The Flow of Life
I will align a few thoughts on Life/ Being state /Consciousness/ Awareness
I don't seek to answer questions but just pondering over these questions to give us some insight into this most complex subject.
" Life and death are one thread, the same line viewed from different sides"
Life is a flow & individual consciousness is its field.
When current passes through a wire then magnetism is flux field around this live wire.
But in essence, they are 1- Electromagnetic force.
Similarly Life & Consciousness are ONE manifest state of BEING.
Ripple in pond or Wave in Ocean or Flow in River are impermanent individual FORMS, sensed by Eyes (sense organs of Observer).
But ONE can't catch hold of specific individuality which we call as WAVE.
Wave or organism is dynamic sum collection of its constituents.
Human beings have 3-6,10^13 cells in body of which 10^11 cells die each day!
0.3% of body pool cells which die (& born) each day arise in existence AFTER YOUR been born & die, BEFORE YOU die as "individual".
Yet there's no change in perception of "I"ness
So are these cells really YOU?
Similarly, constituent water molecules of a Wave keep coming inside that individual waveform & fall outside it.
This dynamic & impermanent sum collection of ever changing constituents is still perceived as SAME individuality!
But...
"One can't step in same River twice"
This SAMENESS of Individuality is thus an illusory perception of PERMANENCE arising out of Sense perception/Cognition!
Waveform OUTSIDE & "I"ness INSIDE is just an UNINTERRUPTED FLOW of sequence of events in time.
In Buddhism this philosophy is detailed the most.
Starting from attending to Sense object & culminating into its cognition is just 1 constant flow of events carried by mental particles- cetsika & consciousness carrying particles- citta.
This flow/ cascade is all that there is!
Here individual is just like a Domino Effect.
Constituents (cells or subtle mental particles) die and are born but the FLOW using them gives rise to sense of ONE unbroken chain.
This continuing force is urge of Life!
Be it Dhammacakra or spinning prayer wheel of Buddhism or Jal-abhiskek over Shivalinga...this satat continuity of flow of individual life is depicted.
If this stream becomes laminar then it's concentration/ Meditation/ dhyAn & this stream becomes self-cognized/ Self-realized.
By now it's clear that body image is not "I"
However this interaction of constituents with force creating the flow is TWO-way
In return, Domino Effect executing force also gets changed in direction & nature.
This change is called as "sanskara' & is erroneously seen as baggage
This gives rise to false notion of Permanent Jivatma carrying something changeable.
So alternate philosophy of impermanence was given to correct this misinterpretation.
Jivatma in itself is not separate from sanskaras it carries.
This continuum of Life keeps getting altered.
At death this Flow just leaves this cascade of its constituents but it can't be stopped.
Being always in motion, it vibrates some other particles somewhere else which closely matches its expression of urge.
This is REBIRTH!
All spiritual philosophies agree on this.
What differs is beyond this point.
Variation lies in describing the nature of this force/ flow.
Concept of (Jiva)Atma is like someone (SAME individuality in permanence) changing attire.
When you drive a car, you sense vehicle as your body.
YOU can drive any other car too.
What remains unchanged is the driver of these different cars.
However this is a fallacy
Driver doesn't remain unchanged.
It LEARNS.
It has now more EXPERIENCE.
Which can b +ve or -ve.
In order to balance out the excess of 1 type of experience, this driver chooses contrasting car
This flow continues.
Where this flow is expressed in material world, we can grasp some FORM by our senses and call it INDIVIDUAL.
This Urge is inherent in Being state of Universe.
Its manifestation is flow of life.
This visualised cascade is seemingly Permanent yet ever changing.
Hence concept of "anatta" or non-self in Buddhism as alternative to Atma in Hinduism.
However Tathagata knew Bare Reality & what he said is just different perspective with alternate concept of the same FLOW called life.
Vedas have truth in purest form but often incomprehensible.
He approximated that in practical form for analytical & observant mind.
Insight meditation is thus another path to realize the same.
However He cheated a bit & kept quiet on small inconsequential detail.
In background of this impermanence & illusory individuality lies Parmatma
He denied its existence because we can walk from where we are NOW.
We are individual illusion.
We need to give way so that THAT PERMANENT WHOLE BEING state remains all that there is.
There's no point talking of something which you can't comprehend by methods.
So He kept talking of methods by which we can see this impermanence & leave attachment of this Individuality.
For "Self Realisation" He chose the term "Being Awake"!
In effect, Atma or Anatta BOTH are correct in their own respective context & perspective!
Awareness is Quantitatively varied Consciousness of Being.
To "realize" it we need a medium.
Like a mirror to reflect our self.
Manifestation of this urge is flow of life.
Image is illusory & so is mirror.
But Experience of Self/ Realization is decisive.
This is our only GOAL!
An article by GS
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