Evolution of Human Consciousness by Prof. S. B. Chandekar

[Guest guest]

Greetings Advaitins:

 

The enclosed article is published by:

 

Second Parliament of Science, Religion and Philosophy

Sponsored by Maharashtra Academy of Engineering and Educational

Research's (MAEER's) Maharashtra Institute of Technology (MIT), Pune,

India and

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

(UNESCO). Several interesting articles related to Advaita are available

at the Homepage with the URL: http://www.here-now4u.de

 

The editors of the Homepage, Carla and Christian Geerdes, have given

permission to me for circulation to the Advaitin List members. I will

post relevant articles from the World Congress in the next few weeks. I

request the members to send their reactions and comments.

 

I want to express my sincere thanks to Carla and Christian Geerdes for

granting permission.

 

Ram Chandran

Burke, VA

 

 

Evolution of Human Consciousness by Prof. S. B. Chandekar, Joint (H.E.), Pune, India.

 

The universe is a great mystery, and man indeed is the greatest wonder

of the universe. Since his appearance on the earth man has been watching

the universe with joy, fear and wonder. The splendour and majesty of its

beauteous form captured the attention of all sensitive minds. Its

changing order and orderly change fascinated poets, philosophers and

scientists alike. Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of man's attempt to

discover and understand the changing aspect of the universe by means of

observations and reasoning. Yet, this entire world of language and

literature, science and philosophy, images and symbols is too inadequate

to reveal the secret of the universe.

When reason fails, man realizes that 'science is not enough'. He then

becomes introvert; begins to speculate upon the inner world of the

changeless. Man's concentration is now shifted from the fleeting frame

of sense-perception and reasoning to the eternal realm of Sweetness and

Light. This speculative approach towards understanding the ultimate

nature of man and the universe is known as mysticism or spiritualism.

In the cultural history of the world we find man's consciousness

oscillating between these two extremes: science and mysticism. There are

moments in the history of mysticism surmounting science, and also

science triumphing over mysticism. Now the time has come to synthesize

both the points of view. The Veda alone can bridge the gap between the

two and present the whole unified vision of the universe.

"Knowledge" declared Aldous Huxley, "Is a function of being." Man wants

to know. His quest for knowing the mystery of the universe is

predominant in every age and culture. The word Veda comes from the root

'vid' to know, to perceive with all faculties of individual cognition,

i.e. five senses, mind, reason and ego. It indicates the natural process

of learning as well as the process of unfoldment of Truth in all its

phases: the changing, the changeless and the unified whole. The Veda

stands for the direct experience of reality: anubhava. When this

experience finds natural expression in words, it is latent with wisdom

and vision. It has the force of imparting the vision to the

Truth-seeker. Such poetic expressions are called the Veda-mantras. The

seer who conceived, perceived and composed such mantras was called Rsi,

or Tattvadarsin.

The Rig Samhita is the most ancient scripture of the world where we find

these seers, communicating their message of eternal Truth to the

mankind. Their sensitive minds received the refining flashes of wisdom

and vision radiating from the self-illuminating universe. They saw

Reality face to face. They perceived the whole universe as a living

organism. They saw the universal law and the cosmic order as the

manifestation of Truth, and held it in high esteem as Rta. They knew the

science and technique of living in harmony with nature. It was the age

of Sweetness and Light, almost free from pollution, corruption and

exploitation. People in this age accepted the authority of the Veda i.e.

anubhava or aparoksanubhuti.

This direct experience is not confined to the perception through five

senses as the advocators of science believe. Subtler than the senses is

the mind, greater than the mind is reason (buddhi) and greater than

reason is the 'ego' sense (suksma kama) of an individual. Direct

experience is wellgrounded in perceiving with all the faculties of

individual cognition i.e. five senses mind, reason and ego. When

individual's observations, perceptions are limited to the experiences of

five senses, this level of perception is karma-caksu or sthula drsti.

When the perception is greatly influenced by the mind's reflections, it

rises to the level of manas caksu or suksma-drsti. When it goes beyond

this empirical range and is entirely dominated by reason, it attains the

higher plane of jnana caksu or jnana drsti. Experiences of the senses,

mind and reason when taken separately are often conflicting, but when

these are brought together into one focus of unifying vision it is

called prajnana or prajna-caksu. This prajna (Individual talent) however

brilliant it may be, has its limitations. Individual's experience

generally tends to mysticism. It is subjective and hence it is called

svanubhava or paroksa jnana. Very often svanubhava is mistaken for

anubhava or aparoksanubhuti. But svanubhava requires to be tested on the

objective plane under the guidance of a tattvadarsin who enlightens the

individual talent and sets him in harmony with the universe. This

tattvadarsin is Sadguru, the universal Man who demonstrates the basic

unity of individual and the universe and imparts the direct vision of

Truth. Prajna which is purified enough to receive Sadguru's vision is

regarded as Rtambhara prajna. Sadguru's anubhava is known as divine

vision: Divya-caksu or Divya-drsti. Divya-caksu is the climax of the

evolution of human consciousness.

