[Advaita-l] RE: doubt

[Sanjay Verma]

Pranam to all.

 

Namaste. I offer an alternative perspective with respect to the BMI of liberated souls and their bodies having the same "thirst and hunger" as we who have not reached their spiritual level of energy and awareness:

 

A couple of months ago the following article appeared in CNN and some local Indian papers about a fasting fakir who (after receiving Divine blessings decades ago) has not eaten in over 60 years. He was under medical supervision for 10 - 11 days and strictly controlled scientific studies were undertaken. The doctors concluded that in fact during those 10 days of observation the man had not had any food or drink. See link below for complete article:

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3236118.stm

 

There is also a book called "Psychology and Meditation" published in the 1970's. The book reveals various scientific studies performed on yogis and their abilities to do certain physical feats which we would deem highly unlikely.

 

I've also seen an episode of "Ripley's Believe It or Not" in which a yogi was able to reduce his apparent body weight enough to stand on a piece of cardboard which was suspended between two chairs like a bridge.

 

One way of understanding such supernatural powers might be that these souls operate at a different frame of reference than do the ordinary human beings. The laws of physics are radically different when one changes the frame of reference from quantum mechanics to Newtonian mechanics to the sphere of relativity. Because our understanding is so limited by the Newtonian frame of reference (the point of view of the gross body and the phenomenal world) we have difficulty understanding the hows and whys of those who operate at significantly different levels

 

As to the questions regarding "why" this ongoing cycle of ignorance and enlightenment... I came across the following link last night:

 

http://www.swami-krishnananda.org/pro/problems.pdf

 

It's entitled "The Problems of Spiritual Life" and only 97 pages long. It is an easy read and presented in the form of a dialogue (interview) with Swami Krishnananda of Divine Life Society and Mr. and Mrs. Krauss from Canada. This work directly discusses the notions of the illusory phenomenal world, the (un)importance of asking "why" in these issues, and the nature of deities if the world is illusory, etc. It addresses a lot of ontological issues in plain English, without much jargon -- so even one without much Scriptural exposure will be able to follow along.

 

While ontological questions are not unimportant, asking them is akin to asking what it is like to be at the top of Mt. Everest. Rather than asking for the secondary and tertiary accounts of others, why not just commit to reaching the top and experiencing the vista on one’s own! As Swami Krishnananda points out in the above work, then not only is the answer self-revealed but so too the need for the question dissolves.

 

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti

 

Sanjay

 


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