Introduction to Spirituality A Different Perspective to Life

By Kalyan Malshe Pune, India kalyan.malshe@gmail.com

Contents
Basic Questions Two Worlds The gross and the Subtle Concept of GOD Spirituality

Basic Questions

Spirituality begins with very basic questions we some times ask ourselves Who Am I ? Where have I come from? Where will I be going? What is my mission here?

Another set of questions are - Does GOD exist? How does HE look like? Where can I find HIM?

Still more questions - Is there something called Destiny? How does it work? Is everything predetermined? In that case am I just a robot going thru the motions?

First Question Who am I? Am I the physical body? Bones, flesh, muscles, skin? or Am I beyond this physical body? Entirely a different entity?

Who am I? What is the difference between a live person and his dead body a fraction of a second, say a mili-second, before and after the death? Everything is the same in physical terms. But no life So what has changed? Life has left the body. What is that life which has left? Am I that life which leaves the body? In that case I am not really the physical body??

Who am I? If I am the physical body am I finished for ever after the death? Obliterated in just 60-80 years of existence? or Do I have existence beyond this time frame and this body? Was I making a wrong assumption by equating myself with the physical body? In that case who really am I?

 Before answering this question we need to understand a few other ideas and concepts

Two Worlds

There are two worlds for us An External world and An Internal world

The External world: Our physical body and everything outside our physical body It exists in physical form We can see, touch, feel in physical terms We can share it with others Other people see the same world in physical terms as we do

The Internal world: It is our private world It does not exist in physical terms It exists at a different plane of existence It includes the mind, intellect and many things beyond them Can not be touched. Can be cognized, felt, perceived We cant share it with others We cant show it to others

 The external world is the objective world The internal world is the subjective world The two worlds are very very different Their rules are very very different The rules of one world can not be applied to the other It will be a mistake to judge the internal world with the norms of the external world and vice-a-versa

 Suppose I visit a place say, Chokhi Dani. I liked it and had a wonderful time there I thought of my friend and want him to enjoy the experience I can simply take my friend there and he too can have the great experience This happens in the external world This is consistent with the rules of the external world

 However, if I had a wonderful dream last night about a place and had a wonderful time there can I take my friend there? There is no way I can take my friend there and there is no way by which my friend can experience it This is the problem with the internal world I have no means of even proving to my friend about my dream and my experience This is consistent with the rules of the internal world My friend will have to experience it by his own efforts by following the rules of the internal world

 Scientists like Newton and Einstein worked with the external world They discovered the secrets of the nature, documented them and shared with others Their experiments can be repeated by others and findings verified Their theories can be proved or disproved by other scientists thru experiments

 One scientist can begin his work at a point where an earlier scientist left it Large number of people can work together to develop the science further This is as per the rules of the external world

 There are great scientists of the internal world also They are as great, if not greater, in terms of their achievements as the likes of Newton and Einstein They are the Rishis, the sages, the saints They explore the internal world, experiment with it, discover great secrets and achieve great results However, due to the nature of the internal world it is impossible to prove anything or show anything to others It is impossible for others to participate in one scientists experiments or share his findings

 It is impossible for the scientists of the internal world to describe their experience in words The language is totally helpless in communicating their experiences to the others Because the language belongs to the external world while what they want to share belongs to the internal world The only thing they can do is to show you a path and give you a guarantee that if you follow it you will also experience the great things they did

 This is the biggest problem faced by the scientists of the internal world how to communicate with those who have little or no understanding of the internal world Unless a person has a faculty of understanding the internal world it is impossible to communicate and share their experiences and findings Let us do a simple exercise which will give you an idea of what I am saying

An exercise Lets do an exercise I need 4 volunteers

(One volunteer acts as a blind person who has never seen light since his birth. Other 3 volunteers are trying to communicate their experience of seeing a rainbow with different colors and trying to convey to him colors like red, blue, green etc)

Conclusion of the Exercise: The language, the words can not describe the experiences if they are unique and very different from what we have experienced so far Human intellect can extrapolate, extend but is not capable of understanding the experiences which are out of this world As proved in the exercise it is impossible for the mind and intellect of a blind person to fathom red or blue color by listening to the mere words of an enlightened person who has experienced red and blue

Conclusion of the Exercise: The language completely fails and is totally helpless in communicating the experience of seeing the red or blue by a person who has seen and experienced these colors to a blind (by birth) who has no such faculty of seeing or experiencing the colors However, if the blind person was not blind by birth but lost his sight due to an accident to such a person you can describe the rainbow with colors. Though he can not see the colors or experience them today he has a faculty to grasp the meanings of word red and blue

 The experiences of the internal world are unique and so called out of the world (external world, that is) They are beyond human intellect and human mind There is no language in the world with which they can document the findings and share with others Other scientists can not start where an earlier rishi/saint left his work At best we can follow a technique developed by an earlier scientist

