GOD COSMOS AND ENLIGHTENED WAY

MAN

      The realm of the world and the will, where all life remain caught, drag all to seek a way to survive, propagate progenies, secure their future and find a peaceful environment to enjoy a familial and comfortable life. However, every life is surrounded by predators, and threats from other life, or forces of nature which frame environment and social conditions in which one may live. Everybody remains busy in securing and safeguarding their own means of income and wealth which may bring peace and prosperity to life. Often these entangled sphere of the will of the mortals contradict and come in conflicts with each other. One`s peace may turn out to be other`s peril. So battles and struggles become unavoidable modes of human field of living. Consensus and compromises are ways to sort out methods to live together. However, those who are more powerful and able to subject others to accept solutions advantageous to them often decide the social dynamics. The economically and physically insecure ones look for securities by being loyal and accepting order and commands of the powerful members of the society. This is how most animal kingdoms are ordered and function.

       In the human sphere, which is more complex and evolved compared to lesser animals, social organization involves institutions and principles of conduct promoted and organized by people in power. When this power is mono-polar the rules and social order become authoritarian, where majority needs to submit to the will of a few. In a more open society, where there exists several competitors for power, the social order is decided by the group which may amass larger number of supporters. By the strength of these numbers they claim authority to power and thus over laws and institutions. In recent time this form of election to govern the society on the basis of the strength of the numbers  has come into vogue. The people elected to power build social structure by strengthening different institutions whose goals are to secure the population from natural hazards, economic calamities, threats from external enemies, protection against thefts, unwanted incursions and violence, and rights and freedom confined within the boundary dictated by social institutions. These institutions may take different forms - mostly led by people promoting political and economic competitions in the society. These forms of social organizations in the national level form states which may possess different cultural and religious idiosyncrasies. The states in turn often form alliances with other states having similar cultural and religious affiliations so that they may thwart advances of other still involved in proxy wars by making alliances with the warring parties.

     We have entered a world when the world order, which existed only a few decades ago, is being challenged by the rise of terror and violence by the Islamic fundamentalists on one side, and the emergence of military and economic power of the East on the other side. It is happening at the moment when the world economy is getting more and more integrated and interdependent. The market and financial boundaries are rapidly falling by opening up consumer goods and information services to all people across the world. With increased confidence in the power of science and the social goods, which the modern technology has  been able to generate, the faith in religion and God is disappearing fast -especially, among the educated mass. The demand for more luxury and less constraints from religion and cultural dogmas are fuelling discontent in the youth who are able to access information from the wider world and wish to integrate with the rising consumer opportunities in the world. This discontent has been utilized by the capitalist market economy to undermine the strength of those who try to hold on to power by exploiting the traditional power based on religious beliefs.

      The attractions of the globalization based on entertainments - especially sports, movies and songs- are eating up cultural differences and creating a modern arena of cultural consumption supported by the profit making money-minded class. The religious and traditional values are getting replaced by cynicism and pragmatism of the technology based cultural values. The human being is looking more and more to the mechanical world for finding comforts and meaning of life. Opportunities to make money are becoming more easily available to those who wish to adapt to this new social evolution, which sees human beings as robotic creatures belonging to a mechanized world, where traditional morality has little relevance.

       In this emerging social changes, new relationships are being forged across nations, cultures and races. When in the earlier time people mostly adhered in groups based on castes, creeds, languages, races, nations and cultures, now they are more and more attached to groups on the consideration of the economic and market benefits one may gain through associations with others. The money-making class is becoming a global caste who attaches less and less values to traditional relationships. Similarly relationships are changing in other arenas too where economic calculations play central roles. Thus human character is looking more and more like economic animals falling prisoners of mechanical robots while only a few possess the technological remote controls in their hands to operate this modern system.  

       The middle class, which makes the majority of the population in the world, seems to be complacent about the new state of affairs. The poor are becoming poorer and many of them may get extinct in short time. In the logic of the modern science, it is a natural selection and so no one should worry about this problem.

       In the world, which I have described above, what kind of social changes do you envisage as the path leading to an enlightened world? What should inspire people to abandon the path where the modern development is dragging them along? What should be the nature of this new man? What would be their values? What culture they should cultivate?

ENLIGHTENED MAN

       To find an answer to these questions one first needs to keep in mind the image of an enlightened man. The path of living and acting, which such an enlightened person follows and pursues, is the enlightened path. How to live and practice enlightened actions and thoughts, which can keep man moving along the enlightened path, will emerge from the understandings of the enlightened man and his/her way.

