Enlightenment Is ..

Enlightenment is knowing that I do not exist in the Universe that is perceived.

There is this Universe. an infinite variety of shapes, forms, names, colors, movement, ideas, comings, goings, interactions, collections, relations, interpretations, values, valuations, directions, orientations, information, communications, creations and what not.

There are certain very interesting and entertaining entities called people. they seem to have a mind of their own. they also seem to have their own individual existence. There are lots of people. there seems to have been lots of people, and more people seem to be on the way.

The Universe in general though appears unimaginably large, it seems to focus around the entities called people. the ideas, actions, and communications of people seem to define the world.

Of all the people in the world, there seem to be a particular person , whose mind I seem to have access to. I can see his thoughts, I can see his emotions, I can see his view of the world. Of course I am certain that I am not this person, just that I seem to have some access to his mind. In spite of knowing and apparently interacting with this world to a good extent, I am not part of it.

Sometime ago I realized that I do not exist in this Universe. But I do exist. So this Universe of variations, is apparent, similar to the Universe in a dream. Though I seem to experience the dream, I am not inside the dream. so my experience is also only apparent.

The world of experiences, and the experience it seems to offer , all of it being disconnected and apparent, it is indeed strange that I  get concerned about things. But ... concerns and anxieties, rejoicing and fun, all are part of the World where I do not exist.

Realizing that I alone exist, which can neither act, not experience and disconnected by this world which is nothing but a drama of light and sound, the I stays in its own state of bliss.

An Elaborate Hoax

The things we see, the things we feel, the thoughts we have, the time we perceive, the space we travel, the people we meet, the events that we encounter, the poetry we read, the music we listen to, the science we enjoy, the long journey of life that we experience, the books we read.. hard to believe its all one big hoax.

Its fascinating , its mind boggling, its thrilling, its exciting , its incredible and fantastic. This idea that all of our experience is a detailed fabrication appearing to be experienced and reported by our mind is beyond wildest of imaginations. The memories, the detailed recollections of early days, the joy of childhood , the vivid memories of uncles, aunts, grand fathers and grand mothers, cousins and friends, school and home and all the fun and not so fun times, are impossible to be dismissed as unreal.

The unsure beginnings, the progress, the falterings, the love, the sighs of reliefs, the angers, the shame, the embarrassments, the pride, the inquisitiveness, the pursuits, silence ... all of these are so intense and so real, they are the experiences, they are the very definition of life.. can all this be unreal?

The sequence we call life that we have lived so far, is organized, and orderly, its always the same no matter how many times we recollect. Same people, same events, so very real. So many years and so many moments, can they all be myth?

The history as we know, the birth of rational thought with Descartes, the wonderment of Kepler, the insatiable Leonardo, Newton's debacle in the stock market, the discoveries, the invention, the progression of thought, Peano's Axioms, Fermat's Last theorem..Vivaldi's Four seasons, Sankara's writings, Parmenides, Zeno, Russel, Einstein.. all unreal?

This long string of events, both personal and impersonal whole, can happen only in the passage of time. A sequence can happen only in time. One after the other, after the other, followed by another.. An investigation of time reveals, that time does not exist. The possibility of an yesterday and a tomorrow, a past and a future, even at the momentary infinitesimal level, does not exist. All that is, is a mere Now. and a mere Here. In this singularity of Now and Here, the past is one complex sequence of recollections from a non existent memory by an unreal Mind!

This revelation makes One rest in amusement at this incredibly elaborate hoax called life.

Arithmetic of the Infiinte

The pursuit of knowledge of various things, primarily beginning at the phenomenon of the perceptible world, eventually leads to the sublime. 

The observable and the measurable lead us to the theories that are perceived only through their manifestation. For instance, the Newton's First law can never be perceived as a thing, except as an idea in the mind or as a string of symbols on apiece of paper. However we can perceive its manifestation by observing real world phenomenon such as a satellite in orbit, or a near perfect snooker table. All laws of Science are of similar nature. H2O is a sequence of symbols. For someone who know the elements and the manner in which they combine to create different substances, this could imply a certain substance.But this can be perceived only by touching and feeling water. Water=H2O is a mere mental activity.

Such generalizations simplify our world and help us perceive and understand reality deeper. 

A progression of such cycles of observations,measurements ,theorizing, validations takes us into a more and more compact representation of the observable phenomena. One can embrace billions and billions of liters of water in the whole of the Universe by the simple three symbol string H2O. All the Gold in the world by 'Au'. Well that's a stretch! The point is, by studying and abstracting the observable phenomena, the mind creates a manageable and simplified repository of the Universe.

In other general pursuits of life, one encounters a variety of experiences, some seem to make you happy, such as possessions, recognition, companionship and so on. All of these have the property of 'diminishing returns'. they seem to loose the edge of making you happy as you keep enjoying them. This is true even to Knowledge. While knowledge of things, a superior abstraction and generalization, seem to boost the ego and make it feel superior and hence happy, even that looses its ability to make one happy perpetually. This is so merely because such is its property. One can verify from observation that it is true about every phenomenon we experience.

