YOGIC ENLIGHTENMENT-ALL THE BLUFF-CALL THE BLUFF

YOGIC ENLIGHTENMENT
ALL THE BLUFF – CALL THE BLUFF

IGNORANCE / BLUFF DEFINED

There are various fields of human activity in which mankind boasts of excellence. But the frequent failures of this and that system point to one and only one definite conclusion if Darwinian evolution is to be accepted as a working theory. Human mind has so far evolved to the level of excellence in bluffing only and this excellence is generally paraded as wisdom/ intelligence. This bluff is visible and highly pronounced in most of the fields of human activity; and so is refusal to call this bluff. I, somehow feel that the moment any knowledge is discovered the ignorance also comes into existence simultaneously. In other words the ignorance cannot come into existence if the knowledge is not discovered. It means that the knowledge must be existent and ever present Yes it is and it is ever waiting to be discovered. It is complete in itself and all-pervading knowledge that just cannot be ignorance. Similarly not knowing it or yet to be known stage also cannot be ignorance. It can be at best the lack of awareness which again is not ignorance .One becomes aware of knowledge by observation, inference, experimentation etc and disseminates it by making use of the tool of language in various forms. The moment one becomes aware of any knowledge either by accident or by a deliberate effort and it is disseminated, the process of interpretation by others sets in. Ignorance is misinterpretation or mal-interpretation of this disseminated knowledge. Thus there are two reasons for ignorance.

1. MISINTERPRETATION There is always a sincere effort by the people to convey that discovered knowledge. The consequential interpretations by the people with their own arbitrary versions are invariably bundles of ignorance shrouded as wisdom / intelligence. These arbitrary versions of ignorance are of course the results of innumerable complexities of human personality. This leads to a very complex and debatable area. Who will and how to judge an interpretation as misinterpretation or correct interpretation? Actually the thumb rule is that knowledge is not subject to any interpretation. It can only be without any bias seen, observed, inferred, experienced, experimented and found out. It just exists. The problem arises when the various versions of spiritualism and religion are projected as not only THE KNOWLEDGE but the superior most knowledge without any backup of scientific research. The result is that there is no disseminated knowledge by these institutions of human thought that is not misinterpretation till date. Let me elaborate this with few examples from different fields. When Newton says that he is like a child collecting pebbles only at the seashore while the vast ocean of knowledge lies unexplored in front of him; he is simply conveying a Vedic idea NETI NETI (नेति नेति) meaning that ‘there is no end to it’ without ever knowing anything about VEDAS (वेद ). Both of them have conveyed the ‘limitlessness’ of knowledge as they, without any bias saw, observed, inferred experienced and experimented. The limitlessness is thus ‘knowledge’ and it cannot be subject to interpretation. It just exists that way. But people have interpreted it in more than hundred ways and this is definitely misinterpretation amounting to ignorance and bluff. Another example from the field of literature is worth consideration. John Keats when he observes that “beauty is truth and truth beauty - that’s all. Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know”. He echoes more or less the Vedic thought of SATYAM, SHIVAM, SUNDRAM (सत्यम शिवम् सुन्दरम) i.e. truth, permanence and beauty. Again separated by time and distance, they both, without any bias, observe that the knowledge of truth is the knowledge of beauty. So knowledge is truth as well as beauty. This observation again about knowledge cannot be subject to interpretation. The knowledge thus exists that way. But this too has been interpreted over and over again and this is misinterpretation.

2. MAL-INTERPRETATION A deliberate effort by the vested interests to capitalize on ignorance with ulterior motives is mal-interpretation. The already misinterpreted knowledge i.e. ignorance is hijacked by the perpetrators of mal- interpretation with the sole aim of exploitation. For them there are no holds barred and they very often stoop to the levels of crime of any degree. Varied examples of terrorism, loot, robbery, exploitation, brain-washing, propitiating sacrificial practices, meaningless rituals etc. fall under this category. Mal-interpretation survives on exploitation alone while in misinterpretation there is no overt aim of exploitation.

