Only one fundamental energy is appearing in different work forms like light, sound etc., in different functioning equipment (like bulb, phone etc., respectively). The same inert energy becoming a specific work form in a specific functioning brain-nervous system is called as awareness. The point is that while all forms of inert energy are inert, why is this specific form of inert energy called awareness non-inert?
Scientists say that awareness is highly specific because of its highly specific function only and a new item called awareness is not generated apart from the cause. We have no objection to this view of science because we treat the soul as completely ignorant and inert (Ajña) compared to the omniscient God (Sarvajña).
There is no trace of objection from our side because we are not treating the soul as God and we are also treating the soul as a part of this inert world only. However, if you treat the soul as an item having a trace of a new item called awareness (knowledge), the soul is an item with little knowledge (Alpajña) and cannot be totally ignorant or inert (Ajña).
In such a case, scientists have to agree that the non-inert awareness is introduced by some other extra element called God. In this way also we have no objection because awareness is a gift given by God to this specific form of energy and such a gift cannot be God Himself, who donated that gift. A father can give a golden bangle to one of his daughters. Hence, in any case this specific form of energy is not God since no daughter can become the father himself!
Imaginable awareness present in the soul is generated from the materialized brain-nervous system and the generated energy from the food. Before the creation, since matter was absent, there was no materialized nervous system and since energy was absent, there was no inert energy that could be transformed into awareness in a functioning materialized brain-nervous system. This clearly means that this imaginable awareness cannot have existed before creation.
In such a case, how had God thought to create this world? Because this imaginable awareness that is essential for thinking did not exist before creation. We say logically that a stone cannot think due to the absence of a nervous system even though you can assume the existence of some inert energy in the stone. In the case of God, not only a materialized nervous system is absent, but also the inert energy is absent and we cannot expect God to think in the absence of both nervous system and energy.
Hence, the process of thinking takes place in God even in the absence of this imaginable awareness because God can think due to His omnipotence even though the imaginable awareness is absent due to the absence of both nervous system and nervous energy. Hence, God is called as unimaginable awareness and not this imaginable awareness. Unimaginable God and unimaginable awareness become one unimaginable item only (since any number of unimaginable items result in one unimaginable item only), which can be called by a single word ‘unimaginable God’.
Omnipotence of God is due to His unimaginable nature and based on this, God can think without being or having awareness. The soul is not omnipotent and hence, the soul to be awareness or to have awareness must be supported by a materialized nervous system along with inert energy produced from the digestion of food. The digested food is oxidized in mitochondria cells to generate inert energy that is transformed in a functioning specific nervous system into a specific work form of inert energy called ‘awareness’.
All this background is not necessary for the omnipotent God and due to this reason, God can think even without awareness. Here, the very important point to be noted is that in the case of God, awareness is totally absent and thinking of God is not due to awareness, but due to omnipotence only. Hence, there is no single similarity between God and soul because awareness exists in the soul whereas; it is totally absent in the omnipotent God.
The omniscience of God is totally due to omnipotence only and not due to the presence of any trace of imaginable awareness in the case of God. Hence, there is no possibility of qualitative similarity and quantitative difference between the awareness of God and the awareness of the soul. The reason is God has no trace of awareness (thinking due to omnipotence only) whereas, the soul thinks due to the generated awareness.
You cannot think that you are comparing an ocean (God) with a drop of water (soul) so that you can achieve qualitative similarity and quantitative difference in this example. The actual comparison between God and soul is the comparison between the ocean having no drop of water and a tiny drop of water! In a such case, you cannot bring even a trace of similarity between the unimaginable God and the imaginable soul by uttering the common word ‘awareness’.
Awareness means simply the process of knowing, which is an action and can’t be taken as an item at least in the case of the unimaginable God. In God, the awareness is completely confined to the process of knowing the object and here, awareness is not an item at all. You cannot compare the action of one item with the other item. In the soul, awareness is both the subjective item as well as action, but, in the case of God, awareness is only the action of knowing and the subjective item in God is the unimaginable item with omnipotence. Hence, the comparison between two subjective items is not possible in the case of God and the soul. When comparison itself is impossible, how can you bring similarity and oneness between the two?
