GOD AND EVIL by C.E.M. JOAD  

Extract:

'The thing a man does practically lay to heart and know for certain, concerning his vital relations to this mysterious universe and his duty and destiny there, that is in all cases the primary thing for him and creatively determines all the rest. That is his religion.' - carlyle

A book which takes religion for its subject ought manifestly has to begin with a definition of its subject. Numbers are available, yet none, I feel, is sufficiently authoritative to justify its adoption; for no one of these definitions, that is to say, can it be claimed that it embraces all of what is meant by people when they use the word religion, and that it embraces only what is meant. In the circumstances, the prudent course seems to be to abandon the attempt to frame a definition which is both objective and authoritative, and to take the easier way of indicating what I personally have in mind when I use the word. People have used the word religion to cover many different things; what follows is no more than an indication of those of them which I take to be important and am proposing to discuss in the following pages.

The Propositions of Religion.

First, then, I take religion to consist of a set of propositions to which those who 'believe in' religion would assent. The proposi­tions relate, in the first place, to the nature and purpose of the universe. They are to the effect that the world of solid, everyday things extended in space is not the only world, is not even the real world; for, they assert, there is another world, a world of spirit which is real in some sense in which the familiar world is illusory, and which is eternal as contrasted with the familiar world which is transitory. By many, this spiritual world is regarded as a universal consciousness which expresses itself in our partial consciousnesses or rather which is the essential core or reality of our partial consciousnesses. This essential core of the human being, which is his true self, is thus, by virtue of its participation in the reality of the universal consciousness, immortal. We are, then, immortal souls, and it follows that by virtue of our possession of, or rather, by virtue of our being immortal souls, we are here and now members of the real spiritual world, although by virtue of our bodies we are also and at the same time members of the familiar world of physical things.

If we live aright we can, even while we are in the body upon earth, partially realize our real nature as participators in the spiritual world and prepare ourselves to enter upon our full spiritual inheritance when our souls leave their bodies at death.

The universal consciousness which is the fundamental reality of the universe can be further defined, and by many, perhaps most, religions is further denned, as being of the nature of a Person. This Person is God.

Now we can only conceive of the personality of God in terms of our own personalities; we can, in other words, only conceive of Him anthropomorphically. To do so is no doubt to conceive Him falsely, since God is not after all a man, is not even a perfect man. Nevertheless, we are in a position to make certain state­ments about His attributes, as, for example, that He is all wise, all good, and all powerful; that He created us, created, that is to say, our souls, and that He cares for us and wishes us well; also that He created the familiar world of visible things and, therefore, our bodies which are members of that world. God, then, is the author of our being and it is to Him that we owe the gift of eternal life.

It is possible by practising certain disciplines, which are sum­med up in the words contemplation, meditation and prayer, and by living a good life to enter into direct intercourse with God. Such intercourse has been vouchsafed to the mystics who speak of it in the language of a revealed vision. The mystics are excep­tional men; ordinary men can, however, communicate with God in prayer and, if they.^pray with faith and (what is important) pray for the right things, God will listen to their prayers and grant their requests.

Apart from the direct vision of the mystics, God has revealed Himself in indirect ways to man. There are certain values, the values, namely, of moral goodness, of truth and of beauty, which constitute the permanent objects of human aspiration and the goals of human effort. These values may be conceived as

attributes of God. They are, that is to say, the ways in which God reveals  Himself to man. God has further vouchsafed to man the gift of freedom, so that, although he is free to live a good life, to persue the values and to love God, he is also free to do the reverse of these things.

I do not claim that these propositions cover the whole ground rf religious belief; they do not even constitute the highest com­mon factor of the beliefs of all the great religions. The Buddhists, for example, do not believe in the immortality of the individual soul: the Hindus, that there was first a universal spirit or consciousness which created the world—before God, they claim, there was non-existence from which God Himself sprang—or the Zoroas-nians that God is all-powerful—co-equal with God there is, they hold, another Being who is evil as God is good, who is God's antagonist and fights with Him for the control of the universe and the soul of man. I am conscious, too, that the circumstance of my having been born in a Western civilization and having in­herited a Christian culture and tradition has permitted the beliefs maintained by the Christian religion to colour, many would say to bias, my statement of the propositions common to most religions. If I had been born in India or China, I should no doubt have stated them differently. Nevertheless they do, I think, constitute the essential part of what most people, who at different times in the history of mankind have 'believed in' religion, would be understood to mean when they said that ,they so believed.

The Religious Faculty.

Secondly, there is a question of faculty. I have stated the above propositions as if their truth could be known in the same way as the truths of algebra; but religious truth is not exclusively a matter of intellectual knowledge, nor is the intellect the only faculty which is involved. What other faculties are involved, it is difficult to say. Most religions have, however, consistently maintained, and maintained as a part of the religion, as, that is to say, an article of faith, that mankind cannot live by knowledge alone. To know the truths which religions have affirmed is also to feel the truth of what one knows, so that it no longer remains something outside oneself, but is taken up into and incorporated with one's whole being. The heart, in short, is involved no less than the brain. Hence 'experience' is perhaps a better word than 'knowledge', an experience which is of the whole man; whereas the intellect knows algebra, the heart human love, the emotions fear, it is the whole man, the whole man as thinking, as feeling, as striving and as loving, that knows or experiences the truth of religion.

