Ashtavakra Geeta Chapter 1

Drishti-Srishti

Drishti-Srishti Vada and Schrödinger’s Cat

According to the Quantum Theory, at the fundamental level, the concept of a particle becomes blurred with the concept of a wave, or rather a probability wave. Ervin Schrödinger, the creator of the mathematics of Quantum Mechanics, calls the Vedantic identity of Brahman and Atman “the quintessence of deepest insight into the happenings of the world”. His famous thought experiment of the “Schrödinger’s Cat” illustrates the basic probabilistic nature at the quantum level. A cat is sealed in a closed box/chamber with a flask of poison, a Geiger counter and a radioactive source. In an hour, there is a 50% chance that the source will emit radiation. If it does, the Geiger counter will detect it and cause the flask to break, releasing the poison and killing the cat. If not, the cat will still be alive. At this point, since the box is sealed, we don’t really know the state of the cat – the probability of the cat being alive or dead of 50%. It only becomes 100% alive or dead when the conscious entity, i.e. an observer, interferes with the experiment by opening the chamber for examination. Please note: It is not that the cat died or lived when the observer observed or that the observer observed the dead or alive cat, but rather the state of the cat got defined as “the cat died when the radiation was emitted releasing the poison” or “the cat lived as the radiation was not emitted” when the observer observed. The whole basis of the Quantum Theory is this unpredictability or a quasi-state of existence (or non-existence) at the basic fundamental level and the effect of ‘observation’ defining the ‘observed’. These have been discussed mathematically and in physics starting with the scientists like Schrödinger and Heisenberg (the latter in his uncertainty theorem). At that fundamental level, the boundary between pure science and philosophy starts to blur.

The philosophy behind this observer or ‘seer’ defining the observed or the ‘seen’ has been explained in the Drishti-Srishti Vada as well as the commentaries by Sri Gaudapada (Sri Shankaracharya’s guru) on the Mandukya Upanishad known today as the Gaudapada Karika. Our dream state is one of the finest example of the possibility of the proposition of Drishti-Srishti Vada. While dreaming, the world within the dream seems real and separate from you the dreamer. But when you wake up from the dream you realize that the world in the dream was just a projection of your mind and it existed because of you the dreamer or the ‘seer’ or the observer existed. ‘Waking up’ from the waking state to state beyond will let you realize that the world in your waking state also existed because you existed; and it existed in the way you perceived it through your individual you, your attributes present over the pure consciousness or the absolute awareness.
Source: http://vedantastudent.blogspot.com/p/drishti-srishti-vada-and-schrodingers.html


Drishti-Srishti Vada
Swami Atmananda Saraswati
Source http://www.vmission.org.in/vedanta/articles/drishtishristi.htm

Broadly speaking there are two fundamental theories about creation. They are: Srishti-Drishti Vada and the Drishti-Srishti Vada. The first, Srishti-Drishti Vada means that 'We see the creation because it exists', and the second one implies that 'The creation exists because we see it'. The majority of people including today's scientific fraternity believe in the former premise; however, vedanta proposes and believes the almost revolutionary latter proposition that the truth is contrary, and in fact all what is seen exists and depends on the very seer.

Vedanta says that the 'seen' has no independent existence apart from the seer. In fact the entire Srishti (creation) is created from, is sustained by and goes back into - the seer. Obviously those Rishis who have dared to propose this revolutionary and most often unimaginable theory, see the 'seer' to be very different from all what the others know it to be. They see the seer as Brahman, the infinite, timeless divinity. The Lord wishes to see something and thus the entire creation is presented by his divine creative power called Maya. This is what Sri Gaudapada has presented and in fact proved in his profound commentary on Mandukya Upanishad known today as the Gaudapada Karika. So also the Yoga Vasishta, the compendium of the teachings of Sage Vasishta to his disciple Sri Rama. Without mincing any words they clearly thunder this truth that the creation exists because you wish to see it, otherwise there is no independent creation whatsoever. The basic difficulty to see and believe this is because today we entertain a very superficial, baseless and fallacious perception about our own Self and also about the truth of the world.

It is not in the purview of this article to go into the exact intricacies of this proposition, we shall just briefly see on the possibility of this proposition and also the implication of these theories.

