Abstract
A
growing number of scholars, scientists and philosophers are leading us to an
esoteric worldview without themselves being aware of this. While there seems to
be much confusion on how to reconcile modern science with eastern and western
esotericism most of the confusion seems to have come from choosing incompetent
scholars for their study.
The
paper not only gives the correct approach for reconciling modern physics with
Advaita Vedanta but also puts the hypothesis of the ontological and
philosophical similarities between the two ancient monistic systems Valentinian
Monism and Advaita Vedanta on a much firmer ground. An ancient method is also
proposed to test this worldview and the paper concludes with the profound
implications that it might have for religion, science and philosophy.
Introduction
The east is rich with linguistics and
it could be hypothesized that it was their language which enabled them to
describe the metaphysical worlds of the numinous with such simple words or
short syllables of the late antiquity conveying a wide range of insights just
as how the language of mathematics describes the world of Physics with such
great beauty. One such eastern esoteric religion which has influenced in all
forms of philosophical debates is the religion of Aryans with such giants like
Erwin Schrödinger and Arthur Schopenhauer who said that ‘Upanishads have been
the solace of my life and will be the solace of my death’.
When
the architects of the Modern Physics got to know that science cannot give an
objective account of reality some of them resorted to other forms of
traditional knowledge existing in eastern religions and started to find
parallels between these eastern religions and modern science but such an
attempt has not only resulted in confusion among the public but has also
resulted in the misrepresentation of the teachings of these traditional
doctrines which have considerable differences between one another. The problems
existing in the above field as well as with the recent developments in the
field of quantum mechanics and its philosophical implications as espoused by
Bernard D’Espagnat and in the field of Gnosticism as espoused by such reputed
scholars like Elaine Pagels and others were the main reasons that resulted in
bringing out this all important paper.
Methodology in the
study of Esotericism
While esotericism has existed since
millennia as a form of study of the esoteric essence and wisdom hidden in all
ancient mystery religions, recently few have argued to push the field of Esotericism
into the academic. One such attempt has been made by a historian of religion,
Wouter J. Hanegraaff and argues that esotericism can be studied from an
empirical approach where one can measure its influence from a historical
perspective. Any student of esotericism who accepts the most authoritative
definition of Antoine Faivre knows that esotericism deals more with the reality
of the numinous and less with our historical past. Hanegraaff who is well aware
of this implicitly admits that to truly know the truth behind these religions
only the empirical approach would not suffice. A simultaneous perennialist
approach is needed where an intuitive access to the numinous is albeit
necessary in order to completely understand these esoteric religions which are
inherently metaphysical as this paper shows and hence not falls under the
positivism of science or the empirical method.
Based on this argument or assumption a
competent scholar can be defined as one coming from the tradition and not
someone from outside the tradition and one who has the competent skills and
intuitive knowledge to interpret the works of our ancient people and give us a
picture as these ancient people saw it and not as how one sees it individually
which inevitably leads to conflicts based on how each one interprets these
ancient works subjectively without any intuitive knowledge which our ancients
claimed to have access to.
A few words about
the Scholar chosen for this study -
Devudu Narasimha Shastry (1896-1962)
was a colourful personality and a polymath. He was a thinker and writer of
unusual and extraordinary merit. A forceful speaker, he was equally a
persuasive writer, and an indefatigable enthusiast for reformation and revolution
within the ambit of tradition. He was chosen for the honour of being
‘worshipped’ in the ceremonial way, as one among the hundred traditional
scholars, by the first president of India, Babu Rajendra Prasad, in the sacred
Varanasi. He hailed from a family of royal priests in Mysore, but the stature
that he had as a traditional scholar was acquired by him as a result of his
systematic study of the shastras for 20 years.
Popularly
known by his pen name ‘Devudu’, was not merely a great writer but like the
seers who had the Vedas in vision, he gave visual shape to the Upanishadic
verses in his transcendental work.
A proposed reconciliation of Modern
Physics with Advaita Vedanta
Jonathon Duquette, philosopher of
religion from the University of Montreal is the leading philosopher working for
the correct reconstruction of the dialogue between Modern Physics and Advaita
Vedanta and in his thesis he clearly outlines the problems and confusion
associated with this subject. He addresses the problems of finding parallels
between Modern Physics and Advaita Vedanta through such early works like
Fritjof Capra’s Tao in Physics and Panda’s Maya in Physics and questions the
validity of their approach.