In such a case, how did Śaṅkara tell about the oneness between these two, which means that soul is God. You cannot indicate the unimaginable God with any word or even using an indicative finger! Regarding the actions performed by the unimaginable God, thinking is not the only action so that we can find some way to say that God is awareness. The unimaginable God burns all the world in the end and by this, you have to say that God is radiant inert energy. Like this, for every action, you have to conclude God as the corresponding item and in this way, God becomes all items of the creation!
The plot of Śaṅkara was totally different in view of His surrounding atheistic atmosphere of Buddhists and Pūrvamīmāṃsakas. His program was not to preach the truth of spiritual knowledge because if truth is preached, none of the receivers of knowledge will follow Śaṅkara. What I mean is that - had Śaṅkara told the truth that God is totally different from souls, no atheistic soul would agree to it in the beginning itself. Hence, Śaṅkara made a plot to trap the atheists by a trick to bring the atheists to the right path of theism. Śaṅkara told that every soul is God, for which no atheistic soul would object.
Then, He told that soul exists. Then He told that God exists because soul is God. He made all atheists to say that God exists and the child is delivered through operation without any danger to the mother and the child. Then Śaṅkara made the atheists to also become devotees by saying that they would become God if their minds were purified with the worship of God. The atheists became theists and then became devotees to achieve their inherent status of monism with God.
In this way, this trick helped atheists to become not only theists, but also devotees! In view of the welfare of the human beings, such a trick need not be criticized because even a mother tells lies in order to feed the child and this is not the cheating of the child by the mother. Śaṅkara is the incarnation of God Śiva and has full freedom to say anything necessary, nobody can question Him! Rāmānuja is an incarnation of Ādiśeṣa and Madhva is the incarnation of the angel Vāyu, who are servants of God.
Hence, both could not dare to play such tricks and always stuck to the truth of spiritual knowledge only. Śaṅkara played the trick since it was needed in the beginning and the other two did not play the trick since there was no need of it in the latter stage where the atheists changed and became high level devotees. Hence, all the three preachers are one God Datta only, who acts as per the requirement of the situation.
In this way, both difference and unity among the three divine preachers is correlated taking two different angles. Śiva is Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja is the Śeṣa serpent present in the neck of Śiva and the angel Vāyu is always extensively inhaled by the serpent (closely associated). In this way, all the three divine preachers came down from the same source.
Monism with God is possible in the case of a devotee selected by God for the purpose of welfare of the world and thus, in the incarnation, the soul becomes God because God merges with the soul perfectly. But this is possible only by the will of God and not by the intensified aspiration of the devotee. In fact, such aspiration is a permanent disqualification to become God. This is the middle golden path between the two extreme ends, one saying that every soul is God and the other saying that no soul is God.
When the soul becomes God, one type of awareness is not becoming another type of awareness since God is not awareness at all. This is the process of the imaginable awareness or soul achieving the unimaginable omnipotent nature of God. It is transformation of one imaginable item into another totally different unimaginable item.
The result is an incarnation and in this process, the soul is not ascending to become God, but God is descending (avatāra) to become the soul. This process is totally depending on the will of God and not on the will of the soul. Hence, trying to make the soul become God through the common awareness is a highly laughable logic! Hence, the Advaita philosophers thinking constantly that they are God are making themselves to become more and more strongly disqualified!
The awareness is just a specific work form of inert energy only and this awareness can be seen through sophisticated electronic equipment as pulses of inert energy travelling as waves on the screen. The wave length of these waves indicates the intensity of mental (awareness) disturbance. The Veda and the Gītā say that awareness can be seen by scholars (Dṛśyate tvagrayā buddhyā…, Paśyanti jñānacakṣuṣaḥ…).
Awareness as a thought is like a gold jewel and pure awareness without thoughts is almost like inert energy or a basic lump of gold. The thoughtless inert energy and thoughtful awareness are seen as waves of inert energy. Hence, the individual soul (jīva) is almost the basic soul (Ātman) just like the golden jewel is basically the gold. Of course, the thoughtless awareness should be called as ‘jīvātmā’, which means the awareness is approaching to become inert energy as experienced in meditation.
