Man & woman...the inseparable whole

Since perhaps creation itself, man & woman have independently and collectively tried to understand each other, but have seldom been successful. Since times immemorial, it has been a patriarchal society almost the world over. Yet, many (men & women alike) hold the view that man & woman although belonging to the same family, are actually 2 different species. Perhaps, in all these views / opinions, there is some element of factual correctness due to the various reasons in the way man & woman behave or think, but the truth is much more than being factually correct.

While acknowledging the fact that man & woman are indeed quite different both physiologically & psychologically, it is quite unimaginable to have a world without either. In fact, man is part of a woman; without man, there is no woman, & without woman, there is no standing for man. It is like, man & woman are 2 sides of the same coin. Only when the coin has both sides does it command economic value. Similarly it is with man & woman, the 2 inseparable sides of the coin of life. Hence, life without either is simply unimaginable. In fact, there wouldn't be life itself without either. 

Realizing this truth, our ancient Seers envisioned the Ardhanaareeshwara, the half-Shiva half-Parvathi. Every man has woman in him, & every woman has man in her. It is only when this man-woman combination exists in every individual, does the Being become whole. This combination also is reflected in the different qualities that we exhibit during various times in our life. For ex., certain situations in life require tremendous courage & bravery, which is typically man's nature or quality; certain situations require tremendous compassion, love, & care, which is typically woman's nature or qualities. Each of these qualities are exhibited during different situations or circumstances in life, which are a reflection of man's & woman's qualities. Therefore, man & woman co-exist together, in every individual, at any given point in time. It is just that certain man's qualities are exhibited more in one individual (man or woman) and at certain times & similarly, certain woman's qualities are exhibited more in others (man or woman) again at certain times. Together, they make the whole Being.         

Meaning of some of the rituals followed @ temples...

It is not very often that I come across very profound meaning(s) behind some of our traditions and practices. But whenever I do come across, I am left with little choice but to be spell bound by the wisdom of our ancient Seers who have introduced these practices with deep philosophical meaning & insight. I came across the philosophical meanings of some of the practices in our temples while I was en route to work with a customer, who coincidentally also shares interest in philosophy. In fact, the meanings were shared by my customer while we were generally discussing philosophy. Here are the practices & their philosophical meanings.

When we visit temples or when we worship, we perform 5 major acts. These are: ring the bell, light the lamp & perform aarati, light agarbatti (incense sticks), take little water (teertham) in one's hand (mostly right hand) and consume it, and finally take prasadam.

While I share the meanings of the above, it is important to understand and agree upon the goal or purpose of human life as described in Hindu scriptures. To ATTAIN MOKSHA or LIBERATION, is regarded as the highest goal of human life. This is nothing but understanding Truth or Reality as it is and being one with It. In order to understand Truth, it is necessary to "experience It". For, knowledge of Truth cannot be imparted. This knowledge has to be attained thru' one's own experience, & this experience comes as a consequence of tremendous perseverence (the path of perseverence & what it means may be different for different seekers). The bottomline is to "EXPERIENCE THE TRUTH".

When we say "experience", the principal means to experience are the 5 sense organs namely: eyes, ears, tongue, skin, & the nose. We use these organs either independently or in combination, to experience objects. In addition to these sense organs, there is the mind. It is in the context of sense organs that we perform the above mentioned 5 major acts in a temple. Albeit we employ sense organs to perceive and experience objects in the course of normal day-to-day life, it is mostly in the dormant state. That is, there is no awakening or awareness behind the normal day-to-day perceptions and experiences. The purpose of performing the above 5 acts, is TO AWAKEN EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THE 5 SENSE ORGANS. Let me explain further.

By ringing the bell, we are awakening the ears; by lighting the lamp or performing aarati, we are awakening the eyes; by burning agarbatti (incense sticks), we are awakening the nose; by taking sacred water (teertham, which is given to devotees after abhishekam) in one's hand before consuming it, we are awakening the skin; & finally, by consuming the prasadam, we are awakening the tongue. In this manner, we have to awaken all the 5 sense organs. Together with the collectively awakened sense organs when the mind worships or offers prayers, in that state we will "EXPERIENCE THE TRUTH or REALITY".

