Beliefs of a Reasoning Mind

By Dr. V V Rampal

The articles in this book are not thematically sequential but a record of thoughts that came from day to day. They are, however, scattered around the core of religion and rationality. You may find a few spots concerned with humanism and science. Some thoughts are short and some spilling over to more than a page or two. It is more in the format of a diary than a detailed discussion on one theme. They represent a freethinking. Many may disagree with them, but that is what constitutes variety in thought.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Jul 26, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477219027

Dr. V V Rampal

DR. V V RAMPAL, who was trained as a scientist and with a PhD in nonlinear optics from Southampton University, got interested in spirituality after a scientific career of more than thirty years. Fascinated with the conflict between science and faith, he studied the religious literature of most religions of the world for fifteen years and expressed his thoughts in three books concerned with beliefs, rationality, and scientific approach to discovery of truth. This book is another attempt to convey the thoughts in more generalized terms emphasizing the humanistic approach to living with universal values of ethics and morality.

Book preview

1 THE RELEVANCE OF DETACHMENT IN SPIRITUAL LIFE

In the vocabulary of spiritual terms, detachment occupies an important place. Most spiritualists emphasize the need to practice detachment from the outside worldly events, actions and temptations in order to concentrate on the inner reality of the eternal spirit that is the cause, the source and the sustainer of worldly creations. But then there are two ways to look at the world. One is to consider it as something undesirable, a distraction that takes you away from your purpose of life of inner vision. The other way is to consider it as a beautiful creation of God that presents to you his presence in every speck of this creation. The latter view reminds you of the creator in all His glorious power, beauty and creative skill. If you take the first view with a sense of distraction, every object, and its involvement with you, as something that takes you away from your object of inner realization, then there is a risk of your starting to hate it as something undesirable that prevents you from accomplishing your goal. This view could lead you, in my opinion, to a state of depression whereby you lose interest in all that surrounds you. On the contrary, if you develop a healthy respect for God’s creation out of reverence for his great powers of creation and beauty, you may develop a sense of belonging to his vast existence, his eternal presence and agree with his purpose of making every one see the universal unity and equality of all beings, living and nonliving. I believe, the second view is a more positive way of looking at the world; not something to shun but to engage with a universal attitude of coexistence as a reminder of the ultimate reality that is cosmic, vibrating with life, and ever evolving to reach a state of divine existence for all.

The reason behind spiritualists’ emphasis on detachment from worldly activities is to find more time for meditation and reflection on God. It is a question of relative emphasis and not of outright rejection of the world. After all, all creative action of God is sacred and with a purpose; the purpose being evolution of body-mind complex.

To merge with Reality requires merging the embodied spirit with the universal one. This involves death of body and mind but living in the eternally blissful spirit. This still does not require shunning the power and beauty of the world, for the creation is an act of the eternal spirit and all creation therefore is sacred. Its unreality, as stated in advait vedanta, is on grounds of relative time over which the creation is sustained. It is unreal because it is not eternal. Also it is finite while the ultimate reality is infinite. But, during the time the creation exists, it has its own importance and a place in the Lila of the Creator.

In short, if you hate the world as an obstruction to your spirituality, you create a depressive environment by disliking everything around you. But if you see and wonder, and appreciate the beauty of God’s creation and also see God in everything, you become spiritual. Every speck of material is God’s own. Detachment, therefore, should not be inspired by a feeling of dislike or hatred for the world. On the other hand, it should be seen in the sense of dispassionate appreciation of all that God created and sustains for the larger purpose of human evolution. It is the undue indulgence and the negativity of mind that needs to be shunned.

Involvement with the world is also seen in the light of generating Karma that binds one to rebirth and consequent repeated cycles of suffering. But as sages have told us, it is the intense involvement that generates deep impressions on mind that go in subconscious to remain with us as karmic memory. A dispassionate living, without deep involvement, would not generate Karma when all creations of God are seen in the image of God. The karmic memory resurfaces as habitual reactions to events, thoughts and actions that shape and define our personality. It is the nature of this karmic memory that makes us be good or bad human beings. Spirituality is all about cleaning our subconscious, the removal of Karma through spiritual practices. Meditation brings this about by making us live in pure consciousness, by just being and not being judgmental or opinionated about things of this world. It is the conscious mind that masks pure consciousness and generates Karma through egoistic living. The powers of pure consciousness are limitless but in a human body it is affected by the conscious thought. Hence the need to think and act right with equanimity, equality, selflessness and love for all.

