Atom#4 -Musings on the Journey of the Soul

 * Inspired by the Book “Autobiography of the Soul” – An Epic of the end of times (Tamil book) (Authors: Valmeegi, Agasthyar / Gnanalayam Pondy)*

Where is the Soul?

If the Soul is taken to exist, where is it inside us? 

Is it in our heart - most people believe that the sense of   "I" comes from the place near the physical heart.

Ramana Maharishi has also explained similarly (i forget in which work I read this).

Here is an extract from https://www.arunachalasamudra.org/teachings_ramanamaharshi.html#SearchingtheSourceofIThought

Sri Ramana often said that one should read and study the Ribhu Gita regularly. He once remarked that in the Ribhu Gita it is said: "That idea 'I am not the body, I am not the mind, I am Brahman, I am everything' is to be repeated again and again until this become the natural state." Ramana also said that such repetitions were a powerful aid to Self-enquiry.

The Ribhu Gita is a spiritual text extensively used by Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. It was one of the first books he read after self-realization after he came to Arunachala and one whose message clearly accorded with what he had realized within himself. During his life it was recited at Ramanasramam and it is still read at Ramanasramam today. Ramana's use and recommendation of this text has brought it into much wider visibility among those interested in his teachings and Advaita Vedanta. According to Annamalai Swami, "Bhagavan often said that we should read and study the Ribhu Gita regularly. 

The origins of the Ribhu Gita are uncertain. It is contained within the Sivarahasya, an ancient Sanskrit epic devoted to Siva. It has been compared to the better-known Bhagavad Gita, contained within the epic Mahabharata. Similar dialogues between Ribhu and Nidagha on the Self and Brahman are also found within the traditional 108 Upanishads, so it appears that the origin of the Ribhu Gita dates from the Upanishadic period, generally thought to be about 600 BC. The Ribhu Gita exists in two forms, the traditional Sanskrit version, and a Tamil version rendered in the late 1800s by Bhikshu Sastrigal, also known as Ulagantha Swamigal. The Tamil version follows the Sanskrit original in essential contents. It was rearranged by Ulagantha Swamigal and placed in eight-line verses of great beauty. The Tamil version was the one primarily used by Sri Ramana. Both the Sanskrit and Tamil versions have now been translated into English in complete translations. This was done by Dr. H. Ramamoorthy, a Sanskrit and Tamil scholar, and Nome, a spiritual teacher in the United States.

But I digress - where is the Soul. I am reminded of  the hymns from Narayana Sukta, a prayer to the Universal being called Narayana.

Narayana Suktam with translation taken from internet

The above hymn fixes the great consciousness, the parabrahman, in the centre of the heart. However, it does not call it as the Soul, atman, anywhere. However, the descriptions of the great and undecaying flame of fire suits the atman/soul description.  

i had in my younger days, after i started to work, was inspired to recite the Narayana Suktam. It also helped that during that time i thought of myself as a Vishnu-bhakt, devotee of Vishnu and his various avatars like Krishna and Narasimha.

The Narayana Sukta hymn was in resonance with my underlying conviction (an undeveloped one at that time) that an undying and eternal consciousness pervades us all, either we call it as Vishnu or Shiva.

Thinking back, something in me had inspired,  guided and aided me in the search for the ultimate truth, of why are we here, who are the Gods and what started it all.

Little did i know, that it will lead back to me,  the real me - the atman that makes me what i am, i was, i will be.

The journey in search of the atman/Soul shall continue...

naiva strī na pumān eṣa na caivāyaṃ napuṃsakaḥ / yad yac charīram ādatte tena tena sa yujyate // 5.10 //

It is not female, it is not male, nor is it neuter. whatever body it takes, with that it becomes united. 

Meaning: Jivatma in reality is neither male nor female nor neuter. Whatever body jivatma adopts, the gender of that body becomes its gender. Jivatma is undifferentiated and devoid of all attributes.

(Svetasvatara Upanishad,  Chapter 5, The One Immanent God, Mantras on Jiva - credit: eSamskriti.com)

Atom#3 -Musings on the Journey of the Soul

* Inspired by the Book “Autobiography of the Soul” – An Epic of the end of times (in Tamil) (Authors: Valmeegi, Agasthyar / Gnanalayam Pondy)*

I have started reading Avadhuta Gita of Swami Dattatreya, an avatar of Vishnu and also considered as the combined avatar of Brahma - Vishnu - Siva (Rudra). Swami Dattatreya is the son of Maharishi Atri and Devi Anasuya. He is the brother of Maharishi Durvasa (an amsa of Siva-Rudra), who is one of the Saptarishis in this Kaliyuga-end.

