Answers to readers
Regarding death:
We are the ubiquitous One that dwells within All. Everything we are
experiencing with the mind & senses is our own self-generated temporal
illusory hologram. Here are a few ideas from the sacred Sanskrit texts:
* Understanding the “Harvesting of Souls” from the teachings in the Sanskrit
texts
http://metaphysicalmusing.com/articles/2010/2010harvesting2.htm
***
From the Bhagavad Gita
http://metaphysicalmusing.com/gita/index.htm
* The Moment of Death
My own thinking is that the moment of death will probably rob most of us of
the ability to control our thoughts. Even if we are fortunate enough not to
be in pain, the transition from one state of being to another will throw our
consciousness into the unknown. Recall any trauma you have experienced and
this will verify the potential for an enormous unexpected shift in our usual
state of mind.
Therefore in my understanding, our thoughts at the moment of death will be
the concentrated synthesis of whatever we hold to be of the greatest value
based on our entire life. The state of our consciousness will be compelled
by everything we have done, every thought we have entertained and whatever
we are attached to.
This cumulative product, as the Kashmir Shaivite Abhinavagupta suggests,
will ‘spontaneously’ come into our memory and therefore be the matrix of our
nature in the next life or free us from rebirth forever. Thus it is
obviously crucial for us to work towards the highest consciousness before we
become ill and in the possible confusion of pain, move into the experience
of death.
Abhinavagupta quotes from Patanjali’s Yogasutra, Ch.4.9:
There is an uninterrupted continuity of cause and effect, even though
separated by life states space and time, because memory and the habitual
potencies possess similar form.
Frequencies of consciousness as memory and ‘habitual potencies’ produce form
as material manifestation. We are what we think and what we think emerges
from what we believe, our faith (shraddha). One acts as one believes. The
uninterrupted continuity of cause and effect is the power of Time.
http://metaphysicalmusing.com/gita/krishna12.htm
‘... great gods feed them in Indra’s high heaven.
Yet they, when that prodigious joy is over,
Paradise spent, and wage for merits given,
come to the world of death and change once more.’
- Bhagavad Gita IX.21
* Location is a Function of Consciousness
You will go to heaven if you desire to. When you pray and perform the
rituals and rites of purification that wash away sin, you will attain the
realm you seek. However when your acquired merit runs out, you must return
to this world and once again transmigrate in the vehicle of human form.
Mind created temporal holograms
The heavens and not-so-heavenly lower realms are manifested by and are the
products of our own thoughts. They are the holographic projections of our
beliefs in various specific systems of faith throughout the Cycles of Time.
They are mind created temporal holograms, which are the result of a polarity
thought matrix - good & evil, light & dark, etc. The subtle body experiences
these locations as if they are ‘real’ just as the five senses of the
physical body experience this world as real.
Consciousness is Location
Those who worship the gods and goddesses, go to the god worlds. Those who
worship the ancestors (Pitris or manes) will join them in the ancestral
realms. Those who worship the spirits (Bhuts or bhutani), for example Nature
Spirits, will go to the shaman worlds [Bhagavad Gita IX.25].
It is quite true that people who use either natural or man-made molecules,
which are geared to produce entry into the Invisible Realms, see myriad
beings. It is my understanding that each particular molecule contains a
frequency that opens a door to a specific region. Location is a function of
consciousness and consciousness can be described by the term frequency.
Therefore a substance will over and over produce the frequency of the
correlative realm of that molecular structure. Everyone who ingests the same
herb, etc. will be able to verify the experience based on their shared
visions and similar experiences.
There is nothing wrong in visiting these worlds. However, they are highly
seductive and can mislead the seeker of the ultimate Truth. They can entice
you to deviate from your Path. This deviation could endure for many lives
and while every adventure is enjoyable in its own way, you must decide what
you want and where these side trip excursions will eventually lead you.
Those who worship the One, go to the One.
http://metaphysicalmusing.com/gita/krishna14.htm
*Samsara
In his commentary Abhinavagupta says that they will ‘cross the ocean of
samsara’ [B.Marjanovic]. Samsara is the Wheel of Transmigration, those
wheels-within-wheels that perpetually propel us all through the Cycles of
Time. The etymology of the word Samsara is ‘to flow together’ [J.Tyberg] and
Samsara is thus often perceived as an ocean.
Wherever, Indian Prince!
Life is - of moving things, or things unmoved,
Plant or still seed - know, what is there hath grown
By bond of Matter and of Spirit:
- Bhagavad Gita XIII.26
The apparent worlds come into being through the temporal illusory union
(samyogat) of the Field (Kshetra-Prakriti) and the Knower of the Field
(Kshetrajna-Purusha). Any moving being (sattvam) in all the myriad worlds or
any inanimate unmoving (sthavara) object emerges in the temporal illusory
hologram from this correlative association [Bhagavad Gita XIII.26].
http://metaphysicalmusing.com/gita/krishna28.htm
From the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad IV.iv.1
*What Happens When We Die – Part One
Whatever we have done, thought, and felt in this body will be the fuel that
thrusts us toward the next. Our feelings are the primary fuel that builds
the ‘fragrances’ (Bhagavad Gita XV.8) we carry with us from one life to
another.
