Human Body and Consciousness
CHAPTER 9
A LOOK AT HUMAN BODY AND CONSCIOUSNESS FROM
THE ANGLE OF PLANETARY DYNAMICS AND NUCLEAR
PHYSICS|
“The passage from the infinite absolute
to a limited nature is influenced by
Maaya and the transition is called space”
(Verse 104, Chapter 18, Tripura-Rahasya***)”
“Self in one is space in another and vice-
versa ...... Space is self and self is
space .... Space implies sections....
Each section is called mind....”
(Chapter 18 Tripura – Rahasya ***)--------- --author’s interpretation. what was in sri Dattatreya’s mind when he spoke these verses to parasurama?
*** this book, published by RAMANASRAMAM at Thiruvannamalai , contains sri DATTATREYA’S teachings and guidance to PARASURAMA
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Is human consciousness matter-based or space-based?
Preamble :
The human body is composed of atoms. Each atom is a tiny particle of diameter less than one tenth of one billionth of a metre. The distance between two atoms is enormous when compared to the diameter of the atoms. The atom itself is not a solid particle but merely a collection of sub particles. At the centre of each atom is a nucleus, very much like the sun of the solar system, with a number of electrons revolving round it very much like the planets revolving round the sun. The sum total of volumes of all the electrons and nucleus of an atom is just negligible, less than a billionth of the volume of the atom itself. No two atoms touch each other. Can such discontinuous matter harbour human consciousness ?
Body is space :
Thus human body is a collection of atoms sprinkled sparsely in space with a huge yawning gap between the atoms as compared to the diameter of the individual atoms. Let us now imagine an observer, extremely tiny in size, say less than several trillionth of the size of an electron. Let us assume this tiny observer has faculties of perceiving the external world just as we perceive the external world. This observer when placed on the skin of a human body does not see any skin at all. He sees the individual atoms of the skin, no two atoms of which touch each other.
The tiny pico sized observer (let us say 10(-40) in size) does not see the skin as skin at all but as space with a sprinkling of atoms here and there with a huge void in between the atoms. He can travel through the skin, the way a space ship travels in space. Each atom is like a star to him, each atom consisting of a sun like nucleus with earth like electrons revolving round the nucleus. The micro or rather the pico-pico-pico sized observer travels through the human body, travelling through the skin, entering the blood vessels, bones, flesh, tissues, nerves, muscles, etc. But to this observer it all looks like empty space with a few sprinkling of stars only.
He can not discern where the skin ends and where flesh begins, which is blood and which is the wall of the vessel. He does not see any part of the body the way it appears to us humans. The observer only sees the vast emptiness of space sparsely filled with star-like atoms. If he enters any of these atoms he sees a huge sun (nucleus) emanating radiation visible and invisible with planet-like electrons in orbit. He finds an atom largely a void except for a nucleus and few electrons forming a negligible fraction of the total volume of an atom.
Thus the tiny observer (tiny as compared to our size) sees the basic discontinuous nature of matter.
Matter is mostly void since each particle, as the observer approaches it , presents itself as yet another stupendous collection of sub particles with a huge gap between the sub particles as compared to the diameter of these particles. As the observer goes on dwindling in size, he also sees that the solid matter also expands into nothing, expanding into just void or space where he is unable to locate particles which are continuous.
No particle is `Space or void free’
He is unable to locate a `space-free’ particle, a particle that contains no space within its envelope or boundary, a particle that is composed of continuous matter. To an observer capable of limitless dwindling in size, any particle on entering it ,is exposed as space containing a collection of particles.
When he dwindles in size, this single solid speck resolves into stupendous collection of tinier particles dispersed with in the confines of the original speck. He finds, that what appears as solid matter to the human eye is just space in reality, is just void in effect.
Continuity of space and discontinuity of matter :
Thus the human body is largely void or space and the tiny observer, travelling through the vast spaces of the human body is unable to locate the centre of human consciousness. To him, the human body is space, sparsely filled with a collection of several galaxies, a drop of blood looking like several galaxies of stars to him. In this vast void where a mere speck of human body appears to him like the Milky Way galaxy or the Andromeda galaxy he cannot locate the seat of human consciousness.
Each particle of matter is fictitious as it disappears into void when the observer becomes very much smaller than the observed particle. The observed particle, then, to the dwindling observer, explodes into mighty void which is sparsely filled. Can such fictitious apparent matter, composed mostly of space and perhaps only of space, be the seat of consciousness? The human body composing essentially of void does harbour a consciousness in its envelope. This consciousness is therefore space based, is trapped in the confines of space within the human envelope.
