PREFACE

Through his Soul man is related to God,

Through his Body man is akin to animals

Soul is another name for the principle of life in living beings. It is called Life when it
stays in a material body; it is called Soul perpetually. Though a Soul is in everybody, it
appears a mystery to most. It is recently that serious scientists have begun
investigations on Soul. But, ancient thinkers had found many details about the Soul
and had recorded them in Upanishads and other scriptures. To the extent modern
researches have advanced, they have affirmed those scriptural averments.

Since retirement from the bar and the bench (Kerala High Court) in 1970, I have been
studying scriptures and reports of researches on Soul. In doing so, I kept in view the
advice of the Chandogya Upanishad (7:18).

"When one ponders then alone does one understand;

Without pondering one does not understand:.

I pondered on the sayings in upanishads in the light of findings of science and psychic
researches. What I could thus gather about Soul I am putting down in this work in the
expectation that it may help spiritual aspirants and students of philosophy. Profuse
citations are given to facilitate researches in the ancient lore by aspirants.

March 1, 1993 Justice Madhavan Nair, MA, M.L.

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 All About Soul

PART ONE

THE SOUL

Section 1 MODERN RESEARCHES

Men in all times and in all climes have sought to know the secrets of life and death; and
the work is still continued by scientists. Many early thinkers who tried to know the
secrets of death, came to the conclusion that man is the union of an invisible Soul and a
material body, and that death is its departure from the body. So, they declared that the
functional agency, the real person, in man is the Soul in him. But, the rationalists have
always been skeptical of the existence of an invisible Soul in man; and to them man is
his body, and life is only an energy generated by the body for itself. Till about 1960,
the medical science also held the physical body to be a complete functional unit which
collected energy from food, stored energy with itself, and released energy to the organs
for their works; it denied any extraneous agent, like a Soul, dwelling in the body to
animate or activate it. But, the majority of mankind always followed religion; and
believed in the existence of an invisible Soul in every living man, and its survival even
after death of the body.

Recently, scientists who wanted to find out the real truth about Soul have started
researches. Systematic researches on the existence of Soul commenced with
investigations on reality of apparitions, which are visions of Souls of dead persons in
identifiable visual form. References to apparitions are seen even in ancient books. The
Indian epic, Adhyatma Ramayana (6 : 7 : 26, 27) has described how an apparition
appeared and warned Hanuman about a treacherous plot to delay his urgent mission.
Bible (1 Sam 28 : 14 -19) has mentioned that the apparition of King Samuel appeared
to King Saul and talked with him about his imminent fall. Bible has also mentioned
that, centuries after death, Moses and Elias appeared before Jesus to speak of his
decease. (Luke 9 : 30, 31). But in the middle times the general disbelief of apparitions
was such that mention of apparitional experiences was tacitly tabooed by most
societies. It is only when great men, like Lord Brougham, Lord Chancellor of England,
came forward to describe their apparitional experiences, that the taboo lost most of its
force. (See The Life and Times of Henry, Lord Brougham, written by himself (1871)
Vol. 1 p. 146-148). Since then, reports on apparitions, mostly of predeceased close
relatives seen by persons near death, have often appeared in papers.

By about 1880, certain English philosophers and scientists became interested to make a
scientific investigation of the reality of apparitions and like phenomena. They began to
collect the reports of apparitions in papers. In February 1882 they formed in London
the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) and started systematic investigations.
Gurney and Myers, who were the prime founders and investigators of the SPR
examined many percipients of apparitions, analysed their testimony, and published their
inferenfces as a book 'Phantasms of the Living' (1886). In fact, Gurney observed that

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an apparitional experience was caused by telephonic communication from the deceased
person, supplemented by mental construction of the percipient himself; but Myers
observed that the deceased person was present at the spot and caused certain peculiar
effects when produced the apparitional experience in the recipients whose sensitivity of
mind contributed to his vision of the apparition. A little later, Gurney himself reported
two cases in which the recipient saw the apparition with beard growth subsequent to his
last seeing the person alive, which the percipient did not know (See proceedings of SPR
1888-89 P. 412-415); and those cases negated mental construction by the percipient.

The proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research (Vol. 36 (1927) p. 517-524 show
that, on November 16, 1905, James L. Chaffin, a farmer in North Carolina, executed a
will, duly attested, devising all his properties to his third son, and thereafter, on January
16, 1919, he wrote a new will, wholly in his own handwriting, devising his properties
equally to his four sons. According to the law of North Carolina a will written
throughout by the testator's own hand would be valid, even if unattested. Nobody,
other than the testator, knew the existence of the second will. On September 7, 1921,
the testator died in an accident, and on September 24, 1921, the third son obtained
probate of the first will, uncontested by anybody. About four years later, in June 1925,
the testator's second son began to see dreams of his father by his bedside, and in a
dream by the end of that month he clearly heard the apparition telling him how to
find the second will. Following that information he discovered the second will.
The Superior Court probated it in super session of the first will. In this case, the
communication of the apparition in dream could not be a mental construction of the
percipient. It showed clearly the continuance of the Soul of a deceased person.

'Deathbed visions' by Sir William Barrett, who was a physics professor in the Royal
College of Science at Dublin, is also noteworthy. The opening case in that book details
the circumstances that led the scientist to launch an investigation on deathbed visions.
On 12th January 1924, Sir Barrett's wife, who was an obstetrical surgeon, was attending
a woman who was dying after a child birth. Suddenly the woman brightened up, and
asked the surgeon whether she was not seeing the woman's (late) father near her. The
surgeon could not see him. Then the woman became puzzled to see her sister also with
her father. In fact, the sister had died three weeks ago, but the woman was kept
uninformed because of her precarious health. Soon after the above visions, the woman
died. Lady Barrett rushed home, very excited, to discuss the reality of those visions,
with her husband. Sir Barrett was so impressed with the woman's vision of he sister's
apparition that he undertook a systematic investigation of deathbed visions of
apparitions. He found that many dying persons see apparitions of deceased relatives
come to welcome them to their after life.

Thus, investigations on appearances of apparitions have shown them to be not

hallucinations, but real phenomena. They show not only existence of Souls, but also
their continuance after death of the body.

1n 1885 the American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR) was formed in New
York, and thereafter similar organizations arose in different cities – all for scientific
researches on survival of Soul after bodily death.

By 1960, in America, sizable endowments began to come forth for researches on the
survival of Soul, which indicated public enthusiasm in the matter. Many skilled

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scientists began investigations in the matter in different directions. To mention only a
few of them: Dr. Osis who was Director of Research at the Parapsychology Foundation,
and subsequently at the ASPR, conducted a systematic survey of deathbed visions of
apparitions. Dr. Ian Stevenson, Professor at the Virginia University, investigated prior-
life memories in young children. Dr. Raymond Moody, who became Psychiatrist at the
Virginia University, analyzed death-experience of resuscitated patients in hospitals.

Section 2 DR. IAN STEVENSON

Though the theory of post-modern survival of Soul was opposed to the tenets of
medical science in the pre 1970 days, Dr. Ian Stevenson ventured to investigate prior-
life memories. May be he desired to examine scientifically the truth of profuse
references to the Soul's survival in the Indian Vedas, the Bible, the writings of ancient
Greek Philosophers like Pythagoras and Plato, and of recent German philosophers like
Geothe and Schopenhauer. Elaborate enquiries that he conducted in various countries
of the East and the West yielded ample fruits.

In the period after formation of the SPR, reports of present memories of prior life
appeared occasionally in papers; and several of them related to memories in young
children – between the ages of two and four – about persons, places, and events,
connected with their prior life. They contained verifiable details. Well before
1960, Dr. Stevenson had begun to collect such reports from different countries all over
the world. By 1977 his collection of reports of prior-life memory exceeded 1600 in
number. Even as early as 1961, he had begun to visit different countries to make on-
the-spot investigations. In elaborate investigations conducted on more than 300 of such
reports, with the help of local doctors and professors, both at the places of the
remembering children and at places of the prior personages remembered by them, he
found many details of past life mentioned by the young children to be correct;
though, in most cases the specified past personage mentioned by a child was of a
different family in a distance place, whom the child had no chance of knowledge in its
present life. The children who remembered their prior life, not only spoke of their
name, home, relatives, occupation, mode of death, etc., in the prior life, but also
demonstrated their correctness when they got an opportunity to do so. Pramod
Bansauli, U.P., India, born on October 11, 1944, when he was taken for the first time, to
the city of Moradabad, about 140 kilometers away, by his father, on August 15, 1949,
even at the railway station hugged the legs of a person whom he had not seen before,
and named him to the father as Karam Chand his elder brother, which was correct of
the past personage he claimed to have been. He did also guide the cab-driver correctly
through complex junctions for about a kilometer from the railway station to the home
of his prior life, where he identified several persons correctly by their names. Many
such instances are detailed by Dr. Stevenson in his works "Twenty Cases Suggestive of
Reincarnation", and "Cases of the Reincarnation Type".

Perhaps, the occurrence of such prior-life memories in early childhood may be a feature
of reincarnation without long intermission. After leaving the body, a Soul may take
reincarnation forthwith, or may delay it for a time which varies with individuals. In the
reincarnation of Prophet Elias as John the Baptist the interval was about eight centuries.
According to the Indian philosophy, if death occurs at a time of deep concern for
worldly life, the reincarnation in a womb may be almost immediate. Evidence

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collected by Dr. Stevenson showed that Paramanand of Moradabad died on May 9,
1943, and was reborn as Pramode of Bisauli on October 11, 1944.

Thus, the researches made by Dr. Ian Stevenson have brought to light much
evidence to show that the Soul survives after death. It has been further confirmed in
researches on death-experiences made by Dr. Raymond Moody and several others.

Section 3 DEATH – EXPERIENCES

We may hear a narration of death-experience when a dead patient revives. Doctors

declare a patient to be dead when his heartbeat and respiration have ceased for a while,
pupils have dilated, and his body has become cold. If, thereafter, heartbeat and
respiration recur in him, he is said to have revived.

Revivals may be spontaneous or induced.

In cases of deaths by shock, suffocation, or heart failure, spontaneous revivals, though

very rare, had occurred here and there even at the early times. Recently, in Kerala, a
popular daily, Mathrubhoomi, dated September 4, 1986, reported that, after a nightfall,
a young man who hanged himself was taken to the Government Hospital, Quilandy
(near Calicut), and was declared dead. Pending autopsy, the dead body was laid on a
table in the mortuary; but a little later, the night watchman who went to lock
the room was surprised to find the man sitting on the table. Immediately he called the
doctor. The doctor came to the mortuary and took the revived man to the ward for
nursing. A few days later the man returned home. Obviously it was a spontaneous
revival.

Resuscitation is induced revival. When a patient, at a hospital dies accidentally during

an operation, or in hemorrhage after parturition, or by a heart failure, or when a patient
who has just died of shock, suffocation, or heart failure, is brought to the hospital, the
doctors try to resuscitate him to life. Resuscitation by mouth-to-mouth artificial
respiration has been known a long time. In recent years the process of resuscitation has
been developed remarkably. Aids to resuscitation, by way of medicines to delay brain-
decay, devices to pound on the chest to shake the patient's heart, means to force
oxygen-rich air, into the lungs, surgery to massage the heart, etc., have come in vogue.
Since 1960, the doctors have resuscitated a good many patients in the hospitals. The
patients who revived do not exhibit any infirmity traceable to the death they had
overcome. It is the experiences had by revived patients in the period from
stoppage of breath to revival of breath, that are mentioned herein as death-
experiences. The fact that revived patients of different hospitals in different states,
unknown to each other, narrated identical experiences after their death and before their
revival, induces confidence in the truth of such experiences.

In former times also, revived persons used to tell persons nearby, the strange
experiences they had at death and afterwards upto their revival. But, in those days
when revivals were spontaneous and very rare, all persons who happened to hear a
narration of death-experiences, from a revived person, used to redicule it as a fantastic
tale of hallucinations at death. Dr. Raymond Moody, in his book 'Life After Life' tells
how he too dismissed a narration of death-experiences by a resuscitated medical
professor as mere hallucinations, when he was an undergraduate in philosophy at the

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Virginia University in 1965. Later, when he was teaching philosophy in a university in
North Carolina, in 1971 he happened to hear another narration of death-experiences of
a village grandmother, from a student of his, and was surprised at its close similarity of
details with the narration of the professor at Virginia which he heard in 1965. He
became curious of the reality of death-experiences, and began to collect narrations of
such experiences of revived patients from various hospitals. In 1972 he entered study
of medicine. By 1975, when he became a medical doctor, he had a collection of 150
statements of death-experiences of revived patients of varied backgrounds; and, on the
basis of events detailed in them he published his book 'Life After Life' in November
1975. Though the events discussed in that book related only to a short period of about
10 to 30 minutes between death and revival, they revealed considerable confirmation of
the Soul's survival after bodily death.

The narrations of resuscitated patients, cited in Life After Life tell clearly how at
death they went out of the physical body into the atmosphere, how they glided
through solid walls and ceilings of the hospitals without feeling obstruction, and
how from the atmosphere they saw their dead body and the resuscitation works
done on it by doctors and nurses. They prove that the Soul is a distinct entity which
dwells in the body during life, and leaves that body at death. They show also that those
patients identified themselves with their Souls, when the Soul severed from the body.

Having thus known the existence of Soul as an invisible reality and an essential part of
our being, we proceed to know more of its details.

Section 4 WAT IS SOUL

Of all creatures in the world, man alone tries to know the secrets of Nature, and that is
his excellence. Though the early men were contented with the enjoyment of things as
they were found in nature, even among them thinkers had been curious to know beyond
appearances; and they made sharp observations, persistent researches, and deep
ponderings, and thereby discovered manifold secrets not only about Nature, but also
about its associate, the Spirit.

One of the things that struck the early thinkers was the experience of dreams. They
wondered how a dreamer could experience walking in unknown places while his body
lay calm on a bed, and how the dreamer could experience to meet and talk with unseen
persons or to confront terrifying encounters in unheard places while he was on his bed
at home. When a dreaming baby laughs hilariously it must be seeing some joyous
incident; when an adult dreamer screams loudly, he must be feeling chased by
something terrible. How do these happen? The dreamer experienced to talk
intelligently, laugh merrily, or scream in terror; and that could often be heard by
persons nearby, which showed that those experiences were not false impressions.
Surely, they were not experienced by his physical senses. If so, what was it that
experienced them? The more the thinkers pondered, the more they became convinced
of the presence of a mysterious internal experiencer, distinct from the body, who
remained active in the body even during sleep. As it was invisible, they thought it to be
a spirit.

Once such an idea arose in a thinker, he began to feel the presence of that internal
experiencer even in the normal routine experiences in life. Apparently the eyes catch

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sight of objects, the ears catch sounds, the nose catch scents, and so forth - different
organs of the body catch different sensations; but, the experience is that they are
known, not by the different organs, but by a single entity in the body. That single entity
knows all the sensations reaching every organ of the body. As the thinkers pondered on
the identity of that entity, they felt it to be the same mysterious experiencer or spirit
who experienced the dreams. Not much further pondering was needed to understand
that it was the same entity that experienced pleasures and pains, joys and sorrows,
affections and aversions, thoughts and desires, sleeps and dreams, etc. The thinkers
inferred that, to be so active both in the wakeful state and during sleep, the entity must
be a constantly alert agent. They understood that spirit to be the real person in
man, and the physical body to be only an instrument for the spirit's contacts with
the material world. They named that spirit, the inner experiencer, Soul, or Life.
Soul and Life are one and the same. In Sanskrit and other Indian languages, it is called
Atman, or Jiva. Sankhyas call it Purusha. Atman literally means self. It is the spirit in
a man or other living beings.

In our actions also, whether physical or mental, the feeling is that they are done, not by
the different organs, but by one entity, the self. When an object is seen, the feeling is
that I see the object, and not that my eyes or may brain or my body sees it. Similarly, it
is I who hear a sound, not my ears; it is I who walk, not my legs, nor my body; it is I
who think, not my mind or my brain; and so on. Evidently I am the entity who
experiences the sensations and does the actions; it is not my organs; or my body or
mind. The entity in a human being, which is not an organ or the body or the mind, is
the Soul. It is Soul that experiences sensations and causes actions; the organs are only
instruments of the Soul for gathering sensations or performing actions. Chandogya
Upanishad (8:12:4) says,

"He who knows that he smells this, is the Soul, the nose is (mere instrument) for
smelling.
He who knows that he speaks thus, is the Soul; the organ of speech is for speaking.
He who knows that he hears this, is the Soul; the ear is for hearing."

Soul is the 'vital principle' in man: The early thinkers noted that a dead person did
not experience a vision, or a touch, or a sound, or a pain. When they watched the
happening of deaths, they noted that, often all the organs of the dying man remained
alert upto the moment of death, and then, all of a sudden, all his organs simultaneously
became insensible and inert like those of a doll. They could not think that all his
organs, which were functioning independently of each other, had become completely
damaged simultaneously. So, they inferred that the total failure of sensations in all the
organs was caused by the disappearance of the Soul who experienced the sensations
reaching the body, and that its departure left the body without power of sensation. They
understood death to be the departure of Soul from the physical body. Without Soul, the
body is only a mass of inert matter. It is the Soul that animates and activates the body.
Hence, Soul is the vital principle, or 'Chaitanyam' in a man.

Soul is a Principle of Consciousness: The ordinary meaning of the word

'Consciousness' may be an 'awareness' of something. E.g. consciousness of right,
consciousness of gratitude. It is the concrete or specific sense of the word. The word
has also an abstract or general sense. The general power that enables one to see, to

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hear, to speak, to understand, to enjoy etc. is also Consciousness. It is this general
sense that the word is mostly used in Upanishads.

The early thinkers who pondered on the sensations of seeing, hearing, speaking,
understanding, thinking, etc. felt that a sort of Consciousness worked in the organs to
cause such sensations. The feeling was not one Consciousness working in the eye,
another in the ear, third in the brain, etc. but of one and the same consciousness at work
in all the organs. (cf. Bhagavad Gita 15:9). So it is the general consciousness, behaving
like a central entity imparting consciousness to all organs. We generally call an
invisible originating or activating power as a Principle. So, the entity that imparts
consciousness to all organs to carry on their functions is said to be a 'Principle of
Consciousness'.

The conception was that this Principle of Consciousness radiated consciousness all
around it, and such radiated consciousness reached the organs through the waves of that
radiation, and got crystallized diversely as consciousness of objects, facts, ideas, etc.
Such as specific consciousness (awareness) is called 'vijnanam' in Sanskrit.

The general consciousness, which we called a Principle of Consciousness, never

suffered a variation; only the radiated consciousness underwent variations. The general
consciousness itself was never affected by any relation with other things. It always
remained in its pristine purity. It was therefore called Pure Consciousness or
'Prajnanam' in Sanskrit. Prajnanam literally means pure or superior consciousness.
Its radiation of consciousness to the organs enabled them to function like conscious
entities to grasp sensations (sight, sounds, etc.) and transmit them to the brain, and to
receive impulses from the brain and translate them into actions. When the Soul leaves
the body, all the organs lose their consciousness and become insensisible and inert. It is
then clear that Prajnanam or Pure Consciousness is the Soul. So, the general
consciousness which we called the Pure Consciousness is really the Vital
Consciousness, the life. Thus, Soul is the Principle of Consciousness, or to be more
precise, Soul is the Principle of vital Consciousness, the life, in man or other being.
(ef. Life After Life p. 42).

Because the Soul constantly radiated consciousness and that consciousness manifested
in the organs, the ancient sages said euphemistically that the Soul itself manifested
consciousness in the organs, and caused them function. They said it in Upanishads. In
Sukarahasyopanishad it is said

"That by which (one) sees, hears, smells, speaks, and knows taste and distaste, is called
Prajananam" and in Aitareyopanishad (3:1) it is said
"That by which (one) sees, or hears, or smells scents, or articulates speech, or knows
taste or distaste is the Soul".

These two versus together identify Soul as Prajnanam, which is the Pure
Consciousness, the Principle of Vital Consciousness, in a being. It is the life or
Chaitanyam in the living beings.

The Soul is distinct from the body: We have indicated above that life denotes the
existence of Life, the Soul, in the body, and death is its departure from the body. The
Soul dwells in the body constantly throughout the life. It may remain in a body for

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long long years. When it departs, the body dies and begins to perish. After the death
and before disintegration of the body, if the Soul re-enters the body, the body revives to
life. The Old Testament says,

"And he cried unto the Lord… I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again.
And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child came into him again
and he revived." (1 Kings 17:21, 22)

Bhagavatham (6:16: 1-12) says that when King Chitrakethu lost his son, Narada came
to condole him; and that at Narada's bidding the departed Soul re-entered the body, and
the revived son consoled the king by a long advice, and then the Soul departed again
from the body.

Life After Life (p. 79, 83) tells that persons resuscitated in modern hospitals also stated
that they revived when their Souls re-entered the (dead) body.

The Soul can enter a body, stay in the body, and can leave the body. Evidently it is an
entity distinct from the body.

SOUL IS A MATTERLESS BEING

Soul, being a Principle of Consciousness, must certainly be matterless, devoid of

matter. Swami Vivekananda observed (vide his Complete Works, vol. I, p. 396),

"The Jiva is immaterial, and therefore will remain for ever".

Jiva means life; and life is the Soul. So 'Jiva' is another name for Soul. It is
'immaterial', that is to say, it is matterless, devoid of matter. Things composed of matter
may, one day or other, disintegrate into their elements and thereby perish. A matter less
thing has nothing to disintegrate; so it 'will remain', as such, for ever.

Dr. Ian Stevenson's observation at p. 353, vol. 76 of the Journal of ASPR, and Dr.
Raymond Moody's observation in Life After Life (p.46) both tell that a discarnate Soul
can pass unimpeded through a closed, locked door. It signifies that the Soul is matter
less.

Science tells that all solids, fluids, and gases are composed of matter in different
densities. But the Soul does not involve matter at all. Then, in what state does it exist,
what composes it? Soul is said to radiate power of Consciousness to all organs. It is
also said to appear at times in identifiable form to percipients to whom it has some
message to convey. How does a matter less Soul achieve such things?

In considering such or similar mysteries about matter less existence, we have to keep
one thing in mind always, and that it is the linguistic inadequacy. There are no apt
words in language to describe correctly the nature and functions of matter less
existences like the soul. The ancient Greek Philosopher Plate (427-347 BC) (in The
Republic, book X) has said of the inadequacy of human languages to describe the facts
about Soul. That inadequacy continues even now. Dr. Raymond Moody has said it
clearly in 1975 in Life After Life (p. 25-26, 87). In the absence of apt words, what one
can do is only to use words available in vocabulary which convey ideas comparable to

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the facts one wants to express. Hence, many words used herein below, such as power,
wave, whirling, capsule, think, reflect, remember, etc. are not to be understood in their
normal sense; they are only words suggestive of things not precisely expressible in
language.

Scientists investigating the secrets of nature have analysed things into their component
elements, elements into component atoms, and atoms into component fine particles. It
is like tracing back their evolution. They found all material things to be composed of
atoms. Though atoms are of different varieties, they are all composed of identical fine
particles in different combinations. Every atom is composed of electrons, protons and
neutrons, which are identical in all atoms, everywhere. Electron is the finest of the
three. The matter in an electron is as low as 9.1/1023 of a gram. Scientists say it is not
wholly a particle of matter, but has a dual nature – partly the nature of a particle and
partly the nature of waves. There are other fine particles which have much less of
matter, than the electrons. The less is the matter in a fine particle, the more is its wave
nature. Photons, the particles of light (Tejus), have much less of matter than electrons.
A photon is essentially a tiny capsule of electromagnetic waves. When we look further
and reach things that have no matter at all, they will have only a wave nature; that is to
say, they will have only waves to compose them. Soul is absolutely matter less; so, its
existence is in the form of waves. It is noteworthy in this context that at p. 48 of Life
After Life, Dr. Moody has quoted a revived patient who felt his disembodied existence
like waves or something similar. Waves that compose a thing do not go out of the thing;
they will be moving round and round, like a whirl, in the thing. So, the waves in the
Soul are whirling waves. The waves in electrons, photons, and other fine particles may
be waves of a form of energy. Modern science tells that energy is a form of matter. In
the matterless Soul the waves cannot be waves of energy; Soul being vital
consciousness its waves can only be waves of Consciousness. In short, the Soul exists
as a fine capsule of whirling waves of vital Consciousness. Yogachudamani
Upanishad (13) says

"So long as it has not attained the supreme truth, the Soul whirls in the great Chakra of
twelve petals devoid of merit and demerit (unstained)".

(Dvadasaare mahachakre Punyapapa vivarjite

Thavat jivo bhramatyevam Yavat tatvam na vindati)

For meaning of Chakra, see sect 6 below.

Matter is inert. As matter in a particle increases, its speed of rotations decreases.

Conversely, as matter diminishes in a particle, its speed of rotation increases. Science
has found that photons rotate at a speed of 600 billion rounds per second. A billion is a
million millions in the British reckoning. If a photon that contains a trace of matter
rotates at that much speed, the speed of rotations in the Soul that contains no matter at
all must be higher than that. Rotation at such a high speed in a particle, or the like of it,
is undetectable except by its effects. We knew the speed of rotation of photons from
their causing light to travel at a velocity of three lakh kilometers per second.

Vibrations generate spreading waves. If we knock a metallic utensil with a finger, a

vibration arises at the spot in the vessel. Immediately we can feel waves spreading
from that vibration to all parts of the utensil. Similarly, whirling waves that rotate fast,

10
generate other waves that spread outward in all directions. The whirling waves of Soul
generate similar spreading waves. As the whirling waves of Soul are waves of
Consciousness, the spreading waves that emanate from them also comprise
consciousness, though of a lesser potency. It is the generation of such spreading waves
that is mentioned as radiation of consciousness by the Soul. When these spreading
waves reach organs, they impart consciousness to the organs, and that enables the
organs to function like conscious entities to grasp sensations or perform actions. The
will of a Soul reflects in the spreading waves emanating from it. When such waves
reach and mix with the whirling waves of another Soul, they cause effects in the latter.
To reach another Soul, the Soul that generates the spreading waves may channel them
towards the other Soul, much as a microwave transmitter channels its transmission to a
particular station, or as the light of a searchlight focuses its rays to an aeroplane in the
sky. In this regard, what the transmitter or searchlight does through a device, the Soul
may easily do by itself.

When a discarnate Soul wishes to convey some message to living person, it arrives
before that person (as in the case mentioned at p. 3 & 4 above). We will call that
discarnate Soul as apparition, and the living person as percipient. The apparition first
conveys its identity to the percipient. For that, it thinks, that is to say, it becomes
conscious of its past personality which the percipient knows well. That
consciousness of the apparition reflects in its spreading waves. When the apparition
directs those waves towards the percipient, they reach the percipient's Soul and impart
to it the consciousness of the past personality of the apparition. Then the percipient
becomes conscious or aware of the apparition before him. He experiences that
awareness as a vision of the apparition in its past personality, because of his inveterate
habit of acquiring consciousness of another's presence before him by his sight. Because
of that habit, he feels his sudden consciousness of the apparition's personality as a
vision of the apparition; though it is really only a transmission of consciousness of the
apparition to the percipient.

Similarly, when the apparition remembers, that is to say, becomes conscious of the
message it has to convey to the percipient, that consciousness reflects in the spreading
waves arising from the apparition. When those spreading waves reach the Soul of the
percipient, he becomes conscious or aware of the message. Though it is only a
transmission of consciousness by the apparition to the percipient, because of the
percipient's inveterate habit of receiving messages from another person near him
through a hearing of his talk, the percipient feels the instant surprising awareness of the
message also as been heard by him from the apparition. (cf. Dr. Moody's observations
in Life After Life p. 51, 52.)

These instances indicate the way a Soul carries out functions by manipulation of its
waves. Through spreading waves it radiates consciousness to the organs, and gives a
vision and a message to a percipient, and does other functions.

Section 5 THE PERSON IN A MAN

We observed that all sensations that are grasped by the different sensory organs are
experienced to be received, cognized, and enjoyed or suffered by one entity, the Soul,
which is distinct from the organs, distinct from the body itself. Scientists say that each
sensory organ has a particular centre in the cortex of the brain to which it transmits its

11
sensations for cognition, and that those centres are separate from one another. If it is
the brain that cognizes sensations, the different sensations – sight, touch, hearing, taste,
smell, pleasure, pain, etc. – arriving at different cortical centres, must be experienced as
being cognized by those different centres. But, the experience is unmistakably that they
are cognized by one entity at its own seat, which entity is distinct from the body.
Bhagavad-Gita (15:9) says

"Depending on the ear, the eye, the skin, the tongue, the nose and the mind, the Soul
enjoys the sensations."

It is the Soul that enjoys all the sensations that reach the body. It is the Soul that enjoys
the pleasures, and suffers the pains. The body is an insentient mass of matter. The only
sentient conscious thing in our system is the Soul. Only the entity who experiences
sensations would be the "person" in man. So, the person in man is the Soul in
him, and not his body.

Soul is the incorporeal vital power of Consciousness which exists as a definite being. It
grasps sensations. It imparts vital power to the bodily organs to function in diverse
ways. It can appear in a visual form as apparition, and transmit ideas to another Soul.
(vide sect. 1 above). Soul is not a mere power; it is much more; it is an incorporeal
person indeed.

Bhagavad Gita (2:22) avers that the physical body is only a covering to the Soul for the
period of a life, and that when it becomes worn-out the Soul leaves it and takes on a
fresh body. We call it a new life. The verse reads,

"As a man, casting off worn-out clothes, takes on other fresh clothes, so does the Soul,
casting off worn-out bodies, takes on other fresh bodies." (Gita 2:22)

An actor may put on the clothes of a waiter and act as a waiter in one scene, and
subsequently he may put on the dress of a king and act as a king in another scene; but
he remains the same Mr. so and so throughout. Likewise the Soul may bear one body
form and live as man A, and later leave it and bear another fresh body form and live as
man B, but the Soul remains the same throughout. Soul takes life after life, bearing a
fresh name and form for each life. We have noted above that recent researches of Dr.
Ian Stevenson have confirmed the above phenomenon in a scientific way.

When a young child, like Pramode of Bisauli, 2 1/2 years old, says that he was so-and-
so in the prior life, he speaks naturally of his Soul alone as his personality, and
overlooks his body. (Cf. Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation (1976) by Dr. Ian
Stevenson p. 109, 115). When a resuscitated patient says that before revival he saw
from the atmosphere his dead body, he regards his Soul as his personality, and looks at
the body as distinct from his self.

(See Life After Life p. 35-40). When Quran (3:30) says

"Every soul will find itself confronted with all that it hath done of good and all that it
had done of evil" it identifies the Soul as the doer, and discards his physical body in
that identification.

12
When the Bible says

"Tribulation and anguish upon every Soul of man that doeth evil: (Rom 2:9) it also
implies that the person in man is the Soul in him.

Consciousness is that the person in a man is his Soul, and not his body. The
identification of one's person with the body seems to betray ignorance of the Soul.

Section 6 ABODE OF SOUL

As the Soul remains in the body constantly throughout life, it must have a definite seat
or abode in the body system. Katopanishad (2:20), Mahanarayana Upanishad (12:1)
etc. say that the Soul dwells in a 'cave' in the creatures. Certain other Upanishads like
Chandogya Upanishad (8:3:3) and Prasna Upanishad (3:6) say that the Soul stays in the
'heart'. The Svetasvatara Upanishad mentions the abode of Soul as the heart in verse
3:13 and as the cave in verse 3:20, indicating thereby that both denote the same location
in the body. The name 'cave' connotes an empty hollow. The four-chambered organ of
heart, which draws in blood and pumps it to the lungs and other parts of the body 72
times every minute, cannot be called a cave in the body. Philokalia, a celebrated book
of Catholic theology, in its glossary, defines 'heart' as
"not the physical organ, but the spiritual centre of man's being"

If it is not the organ of heart, what part of our system may it be?

Yogachudamani Upanishad (13) observes,

"In the great Chakra of twelve petals… the Soul whirls round and round."

It depicts the abode of Soul as the Chakra of 12 petals. Chakra is the technical name,
in Sanskrit texts on meditation, for certain spots in the capillary hole of a fine
nerve in the spinal cord.

In the central cavity of our backbone is the spinal cord. It comprises two lobes which
are bundles of fine nerve fibers that transmit impulses, to and fro, between the organs
and the brain. Upanishads say that, in between the two lobes, there are a few fine
nerves that do not transmit impulses, but have a hole throughout their length, through
which air can pass (vide Yogasikha Upanishad 5:16-27). The most important among
these fine nerves is the central nerve called Sushumna or Brahmanadi. The hole in it is
closed at the base and opens at the top. It extends throughout the length of the
backbone, from the sacral plexus to the brainstem and further upto the top of the head
where it opens into a fine hole in the suture, called Brahmarandhram (vide
Advayataraka Upanishad 5-6, nishad 4:10). There is no circulation of blood or regular
passage of air in Sushumna. Indian sages aver that meditation at particular spots in the
capillary hole of Sushumna leads to high spiritual experiences. These spots in
Sushumna are called Chakras or Centres. The meditators are to conceive a lotus flower
of particular number of petals at each Chakra, with an effulgent disc at its centre; so
these Chakras are sometimes referred to as 'lotus flowers' in the Upanishads. The main
Chakras are:

Muladharachakra of 4 red petals at the base,

Svadhistanachakra of 6 bright red petals at the level of the base of external male organ

13
Manipurachakra of 10 scarlet petals at the level of the navel,
Anahatachakra of 12 blue petals at the level of the heart organ,
Visudhichakra of 16 grey petals at the level of the base of neck,
Ajnachakra of 2 white petals at level with the middle of eyebrows

So, the Chakra of 12 petals is at the middle of the capillary hole of Sushumna, on level
with the heart organ.

Dhynabindu Upanishad (94) locates the Soul "in the centre of a 'lotus flower' of eight
petals in the region of the heart." This spot is called heart centre (See Meditation by
Monks of the Ramakrishna Order, p. 26, 27). The name 'heart' is a short for the
heart centre. It is said to be just below the lotus flower of 12 petals. The lotus flower
to be conceived in it is red in color, with an effulgent disc at the centre. (cf.
Mahanirvana Tantra 5:5:132).

Whether it is the 'lotus flower' of 12 petals or of 8 petals, the location is on level with
the heart organ, in the capillary hole of Sushumna in the spinal cord. As the Soul is
mentioned to be smaller than an atom (anoraneeyan) and also matterless, it can
comfortably remain in the capillary hole of Sushumna. As this hole is an empty quiet
long hollow, the epithet 'cave' also suits it well.

Thus, the abode of Soul, according to Upanishads, is in the middle of the fine hole
in the central fine nerve Sushumna of the spinal cord.

Section 7 DEPARTURE

The departure of Soul from the body had been a subject of investigations from very
early days. They go on even now in the Western countries. The findings made by early
investigators are recorded in Upanishads and other scriptures. They reveal the
following particulars:

1) When the time of departure approaches, temperature rises at the top of the heart
centre.

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (4:4:2) mentions that on approach of death the temperature

rises at the top of the heart centre. "Hridayasya agram pradyotate". 'Pradyota' is
defined in Apte's Sanskrit-English Dictionary as 'irradiating', which is heating with
radiant energy (vide, Random House Dictionary). So 'pradyotate' means 'becomes
heated'. Brahmasutras (4:2:17) also tells 'Tadokograjvalanam". 'Tad' means it – the
Soul: 'oka' is home; 'agram' is topmost part; jvalanam' means blazing ordinarily, but, in
the context of physical body, it must mean a rise in temperature. Putting together, the
aphorism signifies that temperature rises at the top of the abode of Soul. Often we find
persons nearing death asking for a little water to drink; it may be a reaction to the
development of heat at their vital interior.