 Everyone has to start from scratch when it comes to the internal world We can not have the advantage of the work done by others in the family or society Everyone has to re-invent the wheel on his own This is consistent with the rules of the internal world

 Because of this characteristic of the internal world it has remained a neglected subject Our grand-parents did not understand it, our parents also dont understand it, we dont understand it and therefore our children and grandchildren will also not take interest in it However, all these people understand the external world to some extent and therefore generation after generation we keep pursuing the betterment of our external world

 The environment around us is not conducive to the exploration of the internal world The external world is too crowded, too noisy, too busy doing mundane things People are scared if they have nothing to do. They are scared to be with themselves. They keep themselves busy doing something all the time running away from themselves They have no time for their own internal world The explorers of the internal world therefore are very very few one in a million

 As a result, we have started thinking of ourselves purely as the physical bodies Physical bodies interacting with the external world We have thus limited the scope of our own existence We have become koop-manduk a frog in a well This is the tragedy of the human life ignorance about our own nature We are missing something very very important This is the cause for all the ills of the human existence

The Gross and the Subtle

 We perceive the external world thru Panchendriyas- the five faculties eyes, nose, tongue, ears and skin We have extremely limited ability to perceive the reality thru them If we depend upon Panchendriyas we can be deceived we reach wrong conclusions For example, the Sun is gigantic in size. What we see is a small disk The Moon and the Sun are perceived to be of same size We perceive the Sun and the Moon to be revolving around the Earth

 What we see as a human body is made of cells which we can not see. The cells are made of molecular strings which in turn are made of molecules and atoms The atoms are made of protons, electrons, neutrons etc We cant see or perceive any of these things on our own using panchendriyas

 The entire external world is made of basic building blocks atomic particles - protons, electrons, neutrons By making different combinations of these building blocks different materials are created For example, what is the difference between gold and iron? Both are made of same building blocks protons, neutrons, electrons what differs is their numbers in the combination

 Similarly, what is the difference between a mango and a stone? Nothing but the difference in combinations of the building blocks The science has not proved as yet but if one goes beyond these building blocks one will find the unification Single basic material (like the quarks and beyond) from which protons, electrons and neutrons are created There is a single building block from which everything is created in the external world

 The external world is made of billions of different things in different sizes, shapes, colors, textures, properties Galaxies, stars, planets Solids, liquids, gases We have millions of varieties in the vegetable kingdom, animal kingdom, human world But the building block is one every thing has come from the same basic unit of matter And this basic unit of matter is nothing but solidified energy

 From where has this solidified energy come from? It has come from the internal world The invisible energy of the universe belongs to the internal world It is solidified to form the basic unit of matter E = M C2 The entire external world comes out of the internal world

So, we have the following chain 1. Basic Unit of Matter (like quarks and beyond) 2. Atomic Particles (Protons, neutrons, electrons) 3. Atoms 4. Molecules 5. Complex molecular strings 6. Cells 7. Human Body

As we move back from the Human Body towards the Basic Unit of Matter we are moving from the gross to the subtle The basic Unit of Matter is the subtlest level, next being atomic particles and the human body is at the grossest level in the above example

No scientist can perceive these levels thru his Panchendriyas Large number of scientists over many decades applied their minds and intellect to discover these truths of nature in this external world It takes a concentrated mind/intellect singular focus to discover the secrets The nature reveals the secrets to a highly focused mind/intellect Both mind and intellect belong to the internal world of a scientist

The scientists have also discovered that to make things happen at a gross level they have to Understand the truth at the subtle level Then manipulate things at the subtle level

For example, a new molecule can be created from existing atoms/molecules by manipulating at the atomic level For this the scientist has to understand how things work at the atomic level A human body suffers from a disease due to a problem at the cell level The scientist first has to understand the working at the cell level and then create a substance which works as a cure at the cell level Thus the body at the gross level can be cured only by manipulating things at the cellular or subtle level

Two very important and fundamental conclusions based on our discussion so far are The subtle controls the gross and As you move from the gross to the subtle things start unifying and leading to the basic Unit of Matter, the origin of everything

Concept of GOD

Let us go back to one of earlier slides and explore it from the internal worlds perspective

So, we have already discussed the following chain 0. Energy 1. Basic Unit of Matter (like quarks) 2. Atomic Particles (Protons, neutrons, electrons) 3. Atoms 4. Molecules 5. Complex molecular strings 6. Cells 7. Human Body

Before step 1 everything belongs to the internal world Step number 1 to 5 - it is all about pure matter Only in step number 6 a new dimension enters the picture The LIFE Each cell is alive it is born, it grows and it dies In 7 years all the cells in a human body are replaced There are 100 trillion cells in a human body (100,000,000,000,000)

And in each cell there are one million operations taking place every second Can you fathom the enormity of the operations taking place? 100,000,000,000,000,000,000 per second Add 7 zeros if we account for all the people in this hall for 24 hours

Who controls these cells and their operations? We have no control over our own body cells Not a single cell out of 100 trillion can be under our command We cant change the working of a single cell in the body However, it is ironical that we think we are in control of our own lives We think we are the doers

We dont know what will happen to us next moment We hear about so many known people children, young adults, elderly - suddenly dying of accident or heart attack or cancer We have no control over the situations We are helpless, mere spectators We call it destiny So the question is who is controlling everything?

