Let Everyone Be Happy

Mayank Goel, CESP, JNU.

mayankgoel90@gmail.com

Our world is highly progressive in nature. Today, we have moved into an era where we have broken all the previous benchmarks established in the different spheres of life. Comparing present with our past, we can surely assert that the level of technology, modern facilities, machines, medicines, etc. is completely unprecedented. Every moment we are kind of augmenting our skills to innovate new things and techniques to do our activities. But, the world in general is experiencing massive increase in diseases, severe health problems, depression, mental breakdowns, physical inactivity, dilution of relations, rapes, murders, death, etc. People are dying young. In last 45 years suicide rates have increased by 60% worldwide (WHO). Over 450 million people suffer from a mental health problem or mental illness (National Institute of Mental Health, Office for national statistics mental health in children, mental health foundation, mind, rethink, London School of Economics). These things are happening in our vicinity that sometimes raise questions regarding the relation, if any, between the two perceived events.

Humans by nature are inquisitive to know ever since the dawn of life. Given the fact that we have imbibed higher intelligence in the evolution process, we try to manipulate our resources to overpower or control the material nature instead of surrendering to the material conditions like animals. This urge has been driving the development of our human society in the field of action where we work to change and create an artificial environment around us suitable to our comforts. To decipher upon the extent of our success, we must take care of two things. First, we should think whether we have been actually successful in overpowering nature or is it an illusion that makes us believe so or the situations have further worsened? What is it really? Secondly, we want to control the nature because we want to become independent as dependency is the cause of misery. In short, we do not want miseries inflicted upon us by nature in the form of Tsunamis, floods, famines, earthquakes, scorching heat, excessive cold, etc. We want to liberate ourselves of all sufferings and wish to live happily. So have we succeeded in it?

 All these technological developments and modern science are helping us to delay our sufferings only to be caused in a much intensified manner. (This is intact with the overall capitalist system in which growth is technology-led which does nothing but delays the crisis to be caused at some later date.) These advancements do give us pleasure and happiness by easing our life style but they are highly momentary and temporary. It is a cyclical process. More urge to enjoy gives more sufferings and more sufferings compel us to degrade our source of pleasure  and eventually we tend to locate our happy moments in small and petty things. Is this true development?

The true development is one where pleasure increases and the source of happiness is elevated in each cycle of development. This development is a boon for human civilisation as it is directed in the right direction. This leads us to the path of universal peace and harmony. Today, people are seeking pleasure in killing animals, boozing, hangovers, smoking, gambling, illicit sex and all kinds of commercialised conspicuous consumption. This is not the right development as it is animalistic in nature which has taken away humanity from our lives.

All these problems are the reflections from the mirror of ignorance. Thus, one of the best solutions is to promote the right knowledge. We need to understand why do societies develop or what is the driving force behind these material and technological developments. The essence of all our activities is to enjoy and become happy. Developments are no exception and they occur essentially to improve the well-being, standards of living, comfort levels, etc. in order to increase the state of happiness.

This is a point to ponder whether we have actually increased our happy state or augmented our sufferings. Since all human efforts or actions performed by any living entity, for that matter, is dualistic; characterised with the system of synthesis and antithesis based on our criteria or thesis. Thus, we ourselves create avenues that increase the miseries in the process to enjoy or become happy. When our intensions are not wrong then why the results are always contradictory? What is the nature that makes our actions dualistic? Little understanding of human psyche and human needs can make us aware and acknowledge the direction leading to humanity.

Basically, all humans have three kinds of needs; biological, social, and natural. Biological needs arise out of our body that mainly includes food, clothing, shelter that are mainly material in nature. The reason is that our body being made up of matter comprising five elements; earth, fire, water, air and space; the bodily needs are satisfied through these elements only.

The social needs arise out of the environment or the society in which we survive. These needs vary among humans according to their civilisation and are thus satisfied in the framework of that society. For example, in earlier societies people needed goods to exchange with other goods of consumption while today we need money to possess purchasing power. Social needs also include needs at the abstract level like emotional caring, etc.