The argument that the
vacuum fluctuation of Quantum mechanics has similarities with the Brahman of
Advaita is illogical. Scholars who argue that Brahman is the substratum of the
universe or the absolute and compare this with the vacuum of Physics don’t
realize that our ancients didn’t knew about modern science or quantum mechanics
and the Vedas or the Upanishads are not concerned with the empirical reality
and it has nothing to do with it. Without understanding the epistemological
foundations of these traditions and the vast wisdom hidden in them some scholars
and thinkers desperately try to misrepresent these traditions, its sensitive
issues and differences between them just to justify their illogical claims. The
philosopher and historian of religion, Richard H. Jones points out this fact in
his works,
[When making parallels] it could be that Western thought is
unconsciously or consciously being taken as the supreme standard, with a
corresponding lack of sensitivity to other interests: Asian thought must be
shown to be positivistic in a time when positivism was in vogue, or existential
for those who value existentialism. . .Or it must share our moral values, if
not our beliefs. The various traditions cannot stand on their own terms but
must be related to a Western standard. The danger here is in distorting the
fundamental nature of these traditions in order to fulfil this demand rather
than in understanding them in their own milieu.
-Richard H. Jones
Bernard
D’Espagnat, a French theoretical physicist who has worked under the founding
fathers of Modern Physics like Bohr and De Broglie, popularly known for his
philosophical works in quantum physics argues that the multitudinous view of classical physics is in
direct conflict with facts established from quantum mechanics and that we need
to give up Einstein separability and Scientific realism to be in coherence with
quantum mechanics. This gives support to the phenomenon of Kant which shows
that the physical sciences is only dealing with the phenomena (i.e. things as
they appears to us) rather than the ultimate noumena (i.e. things in
itself).
"The doctrine that the world is made up of objects whose
existence is independent of human consciousness turns out to be in conflict
with quantum mechanics and with facts established by experiment."
"What quantum mechanics tells us, I believe, is
surprising to say the least. It tells us that the basic components of objects –
the particles, electrons, quarks etc. – cannot be thought of as
"self-existent". He further writes that his research in quantum physics has
lead him to conclude that an "ultimate reality" exists, which is not
embedded in space or time.
-Bernard
D’Espagnat
Bernard
argues that nonseparability and non-locality are the basic nature of our
physical world which quantum mechanics has revealed to us. Bernard who was not
afraid to tackle the philosophical implications of quantum mechanics which
others did not went on to say that ‘What we call as empirical reality is only a
state of mind’ and thereby gave up his belief on local realism.
Some
cognitive scientists with in cognitive science argue that the problem of qualia
should be taken seriously and also the problem of universals exist from the
time of Plato while there is nothing in the empirical reality to compare with
the categories of Kant, we must conclude that such categories exist outside of
the empirical reality, we shall not go into the technical details of these
problems in this paper.
So
far what we have discussed is something which is well known in western thought
but how is this related to eastern religions and what the eastern traditions
have to say about these problems and that’s what we will discuss in further
sections.
If
what we call empirical reality is only a state of mind then what is mind?
This
was the question asked by someone in Guardian and no one had an answer to it and
not even modern science has an answer to it because cognitive scientists are
reductionists and they see perception and cognition as neuronal activity in the
brain but as Bernard D’Espagnat says even neurons fall under empirical reality
which is only a state of mind. So what is mind then?
Here’s the answer:
The
word esoteric means “intelligible only to
those with special knowledge” – esoterically. The scholar uses the traditional way of storytelling or dialectic
to convey his ideas which is common in most forms of wisdom literatures which
give us knowledge about the divine and the nature of reality.
Koushika
said, “Blessed Vamadeva, for these three days I have been longing to ask a
question. The distance between our house and Sage Vashita’s is of two days
journey. How did you manage to reach that place right on time on that fateful
day? If you hadn’t turned up at that moment what would have been my fate? May I
request you kindly to explain all this?”
Vamadeva beamed a significant smile and
said, “you yourself can understand all this, Koushika. But I wonder why haven’t
you attempted to explore the secret … All right … The desire to talk for long
has seized me today.. Tell me, what you wish to know. I’ll tell you what you
desire. It’s your responsibility to ask and mine to answer”.
“Then”,
said Koushika, “Please tell me how you were able to reach the spot precisely at
the time of my distress. How did you get to know that I was in danger?