2 OUR CONSCIOUS MIND AND THE MIND OF GOD

Recently, I have come across a book, which extols the powers of the subconscious in solving the problems of everyday life like the health, wealth, creative thoughts and the happiness that we all seek. Surprisingly, these powers look so similar to the powers that spiritualists assign to the supreme consciousness, also called the Pure Consciousness. The technique to influence this tremendous power lies in prayer and autosuggestion through conscious thought. As we are told, this Pure Intelligence, also called the unconscious by some, is always in touch with vibrant life and boundless wisdom. It always supports life. The great intuitive ideas, and inspirations for a nobler life, spring from it. Our convictions that are hard to argue on rational grounds do not come from conscious mind but from it. It is also the source of our intuitions and hunches. It always promotes us to rise and grow to greater heights in life. It is always behind all the love and compassion that we find in the world. Originality and creativity are its trait, not that of mere intellect. Intellect makes us analytical and doubting the truth of every thought. Pure consciousness is at once all clarity and wisdom, leaving no scope for doubt. The super conscious data bank is the source of our creative potential.

It is the negativity of our conscious mind that that blurs the purity of our consciousness. This muddled consciousness creates all the difficulties that bring misery and suffering to our body and mind. To remove this suffering, we have to revert to the purity of thought, and in so doing take the advantage of the immense reservoir of goodwill that this pure consciousness has for us. Fear of the unknown, anxiety about the future, envy, jealousy and hatred for others are the dominant negative emotions that muddy our subconscious. To have a better life, it is best to avoid them. Confidence in self and prayer for all is a sign of movement towards positive attitude. In this effort, faith in God and goodness for self and others helps a lot. Any doubt in the efficacy of God’s help must be replaced by a firm belief in the power of the supreme to do well to all beings, for they are all His creation. In reality, you and the supreme are one and the supreme always works for your betterment. Remember that the dominant idea in your conscious mind is accepted by the subconscious, be the idea positive or negative. That is why we find even the evil minded succeeding in their ways temporarily, though later, inevitably, it backfires on them for the simple reason that the supreme favors the survival of the general good. It is therefore always beneficial in the long run to be positive in thought and deed. It has been emphasized time and again that supreme consciousness, or the subconscious as some would like to assert, have powers that are limitless in time and space. It is the basis of praying at a distance from the loved ones for their health and happiness. Nonlocality of consciousness is now a subject of discussion in scientific circles.

You determine your destiny by the way you think, feel and believe. Your conscious thoughts shape the way you are going to act, and react to the future events, when challenges of life confront you. Recognition of the powers of the supreme is a support you cannot neglect in the harsh times that trouble you. There is a law of action and reaction or cause and effect. Your thought is the action and the response of the subconscious is the reaction.

The powers of the super conscious, or the subconscious if you prefer to call it so, lie within you. You do not have to look for them elsewhere. You have only to connect with this Infinite Intelligence through prayer, meditation and autosuggestion, and firmly believe in the positive outcome. Any doubt in the efficacy of the supreme nullifies your effort.

God has given us the thinking mind and a health body to fulfill the purpose of life. How we use these assets depends on us. If we think right we lead a life that is good to us and good to others. But if we resort to negativity out of selfishness and egoistic desires, we misuse the gift of God and suffer, for which no one is to be blamed but us alone.

In every human being there is limitless reservoir of power that can overcome any problem in the world. This is the power of the super consciousness. It is said that thoughts repeated regularly and systematically sink into the subconscious and become habitual. You must therefore make a habit of being happy and confident of God’s support. It is further asserted that the thoughts you habitually entertain have the tendency to actualize themselves in physical conditions. All this is based on the scientific principle of action and reaction or the cause and effect.