In the arithmetic of happiness, if we were to quantify the things that seem to provide us happiness, this quantification will be a number that diminishes over time, and will all individually tend to zero as time progresses.

Limit         H(t) → 0

(t → ∞)

In all these pursuits of life , there is a pursuit of the one who pursues. The investigation and ultimately understanding  who you are. Understanding the true identity of your self, and realizing its separateness from the world of phenomena has a value of ∞ . If we add this to our other possessions, then we have,

Hnew(t) = H(t) + ∞.

Limit         Hnew(t) → ∞

(t → ∞)

This modified equation clarifies the uselessness of the variation is values possible due to various functions of H individuals may have. Thus enabling one to pursue the Infinite, reach it and hence live Joyfully.

Letting Go vs Giving Up

We have all been here more often than we would like to be. There comes a point in life when we need to separate. It could be a thing, a person, a role, or any of the things that have been part of our life for a while, and has been of an apparent source of happiness.

The thing that has been providing happiness to us is the last thing we want to part with. That is because the only thing that we all seek is happiness. When the thing stops being a source of happiness, or is not providing the amount of happiness you were used to, then the thing becomes less of a concern. Letting go is not much of an issue. One may miss the moments of happiness that the thing provided in the past, but since the present is no longer the same, we are in a way Ok to let go of it.

Then there are things, that have provided happiness in the past, and seem to have the potential to give you happiness, but that don't seem to. Here there is a struggle. You try to somehow make this thing give you happiness. You do several things, you wait, you hope. Once there comes a point where its no longer giving you happiness, you let go. Since for a while the mind is used to it not giving you happiness , it doesn't bother you much. One may think of this either as letting go, or giving up. 

Giving up produces a negative image of the situation. Its like you stopped trying.  You keep trying to fix something, or get to some point, and then you stopped it. But if we allow the mind to run its course, it will eventually stop trying and also be comfortable at it. But sometimes a little regret lingers around.

If one thinks about it, it will become clear that Letting Go and Giving Up are essentially the same thing. While the former lends a more graceful transition. The real difference is one strengthens the Ego, while the other weakens it. Letting Go gracefully strengthens the ego, it makes the ego look bigger in spite of the loss. while giving up weakens it. so it is generally easy to assume the position of Letting Go, rather than Giving Up.

Fact of the matter is, separation happens, not because you Let Go, or you Gave Up. It is part of the Change we call life. Change is the secret of this Life. Separation and loss are a mere part of it providing you yet another experience.

Once this is known, and we realize that we neither Let Go of anything, nor do we Give up, but separation 'happens' as part of this long chain of events called life, we begin to enjoy life.

Why Quantum Mechanics has nothing to do with God - Part II

A thing without attributes. Have you ever heard of such a thing? Have you ever pondered about such a thing? Can we really think about such a thing?

When we actually start thinking on these lines, we realize that any 'thing' is eventually defined and described only through its attributes. A pen has a length, a width, a shape, a form, a color, several parts, each with its own set of attributes. A word has attributes, sequence of letters, a pronunciation, a meaning and so on. A thought has attributes, the subject, the meaning, the emotional content etc. Everything we can think of is only thinkable because of its attributes! A person, a place, an event, everything.

So, if we want to talk about something without attributes, how do we even begin? We can probably begin with something that has very little attributes, something like say a point. A point has no length, breadth, depth, height, weight, color. It almost has no attributes. We in fact defined the point that way.  In spite of it not having these attributes, it does have some. Its co-ordinates. The coordinates are its attributes, and they define/describe the point. so we can say the point is in such an such a place.

When a seemingly abstract thing like a point cannot escape from having attributes, what else could that be with out attributes? Now we slowly begin to see the improbability of talking about such a thing. There can be no thing in this Universe that has no attributes. every single thing in this Universe has an attribute, simply because only by an attribute we recognize a thing! Kind of cyclic, but that is the truth. Its like saying 1 equals 1. Its true only because we defined it to be so.

So, if there can be no such thing in the Universe without attributes, could such a thing exist? Where could that exist? Rather than going in search of 'other' Universes,we need to seek an answer, because every such other Universe is essentially the same with respect to attributes, without attributes nothing can be defined. Where are we to find such a thing?  If we do find it, can there be many of them?

contd ...

What should one do after Enlightenment ?

In the Bhagavad Gita, there is an interesting verse, in chapter 5, verse 54 : Arjuna asks Krishna about the state of an enlightened person, how he will conduct himself, how he will sit, how he will walk, what will he talk,etc. He is not merely curious about some enlightened person and his behavior. His question is indirectly a question about himself. After knowing about enlightenment, Arjuna is curious about how the enlightened will behave. In a way he is checking out what he ought to be doing once he is enlightened.

Interestingly Krishna goes about saying several things, obviously not very specific but seemingly distinct.

