Food for thought/Paramahansa Yogananda

August 22, 2008

Dear Neelam ji, Paramahansa Yogananda - Yes, a name to remember, wonder! Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramahansa_Yogananda Auto Biography of a Yogi (pdf book): http://www.kriyayoga.com/free/eBooks/Autobiography_of_a_Yogi--by_Paramahansa_Yogananda_1946_edition.pdf Note: It greatly interests me to see that many members of this group (Srinivas ji, Neelam ji, Liana ji to name a few) follow Kriyayoga siddha tradition and many others have a high regard for the same. Love and regards,Sreenadh , "neelam gupta" <neelamgupta07 wrote:

Food for thought

Dear Friends,

Astrology is said to be an incomplete knowledge; science only gives us half truth. There are instances and incidences which astrology doesn't understand and science will not comprehend. Can we explain all behaviours, mechanics, and principles of common or uncommon occurrences through astrology and ancient knowledge, or we have to look up to modern science, or get into the fields of quantum physics or metaphysics, mystics or just leave it to God? Or else, it is time we learn to integrate all existing knowledge as there must be a governing principle, a reason behind every happening.

There are a trillion such things we observe and marvel at everyday. Suppose we talk about distance. We know that distance is measured in metres, kilometers, even light years? but what is distance? We see no concept of distance when we compare the astrological impacts of sun and moon. When we hold the nakshatras as responsible for our innate being, we don't see how far they are from us. The same applies for two local bodies, people on the planet, living near or far, each one must be impacting the other. We all understand the positive-negative vibes, the interactions, the telepathy, the love and hate between the people. Astrologically, we try to find these meanings in the planetary positions at birth of the two bodies. How and why do we relate to each other in the manner we do? This is one such question, among the many, we ask everyday.

When West was sufficiently intrigued, including Einstein, it came up with Quantum Physics and metaphysics which dealt in the 'may be' or 'could be' of science.

Einstein told us that there was no concept as distance. All objects intersect each other. Any action simply becomes an interaction because of this intersection of two objects. This becomes identical with the coordinate system extending infinitely and astrology giving us a basis for non-local interaction with heavenly bodies. This also becomes the basis of individual equations then.

What do our bodies represent? The theory says that all existence is in the form of sub-space particles in the sub-space plasma. The laws show that force, field, and energy are geometric properties directly related to quantum geometry. The sub-space particles demonstrate the necessary measures, conditions, constraints and conditions which explains wave-like behaviour and the particle like behaviour. Hence we explain the interaction between two people. When we remain in particle form, we do not interact from a distance. When we assume wave form, distance is lost.

Einstein says: A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. The true value of a human being is determined by the measure and the sense in which they have obtained liberation from the self. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive.

Physical objects are not in space, but these objects are spatially extended. Effectively, matter, space and universe are one and the same thing, which leads us to the theory of relativity. Theory of relativity in one sentence would mean that time and space and gravitation have no separate existence from matter. The Metaphysics of Space and Motion and the Wave Structure of Matter (WSM) explains this necessary connection between matter, forces, space and time, and thus how matter is connected across the universe.

In his famous equation outlining the equivalence of mass and energy, Einstein proved that the energy in any particle of matter is equal to its mass or weight multiplied by the square of the velocity of light. The release of the atomic energies is brought about through the annihilation of the material particles. Light-velocity is a mathematical standard or constant not because there is an absolute value in 186,000 miles a second, but because no material body, whose mass increases with its velocity, can ever attain the velocity of light. Stated another way: only a material body whose mass is infinite could equal the velocity of light.

Einstein had mathematically proved something which our enlightened masters had experienced and demonstrated many a times in the past. The ancient yoga philosophy seemed to be saying much the same thing about reality as the emerging Quantum Theory. I quote here from one of the masters who I love, admire and remain devoted to. I am sure many of you would know him.

"I sat on my bed in the lotus posture. My room was dimly lit by two shaded lamps. Lifting my gaze, I noticed that the ceiling was dotted with small mustard-colored lights, scintillating and quivering with a radium like luster. Myriads of pencilled rays, like sheets of rain, gathered into a transparent shaft and poured silently upon me.