The sagacious and highly evolved
Vamadeva replied, “know, Koushika, that the mind is a pillar of light. When we
are engaged in worldly affairs we see only one end of that pillar. Owing to its
close link with the sensory organs the light gets broken into five beams. That
means that the one concentrated stream of light gets scattered. There is a
method of which the scattered beams can be united into one stream. That method
is called Samyama (full control over the sensory organs). He who practices and
becomes proficient in Samyama can go beyond time and space. He will be enabled
to perceive everything everywhere. He can understand whatever has happened in
the past and whatever is going to happen in the future. When the mind operates
through the senses (and therefore subjected to the likes and dislikes of
latter), it “acts” like a “stage-king”. That is, it plays the role of the king
and cannot be the real living king. Hence, it will be powerless and impotent.
If the mind learns to work without being entangled by the senses, then it
becomes all powerful and very potent. He who practices this technique of Samyama
will be able to know what happens where, why and how”.
-Devudu
When
Devudu uses words like sense organs and mind he is not referring it to
biological organs and the brain instead he is talking of sense organs and the mind
existing in the noumenal world which is responsible for the retrospective
creation of our empirical reality which not only includes biological organs and
the brain but everything which we see through our eyes. This is what Bernard
D’Espagnat means that our empirical reality is a kind of Veiled reality and
that there is an ultimate reality which is not embedded in space and time.
Bernard
is one of them who believes that the noumenon of Kant can be accessed by other
means, he argues that nonseperability is a slight clue which gives us some
glimpses of the nature of this ultimate reality and his argument that the
structure of consciousness should be outside of empirical reality seems to be
accurate when one considers his claims from the perspective of the eastern mode
of thought of the Upanishads. What this means is that for the doctrine of
Advaita Vedanta to be true scientific realism must be false and it’s a
conclusion which it arrives independently without any influence from other
schools of thought, an all important fact which many scholars often miss in
their approach to find parallels between Modern Physics and Advaita Vedanta. If
this is true then neither science nor atheistic religions can give an objective
account of reality only God, only He can give an objective account of reality.
If there is ever, a Law of Religion and Science then this should be it,
‘What we call empirical reality is only a
state of mind’
"It is
probably true quite generally that in the history of human thinking the most
fruitful developments frequently take place at those points where two different
lines of thought meet. These lines may have their roots in quite different
parts of human culture, in different times or different cultural environments
or different religious traditions; hence if they actually meet, that is, if
they are at least so much related to each other that a real interaction can
take place, then one may hope that new and interesting developments will
follow."
-Werner
Heisenberg
We
are passing along a period of time where not just two but at least three
different modes of thought are meeting at a single place making similar
conclusions about the nature of reality and if this is true then the next few
discoveries in our quest to understand the cosmos will be interesting and exciting
to watch out for.
It
should be noted that we arrived at this conclusion by assuming that science
cannot give an objective account of reality, assuming that scientific realism
is false but if science comes up with an objective account of reality independent
of mind showing that scientific realism is true then Advaita Vedanta is
directly in conflict with Modern Physics. Both Advaita Vedanta and Modern
Physics will be in conflict with each other in such a case.
Is
teleportation possible? What is the world made up of?
“That’s
all right”, said Koushika. “But please tell me whether you had previously
planned to arrive at the site?” “No”,
asserted Vamadeva. “I” will tell you all about that. This human body drowns if
it is thrown into water while alive. But if it is the body of a good swimmer,
it can remain afloat. Likewise, there is another principle in respect of the
body. The human body is composed of five elements. Now, as we regard this
elements combine as separate, they appear to be obstacles in our onward
progress. When once we realize that everything around us is composed of the
same elements and that they and we are of one and the same flavour, It would be
like giving a loan here and retrieving it there; that means you offer that quantity
of the elements which compose your body to those around you (nature) here and
claim that portion elsewhere you want it. To put it simpler, just as you learn
to swim in water, you should learn to swim in the air too”.
-Devudu
Our
ancients neither knew about modern science nor did they knew about quantum
teleportation and hence this should not be confused with such processes.
According to major religions of the world, the world is made up of just five
elements i.e. earth, fire, water, air and space.
