Can We Defeat Death?

                           *Saumitra Mohan

            The ‘Second Law of Thermodynamics’ says that entropy results in the gradual decline and death of all systems including stars, people and the universe. The ‘Law of Natural Selection’ has ensured hereditary transfer of immortal genes through generations. This has also guaranteed the replacement of the present with the posterity through the instrumentality of death.

            Death, defined as the permanent cessation of all biological functions sustaining a living organism, is brought about through ageing, predation, malnutrition, disease, suicide, homicide, starvation, dehydration, accidents or major trauma resulting in a fatal injury.            The remnants of an organism naturally merge with the biochemical cycle on death. Such remnants and residues become food for other predating or scavenging animals.

            The organic matter is further decomposed by detritivores (including earthworms or fungi), transferring and transforming the same for reuse of others in the food chain. All such material, eventually decomposed as chemicals, get consumed and assimilated into the cells of one or the other living organism. The process keeps repeating itself forever, thereby ensuring the sustenance and continuity of the ecosystem.

            With the enlightenment and epiphany afforded by the continuous march of science, we all know today that nothing in this world ever ‘gets lost’ and wasted. Every organic and inorganic matter being different permutations and combinations of energy, they simply change form on their eventual depreciation and disintegration as energy could never be destroyed. Even as organic bodies deteriorate and die, they also undergo a similar process of formative mutation, by becoming or providing building blocks for other living or non-living beings in the universe.

            So, energy including the one forming our ‘soul consciousness’ does not actually end. It simply metamorphoses from one state to another.     That being so, why are we ever so frightened of death? It is our perennial fear of death or love with our earthly life that goads us into seeking, exploring and unearthing the secrets of death for keeping it at bay perpetually. In our daily struggles to make the ends meet, most of us hardly find time to pause and ponder over such esoteric matters as death and life thereafter.

            While it is a truism that almost all the religions and cultures have dealt extensively with the subjects of death and afterlife within the confines of their own cognitive perspectives, this is also true that man has forever tried to explore and unearth the mysteries of death, not to speak of making an untiring effort to defeat death in his desire to live forever. The eternal human desire for immortality by getting around the biological death of organic life has always inspired civilisations since time immemorial to discover the ever elusive ‘elixir of life’ or a ‘philosopher’s stone’ for a permanent victory over death.

            Notwithstanding a series of failures in doing so, the human endeavour has never ceased and continues with renewed vigour and fervour. And this is but natural. As humans get more and more comfortable with their day-to-day problems of survival, they think of continuing and extending the pleasing experiences of human life forever though there have always been a significant number of people who wish to do otherwise because of their negative and miserable life experiences.

            Different schools of science at different phases of human history have explored, propounded and declaimed differently on diverse ways to tame the hydra-headed monster of death of a living organism for realising the human craving for immortality. One of the ways includes transplanting the head of a physically disabled person on a fully-functioning brain-dead body. There is also a phenomenon of ‘whole-body transplant’ where the brain of one organism is transplanted into the body of another organism.

            The ‘whole-body transplant’ is a procedure distinct from the head transplant, which involves transplantation of the entire head into a new body, as opposed to the brain only in case of the former. After a 2014 Harvard study noted significantly enhanced memory and ability to learn in the older mice who were injected with the blood of the younger mice, harvesting teens’ blood has since been promoted for acquiring eternal youth. How successful the same would become, only time will tell.

            Cryonics, a specialized stream of science, proposes to attain immortality through freezing, preserving and reanimating the cadaver of a living organism by way of pre-stipulated formulae. Here, the human memory in the form of individual body is cryo-preserved infinitely until we have the right technologies for reanimating it. If frozen embryos could be brought back to life, why can not the human memory? However, a brain being much larger and many times more complex than an embryo, the freezing process is likely to set in entropy and destroy the neurons carrying the individual memories, thereby destroying the ‘Self’ itself.

            Then, we have ‘Singulartarian’ scientists who propose to immortalise us by uploading the composite patterns of our thoughts and memories into a computer. By intending to upload human consciousness on cloud, the idea is to transform a human from a biological being into a non-biological being to such an extent that the biological part becomes redundant. It is the non-biological part which dominates and by dint of being non-corporeal and non-biological transcends the eternal cycle of birth and death to make a human being immortal.

              In an age of information technology, advanced robotics and artificial intelligence, it won’t be long when we shall soon be able to afford any android body with options to upload a mind of our choice. This could become possible as and when science succeeds in uploading human consciousness or mind onto the humongous pool of interconnected ‘cloud’ as the virtual repositories of brains/minds/consciousness and, thus all human knowledge and wisdom, possessed by all individual human beings. It would then become possible to share or exchange our minds with others.

            One may flaunt as many android bodies as possible depending upon one’s desire, predilection and matching financial condition. This would, however, give rise to another kind of inequality in the world unless the future Government comes out with support and subvention for meeting such needs of its citizens. Whatever be the financial capabilities of the people, the science could definitely facilitate our choosing from a bouquet of minds of different genders and different ages available on the cloud.

            So, even if our physical bodies die, we could still be around by way of our uploaded individual consciousness which could again manifest and express itself through the media of available android bodies. It would become technically possible for an individual to show off as many android bodies as possible, depending on the fact as to whether human civilization is able to solve the problem of poverty and inequality by then or not.

            Nevertheless, the idea of uploading human consciousness into a computer or on an online interconnected database called ‘cloud’ and expressing the same through the instrumentality of androids also has its limitations. This actually traps the humans into another cycle of birth and death, rather than liberating from the same. The knowledge, expertise and administration of new levers for our manifestation through androids or downloading desired minds from the cloud, if fallen in wrong hands, may wreak havoc with human existence.

            Our manifestation through android or downloading the required consciousness would depend upon the mercy and efficiency of those entrusted with the knowhow of the entire mechanism surrounding the conception, design, manufacture and distribution of the androids and administration of the ‘cloud’ containing all our minds. This forebodes the creation of another religion and another God in future. If humans could actually create and work out an efficient and effective system for the same coupled with the technologies for teleportation and telepathy, the same shall open the avenues for colonisation and population of other habitable celestial bodies.