The difference between jīva and Ātman is that jīva is leftover with just one thought of self-awareness whereas, Ātman is without any thought. When jīva is viewed as Ātman, neglecting the one thought of self-awareness, the Ātman is said clearly to be inert (Sthāṇuracalo'yam - Gītā). In this state, Ātman becomes cosmic energy based on qualitative similarity and in this angle, Ātman is praised as the generator, maintainer and destroyer of the universe because the cosmic energy resembles God in several aspects. The only difference is that cosmic energy is under the control of God. In this context, Ātman is mistaken as God. Of course, Ātman can become God in the case of a human incarnation. Hence, Kṛṣṇa told Himself as the creator, maintainer and destroyer of the creation.
The individual soul loosely called as ‘soul’ is a specific work form of inert energy only. The first energetic form merged with unimaginable God perfectly is called ‘the Lord or God Datta’. The energetic form including its soul is a modification of inert energy and is called ‘God Datta’ after perfect merge with the unimaginable God. The energetic soul as well as the energetic body of God Datta are made of inert energy only, whereas, only the soul of the human being is made of the same inert energy.
The difference between the soul of a human being and the energetic body of God Datta (including a energetic soul) is that unimaginable God merged with the body and soul of God Datta whereas, God did not merge even with the energetic soul of an ordinary human being (having materialized external body). Hence, the soul of an ordinary human being has no significant importance since the soul or awareness is generated from the starting material, which is subtle inert energy or space that is gradually modified into food that generated the awareness or soul called ‘puruṣa’.
Hence, the soul can be concluded as the final product of subtle energy or space and the soul is treated as the direct product of food as said in the Veda (Annāt Puruṣaḥ…). Therefore, there is no question of divinity of the soul since soul is an item of creation only and not related to the creator in any way.
9)
Whether it is an energetic incarnation or a human incarnation, there is no difference in the media since matter is condensed energy. A human incarnation and an ordinary human being have perfect oneness in the medium consisting of materialized body and energetic soul. The merged God Datta containing unimaginable God in the human incarnation is invisible, though imaginable. Since the differentiating God is invisible, there is no visible difference between the medium (body and soul) of a human incarnation and an ordinary human being.
This external similarity between these two is expressed in the three great statements (I am God, You are God and He/She is God). The internal difference is mentioned through the excellent spiritual knowledge of God Datta that comes out through the mouth of the human incarnation and this is the fourth great statement (excellent spiritual knowledge is God). Out of the four great statements (Mahāvākyas), the first three speak about exact identical similarity or oneness of the media of God and soul since the human body and soul of Kṛṣṇa are exactly identical with the human body and soul of an ordinary human being. The differentiating factor is the excellent spiritual knowledge spoken by Kṛṣṇa in the form of the Gītā.
The difference told by the fourth statement is stressed by Madhva. The similarity between the media is stressed by Śaṅkara.
Rāmānuja took the ordinary human being (as body and soul) and treated it as a tiny part of this cosmos, which is taken as outermost coat like external body of the Viśvarūpa form of God. Thus, Rāmānuja did not treat the human being as a part of the soul or divine body of God Nārāyaṇa. The divine body is acting as a shirt present below the surrounding world-coat. Below the divine body, the soul of God Datta (called as Nārāyaṇa) lies acting as an inner banian below the shirt.
The unimaginable God is in merged state lies in the soul like the person’s body lying below the inner banian. Of course, the real picture is that the unimaginable God is merged with God Datta (both soul and divine body) leaving the external world-coat. This relative awareness or soul of God Datta can be treated as the inner garment inside the divine body-shirt. The innermost unimaginable God is like the person wearing inner garment shirt and coat. Hence, the four mahāvākyas speak about both the similarity in the media and the difference due to the presence and absence of God. In fact, God merged with both the soul and body of Kṛṣṇa due to which the finger of the hand of Kṛṣṇa could lift the mountain. The unimaginable nature acquired differentiates Kṛṣṇa and human being totally in view of the inner angle.
