Challenging the Frontiers of Human Knowledge

            Many of us, while going through the grind of humdrum human life, often pause to think of the endless races we find ourselves sucked into. Howsoever may we try, we still remain mired in this often needless and senseless chase after the goodies of life. While the hoi polloi has neither time, aptitude or faculty to even go beyond their daily routine to ponder over the existential philosophies of human life, those who have the time, interest or capabilities to brood over the basic existential questions of life remain ever disillusioned and disoriented.

            Many religious philosophies including Hinduism have attempted explanations of the reasons and logic behind the fathomless architecture of cosmic creations. But the common man still remains oblivious and unconcerned with the same, preferring his/her preoccupations with the daily chase after mindless stuffs of material life. Mindless because this chase never ends. The satisfaction of one desire often leads to another, thereby giving rise to a spiral of endless desires, thus keeping us all trapped into the here and now.

            This incapacitates and keeps us from getting into the deeper recesses of Divine Creation. Most of us find no time to delve into the various mysteries and secrets of cosmos. After all, the questions like ‘why are we born?’, ‘what are we doing here?’, ‘what’s the purpose of entire creation’ and ‘where do we go after death?’ keep nagging us all the time. Such questions and the pursuits to unearth their answers find more patronage and benefaction from those who have gone beyond the worries and struggles of quotidian survival.

            With the hindsight and with the benefit of the knowledge enshrined in the classical and modern philosophies, we can somehow grope about wangling an answer to some of these questions. For example, as believers and students of some of these philosophies, schools of thought and scientific discoveries, we now know the humongous size of the Divine Creation and our insignificance vis a vis the same. Many believe that we are all born and reborn on physical, spiritual or other planes and dimensions to learn our lessons through time and space.

            We do so to gain varied experiences for the gradual evolution of our eternal consciousness to finally merge with the Supreme Consciousness. These experiences and learnings are required for us to get rid of our various imperfections gradually to become equipped for better and bigger challenges and responsibilities as we may face through our myriad avatars and incarnations on our way up the evolutionary ladder. This also means acting as the extension of the Supreme Soul to guide and enlighten the unenlightened souls to further beautify and extend the glory of the Almighty.

            We now know, thanks to the widely-accepted spiritual and scientific expostulations including First Law of Thermodynamics and Quantum Physics, that all manifestations of the Cosmos are nothing but different combinations and permutations of energy. There is a constant exchange and assimilation of different forms of energy, with energy never being created or destroyed but only changing its forms.

            We all not only come from and return to the same source, but all the organisms and matters as combinations of energy are only changing their forms. They keep reverting to their basic elemental forms from which newer forms and objects of Creation take shape. Be it humans, animals, plants, trees or other matters, they are all constantly being created and destroyed, thereby acting as the raw material for each other’s constitution.

            Howsoever may we detest each other, it is a truism that our basic constituents may have come from those organisms, groups of humans or non-sentient matters we call unchaste and unholy. Similarly, our mortal remains may become the life supporting building blocks for our antagonist human groups or other expressions of Creation. We now know that there is actually an immanent unity in Creation at a very basic level and no aspect of the Creation is permanent except our ‘soul’ or ‘consciousness’ (whatever we may call it).

            We know that our chase after material and non-material possessions like property and fame in this temporal world is nothing but meaningless. It is we who create the value and it is we who keep running after them. The concept of money, assets, possessions and valuables is actually spatio-temporal. The same is also different for different individuals. No form of these material and non-material possessions that we hoard through our life goes with us to the other world. But we still keep chasing them.

            We seldom realise that it is actually our experiences and interfaces with the material and non-material manifestations of Creation that is more important than the possessions themselves. It is the learnings derived through these experiences and interactions that are more vital than the possessions themselves as they help our ‘eternal consciousness’ or ‘soul’ to move up the evolutionary ladder by getting implanted into our consciousness as permanent impressions.

            So, it is more than advisable for us to remain engaged in the real, loftier and uplifting pursuits of knowledge to keep enriching and elevating the human wisdom as may help the humanity in comprehending the higher truths and intricacies behind the infinite expressions of Divine Creation. Doing so, we can better understand the yet unexplored facets of Creation to further stretch and enrich our knowledge that may still be available in the still unfamiliar multiverses.

            Through our persistent and positive pursuits, we must attempt to stretch the human wisdom, knowledge and intelligence than we have known so far. Proponents of science and spiritualism have both been engaged in pursuit of the same since time immemorial. However, this pursuit can become more productive and useful if we can get away from the needless contretemps, conflicts and frictions that humans always find themselves embroiled in, thereby frittering away their precious time and energy in mindless chase and rage.

            However, there is a flipside to this basic understanding. Often, some of the humans after they become capable of hazarding an answer to these eternal questions, slowly become alienated and estranged from the mundane material life, losing their interest in continued engagement with the humdrum human life. At this stage, some either end their life or lose interest in myriad role-plays of a human life, finding them completely inane and meaningless. They often find themselves withdrawn or disengaged from life’s sundry races or pursuits.

