Why is Adi Sankara considered the most intelligent human being ever?

There are two fundamental features about almost all basic phenomena in nature - that they are symmetric and/or cyclic. This can be noticed in the form and functioning of all tangible and intangible matter and phenomena around us. Almost all ancient civilizations across the globe have noted this and have developed their own postulations and philosophies about nature. Many of them have even developed the concept of an all powerful God based on these observations. However, for an impartial and unprejudiced observer, none of the civilizations have approached a near perfection in these aspects as the Vedic civilization of India. Some of the theories intrinsic to Vedic civilization like Adi Sankara’s Maaya theory are indistinguishable with those of the most modern Science.

India’s Vedic civilization started at immemorial times with the revealing or recitation of Vedas and continues unabated in the core of India even now. Many historians want to contain it within a specific period but have failed miserably because of the simple fact that Indian continues to the only ‘civilisational” entity that remains essentially unchanged in the entire world, despite the worst atrocities by the invading Muslim forces and the colonial masters for about one thousand years. All the other civilizations like Chinese, Greek, Mayan, Japanese, Egyptian etc., have undergone paradigm changes and maintains only minimal or no continuity with their glorious pasts. The main reason for this remarkable achievement is the contribution of our own Sastras and outstanding Gurus like Adi Sankara.

Sastras and Science

Many of the concepts and words which are central to India’s prestigious ancient language viz. Sanskrit have suffered from translation. Sastra and Dharma are just two of them. Very often Sastra gets wrongfully interpreted as modern Science and Dharma as Righteousness as we use now. Many of the outstanding postulations and literary works by ancient Rishis of India get ridiculed in modern times, especially by Indians with very clear vested interests, mainly because of this utterly wrong translation. In ancient India, all those fields of knowledge which has a rational base were considered Sastras. This is in stark contrast with modern Science which is all about measurement, objective evidence and zero nonconformity. 

Quite in keeping with such a rational definition of the Sastras, we have several branches of knowledge like Astrology, Vaastu, Ayurveda, Yoga, Yagam, Tantra, Temples etc in ancient India which are continuing to catch our attention even today. All of them have solid rational basis but many of the theories within these fields may not have the solid proofs that modern Science is asking for. But that does not belittle the importance of all these fields of knowledge in the lives of common Indians. Despite India’s great achievements in modern Science, most of the Hindu Indians still continues to abide by these Sastras in their individual lives. Quite surprisingly, the latest developments in the field of modern Science has started matching with these Sastras in recent times.

Sankara’s Advaita

Ever since the Europeans started illegitimately and immorally colonizing the rest of the world, they have usurped the leadership in Science from the ancient civilizations like India, China and Japan. Quite expectedly history of Science is also being written by the Europeans because Indians are one of least history-conscious people in the world. Though the latest mathematical tool of Calculus was quite popular in India in 14th century (Madhava of Sangamagrama), European historians have given the credit for its discovery to Newton and Leibnitz who lived in the 17th century. And when almost all the Vedic literature refers to heavenly bodies as Golas (meaning Spheres), the claim goes to Greek and Roman astronomers. Luckily the credit for the modern numeral system and zero still belongs to India even though it is designated as Arabic numerals because Arab traders carried it West from India.  

Physics has always been the cutting edge branch of Science that has shaped modern history of mankind. Modern Physics owes its development so far to the continuous thread of development from Aristotle to Galileo to Newton to Einstein. It has successfully established Big Bang and answered most of our questions with Stephen Hawkings in the lead. But for the unexpected development in Quantum Theory, Albert Einstein, the most brilliant scientist in history so far would have attained his Theory for Everything. The spooky behavior of minute particles at a distance resulted in the failure of Einstein who sincerely hoped that God will not play dice. As it stands today, most of the definite measurement theories of Physics fail at the sub atomic level and only probabilities are possible. It has been proven that the same particle can be present at different points of space at the same time. Current talks about eleven dimensional multiverses (Edward Witten) make it more evident that God is indeed playing dice.

The latest developments in our relentless pursuit for unraveling the universe bring the European Sciences face to face with Hindu India’s Sastras once again. One of India’s greatest Rishis, Shri Adi Shankaracharya (CE 788-820) had established almost 1500 years ago that the world we see is really unreal, which essentially means it is only probabilistic. The crux of his Advaita theory is that Brahman (not Brahma or Brahmin) alone is real, and the phenomenal world is unreal or an illusion. Modern Science is coming to the very same conclusion. Based on the quintessential symmetry and cyclic nature of universe, it is quite possible that there are trillions and billions of Micro Bangs occurring every nanosecond and what we perceive as reality is the sum total of the interference of the after effects of these staggered Micro  Bangs. Jagat is the Sanskrit word for the universe and it literally means Create, Sustain and Destroy. No wonder the most brilliant mind that humanity produced so far is called Jagatguru Adi Sankaracharya.

Right Turn of India

The recent victory of Right forces augurs well for Indian nation. Long under subjugation by foreign forces, the soul of India’s Majority has been suffocating for almost a thousand years now. Whether it is the Europeans or Mughals or even the remnants of colonial forces that were running the country for most of the period since liberation from the British in 1947, the Majority interests, hopes and aspirations have never been given the priority that it deserves. If democracy is indeed the rule by the Majority, of the Majority and for the Majority, it was non existent in India for the past several centuries, except in certain insignificant pockets. In modern terminology India was having an unsustainable form of governance.

The main reason for the subjugation of Majority interests in Indian nation has always been the unorganized nature of its Majority faith viz. Hindu Sanatana Dharma (HSD). Perhaps it is the only faith in human history which has undergone a full cycle of evolution and allows complete freedom for reforms, versions and even revolt. As it stands today, Advaita (Non-Duality) stands out as the most modern faith corroborating well with the challenges posed by the arch rival of all religions ie. Science. But in the social sphere, Advaita supports only individual pursuit of God or Truth as against the organized religions (all advocating Duality) which call for organized and collective bargains to please God and attain entry into heaven. Such forces are bound to win in the race for limited resources by an ever increasing population.

