Peculiar to us, the homo-sapiens

Sexuality and Spirituality

Sexuality and spirituality are two components of human mind. Lower organisms have instinct to survive and procreate. Higher organisms have a little reason to cope with the larger arena of life. Only the humans have spirituality besides advanced reasoning and intuition. Ironically the most endowed Homo sapiens or wise men are the unhappy too.

Spirituality is awakening of soul-consciousness. It is no secret that abstract ideas fall prey to definitions, interpretations and perceptions. Still, defining a term for better understanding is a necessary evil.

Awareness of souls is seen in some other species too, such as elephants, monkeys and whales. But what exactly are soul and its awareness? This is a slippery ground. Soul or Spirit is denied by materialism and idealism denies matter.

People in love feel soul, first in the object of love then gradually in other humans and lastly in all forms of life. Of course, it is rare and invaluable. Saints and poets who touched the lives of many belong to this class. Lower down the order we have artists, lovers and kids. Lust is guided by instinct while love is intuitive. Let us say that soul or spirit animates the body for a while. And the awareness that we are all same and unique is soul consciousness. Likewise, body consciousness is sexuality. And each human life is a saga of individual struggle between these two components or forces. All other animals are at peace with their sexuality and so are the aborigines who have been spared by the civilization. At their extreme ends people are sex objects or souls in transit on the spaceship called earth.

Though souls enter the human life with spiritual inclination, the body and brain it gets to reside in are more like animals with another subtle difference that animals have seasonal libido. In other words, the humans have all season sexuality with some spiritual sense or urge as a counterpoint. With the gift of the cranium, the top layer of brain, peculiar to us, we are required to transcend the lower reptilian brain and the middle mammalian brain. To minimize the conflict one needs to accept sexuality so that one can grow in spirituality. The benevolence of nature has insured that each soul attains it slowly over many lives.

Now acceptance of sexuality does not mean license to hedonistic indulgences nor forced abstinence. If I accept my own sexuality fairness demands that I extend the same acceptance for others too. Playing fair and by one rule for all is spirituality. Definitions may change with context. Finally, spirituality is active love for mankind and other lives. Without this vital acceptance sexuality is a drag on spirituality. Acceptance facilitates transcendence of sexuality. The celibate monks and nuns are its good examples. Metaphorically it is like the metamorphosis of cater pillar into a butterfly.

Establishment in spirituality reveals many secrets hidden by the conventional wisdom. For a starter, it removes the blinkers of prejudices. And at its best spirituality leads one to the most important fact about life and Cosmos that natural laws, both material as well as moral, take care of everything. There is no divine entity sitting on the controls to respond to our wish and prayer. This fact precludes god’s intervention in human affairs through revelation or incarnation.

It is unfortunate for humanity that a majority of people are engaged in pleasing god through a plethora of rituals and competition with other religions and sects. It is relevant here to quote a very instructive story about religions.

Satan was taking a walk with a friend. A man walking ahead of them stopped and picked something up from the ground and moved on. Satan’s friend was perplexed and asked him what did the man pick? Satan replied with a smile that the man picked up a piece of truth just now. His friend, then, enquired whether it upset him or not. The Satan smiled and said that it did not bother him because he will make the man start a new religion.

Coming back to our theme, human life is meant for the transcendence of sexuality and establishment of spirituality. Spiritual advancement, therefore, should be the aim of human society. All aspects of its affairs, economical, social or political must be guided by the spiritual aim and objective.

It is astonishing that the oldest books of man, the Vedas, exhort the same spiritual vision and ask us to embrace Love, Truth, Justice and Compassion for the maximum good of maximum number of lives.

Implementation vs Ideology

An Idea for India

Our Solar system has all the necessary resources to support life on Earth for billions of years. Life is a mysterious miracle going on and on through geological upheavals and cosmic blasts. We do not know exactly how life began. But we know that all life support systems are instinctive. From sex to conception to birth and later breathing, eating, digesting and expelling waste are all involuntary. As a beautiful icing on life’s cake, only one species is endowed with a rational brain that can reason and imagine- us, the homo-sapiens or wise men.

Nature’s bounty is so plentiful and organized that we invented a Creator to explain it and started fighting over His name. Though we mistook ourselves to be God’s deputy on Earth we acted more like Devil’s agents. We forgot our primary identity of the most rational species and made numerous divisions based on gender, race, class and caste and enforced it with brute power at our command. Subjugating the creative half of humanity, our women, was a grave sin against nature. Indian sages had said that gods dwell where women are respected. But we did the opposite. Now we are killing female fetus in the womb itself. The material poverty and misery we see in the world is mostly due to mental poverty of the privileged class down the ages.

India is the repository of very lofty thoughts and ideals, but, in practice, it is the most hypocritical society in the world. A large population of our society was declared as untouchables though the Scriptures say that everyone is a shudra by birth, only the deeds of an individual categorize him/her as a Brahmin, Kshatriya or Vaishya. The Vedic vision of spirituality in all aspects of human affairs is conspicuous by its absence. It is, therefore, no wonder that we suffered foreigners’ rules for so long in our recent history. Now we are trying to imitate the fundamentalism of revealed religions, Islam in particular in stark contrast to our ethos and culture of peaceful co-existence and tolerance.

This issue brings us closer to another lofty idea gone horribly wrong. Hinduism or its older nomenclatureSanatan is not a religion but a way of life with complete individual freedom in matters of faith. We can worship any god or opt to be an atheist or agnostic. There are three well defined paths to choose from – bhakti, karmor gyan, in keeping with our inclination. Now, bhaktipath is being peddled as the only path available to us. Ram Janm-bhoomi and Rama Sethu testify to our hardening stand in favour of mythology and fundamentalism. Ideally, Hinduism or Sanatan has no issue with any religion as it gives pride of place to Spirituality over and above all religions and rituals.

