Can India be rediscovered?

Vishnu Ratna
Man lives in many dimensions. But the two fundamental dimensions are: biological and
psychological. Animals and other life forms live only in one dimension- the dimension of the
physical or biological. Other life forms do not exist at the psychological level. Man is therefore
different from other life forms due to the psychological dimension. Nature evolves only at the
biological dimension. It does not go beyond the biological level. Nature cannot evolve at the
psychological dimension.
Science is concerned only with the physical, visible, biological and material dimension. Science
is the study of nature at the material, physical level. Natures evolution at the biological level is
blind, unconscious and collective. Conscious evolution is possible only with man. Man is a seed;
it has the potential to transcend nature. It can grow consciousness beyond the point nature has
brought him through collective evolution. This growth beyond nature is possible but it is not a
collective growth, it now becomes individual. It is a matter of choice for man whether to grow or
not. If man chooses not to exercise the choice to grow further then he is bound to remain in
misery. Animals do not have any choice to grow therefore they are not in misery. Animals remain
contented with nature, there is no discontentment. But man cannot remain contented,
discontentment is bound to happen. Man cannot fall to the level of the animal, it cannot remain
contented as he is; therefore sooner or later he has to find ways and means for further growth.
One can go on committing mistakes and remain in misery. That would become suicidal. Since
there is darkness all around, nowhere to go, therefore to end life by committing suicide seems to
be the only answer. That is the easy path. But everyone does not have the courage to commit
suicide to end life. Therefore majority chooses to live life at the very minimum, eating and
defecating. That is what they call life and living.
The other method is to seek and search such beings, who have passed through darkness, and
successfully come out of it and to seek their guidance for further growth. But, to find out such a
human being is not an easy task? This search is possible only when one has intense thirst and
quest. But for most of us life means living with adjustments, living according to the model
dictated by the society and culture we are brought up in. Society thinks collectively, it has no
place for individual growth. Society believes in our animal heritage and works with the herd
mentality. That is what we call socialism, communism, and capitalism. It is all animalistic.
All the organized religions are collective. No individual growth is possible through organized
religions. But these organized religions dominate the society and are part of our heritage, culture,
education and nurture. A child is born. He is immediately baptized in the religion he is born into.
He has not even learnt to speak. How can he think independently when he grows? He will always
think in terms of the program that is fed into him. He becomes a computer and repeats the mantra
mechanically like a computer. How can he grow consciousness? A machine is unconscious, it
cannot grow consciousness. Thus the child becomes slave psychologically and starts living to
fulfill his biological needs by learning skills for survival in the ever increasing competitive
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world. He raises a family, becomes a good father, a good son, a good and patriotic citizen,
according to the norms set up by the particular culture and society he is brought up. It is good to
live a life according to the dictates of the collective wisdom of the society but that does not
satisfy a man as it does not allow any individual wisdom and consciousness to grow any further.
It is surprising to note that a person should have attained a certain minimum age even to choose a
political party for governance. It is presumed that he does not have a grown up mind to choose
our political leaders and ideologies. Even for choosing a wife or a husband a minimum age is
required by the society. But when it comes to choosing an organized religion there is no such
minimum age prescribed. Is religion a lower thing than politics or marriage and does not require
any wisdom to choose? This seems ironical.
Organized religions therefore become more political than politics. Organized religions want to
catch them young to enroll, do not allow defections whereas political systems do provide a
greater freedom to choose. They do not go fishing so soon. Human growth becomes impossible
because of this indoctrination by the organized religions at such a young age. It becomes difficult
for the human mind to think and choose for growth of its consciousness.
However, there are many schools in the world even today that are not part of any organized
religions and provide platform to grow consciousness through various methods and techniques.
In India Yoga and Tantra and many other schools were born that do not belong to any organized
religion. The six philosophical schools in India too did not belong to any organized religion. Out
of these Sankhya and Yoga have survived.
Yoga was developed by Maharishi Patanjali. Tantra is Pre-Aryan. When Aryans came in the
Indo-Gangetic plane, India already had Dravidian culture well entrenched. Shiva is pre-Aryan
and a Tantrika. Aryans absorbed Shiva into their fold. Later they added their own Gods and
deities.
Eight limbs of Yoga developed by Patanjali is a technique for step by step growth of
consciousness leading to Samadhi. Tantra is based upon love. Shiva and his consort Parvati
are in deep embrace of love. Tantra offers techniques for transcendence of sex energy leading to
Samadhi.
Indias contribution to the world for the growth of human consciousness at the psychological
level is immense. Yoga and Tantra are valuable contributions of India to the world of
spirituality. They are not part of any organized religions. They are not dogmatic, not part of any
organized church or religion. Yoga and Tantra are scientific. They are based upon
experimentation. One can experiment and grow consciousness to its ultimate. The method or
technique of experimentation is: Meditation. The achievement or the goal is Samadhi.
Samadhi is the very culmination and peak of consciousness.
Buddhism was also born in India, but it became an organized religion when it moved outside
India. It has now lost track from its roots. Buddhas contribution for the growth of human
consciousness is immense. He was not dogmatic. He himself was an experimenter. He took the
courage to leave his kingdom and go out for a search. He did not find any Master and practiced
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penance for 12 years as per the advice of pseudo-masters of those days. Such pseudo-masters
exist today in large numbers and are very harmful for the individuals for their growth. But
society respects them for various reasons. This should be banned, regulated and licensed.
After Buddha became enlightened in his own right and attained Samadhi he returned to the world
to help and guide those who were in search. Buddha devised meditative techniques on scientific
principles. He denied God and Soul. But through this denial he should not to be mistaken an
atheist. HG Wells has said somewhere that Buddha was the most Godly and yet most Godless
person on this earth. But he was misunderstood in India. Buddhism spread its wings to South
East Asia and became the greatest organized religion in the world. By becoming an organized
religion Buddhism has gone astray. Zen is the only survivor branch of Buddhism that is still
young and fresh. Zen is not based upon any method or technique but offers a deeper
understanding for the growth of consciousness. Zen too is not part of any organized religion.
Sufism and Tao are also living religions. Their roots too can be traced to India. They too are not
dogmatic and part of any organized church.
Shiva has given most number of meditative techniques for growth of consciousness. His
dialogues with his consort Parvati is compiled in Vigyan Bhairav Tantra and is the greatest
treatise on meditation.
All the meditative techniques have one thing in common. They are helpful in our understanding
the cause of human misery. That cause is only one. That cause is human Ego or a false centre of
self.
What is Ego? Let us try to understand this.
The whole can be broken into two parts: the world of the known and the world of the unknown.
Ego functions only in the areas of the known. It exists only in defined areas. It loses control in
undefined territories. It fears the unknown.
All efforts of science are to enter the unknown, to know the unknown with certainty. Science
proclaims that unknown is unknown only due to our ignorance. Once all that is unknown
becomes part of our knowledge there would be nothing more to know and we would have known
everything.
But there is a fallacy in this statement. In the very process of knowing the unknown science finds
that the region of the unknown goes further beyond. The unknown does not contract; on the
contrary it grows further into more and more unknown regions. Therefore unknown increases in
geometric proportions, it does not shrink. That is how science goes on specializing into various
fields. It knows more and more about less and less. The whole vision becomes narrow and
narrow.
One man knocked at a Doctors, an eye specialists office, and he said, My left eye is hurting
much, and I cannot see rightly, my vision is blurred

