BEYOND MIND--THE MILELA THEORY, CHETANA YOGA-The next step in Human Evolution: CHETANA YOGA-The Next Step in Human Evolution

By Dr.RAJAH SEKARAN

CHETANA YOGA, also known as the technique for the practice and continued establishment of Awareness or mindfulness, is at the frontier of personal and global transformation, and Dr.Rajah Sekaran is its foremost pioneer. In Beyond Mind, Dr.Sekaran offers the next step in human evolution as an antidote for mental frustrations, as well as for anger

• Language: English
• Publisher: Yogesha LLC
• Release date: Jun 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9780578714110

Dr.RAJAH SEKARAN

Dr.RAJAH SEKARAN is a California based retired physician. He has been an avid student of philosophy and the sciences, studying both Eastern and Western philosophies for nearly 40 years. During his studies, Dr.Sekaran realized that while humanity has made advances in technology and social comforts, all we have done in terms of violence is replace bows and arrows with guns and bombs. Part of the inspiration for this book was the realization that with new discoveries in the field of Quantum Physics, ancient spiritual beliefs may hold answers to some of modern science's deepest unanswered questions. Dr.Sekaran lives in Berkeley, California with his wife.

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PROLOGUE

THE REVELATIONS, DESCRIBED IN THIS book, occurred to the author recently as epiphany. However, these revelations are a culmination of nearly 40 years of meditation, deep contemplation, along with the study in Sanskrit, Tamil, and English of different philosophies of spirituality and religions, and also reinforced by a basic knowledge of Modern Physics, also known as Quantum Physics. The contents of this book are not mere reproduction of knowledge from other studies or books. They are mostly realizations from experience and that is the reason I am calling them revelations.

In the olden days, in India, renunciates known as Sannyasis were a recognized division of the society. The Sannyasi order was supported by the society, in order to explore the secrets of Reality, Truth and Nature; and to teach the same to others. However, in the modern world, I had to be a house-holder to meet my family’s obligations and continued the pursuit of the Ultimate Truth, in spite of many difficulties and obligations.

A house-holder’s life, however, is a life of possessions by necessity and becomes mind-based. Maturity comes when we can live a life of possessions and still be beyond-mind in an Awareness-based life. That is the subject of this book. On the other hand, even a renunciate needs at the least, a few possessions to survive, such as a supply of food and clothes.

It is ironic that the trials and tribulations of family life are what make a person mature by giving opportunities to learn the lessons of life and to purify the mind. Purified mind and deep meditation and contemplation are the pre-requisites for the realization of Ultimate Absolute Truth and Reality.

However, the practice of Chetana Yoga does not necessarily require the pre-requisites of deep meditation and realization of Truth and Reality, as will be explained in the chapter on Chetana Yoga.

Awareness in Sanskrit is variously described as chith, chita, chit-akasha, chetana and chaitanya. In both Sanskrit and Tamil, another classical language of India, it is combined with sat (truth or existence) and ananda (bliss) and is given the name sat-chit-ananda. Gautama Buddha 2,500 years ago called the Awareness in his mother tongue, Pali, as Chetana.

Awareness is a synonym of Consciousness. In the Western World, as well as in the East, the word Consciousness is used to indicate Awareness, and extensive research is being done by both philosophers and physicists all over the world to analyze, understand, define, and prove the nature of Consciousness.

Philosophers and yogis are seeking to understand and realize Consciousness.

Whereas, the physicists are trying to prove its existence mathematically from Physics’ point of view. However, the word Consciousness often leads one also to the concept of unconsciousness and subconscious etc., which are confined to the mind creating confusion. Some philosophers of the past have dealt with this confusion created by the mind, as mentioned above, by adding another dimension, known as the state of super-consciousness.

Another philosopher, Saint Ramalinga Swami, who lived in India in the nineteenth century, has described supra-mental approach as the method to realize Awareness. Saul-Paul Sirag from the Institute for the study of Consciousness in Berkeley and Parapsychology Research group in San Francisco "has developed a hyperspace model of Consciousness, describing mathematical structures called reflection spaces, which are hierarchically organized in such a way that infinite spectrum of realities is naturally suggested".

