Meditation

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ध्यानयोग (Transcendental Meditation)

      Almost every sorrow in our life is the result of our flawed thinking. Why do I use my frequent visits to Singapore as a show-off for impressing my friends ? Why do I get nervous when new interior makes my neighbour's car more stylish than my car ?

      Whatever we see or experience can philosophically be considered as part of illusion. This illusionary world blinds us by masking our consciousness. The complex nature of "prakruti" (rules of civilisation) makes it difficult for us to precisely corelate cause & effect. This jeopardises our thinking process. Tranquility is a prerequisite for clear thinking. Only a tranquil mind can experience the cosmic harmony behind everything.


      Instead of accepting the ground realities of the world, we try to project the world through our perceptions. Our attachment to such false projections makes it difficult for us to experience the harmony. Mercurial mind often keeps jumping from one thought to another. A kitten can keep playing with a yarn-ball. It derives a great pleasure through this. But as it grows into an adult cat, it does not get as much pleasure by playing with that yarn-ball. Now that adult cat wants something different.

      Similarly, when our consciousness level is low, we derive satisfaction from petty things like projecting ourselves smarter than our neighbour. Our enhanced consciousness prompts us to hold on to something that is more permanent. Practicing equinimity can lead us to that non-decaying pleasure often described as eternal-bliss. But equinimity is easy to preach than to practice. Moving beyond ups & downs of life comes only after a hard practice.

      Equinimity cannot be achieved when we are engulfed in ignorance. A baby sitting in the laps of her mother doesn't have to bother about ups & downs of life. Her mother absorbs most of the imbalance. But we don't say that the baby has achieved equinimity. If that baby is to tide over the ups & downs of life all by herself, she has to acquire KNOWLEDGE.

      Our basic instincts form an obstacle to this knowledge-acquisition process. These basic instincts impart mercurial nature to our mind. To nullify these domineering instincts, we have to work in a focussed & disciplined manner. Meditation or ध्यानयोग is a systematic way of acquiring ultimate knowledge (ब्रह्मज्ञान).

      Meditation is not an END in itself, rather it is the MEANS to achieve equinimity. Our life is shaped by our choices. Our life will be in good shape only if we make proper choices. Balanced attitude helps us make proper choices. Our attitude is usually conditioned by "Prakruti" (a force that governs our emotions like anger, nervousness etc). If desires & emotions are handled incorrectly, we lose balance & make wrong choices. Meditation helps us overcome the influence of "Prakruti". Through meditation, we can continuously maintain balanced attitude.

      Being theist is not a necessary precondition for moving on the path of meditation. But it is usually found that theist attitude is better suited for understanding the abstract concepts of philosophy. Simple breathing exercises or stress relieving exercises do not give you the complete picture of meditation. At best, they constitute the form - not the substance - of meditation. Unless you grasp the core concept, meditation will simply look like a leisure time activity having no relation to the practical world around us. Meditation is meaningless if there is no urge to unearth the TRUTH. Having said that, let us now enumerate the characteristics of KNOWLEDGE itself.


Essentials of Knowledge :

1. True knowledge of reality must explain & solve the fundamental problems of physics, metaphysics & philosophy. By applying knowledge, we make our choices. Knowledge cannot exist in vacuum. For knowledge to exist, there has to be an object of knowledge. There are some objects about which we already know and there are some objects about which we do not know. We apply our knowledge about the known objects to understand something about the unknown objects. What is "known object" for one person may be an "unknown object" for another person.

2. Knowledge about "unknown" should NOT contradict with the knowledge about "the known". No argument should go against the universal rules of science. Mere opinion or belief should NOT be mistaken for knowledge.

3. Knowledge is something that enables you to move towards Absolute Truth. Absolute knowledge level is different from specific expertise. You may know a lot about one subject; but if your ignorance in some other field outweighs your specific expertise then you will drift away from Absolute Truth. For example, consider a mythological entity Devil or Satan who knows a lot about many subjects; but his ego prompts him to assume himself smarter than Almighty. This ignorance far outweighs his overall expertise & makes him a mediocre entity which is hopelessly inferior to Almighty.

Formlesness

      Lack of consciousness prompts us to perceive our form as our true self. This false perception is the direct consequence of our ignorance. Ocean of consciousness needs no form to realise its own formlessness. As a baby, we are born formless. It takes many years to understand this inherrent formlessness. During these years when our consciousness is in dream state, our ego (or am-ness) prompts us to assume some form which ultimately turns out to be transient in nature.

      Awareness about the formlessness is well within the confines of conventional sensory modalities. Mediation of sensory modalities enables us to fathom formlessness. That means formlessness is NOT as intangible or as supra-sensory as it sounds. Our ignorant self perceives form as a discrete independent entity. We have to focus our senses properly so that entire system as a whole can be taken into cognisance. Thorough concentration enables us to convert perceptive inputs into true or absolute inputs. Formlessness manifests itself when we see everything in its true self. That is REALISATION. It takes place only when ignorance is wiped out. Illusion persists till consciousness is in dream state.

