by Sri Bimal Mohanty
VOL No. 55 September. 2005

 


  Atma
 Knowledge
 Creation
 God
 Spiritualism
 Sanatan

 Questions
 e-mail

"DIVINE CONSCIOUSNESS”- WHAT IS THAT?- A practical explanation

"Based on the lectures by Sri Bimal Mohanty"

QUESTIONS FROM READERS

QUESTION 1 FROM Sri ENDERAN A/L SUNDRAM

Sir, Can we know about our previous Life or karmas?

ANSWER: This is all about Karmaphala or results of what we have done in the past. When we face adversity we are told to accept it as the result of past Karma- to accept it blindly because we do not know or told or remember for what bad act we are suffering? It does sound arbitrary. And what is worse, since we do not know for what it is that we are suffering we are not intelligently trying to rectify ourselves. Why can not we know the past or remember them vividly?

It is not that any knowledge – what ever it may be, is ever meant to be kept secret from us by design. Any knowledge, whether past or future is available to us to know. No body has denied and knowledge –by nature always wants to be revealed. Then why we do not have knowledge of past and future?

In Gita, Krishna says to Arjuna , both you and me have gone through many many lives. I have the knowledge of all of them where as you do not have. What does he mean by that? By that he points out the different states of consciousness or chetana of both of them. Lord Krishna knows all the past present and future because in his exalted state of consciousness or chetana, there is no veil between him and the knowledge. But an ordinary man, whose mind is still in imperfect developmental stage finds this veil of ignorance surrounding him like dust over a mirror, smoke around the fire or the placenta round the embryo. Once these impurities are removed all is revealed, Higher the level of chetana closer the man becomes to the divine characteristics and capabilities. Clearer and clearer becomes the knowledge. And at the final level – at the level of pure consciousness of the super mind, nothing is hidden. We have many examples in our scriptures of Siddha purushas or highly perfect human beings who are trikaladarshis or seers of past present and future – the three time frames. Therefore if we are not aware of our past or future it is because of our lack of higher consciousness and knowledge. Because of our wholly preoccupation with the present moment of time at the cost of the eternal quest of development. The deficiency is in us.

Since we do not have the supramental consciousness of a super mind, it is also in a way beneficial for us that we do not know the past, until the time that consciousness dawns upon us. That is because with little knowledge and imperfect understanding we may even harm our own self in a major way. Supposing I know, that I have come to this life with a lot of punya or good deeds committed in my previous births, should I be equally cautious in committing mistakes what I would otherwise be? The tendency would be take lightly the path of Dharma if I have already a certificate to my name of a good and dharmik person. Since constant vigilance in treading the path of Dharma is essential for me – I as an imperfect human- might as well know nothing of the past and engage continuously in righteous living. On a more practical level, if I have knowledge that a certain person has harmed me in my past life, what will stop me from seeking revenge at all costs? Would that be desirable?

The Lord keeps all these knowledge hidden from us until we have learnt that important lesson of not getting swayed by either good or bad past. It is indeed a protection.

Yet we have said that sooner or later as we approach perfection, the knowledge of past present and future reveal themselves to us. The beauty of this logic is, by the time you have graduated to the level of higher consciousness and have acquired the power and knowledge of the true meaning of bad and good deeds, you will no more be swayed by little indulgences of body and sense organs and take liberties in committing further mistakes. When Lord Krishna says that he or for that matter, people nearly like him know the past present and future they still remained unconcerned and untouched by their effects.

QUESTION 2 FROM Sri K KRISHNAMURTHY

A Christian friend of mine insists that we are all born sinners and appeal to God to save us, where as I understand from you that we only make mistakes and must work out to correct ourselves to perfection. Please comment.

ANSWER: There is a difference in approach in the two philosophies. In Christianity there is this concept of the sinners and the saviour. All individual souls are considered to be sinners needing to be saved by removal of the effects of the sins committed by them. Where as the concept in sanatan philosophy considers all individuals to be essentially perfect and pure. The layers of imperfect understanding surround the individuals, through which The Lord who is the absolute perfection remains out of reach of cognition. The object of redemption here is the union of pure with pure when these obstructing veils are torn asunder.

