MONOTHEISM, RELIGION &
SCIENCE
(Compiled by NRS for a discourse at Sri Ganesha Temple)
Science and religion
are closely interconnected in the scientific study of religion, which can be
traced back to seventeenth-century natural histories of religion. Natural
historians attempted to provide naturalistic explanations for human behavior
and culture, for domains such as religion, emotions, and morality.
NON-DUALITY (ADVAITA) AND MONOTHEISM
“The non-duality of
Advaita Vedanta is much more than monotheism as taught in various religions but
that your inmost Self is the Self of the entire universe. Advaita does not merely teach that there is
only one God.
Om Paramatmane Namah!”
Advaita-Vedanta is never in conflict with modern science
M P AJITH KUMAR, the author who is Associate Professor of History, Sanatana Dharma College, Alappuzha, Kerala says: “The Vedas teach us that creation is without beginning or end. Science is said to have proved that the sum total of cosmic energy is always the same. Then, if there was a time when nothing existed, where was all this manifested energy? Some say that it was in a potential form in God. In that case God is sometimes potential and sometimes kinetic, which would make him mutable. Everything mutable is a compound, and everything compound must undergo that change which is called destruction. So God would die, which is absurd. Therefore there never was a time when there was no creation.” This view of Swami Vivekananda which he presented in his ‘Paper on Hinduism’ at the Parliament of Religions, Chicago, falls fully in line with the oriental as well as modern occidental world views.
Origin and evolution
of the cosmos constituted an important subject in India right from the Vedic
times. Indian cosmology reached its perfection with most of its findings
resulting from direct experience of the ultimate reality. Many modern
scientists including Erwin Schrödinger believed that Indian knowledge systems
pronounced the final word on the secrets of the universe. Vedanta, the end of
all knowledge systems, both the spiritual and material, as the word itself
implies, scientifically analyzed the three-phased existence of the universe,
creation, preservation and annihilation.
All bodies of the
universe are controlled and determined by an imperishable entity and the
awareness about it is the supreme knowledge. This One which is akshara or imperishable the Hindu scriptures call achyuta or indestructible too, both the synonyms of God. To quote Albert
Einstein, “what is important is the force of this super-personal content and
the depth of the conviction concerning its overpowering meaningfulness”. Both
spiritualists as well as the scientists equally admit that the ‘Reason’ that
works out the cosmic existence is definitely imperishable and super-personal.
Then how this imperishable one evolves into the origin, expansion and existence
of the cosmos?
Many European scientists starting from the
time of Einstein favoured the Big-Bang model as a viable explanation for the
origin and nature of the universe. Accordingly a mere 13.7 billion years ago,
all matter, energy, space and time fountained into existence in a titanic
explosion – the Big Bang. There was no universe before the Big Bang, European
science believes. Instead there existed a singularity of zero volume of
infinite density and energy or the entirety condensed which exploded,
multiplied and expanded to form the present universe.
In 1929 American astronomer Edwin Hubble
discovered that the galaxies, the universe’s building blocks were flying apart
from each other like cosmic shrapnel. His conclusion that universe was growing
in size resulted in his law of expanding universe. The ever expanding nature of
the universe supports the Big Bang origin of the cosmos because the universe
must have been smaller in size as one travels back in time till one comes to
the zero volume condensed to a single point.