In the XI Chapter of the Bhagvadgita Sri Krishna mentioned of bestowing

Divya- caksu on Arjuna for Visvarupadarsan. But the Gita remained silent

on the method and technique (Yoga-Yukti) adopted by Bhagvan Sri Krishna

for imparting Divya-caksu. Most commentators did not give a serious

thought to the significance of Divya-caksu and the process of imparting

it. They just made a passing remark on this most important issue and

some were tempted to mystify it. Sri Mayananda Chaitanya was the first

to raise the question: "What is Divya-caksu? How did Bhagvan Sri Krishna

bestow it on Arjuna?" Very anxiously he asked the same question to all

saints and sages he met. No one could satisfy his query except Swami

Visuddhananda Sarasvati of Kashi who was really surprised to listen to

the brilliant question of Sri Mayananda at the age of sixteen. Pleased

with the extraordinary talent of the boy, Visuddhananda gave him the

clue to solve the riddle of Divya-caksu and at the same time made him

aware of his divine mission as the ninth incarnation. With deep

reverence and gratitude Sri Mayananda accepted Visuddhananda as his

Sadguru. As guided by Visuddhananda he continued his research further;

searched all sruti, smrti sastras and puranas to find out the missing

links; and at last succeeded in explaining the theory of Divya-caksu

with practical demonstration in his celebrated work the 'Sarvanga-Yoga'

published in 1923. The unique experiment he has demonstrated for

receiving Divya-caksu and imparting it to all is the outstanding

contribution made by him in the advancement of learning in the early

twentieth century.

The whole unified vision of the universe presented by him in the

Sarvanga-Yoga is much more integrated and all-embracing than the

holistic world view presented by modern scientists. The Sarvanga-Yoga

makes us aware of the Vedic vision: Purusa era idam sarvam with utmost

brevity and clarity.

The Vedic Trinity of 'asat-sat-sarvam' is represented in the

Sarvanga-Yoga as 'Tat- tvam-asi' or 'ksara-aksara-Purusottama'. This

trinity is a threefold unity: three in One and One in three present in

the whole system of existence. It is the natural make-up of the

universe. Sri Mayananda prefers to be most objective in his approach and

advises the aspirant to place some lumps of sugar candy in front as the

centre of this divine experiment. He starts demonstrating from the

object. Eight components appear in the visible form of the candy. Its

form, touch, sound, taste and smell are perceivable with our five

senses: eyes, skin, ears, tongue and nose respectively. These five

senses are the ambassadors of the five great elements: agni, vayu,

akasa, apah and prthvi in the court of man. These form, touch, sound,

taste and smell though distinctly perceived with our five senses are

inseparable from the substance. The five great elements in the Universe

viz. Fire, Air, Space, Water and Earth cannot be separated from one

another. Our five senses together bring us the enlightenment of one and

the same indivisible existence. They make us aware of our universal

physique in the form of pancikarana.

All the descriptive sciences cannot go beyond this world of sense

perception. The five senses have no access to the subtler realm of the

three Gunas: sattva, rajas and tamas. Finer and more powerful than five

senses is human mind. Mind is infused with the Gunas and hence capable

of recognising and experiencing them from their nature and functions.

The candy with butter evolves sattva, with water rajas; and tamas is its

inherent inertia. Our mind feels them as pleasure, painful pleasure and

pain. Likewise, mind perceives the threefold energy in the form of

will-action-inertia and interfused from microcosm to macrocosm. These

three Gunas are all-pervading. They are operative in Nature in the form

of light-dawn-darkness or life-birth and death. In living beings these

three Gunas, through food-stuffs, evolve into kapha, vata and pitta; and

are found galloping by leaps and bounds, performing all actions. In

human beings they further refine and manifest into mind, intellect and

ego for realization of the self.

Form food springs all life. With food all living beings grow, subsist

and cherish. The five elements: prthvi, apah, agni, vayu and akasa and

the three Gunas: sattva, rajas and tamas are the nature's food-bank. The

sugar candy, which we misunderstand as non-living is the very source of

life. These are the two forms (gross and subtle) of one and the same

Reality, that is Nature (prakrti), mass-energy, matter-mind,

living-non-living are not water-tight compartments. They are relative

terms interlinked and interfused with each other. These eight components

are dynamic; they are always in circular motion; always changing,

interchanging and interweaving with one another. They are interlocked to

form the organic unity like a tree. The harmony of these eight

components is recognised as 'Samayavastha' (Ksara).

This Ksara is the revolving stage where the play of the whole creation

goes on. The Cosmic Dance is performed here in changing rhythm and

rhythmic change. Here the individual observer sees that he is the

inseparable part of this drama. Moreover, he is both actor and spectator

in this great drama of existence. Thus, whatever we have experienced

with our five senses and mind is our 'Cosmic Form' shining all around in

myriad costumes and enchanting hues; expanding over as countless worlds

and galaxies immeasurable on all sides.