According
to Advaita Vedanta these five elements don’t exist in the empirical reality
instead they exist in the numinous world and it recognizes this as the external
physical world and hence it doesn’t teach solipsism where only one’s own mind
is real instead it teaches us that Brahman is real, the empirical world is an
illusion, the noumenal world is real and everything in that noumenal world is
Brahman, it does recognize a world independent of mind but it is not the
empirical world instead it is the numinous world of God or the pleroma of Gods.
Some
scholars don’t recognize that Upanishads is the end of Vedas and therefore the
worldview of the Upanishads should be in accordance with the worldview of the
Vedas as the following quote of the Rig Veda (1.164.46) says,
Indraṃ mitraṃ varuṇamaghnimāhuratho divyaḥ sa suparṇo gharutmān,
ekaṃ sad viprā bahudhā vadantyaghniṃ yamaṃ mātariśvānamāhuḥ
"They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuṇa, Agni, and
he is heavenly nobly-winged Garutmān.
To what is One, sages give many a title they call
it Agni, Yama, Mātariśvan." (trans. Griffith)
The
mind and the five elements are also recognized as anthropomorphic gods. This is
the kind of world-view which Advaita Vedanta and Valentinian Monism embrace. We
have been tantalizingly pushed into a world-view which inevitably leads to the
following conclusion about the nature of our physical world,
“Gods are real.
And these gods are
everywhere, in all aspects of existence,
all aspects of human
life.”
- James Hillman
What
is Intelligence? Does Intelligence exist in platonic realms? Are strong
Platonists like Roger Penrose correct in saying that strong AI is impossible?
We all are aware of the metaphor of the Sun and the
allegory of the cave of Plato in his dialectic work ‘The Republic’ where he
espouses his theory of forms that the highest form of eternal knowledge exists
in a different realm and that we can grasp these abstract forms which are
eternal and unchanging to describe a world which is always changing.
“Either mathematics is
too big for the human mind or the human mind is more than a machine.”
– Kurt Gödel
“Gödel’s Theorem shows
that human thought is more complex and less mechanical than anyone had ever
believed”
- Rudy Rucker
Gödel
through his Incompleteness theorems showed that there were Gödel statements for
which we could know the truth value of these statements even though they were
un-provable using the same axiomatic systems which those statements were
derived from. This showed that mathematics can never be both complete as well
as consistent.
This
basic fact which showed that human beings can solve problems or answer
questions for which no algorithm exists to prove the truth value of such
statements led to the conclusion that human thought was in no way identical to
the mechanical computations carried on such computational machines like the
Turing machines.
Roger
Penrose developed Gödel’s ideas and put forward a more substantial argument to
show that strong AI is impossible and asserted that there is an element of
non-computability in human thought which the current physics cannot in any way
explain. So what does the eastern traditional school of thought have to say
about this? This is what is discussed in the next section.
“See Yajnavalkya, first we take
up Panchathma Sankramana and Avastatraya techniques. Before going to
Avastatraya there is much to know about it. Liberated men can go from one state
to another using divine knowledge. The knower of this knowledge should be an eye-witness
to this process, for him different states like dream, sleep should be like
entering and leaving different rooms. This is impossible without knowing that
divine knowledge and as long as this cannot happen one cannot be a knower.”
Acharya continued, “During the
ending of the state of awareness and in the beginning of the dream state this
new state should be experienced. When the mind disentangles itself with the
sense organs and when it is not yet entangled with the organs of the dream this
should be seen. When the mind is entangled with the sense organs and with the
casket of intelligence it will look like a stretched tied rope. If not, if the
mind is disentangled with the sense organs and is only in entanglement with the
casket of intelligence then it will be like a hanging untied rope and becomes
non-functional even though it exists. In this new state which is not the dream,
sleep or the aware state one will have revelation. When it happens it is not
awareness; it is not dream; it is not deep sleep either. The one who has
mastered the art of intuitive access to the numinous in this state will be a
true philosopher knowing the thing in itself and not how it appears to us. Like
this when both the awake and the sleep state does not seem to exist even though
it exist then one can have the great revelations, did you understood Yajnavalkya.
Yajnvalkya who was born for a
divine purpose, influenced by the words of Acharya went into such a state of
experience immediately, then Acharya said, “See, Yajnavalkya, see when you
are in that state see who is holding you from falling down? See who is pulling
you up?”
Yajnvalkya saw, “The thing
which is pulling me up is Sun’s rays. I am not on earth or the sky, I am in
outer space. A goddess is holding me from falling down with her arms stretched.