BLUFF LEADS TO

The bluffs result into the following alarming situations:
• Such interpretations lead to respective mis-organization or mal-organization of knowledge thereby creating dangerous situations for the human society at large. This is a contradiction of terms. That all pervading, ever- existent, complete and perfectly organized knowledge that can never be a subject of organization by the human beings becomes a subject of ‘mis’ or ‘mal’ organization. It is already highly organized. We can only try to understand the principles of its existence, organization and functioning. So what we are doing actually is organizing ignorance only. In our present stage of evolution we have so far become capable of organizing ignorance only and project it as organization of knowledge. An outright bluff…..
• Any organization, even of ignorance i.e. mis-organization or mal-organization will give immense power to those who are associated with handling it. It is bound to be misused only as it is based on ‘MIS’ or ‘MAL’ considerations. However the excuse of welfare is generally employed with utmost precision resulting into skillful and highly effective execution of achieving the aim of exploitation alone.
• Such power not only corrupts it charms too and it leads to greed that ultimately causes mal-functioning only; a sure symptom of failure.

• Both ways knowledge is relegated to the background and ignorance spreads faster and faster. Truly so, as per the characteristics of knowledge and ignorance; the acquisition of knowledge needs perspiration to grow and ignorance thrives on anything but for hard work.

• Further both the approaches give birth to conventions which people follow without questioning the reasons of doing so. It completely kills the spirit of enquiry that is the life line of a human being.


NON-CONVENTIONAL APPROACH OF AN ADHERENT

The musings under this series of YOGIC ENLIGHTENMENT- ALL THE BLUFF- CALL THE BLUFF are, therefore, of a non-conventional adherent and will deal one by one with these bluffs to be equated with ignorance. Non –conventional because I could not find the tenets of spiritualism and religion either in Vedas or in Patanjali Yog shastra as generally propagated with the authority of these books of knowledge only and adherent because these tenets could have been elucidated differently also as I have tried to do with my basic SIMPLE OBSERVATION SENSE. The examples taken for illustration from the third chapter of Patanjali Yog Shastra are from the various fields of human engagement and were meant for the benefit of the common man only who was denied the use as these were badly mauled and distorted so that these become beyond his reach and he just pays obeisance only with folded hands and mouth agape in awe of some imaginary YOGA expert. This exercise has been embarked upon with a view to:

• Strengthening the spirit of enquiry in the young minds of posterity particularly

• Reviving the spirit of enquiry in the minds of the followers of conventions generally

For the posterity is most likely to evolve as a different set of human beings than what we are today. Not that the spirit of enquiry was not there in the preceding generations of humanity. Our existence today is the outcome of that spirit only; so we also are different from the preceding generations. This spirit of enquiry is a continuous process from time immemorial and so is the process of resolving it through bluffs after bluffs. The only question is of why. Why do we try to resolve our each enquiry through bluffs only? May be, in our process of evolution, passing through this ‘bluffing stage’ is the only way. I feel like holding to this explanation, given in VEDAS (वेद) and explained by PATANJALI in his composition of YOG SUTRAS, howsoever, unpalatable it might appear to be. In a way, our expertise is more in bluffing than the previous generations. However, this does not mean that VEDAS or PATANJALI are precursors to the Darwinian theory of evolution. The resemblance is at surface level only as we will come to know later in this series.

IS RESOLUTION THROUGH BLUFF A FOREGONE CONCLUSION?

Though there is no place for any kind of fatalism in Vedic thought yet it is a convenient argument to begin with. If bluffing stage is fait-accompli today in the process of evolution then rather its very existence should be a stepping stone for the next stage and that must be some stage which is bound to be of non-ignorance and of non-bluffing. But it may take thousands of years for humanity at large to reach that stage if the present rate of evolution is any indicator. If we try to assess the past we find a host of people in the history of each and every country those refused to accept the charms and power of ignorance. They introduced us to the knowledge as it is without any coloring of misinterpretation or mal-interpretation.The path of ignorance, therefore, can be avoided by any individual at any time. In this avoidance alone may be hidden the ring of that chain and that ring is identified as CHITT(चित्त) in Patanjali YOG SHASTRA, which leads to the next stage of human evolution i.e. non-ignorance and non-bluffing, and it should automatically lead to the stage of enlightenment.