The eternality of the soul is with reference to the non-eternality of this mortal body (Na hanyate hanymāne śarīre- Gītā) and this is not the absolute eternality of God. If the soul is eternal God, how did Kṛṣṇa create duplicate souls with their exact bodies when the cows and cowherds were stolen by Prajāpati, the assistant of God Brahmā. The soul has neither full miraculous powers of God if monism is true nor the soul has even a tiny part of miraculous power of God if soul is a part of God. Further the soul is not even a servant of God blessed by God with some miraculous powers at least. The Brahmasūtras refute the soul to be accepted as God in several logical angles (Netaro'nupapatteḥ etc.).
Hence, the ordinary soul is not related to God in anyway. All these three divine relationships of God and soul as preached by the three divine preachers are possible only in the case of deserving souls. Ordinary souls do not come under the theories of the three divine preachers by virtue of their inherent status without any spiritual effort.
The awareness totally disappears in deep sleep and it is absurd to think that awareness or soul enjoys bliss in deep sleep since such experience is impossible, existing nowhere in the world. In deep sleep, the brain and nervous system take rest and this rest-bliss is experienced by the soul as soon as deep sleep ends and the awaken state starts. The soul is inferring this bliss due to the rest that was taken in deep sleep. The soul neither recognizes the rest nor enjoys the bliss during the time of deep sleep.
In the case of a human incarnation, apart from the imaginable awareness or soul, God exists in merged state and therefore, in deep sleep, even if the soul disappears, God is leftover enjoying infinite bliss and this state can’t be generalized to every ordinary human being.
The remaining God in deep sleep in the case of a human incarnation is also referred by Śaṅkara (Suṣuptyekasiddhaḥ). Actually, in the Veda, the human incarnation is taken as the example and not the ordinary human being. Since the example is human incarnation, the remaining God with bliss is praised in several ways like the cause of everything (Sarasya yoniḥ) etc. After the third deep sleep state, the fourth state of unimaginable God (Turīya) is also mentioned in the Veda (Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣat) since the unimaginable God also enters the human incarnations through God Datta.
Some scholars feel that since Parabrahman or Unimaginable God thought to create the world for entertainment and since thinking is a property of awareness, Parabrahman must be awareness. There are three components regarding the activity of awareness:- i) Knower receiving the knowledge of the object (Jñātā), ii) The process of knowing the object (Jñānam) and iii) The knowledge of the object (Jñeyam). When you compare a human being with Parabrahman or unmediated God, the knower, which is the awareness or a form of inert energy existing as brain-energy is imaginable in the case of a human being and the same is unimaginable in the case of God. In the human being, the electrical pulses or awareness in the brain receives the knowledge carried to the brain and hence, the knower is fully imaginable and even visible through electronic equipment as said in the Veda and the Gita (Dṛśyate tvagrayā – Veda, Paśyanti jñānacakṣuṣaḥ - Gita).
Jñānam or knowledge is the process of knowing, which is done in the case of an ordinary human being by electrical pulses called ‘neurons’ that flow through the nervous system to the brain. These neurons are also pulses of inert energy only and are imaginable and visible like the brain energy. In the case of God, a materialized nervous system and neurons, in addition to brain energy are absent before the creation, thus the process of knowing is also unimaginable.
Coming to the third component, which is the object or Jñeya, in the case of a human being, the neurons carry the information of the object from the external senses to the brain through nerves and hence, the knowledge of the object is also very much imaginable. In the case of God, God also knows the object just like the soul and by this, you cannot bring similarity between God and the soul.
The reason is that if God wishes, all the background (atoms and sub-atomic particles) of the mud in the pot is also clearly seen, but, the human being cannot see such background with its naked eyes. The knowledge obtained by God is full about the object whereas the soul gets only superficial knowledge. It knows that the object is a pot and does not know even what is present in the pot. The knowledge of the world-object is grasped by God whereas the soul grasps only superficial knowledge of a few parts of the world. In this way, unimaginable God and the imaginable soul are totally different from each other.