It was a hot Big Bang. The Ukrainian-American
scientist George Gamow reasoned that in the first few moments after the Big
Bang the universe must have been like blisteringly hot fireball of a nuclear
explosion. But unlike the radiation and glow nuclear explosion emits the Bib
Bang fire ball did not die out. The afterglow of the Big Bang had nowhere for
it to go and remained in the universe to assume different forms including the invisible
light characteristic of very cold bodies. This afterglow is called the Cosmic
Microwave Background Radiation (CMB) discovered in 1965 by Arno Penzias and
Robert Wilson, scientists at Bell Labs in New Jersey. The heat the big
explosion emitted flowed back and forth throughout the universe, from the hot
to cold regions, equalizing the temperature. The universe thus born 13.7
billion years ago expanded to its present state with its many planets, stars,
galaxies and super clusters. Science, however, speculates on universe’s big
crunch too in line with the idea of expansion and contraction. Whatever expands
would contract. The universe may slow and reverse its expansion and collapse
back to a Big Crunch. It may cycle back to a sort of mirror image of the Big
Bang in which the universe was born. Big Bang and Big Crunch are thus the two
assumed poles between which the universe like a pendulum moves to and fro. This
also leads to the possibility of thinking about many universal cycles, or the
universe which in its cycles of creation and destruction underwent many Big
Bangs and Big Crunches. Birth and death are only two stages of the cycles life
travels through. Likewise the proto-soul of the universe travels through the
different stages, expansion and contraction, holding the sum total of its
energy and matter sometime in potential state and releasing at another to the
kinetic, making the universe appear like the God’s dice play.
But this cosmology has
come in for criticism ever since the Goddard Space Center of NASA accepted it.
Interestingly it all started with the very physicist who named it. Big Bang was
named by the English astronomer Fred Hoyle during a BBC Radio programme in
1949. But ironically Hoyle to the day he died, never believed in the Big Bang. Though
the theory has been refuted time and again none has damaged it to the extent
the modern Indian scientist A K Lal did. His article ‘Big Bang? A Critical
Review’ in Journal of Cosmology (Harvard, 30. 1.
2010) vehemently vilified this theory. The Big Bang’s originators, he says,
have not explained what the ‘singularity’ of Zero volume is or how it
originated, why and where it existed and why it exploded. Nasato sat jayate or existence cannot be born of
non-existence. According to satkaryavada or the theory of
causation everything that exists has a cause. And this singularity too must
have it, something the exponents of Big Bang skip over. Further, there are also reservations about the meaning of the
CMB believed to be the relic of the Big Bang. Though confirmed by NASA’s Cosmic
Background Explorer (COBE), many scientists like H. C. Arp, H. Ratcliff and T.
C. Van Flandern had reservations about the measurement of the CMB. Again, the
intensity of the heat emitting Big Bang would have burned all the elements into
iron turning the universe into a metal ball different in shape and look from
what it is now as opined by another cosmologist R. Joseph. Besides, the
Universe has in it large scale galactic formations and super clusters which are
older than 13.7 billion years. Some of them are 200 billion to 250 billion
years old. In 1989 a group led by John Huchra and Margaret J. Geller of the
Harvard-Smithsonian center of astrophysics discovered “The Great Wall” – a
series of galaxies requiring 100 billion years to form. The later discovered
“Sloan Great Wall” of galaxies was 80% longer than the Great Wall discovered by
Huchra and Geller and it must have taken at least 250 billion years to form. In
addition to these, the scientists in 2003 have come across the oldest of
planets discovered thus far, a huge gaseous object 2.5 times the size of
Jupiter and located some 7200 light years away in the northern-summer
constellation of Scorpius which would require at least 13 billion years to
form. The planet-making ingredients like iron, silicon and other heavy
elements, cooked in the nuclear furnaces of the stars accumulate from the ashes
of dying stars (supernovae) to be recycled into the planet. The very formation of
this planet itself must have thus taken many billion years. Its age totaled
with the billions of years taken for its origin would thus be more than the
assumed age of the universe i.e. 13.7 billion years.
Existence of planet and the Great Galactic
Walls which are older than the 13.7 billion years old universe only grates on
common sense. In fact there are a number of evidences to demonstrate that the
universe could not have begun with a Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago. Big
Bang of the European scientists’ sense thus proves untenable, it being refuted
by so many contradictory evidences. Existence of Great walls and galactic
clusters, 100 to 250 billion years old, in the universe which is only 13.7
billion year old universe runs in contrast to reason notwithstanding that the
European scientists are still mad after this theory. These findings clarify
that the universe is older than the 13.7 billion years the scientists ascribe
to it. And if older things than these would be found in times to come,
the scientific community would be left with no other option than to push the
origin of the universe to a further earlier date. If more and more old objects
would be discovered the process of pushing the date back would continue till
the scientists would be in a position to conclude that “there was never a time
when there was no creation”.