The Ends of Religion.

The question of faculty raises the question of ends. If there are truths which are beyond the realm of reason or of reason operating alone, it will follow that the knowledge of such truths will exhibit important differences from the kind of knowledge obtained by reason, or by reason operating alone. The characteristic feature of knowledge in the ordinary sense of the term, when we use it to describe the knowledge of the things of this world, is that the knower is separate from what is known. If I know that I hold a pen and sit at a desk, my knowledge does not make me one with the pen or the desk. Indeed, it would be said that I do indeed know them only because I am other than what I know. But the knowledge that is religious knowledge, just because it is more than knowledge, leaps across the gulf which separates knower from known, so that in the last resort, when the soul truly knows God, the soul ceases to be separate from God, ceases, that is to say, to be individual and becomes one with what it knows. This condition of oneness can be achieved while the soul is still in the flesh in the mystical vision, when the true self realises its oneness with the God it knows and loves; it may also be achieved, and permanently achieved, after death, since it is in part the body which separates the soul from God. 'Our spirit,' says St. Catherine of Genoa, 'is ever longing to be free from all bodily sensations so as to be able to unite itself to God through love.'

Even before this stage is reached, however, since the soul cannot know God however imperfectly without loving and revering what it knows, and since in the experience of earthly love the soul of the lover approaches and enters into communion with the soul of the beloved, we may say that the relation of the mind to religious truth is never purely intellectual and other, but is always and from the beginning in part intuitive and akin.

Religious Practice.

Thirdly, there is the question of practice. Since knowledge is not enough, since to know is also to love, to reverence and to strive after, the peculiar kind of knowledge which religion gives carries with it certain obligations, carries in particular the obligation to live in such a way as to commend oneself to Him whom one loves, to humble oneself before Him for whom one feels reverence, to draw nearer to Him after whom one strives. Religion, in other words, enjoins a way of life. It does so for three reasons. First, because such a way of life is seen in the light of revealed truth to be good in itself; secondly, because it is pleasing to God; thirdly, because it is a preparation of the soul for the fuller life to be lived hereafter.

The first and the second motives entail one another. It is good because it pleases God, and it pleases God because it is good. Yet each motive is separately authoritative. It is enough for one who recognizes the value of goodness that the way of life should be good in itself; it is enough for one who loves and fears God that it should be pleasing to Him. The third motive is particularly liable to perversion, since the suggestion that one should live in such and such a way in order to prepare oneself by so living for eternal bliss can be represented as an invitation to take out a long-term insurance policy whose benefits will be drawn in the next world; it can, in other words, be represented as an incentive to the exercise of far-sighted selfishness. In fact, however, this motive follows directly from the recognition of the necessary limitations of the life of the soul in the body, and a consequent determination to achieve a fuller and more blessed life hereafter.

From all these motives, there follows the obligation to live in a certain way. That way has been pointed out to us by the teachers of the great religions. There are important differences in their teachings, but through them there run a number of threads which are fairly clear and fairly consistent: to be kind, gentle, compassionate and just; not to be self-seeking; to discipline, even in some cases to suppress the bodily passions; not to set over much store by the things of this world; to respect the rights of others, treating them as not less important than oneself; to love them so far as one can, and to love and fear God.

These and similar injunctions constitute common elements in the practical teaching of most of the great religions.

But the way of life which the religions enjoin cannot be lived without assistance. Though the spirit is willing, though, that is to say, the true self desires only what is good and to be good, the flesh is weak and the body, which is the source or the vehicle of all manner of evil desires, deflects the true self from its objectives, or so blinds it that it cannot perceive them. Hence arises temptation, which is a conflict between two motives, a good and a bad, often resulting in a yielding to the bad. Because men are by nature sinful, we cannot always resist temptation; we cannot, therefore, lead the life which the religions enjoin, unless God helps us to do so. If, however, we pray to Him for help it will be given. Thus it is only through the assistance of Divine Grace, as it is called, that man can succeed in living aright. 'I clearly recognize,' says St. Catherine of Genoa, 'that all good is in God alone, and that in me, without Divine Grace, there is nothing but deficiency.' 'The one sole thing in myself,' she continues, ' in which I glory, is that I see in myself nothing in which I can glory.'

I am not suggesting that the foregoing constitutes a definition of religion. It is obvious that it does not; but it does convey broadly what I understand by the content and the claims of religion. To an elucidation of this content and an examination of the claims that are made for it, the following pages are devoted.

Freedom from the burden of the Past

 Memory of the past, if vivid and ever-present, 

is like a non-existent ghost which haunts us with our consent.
It becomes an obstacle to freely conduct life in Time which flows only one way.
It is wise to learn the core lesson from the past for guidance;
the wise extract the essence right, and update/use it appropriately.
Otherwise, the past becomes a burden which needs to be dropped at the earliest time.

Else, mired in the past-land, we shall miss the future.

