The Hindu Article - Man's quest for the infinite

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Date:18/03/2003 URL:

http://www.thehindu.com/2003/03/18/stories/2003031801290900.htm

 

Miscellaneous - Religion

 

Man's quest for the infinite

 

CHENNAI MARCH 18 . Life in the world is complicated for human beings.

Any other living being undergoes the life processes of eating,

sleeping, reproducing and dying without much choice. In the case of

man he seeks something more than mere survival. His life becomes

meaningful only after his survival is taken care of. An individual

who wants fulfilment must find out what it is that propels him to

seek any objective like education, career, wealth and family. It is

the need to expand which is fundamental to his seeking. Constantly he

longs for something more than what he has achieved. How much will one

seek to become fulfilled?

 

The very fact that man wants something more as soon as he realises

one objective indicates that it is the infinite, which he longs for.

But he attempts this quest in instalments in the various spheres of

his life. In the average span of human life is it possible to realise

the infinite in instalments? Frustration and misery result when he is

unable to fulfil this innate longing.

 

All worldly experiences result due to the functioning of the five

sense organs. In sleep man does not experience the world because the

senses are at rest. The knowledge gained through the sense organs is

only relative. For instance, a steel rod feels cold or hot to touch

according to the temperature of the hand. Sense perceptions are

always in comparison. When the Sun rises it is day for human beings

but for the owl it is night. Nature has thus opened the sense organs

of every creature for its survival but in the case of human beings

survival alone is not enough.

 

As the sense faculties operate only at the physical level the

experiences gained through sensory perceptions are akin to tasting

the peel of a fruit. Since the peel of the fruit (worldly

experiences) has some spots of sweetness, after tasting it man wants

more and more of it. But worldly experiences are not always joyous

and hence he has to face sorrows also.

 

Yoga enabled to transcend the physical level of the human

personality, said Sri Jaggi Vasudev in his lecture. It is natural for

a human being to seek the experience of the infinite, which is his

true nature. This finds expression in his different aspirations but

this quest is unconscious. All human endeavours are in pursuit of

happiness but they are all limited. Man can experience the dimension

in his personality, which is unbounded, through Yoga by conscious

choice.

 

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