It is relevant to say something about the Muslims too. Every fourth human being on earth is a Muslim and every fifth Indian is also a Muslim. Greater the number the greater is the responsibility. Who is discharging the responsibility of educating the followers about Islam? In most of the cases they are the orphans who get trained as maulvies and mullahs in madarsas, devoid of science and current affairs. Isn’t deen or religion meant for duniya or this world? No wonder that triple talaq in one go was legal till a few years ago in India, but nowhere else in the world including Islamic countries. Islam is supposed to guarantee the rights of women and girls in society. Is it available to them? Terrorism is giving a bad name to Islam yet the liberal Muslims are afraid to speak their minds. Why the Muslims aren’t better off in a liberal democracy with the advantage of separate criminal and civil codes for them? The Catholic Church has accepted the biological evolution. Who will decide it for Muslims? Not the Taliban, we pray and hope.

India is a unique land on Earth as all ideas, old and new, co-exist here peacefully. No single idea could ever replace others as it did in China, Europe, or USA. This rich heritage of cultural diversity is facing a serious threat from cultural police of various sorts. They may cause breach of peace here and there but cannot succeed in painting the whole of India in one color, be it saffron or green. It is time that gyan yoga took charge to guide the society on rational as well as spiritual path.

A very tall talk and task indeed. The global village is already overflowing with ideas and ideologies; one more idea can hardly make any difference or impact. Yes, it is worth investigating why this plethora of ideas and ideologies failed to deliver us from imminent extinction or continuous strives and sufferings of one kind or the other. What went wrong and where? We have been constantly at war for establishing OUR brand of social, political, economic or religious ideologies but we are amazingly indifferent to its right implementation. The disaffection and unrest may lead to revolutions sometimes but the end result is always pathetic. One set of rulers is replaced by another under the garb of a newer and supposedly better ideology. The all powerful system remains as oppressive, corrupt and exploitative as before or even worse as in tin pot dictatorships.

Who can deliver true implementation of any ideology? Yes, the emphasis is on implementation. Some monarchies, in history, were better than many democracies of today. Right implementation holds the key to transparency and dynamism of an ideology and puts it on a self corrective course. Extraordinary situations demand extraordinary solutions. With the environmental disaster looming large on the horizon, we need a radical change in the quality of leadership that we can elect or select. We need the leaders who value earth and nature more than a nation or a race or community. Self serving army of politicians of all hues must go if we want to save ourselves. Now, the question worth 7 billion human heads arises. How do we find such leaders (ah, the Plato’s dream of a saint-philosopher)? How to test them? Could a lie-detection test be the first step or can we think of a better option? The voters may decide to vote the candidates who volunteer for and pass this test. Such MPs can amend the Constitution to bring bureaucrats/babus into its ambit. We need to think, discuss and debate these questions; otherwise we will lose everything including our freedom and self respect.

It is a given that our present lot of politicians will oppose its enactment into a law. But, voice of the people is the voice of god (nature for atheists and agnostics). We can demand that a simple lie-detection (polygraph or fMRI or both) be introduced in public life to eliminate corrupt leaders, bureaucrats and criminals. Without intruding into their personal lives, the social servers can be picked out and the self servers left out. Those selected will face stringer tests (narco analysis?)for involvement in any irregularity or scandal. The best part of this shift towards quality of leaders and other public servants is that some people may dislike it, but none may condemn it publicly. If taken to people the idea may catch people’s imagination because its time has come. There is no time really for vacillation or procrastination. Good implementation should take care of the ideology and will usher in peace and prosperity so that we begin to live like wise men and the Indian workers are as happy and secure as their counterparts in developed world.

Intellectual or Emotional?

God Concept

Believers say that god created the universe whereas the atheists say that it has come up by chance. Although logically, devoid of emotion, god and chance convey the same human ignorance about how this beautiful cosmos came about. But, what distinguishes the two, in practice, is the element of purpose. When an atheist discovers a deep purpose in life his chance becomes god. God or chance is, therefore, our choice depending upon our own mental states. We generally oscillate between them before maturity.

The Bible says that God created the universe in six days. Now, those six days of god may be 6 billion of our days. Isn't it too slow for an omnipotent God who only has to say 'Be'? Anyway god is an emotional issue not an intellectual one. Intellectually or rationally, nature is spiritually inclined towards matter and life alike. Believers do not ask how god came to be; rationalists need not ask how nature came to be. So, god is a human notion that serves as a strong emotional anchor for the believers.
The idea of a creator god inspired the moral judo called religions. Martial art Judo is supposed to turn one’s weakness into strength in physical combat. Likewise, fear and greed, the inherent human weaknesses, were taken care of by the ultimate fear and greed of heaven and hell. It worked for a while for the society of believers until it came into competition with other religions. Religious wars or crusades or jihad have claimed more lives than all other wars put together because blind faith and fanaticism go hand in hand.
Now, faith is the fearless search for truth, so, it is not lost when one questions one’s beliefs. Blind faith makes the believers think otherwise; my dogma is the best dogma and my book is the best book. The mythical Satan must be damn pleased with this comedy of irrationality. The atheists are no better. They not only deny god but also spirit/soul and spirituality. In other words, they do not find any purpose in life in general nor any accountability for our actions. That we have a free will is beyond dispute and a spiritual vision is required to see and feel the grand purpose of human life in particular.