=====

Leaving no foot-prints behind - Swami Chidananda

"I am" , without qualifications, is the constant assertion of the wise; they are always in the present –– not living in time, but transcending time. Freedom from movement of thought into the past or future and an alertness in which the illusory coordinates of time are not given any place are the characteristics of the Wise.

Pure knowledge has no past, no future; it just is, unqualified by anything. Birds do not leave any mark as they glide gracefully in the air; fishes do not leave a mark when they swim in the ocean. 

Neither haunted by the past nor taunted by the future, the Wise live a blissful life, leaving no footprints behind. They seem to be walking along a path; but if you observe carefully there are no footprints.

Leaving no footprints in their mind as they act dynamically and selflessly in the present, and living their lives without fear, free from pride or regret, empty, totally selfless and pure in oneself, with no grudge, at ease with themselves and with all of God’s creation, subject to no pulls or pushes, the Wise are ever blissful and are always in the present.

Is it any wonder that the most beautiful actions come out of such divine persons?
===== 

Quote from J.K:
You cannot escape from experiences, 
but they need not take root in the soil of the mind.
These roots give rise to problems, conflicts and constant struggle.
There is no way out of this but to die each day to every yesterday;
And live eternally in the present. -- J Krishnamurti

OLD AGE DEMENTIA - ALZHIEMER'S

A Singular Life, an All Too Common End

By PAULA SPAN¶

http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/09/a-singular-life-an-all-too-common-end/#h[PSiPSi] 

The long list of roles Margaret Thatcher played during her 87 years — potent politician, free-market evangelist, labor antagonist, dominant global leader — includes the one she never publicly discussed: person with dementia.

The stroke that killed her on Monday was not her first. Mrs. Thatcher suffered several small strokes more than a decade earlier, canceled all her speaking engagements in 2003 and largely withdrew from public life. Even before the strokes, her daughter, Carol, wrote in a 2008 memoir, she was losing cognitive ground, repeating questions and showing other signs of confusion.

Heart-breakingly, she often forgot that her beloved husband, Denis, had died of cancer in 2003. “I had to keep giving her the bad news over and over again,” her daughter wrote. “Every time it finally sank in that she had lost her husband of more than 50 years, she’d look at me sadly and say, ‘Oh’, as I struggled to compose myself. ‘Were we all there?’ she’d ask softly.”

At the time, members of her mother’s political circle and other British commentators denounced Carol Thatcher for invading her mother’s privacy and, supposedly, diminishing her dignity. The criticism arose again in some quarters last year, when Meryl Streep won an Oscar for her portrayal of Mrs. Thatcher’s dementia in “The Iron Lady.”

The contrast with her fellow conservative and staunch supporter Ronald Reagan perhaps says something about American openness versus British reserve. Or maybe his movie-star past made him more at ease in the public eye.

Mr. Reagan chose to disclose his Alzheimer’s disease in a handwritten open letter in 1994, accompanied by an explanatory letter from his doctors. He, too, had experienced memory loss for a couple of years, and once he got the Alzheimer’s diagnosis, he and Nancy Reagan considered how much to say.

“In opening our hearts, we hope this might promote greater awareness of this condition,” his letter said. “Perhaps it will encourage a clearer understanding of the individuals and families affected by it.”

Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, to this day, carry a stigma that most other diseases — heart failure, for example — do not. To my mind, Mr. Reagan’s public disclosure showed courage, as Betty Ford’s candor about her breast cancer and her substance abuse did 20 years before.

Mrs. Thatcher’s family, on the other hand, has never discussed her diagnosis — whether she had vascular dementia from the earlier strokes or some other form of the disease. Perhaps she forbade her children to offer details about her illness, or perhaps by the time her condition was clear she was no longer able to make such decisions. We may never know.

But we do know that dementia will become an increasingly common condition in coming years, that it’s a terminal disease which doesn’t respect the public stature or intellectual accomplishments of its victims, that it can cause families to grieve for the people they’ve lost long before they die.

Paula Span is the author of “When the Time Comes: Families With Aging Parents Share Their Struggles and Solutions.”

"MY STROKE OF INSIGHT" - Neuro-Scientist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor

TED talk (Video) by Jill Bolte Taylor:  http://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html  
(Viewers: 11 lakhs)

Hidden potential of our amazing human brain / mind  

In the modern scientific world-view, if God exists at all, he has the role of a great engineer who had, initially, made this giant clock. But having done that and set it into motion, he really has no further role to play. In other words, he is a retired engineer - and, like all retirees, has been pushed to the background. As the economist Schumacher of “Small is Beautiful” fame has explained, in the academic world it is okay to indulge in polite talk about God, provided of course it is accepted that He is not capable of doing anything in our world!As in folklore stories, God seems to have answered, by choosing two ‘representatives’ to go to those higher realms and return to tell us how things ‘up there’ are like. And He has chosen - two brain specialists with absolutely impeccable credentials - both having strong connections with that institution we educated people revere more than any God - Harvard!! They have published two books:

One is “My Stroke of Insight” by Jill Bolte Taylor, a Ph.D. in neuro-anatomy, and the other is “Proof of Heaven” by Eben Alexander, a neurosurgeon of repute. Both had very unusual experiences, ‘journeys’ into levels of consciousness far above the material level of ‘duality’. What they tell us questions in a very deep and effective way the basic tenets of the ‘scientific world view’. In effect, both of them have ‘come back after experiencing heaven’, so to speak.

