Page 8 - NAMAH-Apr-2016

Namah Vol. 25, Issue 1, 24th April 2017

exists in all, all exists by it, it is all (4).” to be independent of the body, including the
brain. This postulate admits a paradoxical
Oneness and multiplicity situation where the mind is independent of
the body yet interacts with the body. Does
The Omnipresent Reality is not only rep- that mean that the body is vulnerable and
resented by the Being, but also by the receptive to non-material forces? Not to be
Becoming. The ‘spiritual mindset’ deals cowed down by the leverage to non-material
with Being in its purity and considers the factors, neurophysiologists argue that the
universe to be an unreal dream. The ‘material non-material forces originate from matter
mindset’ deals with the multiplicity of the itself. It as if the nerves and hormones are
Becoming and considers God and the Beyond solely responsible for our creative thoughts,
as illusory ideas. Both conceptions are partial intuitive ideas and creative potentials.
representations of the essential Truth. The
knowledge of Oneness (also called Vidya) Both the Cartesian dualism and the scientific
is equally important as the knowledge postulate that consciousness is a by-product
of the relative and multiple (also called of matter are based on partial knowledge.
Avidya). Without Vidya, the knowledge of The Upanissads are catholic enough to assert
the multiplicity is “a night of darkness and that this partial knowledge has temporal
a disorder of ignorance” and if multiplicity relevance. It is through Avidya that
is dismissed as unreal and non-existence, the trajectory of progress crosses death.
‘Vidya’ becomes obscure and imperfect. This Translated in material terms, this statement
is the real meaning of the famous verse in the is justified by the fact that the pursuit of the
Isha Upanissad: variety and variability of the material world
has revealed the details of the manifestation
“By the Ignorance they cross beyond Death extending to the cellular and sub-atomic
and by the Knowledge enjoy Immortality…(5)” levels, a revelation that has helped to build
(‘Ignorance’ is knowledge of multiplicity, of the citadel of science, conquered the barriers
the transient phenomena that constitutes the of space and time and decreased morbidity .
universe, ‘knowledge’ is realisation of the
Oneness, the essence). Yet the very fact that the knowledge of the
multiplicity is Avidya, the Great Ignorance,
The realisation that the unity in existence brings home the fact that it has its limitations
is due to a oneness in essence that permits and has to give way to wisdom, the perennial
the variegated multiplicity gives credence knowledge of the oneness, the Vidya which
to the study of body and mind as having the Upanissads assert to impart the enjoyment
distinctive characteristics despite having a of immortality. The realisation that sub-
commonality in consciousness. The Cartesian atomic particles like leptons and quarks
dualism essentially considers that the mind cannot be subdivided further as they lapse
and body are non-identical. The body which into formlessness points to some underlying
includes the brain is made of extended, unitary substrate, an ethereal matrix or
divisible substance while the mind is not. consciousness. It must be a substrate with
Even if they interact, the mind is considered an essential oneness where the creation gets

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