Guest guest Posted July 25, 2005 Report Share Posted July 25, 2005 Namaste, Is consioucness reflected/expressed in proportion to the spiritual evolution of the creature ? Are animals considered conscious entities ? When the Gita (chapter 13) says that Paramatman is all pervading and anything animate or inanimate is Paramatman, does it mean these are only different levels of the same consciousness ? My question stems from a statement made by Swami Krishnananda-ji. Here is a very remarkable extract from one of his e-books (his commentary on Br. Up.) "Whatever we see with our eyes here, everything became manifest. All things down to the blade of grass, even to the atom, even to inanimate matter - all these were created. There are gradations, and various degrees of manifestation in the coming down, one below the other. And, as creation comes down to the level of lower beings, consciousness gets more and more dense. It gets more and more involved in matter, which means to say, it gets externalised more and more. There is no such thing as matter, ultimately. It is only a form of externalisation, getting more and more concretised by involvement of consciousness in space and time. Ultimately, there is no matter; it is only space-time that is appearing as matter. But, it becomes very intense, and the intensity assumes the shape of a concrete object, outside." Mail - You care about security. So do we. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 25, 2005 Report Share Posted July 25, 2005 advaitin, Shailendra Bhatnagar <bhatnagar_shailendra> wrote: > Namaste, Is consioucness reflected/expressed in > proportion to the spiritual evolution of the creature > ? Are animals considered conscious entities ? When the > Gita (chapter 13) says that Paramatman is all > pervading and anything animate or inanimate is > Paramatman, does it mean these are only different > levels of the same consciousness ? Namaste Shailendra-ji, and all I remember to have read a shloka in Panchadashi by Sri Vidyaranya that, even though all matter is Consciousness, the Consciousness in them does not express itself in inert matter, just as an ordinary glass, unless it is a lens, does not focus the sun's rays. I forget the actual reference now. PraNAms to all advaitins. profvk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 25, 2005 Report Share Posted July 25, 2005 Shailendraji Look at your dream world. There are inert buildings and sentient buildings- Some humans, some animals, and some plants. Now pose the same question - is there a difference in the these, in terms of existence and consciousness. As a conscious being in your dream, looking at the inert things, can declare that yes indeed there is- But when you are awaken to the higher level you discover that all that was projected by your mind by the power of the consciousness that you are. Both the subject, you and the objects that you are conscious of (which are by definition are inert) are in your mind only - projected by the mind, sustained by the mind and go back into your mind. All differences, sajaati, vijaati and swagata bhedaas are all manifestation of the power of Maaya. In consciousness there are no differences. Whatever differences are only apparent like the waves on the ocean. Hari OM! Sadananda --- Shailendra Bhatnagar <bhatnagar_shailendra wrote: > Namaste, Is consioucness reflected/expressed in > proportion to the spiritual evolution of the creature > ? Are animals considered conscious entities ? When the > Gita (chapter 13) says that Paramatman is all > pervading and anything animate or inanimate is > Paramatman, does it mean these are only different > levels of the same consciousness ? My question stems > from a statement made by Swami Krishnananda-ji. Here > is a very remarkable extract from one of his e-books > (his commentary on Br. Up.) > > "Whatever we see with our eyes here, everything became > manifest. All things down to the blade of grass, even > to the atom, even to inanimate matter - all these were > created. There are gradations, and various degrees of > manifestation in the coming down, one below the other. > And, as creation comes down to the level of lower > beings, consciousness gets more and more dense. It > gets more and more involved in matter, which means to > say, it gets externalised more and more. There is no > such thing as matter, ultimately. It is only a form of > externalisation, getting more and more concretised by > involvement of consciousness in space and time. > Ultimately, there is no matter; it is only space-time > that is appearing as matter. But, it becomes very > intense, and the intensity assumes the shape of a > concrete object, outside." > > > > > > > > Mail - You care about security. So do we. > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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