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[This topic is for scientists, philosophers and intellectuals for whom a slow patient reading is recommended. Swami jokes that this topic is a hard topic for digestion and can be considered as a costly vegetarian dish for rich intellectuals. The other easy topics are like easily digestible cheap vegetarian dishes meant for the common man! Mr. Anil Antony asked Swami that a scientist says, “What is the difficulty in explaining the process of creation? The theory of evolution proposed by Darwin explains it very well”].
Limits of the Validity of Evolution: The main aspect in the theory of evolution proposed by Darwin is that any organ is developed to meet a need. Similarly, any organ is suppressed when the need disappears. In the case of a man the tail disappeared because its use was not there anymore due to the improved efficiency of the hands in say driving away flies. Therefore, evolution...
God is always unimaginable and unknowable for any human being and under any circumstances because He is beyond the dimensions of space and time. This is very much stressed in the Veda and the Gita. There is no second thought about this point and Shankara also said the same when He said that God could be understood only in deep sleep. In deep sleep (Sushupti) there is no entity that understands (Jnata) because the process of understanding (Jnanam) disappears. When the process of burning disappears, there is no fire. If you say that the process of knowing itself is the knower, then also the knower is absent because there is no process of knowing in deep sleep. The knower can no more be a knower if the knower loses the process...
Tomorrow Lakshman is leaving for Mumbai. Therefore I shall serve a food item, which is to his taste on this farewell day. I will serve the food item of his liking, which is prepared in a better way or in a proper way so that its original true taste is known to him and his liking for that food item will be reinforced. The food item that he likes is the philosophy of Shri Ramana Maharishi, who is considered to be the human incarnation of Lord Subrahmanya. Lord Subrahmanya is the son of Lord Shiva i.e. He is the incarnation of Shiva. Shri Ramana Maharishi was a follower of the philosophy of Shankara, who is also an incarnation of Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva is the incarnation of Lord Datta (Shiva Datta) who is the source of all the three divine forms (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva). When Lord Datta...
Shankara stated that awareness is Brahman irrespective of its association with intelligence or good and bad qualities. This means that birds and animals without intelligence and even cruel wild beings are introduced into the spiritual field since Brahman or God [by Shankara’s definition] exists in all living beings. Of course there is no use of spiritual knowledge for animals. But Shankara included all living beings in the spiritual field because even among human beings, there are some without intelligence and some demons having cruel qualities. Lord Shiva is worshipped even by demons and is said to be the Lord of animals (Pashupati). Angels with great intelligence and good qualities also worship Lord Shiva. Therefore, Shankara embraced...
[Datta Jayanti, Shri Ajay asked: You have said that Maya is unimaginable and Prakruti is imaginable. But, you said that Prakruti should be understood as Maya and you quoted the same from the Gita (Mayamtu Prakrutim Viddhi…). How to correlate these two points because unimaginable is different from imaginable?]
Swami replied: You will understand this concept, when God helps a realized devotee and an ignorant devotee in difficulties. The difficulties giving misery are the best ground to understand this statement of Lord in the Gita. Therefore, love the problems and misery. Hate peace and happiness. But, this should be limited to yourself for the personal spiritual effort and should not be extended to society surrounding you. You are not supposed to disturb the society around you in any way in which case God will be furious...
The knowledge consists of three components (Triputi) 1) The goal; 2) The soul and 3) The path of the soul to please the goal. The knowledge of the world is not dealt separately because the knowledge of the soul itself is the knowledge of the world since the soul is a part of the world. When the devotees criticize the knowledge, they should specify the component of the knowledge. The devotee cannot criticize the goal because the goal is God. The knowledge of God generates the attraction (devotion) to God. This component is spoiled by Advaitins, who say that the soul in every human being is God...
The real Nivrutti (complete detachment from the entire world) comes only when you are attached to the creator existing in the human form in your generation. The attachment to the soul is not at all Nivrutti because the self is with in the world only. Thus the Advaitins are in Pravrutti only by the self-attainment and simultaneous detachment from the world. The other devotees of energetic forms on this earth are in the Nivrutti, no doubt, but cannot attain the highest fruit due to their jealousy and egoism resulting in the repulsion between common...
[Message on Dasara, Day-10] Today, Shiridi Sai Baba left His divine body due to a disease transferred on to Him from His devotee. Such disease is like the poison taken by a person, who commits suicide. Does this mean that Baba committed suicide? It was not the natural death. The death of Himself was executed by Himself. This point should be clarified to the people, who commit suicide in the world. The person committs suicide by the disturbance created by the illness that entered the body or by some other stress in the external world. This disturbance or stress is the fruit of his own sins and he himself is responsible for his own sins through his own samskaras. But, the illness in the body of Baba was not of that type. Sometimes a person may compare...
[Message on Dasara, Day-9] The three qualities are not distinguished in the spiritual path by God as long as the possessor of these three qualities does not disturb the balance of the society, which is the stage for the divine play of the God. Scriptures say that all the three qualities co-exist always and never a single quality can be isolated. For God, all the three qualities are one and the same, which are created by Him only. These three qualities bring variety in the divine play by combining with each other in different proportions causing multi-natured scenes. These are just like three basic colors, which are mixed in various proportions to develop various shades. All the spiritual preachers have predomination of Sattvam...
