The philosophical quest begins with an inquiry into the nature of the self. Who am I? This question has intrigued profound thinkers throughout history. We all perceive the I and make statements like I am talking, I am walking, I'm eating, sitting, standing. But what is this? I remains a mystery. When you look at your family album, you find your picture as a newborn child and say, “That is me.” And then there is a picture of a three year old toddler. You say, “That is also me.” And then is the picture of a 13 year old adolescent. You say, “That is me as well.” Now, which of these 3 bodies is you? If you were the corporeal frame, you would have changed multiple times in your lifetime. Modern medical science informs us that the process of regeneration is continuous in the body. Cells die out and new cells take their place. So within the space of 7 years, all the cells in your body have been replaced with new ones. If your identity came from this matter that creates your body, then you would also have changed multiple times. However, that is not the case. So what then is this I? There is a very illustrative story from the Vedic literature. King Janak was a learned ruler of the kingdom of Mithila. One night he had a terrible dream in which the enemy kingdom attacked him, and in the brutal war that took place, his army was decimated, until finally Janak found himself leaning before the conquering monarch, begging for his life. The conquering king said, “I am giving you one chance. Disappear from my sight. Tomorrow, if we find you after sunrise, you will live no more.” Janak took that respite and ran out from Mithila until he reached the forest, but in his fright he continued to run until it was dark in the night. He was now hungry and thirsty. He reached a tribal villager's hut and knocked to beg for food. A lady opened and felt pity, but refused to let him in. She gave him rations and a stove so that Janak could cook the food outside. He used the lentils and the rice to prepare some hot, steaming khichuri, and then place the khichuri on a banana leaf, and was about to relieve the pain in his famished stomach, when two hogs fighting with each other appeared in the clearance, and in their tussle, they knocked over the banana leaf containing the Khichuri. That was the last straw for Janak. Seeing the food become inedible, his grief knew no bounds and he began wailing in distress. That misery broke his dream. On waking up, he discovered his comfortable palace and its bedroom and this set him thinking which of these realities was true? Was that true or this true? He pronounced a challenge for the learned people in his kingdom to illuminate him on the nature of the truth. Many scholars were tempted by the rewards he had offered, but in their attempts they failed until a Ashtavakra appeared. Ashtavakra was an astonishing personality in Indian history. When he was in the womb of his mother, his father would recite Vedic knowledge and Ashtavakra sitting inside would find mistakes. That hurt the pride of father, who said, “You are so conceited, you are not yet even born, and you are finding flaws in my Vedic understanding? Go, become crooked in eight places.” So poor Astavakra, when he was born had a body that was crooked in eight different joints. Now Ashtavaka took up the challenge of Janak and appeared in his court. In the court of Janak the greatest scholars of the time used to sit, however, seeing this deformed child walking in they all broke into laughter. Ashtavakra was not to be put down. He said in a strong, commanding voice, “Janak, I had heard that the biggest scholars of Bharatvarsh sit in your court, but here I am seeing all cobblers and shoemakers sitting.” Now that statement stunned the entire assembly into silence, but the learner Janak understood and said, “Oh sage, you have called these scholars as cobblers. They wish to know why they have been insulted like this? Ashtavakra said, “The answer should have been evident. They are looking at my hide my skin and reaching a decision. They do don't even know that the self is beyond the body. In fact, it is even beyond the mind.” Ashtavakra now went about illuminating Janak and responding to his question, “Is this the truth, or is that the truth?” Ashtavakra said, “The truth is that which always exists.” This corroborates with Sri Krishna’s statement in the Bhagavad Gita, nāsato vidyate bhāvo nābhāvo vidyate sataḥ “Arjun, of that which is true, there is never any cessation and that which comes to an end is temporary and not the eternal truth.” So Ashtavakra said, “The situation you found yourself in, as a harrowed king running away from a conqueror, does it exist now?” Janak said, “No.” Ashtavakra said, “Likewise, your situation now, did it exist in the dream?” “No, Oh sage.” “So both of these, are not the eternal truth. However, there is one entity that has remained unchanged through all of these experiences, and that is the entity within yourself from which you derive consciousness. This entity is the soul.” Now, modern medical science does not know of the existence of this spiritual energy through its material instruments, and yet they validate Ashtavakra’s viewpoint in different ways. Doctor Barrett, a professor of neuroscience in Northeastern University in Boston with the research projects at the Harvard Medical School says, “That neuroscience is of the view that our brain creates a carefully constructed hallucination of the reality we are in.” What does that mean? Like, for example, if I ask you, “What is the color of this cloth?” You will say, “It is saffron or orange.” Now what is this saffron or orange? It is merely the experience your brain is having when light of 630 nano meters wavelength impinges upon your senses. You have learned to identify that sensory experience with the color saffron. So neuroscience says, “Yur brain is creating a hallucination,” and Ashtavakra said the same thing, and between all these changing experiences is the unchanging reality of the soul. Let me read about it to you from my latest book, Spiritual Secrets from Hinduism. All matter is lifeless and our body is made from matter. Hence, the body by itself cannot be the reason for life. Science realizes this paradox and is grappling to explain the phenomenon of consciousness. If matter could be manipulated to create consciousness, then scientists would do the same in laboratories. However, nobody has ever succeeded in creating life from matter. Philosophers