Our dream state is one of the finest example of the possibility of the proposition of Drishti-Srishti Vada. We all daily experience our dream state. We know that dream is a state where mind projects a realm of experience on the basis of our impressions, fascinations, suppressions & repressions. Like a pressure cooker it helps to release our pent-up emotions. One thing is very clear to the majority that the dream world is a projection of the mind, it is not that somewhere some dream world exists, and we travel there and get experiences. When we get up from our dream state we all very clearly know that it was all in our mind, and by our mind alone. However, this realization dawns only when we get up from our dream, not while we are dreaming. If someone was to tell us this truth while we are dreaming that this 'world' exists on you the seer, then it would be as difficult to accept this as we find it difficult to imagine that this entire cosmos exists in us and it exists because of me. While dreaming the dream world appears to have an independent separate existence apart from us, and this is what dreaming is all about. The entry to the dream world is only when the truth of our waking state gets veiled and then start the projections. So also in this waking world, it is the pressure of our karmas because of which our mind projects a world of experience, and it is indeed difficult to imagine that all this is my projection, as long as we continue to give importance to the world. Only those who can dare to stand apart and see the truth of what is.

The implications of both these theories is profound. The one who thinks that the world exists and therefore we see it, shall always remain extrovert, and try to enjoy the world, in which he or she has temporarily come into. Such a person shall always take him/her self to be a limited person. This is a road to misery and bondage, and at the end of it such people die too as a wanting mortal being. On the other hand those who believe in the latter proposition and see the truth of it, bring about a revolutionary change in their lives. A fundamental paradigm shift indeed. Such a person obviously sees the profoundity and divinity of his / her self. They are never dependent on things outside. They revel in contentment in & by their own Self, and in fact they can create whatever they really wish. They are the liberated ones, the so called Jivanmukta's.

Ramana Maharshi on Creation
Source: http://www.kheper.net/topics/Vedanta/Ramana_on_creation.html

Sri Ramana adopted three different standpoints when he spoke about the nature of the physical world. He advocated all of them at different times but it is clear from his general comments on the subject that he only considered the first two theories given below to be either true or useful.

1. Ajata vada or the theory of non-causality. This is an ancient Hindu doctrine which states that the creation of the world never happened at all. It is a complete denial of all causality in the physical world. Sri Ramana endorsed this view by saying that it is the jnani's (Man who is Self-realised) experience that nothing ever comes into existence or ceases to be because the Self alone exists as the sole unchanging reality. It is a corollary of this theory that time, space, cause and effect, essential components of all creation theories, exist only in the minds of ajnanis (ignorant) and that the experience of the Self reveals their non-existence.

This theory is not a denial of the reality of the world, only of the creative process which brought it into existence. Speaking from his own experience Sri Ramana said that the jnani is aware that the world is real, not as an assemblage of interacting matter and energy, but as an uncaused appearance in the Self. He enlarged on this by saying that because the real nature or substratum of this appearance is identical with the beingness of the Self, it necessarily partakes of its reality. That is to say, the world is not real to the jnani simply because it appears, but only because the real nature of the appearance is inseparable from the Self.

The ajnani on the other hand, is totally unaware of the unitary nature and source of the world and, as a consequence, his mind constructs an illusory world of separate interacting objects by persistently misinterpreting the sense-impressions it receives. Sri Ramana pointed out that this view of the world has no more reality than a dream since it superimposes a creation of the mind on the reality of the Self. He summarised the difference between the jnani's and the ajnani's standpoint by saying that the world is unreal if it is perceived by the mind as a collection of discrete objects and real when it is directly experienced as an appearance in the Self.

2. Drishti-srishti vada. If his questioners found the idea of ajata or non-causality impossible to assimilate, he would teach them that the world comes into existence simultaneously with the appearance of the `I' –thought and that it ceases to exist when the `I' –thought is absent. This theory is known as drishti-srishti, or simultaneous creation, and it says, in effect, that the world which appears to an ajnani is a product of the mind that perceives it, and that in the absence of that mind it ceases to exist. The theory is true in so far as the mind does create an imaginary world for itself, but from the standpoint of the Self, an imaginary `I' creating an imaginary world is no creation at all, and so the doctrine of ajata is not subverted. Although Sri Ramana sometimes said that drishti-srishti was not the ultimate truth about creation he encouraged his followers to accept it as a working hypothesis. He justified this approach by saying that if one can consistently regard the world as an unreal creation of the mind then it loses its attraction and it becomes easier to maintain an undistracted awareness of the `I'-thought.

3. Srishti-drishti vada (gradual creation). This is the common-sense view which holds that the world is an objective reality governed by laws of cause and effect which can be traced back to a single act of creation. It includes virtually all western ideas on the subject from `big bang' theory to the biblical account in Genesis. Sri Ramana invoked theories of this nature when he was talking to questioners who were unwilling to accept the implications of the ajata and drishti-srishti theories. Even then, he would usually point out that such theories should not be taken too seriously as they were only promulgated to satisfy intellectual curiosity.