According to the Prasna Upanishad (3:9) the body heat is the expression of a vital air,
called Udana (tejo hava Udana). Five are said to be the vital airs working in our system
– Prana and Apana the air that we breathe in and breathe out, Vyana the air that causes
articulation of speech, Samana the air that helps circulation of food, and Udana the air
that maintains bodily heat uniform throughout the body. (See Chandogya Upanishad

14
1:3:3 and Prasna Upanishad 3:5,9). Prana air is obviously the ordinary atmospheric air
that goes into the body. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (1:5:3) tells that all the vital airs are
Prana only, meaning thereby that it is the Prana air that divides itself into the five vital
airs, for performing diverse functions in the system. Cf: Prasna Upanishad 2:3. Hence
all the vital airs are atmospheric air that moves about in the body to accomplish
various purposes. The concern of Udana is mainly the bodily heat. Whether a person
is in Siberia where temperature may fall below 10ºC, or in Libya where temperature
may rise above 50ºC, Udana circulating throughout the body would maintain his bodily
heat steady and uniform at 37ºC. When temperature at a particular spot rises above the
rest of the body, the indication is said to be that the vital air Udana has accumulated
there. When temperature at the top of heart centre, rises it signifies that Udana air
collects just above the Soul in Sushumna.

As the temperature at that spot rises, Udana also gets heated. Then, like any other hot
air, Udana rises upward, in the capillary hole of Sushumna which goes to the top of
the head.
2) When Udana moves upward through Sushumna, it makes sound.

Jabaladarsana Upanishad (6:36, 37) says,

"In the air that goes to the Brahmarandhram, sound arises, first like the sound of a
conch, midway like the sound of clouds, and when the air reaches the middle of the
crown, it is like (sound of) a mountain brook…"

The mention of three different sounds indicates passage of the air through regions of
different terrains. It may be the regions after the spinal cavity, because in that long
cavity Sushumna is straight and uniform and therefore the sound of Udana's passage
through it must be uniform – may be like low buzz. After the spinal cavity, it is the
brainstem where Sushumna is amidst thickly crowded nerve fibres. The congestion
there is apt to make the sound of Udana's passage somewhat shrill. So, the Upanishad
says, it sounds like the sound of a conch. After the brainstem, Sushumna passes
through the brain, full of folds or ridges and deep fissures. As Udana passes through
that terrain it is said to make a sound like that of clouds – not like that of a thunder
burst but like that a smooth collision of clouds. Finally, when the air reaches the top
end of Sushumna at the Brahmarandhram, its sound is said to be like gurgling of a
mountain brook. This description of Udana's movement makes clear that the air that
goes to the top end of Sushumna produces sound as it moves on. The movement of air
does not make sound if it is slow. Only a speedy rush of air causes a sound. So the
mention of sound in the air going upward signifies that its movement is a speedy
rush.

3) The air that rushes upward to the top of the head pulls the Soul after it.

Prasna Upanishad (3:7) says (Oordhva Udana… nayati) the Udana air going upward
pulls the Soul after it. Science tells us that, when air rushes through a long thin tube, it
makes a near vacuum behind it, which pulls nearby things after it. When Udana air
rushes upward through the long capillary hole of Sushumna it creates a near vacuum to
follow it, and that pulls the Soul to follow. Hence the Upanishad says that Udana
rushing upward pulls the Soul after it. (cf. Life After Life p. 30, 34).

4) The Soul nearing the exit feels happy and conscious of the past.

15
Jabaladarsana Upanishad (6:37) tells that when the air reaches the middle of the crown
it makes a sound like that of a mountain brook, and that

"Then the Soul becomes truly happy and extra conscious." (preeto mahaprajna sakshad
atma)

Yogakundali Upanishad (3:12) mentions the region above the sixth Chakra to be
"sukhamandalam", a region of pleasantness. As the Soul crosses that region it becomes
joyful, and also extra conscious. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (4:4:2) indicates that
extra consciousness as a recollection of the past. It says,

"The departing Soul…. (savijnano bhavathi) becomes possessed of extra consciousness;

with such consciousness he passes on (i.e. goes out of the body); and him follows the
knowledge, karma and also (purvaprajna) consciousness of the past."

We have noted (p.8 above) that consciousness ordinarily means awareness of a fact,
idea or the like. The Soul itself is pure consciousness; so, to say that the Soul becomes
possessed of consciousness is to mean an extra awareness in it at that time. The
Upanishad soon clarifies it as "purvaprajna" the consciousness of the past – the
recollection of deeds, events, and experiences, in the life just over. We will be
observing later (in sect. 26 below) that all the deeds, events and experiences in life exist
and continue intact as Karmabhavas in the Subtle Body that enwraps the Soul. That
enables the Soul to make within a few seconds a quick review of all that happened in
the life and thereby become conscious of the past. (cf. sect. 32 below), and Life After
Life p. 65).

5) Udana and Soul go out through the hole in the suture at the top of the head.

Yogasikha Upanishad (6:33) mentions, "Crossing the six Chakras, (the Soul) goes out
through the Brahmarandhram." (Shat chakrani cha nirbhidya Brahmarandhrad
bahirgatham).

We noted above (p.13) that Chakras are spots in Sushumna. The expression 'crossing
the six Chakras' may not be strictly correct, as the heart centre the abode of the Soul is
just below the fourth Chakra, and therefore the Soul moving upward has only to cross
the 4th, 5th and 6th Chakras to reach the end of Sushumna. "Crossing the six Chakras" in
the context may mean reaching the Seventh Chakra which is the very end of Sushumna,
the Brahmarandhram, often referred to as the Sahasrarachakra.

Aitareya Upanishad (1:3:12) mentions, "Penetrating the suture and through that hole,
the Soul enters (the body)."

Paimgala Upanishad (1:3) also mentions that Souls enter all body forms in the universe
by penetrating the Brahmarandhram in the crown, and then the inert body forms
become animate and prone to action. It naturally follows that the Soul's exit also is
through the same hole. (cf., Life After Life p. 47, 83).

6) On the exit of Udana and Soul, the body becomes cold and inert

16
As Udana that maintains bodily heat goes out, the body loses heat and becomes cold;
and as the Soul, who animates the body, goes out, the body becomes inert like a log of
wood. (When they reach the atmosphere, Udana merges in the air, and the Soul glides
about for a time.)

7) Even as the Soul leaves the long-cherished physical body, it holds its Subtle
Body intact.

The Brahmasutras (3:1:1) says, "The Soul going out to acquire another life, goes well
enveloped."

What envelopes the Soul is its Subtle Body. The Bhagavad-Gita (15:8) clarifies that the
Soul carries the Subtle Body as it leaves the physical body. (See Sect. 10 below). 'Life
After Life' shows that many revived patients at American hospitals have also spoken of
the existence of a Subtle Body on discarnate Souls.

Section 8 BRAHMAN (Godhead)

To know the nature of thing, we generally look first to its origin. Indian sages said the
origin of soul is Brahman. It is the most mysterious thing in Indian philosophy; it is
also the most fundamental thing in it.

Brahman should not be confused with Brahma who is one of the Trimurti of Hinduism (comparable to
the Trinity of Christians). Mythologically, Brahma is a god of four heads and four hands, the revealer of
the Vedas, and the husband of goddess Saraswati. Brahma is a personal God; but Brahman the source of
Soul is an Infinite Incorporeal Supreme Power without limit in space or time or capability.

In tracing the origin of Soul, we have to go to the origin of the universe itself. We trace
the origin of a thing 'A' to another thing 'B', the origin of 'B' to C, the origin of C to B,
and so on, till we come to a thing that had no origin, but was self existent from the
beginning beyond comprehension. That ultimate thing must have been the basic source
of everything in the universe. Indian philosophy named it Brahman. 'Brih' in Sanskrit
means to expand or grow. So, etymologically 'Brahman' means that which expanded or
developed as the universe. In the beginning, it alone existed; there was nothing else.
But, it was everywhere without limit. Chandogya Upanishad (3:12:6) avers that a part
of it evolved as the universe (with all its beings). (See also Bhagavad Gita 10:42).

Brahman had no origin. It existed long before anything in the universe began to evolve,
when there was no matter or energy in any form at all. Brahman then was a potential
power, a power-potential. As such, it was without action or motion. Because of its
obscurity some texts have even said it was "neither existent nor non-existent" (Vide Rig
Veda 10:129:1, Bhagavad Gita 13:13). If it was not non-existent, it did exist, however
imperceptible it might have been. Chandogya Upanishad mentions it as "Sath", which
literally means "an existing thing". It says

"In the beginning there was only Sath, The One only, without a second". (Ibid 6:2:1)

Later, when Brahman rose to activity and fragments of it entered body forms created by
Nature, they manifested vital consciousness (life) in them (vide p. 19 below). It made
clear that the power that was latent in Brahman was the power of vital
consciousness.

17
Here again, even at the risk of repetition, I may remind the reader the linguistic
inadequacy mentioned at p.15 above. There are no words by which the nature of ways
of Brahman may be correctly described. Katopanishad (2:23) tells plainly that
Brahman cannot be explained by words. Many words used herein below to explain the
nature and ways of Brahman, such as existence, power, inclination, vibration, wave,
manifestation, diffusion, severance, etc., are not to be taken in their normal sense; they
are only terms of approximate analogies to what are not correctly expressible in
language.

Aitareyopanishad (1:1:1) and Chandogya Upanishad (6:2:3) mention the first event in
Brahman to be an inclination for Creation. An inclination may arise in the vital
consciousness even in a potential state, though it cannot achieve that inclination without
rising to an active state. The inclination or wish that arose in Brahman excited it, and
caused subtle vibrations (like pulsations) in it. It marked the commencement of
Brahman becoming active for creations. The vibration in Brahman is described in Rig
Veda (10:29:1-5), which has been translated by Swami Vivekananda thus (vide his
Complete Works, Vol. 6, p. 178-179):

"Existence was not then, nor non-existence,

The world was not, the sky beyond was neither,
……………………………………………….
But motionless did That vibrate
Alone, with Its own glory,
Beyond That nothing did exist.
……………………………………………..
Creative then became the glory,
With self-sustaining principle below,
And Creative Energy above."

In this verse the pronoun 'That ' refers to Brahman. Brahman vibrated by its
inclination. It vibrated by its own prowess which was remaining dormant hereto but
now become roused by a desire for creation. As Brahman was an expanse of Vital
Consciousness, uniform throughout, the excitement it felt, pervaded through-out; and
the vibrations appeared everywhere in it. Rig Veda says that the vibrations were
"motionless", that is to say they were stationary. They vibrated in their respective
stations in Brahman. As they were throughout Brahman, it was as if infinite stationary
units of vibration filled everywhere. It was as if Brahman was a cosmic assemblage of
intimate units of subtle vibration. As Brahman was potential vital consciousness, these
vibrations were vibrations of vital consciousness.

Normally, vibrations generate spreading waves around them. Vibrations in Brahman

also caused spreading waves that spread in all directions. Because of the high potency
of vital Consciousness (which was formerly latent, but now excited by a wish) the
subtle vibrations and the spreading waves in Brahman easily became like vigorous.
The spreading waves spread out in all directions from each unit of vibration and hit
other units in the neighborhood. In the result, every unit of vibration in Brahman was
hit by a number of spreading waves reaching from different directions. When a wave
hits, something like a push occurs. When pushes from different directions thrust
simultaneously on a unit, it begins to rotate. As the pushes continue, the rotation

18
quickly gains speed. When rotation gains speed, the spreading waves around it become
stronger. By their acceleration and speed of rotation of the units of vibration steadily
sprang up. Thus, Brahman became like a cosmic assemblage of infinite units of rapidly
rotating vibrations of vital consciousness.

The vibrations, waves and rotations that arose in Brahman never ceased. The
innumerable rotations in things of the universe, from huge galaxies to fine particles like
photons, may be traced to the rotations that arose in Brahman. When a rapidly rotating
thing undergoes some transformation, the speed of rotation may be expected to get
reduced a little in the new formation. According to the Indian philosophic theory of
evolution (p. 21-22 below) there were four transformations in Nature (which itself was
an evolution of Brahman) before fine particles like photons evolved. It is well known
to students of modern science that the photons rotate at a speed of 600 billion (6x10014)
rounds per second. The speed of original rotation in Brahman must have been for
above that in photons – an unimaginably high speed indeed!

Vibrations rotating rapidly form like whirls. We may call them 'whirling waves'. Each
unit of vibration in Brahman became like a whirling wave, rotating at its spot. Thus
Brahman comprised infinite whirling waves of vital consciousness. Just as the
electrons in an atom remain definitely separate from one another, the units of whirling
waves in Brahman also remained separate from one another. As the whirling waves of
Brahman rotated rapidly, Brahman became prone to activity.

When Brahman rose to activity, with innumerable units of whirling waves of vital
consciousness rotating at an unimaginably high speed, some of the units began to get
detached from Brahman and spin independently. It was like molecules of water
separating from a boiling body of water. Mundaka Upanishad (2:1:1) mentions such
diffusion of fragments to be a normal incident in Brahman. The units of whirling waves
that severed from Brahman continued to rotate as before – perhaps at a slightly lesser
speed. When nature began to create material body forms (page 21-22 below) and some
of the severed units of whirling waves entered into such body forms, they clearly
manifested vital consciousness (life) in them. Then it became evident that the
potential power which was originally in Brahman was the power of vital
Consciousness. Brahman was Vital Consciousness itself. "Prajnanam Brahman" says
Aitareya Upanishad (3:3). When it became so apparent, Brahman came to be regarded
as the Universal Principle of Vital Consciousness. As the fragments of Brahman that
dwelt in body forms were called Souls, the omnipresent Brahman came to be called the
Cosmic Soul or Godhead.

Vital Consciousness is a Power of immense capabilities. In individuals, it manifests

generally as life, and particularly as powers of perception, comprehension, reflection,
recollection, imagination, insight, thought, desire, emotion, impulse, will, firmness,
vivacity, etc. Aitareya Upanishad (3:2). In its functions, it behaves like a definite entity
wielding the above said powers. In the cosmic state, it manifests much larger powers.
It reveals supreme power. It animates all living beings. It manifests in all phenomena
in the universe and guides and controls them. (See sect. 39-42 below). The Vital
Power of Consciousness that is active everywhere must naturally be conscious of
everything, every happening, every need, every fulfillment, etc. that exist or happen
anywhere in the universe. It is therefore omniscient. Consciousness of all details about
a situation, when put to play, becomes an ability to bring about the effect desired in that

19
situation. So omniscience in practical application becomes omnipotence. We noted
above that a discarnate Soul can appear to a living person and convey messages to him
clearly and unmistakably. The reputed scientist and medical professor Dr. Ian
Stevenson, who has investigated many cases of apparitions, has published the results of
his investigations thus:

"….They may appear and disappear without coming and going like ordinary persons or
objects; they may pass through solid walls and closed, locked doors; and they may
move about by gliding instead of walking. Yet apparitions (or at least some of them)
also behave in certain respects like ordinary persons and objects…Apparitions may be
reflected in mirrors. Even more important is their frequent adaptive reaction to the
physical situation in which they occur and to the people present; they may approach or
recede from persons present and walk around physical obstructions. … They may also
gesture to draw the percipient's attention….." (Journal of ASPR, Vol. 76, p. 353).

If vital consciousness that is a Soul can do so, certainly the more powerful
Consciousness that is the Cosmic Soul or Godhead can do likewise and much more, of
a personal or general nature. Hence, it is said Vital Consciousness is of immense
capabilities.

The appearance of vibrations and whirling waves made 'no change' in Brahman, except
that what was latent arose from its latency or dormancy and became active. Brahman
remained dormant hitherto, but it has now become active with rapidly rotating waves of
vital consciousness of immense capabilities.

The Vedic verse cited above says that the prowess in Brahman became 'creative'. Vital
Consciousness is functionally a general power which involves a number of specific
powers, including creative genius, the power of ability to imagine, design and make
things of art. When the wish for creation arose in Brahman, the creative genius in it
sprang up and became active. As it was a specific power, and more similar to a
mechanical power than to a vital one, it became distinct from the general power of vital
consciousness that is Brahman. It became like an evolution from Brahman. It was
particularly called Primal Nature, or Nature for short – Moolaprakriti or Prakriti in
Sanskrit. Niralamba Upanishad defines it as the power of Brahman (Brahmasakti)
clever at creation of manifold universe 'in the presence of Brahman' (i.e. with
cooperation of Brahman). As Brahman is Vital Consciousness (life) its cooperation is
unavoidable for efficient creations.

As nature was an offshoot from Brahman which comprised infinite whirling waves of
Consciousness, such waves inhered in Nature also with a lesser speed of rotation. But
their speed of rotation was far higher than that in photons which were sub-products of
Nature. Nature existed like a cosmic assemblage of infinite whirling waves of
Consciousness, rotating at a high speed. It made Nature a highly active power of
creative genius. Nature and Brahman were to function in mutual cooperation – Nature
to create forms, and Brahman to animate them suitably.

But, then there was no stuff for Creations. There were only Brahman and Nature;
nothing else was in existence anywhere. So, to procure stuff for creation, Brahman
thought of transforming part of Nature into elements. Brahman's desire for a change in
Nature, which reflected in its spreading waves and hit Nature, made Nature fond of

20
changes. The fondness for change pervaded Nature so much that it adopted for itself
changing modes of existence. Sages said that Nature existed in three modes in the
main. The modes of nature are called 'Gunas' in Sanskrit. The three main modes of
Nature are called Satvaguna (pious nature), Rajoguna (egoistic nature) and Tamoguna
(dull nature). All the three modes of Nature inhere also in all beings in the universe.
But, the Gunas are not stable; they change frequently in their mutual proportion. (See
Bhagavad Gita 14:5-10).

When Brahman and Nature began to work together, the mode of Nature began to reflect
in Brahman. When an object reflects in a mirror, the mirror remains unaffected, but it
appears to contain that object. Though it is an illusion, the appearance impresses like
real. In a similar way, when the Gunas or modes of Nature reflect in Brahman, the
Brahman is unaffected, but the part of Brahman where the reflection occurs, appears to
contain the Gunas, that is to say, to be influenced by the Gunas, and to behave like a
being displaying different temperaments according to circumstances. Brahman
appearing to behave thus is called Sagunabrahman in Sanskrit. The prefix 'sa' in a
noun means 'with'; so the name Sagunabrahman means Brahman with the Gunas, that is
to say, Brahman with the reflection of Gunas or modes of Nature; Brahman in whose
behaviour the Gunas reflect. Though the word Guna denotes a mode of Nature, it may ,
by a figure of speech, denote Nature itself, in which case Sagunabrahman mean
Brahman in association with Nature. Very often in the Upanishads, the name
Brahman is used instead of Sagunabrahman, for short. Godhead, Impersonal God,
Cosmic Soul, Easvara, Paramatman, etc., are synonyms for Sagunabrahman, for short.
Godhead, Impersonal God, it is Sagunabrahman who sustains the universe.

Brahman wished transformation in Nature. It meant an appreciable reduction in the

speed of rotation of its whirling waves. Rotations of whirling waves in vital
consciousness are not mere movements of the waves around an imaginary axis in
definite speeds; they signify displays of different powers of the consciousness. Vital
consciousness, which comprises several specific powers, manifests those different
powers by adoption of different speeds of rotation of its waves. At its highest speed,
which occurs in Brahman, it manifests the supreme vital consciousness (Prajnanam) as
such; at a slightly less speed, in Nature it displays creative genius; at a lesser speed, in
living beings, it manifests life; at a lesser speed, in Intellect, it manifests the power of
thinking and understanding; at a still lesser speed, in Mind, it manifests the power of
reasoning and feeling; and so on. By alternation in the curvature of its lens, the eye
catches sight of objects at different distances; by alteration in the speed of rotation of its
waves, vital consciousness projects different powers in the beings.

When Brahman wished transformation in Nature, the wish reflected in its waves. When
spreading waves bearing such reflections from Brahman reached the whirling waves of
Nature and mingled with them, the latter became denser and their speed of rotation got
reduced. The result was a part of Nature evolved as a new element called Intellect
(Mahat in Sanskrit). Mahat is the Cosmic Intellect that pervades the universe. The
power in intellect was consciousness of objects, material and immaterial. It could
think, understand, reflect, recollect, decide, etc. Next, Brahman wished transformation
in Intellect. When the spreading waves carrying reflections of the Brahman's wish,
mingled with the whirling waves of Intellect, they became denser and their speed of
rotation became reduced. The result was that a part of Intellect transformed as a new
element called Ego (Ahamkara or Ahambuddhi in Sanskrit). It was consciousness of 'I-

21
and-mine' : elation with objects, that is to say, consciousness of self and self interest.
Similarly, when spreading waves carrying reflections of Brahman's wish for
transformation in Ego, mingled with the whirling waves of Ego in different ways, Mind
and fifteen other subtle elements evolved (see sect. 13 below). All the above said
eighteen elements, evolved in successive transformations from Nature, were, of course,
matterless, because matter had not evolved then. The speeds of rotations in them
(though they became less and less with each transformation) were still so high that
those elements never coalesced with each other; but always remained separate from one
another; except the last five. The five elements, which evolved last in the
transformations from Nature, had their speeds of rotation of whirling waves so much
reduced that they could combine among their varieties (see sect. 14 below). Their
combinations in diverse proportions produced fine particles of five fundamental
elements of matter. That was the origin of matter in Nature. Before that, there was
no matter in any form anywhere. Once matter was evolved universally it furnished
enough stuff for creations of Nature; so it changed its course of action, stopped its
transformations into fresh subtle elements, and began creations with matter. It began to
combine particles of matter in different ways to create different sub atoms, atoms,
elements, cells, objects, and body forms. Units of whirling waves of Vital
Consciousness that severed from Brahman, came to be enveloped by the aforesaid
matterless elements, and as so enveloped they entered into material body forms, and
became living beings. Thus, the universe of diverse elements, diverse objects and
diverse beings, emerged; and Brahman was the original source of all. It was the subtle
vibrations in Brahman that caused their evolution.

We observed that the first happening in Brahman was vibration on account of its wish
for creations. Those vibrations never ceased to exist. They began to rotate at their
spots. When the rotations became rapid the vibrations became like whirling waves; and
in that state they continued ever thereafter and continue now in the things in the
universe. The speed of rotations of those whirling waves had risen unimaginably high.
Initially, those whirling waves composed matterless elements like Intellect, Mind, etc.
with different speeds of rotations. Their speed of rotations became less and less at each
successive evolution. Finally, in the last-evolved five matterless elements, the speed of
rotations had reached a stage that enabled those elements to combine with their
varieties. In such combinations the speed of rotations of whirling waves came down so
much, and the waves became so dense, that a good lot of them in each combination
formed matter in a very fine form, as in photons. In photon the particle of light, matter
exists in a fine trace besides the whirling waves. In the subsequent formations of
subatomic particles like electrons, the matter content increased; but the whirling waves
also existed conspicuously. Atoms are assemblages of subatomic particles; and every
material thing in the universe is an assemblage of atoms. Hence the whirling waves are
in every material thing in the universe. Earlier we have noted that they are in all
matterless things in the universe. Thus the vibrations that originally appeared in
Brahman continue eternally as whirling waves in all things – material or
immaterial – in the universe. Even the external rotations of stars (see sect. 40 below)
may be continuations of the original rotations in Brahman.

Section 9 INDIVIDUAL SOUL

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Individual Soul is Soul in an individual. It is the Power of Consciousness (Chaitanyam)
abiding in an individual being. Godhead or Sagunabrahman is Cosmic Power of
Consciousness. Godhead exists as a cosmic collection of infinite minute whirling
waves rotating at an unimaginably high speed; so too, the individual Soul exists as a
tiny unit of similar whirling waves. Suggestion seems irresistible that the individual
Soul must have originated as a fragment of the Godhead. We noted that, because of the
high speed of rotations of whirling waves in the subtle existence of Godhead, units of
whirling waves scattered from Godhead, and they became individual Souls. (See p. 22
above). In other words, Souls are conceived to have arisen as fragments of Godhead.

This concept, that the Soul is a fragment of Godhead, is not peculiar to the Indian
thought.

The Bible says, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that Spirit of God
dwelleth in you." (1 Cor 3:16). When the Spirit of God, the Godhead, is said to dwell
in all men, it means clearly that the spirit in each man, the Soul in him, is a fragment of
the Godhead.

Quran (32: 7,9) also tells the same wise: "He began the creation of man from clay;…
Then He fashioned him and breathed into him of His Spirit.

Munduka Upanishad (2:1:1) states: "As sparks of selfsame form arise in thousands
from a blazing fire, so do various beings arise from the Eternal (the Godhead)." In this
verse 'beings' denote the Souls in the beings; it is a synecdoche – mention of the whole
to denote a part of it.

When water boils, we find molecules of water separating from the mass of water even
at the bottom of the vessel and moving up through the water in the vessel. The
molecules sever and diffuse from every part of the water in the vessel. Even when it is
not heated, the water in the vessel disappears slowly, showing thereby that molecules
diffuse from it always, unnoticed by us. Likewise, fragments diffuse from the
omnipresent Godhead and move about through Godhead itself, to form Souls.

Upanishads compare the diffusion of fragments from Godhead with the diffusion of
sparks from a blazing fire. That simile impresses the similarity of the fragments to the
whole. Sparks of fire are fire itself. Every individual Soul is inherently like the
Godhead. So, the Chandogya Upanishad (6:8-16) declares "Tat-tvam-asi". 'Tat'
signifies Brahman (vide Bhagavad Gita 17:23). 'Tvam' means you; it is a common
word that applies to all men, irrespective of position, rank, race, religion, class or caste,
'Asi' is the connective verb 'are'. So, Tattvamasi means you are – every man is –
essentially (a part of) Brahman, the Godhead. Because the Soul is covered or enclosed
by a subtle body laden with Karmabhavas (vide sec. 10 & 26). It does not shine like
Godhead.

It is interesting to compare the diffusion of Souls from Godhead with the diffusion
of molecules or particles of water from the ocean. Water in the ocean may have salt,
and water particles that diffuse from the ocean may not have salt. Godhead has the
power of Creation, etc. and the Soul that diffuse from Godhead will never have the
power of Creation, etc., not even when they have attained their supreme state (See,
Brahmasutras 4:4:14 which ways that a Liberated Soul may have all Godly powers

23
except the power of Creation, etc.) We continue the simile to the diffusion of particles
of water from the ocean. Water particles diffuse from the endless ocean constantly and
unnoticeably. After the separation and some wanderings in the atmosphere, most of the
water particles reach back to the ocean, as rains, or flow of rivers, and merge in the
ocean. Many other water particles enter the bodies of men, animals, and plants, to
sustain life in them. In doing so, some water particles that enter a sugarcane plant
appear as sweet juice liked by all; and some other similar water particles that enter a
strychnos plant (Karaskaram, in Sanskrit) appear as bitter juice disliked by everybody.
Their tastes differ only because of association with different materials in the plants they
entered, which may be compared to Karmabhavas in the Subtle Bodies in men. (See
sect. 26 below). From the bodies of men, animals and plants, the water particles
decamp after a time, become dew, fog, or snow, and may later enter the bodies of some
other men, animals or plants. A cycle of appearances and disappearances in different
forms may go on, till at last the water particles reach back the ocean and merge in it.
The story of individual Souls compares well with the above tale of water particles,
particularly when we understand the differences in characters and careers of men as
reflections of their respective Karmabhavas (as will be explained later below).

Bhagavad-Gita (15:7) also tells that an individual Soul is a fragment of the

Godhead, and that it attracts a Subtle Body to cover it. The verse reads,

"An eternal fragment of Godhead, becoming a Jiva (Soul) in the world of living beings,
attract organs, abiding in Nature, with the mind as the sixth of them"

This verse straightly expresses that an individual Soul is a fragment of the Godhead. It
is mentioned as an eternal fragment because it never perishes.

The above said verse tells further that the Soul attracts organs, of which the mind is the
sixth. The sensory organs in a man are six, namely, the ear, eye, skin, tongue, nose and
the mind. (Vide Manu Smrithi 2:92). The succeeding verse, Gita 15:9, enumerates the
above said six organs, indicating in a way by the context that they are the organs
referred to in its prior versus. What the Soul attracts, would be adhering to it
constantly. In the intervening verse (Bhagavad Gita 15:8) these organs are said to be
held by the Soul when it attains a material body (sariram) and when it quits the same. It
does not sound logical to think that the Soul holds or carries with it certain "organs"
alone when it enters a material body for a birth, or leaves it at a death; it may be that it
carries a body that comprises these organs, among others.

Organs are parts of a body, and their utility is only as part of a body. Apart from the
body, the organs are of no use to the Soul. So much so, when we hear of an organ, we
always think of it as part of a body. The next verse (ibid 15:9) indicates that the Soul
enjoys the sensations – hearing, seeing, etc. – through the six organs mentioned above.
Organs as separate entities apart from the body cannot grasp any sensations; so the
reference to these organs can only be as parts of a body. So, in the above said verse,
Gita must be meaning a body when it speaks of organs. It is a figure of speech,
synecdoche, to mention a part for the whole. 'Get a strong hand to pull it out' means to
call a strong man to help; 'the port is filled with sails' means the port is full of ships.
Likewise, when the Gita says that the Soul holds certain organs, it means that the
Soul bears a body that comprises the organs.

24
As Soul is matterless, it cannot attract a physical organ that has mass and weight. It can
attract to itself only matterless organs – the Subtle Organs detailed in sect. 13 (iv)
below.

It may be that, not only the six sensory organs, but all matterless organs are attracted by
the Soul. When the Soul attracts, those organs cling to the Soul, and their assemblage
around the Soul constitutes a covering or body to the Soul.

What sort of body it is, is also indicated in the above said verses of Bhagavad Gita. We
know for certain that a Soul quitting the material body is invisible and undetectable
even through any ultra microscope. If it holds any visible thing, its departure would
have been detectible. So the body, that a Soul bears when it quits the material body,
must be invisible. Further, the verse 15:7 tells that the Soul "attracts organs abiding in
Nature." Organs of the physical body are not said to abide in nature; they are said to
exist in body. Organs that abide in Nature are the Subtle Organs evolved in
transformations of Nature. They are invisible like Intellect or Mind.(see sect. 13 (iv)
below). These two characteristics – invisibility, and abiding in Nature – affirm that the
reference is to the matterless Subtle Organs or the invisible body which comprises
them.

The verse, Bhagavad-Gita 15:8, to which some reference was made above, reads,

"When the Soul attains a material body, and when it goes out, it moves carrying these,
just as the wind (carries) scents from their sources".

In this verse, the pronoun 'these' (ethani) refers to the "organs" mentioned in the
preceding verse. The verse tells that, when the Soul attains a material body, that is,
when the Soul enters the body form of a sperm to take a birth, and also when the Soul
quits the material body at death, on both occasions, the Soul holds the same organs that
are mentioned in the prior verse. We have found above that the term 'organs' in the
context signify an invisible body. What the Soul has when it enters, it must have had
even before that entry; that is to say, in its pre-birth stage. What the Soul has when it
quits, it must continue to have thereafter also, that is, in the post-death stage. What the
Soul has, both at the entry and at the exit, it must have in the interval also, that is to say,
during its stay in the material body – in other words, during the life. Summing up we
get that the Soul has its invisible body, before birth, during life, and after death – in
short, at all times, always. In this connection, it is worthy of note that, in Life After
Life, Dr. Moody has reported that certain revived patients had told him of their having
felt to have an invisible body with all organs, when they remained discarnate in the
atmosphere before their revival.

This verse (Gita 15:8) tells further that the Soul carries its invisible body, as the wind
carries scents from their sources (flowers, perfumes, etc.). We know that the wind
carrying a scent is inseparably united with the scent. So the above said simile implies
that the Soul is inseparably united with its invisible body. It is as if the Soul and its
invisible body form one unit. Because of such constant union, a reference to Soul
normally denotes the Soul as covered by its invisible body, unless the context clearly
indicates otherwise.

Section 10 SUBTLE BODY

25
The invisible body that covers a Soul is called a Subtle Body, or Sukshmasariram in
Sanskrit. Sankhyas call it Lingasariram. The Bible calls it Spiritual Body. Certain
Western philosophers call it Incorporeal body; certain others call it Astral body; some
others call it Ethereal body; Swami Vivekananda called it Fine body. Everybody calls
it as a body with distinguishing adjective indicating its subtleness. The name 'body'
simply, denotes the physical body only.

The reference to the Subtle Body in Bhagavad Gita (15:8) has been adverted to in the
preceding section. The reference to it in the Bible runs thus:

"How are the dead raised, and with what body do they come?
……………………………………………………………….
It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.
There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body." (1 Cor. 15:35, 44)

'Spiritual body is the Subtle Body. 'Natural body' is any material body. When the Bible
says "It is sown a natural body", it means that the Soul is implanted in a material body
to become a man or other being. When a Soul is embedded in a sperm, the minute
body of the sperm becomes a natural body to the Soul. (See Mahanarayana Upanishad
1:1). Then the sperm becomes a living being capable of moving forward in a mucous
field by whip lashing its tail. When the sperm unites with an ovum and grows into a
man, the physical body becomes the natural body of the Soul. The above versus say
further that, besides the natural body, the Soul has a spiritual body, and that, on the
Judgment Day, the Soul rises in that spiritual body.

Body is an assemblage of organs. The Subtle Body also is an assemblage of organs.

As the Subtle Body is invisible, all its organs are invisible. They are said to be
matterless rudiments which function like the physical organs in a mysterious way.
They are called Subtle Organs. In the dream state and the discarnate state, it is
through these Subtle Organs that the Soul experiences sensations. Through the Subtle
eye it sees persons and things; through the Subtle ear it hears talks and other sounds,
through the Subtle nose it smells scents; and so on. Vision needs an eye, hearing needs
an ear. Since the sensations, vision, hearing, etc. are not experienced through the
organs of physical body, it seems certain that the Soul has another (invisible) body
thorough whose organs it experiences the sensations in dreams and in the afterlife.

Sri Sankaracharya, in his work Vivekachudamani (verse 97), says,

"The Lingasariram, having also the name Sukumarasariram, which bears
Karmabhavas (vasanas) that bring about the experiencing of fruits of action,
is composed of uncombined elements (apanchikritabhutasambhavam)."

We noted (p. above) that the last five of the Subtle elements that were produced by
Nature in its transformations, combined among themselves and thereby evolved the five
fundamental elements of matter. The process by which they combined is called
Panchikaranam. (See sect.14 below). In Sanskrit, the products of panchikaranam are
mentioned as Panchikritabhutas. They are the fine particles of matter. In contrast with
them, the elements that do not come under the above said category are mentioned as
Apanchikritabhutas. They are elements that came to existence before the evolution of
matter through Panchikaranam. They are the Subtle elements, Intellect, Ego, Mind, the

26
ten Subtle Organs and the five Tanmatras. (They will be detailed in sect. 13 below).
They are all matterless elements. They remain as distinct elements; but, in the Subtle
Body, they assemble somewhat close to one another, to cooperate in functions. The
Subtle Body is constituted by the assemblage of such matterless elements; so the
Subtle Body is also matterless.

Bhagavad Gita (15:7) indicates that the Subtle Body was formed on attraction by the
Soul. We observed that the Soul is a unit of whirling waves of the power of
Consciousness that detached from the Sagunabrahman. When it glided about, it
attracted bits of Subtle elements that existed in the Nature. As that bit of vital principle,
the Soul, was itself matterless; it attracted only matterless elements. When the latter
gathered around it, they enveloped it completely and formed a complete covering to it.
That covering is the Subtle Body. The bit of vital principle that is thus within the
Subtle Body is the Soul. So, from the very inception the Subtle Body had a Soul at its
centre. As the Soul (Life) remains within the Subtle Body, the Subtle Body never
perishes. The physical body perishes when the Soul departs from it. But the Subtle
Body remains eternal, because the Soul dwells in it constantly and permanently. A
Soul without a Subtle Body never exists (except the Cosmic Soul); and no Subtle
Body ever exists without a Soul at its centre. As a Soul without a Subtle Body never
exists, a reference to Soul normally means a Soul covered by its Subtle Body, unless the
context clearly shows otherwise.