Majority of Indians still adhere to HSD and it is their unorganized will that has been tampered with for so long. The subjugation during foreign rule is understandable. But the systematic sidelining of India’s Majority during the past seven decades based on a wrong interpretation of a single word (Secularism) in Indian constitution is clearly beyond comprehension. The atrocious subjugation has reached its lowest ebb in more ‘literate’ and modern states like Kerala that it is virtually the Minorities that rule. The whole of Indian nation was heading in such a dangerous path when a messiah in the form of Narendra Modi dawned. The fact that he could get a clear mandate with simple majority for the Right forces all alone shows the silent will of the Majority in this ancient nation which sustains the oldest surviving civilization in the whole world. We can only hope that Narendra Modi triumphs in his mission.  

Advaita Established

It was anticipated for a long long time and now it has really happened. Existence of one of the most fundamental particles – rightly called the God particle – is finally established beyond any doubt. Our elite scientific community, that consists of some of the most intelligent human beings alive today, has given their seal of approval to the existence of Higgs-Boson particle that ‘substantiates’ everything in this universe by giving them mass. It is present in everything and that includes you, me, them and whatever one can think of. It not only means that the God particle is present in everything, but also that nothing is possible without the presence of God particle. For the ardent followers of Advaita philosophy in Hindu Sanatana Dharma (HSD) the new discovery is nothing surprising. The present finding merely substantiates what Adi Sankara propounded hundreds of years back.

The conflict or synergy that exists between religions and Science is reaching its pinnacle very soon. We understand from the scientists at CERN that it will take a few more months to put their final seal on God particle. But as and when it happens, the fundamentals of modern Science will reach a complete synergy with the concept of Advaita that was propounded by Sage Adi Sankara. At the end of a purely impartial, objective and sincere pursuit in search of the absolute truth, a team of most modern particle physicists, using the most modern equipment that costs billions of dollars, have come to the very same conclusion as it was conceived in the mind of Adi Sankara who is rightly considered as the most intelligent human being that ever lived. Mankind is now seeing the absolute truth in simple terms with very naked eyes.

Sankara’s Advaita

Unlike other religious philosophies, Hindu Sanatana Dharma (HSD) has always encouraged freedom of expression and reformation. The process is still going on. But its latest watermark that is unsurpassed by any subsequent reforms is Sankara’s Advaita theory. In retrospect, it looks as if it was the final culmination of a long evolutionary process in HSD that spanned over atleast 5000 years. In very simple terms Sankara was stating the obvious about an omnipresent and omnipotent God, when he said that He is present everywhere. By one stroke of logical explanation, he made all concepts and ideas about an external God, who is monitoring and judging others, completely illogical and even irrelevant. The present confirmation of an omnipresent God particle reaffirms Sankara’s theory and all the religious philosophies (mostly Semitic) built on foundations of an external God lies completely shattered. I wonder whether the Semitic religions have any future at all outside its hardcore fundamentalist followers, who might hang on for political reasons.

Sankara not only propounded the Advaita theory but went on to propose that all that we perceive is just an illusion (Maya). While there are many who have challenged the Maya theory, there has been almost complete acceptance of Advaita theory among all the saints and sages in HSD in the last few centuries. In modern times, Ramana Maharshi, Swami Vivekanand, Saibaba, Mata Amritanandamayi etc., have reasserted the Advaita principle repeatedly. Adi Sankara came on the scene when HSD was on the decline due to the revolutions unleashed by Lord Budha and Jaina. Rituals and social practices among the ordinary HSD practitioners had become unsustainable and it was natural to have revolutionaries like Lord Budha to challenge the system. But both the revolutions were unsuccessful because its theory appeals to only our logic and not to our eternal rational quest for a God. Sankara’s Advaita fulfilled all such requirements.   

HSD Substantiated

With the final seal of approval on Adviata and God particle, the stature of HSD as a religious ideology is going to reach greater heights. It is perhaps the only current religious philosophy that would be acceptable to the entire spectrum of mankind spread between ordinary basic believers and most intelligent theoretical physicists. What is present in everything is called God and when such an element of God is present in all humans, how can an external God, made up of the very same God particles, sit in judgment over any of our deeds? Any idea of an external God monitoring, rewarding and punishing humans sounds absolutely ridiculous. He, who is within us, cannot reward us for our good deeds and punish us for our heinous crimes. If we are at fault, He is also equally responsible and how can He blame us and punish us for the same? It is even idiotic to think of such a God who enjoys all power but takes no responsibility. Ever since the advent of Advaita, the concept of God is quite different in HSD.

In Advaitic HSD, God is really present everywhere and He (in fact it is She) is omnipotent. If we take only the human beings, there is God present in all of us, but in varying intensities. God particles give only the quantitative mass to all of us, but there is a qualitative element as well. It means that the heavier ones among us may not necessarily be more Godly than lightweights. It is left to the individual’s efforts to refine the quality of God within each of us and reach a state of ultimate oneness with him. HSD scriptures give enough and more ideas and suggestions about practices to be adopted in order to reach Him. All that is lacking in most of us is the will and dedication to go for it. But those who have opted and acted have always been rewarded with the ultimate bliss.

India can be rightfully proud about the involvement of two of its greatest sons in the unraveling of this greatest mystery of mankind. If the theory of Advaita was propounded by Adi Sankara, it was Prof. Satyendra Nath Bose who propounded the theory of bosons in modern times. There is nothing surprising because only a profound civilization like the HSD could have produced such outstanding thinkers and scientists. Both might have been merely following their conscience which is an integral part of one of the greatest civilizations with an accumulated wisdom of generations of sages and saints who always encouraged freedom of thought, enquiry and expression. Jai Ho Bharat.          