This shows how much deep thought, insight, & philosophy have gone into the entire rituals. When the rituals are accompanied by deep understanding of their philosophy & meaning, it leads to EXPERIENCE.

Seeking...Knowledge...Ego...and Wisdom...Part - 4

Let us look at a situation - that of a dead body. A dead body has all the physical elements that go to make a man, the integrated being we spoke about. But, what is that profound element which does not exist in a dead body, but exists in such glaring obviousness in a living person? Obviously, the dead body has no identity whatsoever. Ironically, when a person dies, we no longer address the body by the name of the person that once was, but we merely address it as body. The fact that the dead body does not command the same respect as that of a living person means that there is something, some profound entity that gives life to the body, which does not exist anymore in the dead body. Even when we pay our respects upon the demise of great men, we don’t pay respects to the body; we pay respect to that entity which expressed itself thru’ the physical body, with which we identified ourselves. Since the entity which expressed itself thru’ the body of a great man cannot be perceived, we pay respect to that entity thru’ the body of the departed person.

Therefore, we can conclude that the identification with ego or the “I” ness exists in a living person only & not in a dead body. In fact, the “I” ness is present only in man, & no other species. This is because of the “AWARENESS” that man has been bestowed upon. Now, when we talk about awareness, we should also answer – AWARENESS OF WHAT? It is the awareness of one’s own self and the surroundings in relation to the self. It is this profound awareness of one’s Self that is at the root of the ego or “I” ness. Therefore, what is absent in a dead person & is present in a living person is the awareness. Where from is awareness drawn? Awareness can only be drawn from an “intelligent entity”. This “intelligent entity” or intelligence itself is called "CONSCIOUSNESS". Therefore, it is Consciousness that imparts upon a person awareness of his own self. Whereas a living person who is the subject, can perceive objects because of the presence of Consciousness and thereby awareness of himself and the surroundings, a dead body cannot perceive because the same Consciousness does not exist any more. Hence, THE REAL SELF IS CONSCIOUSNESS ITSELF. There is no other self other than Consciousness. Whereas identification of oneself with Consciousness is indeed the only true identity, the “I” ness in the normal sense of use is false & is born out of ignorance.

Because Consciousness is the only true identity, it naturally follows that the subject is indeed Consciousness itself. Since Consciousness is the subject, the answer to the question WHO AM I is – I AM CONSCIOUSNESS. Therefore, what the statement “KNOW YOUR SELF” means is that we have to KNOW CONSCIOUSNESS ITSELF. Now arises a paradox – since I AM CONSCIOUSNESS, THE SUBJECT, THE STATEMENT “KNOW YOUR SELF” MEANS CONSCIOUSNESS HAS TO KNOW ITSELF. In other words, THE SUBJECT HAS TO SEEK ITSELF OBJECTIVELY TO EXPERIENCE ITSELF. But, how can the subject seek itself objectively, when it is not the object but the subject itself?

When discussing about objective knowledge, we saw that the premise of seeking objective knowledge is “OUTSIDE – IN”. Then, knowledge of the subject has to be sought differently because the subject is not an object to be sought. THE SUBJECT IS ITSELF. Therefore, the premise for seeking knowledge of subject is “INSIDE - IN”. That means, we have to seek knowledge of the subject within ourselves. I will not be able to dwell much in detail on how to seek the subject in this series of my blog because that is not the intent of this series. However, the approach in seeking knowledge of the subject is no different from that of the object. Whereas we employ our senses, mind, intellect, & all the other faculties with so much concentration upon an external object to gain objective knowledge, the same when turned within reveals the subject in all its glory and splendor.

So, what exactly happens when knowledge of the subject is gained? In the most profound and most beautiful book “SIDDHARTHA” by Harmann Hesse, the protagonist Siddhartha is a seeker of this knowledge of subject. It so happens that he meets The Buddha one day and asks precisely the same question – WHAT DID YOU EXPERIENCE WHEN YOU SAT UNDER THE BODHI TREE? The Buddha smiles and says – TOO MUCH KNOWLEDGE IS A HINDERANCE, MY DEAR CHILD.