Brahmasutras (4:2:8) says that a Subtle Body lasts up to the Final Liberation of the
Soul, when the Soul would merge in Godhead. It signifies that the Soul has the Subtle
Body throughout its existence. That is what Gita (15:8) also implied (as we found
above). The Biblical observation (2 Cor 4:18),

"The things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."
holds good to the physical body and the Subtle Body.

Since a Soul never exists without a Subtle Body to cover it, and the contents of the
Subtle Body play a large part in the actions and experiences of the Soul, a
comprehensive knowledge of the Soul must include a knowledge of the Subtle Body in
some detail. We may therefore advert to the details of the Subtle Body, herein below.

Section 11 CREATIONS OF NATURE

As the Soul originated from Godhead, the Subtle Body originated from the Primal
Nature (Prakriti). Niralamba Upanishad says that Nature created the manifold universe
"in the presence of Brahman". Very often the name Brahman is used in Upanishads to
denote Sagunabrahman who is the Cosmic Vital Principle of Consciousness. Nature
cannot create anything without dynamic cooperation of the vital Principle of
Consciousness. Nature can create eggs in the womb of a bird; but it can do it, only if
the Principle of Consciousness (life) is present in the bird. Nature can hatch a chick in
an egg, or sprout a plant from a seed, but it can do so only if the vital Principle of
Consciousness, the life, is present in the egg or the seed. So, Bhagavad Gita (9:10)
says,

"With God presiding, the Nature creates the world of movable and immovable beings."

27
Movable beings are the animal kingdom, and immovable beings are the plant kingdom.
Nature has the elements with it; it can create different body forms with those elements;
but none of them will become a man or other being unless a small fragment of the vital
Principle of Consciousness comes to dwell in it. Sagunabrahman or Godhead is the
universal vital Principle of Consciousness. It diffuses particle like fragments from it.
When one such fragment of the Principle of Consciousness enters a body form, and
then only, the body form will become a live being. So, to create a being, the presence
of Sagunabrahman is essential. Hence, the Upanishads say that Nature makes creations
in the presence of Brahman.

This is true even in regard to creations by its own transformations. When

Sagunabrahman, that is the Principle of Consciousness reflected on Nature when it was
thinking of transformation, a part of Nature transformed as Intellect. It reflected
Consciousness related to particular objects, facts, principles, etc. It remained a separate
entity; so it became a distinct element. As Sagunabrahman reflected on Intellect, when
it was thinking of itself and its own interests, a part of the intellect transformed as the
element of Ego. Its characteristic is consciousness of self and self-interests. When
Sagunabrahman reflected on Ego while it conceived pleasures, a part of Ego
transformed as Mind, which always thinks of pleasures and schemes to achieve them.
When Sagunabrahman reflected on Ego while it thought of actions to attain self-
interests, another part of Ego transformed as Subtle Organs. Every transformation or
creation by Nature depended on Sagunabrahman, the Principle of Consciousness. As
the products of transformations of Nature remained eternally as independent
entities they are called elements.

Section 12 ELEMENTS OF NATURE

Elements of Nature are of two kinds – Subtle elements and Gross elements. The Subtle
elements are the eighteen elements that emerged from Nature in successive
transformations (See p. 21-22 above). It was from the last five of those 18 elements
that the gross elements evolved. They are elements of matter. Till then there was no
matter in any form anywhere. So, the 18 elements, which arose before the evolution
of matter, were all matterless. Matterless elements are generally called Subtle
elements. Being matterless, they cannot exist in a solid, liquid or gaseous state, they
exist only as units of whirling waves.

Sankhyakarika (22) describes the evolution of Subtle elements, thus:

"From the Primal Nature (emerged) Intellect; From Intellect (emerged) Ego;
From Ego (emerged) sixteen elements; From five of those sixteen (emerged) five gross
elements."

The 16 elements that emerged from Ego are detailed in subsequent verses; they are,

Mind, Ten Subtle Organs, and Five Tanmatras.

All the above mentioned sixteen, and Intellect and Ego are Subtle elements. Of them,
the first thirteen, namely, Intellect, Ego, Mind, and ten Subtle Organs, are sensitive and
active. They are capable of receiving sensations from the physical organs, and reacting

28
to them, and causing actions in physical organs. These thirteen are therefore called
Karanas. (cf. Sankhyakarika 32). In Sanskrit, the term 'Karana' signifies 'means of
action'. The last five of the Subtle elements, namely the five varieties of Tanmatras, are
insensible and inactive. They are capable only of passing, or holding, very subtle
waves.

Intellect decides actions; Ego sets goals for actions; Mind directs actions; and Subtle
Organs prompt the performance of actions by the physical organs. Thus all the Karanas
are, in one way or other, engaged in the performance of actions or works. Among these
Karanas, Intellect, Ego and Mind, stay in the interior of the Subtle Body, and the ten
Subtle Organs remain around them. So, the three – Intellect, Ego and Mind – are
referred to as Internal Karanas, or Antahkaranas in Sanskrit. Antah, in Sanskrit, means
the interior.

Sankhyakarika (33) observes that the Internal Karanas function in all the three times –
the past, the present and the future. The other Karanas, namely the Subtle Organs,
function only in the present. The eyes see only the present form of an object; they
cannot see its past form, or future form. The ears hear only a present sound, and not a
past sound or a future sound. But, Intellect, Ego and Mind, can visualize past, present
and future states or conditions of things, and shape their actions accordingly. Further,
the Internal Karanas exercise volitions and discretions in their functions; but the other
Karanas, the Subtle Organs, have not the capacity for volitions or discretions, and they
act according to the biddings of the Mind, their master. So, the Intellect, Mind and Ego
are said to be sensitive organs, and the Subtle Organs semi-sensitive.

Like fragments of Brahman, fragments of the Subtle elements of Nature also

diffused in Space. When fragments of Vital Principle of Consciousness that diffused
from Godhead glided in the Space, they attracted fragments of the Subtle elements
existing near about (Bhagavad-Gita 15:7). As the latter gathered around the fragment
of Vital Principle, they enveloped it completely. In doing so, the subtlest among them,
the Intellect, went to the inmost and enwrapped the fragment of Vital Principle directly.
Mind which was the next subtlest, enveloped Intellect. Around the Mind the ten Subtle
Organs assembled, side by side, to form one covering by all of them. Ego did not
enwrap anything, but stayed between Intellect and Mind, to induce either, to pursue
self-interests and to avoid arduous spiritual pursuits. When all the Karanas had thus
assembled around a fragment of Vital Principle, Nature set a compact layer of
Tanmatras around the assemblage, to constitute a subtle tegument (like a skin) to
it. That completed a Subtle Body around the fragment of Vital Principle. Then that
fragment became a distinct entity, which came to be called an individual Soul. Such is
the relation of the elements of Nature to the Soul.

Now, we may advert to those elements themselves to understand their nature of

working.

Section 13 SUBTLE ELEMENTS

i. Intellect:

29
Many persons think Intellect as a faculty of the brain. Medical science tells that, since
an affection of brain by drugs, like alcohol or LSD, affects mental activities, Mind and
Intellect are faculties of the brain; and consequently it declares that, on decay of the
brain, Mind and Intellect cease to exist. But, the Indian philosophers regard Mind and
Intellect to be two Subtle elements that exist independently of the brain.

That a disorder in the brain perverts one's actions, is no indication of identity of

Intellect with the brain. Decisions for action made by Intellect, are not conveyed direct
to the physical organs; they are first conveyed to the Mind, which elaborates them into
specific actions to be executed by particular organs, and then transmits impulses,
containing stimuli for those detailed actions, to the brain to be relayed in the physical
way to the particular physical organs for accomplishment (See sect. 22 below). If the
brain happens to be in disorder in a person, naturally the relay of the impulses by the
brain will be distorted, and consequently his actions will become perverted. If lens in
the camera is defective, the photo will be ugly; it is not an indication of the shape of the
object concerned. It is just the same way with relays from the brain also. So,
perversion of actions following a disorder in the brain is no indication of identity of
Mind or Intellect with the brain.

The doctors who conducted researches on death experiences of resuscitated patients,

have unanimously expressed that those patients saw and remembered correctly all that
happened to their dead body before their revival. Evidently, in the interval between
death and revival, no brain was with the discarnate Soul. If cognitions and memories
were with the brain, a discarnate Soul, which has no brain with it, could not have
known and remembered the happenings in that interval. The very fact that the above
said patients could, on their revival, tell correctly the treatments actually given to their
dead bodies, shows beyond doubt that those patients did see and remember those
occurrences correctly. It reveals that Intellect, which cognized the sights and recalled
them to memory, was not with the brain of the dead body, but was with the Soul when it
was out of the body and floating discarnate in the atmosphere. Dr. Ian Stevenson's
researches went further and proved that memories of a life may be carried by a Soul to
its next life, which may be years later. He found particular children , even of two years
or below, in different countries of the East and the West, remembering correctly many
incidents of their prior life. It shows positively that the memories of those incidents
were not in the brain that perished at the end of their prior life, but were in the custody
of the Soul in its sojourns from death to rebirth. Subtle Body alone was with the Soul
when it went out of the material body; it alone remained with the Soul in its discarnate
state. It becomes pretty clear that Intellect is not in the brain, or with the brain, but
it forms part of the Subtle Body of the Soul.

The performances of Intellect show that it is an independent agent. It is Intellect that

decides the acts to be done from time to time. It is Intellect that recalls memories,
and displays them as knowledge, faith, affection, etc. Intellect exhibits large discretions
and discriminations. Whether one shall vote for Party A, or for Party B, or refrain from
voting, at an election, depends on the discretion of one's Intellect. The exercise of
volitions and discretions by Intellect shows Intellect to be an independent agent. It is
not a mechanical faculty of an organ of the gross material body; it is a distinct sensitive
element in the Subtle Body.

ii. Ego

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Sankhyakarika (24) defines Ego as the element of self-consciousness. Ego urges Mind
and Intellect to promote self-interests in the world. Ego works as if it is conscious
that the Soul's attachment to God will cause its suppression; so, it urges Intellect to
pursue worldly pleasures, to fascinate the Soul. What the Catholic theology depicts
as the work of a demon against spiritual pursuits, the Indian philosophy describes
as the work of Ego in the Subtle Body of the person. Ego always whispers to
Intellect that God is elusive, but the worldly pleasures are easily enjoyable. As body is
the means to enjoy worldly pleasures, Ego induces Intellect to regard the body as the
most important asset in life; in other words, Ego excites body-consciousness.
Attachment to the body is stimulus of Ego.

The Bible warns, "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit" (Gal 5:17)

Sanskrit texts on funeral rites mention that a departed Soul would hover about the dead
body, in slowly widening circles and return to the body side often, until it accompanies
the funeral procession, to witness disposal of the body. Theravada Buddhist Principles
(Book II p 119) also alludes to the departed Soul's staying about the dead body until it
is cremated. Statements of certain resuscitated patients cited in Life After Life, referred
to concern felt by them when they saw doctors pounding on the chest of their dead
body. They indicate the influence of Ego on discarnate Souls. To exert such influence,
Ego must have been with the discarnate Soul when it floated in the atmosphere. Ego
must therefore be staying in the Subtle Body, which alone remains with the Soul in its
discarnate state. Ego also is an element in the Subtle Body.

iii. Mind:

Of the 16 elements that evolved in transformations of Ego, the Mind is the most active.
Because of its extra activities, it rarely stays long on one thought, but skips from
thought to thought unnoticeably. Still, it is always subservient to its grand-originator,
the Intellect. Whatever Intellect decides, Mind will carry out through the physical
organs. Mind is the master of all organs. Mind envelopes Intellect; therefore all
sensations perceived by the physical organs first reach the mind; and Mind conveys
them to Intellect for its cognition. Conversely, when Intellect decides for an action, it
conveys the decision to the Mind; and Mind elaborates it into specific actions to be
carried out by particular organs, and issues necessary impulses, through the brain, to the
organs for performance. Thus, to the Intellect, Mind serves both as an organ of sense
and as an organ of action. So, the Mind is reckoned as an organ, the eleventh organ, in
Manusmrithi (2:92), Bhagavad-Gita (13:6), etc.

Mind may exercise its own volition or discretion when it deems necessary to do so. If
the sensation of a leg unexpectedly touching a hot metal reaches Mind, it will not wait
for Intellect's decision for remedial action. Mind quickly reacts, and directs the leg to
withdraw immediately from the perilous touch. The leg at once pulls off with a jerk. It
is thereafter the affair is conveyed to Intellect. Normally, sensations reaching Mind are
instantaneously passed to Intellect, and Intellect decides the action to be had thereon.
But, in the above said case, the action is had without knowledge of Intellect. The
Intellect comes to know of the hot touch, and the leg's withdrawal, only after the affair
is over. It is the deviation from the normal course that causes a jerk in the leg's pull-

31
out. This incident clearly shows an exercise of volition or discretion by the Mind. It
shows that Mind acts as an independent agent in our system.

Mind is the seat of emotions like love, aversion, fear, etc. Certain persons may feel an
aversion towards an individual for no obvious reason, or an inborn fear to enter a pond
or a river even when a friend shows it to be hip-deep only. Such unaccountable
emotions can only be reactions of experiences in prior life. The survival of such
emotions after death shows that Mind does not perish with brain, but does with the
departing Soul. Statements of revived patients to Dr. Moody about emotions felt after
departure from the body, also showed that Mind, which is the source and seat of
emotions, remains with the Soul, and not in or with the brain in the body. The Mind
also is a part of the Subtle Body of the Soul.

iv. Subtle Organs

Subtle Organs are the organs in the Subtle Body. They are said to have emerged in
transformations of Ego. They are called 'organs', because they function in the Subtle
Body much like the physical organs do in the physical body. They are characterized as
'Subtle', because they are matterless like the Mind. They are deemed to have originated
when the Principle of Consciousness reflected on Ego when it thought of means to
attain particular purposes. When the Principle of Consciousness reflected on Ego while
it thought of seeing things, a part of Ego transformed into the Subtle Organ of eye;
while it thought of hearing sounds, the transformation was as the Subtle Organ of ear;
while it thought of grasping things, a part of it transformed as the Subtle Organ of hand;
while it thought of expressing its inclinations, the transformation was as the Subtle
Organ of speech; and so on; five Subtle Organs of sense and five Subtle Organs of
action are said to have evolved in transformations of Ego.

The normal experiences of dreams prove the existence of Subtle Organs with us.
In dreams, we see persons, places and incidents, we talk and hear talks, we walk
through buildings and gardens, etc. Seeing, hearing, talking, walking etc. are primarily
the works of organs. If they are not had through physical organs, there must necessarily
be other like organs in our system to enable us to experience them. As those organs are
not visible, they must be subtle like Mind and Intellect. So, they are called Subtle
Organs. As all the actions that are experienced throughout the physical organs are
experienced through Subtle Organs at dreams, there must be Subtle Organs
corresponding to all our physical organs. In other words, the body form that comprises
the Subtle Organs must be a complete body form. Life After Life shows that the
revived subjects of Dr. Moody told just the same thing as their experience in the
disembodied state.

The Subtle Organs were the last in the series of sensitive elements, or Karanas, that
emerged in Nature. The earlier elements, Intellect, Ego and Mind, were highly
sensitive; and they exercised volitions and discretions in their functions. Subtle Organs
were only semi-sensitive; they did not exercise any volition or discretion, on their part.
They did not initiate actions on their own volition. They functioned as intermediaries
between the brain and the Mind. From the brain, they received sensations that came
from the physical organs, and transmitted them to the mind. From the mind they
received impulses for detailed actions and passed them to the brain, to be relayed to the
physical organs. When physical perceptions and bodily actions reflect in the Subtle

32
Organs, such reflections occur as parallel perceptions or parallel actions in the Subtle
Organs; and it is such parallel occurrences that are cognized or experienced by Mind,
Intellect and Soul. (Vide Sect. 21-23 below).

Extra sensory perceptions (ESP) are said to be possible. In that case the Subtle Organs
may be receiving perceptions direct from external sources, without intervention of the
physical organs and brain.

v. Tanmatras

Among the Subtle elements of Nature, the last to evolve were five varieties of
Tanmatras. They also emerged in transformations of Ego, and were matterless. But the
speed of rotations of the whirling waves in them was so low that the waves became
rather condensed, and the Tanmatras became insensitive and inactive. Like the other
Subtle elements, the Tanmatras also diffused everywhere in the Space.

Bhavanopanishad gives the names of the 5 Tanmatras as Sound-tanmatra, Touch-

tanmatra, Form-tanmatra, Taste-tanmatra and Smell-tanmatra (Sabda sparsa rupa
rasa gandhah panchatanmatrah). They function as media to pass or transmit the
respective sensations. It may be Form-tanmatras that carry or transmit reflections of
the forms of objects to the eyes. When those reflections are transmitted by the eyes to
the Intellect, through the brain, we cognize vision of those objects. It may be the Form
tanmatras that bring light from stars to Earth. Scientists say that light travels as
electromagnetic waves at a super speed. Many stars that are seen or detected by
scientists, are millions of billions kilometers away from the Earth. (In this book a
billion is a million millions as in the British reckoning). Lightwaves from the stars
travel all that distance to reach Earth. Scientists do not tell the medium through which
the light waves travel from the stars to the Earth. The light waves can pass through
laboratory vacuums. So the medium that passes them must exist in such vacuums as
well. The Subtle elements, Tanmatras, are said to exist everywhere, throughout space.
For aught we know, it may be the Form-tanmatras that pass the light waves from the
stars to us. Likewise, it may be the Sound-tanmatras that pass the Subtle Radio waves.
Our ears are not able to grasp sounds brought by radio-waves; they can hear those
sounds only when they are brought by sound waves to which our radio may transmit
them. Sound waves travel in air, but not radio waves. On July 20, 1969, when Neil
Armstrong was on the moon, radio waves carrying messages, passed between him and
President Richard Nixon. Air does not exist beyond earth's atmosphere. It may be
Sound-tanmatras that passed the radio waves between moon and Earth. Smells and
tastes (scents and flavors) are said to spread as superfine vapors. Their vaporizations
generate very subtle waves which spread through the respective Tanmatras. Men are
not able to grasp the scents and flavors carried by those subtle waves passing through
the Tanmatras. Celestial persons are said to enjoy them. (See Chandogya Upanishad
3:6:1, Bible, Gen 8:21). It is because of this concept that the Hindus make their food
offerings to gods and manes as hot as possible, to facilitate optimum vaporization of
their flavors, to cause optimum waves of taste for the gratification of the celestials.

As the Tanmatras are matterless, they do not offer any resistance or retardation to the
passage of subtle waves through them; so the light waves, radio waves, and other
similar waves can freely pass through them. In that regard, the Tanmatras, though
insensible and inactive, conceives that, when the attractions of Soul brought all Karanas

33
to assemble around it, Nature set a compact layer of Tanmatras as a tegument to cover
that assemblage. Further it is said that the Tanmatras, by their mutual combinations,
gave rise to the gross elements that composed matter.

Section 14 GROSS ELEMENTS

In the transformations of Ego, sensitivity was fast diminishing at each step. The first
product, the Mind, was highly sensitive and vigorously active. It had capacity for
volitions and discretions. The second product, the Subtle Organs, was semi-sensitive
without capacity for volition or discretion. Their capacity was to sustain parallel
actions corresponding to actions of the physical organs, and conversely to produce
actions which cause parallel actions in the physical organs. (See sect. 21-23 below).
The last of the products, the Tanmatras, were insensitive and inactive. Their capacity
was only to hold, or pass, very subtle waves. The speed of rotations of the whirling
waves that composed them was the lowest among the Subtle elements.

The sensitive and semi-sensitive elements remained always as independent elements;

but the insensitive Tanmatras could fuse together and thereby give rise to new products
of different nature. Tanmatras were the first ever elements to enter combinations,
which they did in a peculiar manner. It is said that, in a batch of five Tanmatras, one
from each variety, a half of one Tanmatra united with one-eighth of each of the other
four Tanmatras and the products were five fine particles of gross elements. This
process of fivefold combination is called Panchi-karanam in Sanskrit; and its
products are the Panchamahabhutas, which term means 'the five fundamental elements'.
They were very fine particles containing traces of matter. Their formation was the
origination of matter. Before their formation, there were only packs of whirling
waves, but no matter in any form anywhere. To distinguish from the matterless Subtle
elements, the elements containing matter were called 'gross elements'. The five gross
elements thus formed were named Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Either. The gross
elements formed by the union of half of a Smell-tanmatra with one-eighth of each of
the other four Tanmatras was a very fine particle of Earth; the product of union of half
of a Taste-tanmatra with one-eighth of the other four Tanmatras was a very fine particle
of Water; and so on. It may be noted that the fundamental element of Earth is not a
particle of earth that is soil; nor is the fundamental element of Water molecule of the
liquid that is aqua; nor is the element of Fire the flame of a combustion. Soil and aqua
are not elements; they are compounds of different elements, and flame is the
combination of oxygen with burnable material. But the fundamental gross elements of
Earth, Water, Fire, etc. are conceived to be single elements which cannot disintegrate.

When matter had thus evolved, Nature ceased its transformations for producing
elements for creations. As the particles of matter that evolved from Tanmatras were
everywhere in the vast Space, they provided ample stuff for Nature to create objects
and body forms. So, thereafter the creations by Nature were with the gross elements.
When Souls came to dwell in body forms, they brought with them Subtle elements in
the form of Subtle Bodies. So, man and every living being have both body forms – a
material body and a Subtle Body (a natural body and a spiritual body).

Indian philosophy conceives all material things in the universe to be composed of the
above said five gross elements. It is interesting to note that the Christina philosophy
also conceives all material objects to have been composed of four fundamental

34
elements – Earth, Water, Fire and Air. Thus the ancient sages found that matter
originated from matterless elements. Matterless elements are called Subtle elements;
and elements that have matter are called Gross elements. The material body or physical
body is composed of Gross elements; the Subtle Body is composed of Subtle elements.

Section 15 SHEATHS OF SOUL

The Subtle Body is conceived to comprise three layers, which are called sheaths, or
kosas in Sanskrit. They are called sheaths because they envelope the Soul completely.

The external sheath of Soul is the material body. It is called annamayakosa, because it
is formed of matter gathered from the food taken by the person or his mother earlier
when he was an embryo or fetus. In Sanskrit, 'Anna' means food; 'maya' means
composed of ; and 'kosa' is sheath. So, literally Annamayakosa is a sheath composed of
food matter.

To name the physical body as a covering to the Soul seems to involve some incongruity.
Firstly, the disproportion of the sizable body to the Soul, which is said to be much
smaller than a sub atom, is striking. It seems strange to depict such a relatively big
thing as a mere covering. Secondly, the purpose and function of the body do not seem
to cover the Soul, but to do many works and gather pleasures for enjoyment of the Soul.
The Soul dwells in the body, not the body covers the Soul. But the Upanishads are
unanimous to mention the physical body as a covering to the Soul and call it
Annamayakosa.

At pages 53 above, we hinted that the Subtle Body exists in 3 layers composed by the
13 Karanas (Intellect, Ego, Mind and the ten Subtle Organs). Those layers form three
concentric sheaths to the Soul. Intellect, which directly envelopes the Soul, is the first
sheath. It is called Vijnanamayakosa, the sheath of Intellect. Mind is conceived to
develop Intellect, and thereby form a second sheath to the Soul. It is called
Manomayakosa, the sheath of Mind. The ten Subtle Organs together form one
covering around the Mind and thereby constitute a third sheath to the Soul. It is called
Pranamayakosa. Painmgala Upanishad (2:3) defines that these three sheaths compose
the Subtle Body. ("Etat kosathrayam lingasariram.") These three sheaths may be dealt
separately in sections that follow.

Ego does not envelop anything, either by itself or in company with other elements. It
forms no sheath, or part of a sheath, to the Soul. So, certain philosophers, who regard
only the three sheaths to compose the Subtly Body, do not count Ego as a component of
the Subtle Body. Ego is conceived to remain, between the sheath of Intellect and the
sheath of Mind, as a free entity, free to influence either, to promote hedonism and body-
consciousness. As it stays permanently in the Subtle Body, it is regarded as part of the
Subtle Body, in Sankhyakarika (40) and other texts. They reckon Ego as a component
of the Subtle Body. No Subtle Body ever exists without the element of Ego in it. As it
stays in the Subtle Body, it can never be got rid of completely. Intellect, by its superior
powers may repel its influences, but nobody can ever be certain that Ego has been
suppressed for ever.

Upanishads speak of another sheath to the Soul, which is called Anandamayakosa, the
sheath of bliss. Ananda, in Sanskrit, literally means joy, pleasure or bliss. In

35
philosophy it means a state of freedom from miseries. The sheath of bliss is conceived
to be inside the sheath of Intellect, that is to say, between the Soul and the Intellect. Sri
Sankaracharya, in Vivekachudamani (verses 207, 208), says that this sheath manifests
fully in deep sleep, and shortly in the wakeful state and the dreaming state when the
Soul experiences joy on contact with, or on perception of, beloved objects. A Soul that
experiences great misery in the wakeful state (on account of disease, injury, separation,
poverty, or the like), does not feel any misery during deep sleep. So, Indian philosophy
conceives that, in the deep sleep, the Soul is covered by a sheath of bliss, which screens
off the miseries. It is through Intellect, that is to say, in contact with the sheath of
Intellect, that the Soul experiences miseries; so, it is deemed that in deep sleep and on
occasions of joy during the other states, the contact with Intellect is intercepted by the
intervention of a Sheath Of Bliss between the Soul and the Intellect. Brihadaranyaka
Upanishad (4:2:21) observes,

"A man, well embraced by his beloved lady, does not know anything outside or inside".
(priyaya sthriya samparishvakta na bahyam kinchana veda na aantharam).

When one is fully immersed in joy he does not know anything else. So, his Soul is said
to be covered by a Sheath that excludes all other knowledge or feelings which normally
reach through Intellect.

Anandamayakosa is a transient affair. Sri Sankaracharya said clearly that, in the

wakeful state, the sheath of bliss manifests when joy is experienced. It implies that this
sheath vanishes when the joy disappears. It does not exist always around the Soul, it
does not exist when the Soul experiences misery, grief or pain; it is a sheath that exists
only at intervals. Annamayakosa, Manomayakosa, and Pranamayakosa are eternal to
the Soul as parts of its Subtle Body.

When we conceive matterless elements as packs of whirling waves (vide, p.16 above),
we come to understand that the sheaths of Intellect, Mind and Subtle Organs, are layers
of whirling waves of Consciousness of different varieties rotating or spinning at
different speeds. If rotations of the whirling waves in the Soul are at about 100 billion
rounds per second, those in Intellect may be about 50 billion, in the Mind about 40
billion, and in the Subtle Organs about 10 to 15 billion per second, or something like
that. They may be very much higher in each; but they differ so widely among the
elements. So, they easily remain as separate layers. When an action occurs in any such
element, its whirling waves may expand and contract, compress and rarefy, or quicken
and slacken in speed of rotation, within limits; and their reactions will be carried further
by the spreading waves that emanate from them.

Section 16 VIJNANAMAYAKOSA

Vijnana-maya-kosa is Intellect itself, enveloping the Soul directly. 'Vijnana' in

Sanskrit normally means knowledge, wisdom, which are only aspects of Intellect; but
here, it denotes Intellect itself. So, literally Vijnanamayakosa is a sheath composed of
Intellect.

As the Soul is completely enveloped by Intellect, the Soul can contact other objects or
elements, only through the Intellect. The Soul knows the perceptions, sensations and
experiences, gathered by the organs, only through the Intellect. So, a Soul fond of

36
worldly pleasures, or curious of material objects, clings to Intellect, to share its contacts
and experiences. It clings so intimately that it is said to identify itself with the
Intellect enveloping it. By such identification the Soul experiences all that Intellect
experiences – pleasures and pains, desires and disappointments, pieties and depravities,
knowledge and misunderstanding etc. By that identification the Soul experiences the
works done by the organs, and consequently becomes bound to experience their
consequences. Practically, the identification of Soul with Intellect is a reality with the
worldly men; so much so many persons even think that the Soul and Intellect are one.

Soul's intelligence should not be attributed to its association with Intellect. Soul is
intelligent, because it is the very Principle of Consciousness itself; Intellect is
intelligent because Consciousness reflects in it.

Intellect which decides and direct actions is not the Soul; it is a totally distinct element
of Nature. When Mind is calm and peaceful, if one thinks of a wrong action, one will
invariably feel a soft, but clear, protest in the interior. That protest is by the Soul
against the wrong thought of Intellect. It shows that they are distinct from each other.

Section 17 MANOMAYAKOSA

Next to the above said Vijnanamayakosa is the Manomayakosa. It is Mind itself,

which completely envelopes Intellect which envelopes the Soul. Manas, in Sanskrit, is
the Mind. It forms, a second covering to the Soul. Reaching through Intellect, the Soul
can contact the Mind, and even identify itself with the Mind, to share its desires,
emotions, and thoughts. In this way the Soul experiences love and aversion, anger and
fear, joy and sorrow, craving, revenge, etc. Since communication between Mind and
Soul can be had only through Intellect which is more powerful than the Mind, it is up to
Intellect to countervail any emotion or thought of Mind, before it reaches the Soul.

Men generally say that the Mind is fickle, and is prone to wander far and wide; but
Mind envelopes the Soul, therefore it cannot travel away from the Soul. Remaining in
its own place, Mind can perceive the sensations being grasped by the sensory organs,
actions being done by the other organs, and re-view the reflections of past sensations
and past actions preserved in the Subtle Body (see sect. 26 below), and construct its
own images of imagination. Of course, when the Mind reviews the reflections of prior
sensations and actions had long ago, those sensations and actions re-occur to the Mind
quite vividly. Within the Subtle Body, the whirling waves of Mind may expand and
contract; but Mind as such does not go out of the Subtle Body, to view external objects.

Section 18 PRANAMAYAKOSA

Around the sheath of Mind are the ten Subtle Organs, remaining side by side, close to
one another, to form one sheath by all of them, so that all the Subtle Organs have equal
contact or access to the Mind. This third sheath is called Prana-maya-kosa. In
Sanskrit, 'prana' means life, breath, vital air, or organ. In the present context of forming
the outer layer of Subtle Body, 'prana' means Organs. Upanishads freely use the
word 'prana' to mean organs in many contexts, as in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1:5:21,
2:1:17, 18, 3:2:11, 4:3:7, 4:4;6, Chandogya Upanishad 2:6:1, 4:3:4, 5:1:15, Mundaka
Upanishad 2:1:8, 2:2:5, Prasna Upanishad 4:1, etc. Pranamayakosa literally means a

37
sheath composed of organs. In the context of the Subtle Body, the related organs can
only be the Subtle Organs.

Based on the meaning of the word 'prana' as vital air, some philosophers have defined
Pranamayakosa as a sheath of vital airs. But, the vital airs are normal atmospheric air
that performs certain works in the physical body. (vide p. 13-14 above). So, they are
composed of atoms. All atoms contain matter. Anything that contains matter cannot be
a part of the matterless Subtle Body. So, Pranamayakosa which is a part of the Subtle
Body cannot contain the vital airs. We noted Sri Sankaracharya's description of the
Subtle Body in Vivekachudamani (97), as composed of (apanchikritabhutas) un-
combined elements, which are only Intellect, Ego, Mind, the ten Subtle Organs, and
five Tanmatras (see p 26-27 above). Vital airs are not in that category. Commenting on
the expression "asaktam samsarati" in Sankhyakarika (40) commentators like
Gaudapada, Vachaspati, and Cole Brooke, have observed that the Subtle Body can
pass unimpeded through mountains and rocks. In Life After Life, resuscitated
persons are also said to have stated that, in their discarnate state, they had moved
through walls, closed doors, ceilings, and metal plates, without feeling any
obstruction. It means that their Souls with Subtle Bodies passed through walls, etc.
without obstruction. Air cannot pass through them. If Subtle Body contains air in its
Pranamayakosa, it cannot also pass through them; nor can a Soul which is covered by
the Subtle Body containing air pass through them. Evidently therefore, the vital airs
are not in the Pranamayakosa. The Pranamayakosa is a sheath of Subtle Organs.

Section 19 TEGUMENTS OF SUBTLE BODY

We noted (p. 30 above) that a compact layer of Tanmatras forms a subtle tegument to
the Subtle Body. It is a permanent, compact, thin layer of Tanmatras around the
Pranamayakosa, the sheath of Subtle Organs. Though Tanmatras are everywhere in
the Space, the above said compact layer remain distinct and firm, without ever a change
in it. Its relation with the free Tanmatras in the Space may be like that of an earthen jar
with the earth in the land; and its relation with the Subtle Body may be like that of the
loose peel of a sweet orange with its globose pulp. The space in the Subtle Body,
between the Pranamayakosa and the tegument, is of great importance as the storehouse
of Karmabhavas, (See sect. 26 below). Wanting an apt name, we will refer to that
space in the Subtle Body as the INTERSPACE. It is normally full of Karmabhavas.

The tegument of the Subtle Body bears little comparison with the skin of the material
body. Both are coverings of the respective bodies; but the tegument is insensitive, and
it does not serve as an organ; while the skin serves as a highly sensitive organ of touch.
There is a Subtle Organ of touch in the Subtle Body; but it forms part of the
Pranamayakosa; it is not a part of the tegument of the Subtle Body.

Section 20 VIBRATIONS AND WAVES

Rhythmic pulsations in our system are called vibrations. Heart and lungs vibrate so
visibly. All glands, vibrate internally to produce their secretions. In fact, vibrations are
fundamental in our system. Embryologists say that at 20 days after fertilization of

38
ovum, the embryo contains a pair of vibrating tubes, which subsequently fuse together
and twist to form the heart. The vibrations that were in the original tubes, continue in
the heart throughout the life, to cause circulation and purification of blood. Respiration
is carried on, right from birth, by vibrations of the lungs. Speech is made possible by
vibrations in the vocal cords. Vibrations in the minute nerve fibres of the brain catch
the sensations arriving from the organs and relay them to Intellect, and also receive
impulses from the Mind and relay them to the organs. Vibrations in the Mind form
thoughts, desires, and emotions. Different vibrations of Mind involve different
thoughts, desires, or emotions. It is because thoughts occur as vibrations, thought
waves spread out and are grasped by telepaths. Vibrations work our system.

Vibrations originated in Brahman when it inclined to become manifest and active (vide
p. 17 above). Any emotion, desire, or thought would cause a disturbance in
Consciousness; and that would reflect as vibrations. When Mind thinks, it vibrates;
when Intellect decides it vibrates; when Brahman indulged in a thought it vibrated. As
Brahman the potential of pure Consciousness thought of becoming manifest, it vibrated.
It vibrated throughout. Those vibrations never stopped. When its potential became
manifest the vibrations inhered in its manifestations and the vibrations became active
vibrations of power. In the manifestations of Brahman, the Saguna-brahman and
Primal Nature, also the vibrations were throughout, in infinite units, each unit being an
eternal spring of the Power of Consciousness. All vibrations generate spreading waves
around them. It was the spreading waves that kept the units of vibration separate from
one another. As waves from one unit of vibration spread out, they hit the other
neighboring units; and, as numerous spreading waves hit a unit from all directions, their
collective effect caused the unit to spin or rotate. As the process was continuous the
rotations gained speed quickly. Speedily rotating vibrations are called whirling waves.
Thus the original vibrations of power in Brahman became whirling waves of power.
Vibrations, whirling waves and spreading waves are everywhere in the universe. They
are in every being. They are in every particle that goes to compose atoms.