The natural needs are difficult to perceive because they are the most subtle of all. These needs arise out of us being the spirit souls. The characteristic feature of soul is eternal, conscious and blissful.

na jayate mriyate va kadacin nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah |

ajo nityah sasvato 'yam purano na hanyate hanyamane sarire ||BG.2.20||

Thus, our natural needs are to achieve immortality, become fully knowledgeable and always be happy. Humans from time immemorial have this desire to overpower death, inquisitiveness to know and desire to do away with pains and sufferings. These natural needs thus form the base of all our other needs.

Our efforts are dualistic because of this distinction between our bodies and ourselves (spirit souls). Because we are souls, we want to be happy but as we are limited by our bodies we cannot work for the welfare of everyone and hence all our efforts are relative that create both positive and negative effects. Positive on one hand make us happy while the negative increases our miseries.

The modern scientists and technocrats promise to make us happy by increasing our comforts. The biggest advertisement going on is how to become happy immediately and forget about future as it is uncertain. Thus, we are discounting our future pains for temporary pleasures. But, in this world, there is no perfect substitution. We cannot substitute our pain with pleasure. At the best, the pains inherent in the processes can be garbed. We must accept the pains and pleasure as we accept summers and winters because they are bound to come in a cyclical way. As in seasonal changes, we want to maintain the temperature; similarly in changes of situations, we must try to maintain our feelings i.e. try to situate ourselves in equality (Equality is the foremost requirement for real happiness).

jneyah sa nitya-sannyasi yo na dvesti na kanksati |

nirdvandvo hi maha-baho sukham bandhat pramucyate ||BG.5.3||

One who neither hates nor desires the fruits of his activities is known to be always renounced. Such a person, liberated from all dualities, easily overcomes material bondage and is completely liberated, O mighty-armed Arjuna.

However, this material development is characterised by inequality that improves the situation of some at the cost of others. There are very few instances where everyone in general benefits but there also the margins of benefits differ greatly. This creates a divergence in the society between those who possess and those who do not. Thus, the overall process is very unequal. Knowing this, we must try to innovate or develop such a machine which doesn’t discount our sufferings by garbing them but promotes equality to achieve universal peace and harmony. Then, we can claim to live in a happy world and a true human civilisation!

The Choice is Ours

Mayank Goel, CESP, JNU.

mayankgoel90@gmail.com

Material science is an interdisciplinary field applying the properties of matter to various areas of science and engineering and their study in detail. It started ages ago but the major breakthrough occurred in late 19^th Century when William Gibbs demonstrated thermodynamics properties. Even then the scientists had no concept of evolution of life and the presence of such wide diversity of living entities on this planet until Darwin formulated his theory.

Sir Charles Darwin formulated his idea of ‘natural selection’ in 1838 and was developing his own theory of evolution till 1858. It was only towards the end of 1859 that Darwin’s publication on the origin of species explained natural selection in detail and presented evidence leading to increasingly wide acceptance of the occurrence of evolution. This caused uproar and implied that humans didn’t have a special place in the universe.

Darwin’s theory of evolution is a theory in crisis in light of the tremendous advances we have made in molecular biology, biochemistry and genetics over the past 50 years. We now know that there is in fact many thousands of irreducibly complex structure on the cellular level also. Specified complexity pervades the microscopic biological world. Well known biologist, Michael Denton wrote “Although the tiniest bacterial cells are incredibly small, weighing less than 10^-12 grams; each in effect a veritable micro-miniaturised factory containing thousands of exquisitely designed pieces of intricate molecular machinery, made up of one hundred thousand million atoms, far more complicated than any machinery built by man and absolutely without parallel in the non-living world.”

The amazing part is that to understand or observe this irreducible complexity we do not need a microscope. The eye, the ear and the heart; all are exemplary examples of this complexity though they are not recognised as such in Darwin’s theory. Darwin himself confessed, “To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for adjusting different amounts of light and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration could have been formed by the natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree.”

