Knowledge is dependent on the knower for its existence. The knower does not require any tests for knowing his own existence. The knower therefore is the only reality behind knowledge and objects. That which is self-evident without the necessity to be proved, is alone real; not so other things.
Himalayas Another characteristic of Indian spirituality is its inclusiveness. India is a country where numerous sects exist side-by-side and other religions are not only tolerated but respected and embraced. Throughout the world, religion has far to often served to divide people and has often resulted in increased hatred and even war. Indian spirituality offers the world an example of how tolerance and mutual respect can unite rather than divide us.
The most important aspect of Indian Spirituality is that it is a living tradition passed on by enlightened masters. The very earth of India is sanctified by the great yogis, sadhus, sages, saints and enlightened masters who lived there. They were and are still today the spiritual lighthouses of the world. For thousands of years these illumined ones have radiated powerful blessings to the world. Some were visble in society and some dwelled deep within the Himalayas in caves far from the din of human society.
Rishi Agastya The enlightened sages possess vast knowledge. They know things about the human body and the structure of the universe that modern medicine and science still do not know. Thousands of years ago, the rishis described the structures of the atom and sub-atomic particles that modern scientists have only recently discovered. These ancient sages accomplished that without the use of telescopes or microscopes. Their labroratory was their body and their tools were their mind and meditation. They discoverd within their own consciousness the home of all knowledge.
Dynamism is the great law of the universe. Change and movement occur eternally, symbolized by Shiva's Dance. The recurring theme in Hindu mythology is the creation of the world by the self-sacrifice of God - "sacrifice" in the original sense of "making sacred" - whereby God becomes the world. Lila, the play of God, is the creative activity of the Divine; and the world is the stage of the Divine play. Brahman is the great magician Who transforms Himself into the world and He performs this feat with His "magic creative power", which is the original meaning of maya in the Rig Veda.
Dr. Fritjof Capra has said: "As long as we confuse the myraid forms of the Divine lila with reality, without preceiving the unity of Brahman underlying all these forms, we are under the spell of maya...Maya is the illusion of taking these concepts for reality, of confusing the map with the territory." To the Rishis the divine play was the evolution of the cosmos through countless aeons. There is an infinite number of creations in an infinite universe. The Rishis gave the name kalpa to the unimaginable span of time between the beginning and the end of creation. They understood the staggering scale of the divine play. Many centuries later the scientific mind still boggles at the scale of creation which makes infinity intelligible. The Rishis clearly perceived that the most fundamental characteristic of this incomprehensible creation was that it was in a perpetual state of movement, flow and change. Lila is a rhythmic play which goes on in endless cycles, the One becoming the many and the many returning to the One.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna describes this rhythmic play of creation in the following words: "At the end of the night of time all things return to my nature, and when the new day of time begins I bring them again into light. Thus through my nature I bring forth all creation and this rolls around in the circles of time." "But I am not bound by this vast work of creation. I am and I watch the drama of works.
I watch and in its work of creation nature brings forth all that moves and moves not; and thus the revolutions of the world go round." How uncanny is the identity of the ancient insights with the latest conclusions of modern science which are well summed up in the fascinating book, The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra: "When we study the universe as a whole, with its millions of galaxies, we have reached the largest scale of space and time; and again, at that cosmic level, we discover that the universe is not static - it is expanding!
Modern physics has come to the conclusion that mass is nothing but a form of energy. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the basis of the theory of relativity, and the space-time character of the universe, were perceived by the old Indian Rishis in their advanced stage of spiritual consciousness. In their state of higher consciousness they realized that the ultimate constituents of the universe - energy and mass, particle and wave, - were but different aspects of the same basic process, but the same Oneness which pervaded the entire universe. Today science has relearned that lesson. In the words of A. N. Whitehead: "Matter has been identified with energy, and energy is sheer activity."
Thus, the vastest knowledge of today cannot transcend the buddhi of the Rishis; and science, in its most advanced stage, is closer to Vedanta than ever before. (source: India's Priceless Heritage - By Nani Palkhivala published by Bharati Vidya Bhavan 1980 p. 17-21). Refer to Internet Sacred Texts on Hinduism. Refer to Science and the Gita - By Dr. Alok K. Sunil Bohara
In the search after Truth one must
not allow oneself to be overpowered by anything, but should watch carefully, whatever phenomena may supervene, keeping fully conscious, wide awake, in fact retaining complete mastery over oneself.
Loss of consciousness and of self-control are never right.
While absorbed in meditation, whether one is conscious of the body or not, whether there be a sense of identification with the physical or not – under all circumstances,
it is imperative to remain wide awake - unconsciousness must be strictly avoided.
Some genuine perceptivity must be retained, whether one contemplates the Self as such, or any particular form.
What is the outcome of such meditation?
It opens up one’s being to the Light, to that which is Eternal.”