            To get around the problem of dependence on a human agency, the human capacities aided by science and spirituality shall need to be enhanced to the extent of manufacturing their own bodies at will as and when required. The requirement of permanent physical expression shall require to be reduced to the minimum. The human capacities would require to be enhanced to an extent to be able to materialize, travel and express at will at the speed of thought without in any way compromising the similar liberties and rights of others.

            Any such continuation of human consciousness through scientific breakthrough would, however, strike at the roots of the belief in the permanent loss of consciousness after death. As the spiritualist and reincarnation studies have already suggested the existence and survival of human consciousness through eternity notwithstanding physical demise, such a development would actually ensure the convergence of spiritual and scientific perspectives, thereby making the Homo sapiens immortal forever. This would also corroborate and confirm the Hindu belief in the eternal existence and immortality of human consciousness.

            Against the above very futuristic solutions to the problem of ‘death’, there are many who believe in the more feasible and practicable goal of extending human life to the maximum extent possible. The intercellular competition in the animal body for eliminating and replacing the damaged cells does have the potential for immortality. If our body could just keep doing this indefinitely, theoretically we do have a decent chance of living an interminably longer life. The human life could be very well extended by slowing the rate of ageing, periodic molecular repair, rejuvenation or replacement of atrophied cells and tissues.

            The average life of a human being could actually be extended by slowing or reversing the processes of ageing through a balanced diet, calorie control, regulating human vulnerability to natural and man-made calamities and accidents, regular exercises and cultivation of healthy habits like avoidance of health hazards like consumption of tobacco products or carcinogenic foods. Doing so, one can very well avoid premature deaths or lifestyle related afflictions and ailments like cancer, diabetes, obesity or cardiovascular diseases. 

            Yet, the life extension methods could only reduce the rate of ageing and postpone our death, but that will not take us anywhere close to the realization of the cherished immortality because of inescapable ‘senescence’. Even if a living being is able to survive all the possible life-threatening accidents or calamities, s/he would still expire due to ‘senescence’ referring to the process of ageing and old age due to the deterioration of cellular and other bodily functions.

            Though there are ‘biomedical gerontologists’ who are trying to understand the various nuances of ageing while also developing treatments for reversing or slowing the process of ageing to ensure improved health and youthful vigour at every stage of human life, still death catches up sooner or later. The ‘trans-humanists’ come on the scene here, promising to create a ‘superman’ with vastly enhanced capabilities to tide over the problem of senility, dotage, caducity and ageing.

            The ‘trans-humanists’ seek to achieve their goals through a combination of behavioural changes, body enhancement techniques and genetic engineering. This inter alia includes diet control, physical exercises, breast or cochlear implants, organ transplants e.g. artificial knees, hips and hearts as well as biological tinkering via genetic engineering.       The new-age ‘nanobots’ or micro-robots are proposed to be pressed into service to get into our bloodstream to annihilate the targeted pathogens, clear the accumulated vascular and arterial debris, rid our bodies of all life-threatening clots, clogs and tumours and carry out the required DNA corrections.

            All this is done with a view to reverse the ageing process for regulating our evolutionary process to transform our species into a stronger, faster, healthier, and more erogenous species with vastly superior cognitive capabilities. So, even if we are not immortal, we can very well become ‘amortal’, i.e. one who is unable to die from disease or ageing.   The modern ‘Rejuvenation Biotechnology’ and ‘Regenerative Medicine’ are convinced that humans will be able to live forever one day.

            Regulating and stopping the molecular and cellular damage or dysfunctions in a human body through state-of-the-art technologies as stem cell, gene therapies, better drugs and vaccinations would soon ensure the same. It would soon be possible to generate human organs using 3D printers loaded with living cells, making them much more accessible and affordable than they are today. The humans shall be able to fix their bodies at will and could rejuvenate it every time they feel so while effectively living in the cloud by being able to link their minds to the interconnected and uploaded minds of all the sentient beings. This will be as good as living in a real world.

            Countering the natural entropy through ageing, the ‘extropians’ like trans-humanists aim at lengthening our biological life, enhanced intelligence, greater wisdom, vastly superior physical and mental abilities while simultaneously aspiring to eliminate political, economic and cultural limits to our personal and social growth. Immortality could easily follow the achievement of these more achievable goals. All said and done, our mortality appears to be immanent and naturally programmed into every cell, organ and system in our bodies as of now. The same shall continue so till the time we are capable of resolving the multifarious issues at different levels of complexity including those relating to ageing and senescence.

            The truth is even if manage to break through the upper ceiling of 125 years by solving the many problems associated with ageing, there are likely to come around newer issues if we succeed to live 200 or 500 years as many of the spiritualists are claimed to have achieved already a la the character of ‘Babaji’ and other beings as mentioned in books like ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ and ‘Living with Himalayan Masters’. Hence, instead of vying for the utopian goal of immortality, a more modest objective of living for 150 years with a better functioning human body through the aid of modern science could be something well worth aspiring for.

            However, one also needs to visualise the many problems emerging from the possible attainment of ‘amortality’ or a longer life of 150 or more years. What would happen to the problem of population? Won’t the very natural evolution of human beings be compromised as a result thereof, thereby trapping many humans in the time warp forever, not to speak of compromising their spiritual growth? We shall need to realise the goals of teleportation and telepathy for real-time transportation and communication with life on other celestial bodies before we make them habitable to tide over the problem of population. Our spiritual growth and advancement may also be severely compromised if we seek to extend our stay in a physical world forever or for an unduly prolonged life.

            One hopes that with scientific growth, we shall also attain corresponding spiritual growth and insights, thereby unveiling and unravelling the mysteries of life, afterlife and rebirth more authentically and authoritatively. If that happens, the humans may lose interest in a longer life or immortality, realizing that they already live forever through the instrumentality of newer physical or spiritual bodies, acquired after every pause called ‘death’ through reincarnations in physical and other dimensions. This would convince the human race of the futility of chasing the chimaera of immortality.

Dissent is the fulcrum of a democracy

                                                                                                *Saumitra Mohan

            Dissent and democracy are often considered synonymous in a liberal-democratic social order. It is through open debate and discussion that the huge range of diversity of opinion in a democracy is captured. It is by means of such continuous conversation on relevant issues and contretemps that the real truth comes out. However, many have questioned the putative usefulness of ‘dissent for the sake of dissent’, as without much import.