Literally, drishti-srishti means that the world only exists when it is perceived whereas srishti-drishti means that the world existed prior to anyone's perception of it. Although the former theory sounds perverse, Sri Ramana insisted that serious seekers should be satisfied with it, partly because it is a close approximation to the truth and partly because it is the most beneficial attitude to adopt if one is seriously interested in realising the Self.]


Other Links
http://benegal.org/ramana_maharshi/books/tw/tw571.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphysical_solipsism

https://www.google.com/#q=ext:pdf+Drishti-Srishti+Vada+



Have a nice day :)

Tree of Life

Ashtavakra Gita Chapter 18

Karma Yoga Summary

Slokas	My Understanding
1 – 2	Arjuna asks Krishna to advice on what will bring Shreyas (not preyas) to him.
3	Krishna talks about two paths. The path of Insight and the path of Unattached Action.
4 – 16	Krishna explains how nobody can live even a second without karma. Explains how the cycle of life works.
17 – 18	Krishna talks about one exception to the above karma cycle. He says the one who knows and dwells only in his Atma, totally content and happy in his Self/Atma, he is beyond karma. There is no karma that he should or should not do. Krishna uses words, Atma Rati Eva, Atma Truptacha, Atmani Eva Santushta
19	Krishna talks about selfless Karma path. Advices  Arjuna to develop Nonattachment/Asanga and be dispassionate/Asaktha
20 – 30	Gives examples of Janaka and he himself on how to practice asanga karma.
27 – 29	Krishna talks about how natural bio forces(Prakruti Gunas) incites sentient beings to acting according to their natural conditioning or samskaras.
30 – 35	Advices Arjuna to act selflessly but SELFfully. Adhyatma chetasa, Nirasee Nirmama, yudhwasya. Even jnanis have to do swadharma inorder to dissipate pre accumulated samskaras. Doing paradharma while harbouring karmic formations of swadharma will only generate new samskaras that entangle and sink you deeper in sansara. (This is not advocating for war.)
34	Krishna says that Arjunas real enemy is Desire and Aversion. Raga Dwashou Paripandhinou.
36	Arjuna asks why do even good people act stupidly or commit sins
37	Krishna says it is because of Desire/Lust and Aversion/Anger originating from Rajoguna, (Passion) and reiterates that they are your real enemies.
38 – 42	Krishna talks about the subtle structure of how desire and aversion works
43	Krishna says Arjuna to fight his enemy, the insatiable and uncontrollable Kama/Desire using all his faculties. Thus answering his initial question on how to achieve Shreyas (not preyas)

Difference between bliss and contentment.

http://www.nickroach.co.uk/samadhi.htm

Bliss is a temporary, pleasurable state and the opposite of misery. On the other hand, contentment here is taken to mean not the opposite of any unhappy state, but rather the basic nature of our essential awareness (of "who" we really essentially are, beneath the layers of who we think we are) which is said to be contentment (you might have heard of the Sanskrit description Sat-cit-ananda). It is difficult to describe, but to give a very rough example, picture a newborn baby at rest or a dog at rest. Their essential nature can be said to be contentment. It does not need anything from outside to achieve it. It is already always there. Only the child/dog is content without consciously knowing this, whereas the awakened one can knowingly bask in its glory.

Overlaying this basic contentment, the awakened one may experience other modes of mind, including bliss (which may be more frequent, more easily induced, and more lasting in his case, whatever brings it on, and whenever, but even here the bliss itself will still be temporary). It can also include sadness or disappointment. This sounds strange, for how can anyone be contented and sad at the same time? But remember that sadness here is a superficial emotion (and is recognized by him as such). Again to give a rough example, imagine a happily married man fully content with his family and job etc. He roots for his favorite soccer team which loses. He feels disappointed - for a time, but he still remains basically a contented individual throughout. That does not change.

Another way to understand this is by the concept of Consciousness and its content (for which I am indebted to Gary Schouborg of USA). What we really are, is Consciousness, which is "what is doing the thinking" (as St Augustine put it). What we think of, including what we think we are, is the content of Consciousness. Now, bliss is a state which is within Consciousness, that is, it is a content of Consciousness and it appears on the fulfilling of certain requirements. Contentment, on the other hand, is the very nature or property of the Consciousness itself. To the inexperienced, it is therefore only fully apparent when the Consciousness is devoid of content, or nearly so (like when overwhelmed by a beautiful sunset). But basically it is always already there and does not need anything to bring it "on." This is so in ALL people, including you, right here, right now.