Consciousness and Human Existence

Consciousness and Human Existence

Consciousness, Manifestation, Transformation and Reincarnation

1.???Man has been enquiring throughout his existence about the mystery of his existence by asking - what is consciousness?, what is death?, what happens after death?, is there life after death?, is there reincarnation?, what is karma?, etc., Different religions have propounded different theories and the followers of each religion have continued to believe in their own theory. However, except for believing in those theories there is no common understanding among all religions and hence the above questions seem to have remained somewhat unanswered till today. Because they have remained unanswered new questions have continued to crop up from time to time. For example, what actually makes one living?, what is the entity that may die at the end?, what is that entity that may remain eternal?, is there any sacredness in one’s life? is there a creator for this universe?, etc.

In modern times consciousness has been put into research by many scientists, psychologists and some have even embarked on making a comparative investigation between the scientific research and the ancient religious texts. Hopefully, there will be a common understanding, which can provide reasonable, if not conclusive, explanation for all the existing questions. In this write up an attempt has been made to present the current understanding of the author after studying, casually but not deeply and completely, the knowledge available in the form of ancient scriptures such as the Upnishads and Advaitha Vedanta and the teachings of some of the modern philosophers like J Krishnamurti, Sri. Ramana Maharshi, and Sri. Nisargadatta Maharaj. However, the author has no intention to arrive at any conclusion or make any claim but instead, has an honest interest in getting it reviewed by interested readers and refine it by eliminating possible conflicting points and bring better clarity to the subject matter being discussed here. The motive behind this work is to explore the possibility of reaching a consensus among different sections of people with regard to the consciousness and human existence.

Note: In order to proceed with the enquiry about the subject matter here some assumptions have been made, which may act as foundation or starting point. For example, the very first sentence in the section 1.1 is an assumption. As one goes through the entire write up he/she may even question whether the assumptions are valid or not. Also, there is no need for liking or disliking this since it is not going to help in the enquiry. Instead, if the reader can collect all the questions/doubts that may arise during the course of reading, revise them once after completing the reading and share them all it will be very helpful.

1.1.???????Consciousness is all pervading and hence it encompasses the entire universe, in every animate and inanimate things. This consciousness always maintains its movement by manifesting itself in various forms such as plants, animals, human beings, microorganisms and matter, which may be termed as an evolutionary process.?The content of consciousness keeps evolving through accumulation of knowledge, which is the outcome of the experiences of all living beings. So, one can say that the present content of consciousness is the accumulation of several millions of years of experience.

1.2.???????Manifestation of the consciousness is a phenomenon, which may have neither beginning nor end. When a particular manifestation, say a human being, takes place the overall physiological and psychological structure of that body is decided according to the time-space instance of his birth. The consciousness then gets reflected by the manifested forms according to the nature of the body-mind complex throughout his life. In that respect, every manifested form appears to be unique in physiological terms. However, psychologically every species may have a common characteristics. For example, all human beings may have a common human consciousness. Similarly, every plant or animal species may have its own common characteristics, which is shared and exhibited within a particular species.

1.3.???????What is the meaning of consciousness getting reflected by the manifested body-mind complex? Just like the sun light getting reflected by different surfaces and thereby emitting different colours based on the nature of reflecting surfaces the consciousness also may get reflected according to the characteristics of every species. The meaning of reflection here may be considered as the thought process, feelings, emotions and the manner in which experiencing may happen while interacting with other manifested forms, both animate and inanimate. For example, when we look at an object or interact with another person there may be various thought forms emanating from within like desires, fears, affection, anger, jealousy, attraction, repulsion, etc. Similarly one may like or dislike a thing. So, the reflection may differ from species to species while there may be gross differences among individual forms within a given species. For example, one may be fond of rose flower while another may be fond of jasmine. However, liking any beautiful flower or disliking something ugly may be a common attribute among human species at subtle level. Also, while experiencing something one may capture an information and store it as knowledge and apply same knowledge while experiencing again in future. This knowledge may get propagated within a species and get reflected as another common attribute in the consciousness. Also, one’s experience may have either positive or negative influence on others thereby creating different reflections from them. So, every reflection, if it is due to a new experience, may reinforce the consciousness, especially pertaining to that species. The meaning of storing the new knowledge is that it may not happen in local brain of a person. It may be a change taking place in the structure of the person experiencing such that the consciousness is reflected according to the modified structure. So, we can say that the reflection is nothing but the expression of one’s character, behavior, feelings, emotions and reactions to any external stimuli. In order to produce this reflection the consciousness from outside is absorbed or processed by the body-mind complex. The same reflection eventually reinforces the consciousness as a continuous process. Societal morality, ideologies of an influential person, belief system, faith, habits, tradition, etc., are some of the examples of the impact of human experiences on the consciousness.