            It is suggested that motivated and manufactured dissent can do more harm than good in an ‘open society’. The critics point out that too much of dissension actually thwarts and frustrates a meaningful discourse. This is because a conscious attempt is usually made to drown out the real issues and airbrush the truth behind a surfeit of information, debate, disagreement and discussion.

            The critics have pointed to the meaningless reflexive dissent by opposition political parties in a democracy. They do so not just to make their presence felt, but also to embarrass and run down the Government of the day with a view to earn some brownie points to feather their political nest. But here the question is how does one recognize which dissent or disagreement is genuine, reasonable and legitimate? The same could be known only through dialogue and debate.          

            Any proclaimed right to justify the suppression of such discord in the garb of curbing socially insidious opposition could later be misused to stifle even rightful and lawful dissent as is on display across the globe today. So, it is definitely never advisable to indulge in the misadventure of restraining the dissenting behaviour or voices. The truth is always strong enough to come out stronger through the rough and tumble of democratic discourse. This happens notwithstanding all the falsehood, fabrication, and misinformation advanced to screen the truth via multimedia channels.

            A sturdy, liberal democratic body politic has innate homeostatic system to ensure a balance in favour of truth and justice. Freedom of expression is the much elusive ‘Holy Grail’ which is the real fulcrum of a functioning democracy. So, the so-called critics of reflexive dissent should be too careful before advancing an argument in favour of any curbs on any type of dissent, howsoever disruptive or subversive. Expression of such dissent should, however, be subject to reasonable restraints and within the confines of relevant regulations.

            An institutionalized ‘rule of law’ cushions a democracy against possible abuse of the right to dissent and disagree. The alleged misuse of some of the legal provisions in our fledgling democracy including those relating to defamation and sedition has been noted with concern by many. The penchant for booking and arresting people for their anti-establishment vitriol is definitely not a very encouraging development and should be restrained.

            The USA, as the world’s oldest democracy, does provide a shining example of allowing any criticism or censure of the Government and its policies, howsoever disparaging to American values and ethos. An open society shall never fear any such divergent opinion or criticism. A tradition of healthy debate and constructive criticism are said to be beneficial for any progressive and vibrant polity. A society without any tradition of debate and dialogue starts stinking like the waters of a stagnant pool.

            It is through such constructive criticism and dialogues that new ideas and vision come forth, thereby taking the society to a new developmental height. As John Stuart Mill would have said, ‘My right to swing my arms in any direction ends where your nose begins’. Voltaire had similarly said, “I may not like what you say, but I would defend your right to say so till my death”.

            In an age of high-speed information and communication, it is well-nigh possible to tweak and twist facts to present the same as truth, thereby compromising the very efficacy of democracy and open discussion. As such, there is definitely a need for being vigilant against falsehood and propaganda in an age of ‘post-truths’ where sentiments and schmaltz are passed as ‘truth’ by the power peddlers.

            The new-age social media has made the situation further murkier. There have been many gruesome incidents and sanguinary episodes resulting in bad blood and loss of lives, just because the vested interests somehow were successful in manipulating information and news through media and social media for advancing their selfish interests. It has been proven beyond doubt as to how the entire presidential election of USA was influenced by another country with a view to ensure the victory of a particular candidate.

            As control of the mammon decides the information outreach, those with deeper pockets and influence over different media houses have higher chances of manipulating and manoeuvring any information, news or views. Hence, it is more than advisable for having a system of checks and balance in form of an impartial ombudsman to regulate the means of information and communication in an open democratic society.

            It is only through functioning of a vibrant media along with homeostatic checks and balance that a liberal democracy could survive. However, a trend has been noticed across the world for the rightwing revisionist forces to do everything possible in their might to be intolerant to any uncomfortable opinion as may prejudice their vested interests. Such orthodox and reactionary forces not only misuse media to manufacture convenient opinion, they also actively discourage any free expression of opinion and disagreement.

            The murder of Shujaat Bukhari, Gauri Lankesh, MM Kalburgi, Narendra Dabholkar or many others in India and abroad for their candid views are all examples of intolerance to dissent and disagreement. Be it the imposition of the emergency in the 1970s or the lynching of some people with impunity, we only hurt the cause of democracy by such actions. Notwithstanding all attempts by the British to throttle freedom of expression in pre-independence India, they still could not contain the same at a time when we did not have such sophisticated means of mass communication.

            The argument here is very simple. If the negative opinion is within the precincts of law, none has any right to suppress the same unless the finds reflection in unlawful activities. The same has also been concurred by the Supreme Court of India. By prohibiting such free expression, we only make them go underground thereby hurting ourselves more as then it get difficult to track such individuals and groups who may become more sinister to the larger societal interests.

            In fact, a prohibition often has an opposite effect by putting more gloss on the subject. All the attempts to manage and manipulate media by the dominant power groups never have the desired effect because of the inherent strengths of Indian democracy. As Abraham Lincoln said, ‘You can fool some of the people for some of the time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time’. All autocrats have attempted to control media with disastrous consequences.

            While violence has always been a tool with those expressing and curbing dissent, its effectiveness is always questionable. It’s because of this that Gandhi never recommended the same for a just cause. The use of violence as an alternative to a meaningful dialogue is dangerous and has the potential to balkanize any society. Hence, there is a need to be alert against any mindless use of violence.

            A constructive criticism and meaningful dialogue is the hallmark of a democracy. But before we can expect that to happen, we need to have a more educated and informed society. One only hopes that amid all the attempts to impose fetters on freedom of expression and package lies and post-truths as truths shall come apart in a country as diverse as ours. India and its institutions shall emerge stronger as a more educated civil society comes forward to fight its battle as is already visible.

           

Do Good Without Any Expectations from Others

                                                                                               

            A lot many problems and complexities in our life are sheer because of the wrong approaches we adopt when faced with them. One such relates to our multiple expectations from all those around us. Be they our relatives, friends, colleagues or mere acquaintances. We usually have certain expectations from each of them. These expectations increase if we have done something good to them, hoping that they would return the favour sooner or later. But we feel upset and frustrated as many of them don’t act or react the way we expected, thereby resulting in a lot of heart-burn and bad blood in our relationships.

