The Rig Veda is composed of 10 Mandalas. Modern physics talks about the 10 dimensions of existence.
Ancient Rishis said that all of this is nothing but Consciousness. Many modern physicists are realizing that the unified field is quite simply, Consciousness.
Slowly, slowly, physicists are discovering the truth of the Veda.
The sun rises and sets. The electron travels in waves, the pendulum swings. The millennia cycle through ages, called yugas. What scientists considered as constants in their formulas, they now realize change very gradually over time. At critical points, those gradual changes bring about phase transitions, like when water slowly getting colder and colder at a particular point, transforms into ice.
When those laws of nature change, the next yuga is upon us. It is not easy to imagine how vastly different other yugas are from our current yuga, and what the implications of those differences may be. However, through fantasy we can allow our minds to go to a deeper level of knowing, thereby imagining the unimaginable. We can access the place deep within where we are one with everything, where we know everything, where we can recall everything. Like the wicked witch who lives far off in the forest with her army of demons in the Wizard of Oz, ancient Vedic scripture refers to other yugas when negativity existed as demons (rakshasas) hidden deep in the forests.
In this yuga, negativity does not dwell in demons but in the hearts and minds of the people. Such demons cannot be slain as in ancient times, but they can be purged. The most powerful technique to attain that goal is proper meditation. To learn the Surya Ram Meditation free of charge, click here.
One of many commonly misunderstood Vedic principles is the caste system. It is often thought of as a judgment system, where there are people of higher or better castes and people of lower, more undesirable castes. This is a horrible distortion.
Just as people have different hair color, people have different types of nervous systems. Depending on your type of nervous system, particular activities are more naturally suited for you. A heavyweight boxer and an accountant require different types of nervous systems.
Imagine a home where the parents’ nervous systems are compatible and consistent with their profession. Their daily activities are perfectly in accord with their nature – the nature of their nervous systems. Being their genetic product and having the same type of nervous system, the children find the environment beautifully suited to their nature. They naturally gravitate toward the same profession. In fact, from birth, the children learn about the family profession simply by being in the environment. I know for myself that much of what I learned from my father was simply the result of being around him.
The caste system then is simply the identification of four different types of nervous systems. When that fundamental understanding of life is prevalent, the health of individuals, families, and societies naturally flourish.
After all, life is about evolution and you evolve best in an environment that suits your nature. This includes not only your profession but: the food you eat; the activities and friends you enjoy; social, family, and spiritual traditions; and even the mantras and spiritual techniques you practice.
It doesn’t make any sense to try to force your foot in a shoe that doesn’t fit. Similarly, it doesn’t make any sense to employ a mantra that doesn’t resonate with your physiology. Some mantras are suitable for all people, but most are quite specific. There seems to be an idea that Brahmin mantras are more powerful. People need to understand that the mantra specific to their nervous system is the mantra that is most powerful.
Everything in life is a bell curve. Your caste is not an absolute dictate for your life. There are those rare exceptions. In fact, there is another type of nervous system not generally addressed in the caste system, which is that of a monk. There are those few individuals from every caste whose nature it is to live in a hermitage and reject worldly life. While that can be suitable for most everyone for a period of time, there are some whose nature it is to live a totally inward life. It is not evolutionary to live that life when it is not consistent with the nature of their nervous system. In modern times, in a world where the caste system is so misunderstood, where marrying within the family’s caste is often considered old fashioned, it is quite difficult to find a life that is consistent with the nature of one’s nervous system.
Spiritual knowledge is profoundly delicate. It can get compromised within a generation unless great care is taken. Modern understanding of the caste system, as well as many other aspects of the knowledge passed down from the Rishis, has fallen prey to that fate. Let us also keep in mind Adi Shankara’s words as we teach our children about the caste system: “The knowledge must be purified generation after generation.”
Getting emotional about spirituality is fine, but must not be confused with true spirituality. Similarly, you can get emotional about gold, but it is no substitute for real gold. Proper meditation is the most powerful tool to attain true spirituality.
There are many stories about kings who gave up their entire kingdom in order to pursue spiritual growth. It has even been said that it is more difficult for a wealthy person to attain enlightenment than it is for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. Is this really true? Let’s investigate.
What does the word “kingdom” really mean here? It is far more than the literal interpretation. In the sense the word is used here, everyone has a kingdom, a fortress. Your kingdom is what you cling to as truth, what you hold for your safety, comfort, purpose, and meaning. It is what you are identified with.
What about “renouncing?” What does that mean? Does it really mean that you have to give up all your wealth, turn your back on your family, and reject everything you have learned? Certainly not.
The deeper meaning of renunciation is quite subtle. It has little to do with how your life appears on the surface. It has everything to do with the state of your awareness, the state of your psychophysiology at the very depth of your being. For many, the depth of their being can even be a frightening place, a dark cold abyss with no edges and nothing to cling to. For them, it is the last place they would want to go. As you awaken more and more fully to the true nature of the depth of your being, it is experienced as a cosmic cushion that holds and supports you, providing you with the support of all of nature. In fact, the depth of your being, your nature, is one with all of nature, held by Mother Nature. It is the source of your wisdom and true intelligence.
So, renunciation in the deepest sense means seeing beyond, not just conceptually, but experientially seeing beyond your ‘kingdom’ that dwells on the surface. “Surface” here does not only mean the material, but also the emotional and even the thinking mind. The grandeur of your being, the kingdom of heaven, lies beyond all thought and all emotion. It is Transcendental.
Interestingly enough, the purely Transcendental is beyond experience. It cannot be touched, it cannot be grasped. However, its qualities of infinite love, harmony, intelligence, wisdom, and so on, can be experienced as they radiate out from the depth of your being and permeate all levels of your life. Those radiations are what we commonly refer to as your soul.
