Treasures of the Past

Welcome to the treasures of the past V

In the last issue we saw that a Sadak will have to ascend in the realm of consciousness and as he ascends, the consciousness is gross, at the lower level. It is also called material or sthula or jagrat avasta. As you may be aware the gross world is the manifestation with names and forms. That is, in some forms, the consciousness is dormant and in others it is somewhat prominent, while in others such as humans it is evident due to well developed faculties and mind. The human form, has well developed instruments of perception which have led to the consciousness finding a spontaneous expression through them! This is only, a part of the evolution .In the form of humans, the immense potentialities are pregnant. In other words these potentialities can be harnessed to reach the pinnacle of Godhood.

Our scriptures have analyzed this progress towards higher consciousness and have clearly spelt out the methods

To achieve this progress, the Dos and Don?ts are there to be borne in mind while doing the sadhana or contemplation. They had devised the methods or rituals that are suited to different temperaments; different stages of development the consciousness that has already taken place, in an individual, in his or her social environment. These rituals gradually elevated them from a stage, where their external bound consciousness, that is firmly attached to the material surroundings, to a more subtle planes.

You may have a question in your mind now. How is it possible to achieve this objective through the rituals? They have been described as barbaric or unscientific and irrational by the modern western outlook! But we all tend to forget one basic instinct of all human beings. Once he or she is born into this world, the so called knowledge, culture, rational thinking etc are taught to him by his society or the members therein! It is nothing but an accepted opinion for generations and have emanated from one or many individuals! Some times our modern science conducts experiments and comes to certain conclusions that having been verified, these are declared truths! Again these experiments are products of individual mind and intellect and there is always a possibility of change when a more authentic result emerges, that pushes the previous one to the background!

In the meanwhile the evolution of cosmos or the gross bodies making up the universe itself has been undergoing constant changes. Science struggles to keep pace with these changes because it relies on the human intellect which is limited by the aging factor of the instrument called brain, through which it effectuates! Essentially one individual can not continue the experiment or research and the theory or hypothesis will have to be carried forward by some one else who survives after the originator. This naturally results in modifications to the original thought form! So what we believe as truth or established theories are only evolutionary thoughts and theories. Now you may arrive at your own conclusion as to what is rational and irrational.

Truth per se is always different at different levels of consciousness. What is appears to be the truth at the material plane of consciousness need not necessarily be true at higher levels! The ultimate truth is always distorted as it reaches the gross planes, because the human emotions from the vital plane, from the physical plane cloud its purity and distort!

Now coming back to the rituals, these were designed to suit the variety of creation and did not ignore the fact that consciousness is present not only in the human form but also in all other components of creation and the vibrations between them freely interact. This fact seems to be totally missed out by all modern thinkers and they are seen struggling with opposing forces of their own environment!

To give you an example of how this was taken into account I shall give you a few riks or songs of praise from Yajur Veda! In a yagna or sacrificial ritual called Darsapournamasa yagna, fire was kindled with two pieces of wood cut from the tree. By rubbing these pieces together due to friction, fire sprang up and burst into flames! This could have been achieved by mechanically cutting the wood! Whereas there was a prayer addressed to the tree! It says, Ho! Piece of wood you were there in the tree with a purpose, thou shall be brought to this ritual with salutations! Thou art the carrier of our thoughts because you hold fire (Potentiality) within. But this word ?Fire? is freely used even today represent the zeal in an individual! This fire is represented as aspiration in human emotion! Thou art the cause of awakening; Thou art the possessor of tranquility. I carry thee to the yagna or ritual! Now would you term this prayer irrational? Does this not show his intimate relationship with his environment and his abiding concern for their relevance to his life? In contrast modern man today keeps fretting about green house effect! Have we really evolved? Or are we on a retrograde?

In yet another prayer the individual performing yagna brings earth to the altar of fire from the rats? burrows! Sounds funny and to the western thinker would sound all the more barbaric! But unfortunately these conclusions only showcase the poverty of modern thinker in terms of his lack of knowledge! Let us see what this verse has got to convey. The great sages were well aware that the consciousness is a phenomenon that is present not just in one location within the human body but is present in every cell of its composition! They perceived life in the minutest cell structure! The concept of atom was not at all new to them and in fact they declared the God consciousness to be subtler than the atom!Anur aniyan mahato mahiyan a statement in our scriptures state that the God is subtler than the atom and bigger than the biggest!

Now bringing the earth from the borrows signified that the consciousness that is fragmented and spread through out the body in its cells will have to be focused, collected, to contemplate on the central truth, that pervades them as well as governs the vast cosmos! Similarly yet another verse talks about bringing the earth from white anthills! In Sanskrit the word that represents these insects is called Vamri that means to bring out, vomit, to turn inside out! Is it not puzzling? Now a modern day analogy will clear the cloud! We frequently use a terminology called Exposure what do we mean by that? We have often heard people saying that, so and so has wide exposure! We even advise younger children to be exposed to the current developments! To be precise, we mean, that what is hitherto not exposed, is brought out, face to face with an object so that cognition takes place in the right perspective! This concept was emphasized here in the ritual when they brought the earth from the white anthill. Now I know a question comes to our minds immediately why white ants? Why not ordinary ones? We know these white ants turn the wood and break its composition! Throughout our scriptures, humans are compared to the plants, trees etc. So in a spirit of sacrifice, when you expose consciously every cell of our being to the Truth of universal consciousness or God Consciousness, then they fully transform from being materialistic to more subtle, expansive. Though this cannot be expressed clearly through limited vocabulary, it needs to be experienced. Our Vedantic treatises have termed it as total surrender! Without holding back anything! The term used is Saranagati or total surrender. When Sri Ramanuja extols Lord Ranganatha Vishnu he explains the term well and says that it should be with Poorna Visvasa or abiding faith!

We shall see more elaborately about the states of consciousness and their interaction with other planes and the resultant status of consciousness.