However, even if we were to believe Darwin’s theory then it seems that the evolution has stopped ever since we became humans. What follows next, after we become humans is unknown to material scientist. For this reason, the present life seems to be purposeless, aimless which has forced all of us to follow the philosophy of ‘Eat, drink and be merry.’ Such an ideology is enforced by the material science because of the lack of perception regarding ‘soul’. Scientists think that they can prove and detect everything. It is indeed their biggest mistake! Just like the scientists can never see light but it is responsible for sight. In its presence, everything else becomes visible. Similarly, we can never detect soul but it is responsible for consciousness and life. In its presence, the dead matter becomes conscious. ‘Janmädy asya yato 'nvayäd itaratas cärthesv abhigyanah [SB 1.1.1]. That source of everything is life and is fully conscious of everything what is happening. Anvayät, indirectly and directly, fully conscious. That is life.’ Even Bhagavad-Gita confirms this in 2.13 ‘That which pervades the entire body through consciousness you should know to be indestructible. No one is able to destroy that imperishable soul.’

It is not the evolution of matter because matter in itself is unconscious, non-living and an inferior energy. The conscious, living, spiritual energy is required to move matter and create new things. In the production process also, it is the labour that is the most important input as it augments the value of the material goods. It is the living entities that move the dead matter for their usage. Instead of the evolution of the bodies, it is the evolution of the soul from the lower consciousness to higher consciousness in different species of life or different material bodies. Darwin had simply visualised the matter and had completely failed to see the soul that drives this change. We are spirit souls entangled in various temporary bodies and are continuously transmigrating from one body to another  (B.G. 2.13). Constantly the cells within our bodies are changing that makes our bodies to change. This change is instituted by the presence of soul. Thus, we are regularly changing our bodies and are always in dynamism.

Soul is transmigrating from aquatic life to flora, then to insect life, bird life, animals, and finally to humans. Within humans also, the evolution occurs from uncivilised life to civilised life. This civilised life of a human represents the culmination of evolution due to the developed consciousness. Thus, this becomes the junction where nature provides us the choice to choose. Other species or forms of life have no choice because  their thinking ability is too low due to undeveloped consciousness. They can never manipulate or exploit their natural environment to make it adjust to themselves but it is rather the animals, plants, etc. that adjust themselves to nature via stimuli. It is only the human life that offers us this choice due to our fully developed consciousness. At this junction of life, we can either choose to glide down into the cyclical process of evolution or can choose to elevate ourselves to a higher consciousness, Godly life by the process of self realisation; possible only in this very unique life. Essentially, this becomes the sole purpose of human life which is distinct and unique; not available to other species. We should ponder if human life is not special then why evolution culminated at humans? Is it mere by chance?

The lack of knowledge and a higher understanding makes us believe this temporary world to be the top-most reality. But, even the great scientists like Albert Einstein felt that there is something beyond material perception unknown to material science. In his words, “Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discerning concatenations, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion.” He had idea about the spirit present beyond the matter. 

We can understand the nature of soul even from the unsatisfied quest we have. Everyone's struggle for existence and unending wish for immortality signifies the search for eternal life. This is the characteristic of soul; it is immortal. but, due to the material covering we perceive ourselves to be mere bodies. Only this human life can make us achieve eternal life because of our developed consciousness that we imbibe through the evolutionary process! Otherwise, mundane things are very easily done by animals. Directing our total time and energy to do those very ordinary things of eating, sleeping, mating and defending in more and more sophisticated way is total wastage of this special opportunity. We should live comfortably but should be aware of the ultimate goal and thus, work in the right direction. The real success is therefore in elevating ourselves ti the highest consciousness to complete the evolutionary process. But, the choice is ours.

References:

•  Cremo, Michael A. and Thompson, Richard L.; Human Devolution
•  Darwin, Charles; The Origin of Species, and The Descent of Man
• Denton, Michael; Evolution: A Theory in Crisis.
• Prabhupada, A.C. Bhaktivedanta; Life comes from life

 

“CORRUPTION” – Why? How to overcome?

(A Vedic paradigm to fix the “root-cause”)

BACE Vedic Forum

bacevf@gmail.com

Generally, people need incentives to work. Most of us perform actions with some goal in mind. We want to achieve the end result in the best manner and thereafter claim the fruits of our effort. Better are the people who perform their actions and work without any vested interests and personal gain, i.e. those who consider work their duty and responsibility. They follow the principle of ‘sarva jan hitaya, sarva jan sukhaya’. But, unfortunately there also exist a special, smart and intelligent class of men who want to achieve everything without putting in proper effort. These people claim the fruits without working and this is indeed corruption. Corruption is a welfare loss in general. Economically, it leads to leakages and conspicuous consumption which is very problematic to the social strength of any economy because it marginalises the poor. The burden of this corruption falls straight on the poor. At the personal level, it degrades the consciousness. There develops a tendency to further cheat or bribe as we are lured to follow this short-cut method to achieve our goal.