But the most important message contained in both these books is not a theoretical one about whether God exists or not. As recognized brain scientists, both Dr. Taylor and Dr. Alexander are telling us, “Hey, we understood much more about our brain’s (or, more accurately, our mind’s) hidden capacities during this experience than what we did in decades of research on the brain. Our human brain has fantastic, unbelievable, hidden capacities. …… - the Kingdom of Heaven is within us - each one of us is a microcosm carrying the entire macrocosm. If we want to know the truth about who we are, we need to go within, tap these hidden resources. Once we do so, we will emerge as a new human being, full of unbelievable love and compassion for all, for we will then see ourselves as one with the entire universe, not just a minute part of it.”

I am giving below details of the publishers, so that you can obtain them easily. I am also giving a brief preview of what they contain. Please also view the  TED presentation  by Jill Bolte Taylor, and in particular focus on the concluding of what she has to say under the heading “WHO ARE WE?”.   

http://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html 

The two scientists presentations represent a very great break in the way we human beings, especially the educated class, look at life and its purpose - and, in particular, realize the path to “be the change we want to see in this world”, to borrow Gandhi’s famous words - words which, together with Einstein’s quotes integrating his discoveries in science with the ‘cosmic religious experience’, form an integral part of both these books, even though they have been written independently and without reference to each other. 

“My Stroke of Insight” by Jill Bolte Taylor:Published in paperback by Hodder and Stoughton (2009)Jill Bolte Taylor is a neuro-anatomist by profession.

In 1996, she was at the Harvard Medical School, performing research, and teaching students about how the brain functions. On the morning of December 10, 1996, when she was only 37, she herself experienced a brain stroke - a major haemorrhage in the left hemisphere of her brain. Technically, what attacked her was an AVM (arterio-venous malfunction) - a very rare form of stroke that results in the rapid leakage of a lot of blood into the brain. As blood is toxic to neurons, such a leakage of blood has a devastating effect on the brain’s functions. Within four hours, she could not walk, talk, read, write, calculate or recall anything of her life. Recovery from such a state is considered very rare. But not only did she recover, she has regained her ‘left hemisphere’ capabilities completely. It has been a miraculous recovery, and she is convinced that there is a higher purpose to the efont-style: normalvent that happened to her - and has been dedicating her life to spreading awareness of what she learnt during that stroke.

Being a neuro-anatomist, she could watch meaningfully as her brain deteriorated - and realize which circuits were getting ‘shut down’ one by one. As the haemorrhage had occurred in the left hemisphere, it is capabilities associated with the left hemisphere (such as talking, analyzing, calculating, etc) that she lost. But, she realized to her amazement, faculties associated with the right hemisphere of her brain became very pronounced. Her levels of inner peace, love, joy, compassion, intuition, innocence and a feeling of ‘connectedness’ with the rest of the universe experienced a huge quantum jump.

The right and left hemispheres of our brain normally function in a complementary way. The circuitry of the right side is organized somewhat like that of a parallel processor in a computer, and is designed to take in data ‘moment by moment’. That means, there is no ‘flow of time’ in its perception. Each moment is vibrant with sensation, and so this circuitry plays the central role in our feeling of joy, of intuitive insights, of spontaneous outbursts, of connecting with the rest of the universe. The left hemisphere, by contrast, is a sequential processor of information: it superimposes a time-frame to what the right hemisphere senses by putting them together in timely succession. Thus, it commands us to put on our socks before we put on our shoes; it enables us to describe, evaluate, categorize and communicate; it breaks up the ‘big picture’ of the present moment presented by the right hemisphere’s circuitry into manageable and comparable bits of data that we can talk about. Of course, the two hemispheres act in conjunction, as complementary parts of a single whole: which is why, for instance, when we come across a rainbow, we see beautiful colours - the right hemisphere capabilities point out its grand beauty, while the left hemisphere capabilities, acting simultaneously, dissect it into the colour components.

It is the function of the left hemisphere to dissect, to analyze, to break into parts. It is because of our left hemisphere capabilities that we see ourselves as an “I”: separate from the rest of the universe. We draw boundaries to ourselves: in particular, we identify ourselves with our body. Thus, if someone were to attack us, it is the left hemisphere’s circuitry which ignites the defense mechanism within us, because we see ourselves as residing within a limited amount of space which is being threatened by an outside force.

If we wish to understand the difference between the functioning of the two hemispheres in terms of physics, one way of doing so is through the range of frequencies that the two hemispheres respond to. Of the huge range of sensory inputs constantly bombarding the brain (20^th century physics tells us we are all the time ‘swimming’ in a great ocean of electromagnetic waves), the left hemisphere responds to the shorter wavelengths of light and higher frequencies of sound. Thus, it is able to ‘confine’ our existence to our physical body, whose boundaries it clearly perceives. But the right hemisphere is able to respond to longer wavelengths of light and lower frequencies of sound.