Converted in Vain

One of the most prosperous ‘business’ in today’s world is that of religious conversion. Democracy in one form or another is bound to blossom all over the world one day and all the organized religions are preparing for seizing power through ballot boxes. In democratic arrangements, numbers determine everything and those religious communities that pray for universal well being and voluntarily follow family planning policies can appear to be idiotic and foolish. But that may not necessarily be the obvious end result. Those who are experts in the religious conversion business know that the process is indeed reversible. If humans are deceived by false promises and coerced during difficult times to convert, the reverse will automatically follow when they realize the truth during better times. As the saying goes, some people can be fooled for some time, but not all people for all times. 

 

India has always been a fertile ground for religious conversion for the missionary forces spearheaded by Europeans and Arabians. Though Christian missionaries pioneered in the field, the sudden enrichment of Arabian peninsula by oil discoveries in the fifties and sixties has resulted in stiff competition from the Islamic forces as well. India’s native religion has always been and will remain unorganized, liberal and highly flexible. A billion such humans is a huge attraction in the religious phishing market and billions of dollars and dinars are poring into India every year to catch as many preys as possible. It has been going on for many centuries, but the marketing efforts of the competing forces have reached a highpoint now. Both the two competitors have started eating into their rival’s portion more than the vast common areas still unexplored. From such competitive heights, their fall will be much more sudden, steep and unpredictable, especially when so many of the successive generations of victims have started feeling that their forefathers converted in vain.        

 

False Promises

 

Human behaviour will always follow the established pattern of hierarchy of needs in any culture or civilization. The same has happened in India. At one time Indian nation was the richest in the world in every sense. Its indigenous wealth and philosophy could easily satisfy all the physical and spiritual needs of all its citizens. No outsider had any scope for interference and Indians never looked outside for anything. Adventurists from all over the world were coming to India to see and experience the wonder that was India. Trouble started when ideological explosions happened elsewhere and spill over isms wanted to recruit more people into their fold to dominate the world. Colonisation of the free world by those who were discontent and dissatisfied with whatever they had at home started off the real problems in today’s world. Looted wealth from the colonies and accidental discoveries of freely available natural resources has provided the momentum for marketing their own version of God and religion as the best.

 

Looting of colonies continued unabated for centuries and what India lost is perhaps unimaginable in real terms now. Christian missionaries and Islamic preachers who followed their plundering frontline had enough crowd to convert and more than enough wealth to lure them. All those who were starving for food had little objection to accept any form of God if milk powder and bread are made available. And those who had no clothes and shelter accepted any form of worship if such basic requirements are freely available. But the basic human needs of food, clothing and shelter fall in the realm of physical requirements and have nothing to do with God and religion. Those who go for fishing with plastic baits can deceive only the first few and may risk their own lives by eating the fish with plastic inside. The logic of religious conversion is crystal clear when we find that the Christian and Islamic missionaries in India are still targeting only the poor in the most backward areas. More than others, they know how weak and hollow are their arguments of superiority. Most of their theory and practices are nothing but poor copies of the original eternal one.     

 

Feasible Solutions

 

Religious conversion is a revolution when it is done voluntarily. But forced or coercive religious conversion is a heinous crime against humanity. Those who indulge in it are destroying the very essence of their individuality and existence. Those who were following Sanatana Dharma for thousands of years over several generations have the basic ingredients of it engraved in their DNAs Forcibly changing them to follow foreign beliefs and dogmas is like throwing the fish out of water. There is no doubt any ideology or ism undergoes a evolutionary process and along its path it will accumulate lot of unwanted beliefs and practices. The so-called caste discrimination in Hindu religion is one such and it has lost its foundation in the current evolved Advaita form of Hindu Sanatana Dharma. Castes (groups or sections of people bound by common heritage) will continue to exist in one form or another, but no discrimination is possible on account of that.

 

 And if the scourge of caste discrimination can be eliminated from Hindu Sanatana Dharma, the door must be kept wide open for the reverse revolution to take place. Those who have revolted against discrimination and made the supreme mistake of abandoning their own legitimate home must be able to come back and rejoin their family. This must be easily possible in a truly secular India where the religion of candidates is not asked for providing food, shelter, clothing, health and education. Those who converted to alien faiths in search of equality must realize their mistake when those same religions are demanding reservations for converts from ‘lower’ castes. Other than the false promise of equality, there was absolutely nothing that would have attracted the converts in comparison with what they had in Hindu Sanatana Dharma.

 

 

It has been established time and again that in terms of spiritual heights, rational depths and practical freedom, there is no other faith that can stand anywhere near Hindu Sanatana Dharma. Its philosophical algorithm is something like an open source code in comparison to the closed ones provided by others. It is left to the individuals to modify and adopt the code in tune with one’s own capabilities. Since God is present in everything that we can think of, there is nothing that can stand between us and God like in other religions. Sankara’s final stamp of approval on Advaita has taken Hindu Sanatana Dharma to a different philosophical plane and all that we need to do is to take it back to its days of glory once again by allowing the free return of all those who converted in vain . 

Sabarimala Solutions

The callous attitude of authorities in power has taken its toll once again at Sabarimala. More than a hundred lives have been lost in an ‘accident’ that is not accidental at all. In a way we can easily see that it is a disaster by design. It does not need a doctorate in disaster studies to foresee the accident that is waiting to happen when a crowd of 200,000 people are crammed into an open area without lights, barricade, drinking water, police control and with very few exit paths in the midst of a dense forest. Disasters at Sabarimala have become a routine affair every year and even the news media are only waiting to hear the annual toll. And once it happens it is ‘festival’ time for all the electronic media with visuals of dead bodies piled up in lorries and pickups. God’s Own Country and Kerala Model have now become undesirable nightmares that frighten others.