The universe according
to the Hindu thought is both anadi and ananta or without beginning and end, something that moves in an
infinite cycle of creation, preservation and destruction, all taking place
simultaneously. Creation and annihilation or evolution and involution are
simultaneous so that the universe does not come to a standstill. Hence the
eternity of the universe with no interval or rest. The universal soul is both
at rest as well as at work. Vishnu even in his cosmic sleep expands (Vishnu
means one with vishalibhava, expanding nature),
making the cosmic soul ever expanding as well as ever contracting. To
quote Katha Upanishad, “it does move and moves not” (tadejati tannaijati). This ever dynamic cosmic soul is again
called the Brahman which has its
root in br, meaning the
‘expanding’ (bruhad). Brahman which is the secret behind all the creations according to
the Vedic thought is thus permanently involved in the dynamics of evolution and
involution (not to be confused with the European physicist’s ‘Big Bang’ and
‘Big Crunch’). Without beginning or end, it is unborn and is in eternal
manifestation and withdrawal. According to the Upanishads universe is a
continuous process. What is seen is only the infinite process of manifestation
and withdrawal taking place simultaneously and continuously. Within the seeming
destruction there is creation which again holds in it the former. Creation and
destruction are thus mutually embedded in each other. Thus according to Indian
cosmology there was no time when there was no creation. This is what Swami
Vivekananda, believed to be the sage Nara reincarnate, theorizes in his ‘Paper
on Hinduism’, the repetition of the same lesson Sri Krishna taught his beloved
disciple Partha in the battle of Kurukshetra. To Arjuna, worried at the thought
of killing his royal kith and kin in the battle, the Lord said: “It is not
indeed that I did not exist at any time, nor you, nor these kings; nor that we
all shall not exist hereafter” (Gita. II. 12). This is the
Everest of the Hindu science where all the doubts, getting their final
clarifications, take rest for good. This is Vedanta, the end of all the Vedas or knowledge systems. But this is the
world view someone with a Vedantic mindset alone would digest, something
unacceptable to the mind of the West stuffed with the superficial and the
imaginary ‘ultimate end’ and dwarfed with the ideas of limitations and
separations.
na tvevāhaṁ jātu nāsaṁ na tvaṁ neme janādhipāḥ
na chaiva na bhaviṣhyāmaḥ sarve vayamataḥ param
Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.
On the gate of the temple of Apollo at Delphi are inscribed the words, Gnothi Seuton, or “Know Thyself [v8].” Even Socrates, the wise old man of Athens, was fond of encouraging people to inquire into the nature of the self. A local legend goes like this. Once, Socrates was walking on the street, absorbed in deep philosophic contemplation, when he accidentally bumped into someone. That man blurted in annoyance, “Can’t you see where you walk? Who are you?” Socrates answered with amusement, “My dear fellow, I have been pondering over that question for the last forty years. If you ever come to know who I am, please let me know.”
In the Vedic tradition, whenever divine knowledge is imparted, it usually begins with knowledge of the self. Shree Krishna follows the same approach in the Bhagavad Gita, with a piece of information that would have swept Socrates off his feet. Shree Krishna begins by explaining that the entity that we call the “self” is really the soul, not the material body, and is eternal, just as God himself is eternal. The Śhwetāśhvatar Upaniṣhad states:
jñājñau dwāvajā vīśhanīśhāvajā
hyekā bhoktṛi bhogyārtha yuktā
anantaśhchātmā viśhwarūpo hyakartā trayaṁ yadā vindate brahmametat (1.9) [v9]
The above verse states that creation is a combination of three entities—God, soul, and Maya—and all the three entities are eternal. If we believe the soul is eternal, then it follows logically that there is life after death of the material body.