       The enlightened one is a person, who possesses a vision and understanding of the material world comprising of the cosmos and has experienced realms of existences which are bound in forms as well as exist without form. The form-bound world constitutes the realm of matter and the forces acting on the material world which create the foundation of the perceptive world that one observes and experiences through the presence of the physical bodies. The formless world belongs to the realm outside matter and the constraints of the physical laws. It is the formless realm from where the mind arises in the world.  An enlightened man knows about the existence of the world of matter and the realm of the mind, which is not matter. By mirroring itself in the world the mind shines forth. Enlightened being possesses clear concepts of what exist as matter and mind, and how they interact and manifest as reality of existence where everything is bound.

       The enlightened person knows about the four gates of existence through which the reality of the world is revealed.  At the most primary level lies the lower gate, where movements of the will-bound mind and the matter-bound forces of nature act and interact with each other and generate the streams of thoughts and actions  which help man to survive the churning of the world, or cause life to perish. Enlightened man knows that the individual bodies, which are moving in the stream, are all parts of the same cosmic body, which moves in union as a whole. This body never perishes, nor appears from nothing. It always moves, evolves, changes its appearances and re-emerges again in old forms as a never ending perpetual wheel turning things from one place to another from one moment to the next. You may remember what I have described about the nature of this wheel in an earlier discourse.  The Enlightened being, while experiencing his/her existence in the stream is cognizant of the role which the body plays in this cosmic movement. He/she keeps in mind the perspective of the wholeness of which everything is a part.  He/she is aware of one`s manifestation in life as a part of the cosmic dynamics, which can not cease. This is the movement through the Second Gate of existence which brings awareness of the Cosmic Being existing in form as a part of the will and the world where all must act and live.

       The enlightened man also knows about the existence of the cosmic mind, a state of pure consciousness which manifests through bodily forms. I have already explained before about the way such cosmic consciousness manifests through individual  minds. Individual languages, thoughts and attributes of the mind appear when the cosmic mind takes its adobe in the physical realm of the world through bodies in form. Though not one with the body it is the light which uses the physical body as the mirror so that one may see the world and experience the part of the self which has no form. An enlightened being, while acting and living, keeps in the mind what is causing him/her to see, understand and perceive the reality through the presence of the physical form. The enlightened person is able to move through the Third Gate of existence, where mind merges with the cosmic mind and sees all as manifestation of a Great Will which churns the wheel. He/she knows that all exist as an eternal symphony where the cosmic mind conducts the music. He/she keeps the mind tuned to the melodies which vibrate through the living and the non-living world.

       The enlightened person is also aware of the existence of God, who is neither bound to matter and form, nor attached to the mind and will of the mortal world which is tied to the movement of the will and the world as I have explained. He/she knows that God can not be known by any means of rational thoughts, analysis or logical arguments constructed by the human mind. He/she is aware that God is not knowable by any effort of the human mind. God can be only known through the words which God may send to the world through His Divine messengers who may incarnate in the world as willed by God. I have already told you about the nature of God and the way God may act in the world and send His words. This is the Highest realm of existence which can only be accessed by the Divine messengers of God.

      The enlightened man knows well about the nature of the will and the world where all living and non-living beings are embraced and is able to descry different realm of the mind as parts of the reality. He/she can differentiate reality according to the way mind projects itself. For him/her reality is a multidimensional arena of the mind where different experiences of reality manifest according to how one may project different realms of consciousness.  He/she recognizes the animal nature of man, which are mostly bound to the instincts of survival, procreation and dominance of the will attached to the blind sway of the material world.  He/she can muse  about the sphere of extra-perceptive life  from where imagination and creative spirits of  life may appear. Enlightened man can travel from realm to realm - from perceptible to non-perceptible abstract world of thoughts and explore newer islands of experiences and realizations. Thus he/she knows the vast spectra of the “colours” which the mind may generate. He/she recognizes the conditions in which individual life may be bound and professes ways to free oneself from the bondage of life.

       Although an enlightened man recognizes the differences in abilities of different individuals in connecting to the higher power of the mind by which one may access realms only attainable by more evolved human beings, he/she remains compassionate to all life, and seeks to guide the unenlightened minds to move along the enlightened way. The way such enlightened being moves through the world bound by the will, which creates plethora of experiences of reality -from the instinct-bound man to the man walking through the highest gate- is the enlightened path.

 Follow the teachings of the enlightened man and walk along the way he prescribes. By this way you will be able to bring changes in the world and create an enlightened social-order which you seek. The development that you observe in the modern world, where science and technology has taken the lead and drawn human beings to believe in a world which is barren and naked like robots made of mechanical parts without any mind and soul of any kind, will see its limit of greed and consumption. The science and technology will open new paths where the higher-mind will flourish and lead mankind to build an enlightened world. Do not loose faith in the higher power of the mind and remain firm in the belief about the existence of God.