Who digests our food? Who keeps pumping our hearts? Who keeps our breathing on? Who cures a wound? We do not play any role in all these phenomena Who makes the Earth go around the Sun? Who makes electrons in an atom go around the nucleus millions of times every second? Who is controlling all these? Who has created all these?

There is an invisible power which keeps controlling life Life of an individual atom, plant, animal, human, planets, galaxies and everything else in the entire universe There are trillions and trillions of living beings on planet Earth alone And there are trillions of stars, solar systems and galaxies in this universe Life of each is controlled by that invisible power

Let us take anther example a firecracker we use in Diwali A rocket which leaps into the sky and creates a colorful shower How many phenomena are taking place simultaneously?

How many laws of physics are in play simultaneously? Law of gravity Law of thermodynamics Law of aerodynamics Law of friction Law of momentum Law of radiation Chemical energy getting converted into heat energy Conservation of energy We can list 100 more laws which are at work simultaneously in this simple example

All these laws are faithfully applied every nano/pico second in time and every nano/pico centimeter of space These laws work on the Earth, the Moon, Outer Space, in distant galaxies, everywhere Who applies these laws so faithfully? Who implements exactly as per the rules of nature What is the mechanism by which these laws are implemented? Anytime, anywhere in the entire universe?

That invisible power which has created the entire universe That invisible power which has created the laws, the rules governing the whole universe That invisible power which implements its laws ruthlessly to perfection anytime anywhere That invisible power which controls the whole universe It is called

The Brahman

That infinite entity which creates everything, controls everything That unifying force from which everything else is built That subtlest level which controls everything else This is the true concept of GOD the mother Nature The Brahman

The God is not the one we see in pictures with four hands or multiple heads The God is not the idol in the temple we visit occasionally to place our demands on him or to seek his help in solving our worldly problems The God is not the one whom we try to bribe for saving us from the consequence of a wrong doing The God in not the one in whose name maximum blood has been shed in the history of mankind over the competition between religions whose God is real and whose God is superior?

Real God is only one the Brahman which is present everywhere all the time Which is infinite in nature Which is subtler than the subtlest Everything else has been created from Him and by Him HE creates the universe, maintains it and destroys it

He is Omnipresent He is Omnipotent He is Omniscient He is the Brahman The infinite The un-manifest The subtlest He is pure Potential

Any other concept of God is mans imagination created at the beginning phase of philosophical development For the sake of prayer, devotion As a physical symbol of that invisible Power we could not comprehend To guide the mankind on a right path To create an order in the society

But that is like the Kindergarten symbols, stories, pictures and toys We abandon all those as we grow into higher classes And we laugh at them when we reach the 10th class Their purpose was to guide us during that phase of intellectual development of a 4 year old kid just the props We dont stick to them beyond a point But the religions of the world have yet to come out of their kindergarten symbols, stories, pictures and toys and they keep fighting over them

Spirituality

Spirituality is pure science It has nothing to do with any religion It is the science of the inner world Exploring, experimenting, discovering the inner world In search of the subtle In search of the subtler and the subtlest levels In search of different planes of existence In search of that single unifying principle

That is spirituality

In search of that which creates, maintains and destroys the universe To understand the rules of the inner world and how they are implemented anywhere anytime In search of that universal management control system In search of the Brahman the ultimate truth, -- the ultimate reality That is Spirituality

Seeking the answers to the basic questions who am I? Where do I come from? Where will I be going? What is my mission here? By exploring, experimenting, discovering our own inner world That is spirituality

The purpose of this lecture was to introduce to you the basic concepts of spirituality To stir your inquisitiveness To develop a quest for more knowledge To raise very basic questions about existence To seek answers to all the happenings around us Hope I have succeeded in creating a level of discomfort and dissonance with our own ignorance Hope you start a new thought process from this moment

Before we end let us see how the Upanishads describes the Brahman (the infinity, the poorna)
(the shloka)

All that is visible is filled with the whole (poorna, brahman, infinity). All that is invisible is also filled with the whole From the whole, the whole manifests If we take out the whole from the whole what remains is still the whole

In mathematical terms Infinity + infinity = infinity Infinity infinity = infinity Brahman = infinity

Thank You