The Spiritual
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The following is the English translation of my Hindi post.
निष्ठा और मार्ग
rendered for those who would like to see the English version and though the essential is almost same as the original, there are minor changes made while editing.
--
The word ‘Spiritual’ is the English equivalent of the संस्कृत / saṃskṛta root
स्फुर् > स्फुरति, स्फुरणम् / स्फुर् > स्फुरति > स्फुरणम् >
. which is also the root of spirit, spiritual, inspiration, respiration, desperate , aspire, conspiracy, spur, …
The verb-root means the arising of consciousness in a living being.
This consciousness which manifests in a material body has the inherent quality of attention essentially associated with it. If there is attention there is this consciousness. Conversely, if there is consciousness there is attention.
This quality of attention which is the essence and expression of consciousness is basically the consciousness or awareness of being which further qualifies as the consciousness of oneself and the other. The material body gets preference over the rest and is referred to as oneself or me, while the rest is referred to as the other. Though this is not a verbal process, it could be described in these words. In this beginning the duality was not there though was came to exist when the consciousness was thus apparently split into me and the other.
The consciousness associated with me became me, while the consciousness associated with the rest became the secondary the other.
The spirit that is the essence and a matter of fact, became the manifest consciousness and the material body that is distinguished from the other was accepted as me, while the rest as the not-me.
In meaning, the संस्कृत > saṃskṛta word अधि-आत्म / adhi-ātma / अध्यात्म / adhyātma word is equivalent to this ‘spirit’, which means the spirit that every living being is imbued with without exception thus qualifies as me in that particular body which one, -the individual calls one’s own. This is always doubtful if there is such a similar consciousness associated with the totality that one refers to as ‘the other’. At the same time, as one intuitively accepts oneself as an individual, one can’t deny the other living beings different from him, and doubt their individual consciousness that makes each and every-one a unique, while the totality remains as the perceived world.
In the individual the person again has a life which he lives at three levels and at all the tree levels the consciousness, the spirit remains intact and uninterrupted through whole the time.
Living the life so, the person or the individual who experiences, enjoys and suffers the objective world by means of the objects in the world so remembers his experiences which together form a memory. This memory helps him to understand what is pleasing and what is unpleasing to him. What is pleasant is remembered as enjoyment and pleasure, while what is remembered as pain and grief is remembered as suffering. This memory again prompts him to engage in action, because action is the only means available through which he can have more and more pleasure and the suffering –the least.
These two propensities, the modes of behavior are thus ingrained in him as habit.
The first of experiencing of enjoying the pleasant and avoiding the painful and the second of engaging in the action that would possibly help him in having all the pleasures he wants, while avoiding all the sufferings he fears of.
As long as one lives on one has these two core-tendencies which are common to man as well all other living creatures as well.
We are not sure if animals and other living beings have this faculty of thinking in a verbal mode that we humans have. So we humans can by our very habit itself, imagine of a future, imminent or distant one, while we don’t know how and if other creatures also have this tendency.
Here we are at present not concerned about that. Here we are studying about the man’s nature and behavior.
These two core-tendencies which one is governed by through-out the life keep going on all the time till one is alive. And gradually by the time when the organism is decayed one is dead.
Imagination of future and the memory of the past create the illusion of having one’s existence after death also. This illusion itself took place when one was alive. This lets us understand the fact that having one’s existence as an individual and a distinct and separate entity and others too having such an individual and a distinct and separate entity of their own is basically an error of judgment on the part of our thinking. But somehow it has become such a strong idea, even a belief one can never question or doubt its validity through reasoning.
While living the life one is so much busy with enjoying the pleasures and avoiding the pains / sufferings and trying all the time for achieving more and more means to fulfill his desires and cravings, running away from the possible pains that life inevitably keeps inflicts upon us one gets habituated to this. One thinks of the disease, the old age, life after death, heaven and hell, ‘karma’ and ‘destiny’, ‘Salvation’, re-incarnation and freedom from the cycle of births and rebirths and other such things, but hardly looks at this physical body that is perceived in the consciousness which is made of the elements, is a result only of the action of the parents. The result is a consequence only which has a destiny and no question of free-will or independent action arises for this organism which is going through this happening which one calls his ‘life’. In the formation of this physical body, all the future was destined as if programmed.
These two core-tendencies however cause in some a concern of these various hypothetical ideas, and then in some the quest and the intense urge for the spiritual arises, while others find no such an urge or even interest. This too could be the consequence. And though those who seek the answers to their urge are eager, this urge is kind of a dream only. Yet the sorrow when experienced in dream doesn’t become unreal and in order to get of this imaginary or unreal plight, one has to wake up.
This tendency is yet another aspect of the spiritual. The search for the spiritual aims at finding out this realization.
The formal classification of these three core-tendencies could be made as:
भोगवाद / bhogavāda, कर्मवाद / karmavāda , and त्यागवाद / tyāgavāda respectively.
भोगवाद / bhogavāda is the tendency to enjoy / experience the pleasures while avoiding the painful.
कर्मवाद / karmavāda is the tendency to engage in action for the sake of enjoyment of the pleasures while avoiding the painful.
त्यागवाद / tyāgavāda is the tendency to be detached to all objects of pleasures and pain and understand their limited importance and usefulness in life.
Vedanta is one approach while Buddhism is another and though there are some difference in their opinions about the existence and the form of ‘God’, both agree that annihilation of ego is the only right awakening.