Seeing is believing … is Enlightenment…

When Reality Strikes

For an ordinary reader of life the notion of Appearance and Reality is ingrained from birth through rituals and mythologies. Believing in the aim and purpose of life and Cosmos sets us apart from other animals that do not seem to bother about an afterlife. This simple statement raises many uncomfortable questions for an average reader. Are we animals? Oh, Yes. What is appearance? It is the common sense world around us. What is reality? Reality is the intellectual black hole where imagination and reasoning break down.

While the religions are rigid about Reality based on faith alone, the philosophies are hyperbolic- Reality is the energy behind the Appearance. How did god or energy come into being? Honestly there cannot be any answer to this inquiry. So, let us get on with what happens when Reality strikes.

It is generally accepted that Reality can only be experienced through a mystical experience or enlightenment. It is no wonder, then, that all religions are based on their founder’s enlightenment. Unfortunately for the human species, these enlightenments did not produce a single doctrine satisfying everybody. Moreover, religion, which was intended as a starting point in the spiritual journey, was turned into a finished wall. There may be one god but many religions fighting in his name cannot be credited to god. It is a blot on the wisdom of the wise animal.

It is also agreed that mysticism begins where religions end, that is one enters the realm of mysticism without the baggage of preconceived notions. Fortunately for us some enlightened souls did not found a new religion. Kabir and Nanak stand out as the two most distinguished members of this exclusive club.

Since most of us have neither the time nor the inclination for the rigors and rewards of enlightenment, we must confine this discussion to the post enlightenment ordeal of a seeker of our times. The readers in a hurry for instant sensual gratification are recommended to watch the movie “Oh, God” where god selects a store manager to spread his message. Those not interested in fiction are still advised to watch it to prepare them selves for its stranger version- the real thing. For a starter the neo-enlightened has no support of god. To bring the words straight from her mouth the Q/A format is used.

Q: Are you enlightened?
A: Depends on what is meant by enlightenment. If it means knowing all the secrets of the universe my reply is an emphatic no. If it means removal of doubt about reality then it is yes.

Q: What is reality?
A: It still remains a big mystery. All I am entitled to say is that an enchanting beauty appears to pervade the universe.

Q: Please tell us in a little detail about your enlightenment.
A: Enlightenment is a personal experience, which cannot be shared or copied. Therefore going into its details will be misleading. Suffice it to say that you see things, which ordinarily you cannot even think of seeing. It is an extraordinary sensory experience, which cannot be described in words.

Q: What does it change?
A: It changes the perspective. A holistic certainty replaces the doubts and dilemmas.

Q: Has enlightenment given you any supernatural powers?
A: None.

Q: Did it make you wise?
A: Only the little bit of wisdom about reality that it really exists. For the rest study and meditation helped.

Q: What is your view about god now?
A: The old man has taken a lot of abuses in the last ten thousand years of human Civilizations. He urgently needs a decent burial for our own good.

Q: Are you advising us to abandon god and rejoin the animal world?
A: Precisely. Instead of thinking like a banished citizen of paradise we must start thinking like a most evolved animal- the wise animal.

Q: How does this attitude help us?
A: It will arrest fundamentalism and the fundamentalists and stop the religious strife and the clashes of races and civilizations.

Q: How does it help in spiritual development?
A: It frees us from the religious deadwood (the dogmas), which impedes spiritual development. It will transform us into innocent and inquisitive children once again.

Q: Our civilization is rooted in materialism and pseudo spiritualism. This animalism will find few takers. Will you please comment?
A: Unless this hi-tech civilization of ours mends its ways, it is certain to follow other civilizations into oblivion.

Q: Do you mean to say that without animalism/humanism all civilizations are doomed to perish?
A: Why should nature favor this particular civilization? There is absolutely no reason to sustain this hope. Millions of species are extinct. One more addition of the Homo sapiens should hardly cause a ripple in the universe. Wise animalism/humanism has a sobering effect on our thought processes; binding us to mother earth and this unique life. It makes us realize that we swim or sink together with other animals and plants.

Q: How does spirituality enter the animal world?
A: Spirituality in some of the wise animals is the evolution of higher consciousness. From the single cell organisms to trillion cells homo sapiens what really evolved is the brain, the mind and the consciousness.

Q: What is the position of earth in the humanist cosmology?
A: it is far off the center of our galaxy, but it is the nursery of life and consciousness in this corner of the Milky Way.

Q: What could the purpose be behind the development of consciousness?
A: I can offer an educated guess. Consciousness prepares us for the primary school beyond this nursery.

Q: Aren’t you hinting at the soul and its transmigration?
A: Yes, but with a distinction that the next world is not the last world. At no point in this eternal journey do I expect to dissolve into god or attain static blessedness.
Q: Where does the soul come from?
A: It must have evolved with life. Only the wise animals possessing souls is ridiculous as there isn’t any ground for this differentiation in nature.

Q: Do you accept the karma theory of Indian philosophy?
A: The karmic theory is the only workable theory about the soul. But as an ancient science it has its limitations.



Q: Such as?
A: It only talks about individual karma although we suffer others’ karma too. Moreover, freedom from the cycle of birth and death is not the dead end, but the beginning of yet another exciting life in a more enchanting world.

Q: What could be the basic difference between this world and the next one?
A: Here we have bodies, which need servicing throughout life. The body weight impedes the free movement of the soul residing in it. Now imagine a world where the souls are free from the cage of a body.


