(13th Dec 2002)
All things big and small that have consciousness maybe mainly divided into two parts: That which moves and that which makes it move. That which moves, let’s cal lit matter. That which makes the matter move, let’scall it awareness. Nothing can move of its own accord.In the atoms protons, electrons and neutrons move at a great speed. The force that makes them move at constant speed, that too, forever must be living within that atom. That is consciousness, which is inherent in all things as each thing, in the ultimate analysis, is made up of atoms. This consciousness resides in all things including humans. But in the case of humans this consciousness's a double function. In addition to making the human creature move on the physical plane, it has to assist him in the process of evolution, that is, in the actualization of his transcendental destiny. Only in the human form, the meaning of creation, if at all there be any, is realized. This exalted position in the ladder of evolution brings in its wake a host of responsibilities to the creature called man. No creature suffers as intensely as man because no other creature than man is responsible for what happens to him/it. Human consciousness is free to rise and free to fall. This freedom of choice transforms this world into a veritable examination hall, and man into an eternal examiner whose fate it is to come again and again to this place of testing, of agonies and ecstasies, until he graduates to the level of no return.If we consider man as an eternal examine, the people who have already succeeded in the examination are the teachers, and the books that give them tips and explanations are called the scriptures. The Bhagavad-Gita, considered to be the quintessence of the Pedantic wisdom, is a treatise of the problem of choosing the right. Man exercises his power of choice keeping in view his happiness. One form of happiness appears as poison in the beginning and tastes like nectar in the end. The other form of happiness, which follows from the contact of the senses with their objects, appears delightful and nectar-like in the beginning, but turns out to be poison-like in the end.The man who intends to move higher in the evolutionarily has to prefer the former to the latter. Man determines his own destiny by exercising his power of choosing in one direction or the other.There are two tendencies in the human creature. They live close to each other, in the same consciousness:to choose what is immediately pleasurable and to choose what is ultimately pleasurable. In order to envisage what is ultimately pleasurable as the greatest good and to welcome his present ordeal to achieve the future end one needs a distance look. That distance look enables him to see the ultimate, which lies beyond the immediate; to see the permanent, which lies beyond the transient. That distance look is inherent in the consciousness, in the human consciousness, which has a double function. In all other creatures the consciousness, which knows what is best for the survival of that creature,determines the course of action without any intermediary. But in the case of man, the power of choosing guides the activities of man even after knowing what is good and what is not. That is because the human choice is influenced by a number of sense-gratifying factors. Man is the only creature who is capable of knowing what is right and doing the reverse. In doing the reverse he procures pleasure for himself. That pleasure appears to him as a permanent arrangement when he decides to go for it. In order to achieve that pleasure, he does not consider it necessary to listen to, and be guided by, the sane whisperings of his awareness. The sane whisperings of a man’s consciousness do not necessarily prevent him from doing what he is determined to do, but they just help him moderate his infatuation for the immediate pleasure.As it is said earlier, both the instinctive urge and transcendental potential reside in the human awareness. The instinctive urge is common to all creatures including man. Transcendental urge is unique to man. When man, owing to his fascination for the immediate pleasure, ignores the transcendental potential, he befriends the instinctive urge and fails to assert his humanness. This failure to assert his humanness, though such failure paradoxically fetches him pleasure he seeks, makes him feel restless. He feels restless because he is not simply an ant or a bee that is bound to be guided entirely by the instinctive urge, but a man who is endowed with a transcendental potential, which would not allow him to feel rested and comfortable if it is denied expression.It should not be construed that the instinctive urge is evil. In fact it is neither good, nor evil; it is a physical requirement and a natural necessity. The instinctive urge, which man shares with other creatures, needs a rationing, a moderation, not forceful repression or total removal. What is required is a balance between the instinctive urge andtranscendental potential, for together they prepare man, the eternal examine to be successful in evolving into a higher form of existence. Just as the negation of the transcendental potential makes the man feel restless and incomplete, the negation of the instinctive urge makes him feel rootless, disconnected and incomplete. That is so, because the two functions of the human awareness are equally important: one helps in propagation of the species and maintenance of worldly affairs; the other helps man realize his transcendental destiny.