Your desires for success, wealth and happiness are fruitful when you include all others with you. Do not narrow down your wishes to yourself alone. Universalize your desires and you will become a changed person. It is the negativity of selfishness that destroys yours as well as others happiness. When you are universal in outlook, you are in tune with God’s mind, which is all-powerful.

We tend to blame God for our unhappiness and suffering. But we forget that God never wants us to be unhappy and miserable. Why should God want his own creation to be unhappy? He is kind and forgiving. It is only we who think negatively and bring misery on us. God does not condemn or punish anyone. It is only we who entertain negativity, bring sufferance on us and then blame God for it. Resentment, hatred, ill will and hostility are emotions full of negativity that harm our health and happiness. It is in our own interest to erase them from our mind.

The laws of nature are equal for all. Some use them to advantage and some misuse them to their disadvantage. Fire will cook as well as burn the food. Electricity will give light as well as work the devices for our comfort; but it can also give a fatal shock. It is for us to operate judiciously.

Our conscious mind thinks. But what it thinks makes us what we are and what we become.

3 ADVANCING YEARS

Think not of the slowing of body,

But the mature mind that you possess.

Think of the time and leisure that comes to you,

To read, reflect and reject the dross.

Think of the opportunity you have,

To advise, help and love selflessly.

Think of all that you wanted to do,

But never had the time to do,

To see the world in the new light,

Of compassion, understanding and peace.

It is a time to admire Him and His creation,

The eternal existence, the power of Infinite Intelligence.

God has given us the time to deepen our faith

In the Supreme, the Ultimate Truth.

Do not grumble about the weakening of physical strength,

But rejoice in the opportunity to spiritualize and learn.

Each phase of life has a utility of its own,

Take advantage, for God wills it so.

Childhood for carefree growth,

Youth for responsibility and souring thoughts,

Advancing years for return to faith

And respect for humanity and to life.

Existence has a divine purpose;

To learn and experience,

To escape the wheel of Karma and Destiny,

Realize the Reality and merge with the Eternal.

4 HAPPENINGS AND HAPPINESS

Events are happening every day in this world and every part of this material creation. It is the very nature of existence. Change occurs every moment, in our growth and decline, in movements of stars, galaxies and planets, in vegetation, water bodies and in deserts of snow and sands. Happenings are part of existence. But are they meant to make us happy or unhappy. We are told, and as we know also at the back of our mind, that events by themselves are not to be blamed for our happiness or unhappiness. It is our concern with events that makes us so. If a goal is scored in a football game, it makes us happy only if we are sympathetic to the winning side. If an accident happens, it makes us sad if the person involved is related to us in some manner. Otherwise such events are just a piece of news that we read every day in the newspapers. It is our involvement with events that is the cause of happiness or unhappiness. They do not touch us if we are simply indifferent to them. Should we interpret detachment in this light? Some would argue that this would encourage passivity in our life, even social unconcern that would breed isolation, and an unhelpful attitude that would harm the society. At the same time, we cannot ignore the truth that it is our physical and emotional involvement with events that causes us the pleasure or pain resulting from the happening of the event.

If the concern is deep, it stays in our mind for a long time and becomes a part of our permanent memory. It is recalled whenever a similar incident happens again either with us or with some one else. It is such events that make our bank of experiences and adds on to or subconscious mind that affect our future thinking. They may affect even our dream state. They may make us happy, sad or even affect our reactions to people in general.

Religious people tell us that we should not be unduly emotional about events in life. In nature, events will keep happening as a natural process and we cannot do anything about it what matters is to change our attitude towards them in order to remain happy. The remedy they prescribe is to take the attitude of an observer; see the event and pass on without being judgmental about it. This is called in Bhagwatgita, the Sakshi-bhava or the witness attitude.