On the Intersection of Science and Religion
Over the centuries, the relationship between
science and religion has ranged from conflict and hostility to harmony and
collaboration, while various thinkers have argued that the two concepts
are inherently at odds and entirely separate.
But much recent research
and discussion on these issues has taken place in a Western context, primarily
through a Christian lens. To better understand the ways in which science
relates to religion around the world, Pew Research Center engaged a small group
of Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists to talk about their perspectives. These
one-on-one, in-depth interviews took place in Malaysia and Singapore – two
Southeast Asian nations that have made sizable investments in scientific
research and development in recent years and that are home to religiously
diverse populations.
The discussions
reinforced the conclusion that there is no single, universally held view of the
relationship between science and religion, but they also identified some common
patterns and themes within each of the three religious groups. For example,
many Muslims expressed the view that Islam and science are basically
compatible, while, at the same time, acknowledging some areas of friction –
such as the theory of evolution conflicting with religious beliefs about the
origins and development of human life on Earth. Evolution also has been a point
of discord between religion and science in the
West.
Hindu interviewees
generally took a different tack, describing science and religion as overlapping
spheres. As was the case with Muslim interviewees, many Hindus maintained that
their religion contains elements of science, and that Hinduism long ago
identified concepts that were later illuminated by science – mentioning, for
example, the antimicrobial properties of copper or the health benefits of
turmeric. In contrast with Muslims, many Hindus said the theory of evolution is
encompassed in their religious teachings.
Buddhist interviewees
generally described religion and science as two separate and unrelated spheres.
Several of the Buddhists talked about their religion as offering guidance on
how to live a moral life, while describing science as observable phenomena.
Often, they could not name any areas of scientific research
that concerned them for religious reasons. Nor did Buddhist interviewees see
the theory of evolution as a point of conflict with their religion. Some said
they didn’t think their religion addressed the origins of life on Earth. Some
members of all three religious groups, however, did express religious concerns
when asked to consider specific kinds of biotechnology research, such as gene
editing to change a baby’s genetic characteristics and efforts to clone
animals. For example, Muslim interviewees said cloning would tamper with the
power of God, and God should be the only one to create living things. When
Hindus and Buddhists discussed gene editing and cloning, some, though not all,
voiced concern that these scientific developments might interfere with karma or
reincarnation.
But religion was not
always the foremost topic that came to mind when people thought about science.
In response to questions about government investment in scientific research,
interviewees generally spoke of the role of scientific achievements in national
prestige and economic development; religious differences faded into the
background.
These are some of the key
findings from a qualitative analysis of 72 individual interviews with Muslims,
Hindus and Buddhists conducted in Malaysia and Singapore between June 17 and
Aug. 8, 2019.
The study included 24
people in each of three religious groups (Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists), with
an equal number in each country. All interviewees said their religion was
“very” or “somewhat” important to their lives, but they
A majority of Malaysians
are Muslim, and the country has experienced natural migration patterns over the
years. As a result, Buddhist interviewees in otherwise varied in terms of age,
gender, profession and education level. Malaysia were typically of Chinese
descent, Hindus were of Indian descent and Muslim interviewees were Malay. Singapore is known for its religious
diversity; a 2014 Pew Research Center analysis found the city-state to have the highest level of
religious diversity in the world. They are based on small convenience samples
of individuals and are not representative of religious groups either in their
country or globally. Instead, in-depth interviews provide insight into how
individuals describe their beliefs, in their own words, and the connections
they see (or don’t see) with science. To help guard against putting too much
weight on any single individual’s comments, all interviews were coded into
themes, following a systematic procedure. Where possible throughout the rest of
this report, these findings are shown in comparison with quantitative surveys
conducted with representative samples of adults in global publics to help
address questions about the extent to which certain viewpoints are widely held
among members of each religious group. This also shows how Muslims, Hindus and
Buddhists as well as Christians around the world compare with each other.