Q: How did you arrive at such a fantastic conclusion?
A: It is a simple, logical extension of the transmigration of souls, which begins with microorganisms. It sheds its bodies by dying again and again and rises up the evolutionary ladder by being born into a higher species. After millions of these cycles, it attains the highest rung of Homo sapiens. It is, then, very natural that it should transcend this species too.

Q: Most of us, humans, are not ready for this great leap. Why?
A: Human evolution has three stages. The biological evolution comes first which we share with other animals. Given proper food and care a child matures into an adult. The other two stages are peculiar to Homo sapiens due to its much-developed brain. They are intellectual and spiritual developments. Acquiring and imparting knowledge and skills, science and technology, arts and crafts etc. are intellectual activities. Last but not the least is the spiritual development when a wise animal becomes one in thought, speech and action. Most of us are passing through stage two.

Q: All children are one in thought, speech and action. Will you call that spirituality?
A: Why not? It is nature’s hint at our goal. Actually the unity of thought, speech and action prepares the mind for detached and rational thinking.

Q: How can one be so sure about the soul and its transmigration?
A: Circumstantial evidences support it. No rebirth means no equitable moral law, hence no aim or purpose for this grand cosmos. Life is reduced to the body it animates for a little while.



Q: Does the soul have any gender?
A: Male or female is the attribute of the body necessary for sexual reproduction for variety in life.

Q: Don’t you find anything wrong in nature?
A: No. Pain and suffering, too, are helpful.

Q: How can pain and suffering help somebody?
A: It helps us by forcing introspection and soul searching. It humbles; it sobers.

Q: How about those who inflict pain and suffering?
A: Life is itself loaded with pain and suffering. Inflicting it deliberately is a crime. Ignorant souls do that and invite retribution of the same kind.

Q: What is the relationship between body and soul?
A: The soul needs a living body to experience this world of Appearance again and again. Going through these cycles of birth, desire, dismay and death, it develops its mind and consciousness. The body is, therefore, merely a vehicle for the soul.

Q: When does a soul enter a body?
A: Or when does it leave a body? These are the details life sciences must investigate.

Q: How can a physical science investigate a non-material soul?
A: the soul resides in the body, it must, therefore, leave many tell tale marks on it such as fingerprints, frequency of voice etc.

Q: And DNA/RNA?
A: Sure. The identical twins from a single fertilized egg have identical genes yet their fingerprints are not identical. Their DNA sequence may also vary. It can be safely predicted that a clone’s fingerprints will not match with those of the donor.

Q: Is the fingerprint, then, the signature of the soul?
A: All the ten fingers of the wise animals carry ten different prints. Taken together they may be encoded with the genealogy and history of the soul.




Q: Why should a soul want to be born again and again into pain and suffering?
A: For the same reason that we do not want to die in spite of pain and suffering. Souls must be programmed that way as the body is programmed to multiply its genes.

Q: Who could the programmer be?
A: The program does not reveal the identity of the programmer. It is unsigned but brilliant in conception and execution.

Q: Does not this perfection in nature force us to admit a creator or god behind it all.
A: Not necessarily. Who created god presents the same difficulty.

Q: Must we stop at nature and life?
A: Any inquiry into an unknown and unknowable god is futile. Gautam Buddha realized this truth twenty-five centuries ago.

Q: Buddha also asked us to renounce this life. Why?
A: He rightly concluded that desire brings disappointment and unhappiness. He, therefore, advised us to renounce desire. He overlooked the fact that desire or Kama energizes the living world.

Q: How could an enlightened Buddha overlook that?
A: Since he had himself transcended the body and its desires, he tried to pull us all up to his level of bliss. Seriously though, Buddha preached dharma (religion) as he understood and practiced it.

Q: Do you intend to found a new religion?
A: Religions smack of god and blind faith in a finished doctrine. I support free inquiry through moral science.

Q: Should we abandon our religions?
A: Blind faith is no faith at all. According to Late Father Anthony de Mello, faith is the fearless search for truth. It is not lost when one questions one’s beliefs. But it takes a Galileo or a Darwin to embrace truth and discard blind faith.

Q: Can’t religion and science be reconciled?
A: No. Organized religions have a history of resisting science and free inquiry to safeguard their dogmas and mythologies from critical examinations. Blind faith and free inquiry are mutually exclusive.


Q: What are these dogmas and mythologies about?
A: They are mostly about what happened before birth and what will happen after death. At their best they represent a collective consciousness of a geocentric era gone by.

Q: What about the mind-body problem?
A: First the mind and the body are two separate problems as we know very little about them. Cell differentiation is a big mystery as is the working of the mind. What we know with certainty is that they influence each other.

Q: How about matter and mind?
A: The proper sequence is matter, body (living matter) and mind (no matter). These three entities will keep us occupied for a very, very long time.

Q: What will happen in case of our extinction?
A: A new variety of wise animals will evolve and begin from the very beginning.

Q: If the earth, our nursery, is destroyed tomorrow. Where would the souls go?
A: They will seek or be led to another nursery nearby. In the billions of galaxies in the universe there must be trillions of earths. Seeing the grandiose cosmos one is tempted to add that infinity appears to be the first alphabet of nature.

Q: How is that?
A: Nature is made up of infinitely big as well as infinitely small; infinitely hot to infinitely cold; infinitely slow to infinitely fast.

Q: Big Bang or steady state?
A: The black holes suggest infinite bangs- a black hole exploding after reaching a critical mass. The Big Bang does not explain the collision of galaxies.

Q: Yes, the Big Bang predicts galaxies moving away from each other. They actually do so. But there are reports of collision of galaxies too. Could exploding black holes be responsible for both?
A: The universe as a whole is largely unknown. We have surveyed only a little part with our optical and radio telescopes. This data is insufficient for a definite conclusion. Still, exploding black holes appears to be a more reasonable explanation right now.