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The following is the English translation of my Hindi post.
निष्ठा और मार्ग
rendered for those who would like to see the English version and though the essential is almost same as the original, there are minor changes made while editing.
--
The word ‘Spiritual’ is the English equivalent of the संस्कृत / saṃskṛta root
स्फुर् > स्फुरति, स्फुरणम् / स्फुर् > स्फुरति > स्फुरणम् >
. which is also the root of spirit, spiritual, inspiration, respiration, desperate , aspire, conspiracy, spur, …
The verb-root means the arising of consciousness in a living being.
This consciousness which manifests in a material body has the inherent quality of attention essentially associated with it. If there is attention there is this consciousness. Conversely, if there is consciousness there is attention.
This quality of attention which is the essence and expression of consciousness is basically the consciousness or awareness of being which further qualifies as the consciousness of oneself and the other. The material body gets preference over the rest and is referred to as oneself or me, while the rest is referred to as the other. Though this is not a verbal process, it could be described in these words. In this beginning the duality was not there though was came to exist when the consciousness was thus apparently split into me and the other.
The consciousness associated with me became me, while the consciousness associated with the rest became the secondary the other.
The spirit that is the essence and a matter of fact, became the manifest consciousness and the material body that is distinguished from the other was accepted as me, while the rest as the not-me.
In meaning, the संस्कृत > saṃskṛta word अधि-आत्म / adhi-ātma / अध्यात्म / adhyātma word is equivalent to this ‘spirit’, which means the spirit that every living being is imbued with without exception thus qualifies as me in that particular body which one, -the individual calls one’s own. This is always doubtful if there is such a similar consciousness associated with the totality that one refers to as ‘the other’. At the same time, as one intuitively accepts oneself as an individual, one can’t deny the other living beings different from him, and doubt their individual consciousness that makes each and every-one a unique, while the totality remains as the perceived world.
In the individual the person again has a life which he lives at three levels and at all the tree levels the consciousness, the spirit remains intact and uninterrupted through whole the time.
Living the life so, the person or the individual who experiences, enjoys and suffers the objective world by means of the objects in the world so remembers his experiences which together form a memory. This memory helps him to understand what is pleasing and what is unpleasing to him. What is pleasant is remembered as enjoyment and pleasure, while what is remembered as pain and grief is remembered as suffering. This memory again prompts him to engage in action, because action is the only means available through which he can have more and more pleasure and the suffering –the least.
These two propensities, the modes of behavior are thus ingrained in him as habit.
The first of experiencing of enjoying the pleasant and avoiding the painful and the second of engaging in the action that would possibly help him in having all the pleasures he wants, while avoiding all the sufferings he fears of.
As long as one lives on one has these two core-tendencies which are common to man as well all other living creatures as well.
We are not sure if animals and other living beings have this faculty of thinking in a verbal mode that we humans have. So we humans can by our very habit itself, imagine of a future, imminent or distant one, while we don’t know how and if other creatures also have this tendency.
Here we are at present not concerned about that. Here we are studying about the man’s nature and behavior.
These two core-tendencies which one is governed by through-out the life keep going on all the time till one is alive. And gradually by the time when the organism is decayed one is dead.
Imagination of future and the memory of the past create the illusion of having one’s existence after death also. This illusion itself took place when one was alive. This lets us understand the fact that having one’s existence as an individual and a distinct and separate entity and others too having such an individual and a distinct and separate entity of their own is basically an error of judgment on the part of our thinking. But somehow it has become such a strong idea, even a belief one can never question or doubt its validity through reasoning.
While living the life one is so much busy with enjoying the pleasures and avoiding the pains / sufferings and trying all the time for achieving more and more means to fulfill his desires and cravings, running away from the possible pains that life inevitably keeps inflicts upon us one gets habituated to this. One thinks of the disease, the old age, life after death, heaven and hell, ‘karma’ and ‘destiny’, ‘Salvation’, re-incarnation and freedom from the cycle of births and rebirths and other such things, but hardly looks at this physical body that is perceived in the consciousness which is made of the elements, is a result only of the action of the parents. The result is a consequence only which has a destiny and no question of free-will or independent action arises for this organism which is going through this happening which one calls his ‘life’. In the formation of this physical body, all the future was destined as if programmed.
These two core-tendencies however cause in some a concern of these various hypothetical ideas, and then in some the quest and the intense urge for the spiritual arises, while others find no such an urge or even interest. This too could be the consequence. And though those who seek the answers to their urge are eager, this urge is kind of a dream only. Yet the sorrow when experienced in dream doesn’t become unreal and in order to get of this imaginary or unreal plight, one has to wake up.
This tendency is yet another aspect of the spiritual. The search for the spiritual aims at finding out this realization.
The formal classification of these three core-tendencies could be made as:
भोगवाद / bhogavāda, कर्मवाद / karmavāda , and त्यागवाद / tyāgavāda respectively.
भोगवाद / bhogavāda is the tendency to enjoy / experience the pleasures while avoiding the painful.
कर्मवाद / karmavāda is the tendency to engage in action for the sake of enjoyment of the pleasures while avoiding the painful.
त्यागवाद / tyāgavāda is the tendency to be detached to all objects of pleasures and pain and understand their limited importance and usefulness in life.
Vedanta is one approach while Buddhism is another and though there are some difference in their opinions about the existence and the form of ‘God’, both agree that annihilation of ego is the only right awakening.
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