In Sanskrit these accumulated impressions are known as Samskaras or Vasanas.
They are like self-generated magnets that compel us into the next temporal
illusory hologram. Thus we move from body to body in the endless quest of
fulfilling our own desires – until we Remember that we are the ubiquitous
God-within and not these temporal identities that drag us though Time and
Space. When we are tired of playing, we begin the adventure of waking up to
what is Real!
http://metaphysicalmusing.com/articles/2010/2010whendie01.htm
*What Happens When We Die – Part Two
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad IV.iv.4 & 5
The Subtle Body - Puryashtaka
As the soul leaves the body, it can no longer use the data-collecting
mechanisms of the physical body, i.e. the five senses, seeing, hearing,
smelling, tasting and touch. The subtle body (puryashtaka) is our vehicle
between lives. It functions as a magnet and attracts whatever it resonates
with – like attracts like. Whatever we have thought, whatever acts we have
done while in the physical body generated the impressions (samskaras), which
have formed the subtle body.
The subtle body is made up of desires (kama). The One-ness manifested this
universe to play. This ‘play’ or the Divine Lila, as it is called in
Sanskrit, exists for the fulfillment of our desires. As long as you want to
play in Space-Time, you will return through endless cycles of death and
births (samsara) to fulfill your dreams.
Desire (kama) is the powerful driving force fueling your continued existence
in this universe. Kama is often depicted as a deity who is not easily
overcome by the puny human mind. Our desires constantly delude us.
Essentially, we can rationalize anything we want.
It takes a great will to overwhelm the desires that are programmed into our
DNA. Sometimes they lie latent for life times, even in the most advanced
souls. Sometimes as you reach the end of your journey Home, they are
fulfilled in the most surprising manner, and once fulfilled they can be
easily renounced.
All acts are born of desire (kama) and every act leaves an imprint on and
subtly alters the DNA, thereby passing on through the generations of bodies,
corporal forms allowing every kind of experience. The soul (Atma)
transmigrates to those bodies it resonates with based on similarity of
consciousness and utilizes the DNA to create a fresh holographic reality.
The subtle body carries these desires. Eventually through experience, we
come to understand that no desire can fulfill. What we were desperately
seeking externally, resides within us from the start.
http://metaphysicalmusing.com/articles/2010/2010whendie02.htm
* What Happens When We Die – Part Three
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad IV.iv.6
Those who are attached to the results of their acts are caught up in endless
cycles of transmigration. But what of the few who have come to the end of
their desires, who are weary and long to return to their Source? The few who
understand that everything in this universe is God, and who have therefore
become solely devoted to the Self, the God-within, they have no desire other
than the Self/Atman. They experience death in a very different manner.
When you Know as experiential knowing that God pervades and permeates the
All, then temporal desires cease to compel you. You simply lose interest.
You are no longer ‘owned’ by the objects of the senses. No external and
material things can hold our interest in the best of circumstances.
Why would you want to possess incremental fragments of this universe when
you are Becoming the Creator of it? Real gold lies within in the Heart. Real
happiness and fulfillment are within each and every one of us, waiting for
us to turn inward, to Remember who we are.
“Desire cannot be satisfied unless it is directed to the Self … If your
desire is for anything other than the Self, it is not going to be fulfilled,
because you are asking for that which is not there.” [Krishnananda]
It is not there. Everything you are experiencing with the mind & senses is
your own self-generated temporal illusory hologram. The world of desire is
not the Real. When you understand and shift your consciousness into this
higher, deeper Truth, you lose interest in external desires.
You only desire the God-within you. This frees you from all other desires,
which will literally back away from you. Freedom is salvation! Once you have
seen the Real, the objects of the senses turn away from you [Bh.G.II.59].
You have lost interest and therefore you no longer magnetize them into your
consciousness. We only think about what we want.
There is no need to act - and no need not-to-act [Bhagavad Gita III.17]. We
no longer need other people [Bh.G.III.18]. We have Become that which is the
Source of every person and thing. All our desires are fulfilled because we
have Become “merged in the Universal Self” [Krishnananda]. As desire-less
beings, we no longer need the vehicle of the subtle body, the mind & the
senses. We do not require a new data-collecting vehicle to inhabit in order
to work out our previous actions.
We are liberated from the illusions we have created to play in. Our subtle
body and its mechanisms get dissolved “like bubbles in an ocean”.
[Krishnananda]
http://metaphysicalmusing.com/articles/2010/2010whendie03.htm
* Heavens & Hells are Illusions Mind-Created in Time
Heavens and hells are nothing more than temporal ILLUSIONS in the astral
planes, created by the mind of man throughout the Four Cycles of Time. Just
as the worlds (LOKAS) of the gods (DEVAS) and extra-terrestrials are locked
in their own durations of time, and have a Beginning and an End, these
heaven and hell holographic matrices are temporal and not eternal.
The wise must understand that the rewards of heaven
…are as transient as pleasures on earth.