1.4.???????Is it true that the consciousness gets transferred from one generation to another through genetics? This may happen at the manifestation stage where certain acquired characters or behaviors get transmitted though DNA and this may form the structure of the body-mind complex to reflect the consciousness. Some scientific study has revealed that only around 5% of the overall attributes are genetically transferred in human beings while the rest 95% is acquired subsequent to the birth through experiences and conditioning. This means that there is a constant evolution of consciousness happening because of human experiences and conditioning. Same evolution may happen with other species also. While the consciousness is one single entity comprising of the sum total of all experiences of all the species, the reflection may happen differently by different species according to the structure of the manifested body-mind complex. So, the transfer of consciousness basically impacts the structure of the reflecting entity, which is the nature of response.

1.5.???????When death happens what is that may die finally? It has been commonly accepted fact that matter and energy are interchangeable and ever-existing. From this angle we may say that there is no end to anything. Then what do we mean by death of a being? Medical experts have their own definition to it. But, what one can agree upon is that the death may be the ending of the living conditions. One may argue that there is a life force or life energy that helps in maintaining the living condition of the body-mind system and when this life energy is withdrawn then the organism may not be considered to be living any more. So, the physical body may eventually disintegrate into five elements supplying nutrition to millions of micro-organisms and help them to survive in turn. But, what may happen to the consciousness? If at all it is stored in the brain or in the body like in every cell then one can say that it may get destroyed. But, if the consciousness stored in the brain or body gets destroyed then what may happen to the universal consciousness and how can it evolve over time? Some philosophers have said that consciousness is not bound to the body, which is the manifestation of the consciousness. Instead, the manifested body exhibits the ability to receive and process the consciousness that is available everywhere in the space. Some may term this Akashic Record. So, the manifestation has an inbuilt mechanism or instrument to reflect the consciousness in the form of thought forms. As said above, these thought forms may influence the thought forms in other manifestations thereby propagating the new experiences in the form of knowledge. So, the death of a physical entity has no impact on the consciousness since it remains same after death as it was during living. However, the consciousness of a particular person, which is his/her conditioned entity, may continue for some time with others in the form of memory or remembrance. For example, the legacy of a particular person, either political or religious or anything for that matter, may continue to be in the memory of a large community or region and have its influence for a long time. This is how a person can have impact on the world at large and hence continue to live among his close associates for some time. So, if an individual transforms psychologically it can have an impact on rest of the world. Finally, since the physical form is going to vanish from the direct perception of other living entities we can precisely call death as the disappearance of the physical body or the manifestation.

One may draw an analogy with the wireless receiver where the device that receives the signals from space is designed such that it can receive specific band of frequencies such as short wave, medium wave in a radio system, for example, and process it, which is played by the device. So, the content of the signal need not reside in the device but the device can play the content as it is received dynamically. So, as mentioned earlier, the consciousness manifests into different forms incorporating the necessary instrument or mechanism to receive and process it. In the living organisms, there is also a reverse phenomenon taking place where the processing by the living entities may reinforce the consciousness in a continuous process.

1.6.???????What may happen to the soul (or Jeevatma) after death? This question could be the one asked by those who believe in the idea of individual soul as against permanent soul, which is called the Paramatma. What is this soul? Could it be the consciousness itself? In that case, how can there be a separate individual soul attached to every manifested being, which is believed to travel from one body to another after the physical death of a body?. The purpose of this travel is believed to be that until it attains salvation, being totally free from the Karmic cycle, it will reach its destiny, which is the Paramatma. However, this idea of?individual souls may give rise to many questions. It may negate the concept of oneness though it may succeed in explaining the karma doctrine well. Karma is action and is governed by cause-effect phenomenon, which means a good action may produce good results while a bad action may produce bad results. However, one cannot find a direct correlation between a particular action and a particular effect because, in space-time paradigm the cause may get modified and also, the effect may become the cause for next new effect. Also, there cannot be immediacy in finding the effect. So, during the time between the occurrence of a cause and seeing the effect one would have undergone a radical change in his psyche. For example, having committed a sin in the past one may transform himself completely into a good person and indulge in all good deeds. Then what is the importance for him to suffer from his past sin still? According to the popular karma theory, some karmas are attributed to previous lives and some karmas are attributed to the present life. This implies that one may not see the effect for a cause in the present life itself and it may get transferred to next life. This is probably subject to the belief that every individual undergoes a series of birth and death or incarnations carrying the past karmas, which must be nullified eventually by him. These people may hence believe in the existence of individual souls also.