We can compare the ordinary human being with mediated God or incarnation because the media of Parabrahman and the soul are one and the same. The fun is that in the case of an ordinary human being, the internal soul is also a form of the medium only, which is just like a piece of cloth wrapped by the same cloth. The medium is creation or prakruti and soul is a part of prakruti called ‘Parāprakṛti’. In the case of God, the inner unimaginable Parabrahman is totally different from the imaginable external medium. The incarnation is like a diamond (Parabrahman) wrapped by a cloth. If you neglect the medium in both cases, in the case of God, Parabrahman remains and in the case of the human being, nothing remains (because soul is also a part of the medium only)!
If you treat Parabrahman as diamond, silk cloth as energy and cotton cloth as matter, the following examples clarify their constitutions clearly. Individual soul or soul in approximate sense is a form of energy called ‘awareness’. The external body is energy in energetic beings and the external body is both energy and matter in human beings. The examples are:-
1. Parabrahman:- is unwrapped diamond.
2. God Datta:- Diamond (Parabrahman) wrapped by small silk cloth (relative soul of Datta) covered by big silk cloth (relative external energetic body of Datta).
3. Ordinary energetic being:- Small piece of silk cloth (relative soul) wrapped by big silk cloth (relative external body)
4. Ordinary human being:- Small piece of silk cloth (relative soul) wrapped by big silk mixed cotton cloth (energy mixed matter)
5. Energetic incarnation like Brahmā:- Diamond (Parabrahman) wrapped by two small pieces of silk cloth (two relative souls of Datta and Brahmā) merged with each other, again wrapped externally by two big silk clothes (bodies of Datta and Brahmā) merged with each other.
6. Human incarnation like Sai Baba:- Diamond (Parabrahman) wrapped by two small pieces of silk cloth (two relative souls of Datta and Sai Baba), again wrapped externally by two big clothes, one is pure big silk cloth (relative energetic body of Datta) and the other is silk mixed cotton cloth (relative energy-matter-body of Sai Baba). If Parabrahman withdraws His absolute reality from relative energy (silk) and relative matter (cotton clothes), the whole relatively real creation constituted of energy, matter and awareness (awareness is also a form of energy only) becomes unreal and disappears. Then Parabrahman (diamond) alone remains, which is said in the Veda “Ekamevādvitīyaṃ Brahma”.
If you want to search for God, search the first energetic incarnation or other energetic and human incarnations. You can succeed in catching the existence of the unimaginable God or Parabrahman. Selecting an ordinary soul involved in worldly life for finding the existence of God becomes useless. If you want to catch fish, select an ocean or a river or a tank or a lake. If you select an urine pit for catching fish, how foolish you will be!
In the Maanduukya Upanishat, four states are described, which are awaken, dream, deep sleep and final fourth state. In deep sleep, the individual soul or awareness disappears totally and hence, it cannot be a state of the individual soul. But, in deep sleep, the individual soul is said to be in bliss as the creator of this world. This means the example selected for these four states is the human incarnation in which God merges with the individual soul resulting in mediated God. The fourth stage is the state of the same unmediated God. Hence, the individual soul cannot be the referred example here. Shankara took the individual soul as an example here because He already had said that every soul is God. Such a statement was told by Him in order to attract atheistic souls to make them theist.
In the case of the ordinary soul, the following four states exist:- 1) Awaken, 2) dream, 3) deep sleep and 4) meditation. Of course, the fourth state exists if the ordinary soul is practicing meditation. Here, in deep sleep, the individual soul is totally disappearing since awareness is not generated due to the rest of specific portions of the brain and the nervous system involved in the activity of awareness. You must note that the rest of the parts of brain are sending signals to various other inert systems in deep sleep also and these parts are not of concern to us. Hence, the individual soul cannot enjoy the bliss during deep sleep. Only on awakening, when the generation of awareness happens, the individual soul, which is a bundle of thoughts of this generated awareness is experiencing the bliss of the rest.
The previous rest is just inferred by the individual soul based on which it is feeling “I had a happy deep sleep”. Since there is no God in the individual soul, the bliss of the rest cannot be enjoyed by the individual soul, which cannot even create a thought due to its total absence in deep sleep. Again, as I told you, Shankara maintained bliss in deep sleep because He treated the soul as God in view of some good purpose of turning the atheist to theist. The unmediated soul is also not eligible for the Turiya state, indicates unmediated unimaginable God only.