08 Jan 2012
Note: This article is meant for intellectuals only
[following is a very close discussion of Swami with His devotees clarifying their doubts.]
Shri Lakshman: You say that the awareness is the product of inert energy and also that awareness is non-inert. Where from the characteristic of non-inertness entered the awareness?
Shri Swami: Let Me know your intention. Did you put this question to establish awareness as God like the Advaita philosopher? If so, it is a waste. I have elaborately dealt that awareness is not God and the reasons are that i)it is not all-pervading, ii)it is not the creator of any item of the real world, iii)it is not the controller of any item like a hitting stone, iv)it is not the destroyer of any item of the real world, v)it is generated from inert energy, vi)it has birth in the beginning of the awaken state and death at the beginning of deep sleep etc. There are only two categories:
When it is clearly proved that awareness is not the creator, the other inevitable option is that awareness is a part of the creation. Now the discussion about the characteristics of the awareness becomes the subject related to the analysis of items of creation only, which is science or ancient logic (tarka). Philosophy deals with the Creator and the analysis of creation is also done provided it is related to the Creator.
Shri Phani: The Veda says that the sages have analyzed every item of the creation and rejected every item as ‘not God’ (Neti Neti…). In such a case, the analysis of awareness should be done deeply before rejecting it as God.
Shri Swami: Exactly that is what I am telling. The awareness is thoroughly analyzed and is established that it is not God. A special attention is already given by Me because it is the topmost important item of the creation that competes with God. Your suggestion becomes valid regarding with any other item, which is not so carefully analyzed by Me.
Shri Lakshman: I agree that awareness is not God and I was convinced in 2007 itself after reading Your knowledge. You can assure me as a scientist asking this point. In the analysis of this point, fortunately, there may be a possibility for the awareness to become God based on the luck of Advaita philosophers.
Meaning of Non-inertness
Shri Swami: Often, we use the words in a loose sense and not in the sense of conclusion after strict analysis. The ‘non-inertness’ word indicates that it is different from inert energy and does not mean that there is no similarity with awareness. If you say that Mumbai is non-Delhi, it does not mean that there is no similarity between Delhi and Mumbai. In fact, both Delhi and Mumbai have hundred similarities; only one difference is that Delhi is the capital of the country, whereas Mumbai is the capital of a state. The difference is based on single point only and should not be extended to all other points. You should not say that Delhi is city and Mumbai is cow. You should not say that Delhi contains houses, whereas Mumbai contains forests. You should not say that Delhi contains people and Mumbai contains ants. The word ‘non’ does not negate all the similarities and make Delhi and Mumbai totally different from each other. If you analyze the awareness strictly, every side of the awareness is totally inert. Awareness means grasping the information of objects from the external world, storing the information in the brain and creating some new idea. If you take the first side, the impressions of objects are received through the senses like receiving the impressions by the camera (eye), tape-recorder (ear), etc. If the recording of information in the instruments is an inert mechanism, the same recording of information by the senses should also be inert.
Nikhil: Today, inert instrumental materials are also employed in the place of senses by which the recording of information can be carried on in the usual manner.
Swami: Nikhil acted here as a Madhyamika supporting the Siddhanti (Swami). Lakshman is the Poorva Pakshi and Phani acted as a Madhyamika supporting the Poorva Pakshi.
Let us continue with the topic. The other side is the storing of external information. This is also done in the instruments like a computer and information is stored in the form of pulses. Science has clearly proved that the information is also stored in the brain in the same way. In fact, this point was discovered even by the ancient logic which says that the information is stored in the form of pulses called ‘sphota’. The entire group of pulses is called as chitta. Hence, this side is also an inert mechanism. Previously, the computer employed a single microprocessor and it could not recognize the object by one step. It has to recognize the object after noting the characteristics of the object one-by-one in a sequential chain. Therefore, the awareness of a human being, which recognizes the object in one step, was thought to be superior to a computer. But, in course of time, several microprocessors in a computer, functioning simultaneously solved this problem and hence, the brain became exactly equal to a computer. This clearly proves that the receiving and storing of external information is inert only. The last side of the awareness is creativity. This can also be proved as an inert mechanism. If the awareness created the idea of a new animal with eight legs and two tails, it is only a random selection of a new probability of mixture from already existing components of information. The tail already exists and the leg also already exists in the information. The usual mixture is four legs and one tail. Such random probability makes the computer also give new ideas and tell poetry.