The entire world of language and literature, science and philosophy,

images and symbols end in this Ksara, the changing aspect of the

universe wherein goes on the play of the whole creation. This is our

lower nature: apara prakrti or mayawhich is visible to all but

recognised by the enlightened few.

He then enlightens us on the changeless aspect of the universe, the

realm of Sweetness and Light which is described in the Gita and

Upanisads as Aksara- brahman. Again pointing towards the sugar candy he

shows: 'Visible form of the candy is constantly undergoing various

changes. It may assume several forms like crystals, powder, granules,

tablets, syrup and so on. In all these changing forms, the sweetness

remains unchanged. This sweetness is not merely a sweet taste of tongue.

Even if a lump of sugar candy is turned to ashes or transformed into any

other form, the sweetness remains unchanged in the form of

'asti-bhati-priyatva'. It is loveable and useful in every form.‘

'Asti' is beingness of the thing that cannot be destroyed by any means;

it can never be turned into nothingness. This sweetness though invisible

to the individual senses and mind can be made visible to the eye of

intellect if it is revealed by the enlightened teacher, i.e. Sadguru.

The human intellect (pure reason) comprehends and confirms 'asti' as

self-evident and radiant in all existence; 'bhakti' is the light of

consciousness of our being; 'priyatva' is the everloveable sweetness in

the form usefulness available in everything. It is our Higher Nature,

para prakrti so dear to us in every form, our invisible, immortal being

visible in all manifestations. This all pervading omnipotent Aksara sets

the Cosmic Wheel of Action (Ksara) moving and thus the Divine Dance of

Shiva or Maya goes on.

Beyond this unity and multiplicity reigns the 'Name' Supreme, the

unified whole where both the changing and the changeless inseparably

coexist. The visible form of the candy is eightfold, and the sweetness

that inseparably permeates throughout the lump of candy is unifold. The

'sweetness' cannot be separated from the 'form' of the candy by any

means. It is because the 'form' and 'sweetness' are not independent

entities, but inseparable aspects of the 'thing' named as 'sugar'. The

moment we utter the 'name' sugar, we recollect the 'thing' with its form

and sweetness together. Both form and sweetness lose their identity in

the name 'sugar'. Neither concept (form or sweetness) suffices to

explain 'sugar', but together they do, being one with the 'name'. As the

'name' of an individual represents the whole of his personality, his

body, mind and spirit all in one, so the name 'Universe' means all that

exists: the changing, the changeless, and the unified whole. This is the

vision of 'Visvarupadarsana Yoga' as revealed by Sri Mayananda. It is in

perfect harmony with the Veda and the Geeta.

The Sarvanga-Yoga shows the indivisible link between microcosm and

macrocosm. The whole complex of Ksara is perceived as 'a homogeneous

fabric in which matter and energy, matter and mind are indistinguishable

and all forms of motion from slow wheeling of the galaxies to the wild

fights of electrons become simply changes in the structure and

concentration of the primordial field'. The Aksara brahman as shown by

the Sarvanga Yoga makes us aware of our eternity and immortality in the

form of Truth and Beauty. The Sarvanga-Yoga reaches the climax of

enlightenment when it reveals 'Purusottama' as the whole unified

Universe where the relativity of jadacaitanya, sat- asat,

prakrti-purusa, jagat-brahman totally disappear. The Sarvanga Yoga shows

'sarvam khalu idam brahman'. in direct experience nothing is unreal.

Unreal never exists, nor real ceases to be. Hence the seemingly

irrefutable philosophy of Vedanta 'brahma satyam jagat mithya' collapses

within no time when it is made to face the searchlight of Divya-caksu.

Sri Mayananda's unified vision of reality goes far beyond the 'systems

view' or the 'holistic view' of the universe presented by modern

scientists. It is even deeper than the 'deep ecological view' advocated

by environmentalists. It is indeed more sublime than the cult-oriented

mysticism of the spiritualists. Divya caksu is beyond all these

sectarian views. It unfolds all aspects of the universe and puts them in

harmony. The basic unity of man and vision of the Veda has been renewed

and brought home, within reach of a common man.

Divya-caksu makes us aware of our Universal Form: Visvarupa. The supreme

consciousness that 'I am the whole unified universe' is the source of

all human values. It inspires us with death defying courage and

vitality, magnanimity and piety, sensitiveness and intelligence which

are the basic constituents of human character. It reveals that karma,

jnana and bhakti is a threefold unity which emancipates man from

corruption of thought and action. It teaches man how to be in harmony

with himself and his environment. It provides us with an opportunity to

reflect on the critical, social, economical, educational, cultural,

moral and spiritual issues facing humanity. It does not underestimate

science; nor does it over-glorify mysticism, but maintains a golden mean

between the two. It is here that science and mysticism meet to commit

for development of human potential. This wisdom and vision when properly

understood, digested and transformed into action can really help us to

bring human welfare and solidarity. There is no short-cut to social

regeneration and national reconstruction. It can be brought about only

through education. Education is the key- note to the new world; and the

Sarvanga-Yoga is the foundation stone of education.