One would imagine that a health calamity such as the serious stroke which Jill had experienced would make her feel ill and at a lower level of consciousness than a normal person. While she did realize the loss of basic faculties which we associate with the “I” such as the ability to remember, to analyze, etc., what astounded her was that, simultaneously with that loss of the “I”,  came an enhanced level of consciousness. In her words:

“As.. I became detached from the memories of my life, I was comforted by an expanding sense of grace... my consciousness soared into an all-knowingness, a being at one with the universe, if you will. In a compelling sort of way, it felt like the good road home and I liked it. [As I] lost touch with much of the physical three-dimensional reality... I could no longer discern the physical boundaries of where I began and where I ended....I sensed the composition of my being as that of a fluid rather than that of solid.... I now blended in with the space and flow around me.... My consciousness slowed to a soothing and satisfying awareness that embraced the vast and wonderous world within.”

She goes on to describe in detail how, despite a certain reluctance to give up her new-found state of consciousness - she refers to it as nirvana - she did force herself to somehow get help from her colleagues at work. Her colleagues decided on a very risky surgery for her. Amazingly, the surgery was such a great success that her ‘left hemisphere’ capacities returned fully, though it has taken eight years for that to happen.But having experienced the nirvana state, Jill willed herself not to return to the same state of mind as she had been before. As she has put it, her aim was to “rejoin the rat race without becoming a rat again”.So, she willed herself:

·to develop an attitude of gratitude for anything and everything happening to her·never blame others for anything happening to her·to disallow impatience, criticism or unkindness from entering into her interaction with others·not to allow other people’s approval or disapproval to determine her decisions·to concentrate on developing inner peace, joy and compassion·to observe without judgement and take things in stride·to treat all humans as equal, with no artificial boundaries of race, religion etc.

How did she accomplish all this? By realizing the great potential stored in the upper part of our body, what we call the ‘brain’ - not so much the physical ‘cerebral cortex’, but the mind which we know is ‘up there’, whose programming is determined by how we, the programmers, have written our codes.

For instance, when someone insults us, our brain ‘senses’ the words and emotions being thrown at us, and responds with anger. As long as the “I” is there in us, the left hemisphere circuitry is such that a threat is perceived and so there is no way we can avoid such a response. But, Jill points out based on her understanding on how the circuitry of the left hemisphere is organized, such a ‘natural’ response is designed to last only for 90 seconds. Each of us has a choice as to whether this anger should be fuelled further or allowed to die down. We can re-program our brain either way. Most of us have already programmed it into some sort of a ‘do loop’, resulting in an escalation of anger (or worry, or criticism, or self-pity, or depression) through a ‘positive feedback’ circuitry - based on a feeling that these emotions of anger, worry, self-pity, depression etc, are ‘inevitable’ responses to the situation we are facing.

But what Jill realized as a result of her stroke is that such a response (anger, worry, depression etc) seems inevitable only because we have given too much prominence to the left part of our brain. Each of us has the capacity to reprogram the brain in a different way. As she puts it:“Ultimately, [my book] is about my journey into my right hemisphere’s consciousness, where I became enveloped in a deep inner peace. I have resurrected the consciousness of my left hemisphere in order to help others achieve that inner peace - without having to experience a stroke!”

So, she dwells at length on how we can learn to manage responses to the situations we face in life - how long should we brood over something ‘bad’ that has happened in the past; how much do we allow our mind to be gripped by a ‘devastating possibility’ that might happen in the future. How much we allow our mind to live in the past or future versus the present is a choice available to each ‘programmer’ of the brain/mind.

She asserts that even physical pain need not make us enter an ‘emotional loop’ of suffering, pointing to how easily children can forget pain caused at the physical level - because their ‘left’ brain has not yet been overemphasized, and so they can more easily switch back to the ‘here and now’.

So, she recommends that we adults also ‘re-mind’ ourselves of our right half of the brain, and thereby recognize that while we are not in control of what happens to us, we are in control of our reactions to what happens to us. The core of her book revolves around the realization that our minds are very sophisticated “seek and ye shall find” machines - she invokes this phrase to convey the immense possibilities that lie hidden within each one of us. Based upon this realization, she sets forth a very interesting definition of our ‘responsibility’:response-ability = ability to choose how to respond to stimulation coming in through our sensory systems at any moment in time.

View/hear the TED video talk by Jill Bolte Taylor:  
http://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html  

Saints like Ramana Maharishi have stated that when the "I" drops,
we experience the Whole.
अहमि नाशभाज्यहंतया स्फुरति ह्रुत्स्वयं परम पूर्णसत् | Upadesa Saram

The second book is: 
“Proof of Heaven” by Eben Alexander
Published in paperback by Simon & Schuster, 2012
Review: 
In 1975, the medical fraternity had reacted with skepticism bordering on ridicule to the work of one of their colleagues, Dr. Raymond Moody, who had described the ‘out of body’ experiences of many people who had been victims of ‘cardiac arrest’ but were resuscitated because of new techniques developed in medical science in the 1960s. But Dr. Moody bravely stuck to his guns, pointing out the great similarities between the experiences of so many ‘clinical death’ cases, cutting across cultural, religious and racial divides. He got the unstinted support of the highly respected doctor, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, the founder of the hospice movement, who had herself had one such experience. Gradually, other doctors too got interested in this phenomenon, giving rise to a new branch of study that goes by the name of Thanatology. Several doctors, such as the cardiac specialist Dr. Michael Sabom, who set out to debunk what Raymond Moody had initiated, became converts when data they accumulated pointed to the truth of what Dr. Moody was saying, and slowly a vast amount of literature has been collected documenting what are now classified as “NDEs” - near death experiences.