Once we admit that space harbours consciousness, then it follows that all space harbours consciousness whether it be the confined space within a human envelope or the space outside the human envelope. All that the human envelope, enveloping a particular section of space, seems to do is to isolate a certain section of space and make it assume an individual consciousness of its own, an ego, of its own. The unfragmentable space appears to have been fragmented into individual envelopes of space, each envelope harbouring an ego-consciousness. The Ego or the human `I’ consciousness seems to have seceded from the universal space or universal consciousness.
(How is the envelope fromed? Space should have fragmanted itself). (Swayambhu. Self born.)
The tiny observer traversing the human body like a space traveler, if he had no prior knowledge of human body, will dispute the very existence of it, as he sees only empty space filled with galaxies of stars.
We, the humans, are in the same position as this tiny observer. We look into the skies and see the mind boggling vastness of the space, containing countless trillions of galaxies, the Milky Way galaxy alone consisting of 88000 million stars, the nearest galaxy being the Andromda galaxy several million light years away. We are unable to comprehend that all these stupendous collection of galaxies may form a bigger body of a bigger being. We refuse to believe that all stars may be merely atoms in a bigger world.
Molecules and Galaxies :
To the tiny observer the electron may be a planet. To us the Earth is a planet. The tiny observer also may find life, history and geography and he may find civilizations flourishing and dying on the electrons. What is merely one gram of oxygen to us is a galaxy to the tiny observer containing 6 x 1025 stars, each atom of oxygen appearing like a star to him. In the same way the Milky Way galaxy containing 88000 million stars may be a speck of matter containing 88000 million atoms to a physically bigger intelligence.
If the tiny observer enlarges himself and becomes a man sized observer and realises that all the stars he was seeing are only atoms in a human body, he will further rationalise that all the disjoined stars and galaxies he sees in the skies can definitely form a bigger world where each star is an atom only. The whole universe may be merely an illusion conceived by the faculty of perception of a perceiver who may not be a distinctly separate identity from his faculty.
These micro and macro worlds may differ only in time scale. During the span of a micro second of a human being, several million civilisations may rise and fall on each of the electrons in a human body or in the air around it. What is several thousand centuries to us humans may be merely a fleeting moment of time in a bigger world where our Earth is an electron. The mini life on the electron may lead as complicated lives as we do on Mother Earth though their life span may be trillionth of our life span. Their perceptions may be so fast that in the trillionth of a second ,they can lead life which to them is as long and complicated as ours is to us. Time by itself is meaningless. The sensory speed of the observer decides the extent of Time.
It all seems to be a vast canvas of Maaya and Nuclear-physics does not lead us anywhere near the seat of consciousness. Space and Time are mere concepts created by the observer in us.
Summing up :
Matter is discontinuous; only space has continuity. To an observer capable of limitless shrinking in size, any particle on entering it, is exposed as mere space containing a collection of further particles. When the observer enlarges his own size, this collection of particles in space appears as a single particle to him and when he shrinks in size the single solid speck resolves again into a stupendous collection of tinier particles dispersed in the confines of the original speck.
Matter is therefore not only discontinuous but may also be Illusory, fictitious, a manifestation of Maaya.
What is seen is not dependent on the seen thing but on the seer.
If the seer shrinks in size then the speck earlier seen by him before shrinking, is now seen as a collection of particles dispersed in space. Therefore, the perception or the size or matter depends on the perceiver. The human body according to modern physics is 99.9999 ...... per cent void. Hence human consciousness is not based on matter but is space based as space is continuous, the universal space harbours universal consciousness which is sectionalised into individual Egos within individual envelopes or boundaries.
It is at this point the Vedanta philosophy takes off in its hunt for ‘I’ consciousness in its task of locating the `I’.
And consciousness cannot cease when the human body ceases.
Vedaanta proclaims that :
A thought free mind, on total cessation of individuality, becomes aware of itself in the total absence of thoughts. This is called “Self-Realisation” or “Self Awareness”. It rejoins the universal consciousness.
Knowing power or Recognising principle becomes aware of itself when the superimposed intoxication of Maaya (thoughts and emotions) is extinguished. The resident or the residual awareness within the 5 sheaths, emerges as a Self Awareness out of the extinguished debris of Maaya which had been superimposed till then. The residual Awareness which had seceded from universal Awareness, due to assumption of an Ego and Individuality rejoins the universal consciousness on losing its ego consciousness and Individuality.
