The Destiny of Man - Part-2 By Swami Sivananda
Dear All,
Good morning to all of you and have a divine blessed day ahead
Contd...........
The most rudimentary thing on earth requires a maker, a certain intelligence and power. Even a crude broom to sweep the floor in some settlement of an aboriginal tribe who lives in mud huts with thatched roofs. The people pick up dry twigs and plants, gather them together and tie them with string made out of the bark of some tree. They will not take reeds or twigs that have no strength, they will not tie the thinner end, but tie the thicker end and keep the thinner end free to sweep the floor. Even for this elementary thing the principle of
thought is there—what to say of this amazing cosmos which is the wonder of the greatest masterminds, the physicists, astronomers and scientists of today... it is a marvel... they stand aghast, Einstein and all these
people. Therefore the secret of man, his ultimate destiny is hidden in this mysterious all-knowing cosmic mind.
But then, there has been in human history the phenomenon of individuals like you and me, but endowed with some special genius, with a hunger to know, with a keen desire to unravel the mystery of life, to see the
unseen, to cognize that which is hidden behind the mere appearances.
These individuals have come into the human society at different periods, and they beheld the phenomenal process of this universe, these multifarious, innumerable names and forms, all these things which come,
exist for a while and vanish. Seeing this they were filled with great curiosity and thirst to know from where these things came and where they went—what was the origin and ultimate destiny of things. They wanted to see that which is hidden behind the scene. They brought to bear all their intelligence, their logic, their thought-power, their discrimination, their reasoning, their analytical force in order to grasp what seemed
to elude their ordinary thought. They put to work their concentrated mind, they pondered over it, they contemplated it, they reflected upon it, they thought deeply about it, they entered into a state of absolute, one-pointed meditation about it, and it is to their eternal credit that they did not give up their quest until they got what they were searching for. And we have to congratulate ourselves for the sacrifice of these great souls who were explorers upon the inner dimension of man, the dimension of the spirit, and we have to
congratulate ourselves for their persistence, perseverance, their refusal to take a no and come back without achieving their objective. They were willing to sacrifice their entire life, the last drop of blood for this quest. And with this perseverance, with this determination to get what they wanted to the exclusion of everything else, they entered into a state of attunement with the cosmic mind, they entered into an experience of the universal being, and in that state of vast expanded consciousness they broke all the barriers of limitation, they broke the fetters and jails of mere objective perception through the senses and went beyond the senses into a state of transcendental consciousness—there in that state of cosmic consciousness all their questions vanished. There was no more doubt, nothing hidden anymore—everything became revealed, everything became instantly known, past and future blended into the present, the timeless present.
They came into direct experience with the heart of existence, they became one with the Cosmic Mind... Some of these great seers (they are called seers because they saw what was unseen), some of these great
sages of illumined wisdom have tried to bring to us some glimpses of what they had experienced. They have tried to share with us their insights, their wisdom, and their experience—what they knew with certainty. And there we can find some idea about the destiny of man.
There is a great cycle. In this cosmic existence there is a great cycle. The sun shines upon the oceans, upon the seas, upon huge lakes, upon all collections of water. And when the heat of the sun intensifies, the water begins to evaporate, it gives up its substance, its thickness and rises up as vapor and ascends into the skies, and upward winds help its ascent. Raising from oceans and seas and lakes millions of tons of water become vapor through the heat of the sun and they rise up into the higher atmosphere until they reach a level where
the cold is intense and they cannot retain their vaporous nature. Once again they become form and amass themselves in dense rain-bearing clouds. And then starts the most interesting phenomena. The upper winds
begin to push these clouds and make them sail towards the land. And moving across the land these dense rain-bearing clouds become heavier and heavier and descend lower and lower until they meet an obstruction
like the mountains and there they release their waters. They release their waters, they fall in torrents, descend in heavy rains. And the moment they hit the earth, they begin to flow, they become tiny
rivulets, little streams, mountain streams, then they join bigger streams, they join rivers and they keep flowing, they keep flowing from the higher to the lower, overcome all obstacles, they twist and turn
and bypass all obstacles—then ultimately where do they end? What is the destiny of rainwater? What is the destiny of rivers, what is the destiny of streams? Ultimately? They all join the ocean, they all join
the sea. The cycle is completed. From where they came into being, from where they arose as vapor into the high skies, completing the cycle, they once again join and become one with their origin and source, the
ocean. Ponder this cycle!