A similar pattern emerged when interviewees were asked about possible topics that should be off limits to scientific research for religious reasons. Many Muslim interviewees readily named research areas that concerned them, such as studies using non-halal substances or some applications of assisted reproductive technology (for example, in vitro fertilization using genetic material from someone other than a married couple). By contrast, the Hindus and Buddhists in the study did not regularly name any research topics that they felt should be off limits to scientists. Muslim interviewees say science and religion are related, but they vary in how they see the nature of that relationship. Hindu interviewees generally see science and religion as compatibly overlapping spheres
On
the relationship between science and Buddhism and Christianity
To many
of the Buddhist interviewees, science and religion cannot be in conflict,
because they are different or parallel realms. Therefore, the Malaysian and
Singaporean Buddhists largely described the relationship between science and
religion as one of compatibility.
Surveys
among Christians find wide variation in perceptions of conflict between
religion and science though more see at least some conflict than do not.
Christians worldwide vary in whether
they see disagreement between science and their religion’s teachings. Christians see as a conflict between science and religion. In
an open-ended question included on the Center’s survey, respondents who said
science conflicted with their personal religious beliefs were asked to identify
up to three areas of conflict. Christians most commonly mentioned the creation
of the universe, including evolution and the “Big Bang”
On the relationship
between science and Islam
Evolution raised areas of disagreement for
many Muslim interviewees, who often said the theory of evolution is
incompatible with the Islamic tenet that humans were created by Allah.
Evolution is also a common, though by no means universal, friction point for
Christians. By contrast, neither Buddhist interviewees, followers of a religion
with no creator figure, nor Hindu interviewees, followers of a polytheistic
faith, described discord with evolution either in their personal beliefs or in
their views of how evolution comports with their religion. Some Muslims interviewees see
origination of humans from the prophet Nabi Adam as at odds with evolution!
When asked about the theory of evolution, Muslim interviewees generally
talked about conflict between the theory of evolution and their religious
beliefs about the origins of human life – specifically, the belief that God
created humans in their present form, and that all humans are descended from
Adam and Eve. “This is one of the conflicts between religion and Western
theory. Based on Western theory, they said we came from monkeys. Was Nabi Muhammad like a monkey in the
past?
Others emphasized that
evolution is only a theory and has not been proven true. “It’s just a theory,
because there is no specific evidence or justification. … Just because the DNA
[of humans and primates] has a difference of a few percent, that doesn’t mean
we are similar,” said a 29-year-old Singaporean Muslim man. Still others said
that Charles Darwin developed this theory in order to get famous and did not
put adequate thought or research into his theory.
However, a handful of
Muslims said they personally believed that humans were descended from primates
via the evolutionary process, even though they believed that this deviated from
Islamic teaching. Monkeys can crawl.
After that, stand, stand, stand, then become human, right?
Hindu and Buddhist
interviewees emphasize the absence of conflict with the theory of evolution
Evolution posed no
conflict to the Hindus interviewed. In keeping with thematic comments that
Hinduism contains elements of science, many interviewees said the concept of
evolution was encompassed in their religious teachings. “In Hinduism we have
something like this as well, that tells us we originated from different species,
which is why we also believe in reincarnation, and how certain deities take
different forms. This is why certain animals are seen as sacred animals,
because it’s one of the forms that this particular deity had taken,” said a
29-year-old Hindu woman in Singapore. When asked about the origins of human
life, many Hindu interviewees just quickly replied that humans came from
primates.
Surveys of Christians
globally find that majorities in most publics surveyed accept the idea that
humans and other living things have evolved over time
Pew Research Center
surveys conducted in Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America find that a
majority of Christians in most countries in these regions say humans and other
living things have evolved over time. In discussing scientific research using
gene editing, cloning and reproductive technologies such as in vitro
fertilization, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist interviewees raised the idea that
such practices may go against the natural order or interfere with nature.
When probed about
potential areas of scientific research that should be “off limits” from a
religious perspective, individuals from all three religious groups talked about
the need to consider animal welfare (and sometimes human welfare) in scientific
research. This idea occasionally came up when interviewees were asked for their
thoughts about cloning and gene editing; others mentioned animal welfare
concerns at other points of the interview, along with the need for ethical
treatment of living things in general. Buddhists and Hindus in particular
emphasized the need to “do no harm” when probed about characteristics that make
someone a good follower of their religions.