If I ask she says “I am from the pantheon of Sun, know this much for now” and
diverts my awareness and as my awareness is diverted the Sun’s rays begin to
disappear but the feeling of someone pulling me up and holding me from falling
down has not gone”.
“What all you saw Yajnavalkya?
What shall I say Acharya? I
have no words to describe what I saw therefore if I say something wrong please
forgive me. First some lucky object rolled over and fell from the Broomadhya(one
of the places where Jiva resides) then the head was about to fall forward but
someone becalmed it as it was dropping down and held it there. Someone took the object which was dropping
inside and held it there. I felt like the place where I stood was not the earth,
not the sky but soon I realized that it was outside space. There your speech
was not like the way we speak with each other instead it was like actions
stimulated by someone. On one side Aditya’s rays on the other side a goddess
belonging to the pantheon of Aditya. Both of them were holding a luminous
system. I felt like I myself am that lustrous system. On beside me as you said
a rope-like object was hanging down and that lustrous system was equipped with
a casket. As though I am light itself there was light everywhere.
“That casket is called Intelligence
(Buddhi), yajnavalkya and that hanging rope-like object is the mind (Manas) and
the goddess who held you from falling down is Ushadevi. Here she came, give
your sacrifices to her with the Ushasukta of the Rig Veda.”
Both Acharya and his wife were
standing there praying until Yajnavalkya’s experience was completely over.
After everything finished
Acharya said, “Yajnavalkya, today you experienced the truth, from here you have
earned the authority to study the philosophical scriptures, what happened now
was a true revelation. If you clearly understand the philosophy behind it then
it will become a Great Revelation.”
Since
the positivism of science has spread across all fields of our investigation
there is not only confusion as to what is real and what is not but other
eastern traditions having a different epistemology are rarely taught or taken
seriously by anyone in the academic.
The
eastern traditions have non-positivist methods based on a different
epistemology which give us the actual nature of the physical world and
positively assert that these things do exist in a Platonic realm and the fundamental
principle of the Aryans says that it is God who stimulates and direct our
thoughts (Buddhi).
Similarities between
Valentinian Monism and Advaita Vedanta
When
Gnostic scholars began to see monistic expressions in the gnostic tradition of
Valentinianism and the frequent assertions of this school of thought that the
multiplicity of the world vanishes once one knows the fullness of the father through
gnosis just as the Advaita Vedanta says that the multiplicity of the world
vanishes once one knows the Brahman they started to hypothesize that there
might be a connection between these two ancient monistic systems but they never
took such a hypothesis too seriously. The following section shows why such a
hypothesis is undeniable without giving reasonable explanations for the
astonishing similarities seen between these two ancient monistic systems.
It is
the Aryans (or Aryas – Venerable and highly civilized and cultured people known
for their learning, wisdom and large heartedness) who discovered this esoteric
secret. All those who are now let into this secret can be called Aryas. The
obligatory duty of every such Arya is to discover the secrets of Nature and
impart those secrets to worthy and deserving people. This is otherwise called the recital of Vedic
texts which ought to be pursued through study of the Vedas and teaching of the Vedas.
The Aryas were those who eschewed Paratantra (subject to or dependent on
another) and won Swantantra (freedom or independence). Such Aryas can Aryanise
the whole Universe.
Every living being in this world is verily a
Sun worshipper. Some know it, but a large number of beings are unaware of it.
Being aware of what one is doing, systematizing it and doing it fully and
consciously through Sankalpa is called
yoga. Progress is nothing but turning the mind from ayoga to yoga. Vedas
declare Surya atma
jagataha tasthushascha. It means that the sun is very soul
of both the immobile and mobile beings. Since the universe came into existence
through the Sun, he is called Aditya. Since all the luster in this universe is
his he is called Bhaskara. He is the leading light of the planetary system and
fruits such as health, well-being, heartiness and wholeness are due to him are
well-known. He is the giver of life and light. The evolution of all created
things in the world of human beings is entirely due to the sun. Aryas
worshipped him as Savithru because every being needs his permission to issue
out of the mother’s womb. Once upon a time the worship of Savithru deva was in
vogue in every nook and corner of the world. As divine law declined this
Savithru worship decreased. Now it is being performed here and there. In
another sense, this Savithru-worship has not been given up at all, and cannot
be given up either! For, the support for the breathing process which, takes
place every moment is Prana. It is this Agnishoma mandala’s (pleroma of gods)
grace and flavour that every living being is kept alive. This is a matter,
which can be tested by means of yoga.