Q: What could be the usefulness of a fathomless universe?
A: Physicists now speculate about many universes. The infinity of the universe corresponds well with the eternal adventures of the souls through different worlds or universes.

Q: What is the second most important feature of nature?
A: Perpetual dynamism without loss. Imagine an infinitely large sphere of space-time-gravity filled with billions of galaxies, but not a single particle at absolute rest. In spite of the gigantic motions and commotions, not a particle is wasted.

Q: Does conservation of matter lead to conservation of souls?
A: It was the other way round. Conviction about the immortality of souls led a scientist to discover the conservation of matter.

Q: How does one arrive at the immortality of souls?
A: A living body is a special organization of matter, which serves a non-material mind called soul. In other words, producing mind and its consciousness, although indirectly and very discreetly, appears to be the purpose of matter and, by extension, the purpose of the universe. Unless soul with its consciousness is preserved, the universe would not serve any meaningful purpose at all.

Q: Matter producing non-material consciousness is simply amazing. What is the role of a soul?
A: The soul is the individual mind, which absorbs the experiences of different lives and develops consciousness.

Q: Does matter produce the soul too?
A: It is not beyond the capabilities of the indestructible matter with a mind of its own. Maybe in the first association with life it produces the mind, which is enriched gradually.

Q: This material perspective of life and cosmos is interesting, as it does not utilize the props of god or metaphysics. Can you give us another example of such detachment?
A: Sure. All scientific research and advancement is founded on this detachment from the mythologies about creation.

Q: Are you trying to emulate this detachment of science in the realm of philosophy and spirituality?
A: Yes, undoubtedly. Galileo provided the solid experimental foundation for science and it started unraveling the mysteries of nature burying numerous pseudo sciences in the process and soon gained universal acceptance. The realm of philosophy and spirituality is awaiting this universal success for want of a good foundation.

Q: And what is that foundation?
A: Detached theorizing and experimentation on matter, mind and consciousness.

Q: How is it different from materialism?
A: Materialism does not recognize mind. It is, therefore, doomed as a philosophy. Wise animalism/humanism/moral science recognizes the importance of matter in relation to body, mind and consciousness.

Q: Religions have divided the animal kingdom into us (descended from heaven) and other animals of the earth whereas the philosophies are divided over mind and matter. Does humanism reconcile these contradictions?
A: Yes. Humanism must be an all-encompassing free inquiry into Appearance and Reality.

Q: Let us now test this humanism on human society. Why do humans behave so irrationally?
A: Because we are basically copycats living with borrowed wisdom. Remember the Dark Age in Europe. Though it came out of it through Renaissance its member nations continued to wage wars against each other then precipitated two world wars. Now, the European Union is the most rational political choice made in all these ages.

Q: Are all the divisions among men and nations irrational?
A: Yes, in a global village. Yes, on a space ship called earth. Nature appears to favor cross-fertilization.

Q: What is the most rational attitude in this regard?
A: Kalpna Chawla, the astronaut, has replied to it better than I can. She said that the whole universe was her native place. An ancient Indian maxim that the whole living world is one family also holds water.

Q: Why is there so much violence in human societies?
A: Because there is violence in homes and families.

Q: And what is the reason for so much violence in families?
A: There are many reasons for anger and violence in individuals and their family groups. Besides faulty genetics and environment, we still carry the reptilian brain with us. It is a very violent combination. When two such persons interact sparks are bound to fly sooner or later.

Q: Any remedy?
A: Love and care.

Q: How about violence in intimate relationships?
A: Ego clash. Male and female complement each other in the animal kingdom. But among the wise animals they compete with each other. The consequences are both comic and tragic- clean-shaven fathers and bottle-feeding mothers confusing the child as to who is who.

Q: How can this trend towards unisex be reversed?
A: May be its progression to nudism will shame our eves someday. But exhibitionism is a symptom of body worshipping. Once he/she realizes that he/she is not merely a perishable body but an immortal soul, he/she will begin to worship the mind.

Q: How is mind worshipping done?
A: By engaging one self in intellectual activities that develop mind.

Q: Can we neglect the body?
A: No. A healthy mind resides in a healthy body. But the body should not take up all the time and attention at our disposal. Simply put the mind has precedence over the body.

Utopia; we are almost there…

WAY TO UTOPIA

Utopia is defined as a place or state of ideal perfection. In common usage this word now denotes something impossible. Is Utopia possible? We, at the Brotherhood, put this question to a linguist Supercomputer. It asked for the Scriptures. All major Scriptures were fed to it. It asked for evolutionary sciences and got it. It further demanded the Natural Sciences, Histories, Anthropologies, Psychologies and, lastly, the latest in Probability Calculus. Subject by subject, it gobbled up a whole library.

After a considerable delay for a Supercomputer, it analyzed then synthesized all the information. At last it came out with the much-awaited reply. The computer said, ”Utopia is a certainty. It is the most probable purpose behind the development of the mind. The faultless nature is so programmed that the most intelligent ones must one day evolve collectively to the state of ideal perfection”.

This objective and optimistic verdict of an intelligent machine shook up the intellectual schools. The skeptics scoffed while the believers rejoiced. Hot and acrimonious debates and discussions followed. As an exception to the general rule, there was one discussion free from heat and dust. We taped it. Five typical characters, a Revolutionary, a Padre, a Professor, an Artist and a Cynic, who acted as the devil’s advocate, quietly arrived at a technique for Utopia.