Sabarimala temple at the heights of Western Ghats is a highly symbolic one. It embodies the message of Advaita, which is the very essence of Hindu Sanatana Dharma (HSD). Advaita philosophy signifies the heights of human philosophy and it takes HSD into the unique realm of Ishwar (the truly omnipresent and omnipotent) whereas all other religious paths are stagnating at the lower level of Devatas, the personal gods of tribes or communities which are vying with one another to become the one and only God or his son. Our ancient sages had their own reasons to set up such a unique temple at a unique place. But time has moved on and Hindu society must demonstrate the sagacity to reflect the same level of resilience that their Hindu Sanatana Dharma has always displayed in history. Solutions to problems at Sabarimala must come from within Hindu society. We respect Nature (of which forests are an integral part) and we live in a noble nation which has adopted a secular constitution, though its implementation has been pseudo-secular in every sphere.

So many people have suggested so many solutions, most of them well intentioned, for solving the problems involving deficit of infrastructure and resources at Sabarimala. But given all the constraints and opportunities (which are well known to be listed again) that exist in HSD and Indian nation, I see only TWO plausible solutions to the Sabarimala issue:-

1. Spread the Season:

All the present problems at Sabarimala are essentially because of visit by about 50 million people in a narrow window of 60 days time. It is almost impossible to acquire more and more forest land to set up facilities for such a big population for a mere 60 days usage every year. The more we encroach into forest land the more damage we are inflicting on the forest and its animals, which is very much against the ethos of HSD. There must be a complete freeze on the forest land already acquired and the human corridor must be completely segregated by providing frequent underpass for the passage of animals. And the temple authorities must decide to spread the Sabarimala season to atleast 6 months (October to March) instead of the present two months. If this is done, the present infrastructure is more than sufficient for the expected pilgrim population. All that is required is constant upkeep of the available facilities and infrastructure.

2. Setup more Sabarimalas:

Setting up a few more Sabarimalas is the next solution. Tantris (parent priests) of Sabarimala Ayyappan are clearly designated and they should take the initiative in setting up more temples for Sabarimala Ayyappan at different places in similar terrains. To make a beginning, Sabarimala Ayyappan temples can be set up on hill tops in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. It is definitely not a pre-requisite to do it in the midst of thick forests or game sanctuaries for wildlife. The surrounding areas can be nurtured into thick forests at the temple expense in due course. This would be immense help for our environment also. Pilgrims can avoid the ordeal of train / bus travel and loot by unfriendly vendors like in Kerala. The name and fame of Sabarimala Ayyappan will also spread to more areas.

The number of Sabarimala pilgrims every year is bound to increase whatever be the scale of disaster this year or any other year. This is inevitable because the concept of Advaita, which the Sabarimala temple essentially represents, is the most cogent concept of God that can satisfy the innate rationality of any free thinking human being. Those of us who are bonded by the various types of organized religious thoughts, some of which are more political than philosophical, are bound to break free some day. More and more Advaitic spaces like Sabarimala and Oachira are the need of the hour and we can only hope that the authorities in power now will open their eyes to our spiritual demands.

Advaitic Ayyappans

The idea, legend and concept of Lord Ayyappa is a typical one in Hindu Sanatana Dharma (HSD) that symbolically reflects the entire spectrum of its own evolution to the heights of Advaitic thoughts. The story of Lord Ayyappa is very interesting and how it connects the ancient with contemporary provides the best indications about the inbuilt auto-reformation process that is present within the most progressive, rational and secular religion available to mankind. Lord Ayyappa comes literally into the midst of the modern world as a renewed version of Sastha who is a product of the natural synergy of Haran and Hari. Seamless incarnations of the God into various forms with varying intensities and their interactions for the ultimate upkeep of Dharma is the best working model that is available for sustaining humanity. This is in sharp contrast with the destructive models of forcible beliefs about an unseen God who is bent on enforcing strict discipline by punishing and rewarding all humans. It is fear and not love that prevails in such beliefs.

It is not very surprising that such a human incarnation as Lord Ayyappa has happened in the very land of Adi Sankara who had earlier put the final seal of approval on Advaita philosophy. Any history beyond a few centuries in the past get mixed up with mythology and are to be taken as such. Debates and dissertations to establish its authenticity are worthless, especially when it concerns our beliefs and culture. Lord Ayyappa lived among us and he has left behind a formidable heritage that keeps on reminding us about the inseparability of God from anything including Man. There is an element of God in each one of us and the pilgrimage to Sabarimala signifies this aspect more than anything else. Symbolically all the pilgrims get completely identified as Ayyappans (God) just by putting on a chain worth a few rupees. This uniformity and simplicity may be found in many other pilgrimages, but never the height of philosophical wisdom of realizing the God within. Unlike other religions, it is not the prescribed duty of each volunteer to undertake this pilgrimage, but the natural urge within oneself to identify with his or her true self. There is no compulsion whatsoever, but only the inner quest for a pilgrimage in pursuit of rational truth.

Growing Popularity

The popularity of Sabarimala pilgrimage is growing every year. In the two month period every year, the number of pilgrims is to the tune of fifty million and it is perhaps the biggest annual pilgrimage anywhere in the world. On a rough scale the revenue generated in the region can be placed at above 500 million dollars (2500 crores of Indian Rupees) and the net annual income from this pilgrimage alone to the state exchequer (which controls the temple) is definitely more than 250 million dollars every year. It is crystal clear that the underlying logic for all festivals in Hindu Sanatana Dharma is generation & distribution of wealth, and yet it never happens in our pseudo-secular setup. A simple pilgrimage embodying the heights of Indian spirituality is fast gaining popularity through out India, but the intended churning of wealth is getting pocketed by an ‘adharmic’ setup. But how long can this loot continue remains to be seen. An oganised setup of contradicting ideologies co-operating only for the limited purpose of destroying the temple and the pilgrimage by looting the pilgrims is working overtime in Kerala.