The inclusion of this dialogue and several such are indeed the genius of the Vedantic texts. The objective of the Vedantic texts are to pave a path for enlightenment. and this is a journey. a long hard journey at that. Instead of merely declaring things as such and such in an axiomatic manner, starting from an imaginary nothingness, these texts mimic the inquiry, introspection and inner transformation of the seeker,every step of the way.

Enlightenment in a way can be elaborated as obtaining the ultimate understanding to our questions in life and beyond, about the world, life, people, events, the space, time and everything that the mind can think and ask about, as well as things that it is not capable of asking about. This is the ultimate quest. The ultimate destination is one and the same no matter how many paths one takes. 

Finally one good morning (or evening ,or most likely in the very middle of the night), when all the studies and teachings of the Guru fructifies and the seeker gets the Aha moment, he is baffled, feels a little bit stupid as well, and eventually completely at peace with the consistency of everything. Whether a simple proof that fits the margin of a notebook, or an elaborate and excruciatingly painful 1000-page proof the Fermat's Last theorem, fact is, it is proved, and finally the integrity of the axiomatic foundations of mathematics are preserved along with the cozy framework of Logic.

After basking in this moment of glory, the enlightened mulls over the post-enlightened phase. What am I supposed to do, 

now that I have known that knowing which I am incapable of knowing anything,

now that I have experienced that, experiencing which I am incapable of experiencing anything further,

now that I have seen that, seeing which I no longer see anything ...etc etc..

kind of perplexing situation, especially for the one who is supposedly enlightened..  this is where Arjuna's question comes into the picture.

Enlightenment means realizing you are not the doer, after realizing it, if one wonders what to do, perhaps the only thing to do is go back and start over the journey of enlightenment again with the hope that it might work this time around.

Why Quantum Mechanics has nothing to do with God

I find it amusing these days to see discussions among scholars of science and spirituality mostly ending with the scientists mocking at the unscientific use of science by the spiritualists to prove the existence of God. To quote Michael Shermer .. 'You say Quantum mechanics is weird and spooky, the world of the spirit is weird and spooky and so quantum mechanics is Spiritual' .. or something to that end. I think Shermer here has a point.

Quantum mechanics for instance is such a very hard subject to grasp from an intuitive manner, perhaps there are just a handful of scientists who really really understand it, and if anything its abstract and perhaps no intuitive interpretation is possible. It is a theory that is fit onto scientific observations. Much like by observing the ratio of circumference to the diameter our ancient scientists figured out that it always seem to be the same. 

An observation, or a series of observations are made, a theory is created. The theory is tested meticulously, objectively, over and over again. the theory is corrected as needed, more observations, more corrections, more new theories .. this is the broad outline of science. chipping away carefully one at a time. This simple yet completely objective study of phenomenon has taken us through various stages of evolution , we have incrementally been knowing more, controlling more, creating more,improving more. Every century has a quantum leap if you will, putting to unimaginable obscurity what the mighty of the past might have to call in terms of knowledge and comforts compared to that of a common man today.

Science has been, is and will ever be the greatest tool of man to investigate, improve and innovate. As a layman it is best to stop there. Just because I have read about the double slit experiment a dozen times in various books and magazines doesn't qualify me as a quantum physicist. Even a PhD in the subject doesn't warrant a complete understanding of it.

Now, to really stop being embarrassed by scientists particularly physicists, spiritualists who truly know what they are talking about, should use the simplest of reasoning to reach to the spirit. There is nothing New-Age about the spirit. The spirit is timeless,but science has its time. there was old archaic science, medieval science, modern science, futuristic science and so on. that is because we keep learning about a constantly changing world. The spirit is timeless.

While using contemporary language and situations are useful to set a context, to claim that modern scientific knowledge implies the spirit is childish. scientists are very sharp people. mathematics and logic are their tongue. If there were to be a connect between the two, then both must speak the same language, and with complete understanding of their respective subjects. the scientist is a seeker. he questions the understanding of man, wants to arrive at an explanation. only thing is he is very clear that his subjects are those that can be objectively observable. they must be observed,measured, detected using an unbiased instrument of sorts and the observation must be repeatable with predictable results. 

Every single such thing that the scientist is interested in, be it a subatomic particle, or sub-sub particle, or a burst of energy, or the force of gravity, or the waves on the beach, the depths of the oceans, the vast distances in space, thoughts in a person, what ever that maybe, has observable attributes. something that an instrument can detect. a single feeble blip is good, but there ought to be one. Even the dark matter for that matter is observable due to its influences, just like Neptune's influences resulted in its discovery. every single thing is owing its existence due to the fact that it can be observed. that in turn owes it to at least one single attribute.

An attribute is anything that can describe something. a length, a weight, a color, a shape, a temperature, a speed, a location.. it can be anything that can be observable. Not necessarily through the eyes, but by any instrument of any kind. If you look around and think about it, every thing that you ever know about will have an attribute..perhaps more than one most of the time. 

Can you think of anything that you know of that has no attributes?

Contd ...