Nikhil: From the pre-existing knowledge of language, a vocabulary of words and some rules about rhyme and poetic meter, one can construct new verses. This is poetic creativity, which essentially is a mere mixing of existing information and hence, not truly creative. Nowadays, in order to discover a large number of new molecules for applications in drugs, computer programs are employed to make a huge number of combinations of certain known chemical groups in different ways. This field of chemistry is called combinatorial chemistry. It is an example of how even a computer can show ‘creativity’ and it supports the assertion that the so-called creativity is also an inert function involving new combinations of existing bits of information.
Real Creativity Exists in God Alone
Shri Swami: Such creativity is not genuine since it is only a random probability of mixing the various components of pre-existing information only. By this, it is clearly proved that all the sides of awareness are inert mechanisms only, which are duplicates of the processes taking place in the inert instruments like a camera, tape-recorder, computer, other audio-visual appliances etc. The robot has clearly proved to be the exact duplication of the human being. The real creativity is the generation of entirely new idea in absence of any pre-existing information. You can find such real creativity in God, who has created this wonderful universe with so many items and phenomenae without the pre-existence of any information. If you say that the creativity is the real characteristic of awareness, then, such awareness is with God only. Such creativity is unimaginable because any imaginable human being does not possess such creativity. Such awareness is unimaginable and we can say that such awareness becomes unimaginable due to the charging of it by the unimaginable God. Since awareness is an imaginable item, you cannot call such awareness directly as God. You can treat such awareness as the Unimaginable God like treating the electrified wire as electricity. Therefore, you should not take this opportunity also to call awareness as God. In such awareness, the component of awareness is imaginable but its unimaginable nature, which belongs to God, is a different component. Shankara treated such unimaginable awareness (Sarvajna) as God and did not isolate the unimaginable God from It due to the fear of atheism, which negates the existence of God since He is unimaginable. The isolated unimaginable God is called as Parabrahman and the awareness charged by the unimaginable God is called as Brahman by Shankara. Brahman associated with the unlimited cosmic energy or a limited energetic form can be called as Ishwara and the quantitative difference here is not considered because the unimaginable power of Parabrahman makes both one and the same.
Awareness: Receiving, Storing and Rare Bits of Creativity
Shri Anil: If awareness is also inert, what is the significance of the non-inert awareness?
Shri Swami: The word ‘non-inert’ means here that the awareness is not the simple basic lot of inert energy. The inert energy is soul, which is leftover in the deep sleep. In the states of dream and wakefulness, the awareness exists as a composite of the mechanisms like receiving and storing external information along with the so-called creativity now and then. The state of meditation is almost deep sleep since the thoughtless awareness is almost the inert energy. But, the awareness in the meditation is leftover with one thought that it is aware of itself. In deep sleep, this single thought also disappears and hence, the awareness, which is the work form of inert energy, is totally reduced into inert energy. Even though the mechanisms are inert processes only, the basic inert energy is devoid of these mechanisms. The absence of these mechanisms in the inert energy brings the difference between inert energy and awareness. However, these mechanisms are also inert and strictly speaking, the awareness is also inert, in the deep sense. These mechanisms are absent not only in the basic crude inert energy but also in any system of the body. They are specific, limited to the nervous system since the nervous system itself is specific, differing from every system of the body. Hence, all the mechanisms of other systems are called inert due to the absence of these specific mechanisms in other systems. Hence, the word ‘non-inert’ is firmly fixed in these three specific mechanisms of the specific nervous system. Hence, the other mechanisms like digestion, respiration, circulation of blood etc., are inert. In other words, the word ‘non-inert’ is strictly fixed to these three mechanisms of the nervous system only and due to the absence of those mechanisms elsewhere in the body, the word ‘non-inert awareness’ cannot exist anywhere in the body. The exact duplication of these three mechanisms in the inert instruments proves that these mechanisms are basically inert. The word ‘non-inert’ does not mean that they are not inert. But, it only means that that these mechanisms are highly specific, existing in the nervous system only and are absent in the basic inert energy and in any other inert system of the body. This word acts as a specific name (samjna vachaka) of a specific person differentiating him from other persons, without analyzing it for its meaning. Every city is basically like Delhi but every city is non-Delhi because no other city is the capital of the country.