Swami Dattatreya's Avadhuta Gita is about the Atman, the eternal and omnipresent being, our true and unchanging self.  The Avadhuta asks us - Why weep, when you are the Atman itself, which suffers no dualities.

Reading the Avadhuta Gita, I begin to think that this Gita is not of the Swami (the body/mind) but of the Swami within us all, the Soul.  

Let us see the following verses from Chapter 1 and you can decide from whose perspective this Gita has been sung - 

अहमेवाव्ययोऽनन्तः शुद्धविज्ञानविग्रहः । ahamevāvyayo'nantaḥ śuddhavijñānavigrahaḥ /

सुखं दुःखं न जानामि कथं कस्यापि वर्तते ।। ७।।sukhaṁ duḥkhaṁ na jānāmi kathaṁ kasyāpi vartate //7//

I indeed am immutable and infinite - of the form of pure Intelligence.
I do not know how or in relation to whom joy and sorrow exist.

जन्म मृत्युर्न ते चित्तं बन्धमोक्षौ शुभाशुभौ । janma mṛtyurna te cittaṁ bandhamokśau śubhāśubhau /

कथं रोदिषि रे वत्स नामरूपं न ते न मे ।। १७।।  kathaṁ rodiṣi re vatsa nāmarūpaṁ na te na me //17//

For you there is neither birth nor death, for you there is no mind, for you there is neither bondage nor liberation, neither good nor evil. My child: why shed tears? Neither you nor I have name and form.

To be frank, I have not reached that high level of perception, where I have become one with the Soul. Also, I am still not sure if the Atman has no role in having good or evil intentions.

To be a Soul or not?

Is the soul there - science has not accepted the existence of soul/spirit, as there is no proof. Absence of proof is not proof of absence.  

Max Planck (1858-1947) was a great physicist and Nobel Price winner who gave us the Planck's Constant, h (as in the energy of the photon, E= h V) and established that radiation energy (as in heat emitted from any object) is emitted in discrete integral packets, called quanta - thus laying the foundations of the Quantum Physics/Mechanics way of seeing the physical world. 

In his book published in 1932 (english translation), Where Is Science Going? (with a prologue by Albert Einstein), Planck has this to say -

Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are part of nature and therefore part of the mys­tery that we are trying to solve. Music and art are, to an extent, also attempts to solve or at least to express the mystery. But to my  mind  the more we progress with either the more we are brought into harmony with all nature itself. And that is one of the great services of science to the individual.

He further says - 

As Einstein  has said, you  could not be a scientist if you did not know that the external world  existed  in   reality; but that knowledge is not gained by any process of reasoning. It  is a direct  perception  and  therefore in its nature akin to what we call Faith. It is a metaphysical belief. Now that is something which the skeptic questions in regard to religion; but it is the same in regard to science. However, there is this to be said in favor of theoretical physics, that it is a very active science and does make an appeal to the lay imagination. In that way it may to some extent, satisfy the metaphysical hunger which religion   does   not   seem   capable   of   satisfying.

Now, now - did we hear that right - faith, direct perception, metaphysical hunger.  Max Planck spoke honestly and accepted that Science is one way to understand the greater reality of this creation which cannot always be perceived with our senses and instruments.

Our saints, philosophers, rishis, siddhas who by their direct perception achieved through meditation and introspection have tried to unravel the mystery and true nature of the creation.

Most of them have come to the conclusion that All is One and One is All.

The Journey to find the Soul will continue..

Atom#2 -Musings on the Journey of the Soul

 

* Inspired by the Book “Autobiography of the Soul” – An Epic of the end of times (Authors: Valmeegi, Agasthyar / Gnanalayam Pondy)*

Each soul is all-powerful and can create or destroy all existence if [they] know how. 

You and us and all others are interconnected by our mutual possession of all there is. 

You may create alternative universes if you wish and dwell within. 

You are all a duplicate of the universe within which you dwell. 

Your mind represents all that exists. It is “fun” to see how much you can access.

I read this in a forum dedicated to channelings from another dimension👽. They call themselves the Cs- Cassiopaeans.