Have you ever asked yourself in all your life, sitting quietly, turning away from all your occupations and preoccupations, have you ever asked, becoming silent, becoming introspective and serious: "From where have I come to this earth-plane?"—I am intelligent enough to know that my father and mother fashioned my physical body upon the pattern of their own species, even as every father and mother, whether a bird, reptile, beast or insect, also fashion a biological gross body upon the pattern of their own species. This is within their genes, within their biological make-up. They are capable of manufacturing only a prototype
of their own species. Every unit of the biological world, every plant, every flower, every fruit tree, has this capacity of duplicating, reproducing, multiplying and bringing about a prototype of their own.
So upon the physical, material level the body has been fashioned.
But what is that within you which says "I am"? You are not merely existence; you are conscious existence, distinct from the existence of a piece of metal or stone or mountain. You are existence qualified by
self-awareness which makes you assert: "Yes, I exist." What is this principle? It is not a biological principle. Your father and mother did not give you this principle. They gave you the means through which this
consciousness can express itself and can make itself felt by other such units of consciousness. And that means is the human brain and the central nervous system. The brain and the central nervous system are
not the mind. The mind is something beyond, it is a different philosophy, a different principle altogether. If a person with the most perfectly fashioned brain and nervous system—perfect according to medical tests, scanning and X-ray—is struck with grief, overcome by anxiety, he suddenly becomes unhinged and is incapable of making use of that perfectly fashioned brain and nervous system. The mind therefore
is not a part of this biological unit brought about by our parents, which is only a medium, a channel for something higher to operate. What the mind is, what the origin and the seat of its movements are, how
thought comes into being, how a desire comes into being, this has been the special field of study of the great scientists of the mind, the yogis of the ancient East. They have made a tremendous contribution
through their science of the mind called Raja Yoga and Vedanta.
Vedanta and Raja Yoga reveal the secrets and mysteries of this thing called mind and the consciousness that is beyond the mind. Before I can think I have to exist.
Descartes discovered and cried aloud: "Cognito ergo sum." "I think therefore I am." But I think he put the cart before the horse. You are, therefore you are able to think. If you did not exist, how would the
thought process be possible? Is the thinking process first or the thinker? The thinker is first, therefore he is able to think. But Descartes was not filled with that self-awareness and stumbled upon it.
The thing he was doing always, day in and day out, suddenly he took a new look at it: "Oh gosh, I am
thinking—that proves I am existing." He had been thinking always, but had never thought about this thinking process. That day he suddenly thought about thinking. But the ancients discovered first the existence
of being, the existence of consciousness. Then they said: "That alone makes possible all other phenomena. I exist, therefore thought is possible, feeling is possible, reasoning is possible, everything is possible." And they attained to a state of Self-realization. And as I was saying, these great ones transcended the objective mind, the objective world and objectifying, limiting and finite thinking process of the mind—they went into a state
of deep meditation and attained oneness with the cosmic consciousness.
Everything became revealed to them, past and future were in the eternal Now, all things became instantly cognized. There was no more process, only direct instant experience of all things—they had a glimpse of
omniscience. From these heights of their realization they brought us certain insights and they have something to tell us about man’s destiny. One of the things is the existence of this cycle.
!!! Will continue !!!
Chant the Mahamantra Nama kirtan :
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
--------------------------------------------------------
If you have any questions or doubts concerning Spirituality, Mental peace or problems in life or about dharma, please write to us by clicking here:
http://www.namadwaar.org/answers/askquestion.php
His Holiness Sri Sri Swamiji personally answers these questions for you and suggests prayers.
