The light of Knowledge

Most of us visit a place of worship, be it church, temple, mosque etc. Most of these places have candles or lamps which light up the image of the Lord. I do not know who or where the Lord is. I certainly do not know if it is a He or a She. But, when I look around me I see certain glories, such as the sun, the moon and the stars. I see that there is a certain order in the creation and manifestation around me. The light of my Buddhi (the intellect) is similar to the lamp in the place of worship which shines on the Lord. This light of my intellect makes me an Astika, a Believer.

“In the light of knowledge, ignorance is burnt off without leaving a residue”

In Hindu temples, camphor is burnt in the lamps. Camphor is a substance which burns itself out without leaving a residue. The similarity here is that, in the light of knowledge, ignorance is burnt off without leaving a residue.

God is not “Other”

Characteristically, we tend to look upon God as the “other” — something or someone separate from ourselves. The one to pray to, ask things of, ask for favors from. This God also exists in our consciousness, no different from the many objects and people that exist in our consciousness.

How then is the God any different from the many other things that we are conscious of? The Vedas say “Tat Tvam Asi”, ‘That thou art”. We are already that which we are seeking, whether it be happiness, freedom from Samsara or God. If all that exists is Consciousness and the Lord is the Supreme form of that Consciousness, how can we possibly be separate from it? We have to be a part of that all-pervading consciousness and therefore not separate from God. In the vision of the Vedas, therefore, we are what we are urgently and earnestly seeking to be, it is just ignorance that separates us from Him. It is alright for us to pray to Him as a separate entity to begin with, but only until Realization of the Self occurs, when that distance between you and Him is transcended and you become as one. Or the Realization occurs that you were always one and it is only the ignorance that kept you apart.

What? I am no different from God? Is that not blasphemy?

Blasphemous although it may sound, clear-headed thinking brings us to this realization. There are many ways of arriving at this realization. Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, which follow in the subsequent blogs, will elaborate on the many ways we can reach this understanding. We can reach it by Bhakti Yoga, fervent prayers in praise of the Lord, without asking for anything in return, and in Jnana Yoga, the yoga of knowledge or Karma Yoga, performing ones duties of daily living properly and assiduously. But the fact remains that unless we have Grace, achievement of this result is elusive. Knowledge by itself would not be effective or enough.

Consciousness

“It is NOT that I think and therefore I am, it is that I am and therefore i think!”

Every living being is self-conscious or conscious of itself, no matter how big or small the being is. It is this self-consciousness which makes an animal attempt to run from a shooter. If I were to ask you, “Are you conscious?” or “do you know you exist?”, the answer is obvious. I do not need to consult someone to establish if I am conscious or that I exist, because I am intrinsically conscious of my existence. You are able to hear and understand my question because of that consciousness. It is NOT that I think and therefore I am, it is that I am and therefore i think!

When we say that every living organism is aware of its existence, it means that there is an instinctive need for survival in all living forms. No one and nothing that exists wants to be hurt or killed. It is important to understand and practice this respect toward all living forms. It is not enough that we as human protect ourselves and our off springs from harm or that we love and protect our dogs, the same compassion and charity should extend to everything that lives. The same Prana that pervades you, that gives you Gnana Shakti, the capacity to acquire knowledge and Kriya Shakti, the power to be active, pervades all living forms without exception. When we develop that true compassion toward all, we would have achieved the greatest of human traits.

Just as I am conscious of myself, I am also conscious of everything else around me. In fact, the existence of everything around me has to be proven by me! This happens as a result of the Pramanas, the means of knowledge that I possess. These are my sense organs; they are the means of knowledge through which I confirm the existence of everything around me. By the same token, I do not need any means of knowledge to know that I exist. Why? Because I am self-evident and everything else is evident to me.

Why is Awareness beginningless, timeless and endless?

Before the beginning of everything there must have been awareness. To say that something began, awareness must have preceded it and must have been aware of its beginning. Its prior non-existence must have been known. The observer is always there before the event begins and after the event has ended. Therefore Awareness has to be timeless and time is itself a part of awareness. If we were to say that something was aware of the beginning of Awareness, there must have been another awareness, and this will go on ad infinitum. Thus the Awareness or the Cit, is the same as Sat the Being. Sat Cit Ananda is therefore the being which is also the knowing and is the limitless all-pervasive awareness.

~ Hari Om