Agnishoma mandala (pleroma of Gods) is the place of origin or principal place
of Purusha (The soul of the Universe, the masculine principle) and Prakrithi
(The passive power of creating namely, Nature, the feminine principle).
-Devudu
This
is in so much similarity with the Gnostic view of the world which says that
everything comes in dyads i.e. with male and female forms.
Valentinians
believed that God is androgynous and frequently depicted him as a male-female
dyad. This is related to the notion that God provides the universe with both
form and substance. The feminine aspect of the deity is called Silence, Grace
and Thought. Silence is God's primordial state of tranquillity and
self-awareness She is also the active creative Thought that makes all
subsequent states of being (or "Aeons") substantial. The masculine
aspect of God is Depth, also called Ineffable and First Father. Depth is the
profoundly incomprehensible, all-encompassing aspect of the deity. He is
essentially passive, yet when moved to action by his feminine Thought, he gives
the universe form.
-The
Gnostic society Library
Savithru deva is lord and master of Agnishoma
mandala (pleroma of gods) and He is in the macrocosm as well in the microcosm.
Human beings who are not aware of this imagine that it is they and their own
mind and intellect that get things to be done through their ten sense organs.
How can subordinates (the mind, intellect and sense organs) be independent?
Imagining that he is independent, the individual attributes his achievement to
his own mind and intellect. This amounts to the state of being enamoured and
conceit. But those few who are capable of deep reflection realize that there
should be one who inspires or activates the mind and intellect further
reflection and contemplation leads such individuals to realize that the
Inspirer or Activator is Savithrudeva. It is He and He alone who instil power
into the intellect. It is the intellect, which is the centre and source of all
activity, physical and mental, etc.
-Devudu
"For just as the Demiurge, secretly moved by Sophia
(Wisdom), believes that he acts alone, so also with human beings"
(Excerpts of Theodotus 53:4).
This
shows that human beings don’t have free-will which is similar to the stoic view
of providence and the Gnostic view of pre-destination and shows beyond any
doubt the Hellenistic and eastern esoteric influences over Gnosticism.
He that is Savithru, has to accord permission
for anything born, or anything to be born and issue out of the mother’s womb.
This is the law of Nature. All those who are aware of this law should worship
Savithru; or rather, have been worshipping Savithru. This worship is
ceaselessly going on in the form of breathing. When this “Worship” is going on
in the right way the physical body will be in good health. But if anything goes
wrong in that worship, disease attacks the physical body. Ayurveda which
recognizes this principle calls him who prevents disease or restores good
health, Pranacharya(one who is learned in the science of prana). By this
Ayurveda has cognised the original form of this worship. This Savithru deva is
none other than Aditya. He protects the World in his various forms or
manifestations. He is a mass of brilliant luster. Veda looks at Him in two
ways. They are Visthrutha (Diffused or spread out form) and Samasthi (total or
whole form). This luster of Savithrudeva, which Veda calls Samasthi swaroopa (total
or whole form), is there in every living being and provokes the activity of the
mind and intellect.
-Devudu
This
is the ontological view or the ontological reality of Advaita Vedanta i.e. the
pleroma of (Aeons) gods (fullness) exist in every living being which is
amazingly similar to the Gnostic view.
"Christ
has each within him, whether human being or angel or mystery" (Gospel of
Philip 56:14-15).
“In Christ dwells all
the pleroma of deity in bodily form”
- Colossians 2:9
For
the Valentinians the pleroma has a local platonic existence and forms the body
of Christ and for the Vedic Aryans the Agnisoma Mandala has a local platonic
existence and forms the body of Savithru, the solar deity. As you can see only names
change in the way they describe the ultimate reality.
The
word Pleroma means the totality of divine powers, all the Aeons and all these
Aeons reside in Christ and form his mystical body.
“It
was a great wonder that they were in the Father without knowing him and that
they were able to leave on their own, since they were not able to contain him
and know him in whom they were, for indeed his will had not come forth from
him. For he revealed it as a knowledge with which all its emanations agree,
namely, the knowledge of the living book which he revealed to the Aeons at last
as his letters, displaying to them that these are not merely vowels nor
consonants, so that one may read them and think of something void of meaning;
on the contrary, they are letters which convey the truth. They are pronounced
only when they are known. Each letter is a perfect truth like a perfect book,
for they are letters written by the hand of the unity, since the Father wrote
them for the Aeons, so that they by means of his letters might come to know the
Father.