[Message on Dasara, Day-5] The soul is the weakest form of energy in this creation. The nervous system can be easily burnt by even little heat (fire). The awareness flows in such tender nerves and is therefore, weaker than even a little bit fire. Such weakest form of energy (soul) is imagining itself to be the strongest energy (Brahman; assuming that Brahman is understood as strongest energy), which controls even the sun as per the Veda. Fire, which can burn the nerves very easily, could not burn even a dry grass blade when God did not wish! In that case, I am unable to understand how can this weakest soul do anything without the grace of God! When the soul becomes absolute zero by this knowledge, it will completely surrender to God...
[Message on Dasara,Dasara, Day-4] The Advaitin says that by attaining self, which is just pure awareness, one attains infinite bliss. This is absurd since it contradicts the practical experience. In every living being, the soul (pure awareness) exists but every soul is not blissful. If you say that the impurity in the soul hinders the bliss, one can easily achieve the pure awareness at least temporarily during meditation by little practice...
Observer (O): I cannot understand these discussions. You can give me the final conclusions like this: God is unimaginable and comes down through a human form called human incarnation. The ordinary human soul is not God by itself. What is the use of all these hectic discussions? We shall search for the human incarnation whose sign is the divine knowledge and serve Him to our best to get His grace. This is the essence in nutshell which is sufficient for us.
Respondent (R): If these conclusions are accepted by all without any variation, there is no need of any debate. But several people are deriving conclusions in different ways. Some body says that God is formless like space. Some body says that He is the energetic form. Some body says that He is the ordinary individual soul. We say that the God is unimaginable...
Petitioner (P): You have to speak every spiritual concept within the limits of the scripture (Veda) based on ancient Indian logic alone. Do not bring science in o philosophy.
Mediator (M): Ancient Indian logic is as good as science. The Mithya Vada is exactly same as the present theory of relativity.
Respondent (R): Logic and science deal with the same subject, which is the study of the analysis of various items of the world. In the ancient logic also they were referring to experimental proof in the name of experience (Anubhava). The only difference between science and logic is that science needs experimental proof in every step, whereas in ancient logic (Tarka) the experimental proof is inadequate. Therefore, certain points like propagation of sound in vacuum as per the ancient logic...
In a spiritual discussion, the two persons discussing, should have co-operation with each other because both of them are jointly searching for the truth. Thus the person questioning and the person answering are building up the search and their common aim should only be to find the truth. Whoever finds the truth should not feel like a winner and the other person should not feel like a runner-up (loser). Both are equal and responsible for finding the truth. Both the runner-up and winner are rewarded with prizes equally. Unless Arjuna had asked questions...
Knowledge and God: Spiritual knowledge or philosophy (Vedanta) is generally based on logic (Tarka). God is certainly above logic and thus logic cannot touch Him (Naisha Tarkena—Veda). Nobody can show God by pointing with a finger. The Veda clearly states that God is beyond words, mind, intelligence and logic and the best way of explaining about God is silence. If that is so, there is no necessity of spiritual knowledge, because God cannot be known or imagined. Then what is the use of all these scriptures? Why are there so many discussions and debates? Lord Yama says in the Veda that angels and sages are still discussing about God and have concluded that God is unknowable. Here unknowable means unimaginable even by logic...
Parabrahman—Beyond Brahman: The meaning of the word Brahman is ‘greatest’. Any greatest item within the boundaries of a category can be called as Brahman. In the Veda food (Annam), life (Prana), mind (Manas), Intelligence (Vijnana), bliss (Ananda) etc. are called as Brahman within the limits of certain specified categories. Awareness, due to the quality of knowledge is also called as Brahman. In the Gita, the greatest scripture (Veda) is called as Brahman. The greatness is estimated by not only the quantity but also by the quality. Inert energy, which is all-pervading and which is the material causing creation, maintenance and destruction of the universe is called as Brahman in the quantitative sense. Awareness or the soul is called as Brahman...
Realized Soul: If you can learn from God regarding His state of continuous entertainment from the creation containing both pleasant and tragic scenes, you have become God in this very important aspect. God’s super power and producership of the world etc are not at all required. The spectatorship and entertainment is the only essence of this creation (Ekaki na ramate—Veda). The spectator of the ‘movie’ can enjoy equally with God even though the spectator has not produced the movie [creation]. The producership of the movie has no relevance to the enjoyment. In this aspect, the soul and Brahman become one and the same (Advaita). When the sole purpose of the creation is entertainment...
Superimposition: You have introduced the concept of superimposition in that the person mistakes the body for the soul (Dehatmabhranti). By analysis, you have removed the illusion of misunderstanding the body for the soul. But you are captured by another most dangerous illusion that is mistaking the soul for God (Brahman), which can be called as ‘Atmabrahmabhranti’. Both these superimpositions are similar. An illusion or superimposition is born, based on one common property. When you see the rope in mild darkness [dim light or twilight], the physical appearance (the length, movement by air etc), which is the common property between the rope and a snake...
The logic [tarka shastra] shows four types of authorities [valid means of knowledge] to decide any point. The first is perception (Pratyaksham), in which anything is directly experienced through senses in this world. The second is inference (Anumanam), in which anything is inferred based on a characteristic sign. For example, smoke is coming from a mountain and fire is inferred. In this authority also the perception is the basis because the relationship between fire and smoke is already perceived in the kitchen. The third authority is simile (Upamanam), in which an unseen...
Chit [awareness] is gold and Jnanam is a wonderful design expressed in that gold. All the value is for that wonderful ornament and not for the lump of gold present in it. Brahman means great. The greatness is of that ornament and not of gold. A lady is attracted to the ornament but a businessman sees only the weight of the gold. Similarly an ignorant person thinks that chit is Brahman where as a realized scholar thinks that a great preacher with exceptional knowledge like Shankara is Brahman. Chit is the awareness present in every living being...
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