------------------------------------------------------------
Good morning to all of you and have a divine blessed day ahead
Contd...........
The most rudimentary thing on earth requires a maker, a certain intelligence and power. Even a crude broom to sweep the floor in some settlement of an aboriginal tribe who lives in mud huts with thatched roofs. The people pick up dry twigs and plants, gather them together and tie them with string made out of the bark of some tree. They will not take reeds or twigs that have no strength, they will not tie the thinner end, but tie the thicker end and keep the thinner end free to sweep the floor. Even for this elementary thing the principle of
thought is there—what to say of this amazing cosmos which is the wonder of the greatest masterminds, the physicists, astronomers and scientists of today... it is a marvel... they stand aghast, Einstein and all these
people. Therefore the secret of man, his ultimate destiny is hidden in this mysterious all-knowing cosmic mind.
But then, there has been in human history the phenomenon of individuals like you and me, but endowed with some special genius, with a hunger to know, with a keen desire to unravel the mystery of life, to see the
unseen, to cognize that which is hidden behind the mere appearances.
These individuals have come into the human society at different periods, and they beheld the phenomenal process of this universe, these multifarious, innumerable names and forms, all these things which come,
exist for a while and vanish. Seeing this they were filled with great curiosity and thirst to know from where these things came and where they went—what was the origin and ultimate destiny of things. They wanted to see that which is hidden behind the scene. They brought to bear all their intelligence, their logic, their thought-power, their discrimination, their reasoning, their analytical force in order to grasp what seemed
to elude their ordinary thought. They put to work their concentrated mind, they pondered over it, they contemplated it, they reflected upon it, they thought deeply about it, they entered into a state of absolute, one-pointed meditation about it, and it is to their eternal credit that they did not give up their quest until they got what they were searching for. And we have to congratulate ourselves for the sacrifice of these great souls who were explorers upon the inner dimension of man, the dimension of the spirit, and we have to
congratulate ourselves for their persistence, perseverance, their refusal to take a no and come back without achieving their objective. They were willing to sacrifice their entire life, the last drop of blood for this quest. And with this perseverance, with this determination to get what they wanted to the exclusion of everything else, they entered into a state of attunement with the cosmic mind, they entered into an experience of the universal being, and in that state of vast expanded consciousness they broke all the barriers of limitation, they broke the fetters and jails of mere objective perception through the senses and went beyond the senses into a state of transcendental consciousness—there in that state of cosmic consciousness all their questions vanished. There was no more doubt, nothing hidden anymore—everything became revealed, everything became instantly known, past and future blended into the present, the timeless present.
They came into direct experience with the heart of existence, they became one with the Cosmic Mind... Some of these great seers (they are called seers because they saw what was unseen), some of these great
sages of illumined wisdom have tried to bring to us some glimpses of what they had experienced. They have tried to share with us their insights, their wisdom, and their experience—what they knew with certainty. And there we can find some idea about the destiny of man.
There is a great cycle. In this cosmic existence there is a great cycle. The sun shines upon the oceans, upon the seas, upon huge lakes, upon all collections of water. And when the heat of the sun intensifies, the water begins to evaporate, it gives up its substance, its thickness and rises up as vapor and ascends into the skies, and upward winds help its ascent. Raising from oceans and seas and lakes millions of tons of water become vapor through the heat of the sun and they rise up into the higher atmosphere until they reach a level where
the cold is intense and they cannot retain their vaporous nature. Once again they become form and amass themselves in dense rain-bearing clouds. And then starts the most interesting phenomena. The upper winds
begin to push these clouds and make them sail towards the land. And moving across the land these dense rain-bearing clouds become heavier and heavier and descend lower and lower until they meet an obstruction
like the mountains and there they release their waters. They release their waters, they fall in torrents, descend in heavy rains. And the moment they hit the earth, they begin to flow, they become tiny
rivulets, little streams, mountain streams, then they join bigger streams, they join rivers and they keep flowing, they keep flowing from the higher to the lower, overcome all obstacles, they twist and turn
and bypass all obstacles—then ultimately where do they end? What is the destiny of rainwater? What is the destiny of rivers, what is the destiny of streams? Ultimately? They all join the ocean, they all join
the sea. The cycle is completed. From where they came into being, from where they arose as vapor into the high skies, completing the cycle, they once again join and become one with their origin and source, the
ocean. Ponder this cycle!