All
the emanations from the Father, therefore, are Pleromas, and all his emanations
have their roots in the one who caused them all to grow from himself.”
- Gospel
of Truth
The
individual Aeons 33 in number as espoused in both Valentinianism and also in
the Vedas like the human beings does not know that they are in the Father.
"Brahma generated
the gods, Brahma (generated) this entire world. Within him are all these
worlds. Within him is this entire universe. It is Brahma who is the greatest of
beings. Who can vie with him? In Brahma, the thirty-three gods; in Brahma,
Indra and Prajapati; in Brahma all things are contained as in a ship."
-Taittiriya Brāhmana
Beyond
this is non-dualism and if we cannot even meaningfully speak about the Pleroma
then one can imagine how fruitless it is to speak about the Unity, the all
pervading Brahman.
None
the less these Aeons are real and they exist in both the microcosm as well as
in the macrocosm i.e. in human body as well as in the elements of the outer
cosmos.
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
III-ix-1:
Then Vidagdha, the son of Sakala, asked him. ‘How many gods are there,
Yajnavalkya ?’ Yajnavalkya decided it through this (group of Mantras known as)
Nivid (saying), ‘As many as are indicated in the Nivid of the Visvadevas –
three hundred and three, and three thousand and three’. ‘Very well’, said
Sakalya, ‘how many gods exactly are there, Yajnavalkya ?’ ‘Thirty-three’. ‘Very
well’, said the other, ‘how many gods exactly are there, Yajnavalkya ?’ ‘six’.
‘Very well’, said Sakalya, ‘how many gods exactly are there, Yajnavalkya ?’
‘Three’. ‘Very well’, said the other, ‘how many gods exactly are there, Yajnavalkya
?’ ‘Two’. ‘Very well’, said Sakalya, ‘how many gods exactly are there,
Yajnavalkya ?’ ‘One and a half’. ‘Very well’, said Sakalya, ‘how many gods
exactly are there, Yajnavalkya ?’ ‘One’. ‘Very well’, said Sakalya, ‘which are
those three hundred and three and three thousand and three ?’
III-ix-2:
Yajnavalkya said, ‘these are but the manifestation of them, but there are only
thirty-three gods.’ ‘Which are those thirty-three ?’ ‘The eight Vasus, the
eleven Rudras and the twelve Adityas – these are thirty-one and Indra and
Prajapati make up the thirty-three’.
III-ix-3:
‘Which are the Vasus /’ ‘Fire, the earth, air, the sky, the sun, heaven, the
moon and the stars – these are the Vasus, for in these all this is placed;
therefore they are called Vasus.’
III-ix-4:
‘Which are the Rudras ?’ ‘The ten organs in the human body, with the mind as
the eleventh. When they depart from this mortal body, they make (one’s
relatives) weep. Because they then make them weep, therefore they are called
Rudras.’
III-ix-5:
‘Which are the Adityas ?’ ‘The twelve months (are parts) of a year; these are
the Adityas, for they go taking all this with them. Because they go taking all
this with them, therefore they are called Adityas.’
III-ix-6:
‘Which is Indra, and which is Prajapati ?’ ‘The cloud itself is Indra, and the
sacrifice is Prajapati’. ‘Which is the cloud ?’ ‘Thunder (strength).’ ‘Which is
the sacrifice ?’ ‘Animals’.
III-ix-7:
‘Which are the six (gods) ?’ ‘Fire, the earth, air, the sky, the sun, and
heaven – these are the six. Because all those (gods) are (comprised in) these
six.’
III-ix-8:
‘Which are the three gods ?’ ‘These three worlds alone, because in these all
those gods are comprised.’ ‘Which are the two gods ?’ ‘Matter and the vital
force.’ ‘Which are the one and a half ?’ ‘This (air) that blows.’
III-ix-9:
‘Regarding this some say, ‘Since the air blows as one substance, how can it be
one and a half ?’ ‘ It is one and a half because through its presence all this
attains surpassing glory’. ‘Which is the one god ?’ ‘The vital force
(Hiranyagarbha); it is Brahman, which is called Tyat (that).’