Individuals from all
three religions generally approved of pregnancy technology and in vitro fertilization.
Opinions varied widely on gene editing and animal cloning
Interviewees, regardless
of their religion, said the idea of curing a baby of disease before birth or
preventing a disease that a child could develop later in life would be a
helpful, acceptable use of gene editing. But they often viewed gene editing for
cosmetic reasons much more negatively.
Views of cloning were
similarly conditional. Individuals from all three religions remarked on their
disapproval of cloning for humans. But interviewees generally found animal
cloning to be a much more acceptable practice. Many people interviewed
envisioned useful outcomes for society from animal cloning, such as providing
meat to feed more people, or to help preserve nearly extinct animals.
On scientific research
and national prestige
In both
countries, interviewees described government investment in science as a way to
encourage economic development while also improving the lives of everyday
people. People often were particularly enthusiastic about government investment
in medicine and spoke of its potential to improve their country’s medical
infrastructure and care for an aging population.
But others expressed some
hesitation about government investment because they felt their government wasn’t
doing a good job of ensuring that the research produced meaningful results, or
because they thought the research didn’t benefit the public directly. “If
there’s results, then it will be worthwhile. … I don’t think [there are
results] because I’ve never heard anybody say ‘Wow, Singapore has discovered a
new drug,’” said one Buddhist woman. Some interviewees also said they supported
government investment in medical research, but that they
thought the private sector could take care of investment in engineering or
technology.
Malaysians also mentioned that a sense of national pride or prestige could come from government investment in science and the subsequent achievements. For example, one Buddhist woman said research on medicine and technology could help Malaysia “become famous compared with other countries.” A Hindu man said he hoped the government would increase its spending on engineering and technology, because it would provide more jobs and show that Malaysia is a high-achieving country. He said more investment would “[help] a lot of people to achieve their dreams. You are putting Malaysia in the top table.” Another Muslim Malaysian man expressed a similar sentiment, saying: “For me, engineering and technology investment is worthwhile because we want to be comparable to other advanced countries”One of the most striking takeaways from interviews conducted with Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists stems from the different ways that people in each group described their perspectives on the relationship between science and religion. The Muslims interviewed tended to speak of an overlap between their religion and science, and some raised areas of tension between the two. Hindu interviewees, by and large, described science and religion as overlapping but compatible spheres. By contrast, Buddhist interviewees described science and religion as parallel concepts, with no particular touchpoints between the two. Let us appreciate the thoughtful comments and guidance from Sharon Suh, Ajay Verghese and Pew Research Center religion experts including Besheer Mohamed, Neha Sahgal, David Frawley and others.
The Oneness of Religion in the Hindu Advaita Vedanta
All the prophets and founders of the world’s great Faiths, such as Krishna, Buddha, Moses, Christ, Muhammad and Baha’u’llah help us to focus on the eternal value of our lives. We tend to think of those divine messengers as separate, diverse entities who founded different religions at different times. But what if they’re not separate at all?
Their teachings brought to humanity by Baha’u’llah, the prophet and founder of the Baha’i Faith encourage us to see all of those holy messengers as one: “view all the Prophets and Messengers of God as one soul and one body, as one light and one spirit, in such wise that the first among them would be last and the last would be first. For they have all arisen to proclaim His Cause and have established the laws of divine wisdom”
Hindu Teachings on Oneness
What is the key passage in the Hindu teachings that offers core spiritual insights? Perhaps it’s this, from the Hindu Upanishads: Like two birds of golden plumage, inseparable companions, the individual self and the immortal Self are perched on the branches of the self-same tree. The former tastes of the sweet and bitter fruits of the tree; the latter, tasting of neither, calmly observes.
The individual self, deluded by forgetfulness of his identity with the divine Self, bewildered by his ego, grieves and is sad. But when he recognizes the worshipful Lord as his own true Self, and beholds his glory, he grieves no more.
