Eternal Time, limited life; no way…

HAPPY JOURNEY

Forgetting life and its tragedies for a while one is really awe-struck by the sheer magnitude of the universe. Billions of years and light-years; this cosmos is difficult to conceive and a good interpretation is still harder to come by. Nevertheless it is out there majestically spread over infinite time and space; perfect to the point of madness. But is it purposeful?

Men have expended their time and energy searching, proving and disproving the creator. Metaphorically speaking it is like looking very hard for the artist’s signature in a grand canvas without it. Yes, the Artist has left it unsigned; may be because there isn’t any corner in the cosmos; though his genius is radiating through every particle.

Today it appears so funny to inquire whether this cosmos is purposive, too. Created or evolved this perfect cosmos could not be accidental or without a grand purpose. A transient human, the stardusts, doubting a purpose behind an eternal, perfect cosmos is sheer impudence in polite language.

Actually this human doubt is caused by the vagaries of life. We find life, human life in particular, a huge imperfection. There is so much pain and suffering all around us. We are ready to concede that life is the only jarring note in this otherwise perfect symphony of matter.

Is life, human life in particular, so terrible? What stops us from getting rid of our lives? Why does nobody want to die under normal circumstances? Aren’t we, ourselves, responsible for most of the pain and misery suffered by men, animals and plants?

Poverty and hunger are man-made and so are the wars and environmental degradations. But, why an imperfect man, in the first place in the animal kingdom, in a perfect cosmos is the core of moral philosophy.

Let us consider the shortcomings of life. What we grudge most about human life is its very short tenure. A mere blink of an eye! Death terminates it suddenly. But, could there be any life without death? Certainly not! Organisms need space, air, water and minerals. The old and unproductive must die and make room for the young. This is how this earth has sustained and multiplied life for the last three billion years.

Though death is essential for life, the quality and span of life is improving over the centuries. And death, too, has been made easy. It is a fact that this imperfect and fleeting life is evolving with time. Life is neither static nor immutable. There is an infinite scope for improvement.

In our part of the universe, on this earth, life has a modest range of temperature, between 0 and 100 degree Celsius. So, life could not evolve on stars. It had to evolve on a planet with the energy supplied by the star. And the star, the Sun in our case, just couldn’t hang out in space. It had to revolve around a galaxy, the Milky Way in our case, for stability and longevity. Otherwise it would have been a sitting duck for passing stars and galaxies.

Retrospectively, material organization on such a gigantic scale created the right conditions for life to evolve on earth. It would be a cosmic blunder if this perfect organization accomplished over billions of years didn’t also have a beautiful purpose.

What is the purpose behind the cosmos and, by extension, why an imperfect man in a perfect cosmos? Let us first consider the various answers supplied by the different schools of thought. God needed worshippers. Human misery is for testing the souls. Those who pass go to the paradise or dissolve into god. Almost all the solutions are linked with god.

God is, by definition, without attributes. No shape, no size and no color; imagine him if you can! In fact all secondary characteristics attributed to god belong rightfully to the spirit of the cosmos- nature. Omnipotence, benevolence, love, truth; you name it nature has it.

There are mainly two viewpoints on life. The first is through god’s mind, and the second, the human viewpoint. We have, therefore, either a religious philosophy or downright atheism. The religious philosophies have divine communications as their foundations. These divine communications are heavily allegorical. Their true literal interpretations are not possible.

Indian philosophy or Darsana to be precise has gone deeper into the problem. It says that each soul is a divine spark and strives for union with Brahman, which it attains after realizing the self. Here the emphasis is on knowing the true nature of one’s self or soul.

All these solutions have two elements in common. First, life is full of suffering so detach yourself as much as possible and prepare for the next life. Second, we are, at least we humans are, accountable for our actions.

All these solutions were arrived at in the geocentric age and perspective. Atheism is a product of modern heliocentric perspective. It threw out the baby with the bath water- god, soul, purpose and all such lunatic notions.

The need of the hour is an enlightened human viewpoint; enlightened about the beauty and sanctity of life. A positive outlook on life is a precondition for a meaningful inquiry into the mysteries of life.
OK, life is precious and sacred. So what?

Life differs with matter in many ways. What concerns us most is consciousness. There was a grand cosmos but no consciousness or awareness about it until life evolved with it. Metaphorically, the canvas created the admirers, too. Human art howsoever perfect can never duplicate this feat.

A nagging doubt about life still persists. If nature is so impartially merciful why is it so selective about the quality and duration of life? Why is it that some souls should die in infancy while some live to a ripe old age? Nature is whimsical if there is only one life for each soul. There is another doubt about accountability.

Indian Darsana reconciles both these doubts in the transmigration of souls through rebirth. The perishable body is the abode of an immortal soul. Enjoyment and suffering are experienced by the soul. It goes on reaping what it sows till it realizes the true nature and bearing of the soul.
It also says that souls come from and go back to god, which does not say much about the origin and destination of souls.

Since we are not interested in yet another theory linked with god, we can only say that ‘the from and to’ of souls is a mystery.

The immortal soul comes from some unknown world, unites with a body, gains experience then gets released to a more exciting world. In other words earth is a natural spaceship where souls develop consciousness slowly and painfully. Life as we know it is merely a vehicle for the developments of consciousness.

In one masterstroke every doubt and dilemma- accountability, inequality, pain and purpose- falls into a grand scheme. Moreover, nature turns out to be more generous and loving. May be nature is creating super conscious souls to reveal its hidden beauty and mystery. Dear life, you are full of surprises everyday.

The existence of the soul cannot be proved or disproved by arguments although people in love experience it everywhere everyday. Those unfortunate persons who did not experience love for another living being would not buy soul easily. They will dismiss it as man’s wishful thinking for immortality.

If nature took so much trouble to evolve consciousness, would it let it perish with body? Where ordinary matter is preserved so religiously, would consciousness go waste with the expiry of our Sun or extinction of life? Knowing the magnanimity of nature, the answer to these queries cannot be yes.


We are familiar with three dimensions of space and the fourth dimension of time. The souls may belong to the unidirectional fourth dimension. Coupled with time, the souls must move only in the forward direction, from lesser consciousness to higher consciousness. One is tempted to suggest that there must be an infinite series of worlds the soul must travel infinitely. In other words the soul is on an eternal adventure in the cosmos. Bon voyage! HAPPY JOURNEY!!