Attempts have been made to link these experiences to the mystical notion of “dying while living” extolled by the mystics of all ages and cultures, in particular of India and China - the Tibetan Book of the Dead being seen as an ancient document which describes such ‘out of body’ experiences in terms that are very strikingly similar to what the Thanatolgists are recording.
. Among those who dismissed them as of no consequence was Dr. Eben Alexander, who regarded such experiences as ‘impossible’ - that is, until he himself had one!

Direct perception is the best proof of anything. Once we have direct perception, nothing can shake our faith. That is why Dr.Eben Alexander has boldly titled his book “Proof of Heaven”. He asserts that what he experienced was no hallucination or dream - and he knows it because he himself experienced it. It was, he insists, ultra-real: even more real than what we experience here at the physical level. It was a huge jump in his level of consciousness, after which life here on earth seemed to have ‘extraordinarily cumbersome limitations’.

KATHOPANISHAD - explained

The author is

Ātmaprajñānanda Saraswati, disciple of Swami Dayananda Saraswati.

Kathopanishad: http://www.atmaprajnananda.blogspot.in/search/label/Upanishads
Notes: Posted by Atmaprajnananda 

Imagery of the Chariot

Kathopanishad uses the imagery of chariot in its teaching I.3.3 and I.3.4. It compares,

i.                the Ätmä, the "Self" is the chariot's passenger

ii.                the body is the chariot itself

iii.                intellect – buddhi is the chariot driver

iv.                the mind - manas is the reins

v.                the indriyas – five senses are the chariot horses

vi.                the objects perceived by the senses are the chariot's path.

Analogy with Fire, Air and the Sun

II.2.9 – Oneness of Ätmä compared with fire

II.2.10 – Oneness of Ätmä compared with air

II.2.11 – Oneness of Ätmä compared with the Sun

(I.3.14) – Arise, awake – was adapted by Swami Vivekananda. Many are surprised to see the source in the Upanishad.

Mantra I.3.4 – The concept of ‘razor’s edge’ in the Upanishad was popularized by Somerset Maugham in his novel ‘The Razor’s Edge’ in 1944. The novel was  later adapted, twice, into films of the same title. The epigraph reads, "The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard." taken from a verse in the Ka.Up.- I.3.14. Maugham had visited India in 1938 and met Ramana Maharshi in his ashram.

Mantras proving Reincarnation

Ka.Up.-I.1.6 and II.2.7 are pramäna for the theory/law of incarnation.

Pramäna for concept of Jivanmukti

Ka.Up.-II.2.1 and II 3.14 are pramäna vakyas for the theory/concept of Jivanmukti in Advaita.

Pramäna for Law of Karma

‘---yathäkarma yathäsrutam’. - Ka.Up.-II.2.7

Analogy with Fire, Air and the Sun

II.2.9 – Oneness of Ätmä compared with fire

II.2.10 – Oneness of Ätmä compared with air

II.2.11 – Oneness of Ätmä compared with the Sun

Ch.II-1^st Valli

It has been stated – ‘He is hidden in all beings, and hence does not appear as the Ätmä. However, He is seen through a pointed and fine intellect (I.3.12). The question naturally is, what is the obstacle to the intellect, because of which obstacle the Ätmä is not known. The second chapter begins with the first mantra showing Ätmä as the cause of that non-perception. When the cause of the obstacle is known, effort can be made to overcome the same.

Tr. - The Lord destroyed every possibility (of knowing the Ätmä) by making the sense-organs face outward. Therefore, people see the outer objects, and not the Ätmä within. Only a rare discriminating person, desiring immortality, turns his/her eyes within and sees the Ätmä within. (II.1.1)

Tr. - The unintelligent people pursue the external objects; and become entangled in the net of death. Therefore, the discriminating people who know what immortality is, do not desire impermanent objects. (II.1.2)

In the 1^st Chapter, 2^nd Valli, The moment Lord Yama said, ‘I got to know that nitya-tattva by performing the Naciketägni (I.2.10); immediately Naciketä said – ‘Please teach me that nitya-tattva.’(1.2.14)

In this chapter, Lord Yama then goes on explaining this in various manner by saying ‘etat vai tat’ – (that which you asked, O! Naciketä.)