therefore continue to debate over the origin of consciousness. The Vedas explain that, life on a sentience, originates from the soul. As long as the atma is present in the body, the brain, heart, kidneys, and liver continue to function. Once the soul departs, the organs are still there, but the functions cease, the body is now deemed dead. Hence, consciousness or life comes from the soul. When we talk about the soul, a curiosity arises about its size. How big is this entity called the spirit, the <i>jiva</i>, the <i>atman</i>. There could be three possibilities: Either it is <i>vibhu,</i> infinitely large, like the Brahman. Alternatively, it could be <i>madhyamakar,</i> of finite size and shape. Or else the third possibility is that it is <i>anu</i>, subtle, <i>sukshma,</i> infinitesimal. Which of these three is the verdict of the Vedas? Is the <i>atman</i> infinitely large, like Brahman? The <i>Mathar Shruti</i> states - verse from scripture - If you do good deeds, you shall be promoted to the celestial abodes. If you perform sinful deeds, you will go to the nether regions, and engaging in a mixture of good and bad deeds will bring you back on the earth realm. Now, if the soul was infinite in dimension, there would be no question of going up or down. It would stay where it is and cover all of heaven and hell, encompassing them. So the soul is not <i>vibhu</i>, is it <i>madhyamakar</i> or finite? This creates, again a logical problem, because the soul is transmigrating from life form to life form, through bodies of different shapes and sizes. Now let us say that in one life the soul receives the body of an elephant, and in the next life it receives the body of a pigeon. How will the soul the size of an elephant fit into the body of the pigeon? And this is the reason why the vedic the scriptures disagree with the Jain <i>darshan</i>, which says the soul is <i>madhyamakar</i> and equal to the body in size. The Vedas say, “On this point you don't have it right.” How big is the soul? It is <i>anu</i>. The Mundaka Upanishad of the Atharva Ved says, - verse from upanishad - The Katha Upanishad states, - verse from upanishad - Shvetashvatar Upanishad of the Yajur Ved states, bālāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca bhāgo jīvaḥ sa vijñeyaḥ sa cānantyāya kalpate It says, “Take a hair, chop the tip of it into a hundred parts. You will say, “Impossible.” The Upanishad says, “Suppose the impossible becomes possible. Now take one of those parts and chop it into further 100 parts. The size you get is the size of the soul.” But this is just a manner of expression. What the Upanishad wants to convey is that the soul is infinitesimal, and yet by its presence it has enlivened the whole body with consciousness. Now, scientists studying certain paranormal phenomena have realized that the consciousness must have its source beyond the body. Doctor Michael Sabom, an authority on NDEs, near death experiences, in the Western world, as a practicing cardiologist at the Emory Hospital discovered that many of his patients who had cardiac arrests, where the blood flow to the brain stops. If they were given successful resuscitation in the first 4 minutes and were fortunate enough to recover, they reported astonishing out-of-body experiences, where they could describe the operation chamber, the number of people there and what was happening. So he wrote a book based on his experiences as a cardiologist, “Recollections of Death, a medical study.” And in this book that was published in 1980, the most astonishing case was of Pam Reynolds. This lady needed a neurosurgery, which was extremely intricate and would have taken a long time. So the doctors took up the challenge. They cool down her body so that when the blood flow stopped, the brain would not deteriorate and the surgery was done at freezing temperatures, but it turned out to be successful. Pam Reynolds came back to consciousness after 40 minutes. Now, with the brain not functioning at all, she was able to describe what was happening in the operation theatre. Our Vedic scriptures have their own version of NDE? The famous case of Ajmil. Ajamil, as a practicing celibate student, <i>brahmachari,</i> had achieved such prowess that the Bhagawad Puran states, he had become <i>jitendrya,</i> and yet he suffered a downfall where he got attached to a lady of the night, and married her and had 9 children from her. He was now a reasonably old man when an event happened. Some holy personalities arrived in the village who had the rule that they would only spend the night in the house of a <i>Vaishnav.</i> Looking around for <i>Vaishnavas</i> they reached Ajamil’s house, and they asked him, that they would like to spend the night there if he was a Vaishnav. Ajamil’s inate spiritual faith was revived looking at the saintly personalities. He wrongly informed them that he was a <i>Vaishnav,</i> gave them a room to stay. These sages did satsang through the night, which Ajamil kept on listening, and that led to a tremendous repentance of the sinful ways he had fallen to. Next morning he went and fell at their feet, and confessed that he had told them a lie. He was not a <i>Vaishnav</i>, but his intention was sacred. Those sages forgave him for his transgression, and they said, “Never mind, we are giving you a help line to save yourself. Have another child and name that child, Narayan.” That's exactly what Ajamil did. Now, as the child started growing up Ajamil became so infatuated, his mind became completely attached to Narayan, and all day long he would be calling his child's name, until he was on his deathbed, and just before he fainted unconscious, his mind went to his child and he said, “Narayan,” and then he had his near-death experience. From one side came the <i>Yamduts</i>, and the other side came the <i>Vishnuduts,</i> and the discussion that happened between these two beings reminded him of the knowledge he had cultivated in his youth. And when he came back to consciousness, he used that knowledge to go and practice austerities in Haridwar and completely attach his mind to God and finally attain the supreme destination. So we are not merely this body which is made of matter. Now these NDE experiences prove that, but the Vedas say, we are not even the mind. Beyond that is the soul. We will understand the nature of the soul and many other topics from our Hindu scriptures, As we continue in our discussion of Spiritual Secrets from Hinduism.