            But our expectations and anticipations going unrequited is a fact long known and experienced. This is why, there have been many precepts and wise words relating thereto, advising us against harbouring any such thoughts or wishes for others behaving the same way we do. All such words of wisdom advise us to immediately forget after doing any work of altruism or favour to our near and dear ones. More often than not, our expectations from others for returning the favour out of a deep sense of gratitude or acting in the same fashion as we did may be hugely misplaced and may not come true.

            Rather, it is quite possible that we may even get harmed and hurt by those benefitted by our good deeds and acts. One should still keep extending all possible help to everyone approaching us therefor, without ever thinking of any return favour. We should help someone not because someone approaches us for the same, but we should do so actually because the feeling and action of helping someone itself is very uplifting. Again, helping someone without his/her knowing the source of help is said to be greater and loftier.

            We could assist and help on our own seeking and initiative also whether someone seeks our help or not because of the spiritual advancement involved therein. We should do so even if someone doesn’t acknowledge the help or even tries to harm and hurt us. Whatever be the reaction or response from the beneficiaries, we should continue helping such people notwithstanding the harm or hurt received in return. We should still help such people as long as we feel capable of doing so, as long as we ourselves don’t actually get hurt or harmed or as long as we are capable of helping without compromising our own self-interests.

            After all, if we stop helping or coming to someone’s rescue despite calls for assistance, there would be no difference left between them and us. The people who help despite harm coming their way or continue do so without revealing their identity are bigger and greater souls. Now, how far are we willing to travel from being an ordinary soul to an extraordinary soul for extending help or assistance to someone ungrateful notwithstanding our good behaviour, good intentions and our initiatives for help depend upon our own desire.

            The desire for altruism is also inspired or informed by the level of evolution of our individual soul. The greater and enlightened souls, being saintly in nature, would still help such people notwithstanding all the harm and hurt expected, involved or returned and continue doing so despite all the obstacles on their way because of the divine pleasure they derive out of such acts of kindness. Earth being a school and human life being an opportunity for passing all the ordeals and tests for learning right lessons for advancement of our ‘Self’, the loftier souls take such hurts and harms as their tests in life’s school on earth for moving faster in their spiritual growth.

            The spiritually more enlightened souls continue helping the ungrateful souls also because they don’t believe in the dichotomy of ‘me’ versus ‘they’. To them, all of us being reflections of God, all of us having divine element and all of being spiritually connected, all such acts of altruism and kindness are actually service to the ‘Self’ and offerings to the Almighty. Therefore, they indulge in all such acts without any selfish interests or expectations of return favours from the beneficiaries.

            This variance in behaviour or ingratitude from the beneficiaries sometime also stem from the divergent perceptions of the interlocutors. What we deemed as an act of kindness or assistance may have been perceived as a condescending and patronizing act aimed at belittling and denigrating the other. The manner in which the favour or kindness was extended also may have a role in changing the perception of the recipients.

            But all said and done, no return favour or comparable kindness ought to be expected for the extended deeds of altruism. Such acts otherwise no longer remain acts of altruism and turn selfish investments. But this also remains true that all such acts of good deeds and kindness eventually come back multiplied in one way or the other. Only we should not be expecting the same. The return favour or rewards for our good deeds may not come from the same people or in the same manner, but they do come back to our benefit in one or the other way.

            In fact, the biggest rewards for all such acts of altruism, favour or good deeds, are the performance of these acts themselves. The contentment and joy emanating from the execution or accomplishment of these acts are themselves the ‘just desserts’ or deserved rewards. The very fact that we could perform those acts of favour or altruism shows that the Almighty has been very kind by endowing us with the capabilities and capacities to do good to others. If we are capable of indulging in such uplifting and elevating acts, it simply means that we have enough (in terms of time, resources, health or loved ones) for ourselves which allows us to share the same with others by indulging in such acts of compassion, kindness and altruism.

            It is often ironic to notice that notwithstanding the fact that most of us are aware of these wise words and insights, still we have a lot of expectations from those around us. It is this which is often the cause of our misery, unhappiness, gloom, despair and wretchedness. It is perhaps keeping such a thing in mind that the celebrated Hindu scripture Bhagwad Gita long propounded the thesis of ‘Nishkama Karma’. It exhorts us to do our duties without any expectations or attachment towards the outcomes or fruits of our action. As we remain excessively attached to the outcomes, results or fruits of our action, we end up sullen, irritable, wretched, dejected and miserable because our expectations often don’t turn out the way we expected them to.

            Hence, it is more than advisable that we restrain our expectations and desires even while performing our expected duties with all our dedication and devotion. Deeming our actions and performance of duties to be the selfless offerings to the God, we should derive our joys from their very performance, thanking God for endowing us with the capability of doing the same. After all this, if we still have people around us returning the favour, we should accept the same as bonus, as the grace of the Almighty without in anyway being overly attached to the same.

            Not expecting fruits of our actions definitely does not mean that we stop attempting newer things and stop having any desires at all. What one means here that even while we reduce our desires to the minimum, we should never be attached to their outcomes as the same may have negative repercussions and ramifications for our personal and spiritual growth? As we move up the spiritual ladder, our desires should be less for the material pleasures and more for the permanent spiritual bliss. The latter would bring us eternal happiness vis a vis the transient one via enjoyment of material comforts.

            So, even while we reduce our desires, we can still afford to remain positively dissatisfied to indulge our creative muses in search of eternal happiness in the spirit of Nishkama Karma to keep on exploring the secrets and mysteries of our cosmos.            Life being a drama as the Bard of Avon had famously said, we should simply go on playing our role without in anyway expecting that the other characters in the drama would play their roles equally well. Mind you, we can only control ourselves and not others. We should focus on our own role in the life’s drama, without ever trying to push or advise others as to how they ought to play their roles.

            The same being equivalent to unsolicited advice, meddling in others’ internal affairs and attempts to control others’ lives is not viewed and treated well by others. Anyway, we can only play our roles. Howsoever may we try, we can’t play others’ roles. The latter have to be played by those for whom they are meant. However, we ought not shirk from any requested help or assistance required by others in playing their roles. But while doing so, there must not be any expectation that they shall also be equally obliging, supportive and forthcoming when we require them to do so.

