The link between man and God is Faith

An Interesting Conversation

An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem science has with God, The Almighty. He asks one of his new students to stand and.....

Prof: So you believe in God?
Student: Absolutely, sir.
Prof: Is God good?
Student: Sure.
Prof: Is God all-powerful?
Student: Yes.
Prof: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him.
Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn't. How is this God good then? Hmm?
Student is silent.
Prof: You can't answer, can you? Let's start again, young fellow. Is God good?
Student: Yes.
Prof: Is Satan good?
Student: No.
Prof: Where does Satan come from?
Student: From...God...
Prof: That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?
Student: Yes.
Prof: Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything. Correct?
Student: Yes.
Prof: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don't they?
Student: Yes, sir.
Prof: So, who created them?
Student has no answer.
Prof: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son...Have you ever seen God?
Student: No, sir.
Prof: Tell us if you have ever heard your God?
Student: No, sir.
Prof: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God?
Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?
Student: No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.
Prof: Yet you still believe in Him?
Student: Yes.
Prof: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your GOD doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?
Student: Nothing. I only have my faith.
Prof: Yes Faith. And that is the problem science has. Now the student said can I ask something to you Professor.
Student: Professor, is there such a thing as heat?
Prof: Yes.
Student: And is there such a thing as cold?
Prof: Yes.
Student: No sir. There isn't.
(The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.)
Student: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don't have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is
only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure
cold.Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.
(There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)
Student: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?
Prof: Yes. What is night if there isn't darkness?
Student: You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something.You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light...
But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and its called darkness, isn't it? In reality, darkness isn't. If it were you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?
Prof: So what is the point you are making, young man?
Student: Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.
Prof: Flawed? Can you explain how?
Student: Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as
the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor. Do you teach your students that they evolve from a monkey?
Prof: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.
Student: Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?
(The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize where
the argument is going.)
Student: Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?
(The class is in uproar.)
Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor's brain?
(The class breaks out into laughter.)
Student: Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how
do we then trust your lectures, sir?
(The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his face unfathomable.)
Prof: I guess you'll have to take them on faith, son.
Student: That is it sir... The link between man & god is FAITH. That is all that keeps things moving & alive. .

WANT TO KNOW WHO THAT STUDENT WAS?

This is a true story, and the student was none other than DR. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Ex-President of India.

Think you are well, and all that is well with you. And nature will read your thoughts and make them true.

The Great Scroll: The Union of Spirit and Flesh

(read this entire synopsis, and be transformed)

"The union of spirit and flesh is the 'one thing' spoken of by Hermes Trismegistus, who was also known as Mercurius, in his Emerald Tablet; it is the aqua vitae and quintessence of Alchemy; it is the Qi of Chinese Qigong; it is the Tao of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu; it is the Mysterious Female and tenuous matter of mystic Taoism; in Hinduism it is represented by Ardhanarisvara, who is the union of Shiva and Shakti, of being and non-being; it is the Great Way into Zen stillness, the Mother Luminosity or Rainbow Body of Dzogchen Buddhism, and the enlightened body of Buddha; it is the Tree of Life, linking Heaven and Earth; it is the transfiguration of the canononical Gospels, and the 'rapture' of Revelation; it is "of movement, and of rest", as declared by Christ in the Gospel of Thomas, and "The Word become flesh", of the Gospel of John; it is the ascension to unity spoken of in the New Age movement, and it is the eternal OM of the Goddess Lakshmi; it is the foundation of the Kabbalah; it is the unified wave structure of matter, of the new physics, and dark matter of astrophysics; it is the body electric of Walt Whitman, and the body divine. In short, the union of spirit and flesh is the essential component of all progressive cosmologies, for it is the true enlightenment. Historically this 'oneness' has be called advaita (non-dual). However, the non-dualists of history seem to have overlooked the flesh as being part of that oneness, and continually declared that the body, and all matter, were merely illusion. Fortunately humanity is at a point in its evolution where the flesh can be known to be divine, and a new advaita in which emptiness and fullness are one can come into being. For some people there must be a healing of the pain caused by division in order for them to return to the original harmony of the cosmos. The use of Tibetan singing bowls and Crystal singing bowls can assist in the re-union of our harmonic oneness. This eternal unity is well documented by Masaru Emoto, and Helena Blavatsky. One of the key players in this re-union is the Green Man. In traditional Buddhist spirituality this profound unification is known as Maitreya. In Hindu lore this new vibration is known as Kalki. In Taoism this union is practiced by the circulation of the light. Ken Wilber calls it the one taste, which in Tibetan Buddhism is known as Yab-yum. Sri Aurobindo and the Mother spoke of the divine body. It is through this new, and absolute, unity and oneness that the true ascension of Sophia, our cosmic being, occurs. This is when the vibration of flesh is raised into the vibration of spirit, and the vibration of spirit descends into harmony with the flesh. Within this new and holy oneness, nothing shall be alien: matter is mind, will is consciousness, and flesh is now holy ground! A truly Pagan event: the divination of matter has occurred. This unification is the actual intent behind the Christian Eucharist and the Catholic communion; the word 'catholic' means 'universality'- or, that which is without limits. Communion is thus the integration of the body (flesh) and the blood (spirit), of Heaven and Earth, of form and formlessness, of Creator and Created, and of He and She. The Aquarian Age is upon us, and Love is the one and only Law. And, as in the Jeweled Web of Indra- in which the entire cosmos is made of hollow gems, each filled with nothing but the reflection of all other gems- we must now know and feel that separateness is an illusion and we are all actually an interdependent, multidimensional, infinite oneness. Each of us is everything. A great silence. A new vibration. An holistic ascension. This is the Aquarian Awakening into the Cosmic Christ."

