EXPERIENCES — Pleasant and Painful; Way out.
Perhaps the most pleasant experience is — none. Does a pleasant one ever occurs in our lives, think …! because this is most important and the very purpose of this writing.
My surmise is that we do undergo such a phase in our lives as described below.
Our life starts around four weeks after the seed for our life in sown — from the instant the fertilised egg in o mother’s uterus attaches itself to uterine wall.
From that moment life starts but without sentience (termed CHETANA in Sanskrit and HINDI languages). Eighteen to twenty-five weeks is considered the earliest stage at which the lower boundary of sentience in a foetus could be placed. At this stage of development, however, there is little evidence for the central processing of somatosensory information.
Considering that human life is mostly full of tensions and pains with short time patches of pseudo pleasures, I would say that if conditions of Nirvana can occur by means other than Yoga, it may physically be for the foetus around 29th weeks of pregnancy stretching to its completion culminating in birth.
As baby leaves this blissful existence to enter the world it needs to cry wholeheartedly for many physical (medical) reasons, which it would be out of place to elaborate here. This Crying in most whole hearted and never occurs again with the same intensity in whole lifetime of any human. Most remarkable is that young ones of none of nonhuman animals cries ever in life no matter what the occasion. Obviously, nature designed us human animals differently and in doing so gave us Emotions and crying as one of the expressions of emotion. We cry in pleasure as also in pain.
We cry perceptibly as also imperceptibly invisibly, both possibly with feeling of great emotional pain.
Pleasures that come our way are many but all of them are short-lived, transitory, fugitive … … Examples are:
⁃ Suckling mother’s breast upon arrival in the world,
⁃ Getting to sleep instantly,
⁃ Parents, siblings etc. trying to cause giggles,
⁃ Introduction to toys,
⁃ Playing with toys,
⁃ Making friends,
⁃ Playing with friends and siblings,
⁃ Pleasurable experiences in schools,
⁃ Pleasurable experiences in colleges,
⁃ Pleasurable experiences in job,
⁃ Meeting ones Love of Life,
⁃ Pleasure in sex,
⁃ Pleasure in expecting arrival of a progeny,
⁃ Pleasure in arrival of a progeny,
⁃ Pleasure in bringing up progenies, and a few more.
Just as each day is followed by a night and vice- versa, the above listed pleasurable experiences are followed by troublesome and saddening ones:
⁃ Sickness of self-and/or some dear one,
⁃ Retirement from job,
⁃ Realising the painful fact that post retirement everyone becomes akin to a fused bulb, kept among other fused bulbs in a sizeable basket (call it Sr. Citizens Club), where all fused bulbs become equal (equally useless and unwanted) irrespective of whether in its prime time it an incandescent bulb or a mercury vapour or a sodium vapour or quartz — halogen or LED bulb.
⁃ Slowly realising the fact that way out from fused bulb basket is just one — final disposal.
⁃ The said realisation of the fact can be very saddening and painful for majority, although there are some who see it as final reunion with the elements of evolution.
I am an Indian Hindu. Our most revered scripture is Shrimad Bhagwad Gita (commonly called “Gita”). This scripture recommends a way out from all the above-described situations of pain and sorrow.
Surprisingly, the way out is very simple and easy to understand, as follows:
* Realising and believing that each one of us comprises of two separate but linked entities namely, body and soul,
* Soul is akin to a tenant allotted with body akin to a fully furnished house with the condition that the tenant has to take care of and maintain the dwelling and the furnishings as best as possible until end of the period of tenancy,
* Included in the furnishings are organs with six senses namely, hearing, seeing, touch, taste, smelling and the sixth organ termed as “Mana” (one of the four components of consciousness — the other three being “CHITTA”, “Buddhi”, “Ahankara” or “Ahamkara”- considering consciousness as a highly advanced intelligent computer, functions of these four can be explained as follows:
> Linked with MANA are feelings and thoughts and whatever is sensed by the other five sensory organs too come to MANA,
> BUDDHI is akin to storage or memory system — like hard drive — with the difference that BUDDHI also stores experiences alongside raw data with multiple links (like synapses) thus capable of varying output depending upon context and circumstances,
> CHITTA is link between cautious and incautious MANA which manages links between memory and recall,
> AHANKARA (or AHAMKARA) is the personality of oneself sculptured by MANA.
* During the entire period of tenancy, the soul makes use of all the above as also takes care of it all.
It can be inferred from the above that it is up to us to feel either pain or pleasure or nothing from happeningswhich are but sensory inputs. If we train our Mana, Buddhi and Chitta by repeated practice and with consciousness.
True! it is easier said that done. But one who has understood, may at least practice and train himself to be able to live in a blissful state … always.
PLEASE THINK!