            While the Hindu deity Lord Krishna in ‘The Bhagwad Geeta’ does talk extensively about ‘Nishkama Karma’ i.e. selfless engagements in worldly pursuits without an eye to the outcomes. But that does not mean that one should become completely disinterested in life or its varying pursuits otherwise we shall cease to explore and unfold the multi-splendoured genius of God’s incredibly beautiful creation. So, even while we remain preoccupied in various pursuits, the outcomes should not move us or impact us negatively.

            Our experiences and pursuits should have an uplifting influence on our consciousness. And all such uplifting and loftier learnings should lift and enrich the collectiveness consciousness of the entire humanity, thereby creating newer possibilities and unlocking newer mysteries of Divine Creation. Unless and until we do so, the same shall continue to make us incapable or unqualified towards any future engagements in superior pursuits.

            The truths of human life become starker when we keep losing our near and dear ones at regular intervals. This often drives us towards the realisation of the mundane character and emptiness of our existence unless we start comprehending the spiritual nuances of our various worldly experiences and encounters. These days, when I see someone fighting, getting angry, getting arrogant or becoming vile and vicious, I am immediately drawn into a different world. The vile and vicious, the uncomfortable people or interlocutors are actually God’s ways to put us through tougher tests and ordeals for preparing us for better and bigger responsibilities in this or the afterlife.

            Seeing them as the children of the same Almighty as created me, I am often transported to a thought whereby I start looking for the reason for which God might have sent these uncomfortable people to the earth or into my life for making me and many others learn some of our lessons. After all, as they say, if things are happening your way, it is good. But if they are not happening your way, it’s better as the same is happening God’s way and God definitely knows better than us. And one can definitely say with certitude that all our negative experiences have been followed by positive and better ones. One loss has always been compensated by much bigger gains.

            Spiritual rationalisation has been found to be a very effective and helpful tool in correlating present life’s incidents with past lives’ ‘Karma’, thereby getting away from life’s many woes and getting ahead in life. While talking to all kinds of people, I often see myself talking to and interacting with a frame of bones covered with a pile of earth, eventually going back to nature. I also visualise these people including myself sooner or later departing the scene, leaving the causes or the outcomes of the said fight, anger, arrogance or viciousness behind, so behind that people would hardly remember any of us.

            More so, because most of these people would also soon be replaced by others who would hardly know most of us as most of us would be lost through the time, without any traces. All the ordinary and extraordinary people end up either in graveyards or cremation grounds sooner or later, being consigned to insignificance unless we really leave our footprints on the sands of time.

            Moreover, when life throws stones at us, it is more than advisable to use the same for making a bridge or constructing a beautiful edifice as would satisfy our creative self and would also glorify the Almighty. If life gives us the sourness of a lemon, we should make lemonade of it. So, while life’s various quirks and turns make us feel low or disheartened, we should immediately change gear to rediscover ourselves to engage with something different and positive preoccupations of life rather than remaining stuck on the negative and depressing stuffs of life.

            However, if rebirth were to be the truth, as Hinduism and many other religions believe, we ourselves can’t identify ourselves with those great causes, outcomes or feats in our newer incarnations as we usually are reborn with no memory of past lives. But the learnings and lasting impressions of our previous lives remain ever so etched on our eternal consciousness to guide us through our future roles and responsibilities. That’s why, some individuals have better felicity, knack or talent in certain fields than many others because of their past learnings and experiences.

            The prodigies’ talents could be traced to their remarkable successes and learnings in their previous lives, thereby getting implanted onto their eternal consciousness and helping them in their extant lives. That is why, it is more than advisable that after we have provided ourselves with the basic necessities for a comfortable human life, we should start delving into the deeper truths of human life and divine drama, simultaneously trying to stretch the human imagination and knowledge to better understand the vastness of the multiverses.

            Mind you, it is these lasting impressions and learnings, positive or negative, that we take with us to the other worlds or the after worlds. That is why, while we keep striving at human excellence in every sphere of life, we should nevertheless be wary and chary of any of these human experiences or encounters negatively affecting the evolution of our eternal consciousness. It is the imperfections of our soul which keep us mired into the incessant cycle of birth and death. The faster we get rid of the same, the better for our souls to go beyond the trap of repetitively mundane human life to engage in loftier pursuits of knowledge.

            Against this background, this is really very ironical that notwithstanding the fact that we are all born of the same God, we still keep sparring over the various expressions of the Almighty. Knowing very well that each one of us may be reborn or re-expressed tomorrow on the other side, we still conduct ourselves to accept our extant positions or forms as something permanent. After all, the Hindus could be reborn as Muslims or a Pakistani could be reborn as an Indian. But we still keep drawing so many boundaries among ourselves.

            All those who believe in the superiority of their God or their power, they also believe that all expressions of the Creation are actually born of or created by their God and as such all the followers of different castes, races or religions have also been made by the same God. As such, we should have no reason to engage in internecine conflicts with one another. But for some strange reason, we refuse to accept and understand this.

            And as long as we don’t understand this, we shall neither have time, energy or the inclination to engage in the higher pursuits of knowledge. As the highest and most intelligent expression of God’s Creation, we must move away from the parochial concerns of a single planet by resolving its many problems and ought to go beyond the same to further stretch our knowledge and wisdom in consonance with the humongous possibilities created by the Almighty.