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Re: A very Scary Question!!

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s.ramachandran • March 22, 2003 


Respected Sir :

Your question is not at all scary.  Why should it be? it signifies a sane,
enquiring mind. However, before proceeding - not that this ignorant writer
wants to commit anything concrete so as to raise any hopes in any of you
about a possible answer, with regard to  the points you have raised  - one
would like to ascertain the quality of such a mind as yours which is in an
enquiry mode.

You may well ask why the motive needs to be known.  Point is, what the mind
searches for, the mind will find.  In that sense all search(es) are futile.
Assume for a second that you have found God or know about his origins in a
logical, scientific manner. What then? Will you be able to recognize
through your normal cognative 5 senses God or even intellectually
understand the logic/scientific explanation?

No offence meant, but this is vital.  If you reply in the affirmative, then
your are lost because recognition is within the field of the
mind/experience and memory.  In other words, you are still wobbling within
the limited circumference of the known, knowledge.  If on the contrary your
reply is in the negative, then a new issue crops up namely, your original
question will continue to be unanswered and the search will go on.

Where does this end? and ultimately lead to ?  Therefore, it is essential
to know the motive, reason, rationale for your wanting to find out.
Invariably, 99.9999% of us, not excluding the writer in the least, common
folks create a desire first and then set out to achieve it methodically,
systematically, scientifically, logically, rationally. We try to fit the
findings into our pattern of experience/memory/knowledge.

In a state of non-desire, where there is no reason but an earnest enquiring
open mind and approach perhaps one may find an inkling of an answer!!. In
this state thoughts do not function. Thought is a by-product of
knowledge/experience and is always limiting because its parents (knowledge)
is limited. When thought is not, then that which ought to be may perhaps be
visible.

In the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali Chapter I,Sutra 3 says " Tada drushtu
swarupe avasthanam", meaning "then i.e. when the mental modifications
(outlined in the previous Sutra) are ceased or calmed then the Seer abides
or resides in the original form". What is this original form ? Note, this
is genderless.  No size, description, boundaries is given anywhere.

This also is not to be taken as "whether Patanjali is suggesting that the
individual is God  etc..". No Sir, this is far from the Truth.

When silence abides in the mind, then a newness occurs and this newness
will perhaps give you some insights into some of the questions you have
raised.

The writer is acutely aware that to some of you the above may seem somewhat
vague, mysterious or downright meaningless, but WHAT IS IS. Full Stop.

Such an enquiry should be the base for an ongoing discovery. Are you dead
serious? The level of seriousness one is talking is : "if one were to push
your head into a bucket of water and hold it, after a few seconds you will
struggle, the mind will become numb and there will be a deep desparation in
your entire being, every nerve center will yell for life". Once your head
is taken out you will breath a sigh of relief and then your knowledge will
take over and thoughts will once more start playing with your mind.Are you
this desparate? You need to be, incidentally.  If yes, if you can muster
such a lion hearted courage, then through these fora all of us,including
this writer can take a deep journey into eternity.

Finding answers to questions which you have posed imply an journey where
there is no termination, but only arrivals. Long time may have to be given
to proceed.

Hope the writer is not trying to either frighten or make things difficult,
but believe the writer Sir, Neither are things very easy. The subject
covered in your question includes the entire cosmos and beyond.

By the way the writer hopes you are a practitioner of the Nitya karmas,
especially the Sandhyavandanam and Gayathri? Are you regular? What is your
Bhava or attitude? Routine, mechanical gestures or deep reverence - please
do not answer on this mail, but ask yourself.  This is extremely vital and
relevant for discovering the right answers.  Note the grammer , it is
present continuing  It is a constant journey.  The more you chant the more
clarity may reign.  Occasionally, you may come across an iota of the answer
through a flash. Do not try to capture and store in your memory. IT is not
the stuff experience, memory, knowledge is made of.

More importantly, what is your approach to the -generally avoidable  by
many - question of Death.  Are you afraid to die?
These are essential preliminary questions which you need to discover and
answer within yourself.  Is your quest something to do with a remote
feeling of having got lost in this 'big bad' world?

To come to your need to have a rationale, logical, scientific reply.  See
the immediate fallacy of this query?  Do not be upset, because this is a
normal query. But see for yourself that when you ask you want to find an
answer, store it away into your memory and then go to sleep i.e. get
involved in routine.  Even if by chance you manage to find the answer you
want to explore further? What if you come to the end of the whole thing?
Becuase the next logically question will be where is the beginning etc.

How much are you interested in the Vedas?  The Vedas can be your best Guru.
Can you question when the Vedas were created? where is their end? what is
their form?  Beyond a certain point, even science cannot answer.
Intelligence, knowlege are of little use here.

Does this imply that we should not enquire at all ? No Sir, by all means,
enquiry is must. Discontentment is highly desirable than contentment.
Contentment is stagnation. constant discontentment is welcome. It assures
constant renewed discovery.  But the spirit of enquiry must be tempered
with many other factors which in Yogic principles are called "ashtanga" or
8 limbs (ashta - eight, anga- limbs).  These are Yama, Niyama, Asana,
Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi.

Does it mean the writer is indicating that everyone takes up Yoga and finds
an answer? No Sir, this is not a propaganda or justification for Yoga or
anything else.  The point is,  Yoga as a physical, mental and spiritual
discipline helps one to some extent to progress in the right direction, if
one may put it briefly.  The progress is constant until one drops dead
naturally. There is no assurance but with the end (of the body) being
assured and certain, the mind gets into a delusion and hence constantly
churns out such queries.  Yoga focuses on these aspects and to some extent
helps man get rid of time, space and other disburbances so that in the end
the Reality, whatever you may call it, whatever name you may give - you
call this Narayana, Mr.John will call This "Jesus", Ibrahim may choose to
call HIM as "Allah" or someone else may choose to call it the nameless.

One hopes the thread is kept active by  interested members.

Tat Tvam Asi.
Om Tat sat                          
                      vimalkumar                                                                           
                      ranganathan              To:      bhakti-list@yahoogroups.com,                       
                                         srirangasri@yahoogroups.com                                 
                                               cc:                                                         
                      03/21/03 10:44           Subject: A very Scary Question!!                            
                                                                                                                 
Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:

Respected Vaishnavas,

When I ponder over this question that I am going to present, I always get a very
unsettling, unhappy, even a shocking or a jittery feeling. The question is this:
WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF GOD??

Kidambi Soundararajan.




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