Human's have the sixth sense, which differentiates us from the rest of the animal kingdom. 

What is this sixth sense - simply it is one more than the 5 senses  - see, hear, smell, taste, touch.

It is not that simple.

Merriam Webster has this about the 6th sense - 

Sixth sense definition is - a power of perception like but not one of the five senses : a keen intuitive power.

There is no one definition for Sixth sense  - everywhere it is defined as different from the 5 senses* - "neti, neti" ; not this, not this. (root: na iti, na iti;  also can be translated as neither this nor that). This principle is introduced and used in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.

The following was extracted from Avadhuta Gita 1.25 

Sanskrit in Devanagari:
तत्त्वमस्यादिवाक्येन स्वात्मा हि प्रतिपादितः ।
नेति नेति श्रुतिर्ब्रूयाद अनृतं पाञ्चभौतिकम् ।। २५।।

IAST:
tattvamasyādivākyena svātmā hi pratipāditaḥ /
neti neti śrutirbrūyād anṛtaṁ pāñcabhautikam //25//

Meaning:  By such sentences/vedic dictums (4 Mahavakyas) as "That thou art," our own Self, the Atman, is affirmed. The objects (including our body) composed of the five elements are held to be unreal- as the Srutis (specifically the Upanishads) say, नेति नेति  "Not this, not this."

(Translation from Avadhuta Gita of Dattatreya by Swami Chetananda & Wikisource)

I think it is our Consciousness itself - awareness that I am different and unique from other objects and beings that I can sense and process through my 5 senses. That something in me is independent of the 5 senses and aware of things & concepts more than the external senses can make sense.

It is much more than the gut feel, the spidey-sense, the reflex action.

                                            pic credit: Google search, Copyright rests with creator.

We use our senses to learn from the external environment, for survival, growth, pleasure, innovation.

All the 5 senses are focused outwards, like radars trained to pickup the external signals and threats. The nervous system and the brain process all the external signals - for decision making & consumption. 

See words on a paper/a scenery -  we  read/see, process and store the relevant information in our brain.

See food on a plate - we eat, process and store the energy/nutrients in our cells.

All the 5 senses immerse our mind with the external world - colours, noise, music, flavours, smells, softness, roughness, heat, cold, desirable, undesirable, harmful, not harmful, survival, growth, consumption, birth, death, re-birth - dualities.

Coming back to tackling the 6th Sense, it is the source of life itself - calling out our attention, the fountain of our innovation and serendipity, the guidance system that we are not aware of.  It is our SOUL - but again this is an inadequate description, for the Soul is much more than the 6th Sense.

Lets try this definition - The 6th Sense - a simple ability of the Soul that is perceived by our mind.

That which our senses cannot fathom, the 6th Sense perceives it - unseen, unheard so on.

Is this mind-body complex limited to the above only - birth-survive-grow-procreate-die. If yes, what is the greater purpose in all this, if at all there is one. Our ancestors have also had similar thoughts and their findings, debates, analysis can be found in the Upanishads.

Here is a quote from an Upanishad on defining Atman and its primal purpose - 

That Atman (self, soul) is indeed Brahman. It [Ātman] is also identified with the intellect, the Manas (mind), and the vital breath, with the eyes and ears, with earth, water, air, and ākāśa (sky), with fire and with what is other than fire, with desire and the absence of desire, with anger and the absence of anger, with righteousness and unrighteousness, with everything — it is identified, as is well known, with this (what is perceived) and with that (what is inferred). As it [Ātman] does and acts, so it becomes: by doing good it becomes good, and by doing evil it becomes evil. It becomes virtuous through good acts, and vicious through evil acts. Others, however, say, "The self is identified with desire alone. What it desires, so it resolves; what it resolves, so is its deed; and what deed it does, so it reaps.

— Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.4.5

The Soul - what it desires, so it thinks, acts and accumulates- on & on in an seemingly infinite cycle of births and deaths.

We will travel with the Soul and try to make sense of its journey across eons, yugas, ages.  The soul which is eternal and without death, but caught in the birth-death cycle!

Prajnanam Brahma (प्रज्ञानम् ब्रह्म) - "Consciousness is Brahman," or "Brahman is Consciousness"

* This article tries to explain in a limited way one of the aspect of the sixth sense..

https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/11/22/20920762/proprioception-sixth-sense