Over to the transcript:

Revolutionary, “ Kindly tell us, Professor, are we to believe that all the knowledge and know-how available today, in the first decade of the twenty-first century, is not enough to remove our ignorance-our prides and prejudices?”
Professor, “Yes and no.”
Artist, “No academic hair – splitting in the air, I suppose.”
Professor, (to Artist) “Be the judge. (to revolutionary) No, it is enough because knowledge and the capacity to comprehend it both exist. And yes, because the knowledge as well as the capacity have been in existence for ages without success.”
Padre, “The Scriptures are there. Though I confess that nobody bothers to understand them; not even the clergy. Otherwise the world would not be the dangerous place it has become today.”
Cynic, “Hasn’t God failed us, Father?”
Padre, “No, we have failed our God by refusing to use our minds–the supreme computers.”
Revolutionary, “There must be a way out of this colossal waste, Father?”
Padre, “Oh yes, my faith makes me an optimist. I do believe that nature will breed its own cure. Scientifically, aren’t we still evolving?”
Cynic, “But, Father, tomorrow never comes.”
Artist, “In that case we should do away with our watches and calendars.”
Revolutionary, “Through the succession of these routine tomorrows the time has changed greatly since the enlightenment and revelation. We are now better equipped to comprehend the wisdom of those ancient wise men.”
Professor, “Audio – visual aids, communication satellites. It is a unique situation in human history as it has never been before.”
Artist, “A prophet, today, could have converted the whole world by the image of his magnetic personality. I wish I could see the serenity of a Buddha.”
Padre, “And a prophet would not have to use metaphorical language. Instead he would only advise us to use our invaluable personal computers – our minds.”
Cynic, “Is it the essence of all Scriptures, Father?”
Padre, “Yes brother, to the best of my knowledge.”
Cynic, “Oh, but, we don’t have a prophet to tell us that.”
Revolutionary, “Life is a relay race of gene-machines. Now, the present machines, that are us, have to do the interpreting and explaining.”
Professor, “What would you say, Father, if you were to have the world for an audience?”
Padre, “Let us not under – estimate the creation; let us not under–estimate the human mind. Whatever your faith, follow it or forget it. Hypocrisy is the death of civilizations.”
Professor, “Yes, what we need is an intellectual dialysis. It has been a case of garbage in, garbage out so far. Such as, fear in; cowardice out.”
Revolutionary, “So, we agree that with the help of modern day facilities, it is possible to wage a decisive battle against intellectual darkness – the bliss called ignorance.”
Cynic, “If ignorance is bliss, why bother to remove it?”
Padre, “Because it is a fool’s bliss. And it deprives us of the real bliss – a life guided by love and logic. Fools’ paradise is delaying god’s paradise on earth. (to Revolutionary) God has promised to hurl the truth at the falsehood, (with a smile) through human agents, of course.”
Artist, “What is the hitch then?”
Cynic, “Father will be operating in a vacuum.”
Revolutionary, “Dispelling the darkness is to the advantage of all.”
Cynic, “Not when an orgy is in progress.”
(every body laughs)
Revolutionary, “Since the orgy is perpetual, any time is auspicious enough to switch on the light.”
Cynic, “How will you erect a lighting system?”
Revolutionary, “Let us look at it this way. Money has all the attraction. So, why not use money as a bait to motivate the ignorant?”
Professor, “Please elaborate it.”
Revolutionary, “Show us a ghost and win a fabulous prize for example.”
Cynic, “Who will foot the bill?”
Revolutionary, “Since there are no ghosts, the question of payments does not arise.”
Cynic, “I mean the money to buy TV time and newspaper space etc.”
Revolutionary, “Let us work under the assumption that if the idea is good it will attract many philanthropists.”
(everybody keeps quiet for some time and thinks)
Cynic, (breaking the silence) “This is not an original idea. There are a few movies on this theme.”
Revolutionary, “You are right. The idea was successful in a realistic film; it should succeed in reality as well.”
Cynic, “There you have a good point. I wonder why nobody tried it before. Still, what would it achieve?”
Artist, “A real encounter with truth that ghosts do not exist.”
Revolutionary, “The idea is to present truths and facts with a cash challenge to prove them wrong. Prove that racism is right and win a billion. When nobody comes forward to claim the prize, the impressionable minds draw the right conclusion that racism is wrong.”
Professor, “By all accounts it is a marvelous idea.”
Padre, “God bless us. Prove that honesty is not the best policy…”
Professor, “And the children get to know that honesty is the best policy after all.”
Cynic, “And the truth prevails?”
Artist, “Finally, everlastingly.”
Cynic, “We march into Utopia.”
Professor, “Yes, may be in the next hundred years.”
Cynic, “Is it at all possible to remove the deep-rooted, almost unconscious, prides and prejudices?”
Professor, “Well, why not? We have been considering the same problem so far.”
Cynic, “You mean to say that all the poor people will get to live with dignity and the rich and powerful persons, their cronies and middlemen, will stop their evil practices voluntarily and become saints.”
Professor, “Hoarding wealth or power is a sickness, but, I get your point. Only unpaid rewards will not do. We must have effective punishments as well.”
Revolutionary, “Very true, we learn by rewards and punishments. Our prides and prejudices are the products of our social conditioning. Corruption thrives because laxity of law is taken for granted. A Damocles’ sword hanging over the head can certainly persuade us to think otherwise.”
Cynic, “Where does one get the Damocles’ sword?”
Revolutionary, “Before I answer that please allow me to mention another allusion- Achilles’ heel. Every villain is vulnerable somewhere. We hear of the vicious circles. Isn’t a chain as strong as the weakest link? In corruption the weakest link is secrecy and in prides and prejudices their very foundation.”
Cynic, “I agree. A Damocles’ sword is necessary. How will this allusion be converted into reality?”
Revolutionary, “It is already in selective use - the Polygraph or the Lie–detector.”
Cynic, “It doesn’t detect a lie yet. A smart liar can easily fool it.”
Revolutionary, “Its technique can be perfected.”
Artist, “Necessity is our oldest mother.”
Revolutionary, “As I see it a perfect lie–detecting system is the panacea for mankind.”
Padre, “God bless you. Panacea to Utopia is a short distance. What do you say, Professor?”
Professor, Amen! (to Revolutionary) Does this claim for panacea also carry a reward?”
Revolutionary, “Sure, any objection?”
Cynic, “One too many. Supposing a perfect lie- detecting system is developed, it would still have to be operated by men. I would say that the operator is the weakest link in this grand scheme.”
Revolutionary, “The operators will be selected after the stringent lie-detection tests with the condition that they will be ready to face it whenever necessary.”
Cynic, “Who will want to take this job?”
Revolutionary, “Honest upright men and women who will be paid handsomely for it.”
Cynic, “I see. The idea is to encourage truth and honesty and to discourage falsehood and dishonesty.”
Revolutionary, “Precisely. Thank you.”
Cynic, “This scheme is just too good to be true.”
Artist, “I would say too good yet true.”
Revolutionary, “Anyway it is open to scrutiny. Unless it passes every test it can not be implemented.”
Padre, “Morally it is appropriate that men and women in public life, in public interest, should happily take this test. The rationale is quite simple – honest persons need not fear it.”
Professor, “Economically, the lie – detector will save everything; time, money and other resources. The investigation for truth will become quick and effective.”
Artist, “By God! It should stop the cacophony of loud-mouths and their long, ceremonial and empty words.”
Cynic, (to Revolutionary) “Are you prepared to face it yourself?”
Revolutionary, “With pleasure.”
Padre, “What is your religion, sister?”
Revolutionary, “Humanism.”
Cynic, “Humanism is vague.”
Artist, “As I understand it humanism is universal among the children.”
Revolutionary, “The irony of it! Every adult and older person was a child once, a messenger of humanity. The ignorant superstitious society then systematically puts them into various compartments of faith, color and class.”
Professor, “Again you are right. Psychologically everybody is a victim of society. For want of a couple of ideal parents, the ideal nation could not be founded.”
Cynic, “What is the position of god in humanism?”
Revolutionary, “The absolutely and benevolently indifferent creator. His natural laws take care of everything.”
Padre, “You couldn’t be more right. God bless you.”
Revolutionary, “Thank you, Father.”
Padre, “What is Utopia if it isn’t plenty for all? And we have resources for it. Only the greed of a few misguided souls is responsible for the tragedy we see everywhere.”
Professor, “Power and wisdom seldom mix. That is our greatest tragedy.”
Artist, “Rightly so. To cite an example, the Prime Minister of India takes on the responsibility of guiding the destinies of one billion persons- a stupendous task by any estimate. Only a fool or a mad-cap or a scoundrel will be eager to wear this crown of thorns.”
Cynic, “Still everybody wants to grab this crown at any cost.”
Artist, “The situation will improve radically if the servants of Mother India were to undergo a lie – detection test.”
Cynic, “By god, yes; they won’t have any excuse to bypass it. The merchants of falsehood will not take it lying down though. They will oppose it ruthlessly.”
Artist, “Yet nobody can criticize the scheme publicly.”
Padre, “Fools have always been meddling. They can delay the process; they can not deny it for long.”
All, “AMEN!”