There are many accidents in our life that happen over which we have no control. But we accept them as destiny and forget to bother after some time. If we develop witness attitude we will get used to accepting the life as a series of these happenings, good or bad, and make our life less painful. Deep involvement will only make it worse. If the event is joyful, we will miss it after it ends and feel sad about it. If the event is bad our unhappiness will make life more painful and the pain will last longer. But if we take the event in the natural course of action in the unpredictable nature with a witness attitude, we will neither grieve nor be joyous and take life as it comes. Life is full of events that never stop. See the stream of events like flow of the river in time. You cannot stop the river but you can enjoy watching it flow.

Do not be unduly concerned with the events in life for life itself is uncertain. Whatever moments you have, enjoy them as blessings from God, because you could be worse off as some others are. Accept the gift of God as nature provides plenty for you to enjoy provided you take the proper attitude towards it.

5 GOD OF A SCIENTIST

Whenever somebody asks me whether I believe in God, it puts me in a dilemma. I start wondering what notion of God the person has in mind to ask that question. The common thinking about God is a dispenser of justice who puts people in heaven or hell depending upon the actions as per the codes defined in his or her scriptures. These codes depend on social structures that prevailed in the times of the prophets and later interpretations of the followers who assumed authority in religious matters. But in the scientific age, should we strictly adhere to such definitions of religious beliefs in defining God and the religious way of life? I think there is a need to include scientific facts in matters religious in order to strengthen faith.

A scientist’s way of understanding God would be to wonder at the orderliness of the vast universe that follows strict laws of science. It is the way Einstein looked at religion. He marveled at the supremacy of the unified force that governed the laws of physics, the vastness of the material universe, the interrelationship of mass and energy and the relative ness of our mental concepts of space and time. The relationship of human being with the universal reality is at the core of this understanding. Merely assigning our notions of human existence to the supreme power is a gross understatement of the real nature of God. Faith in the supreme power is not misplaced, but assigning man made assumptions, which are as yet unproved or even difficult to prove, to that supreme power is not justified or even right.

The supreme power is one. Science agrees to it. But to define it differently in each faith and to quarrel over it is unscientific and irreligious. To divide people on rituals and unproven theories in the name of truth is sacrilegious.

My answer to the question whether there is God, is that yes there is God but it needs to be understood in its true light. That understanding comes through the experience of that power. In that context, faith is subjective, and rightly so.

The scientist with his reason and logic is engaged in finding the reality of the one supreme power or force that is behind the creation by formulating the grand unified theory of creation. The arguing mind of the theologian wants to assert the religious arguments to establish the form of religious belief. The heart of the devotional accepts the faith without reason or arguments; he just wants to experience of the emotion of faith. All are searching the same truth, albeit in their own different ways.

According to one view, there is nothing certain about quality of an object. It is our interaction with it that gives it the meaning we attach to it. This also applies in religious views held by us about things and thoughts. Nature works in its own ways, generating, evolving, multiplying, and creating diversity and similarity, about which we put our explanations according to our thoughts and arguments. If the majority agrees with that view, we label it as true; otherwise deny the others’ views as mere imagination of the absurd. This over reliance of some on the methods of logic and senses is open to question by others who find extrasensory experiences equally true. The name given to the Supreme Power (GUT OR GOD) is only our way of describing the same reality. The reality does not change by approaching from different routes. It is only our methods that differ in approaching it. Some use mathematical deduction and observational evidence, while others the intuitive experience of the inner vision.

6 THE WORLD

The world is a delightful place; the landscape, the hills and dales, the valleys, the waterfalls, the snowcaps, the deep seas, the merging rivers, the silence of the jungles, the flight of birds, the variety of living species, the interdependence for existence, the play of light and dark, the aurora lights, the inventions of the humans, the clash of ideologies, the search for truth, the spiritual quest, the inevitable and ever present duality, the smiling faces, the energy of the youth, the wisdom of seers, so on and so forth.

The desire to enjoy the senses and avoid the unpleasant is inborn. The constant effort to live happily ever has generated philosophies that confront and confuse. The over emphasis on intelligence, emotion or plain action adds to the variety and confusion on the canvas of life

The advait vedantis treat all this worldly activity involving objects and events as Maya, an illusion, much like a dream in the sleep state, a mere creation of the mind that is far from the reality or the truth of being. The scientist