            Again, because of our misplaced and undue expectations from others to act the way we want them to, many of us often try to shape people in our mould. We try to control people, their actions and their life which not only sours our relations vis a vis others but also leave us disgruntled and petulant. In fact, instead of attempting to shape others’ personality, we ourselves end up being shaped in a negative mould. This happens because of our failure to get others to conduct in our expected ways. The same leads us into becoming very badly-behaved and irresponsible. This often leads us into playing safe to avoid responsibilities. But the same reflects very poorly on our leadership credentials. We should not shrink from taking responsibility wherever and whenever warranted by the circumstances.

            More often than not, we don’t mind our business and are more interested in others’ personal affairs. Instead of confining ourselves with our affairs and indulging in self-development, we often love looking over others’ shoulders, thereby robbing us of our sanity and normality. Our ‘I know everything’ attitude is often the parent cause of many of our problems. Rather than opining and declaiming on everything and about everyone’s matters, we should consciously keep from proffering unsolicited advices. In fact, we had better listen to other people around us, howsoever unimportant and lowly they may be. It is often helpful and opens newer vistas for our self-growth.

            Often we don’t like people bragging, exaggerating, claiming bigger and greater things or doing well. So, we busy ourselves criticizing, carping, bitching and cribbing about such people all the time. Instead of feeding our negative Self, we had better focus on self-development than poking our Pinocchio nose in others’ affairs. We end up using very bitter and foul language about others, we begin talking ill of others all the time, we keep criticizing others as they are not behaving in a certain way, we are angry all the time and we cause very bad hormones to be generated in our bodies and all this is definitely not a very uplifting experience.

            Why at all should we bother what others are doing, saying, achieving or claiming as long as the same does not affect us in one way or the other. We should look at others only to get positively inspired than to sulk and feel envious at the achievements and exaggerated claims about their successes. Confining ourselves with self-development than engaging in negative acts would fix half of our problems. The negative talks and acts imbued with negative emotions not only take a toll on our mental and physical health, but the same also leave us a very bad human being, who misses the wood for the tree, who has no idea of the purpose for our being here in this life and ends up messing his/her precious human birth.

            All this triggers a chain reaction of failures and unhappiness in our life. Our failures to control others’ actions and lives keep us internally unhappy and dissatisfied all the time, thereby negatively affecting and influencing our external behaviour. As such, we keep cribbing and complaining all the time for our deemed failures. We also create and invent imaginary ‘fall guys’ for our failures and blame them for the same. Such people often attribute their failures to lack of right people, right circumstances and suitable resources for not being able to carry out their responsibilities and duties effectively.

            If we really were to perform our duties and escapades when all the required resources and circumstances are available to us, the same does us no credit. After all, anyone can do anything if all the desired and required resources are made available. But, if we can carry out our responsibilities and perform the difficult tasks notwithstanding all the constraints and handicaps, then it shows our real leadership qualities while also proving our real character and worth. Such persons always succeed in life and know how to make even adverse situations favourable and positive.

            Who can forget the redoubtable Mountain Man Dasrath Majhi from the Indian province of Jharkhand who never cribbed about the absence of a road in his village? Majhi took upon himself to keep chipping away at the mighty mountains for a long 22 years to carve a road through the same after he lost his wife on way to the hospital via the same mountain. There was no short route available and possible in his village because of the mountain standing in the way of a shorter route. Today, Dasrath Majhi, who was a mere daily wage labourer, is a legend in India for pulling off the impossible. If one single person could do it, we all can definitely do the same with whatever resources are available to us.

            In his celebrated work titled, ‘American Soldier’, the eminent American sociologist Samuel Johnson found out that the soldiers who had comfortable and easy postings in peaceful regions had many more complaints than those posted on the difficult borders and warfronts. Same is the case with all of us. Most of us who have all the life’s comforts available to us keep cribbing and whining about certain other things we don’t have in life. However, those who are deprived of even the basic amenities and requirements of life are usually comfortable and happy with their circumstances.

            As they say, our pains, problems, troubles and travails are actually God’s tool to test our mettle to improve our character through the same. Every problem we encounter, every challenge we face and every pain we endure make us a stronger and better person than we were earlier. However, as we move with our sundry endeavours to achieve life’s goals, we ought to be careful not to lose our basic individuality and humanity because of the same. In our bid to achieve our objectives, we try to please and placate those who may help us in doing so. However, often we overdo the same, thereby losing the very individuality which distinguishes us from the others.

             We are always modifying our conduct and demeanour in keeping with the prerequisites of our life’s goals and ambitions. As long as these behavioural changes and modifications are positive and in conformity with the larger spiritual upliftment of our soul, the same is well-taken and recommended. The problem starts when we modify our behaviour to get recognized by those around us including friends, relatives, colleagues and other members of the larger society. More often than not, we lose our individuality, uniqueness and originality while trying to do so and by going overboard for attaining the societal recognition and appreciation.

            Societal and normative conformity and compliance beyond an acceptable point and at the expense of our individuality are definitely not advisable. Many of the shining examples of success amidst us are of the rebels and iconoclasts who have believed in their convictions and continued with their ways without being overly worried or hooked to societal acceptance and appreciation. They may have had to bear with societal deprecation and humiliation initially, but they were finally accepted and lauded for whatever they set out to do. In fact, most of the civilisational progress has come about because of these non-conformist rebels who had the conviction and courage to challenge the status-quo notwithstanding much opposition and resistance on their way.

            Again, while we try out newer things, indulge our creative muses, perform our duties and set out to achieve our life’s goals, we should do the same without ever hurting the others. Hurting and harming for larger societal interests as in case of a soldier doing it for his country may be acceptable, but we should never do the same for the misplaced selfish interests. By talking ill of others because of our supposed sense of hurt and humiliation, we actually hurt ourself more than once and more than we ever realize.

            By doing so all the time, we not only activate and attract negative vibrations, we actually end up hurting ourselves more than once because of this attitude. The person may have hurt us only once, but our constant focus on the incident makes us hurt ourselves more than once. The guilty mind thinks that everyone around us knows about the negative incident or our mistake. So, we keep on trying to defend the same even though people may hardly know about it, may have forgotten the same or may be hardly interested in the same. But our constant preoccupation and obsession never allows the issue to die down and we keep the same alive by our conscious behaviour.