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!!

Where lies the truth….?


AN UPDATE ON INDIAN PHILOSOPHY

Human history can be divided into two distinct ages - the geocentric and the heliocentric. In the former age the earth was a flat, static center of the Universe in popular perception. And man was god’s deputy on it. In the latter, the sun is the center of our solar system. In this age science developed at a breakneck speed so much so that within a span of only four centuries the earth is further reduced to a global village; man is found to be a descendant of Homo erectus, the apes that began to walk erect on their hind legs. It freed their forelegs to be used as hands. Literally by standing up we have progressed so much, so fast.

Human knowledge, too, can be divided into two distinct fields–the moral and the material handled by social science (philosophy/ religion) and science respectively. All philosophers, except the materialists who deny mind, agree that art, intuition and moral/religious experiences are beyond the scope of reasoning and science. Unfortunately all established religions are still carrying the geo-centric deadwood such as appeasement of god and various myths and allegories about our origin and destination.

Looking closely at this fascinating concept of god we find that philosophy introduced this term as the first cause of the universe for the sake of convenience, to avoid infinite regress. Religions adopted it as a symbol for contemplation and meditation. Its deification as a personal boon – granting god was a later dilution. Yet, in spite of their shortcomings, all religions agree on two vital points. First, god or Brahman is unknown and unknowable; second, humans are accountable for their actions. In other words a moral law pervades life. How, when and where we get our reward and punishment is the essential difference among various religions apart from language and rituals. These differences are quite natural as each religion has its origin in a man’s moral experience. How he interprets this personal experience is limited by his personality and period. Moreover these interpretations are heavily allegorical and mythological. God is great, too, is an allegory that defies literal interpretation.

