Discovering the Immanent Unity in Creation

                                                                                              *Saumitra Mohan

            Right since our inception into this world, we remain fascinated by the mundane attractions. Goaded by endless desires, we keep chasing sundry objects pleasing our senses. And as long we are chasing the senses, we have wool pulled over our eyes thereby incapacitating us to indulge in more uplifting pursuits as would earn us eternal bliss. Our higher Self gets obscured when we try to gratify our animal spirits which only gets more whetted and stimulated with each pandering of the senses.

            In a humdrum human life, an ordinary person usually starts thinking of God when s/he gets old or is faced with insurmountable difficulties. Reaching on the wrong side of life, we become more God-fearing. Our interest in religion and spiritualism often grow after we are past an active life. As we approach death, the various scruples and apprehensions about afterlife move us into increased religiosity.

            Many of us find it infra dig, ridiculous or against our rational, educated grooming to accept the existence of a Supreme Being which might have created all of us. Many of us, however, want evidence of His existence notwithstanding the same being there all around us, in the multi-splendoured expressions of His genius. As per ‘ex nihilo nihil fit’ thesis propounded by Parmenides, ‘there is no break in-between a world that did not exist and one that did, since it could not be created ex nihilo in the first place’. This rationalises the subsistence of a spirit world, beyond the world of senses.

            Logically and scientifically, all expressions of Creation being diverse arrangements of energy, the interrelatedness of different aspects of the cosmos is long proven by Quantum Mechanics. Days are not far when things like afterlife, rebirth, existence of parallel universe, extra-sensory dimensions and time travel are proven and widely accepted. Being long discussed, debated and explored, there have been myriad stories, proofs and mysteries related thereto adumbrating at the immense potential and possibilities of cosmic consciousness.

            Scientifically, the day is not far when time travel and visit to parallel universe would be a reality. The Stories of the Russian boy Boriska, the American time traveller John Titor, the mysterious man from ‘Taured’ (a country said to be situated in parallel universe) and various other incidents point to the possibilities of the same. The enormous explorations and available proofs on rebirth and afterlife should encourage us into further investigation.

            If souls were to be mortal and rebirth was to be a lie, there would be no need for the human beings for becoming moral and virtuous. If human life were to be a one-off, zero-sum game, we would have all the reasons to sow all our wild oats, without caring for any rules and laws of communal life. There would be a complete chaos and anarchy all around. The phenomenon of rebirth and afterlife, by keeping us on the straight and narrow, actually keep us motivated for being good and righteous.

            Writings and works of spiritual scholars including Swami Abhedananda and Ian Stevenson have talked extensively about it. But all these discoveries have not come to the fore on their own and have postulated the existence of an inquisitive mind delving deep into the recesses of human consciousness to come out with all the scientific discoveries and inventions made so far. After all, it is Newton who discovered gravity and not vice versa.

            If we were unconscious, the material world would be meaningless without our perception. The inanimate and unconscious have no value in absence of those with consciousness and power of perception. It is the latter which makes the former relevant and meaningful. Still we keep running after the inanimate and unconscious at the expense of the animate and conscious human relations and values. The truth remains that finite and material things can’t satisfy the human beings as our basic nature is infinite and non-material. As such, it is always advisable that we keep stretching our imagination, breaching newer boundaries of our consciousness.

            But we can’t do the same unless and until we get away from the material desires as infinite desires hold our genius to concentrate one-pointedly on the higher and loftier dimensions of cosmic realities including our own spiritual growth. We can’t be coming to this world again and again for no reason. There has to be a higher logic and rationale behind the same which is the elevation and unification of the differentiated souls with the undifferentiated Supreme Soul to explore and savour the profound beauty of the cosmos. The differentiated consciousness of seemingly dissimilar living beings has to slowly uplift itself from its primordial attachment to the sensory attractions to get merged as the undifferentiated consciousness.

            Can we believe that what our few senses register embraces the whole of reality? Different living beings have different capacities that others don’t have. A dog can’t see all the colours that a human can or a human can’t hear the sounds that some animals can. The reality we see exists within our consciousness, not outside. We experience the properties of our own nervous system. If we don’t like a thing, it is not others’ problem but that of our nervous system.

            It is we who are responsible for all our hatred, envy, greed, lust and other negative emotions as they arise from the various chemical changes in our nervous system, depending on the level of our consciousness. As we are the cause behind their generation, we can very well restrain and pacify the same through regular practice and training. If we can comprehend and appreciate the interconnectedness of all within the cosmos, many of humanity’s problems could be taken care of.

            Without mutual reaction and sensory feedback, nothing in the cosmos has any existential value. We don’t exist if others don’t take notice of our existence or recognise our individuality. And howsoever may we try, we can’t lead an isolated, independent, self-contained and solitary life away from other living beings of Creation. This is because our individual spiritual growth is predicated on our collective schooling in company of other creatures to learn and teach certain lessons to feel fulfilled and complete.           This being the case, we can’t be at war with each other or other aspects of nature. The destruction of any facet of nature or other living beings including humans means our own destruction as we are all homeostatically connected. The universe is existent or non-existent depending on our relative sense of understanding and vision.                        

            If people around us are unhappy, we shall be unhappy too because we are all interrelated, giving and deriving sustenance to one another. Sorrow anywhere outside us shall come back to haunt us. Happiness is a basic human nature. The Geeta rightly says that ‘anyone who enjoys things given by the Gods without offering selfless acts in return is a ‘thief’.  It is, therefore, advisable that we keep sharing and caring for each other including other aspects of Divine Creation.

            As long as we derive happiness from external objects, we shall remain unhappy because the objects deriving pleasure and derived from – both are temporary. So, let’s discover our humanity within to elevate the humanity without to eventually unite with the Cosmic Consciousness.