A LOOK AT HUMAN BODY AND CONSCIOUSNESS FROM
THE ANGLE OF PLANETARY DYNAMICS AND NUCLEAR
PHYSICS|
“The passage from the infinite absolute
to a limited nature is influenced by
Maaya and the transition is called space”
(Verse 104, Chapter 18, Tripura-Rahasya***)”
“Self in one is space in another and vice-
versa ...... Space is self and self is
space .... Space implies sections....
Each section is called mind....”
(Chapter 18 Tripura – Rahasya ***)--------- --author’s interpretation. what was in sri Dattatreya’s mind when he spoke these verses to parasurama?
*** this book, published by RAMANASRAMAM at Thiruvannamalai , contains sri DATTATREYA’S teachings and guidance to PARASURAMA
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Is human consciousness matter-based or space-based?
Preamble :
The human body is composed of atoms. Each atom is a tiny particle of diameter less than one tenth of one billionth of a metre. The distance between two atoms is enormous when compared to the diameter of the atoms. The atom itself is not a solid particle but merely a collection of sub particles. At the centre of each atom is a nucleus, very much like the sun of the solar system, with a number of electrons revolving round it very much like the planets revolving round the sun. The sum total of volumes of all the electrons and nucleus of an atom is just negligible, less than a billionth of the volume of the atom itself. No two atoms touch each other. Can such discontinuous matter harbour human consciousness ?
Body is space :
Thus human body is a collection of atoms sprinkled sparsely in space with a huge yawning gap between the atoms as compared to the diameter of the individual atoms. Let us now imagine an observer, extremely tiny in size, say less than several trillionth of the size of an electron. Let us assume this tiny observer has faculties of perceiving the external world just as we perceive the external world. This observer when placed on the skin of a human body does not see any skin at all. He sees the individual atoms of the skin, no two atoms of which touch each other.
The tiny pico sized observer (let us say 10(-40) in size) does not see the skin as skin at all but as space with a sprinkling of atoms here and there with a huge void in between the atoms. He can travel through the skin, the way a space ship travels in space. Each atom is like a star to him, each atom consisting of a sun like nucleus with earth like electrons revolving round the nucleus. The micro or rather the pico-pico-pico sized observer travels through the human body, travelling through the skin, entering the blood vessels, bones, flesh, tissues, nerves, muscles, etc. But to this observer it all looks like empty space with a few sprinkling of stars only.
He can not discern where the skin ends and where flesh begins, which is blood and which is the wall of the vessel. He does not see any part of the body the way it appears to us humans. The observer only sees the vast emptiness of space sparsely filled with star-like atoms. If he enters any of these atoms he sees a huge sun (nucleus) emanating radiation visible and invisible with planet-like electrons in orbit. He finds an atom largely a void except for a nucleus and few electrons forming a negligible fraction of the total volume of an atom.
Thus the tiny observer (tiny as compared to our size) sees the basic discontinuous nature of matter.
Matter is mostly void since each particle, as the observer approaches it , presents itself as yet another stupendous collection of sub particles with a huge gap between the sub particles as compared to the diameter of these particles. As the observer goes on dwindling in size, he also sees that the solid matter also expands into nothing, expanding into just void or space where he is unable to locate particles which are continuous.
No particle is `Space or void free’
He is unable to locate a `space-free’ particle, a particle that contains no space within its envelope or boundary, a particle that is composed of continuous matter. To an observer capable of limitless dwindling in size, any particle on entering it ,is exposed as space containing a collection of particles.
When he dwindles in size, this single solid speck resolves into stupendous collection of tinier particles dispersed with in the confines of the original speck. He finds, that what appears as solid matter to the human eye is just space in reality, is just void in effect.
Continuity of space and discontinuity of matter :
Thus the human body is largely void or space and the tiny observer, travelling through the vast spaces of the human body is unable to locate the centre of human consciousness. To him, the human body is space, sparsely filled with a collection of several galaxies, a drop of blood looking like several galaxies of stars to him. In this vast void where a mere speck of human body appears to him like the Milky Way galaxy or the Andromeda galaxy he cannot locate the seat of human consciousness.
Each particle of matter is fictitious as it disappears into void when the observer becomes very much smaller than the observed particle. The observed particle, then, to the dwindling observer, explodes into mighty void which is sparsely filled. Can such fictitious apparent matter, composed mostly of space and perhaps only of space, be the seat of consciousness? The human body composing essentially of void does harbour a consciousness in its envelope. This consciousness is therefore space based, is trapped in the confines of space within the human envelope.