Especially in our country, corruption has translated itself to unprecedented levels so much so that the whole country is unanimously fighting to root this out. Corruption is the fallout of the development process. With the development, structures, institutions and systems expand. This leads to de-centralisation of power and opportunities for the intermediaries to manipulate in between. Historically, any system or government tried hard to do away with corruption through a framework of rules and regulations but did not succeed. The prime cause of this had been faulty implementation of plans and secondly, avenues for the corrupt persons to escape again through illegal means (bribing the judiciary). Corruption has now become an integral part of the system. Any external force no matter how strong is not sufficient enough to break the system until there are endogenous forces integral to the system that work against its stability. Thus, the focus of any effort to stabilise any system should not be mitigating the external forces but resolving the opposite forces in the system. However, we can clearly assert that government focused on external forces by imposing rules and regulations.

To solve, we must know the problem. Today, the problem is not corruption. It is simply a form which has manifested itself externally. The real problem is the tendency to ‘cheat’. Our body is made up of matter which is limited and temporary. Thus, we can sense everything only in some range. Due to this, our senses are often illusioned. This illusion makes us commit mistakes and to cover up our faults, we resort to lies and in the process deceive others. These are also the four fundamental defects of living entities. But, this does not mean that we are bound to live in such a system. The solution to this has been given by many personalities like Chanakya, but the perfect insight is found in Bhagvad Gita. It says that because we perceive ourselves to be bodies, we hanker after bodily pleasure arising out of the contact of senses with sense objects. This creates an attachment for the sense objects that makes us very passionate to work and the same time very possessive in nature. In the process, if we succeed in achieving the desired sense objects, we further become attached and if by chance we fail, then it makes us angry (B.G. 2.62-63). Both these acts make us lusty and greedy by taking away our intelligence. This further entangles us in bodily pleasure.

Human life is simply not meant to run after sensory or carnal pleasure like a mad elephant. Animals have low consciousness and cannot understand the purpose of life. Animal life is definitely unregulated because they have no notion of morality and social welfare. But, human life means regulated life based on the principles of austerity, cleanliness, mercy and truthfulness. If we analytically see animals do not possess any of these virtues. Following these principles intrinsically implies condemning those activities that degrade them. Intoxication, illicit sex, meat eating, and gambling are four activities that completely destroy these injunctions; commonly found in animals. Unfortunately, instead of demolishing them, the present government is promoting them on a massive scale because they are high profit-low investment ventures. This has in turn increased conspicuous consumption. Government has now legalised production and marketing of wines, prostitution, slaughterhouses, casinos and short term speculative activities. The tendency to enjoy has escalated exponentially but the incomes have not gone up in general. People are therefore compelled to resort to usurious and illegal means of earning money to satisfy their urge of consumption. All this is happening due to lack of spiritual insight. However, these principles are part of any religion as they are part of the human society because without them humans are no better than animals.

The biggest folly of the government and the anti-corruption practices are that they want to achieve the result without focusing on the real problem. On one hand, we are promoting conspicuous consumption by increasing their production while on the other trying to achieve a corrupt-free nation. There is an integral contradiction in the formulation of such a system. Such practices can go on forever but will definitely fail to eradicate corruption unless these four principles are strictly established in the social and economic system through the intervention of the political systems.

No More Identity Crisis

Mayank Goel

CESP, SSS, JNU

mayankgoel90@gmail.com

Is our identity our institution, passport, pan card, belief, religion, caste, mind or even our body? We have so many identifications that it sometimes becomes difficult to recognise which is our original identity. Pause for a moment and think do we actually have these many personalities or it is mere lack of knowledge or illusion or ignorance that makes us think in this way. It is really strange to know that our identity is changing. Change in personality defeats the notion of identity because if we try to perceive, identity is something which has to be specific, should always hold true, and remains unchanged after any transformation. This definition holds true irrespective of the subject in which the term identity is dealt with. This then raises the obvious question what our real identity is?