What makes Sabarimala pilgrimage more popular is the geographical terrain that it entails. The mountainous terrain amidst dense forests where Lord Ayyappa finally chose to settle down, again symbolizes the heights of spirituality that is inherent in Advaitic thoughts. God is omnipresent, yet we need continuous ascent in thoughts and deeds to realize the God within us. Legend has it that Lord Ayyappa had Muslim and Christian friends during his times of constant efforts in the upkeep of Dharma. The legend may be true or false. But what it conveys is the message of equality and brotherhood as far as a highly intense divine existence is concerned. We see inequality and animosity around us because most of us are not making any attempt to realize the same God which is present in everyone. Each Sabarimala pilgrimage provides an opportunity to get a feel of the divinity inherent in such Advaitic practices. Irrespective of colour, creed and caste all Ayyappans carry the same God energy within them.

Scheming Animosity

Success of Sabarimala has also drawn the attention of other ideologies, some elements of which are working overtime in defeating Hindu Sanatana Dharma in its land of origin. Hindu Sanatana Dharma puts great emphasis on individual efforts to achieve self-realisation (or moksha) and that has become its main drawback for sustaining itself among the predatory religions. Getting together and organizing have become primary requisites for success in the present day world even for religions. Baber and British could defeat a pre-dominantly Hindu nation like India only because of the lack of an organizational religious structure. Though weak in content, the other religious ideologies made great inroads in India only because of their superior organized missionaries and mercenaries. Increasing popularity of Hindu festivals involving mass participation is viewed with great anxiety by many vested interests. An organized Hindu religion is definitely an oxymoron, but even efforts on the part of some leaders to make ordinary Hindus realize the greatness of their ideology can upset many global calculations.

Animosity of schemers against the success of Sabarimala started decades back. There were even attempts to burn down the temple. One of our secular leaders went to the extent of declaring the burning down as a great achievement. His words like “every temple burnt will bring down evil in our society” are still sacrosanct for the pseudo-seculars in our society. The temple has come up again and the pilgrimage is climbing greater heights every year. Crafty schemers have now joined the stream with the ultimate objective of defeating it from within. There is plenty of money involved in the pilgrimage and attempts are afoot to loot the pilgrims (especially those from outside Kerala) to the maximum extent. As the number of pilgrims is increasing exponentially every year, nothing more than the simple inaction of not providing basic amenities is required on the part of enemies to make it a failure.

But whatever be the schemes or designs of its enemies, the pilgrimage shall continue to progress because more and more people are realizing its underlying message and meaning. Those who are trying to burn down one Sabarimala may end in great distress when they find a dozen more Sabarimalas coming up in other parts of India. It is better for them to remember that Lord Ayyappan is not a Malayali in the narrow context of Indian geography. Anyone anywhere can realize his or her true meaning and another Lord Ayyappan can manifest anywhere in this universe. The natural process of self-realisation with the help of our rational mind is unstoppable. The Advaitic process is formidable and an inevitable necessity for a progressive mankind. All of us will achieve realization sooner or later and it will be a world full of Ayyappans then.

External God Delusion

An organized campaign orchestrated by the organized religions to establish the irresistible delusion regarding an external God that is far removed from all of us is growing day by day. There are powerful forces at play with vested interests to prevent ordinary mortals from realizing the simple fact that there is no such entity as God who is working full time to monitor our activities. There is no God who can give us rewards and punishments. Those who are constantly driving this point into the mind of the poor and vulnerable are doing a great disservice to their own selves. Evolution of man to superman has been stunted by this sort of selfish deeds of a few thousands among the six odd billion humans. Efforts of those few who have realized and are convinced about the non-existence of any God that is external to anyone or anything need to be doubled to get rid of the current delusion. The single hand effort of Prof. Richard Dawkins is admirable and his book “God Delusion” is a must read for all those who are in serious pursuit of the ultimate truth (which we consider as God).

Dawkins has clearly exposed all the existing popular religious theories about God and the organized religions stand completely exposed as a result of his campaign. But he has clearly erred on one point ie. regarding the concept of God in Hindu Sanatana Dharma (HSD). He has mistakenly identified the core of HSD with a few facets of it visible to him in the West. Hindu mythology and Hindu festivals that overflow with the joy of multitude of Gods are only some of its umpteen lower versions that are meant for the ordinary mortals. Variety is the spice in everyone’s life and a religious philosophy that can elevate those who can understand it to an entirely different plane is only providing versions of it for accommodating one and all. But those who really want to go deep into it must not have missed the wood for the trees. Advaita philosophy lies at the core of HSD and if only Prof. Richard Dawkins understood what is Advaita, could he have avoided the few mistakes in his work. Nevertheless he has almost done the impossible by completely demolishing God delusion in his own society and its neighbourhood.

Ultimate Realisation

The concept of Advaita which establishes the presence of God in everything and anything that exists (and that we can think of) has been a thread that runs through HSD at all times. There are many even in India who still believes that it is something that was newly propounded by Adi Sankara (considered to be the most intelligent human being ever lived by those who have (bothered) to read and understand his works). Acrimonious and violent debates between strong schools of thought like Dvaita, Advaita and Vishitadvaita within HSD was commonplace in ancient India. Each of them had outstanding supporters and their arguments substantiating their own respective positions are plenty in the so-called Vedic literature. Among the three, Dvaita and Vishitadvaita are nothing but the original wine of what has been presented in new bottles in modern times as organized religions. Theological debates that are contemporary in the Middle East and West had taken place in India thousands of years back.

Adi Sankara immortalized himself by becoming one of the last scholars in ancient India who put the final seal on Advaita. His literary works which elucidates his arguments leaves no doubt in our mind about the authenticity of Advaita. He is the one who settled the longest debate on God by stating the obvious that God is nothing but the spirit or energy or righteousness that is present in everything. Now every religion talks about an omnipresent and omnipotent God, but when it comes to details the same God is external to us and is detailed as someone who is more bothered about our affairs than we are. This is nothing but cent percent contradiction. How can an omnipresent God be NOT PRESENT within you also? So if at all there is an omnipresent and omnipotent God, only Advaita can be true. Who wants a God which is not omnipresent and omnipotent? The defeated isms have made a successful comeback in other parts of the world in the form of organized religions preaching a God which is clearly external to us. And that is what modern Sankaras like Dawkins are now stripping apart. As for mankind as a whole, we have wasted and are wasting our time. If we had continued from where Adi Sankara had left off, the whole mankind would have attained self-realisation. And we would have had a paradise here itself!!