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The Doctor said, Excuse me, I am sorry, but I specialize only in right eyes. For the left eye you
will have to go to some other specialist.
The specialist goes on dividing.
Therefore science divides, it knows more and more about less and less. And if science ever
succeeds in its goal, then we will have to say Knowing everything about nothing! Science is a
tunnel vision.
Science is egocentric; it defies everything that is unknowable.
Beyond the unknown is the vast region of the unknowable. But Ego does not accept anything
unknowable. It struggles to unravel the mysterious. But the mystery remains.
Heisenbergs principle of uncertainty is a victory of the unknowable and defeat of science.
The world of uncertainty is mysterious. Meditation takes us into the world of the unknowable,
known is left behind, unknown is left behind and we enter the mysterious world of the
unknowable. Ego cannot exist with the mysterious. It loses significance.
Ego can function only in the defined region of the known. It fears encounter with the
unknowable. Death is mysterious and unknowable. Mind tries to grasp death, science tries to
defy death but it encounters the region of the unknowable and fear grips over.
That is the whole fear of death. Once we enter the mysterious consciously, we understand fear.
Meditation prepares ground for us to enter the unknowable with awareness. Once we enter the
mysterious consciously, the ego drops and death disappears. That is the whole message of
Kathopnishad.
Meditation therefore helps in the dissolution of the self or the Ego. Once we are able to catch it
by the neck, it dies. Once Ego dies, God descends into us, we become a flute for the celestial
song. We become immortal, Amritasya Putrah!
In the days of the Upanishad, there was no concept of a personal God who is the creator of the
universe. Spirituality was not an organized religion. The sole concern of spirituality was how to
raise consciousness.
India needs to be rediscovered if human misery has to disappear through growth of
consciousness. That was the most valuable contribution of India. It has perished under the burden
of science and technology of the west. The spirit needs to be revived.
There is no choice left.
This planet would otherwise soon perish.
The choice is ours!
8/13, Second Floor,
Arya Nagar, Kanpur 208 002
Ph: (0512) 2551251-52; 9415101244

8/13, Second Floor,

Arya Nagar, Kanpur 208 002
Ph: (0512) 2551251-52; 9415101244