SCOPE OF VEDIC KNOWLEDGE

To achieve this, the scope of that knowledge which is beyond ignorance has got to be ascertained first. A fair guidance is available in the ancient Indian texts of four VEDAS namely, RIG (ऋग), YAJUR (यजुर), SAM (साम) and ATHARVA (अथर्व). The literal meaning of VEDA (वेद) is knowledge only. The authors of these texts, whose names are not mentioned anywhere have tried to analyze the scope of knowledge under four heads with a concluding remark that knowledge does not have any end. It is limitless. The scope of the subject matter is so wide and exhaustive that it leaves no doubt about its completeness and limitlessness. This attribute of limitlessness of knowledge has generally been misinterpreted as a proclamation of considering Vedas as the books of all the subjects. Such a claim is non-existent in Vedas. The groups under which the knowledge has been discussed in VEDAS (वेद) are broadly classified under the following four efforts:--

• Knowledge of self from within and in the context of creation (ATM JYAN आत्म ज्ञान)

• Knowledge of the entire creation (BRAHM –JYAN ब्रह्म ज्ञान)

• Knowledge of the methodology of finding knowledge ( YAJYA VIDHAN यज्ञ विधान)

• Knowledge of practical application. Practical Ethics ( DHARMIK VIDHAN धार्मिक विधान OR VYAVAHARIK NAITIKTA व्यवहारिक नैतिकता)

It is evident from the very efforts in the above directions that any branch of human knowledge that is known or yet to be known can be easily accommodated under the first two heads only. In their analysis of knowledge of self, the process of evolution of human mind is such that it has to pass through a ‘bluffing stage’- a stage of ignorance. So for them it was natural to presume that their above way of studying knowledge under the first two heads would also be misinterpreted. Therefore, they preferred to include methodology and practical ethics as guidelines to help recognize bluffing or ignorance. They set the personal example of practical ethics imbibing the heights of ‘absence of desire’ and ‘selflessness’ when we don’t find even their names as authors of these rich texts. We can appreciate this gesture better in the present age where copyright and patent are the norms of existence. Nothing worked as expected. All these four areas of knowledge were misinterpreted; but then this was their method of disseminating knowledge.

THE ADDITIONAL AIM OF THIS BLOG

I intend calling these bluffs one by one with due reasons open for any scrutiny that have been perpetrated and are being propagated in the name of the above mentioned four areas of knowledge quoting the authority of Patanjali. By masking ignorance / bluff as knowledge irreparable damage has been done. But a jerk given by a single step in the direction of refusal to accept bluff is sufficient to wake anybody up. I am neither going into the history of how it happened; which I shall be serializing separately under the title “THIS CANNOT BE THE VEDIC THOUGHT”- nor I am offering any readymade solution at present to this malaise. The solution is bound to emerge automatically after the reader has gone through the series ALL THE BLUFF –CALL THE BLUFF and he himself starts recognizing the various bluffs in his or her mental make-up and environment around. However, the solution as given by PATANJALI in his YOG SUTRAS and as understood by me, will be serialized after calling various bluffs perpetrated in the name of Patanjali. That way the reader will be in a position to compare his / her arrived solution with that of PATANJALI, discard or accept and still progress towards the next stage of human evolution which is free of ignorance / bluff. I am, therefore, referring to various areas of human activity viz politics, economics, education, law, sports, spirituality, ethics so on and so forth------which are being paraded as intelligence par excellence and an obstinate refusal to accept the elements of bluff in these. There is nothing wrong in ignorance i.e. bluffing which is a sort of fait-accompli in our evolution but refusal to accept is definitely disgraceful human behavior. The terrorist must be made to accept that it is disgraceful to kill innocent and helpless.

SO LET ME BEGIN WITH THE MOTHER OF ALL BLUFFS-SPIRITUALISM