Analogously Digital

Though Advaita is the last word as a religious theory, its strongest proponent Adi Sankara cannot be considered successful because of his failure in building it up as a formidable ideological argument. Almost all the popular religious texts in HSD espouse Advaita, yet when it comes to the level of understanding of a common man, the force of argument and understanding weakens. The ultimate religious text viz. Bhagavd Gita is full of descriptions and symbols about the ‘advaitic’ nature of God. All the characters (and even animals and the inanimate ones) in Mahabharata & Ramayana stand out with the presence of God in varying degrees. While in Lord Rama and Krishna the divine content is almost full, it is the lack of it in Ravan and Duryodhan that makes them unique. Presence and absence of God is almost binary is nature with an infinite number of interim stages of its presence.

A complete emancipation of any human being will only come with his full comprehension about the analogously binary nature of God as espoused by Advaita. All his (or her) doubts will vanish only after a complete realization sets in about the nature of God. Name and form becomes unimportant then. And this exactly is the very reason for weakening of HSD society. All the realized souls and emancipated personalities in our midst take a backseat and tend to vanish from the vanguard of our society after they have realized the worthlessness of names and forms. The isms that have been squarely defeated earlier have surfaced again fully utilizing this opportunity. And the vulnerable, as all of us are at times, always get attracted to the easy ideas and quick-fix solutions like prayers and rituals instead of full application of their innate rationality and reasoning powers to understand God.

We still require all the efforts of all the thinking people in this world to ‘popularise’ Advaita to the entire humanity. The efforts of people like Prof. Richard Dawkins (www.richarddawkins.net) assume great importance in this regard. By effectively pulling down the concept of an external God, he is knowingly or unknowingly espousing the cause of Advaita. All his remarkably convincing arguments exposing the propaganda games of organized religions about a God that makes, monitors, punishes and rewards Man provide good framework for the ultimate success of Advaita concept. An ardent advocate of Advaita and a firebrand atheist are separated only by a veil of ignorance. This systematically arranged universe of ours needs the existence of an all pervading glue of logic, which we call as God. It is present in everything including humans in varying degrees and I have no doubt about its increased presence in people like Prof. Richard Dawkins. Best wishes for his noble endeavour of exposing the two organized religious ideologies.

Bigger Bang

There is a growing belief all over the world that the year 2012 is going to be a significant one for reasons unknown so far. Some have fear and some others are hopeful and positive as ever. The fear of World War III (WWIII) has been lurking for sometime and the growing defiance of Iran over the most sensitive nuclear issue strengthens our negative fears. A nuclear capable Iran is sure death bell for Israel. It is foolish optimism to expect inaction by one of the world’s most powerful and determined states in such a scenario. In the prevailing international air of terrorism, islamophobhia and aggressive evangelism, it is not very improbable to have a war between two tribes escalate into one between religions and civilizations. The much predicted WWIII for drinking water may get postponed as WWIV, if at all there is scope for another one. However there is still optimism to look forward to a more positive and incredible development in the year 2012.

One of the major ongoing projects that can give some good news by 2012 is the CERN experiment. It is almost a century since the theories of Big Bang started and it would be a grand finale if the experiments could prove it without any remaining ambiguity. It would be a much bigger bang if Big Bang is true and everything indeed started from a single entity. Consequently, so many half cooked hypotheses and card board postulates will have to be thrown out of our realms of knowledge. The effect of a bigger bang can resonate in so many fields other than science and technology. It can shake the entire foundations of beliefs in all walks of human life. If everything that we can think of started with a single big bang, how can there be so much diversity other than with an underlying string of unity. There can be only one truth and only one direction for approaching the truth. Concept of God and religious beliefs will have to be rewritten.

Scientific Shastra

Shastra in India covers a much bigger area of knowledge than its western counterpart of Science. Indians have always considered anything that can be analysed systematically to be Shastra and that included almost all fields of knowledge. Authentic works like Dharma Shastra and Kama Shastra proves this beyond any doubt. While Western Science was over dependent on instruments, Indian Shastra could go much beyond with the help of meditative and instinctive thoughts. If Western Science insisted on solid proof for every hypothesis, Indian Shastra was content with intuition and faith in profound theories. That is one of the main reasons why Indian Shastras have gone much beyond the frontiers achieved so far by modern Science. Modern scientists realized this difference only when Newtonian physics gave way to its Quantum version in the twentieth century. It is no wonder that almost all physicists of the modern era look so reverently towards Hindu Sanatana Dharma (HSD) ideology.

Despite the dubious efforts of our colonial masters and Islamic invaders, a sizeable part of Indian works on various Shastra is still intact and available to us in its original forms. Distrustful commentaries and sinister interpretations by Christian missionaries and colonial experts have not succeeded much in their intentions. It is ironical to note that some of the most virulent proponents of HSD ideological literature in modern times are the present generations of the very same colonial masters. HSD is beginning to flourish in its pristine beauty once again in the West rather than in its land of origin. Almost all of the major works have been digitized and a mere cursory look though them can tell us the vast expanse of knowledge that has been covered. For anyone impartially interested it would be a great surprise to note that HSD literature covers almost all the current frontiers of Science, most of it allegorically in the least expected forms of stories and mythology.

Advaita Again

Truth of Big Bang is bound to re-emphasize many beliefs in Hindu Sanatana Dharma and dismantle with greater intensity the concept of God in all the Semitic religions. If the cause of everything that we can think of is the single big bang, humanity has no choice but to accept the theory of Advaita. A final seal of authenticity on Big Bang will mean that consciousness, energy and matter are all interchangeable and in fact one and the same. This is nothing but a blunt statement that all matter (me, you, animals, planets, stars etc.), all energy (light, sound, heat etc.), all concepts (God, science, shastra etc.), all ideologies (religions, isms etc.), all ideas etc., in fact everything that we can think of, are essentially one and the same, because everything has emanated from the same source. All the so-called creations have taken place from a single source and quite possibly will go back to the same source, for the cycle of bang and collapse to repeat.