            We should stop doing the same and move on with our life, occupying ourselves with positive things. People only see and hear what we show and say. Anything we think is immediately reflected through our speech and action. So, we ought to be careful about harbouring negative thoughts. Positivity in thought and steadfastness in action slowly for surely lead us towards realization of our real ‘Self’ and eventual merger with the Supreme Consciousness.

Controlling Our Senses for Spiritual Growth

                                                                                                *Saumitra Mohan      

            Being born into the physical plane of earth and attracted to the diverse attractions thereof, human beings get so engrossed in the routine and mundane that they forget their true nature or the real purpose behind human incarnation. We keep chasing and running after the false and phony stuffs of life, without ever pausing to discover our pure ‘Self’ as remaining hidden behind the multiple layers of ignorance and nescience. However, we shall ever remain mired in the morass of spurious allurements unless and until we awaken ourself to know our genuine ‘Self’.

            Being an inalienable slice of the Divine and Universal Spirit, our ‘Self’ remains intact and unadulterated behind the multiple layers of ignorance of the ego. Awareness of this unsullied ‘Self’ is said to be the highest wisdom we must realise for better and faster spiritual evolution. By knowing our true ‘Self’, we can discern the true nature of the vast universe and the omnipotent Almighty while also recognising the rationale behind all facets of the Creation.

            The ‘Self’ (read soul) being like the self-effulgent sun, each individual persona is nothing but a reflection of the sun (read the Supreme Being) on the mirror of the intellect. Holding a mirror in the sun, we do see its reflection but the same would be impossible if there were no sun or if the sun was covered by dark and dense clouds. As we can’t imagine the reflection without relating the same to the object of reflection, likewise the individual ‘Self’ can’t exist without being related to the Supreme Spirit to whom its reflection is traced.

            A conflict keeps on raging between our true and false Selves. Despite the constant directions from our true ‘Self’, we often end up doing the dictates of the false ‘Self’. Though the ‘True Self’, like a neutral observer, always keeps nudging us to keep us on the straight and narrow, the false ‘Self’ usually has the upper hand as it easily yields to the sensory enticements. Hence, by training and controlling our mind, we can gradually know our immortal ‘Self’ which remains ever unsullied and effulgent as an inalienable part of the Supreme Self.

            When we learn to recognise and identify this real immortal ‘Self’ behind the false and phony Self, the ensuing awareness makes us immortalised. After all, being part of the Supreme Self, our very nature is as immortal as the Supreme Self Himself. However, our ‘Self’ is so screened and hidden by the false pretences and conceits of the ‘ego’ that our sense and sensory powers can’t reach it. Since our physical senses are all pierced and oriented outward by the Almighty, we generally don’t look inward.

            Our sense powers are, thus, so fashioned and circumscribed that the experience of the external objects because of their being amenable to these outward-oriented senses, are more facile. As such, charmed with the external objects, the senses keep chasing them, thereby forgetting their true ‘Self’. They being the result of the material forces of nature, our sense powers have no intelligence of their own. However, there is definitely something within all of us which is not the product of a creative mix of only atoms and molecules. It is this immortal something called ‘soul’, ‘self’ or ‘eternal consciousness’ which is the source of all knowledge and intelligence. Our otherwise obtuse senses appear intelligent only after they come into contact with our enlightened and eternal ‘Self’.

            As we cross and outgrow the limits of our finite sense powers, our infinite ‘Self’ becomes contented and fulfilled. We may attain what we have always desired by being a very successful person in the physical world by becoming a celebrity, earning oodles of boodle or holding a very high position in the society, but we may still feel unfulfilled. The real happiness, tranquillity of mind and satisfaction may continue eluding us notwithstanding all our attainments and achievements. So, we may not actually be blissful despite having all the frills of material success and may remain ever dissatisfied.

            This is because of the fact that our eternal and infinite consciousness gets tired at ever aspiring for the ever-changing and ever-multiplying temporary and transient allurements of life. This timeless and infinite consciousness, as an inalienable part of the Supreme Self, always wants to stretch and extend itself to a newer height or horizon. Tired of aspiring for the ever-changing and ever-increasing objects of pleasure, it starts looking for the permanent happiness and bliss. It is here that we all must attempt to discover a balance between various facets of human life to enjoy the real happiness by reduction of our endless desires.

            With regular exercise and self-restraint, the wise men are able to restrain their desires enough to withdraw their senses from external objects represented by the numerous material temptations. They are the Yogis, proficient in the methods of Raja Yoga and can effortlessly direct their sensory powers towards indwelling higher ‘Self’. The Raja Yogis, through rigorous practices of controlling their mind and emotions, learn to realise their real ‘Self’ without caring for the sensory temptations and attractions.

            The Raja Yogis, through their one-pointed spiritual practices, are able to glimpse the unchangeable in the midst of the changeable realities. These Yogis rise above all their sensory desires for material pleasures    which are eve-changing and ever-expanding. As has been discovered by the spiritual adepts, the sense objects are continually changing. The same thing, living or non-living, never appears twice or in the same form or fashion. As a human being, we are also always changing without us ever realising the same. Are not we changing constantly with the death and birth of billions of our cells every day?

            Not only physical bodies, even our subtle or astral bodies are subject to growth and evolution as they too keep changing relentlessly. It is only   by understanding the deathless and unchanging true ‘Self’ of ours that we become immortal. Heavenly pleasures are said to subsist beyond the realm of changing phenomenal world. Freed from the restrictions of sense organs, the noumenal heavenly experience is different and much more uplifting. But still, human desires and their gratification in the spiritual world are meaningless. They may be finer and higher, but they are also ephemeral and subject to change. That is why, the wise wish to go beyond heaven to be in a state of perpetual bliss without any change and without losing ‘self-consciousness’.

            In the ‘Bhagwad Gita’, our body has been compared to a chariot. The soul is supposed to be the rider of this chariot while our sense organs are said to be the horses. The intellect is the driver, the mind is the reins and the objects of sense are the roads whereon these horses are always galloping. If the rider is our ‘Soul’ which is also the eternal and immortal part of our ‘Self’ as well as the prime mover of our thoughts and actions, then the rider itself is beyond all imperfections. It is not affected by pleasure or pain but the ego is. Ordinary persons living on the sense plane are under the influence of sense powers and as such, can’t control the horses because the ego or intellect as driver is not strong.