Similarly, physicists have described the space-time aspect of Consciousness as hyper-dimensional, with all but four of the dimensions being invisible.

To avoid the ambiguities created by the mischievous mind, I have chosen to use Awareness as the preferred word, instead of Consciousness, even though they are synonyms. Furthermore, I have given proof of the presence of Awareness, even in the absence of mind, as in deep sleep and fainting spells, (described in detail in the subsequent chapter under the title "The MILELA Theory.")

At this stage of human evolution, I find, it is an absolute necessity to evolve from a mind-based life to an Awareness-based life. This immediate need for the next step in human evolution is further enhanced by the discouraging reports from different news media, of increasing gun violence, suicide and suicide attempts and the rise of loneliness and depression, especially in the teenage children in America as well as in other parts of the world.

GUN VIOLENCE, SUICIDE AND SUICIDE ATTEMPTS AND LONELINESS AND DEPRESSION ARE ONLY SOME OF THE VISIBLE SYMPTOMS OF A BASIC MENTAL MALFUNCTION

THE TIP OF A TITANIC TYPE OF ICEBERG

The rising rates of gun violence reports from news media and the suicide reports and non-fatal self-harm reports from CDC (Centers for Disease Control and prevention) quoted below, and loneliness and depression among the general population, all appear to be the tip of a titanic type of iceberg, which very well may represent millions of others in the general population with much milder forms of different degrees of mental malfunction.

This mental dysfunction is sub-clinical and may not qualify as a mental disease.

Gun violence and suicide and non-fatal self-harm and depression are only some of the severe symptoms of a basic malfunction of mind showing up as increasing aggression and prejudice and/or loneliness in the minds of men and women and children all over the world. The same malfunction (not considered as a mental disease) is seen in milder form in millions, in everyday life in USA and also in the rest of the world. Domestic violence, sexual harassment and milder ‘type1’ bipolar disorder and loneliness or depression are not uncommon in the general population in USA, as well as in other parts of the world. and often go unnoticed.

RECENT EVIDENCE OF INCREASING GUN VIOLENCE–MASS SHOOTING

I have not included all of the gun violence and other violence using knives etc. Only the mass shootings are included in this meta-analysis, mainly to show the trend in the increase of violence and aggression in the minds of men, women and children.

Guardian U.S. Interactive Team reports as of February 15th, 2018 from January 1st, 2013, in the past five years, there have been 1,875 deaths and 6,848 injured in 1,870 days, from mass shootings alone. In the 50 years before the Texas Tower Shooting on August 1st, 1966, there were just 25 public mass shootings in which four or more people were killed according to a criminologist, Grant Duwe, author of Mass Murder in the United States: A History. Since then, his report compares it to the next 50 years from 1966 to 2018, and the number has risen dramatically to 154 mass-shootings with a lot more casualties; and many of the deadliest shootings have occurred within the past few years.

The number of injured has been much greater than the number of deaths. The loved ones affected by these incidents are too many to count.

Dave Mosher and Skye Gould reported in Business Insider that gun violence is a leading cause of death in America, based on 2015 National Safety Council, National Center for Health Statistics. The odds of death from varying causes were compared; and from assault by gun violence was 1 in 315 and from mass shooting (defined as four or more victims) was 1 in 11,125 and from foreign born terrorists (based on 41-year average from 1975 to 2015) was 1 in 45,785.

In TIME Magazine, Chris Wilson updated as of November 5, 2017 and quoted a database compiled by ‘Mother Jones’, going back to 1982 and included only mass shootings in which at least three people were killed, not including the gunman. In that time, 722 people have been killed and 1,177 wounded. There were 91 such incidents.

On my review of all such incidents, from the report above, I found that from 1985 to 2004 there was mostly one shooting per year with the number of people killed in the single digit. After 2005, there were mostly two incidents of mass shooting per year and the number of people killed was in the double digits or more. In 2012, the number of mass shootings increased to seven and 67 people were killed and 68 were wounded. The number of mass shootings have become more and more frequent. In 2017 there were ten mass shootings with 112 killed and 531 wounded; and the frequency continues to increase.

