

Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 21, "Love - The Key To Human Unity," Chapter 34. Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 28. "The power of the Divine Love," Chapter 1; Sathya Sai Baba.Essence of Vedic Knowledge. 1.Upanishad Vahini).

References:

C. L. Rubinstain. A ground of common psychology. Moscow. "Pedagogics", 1989 (in Russian).

D. Uznadze. Person behavior kinds. Moscow. 1966 (in Russian).

V.V. Nalimov. Realms of the Unconscious. The Enchanted Frontier, Philadelphia: ISI Press, 1982.

PS 1: By the Columbia Encyclopaedia (Sixth Edition. Copyright 2002, Columbia University Press) the unconscious is an aspect of mental life that is separate from immediate consciousness and is not subject to recall at will. The idea of the unconscious has been rejected by some psychological schools. The term unconscious is also used to describe latent, or un-retrieved, memories, or to describe stimuli too weak to enter an individual's conscious awareness.

There is no complete definition of the unconscious. In addition, the explanations and approaches of modern science are different. The scientific approach declares that some of the properties of unconscious seem to be beyond of humans mind. In a state of deep meditation is possible to reach near to them. But there are no words, no explanations in words for this 'bright nothingness.'

PS 2: In this article, the main spiritual designations begin with capital letter. In the all parts of article the English (U.S.) has used as the most scientific articles and books use English (U.S.).

Namaste - Reet

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