Blessings on your journey.

(Respect to: http://www.spiritandflesh.com/)

Consciousness Pervades The Real And Unreal

Satsang by Ramesh S Balsekar, published in the TOI speaking tree

What is Consciousness?

Consciousness is the One without the second; the Source of everything. The totality of manifestation, and everything therein, is Consciousness Itself. All there is, is Consciousness, not aware of Itself in Its noumenal subjectivity, but perceived by Itself as phenomenal manifestation in Its objective expression. There is no individual entity as insubstantial shadow, whereas what we really and truly are, is Consciousness Itself, the formless Brahmn.

Whether the manifested universe exists or not, Consciousness is there as the subjective Absolute... There is no relationship between Consciousness and the universe. The truth is that Consciousness alone exists and is immanent in what appears as the universe.

The appearance of the universe exists in infinite Consciousness, just as the notion of distance or emptiness exists in space... Consciousness alone exists. It creates the illusion of the world appearance and the ego-sense, and perceives the illusion of diversity in what is truly pure Oneness.

Consciousness cannot but be immanent in everything that appears to exist. And yet no phenomenal manifestation can have any kind of relationship with Consciousness because a relationship can exist only between two different entities. It is in this sense that Consciousness is transcendental to the manifested universe. The universe exists in Consciousness like future waves in a calm sea — only apparently different in potentiality.

What appears within Consciousness as its own reflection — the manifestation of the universe — is not separate or different from Consciousness. While the shadow, by itself, has no existence and is therefore unreal, the shadow is not different from the substance when seen together. When there is no mind in operation, when there is no conceptualising, it is clearly known, felt experienced, that phenomenality is only the objective expression of the subjective noumenon...

God is that formless subjectivity, pure Potential, the infinite, universal Consciousness which alone exists even after the cosmic dissolution. It is only within this pure, infinite Consciousness, the Potential Plenum, that phenomenal manifestation arose as a mere reflection of that Potentiality, as a mere objective expression of that pure subjectivity.

The phenomenal objectivisation of this pure subjectivity appears and functions in our outer world of consciousness in the waking state, precisely like sentient and insentient objects seem to exist and function in the inner world of consciousness in the dream state. Nothing really happens.
The final truth, as Ramana Maharishi, Nisargadutta Maharaj and sages before them have clearly stated, is that there is neither creation nor destruction, neither birth nor death, neither destiny nor free will, neither any path nor any achievement.

Consciousness-at-rest, Consciousness-in-action, I Am. In that original state — call it reality, Absolute, or Nothingness — there is no reason to be aware of anything. So Consciousness-at-rest is not aware of Itself. It becomes aware of Itself only when this sudden feeling, ‘I Am’, arises. I Am is the impersonal sense of being aware. And that is when Consciousness-at-rest becomes Consciousness-in-movement, when Potential Energy becomes actual energy.

One paragraph that explains life

Arthur Ashe, the legendary Wimbledon player was dying of AIDS which he got due to infected blood he received during a heart surgery in 1983.
From world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed: "Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease"?
To this Arthur Ashe replied:
"The world over -- 50 million children start playing tennis, 5 million learn to play tennis,
500,000 learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach the grand slam,
50 reach Wimbledon, 4 to semi final, 2 to the finals,
when I was holding a cup I never asked GOD 'Why me?'.
And today in pain I should not be asking GOD 'Why me?' "

Death Is When You Are Out-of-body

By Soma Chakravertty (Published in TOI 13th February)

Life and death are two sides of the same coin. And the coin is Soul. When the soul assumes a physical body it is life and when it discards the physical body once the purpose — as designed by the Almighty — is completed, it is death.