Have you ever asked yourself in all your life, sitting quietly, turning away from all your occupations and preoccupations, have you ever asked, becoming silent, becoming introspective and serious: "From where have I come to this earth-plane?"—I am intelligent enough to know that my father and mother fashioned my physical body upon the pattern of their own species, even as every father and mother, whether a bird, reptile, beast or insect, also fashion a biological gross body upon the pattern of their own species. This is within their genes, within their biological make-up. They are capable of manufacturing only a prototype
of their own species. Every unit of the biological world, every plant, every flower, every fruit tree, has this capacity of duplicating, reproducing, multiplying and bringing about a prototype of their own.
So upon the physical, material level the body has been fashioned.
But what is that within you which says "I am"? You are not merely existence; you are conscious existence, distinct from the existence of a piece of metal or stone or mountain. You are existence qualified by
self-awareness which makes you assert: "Yes, I exist." What is this principle? It is not a biological principle. Your father and mother did not give you this principle. They gave you the means through which this
consciousness can express itself and can make itself felt by other such units of consciousness. And that means is the human brain and the central nervous system. The brain and the central nervous system are
not the mind. The mind is something beyond, it is a different philosophy, a different principle altogether. If a person with the most perfectly fashioned brain and nervous system—perfect according to medical tests, scanning and X-ray—is struck with grief, overcome by anxiety, he suddenly becomes unhinged and is incapable of making use of that perfectly fashioned brain and nervous system. The mind therefore
is not a part of this biological unit brought about by our parents, which is only a medium, a channel for something higher to operate. What the mind is, what the origin and the seat of its movements are, how
thought comes into being, how a desire comes into being, this has been the special field of study of the great scientists of the mind, the yogis of the ancient East. They have made a tremendous contribution
through their science of the mind called Raja Yoga and Vedanta.
Vedanta and Raja Yoga reveal the secrets and mysteries of this thing called mind and the consciousness that is beyond the mind. Before I can think I have to exist.
Descartes discovered and cried aloud: "Cognito ergo sum." "I think therefore I am." But I think he put the cart before the horse. You are, therefore you are able to think. If you did not exist, how would the
thought process be possible? Is the thinking process first or the thinker? The thinker is first, therefore he is able to think. But Descartes was not filled with that self-awareness and stumbled upon it.
The thing he was doing always, day in and day out, suddenly he took a new look at it: "Oh gosh, I am
thinking—that proves I am existing." He had been thinking always, but had never thought about this thinking process. That day he suddenly thought about thinking. But the ancients discovered first the existence
of being, the existence of consciousness. Then they said: "That alone makes possible all other phenomena. I exist, therefore thought is possible, feeling is possible, reasoning is possible, everything is possible." And they attained to a state of Self-realization. And as I was saying, these great ones transcended the objective mind, the objective world and objectifying, limiting and finite thinking process of the mind—they went into a state
of deep meditation and attained oneness with the cosmic consciousness.
Everything became revealed to them, past and future were in the eternal Now, all things became instantly cognized. There was no more process, only direct instant experience of all things—they had a glimpse of
omniscience. From these heights of their realization they brought us certain insights and they have something to tell us about man’s destiny. One of the things is the existence of this cycle.
!!! Will continue !!!
Chant the Mahamantra Nama kirtan :
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
--------------------------------------------------------
If you have any questions or doubts concerning Spirituality, Mental peace or problems in life or about dharma, please write to us by clicking here:
http://www.namadwaar.org/answers/askquestion.php
His Holiness Sri Sri Swamiji personally answers these questions for you and suggests prayers.
------------------------------------------------------------
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