At once my physical body lost its grossness and became metamorphosed into astral texture. I felt a floating sensation as, barely touching the bed, the weightless body shifted slightly and alternately to left and right. I looked around the room; the furniture and walls were as usual, but the little mass of light had so multiplied that the ceiling was invisible. I was wonder-struck.

"This is the cosmic motion picture mechanism." A voice spoke as though from within the light. "Shedding its beam on the white screen of your bed sheets, it is producing the picture of your body. Behold, your form is nothing but light!"

I gazed at my arms and moved them back and forth, yet could not feel their weight. An ecstatic joy overwhelmed me. This cosmic stem of light, blossoming as my body, seemed a divine replica of the light beams streaming out of the projection booth in a cinema house and manifesting as pictures on the screen.

For a long time I experienced this motion picture of my body in the dimly lighted theater of my own bedroom. Despite the many visions I have had, none was ever more singular. As my illusion of a solid body was completely dissipated, and my realization deepened that the essence of all objects is light, I looked up to the throbbing stream of life-trons and spoke entreatingly.

"Divine Light, please withdraw this, my humble bodily picture, into Thyself, even as Elijah was drawn up to heaven by a flame."

This prayer was evidently startling; the beam disappeared. My body resumed its normal weight and sank on the bed; the swarm of dazzling ceiling lights flickered and vanished. My time to leave this earth had apparently not arrived?"

We owe a lot of our understanding to these enlightened souls... about our universe, both physical and biological as well as those unseen forms which we witness at times, such as in our dream state and altered states of our being.

So far, I had been discussing 'How'. Still there is a big question of why? For this I would like to quote again from the same master,

"To surmount MAYA was the task assigned to the human race by the millennial prophets. To rise above the duality of creation and perceive the unity of the Creator was conceived of as man's highest goal. Those who cling to the cosmic illusion must accept its essential law of polarity: flow and ebb, rise and fall, day and night, pleasure and pain, good and evil, birth and death. This cyclic pattern assumes a certain anguishing monotony, after man has gone through a few thousand human births; he begins to cast a hopeful eye beyond the compulsions of MAYA."

And I think we should believe him. For we have no other option yet.

RegardsNeelam

August 22, 2008

Dear All, I have published this good article by Neelam Gupta ji in our Google Group at: http://groups.google.comancient_astrology/web/food-for-thought Regards,Sreenadh

August 22, 2008

Dear Neelamji, Shreenadhji, all,

Yogananda describes that Einstein's theory of relativity boiled the universe down to pure energy, or light. Matter was simply concentrated energy, and the solidity of things is to some extent illusory…..He explains that the Yogis are able to put themselves into a state in which they cease to be identified with their body, or with matter at all. From their awareness that the material world is essentially maya, or illusion, they can literally transform their molecular structure from matter to light energy, allowing them to be, for instance, in two places at once. A yogi sees himself as omnipresent, becoming 'one with the universe' and as a result can materialize or dematerialize objects free from the principle of gravity.

I guess this set the ball rolling….

Are we not all seeking some kind of unity…to be in yoga?...a yogi? Because nothing of the material world is truly satisfying to the inner core?

Is not astrology about finding patterns in physical existence in relation to time that we are trying to rise above? For does not physical existence start with birth…bound by time? Can we rise above the physical through consciousness…greater awareness? Were the yogis, by the fact that they had conciousness, able to beat the physical?...and thus be one with the universe?

Here are some vignettes from a book called The Dancing Wu Li Masters which gives an overview of modern physics by relating it to mysticism.

"Since particle-like behaviour (the physical world?) and wave-like behaviour (the universal interconnectedness?) are the only properties that we ascribe to light, and since these properties are recognized to belong (if complementarity is correct) not to light itself, but to our interaction with light, then it appears that light has no properties independent of us! To say that something has no properties is the same as saying that it does not exist. The next stop in this logic is inescapable. Without us, light does not exist.(Don't the sages say that it is all Maya?)

Transferring the properties that we usually ascribe to light to our interaction with light deprives light of an independent existence. Without us, or by implication, anything else to interact with, light does not exist. This remarkable conclusion is only half the story. The other half is that, in a similar manner, without light, or, by implication, anything else to interact with, we do not exist!

………………………………….