Another offshoot of Big Bang is the authentic seal on the Theory of Evolution, which Hindu Sanatana Dharma has always supported on all planes of thought. There is the shade of evolution in everything connected to HSD ideology. God evolves in various forms and Man is always on an evolutionary path to reach God. Since everything has its origin in the same source, the evolutionary path connecting the minutest organism to the loftiest ideal of God makes perfect sense. All those who prophesied creation of Man by a separate entity called God can roll back their theories and accept defeat in the best traditions of a philosophical debate. All theories of creation will prove to be absurd and shall stand exposed as made up theories aimed at subjugation of Man by Man. There can be no sons or messengers of God, but only incarnations of God in various forms. A majority of humans will stand revealed of their mistake and their leaders exposed of deception.

It is possible that after-shocks overdo the original earthquake in their intensity. The after-effects of Big Bang will be in this fashion. A purely scientific discovery is going to upset the entire world of religious faiths and beliefs when it is getting the final seal of authenticity by the year 2012. Centuries old unfounded theories of creation and prophesy will stand completely exposed with no more followers but the uninformed, illiterate and those with vested interests. The entire scientific community and those with scientific temper will have only one choice. Claims of Vedanta as the eternal truth with no beginning and no end will stand completely vindicated. And Advaita which has always expounded the basic oneness of God and Man will take over the entire humanity to lead us to a world of knowledge, peace and complete understanding. All of us will see only one thing encompassing the entire universe – Brahman, made up of Brahmons (http://www.pseudodictionary.com/brahmons).

Prahlad, the Greatest

Alexander, Ashoka and Akbar are the three celebrities enjoying the title of ‘the great’ for right, wrong or no reasons in our part of the world. While the first one was a cruel invader and the second one a clear native, the third one was a hybrid (though he tried to be more of a native but belonged to lineage of invaders). All three have made their own contributions to history that have impacted the life of ordinary Indians and continues to produce social aftershocks even today. Inclusion of one each from Hindu, Christian and Muslim communities in the Indian great-trio seems to be yet another handiwork of suicidal secularism propagated by the dominant folk of leftist-historians in India. Though debatable whether it is mandatory to agree with these worthless historians, let us leave the trio as such for the sake of saving our time. But it is definitely warranted to search for more greats and even the greatest from our own history. I find no better candidate than Bhakta Prahlad to be anointed as the greatest.

Skewed JNU historians will definitely frown on this choice because, according to them, Bhakta Prahlad is part of our mythology and not recorded history. But how is the two differentiated when we have all ‘mythological’ landmarks associated with Ramayana and Mahabharata readily available in front of eyes and none related to the over-publicized ‘historical’ visit of Saint Thomas to India in 52 AD? Yet we are told and taught that Lord Ram and Lord Krishna were mythological figures, but Saint Thomas was a historical truth!! The humiliating effect of such distorted historical studies, imposed earlier by the British and now by the followers of suicidal secularism, has already destroyed the self-respect of three or four generations of Indians since 1947. It is now time for those who love India and its true history to re-discover the true heroes from our own version of history, of which our mythology is an integral part. Scanning back from the heights of human knowledge as of today, Bhakta Prahlad who revealed the eternally truthful concepts of Advaita and Evolution stands out as one of the greatest ever in human history.

Omnipresent Ishwar

It took almost two thousand years of Western history to reach the conclusion that energy and matter are same and interchangeable. But it was a simple truth known to a boy like Bhakta Pahlad during immemorial times. In fact he went a step further when he said that Ishwar is present everywhere. He knew that Ishwar is energy, Ishwar is matter and Ishwar is everywhere and everything. Seed of the supreme and matchless philosophy of Advaita was sown in human mind then and thereon. When Ishwar is present in everything, its presence in energy, humans, animals and inanimate is understood. It took millions or thousands of years for Adi Sankara to pick up the thread again and enunciate it further. And we had to wait until Albert Einstein to put together an expression (e=mc^2) for a part of the grand theory of Advaita. The equation between Ishwar and energy or matter is still awaited.

By declaring to his father Hiranyakasipu that Ishwar is present everywhere, Bhakta Prahlad also made the profound statement that Ishwar is present within him too. According to me, this is the most significant statement ever made by any individual in the history of mankind. By one simple statement Bhakta Prahlad broke the myths of an external entity of Ishwar and the concepts about other worlds. The whole universe including its animate and inanimate is only manifestations of Ishwar and IT is present in everywhere in everything at every time. The recorded revelation of Ishwar in an appropriate form to Hiranyakasipu from the nearest pillar proves this beyond even an iota of doubt. Now it takes only our own efforts to understand this simple truth and realize the Ishwar within each of us to usher in a truly socialistic, secular and sustainable society anywhere in the world.

Evolutionary Narasimha

In the bicentennial year of Charles Darwin who is credited with the discovery of human evolution, it must be difficult for the Western world to digest that the concept of evolution was illustrated to the whole world by a simple devotee during immemorial times in India. The biography of Bhakta Prahlad is too well known for all lovers of our mythology. When confronted by his ignoramus father as to demonstrate the existence of Ishwar everywhere, Bhakta Prahlad had little choice but to point to the nearest pillar. And what came out of the shattered pillar was an eye-opener not only for Hiranyakasipu but to the entire scientific world. The form Ishwar (remember IT is everything everywhere everytime) chose was the form of Narasimha, half lion and half human. This peculiar form not only opened Hiranyakasipu’s eyes, but revealed so many truths to body of human knowledge.