Note : This "Formlessness" section is written in response to the article "Liberation is Freedom from the Finite" (Deepak Ranade) published in Times of India's Mumbai edition dated November 09, 2009.


      Omnipotent Almighty resides at a point of infinite knowledge, a point of Absolute Truth. Without understanding the intricacies of the system around you, it is NOT possible to realise God or Absolute Truth. Mere self-denial will NOT take you towards God. Not losing track of events in this dynamic world is essential for moving towards Absolute Truth. Understanding the formless nature of omnipresent God requires great concentration. Through meditation. you cognize what you have already learnt. In other words, meditation helps us convert information into knowledge. God is NOT illusion. Omnipotent Almighty is beyond illusion. Without knowing true nature of माया or illusion, we cannot see beyond illusion. Otherwise what appears to be beyond illusion may be a part of illusion.

      Technical persons can easily understand the process of realisation of God by comparing it with the concept of "Observability" from Electrical control system.

      "Observability" relates to the condition of observing or estimating the state variables from the output variables which are generally measurable. Through Meditation, we concentrate on system response or day to events that take place around us & precisely corelate cause & effect for those events. On the surface, it may appear that simply by measuring or controlling Public Opinion & Experts' Opinion, we can easily predict the system response. But the principle of "Observability" suggests that if any one of the state variables is independent of the control signal, then there would be no way of driving this particular state variable to a desired state in finite time by means of a control signal. In such a case, the system is NOT observable. Free will of a Free person is one such variable which is independent of the control signal. So, unless you know the complete mindset of Free Will person, system response will be unpredictable. Why can't you simply ignore such Free Will person ? There are some Free Will persons which are used as tossed coins by gamblers from both the sides (theist side & atheist side). These gamblers mutually agree upon the heavy leverage that is to be assigned to such Free Will persons. In that case, you cannot ignore that Free Will variable even if it appears to be completely illogical or irrational at times. System has to account for that Free Will alongwith its heavy leverage. Once you toss a coin, you cannot take it back.

      Observability matrix consists of minimum possible number of system variables with which we can precisely observe or estimate the state variables of the entire system. Omnipresent Almighty is like a complex system having large number of output varibles. An individual cannot take all these variables into account. So, we usually concentrate on a small set of variables & try to understand the nature of formless Almighty by using LOGIC or REASON. That is what बुद्धियुक्त योग or Gnosticism is all about.

      Those who are watching the system carefully must have realised that the system before March 2009 was somewhat different than the system after March 2009. Before March 2009, people were getting paid in proportion to their nuisance value. Logic, harmony & knowledge were on the backburner while absurdity, intolerance & ignorance were receiving incentives. When system conditions reverse, people can maximize their profits by moving towards Absolute Truth.

      To know more about this system reversal & its effect on our choices, we must thoroughly understand the bipolar nature of the illusionary world around us. For existing in this materialistic world, we need resources. As we move up the system hierarchy, we get more & more resources. Most of us are in a CREDIT based system i.e., we chase credit & not CAPITAL. Within credit based system, there are two sections. We can chose any one of them. In one section, we move up the feminist hierarchy & in the other section, we move up the non-feminist hierarchy. Philosophically, there's not much difference between the two.


सांख्य योगौ पृथग्बालाः प्रवदन्ति न पण्डिताः

एकं सांख्यं च योगं च य पश्यति स पश्यति
      Of course, this is true only when both the systems are balanced. If cunning fellows take over any of these sytems, then both the systems get disturbed & people cannot get credit without deviating from TRUTH.

Neither feminist system nor non-feminist system is inherently Good or Bad. Incorrect choices of people or lethargy exhibited by defenders of goodness give rise to inequality & subsequent exploitation of unprivileged persons which converts these systems into "a system funded by आसुरी संपत्ती (devil's wealth or satan's wealth)".

      In what way is this analysis related to Free Will ? Depending upon the choices we make, there are two components of overall credit -- one is feminist component & the other one is non-feminist component. For the system as a whole, total feminist bias must be equal to total non-feminist bias. While calculating these biases, system takes into account the bias generated by that high leverage Free Will person. If system keels over in one direction, then either feminist bias shoots up or non-feminist bias shoots up. We generally think that credit for anything is in proportion to the number of persons supporting that particular thing. But that analysis turns out to be incorrect in this case. If feminist bias shoots up, then extreme feminists lose their credit. If non-feminist bias is more then the extreme non-feminists lose their credit. So, BALANCE is the key. We should not try to move up the system hierarchy by making absurd polarised choices. The risk involved is much more than what we think. Pop star Michael Jackson is an example. After 20 June 2009, he suddenly lost credit & moved closer to death. If we are balanced, then we don't lose much credit even when system keels over in one direction or the other. Balanced non-feminists can be called as Fathers who represent सत् whereas unbalanced non-feminists can be called as Vampires who represent असत्. Similarly, balanced feminists can be called as Mothers who represent भाव whereas unbalanced feminists can be called as Lycanes who represent अभाव.


नासतो विद्यते भावो नाभावो विद्यते सतः
उभयोsरपि दृष्टोन्तस्त्वनयोस्तत्त्वदर्शिभिः


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