The New York Times report by Michael S. Schmidt on September 24th, 2014 says F.B.I. confirms a sharp rise in mass shootings since 2000–there were, on average, 16.4 such shootings a year from 2007 to 2013, compared with an average of 6.4 shootings annually from 2000 to 2006. In the past 13 years, 486 people have been killed in such shootings, with 366 of the deaths in the past seven years. In all, the study looked at 160 shootings since 2000. (Shootings tied to domestic violence and gangs were not included.)

ARE THE MASS-SHOOTERS MENTALLY ILL?

The Washington Post report by Bonnie Berkowitz and others, updated as of June 29th, 2018 analyzed the details of each shooter and found only some of the mass shooters were known to have violent tendencies or criminal pasts. Others seemed ‘largely fine’ until they attacked. All but three were male. The vast majority were between the ages of 20 and 49.

In summary, my review of several reports of all shootings, including mass shootings, revealed increasing incidence of gun violence in the 21st century compared to the last quarter of the 20th century. Moreover, a review of the shooters reveals only some of them had history of mental illness, violent tendencies, or criminal pasts. The majority of the shooters were men between the ages 20-49, and they were largely fine until they attacked. The general population has become numb to the news of gun violence, drug-related shootings and suicides; and is beginning to consider them as something similar to automobile accidents. The news media also now-a-days is pushing such news to the back pages; they used to be front-page news, often as headlines. I am not finding fault with their journalism; but that is the way it is.

GUN VIOLENCE IN USA COMPARED TO OTHER COUNTRIES

A report from NPR (National Public Radio) compared the other developed countries where violent gun deaths per 100,000 people in 2016 ranged from 0.03 in Singapore to 0.48 in Canada. In the United Kingdom it was 0.07. In comparison, in the United States, it was 3.85— about 30x more than Germany which had 0.12, and 27x higher than Denmark which had 0.14, and 8x higher than the rate in Canada. Among the countries in the East, in India for example, there are 0.88 deaths per 100,000 people, which is about one fourth of the gun deaths per capita in the United States even though India has the second largest civilian firearm stock pile, estimated at 46 million with a population that is about four times that of USA. According to a report from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) in 2009, the number of firearms among American civilians is estimated around 310 million, about average one per person.

SUICIDE RATES RISING: CDC PRESS RELEASE

CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) in its ‘Vital Signs Report’ as the ‘Press Release’ of June 7th 2018 says, suicide rates have been rising in nearly every state. Twenty-five states had suicide rate increases of more than 30 percent.

CDC researchers—Deborah M. Stone, ScD; Thomas R. Simon, PhD; Katherine A. Fowler, PhD; Scott R. Kegler, PhD; Keming Yuan, MS; Kristin M. Holland, PhD; Asha Z. Ivey-Stephenson, PhD; Alex E. Crosby, MD— further report on June 8th 2018 and parts of their detailed report is given here, in their own words, "Suicide rates in the United States have risen nearly 30 percent since 1999, during 1999-2016. 54 percent of decedents in 27 states in 2015 did not have a known mental health condition. In 2016, nearly 45,000 Americans age 10 or older died by suicide. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death and is one of just three leading causes that are on the rise.

In addition, rates of Emergency department visits for non-fatal self-harm, increased 42 percent from 2001–2016. Together, suicides and self-harm injuries cost the nation approximately $70 billion per year in direct medical and work loss costs (the cost quoted here mainly to show the magnitude of the problem).

Firearms were the most common method of suicide overall (48.5%); decedents without known mental health conditions were more likely to die by firearm (55.3%).

Suicide is rarely caused by a single factor, but rather, is determined by multiple factors. In addition to mental health conditions and prior suicide attempts, other contributing circumstances include social and economic problems, access to lethal means (e.g., substances, firearms) among persons at risk, and poor coping and problem-solving skills."

LONELINESS

The Economist magazine, in its September 2018 issue, published an article on loneliness, under the title, Alone in the crowd—loneliness is increasingly being treated as a serious public-health problem.

Loneliness is defined as the subjective feeling of isolation