Shri Lakshman: Which component of the cause is responsible for this non-inertness of awareness?
Shri Swami: The cause is not only the basic material (upadana) but also other associate working elements (nimitta). For the pot, mud is the material cause and the pot-maker, mould of the pot, water, furnace, etc. are the associate causes. The circular shape of the pot is not in the material cause but is in the associate cause, which is the mould. This circular shape of the pot resembles the non-inertness of the awareness. The inert energy is the material cause of the awareness. Hence, the non-inertness is not from the inert energy. The associate cause is the specific nervous system. The specific design and style of function of the nervous system introduces the specific mechanisms denoted by the word ‘non-inert’. In fact, the nervous system is also made of inert chemicals only. Thus, in the analysis, everything is inert in the real basic sense. All this is only theoretical debate but in practice, the shape of the pot cannot be isolated from the mud at any time. Similarly, these specific mechanisms are also specific work-forms of inert energy only. Hence, these specific mechanisms cannot be isolated from the material cause at any instance. This point proves that these three specific mechanisms are also inert for all practical purposes. If you strictly analyze and isolate the real awareness, it can be found only with God and not with any soul.
Hence, the Advaita philosophers cannot expect the soul to be God. If a human being says that he is God based on the Veda (Aham Brahmasmi), the same Veda says that all this creation is Brahman (Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma). How can you say that the world is unreal? In such a case, you also become unreal. For an unreal entity, another unreal entity is real. Then also the world is real for you. Here, the word Brahman means Karya Brahman or cosmic energy. The word Brahman is used in several ‘great’ items. The Gita says that the Veda is Brahman. Any greatest thing in a category can be called as Brahman. These Vedic statements mean that you are cosmic energy and the world is also cosmic energy. The entire world is only an apparent modification of cosmic energy or Brahman. The apparent modification is always unreal. The stone is the unreal, apparent modification of cosmic energy. You are the real cosmic energy. In such a case, why the unreal stone damages the body of the real soul against its will? Theoretically, it is true that the stone is unreal and the soul is real. But, practically, the soul does not control the stone because the stone is not isolated from its causal energy. When the stone falls on you, it falls along with its causal energy. This is interaction of two quantities of energy and not the interaction of unreal stone and the real soul. Due to this practical difficulty, the Advaita philosopher extracts the true concept by logic from theory but fails in practice. You are able to lift a small stone and unable to lift a big stone. Both the stones are real because, they are not isolated from their causal energies. You are able to lift a smaller stone, which is a smaller quantity of energy and unable to lift a big stone, which is a larger quantity of energy. But, Krishna lifted even a huge mountain. Krishna, like any human being, has the materialized gross body (tamas), the inert energy associated with it (rajas) and the awareness (sattvam). If these three have lifted the mountain, everybody should lift the mountain. Apart from these three, the fourth component, the unimaginable God, exists in Krishna, which lifted the mountain. The inability of mere awareness to lift the mountain clearly proves that awareness is not God.
Shri Nikhil: The hitting stone damages the external gross body only and does not touch the awareness at the energy level.
Shri Swami: The soul is strongly wishing that the stone should not damage its gross body. This is a practical experience in any case. But, the will of the soul does not control the stone resulting in the insult of the soul. In such a case, the soul is proved not to be the controller of the external world. But, God is the controller of everything. In the same incident, Krishna can control the stone due to the presence of the unimaginable God in Him. This clearly differentiates God from the soul.
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