But when we analyse both the concepts, the underlying purpose will seem to be the same really. It is the redemption or purification of the soul back to its original character of blemishless state which is the goal. Whether saved from their sins or removal of layers of defective understanding, the individual soul’s return to perfection is the goal. Roads may be different but they lead to the same home. Each one must follow the road one is comfortable with provided that final objective is understood and never forgotten.

When you remove imperfections born out of ignorance, you become pure and perfect, as Brahman himself is. When you are cleaned of your sins, you also become pure and perfect.

QUESTION 3 FROM Ms SWETA SACHDEVA

Sir, I am a student. I have this in my mind. I got what I deserve. You got what you deserve. God Got what He deserves. You and me are not happy about it. Is God happy about the state of his creation?

ANSWER: That is a very smart way of putting it. Nevertheless, one can draw some intrinsic truth out of this. It is true that we all get what we deserve. Not a pinch more nor a pinch less. That is how the Divine works in absolute fairness, in accordance with laws of cause and effect. You always reap as you sow. Blaming destiny is an excuse of a defeatist mind. Being happy or unhappy is how one looks at it. With our limited knowledge of all contributing factors we are in no position to take a view. We only react naturally for the moment when our wish or desired result for immediate pleasure does not get realized.

But the truth of the matter is that every turn of event, works only for our eventual benefit. As we have discussed a number of times, every set back in life comes as a lesson to be learnt and clear some areas of darkness of ignorance and refine our intellect that will assist us in moving forward. It is expected of us to understand this and this understanding gradually dawns on us as we progress in our yoga-sadhana.

Every individual soul is on a one way journey towards its goal- The satchidanada. And The Lord has a single intention towards all- to assist us in our progress.

God is neither happy nor unhappy about turn of events. Our emotions are the outcome of the fact that we do not know the final outcome and are obsessed with the immediate pain or pleasure. God knows the final outcome and knows of the effect that every action of ours has on our progress. Everything happens as per His rules. Where is the place for emotions?

QUESTION 4 FROM SRI NAGU SHANKAR

What is ADHYAROPA APAVADA and how to understand the concept of Atman from this?

ANSWER: The simple explanation of Adhyaropa is super-imposition of one thing on another. Apavada should mean wrong superimposition. Philosophically speaking everything that we see, cognise and react to, is conditional- the result of many influencing factors. In the absence of proper light, under cover of darkness, when a piece of rope lying on our path frightens us as a snake, we, failing to see the true reality assume the snake superimposed on the rope. This means that we are not seeing the thing in its real character. This means that our understanding is defective. This is how maya or illusion is explained in sanatan philosophy. (Ma (it is not) ya (whatever) sa maya. That is maya, when something is not what it appears to be.)

When this happens, we are gripped with fear and other debilitating defects that sap our confidence and hinder our progress.

But if we could know the truth, remove the darkness of ignorance by switching on the light of knowledge, the fear would vanish and our confidence shall return.

That then is the problem of life. The grip of illusion of Maya, thriving on our ignorance is so strong on us that we are dazzled by the false appearances and do not see the truth behind everything. This atmosphere of falsehood understandably may satisfy some people for some time but not all the time.

The solution thus lies in switching on the light of knowledge and live in light and not in darkness. To a discerning and probing mind, the adhyaropa apavada will virtually urge to search for the light of knowledge and discover the real truth.

What is the real, unchanging truth that is the essence of all that we see, cognize and act upon? It is the Brahman.

Isavasya sarvam idam yatkinca jagatyam jagat.

Every constituent of this phenomenal world is nothing but essentially Brahman. (please go through the pages of Ahwan for elaborate explanation)

By Brahman the true character of everything is explained.

A sadhak seeing the ‘snake’, probes for the truth, searches for the light and the quest leads him to Brahman.