A name,a son, a husband, a father, a citizen, a professional....is it all about "becoming", is it all about "identities " and "roles"? What happens to the "being", to the "self", to the consciousness when stripped of all identities? Who am I when I am not anybody ?
I think it is important to shun "lower" fields of experience to savor the "higher" ones.
But I don't want to be judgemental. All ,afterall, is God's creation .
The pig delights in its food and the carnivore in its . It is as per their taste and "svabhav" or "prakriti".
But for some delights lie elsewhere and delights of others are not even in the umbra or penumbra of "desire-spectrum"!
I think the more aware a being , the more possibilities emerge ...the highest as well as the lowest is possible in humans ... so in that sense Yes ,I think human beings are closer to Godhead or I will say,closer to "sat-chit-ananda" datum from where all possibilities emerge ... lucifer can become a satan though !
I don't think it is about ego...it is more about the possibilty of manifesting pure consciousness ...humans as microcosm of universe the macrocosm....the creativity that human beings can exhibit ..destructive as well as constructive ..can not be matched by any other species..and who is the most creative of all?" becoming" from "being" is ultimate creativity...
In this journey of "being" to "becoming" called life, is the man who "becomes" something more successful or happier than the one who doesn't "become" anything but retains his "being"? What about the one ,who in this journey towards "becoming" ,suddenly or gradually realises the futility of it all and goes back to "being" , before nature intervenes to annihilate the "becoming" anyway?
Beyond shastras and theories ,I get this strange sense of wonder when I am not living in thoughts or when my mind is totally bereft of any thoughts whatsoever...
The natural question that arises is "Who am I?"... Body is just made of bones ,organs,tissues,skin etc...Thoughts are mere thoughts..But who is thinking?
Suppose we get up on a certain morning having forgotten everything......Even the creation around us will appear new and strange... What will everything be without the memory?
Even the mind thinks in a language ,which in turn is dependent on memory..Take away the memory and what happens to personality?
These thoughts keep coming to my mind and I can not help but marvel at this strange creation...Then 'ego" appears the biggest illusion... All knowledge is acquired ...and everything is dependent on memory...
Language itself is a combination of symbols...symbols which our minds have been trained to understand..We are so limited by our senses...Change the nature of the eye and what we see will be different...change the nature of the ear and what we hear will be different..so our very existence depends on the perception of mind which itself is dependent on senses...
We can also think beyond time and space..can we? No we can not because our existence is also dependent on pre determined concepts of three dimesional space and time...
So what can we know? Only that which our mind and senses allow... As they say in quantum physics ,the observer determines the observed...
But what is beyond the "observer" and the "observed" ? Can we ever know ?Are we meant to know? Will the existence allow us to know what is not required for our existence ?
Einstein said that like visible light is not the only form of light ( we have infra red,ultraviolet etc) ,manifested consciousness is not the only form of consciousness...
But how can we ever know consciousness which is unmanifested ...
May be through meditation...But I am not sure...
Will the bacteria living inside the human colon ever know what a human being is like?
Our existence is not much different in this unfathomable universe ...
We are no bigger in size than the minutest bacterium when compared to the size of the universe ....
So what's the way out?
I think the only way out is surrender to the will of lord
We don't know anything..and may be we will never know anything...
All knowledge then is finally pretension having no inherent value ...
We human beings pride ourselves for our acheivements in the scientific field...But inventing gadgets on a planet which is not even the size of a mustard seed in the entire universe will not take us anywhere nearer to truth ...
But then finally as Krishna says in Gita, we do what He wills us to do..
Not a blade of grass moves without his consent...
Isn't flaunting and self aggrandizement vulgar in a world ridden with poverty,deprivation and misery ?
All the training in the world ,starting from kindergarten to the social and religious ones end up in destroying the "self"....unlearn to rediscover the "self"....
The essence of spirituality - "Don't take life seriously ,you are not
going to come out of it alive any way "
Don't let "maya" get you...weariness and feverishness are the only sins ...
... Do whatever you want to or give up everything like a monk ..It will
all still be evanescent and temporary !
Gather experiences being an active player in the game of life or be
detached and complete the journey as a dispassionate witness.
Be a face in the crowd or live a life of oblivion .
Try to make the world a better place for the future pilgrims or let
the world take care of itself .
Do whatever but never forget that it is all going to end sooner than you think !
Tyranny free life is ideal ...otherwise tyranny of the virtuous is any day better than tyranny of the depraved .....
People talk about viruses and bacteria causing disease..aren't humans too a disease that afflicts this planet..when it is other organisms,it is infestation and when it is us humans it is population?!! ..and isn't body a disease of the soul? ...depends on how it is used ,I suppose...same applies to humans infesting this planet too...some are like the useful bacteria that help life to thrive ..
The truth remains always subjective and the justification for paths we chose is no different either . As somebody said-"each must find his own way" . Then again ,the subject of free -will vs divine -will has been debated since time immemorial and remains a mystery to the thinking mind to this day!!! There are paths and paths that may or may not be traversed, with diversions plenty or none at all. Between birth and death ,the journey may be yours or may be directed by forces known or unknown.All the time in this journey may or may not have been your own.You may have succumbed to the blows of fate or rose higher after every fall.Life will pass whether well lived ( again subjective) or not. Beyond this we have never known, and may be we will never know!!
Is the truth behind us or ahead of us--are we to discover or create--is
there A-Priori or Tabula Rasa to be written over ?
Is it too difficult to answer the above question? I believe,it is not at all difficult. The answer
lies in experience. Don't believe in anything at all, taught by your
parents, teachers ,society,moral science. Just be a Dr Jekyll and see how
you feel, with complete awareness,not conditioned awareness and be Mr Hyde
,and see how you feel, again with complete awareness and not conditioned
awareness. The answer would present itself to you with non ambiguous
clarity! The child's mind bereft of any conditioning is still able to
distinguish between what is beautiful and what is ugly! How did he develop
the concept? All unwholesome activities and all forms of negativity sadden
the spirit within and agitate the mind whereas ,all forms of positivity and
exchange of unconditional love gladdens the spirit and enlivens the mind!
Is this universal ? I believe it is ,with rare exceptions in strange maladies
of the mind and spirit!
So can the core values be taught? Or do they need to be just uncovered? Like
the moon that emerges from behind the clouds!
Consciousness expressing itself through the different modes of its expressed self , is but just a play of His self with His own self , and the differentiations of egos and individuals is just a necessary element for this play of Maya. Otherwise ,take away the memory and what would ego and individuality be? Take away the memory and even the familiarity with the creation,which each morning one wakes up to, would also disappear in all probability, leave alone the concepts of beauty and propriety!!