It is disconerting enough when light, which is made of waves, began to behave as particles, but when electrons, which are particles began to behave as waves, the plot became unbearable thick.

The unfolding of quantum mechanics was (and still is) a drama of high suspense.

Subsequent experiments were to reveal that not only subatomic particles, but atoms and molecules as well have associated matter waves….Theoretically, in fact, everything has a wavelength….although their wavelengths are so small that they are not noticeable.

Do the yogis experience this wavelength in everything?

Without perception (consciousness that yogis have?), the universe continues, via the Schrodinger wave equation, to generate an endless profusion of possibilities. The effect of perception, however, is immediate and dramatic. All of the wave function representing the observed system collapses, except one part, which actualizes into reality. No one knows what causes a particular possibility to to actualize and the rest to vanish, The only law governing this phenomenon is statistical. In other words, it is up to chance.

If there were 25 possibilities in a wave function of the photon, the wave function of the measuring system, technician, and supervisor similarly would have 25 separate humps, until a perception is made and the wave function collapses. From photon to detectors to technician to supervisor we could continue until we include the entire universe. Who is looking at the universe? Put in another way, How is the universe being actualized?

The answer comes full circle. We are actualizing the universe. Since we are part of the universe, that makes the universe (and us) self actualizing.

This line of thought is similar to some aspects of Buddhist psychology. In addition, it could become one of many important contributions of physics to future models of consciousness.

So where does astrology fit into all this criss-crossing of possibilities? How can we predict which possibility will actualize? Can we guide possibilities through conciousness? Or possibilities become irrelevant when we are conscious?

some more fodder for thought……..???

love,

vinita , "neelam gupta" <neelamgupta07 wrote:>> Dear Sreenadh ji,> > Of course, you are right. These are the experiences of the great enlightened> soul, Paramahansa Yogananda, as described in his autobiography.> > It is how our consciousness relates to the outer world, that we accept and> reject what we learn and experience. I am greatly inspired by his writings,> and also find that most of what he said and meant is now being accepted by> modern scientific theories.> > Interestingly in the same chapter, The Law of Miracles, he also says,> //As steps in man's awakening, the Lord inspires scientists to discover, at> the right time and place, the secrets of His creation. Many modern> discoveries help men to apprehend the cosmos as a varied expression of one> power-light, guided by divine intelligence. The wonders of the motion> picture, of radio, of television, of radar, of the photo-electric cell-the> all-seeing "electric eye," of atomic energies, are all based on the> electromagnetic phenomenon of light.//> > And those who do not know, would also find it amazing that Yogananda,> Einstein and Rabindranath and Jagdish Chandra Bose were contemporaries and> all great thinkers and Yogis in their own right, who have greatly> contributed to man's awakening and understanding of many natural laws and> phenomenon. There are many interesting interactions between these great men> which make a great reading. It is also believed that Einstein was an> astrologer himself.> > Yogananda describes that Einstein's theory of relativity boiled the universe> down to pure energy, or light. Matter was simply concentrated energy, and> the solidity of things is to some extent illusory. Einstein showed that> matter could never equal the velocity of light, which is why we class matter> as solid and light as ephemeral. And discusses how the seemingly impossible> is of daily occurrence for yogis, the example I gave is his own experience> in this regard. He explains that the Yogis are able to put themselves into a> state in which they cease to be identified with their body, or with matter> at all. From their awareness that the material world is essentially maya, or> illusion, they can literally transform their molecular structure from matter> to light energy, allowing them to be, for instance, in two places at once. A> yogi sees himself as omnipresent, becoming 'one with the universe' and as a> result can materialize or dematerialize objects free from the principle of> gravity.> > Regards> Neelam>

August 25, 2008

Dear Vinita ji,Thank you for more fodder... for the ever demanding souls. This is a must read classic by Gary Zukav. " Wu Li " , it seems, is the Chinese phrase for physics which means " patterns of organic energy, " but it also means " nonsense, " " my way, " " I clutch my ideas, " and " enlightenment. " These captivating ideas frame Zukav's evocative exploration of quantum mechanics and relativity theory while illuminating the compelling powers at the core.

The languages of mystics and physicists are becoming very similar.RegardsNeelam