Subtle waves can carry different contents. When we talk on phone, the electric
waves on the telephone wire carry reflections of our speech, to the receiver at the other
end. Waves may also pass their contents to other waves even of a different kind. We
have observed above that whirling waves impart their contents to spreading waves.
When we talk on a phone from India to a brother at Chicago our speech is first carried
by electric waves on the telephone wire to the international transmitter at Bombay, and
then the electric waves pass the speech to radio waves emanating from the transmitter,
to be taken to New York; when they reach New York the radio waves pass the speech to
electric waves on the telephone wire leading to Chicago; when they reach the brother's
phone the speech is passed on to sound waves in the air which carry it to the brother's
ear; at his ear the speech is passed to waves in his auditory nerve; and so on. Though
the speech is thus passed from waves to waves of different kinds, it reaches the
brother's Intellect correctly without any diminutions or distortion in words or tunes. The
above said waves carry, and pass, the speech so efficiently that the brother there feels to
hear the speech from someone sitting close by. Likewise at our brain, sensations borne
by subtle waves are passed to Subtle Waves (see p. 41 below), and conversely impulses
borne by Subtler Waves are passed to subtler waves, without any change in them.

Soul is vital principle of Consciousness; and its powers reflect in the Karanas. The
whirling waves of the sensitive Karanas carry different aspects of Consciousness. The

39
whirling waves of Intellect carry Consciousness which relates to specific objects or
facts; they make Intellect capable of forming decisions and issuing directions. The
whirling waves of Ego carry self-asserting Consciousness; Ego always urges self-
interests. The whirling waves of Mind carry Consciousness of pleasures. Mind seeks
pleasures. And so on. The whirling waves carry different contents, and form different
subtle elements as have been detailed above. As transformation after transformation
proceeded in Nature, the speed of rotations of the whirling waves and the sensitivity of
elements go reduced. Intellect was highly sensitive; it could visualize even things
which it had never perceived before. But Ego and Mind could visualize only things
that had been once perceived before. Subtle Organs were only semi-sensitive, lacking
volition and discretion which earlier elements had. They were semi-sensitive because
the speed of rotations of their whirling waves was much less than that of the earlier
elements which were sensitive. Sensitivity depends on subtlety; and subtlety depends
on the speed of rotation of the constituent whirling waves. Tanmatras, the last of the
series, were insensitive; that is to say, they were not subtle enough to be sensitive. The
whirling waves which compose sensitive elements rotate so speedily that they normally
repel actual contact of other whirling waves; so they never combined with another
element. But, the speed of rotations of the whirling waves that composed the
Tanmatras was so moderate that they could contact, penetrate, and coalesce with other
similar waves. When the whirling waves of one Tanmatra were penetrated by the
whirling waves of Tanmatras of other varieties, and they reacted mutually and united
together, they formed new elements. In such combinations the combiners lost their
subtlety and became dense, and therefore the product of their combinations became fine
particles of matter. Scientists say that, even in hard solids, (stationary) whirling waves
persist in their sub atoms. All electrons and the like are detected to exhibit the nature of
whirling waves in them.

Section 21 PERCEPTIONS

Perception is the acquisition of knowledge through the senses of sight, hearing, smell,
touch, or taste. It occurs by transmission of vibrations and waves. Vibrations that
move onwards are waves. Perceptions are carried to Intellect and Soul by waves:
Swami Vivekananda (in his Complete Works, Vol. 1, p. 394) as observed,

"Perception occurs by the transmission of the vibrations, which first come to the
external sense-organs, from the external to the internal organs, from the internal organs
to the mind, from the mind to the Buddhi, from the Buddhi or Intellect to…the Atman."

Here, 'internal organs' denote the Subtle Organs; and 'Atman' is the Soul.

We may try to understand the import of the above said succinct observation, with
reference to a particular perception, say, the vision of some red corals on a disc.

Science tells that light reaches us as electromagnetic waves (of wavelength less than
1/1300 of a millimeter). When the light waves fall on objects and reflect from them,
they carry reflections of the forms, colors and lustres of those objects. The light waves,
reflecting from the corals on the disc, carry with them reflections of the forms, colors
and lustres of the corals and the disc. When some of those light waves strike the retina
of an eye, they pass those reflections to the microscopic rods and cones of the retina;
the rods and cons get excited with the reflections and vibrate vigorously. The

40
vibrations generate subtle waves in the connected nerve fibres in the retina and its
continuation the optic nerve, and pass the reflections in them to those waves. The
waves carry the reflexions, through the optic nerve, to the visual cortex of the brain.
When the sensation of the reflections reach the cortex, the fine nerve fibres in the
cortex get excited with the sensation and vibrate subtly, but vigorously. The sensitive
fine waves, arising from the vibrations in the cortex, are very much finer and
subtler than the waves that came from the retina. They are a different kind of waves
that can travel in space, that is to say, through matterless media like Tanmatras in the
space, while the subtle waves from the retina travel only through solid media like the
nerve fibres. Wanting an apt name, we may refer to this new kind of extra fine waves
as SUBTLER WAVES. They also are capable of carrying subtle contents, as the radio
waves do. We know that speeches reaching the transmitting station through electric
waves on the telephone wire, are further transmitted by radio waves that travel in space,
to reach the receiving stations away in the country. Likewise, reflections of perceptions
reaching the brain through subtle waves in nerves are further transmitted to the Subtler
Waves that travel in space to reach the Subtle Body. The Subtle Waves are too subtle to
be obstructed by any part of the material body. Only Subtler Waves can reflect their
contents on the matterless Organs of the Subtle Body; and conversely, all waves
emanating from Organs of the Subtle Body are also Subtler Waves. The Subtler Waves
that emanate from the visual cortex carry exact reflections of the forms, colors, and
lustres of the corals on the disc, to the Subtle Body. In doing so the Subtler Waves pass
through the tegument of Tanmatras, and the Interspace and hit the Pranamayakosa. The
Subtle eye in the Pranamayakosa receives the reflections brought by the Subtler Waves,
gets excited with those reflexions, and vibrates vigorously. These vibrations in the
Subtle eye correspond to the original vibrations in the rods and cones of the physical
eye, and have the same reflexions as their contents. They are therefore described as
parallel actions in the Subtle eye, that is to say, actions in the Subtle eye parallel to
actions in the physical eye. The vibrations in the Subtle eye pass the reflexions to the
Manomayakosa or Mind and from the Mind they pass to Intellect. Intellect cognizes
the reflexions, and determines the identify of the objects reflected in them as red corals
on a disc. When Intellect cognizes the perception, the Soul also experiences the vision.
It is thus that a person experiences visions of objects. What Intellect cognizes and Soul
experiences as a vision, is only the reflections of objects brought to the Subtle Body by
the Subtler Waves, and not the objects as such (namely, the corals on the disc). The
entire process, from the entry of light waves into the physical eye, to the cognition of
that perception by the Soul, takes place in a split second, say, in about one-hundredth of
a second, or even less time. Practically the cognition of the vision by the Soul is
simultaneous with the arrival of the reflexion of the object in the physical eye.

Like the perception of vision, the other perceptions, and also the actions and the
experiences of physical organs, are all transmitted in the same way, by subtle waves
from the organs to the brain, and by Subtler Waves from the brain to the Intellect, and
the Soul cognizes them. The reflexions that the subtle waves and Subtler Waves carry
are true-to-original of the perceptions, actions, and experiences, concerned. Thus, in
the case of a karma the reflexion that the waves carry would contain all features of the
karma, such as the desire behind, acts done, emotions felt, goal aimed, pleasures and
pains experienced, etc.

Section 22 IMPULSES

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Reverse to the process of perception of sensations is the process of issuance of impulses
for actions. They originate in the Intellect, and are transmitted by waves to the relevant
physical organs, which fulfill the impulses. The process may be detailed thus:

If on seeing the beautiful red corals, Mind vibrates with joy, and the vibrations swell
into a desire to possess the corals, the excitement in Mind will pass to Intellect. If
Intellect approves the desire, it will determine the action to be taken thereon. The
considerations and decisions of Intellect occur as vibrations in it. When a decision is
reached, the vibrations that contain the decision spread to the Mind. Then the Mind
vibrates in excitement and elaborates the actions needed to fulfill the decision. If
Intellect's decision is to ascertain the price of those corals, Mind's vibrations will be to
formulate a query to be conveyed to the organ of speech to address the salesman. All
these vibrations and formulation occur because of the powers of Consciousness that
reflects in Intellect and Mind. Mind's vibrations then spread to the Pranamayakosa as
impulses carrying the query. The Subtle Organ of speech in Pranamayakosa responds
to them, gets excited with the impulses, and heaves vigorously to articulate the query.
It gives rise to Subtler Waves which carry the impulses from the Subtle Organ to the
brain. When the Subtler Waves hit the brain, it relays the impulses, through subtle
waves in motor nerves, to the larynx in the throat. That is to say, a motor cortex in the
brain responds to the Subtler Waves carrying the above said impulses, and the fine
nerve fibres in that cortex receive and become excited with the impulses and begin to
vibrate actively. While the nerve fibres begin to vibrate the hundreds of mitochondria
in the cell-bodies of the nerve-fibres generate electricity (about 1/100,000 of a volt by
each). As numerous cells release electricity the vibrations swell, and energetic waves
carrying the impulses flow from the cortex, through the motor nerve fibres, to the
muscle fibres of the larynx. The muscle fibres expand and contract, twist and relax,
briskly to push air onto the vocal cords and vibrate them to cause sound waves that
carry the query to the ears of the salesman. Thus the actions in the physical organ, the
vocal cords, originated as vibrations in the Intellect and Mind, and were conveyed by
Subtler Waves and subtle waves. As in the case of perceptions, the entire process
mentioned above takes place in a split second. The transmission of impulses from
Mind to larynx is practically instantaneous, though it has to pass through a Subtle
Organ, Tanmatras, brain, and nerves. Sankhya philosophers would say, the Subtle
Organ of Speech makes a subtle articulation of the query formulated by mind, and that
articulation of the Subtle Organ reflects in the corresponding physical organ and causes
a parallel physical action simultaneously, which the concerned salesman can hear.

Section 23 DREAMS

The processes detailed in the preceding two sections are as they are conceived to occur
in the wakeful state when both the material body and the Subtle Body are active. In the
dream state, the material body remains lethargic, and the Subtle Body alone is active.
Because of the lethargy in the material body, Subtler Waves from the Subtle Body
normally do not excite vigorous reactions in the brain, to cause energetic impulses from
its cortices. In other words, normal actions in Subtle Organs during a dream do not
evoke effective parallel actions in the corresponding physical organs. The dreamer
may mumble indistinct utterances, or his eyeballs may roll under the eyelids; but
neither the speech, nor the look, becomes an effective action. Exceptions to this may
occur when the action in a Subtle Organ at a dream is of acute intensity, like a frantic
cry. The Subtler Wages emanating from the Subtle Body will be forceful enough to

42
excite intense reactions in the lethargic brain, and compel it to cause a parallel frantic
cry through the physical organ of speech simultaneously. In somnambulism, actions in
Subtle Body occur much more strongly than in normal dreams.

If we watch a child sleeping in its cradle, we will find it smiling, sorrowing, moving its
eyeballs to and fro under the eyelids, and at times opening its eyes and looking around
keenly. It may appear that the child is in a dream, seeing something interesting, or
looking for somebody anxiously. But when its mother, assuming that the child is
looking for her, stoops into the cradle, waves her head and makes sounds to attract its
attention, the child may quietly close its eyes and resume sleep. It will then be obvious
that the child's eyes, though open and apparently looking around, did not catch sight of
the mother so close before them. Evidently the keen look of the child was not a look of
the normal kind; it was only the reflex of a look, the external reflexion of a look
occurring in the interior of the child. That interior organ can only be the eye of its
Subtle Body. An intense look by its Subtle eye caused a clear reflex in its physical
eyes, and made them move in parallel with the moves of the Subtle eye. The smiling
and sorrowing made by the child in dream were also reflexes of similar actions
happening in the Subtle Body. They were obvious instances of Subtler Waves
emanating from the Subtle Organs causing parallel actions simultaneously in the
corresponding physical organs.

Dream visions are said to be visions of our past actions and experiences, mostly of past
lives. They show that the former Subtler Waves that carried reflexions of our actions to
the Subtle Body did not die, but survive there, and they cause re-experiences of the past
actions as dream visions. Dreamers often see persons, places, and events which they
have not seen, heard, or even imagined, ever before in the present life. They are
perceived as clearly as things are seen or heard in the wakeful state. They cannot be
imaginations of Mind, because that would involve mental construction of the vision or
talk, which requires a mental effort. But, dream visions never involve any the least
mental effort. Often, the dreamer talks, or cries, in the dream; and they are heard by
persons nearby, who feel that the talks or cries come forth from his physical body. We
know for certain that the talks or cries in dreams are not voluntary actions of the
physical body. They are happening in the Subtle Body causing parallel actions in the
lethargic physical body. Bhagavatham (4:20:65) points out that Mind has no power to
flash anything that had not been once experienced before, and therefore the dream
visions of unseen unheard inexperienced things, are visions of things experienced
in a prior life. Our normal experiences of memory of past actions of the present life
show that lasting impressions of past actions do exist within us. Indication is that the
Subtler Waves carrying reflexions of our past actions survive in our Subtle Body, and
that when Mind reviews them during a sleep those re-views flash as dreams. How the
reflexions of past actions and experiences are preserved in our system, and with what
effect, may be examined in some detail in the next Part.

PART TWO

BONDAGE TO KARMA
Section 24 KARMA

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Karma, in Sanskrit, means an action or work. It is a word of wide import. Anything
done 'with the body, mind, or speech' is a karma. Cultivating, nursing, hunting, etc.
are karmas done with the body. Desiring, planning, meditating etc. are karmas done
with the mind. Teaching, singing, praising, etc. are karmas done through speech.
Actions like seeing, hearing, breathing, sleeping, etc. are also karmas.

Life is a continuous series of karmas. No person ever remains for a moment without
doing some karma or other, with his body, or mind, or speech. If he is awake and not
doing any act with the material body, he will be doing something with the mind.

A karma may involve a merit, or a demerit, or both. A karma that benefits others,
and a Godward karma (like meditation), are said to involve merit. An act of harm to
someone involves demerit. Acts like breathing or sleeping, may not involve a merit or
demerit. Demerits may be reckoned as negative merits; and in that view, the term
'merits' may be used as a generic sense to mean both merits and demerits
collectively. Goodness or badness of karma constitutes its merits. It is said that,
besides the results that follow the performance of a karma, its merits also bring forth
their own consequences to the doer, at a later time.

Section 25 CONSEQUENCES

The benefits or calamities that arise as a result of doing karma, are said to be the
consequences of the karma. Such consequences may arise to be experienced by the
doer immediately, or long after performance of the karma. In this context, performance
of karma is one thing, the merits of the karma is another. The consequences that
directly follow the performance of karma are called its immediate consequence.
They are the direct results of the performance of the karma. Besides them, the
merits of the karma also are said to yield their own consequences to the doer.
They are the rewards for the merits, or penalties for the demerits involved in the karma.
Normally, the merits or a karma take time to yield their consequences. Only in
rare cases of extraordinary merit, or atrocious demerit, do such consequences arise in
the current life; in normal cases they arise only in the next life or in a later life. Whey
they are so delayed will be explained in sect. 32 below. Here, we note that the
consequences that arise later as the outcome of the merits of a karma are also
consequences of the karma. As they arise, for the experiencing of the doer, only long
after performance of the karma, they are called the ultimate consequences of the
karma.

The consequences of a karma are mentioned also as the result or the fruits of the karma.
Though the terms, results and fruits, are applicable to both the immediate and ultimate
consequences of a karma, generally, the immediate consequences are referred to as
its results, and only the ultimate consequences as its fruits. Scriptures are
unanimous to tell that the fruits of a meritorious karma are sweet benefits, and the fruits
of an evil karma are bitter calamities. (See, yogasutras 2:13,14). Health, wealth, luck,
position in society, happy relations, pleasant environments, etc. are said to be fruits of
merits; and adversity, poverty, disease, misfortunes, unhappy relations, unpleasant
environments, etc. are said to be fruits of demerits of past karmas.

44
The doer shall experience the fruits of his karma, that is to say, everyone must enjoy the
pleasures, and suffer the calamities, that arise as the fruits of his karmas.
Parabrahmopanishad (1) says, "Like a farmer, the doer experiences the fruits."
(Karmakarah karshakavat phalam anubhavthi). Paimgalopanishad (2:5) says, the doer
himself must consume the fruits of karmas. This liability to experience the fruits or
ultimate consequences of one's karmas or works, is called the "bondage to karma".

The above proposition is not peculiar to the Indian philosophy. Bible says,
"The Lord…gives every man according to his ways and according to the fruits of his
doings" (Jer 17:10; Rom 2:6). What the Lord gives, no man can refuse or evade. What
the Lord gives as the fruits of doings is His judgment on our doings; it is sure to be
given, though it may take some time. Bible states it strongly, as it says "Whatsoever a
man soweth that shall he also reap." (Gal 6:7). It is imperative that he shall reap the
fruits of his acts. In the context here, the expression 'he shall reap' means that he shall
consume (the fruits). There is no question of their avoidance or failure. There will
always be an interval between the sowing and the reaping. Philokalia (Vol. 1 p 118)
observes,
"Because an interval of time elapses between sowing and reaping, we begin to think
there will be no requital." It is a vain thinking. Who soweth shall also reap. The doer
has to take the fruits of his actions as and when they ripen.

If the fruits of all karmas have to be experienced by the doer, and they take time to
ripen for experiencing, it becomes necessary to preserve the karmas intact till they
yield their ultimate fruits. If performance of a karma is regarded as sowing, the
experiencing of fruits of the karma is the reaping. It takes time for the reaping. After
the sowing is over, that is to say, after the performance of the karma is over, the karma
has to exist intact till it yields its ultimate fruits. Indian philosophy conceives that all
past karmas, with their merits and demerits intact, exist as Karmabhavas in the doer's
Subtle Body, for an indefinite period; and that later remembrances of past acts are
caused by such Karmabhavas.

Section 26 KARMABHAVAS

When we try to remember a past karma done a few years ago, the whole karma arises in
our mental vision. It shows that the past actions do subsist in some form somewhere in
our system.

We observed (p 41 above) that Subtler Waves carry exact reflexions of every action of
ours to the Subtle Body, and that causes cognition of the action or karma by the Self.
The reflexions carried by them contain all the features of the karma, which include the
mode of performance, and the physical actions, intentions, emotions, etc. involved in it.
So those reflexions amount to a virtual existence of the karma itself, in those Subtler
Waves. The Subtler Waves reaching a Subtle Body and the reflections in them do not
die out, but survive indefinitely. The actions, intentions, and emotions in a karma
involve the goodness or badness of the karma, the merits of the karma. As the Subtler
Waves carry complete reflexions of the actions intentions and emotions in the karma,
they are said to carry the merits of the karma also. In other words, the merits of a
karma abide in the Subtler Waves that carry the karma to the Subtle Body. The
Subtler Waves penetrate the Subtle Body and cause cognition of the karma by the
Intellect and Soul. As the Subtler Waves come to contact the Soul's whirling

45
waves their high-speed whirling motion causes the Subtler Waves also to whirl
fast. The whirling Subtler Waves stay in the Interspace of the Subtler Body and
subsist there. In so subsisting, all the fine whirling waves, related to one karma or
action, gather together as one unit. Such a unitary cluster of whirling waves bearing
true and complete reflexions of a past krma is called the "Karmabhava" of that
karma. In Sanskrit, 'bhava' means existence; so, etymologically 'Karmabhava' means
the existence of a karma. It is the mysterious continuance of a past karma with its
merits, in the Subtle Body.

Philosophers have given different names to the Karmabhava. Some mention it simply
as Karma, for short. Others call it Samskara (vide Paimgalopanishad 2:6; Yogasutras
3:18). In Sanskrit, 'Samskara' generally means refinement. Sometimes the Vedas
mention the source of or the product, or vice versa, as a figure of speech. For example,
Rig Veda (9:46:4) says "Mix soma with the cow" – here 'some' signifies the juice of the
herb soma, and 'cow' signifies its milk; source is mentioned to denote the product. The
refinement, positive or negative, of a person is the external reflection of the totality of
active Karmabhavas in him (see p 49 below); so the Karmabhavas are source of
refinement; therefore they are figuratively called Samskaras. Certain other
philosophers name Karmabhava as Vasana (vide, Annapoorna Upanishad 4:52, 80, 88).
In Sanskrit 'vasana' denotes natural inclination. Karmabhavas are the source of natural
inclinations that arise in the life; so, they call Karmabhavas themselves as Vasanas.

Every physical work that has been concluded, every fervent thought that had subsided,
and every intense prayer or speech made emotionally, continue their virtual existence as
Karmabhavas in the Subtle Body. As karmas after karmas are being done,
Karmabhavas crowd in the Interspace; but they make no fusion, or confusion, because
every Karmabhava remains as a distinct and separate unit.

When the Subtler Waves of a Karmabhava strike the Pranamayakosa and impart the
reflexions of action to a Subtle Organ in it, the Subtler Waves do not lose their contents.
It is like a teacher imparting his information to a student; the student gets all the
information that the teacher has on the subject, but the teacher does not thereby lose his
information in the least; the information that he had continues intact in him. When
Whirling Waves of Consciousness that is Soul impart or radiate Consciousness
(Chaitanyam) to the organs constantly, the Soul (as the source of Consciousness) does
not reduce or lose anything thereby. A torch that lights another torch does not reduce
the least of its own flame. It is likewise with the Subtle Waves of Karmabhavas also.
When they impart the reflexions in them, they do not lose those reflexions, but continue
to have them intact, so that whenever they rise again at a later time to cause a memory
of the past action, they are able to present the past action, with all its features intact,
clearly and completely, to the Mind through the Subtle Organs. In that process, the fine
whirling Subtler Waves rise up from their subsidence, well into full-fledged Subtler
Waves, hit the Pranamayakosa and impart the reflexions of the past action or experience
to the relevant Subtle Organ, which transmits them to the Mind. Then the Mind
transmits them to Intellect, and when it cognizes the reflexions, it and the Soul re-
experience the original action in all its details. We call that experience a memory if it
occurs in the wakeful state, or a dream if it occurs in a sleep. Knowledge exists in
collections of Karmabhavas of works like reading, seeing, hearing, experimenting,
testing etc., and manifests as memories of their contents.

46
Yogasutras (3:18) says that a recollection of past life (wherever it occurs) is a re-view
of the related Karmabhavas (See Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Vol. 1 p
276.) The researches of Dr. Ian Stevenson (vide sect. 2 above) disclosed that memories
in certain persons continue unaffected by physical death and reincarnation even after
some years. The continuance of memory shows continuance of Karmabhavas, with
their contents intact. Karmabhavas last indefinitely; they never perish.

Scientists say, they have detected galaxies 6000 million light-years away from the
Earth. It signifies that they had detected light waves that had been traveling in Space
for 6000 million years to reach Earth. If the subtle light waves can subsist that long in
the matterless Space between the stars and the Earth, it is understandable that the
Subtler Waves, which are much subtler than the light waves, may also subsist
indefinitely long in the matterless Interspace of the Subtle Body.

A Karmabhava, bearing a merit or demerit, will blossom, one day or other, to deliver
the fruits of the merit or demerit in it. It delivers the fruits by inspiring a present
action which will yield the fruits of the past karma, as its immediate or direct
result.

Krmabhavas are said to remain active or dormant. Activity of Karmabhava is

projection of inspirations to the Mind. If a Karmabhava remains without such
activity, it is said to be dormant; if it projects an influence or inspiration to the
Mind, it is said to be active. Karmabhavas generally remain dormant, until they rise
to yield fruits of the past acts which they represent.

Indian philosophy conceives that, before commencement of life, a large set of

Karmabhavas rise together to guide the course of that life, and that every one of them
remains subtly active throughout, till it gets its chance to yield the fruits of action,
which is its role. As each karmabhava remains active, it constantly exerts a mild
influence on the Mind, which influence depends on the nature of the past act that
reflects in it. It is the collective effect of such mild influence of all the
Karmabhavas remaining active that manifests as a person's character, talents,
outlooks, inclinations, aptitudes, and general disposition. Active Karmabhavas
which contain reflexions of meritorious acts and pleasant experiences, will cause
pleasant disposition; active Karmabhavas which contain reflexions of evil acts and
miserable experiences, will cause a miserable disposition. Hence, the refinement, or its
negative, the rudeness, in a person's character is the reflection of the general effect of
the active Karmabhavas in his Subtle Body. It is in view of this feature (of being the
cause of refinement in a person) that Karmabhavas are called "Samskaras".

"The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda" contains many observations about

Karmabhavas, under the name Samskaras. As they are so illuminative, I cite a few of
them here. It may be noted that in these passages, as in many other contexts, Swami
Vivekananda has used the name 'Mind' to denote the Subtle Body. He has said,
"Each man consists of three parts – the body, the internal organ or the mind and behind
that, what is called Atman, the self. The body is the external coating, and mind is the
internal coating, of the Atman…" (ibid, vol. 2 p 254)
What is beside the Soul and the external coating of the physical body in a man, is "the
internal coating" of the Subtle Body, and that is what is mentioned in the above passage
as "the mind".

47
Above Karmabhavas, he observed,
"Whatever work we do, the mind is thrown into a wave, and after the work is finished,
we think the wave is gone. No. It has only become fine, but it is still there. When we
try to remember the work, it comes up again and becomes a wave. So it was there; if
not, there would not have been memory. Thus every action, every thought, good or
bad, just goes down and becomes fine and is there stored up." (ibid, Vol. 1 page 243).

"Using the simile of a lake for the mind, every ripple, every wave that rises in the mind,
when it subsides, does not die out entirely, but leaves a mark and a future possibility of
that wave coming out again. This mark, with the possibility of the waves reappearing,
is what is called Samskara. Every work that we do, every movement of the body, every
thought that we think, leaves such an impression on the mind-stuff, and even when such
impressions are not obvious on the surface, they re sufficiently strong to work beneath
the surface subconsciously. What we are every moment is determined by the sum total
of these impressions on the mind. What I am just at this moment is the effect of the
sum total of all the impressions of my past life. This is really what is meant by
character; each man's character is determined by the sum total of these impressions
(ibid, Vol. 1 page 54).

"Each experience that we have, comes in the form of a wave in the Chitta, and this
subsides and becomes finer and finer, but is never lost. It remains there in minute form,
and if we can bring this wave up again, it becomes memory". (ibid vol.1 p 276)
('Chitta' is only another name for mind).

"The mindstuff is the great storehouse, the support of all past desires reduced to
Samskara form". (ibid, vol. 1 page 297).

It may be noted that these four citations refer to Karmabhavas of works, thoughts,
experiences, and desires, respectively.

Section 27 FRUITION OF KARMA

The main function of a Karmabhava is to yield the fruits of the past karma it comprises.
They are the consequences of the merits and demerits of the karma. A reward follows
every merit, and a penalty follows every demerit of a karma. We noted that the merits
and demerits of a karma abide in its Karmabhava. As they stay in the Subtle Body of
the doer, he cannot avoid their consequences. In the Interspace they may remain
dormant for a time that depends on their intensity; but they are sure to rise, one day or
other, to yield their fruits, and the doer has to experience the fruits as they arise. When
the time arrives, the fine whirling waves that constitute the Karmabhava, will swell up,
with the aspects of merit and demerit in prominence. The Karmabhava is then said
to be in bloom. It is really the merit and demerit in the Karmabhava that are in bloom;
but we say generally that the Karmabhava is in bloom. When the spreading waves
emanating from the swelled Subtler Waves reach Mind and Intellect, and interact with
their vibrations, an inspiration arises in the Mind or Intellect for a particular action
or work. The results that follow the performance of that work are the ultimate
consequences or fruits of the past act involved in the Karmabhava. As the work is
caused by the Karmabhava of the past karma or act, its results (immediate
consequences) re said to be the ultimate fruits of the past karma. As the said

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inspirations arise in the Subtle Body itself, their influences on Mind and Intellect
are said to be inviolable. Bhagavad Gita (18:60) says:
"You, who are bound by the karma born of your own Karmabhava, even if you do not
wish to do that karma, will have to do it under constraint."
The 'karma born of a Karmabhava' is the act or work that arises under inspiration of the
Karmabhava. Even if a person is unwilling to do that act, the Gita says, his
circumstances will so shape that he will be constrained to do that act. The results, or
immediate consequences, of the act done under inspiration of a Karmabhava, are the
fruits, or ultimate consequences, of the past act which virtually continues in the
Karmabhava. Normally the bloom of a Karmabhava and its inspirations will last, until
the act inspired by them has been accomplished. Conversely, it may be said, every
inclination for action that naturally arises in a person, proceeds from an
antecedent Karmabhava. (Cf. sect. 31 below).

The fruition of Karmabhavas may be, not in the order of their origin, but in the order of
their vigour. 'First come first served' is not a rule of Nature. In plants, we often find
vigorous buds in a tender twig developing to bloom early, while many old buds remain
dormant in the order twigs and the stem. It is a way of Nature to prefer vigour to
seniority in age. Vigour of a Karmabhava is the vigour or intensity of the merits and
demerits in it.

In most cases of bilateral acts (like marriages) there will be mutually responding
Karmabhvas in either, so that the waves of inspiration proceeding from one will incite
the corresponding Krmabhava in the other also to bloom and co-operate to accomplish
the bilateral act. The so called 'love at first sight' the mutual attraction between two
youths, felt even at their first meeting, may be the interaction of waves from the
corresponding Karmabhavas in them.

Section 28 RISE OF KARMABHAVAS

Karmabhavas may arise in more ways than one. The rise of Karmabhavas from bodily
actions has been explained above. Karmas done with Mind, and Karmas done with
speech, also produce their Karmabhavas.

Desiring is an action of the Mind. When Mind desires, it vibrates with vigour
proportionate to the intensity of the desire. Subtler Waves arising from those vibrations
carry reflections of the desire and the emotions that accompany it. They spread to
Intellect to induce action to fructify the desire. Even if they do not succeed, those
Subtler Waves will subside as the whirling waves in the Interspace of the Subtle Body,
and form a Karmabhava.

Prayer is an act done with speech. A heartfelt prayer with an unrestrainedly burst of
tears, is said to produce a virile Karmabhava. When the Mind vibrates vigorously with
intense emotion, Subtler Waves, carrying reflexions of that prayer and its emotions,
arise; and when they subside in the form of minute whirling waves in the Interspace,
they form a Karmabhava.

If even in the subsided fine state, the Subtler Waves, carrying intense emotions, do not
calm down and become dormant, but continue in vigour, they may not have to wait

49
long to bloom and ripen, to fulfill the desire or the prayer concerned. (See sec. 32
below).

Originally, when a fragment of Sagunabrahman acquired a Subtle Body and entered a

material body form to constitute a live being, then that being must have been free of
any Karmabhava. But, as the being began to perceive other objects casually, through its
physical sensory organs, it began to have desires and do acts, and they gave rise to
Karmabhavas in him. Even in later lives, casual sense-perceptions continue to cause
desires and actions, though they may be controllable by a firm Intellect. Many or
most of our present sense-perceptions may be maneuvers of Karmabhavas, but
occasionally casual sense-perceptions also occur and cause desires. However that be,
any desire or action that involves a merit or demerit, will give rise to an enduring
Karmabhava.

An act inspired by a Karmabhava may produce another fresh Karmabhava. The

inspiration of a Karmabhava may be to achieve a particular result; but the manner of
achieving it, the actual performance of the relevant act, may be left to be guided by the
modes of nature and the actual disposition of the person. Indian sages say that the
actual disposition of a person at any time may be influenced by the resultant effect of
the modes of Nature (Gunas) working in him at the time (cf. p 21 above). The modes
of Nature will never be in equilibrium. One of the three modes will always dominate
the other two; and the dominant mode may not be the same always. In a very pious
man the dominant mode will be piety or Satvaguna; but when he gets angry the mode
of Nature dominant in him will be Tamas. Man's actions are always influenced by the
State of the modes of Nature in him at the time he does the act. Thus, when the
inspiration of Karmabhava in a man is for uniting with a particular woman, Satvaguna
may induce him to seek her consent for a pleasant marriage; Rajoguna may urge him to
pay her parents to marry her to him; and Tamoguna may prompt him to abduct the
woman by capture or treachery. Each act has its merit or demerit. In so far as the
manner of accomplishment of the inspiration is not induced by the Karmabhava, it is a
new act; and it generates a fresh Karmabhava that bears its merits. Like seed and plant,
acts produce Karmabhavas and Karmabhavas cause acts – the series may go on endless.

Section 29 SAMCHITAKARMA

We have noted (p. 45 above) that in the law of Nature, every person is bound to
experience the fruits of his karmas. All fruits of karmas proceed from Karmabhavas. It
is the merits and demerits of a karma involved in Karmabhavas that yield the fruits of
that karma. All Karmabhavas abide in the Subtle Body; and no Karmabhava declines
before delivering the fruits of the karma involved in it.

Normally, the time taken for the actual experiencing of the fruits of a karma, is much
longer than the time taken to perform the karma. In the secular law, for a crime that is
done in a few minutes, the offender may, later on suffer punishment for years. In
nature, for nurturing a sapling for some months, the planter may, later on, enjoy its
fruits for decades. Scriptures declare that for a meritorious act, the doer will enjoy
heavenly pleasures for long years, and for a wicked act the doer may suffer hellish
miseries for many years. Consensus appears to be that the time taken to experience the
fruits of a karma is far longer than the time taken to do the karma.

50
Life is a continuous series of karmas. Each karma generates its own Karmabhava,
which yield its fruits to the doer. Karmabhavas ripen, one by one, to yield fruits. If
experiencing the fruits of a karma takes more time than doing of that karma, the fruits
of all karmas done in a life cannot be exhausted in a life; it would require a much
longer time than one life to experience them. So, at the end of every life, a good
number of Karmabhavas would fall in arrears in the Subtle Body. Hence, the
number of Karmabhavas in the Subtle Body increases in every life. Some of the
Karmabhavas in the Subtle Body of a person may be in the course of development to
attain bloom; they may be active, and waiting for their time to yield fruits in the current
life. But, most of the Karmabhavas in a Subtle Body are in a dormant state, without
getting a stimulus to rise to yield fruits. The aggregate of past Karmabhavas
remaining dormant in a Subtle Body is called Samchitakarma. In Sanskrit
'Samchita' means accumulated, or collected; and 'karma' is a short for Karmabhava.
'Samchitakarma' literally means accumulated Karmabhavas; but, the name is applied
only to accumulated Karmabhavas of prior lives, which remain in a dormant state.

It is said that Samchitakarma procures stability to the Subtle Body; because, as long as
any Karmabhavas continue, the Subtle Body also has to continue intact as their
storehouse. But, on one's attainment of perfect Spiritual Enlightenment, the entire
Samchitakarma will vanish, as dreams do on the awakening (vide Adhyatma Upanishad
– 50). The same Upanishad (53) distinguishes that (the active) Karmabhavas which
have commenced development (to bloom) before the rise of spiritual Enlightenment,
will not perish, without delivering their fruits, just as an arrow that has commenced
flight to a mark will not stop midway.

Section 30 REINCARNATIONS

Fruits of a karma can be experienced only through a material body. Since every person
is bound to experience the fruits of all his karmas, and a big number of them remain
unexhausted at the end of a life, it becomes necessary for him to take another life to
consume the remaining fruits of karmas. Indian philosophy conceives that the Soul
departs with its Subtle Body containing the Karmabhavas, and takes reincarnation to
experience the unconsumed fruits of karmas. It is a logical conclusion based on the
natural obligation of a person to experience the ultimate consequences of the merits of
his actions. It is the basis of the concept of reincarnations in Indian philosophy.