            Since the driver is without understanding or self-control, the horses dominate and drag the drivers, taking it in any direction. If the horses find that driver is not strong and the rein is not held tight, they generally go berserk. Hence, with self-control, we can avoid many troubles and pitfalls of a human life. With control over our mind, we can control our senses like intractable and recalcitrant horses are better controlled by a seasoned charioteer.

             

Understanding Life Between Lives

                                                                                              Dr. Saumitra Mohan

            As a race, the humans have always struggled to find an answer to the perennial question relating to the reason and relevance behind creation of this world. Different communities and groups of people, belonging to respective religious denominations, have attempted their own answer as influenced by their spatio-temporal and cultural perspectives. But there definitely seems to be a clear divide between the Orient and Occident when it comes to matters of birth and death of the ‘soul’.

            While Abrahamic religions believe human life to be a one-off affair, eastern religions including Hinduism and Buddhism deem it to be an iterated game thereby pointing to the phenomenon of ‘rebirth and reincarnation’.       However, slowly the two religious polarities seem to be converging on the reality of ‘reincarnation’ of a soul after one’s physical death. The consensus seem to be gradually consolidating given the stronger proofs and corroborating evidence stemming from the empirical research including past life regression therapy findings.

            Most of these narratives, findings and accounts of rebirth stories have reinforced the hoary views of a ‘soul’ having a life independent of its physical host on a physical plane.  All these studies have simultaneously confirmed the incidence of past lives of reincarnated souls, but they all stumble when it comes to the inter-life phases. Almost all the religions have their beliefs about the post-mortem period, often described in detail as done in Hinduism, Christianity or Islam.

            However, they are all scriptural accounts based on mythical stories with no contemporary confirmation of the same. There have been many celebrated stories in recent times where some individuals have claimed to have experienced life after death. They are variously termed as ‘Near Death Experiences’ (NDE), ‘Out of the Body Experience’ (OOBE) or ‘After Death Experience’ (ADE). In many such cases, brain-dead or comatose people have recounted and described the incidents, events and happenings of the period during which they were declared medically dead by the physicians.

            While on the one hand, these people have accurately described the happenings in the operation theatre or outside when they were in coma or highly sedated state, having no means of knowing the same, some of them have also claimed to have visited heaven and seen God. Dr. Eben Alexander, a neuro-surgeion, has described his personal OOBE in his best-seller book ‘The Proof of Heaven’ as has the boy named Colton who claims to have met God in another best-seller book ‘Heaven is for Real’.

            The veracity and genuineness of all these claims regarding afterlife or Spirit World remain as questionable as those made by different religionists. In fact, all these empirical findings including past life regression therapies could not go beyond confirming the reality of past lives of reincarnated individuals.     It is against this background that two recent books namely ‘Journey of Souls’ and ‘Destiny of Souls’ by Michael Newton, an American Counselling Psychologist, appear to be quite interesting if not very relevant or convincing.

            But these two books do seem to fill the void left by most of the studies and research done on the subject. The claims made in the book often appear facetious and ludicrous, as the writer claims to have authored these books based on his studies of many of the real-life stories of his cases under hypnosis over the years. All his studies and findings are predicated on ‘past life regression’ therapies which use hypnosis as a tool to take subject back or forth in life to elicit inputs and feedback on the phenomenon of past life or afterlife.

            If we are to believe Michael Newton, then the life between lives is much more organised than we may have ever thought or imagined. The period after death and before next birth is the period described in detail by his patients during the specially-conducted past life regression sessions. According to Newton, the ‘afterlife’ or the ‘Spirit World’ is a much more beautiful and well-managed world, stewarded systematically and methodically by various tiers of wise and advanced souls. Our life on earth or other physical plane may not be so haphazard and chaotic as we often think, guided as they are by a subtle plan made in the ethereal world.

            According to these books, a young and uninitiated soul (predominant majority of souls being young) after one’s death is received and escorted to the Spirit World by their assigned Spirit Guide or Guardian Angel. Such departed souls are also received and welcomed by their near and dear ones to make them comfortable in the Spirit World. While young souls, because of their immaturity and attachment to this world, hover around their physically dead body or wish to stay on in their physical surroundings to comfort their loved ones before moving on, the very mature and old souls don’t waste their time.

            Knowing their way, they move straight to their home in the Spirit World. The latter immediately leave for their afterlife destination without awaiting their Spirit Guide or reception by their spiritual sympathisers who are actually friends or relatives from past lives. All these departed souls have claimed post-death life in their astral or spiritual bodies to be more real than the life in a physical form. However, the living human beings because of their finite sensory powers, generally can’t feel or sense the presence of a departed soul.

            All such souls, on their arrival, join their purported ‘Study Group’ for review and rebirth planning after a period of relaxation and rejuvenation. The burden of a physical life on earth, said to be one of the most difficult of all the physical worlds, is also said to be tiring enough for the soul to warrant an extended period of respite and recreation before getting down to the serious business of review of the life lived and planning for the next life.      

            Newton’s subjects confirm the existence of parallel worlds or dimensions on earth as well as life on many other planets. With innumerable physical worlds existing, only a fraction of the souls are said to reincarnate on earth. A good number of these souls use inter-planetary or inter-dimensional travel as study or excursion visits for recreation, knowledge or future birth planning before zeroing in on a particular dimension or world for their reincarnation depending on their learning needs. Such travels are also undertaken under the supervision of the more advanced souls to fix some of the design problems of the physical worlds. Many of these dimensions or physical worlds, other than earth, are named and described in the books along with the kind of life lived thereon.

            Against the long-held belief of existence of a hell or a purgatory for punishment of the ‘so-called’ fallen, impious and non-virtuous souls, these books talk against any shaming of an individual soul in the Spirit World. At most, the very impossibly wicked and misguided souls are isolated and intensely counselled, but usually most of the souls are said to be assigned to different study groups of souls who are under one or the other wise Spirit Guide. The latter use multiple means to interact with the souls in their groups to drive home the right messages and lessons.

            In all these review sessions, Akashik records or what Newton’s subjects call three-dimensional ‘Life Book’ are an important and effective instrument whereby the souls could revisit their past lives or plan their future lives by toying with various alternatives and options. The proposed future life or lived past life is often created or recreated out of extant atmospheric energy particles with varying alternatives before taking a final call. Self-will of an individual soul is said to be the deciding factor rather than forcing any soul to exercise a particular choice.