It is in fact a million dollar question. There are two views to answer the same question. First, material sciences or material theories that are based on direct perception and inductive knowledge. These definitions usually fail to answer all the questions and do not give an understandable picture pertaining to ‘identity’ because they are confined to external environment which is nothing but matter. Matter is anything which is inactive, limited and temporary. That’s why all our senses which are nothing but products of matter are limited – can see, feel, smell, hear and touch only in a range.

The alternative to material science is spiritual science. We instantly become sceptical on hearing the term ‘spiritual’. This is our biggest folly because one certainly needs to taste honey to know its sweetness. Any speculation won’t suffice. The identity crisis occurs because we are not empowered with the real knowledge of the self. We tend to identify ourselves with our designations, positions, or the state of being. All these portfolios keep on changing. We tend to associate our identification with something or the other, overlooking the fact that all the positions are ours but this is not what we essentially are. In a similar fashion, we find ourselves one with the body. Just like we are not our hands but our hands belong to us, this body, made up of matter belongs to us. It is due to misidentification of considering body as the self that we are surrounded by an ocean of problems, tensions, frustration and mental breakdowns which reaches its heights when someone dear to us passes away.

We, having a higher consciousness should then ponder; who was there who passed away? If the body was the self, it’s still there! It is the soul that passes away. This knowledge of self or the soul is the base of spiritual science, knowing which the air becomes clear and everything seems so simple in life. This is our real identity. We are spirit souls, indestructible, unborn, eternal, unchangeable and immutable; beyond the concept of matter; that pervades the material body through consciousness. All our relations to people and material things are important due to the presence of soul. As soon as the soul leaves any living entity, that relation subsides. So it is the soul which is more important around which everything should be centred.

Those who are in full knowledge of the bodily conception of soul and who know that bodily desires are the results of being influenced by the illusion, do not become addicted to the body and its pleasure. They know that just as the fire which burns and illuminates, is different from firewood which is burnt to give illumination; similarly the soul, the seer within the body, is separate from the material body.

The planet where we live does not allow us to be isolated like islands. One lesson, this school of life on this planet forces us to learn, is that when we come together willingly to communicate with a positive purpose or to pray together and to unite for the good of the whole, then harmony and peace can exist. Unless and until we make this, the centre of our existence, world peace and harmony will remain a Utopian world because it is essentially this unity that brings forth the spiritual vibration emanating from the Supreme. This vibration is of spiritual love which is not based on bodily relations or mutual attraction but is necessarily one in spirit. It is then we all will realise that even though we look so different on the platform of body, language, religion, caste, etc., we are all alike and expansion of the same energy. This is the real oneness, real unity in diversity arising from our real identity.

We need to realise how similar we are in order to expand our hearts and hands to others we may have previously rejected. This is how love and understanding will dissolve boundaries that keep us stifled as a society and individuals and keep us far from entering higher dimensions of consciousness. A lack of love for us reflects lack of love for Godhead. We are not our beliefs, religions, castes, identity proofs, institutions, minds or bodies. We are all divine souls on a wondrous journey. It is essentially this unity between us with Godhead as the centre that can give us the real happiness and satisfaction we search everywhere and in everyone but fail to achieve.

We, absorbed in bodily consciousness believe in ‘survival of the fittest’ and thus do not worry how we harm others in this rat race to ‘eat, drink and be merry.’ Claiming our forefathers to be apes, the origin of this beautiful planet to be a big bang, we cannot imagine ourselves to be more than a bunch of chemicals or atoms colliding with one another both inside and outside. Such a blunt, blind, superficial outlook renders life meaningless, making the world purposeless which is neither useful to us nor to others. We, the youth need to think twice is this what it is? Is this our identity?

The Vedic life that centres around the real identity of individuals as souls and our loving relation with Godhead and His creation; empowers us to consider another man’s wife as mother; other people’s wealth as garbage, and to wanly treat others in the way we want ourselves to be treated. Thus, spiritual life arising out of our real identification is based on the firm foundation of co-operation of all, welfare for all, proper utilisation of God-gifted resources in a sustainable way and freedom from selfishness. This is the world that we should not only conceive but work together to make it a reality.