Some people talk about collective karma instead of individual karma. Here, the cause need not be attributed to a person but instead multiple persons could be involved, which may be attributed to circumstance. Hence the consequent effect of that need not be owned by a particular person and multiple people may have to own it. To put it slightly differently for better clarity, a person is good but still may undergo misery due to the bad deeds of others connected with him. Here it may be justified once again that the thoughts and deeds of individuals may have influence on rest of the people and hence if an individual transforms himself it may bring good result for the entire world eventually.

1.7.???????What may happen when an individual transforms radically? How does it impact the world at large? J Krishnamurti has talked quite a bit on individual transformation, which is possible through self-knowing and not through effort or exercise of will. When one understands oneself through choiceless awareness of oneself then he says, the brain cells undergo mutation such that he/she will be totally free from his/her conditioning and he/she will be a totally new person, no more representing the existing human consciousness. He also talks about emptying one’s consciousness, which is its content. Emptying may not imply physically erasing the content, which is impossible. Also, where could be this content of consciousness and what could have been conditioned? As mentioned earlier, the consciousness may not be stored in the memory of an individual and JK also says that the consciousness is outside of an individual. Then which content is he talking about? When he says that the brain cells undergo mutation it may imply that the conditioned brain has undergone a transformation thereby freeing one from the conditioning totally. That means the instrument, which receives and processes the consciousness must have been changed physically. All religions basically advice one to inculcate good habits and think and act good only. This means that it must be possible for one to transform himself and JK seems to have shown how it may be achieved, which is through choiceless awareness of oneself.

Such a transformation in an individual will obviously have a direct influence on the responses and thought process of others as well and it may spread to entire mankind in due course of time with the transformation of every individual.

Consciousness is a bundle of good and evil energies, which are reflected in the behavioral and emotional pattern of every individual. That, as explained earlier, is according to the design of the manifested instrument where an individual may have a unique way of processing or reflecting the consciousness. Accordingly the reinforcement of good and evil in the consciousness may happen. Ultimately it may be said that the evolved consciousness encompasses the entire mankind commonly.

1.8.???????What is the meaning of salvation, liberation, etc., and is it applicable to individual or the entire mankind? Does it mean the freedom from one’s karmic cycle? Or is it the freedom from one’s conditioning? May be, both mean the same. As long as one is under the influence of one’s conditioning, he may have to be tied to his karmic cycle. On the other hand if one has attained freedom from his conditioning then he may not claim that he is doing or he is the doer and hence he may not hold responsibility for the effect or result, either good or bad. So, the experiencer of both the action and the outcome becomes absent. So, there will be no concept of individuality also. Even if there is physical level pain one may not be perturbed by it psychologically because there is no identification with the body or mind. Pain might be there, which is unavoidable. But the feeling of misery may not arise anymore. Some may have an idea about liberation or salvation as the final liberation from the cycle of birth and death, which may happen when the individual soul attains freedom from its karmic debt and has accumulated enough good karma. All these ideas, however, seem to be the outcome of one’s imaginations. Birth and death are an ever-lasting phenomenon since the consciousness may continue to manifest itself in various forms and these forms are obviously subject to birth and death. So, one has only two choices, one, to continue to be part of the stream (consciousness) and other to set oneself totally free from the stream. Freeing from the stream may not imply one is out of the stream and stays elsewhere. He/she may continue to stay with the stream but will be unattached to the attributes of it. J Krishnamurti, in one of his dialogues, says that such a person simply looks at the stream with utmost compassion. Can Buddha, Christ be seen as few examples?

1.9.???????How is it possible for some people being able to remember their past lives? Does it mean that some people are attached to individual soul or consciousness permanently? As a counter question to this one may also ask why most of us do not remember our past lives? When the common human consciousness manifests, the accumulated attributes of it is obviously manifested in different forms. So, what we are now is the result of our past. So, where is the need for remembering the past lives when we are already our past? Some people believe that the manifested body has several layers – physical, mental, astral, desire, etc., (this may not adhere to the actual order and is only serving as an example given to the context). So, when somebody has nurtured a very strong desire till the death to become something then in such cases the soul or individual consciousness may carry forward in that path independently trying relentlessly to fulfil its desire. This idea may corroborate with the ability of some people having clairvoyance with which they are able to see the past lives of a person. For example, Leadbeater was able to see the past lives of J Krishnamurti after he met him for the first time at Adyar beach in Madras. However, the author prefers to maintain silence with regard to these things, which are not investigated deeply yet. It is not known whether the consciousness maintains some identity of every manifested body in what is called the Akashic Record, although it is not implied that the idea of individual consciousness is justified here. Individual consciousness is attributed to the conditioned brain and it is the conditioned response or reflection to the consciousness. For the time being these are only speculations or it may be treated as food for further enquiry.