“It is clear and evident to thee that all the Prophets are the Temples of the Cause of God …. If thou wilt observe with discriminating eyes, thou wilt behold them all … soaring in the same heaven, seated upon the same throne, uttering the same speech, and proclaiming the same Faith …. Should any of them say; “I am the return of all the Prophets,” He verily speaketh the truth. In like manner, in every subsequent Revelation, the return of the former Revelation is a fact …”--Baha’u’llah. We are united by the reality of one God, one Holy Spirit, a series of messengers, and our one human family.
But there are also the teachers who receive love and light from the revelations of the prophet’s original teachings and go on, in turn, to reflect that love and light in their lives. Their spiritual attributes shine out for all to see. They walk the talk. That’s you and me, if we will it and act on it.
In the desert of materialism there are many wells of sweet water from both the messengers, and their true reflectors, who can quench our spiritual thirst. That sweet water is now more accessible than ever before in history. Baha’u’llah wrote: “Peerless is this Day, for it is as the eye to past ages and centuries, and as a light unto the darkness of the times.”
The Ancient Hindu Teachings and Their Continuing Truth
In this new age, we now can gain insights and inspiration as never before. But even though they appeared many millennia ago, we cherish, in particular, inspiration from the Hindu Advaita Vedanta teachings. The Hindu teachings, as with the principles and inspirations from all of the great religions, help us transform into our best and truest selves.
For example: Mantras, or similar Hindu meditative practices, can pave the way to transformative insights.
The earliest mantras were composed in Vedic Sanskrit in India, and are at least 3500 years old. The word ॐ (aum, om) serves as a mantra. Many Hindus believe that aum was the first sound on Earth, and that chanting it creates a reverberation which helps calm the body and mind. In more sophisticated forms, mantras are melodic phrases with spiritual interpretations such as a human longing for truth, reality, light, immortality, peace, love, knowledge, and action. Some mantras without literal meaning are musically uplifting and spiritually moving.
Advaita Vedanta’s form can be two stages; ‘consciousness and bliss.’ Personally, we meditate we prefer the three stage satchitananda – “sat-chit-aananda” – which means “being-consciousness-bliss.” All three elements are considered as inseparable in realizing the nature of ultimate reality or ‘Brahman’ – which means the highest Universal Principle, the Ultimate Reality in the universe, the material, formal and final cause of all that exists.
Brahman, for Hindus, exemplifies the pervasive, infinite, eternal truth and bliss which does not change, yet is the cause of all changes, the single binding unity behind diversity in all that exists in the universe.
The Advaita Vedanta teachings present freedom as a vital spiritual goal. In both cases it includes freedom from the egotistic self. The triad of being-consciousness-bliss exists in Hindu Advaita teachings. Drinking from the mystic chalice is a requirement to achieve freedom, said the 8th century Hindu sage Adi Shankara, the great presenter of Advaita Vedanta. While wandering in the Himalayas, seeking to find his guru, a young Adi Shankara encountered a sage who asked him, “Who are you?” The enlightened boy answered with six verses. You can read them, and listen to them being chanted by Deva Premal.
In any age, to drink of the mystic chalice is to transcend the gross, dual, contingent, ever-changing world and thereby enter the nondual Kingdom. The mystical is the gateway to that blissful Kingdom, and there is nothing as practical as the mystical. It is key to developing self-knowledge, the gift that brings the realization of our true self, and of reality. It enables us to lay down the burden of the egotistic self and reflect the eternal. It allows us to seek and find true freedom.
That true freedom, of course, is from “the contingent world,” which includes the material world and our lower natures. These two are the sources of our attachments and addictions, and the bars of our self-created prison. When we shed them, we are free. Since God, the Holy Spirit, and the great messengers are all one, and all of them ask us to expand our consciousness of the mystical realities, when we act on that knowledge we can be more, know more and serve more.
Director of
Religion Research Alan Cooperman on a draft of this essay.
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