Starting Point of Spiritual Pursuit
Please read this (Article 1) before going through this article: https://orangenews9.com/question-to-hindus-how-much-do-you-know-about-hinduism/
Let’s get to the very basic question. “Who am I”?
Per Bhagavad-Gita, the short answer is… I am a “jeevaatma” or, for lack of a better word, “soul”. This body is not me… but I am in this body. Does it make sense? Well, only a person who can remember his/her past life can confirm. Have you met such people? Fortunately, I have. They confirmed to me that the “jeevaatma” that is said in the Bhagavad-Gita is correct. I cannot reject their personal experience through my inexperience. Therefore, for now I have accepted that a “jeevaatma” exists inside the body.
What proof can be offered about the presence of “jeevaatma” inside a body?
Again, per Bhagavad-Gita, whenever there’s a “jeevaatma” inside a body, then you’ll see the body going through birth (janma), childhood (kaumaarya), youth (yauvana), old age (jaraa), and mrutyu (death) followed by change of body (dEhaantara). We see all organisms – from as small as a bacteria to as large as a blue whale – going through these phases. They are born, they go through infancy, grow up to adulthood, grow old and finally die.
Also, we are able to notice that everything around us is going through a cycle. The day begins with sunrise and ends with sunset. And then a new day begins when the sun rises again. It’s not the same day as before, but a new day. Similarly, week, fortnight, month, seasons, ayanas, years, decades, centuries, millennia… they all begin, and they end… and then a new time period begins. Likewise, a “jeevaatma” too manifests in a body, goes through the above phases, and dies… and then will come back, not in the same body it was before, but in a new body. So, Bhagavad-Gita seems to make sense… and this modern-day philosophy of YOLO (You Only Live Once) does not make any sense.
A small digression: Some religions claim that only humans have a “soul” and animals do not. They claim that God made them just so that we humans can have “food”. Therefore, killing them does not amount to any sin. When religions decriminalize and sanction the ill-treatment of animals, it leads to huge problems. Here, we see that one philosophy says that every living being has a “jeevaatma”, and offers a rationale about this. Whereas another so-called philosophy says that only humans have “jeevaatma” and offers no rationale for it. But we’ll postpone this topic and circle back to this in the future.
Moving on… what does the “jeevaatma” look like? What am I like? What do I look like?
Per Shreemad Bhaagavata, “jeevaatma” is 1/20000th of the diameter of one single strand of hair from a horse’s tail. Does it make sense? Well, if a certain body can be microscopic, then the “jeevaatma” must be even smaller than that microscopic body so as to be inside it.
Next… if the “jeevaatma” is so so tiny, where am I located in this huge body?
Interestingly, we all seem to know where we are located in the body… but we don’t realize it until someone points it out to us. Let’s try recollecting our own personal experience and evaluate it with the ancient wisdom.
When we have to say “I” or “Me” … where do we point our forefinger to? Do I point to my head and say “I… am Shashi”? Does it feel right to say it that way? No. How about if pointing to my leg, saying “I am Shashi”? Does it feel right to say it that way? No. How about pointing to my eyes? Or stomach? Or ears? Or any other part of our body? None of it feels right, does it?
It feels right only when the forefinger touches exactly the middle of my chest… not 1 mm to the left or to the right or above or below… The finger should exactly that one spot. That is where the “jeevaatma” is located. Wise ones say that it is located in a small space inside the thymus gland in the chest. This space, according to yoga shaastras, is referred to as the “anaahata chakra”
So, if each person’s “jeevaatma” is located in the middle of his/her chest, then why do we look at his/her eyes when we talk to him/her? Why don’t we look at his/her chest? And it does not even feel correct to look at someone’s chest while talking to them, like how it feels when we talk to someone, looking at their eyes. Does this not mean that the “jeevaatma” is located in the eyes?
We exist in 3 different natural states of consciousness (avasthas), i.e., awake (jaagruta), dream (swapna) and nidraa (sleep). We’ll ponder over this next week.
One of the comments on my previous article that I received from a reader was about the word “Hinduism”. From what I’ve learnt… the word “Hindu” is perhaps only a few hundred years old. Persians replace the syllable “as” with “ha”. Therefore, they called the river “Sindhu” as “Hindu” and all those dwelling in its vicinity as “Hindus”.
So, is there a more appropriate term to refer to the people of this culture? From what I’ve learnt… There are 2 terms:
- Followers of Sanatana Dharma – “Sanatana” means something that was never born and will never die. “Dharma” is a term that requires elaboration, and we’ll get to it in the future.
- Followers of the Vedic way of life – The word “Vedic” means ‘about the Vedas’. What does “Veda” mean? This, in my opinion, is a good starting point for a spiritual seeker. Understanding the word “Veda” requires some background. We’ll explore that next week.