The fearful form of half-lion and half-man is a symbolic combination of the most powerful among animals and humans. The meaningful figure depicts a critical stage of evolution of animal into human form. If Advaita concept connects the inanimate to the animate, the majestic form of Narasimha points to an evolutionary trend from animals into humans. It is indeed difficult for any other religion other than Hinduism to accept the truth in evolution. But for a Hindu like Bhakta Prahlad there was no better way than presenting Narasimha Moorthy to illustrate the truth in evolution. The ten incarnations of Ishwar, some in animal form and some in human form, in an evolutionary cycle confirm the concept of evolution in no uncertain terms.

It is a well known ‘secret’ that the twin concepts of Advaita and Evolution have shattered the very foundations of many established religions in the present day world. Myths of monopoly god, its father, holy spirit, prophets, angels, paradise etc., are completely meaningless in world which knows about evolution of species and that energy, matter and Ishwar are all one and the same. But for the political agenda behind these religious facades, the entire humanity would have discarded them by now. It is now only a matter of time before every human recognize the Ishwar within and try realizing in his or her own lifetime. And when that happens, the first human who can claim to have led them out of ignorance will definitely be etched in human history as Bhakta Prahlad, the greatest.

TOaOTi ADVAITA

There are religions and religions, and there are philosophies and philosophies connected with them. Invariably all religious philosophies are centered around the concept of Ishwar. But has any seen this Ishwar? How can we see or feel Ishwar? I am sure there are no convincing answers to all such ‘inconvenient’ questions. Billions and billions of human beings have lived here in this planet before us and probably billions will follow us. Many divine personalities belonging to different regions, races and religions have claimed to have seen or felt or realized Ishwar, but none of them could show Ishwar to another individual. It is said that Swami Vivekananda once challenged Sage Ramakrishna Paramahamsa to show him Ishwar and the Sage could go as far as giving him a feel. Experiences of those who claim to have seen Ishwar vastly differ and even those who claim to have felt Ishwar’s presence have much varied experiences. One thing is very clear – that Ishwar has no permanent form nor feel.

The extent of knowledge about Ishwar is so very confusing that it is very difficult for ordinary humans to comprehend it easily. Many individuals have used this situation very cleverly to their own advantage. I am afraid most of the architects and inventors of newer and newer methods or ways to understand Ishwar fall into this category. More than making ordinary people understand about the real meaning of Ishwar, they have used the opportunity to create cults and beliefs that could help them attain power, both political and material. If we analyse the advent of any of the new religions carefully, we can never miss the truth that a major factor is struggle for or against a powerful state or ruler. Those who wanted to sustain or attain power used an enlightened individual as proxy to achieve their ambitions. That is why we find many religions have fallen after some time. Only the most organized could succeed, but that too would fall because the intentions are not to help people but to control them.

Axiomatic Advaita

There are several funny and illogical suggestions that have come to stay among the brain washed followers of organized religions. One such is the concept of Ishwar as someone who has a particular form. Many say that Ishwar is a gigantic version of humans and resembles us. Many more keep telling their followers Ishwar is closely watching our deeds (all six billion of us!). And that Ishwar rewards and punishes each one of us on the judgment day according to our thoughts and deeds. Their flights of imagination include heaven and hell as incentives and threats for blindly following the dictates of religious leaders. One look at these ideologies is more than enough to recognize the real intent and realize that it is definitely not salvation for the individuals. It is greed and thirst for power all the way. And a majority of terrorists are generated from these types of beliefs due to such inherent faults.

In sharp contrast, the concept of Advaita is like an open source code with no ownership. It is part and parcel of Sanatana Dharma, which has no beginning, end or author. There is nothing hidden and nothing that questions the innate rationality of human beings. If Ishwar is the one who has created and owns this incomprehensible universe, how can it be so simple as to resemble us and to bother about us. It is even ridiculous to believe that it will give us messages, warnings, rewards and punishments. It is even more absurd to think of Ishwar as something or someone different from everything in this universe. Logically and rationally it has to be something that is part of us and present in everything. And that is precisely what the ancient seers of India could conceptualize so convincingly thousands of years ago. Adi Sankara popularized the concept of Advaita and Einstein’s ‘objective reality’ is nothing different. Advaita answers all the questions of any rational human being who is enjoying absolute and unlimited freedom of thought.

Advantage Advaita

There are several advantages associated with the wonderful ideology of Advaita. Many of the modern and ultra-modern social concepts can stand on their own foot only if we can make all people realize the extent of uniformity and commonality in our make-up. Advaita is a great eye-opener in this regard. In many respects it is the legitimate forerunner for all the leftist ideologies in this world. The utopian concept of Socialism can make sense only when there is equality, fraternity and liberty among people. And that is exactly what the realization of Advaita brings about in all of us. Everything is made up of the same entity (let us call it Brahmons -http://www.pseudodictionary.com/brahmons) and just that simple understanding is enough to bring in equality and fraternity among human beings.

Another great advantage is the extent of anti-globalisation that is embedded in Advaita. Very often we feel disturbed at the shameless display of hypocrisy and double-standards exhibited by organized religions when they are denouncing the current evils of globalization and liberalization. They are opposing globalization fully hiding the fact that they are doing all dirty things to globalize their own religions. By uninhibited induced and coerced religious conversion, they are attempting to bring everyone under their concept of a single faith. But Advaita stands for the opposite of all these. Each one of us is made up of elements of God and we have God within us. Now it is upto to each one of us to device our own methods for its realization. There is no coercion and inducement. Each individual enjoys complete liberty in their spiritual pursuits. In fact Advaita gives us the freedom to develop our own religion and modify it as we go along.

The on-going CERN experiments are expected to unravel the mysteries of our universe much more with the help of solid scientific evidences. But for followers of Santana Dharma the end result is crystal clear. When a part of Brahman (Ishwar) is present in everything (and nothing) in this universe, the final result of any exploration into the mysteries of our universe is obvious – we will end up seeing a part of Brahman itself. And if ever we can reach such an infinite level of magnification, we will only see a sea of Brahmons floating around everywhere. And such a collection of Brahmons (or Ishwarons) is what we call as Brahman. Then we will realize that The One and Only Truth is (TOaOTi) Advaita.