SpiritMag Oct 2006 - 16

October 18, 2006

SpiritMag <spiritmag > wrote: Mon, 16 Oct 2006 09:43:21 +0530

SpiritMag <spiritmag >

spiritmag (AT) centerforinnersciences (DOT) org

SpiritMag Oct 2006 - 16

CIS News

A New Book: The Law of Karma is a subject everybody is concerned with. Probably, next only to the subject of God, nobody can claim that he/she hasn't thought about it. It is such a basic subject that everybody keeps wondering about the consequences of the acts, works and deeds (called karma) we indulge in. We announce with pleasure that CIS has just published the book "What's in the Law of Karma" authored by our director, Dr. Harish Chandra.

CIS Director's Lecture Tour: Dr. Chandra has a busy lecture schedule during October 20 to 23, 2006 in Scotland, UK. He will deliver a talk at the International Centre for World Spiritualities, Edinburgh on October 20 evening. Next day in Glasgow, he delivers a radio talk in the morning and speaks to a private gathering later in the evening. Sunday, October 22 will find him speak at a spiritual congregation in Glasgow. Once he lands in New York (Oct 24) and after brief stop over in Cleveland and Detroit, he conducts EPD-WE workshop at a Yoga Centre in Toronto during the last days of the month. Later in the months of November and December he will touch Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Detroit, Boston, New York, Washington DC, Tallahassee, Miami, Atlanta, Richmond and New York. Again, towards the end of December, he will spend a few days in the UK. Further details can be seen in our web site www.centerforinnersciences.org –

CIS Calendar.

Volume I, No. 2

The Bottom Line of the Life Experiences

In the previous article, we discussed what could be called "the inner sciences." Lest our discussion digress to a purposeless hyperbolic mental gymnastic, in this second article we want to bring its objective in a yet sharper focus. The objective of the human life is to make it an enjoyable experience. However, the study of the inner sciences should ensure that the objective is attained in a rational and scientific manner so that the life continues to remain an enjoyable experience in a sustained manner in the future too. Thus, we have a dual purpose in our discussion. Our discussion should meet the scrutiny of an intelligent human mind while leading us towards making our life more enjoyable. In other words, it should appeal to both, the head and the heart.

The first obvious question we ask is: what is it that we find enjoyable in the life? Here itself, we are confronted with a myriad of answers depending on whom we have asked this question. A child may say that she enjoys eating ice cream. But if we probe further she may say that she enjoys the moments she has with her mother. She may also say that she enjoys playing with her friends, reading books, watching her favorite programs on a TV, and so on. The same question will bring different answers from the layman. He is interested in collecting a number of material things for his personal and family needs. If a superior agency were to supply all that he needed even then we know very well that he will not be the happiest person in the world. A few weeks later, if we were to ask him, how is it going? He may come up with another list of material things, which in his view, may further improve the quality of his life.

Suppose he was a more matured person then he might say that there are a few more things between him and the lady luck of happiness, such as the relationship with his wife/children/others going through a slide, or his incomplete creation of a poetry, melody, enterprise, or he is disturbed by the injustice suffered by the people in his neighborhood, community, country or in another far away corner of the earth such as Iraq, Afghanistan, etc., or the incomplete nature of his intellectual pursuits in mathematics, or any other subject in which he has scholarship, or the incomplete nature of his spiritual quest. One can be away from "the happy life" due to a number of reasons pertaining to our needs in several domains.

By now, it is obvious to us that the simple question such as, what do you enjoy in the life, may not bring a universally acceptable reply. This is an irony of the human destiny. We all seek pleasures of the life but we do not know what will give us pleasure. At any point of time, we are after one particular pleasure. Once we have obtained it, its charm gets reduced, or some other painful event strikes us. So we have to go after another pleasure – an unending exercise. The question then naturally arises, is the human life merely a mirage. Or, does something like an "absolute pleasure" exist in the universe? Could it be that if the so-called absolute pleasure is obtained then one has no more thirst for any other pleasure.

These questions have indeed obtained attention since the ancient times. The sage Kapila, in his treatise of Samkhya, raises the issue of absolute pleasure. In his unique, beautiful and persuasive style he is able to prove that it indeed exists. This is his remarkable genius to point out that the sound (dreamless) sleep is the unique experience that whenever we have it, the very next moment we feel that it was a wonderful experience. This proves the existence of absolute pleasure, called ananda in the Sanskrit language. It is but the genius of Kapila that could have noticed the unique strength of such a mundane activity, namely that of the sound sleep, called susupti in the ancient literature. It is the wonderful design of the cosmic spirit that every human being, and even the animals and birds, have been enjoying susupti since birth. However, this state is characterised by the absence of the real time pleasure - we know that we had a wonderful sleep only when we emerge

out of the sleep. We remain unaware during the hours of sleep; we are in an unconscious mode. In other words, we do not have the real time taste of this pleasure, probably because it comes to us as a default - we haven't done anything special to deserve it. We have been enjoying it as a default. However the human beings tend to lose the benefit and associated pleasure of susupti if they lead their life wrongly. On the other hand, Kapila states that the right way to live in the world is to continue to enjoy the pleasure of susupti as such, and furthermore, we should progress to enjoy the absolute pleasure (ananda) even in the conscious mode. This is the objective of the Yoga practices – to enjoy the absolute pleasure in real time when we remain conscious.

It would be my constant endeavor to seek out the ways to improve the quality of life so that we attain greater ability to deserve the absolute pleasure ( ananda) without compromising on the rationality and rigor of our scientific inquiry. As stated by Kapila, one must use all the domains and faculties of our body, mind and intellect to reach the ultimate and absolute pleasure that is reserved for deserving human beings only, and it is in the reach of the human beings alone. There is absolutely no way to taste ananda without a firm intellectual scrutiny because it is the same cosmic spirit who gives us ananda and who has given us the body, mind and intellect.

Next article will attempt to prove what I have said above. Can we prove what we call inner sciences? Can we prove that something like ananda indeed exists?

- Dr. Harish Chandra

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