Omniscience of Ätmä  

Tr. - That through people perceive form, taste, odour, sound, touch and conjugal pleasure, is indeed That, which you asked (O! Naciketä). (II.1.3)

Tr. - Having known the great and all-pervasive Self, through which a person perceives the objects both in sleep and waking state, a wise person does not grieve. (II.1.4)

Tr. - Anyone who knows this Ätmä as oneself, as the karma-phala-bhoktä-experiencer of all actions, bestowing life to all, ruler of the past and the future, and knowing Him to be near him, is not afraid of anything. (II.1.5)

Tr. - That which was before the five great elements, and manifested as Hiranyagarbha by His tapas, That who is in everyone’s intellect, one who knows thus alone knows – This is That. (II.1.6)

Tr. - This nitya-tattva is the Aditi. It manifests along with all beings and remains in the intellect. One who knows Him thus, alone knows - This is That. (II.1.7)

Tr. - Just as the pregnant women carefully protect their foetus, just as the fire is hidden within two aranis, That to whom people offer oblations daily – That Fire is That. (II.1.8)

Tr. - By which tattva, the Sun rises, sets, and into which all deities are offered, that which cannot be superseded by anyone – This is That. (II.1.9)

Tr. - That which is here is there; similarly, what is there is here. He who sees duality here goes from death to death. (II.1.10)

Tr. - This (tattva) is to be known through the mind indeed. There is no duality here. One, who sees duality here, goes from death to death. (II.1.11)

(‘manasä-evam-idam-äptavyam’ - II.1.11 is apparently contradicted by Kena mantra – ‘yam mansä na manute’, ---- This is clarified in the ‘Brahmasutra’)

Tr. - The Purusha, is of the size of the thumb, resides within the physical body. Knowing Him to be the ruler of the past and the future, one does not want to save the Ätmä. This is That. (II.1.12)

Tr. - The Purusha, who is of the size of the thumb, is like light without smoke. He is the ruler of the past and the future. He exists today and will exist tomorrow. This is That. (II.1.13)

The Upanishad again presents a refutation of the perception of duality with reference to Brahman,

Tr. - As water rained from an inaccessible height gets dispersed on the lower hilly regions, similarly, one who sees duality, pursues after the duality. (II.1.14)

(And to think that there are philosophy/ies about duality, which is evident to everyone unexposed to the Upanishad/s).

Now the Upanishad states as to how the Ätmä is known,

Tr. - O Gautama! Just as pure water poured on pure water becomes verily the same; so also the Ätmä of the wise man. (2.1.15)

One who understands this nitya-tattva goes back to that, just as the rainwater from the clouds.

Lastly one question emerges naturally – Why are we not being able to understand this nitya-tattva that was so well presented by Lord Yama? The explanations are given in the next Valli.

 2^nd Valli
Recap:  In the previous Valli, Lord Yama presented the nitya-tattva in various manner saying – ‘etat vai tat’. Still it is difficult to understand that nitya-tattva Brahman. Hence, Lord Yama continues to explain that tattva again in another method.

Tr. - That tattva remains in the city of eleven gates. Meditating on Him, one becomes free from grief, and free being already free – This is indeed That. (II.2.1)

(II.2.1 is pramäna-väkya for the law of Jivan-mukta in Advaita)

Tr. As the moving sun, He dwells in the sky, as Väyu He pervades all and dwells in the space, as the fire He resides on the earth, as Soma He stays in the container, He lives among people, among the celestials, in the truth, in the space. He is existent in the water and earth in various forms, in the mountains as the rivers. He is unchanging; He is great. (II.2.2 c.f. RV-IV.40.5)

Tr. - He that takes up the präna, and makes the apäna enter inside, all the deities worship Him, who sits in the middle. This that is in the heart of all. (II.2.3)

Tr. - That which remains after the falling of the physical body, This is That. (II.2.4) (meaning That makes the präna and the senses function)

Tr. - No mortal can live without präna-apäna, but all live by something else, due to which these two find base. (II.2.5)

Tr. - O Gautama! I shall tell you of this secret, Brahman; and also what happens to the Ätmä after death. (II.2.6)

Tr. - Some souls enter the womb for acquiring bodies, and others assume the motionless forms (trees), all in accordance with their deeds and in conformity with their knowledge. (II.2.7)

(This is pramäna-väkya for the theory/law of reincarnation.)

The Upanishad now speaks of the secret of Brahman about which it was promised, ‘I shall tell’.

Tr. - That Purusha who is awake when everyone is asleep, He who goes on creating desirable objects even when the senses fall asleep, That pure tattva Brahman, That is called Amrta (Immortal). The whole creation is based on Him, and there is nothing can transcend Him. That is indeed That. (II.2.8)

An analogy -

Tr. - Just as the fire, though one, entering the world assumes different forms, so also That remains as the Antarätmä in each being, and remains outside also. (II.2.9)

Another analogy -

Tr. - Just as the air, though one, entering the world assumes different forms, so also That remains as the Antarätmä in each being, and remains outside also. (II.2.10)

Since it should not be construed that if a single entity is the Ätmä of all, then all the sorrows of the world would belong to the Brahman Itself, Upanishad says - 

Yet another analogy –

Tr. - Just as the Sun, which is the eyes of the whole world, is not affected by the defective sight of the onlooker, similarly the Ätmä, that is but one in all being, is not affected by the afflictions of the world. (II.2.11)

Tr. - The wise person, who sees this Lord of all beings who controls all, and has become many in his heart always, obtains happiness, not someone else. (II.2.12)

Tr. - That who is the timeless amongst all temporary beings, That which is the consciousness of sentient jagat, That which makes the desires, the wise man sees that inside Him and obtains happiness, not someone else. (II.2.13)

Listening to this nitya-tattva and the peace it brings about to the knower, Naciketä asked,

Tr. - How can I know this tattva, which gives änanda and sänti. Is that self-effulgent, does it shine distinctly or not? (II.2.14)

To this question Yamaraj replied,

Tr. - The Sun does not shine there, neither the Moon nor the Stars; nor the flashes of lightening shine. What to talk of this Agni? He alone shines; everything else shines after Him through His lustre. (II.2.15)

This mantra II.2.15 is in other Upanishads in to-to.