            This does supposedly conflict with the Hindu Karma Theory, but as it appears, the souls usually converge to take a view of their future life which more or less converges with the Karmic accounts of Hinduism. The souls, on their own seeking, choose to punish themselves for a mistake or purported sin in their next life to experience an emotion or difficulty to learn the lessons required for their spiritual advancement.

            The rebirth of a soul is, therefore, planned and timed with the rebirth of other souls in the same cluster with whom give and take account remain to be settled. Notwithstanding there being a pre-ordained determinism about our lives on physical planes, the same remain confined to the major aspects and events of our lives. Our free will and past life amnesia still cause us to keep chopping and changing with our life plans while interacting with the real life situations and reacting to the sundry societal and natural forces.

            As told by many other studies and declamations on the afterlife, the souls in the Spirit World are usually clustered with their primary or secondary soul mates to review and plan their life. But it is possible that some of the souls, even though belonging to the same clusters, may be grouped as different study group because of less or advanced level of the spiritual advancement of a particular soul. The Spirit Guides or Advanced Souls, interacting with the souls in these study groups, confine themselves to suggestions and counselling.

            But as the Spirit World is peopled by the souls devoid of the burden of a physical body and accompanying emotions, the souls under the guidance of their Guides take the most apposite decision as may be suitable for the advancement of their individual souls. The souls also may decide not to take birth for a substantive period of time, spending more time in review, rumination and cogitation. The souls are said to have enough time and opportunity for recreation and amusement between their study periods. Many of the souls also prefer rebirth on other planets or dimensions, depending on the learning requirements.

            Against the long-held Hindu belief of a ‘soul’ being unborn and perennial, Newton’s subjects talk about the phenomenon of creation of newer souls through soul-splitting or energy restructuring who are first nurtured carefully before being sent to the different physical worlds. Even though this author does not subscribe to the same, this somehow explains the rising population on earth though Hinduism explains the same in different ways including extinction of other life forms, rebirth from other dimensions and physical worlds. Newton’s subjects also talk against the possibility of humans reincarnating as animals, the latter being very lower forms of energy as also suggested by the studies conducted by the people like Swami Abhedananda, Dr. Brian Weiss or Dr. Ian Stevenson.

            The other startling revelation in Newton’s book relate to the phenomenon of splitting of ‘soul energy’. Newton’s subjects say that most of the souls have the ability to continue to exist in multiple worlds simultaneously. Some souls also venture two simultaneous lives in parallel physical worlds to speed up their evolution, but attempting two lives in the same family or same world is said to be wastage of one’s energy. While a predominant majority of souls prefer existence in physical worlds, where there are still many who love to remain in spiritual, mental or extra- physical dimensions.

            The physical world is said to be as illusory as the spiritual world because of its ever-changing character, generally unfathomed by the living beings. The spiritual world, in fact, is said to be more real than the physical world as is the joy and fun of living in a spiritual life. The souls not only have all kinds of fun and recreation in the Spirit World, they are also able to live a life of their choice, slowly attempting to move up the ladder of spiritual evolution to get an opportunity to meet the Maker, literally.

            As the souls advance, they also get to learn the skill of creating aspects of physical life or forms of life out of energy manipulations, modifications, or restructuring under the guidance of a Spirit Guide. All the mind-boggling beauty and diversities in the physical world, thus, appear to be the handiwork of innumerable intelligence. The souls are capable of creating anything out of their energy by merely thinking about the same.

            All the communication or movement in the Spirit World is said to happen through telepathy or teleportation. The souls usually project respective customised images of themselves matching their past life relations while communicating with other souls in the Spirit World. While communication does happen freely without any inhibition or complexity in the Spirit World, the souls still retain the ability to block certain thoughts to other souls as do the Spirit Guides or the Advanced Souls to avoid being revealing the larger plan of the Supreme Being.   

            It is suggested that rarely do souls use all their ‘soul energy’ during a physical life as the physical body may not take the load and circuits of the brain may burst due to ‘energy overload’. They say that an advanced soul uses only 25% of its ‘soul energy’ during its physical life, while a young soul uses as much as up to 70% of the same. With more soul energy, the brain’s capacity to do the impossible gets enhanced as often reported for many clairvoyant and psychic individuals.

            Scientifically, it has been claimed that an ordinary human being uses only 10% of one’s brain. Many of the great scientists are said to have accessed the Cosmic Consciousness, as the humongous inter-connected database of all the soul consciousness of all the worlds in this cosmos because of which we have periodic scientific and intellectual jump in our life.

            So, depending on the lessons to be learnt and difficulties expected to be faced, a soul carries a part of its energy to its physical life, while leaving another part in the Spirit World for continuing the life there. This also explains how a newly-arrived soul in the Spirit World is received by his near and dear ones even though they may still be continuing their lives in the physical world including earth. Depending on the level of a soul, a soul while in a physical life, is also accompanied by its Guardian Angels who either take birth with them in one of the roles or who keep sending messages to the souls under their tutelage.

            This is why we always are more attached to a particular person/s in our life to whom we keep gravitating in our time of need and desperation. Many of our brainwaves, hunches or split-second escapes from disasters in our life are said to be the handiworks of these Guardian Angels or Guides in our life. As most of the souls are said to be young compared to the life of the cosmos, the problems and chaos experienced in the physical worlds are supposed to get settled and fixed as the souls mature and become wiser.

            Most of our sparring and attrition in the world today is because of the fact that most of the souls are simply not aware of their purpose of being born because of which they keep running after mythical comforts than stuffs as may add permanent values to their spiritual journey. With the number of advanced and wise souls increasing, more and more development, expansion and extension of cosmic consciousness and life could be experienced on earth and other physical worlds.

            Even though the above description and account appear apocryphal and far-fetched, at least, the same does provide an insight into something, mostly unknown thus far. This corroborates many of the already-known phenomena and beliefs of the religionists or past life researchers. In the absence of any authentic or scientific confirmation of this aspect of our life, Newton’s books do venture into an uncharted terrain, affording a glimpse of the life between lives. One only hopes that with time, more and more people would find time to delve into this facet of our life to discover and reveal the real purpose behind the creation of this humongous cosmos.