In the new life, the old Karmabhavas bloom, one by one, and inspire actions that bring
forth the fruits of actions in store. When the immediate consequences of an inspired
action are experienced, the Karmabhava which inspired it, declines and recedes. But in
the meanwhile fresh Karmabhava of that action arises in the Subtle Body. Casual
sense-perceptions and casual thoughts cause desires and actions and they also give rise
to Karmabhavas. Since the consumption of the fruits of a karma takes longer time than
the doing of that karma, Indian sages say that normally the addition of fresh
Karmabhavas in a life exceeds the exhaustion of old Karmabhavas. So much so the
Samchitakarma is always on the increase. As it goes on increasing, life after life, the
person takes further and further reincarnations to experience the accumulated arrears of
fruits of karmas.

A reincarnation takes place well after formation of a fresh Prarabdhakarma from the
Samchitakarma. (Sec sect. 31, 35 below). Apart from rare exceptions, there will be

51
an interval between the formation of fresh Prarabdhakarma and the reincarnation
as the Soul takes its own time to fix a place suitable to experience the fresh
Prarabdhakarma. When a disembodied Soul desires to take reincarnation, it roams
about to fix the couple through whom it can attain a material body to experience the
new Prarabdhakarma. That selection will invariably be influenced by the Asannakarma
in bloom in the Subtle Body. (See sect. 36 below). Being matterless, the Soul can
easily enter into any physical body. It enters the body of a chosen male and remains
within a newly formed sperm in him (cf. Aitareya Upanishad 2:1, Mahanarayana
Upanishad 1:1). Then it induces the male to deposit the sperm into the chosen female,
so that through her it can attain the desired reincarnation.

If at the time of death, the person had a vigorous desire at heart, his reincarnation may
be quick, even immediate, as in the cases of Maria Januaria of Brazil, and of William
George of Alaska, investigated by Dr. Ian Stevenson. (Vide, Twenty Cases of
Suggestive Of Reincarnation p. 183, 232). The evidence in those cases showed that
those persons had fixed and predicted their choice of the place of reincarnation, even
before their death.

Section 31 PRARABDHAKARMA

Karmabhavas of past lives remain the Subtle Body as two distinct groups – those that
are dormant, and those that are active. Collectively the former are called
Samchitakarma, and the latter are called Prarabdhakarma. Karmabhavas that have
arisen in the present life remain as a separate third group (cf. sect. 32).

According to Indian philosophers, nothing ever happens without a cause. (Yogasikha

Upanishad 1:37). Every action of ours arises from an antecedent cause. The cause of
an action or work may be a Karmabhava-in-bloom or a casual sense-perception. Many
of our sense-perceptions may be at the instance of Karmabhavas in bloom, as part of
the process of bringing about fruits of action. The other sense perceptions, which are
not contrived by Karmabhavas, are the casual sense perceptions mentioned above.
They may be rare exceptions, but their possibility cannot be ruled out. (see p. 50
above). Excepting them, we may say generally that actions or works that arise in a
natural way are inspired by Karmabhavas. Swami Vivekananda has said,
"All our works now are the effect of past Samskaras; again these works, becoming
Samskaras, will be the causes of future actions; and thus we go on". (Complete Works,
Vol. 1 p. 245).

It signifies that apart from the rare exceptions, every work is caused by the Samskara
(Karmabhava) of some prior work. Every work and resultant experience in life, fortune
or misfortune, pleasure or pain, is caused by a prior actions subsisting in Karmabhavas
in the Subtle Body.

Certain normal bodily behaviors, such as breathing, winking, sleeping, urinating,

(baby's) suckling, etc. may not be regarded as works caused by any Karmabhavas; they
may be caused by the behavioral propensities inhering in the genes in the body as part
of the functional designs contained in them (See sect. 44 (i) below).

Life is a continuous succession of karmas. We never sit for a moment without doing
some karma or other, with the body, mind, or speech. If karmas are done at the

52
inspiration of Karmabhavas, there must be a very large number of active Karmabhavas
to inspire all the krmas of a life; and also they must be set in a perfect order to inspire
karma after karma, one by one, without a gap or confusion. How does it occur?

Indian sages say, life is not lived in a casual way, Even before commencement of a
life, a definite programme for the life is set in terms of Karmabhavas; and that
forms a blueprint, which unfolds, action by action, as life proceeds. To achieve it, well
before commencement of a life a sufficiently large number of Karmabhavas in the
Samchitakarma, rise from their dormancy, and begin to whirl or rotate a little more
vigorously. As they are thus become active, they separate themselves from the rest of
the Samchitakarma that continue in dormancy. The separated Karmabhavas gather
together as one group, to guide the forthcoming life. In the forthcoming life, it is
these active Karmabhavas that attain bloom, one by one, and inspire actions, and cause
experiencing of fruits of actions. All of them are therefore on the way to bloom to
cause effects in the coming life. Therefore these Karmabhavas are said to have in a
way commenced activity to wards attainment of bloom. The actual attainment of
bloom will be, one by one, in the course of the whole length of life; but these
Karmabhavas will remain mildly active throughout, rotating suitably, until they attain
bloom. Their rotations generate their own spreading waves which reach the Mind and
Intellect and cause some mild effects on the Mind and Intellect, according to their own
contents. It is the aggregate of such mild effects that appear as the person's
character, general disposition, talents and outlooks. It is also the effect of such
active Karmabhavas that appear as inborn emotions, like personal affinity, love,
innate aversions, and inherent fears. All of those Karmabhavas are therefore
deemed to have commenced functioning, and their aggregate is called
Prarabdhakarma. In Sanskrit, 'Prarabdha' means well-begun; and 'karma' is a short
for Karmabhavas. So, 'Prarabdhakarma' literally means commenced karmabhavas,
signifying thereby a set of Karmabhavas that have begun to function.

It may be particularly noted that only the Karmabhavas in the Prarabdhakarma will
attain bloom, one by one, and cause actions and experiences, and thereby yield fruits
of action.

Section 32 KARMABHAVAS OF CURRENT LIFE

Karmabhavas that arise in the current life do not right away join the Samchitakarma or
the Prarabdhakarma. We observed that our actions in the prior lives crowd in the form
of Karmabhavas in the Subtle Body, and that they exist in two groups as the
Samchithakarma and the Prarabdhakarma. But apart from rare exceptions mentioned in
Sect. 2 above, men generally do not remember anything about a prior life. It shows that
the power of Intellect or Mind to stimulate past Karmabhavas to render memories, do
not extend to any Karmabhava in the Samchithakarma or the Prarabdhakarma. But, we
can recall memories of past actions of the current life. It shows that the Karmabhavas
of actions done in the present life remain separate from the other Karmabhavas.
It renders them available to Intellect and Mind, when they need them to cause
memories, for shaping current actions in the light of past experiences in the life. These
Karmabhavas may remain dormant, but when a call or stimulus arrives from the Mind
or Intellect, they will rise to cause the required memory. When the contact with Mind
or Intellect is over, they will retire again to dormancy.

53
Since Prarabdhakarma alone can yield fruits, and the Karmabhavas of present life do
not join the current Prarabdhakarma, these Karmabhavas do not normally bear
fruit in the present life. The puzzling anomaly of a highly benevolent man suffering
untold miseries, or of a notorious villain enjoying prosperity, only shows that the
experiences of the present life are not the consequences of acts done in this life, but are
the ultimate consequences of unknown acts done in prior lives. It is Karmabhavas of
prior lives that constitute Prarabdhakarma for the current life. The current
Prarabdhakarma is a definite number of Karmabhavas that have set themselves to yield
fruits of action in the current life. Its formation took place before termination of the
previous life; and, therefore no addition or reduction takes place in it in the normal
course. So it is that Karmabhavas of the current life do not occur in the current
Prarabdhakarma, or yield fruits in the current life. But exceptions to this are not
impossible.

A Karmabhava containing very high merit or demerit would be rotating very

vigorously. Even when it becomes finer to subside in the Subtle Body, its whirling
waves does not calm down, but continue in considerable vigour. That is why, in the
demeanor of a person who had committed an atrocious crime, a reflection of turbulent
emotion is often perceived. As the vigour of the Karmabhava persists, the Karmabhava
does not go to dormancy, but moves slowly towards the Karmabhavas that remain
active as the Prarabdhakarma, and eventually joins them. There also, because of its
vigour, it may get to the forefront soon, attain bloom without long delay, and yield its
fruits early. But, the exceptional introduction of a Karmabhava of present life to the
current Prarabdhakarma may not be in the discretion of the Insentient Karmabhava
itself. It may be only at the instance of the Power that controls the formation of every
Prarabdhakarma and the order of blooming of its Karmabhavas. (See sect. 38 below).

Swami Vivekananda has referred to this exceptional phenomenon, thus:

"In exceptional cases when these Samskaras are very strong, they bear fruit quickly;
exceptional acts of wickedness, or of goodness, bring their fruits even in this life".
(Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Vol. 1 p 243).

When a gambler, who had killed a neighbor girl of fourteen years, to rob her jewels, by
gagging a ball of thick clay into her mouth in spire of her entreaties, got into an
unfinished well in the prison-compound a year later, and was chocked to death under a
heavy landslide in the well, the people of the town ascribed the mishap as the fruit of
his cruel act.

The Karmabhavas of the present life will end their dissociation with other
Karmabhavas in the Subtle Body and will join them, at or after the end of the present
life. We will be observing soon that, just before death, there will be a great stir in the
Subtle Body when a large number of Karmabhavas rise from their dormancy in the
Samchithakarma and gather together to form a new Prarabdhakarma for the next life (in
reincarnation). In that stir, some of the Karmabhavas of the present life, will also join
the formation of the new Prarabdhakarma. The rest of the Karmabhavas of the present
life will join the Samchithakarma after a further interval that varies with individuals. If,
before they join the Samchithakarma, reincarnation occurs the reborn child may have
memory of incidents of its prior life. Such may be the cases of prior life memories
investigated by Dr. Ian Stevenson as mentioned in sect. 2 above.

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Section 33 LENGTH OF LIFE

Indian sages hold that the natural length of life is related to the Prarabdhakarma in the
Subtle Body. The patent purpose of a life is said to be experiencing of the fruits of
Prarabdhakarma. Therefore, normally the lasts till Prarabdhakarma is exhausted.
Conversely, when Prarabdhakarma is exhausted, the current life ends (Avadhuta
Upanishad 19, Varahopanishad 2:71). As the natural purpose of life is conceived to be
the consumption of fruits of Prarabdhakarma, when that purpose is over, the Soul
retires from the current life, and leaves the material body assumed for the purpose.
Bhagavad Gita (9:21) says, this is true of a life in heaven also, the purpose of which is
to enjoy the pleasant fruits of karmas of superior merit. When that is over, that is to
say, when the Prarabdhakarma set for the heavenly life is exhausted, the life in heaven
terminates, and the Soul comes back to Earth for another reincarnation to experience
the fruits of remaining Karmabhavas.

Section 34 CONTINUITY

Prarabdhakarma comprises a huge number of active Karmabhavas, sufficient to inspire

actions for a whole life. Though a young woman has about three lakh ovules in her
ovaries, in a period only one of them develop into an ovum to become an embryo.
Likewise, at a time one Karmabhava, out of the numerous in a Prarabdhakarma, blooms
to inspire Intellect to an action which will bring about the fruit of a prior action. On
such inspiration, Intellect will direct the Mind and the organs to carry out the inspired
act. That act will culminate in an experience of pleasure or pain, according to the
merits of the prior act which gave rise to the Karmabhava. The bloom of the
Karmabhava will last till the experiencing of its fruits is completed. There will never
be a confusion or cram among Karmabhavas in bloom. When the inspired act has been
carried out, the Karmabhava begins to decline in vigour; and when the experiencing of
the fruit is over, it recedes to the background; but it can cause a memory of the prior act
even thereafter.

When a Karmabhava in bloom begins to decline in vigour, another Karmabhava from

the Prarabdhakarma rise in bloom to inspire Intellect for another act which will bring
about the next fruit of action. Such a continuity of Karmabhavas in bloom goes on
without ever a gap. At times there may be more than one Karmabhava in bloom, each
inspiring the intellect for a specific action or work; but there will never be a moment
without a Karmabhava-in-bloom in the Subtle Body. So, there will never be a gap or
break in inspirations on Intellect for action. The sequence of inspirations for action
goes on incessantly, without a gap or vacancy at any time in the life.

After the last Karmabhava of a Prarabdhakarma must come the first Karmabhava of the
next Prarabdhakarma. Since there shall never be a gap in the stream of Karmabhavas in
bloom in the Subtle Body, and since only Karmabhavas of a Prarabdhakarma will attain
bloom, it happens that before the bloom of the last Karmabhava of a Prarabdhakarma
fades, the first Karmabhava of the next Prarabdhakarma will get ready to bloom and
take the place of the former. Karmabhavas do not attain bloom by an explosion; they
have to develop to bloom, and that may take some little time. Making allowance for
such development, we may say that, to keep up continuity of Karmabhavas-in-bloom
the next Prarabdhakarma must rise well before the bloom of the last Karmabhava of the
current Prarabdhakarma fades out. When the last Karmabhava of the current

55
Prarabdhakarma fades out, the present life will end, and the Soul will leave the physical
body. So we may re-state the above said proposition thus: Well before death, a fresh
Prarabdhakarma rises in the Subtle Body, and before the death one of the Karmabhavas
in it attains bloom.

The fresh Prarabdhakarma that arises at the end of the present life is naturally to
concern the next life (in reincarnation). So, its first Karmabhava would concern the
first act of the next life, namely the rebirth. Its inspiration will be to attain rebirth, in
appropriate place, in a suitable body. Normally the bloom of a Karmabhava lasts till
the act inspired by it is accomplished. So, the inspiration for rebirth that arises just
before the death will continue till the rebirth takes place. In other words, the first
Karmabhava of the next Prarabdhakarma, which attains bloom just before death,
continues in bloom in the Subtle Body till the rebirth actually takes place (cf. Bhagavad
Gita 8:6). Normally, in the interval between death and rebirth, no fresh inspiration or
fresh action takes place. After rebirth, the successive blooming of Karmabhavas of the
fresh Prarabdhakarma will go on.

Section 35 FRESH PRARABDHAKARMA

We observed that the next Prarabdhakarma which concerns the next life arises, and one
of its Karmabhavas attains bloom, before the end of the present life, before death
occurs. As an external mark of such occurrence, most of the dying persons exhibit an
excitement, a kind of vivacity or mood-elevation, and a pleasant disengagement
from their pains in the body.

Prarabdhakarma comprises a large number of Karmabhavas. Yet is does not rise in

parts, but the entire Prarabdhakarma arises as one lot. When the current
Prarabdhakarma is on the verge of complete exhaustion, such of the Karmabhavas in
the Samchitakarma as are to guide the forthcoming life, rise from dormancy, and
become subtly active. They begin to rotate a little more vigorously. Soon they break
off from the other Karmabhavas in the Samchitakarma which continue in dormancy.
Some of the Karmabhavas of the present life, which are to yield their fruits in the
coming life, also rise likewise to join the new formations. All the separated
Karmabhavas gather together briskly to form a compact group, which becomes
the next Prarabdhakarma. This rapid rise to activate of so many Karmabhavas from
their dormancy, and their brisk assemblage as a lively unit to guide the new life to
come, cause a stir, and a thrill so to say, in the Subtle Body. The prospect of entering a
new life for fresh experiences, doubles that excitement. Mind, Intellect, and Soul,
partake of this pleasant excitement. They begin to ignore the material body which they
are about to abandon; and that causes the disengagement from the thitherto ailments in
that body. And also, the prospect of entering a new life of fresh fortunes, causes a
pleasant vivacity; and that accounts for the mood-elevation of most patients near death.
The above two features are regarded as clear reflections of the excitement in the Subtle
Body, at the ushering in of a new Prarabdhakarma before death.

Section 36 ASANNAKARMA

In the preceding sections we noted that the last Karmabhava of the current
Prarabdhakarma declines, and the first Karmabhava of the next Prarabdhakarma blooms
before death in the present life. The Karmabhava-in-bloom at the time of Soul's

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departure, is the first Karmabhava of the new Prarabdhakarma set for the next life. As
the last Karmabhava of the Prarabdhakarma of the present life has lot its vigour, and in
its place the first Karmabhava of the next Prarabdhakarma as attained bloom, it is the
latter that inspires the thoughts and desires of the person at the moment of his death.
Therefore the first Karmabhava of the fresh Prarabdhakarma is called
Asannakarma. In Sanskrit, 'Asanna' means near death; and 'karma' is a short for
Karmabhava. So, Asannakarma literally means the Karmabhava that functions at the
time death is imminent. Buddhist texts define it as the Deathbed karma. As
Asannakarma of the present life is a Karmabhava of the new Prarabdhakarma that
concerns the next life in reincarnation, its inspiration relates to the first act or
experience of the next life, namely the Soul's entry into a new body form, the kind of
that body form, the environments for the new birth, etc. As the commencement of its
functioning is close to the death of the physical body, the manifestation of its function
in the current life is only as a thought or desire (and not as a physical act).

Section 37 FORM OF REINCARNATION

Bhagavad-Gita (8:6) says,

"Remembering whatever form one leaves the body at the end that form itself one
attains, having had always thought of that form (in the meanwhile)."
Narada Parivrajaka Upannishad (5:1:22) Yogasikha Upanishad (1:31) etc. also say that
whatever being a person thinks of at the time of death, that he becomes on the rebirth.

Normally the bloom of a Karmabhava continues till its inspiration is fulfilled.

Asannakarma, which concerns the reincarnation, continues in bloom till reincarnation is
attained. That is to say, Asannakarma, which blooms before death in the present life,
continues in bloom till the Soul enters a new body for the next life; however long the
interval may be. Its inspiration influences Intellect, and through it the Soul also, till the
rebirth takes place. Its influence, which arises at the time of death, continues up to the
rebirth. In other words, the last thought or desire of a person at the time of death, which
is the inspiration of Asannakarma, continues 'always' intact in the Intellect and Soul till
reincarnation is accomplished. (It may be the reason why certain discarnate Souls turn
violent in that state – cf. Mat 8:32). The form visualized in the last thought or desire
also continues 'always' in Intellect and Mind till the reincarnation is accomplished. As
the thought is, so will be the act. So the reincarnation will be in that form itself.
Hence, the say in Bhagavad-Gita (8:6) that the form which a person visualizes in his
last thought at the time of death, is always remembered by him up to his rebirth,
and it will be the form in which he will incarnate himself for the next life.
Bhagavatham (5:8) says that the pious King, Bharata, who breathed his last with
thoughts about his pet fawn, was reborn as a deer. Maharshi Apantaratama, though
spiritually enlightened, is said to have taken rebirth as Vedavyasa because at the time of
his leaving the physical body he remembered his desire to compose the Vedas in a
proper form. As a corollary it follows that one who remembers God, at the last moment
of departure from the body, will attain God. (cf. Bhagavad-Gita 8:5).

Section 38 CONTROLLER OF KARMABHAVAS

By now, we have noted several mysteries about the Karmabhavas. The question arises
how they take place.

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How are Karmabhavas formed? How re the spreading waves, that bring perceptions,
actions, and experiences, to the cognition of Intellect, converted into whirling waves
that subside so systematically in the Subtle Body?

When a Prarabdhakarma is about to be exhausted, a huge number of Karmabhavas,

sufficient for a whole life, arise from dormancy simultaneously, to constitute a new
Prarabdhakarma, in time to avoid a break in the flow of Inspirations to Intellect. The
selection of Karmabhavas from the immense crowd in the Samchithakarma and from
the Karmabhavas of the current life, is mysterious indeed! Who directs the selection?

Though the Karmabhavas in a Prarabdhakarma are countless and their blooming is not
in the order of their origin, they bloom in perfect order, one by one, without any break,
gap, confusion or cram. How systematic and harmonious are their workings! Who sets
them in such order?

The Karmabhavas arising in the present life remain as a separate lot, distinct from those
of prior lives, in order to offer memory of past experiences in the life. How do they
secure such an independent accommodation despite the dense crowd of Karmabhavas
in the small Interspace of the Subtle Body?

Though normally Karmabhavas yield fruits only in a later life, Karmabhavas of

supreme merit, or shocking atrocity, are let to yield their fruits quickly in the current
life itself. How are they enabled to deviate from the normal course, to fructify so
quickly?

The Karmabhavas bring about the rewards or penalties appropriate for the acts done.
Who decides the reward or penalty? Can the Karmabhavas themselves decide for
themselves?

Do these processes happen so correctly at the volition of Karmabhavas, which are not
sensible beings to make decisions. Fixing rewards and penalties involve judgment.
Can the Karmabhavas themselves do it? Can the Karmabhavas themselves decide
which of them are to form the next Prarabdhakarma? Reason seems to indicate that, in
the complex nature of above said process, there must be some mysterious power that
directs, guides, or controls, the processes of Karmabhavas. It may not be the Soul, or
the Intellect, which is considered to suffer the bitter experiences furnished by some of
the Karmabhavas. If the Soul or Intellect has the power to control, it can avoid the
bitter Karmabhavas; but, we know neither of them can do it. So, the power that
controls the formation of Prarabdhakarma and the blooming of individual
Karmabhavas, must be superior to the Soul. Svetasvatara Upanishad (6:11),
Brahmopanishad (14), etc. mention God as "Karmadhyaksha', which name signifies
'one who presides over the Karmabhavas'. Brahmasutras (3:2:38) and Brihadaranyaka
Upananishad (4:4:24) describe God as the giver of fruits of actions. Bible also declares
God to "give every man according to his ways and according to the fruits of his
doings". (jer 17:10) Apostle Paul spoke of God "who will render to every man
according to his deeds". (Rom 2:6). When God is said to give fruits of actions, it
implies that He directs the fruition of Karmabhavas. That must be the way He inspires
all beings to do their works in the life. (cf. Bhagavad-Gita 18:61) In short, the
scriptures proclaim God as the Controller of Karmabhavas. In fact, the scriptures

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declare God as the Controller, not only of Krmabhavas, but of the universe and all
phenomena in it.

PART THREE

THE GODHEAD

Section 39 REVELATION

Now let us turn to the Cosmic Soul that is Godhead.

We observed that an individual Soul is a tiny fragment of Godhead that became

enwrapped by a Subtle Body (p 29 above). Godhead is generally mentioned as
Sagunabrahman or Impersonal God. Though He is invisible, scriptures, philosophers,
and scientists alike have said that He is revealed in nature, as the Souls is revealed in
our activities.

"Making vision intelligent, find the universe filled with Godhead". (Tejobindu
Upanishad 1:29). 'Intelligent vision' is thoughtful reflection on what is seen around, in
the sky and in the world. Earnest reflections, like those describe din the following
sections, reveal the all-pervading Godhead.

"May we worship, with sacred offerings, the God whose glory the snowy Himalayas,
the oceans and the waters (rivers) and the regions in all directions, proclaim". (Rig
Veda 10:121:3). Regions in all directions include regions up and around, i.e. sky and
the world. So, this verse implies that nature everywhere proclaims the glory of God for
our understanding Him.

"The seven heavens and the earth and all that is therein praise Him, and there is not a
thing but hymneth His praise; but ye understand not their praise." (Quran 17:44).

"God is spiritual, and though He is invisible, He is clearly manifest in visible things, as

the Soul is manifest in the body". (Philokalia Vol. 1 p. 337)

Philosopher Francois Voltaire (1694 – 1778) said,

"When we behold a fine machine we say there is a good machinist of excellent
understanding. The world is an admirable machine. It reveals it Supreme Maker".

Philosopher J.J. Rousseau (1712 – 1976) said,

"I see it, or rather I feel it…. That God exists. He moves the universe, and he orders all
things".

Nobel Scientist Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955) declared,

"I believe in God who reveals Himself in the harmony of what exists".
It signifies that the harmony, in the movements, works, and mutual relations, of all
things that exist in the universe, reveals the existence and control of God Almighty.

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Philokalia (Vol. 3 p 136-137) details that a contemplation of things in the sky and in the
world – particularly, the sun, moon, stars, and, their movements and stability, the
seasons, the clouds, rains, winds, and the countless varieties of animals and plants, and
their form, colors, beauty, proportion, order, equilibrium, harmony, rhythm, usefulness,
etc. – reveal the existence and care of God.

Section 40 CELESTIAL BODIES

The sky, which is the endless space around us, is studded with innumerable stars,
planets, moons, asteroids, meteoroids, etc. If we look through a large telescope (like
the 200-inch telescope of the Mount Palomar Observatory) we can find millions of stars
in the sky.

Stars are huge massive globes of varying sizes. The sun, which is only an average
star, but the nearest to us, is about 14 lakh kilometers in diameter. Betelgeuse, the red
giant star in the constellation of Orion, is said to be about 400 million kilometers in
diameter. There are also stars smaller than the Sun, but the smallest among them will
be several thousand times the size of Earth.

Stars are far apart from each other. In estimating interstellar distances, the unit
employed by scientists is a light-year. It is the distance that light travel in one year with
a speed of 3 lakh kilometers per second. It is about 9.46 million million kilometers.
The star close to the Sun, is Alpha Centauri, the bright star near the Southern Cross. It
is about 4 1/3 lighters (41 million million kilometers) away from the sun. Though it
may not be the distance between any two neighboring stars, it is apt to give us an idea
of the largeness of distances between stars. Even with such large gaps, a major portion
of the stellar population is said to exist as crowded galaxies of about or above a
million stars. There are also super galaxies comprising many galaxies, even more than
400 galaxies in one. In the gaps between galaxies there are individual stars here and
there. Sun is a star in an outer arm of a super galaxy, called Milky Way, containing 14
galaxies. Milky Way is about a lakh light years in diameter. The next galaxy beyond
the Milky Way is Andromeda, which we can see like a constellation between Pisces and
Cassiopeia. It is said to be about two million light years away from us.

Recently, with the aid of large telescopes with very large reflectors, and with
spectroscopes, the scientists have probed Space to a radius of 6000 million light-years,
and detected thousands of galaxies, existing at intervals therein. They say the Space
and the galaxies are further also limitlessly. Most galaxies appear, in the edge-on-view
like a disc with a bulge on either side at the middle, and in the face-on-view like a
spiral, or like a wheel with spiral arms and no rim. The bulge is a dense crowd of stars
in view. How many are the stars in the vast Space! Innumerable indeed!

All stars shed light, but differ in brightness. Betelgeuse is about 19000 times brighter
than the Sun. Even the Sun's light is unbearably dazzling. How intense are the light
and heat that we get at a clear midday! If at a distance of 149 million kilometers, so
much light and heat arrive in radiation from the Sun, what would be the brilliance and
the heat at the surface of the Sun! How much more would they be at the surface of the
giant stars! Scientists say that the stars emit such enormous light and heat by nuclear
fusion of hydrogen (deuterium) atoms into helium atoms, and that by such fusion, the
Sun loses about four million tons of its mass every second, and therefore it may

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continue to release light and heat only for about 16000 million years further. Even if
the said loss be the loss in its hydrogen content, how enormous is the volume of
hydrogen that is fused every second in the Sun! Four million tons' weight of hydrogen
per second! Scientists say it is similar wise in the other stars also; all stars emit light
and heat by nuclear fusion. The Sun has shining for a very long time. How much
hydrogen would have been fused at the above rate in the Sun by this time? How much
hydrogen is still in the Sun if it is to shine 16000 million years more? Scientists say
that spectrum analysis of light from the Sun and other stars show that most of the
elements found on Earth are present in them as well. We will forget that aspect for the
present, and consider their hydrogen component alone. Scientists hold that huge clouds
of gas accumulated in particular parts of the space and condensed as globose stars. Let
it be so. The wonder still is how such huge clouds of gas accumulated at particular
regions of the vast Space to form the Sun and billions and billions of other stars and
super giant stars. Did the insensate gas by itself collect in such huge clouds at chosen
intervals in the Space throughout, and then condense into huge globes, and later, at a
particular time, did all such globose commence fusion of their hydrogen atoms to emit
such inconceivably large light to illumine the universe? Does this uniform universal
phenomenon of such magnitude throughout the vast Space, appear possible, without
overall guidance of a mysterious omnipresent Superpower?

Every star rotates around its axis, and every galaxy rotate around its galactic axis. A
galaxy may contain several clusters of 100 to 1000 stars, which rotate round their
cluster axis, while all the clusters together as one unit rotate round the galactic axis. All
these rotations are very speedy. The Sun, having circumference of 44 lack kilometers,
moves at 250 kilometers per second. The spin and the orbital revolution in fixed high
speeds keep the stars in their respective positions in the Space. Do we not see heavy
planes, carrying enough fuel and hundreds of passengers with their luggage, lift and fly
in the thin air above 10 kilometers from the ground by their speed of movement?
Millions of stars in a galaxy move around their axis and along their orbits; yet they
move in perfect harmony, and it goes on for billions of years and further, without
retardation or collision?

How did all the billions of billions of stars come to rotate steadily on their axis and also
in their fixed orbits? Why is it that these huge stars do not wander in Space, as beasts
do in the forests, and fish do in the oceans. The movements of comets show that the
stars also could have moved in eccentric paths. But, the innumerable stars appear to
keep discipline, and observe precision and regularity in orbital movements. It may
commendable harmony in the vast Space. Is it the work of the insensate stars
themselves, or the work of a Universal Almighty who had constituted the stars, planets,
moons, etc. and set the orbits, rotations, and speeds, for them? Think well. Scientist
Einstein said it would reveal God.

Section 41 ATOMS

Science tells that every thing in the universe is composed of atoms. The atoms are
particles of the size of about one ten-millionth of a millimeter in diameter. Every
atom is composed of sub atoms called electrons, protons and neutrons. These sub
atoms are the same in all atoms of all elements; only their numbers differ from
element to element. 6 electrons, 6 protons and 6 neutrons together compose a carbon
atom; 8 electrons, 8 protons and 8 neutrons together from an oxygen atom; 79

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electrons, 79 protons and 118 neutrons together compose a gold atom; and so on all
atoms. The protons and neutrons, intermingled densely, form the nucleus of the atom;
the electrons remain as free particles rotating around the nucleus. All the electrons
revolve, with fixed speeds, in fixed orbits around the nucleus. In one atom there are
several orbits, and in each orbit there are several electrons, not exceeding eighteen. The
electrons keep their speeds and positions so precisely that no collision ever occurs
among them in any atom. All the electrons in one orbit move with the same speed, but
electrons in different orbits move with different speeds. Likewise, in all atoms of the
same kind (that is to say, in atoms of the same element) the number of orbits and the
number of electrons in each orbit and their speeds are the same; but they differ in atoms
of different elements.

Who set originally the orbits and speeds of rotations for electrons within the atoms with
such universal uniformity in atoms of the same kind, and definite diversity in atoms of
different kinds? Are they set by the electrons themselves uniformly, throughout the
world, irrespective of circumstances? Have they the necessary consciousness, and
mutual understanding to fix them so harmoniously and uniformly? If they have not,
Who reaches the electrons in atoms to direct their movements with such precision,
rhythm, harmony, and uniformity throughout the world, and throughout the universe?

Section 42 PHYSICAL BODIES

The case of physical body seems to be more completed, but equally more revealing
also.

(i) Cells:

Scientists say that an adult human body is composed of more than 30 million cells
of varying sizes, shapes, colors and kinds.

Every human body originates from a fertilized ovum, which is a globose single cell,
less than one-tenth of a millimeter in diameter. That cell multiplies by division, and the
progeny specialize into cells of different varieties and collect together in perfect
arrangement to form the shapely physical body, as we have it.

Each human cell contains 46 microscopic chromosomes, and each chromosome

carries hundreds of genes. Each gene contains detailed information on the pattern,
nature, function, etc. of a small part of the body, so that all genes in a cell, together
contain a complete detailed design of the whole body. In other words, every cell
contains, in its 46 chromosomes together, an elaborate and complete blueprint of the
entire body.

Scientists say that cells multiply by division, that is to say, one cell splits into two cells,
the two into four, the four into eight, and so on. When a cell is about to split, all its
chromosomes gather at its centre, and then they part into two groups of 23
chromosomes each, on either side of a midline. Then the groups recede from that line.
A little later every chromosome splits into two halves, each of which then develops into
a complete chromosome in a few hours. In a cell this process takes place
simultaneously in all the 46 chromosomes. When the developments of the split halves
of the chromosomes are complete, each group in the cell will have all the 46 complete

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chromosomes of a cell, with all the genes containing complete information of the body.
Then the swelled cell breaks into two new cells, which are identical with the parent cell.

Evidently, in the above said process of division and development, each divided half gets
correct duplicates of all that went to the other half in the division. Can a divided half of
an insensate thing procure and furnish itself with duplicates of all that were lost in the
division? If it cannot, should there not be some Power behind the process who supplies
the duplicates to the divided halves to make them complete chromosomes. Who can
that Power be? The process involves a precise consciousness of what each divided half
lost in the division, and also an ability to plant new genes with correct information in
the split parts of the chromosomes, to make them full. Who can reach the interior of
a cell to do these things? The process takes place constantly in all living beings
throughout the world. Surely, that Supplier must be a Super conscious Power, who is
Omnipresent, Omniscient, and Omnipotent, indeed!

(ii) The Ovum (minute egg):

Besides the normal cells, there are semi cells having only 23 chromosomes. They are
the sperm in males, and ova in females. Science tells us that a girl about to attain
puberty, will have about 3 lakhs of minute ovules in her two ovaries together. After
attaining of puberty, at intervals of 4 weeks, the pituitary gland in her head spurts into
her bloodstream the hormone, FSH (follicle stimulating hormone), in quantity sufficient
to stimulate one ovule to develop. When it reaches an ovary, one ovule receives the
hormone and develop into an ovum which a fluid-filled follicle around it. It rises to the
surface of the ovary and bulges out like a pea-sized blister. When it becomes ripe, the
Pituitary gland spurts another hormone, LH, into the bloodstream, and it reaches the
ripe ovum. The follicle bursts and throws the ovum into the Fallopian tube by its side.
Pushed by gentle waves in the tube, the ovum slowly rolls down the tube to find a
sperm for fertilization.

Can these intricate process involving different parts of the body, like the ovary in the
lower abdomen, pituitary in the head, and the bloodstream that circulates all through the
body, take place so correctly and in time, without guidance of a Conscious Being or
Power? Can they be mere chance occurrences when they happen alike in all females in
the World? If they are not chance occurrences, who guides them in appropriate times,
through out the world?

(iii) Pituitary gland:

There are several glands in the body which produce hormones for various functions.
One of them is the pea-sized pituitary gland at the lower brain. It produces nine
different hormones, one by one as occasions need, and stops production as soon as the
need of the time is over. It collects the necessary ions from the chyle in the blood-
stream, synthesizes them into the required hormone, and spurts it into the bloodstream
to be taken to the needy part of the body. When the body of a woman becomes fit for
reproduction, her pituitary gland produces the hormone FSH, just sufficient to stimulate
one ovule to develop into an ovum. Later, when the ovum is ripe, it produces another
hormone LH, to burst its follicle so that the ovum may reach the Fallopian tube and the
womb. When a child birth approaches the pituitary produces the hormone Prolactin, to
stimulate production of milk in the breasts. When the fetus is ripe to be delivered, it

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produces the hormone Oxytocin, to contract the womb strongly to push out the baby.
When the lips of the baby touch the mother's nipple, her pituitary produces Oxytocin, to
contract the milk glands to flow milk to the nipple, and stops its production which the
baby stops suckling. And so on.

Such production of different hormones, from time to time, to suit the need of the
occasion, by one pea-sized gland is remarkable. The absorption of requisite ions
alone from the bloodstream, and immediate production of the required hormone, the
timely changes in productions and their stoppage as soon as the need is covered, all
require considerable awareness, alertness and intelligence. Can the insensate gland, do
these things by itself, without stimulation from some Conscious Being? When such
things happen in all, everywhere, does it not indicate work of a Universal Power to
guide them?