Once we admit that space harbours consciousness, then it follows that all space harbours consciousness whether it be the confined space within a human envelope or the space outside the human envelope. All that the human envelope, enveloping a particular section of space, seems to do is to isolate a certain section of space and make it assume an individual consciousness of its own, an ego, of its own. The unfragmentable space appears to have been fragmented into individual envelopes of space, each envelope harbouring an ego-consciousness. The Ego or the human `I’ consciousness seems to have seceded from the universal space or universal consciousness.
(How is the envelope fromed? Space should have fragmanted itself). (Swayambhu. Self born.)
The tiny observer traversing the human body like a space traveler, if he had no prior knowledge of human body, will dispute the very existence of it, as he sees only empty space filled with galaxies of stars.
We, the humans, are in the same position as this tiny observer. We look into the skies and see the mind boggling vastness of the space, containing countless trillions of galaxies, the Milky Way galaxy alone consisting of 88000 million stars, the nearest galaxy being the Andromda galaxy several million light years away. We are unable to comprehend that all these stupendous collection of galaxies may form a bigger body of a bigger being. We refuse to believe that all stars may be merely atoms in a bigger world.
Molecules and Galaxies :
To the tiny observer the electron may be a planet. To us the Earth is a planet. The tiny observer also may find life, history and geography and he may find civilizations flourishing and dying on the electrons. What is merely one gram of oxygen to us is a galaxy to the tiny observer containing 6 x 1025 stars, each atom of oxygen appearing like a star to him. In the same way the Milky Way galaxy containing 88000 million stars may be a speck of matter containing 88000 million atoms to a physically bigger intelligence.
If the tiny observer enlarges himself and becomes a man sized observer and realises that all the stars he was seeing are only atoms in a human body, he will further rationalise that all the disjoined stars and galaxies he sees in the skies can definitely form a bigger world where each star is an atom only. The whole universe may be merely an illusion conceived by the faculty of perception of a perceiver who may not be a distinctly separate identity from his faculty.
These micro and macro worlds may differ only in time scale. During the span of a micro second of a human being, several million civilisations may rise and fall on each of the electrons in a human body or in the air around it. What is several thousand centuries to us humans may be merely a fleeting moment of time in a bigger world where our Earth is an electron. The mini life on the electron may lead as complicated lives as we do on Mother Earth though their life span may be trillionth of our life span. Their perceptions may be so fast that in the trillionth of a second ,they can lead life which to them is as long and complicated as ours is to us. Time by itself is meaningless. The sensory speed of the observer decides the extent of Time.
It all seems to be a vast canvas of Maaya and Nuclear-physics does not lead us anywhere near the seat of consciousness. Space and Time are mere concepts created by the observer in us.
Summing up :
Matter is discontinuous; only space has continuity. To an observer capable of limitless shrinking in size, any particle on entering it, is exposed as mere space containing a collection of further particles. When the observer enlarges his own size, this collection of particles in space appears as a single particle to him and when he shrinks in size the single solid speck resolves again into a stupendous collection of tinier particles dispersed in the confines of the original speck.
Matter is therefore not only discontinuous but may also be Illusory, fictitious, a manifestation of Maaya.
What is seen is not dependent on the seen thing but on the seer.
If the seer shrinks in size then the speck earlier seen by him before shrinking, is now seen as a collection of particles dispersed in space. Therefore, the perception or the size or matter depends on the perceiver. The human body according to modern physics is 99.9999 ...... per cent void. Hence human consciousness is not based on matter but is space based as space is continuous, the universal space harbours universal consciousness which is sectionalised into individual Egos within individual envelopes or boundaries.
It is at this point the Vedanta philosophy takes off in its hunt for ‘I’ consciousness in its task of locating the `I’.
And consciousness cannot cease when the human body ceases.
Vedaanta proclaims that :
A thought free mind, on total cessation of individuality, becomes aware of itself in the total absence of thoughts. This is called “Self-Realisation” or “Self Awareness”. It rejoins the universal consciousness.
Knowing power or Recognising principle becomes aware of itself when the superimposed intoxication of Maaya (thoughts and emotions) is extinguished. The resident or the residual awareness within the 5 sheaths, emerges as a Self Awareness out of the extinguished debris of Maaya which had been superimposed till then. The residual Awareness which had seceded from universal Awareness, due to assumption of an Ego and Individuality rejoins the universal consciousness on losing its ego consciousness and Individuality.
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