2.???That which continues cannot be creative. Because, in continuation there is a repetition of the old, may be in a modified form but still carrying the residue of the old, the past. Whereas creativity is all about being new, afresh and hence there is a constant renewal taking place. Divinity is always in the new, never in the old, and there is divinity in creativity. So, if there is an entity called individual consciousness or soul, which wants to continue then there cannot be any divinity in it and it is going to die one day. It cannot be an eternal one. What has to continue is of time, thought and hence must be within the field of conditioning, which may imply that there must be a constant manifestation of the consciousness. This may happen unless and until there is a total or radical transformation in one’s psyche, which is not of the steam any more. So, one can say that death can bring an end to the old. By bringing the old to an end death helps in the renewal, which is creative. Hence, death must be treated as part of living itself, as J Krishnamurti puts it. The physical death is inevitable and hence there is no significance in it. But, there is a tremendous significance in dying to the old, which means freeing oneself from all that is known. This dying must happen always since the self, which is of the past, conditioned, keeps changing based on new experiences. So, the death of it becomes a continuous endeavour. Without this death there will be a continuation of the self even beyond the physical death as the consciousness continues to manifest into different forms thereby bringing the self back to life. However, one must not consider this self as the same old self in one’s previous life. After the physical death of an organism there may not be any identity of the self remaining. Only its attributes would have been merged with the consciousness during the period of living.

In the words of JK: What has continuity can never be other than that which it is, with certain modifications; but these modifications do not give it a newness. It may take on a different cloak, a different colour; but it is still the idea, the memory, the word. This centre of continuity is not a spiritual essence, for it is still within the field of thought, of memory, and so of time. It can experience only its own projection, and through its self-projected experience it gives itself further continuity. Thus, as long as it exists, it can never experience beyond itself. It must die; it must cease to give itself continuity through idea, through memory, through word. Continuity is decay, and there is life only in death. There is renewal only with the cessation of the centre; then rebirth is not continuity; then death is as life, a renewal from moment to moment. This renewal is creation.

2.1.???????Is there rebirth or reincarnation? One might ask – what is the entity that wants to be reborn? Upon self-enquiry one may understand that it is the ‘self’, the ‘Me’, which wants to be reborn after the death in order to either continue to enjoy the pleasurable things that it possessed or to get another opportunity to wipe out all its bad karma so that it can reach its destiny eventually. But, is this ‘self’ real and hence may survive even after death? The ‘self’ is the creation of thought, which is the result of the conditioned brain and hence it cannot be a real entity. It may be considered as real as far as it is very much in relationship with other entities. But how can it be eternal being the result of time, the thought? As said earlier, the ‘self’ is going remain as part of the consciousness where it would have lost the identity of the physical body. It is the consciousness, which may manifest once again but without the previous identity preserved in it. So, one may say that there is reincarnation but not of the ‘self’ as such. Because, the ‘self’ wants a continuity and in continuity there cannot be a reincarnation, which has to be a renewal.

Consciousness may be compared with the ocean with which all rivers on the globe come and merge. Before merging every river has its own identity with name and form but once merger takes place it is just the water in the ocean. So, one cannot search for a particular river or its water in the ocean. This water, which cannot preserve the individual identity of any river, may evaporate to form clouds and come down to Earth as rain in order to fill and rejuvenate the rivers. The ‘self’ may be likened to the river but with one difference – though the river may continue to preserve its name and form for some time the water in it is not the same as before. Though one might argue that water is water only and so is the self, the content of water flowing as a river may be slightly different. So will be the ‘self’, which may be conditioned afresh in every manifestation.

2.2.???????Can there be liberation or enlightenment after passing through several manifestations? As pointed out earlier, the traditional belief is that the soul may take several reincarnations before attaining enlightenment. This must imply necessarily that there must be a gradual accumulation of good karma in every manifestation, which means there is some effort to be expended in order to achieve it. This is obviously a time dependent endeavor and hence such an action is ridden with a motive. Time means effort, measurement, comparison, etc. Such being the case can one achieve enlightenment? Is it not a trick played by the mind, which, being unable to bring about a radical change in itself, is trying to look for more time, even beyond current life? While trying to accumulate good karma what is it doing? Is it continuing with the earlier bad karma, though in a reduced proportion? In that case, what is the use of accumulating good karma? A violent person wants to become non-violent through some means but he may continue to indulge in same old act of violence. For example, if he was killing 10 people earlier, he may gradually reduce the number. But, there is no difference between killing more and killing less. Both acts are killing only, which is violence. So, what is important is whether one has become totally aware of what he is currently and the danger in continuing with it. This very understanding should bring about a radical transformation in him instantly and not time or effort. So, awareness moment to moment choicelessly is very important and is a liberating factor.?

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