(iv) The Sperm:

A sperm is a male motile semi cell, having only 23 chromosomes in the nucleus of its
head. It is only 1/2500 of a millimeter long, with a head and a tail. When deposited in
a wet vagina, it swims forward by whip lashing its tail briskly in the secretion from the
mucous membrane of the womb. Obviously there is Life in the sperm. It is called
'seed' of the human being. It is said that sperm are produced in 1000 tubules in each
testis, at the rate of millions per hour. Who supplies Life to the myriads of sperm so
fast? Science says that at an ejaculation more than a hundred million sperm are
deposited in the vagina, but only one of them is allowed to unite with the ovum in the
Fallopian tube. It may be that in the race, five or more sperm simultaneously reach
near the ovum, which is about two hundred times bigger than a sperm. But, only one
sperm is allowed to enter into and unite with the ovum. As the ovum and the sperm are
semi cells, the genes in the ovum contain designs of half of the mother's body, and the
genes in the sperm contain designs of half of the father's body. When they unite, the
fertilized ovum should have complete design of a whole body. So, only a sperm whose
genes would correctly supplement, and not duplicate, the genes in the ovum can be
allowed to unite with the ovum. It may be that more than one sperm near the ovum
have this qualification; but even then, as said above, only one of them can be allowed to
fuse with the ovum; or else the fertilized ovum will have to contain (3x23) 69, or a
larger multiple of 23 chromosomes, which is impossible for a cell. The restriction is
worked out thus: As soon as a sperm touches the ovum, it spurts an enzyme on the
touched spot, and immediately the membrane of the ovum at the spot dissolves, and
through that opening the sperm thrusts it head into the ovum, which is thereby
fertilized. Instantaneously the jelly coat around the ovum thickens and hardens to ward
off entry by another sperm. When the first mentioned sperm has thrust its head fully
into the ovum, its tail falls off, and the opening in the membrane of the ovum closes
firmly. These processes take place so quickly as to leave no chance for a second sperm
to enter the ovum. The fertilized ovum begins to develop into an embryo.

How cleverly and quickly is the fortress made secure in the fertilized ovum! How
complicated is the selection of the sperm for fertilization, which involves an accurate
awareness of the contents of genes in the ovum and in the sperm that are coming near
it! It is the sperm that brings Life to the ovum. As the sperm unites with the ovum, the
Life in the sperm becomes Life in the fertilized ovum; and later it becomes the Life in
the baby that results. So the identity of the sperm that enters the ovum is of vital

64
importance. How one sperm alone out of the hundred million brought to the vagina, is
enabled to enter the ovum which is 200 times bigger than a sperm, remains a mystery to
science. When it happens so regularly and uniformly in all women on Earth, the
phenomenon may not be a chance occurrence; it must be a clearly arranged one. Does
the Karmadhyaksha guide the selection of sperm to bring about reincarnation of a
particular Soul?

(v) Fertilization:

The union of a sperm and an ovum, is called fertilization; and the product of such union
is called a fertilized ovum or zoosperm (pronounced as o-a-sperm). Aitareya Upanishd
(2:1) reckons Soul's entry into a sperm as the inception, and fertilization as the
completion of incarnation of a person.

Scientists say that, among the 46 chromosomes in a cell, two are sex chromosomes.
They are either X-shaped of Y-shaped. In all the cells of a woman, both the sex
chromosomes are X-shaped, so every semi cell in her (which is an ovum) has one X-
chromosome. In the cells of a male, one sex chromosome is X-shaped, and the other is
Y-shaped, so that half the total number of sperm in him at any time have X-
chromosomes, and the rest have Y-chromosomes. If the sperm that unites with ovum
has X-chromosome, the fertilized ovum will have two X-chromosomes; and therefore
the child that develops will be a female. If the uniting sperm has a Y-chromosome, the
fertilized ovum will have an X-chromosome and a Y-chromosome; and therefore the
child that develops will be a male.

Scientists have succeeded in preserving sperm and ova frozen in liquid nitrogen, so that
embryos can be prepared for implanting in the womb of an apparently barren woman,
or a surrogate. But, so far, attempts to separate X-carrying sperm from Y-carrying
sperm have not succeeded. Though scientists are hopeful, it is obvious that the process
is a difficult one. But it happens so easily in the womb, so that the children born in a
period, in any district in the world, are in number fairly equal in sex. Can it be a mere
chance occurrence when it happens so regularly everywhere and at all times? If it is
not so, who or what guides the phenomenon in the wombs throughout the world? The
Quran (3:6) says,
"He it is who fashioneth you in the wombs as pleaseth Him".

(vi) The Embryo:

The single cell that is a fertilized ovum quickly becomes an embryo. It multiplies by
successive divisions, and the progeny transform into different kinds of cells, like brain
cells, bone cells, muscle cells, nerve cells, gland cells, etc. whose systematic
arrangement forms a shapely embryo. One cell splits into two, each of which becomes
a full-fledged cell like the predecessor cell; the two then divide like wise into four; and
so on; at intervals of about 15 hours regularly. As cells increase in number, the ovum
becomes a ball of cells, called a morula. It rolls slowly down the Fallopian tube. By
the fifth day of fertilization, the morula will have more than a hundred cells. The stock
of nutriments that was in the ovum, would have become scanty by that time. All the
cells then rise to the surface of the ball, leaving the centre as an empty cavity. Then the
morula is said to have become a blastula (which is a spherical single layer of cells
enclosing a central cavity). Pushed by waves in the Fallopian tube, the blastula hastens

65
to reach the womb, whose inner walls have by this time become welled with fresh
nutriments. If the blastula reaches the womb in time, it sticks onto the soft lining of the
womb whose mucous coating has already become sticky. The cells that are in contact
with the womb, shoot out tiny feelers which cling to the thick soft lining inside the
womb and begin to absorb the nutriments in store therein, and convey them to the
cavity of the blastula to nourish the other cells. All the cells grow and multiply, and
crowd into a thick mass. By the 12th day or so, that mass will comprise more than a
lakh of cells, enough to start formation of an embryo, umbilical cord, and placenta
(without stopping multiplication).

Hitherto, all the cells formed were exact duplicates of the original cell, the fertilized
ovum; but now specializations as brain cells, bone cells, muscle cells, etc. commence.
A Soul radiating vital power, and also detailed blueprints of the body being present in
the blastula, the microscopic cells have the potential for such varied transformation. As
every cell has detailed designs of all parts of a body, in 46 bundles of information, it is
up to a cell to unfold one of those bundles, adopt one of the genes in it, and follow it up,
to become a component of one particular part of the body. So, to form an embryo,
some cells in the blastula become brain cells, some become heart cells, some
become bone cells, some become muscle cells, etc. and all settle in appropriate
locations in a systematic arrangement to constitute a shapely human embryo.

How complex is the process! How does a cell chose and adopt one gene from the
thousands that are in it, and discard all the rest completely and finally? A spot in the
embryo may be junction of a bone, a muscle, a nerve, and an artery, which are different
from each other; but are physically connected. A cell has to know the exact role it is to
play – a bone, a nerve, a muscle, or what. A cell has to know it before it transforms for
the specialized part. How does it know which part of the embryo it is to form? A wrong
cell should not enter the composition of any part of the embryo. A bone cell should not
be a component of a muscle, or a muscle cell a component of a bone. The hands must
be of equal length, but the fingers must differ in length. The thighbone must be
straight; the ribs must be like semi-circular. Only the correct number of cells, no more,
no less, should gather to form an organ. The genes in the sperm contain designs of a
male body; and the genes in the ovum contain designs of a female body; so the
fertilized ovum and its progeny cells contain equally designs of male body and designs
of female body. Care has to be taken that the developing embryo is unisexual, in
order to safeguard the ability for future reproductions. That is to say, all the special
features of one sex alone shall develop in the embryo, and all the special features of the
opposite sex shall be left undeveloped (like the breasts in men and clitoris in the
women). All such aspects have to be kept in view when a cell transforms as a particular
specie. How the new cells select their role and location in the embryo remains a
mystery to science. Can the insensate cells themselves do it in mutual understanding
without guidance from a Superintellegent Being? Does not the organized way in which
the cells multiply, transform, and assemble in perfect arrangement to form the different
parts of the embryo, reveal stimulation guidance and care of a Superconscious
Mysterious Power?

The transformations of a cell are not so simple an affair. All silkworms transform into
one variety of moths only; but the identical cells of a blastula are to transform into
different varieties of cells – brain cells, bone cells, muscle cells, gland cells, etc. These
cells vary in shape, size, color, and functional capacity. The bone cells are hard and

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spiky; muscle cells are soft, contractile, and elastic. Nerve cells are long with axon and
dendrites, and some of them are long enough to extend from a toe to the spinal cord; the
cone cells of a retina are short, and tiny enough to be a lakh and half in a square
millimeter. The rod cells in the eye are sensitive to brightness, the cone cells are
sensitive to colors; the hair cells in the cochlea of the ear are sensitive to sound. Nerve
cells convey sensations and impulses; gland cells absorb ions from the bloodstream,
and synthesize them into hormones, enzymes, or proteins. Bone cells are white; muscle
cells are red or brown. Sensory nerve cells are grey; motor nerve cells are white. All
the skin cells must have the same color except at specific regions. It is the identical
cells of the blastula that transform into such widely different categories, to constitute
embryo. These complex transformations take place in perfect order and harmony
to for a lively body form. Can these highly complex phenomenon take place without a
guidance and control of a Conscious Being? They happen so correctly in millions of
wombs simultaneously in the world. The process of reproduction is more or less the
same in all living beings. Does not the uniformity of the process in all beings indicate
the universal nature of the Being that guides and controls these processes within the
wombs? The Mahanarayana Upanishad (1:1) says that the omnipresent Lord of
Creation works in the embryo.

(vii) Vision:

As soon as we just think of looking at an object, our eyes turn that side and grasp a
clear vision of the desired thing. It happens so immediately. To achieve it the
reflection of the object must be precisely focused on the retina of the eye. It requires
the lenses of the eye to be of correct curvature that suits the distance of the object from
the eye. It is the ciliary muscles around the lens in the eye that exert a push or a pull on
the elastic lens to make its curvature precisely correct for the occasion. Between our
looking at a distance object and at a near one, the process of correcting the
curvature of the lens in the eye must necessarily be done with the utmost precision.
Who knows the exact distance of the object from the eye, the correct curvature of lens
appropriate to that distance, the exact push or pull to be exerted on the lens for the
occasion – these so quickly as to cause an immediate clear vision of the object? Can it
be the insensate ciliary muscles themselves, or, are they guided by a Superintellent
Almighty Being so prompt in action? If there is such a being, He must be omnipresent,
to be available at the eyes of all living beings alike, even in the small eyes of the
smallest ants.

(viii) The human body:

What an efficient complex machine is the human body! It comprises 206 bones,
200 joints, numerous muscles, ligaments and tubes, innumerable nerves, etc. arranged
in perfect harmony. It possesses more than 6000 kilometers of capillaries besides the
blood vessels; 300 millions of alveoli (small chambers of the lungs), 120 million
minute rods and cones on a paper thick retina of the eye, a million filtering units
(nephrons) in each kidney, 20000 hair cells in the cochlea of the inner ear, 1000 tubules
in the testis or 3 lakh ovules in the ovary, etc., etc. Each cell contains 46 chromosomes;
each having hundreds of genes in the nucleus, and hundreds of mitochondria in the
cytoplasm outside the nucleus. Each cell, in its total genes, carries a complete detailed
blueprint of the whole body. The mitochondria in the cells generate electricity needed
for various bodily functions. Muscle fibres contract telescopically on electric

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stimulation. Many functions, like pumping of heart, focusing of eyes, raising or folding
limbs, chewing of food, pushing of food through the digestive tract, rolling of ovum
through the Fallopian tube, delivery of child, expulsion of urine, holding the body erect,
etc. are all done through contractions and relaxations of muscle fibres under electric
stimulations & withdrawals. Whatever be the food we take, it is broken into basic ions,
out of which the various gland-cells synthesize different hormones, enzymes, proteins,
fats, sugars, milk, etc. needed for various purposes in the body. How speedily do the
salivary glands produce saliva to convert the starch in our food into glucose! All glands
are of like alertness. When blood passes through the nephrons, urea and other poisons
and wastes are filtered off efficiently. The blood itself carries phagocytes which ingest
and destroy things foreign to the blood, like bacteria and dust particles. In the tubules
of tests, millions of sperm are multiplied every hour. Grey nerves transmit sensations
from the sensory organs to the brain, and white nerves convey messages from the brain
to the organs for action. The first half of a capillary is the ending of an artery, and the
other half is the beginning of a vein. When red blood cells, in single file, squeeze
through the capillaries, by the squeeze oxygen is released to the cells; and on release of
the squeeze carbon dioxide is drawn in from the cells, except in the lungs where the
squeeze ejects carbon dioxide from the blood cells into the air, and release of squeeze
draws in oxygen from the air inhaled into the lungs. A network of cells in the brainstem
monitors all incoming sensations like sound, smell and touch, to prevent disturbance of
sleep, but even a faint sound of baby's crying can pass through it to awaken the deep-
sleeping mother. How many more wonderful functions go on, from moment to
moment, in our body! Every complex machine announces the skill of its maker and
operator. The human body is a highly complex machine which performs so many
complex jobs so speedily and efficiently. Surely there must be a mysterious entity that
made it and operates it. The harmonious coordination of its works is simply wonderful.
The more we think of it, the more we become convinced of the reality of that entity and
of Its being a Superconscious Being, omnipresent and omnipotent.

(ix) Of plants

A contemplation of the body of a plant also leads to the same disclosure. We find
flowers of beautiful colors and smells, like lotus, rose, and mango flowers, blossoming
in plants that are green. It may be specializations of identical plant cells and leaf cells,
flower cells, fruit cells, seed cells, bark cells, wood cells, sap cells, root cells, etc. that
go on in germinating seeds, as the specializations of blastula-cells occur in an embryo.
How systematic are the arrangement of petals in a lotus or rose flower, and the
arrangement of mango flowers in a bunch? How tasty are the fruits of many trees! Do
these specializations and arrangements occur at the choice of the insensible plant cells
themselves; or are they guided and controlled by a Superconscious Omnipresent Power
or Being?

We see a bud at the tip of many plants. In a fig tree, peepul, banyan, or jack tree, it is
about an inch long. It is the bud at the tip of a young sapling that unfolds gradually,
leaf by leaf, and ultimately becomes a big tree. When we try to see the interior of a
bud, we find leaves and stem, becoming smaller and smaller, tender and tender, and
then becoming rudimentary and microscopic. Ultimately then become invisibly subtle.
Evidently, the whole tree is contained in a minute or subtle form in the bud, to be
unfolded slowly in the course of decades or centuries. The peepal is a big tree that
grows several centuries. The unfolding of the bud goes on, all that time. When we split

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a bean, we find between its cotyledons the embryo of a plant with two distinct leaves
and a central bud. The seed of a peepul is very small. Inside that small seed is the
microscopic embryo that will expand slowly into a seedling and a big tree. How
correctly are the stems and branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits, condensed in invisibly
minute form in that small seed! The architect, who shapes the seeds so efficiently, in
millions every season, must be the Super-intelligent Being who deals in material things
and matterless realities alike.

Section 43 INFERENCES

Contemplations, such as described above, reveal the existence and care of a universal
Supreme Being, in every natural phenomenon. A perfect order and telling harmony are
seen in movements of the huge stars in the sky, in movements of minute electrons in
atoms, in the constitution and function of physical bodies of men, animals and plants –
in short, in all natural phenomena in the sky and in the world; and they reveal a
Superconscious Universal Being at work to direct, guide, and control them. It may be
similar contemplations that induced the great scientist, Albert Einstein, to declare his
belief in "God who reveals Himself in the harmony of all that exists". The more we
ponder in the above line, the more we feel convinced of the reality of declarations of
great thinkers on God.

God is the Creator of everything, and from Him (i.e. by His stimulation) does
everything function (Bhagavad Gita 10:8).
There are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all, in all.
(Bible 1 Cor. 12:6)
It is God's will that moves all things, brings all things into existence, and sustain them
(Philokalia Vol. 2 p 279)
Not a leaf falleth but He knoweth it. (Quran 6:59).

Section 44 PERSONAL GOD

The revelation in contemplations of the kind described above, is the existence of an

invisible cosmic Being who regulates all the mysterious phenomena in the universe. In
Indian philosophy that Being is called Brahman, or God. The revelation is of God in
a dual aspect – He is Supergod who directs, guides, and controls various activities in
the sky and in the world; He is also an abstract entity which exists everywhere, in the
limitless Space and in the minute interior of microscopic cells. When it is said that
God bears a dual aspect, it means that He is a single entity possessing two aspects,
like a coin having two distinct sides. He is a mysterious combination of both aspects –
He exists as an abstract entity, and also behaves like a Superperson. Therefore, it
is open to a person to think of God in either aspect. The devotee may visualize God
in a personal form and offer worship to such personage; or, he may think of God as the
abstract Vital Power of Consciousness present in all beings everywhere and
devotionally worship His presence in every being seen.

Bhagavad Gita (4:11) says "In whatever mode men approach God, in the same mode
will God meets them".
Philokalia (Vol. 2 p 186) also declare "God reveals Himself to each person according to
each person's mode of conceiving Him".

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Some may express (as in Maitrayani Upanishad 5:3) that God has two forms – a
corporeal form and an incorporeal form, that is to say, an embodied existence and a
formless existence. They are apparently justified by God's constant omnipresence and
His occasional vivid appearances in definite personal forms, as He did before Sree
Ramakrishna. (See Sect. 48 below). His vision of God (in 1874) in the form of Jesus
Christ exemplifies both aspects of God. 'Sri Ramakrishna the Great Master' (2:21:3 at p
296) reports that vision thus:

"Very soon the person approached him, and from the bottom of the Master's pure heart
came out the words 'Jesus! Jesus the Christ, ….' Jesus the god-man, then embraced the
Master and disappeared into his body, and the Master entered into ecstasy, lost normal
consciousness and remained identified for some time with the Omnipresent Brahman
with attributes."

'Brahman with attributes' is the Sagunabrahman, the Impersonal God. Sri

Ramakrishna's vision of God as "a marvelous god-man of very fair complexion" with a
beautiful face and long eyes, coming towards him, exemplifies God's appearance in a
definite personal form; and the disappearance into his body exemplifies the reality of
God as an abstract Being. Puranas mention God to have appeared from invisibility to
visible personality before Prahlada, and before Markandeya, and to have, after saving
the devotee, vanished back to invisibility. Bible tells that, when Jesus was baptized,
"The Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him" (Luke 3:22) and,
disappearing into his body, made him "full of the Holy Ghost" (ibid 4:1), whereupon he
began to deliver sermons and work wonders in God's name. These narrations clearly
proclaim the dual aspect of God.

We observed (sec. 8 above) that God's real existence is as a cosmic Power, the
Universal Vital Consciousness. Vedas identify Him as Cosmic Chaitanyam, and refer
to Him as 'Chith' which is a short for Chaitanyam. Upanishads and hymns describe
Him as Chaitanyarupi, Chit-svarupa, Chinmaya, etc. – all of which names literally
mean 'of the form of Chaitanyam' or Vital Consciousness.

Though God is, in reality, a cosmic abstract entity, He may, if He wills, appear as a
corporeal person or other being. Soul is also an abstract entity of Consciousness, and
(in Sect. 1 above) we noted instances of appearance of discarnate Souls as identifiable
apparitions. The incidents connected with James Chaffin, and Lady Barrett's patient,
are fairly clear and convincing in the affair. If individual Souls, which are minute
fragment of vital Consciousness, can appear in body forms, it is certain that God,
who is the Total Vital Consciousness, can also appear in personal or other body
forms, if He wills. (cf. P 19,20 above) God's personal appearances are always casual
and brief. They cannot be said to show that God has a personal form; but such
occasional appearances would justify our visualization of God in a personal or other
form in our contemplations and worships.

On our part, normally, a form is a necessity for an impressive thought on God. We

generally think of an object through a name and form (nama rupa). Name and form
go together inseparably; one brings along with it the other also to the mind. When we
just try to think of an object, its name and form come to the mind; and all further
thoughts center round them. So, to think of an object, we require an idea of its form;
the conception of a form will carry with it a name also; so a form is necessary for a

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sustained thought of any object. If the object is formless, it is generally difficult to
sustain a firm thought on it. Bhagavad Gita (12:2-5) say that all meditations on God, in
the personal aspect or in the abstract aspect, lead to the same result, but to meditate on
the abstract aspect is very difficult for the body-conscious man. So, men generally
conceive and contemplate God in a personal form. It, not only makes meditation
easy, but also impresses mind, helps concentration of thoughts on God; facilitates
worship, causes special satisfaction or delight in worship, and intensifies devotion.
Ramapurvatapini Upanishad (1:7) observes
"To facilitate the purposes of worshippers, form is attributed to Brahman, the formless
all-pervading sole Being of Consciousness."
It says that God is a formless universal Being and a form to Him is man's artifice for his
convenience of contemplation and veneration. But the forms actually adopted to
represent God are not devices of mere fancies; they are forms in some way or other
related with God; mostly forms in which God is believed to have appeared at some time
before some one. When Sagunabrahman is thus conceived in a personal form, He
is mentioned as a Personal God, or God simply. Correspondingly, when He is
conceived in the all-pervading formless aspect, He is mentioned as the Impersonal
God or the Godhead.

The usage of distinct names, as God and Godhead, should not be understood to refer to
two entities, or to two forms or the Divinity. God and Godhead are one and the same
Divinity, and not two at all. It is like a coin, one face of which is a personal
representation, and the other an abstract drawing. Vishnu, Siva, Durga, etc. are
Personal Gods, and Easwara (Sagunabrahman) is the Impersonal God in Hinduism.
Jehovah, Father, and Son are Personal Gods and Holy Host (Spirit of God) is the
Impersonal God in Christianity. (Ex 6:3, 1 Cor 3:16). Islam recognizes no specific
personal form to God; but the direction in Quran to turn in the direction of the Kaabah
at Mecca in all prayers (Sura 2:144,150) indicates a conception of His definite,
presence at the specific spot; to the ordinary man it may spell a definite existence at the
Kaabah. And, the description in Surah 2:115 etc. "Whithersoever ye turn, there is
Allah's countenance; Lo! Allah is All-Embracing, All-Knowing." clearly mentions His
omnipresence, which implies impersonal existence. Sri Ramakrishna's experience
(vide p 80-81 below) shows that Sufi Muslims think of God in the form of Mohamed
with long beard.

Besides Personal Gods, Incarnations of a Personal God are also worshipped as Personal
Gods. Though an incarnation may exhibit human traits and divine traits, the devotees
think only of the divine aspects in His life, the divine personality displayed by Him.
Rama and Krishna are worshipped by the Hindus as Incarnations of Vishnu. Jesus
Christ is worshipped by the Catholics as Incarnation of the 'Son' of the Trinity
(Philokalia Vol. 2 p 287). Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs, who do not speak of God,
worship their spiritual leaders (mainly, Buddha, Mahavir Jain and Guru Nanak) almost
as divine personages.

Section 45 THE ONENESS

All religions, which acknowledge God, declare that God is one only, and there is not
another. (Vide Svetasvatara Upanishad 3:2, 3; Bible, Eph 4:6; Quran 3:2, etc.).
Upanishads say plainly that a personal form to God is not a reality (Maitrayani
Upanishad 5:3), but a mere attribution by man for his convenience of worshipping Him.

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The attribution of personal form for God may be as many as human imagination can
devise. If God is conceived in two or more personal forms, like Vishnu, Siva and
Durga, or Father and Son, apparently there may be so many Personal Gods for
individual worships; but in reality there is only One God. Any actor, putting on
different dresses, may appear as a king and a waiter; but he is neither king, nor waiter;
he is really Mr. So-and-so always. Merely because a religion allows different forms for
worship of God, with different names given to each, it cannot be said that the religion
recognizes plurality of Gods.
Skandopanishad (8) asks devotees to bow,
"To Siva of the form of Vishnu, (and) To Vishnu of the form of Siva." ("Sivaya
Vishnurupaya Sivarupaya Vishnave").
Rudrahridaya Upanishad (6) observes:
"Whoever bows to Vishnu, they are bowing to Siva; whoever devoutly worships
Vishnu, they worship Siva."
Plainly the Upanishads preach the oneness of Vishnu and Siva, the oneness of God in
two personal forms of Vishnu and Siva. They signify that Vishnu and Siva are not
two, but one only in two forms, or roles. This example applies to all personal Gods
equally. They are worshipped only as Personal forms, or Personal representations of
the single God, Easwara, and not as different personages of Divinity. Any notion
otherwise, I am afraid, betrays a misunderstanding of religion.

In hymns and Upanishads concerning Vishnu, He is praised as the all-pervading Sole

God; hymns and Upanishads concerning Siva praise Him equally as the all-pervading
Sole God. Vishnu is God, Siva is God. They are not conceived as parts of God; each is
the sole God, that is to say, the whole and complete God. Nor is God conceived partly
in Vishnu and partly in Siva. God is wholly and completely Vishnu; God is wholly and
completely Siva; Vishnu and Siva are each the whole and complete God. The one God
is worshipped in the personal name and form of Vishnu by some men, and in the
personal name and form of Siva by some others, and in other names and forms by
other people.

Likewise, is the conception of Trinity – the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – of the
Catholic theology. When Father, Son and Holy Spirit, are said to be three Personalities
of God, it does not mean that each is different from the other two. The three are one
only. Each of the triune is the whole and complete God. Nor is one of the Trinity come
into being through another, or dependent on another. (Vide Philokalia Vol. 2 p 173, 165,
296). St. Maximo explains the concept thus:
"The Divinity is not partially in the Father, nor is Father part of God. The Divinity is
not partially in the Son, nor is the Son part of God. The Divinity is not partially in the
Holy Spirit, nor is the Holy Spirit part of God. For the Divinity is not divisible, nor is
the Father or the Son, or the Holy Spirit, incomplete God. On the contrary, the whole
and complete Divinity is completely in the complete Father; the whole and complete
Divinity is completely in the complete Son; and the whole and complete Divinity is
completely in the complete Holy Spirit."
Bible also says
"There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost;
and these three are one." (1 John 5:7)

When belief in the One God for the universe becomes firm in a devotee, his concept
normally develops from Personal God to the all pervading Impersonal God.

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Section 46 THE CREATOR

Bhagavad Gita (13:17) tells

"Brahman …is to be known as the Creator; Controller and the Swallower of beings".
We have observed (sect. 8 above) that Sagunabrahman the Impersonal God, and Nature
the creative genius, worked together to create the universe of beings. Nature created
body forms, and God supplied Life to them. Contemplation of things in nature (sect. 42
above) reveal that the mysterious processes, like efficient fertilization of ovum, correct
specializations and assemblages of cells, etc. are all directed, guided and controlled by
the omnipresent God. Thus, the main architect or creation of beings is God Himself,
though Nature does all the spadework in the affair.

Bible (Gen 1:1-27) tells God to have created heaven and earth and all beings.
Quran (10:4) also tells: "Lo ! your Lord is Allah who created the heavens and the earth
in six Days, then He established Himself upon the throne, directing all things" and
explains (22:47) the reckoning;
"A Day with Allah is as a thousand years of what ye reckon".

Thus, scriptures speak alike of God as the Creator of all beings.

Svetasvatara Upanishad (6:17) regards the omniscient all-pervading God as the Ruler
and Protector of the world.
Bhagavad Gita (4:7, 8) details His rule,
"Whenever virtue fall low, and vices rise high, God incarnates Himself.
"To protect the pious and destroy the wicked, and to establish virtue, God incarnate age
after age."
Bible (Ps 36:6) praises God as the Preserver of man and beast.
Quran (39:62) also declares
"Allah is Creator of all things, and He is the Guardian over all things."

Finally, God is said to impel all beings to return to Him. (see Philokalia Vol. 2 p 282).
Svetasvatara Upanishad (3:2) observes,
"After creating and protecting all the worlds, in the end He withdraws them unto
Himself:.
Bible (Ps 90:3) hymns: "Thou turneth men to destruction, and sayest Return, ye
children of men."
Quran (40:3) also tells "There is no God save Him; Unto Him is the journeying."

Thus God is said to absorb back all souls that came forth from Him. He is therefore
depicted also as the Destroyer or Swallower of all beings.
"Of Him and through Him and to Him are all things" (Bible, Rom 11:36).

Section 47 PRAYER

The early men who wondered at the natural phenomena, like the blowing of storms,
rising of clouds, appearance of rainbows, lightning and thunders, heavy downpours
and floods, eruptions of volcanoes, occurrence of epidemics, deaths, childbirths, etc.
thought them to be works of celestial persons whom they called gods. Particular gods

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were deemed to preside over particular phenomena. Different nations called them by
different names. The god of rains was called Jupiter by the Romans, Zeus by the
Greeks, Marduk by the Babylonians, and Indra by the Indians. The god of seas was
Neptune to the Romans, Poseidon to the Greeks, and Varuna to the Indians. The
goddess of love was Venus to the Romans, Aphrodite to the Greeks, and Rati to the
Indians. And so on. All the pleasant phenomena like the blooming of plants,
abundance of harvest, luck in ventures, childbirths, etc. were the works of benevolence
of the respective gods, and all the unpleasant phenomena like epidemics, floods,
accidents, etc. were the displays of their anger. The god of rains could cause timely
pleasant rains to promote profuse growth of fruits and grains; he could equally cause
devastating floods or disastrous droughts to starve the people and the cattle. As men
were struck by a sense of fear of displeasure of the gods, they thought of pleasing the
gods with offerings, dances, and songs of praise. So they began to worship gods.
When they began to render worships, the idea struck them that, if well propitiated, the
gods might favor the worshipper. Then, they began to supplicate prayers at the end of
every worship, requesting success in efforts, avoidance of obstructions, gratification of
desires, increase of wealth and health etc. Every hymn addressed to a god contained, at
its end or so, a prayer for some benefaction.

The gods were not conceived to be omnipresent deities; they were only heavenly
persons with superhuman powers, who were normally invisible to men, but could
appear before them in a visible form and talk with them, if the gods desired so (much as
apparitions do). Puranas mention god Indra to have appeared before Kunti, and Karna,
god Varuna to have appeared before Rama, and talked with them.

When the early thinkers noted the prevalence of perfect order and harmony in the
universe, in a way conducive to the welfare and pleasantness of the world, they thought
that, if the diverse phenomena were controlled by different gods without a common
superior over them, such a perfect order and harmony would not have prevailed so
universally; and therefore they thought there was a Supreme Lord over all gods and the
whole universe. With that inference came the understanding that such Supreme Lord
was omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. They called that Supreme Lord s 'God'
of the universe.

When conception rose from gods presiding over particular affairs in the world, to an
Almighty God presiding over all affairs in the universe, many persons preferred to
worship the Supreme God, instead of the gods, and to address their prayers for
gratification of desires to God Himself. But, the generality of the commoners
continued in the old way to worship gods and to seek their benefactions in particular
needs. Probably they thought gods were more accessible and were easily pleased with
offerings. Bhagavad Gita (4:12) observes,
"Persons desiring success in efforts, worship gods with offerings, because success in
work is quickly attained (thereby) in this world of mortals."
Such practices were not dissuaded by the enlightened men, who regarded them as
expressions of a primary or preliminary stage of spiritual understanding. Even the
founders of organized religions, who insisted on worship of the Supreme God alone,
directed their votaries not to disparage the worship of gods.

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Bible expressed it as an Ordinance of God, "Thou shall not revile the gods." (Ex 22:28)
Quran (6:109) also directed, "Revile not those unto whom they (the idolaters) pray
beside Allah…"
Bhagavad Gita went a step further, as it said,
"Men, who are led by their own nature and are stupefied by desires, approach the other
gods through prescribed rituals. (ibid 7:20)
"Whoever faithfully yearns to worship whatever form (of divinity), his firm faith, as
such, God affirms (ibid 7:21)
As the former verse (7:20) refers to worship of "other gods" the "form" referred to in
this latter verse must be the form of a god so worshipped. It then signifies that,
whatever be the god one yearns to worship to attain his desire, if his faith is firm
(achala), it will be supported by God.
"(When) with such (firm) faith, he earnestly worships such form (of divinity), through
it (through such worship) he gets him desires gratified by God Himself". (ibid 7:22).
Because, God considers "Even the worshippers of other gods, who pray with faith and
devotion, are praying to God Himself in an anomalous way". (ibid 9:89)

Thus, Bhagavad Gita tells that, when a fervent prayer is made to a god, it is not the god
who hears the prayer, it is the Supreme God himself. Man's experiences follow the
blooming of his Karmabhavas. God alone can direct the order of blooming of
Karmabhavas and thereby shape his experiences in life. When a person, who is
ignorant of this fact, believes (without the least trace of doubt) that the god whom he
approaches will gratify his desire, and in that firm faith makes prayers to that god, he is
virtually appealing to the Divinity who has the power to grant his prayer. The
omniscient God, knowing the suppliant's sincere faith and earnest efforts, overlooks his
ignorant follies, and, deeming his soulful prayers, as been made to God Himself "in an
anomalous way", gratifies his desire.

It follows from the above, that a fervent prayer for fulfillment of a desire made
directly to God, in full faith, will be heard by God. Bhagavad Gita (7:16) observes
that persons in distress and persons longing for wealth pray to God. Though their
worships of God are prompted by desires, Gita accepts them as worthy men (Gita 7:18)
because their fervent prayers are apt to develop supreme devotion in them in the long
run. A prayer becomes fervent, when it rises from the Soul. Only a just desire can
cause such a prayer. When the prayer rises from the Soul, the whirling waves of the
Soul would become emotional and rotate with higher acceleration and vigour, and the
spreading waves emanating from them will also become more vigorous with the
emotion. One external sign of it will be that tears will gush down the cheeks. They are
not tears of grief, but only tears of intense emotion.

Philokalia (Vol. 3, p. 45) observes,

"Unless the words of prayer penetrate to the Soul's depths, no tears will moisten your
cheeks" and also tells
"If you pray with tears, all you ask will be heard." (ibid Vol. 1, p.58)
Quran (2:186) tells: "God answers the prayer of the suppliant when he crieth unto
God".
Bible also tells: "All things whatever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall
receive". (Mat 21:22).
The word 'believing' in this verse is significant. The prayer must be in full belief,
unstained by any trace of doubt in God's benefaction.

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When prayer is made with unrestrainable tears, the Karmabhava that arises from the
prayer will be rotating very vigorously. In that case, if God so wills, He may set that
extraordinary Karmabhava with the current Prarabdhakarma and direct its early bloom
and fruition. (cf. p. 54 above). If God does so, the desire in the prayer gets fulfilled
soon; and God will then be said to have heard the prayer.

The prayers of the kind described above have certain shortcomings. As they involve a
prayer (request) for the suppliant's worldly benefits, the venerations he does are for his
own sake, not for God's sake; they are parts of his efforts to earn the worldly benefits.
Praying to God for a material benefit is virtually trying to make God an instrument for
acquiring that benefit; it is not an act of devotion. So, though the suppliant may get
his desire gratified by God, he does not get God's grace or good will. Furthermore, the
expectation for a benefit will last only till it is achieved. Thereafter, the suppliant's
remembrance of God will lose its vigour, and become meager, or mere routine. So, the
purposeful devotion or attachment he had to God at the prayer is more or less temporal.
In fact, prayers with worldly ambitions do not cause a spiritual advancement.