While it is important to acquire knowledge, it is necessary to recognize that wisdom 'happens' only when knowledge ripens... & we as students in life, should allow knowledge to ripen into wisdom without interfering with the process of ripening with all our false egos and prestige... the best of the best teachers in the world can impart only this much knowledge...that's it...from then on, it is our own individual journey to attain to wisdom...wisdom flows thru' each one of us, as long as we allow it to flow... if we construct massive dams of false egos and prestige obstructing the flow, all it leads to is gathering of filth, eventually leading to a slow but sure death of the wonderful river...
Knowledge when it ripens, leads to wisdom...And wisdom means, TOTAL, UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER...
Indian philosophy says - whereas seeking objective knowledge can make our life simple and comfortable, it does not bring about contentment and peace. It is the knowledge of the Self, eventually leading to the wisdom of total, unconditional surrender when that knowledge ripens, that MAN FINDS ETERNAL CONTENTMENT, PEACE, BLISS…

Seeking...Knowledge...Ego...and Wisdom...Part - 3

Neuroscience teaches us that there is something called Autonomous Nervous System (ANS) that takes care of the independent working of these faculties. But, how does the ANS know that a healthy adult heart has to beat approximately 70 – 75 times per minute, and also make corrections as and when the body needs more oxygen supply? Or, how does the ANS know to maintain blood level & control blood flow or control breathing to ensure sufficient oxygen supply? Similarly, how does the ANS control and manage various other functions and faculties in the human body such as the digestive system or the respiratory system, & so on? Careful observation reveals that the ANS could be like a software program, which has been uniquely written by nature for every species to function in a particular manner. Like man, animals and plants also have their own ANS, & these are different from that of man’s. Just as single software program does not fit multiple purposes, functions, and applications, so too is the case with ANS. Hence, it can be reasonably deduced that every species has its own unique ANS serving it. Every time a being is born, it comes preloaded with its own set of program to carry out certain functions. Because the ANS maintains the critical functions of the body so precisely, it can be deduced that there is AWARENESS in the ANS for it to manage critical functions of the body without active participation of the person whatsoever. All that the person has to do is to react to the messages, signals, or information passed on by the brain upon receiving inputs from the ANS, which in turn is activated by the stimulus. Just think of a situation where nature had not designed the ANS and we had to make decisions for everything – right from whether the heart should beat, if it should, then how many times in a day; to how much oxygen should be supplied; or, how much food should be digested; what body temperature should be maintained everyday, etc. Clearly, we cannot even imagine existence of life itself under such circumstances. Can we imagine a situation where we had to keep making decisions all the time about things like:

The number of heartbeats in a day, should the heart take some tea break & if so, for how long?
Should we inhale air or water? If air, then how much oxygen should be inhaled per hour?

When, how, where, & how much thirsty should we feel? How much urine should be passed in a day?
When, how, where, & how much hungry should we be? How much food should we have?
How much of what food should be digested and how much of what to be excreted?
Should we shed tears during emotional moments? If so, how much tears should we shed & what should be the flow rate?
Whether the eye lids have to close instantly when dust falls or should there be a time lag in the response, & if so, how many hours time lag should be there and how to control that?

Can we even imagine for a moment all these things? Einstein once famously quipped after studying Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle – what this theory says is, God plays dice with the universe.

Einstein perhaps did not complete his thought. The complete statement should have been - God not only plays dice with the universe, but He also plays it very intelligently by betting His money on the most likely and necessary outcome. For, who could imagine the creation of a separate functional entity called Autonomous Nervous System and outsource most of the critical functions of the human body to it? Only God could have thought that we’d mess it up big time & hence proactively did a great job. Had it not been so, it would have been a collateral catastrophe.

Although neuroscience has taught us about the Autonomous Nervous System, its functions, etc., it is to be observed that ANS has been objectively studied by man and only after careful observation and deep studies have conclusions been arrived at. The point is that here too, a subject has objectively carried out extensive studies on the nature and functioning of the ANS before arriving at certain conclusions.