The Uddhava Gita, Dialogue 14.18
The gods, or cosmic deities, also belong to the phenomenal world… the
attainment of oneness with them… cannot destroy the miseries of SAMSARA [the
illusory holographic matrix].
… the aspirant, seeking liberation from phenomenal suffering, should realize
the Supreme Brahman [IS-ness] as his own self and the self of all beings.
Swami Nikhilananda
The Upanishads Vol. 3, AITAREYA UPANISHAD, Chapter II
http://metaphysicalmusing.com/articles/early_articles/heavens.htm
An excellent book:
Karma and Reincarnation; The Vedantic Perspective
Swami Muni Narayana Prasad
D.K. Printworld; 1 edition (January 1, 1999)
Swami Muni Narayana Prasad is the brilliantly enlightened master who also
has the rare gift of translating and interpreting the Sanskrit texts into an
English which makes them accessible. I have the highest and deeply profound
respect for this man. As he goes through the texts such as the Rig Veda,
various Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, Swami Muni Narayana Prasad reveals
the true meaning of the theory of karma and reincarnation as can only be
known by those who are enlightened, who Know the Truth regarding who they
really are.
There is only One. There is only one Soul, the eternal AKSHARA imperishable
immutable that manifests as multiplicity. Multiplicity is only apparent, an
‘appearance' in the temporal illusory hologram that is constantly changing
under the creative force of Shakti-Maya, the Matrix womb that manifests the
universe. The One Soul manifests for the Joy Ananda Bliss of experiencing
and expressing Its Infinite potential possibilities in millions of forms
throughout the Cycles of Time, world without end.
There is no you or me. Our perceived individual existence is a temporal
expression. What we have wrongly identified with and taken to be our ‘self’
is nothing more than the aggregate of impressions (samskaras) that have been
collected in the ancestral DNA of that body. Even the memories of our past
lives are only the waveform impressions of our current
data-collecting-vehicle, meaning the human body we are inhabiting. These
impressions can be read by an intelligent accomplished astrologer, which is
why proclivities and repeating tendencies can be easily seen in the GUNAS,
tamas, rajas and sattva.
But we are not that, we are not the body. We are the One Soul. Tat Tvam Asi.
Swami Muni Narayana Prasad gently teaches us that only the ignorant, those
who are still lost in appearances, in MOHA delusion, need the theory of
karma and reincarnation - which is why the ancient Rishis gave it to them.
The ones who are wise, enlightened in Truth. know there is neither death nor
birth. There is only the One eternal.
Answer to reader regarding the idea that
“Everything you are experiencing with the mind & senses is your own
self-generated temporal illusory hologram.”
There is only the One.
As long as you think you are a separate identity-self individual, then you
will be creating endless experiences via the Matrix, which in Sanskrit is
Prakriti's machine-like GUNAS on automatic in lifetime after lifetime.
Whatever we do, sets up the next tendency - the samskaras.
Everyone is generating their own holographic illusory worlds. Did you ever
wonder if anyone really ever understands anyone else? This is the One in us
All manifesting through endless combinations of the three GUNAS, rajas,
sattva and tamas. Each of manifests within our own Matrix, but
beneath all appearances is the One.
When you ‘experientially’ Realize that you also are the One, your
consciousness changes — and even though worldly experiences will continue,
they will no longer bind you into the illusion. You enjoy a compassionate
NON-ATTACHMENT.
So the One SELF is doing everything because It
IS
everything. Eternal. But we are responsible when we are not aligned,
not in harmony with God. We forgot we are God! God as us intentionally
forgets, Veils Its Oneness, so the Divine Lila, the "play" can manifest.
When we reach Enlightenment, our consciousness is no longer in an illusory
state of separateness. Thus we return to Union with God, the One, that which
we have always been and always will be. The Sanskrit word Yoga means union.
A divine cosmic Labyrinth.
The universe consists of infinite layers of realities, with the One beneath
and within it all. The One Veils Itself in temporal illusions, and “plays”
in the universe It created —and then returns Home. Enlightenment is
experientially knowing that you are that One.
An excellent book:
Be As You Are: The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharishi;
Edited by David Godman
If Liberation and enlightenment was easy, everyone would get it immediately.
You may Realize the Self, the One within you this minute or it may take
years. It is an Experience that changes you. Not mental, total. You begin to
understand mentally. That’s what the sacred texts are for. But one day all
that goes — and the experience is there for you to Be, to Become.
The Veil is created to keep you ‘separate’ so the One can “play” as you!
When life no longer feels like “play”, no longer interests you, with no more
desires to fulfill, when all you want is to go Home, and find Truth [SATYA]
— then you know you are close to Home, to the God-within your own Heart. The
God within you is also ubiquitous, pervading All and everyone.
Eternal Love, Bliss...
There is only One. All differentiated perception taking place through the
five-senses is temporal and illusory.
Relevant articles on Free Will and 'the Doer' in the Bhagavad Gita:
http://metaphysicalmusing.com/gita%20XVIII/gitaxviii-index.htm
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