There is another kind of prayers which involve a lasting attachment to God. They are
prayers that contain no prayer (request) for earthly benefits. They are plain expressions
of love and reverence to God. They consist only of recitals of praise of God, or
recitations of His names (like Sahasranamas). Though they contain no prayer for
anything, such recitals and recitations are called 'Prayers' in all languages, merely
because they are addressed to God. A pure devotee will regard his prayers to God too
sacred to be mixed with mundane affairs. Whatever be his miseries he will not pollute
his prayer of reverent love to God with a request for earthly favours. When Kuchela of
starving poverty called on Krishna, he did not request any help for the livelihood of his
starving family. When Swami Vivekananda, in his early youth, was under burning
anxiety for the sustenance of his widowed mother and helpless siblings, he made no
request for help before goddess Kali when he had her vision at his Guru's place.
Philokalia (Vol. 1 p 100) cautions,
"Do not pray for fulfillment of your wishes, for they may not accord with the will of
God; but pray saying, 'Thy will be done in me".
Prayer of simple love and reverence elevate the mind Godward. Addition of a request
for earthly favour pollutes the prayers, and lowers the mind to the earthly level.

Section 48 DEVOTION

Devotion (Bhakti in Sanskrit) is intense love to God. We noted that reverence shown
to gods or other minor deities are mostly, not expressions of love to them, but are
emotional efforts to attain some worldly benefits for self. Even a veneration to God, if
it is motivated by a desire to be fulfilled, will not be an expression of love to God, but
only a ceremonial supplication of the desire. Plain pure love, flowing Godward,
alone will be Devotion.

When thinkers understood God as the Cosmic Soul, and their own Souls to have arisen
as tiny fragments diffused from God, they felt a sublime filial love and reverence to
God. The knowledge that God is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe and
Protector of all beings, endeared Him further. Thus arose an intense love to God, which
is called devotion. As worldly love binds Soul to Soul, devotion binds the Soul to God.

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A notable feature of pure love is its having no motive to make a material benefit
out of it. It is an emotion that simply excites mind and Soul towards the beloved.
Love's excitement is always to be near about, or to be in communion with, the beloved.
Its stimulus is to render servies to the beloved. Even a mundane lover does not
anticipate a return or reward for service rendered to his beloved. Are there not cases in
which a girl or a youth, loved by one, married another; and, long thereafter, came to be
saved from a great peril by the selfless service of the rejected lover? Any benefaction
by the beloved may gladden the lover to the utmost; but the lover will not anticipate or
yearn for it. It is likewise and more, with devotion. A true devotee will never think of
making a profit out of his devotion, or make a prayer to God for any worldly favour;
however miserable his circumstances may be. Only joyful songs of pure praise of God
will be his communication to God. He will only praise and worship God as his highest
ideal, and will abhor the idea of impelling Him to do favours to him.

Love manifests in reverence. Everything that belongs to the beloved is sacred to a

worldly lover. It is so with the spiritual lover also. The normal reverence that is felt
towards temples, holy places, priests, religious teachers, etc. are all manifestations of
love to God, extended to things connected with Him. Reverence shown to scriptures in
all religions, is also a manifestation of man's inherent love to God.

Another feature of love is the special delight the lover feels on a visualization of the
beloved in the mind. When a devotee talks or sings praises to God with thought of God
in his mind, the waves of his Soul become stirred so much that tears of devotion will
gush down his cheeks, or horripilations will cover his body. In that ecstasy, the devotee
may forget everything else, and dance in utter delight.

Intense love tends to become single-tack. It tends to converge and concentrate on one
object. Convergence of all love on one object intensifies the love. Admitting different
objects to the love is to share the love between those different objects. It is said that
Hanuman, who was devoted to Rama, once expressed:
"Krishna and Rama may be manifestations of the same God; still, my all is Rama
alone". So, when he prostrated before Krishna, he visualized Rama in Krishna's place,
and thought he was prostrating to Rama. That was a clear display of single track
devotion. Such an attitude causes consistency, constancy and concentration in
devotion.

An ardent devotee may adopt, and visualize always a single form to God for his
venerations; whatever be the place where he renders the veneration. To think of God in
different personal forms, is to cause the mind to change frequently its conception of the
form of God. When an ardent devotee adheres to one Personal God, that is to say, to
one definite form for his visualization of God, and goes on visualizing God in that one
form constantly at all worships, his mental image of God in that form becomes more
and more vivid. Soon he reaches a stage of experiencing a vivid mental vision of that
form as soon as he closes eyes in thought of God, and experiencing a subtle delight on
such visions. Then his devotion is said to become single track, and the form he
visualizes for God is called his Chosen Ideal (Ishta devata). Thereafter, when he visits
another place where a different form is installed to represent God, and worships God on
the form there, without visualizing God in the form of his Chosen Ideal, his mind is
constrained to deviate from its habitual conception of God in the form of the Chosen

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Ideal and to conceive Him in a different form. It compels mind to shift from form to
form. His ardent adherence to the form of Chosen Ideal may get confused or divided
between the two forms. On the other hand, if he did firmly look upon the form or
image of God as a mere representation, he could well have thought of God in the form
of his Chosen Ideal being present there also, in the place of the image at the sanctuary
there, and could have offered worship, or understood the worship being done there, as
done on his Chosen Ideal form so imagined by him. In short, he could well have done
as Hanuman did before Krishna. That would have added strength to his adherence to
the Chosen Ideal and to his habitual mode of worship. Frequent transplantations may
not help growth of a plant; frequent transplantations of God's image may not help
development of devotion either. Constancy and consistency in single-track devotion
are apt to intensify the devotion to God.

Visiting centres of pilgrimage is good for a devotee. The atmosphere about the
sanctuary there, will be full of resonance of subtle waves of godly thoughts, praises of
God, and sacred hymns from thousands of devotees who had prayed there. Any
devotee visiting the spot will imbibe the pious excitement of those collective waves
there. That is the sanctity of the place – the spiritual force that stirs there. If the
devotee can visualize God, in the form of his usual contemplations, as present at the
holy of holies there, it will add commendable spiritual force to his devotion. Hence it is
that pilgrimages are commended in all religions.

A devotee may visit any place of worship – a temple, church, mosque, synagogue, or
any other house of God and observe single-track devotion. God is one only,
everywhere. Whatever be the name and form of God's house at the place, and whatever
be the name and form of His representation there, it does not matter; he bows to God
who is everywhere. What matters really is his remembrance of God. It is best done in
the form in which he is used to visualize Him. Habit becomes part of one's nature; so
the form in which a person habitually visualizes God becomes a natural form of God
for him. Visualizing God in that way, if he offers worship at the new place, it will be a
commendable devotional observance, which will stabilize his rememberance of God.
Group worship has its own advantages because of the surge of subtle waves of
devotional thoughts and songs from the persons present there. Every devotee can
partake of it with advantage.

Devotion leads to true knowledge of God. Quran (7:157) describes Mohamed as a

"Prophet who could neither read, nor write"; but he had, by devotion, attained the
knowledge which has guided millions for centuries.

Bhagavad Gita (10:10, 11) says,

"Those who always meditate on God and joyfully worship Him, God provides the
wisdom by which they will attain Him. Out of compassion for them, God, who abides
as (cosmic) soul, destroys the darkness of their ignorance, with the effulgent lamp of
knowledge."
Conversely, the Tripadvibhuti Mahanarayana Upanishad (8:4) observes
"Without devotion, the spiritual knowledge will never arise". (Bhaktya vina,
brahmajnanam Kadapi na jayate).
Philokalia (Vol. 2 p 120) also observes

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"A soul can never attain the knowledge of God unless God Himself in His
condescension takes hold of it and raises it unto Himself…and illumines it with rays of
divine light."
To get God's grace, the aspirant must be sincerely devoted. To those who think that
beyond the material world, nothing worthy exists, God will be a myth; and wealth,
power and sex will be the supreme ideals in life. They cannot attain knowledge of God.
Love of God (devotion) alone will lead to knowledge of what and who God is in
reality, says Bhagavad Gita (11:54, 18:55).
Philokalia (Vol. 3 p 148) observes,
"The more he praises God, the more becomes his knowledge of God."
Conversely, love, without true knowledge of the beloved, will be shallow or superficial.
It is so with the divine love also. Devotion will get strengthened and deep rooted only
with true knowledge of God. Devotion leads to knowledge and knowledge
strengthens and intensifies devotion.

Devotion is inherent in every man; because, all beings bear an affinity to their
source, and God is the source of the essential being (the Soul) in every man. As all
religions are based on belief in a universal Supreme Power, whom most religions call
God, man's universal love for religion is virtually an indication of his inherent affinity
to God. Equally inherent in man is the counter-potency of self-consciousness or Ego.
Attachment to God will weaken the Soul's regard for Ego; therefore Ego will constantly
allure the Soul away from Godly thoughts, with the prospects of easily procurable
worldly enjoyments. Even before the inherent affinity to God can make the slightest
appearance in a child, Ego will take hold of him and urge him to assert self-interests
over the interests of his siblings and others. Bodily needs, and needs of action in the
form of play, will support the urge of Ego for selfness, in the child. Thus, Ego will be
prompt to suppress the Soul's affinity to God, even from the beginning of life. Hence, a
stimulus from outside becomes often necessary to excite the inherent love to God.
Hearing stores of God's glories, seining images, pictures, or the like representations of
God, attending venerations offered to God, reciting hymns, singing names of God, etc.
can provide the requisite stimulus. Those who do not get such stimulus during
childhood are apt to become settled in selfishness and ego. Those who get such
stimulus frequently in their childhood, easily develop in the love of God. The
inspirations of past Karmabhavas count a lot in this regard. Ultimately, those who
succumb to Ego, venerate mammon as the supreme power of the world, and dedicate
their lives to indulge in wealth, power, sex, etc. On the other hand, those who hold
devotion as sacred, venerate God, and indulge in worship of God, and dedicate
themselves to piety, charity, humility and similar virtues.

Finally, devotion leads to attainment of God.

Philokalia says,
"It is possible for man to attain union with God". (ibid Vol. 1 p 348)
"Love leads and guides towards God and unites men with Him". (ibid Vol. 2 p 170)
Atmopanishad (22-23) says that just as on destruction of an earthen pot the air enclosed
in it unites with the air in the atmosphere, on dissolution of the Subtle Body, the Soul in
it will unite with the Cosmic Soul, the God. But, it is open to a Soul, who has attained
the highest spiritual elevation, to continue without such merger and then it will have all
the powers of God, except the power of Creation and Absorption of the universe, (vide
Brahmasutras 4:4:8-17).

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It is said that before attainment of God, the devotee may see God clearly in a form of
his own choice – not a mere visualization, but an actual vision. Several have said it
impossible to see God; several others have said positively that God can be seen just as
clearly as we see each other; each may be telling his experience which accords with his
spiritual attainments. We have observed (sect. 1 above) that the discarnate Souls of
deceased relatives are seen as identifiable apparitions by many persons close to death.
The incidents connected with James Chaffin and Lady Barrett's patient (cited in sect. 1
above) are telling in this regard. If discarnate Souls can be seen as identifiable
apparitions, it cannot be an impossibility to see God as well. Hagiographies of men
who had seen God tell that, even in their young days, they had exhibited spiritual
attainments of a high order, which cannot be traced to any work in the current life. It
shows that in their vision of God, they were continuing the attainments they had
worked out in prior life. (cf. Bhagavad Gita 6:40-45).

Bible says hat Jacob say God face to face (Gen 32:30) and also that Moses and his
companions saw God at Mt. Sinai (Ex 24:9-11). Indian Puranas also tell that Prahlada
and Markandeya saw God face to face. Christ told people, "Blessed are the pure in
heart, for they can see God". (Mat 5:8).
Bhagavad Gita (8:14) tells,
"Whoever constantly thinks of God, without distraction, to such a staunch devotee God
is readily available (sulabha).

In recent times, Sri Ramakrishna (1836-1886), Guru of Swami Vivekananda, through

his unique devotion, had materialized the vision of God. His hagiography "Sri
Ramakrishna The Greater Master" reports that, at the age of 20, he became the priest of
the Kali Temple at Dakshineswar, and soon thereafter he became eager to have an
actual vision of the Deity, that, after the regular rituals of worship, he used to pray, and
pray long, for Her vision, with tears gushing down his cheeks, and that, one day (in
1856) his anguish became so unbearable that he determined to end the life that would
not enable him to see the Deity, and, like mad with despair, he took the sword that was
beside the image, when suddenly he saw "a boundless luster of Consciousness" with the
Holy Mother, Kali, at its centre, and fell unconscious (ibid 2:5:9; 2:6:12,13). Then he
began to pine for "constant immediate vision of the Divine Mother's form", and attained
that too, and used to see "the full figure of the effulgent Mother, smiling and speaking,
and guiding him" (ibid 2:7:4). He was well aware that the Deity was not the image he
worshipped. If it was the image there was no need for him to pine for its vision. He
knew the Deity was only the All-Embracing Being of Consciousness (ibid 2:5:10, 11;
2:6:7); but he firmly believed that the Deity can assume a visible form and appear to a
devotee and guide him as the Almighty Mother to him. So, he prayed to see the Deity
and achieved it to the full. Because of his consciousness that God is one only for all in
the universe, he wanted to see if the disciplines of the other religions also would lead
him to similar God-visions. In 1866, he practiced Islam, under a Sufi dervish, and
realized Allah before him, in the form of "an effulgent impressive personage with a
long beard" (ibid 2:16:9-12). In 1874, he meditated on Jesus for 3 days and
materialized His vision as "a marvelous god-man of very fair complexion", with a very
beautiful face, and long eyes, coming towards him, firming looking at him, who then
embraced him, and vanished into his body, whereupon he became unconscious for
some time (ibid 2:21:3, 4). In the light of such experiences he used to say "All
religions are true – as many faiths, so many paths:, (ibid 2: app: 23; 4:4:44).

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Methods may be different; languages may be different; but at the core all religions have
the same goal – to reach God.

When Narendra (early name of Swami Vivekananda) visited him first, with his
companions, Sri Ramakrishna told them
"God can be seen and spoken with, just as I am seeing you and speaking with you; but
who wants to do so? People grieve and shed potfuls of tears at the death of their wives
and sons, and behave in the same way for the sake of money or property; but who does
so because he cannot realize God? If any one is really equally anxious to see Him and
calls on Him, He certainly reveals Himself to him". (ibid 5:3:9)

Devotion is said to be the natural, pleasant easy and quickest means to attain God.
It is natural because man has an innate affinity to God as the source of his Soul, and
that affinity when properly nourished grows into ardent devotion which will lead to
vision and attainment of God. It is pleasant because devotees experience delight when
they indulge in any act of devotion, like recital of praises to God, recitation of His
names, seeing His images, pictures, or other symbols, and making offerings to Him.
Even in times of acute grief, the remembrance of God, or listening to songs of His
glories, gives commendable solace. It is easy because devotion does not require any
hard practice or harsh discipline. Devotee can express his earnest love to God in any
manner he likes; and mere habituation will intensify his devotion. So, devotion is easy
to sustain and to develop. Loving God "with all the heart" (which means, without
leaving any room in the mind for other thoughts), if a person sings praises to God, his
devotion will stir the Soul and become dynamic with spiritual force; he will then
experience a passion for God; and horripilations will cover his body or tears will gush
down his cheeks. It is a sign of his getting in communion with God. It will cause a
radiation of Divine Grace to the devotee. The rise of the Soul towards God will get
accelerated; and ultimately, it will lead to attainment of God, or His vision. So the
devotion is said to be the quickest means to attain God.

When devotion rises above the ordinary, the devotee will become conscious of the
all pervading nature of God. Sri Ramakrishna at first hated priesthood in the Kali
temple, merely because the temple was made by a queen of the fisher caste, and refused
to take Prasada (the remnant of offerings) from that temple even though it was prepared
and consecrated by his own brother as the priest there (see Sri Ramakrishna The Great
Master 2:4:16, 17). But when he became an earnest devotee, he ate as Prasada even the
leavings of food served to the poor folks at that temple and cleansed their plates, saying
that they too are existence of God. A devotee's awareness that the all-pervading God is
in all beings causes him to see all beings as existence of God, and all happenings, good
or bad, as His mysterious plays. That is really the climax of spiritual attainment.

Bhagavad Gita (13: 2/3) says

"Know God as the Soul in all body forms"
Bible (1 Cor 3:16) also exhorts
"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in
you".
Philokalia (Vol. 1 p 68) also says
"Blessed is the monk who regards every man as God after God".
When a devotee realizes the all pervading God to dwell in all beings, his devotion rises
to its supreme state. But, realization is not mere book-knowledge, it is attained only

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with a full conviction followed up in sincere practices. Observance in practice is the
mark of a full conviction.

Section 49 PURITY OF MIND

Purity of mind is an essential condition of spiritual attainment. The Brahmabindu

Upanishad (1), Maitrayani Upanishad (4:6) etc., define it thus:
"The mind is spoken to be of two kinds – the pure and the impure; that which conceives
desires is impure, that which is devoid of desires is pure."

In this verse, 'pure' means spiritually pure; and 'desires' mean worldly desires – the
desires for worldly objects and worldly objectives. Such desires always distract mind
and intellect from Godward thoughts, and lead them to earthly concerns. The Bible
expresses it curtly, as it says,
"The friendship of the world is enmity with God". (James 4:4)

Generally, a mind that goes after worldly pleasures forgets God. A worldly desire, once
entertained, seldom dies or wanes. The more it is entertained, the more it strengthens
and rules the man. It is said to be insatiable, like fire which yearns for more and more
fuel even as it blazes high (Bhagavad Gita 3:37-39). As its craving never ends, its
distraction of mind from Godward thoughts will persist continuously. So, in regard to
spiritual concerns, worldly desires are said to be "inimical to God". They are said to
pollute the mind with unholy thoughts.

Desires, becoming intense, normally lead to works; and the way the works are done, is
said to affect or effect purity of mind. Doing a work with desire for results causes
mind's attachment to the work and to earthliness; that is said to affect adversely the
purity of mind. Conversely, doing works without desire on results, keeps the mind
unattached and pure.

The common doer thinks that the work is his design, he does the work, the work is his
own, and therefore he is entitled to its results or proceeds. It is Ego, the I-and-mine
consciousness, that urges him to regard the results as the normal and natural reward for
his efforts. It is a display of Ego related to the work. The desire for results or proceeds
forms an egoistic interest in the work; it draws the mind strongly to the work, and
causes a sort of identification of mind with (the execution of ) the work. That is
attachment to the work. On such attachment the mind gets more and more involved
in the work, and years for more and more proceeds or pleasures from the work or its
recurrences. It tends to forget Godly thoughts, to forget justice to others, to ignore the
demerits in the work, to ignore spiritual welfare, and so on. Thus it pollutes the mind.

Therefore, Bhagavad Gita (5:11) observes,

"For the sake of purity of mind, the yogis do works with the body, mind, intellect, or
even with the sense-organs, without attachment (to the work)".

In practice, there is not much difference in the manner of doing a work by an

enlightened yogi or by an unenlightened commoner; both perform their works in the
same manner (Bhagavad Gita 3:25); the difference is in their mental attitude towards
the work and its results. The yogi, for the sake of purity of mind, does his work without
attachment, i.e. in an attitude of perfect non-attachment or detachment; the common

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man does his work with mind attached to the work. Desire for results or proceeds
causes the attachment to the work. By rejecting all desires and thoughts on results, the
yogis keep their minds unattached to the works they do.

When desire for results is given up, the doer will not feel any attachment to the work.
He does the work for the sake of work; he has no further objectives. He may get
benefited by its results, or he may not; but he does not think about it. The unattached
doer thinks it his duty to do the works that arise in the normal way for his
performance. He may regard the works as inspirations from God, which he has to
carry out. He does his duty; and there his concern in the work ends. If results come to
his benefit in the normal way, he accepts them. If results miss him, let them go their
own way; he does not worry about their non-receipt. The omniscient Ruler of the
Universe may have His own design in inspiring him to do the works; he cannot know
His aims or understand His mysterious ways of maintaining the world. So, he does not
think of results of works. He does not exult on receipt of a benefit, nor languish when
it is missed. Bhagavad Gita calls such an ingenious manner of doing works as a yoga,
the Karmayoga (ibid 2:48, 50). It keeps the mind free of egoistic attachments, free of
worldly worries. It keeps the mind pure.

Section 50 KARMAYOGA

The excellence of Bhagavad Gita is in its exposition of karmayoga. It expounds

Karmayoga as the sacred way of doing all works. The gist of that exposition occurs as
three negative instructions in the verse 2: 47, which reads,
"Your right is only to (do) a work, never to results; Do not become cause for fruits of
action; nor shall your inclination be to inaction."

The first instruction is to renounce expectations on results of works. One must do all
works that normally arise for performance; but the intent in doing the works shall only
be their execution, and not the earning of their results or proceeds for self.

Swami Vivekananda (vide his Complete Works, Vol. 1 p 245) observed,

"All our works now, are the effects of past Samskaras."

But, we do not know the identity of the Samskara (Karmabhava) that inspires the
present act. If the Karmabhava that inspires the present act, involves an undischarged
obligation incurred in a prior life, its inspiration will be to discharge that old obligation
by the present act. In that case, the result or proceeds of the present act must go to the
person who is the old creditor or his reincarnation; and the doer will not have any return
for his present act – not even a show of gratitude by the recipient who gets only what
has long been due to him. His past action or karma secures it now to him; the doer's
past act causes him now to furnish it to the former. Here obviously the doer's right is
only to do the work, and not to have its results or proceeds. If, in ignorance of the old
obligation, the doer expects a normal return for his present work, he will surely fail; if
then he becomes depressed, he is only worrying over the loss of a mirage. Since men
do not remember their past lives and therefore do not know which acts are in discharge
of prior obligations and which acts re not so, Bhagavad Gita tells not to expect results
of any act or work, but be content with whatever comes in the natural course to benefit
self. It expresses "Your right is only to the karma, never to results".

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To avoid desires for results, Bhagavad Gita (3:20,25) suggests all works to be done as a
service to benefit others (lokasamgraham). As a rough illustration, Swami Vivekananda
points out that a cook preparing food does his work with intent to benefit others, and
not self, though part of it may enure to his benefit (see his Complete Works Vol. 5 p
248). Likewise if all works are done without thought of self, it would become
Karmayoga.

Another reason is also said in support of the above said proposition. God the Lord, as
the sustainer of the universe, looks to the ultimate good of the world (Bhagavad Gita 4:
7,8) and to that end, He designs works, which He executes through His creatures (ibid
18:61). God's works may be of a universal nature. Man does not grasp their
universality, unless he is able to visualize God's Universalism. Sages conceive every
work to be a part of God's design of some universal action. Man does not know the
expanse or reaches of that universal action, except only the small part of it within his
vision. With his knowledge of that small part, he cannot grasp the scope of the vast
universal action of God. A blind man who touches the trunk of an elephant can only
think that the elephant is a giant leech. Results are to follow the whole action; so they
belong to Him who arranges the whole action, i.e. God, and must go as He wills.
Hence the enlightened man consecrates all his acts or works to God, and does them all
as an agent of God. So, to him belongs only the execution of works; the results are
God's.

When the egoistic Arjuna thought his fight with his wicked cousins was his own act,
and that in the fight he had to destroy all the men who were to help his cousins, Krishna
showed him that his fight was only a part of God's design for maintenance of order and
justice in the world, and that the destruction of men in that fight was God's decree in the
affair (Bhagavad Gita 1:35, 11:33, 34). So Krishna urged Arjuna to do his work "as a
mere instrument" of God. (Nimittamatram bhava – ibid 11:33). In effect it was a
direction to dedicate his work to God, and not to think of its results.

The second instruction in the verse is, not to cause accrual of fruits of action, that
is to say, not to do works in a way that will give rise to fruits of action, which may
accumulate and cause miseries in future life. The doer becomes bound by fruits of
action because of his attachment to the action or work. Doing a work with desire for its
proceeds or results causes attachment to the work. When the work bears fruits, that
attachment will extend to them. So, the doer becomes bound by the fruits of action. To
avoid such bondage, all works must be done in complete detachment with them.
Remaining unconcerned with results is detachment with the work.

Normally the doer thinks that he desires a particular objective, and does the work to
gain that objective. He does the work because of his desire to enjoy his objective as the
result of the work. The desire to enjoy the result causes in him an attachment to the
work. As he takes the work to be his own, he owns its merits and thereby becomes
bound to enjoy or suffer the ultimate consequences of those merits, the fruits of the
work. It is really a bondage to the karma and its fruits. It is a bondage that he brings on
himself. It is not the work that causes the bondage, but his desire for results of the
work. On the contrary, if the doer takes his works as biddings of God, and does not
hold any desire after their results, he will not feel such an attachment to the work, and
no fruit of action will fall on him. (cf. Bhagavad Gita 5:10).

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It is thoughts that develop into desires, and desires that lead to actions or works.
Wherefrom do the thoughts arise? Does our Mind or Intellect generate thoughts, or do
they occur naturally in the Mind or Intellect? As we ponder thus, it appears that, when
we face problems, Intellect begins to think in the light of past experiences in the life;
but, at other times thoughts occur in our Mind spontaneously. Who or what stimulates
their arousal? It can only be Karmabhavas excited by the Vital Consciousness. We
have noted (Sect. 8 above) that Vital Consciousness is Sagunabrahman or Impersonal
God. It follows that all All-pervading God is behind all our thoughts, desires, and
actions.
The Bhagavad Gita (18:61) observes,
"God dwells in the heart centre of all beings, alluring them, through the primal Nature,
to work like robots."
If God instigates man's actions, they are virtually God's biddings to him. The author of
the work is God, and man the doer is only an instrument carrying out His biddings.

We observed that all our works are inspired by Karmabhavas-in-bloom (p. 49-50
above) and that Karmabhavas bloom at the will of God (p. 54 above). In other words,
God inspires actions through manipulations of the blooming of Karmabhavas. So, our
actions are mentioned to be God's biddings. If works are done as biddings of God, they
become virtually God's works. The man, who executes the works as an agent of God,
cannot foster any desire for self on their results or proceeds. He will leave the results or
proceeds of works to God's disposal, and will not have any thought after them. He will
then be free of attachment to the works, and will always remember God. All his works
will then become consecrated services, or a sort of offerings, to God. Bhagavad Gita
(18:46) says
"Worshipping with his works Him who pervades the whole universe and from whom
(are) the works of beings, man attains perfection."

When works are done as biddings of God, the doer's mind will always be engaged in
devotional communion with God. Even an affliction will then be felt as God's
mysterious play, or test; and he will be able to bear it quietly. So, the scriptures direct
dedication of all acts to God – to give all heart to God, and hands alone to the work.
Scriptures direct,
"Whether therefore you eat, drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God."
(Bible, 1 Cor 10:31)
"Whatever you do, enjoy, sacrifice, donate, or observe as a vow, dedicate them all to
God." (Bhagavad Gita 9:27)

All works will then become acts of worship; even eating will become a service to God
dwelling within the body; helping another will become a service to God dwelling
within his body; and so on. (cf. Mat 25:35-45). Everything will become an offering to
the all-pervading God.
Bhagavad Gita declares,
"Whoever does his works without attachment and in dedication to God, is not affected
by their merits, as a lotus leaf (is not affected) by water." (ibid 5:10)

"The yogi, by giving up (desire for) results of works, attains supreme peace of mind;
the non-yogi, by doing works with desire for results, becomes attached to and bound by
their fruits." (ibid 5:12)

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Doing all works, without attachment and in dedication to God, will, not only avoid
fruits of action, but will also lead to constant remembrance of God, an effective
renounciation of ego, a sense of brotherhood with all, and universal love.

It is fruits of past actions that are now experienced as pleasures and miseries in the life.
So, avoiding fruits of action is avoiding both pleasures and miseries. One may like to
avoid miseries, and court pleasures; but that is impossible, because pleasures and
miseries are so inseparably linked together. Between them, the pangs of miseries affect
men much deeper and longer than the thrills of temporal pleasures. The sharpness of
pain caused by miseries is not comparable to the flitting sweetness of worldly
pleasures. It is like experiencing -5 and +2. So, an absence of both miseries and
pleasures, is deemed more covetable than having both. Vedantic philosophy regards
absence of miseries as bliss or 'Ananda'. Hence the advice in the above verse to avoid
formation of all fruits of action.

Thirdly, the verse inhibits any inclination to inaction. The preceding instruction, to
avoid fruits of action, should not be taken as a sanction to refrain from action itself.
Nor is inaction a shortcut to avoid desires for results. Bhagavad Gita condemns
inaction, and urges constant engagement in works that arise in a normal way.

Actions or works are part and parcel of the life. None can ever remain, even for a
moment, without doing some work, with the body, or with the mind; it is impossible for
embodied beings to abandon works completely (Bhagavad Gita 18:11). It is foolish o
pursue the impossible; and it will be wise indeed to do what one is bound to do, as best
as one can. So, Bhagavad Gita directs,
"Be always doing work; (abiding in) action is superior to inaction (ibid 3:8)
"Do not shirk a work arising in a normal way even if it involves as aspect of harm;
because every work involves some harm, like smoke in a fire." (ibid 18:48)

No work that naturally arises for instant performance shall be shirked. In Mahabharata
(Vanaparvam, chap. 205-215) an active butcher expounds high philosophy to a
Brahmin. When the Brahmin asked him at the close of his speech, why such a great
philosopher lived the ugly life of a butcher, he replied, no work is ugly or impure; it has
its part in the sustenance of the world. Butchery was the work he was called upon to
do; his birth in a family of butchers placed him in such a predicament that in boyhood
he had to learn the trade as the means of family livelihood. He was doing that work as
house holder, rendering a service to men who want meat for food; but he had no
attachment to the work. He does the work as God's bidding to him. That say of the
butcher accords with an ideal way of life – be unattached, and do every work that
arises to be done, thinking it to be God's bidding to self.

As works normally arise from one's own Karmabhavas, shirking a work may be
evading discharge of an unknown old obligation involved in the Karmabhava, or
attempting to obstruct the fruition of the Karmabhava. As the Karmabhavas bloom at
the will of God, the shirking of work may even be attempting to thwart the God's will;
or, it may be denying one's own natural obligation to contribute to the general welfare
of the world. In the way we live, we take ample benefit of works done by others. The
food we eat, the clothes we wear, the education we have, the vehicles we use, the house
we live in, etc. all are the results of other's works. Non conscientious man can think it
is one-way traffic to his benefit. When we take benefit of other works, we must also

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work for the benefit of others, the generality of men. Inaction on our part, will be a
negation of that obligation. So, Gita urges all to do all works that arise in a normal
way, and forbids any inclination to inaction.

Observance of the above said three instructions constitute Karmayoga. It will ensure
purity of mind and purity of action, and will cause definite spiritual elevation.

Section 51 GODWORSHIP

We noted above (page 74) that the early men, who were astounded by various
phenomena of nature, thought them to be works of celestial persons called gods, who
could promote or ruin man's welfare on Earth. They wanted to avoid any displeasure of
the gods. They conceived that the gods, being superhuman, knew the thoughts of men,
and would come, on invocation, to any clean place reserved for them, and accept
tasteful offerings, and would, if well pleased, render favours to the worshipper.
Chandogya Upanishad (3:6:1) says that gods are gratified with offerings. It observes,
"Indeed, the gods neither eat, nor drink, but they are gratified by seeing, smelling, etc."
(cf. also p 61 above; and Gen. 8:21.)

The ancient worshippers used to prepare clean elevated spots to receive the gods and to
make offerings to them on auspicious days. When the offerings were repeated from
time to time at a particular spot, it came to be looked upon as sacred to the god; and a
special sign, like a post or a plant, was put up close to it to mark it from the
surroundings. When neighbors also came to offer worship to that god at that spot, it
assumed more importance, and the sign of its identity was made more conspicuous with
decorations, like flags or wooden bars put across or like a trident. Later that sign came
to be regarded as an emblem of the god who was being worshipped there. When the
sign, originally meant to identify the spot, was elevated to the status of an emblem of
god visiting the place, the idea arose of making it representative of the personal identity
of the god. As the god was conceived to be a heavenly person, an imposing image of
personal form, made of clay, baked a beautifully painted, came to be installed at the
spot of worship. It was then experienced that offerings made before such a symbolic
image stimulated a greater consciousness of the god's presence, and dynamised the faith
in the worship to a greater extent than before. Also, when offerings were made to a god
before such image, the worshipper felt a sublime gratification in the action which was
almost like a feeling of having made it to the go directly. So, worship of gods before
such images became popular among the ancient nations. People were particular to have
the images in perfect figures in order to have pleasant remembrances of the gods
excited by them. Whenever a little damage happened to a clay image, they would
immediately remove it and install another faultless fresh image there and consecrate it
to the god as early as was possible. Piles of abandoned images, once used at worships,
but got slightly damaged later, can be seen even now in some abandoned village sites.
As time advanced and worships at a spot came to be done more frequently, and the
number of worshippers attending the ceremonies for worship increased, roofed edifices
came to be put up, and beautiful images, carved of wood and painted, came to be
installed in those temples. Such symbolic images were called idols of the gods.
Usually they were made more impressive with decorations of garlands before worships
commenced. Later, idols came to be made of more lasting materials like stone or
rustproof metal. By that time, rites and rituals for worships, and formulae of hymns for
prayers for gaining favours, became settled by habitual usage. Ceremonial worships

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also developed in the course of time. So much so, in the early Samhita-and-Brahmana-
portions of the Vedas, we find descriptions of many rituals and hymns for seeking
favours of gods, like Indra, Varuna and Mitra. (cf. Bible, Lev. Chap. 1-10). Obviously,
the idols are symbolic representations of invisible gods, and the rituals are
symbolic expressions of reverence to the gods. They are to concretize the
consciousness and adoration of the gods. In fact, every child gets his first ideas about a
god by watching the rituals and listening to the hymns. It is only when he has grown
spiritually that he understands God as the all-pervading Divinity or Supreme Being.

When spiritual concept advanced, from gods the heavenly persons, to God the
omnipresent Being, the ritual of worship and the use of images came to be extended to
the latter. As God was mentioned to be a formless abstract entity, ordinary men felt
very difficult to comprehend Him. We find young children feeling difficult to
understand arithmetic's of numbers when they are explained to them in the abstract; but
when they are explained with marbles or dice, they understand them easily, and learn to
count, to add and subtract, and to multiply and divide the number so quickly. Marbles
and dice are symbolic objects used to concretize the numbers. When the children have
mastered the numbers they discard the marbles and dice, and do all arithmetic in the
abstract. It is likewise in religion also. Men in the early stages of spiritual knowledge
require some concrete presentation of God to stimulate His visualization at
contemplations and to represent Him at worships. But, unlike gods who are heavenly
persons, the God has no form of which an image is possible. As the ancient thinkers
pondered to solve this difficulty, they thought of worshipping invisible gods through
images, and adopted the same method to the worship of the formless God also. They
ascribed a symbolic body form to God for purposes of contemplation and worship,
and made statues of that body form as His idols.

St. Theodoros describes the use of material images, thus:

"It has to be said that the energy of the intellect is blunted by being joined and mingled
with the body. As a result it cannot have direct contact with intelligible forms, but
requires, in order to apprehend them, the imagination, which by nature uses images, and
shares in material extension and density. Accordingly the intellect, while in the flesh,
needs to use material images in order to apprehend intelligible forms". (Philokalia Vol.
2 p. 39)
The Bible says
"Whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it and by Him that dwelleth therein".
(Mat. 23:21)
This verse mentions a temple as a sacred dwelling of the omnipresent God. It then
follows, by the same logic, that an idol or a statue in the temple can well be regarded as
a particular habitation of God for symbolic worships.