Life and death are transitory phases till the soul completes its cycle of life and death. Our physical bodies are vehicles for the soul, for its journey towards the ultimate destination, uniting with the Supreme Soul. That’s salvation. Life and death are steps to reach Him.

Soul is an embodiment of Supreme Consciousness or energy flow that keeps the body alive, just the way electricity powers light, fan, television or any microfunction. We can switch off any electrical gadget; God, too, switches off this energy flow when His work is complete. The soul continues.

Life, like death, is an evolving course and evolution is a continuous process. Every beginning has an end and every end has a beginning. A plant flowers, the flower in turn sheds its petals giving way for fruits or seeds. Then the plant wilts but continues as a new plant through its fruits or seeds. Death, too, is a process in the evolution of soul. Death is just an out-ofbody experience.

Then why fear death? Fear of death arises when we identify ourselves with our physical bodies forgetting we are pure consciousness which is eternal. Senses and mind control our body. We identify pain and pleasure with the illusory material world and body. When we celebrate birthdays, in a way we are also celebrating death, as each year carries us towards a new life and conclusion of the present chapter.

Life can be compared with the phases of the moon. The waxing moon reaches its prime with the full moon and then wanes to become what we call the ‘new’ moon which is in fact is a moonless night. Like life, death too is an illusion. What is real is that your soul is eternal.

Your identity, as you are addressed, lives and dies. The real you goes on in which as in nature, there are changes of seasons. Life and death are a succession of change of scenes, till our role ends in the play scripted by the Supreme Soul.

Failure to comprehend the true nature of the Universal Self causes turmoil and torments in our life. Accept life as His wish, let His will flow. When the mind is not peaceful and the body is not stable, the struggle becomes formidable. Our endeavour should be to live in harmony with nature. As part of the Supreme Soul we have an instinct to free our soul from self-centred existence.

Suryayog is for penetrating darkness of gross materialism to find the enlightened domain of inner self. Suryayog can open our hearts and minds to let His grace filter through and show us the path for spiritual realisation as well as drive away physical afflictions and ignorance. The healing powers of the Sun’s rays and love-energy bring about balance and harmony of body, mind and soul.

Make your soul your Sakha, a constant companion, who will guide you through the ups and downs of life to the world of bliss where there is eternal peace, light and love.

Based on Swami Suryaji’s talks in Kerala. Camp on Discovery of Inner Soul, for details call +91(0)9810194026, +91(0)9249758552.

Flashes from Swami Vivekananda - 4

The longest night seems to be passing away, the sorest trouble seems to be coming to an end at last, the seeming corpse appears to be awaking, and a voice is coming to us - away back where history and even tradition fails to peep into the gloom of the past, coming down from there, reflected, as it were, from peak to peak of the infinite Himalaya of knowledge, and of love, and of work, India, this motherland of ours - a voice is coming unto us, gentle, firm, and yet unmistakable in its utterances, and is gaining volume as days pass by, and behold, the sleeper is awakening!

Like a breeze from the Himalayas, it is bringing life into the almost dead bones and muscles, the lethargy us passing away, and only the blind cannot see, or the perverted will not see, that she is awakening, this motherland of ours, from her deep long sleep.

None can resist her any more; never is she going to sleep any more; no outward powers can hold her back any more; for the infinite giant is rising to her feet!

The Art of Allison Grey

Secret Writing

Meeting his wife Alyson, a painter, who has collaborated on many of Alex Grey's projects and whom he considers a gift of god on his artistic path.

Allison's words on her website: I read a quote describing the Jewel Net of Indra. In the abode of Indra, the Hindu God of Space, there is a net that stretches infinitely in all directions. At every intersection of the net there is a jewel so highly polished and perfect that it reflects every other jewel in the net. This description related powerfully to the revelation that we had received while in our altered state. It has been my continuing intention to point to this experience in my artwork.

Chaos Order & Secret Writing

Intending to create spiritual art, I feel naturally attracted to abstraction and to a written sacred language. Every known religion reveres its holy writing. Sacred writing of all faiths, however, come into conflict through human interpretation as the written word defines the differences of philosophy and traditions, when truly the basis of all religion is unity and infinite love.