3^rd Valli

In the first mantra of this Valli, Yamaraja gives another imagery of ‘etat vai tat’. The Upanishad presents the samsära as an Asvattha tree. Its root system if facing up and the branches are hanging down. The roots are in the nitya-tattva. That is Brahman, That is Amrta. All the regions are based on That. No one can transcend That. This is That (you asked). (II.3.1)

(This  imagery of Asvattha tree compared to the samsara, is repeated in the BhagavadGitä-XV.)

Yamaräja continues to present That Brahman thus,

Tr. - This is the präna. The whole universe emerges and moves because of This Brahman, which is a great terror like an uplifted thunderbolt. Those who know This become immortal. (II.3.2)

Yamaräja then explains how the order is maintained because of Its presence –

Tr. - Out of fear of Him fire burns, out of fear of Him the Sun shines, out of fear of Him, Indra, Väyu and Death perform their duties. (II.3.3)

(The concept of II.3.3 is repeated in Taittiriya Upanishad-II.8.1).

Tr. - If one succeeds in knowing Him before the fall of the physical body, one becomes free; else, because of that one continues to be born in the world of creatures. (II.3.4)

(This concept is a famous and oft-quoted mantra in Kenopanishad-II.5)

Clarity of Vision of Atma is maximum here

Tr. - That tattva is clearly seen here in the intellect, just as the reflection in the mirror, in the Pitrloka It is seen like in the dream, in Gandharva-loka as seen in water. However, in Brahmaloka It is seen as clearly as light and shade. (II.3.5) (Since it is very difficult to go to Brahmaloka, one should strive to know That in this life.)

Now Yamaräja explains how to know That and the necessity of that knowledge.

(This physical body functions with the help of the five senses.)

Tr. - The wise man who knows the differences of the senses and rising and setting, does not grieve. (II.3.6)

Tr. - The mind is superior to the senses, and the intellect superior to the mind and Mahat is superior to the intellect, and the Avyaktam (Unmanifest Creation) is superior to Mahat. (II.3.7)

(This is repetition of mantra I.3.10,  and the concept is repeated in BhagavadGita-III.42)

Tr. - The all-pervasive Purusha is superior to the Avyakta, and is devoid of any attributes. Knowing Him, a man becomes free and obtains immortality. (II.3.8)

Tr. - His form is not within the range of the vision, nobody sees Him with the physical eyes. When this Self is revealed through meditation, it is known by the intellect, the ruler of the mind. Those who know Him become immortal. (II.3.9)

But how can the ruler of the heart be known? For that purpose, Yoga is introduced,

Tr. - When the five senses along with the mind and intellect calm down, that is called the highest state. (II.3.10)

Tr. - Such a state of keeping the senses steady is called Yoga. One becomes alert and vigilant at that time, since Yoga is subject to rising and setting. (II.3.11)

Such a state is achieved through effort and practice,

Tr. That nitya-tattva is not attained through speech, nor mind (contradiction of  mantra II.1.11), nor the eyes. It is not available to anyone other than him, who knows that It indeed is. (II.3.12) (meaning the wise know it as himself/herself)

Tr. - First, the Self is to be accepted as existing, and then as It is really. Of these two aspects, the real nature of the Self that is known as mere existence becomes favourably disposed (for self-revelation). (II.3.13)

Tr. - When all the desires of the mind fall off, then the man becomes free even while alive. He attains the Brahman here. (II.3.14)

(2^nd Pramäna-väkya for the theory/law of Jivanmukta in Advaita)

But when the desires will be totally uprooted? Upanishad says –

Tr. - When all the knots of the heart (mind/intellect) fall off, even while the man is alive, then a mortal becomes immortal. This much alone is the teaching of the Upanishad. (II.3.15)

Tr. - The nerves of the mind is 101 in number. Of them, one nerve passes through the crown of the head. Going up through that nerve, one gets immortality. The others who go through different directions, become causes of birth and death. (II.3.16)

Now, with the view to conclude the purport of the chapters, the Upanishad says -

Tr. - The Purusha, the indweller of the body is of the size of the thumb (for visualisation and meditation only) and is ever-seated in the minds of the people. One should unerringly separate Him from the physical body, just as the stalk is separated from the munjä grass. One should know Him as pure and immortal, one should now Him as pure and immortal. (II.3.17)

Tr. - Naciketä having first become free from virtue and vice, and desire and ignorance received this knowledge of Yoga in its totality revealed by Lord of Death, and attained Brahman. Anyone else, too, who becomes a knower like him (Naciketä) attains Brahman. (II.3.18)