As the images are creations of man, Indian philosophy accords liberty to individuals to
have any image or form of their liking to represent God for their worships. Several
forms based on Puranic legends, like Vishnu, Siva, Durga, etc., have thus come in
vogue in early India. The form adopted by an individual for his worships is said to be
his "Chosen Ideal" (Ishta devata). Though any form may be equally good to represent
God for one's venerations, sages have advised every devotee to stick to one Chosen
Ideal, one image, one spot, one ritual, etc. for his regular worship (upasanas), because
habit forms part of one's nature. Every act of worship forms its own Karmabhava, and
Karmabhavas of the same effect gather together to intensify and cause stronger

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impulses. So, when a devotee reaches his habitual place of worship and sees the image
there, an impulse naturally arises in his mind to offer worship to God. A change in the
image or the manner of worship, may be felt as dislocation that disturbs his habitual
trend of mind. That is why in the organized religions like Christianity, one symbol, one
ritual, one prayer etc. are prescribed for all; and that has worked positive spiritual and
social effects. Bible describes God as the Father sitting on a throne of Sapphire (Ezek.
1:26, Mat. 23:22) with the Son on His right (Col. 3:1). All Muslims are directed to turn
to the direction of the Kaabah at Mecca and prostrate to God in that direction.
Individual liking has no place there. Because of the liberty in Hinduism to have a
Chosen Ideal of individual liking several persons think that the Indian religion allows
polytheism. They forget that name and form are only what man ascribes to God for the
convenience of his offering venerations to God, but God is one only in all names and
forms (See sect. 45 above) Rig Veda (1:164:46) particularly says,
"That which exists is One; Worshippers call Him by various names".
But, in practice it often appears that discipline works better than unrestricted liberty.

We noted also that in the early stages of spiritual consciousness, men worshipped gods
and concluded their worships with express prayers for benefactions. Though the
worships of gods first arose out of a desire to avoid their harmful displeasures, the
thought that the same gods, if well propitiated, could also promote welfare, induced the
worshippers to pray for benefactions at the conclusion of worships. As the gods were
conceived to preside over particular phenomena, the prayer to a god invariably
concerned a phenomenon under his control.

The gods were conceived as invisible superhuman personages. But, they had no
powers of creation. Nor were they omnipresent, though they could reach any place
instantaneously on invocation. (cf. Life After Life, p. 46, on movements of discarnate
souls). The gods had no control over Karmabhavas or reincarnations. As they were a
kind of beings superior to mankind, they were looked upon with awe and fear, and their
worship was an attempt to propitiate them. Such was the early relation of men with
gods.

Later, when God came to be understood as the Overlord of the entire universe and all
gods and all the frightening phenomena, He was first conceived as a Supergod and
worshipped in much the same mode as was used in the worship of gods, with prayers
for benefactions at the conclusion of every worship.

It was only when God was realized to be the Universal Power of Consciousness, and all
Souls to have emerged from Him that men began to regard Him as their Progenitor.
God was no more an alien; He is of the ancestral lineage to everyone. He is the Father
Protector of all. Awe and fear shown to gods became irrelevant in regard to God. A
sense of sublime filial affection and loving reverence to God came to prevail.
Worshippers began to think that, as a parent would look after the welfare of a child
without any request from the child, so would God also look after the welfare of
devotees, and that, as a parent know much better than the child what was ultimately the
best for the child, God knew what was really good to the devotee, and therefore it
would be better and safer to have everything to the will of God than to formulate
our requirements and make particular requests to Him. Thus arose the notion of
devotion, which is pure love and reverence to God, unmixed with prayers for
benefactions.

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When a person understands the glory of God and habitually meditates on Him, he
would feel an attachment to God. To the extent he feels attachment to God, he becomes
detached from Ego and egoistic temptations. He becomes disinclined to crave for the
fleeting worldly comforts. His worship of God will then become free of desires to be
fulfilled; it will become a pure expression of intense love and reverence to God.
Worship then becomes a divine function. While a ceremonial worship done with a
desire for benefaction of God, ranks only with ordinary efforts to earn material benefits,
a quiet worship without any desire behind it, ranks as a pure divine function.

When a person becomes wholly God minded, h will dedicate his all to God. Every act
of his will be in dedication to God, will be in the service of God. Even his eating will
be as a sacred offering to the God dwelling within him as his Soul, and not as a
provision to nourish his body. Doing any service to another will be as a service to the
God dwelling in him, and not as a fvour extended to him. Such an attitude towards all
works will ensure, not only a constant remembrance of God, but also a sense of
brotherhood with all men, a universal love. All acts will then become sacred
venerations of God in his all-pervading reality. His contemplations on God will then
become sublime communions with God. (cf. Synthesis of Yoga by Sri Aurobindo p. 73-
74).

In God worship, the main item is communion with God, though it is attained only in
a high state of devotion. It is attained through undistracted meditation and abject
surrender of self to God, with a pure mind, a mind cleansed of all desires. One may
enjoy the world as it comes to him in the natural course, but not yearn after it – be
content and happy with whatever comes in the natural course, and always keep the
mind set on the all pervading God. Heartfelt recitals of praise to God, with tears of
devotion gushing down the cheeks, excite the Soul to rise Godward. Praising God or
singing His glories, does not mean a belief that God is fond of praise, it is done as the
effective practical means to suppress our Ego and to avert other thoughts. The sublime
power of songs to stir up devotion and to charm and hold the mind in continuous
visualization of God is remarkable. Pure delightful prayers of praise to God will raise
the mind in constant attachment or adherence to God. In this regard, desires are anti-
forces that distract the mind away from God. A fervent prayer for gratification of a just
desire may be heard by God; but it will not make a 'communion' to God. A person
ringing the bell of complaints at the gate of a palace may get redress, but not an
intimacy with the king. Only a soulful prayer unstained by any desire, a devout
visualization, and a joyful unbroken flow of mind towards God, will make a
communion with God. Such meditations and prayers will calm down worldly
passions. When they become a habit, they will eschew all worldly cravings from the
mind. The mind then becomes pure, prayers become pure, life becomes bliss.
Experienced sages say that his devotion then becomes dynamic with a spiritual force.
When such dynamic devotion rises high, it stirs the Soul with a passion for God, and
that invokes Divine Grace on the devotee. It is a real communion with God. When the
whirling waves of the Soul become laden with a passion for God, the spreading waves
emanating from them will carry that passion to the whirling waves of Sagunabrahman
and excite them to react as Divine Grace to the devotee. It is said that the devotee then
attains whatever he thinks, without any solicitation to God for favour.

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Bhagavad Gita (4:11) tells that, in whatever manner men approach God, in the same
manner will God receive them. If a person approaches God for accomplishment of a
desire, God may hear his prayer and bless it. With it the potency of his approach to
God ends. On the other hand if his approach is to surrender his all to God, the God also
will give Himself in service to him without a stint, without solicitation. Bhagavad Gita
(9:22) declares
"Whoever remember God always and joyfully worship Him without thinking anything
else, their welfare will be borne by God".
Purana exemplifies that, when devout Kuchela of starving poverty was before Krishna,
he thought only of devotion to Krishna as an Incarnation of God, and did not think of
his burning miseries; but Krishna himself took care of his welfare and redressed his
poverty before he reached back home. (Bhagavatham 10:81).

Section 52 SYMBOLS

Though God is everywhere, He remains in such a way that His omnipresence does not
excite God-consciousness in the common man. Being always amidst worldly
attractions, his mind always gambols among those attractions. So, the common man
requires something to excite his God-consciousness and to hold his mind tethered to the
remembrance of God during God worships.

We noted (p. 74, 87) that the early men began to worship gods presiding over particular
phenomena in nature. They invoked the presence of gods at spots specially cleansed
for the purpose, placed their offerings there, and supplicated their desires to the
invisible gods. Later they began to install beautiful personal images to represent the
god, and to make offerings and prayers to gods before such images. Though the images
were understood to be only symbols, the ancient men were particular to keep them
flawless, to cause a pleasant remembrance of the gods concerned. With the institution
of images, rituals for worship came in vogue. Further later, when God came to be
worshipped as the Overlord of the entire universe and all the gods, the practice of
making offerings and performing rituals before a symbolic image was extended to His
worship, and the system continue now as developed from time to time.

Men are accustomed to use symbols for various purposes. Figures are used as symbols
to denote numbers, and letters are used to represent speech sounds. Words are used as
vocal symbols to express ideas in the mind. Different nations used different symbols
for identical purposes. Different nations employ different words to represent the same
idea. Likewise, images came to be used as visual symbols of the invisible Divinity, and
different images are used by different people to represent God who is the same for all.
The symbol for God need not be an image of personal form; it may be any accepted
symbol that evokes or reminds consciousness of God. Any symbol whose sight
readily evokes a reverential remembrance of God is good for the purpose. The
goodness or efficacy of a symbol may not be the same to all; it may be very good
for some, but nothing for others. If a symbol excites reverential remembrance of God
in a person, it is a good symbol for him; if it does not, it is nothing to him. It depends
on how his mind reacts to a vision of the symbol. It is just like a word; if it invokes the
intended idea in a hearer it is good to him; if it does not, it is nothing to him. Which
symbol appeals to whom is a matter of individual feeling, habit, or taste. An idol may
appeal to a Hindu, but not to a Muslim; a crucifix may appeal to a Catholic, but not to a
Jew; the direction towards Kaabah may inspire a Muslim, but not a Parsee; and so on.

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But the efficacy of a chosen symbol to excite remembrance of God in a theist appears
common to all. There is no religion which does not prescribe a symbol to evoke
remembrance of God to its followers. To the Protestants the Cross is the symbol. To
the Jew the ark that contains the Old Testament, with two cherubims on its top,
symbolizes the presence of God. To the Muslim, the Kaabah at Mecca which is
described as God's house (vide Quran 2:125), is the sacred symbol, and in practice even
the direction towards the Kaabah is an inspiring symbol. The Black Stone in the
Kaabah is the object of pilgrimage of Muslims all over the world. It is an effective
symbol to them. To the Catholic the crucifix is a symbol. Hindus mostly use personal
images as symbols to represent God at their places of worship.

There is story that a king, who denounced worship of images or idols, got angry when a
man threw some sandal paste at the face of his picture in a glass frame, and asked the
minister to jail the man for abusing the king. The minister asked the king, if the king
can feel abused when a paste was thrown on the glass that covered the canvass bearing
his likeness, why should not a devotee feel the garlanding on an idol as an act of
veneration to God. The king repented and declared idols to be good representations at
places of worship of the omnipresent God.

Many Hindus use a short pillar like cylindrical stone as a symbol to represent the
Personal God Siva. Bible also respectfully refers to the use of a pillar like stone as a
representative symbol of God by Jacob the traditional ancestor of the Jewish nation. It
narrates that Jacob, during a journey, stayed at Luz for a night, when he used a stone
picked up from the place for a pillow, and that, during the sleep he dreamt of God
speaking to him. When he rose up the next morning, he thought the spot to be a
dwelling of God and set up that stone "for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it" as
an offering, and vowed
"This stone, which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house". (Gen. 28:11-22)
Years later, God reminded him of his vow and asked him to go to the place and live
there. (ibid 31:13,35:1). Jacob did so. Then
"Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He talked with him, even a pillar of stone; and
he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon." (ibid 35:14).

Jacob is said to have seen God face to face (Gen. 32:30); yet he gave offering to God on
a representative stone pillar. It seems to be an acknowledgement of the spiritual efficacy
of a worship of God on a representative symbol.

The Jews offer worship to God before an ark as a symbol for Him. When David had
pitched a tabernacle at Zion and had set the ark at its middle,
"David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord". (2 Sam 6:17).
When Solomon had built the temple at Jerusalem, and the priests brought the ark into
the oracle, the holy of holies of the temple,
The king and all Israel with him, offered sacrifices before the Lord". (1 Kings 8:6, 62)
"Before the Lord" in these two verses obviously means before God who is deemed to
be present on the top of the ark set there (vide Ex 25:22). Evidently the ark in a
synagogue is a symbol, on which God is visualized to be present always. It justifies
worship rendered before it to God by a believer.

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Idols also are symbols on which God is deemed to be person by the Hindu devotees. In
the elaborate ritual consecrating an idol (Pranapratishta), God's presence is expressly
invoked by the hymn,
"O God! Remain in this stone; Let this stone be a body to You." (Atharva-veda 1:2:3)
Thereafter every ritual or ceremony before the idol is performed in the name of God,
and every devotee standing before the idol, in the place of the idol, and praises Him as
the all pervading, formless, infinite, Chaitanyarupi, etc. – none of which praises is
relevant to the metallic or stone idol. Will anybody say that an idol is omnipresent or
all pervading, or is of the form of Chaitanyam (consciousness)? Idol is only an inert
metal or stone; the praises are obvious references to the God who is deemed present in
or on the idol.

The consecration of a church also seems to be of the same significance. Though "The
Christ is all, and in all" (Col. 3:11) at the consecration of a church, the people
assembled there visualize Christ's entry into the church and into the holy of holies in
the church. Thereafter the church is regarded as a dwelling of Christ, and everyone
entering the church visualizes presence of God in the form of Christ at its sanctuary,
even at or above the altar, and kneels before Him to express his complete surrender to
His will.

Phlokalia (Vol. 1 p. 348) observes,

"If those who worship idols knew and understood in their hearts what they worship,
they would not be beguiled away from true reverence".
If the worshipper remembers that he worships the God, and not the idol as such,
the worship on the idol will be a true reverence to God. If he thinks he is
worshipping the idol itself, it is plain stupidity; but the chance for such a vain thought is
next to nil. Will anybody garlanding the statue of a national leader at a function, think
that he is honouring the statue itself (instead of the past leader)?

Through a drawing on a paper, we visualize a sizeable object. Through a stone or metal

image, a devotee visualizes a Personal God, or God in a definite form. The devotee,
rendering worship to God on or before the image, ignores the stone or metal, and
visualizes God in the form of the image at its place, and makes venerations to Him. He
sees God in the image, and not the image as God.

Thus, images, idols, pictures, and other symbols, serve to excite visualization of God.
(cf. Jabaladarsana Upanishad 4:59). To speak of and idol or a cross as a mere molten
metal or carved wood or stone, is to describe its material, and ignore its essential
feature. It is like speaking of a book as a pack of papers stained with ink. Indeed, the
book is a pack of papers stained with ink, but to describe it so, is clearly wrong
because it ignores the essential feature of the book, the information it carries on
physics, geography, theology, or a like subject. The book is essentially physics,
geography, or theology. We honour a book not for its papers or ink, but for the
knowledge it conveys. Likewise idols, images, and other symbols are honoured as
conveyors of God-consciousness. When Serenus, Bishop of Marseilles, interdicted use
of pictures and images of Jesus and of Mary for adorations at prayers, Pope Gregory the
Great (590-604) wrote to him,
"It is one thing to adore a picture, another to learn, through representation in a picture,
what is worthy to be adored".

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When a clerical council at Constantinople in 754 AD decreed all visible symbols of
Christ as blasphemous, the monks and the votaries rose in uproar that ultimately images
were restored in Catholic churches everywhere. (See 'In Search Of The Soul' by
Bernard Hollander, Vol. 1 p 83).

Idolatry is not worship of a god, or of God, on an idol; it is the worship of an idol itself
as a god. Bible describes a typical instance of idolatry to illustrate its vainness:
"The carpenter… heweth down… the oak… burneth part thereof in the fire..he roasteth
roast… And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image; he falleth
down up to it, and worshippeth it and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me, for thou art
my god". (Is 44:13-17)
Patently it was a ridiculous vain act. Isaiah has also said
"Thus said the Lord… my glory I will not give to another, neither my praise to graven
images." (Is 42: 4,8)

The praise appropriate to God was being given to graven images or idols; and Bible
forbade it. Idol cannot be a god; it can only be a symbol for a god. The praise should
be to the god or to God, and not to the idol. Isaiah lived in the 8th century B.C; his
descriptions may relate to the conditions of his time.

Conditions seem to have bettered in Palestine by the time of Jesus. His utterances cited
in the gospels or elsewhere in the New Testament, do not refer to idols or to idolatry.
Apostle Paul's denial of idolatry in his epistles to Corinthians may refer to persistence
of the corrupt practice in the region of Corinth in Greece.

However be that, the fact that in the Middle East for elsewhere, idols were
misconceived and misused cannot mean that idols are totally undesirable for all people
in all circumstances. Any good thing may become despicable if it is misused; but then
condemnation will be justified only against the misuse, and not against the thing itself.
In India, idols are used to excite God-consciousness and to hold the mind fixed in
thoughts on God, and devotees before it praise only the all pervading God, and not
the idol or its beauty. The annual ceremonial worships of god Ganesa and goddess
Durga by the Hindus are well-known. On those occasions, almost every Hindu
performs the ceremonial worship at home also. Clay idols of the concerned god or
goddess are lavishly decorated with garlands, and costly ceremonies of worship, with
flowers, incense, lights, and sweet offerings, and recitals of praise of the god or
goddess, and done before the idols. But when the festival is over, the decorated idols
are taken in procession to some river, lake, pond, or sea, and are left in deep water (for
the clay to dissolve in the water there). For the next year's celebrations new idols are
procured to be treated in the same way. Though the functions are performed with the
utmost devotion to the god or the goddess, and as magnificently as the individual can
afford, the ultimate abandonment of the idol in deep water, without any
compunction, makes clear that what he had been venerating in the festival, was not the
decorated idol bedecked with garlands, but only the god or the goddess symbolized by
it. Idols used to excite and promote devotion at worship, serve a very laudable religious
purpose, indeed.

Section 53 RELIGION

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Religion is mainly the knowledge about Soul and God. It is religion that informs the
fundamental fact of man's real personality being, not his body, but the Soul in him. It
informs also the eternity of the Soul. Further, it is religion that brings the awareness of
the existence of God and His benevolent sustenance of the universe and all the beings
in it. It tells particularly of the origin of Soul from God. It explains the relations of
Soul with God, and the ways and means (sadhanas) for the Soul to attain God. It details
the procedures and practices that lead, step by step, to the attainment of God. As the
science of chemistry is learned through careful study of its principles and successful
performance of its experiments personally by the student under guidance of an
experienced instructor, religion is also learned through careful study of its dogmas and
steady performance of its practices under guidance of an experienced preceptor (Guru).
Sages said that by such practices, man can develop and brighten his spiritual potentials,
and that the bliss that follows their realizations greatly excels all worldly pleasures and
lasts permanently.

Every religion has one or more authentic books which crystallize the above said details.
The Vedas, the Bible, the Quran, etc. are books of that kind. They are regarded as
sacred by the followers of the respective religion, and are generally called scriptures. It
is the scriptures that sustain the religion and unify its followers. Most scriptures
purport themselves to be words of God, delivered for guidance of mankind. So, the
adherents respect them as they respect God Himself. In certain religions, like Judaism,
the scripture is venerated as a representative symbol of God, and worship is offered to
the presence of God deemed to be on or over the sacred book.

Passages in scriptures should not be deemed inconsistent with one another. Scriptures
are meant to impart God-realization or God-consciousness to men who may be of
different grades of understandings. Some passages or texts may be intended for the
ignorant, some for the men of some knowledge, some for the more advanced in
spiritual knowledge, and some for householders, some for the ascetics, and so on. The
food cannot be the same to the suckling baby and the vigorous athlete. One cannot
suddenly leap to the heights of knowledge; many steps or stages have to be crossed
before the summit is attained. Spiritual truths have to be assimilated part by part, stage
by stage, from lower truth to higher truth, and from worship of God to worship of a
Personal God to worship of all-pervading Impersonal God. Each kind of worship is a
step or stage in spiritual advancement. Through the lower forms of worship, the
contemplations on God may rise, and they may rise to higher and higher forms; and
along with it devotion may develop into true knowledge of God. Scriptures are
designed to cover the entire range.

Scriptures acknowledge God as the benign Rule of the entire universe, who s One only
for the whole universe. There cannot be two such Supreme Beings, therefore God is
one and the same Entity for all men, for all religions. But as different nations speak
different languages, and use different names for the same object, God is called different
names by different nations. Jehovah is the God's name in Bible (Ex 6:3), as Allah is
His name in the Quran. The Hindus call Him Easwara, the Zoroastrians call Him Ahura
Mazda, and so on. All mean the same Being, the one God who rules the universe and
sustains all mankind.

As the passage of time spoils many things in the world, the usage of different names to
address the one God, came to cause misunderstandings between men of different

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religions. The habitual use of a particular name caused a particular attachment to that
name among the generality of its users. Many nations began to assert that the God's
real name is what they address Him, and that the God worshipped under a different
name by another nation was bogus or false entity. Such an assertion meant that their
religion alone was the true religion and all others were false. It led to obstinate
sectarianism, perverse bigotry, violent fanaticism, pernicious quarrels, and cruel
murders of devoted personnel of either religion. Though they said God is one only,
they forgot that He is the common father and sustainer of all mankind. The legendary
blind man who touched the trunk of an elephant said that the elephant was like a giant
leach, another blind man who touched the animal's leg said the elephant was like a big
pillar, the third who touched its ear said the elephant was like a flat winnowing basket,
the fourth who touched its tail said the elephant was like a broom with a long stick and
so on. They all were right to the extent they knew, but none of them knew the elephant.
Partial knowledge, that is presumed to be the complete knowledge, is a dangerous
thing, because the thought that one knows everything, prevents one from
acquiring further knowledge. The knowledge has to grow part by part till it attains
perfection. All religions speak of the one God of the universe, to know what other
religions say about Him is to know more and more about Him.

To think of one's own religion as the only true religion and of all other religions which
are different from it as false, is a childish misconception. From the base of a hill on its
eastern side, southern side, western side and northern side, different paths exist to the
summit of the hill. Though they are different from one another, they all lead to the
same goal. To think that my path from a point on the eastern side of the hill leads
correctly to the summit and therefore all other different paths from the southern,
western or northern side must be false paths is plainly childish indeed. It is likewise
with the different religions which provide different paths to attain God, as has been
proved positively by Sri Ramakrishna (vide p. 80-81 above). Equally misconceived is
the assertion of some persons that they alone are God's men, and all others are aliens to
Him. It is an obvious attribution of sectarianism and partiality to the benign Father of
all, and a patent betrayal of ignorance of God's all embracing nature.

Till recently, science cared only for the body and its living comforts. It has succeeded
to stretch human comforts to the sky. It was religion that concentrated its researches on
Soul. As it pondered on what life is, what is its source, from where do inspirations for
actions arise, and on similar mysteries, it came to discover a Soul to exist in the body of
every living being and to discern its importance. It found the essence of a man's being
to be the Soul in him, and that the Soul is an eternal being. The Soul never dies. Even
when the body has been burned to ashes, the Soul continues intact, in happiness and
vigour. Researchers revealed Soul to be matterless, and to exist as an entity of whirling
waves of the power of Pure Consciousness. Swami Vivekananda, in his main speech at
the Parliament of Religions, in Chicago, 1893, described the Soul as "a circle whose
circumference is nowhere but whose center is located in the body." (Vide his Complete
Works, vol. 1, p 9). The whirling waves of Soul remain at a spot, and rotate in high
speed. So the Soul is said to exist as a unit of whirling waves that rotate or spin rapidly
– millions of million rounds per second. In the unit of whirling wave that remains at a
spot, its centre remains stationary and that forms its location; but, as it rotates so
speedily, its circumference remains "nowhere", that is nondiscernible. (cf. p. 16-17, 31-
32).

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Soul manifests consciousness. When it remains in a material body form (as an amoeba,
or an elephant, or a whale, or a man) it displays itself as consciousness or life in the
being. Dr. Moody's researches (vide, Life After Life) disclosed that even when it is out
of body, it exhibits consciousness, and becomes conscious of objects and events around
it. Sages found further the existence of an omnipresent Being of Pure Consciousness,
working behind every mysterious phenomenon in the universe – like the existence of
countless stars, emanation of light and heat from the sun, formation of babies in
wombs, occurrence of fortunes and miseries, etc. They realized the identity of that
omnipresent Entity of pure consciousness with the enwrapped bit of Consciousness that
is a Soul, and inferred the individual Soul to be a fragment diffused from the Cosmic
Soul. Then they began investigations on ways for the Soul to attain the Cosmic
Soul; and the discovery of positive ways to attain It is the highest feat of religion.

The religion of India had considered the natural or inborn inequalities between man and
man. Some are born lucky, they rise to positions, and enjoy peace and pleasure; some
others are born in misery, they live in wretchedness, and walk to the dungeons or
gallows. Sages strained their insight deeper and deeper and found past actions to be the
cause of such differences in the conditions, circumstances, and experiences in men's
lives. Every action involves two aspects: the outward act yields its consequences
forthwith, but the merits of the act take time to yield fruits. Subtler Waves that reflect
our karmas in the Subtle Body never die; they only become finer and finer and
ultimately become minute whirling waves. The Subtler Waves generated by every
action subside as a distinct unit of fine whirling waves in the Interspace of the Subtle
Body. They preserve the distinctive character of the action, which includes its merits.
When it is time to yield fruits, these fine whirling waves expand are rise up to cause
their effects. They cause inspirations for actions and thereby cause our experiences in
life. Who gives the signal or the stimulus, to those waves to rise up? It can only be the
omnipresent Power of Consciousness that is conscious of all things and controls the
universe so mysteriously. The thinkers called the subsiding waves of actions as
Karmabhavas, their store as Samchitakarma, their initial storing as Prarabdhakarma,
and their development to yield fruits as Bloom. Originally, even before the first
Karmabhava could cause its effects, it was desire generated by sense perceptions that
inspired actions. Casual sense perceptions continue to inspire actions that result in
experiences of pleasures and pains. Thus has religion explained the source of all our
experiences in life.

Is the bondage of Karmabhava eternal and insurmountable? Religion does not say so.
It says that the Karmabhavas that have already commenced development towards
bloom cannot be stopped or got rid off; but all others can be. The arousal of further
Karmabhavas can be stopped by practicing religion. Religion directs all works to be
earnestly dedicated to God. When every work is done in earnest dedication to God, no
fresh Karmabhavas will arise to bind the Soul. The Karmabhavas that are in store
(Samchitakarma) will perish on realization of God. Bhagavad Gita (4:37) says,
"As the blazing fire reduces fuel to ashes, so does the blaze of God-realization (Jnana)
reduce all Karmabhavas to ashes". (cf. also Adhyatma Upanishad 50, 53).

The waves of God realization will sweep the Subtle Body, and swallow all waves that
subsist dormant in the Subtle Body, namely the Samchitakarma.

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Religion is not a mere belief; it is a way of life, it is a becoming of the Soul. When a
Soul realizes God to be all pervading – dwelling in all living beings – the thinking
person begins to see all men and all beings as different manifestations of God, and all
happenings as the playing of God. He sees God in all and in everything. Then he
becomes the perfectly religious, saintly man – the spiritual man.

Section 54 THE SAINTLY MAN

Bhagavad Gita (10:20) announces,

"God is Soul abiding in the hearts of all beings".
He who knows this truth about God, and follows it consistently in all his behaviors, is
called a Saintly man. He sees God as the all pervading Being of Pure Consciousness
(Chaitanyam), and venerates the Chaitanyam as a manifestation or existence of God
wherever it is seen. Obviously every living being displays chaitanyam. So, the saintly
man sees all living beings as manifestations or existence of God in different body
forms. To him, God is the Impersonal Infinite Chaitanyam, and any Personal God and
any living being is a manifestation or existence of God in a limited, definite form, male
or female – a Personal God being a more conspicuous manifestation than other beings.
So, Bhagavad Gita *6:29) mentions the external mark of a saintly man, the yogi or
monk, thus:

"The Yogi sees God to dwell in all beings, and all beings in the God. He sees all equal
(to self)." Illustratively it says,
"Enlightened men see alike a Brahmin of learning and culture, a cow, an elephant, a
dog, and a savage". (ibid 5:18).

Evidently, he identifies every being as its Soul, and identifies the Soul as a fragment of
God, dwelling in a body, and in that view, ignores the body as a mere covering of the
Soul. (cf. Bhagavad Gita 2:22). He ignores even the Subtle Body as an inner covering
of the Soul, and looks only to the precise Soul, the principle of vital Consciousness, as
the being and an existence of the all pervading God, and therefore sees all equal to one
another and to self.

When it is said that all men are equal and non-different, it does not mean that they are
personally equal; they are equals only in their spiritual aspect – they are spiritually
equals. Personal aspect here is the body (inclusive of the Subtle Body); spiritual aspect
is the Inner Soul, the simple being of vital Consciousness. The Souls of all men are
non-different, alike. Swami Vivekananda has explained this aspect very clearly with an
illustration (vide his Complete Works, vol. 1 p. 379). A mass of clay may exist as a
clay-elephant and a clay-mouse. The clay element and clay mouse are indeed different;
they will ever be different from each other. But, put in water, they lose their shapes and
differences, and show themselves to be identical clay. As clay they are one, they were
one; but as elephant and mouse they were different. Clay was the same in both, but as
diverse formations of clay they were different. Considered as multiple Souls diffused
from God dwelling in different body forms, all persons are alike, but as diverse shapely
beings, Jack, Joe and Jane, the persons are different from one another. The question is
how we view the matter. If we look to the body forms or intellects or minds or outward
features, men are different from one another. If we look to the spiritual essence of
beings, the souls, men are only so many existences of the Impersonal God and therefore
equals - all are then alike and equal. Saintly men look only to the God dwelling in

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every being and overlook all other things about the being as mere shows of Nature.
When God's presence is seen, everything else becomes insignificant in their view. They
venerate – that is to say, they love and revere – every being as an existence of God.
Tattvamasi (p. 23 above). That is the way the saintly men worship God, and that is said
to be the highest form of Godworship.

Philokalia (vol. 1 p. 68) observes,

"Blessed is the monk who regards every man as God after God".
Mahanirvana Tantra (14:122) – English translation of the book by Sir John Woodroffe
is named the Tantra of Great Liberation – describes veneration of God as present in
every being to be the highest form of Godworship. It says,
"The highest is realization of Brahman in the beings; Meditation is the middling;
Worship by recital of hymns is low; External worship is the lowest."
Four modes of Godworship are compared in this verse. The mode of lowest merit is the
External worship. It is worship by outward physical acts, unaccompanied by internal
or mental acts. It is mere ritualism. Decorating the image, offering flowers and sweet
foods, waving of incense and lights, chanting hymns, with mind straying elsewhere, are
external acts of worship. Visualization of God's presence on an image or other symbol,
following the meaning of hymns being sung, making mental offerings, devotional
surrender to the will of God, are internal acts of worship. Internal action that touches
the Soul is the essence of a true worship. But, persons engaging a mercenary priest to
conduct a ritual, and then conversing with friends on local politics while the priest goes
on with the ritual, are not rare sights. How far is the participation of mind or Soul in
such worships? A worship of the kind described in Bhagavad Gita 16:17 is not worth
the name of worship. The conduct of a priest chanting hymns, with mind set on
persons present or fees from them, is a mere external worship. A hasty worship done
just to keep up the daily routine, before running to the business place, is another
example of external worship. These are mere bodily acts, outward shows, not followed
by mind or Soul. It is a worship by external organs, not by the internal self. The verse
says that such external worships are of the lowest merit.

Stotrapujas, that is to say, worships by recital of hymns or recitation of names (like

Sahasranamajapa), done with consciousness of their meaning, have a better tendency,
than physical acts of external worship, to hold the mind in reverent remembrance of
God. Songs have a particular capacity to excite an emotion, like devotion. Therefore
this form of worship is considered superior to external worships. But, ordinarily, the
intensity of thought on God in this form of worship does not rise to an acute
concentration of mind as in a meditation, and therefore Mahanirvana Tantra ranks it
below meditations.

Meditation is concentration of thought on God. To avoid distraction by sense

perceptions, meditators generally prefer solitude or a closed room for their practices,
and even there they close their eyes during meditation. Even then, the mind may play
its fickleness and skip to other casual thoughts and desires. Bhagavad Gita (12:9)
advises practice of Abhyasayoga to maintain mind steady on God. 'Abhyasa' means
persistent practice. Whenever mind strays from remembrance of God, Intellect can call
it back to think on God. A persistent practice of such recall whenever mind happens to
stray, is the Abhyasayoga. By it, the mind's straying can be reduced progressively, and
it can be trained to stay longer and longer in meditation on God. In a short period,
mind will become steady, and meditation will become undisturbed. Continuous

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remembrance of God is essential at worships, and that will normally be done in
meditations on God. Bhagavad Gita (9:22) tells that undistracted meditation will bring
God's unstinted grace on the meditator. Even so, meditation is not sufficient for
attaining God, which is the highest goal of life in religion. Hence Mahanirvana Tantra
ranks meditation only as a middling form of worship. In the normal householder's
view, meditation may be the highest form of Godworship; but in the view of a monk or
saintly man the highest form of worship is that which leads to attainment of God.

Finally, the highest form of worship: It is the way of saintly men to attain God. It is
the adoration of Brahman, the Impersonal God, in all living beings. It finds God's
presence as Souls in all beings (including self). (See p. 81-82 above). Bhagavad Gita
exhorts,
"Know God as the Soul in all body forms". (ibid 13:3/2)
"God dwells in the heart centres of all beings". (ibid 18:61)
Bible also (1 Cor 3:19) exhorts,
"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in
you."
Thus understanding all Souls to be existence of God, the saintly men venerate God
directly in the beings, by loving and serving all beings as their spiritual siblings.
Adoration of God will not be full and complete unless it is offered to Him wherever He
is seen. No discrimination or exception is feasible in this regard. Yogasikha Upanishad
(4:1) tells
"Because of the uniformity of Chaitanyam (Soul), discrimination (between beings) is
never warranted."

God is one only, all pervading. Bhagavad Gita (13:28) observes God to be equally
present in all beings. He is equally present in all men, noble and wretched. God is not
to be slighted wherever He may be found, in whatever condition. So, the saintly man
loves and reveres God, present in all men, noble or wretched. That is the spiritual
equality that he scrupulously observes in all his behaviors. Tripadvibhuti
Mahanarayana Upanishad (at the end of Chap. 6) tells
"You are Brahman; I am Brahman; Between us two, there exists no difference".
Brahman, or fragment of Brahman is the Soul in you and me – identical in both. The
Subtle Body and the physical body are coverings to the Soul – they are different in
each. The saintly man, who has renounced all worldliness, perceives only the Brahman
in every man, and in every being. It is indeed a great thing to be saintly in this way. It
is the summit of spiritual attainment.

Arjuna in Kurukshetra was not a saintly man, he was only a warrior prince thinking of
slaughter in a war. (See Bhagavad Gita 1:34-37). Arjuna was called to fight to
vindicate justice against his obstinately wicked cousins. Krishna abused imbecility and
asked Arjuna to wage the war without thinking of results. He was to do it as a bidding
of God. That was an extreme case. In normal cases, fight is condemned, and
saintliness is thought and action is highly commended and praised by religion.

To see the soul in every man as an existence of God, is to assure brotherliness with all
mankind. Differentiation even between opposites, like friend and foe, saint and sinner,
is not warranted when the Souls are seen as existence of God in different roles of His
mysterious play.

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Bhagavad Gita (6:9) observes,
"Eminent is he who has equal regard for friend, a benefactor, an adversary, an
indifferent person, an arbiter, an enemy, a kinsman, a pious man, and a sinner".
If a person realizes impartial spiritual equality in all men, and loves them all alike,
irrespective of individual nature and disposition, that is regarded as the highest form of
Godworship Bhagavad Gita (6:31) extols it, above a worship of God, it is 'living in
God'. It says,
"Whoever worships God as the one Divinity dwelling in all beings, such yogi lives in
God, whatever may be his way of life".
Christ said
"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it
unto me". (Mat 25:40)
In his sermon he said
"Love our enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray
for them which despitefully use you and persecute you". (Mat. 5:44)
Not only did he preach so, but he observed it in his actions. When he was crucified, he
prayed for the crucifiers:
"Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34)

When a person realizes the all pervadingness of God and consistently practices oneness
of all beings in God, without exception, he is said to have attained the highest state of
spiritual advancement, the Spiritual Enlightenment. In the language of Indian
philosophy, he is said to have attained Jivanmukti, as a prelude to later attainment of
Videhamukti when he leaves the body.

Bhagavad Gita (2:40) assures that even a little of the practice of religion or yoga, will
lead to great results.

***

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