Allison's Website: http://allysongrey.com/

Alex Grey: http://www.alexgrey.com/

The seeker is he who is in search of himself

Student of Nisargadatta Maharaj Ramesh Balsekar explains the core of his Guru's teachings as "the knowledge of one's identity".



Give up all questions except one: "Who am I?" After all, the only fact you are sure of is that you are. The "I am" is certain. The "I am this" is not. Struggle to find out what you are in reality. To know what you are, you must first investigate and know what you are not. Discover all that you are not--body, feelings, thoughts, time, space, this or that--nothing, concrete or abstract, which you perceive can be you. The very act of perceiving shows that you are not what you perceive. The clearer you understand that on the level of mind you can be described in negative terms only, the quicker will you come to the end of your search and realize that you are the limitless being.

When I met my Guru, he told me: "You are not what you take yourself to be. Find out what you are. Watch the sense 'I am', find your real Self." I obeyed him, because I trusted him. I did as he told me. All my spare time I would spend looking at myself in silence. And what a difference it made, and how soon! My teacher told me to hold on to the sense 'I am' tenaciously and not to swerve from it even for a moment. I did my best to follow his advice and in a comparatively short time I realized within myself the truth of his teaching. All I did was to remember his teaching, his face, his words constantly. This brought an end to the mind; in the stillness of the mind I saw myself as I am -- unbound.

I simply followed (my teacher's) instruction which was to focus the mind on pure being 'I am', and stay in it. I used to sit for hours together, with nothing but the 'I am' in my mind and soon peace and joy and a deep all-embracing love became my normal state. In it all disappeared -- myself, my Guru, the life I lived, the world around me. Only peace remained and unfathomable silence. My Guru ordered me to attend to the sense 'I am' and to give attention to nothing else. I just obeyed. I did not follow any particular course of breathing, or meditation, or study of scriptures. Whatever happened, I would turn away my attention from it and remain with the sense 'I am', it may look too simple, even crude. My only reason for doing it was that my Guru told me so. Yet it worked! Obedience is a powerful solvent of all desires and fears...

[Text Credits: nisargadatta.net Image Credits: spaceandmotion.com]

Intellect & Intelligence: Know The Difference

By Swami Parthasarathy

Published in TOI Speaking Tree (29th January)

For long there has been no awareness or endeavor by us to develop the art of thinking. As a result the lives of people are based on groundless beliefs. And their beliefs rest on some absurd superstitions. Or mere assertions which bear no proof. And now they find it difficult to question their veracity.

Following this trend humanity has reached a perilous state. We need to realise the emergent need to develop and strengthen the intellect. The process of thinking should start from an early age. Develop the art of thinking. Follow it up with the study of the impeccable truths of life. Delve deep into the truths. Accept those that appeal to logic and reason. Apply them in practical living. Adopt this procedure all through life. It will enable you to build your intellect. Albert Einstein said that intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.

We need strong intellect to exercise the right choice of action in life. We face endless trials and tribulations. The human species alone is provided with intellect to face and surmount mundane challenges. All other species, devoid of intellect, are helpless victims of the rigours of the external world. A powerful intellect helps us overpower these onslaughts. But the role of the human intellect does not end there. The intellect has the unique capacity to even transcend the world and reach the ultimate state of spiritual enlightenment.

Unaware of the need to build the intellect, we tend to entertain ourselves with merely reading others’ periodicals and publications. We indulge in the mere length of study. Just poring over pages of literature apathetic to its deeper implications. Rare indeed are those who go into the depth of study. Thus little is assimilated or absorbed by readers. People have been educated robots for generations. And have been traversing through life without knowing the meaning and purpose of it.

The world abounds in personalities with one-sided development. Intelligence and no intellect. Take the example of a scientist who is an alcoholic. His liver is damaged. He is extremely short-tempered and his blood pressure has shot up. And he is stressed, unable to face even small worldly challenges. Analyze his personality carefully.

He is a brilliant scientist with profound knowledge of his subject. He has acquired abundant intelligence but never cared to develop his intellect. His intellect has always remained weak. It lacks the strength to handle the multifarious demands of the mind. His mind craves for alcohol. His intellect is not powerful enough to control the nagging desire. So his mind raves in foul temper. His frail intellect is unable to control its ravings. And when his mind is humiliated, strained and stressed by the problems confronting it, his intelligence looks on helplessly.

On the contrary, there are luminaries possessing awesome intellects which hold their minds under perfect control. Some of them possess no academic qualification but academies are built around them. Only by developing the intellect can we save ourselves from self-destruction and evolve to spiritual perfection.