Advaita
Vedanta is an ancient doctrine which existed prior to Gnostic Christians and is
still the orthodox religion of India and is the very soul of India, therefore
either there was a cultural diffusion at some point of time between these two
traditions or they arrived about the nature of reality independently without
any transfusion of ideas between each other. Whatever may be the answer, this
hypothesis should be taken seriously and by testing such a hypothesis can
reveal many things and have a wide range of implications.
"It is reasonable to agree that when there
is a core agreement in the religious experiences of people in different times,
places, and traditions, and when they have the same rational interpretations of
the experiences; it makes sense to conclude that they are all in contact with
some objective aspect of reality, unless there is positive evidence otherwise."
-Broad
An ancient method to
test this worldview
The Aryans extensively relied on the
yoga school of philosophical thought in order to access the numinous world. It
can be argued that this practical knowledge is an inherent part of their
tradition along with other schools of thought and not separate from it.
It’s
the foundational basis for all forms of their knowledge, even though Patanjali
is well known as the founder of the yoga school of philosophy different forms
of yoga existed prior to him and all such knowledge including the yoga school
of Patanjali can be traced back to Hiranyagarbha himself who was the god of the
Aryans, whom the founders of Rig Veda worshiped him as the first-born.
As
said earlier there are two ways to look at the Veda where one can study the individual
lustrous rays of the Hiranyagarbha as separate gods of his pantheon i.e. Agni,
Soma, Prana etc. or else one can study the whole pantheon of Hiranyabarbha as
himself in his Samasthi swaroopa (total or whole form).
It
was Vishwamithra who discovered a way to worship this mass of lustre of
Savithru or Hiranyagarbha but that method is not addressed here as no one
outside the tradition should perform it without first going through a series of
rituals in the traditional way. However there are other ways to study his rays
as a whole and one such method is given below which is called as Sun
Salutations.
The
scholar Devudu who hails from this tradition revealed us the secrets of the
Isopanishad which were passed in a traditional way through his works. According
to tradition Savithru, the supreme god of the Vedas, He himself had said to
Yajnavalkya, the author of the Isopanishad that, “Those who read the
Isopanishad as well as the Yajnavalkya Upanishad which deals with the life
story of Yajnavalkya and clearly understand the deep meaning behind it, I will
reveal myself to them without fail.”
Therefore
the following verse of the Isopanishad is uttered before performing the method
for those who only want to live the righteous path, as this was the sole purpose
of their doctrine, different people perform this method for different reasons,
Hiranmayena patrena satyasyapihitam mukham
tat tvam pushannya apavrino satya-dharmaya drishtaye
(Isopanishad, Verse 15)
It
means that the truth is hidden inside a golden egg from which the first-born
Hiranygarbha originated and his light rays are preventing us from seeing the
ultimate truth clearly therefore we should plead him to decrease the intensity
of his impeding light rays so that we can clearly see him and attain the path
of righteousness by understanding the truth behind it.
"People cannot see anything in the real realm unless
they become it...if you have seen the spirit, you have become the spirit; if
you have seen Christ, you have become Christ; if you have seen the Father, you
will become the Father" (Gospel of Philip 61:20-32 cf. 67:26-27)
Though
the ancient Aryans used to perform rituals in a holistic way for the good of
the whole world irrespective of the nation, creed, race or the culture they
belonged to, the rituals were also performed in a multitudinous way to fulfill
personal desires. However they highly recommend us to perform in a holistic way
which was the sole doctrine of the Aryans that the light of God exists in
everyone irrespective of their race or their background. It is advisable to
practice it to test the efficacy of this method under the guidance of a master
and the verses after the asterisk (*) should be silently uttered in the mind
when performing each step.
According
to these esoteric religions it is very unlikely that God had used the Big Bang
or the DNA to create the universe or the Humans in it and these religions
enforce upon us to abandon such form of thinking at least when one is arguing
based on these esoteric religions. It should be emphasized that there can be
only one reality in the external physical world and if the objects of modern
science like quarks, protons, electrons exist independent of the mind i.e. if
scientific realism turns out to be true then the metaphysical world of the
esotericists will be falsified. As one of the necessary postulates required for
the existence of the metaphysical worlds of the above mentioned esoteric
religions is that scientific realism must be false and such a test will guide
us whether to abandon this form of esoteric thinking and move an alternative
way forward or to move in the direction of our ancients.
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