Indian philosophy gets the credit for discovering the fact that there cannot be a moral law without rebirths or the immortality of soul; and realizing the importance of experience over speculation. The western philosophies and religions fail to explain the great disparities among men. Then the Indian philosophy, or Darsana to be precise, is neither a speculative philosophy nor a religion based on individual moral experience. But, much like other great religions, it is in deep freeze since long before the advent of the heliocentric age. It needs updating in the light of Darwinism and new cosmology to provide a comprehensive moral philosophy for this age. Let us attempt it, trusting the dictum that novices sometimes succeed where experts fail.

According to science, space is infinite in extension meaning its center is everywhere and its circumference nowhere. It houses about ten billion galaxies by present estimate rushing away from each other, continuously expanding it. Scientists guess that all this expansion must have begun as Stephen Hawking said in A Brief History of Time about ten or twenty billion years ago at the big bang singularity. We are further informed that scientific theories fail at a singularity which is an event involving infinite mass, density, pressure and temperature. The Black Hole is another example of a singularity where everything (matter, light and time) is trapped till eternity. At the microcosm level, too, science, by its own admission, can either measure the position of a particle or its velocity with accuracy. Accuracy in both, position and velocity, taken together is not possible.

Science cannot invoke god, a non-material entity, but helps itself generously with non-material constants to suit its hypotheses and leads us to a plethora of dimensions over and above the four dimensions of space-time we are vaguely familiar with.

In the heliocentric perspective, our dear earth is a mere speck in this expanding infinite space where a very tenacious life came into existence in its oceans about two and half billion years ago in a unicellular body – the Amoebae. Thereafter millions of organisms arose gradually and perished giving way to more and more complex species. Life forms further diversified on land acquiring better skills for survival and reproduction. About a million years ago something very dramatic happened. Some apes started walking on their hind legs, employing their forelimbs as hands for holding and shaping tools. Their descendants, the Homo sapiens or us humans, started wearing clothes, making better pots and tools, lording over other animals and writing poetry and hymns.

The evolution of life has thrown up a great number of skills in the organisms and a number of pairs of emotions such as love-hate, pleasure-pain etc. It’s most remarkable achievement is the development of the mind which explores and appreciates now the beauty and intricacy of the cosmos. Yet it is very doubtful that our mind is the only mind in the universe. Considering the fact that given sufficient time and appropriate conditions the earth produced butterflies from the ball of fire it had been for two billion years, the universe must be teeming with life, intelligence and mind. In summary, the earth is a natural spaceship where evolution of life and mind is in progress. To what purpose, science cannot tell.

Western philosophy deals with this subject as constructive metaphysics, which is, by definition, the study of reality in contra-distinction to the common-sense world of appearance. This distinction between appearance and reality is the central theme of all religions and every philosophy. All agree that the common-sense world of appearance hides some deeper reality conforming to the majesty of the universe. It is a logically valid and empirically sound conclusion as our senses and mind are nowhere near perfect. We are still living on the ocean-floor of the biosphere.

If reality is so elusive that nobody has been able to grasp it fully, why should one bother about it? At least two good reasons can be advanced to support the inquiry into reality. Man’s innate curiosity is the first, and the influence of our knowledge on our conduct is the second.

According to Prof. A.N.Whitehead, the eminent mathematician and philosopher of the twentieth century, western philosophy after Plato is merely a footnote to Plato. This greatest of great philosophers believed in reincarnation of human souls and an aim guiding the behavior of living and nonliving things. Prof. Whitehead concurs with Plato and adds that the universe is an organic flux where everything feels everything else in the universe and an event is the sum total of all these feelings at a particular place in space at a particular point in time. But, in spite of their good intentions, these followers of Plato do not arrive at definite conclusions.

Before we enter Indian philosophy proper, let us acquaint ourselves with revelation and enlightenment. Revelation is intuitive knowledge and wisdom about some aspect of nature through divine inspiration. It is a poetic expression signifying nature revealing some secret to an inquirer without his conscious effort. Enlightenment is sudden intuitive insight into a problem. It also denotes a moral experience where the inquirer makes a brief contact with reality or the hidden aspect of nature, destroying all doubts about it.

Indian Philosophy is an elaborate ancient science for the personal enlightenment of an inquirer through Yoga, study, contemplation and meditation. While speculative metaphysics leads one into an intellectual maze, enlightenment or the personal experience of reality also frees one from the cycle of births and unites the atman ( soul ) with the Brahman ( or the form of the good for Plato ).

Although we share many instincts and bodily functions with animals, our ancient sages and philosophers just could not comprehend the source of the great gap between human and animal minds. There is yet another difficulty with animals. They are amoral whereas we have a choice to be moral or immoral. So we put ourselves on a pedestal in the animal kingdom. Once our divine origin was fixed, human miseries were explained as the punishment for some original sin committed by our first ancestors. Religions adopted this line. Other systems are not very clear as to why the immortal soul should begin to dwell in the perishable body.

Indian philosophy describes the soul in greater detail. “That Atman is universal, all pervading reality is seen from the fact that it pervades as a whole; therefore is infinite in scope, without parts, un-produced, incapable of destruction and, therefore, eternal. The consciousness inheres in atman. The principle of atman reconciles the dogma that every man will reap according to what he sows, even beyond the grave”

The Indian philosophy, much before Plato, accepted the evolution of the soul to be the purpose behind the life and universe. It makes sense if we include all lives and every soul, differing by the level of consciousness alone. And contact with reality enables a soul to enter a higher level of consciousness without body or mate. This world of super conscious souls may be the reality alluded to by philosophers and mystics.

The twenty-first century science is now capable of shedding some light on the operation of a moral law through rebirths. The soul is supposed to animate the body while modern biology is in the dark about how cell-differentiation takes place. Could it be the handiwork of the soul? Science can now search for the genetic signature of the soul and herald the era of moral science.