All things big and small that have consciousness maybe mainly divided into two parts: That which moves and that which makes it move. That which moves, let’s cal lit matter. That which makes the matter move, let’scall it awareness. Nothing can move of its own accord.In the atoms protons, electrons and neutrons move at a great speed. The force that makes them move at constant speed, that too, forever must be living within that atom. That is consciousness, which is inherent in all things as each thing, in the ultimate analysis, is made up of atoms. This consciousness resides in all things including humans. But in the case of humans this consciousness's a double function. In addition to making the human creature move on the physical plane, it has to assist him in the process of evolution, that is, in the actualization of his transcendental destiny. Only in the human form, the meaning of creation, if at all there be any, is realized. This exalted position in the ladder of evolution brings in its wake a host of responsibilities to the creature called man. No creature suffers as intensely as man because no other creature than man is responsible for what happens to him/it. Human consciousness is free to rise and free to fall. This freedom of choice transforms this world into a veritable examination hall, and man into an eternal examiner whose fate it is to come again and again to this place of testing, of agonies and ecstasies, until he graduates to the level of no return.If we consider man as an eternal examine, the people who have already succeeded in the examination are the teachers, and the books that give them tips and explanations are called the scriptures. The Bhagavad-Gita, considered to be the quintessence of the Pedantic wisdom, is a treatise of the problem of choosing the right. Man exercises his power of choice keeping in view his happiness. One form of happiness appears as poison in the beginning and tastes like nectar in the end. The other form of happiness, which follows from the contact of the senses with their objects, appears delightful and nectar-like in the beginning, but turns out to be poison-like in the end.The man who intends to move higher in the evolutionarily has to prefer the former to the latter. Man determines his own destiny by exercising his power of choosing in one direction or the other.There are two tendencies in the human creature. They live close to each other, in the same consciousness:to choose what is immediately pleasurable and to choose what is ultimately pleasurable. In order to envisage what is ultimately pleasurable as the greatest good and to welcome his present ordeal to achieve the future end one needs a distance look. That distance look enables him to see the ultimate, which lies beyond the immediate; to see the permanent, which lies beyond the transient. That distance look is inherent in the consciousness, in the human consciousness, which has a double function. In all other creatures the consciousness, which knows what is best for the survival of that creature,determines the course of action without any intermediary. But in the case of man, the power of choosing guides the activities of man even after knowing what is good and what is not. That is because the human choice is influenced by a number of sense-gratifying factors. Man is the only creature who is capable of knowing what is right and doing the reverse. In doing the reverse he procures pleasure for himself. That pleasure appears to him as a permanent arrangement when he decides to go for it. In order to achieve that pleasure, he does not consider it necessary to listen to, and be guided by, the sane whisperings of his awareness. The sane whisperings of a man’s consciousness do not necessarily prevent him from doing what he is determined to do, but they just help him moderate his infatuation for the immediate pleasure.As it is said earlier, both the instinctive urge and transcendental potential reside in the human awareness. The instinctive urge is common to all creatures including man. Transcendental urge is unique to man. When man, owing to his fascination for the immediate pleasure, ignores the transcendental potential, he befriends the instinctive urge and fails to assert his humanness. This failure to assert his humanness, though such failure paradoxically fetches him pleasure he seeks, makes him feel restless. He feels restless because he is not simply an ant or a bee that is bound to be guided entirely by the instinctive urge, but a man who is endowed with a transcendental potential, which would not allow him to feel rested and comfortable if it is denied expression.It should not be construed that the instinctive urge is evil. In fact it is neither good, nor evil; it is a physical requirement and a natural necessity. The instinctive urge, which man shares with other creatures, needs a rationing, a moderation, not forceful repression or total removal. What is required is a balance between the instinctive urge andtranscendental potential, for together they prepare man, the eternal examine to be successful in evolving into a higher form of existence. Just as the negation of the transcendental potential makes the man feel restless and incomplete, the negation of the instinctive urge makes him feel rootless, disconnected and incomplete. That is so, because the two functions of the human awareness are equally important: one helps in propagation of the species and maintenance of worldly affairs; the other helps man realize his transcendental destiny.
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