Questions by readers- Answers by The Mother! These answers are in no way definitive; nor do they make any claims to authenticity. These are supposed to answer the seeking. The insights contained in these answers issue from patrons of The Mother, among who are saints, holy men, scholars and advanced seekers. To submit a question, send email to editor.themother@gmail.com. Do not feel disappointed if The Mother does not publish the answer to your questions. The Editorial Board will choose questions to be published in The Mother depending upon its significance and service to the spiritual seekers at large. However, we will strive to answer most queries and personally communicate the answers to those who put forth genuine queries. Editor.
Q.
There are some terms for which I am searching for more clarity to help my visualisation better. The terms are consciousness, awareness, transcendental, sub-conscious and unified field. Please suggest any site which can explain these terms simply and help my visualisation better.
Anjaneyulu Shastri, Mumbai
Answer.
http://integralyoga-auroville.com/interactive/dictionary?view=glossary&letter=c
You will get some of the answers above. But in my view you should not attempt to know these concepts with English as base language, because it is both deficient and misleading. Most English terms are derived from original Sanskrit and often force-fitted. Don’t look up words in English, instead look up Sanskrit words and their meanings in English.
The dictionaries below could be of use too…
http://spokensanskrit.de/
http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/apte/
Jai Guru
Q.
Some saints say akaash is Shiva. And akaash and space are not one and the same thing. Akaash is one of the panch mahabhutas as we discussed earlier. Space is no thing in particular but is the source of everything or it contains everything. It is omnipresent and omniscient. It is all reflecting. In a way it fits the description of god. So space is god?? And what is the difference between space and akaash??
V.R, New Delhi
Answer.
The saints are not saying Akash is Shiva, they are saying it’s ok if someone says Akash is Shiva; for many Akash is Vishnu and Prithvi is Shiva. That’s what the texts say.
At the level of elements, the stuff that all five elements are made of is the same. They are not really different. It’s like water, vapour, ice etc. True, Akash is the first and the mother element, it is most expansive and con-create of all. And space is not the word for it, ether is.
There are other words such as Vyom, Desh etc. signifying larger essence of space.
Akash generically means invisible, so in a way it’s avyakta or unmanifest but not wholly so.
There is another parallel term Antariksha, but it is more of a realm. Loka-space! Atmospheric sphere known as the antariksha, extending “from the earth to the sun.” Part of bu-buva-swa worlds.
The 5 great elements originate from pancha tanmatra. Tanmatra is a Sanskrit word meaning subtle essence. So beyond elements, even akasha, are tanmatras as mother principle, further mothered by Tamasic ahamkara, and further mothered by Mahat (Cosmic Intelligence).
So God is not a part of the scheme at elemental level. It’s much higher principle. And it’s beyond just being a void, in the sense of being a “container” of all. Void is non-presence not omni-presence. Pervasion is just one of godly functions viz. to let everything inhere.
Omni-potence, Omni-science etc are other Omnis along with Omni-presence that connote a fuller notion of God.
English is confusing and misleading. Better to work with Sanskrit words.
Hope I make some progress in explaining something which I really do not fully comprehend myself!
Jai Guru
Q.
I have been seeing people in dreams that I have never seen or heard of, some of them died long ago. They tell me their names, family details, where they lived. When I check, I get exact resemblance. It’s uncanny. They seek help and I have offered it on couple of occasions by performing pujas they asked for. Once the puja is performed they appear I the dream to thank and then never come back. I really want to know the truth behind my dreams. Do they really exist? If yes then why me only? Is it a real blessing for me or what? I just want know the yatharth behind all this?
A.G, New Delhi
Answer.
There is an element of truth in your dreams, but since it is a pass down from last birth as an inferior siddhi, it should be ignored.
Besides, being attuned to the world of spirits is not a great thing, we should be attuned to gods, not spirits.
You can see these things in dream because of a certain openness to the non-physical forces. This openness is both positive and negative.
Only when these things come from deep and long sadhana that one can pay attention to these insights.
What you have done so far is good, it was in no way harmful.
But do not take the dreams seriously hereon, don’t feel obliged to follow what appears in dreams.
Ignore it until you have taken a mantra from authentic Guru and done mantra japa for at least seven years.
Thereafter again start paying attention to the dreams after duly consulting the Guru.
Q.
I am writing just to inform you of the coincidence how your magazine’s content coincided with what I read in Geeta this morning. I have been reading 5 pages of Geeta everyday as part of my morning prayers and I am almost in the last few chapters but today all Shri Krishna was explaining to Arjun how one should devote every piece of activity performed during the day to Isvara and then I read The Mother.
Clearly profound are the ways of Isvara. Can these coincidences be maintained?
Answer.
Profound indeed are the ways of Ishwara!
Actually, the more God-filled or God-conscious we grow on a day-to-day basis, the more such coincidences happen, the frequency grows until it becomes a regular, daily feature of life. At that point one does not revel in “happy coincidences” of yesterdays, one yearns for a demonstration of His Intervention on a daily basis. And if the sadhaka is not touched by such thing on any particular day, he or she ponders. “Am I not thinking of God enough? Am I so self-occupied that I am not able to feel Him through the daily currents of my life? Perhaps, I didn’t feel or touch Him today, I will modify my attitude and live in Him from tomorrow.”
If we pray regularly and remember Him through the day, consciously, the grace returns. Coincidences recur. One realises that there’s a life behind our lives, which we have touched, that we have started resonating with the divine will and living the way our Master intended us to live. |
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