Purposeful Action

The Spirit and the Self
Raj Diwan

In my silence of months, I been searching for something called the truth, the thing that is supposed to set one free. In reading scriptures it became evident to me that the ‘truth’ has its roots in the ‘creation’ process and the definition of the Creator. Wonderful descriptions of creation are found in The Vedas and The Bible. From these and other known scriptures and facts, we can arrive at the truth quite logically.

The Creation according to Veda

In the beginning there was nothing,

neither existence nor non-existence,

And the one breathed without the breath,

It was pure energy, that manifest itself

into the material cosmos by its own will.

Here the Creator, defined as pure energy, has to be formless, with potential to create anything material by its own will. This is the Einstein’s equation working in reverse (m=e/c²).

The creation in The Bible (Genisis)

In the beginning the God created

the heavens and the earth,

And the earth was formless;

and darkness was upon the face of the deep,

And the Spirit of God moved

upon the face of the waters.

And God said, let there by light

And there was light.

And God saw the light

And it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness,

Then earth parted the waters …..

Here we see earth as being formless, meaning it was not a material object. Obviously it must have been originally in the other state, which is pure energy. Then we note that the first thing visible was the water everywhere. That is logical since the continents were formed by volcanic eruptions, which parted the waters. But, what roamed the surface of the waters was the Spirit of God. Well, Spirit we know is ethereal i.e. it has no form. That’s perhaps the reason behind the first commandment, ‘You shall not make engraved images of Me.”

Moses never saw a manlike figure on Mt. Sinai. He saw some kind of light or fire. He didn’t say “God told me He looked like Man.” He had heard it from the Pharo’s priests in Egypt before the exodus of Jewish slaves.

Buddha, by his own admission, never saw God in his 12 years of meditation. He was looking for a manlike figure which didn’t exist.

So, the Creator is pure energy with built in intelligence. Now, if we assume it’s omnipresence, the only state that permits that is energy. The finest particle, defined by physics may not be a particle at all, but pure energy. The Hubble telescope has seen it at work, which is the constant creation of planets, stars etc. That’s for the quantum physicists to speculate about. This energy is the Spirit, which is the cause of all material things, including Man.

In Bible, we are told to ask this Spirit (of God) to come into our bodies. The assumption being that, it is not inside us to begin with. Man does have a soul as all animals do, but has to ask for the Spirit to come into him. Once it enters, it becomes Man’s guide. He commits no sin from then on. He is reborn in this life time.

In The Geeta (Celestial Song), where the Vedas are re-interpreted, we are told the following by Lord Krishna.

Those who seek the Spirit (Formless God) will attain the Spirit.

Those who seek the animals (e.g. Pray to cows and snakes), will attain the animals.

Those who seek the deities (Lower Gods), will attain the deities,

Those that seek Me, will attain Me. But come to me (Krishna) with a pure heart and unselfish mind.

After death, the attainment of Spirit merges you with the Spirit. By Vedic scripture, your physical identity is lost as you merge with the Spirit after death. In all other options, you maintain an identity, perhaps an astral one.

The popular Hindu belief that the Spirit is already within man’s heart, is logically wrong.  If that were so, why would he be seeking it? And why would some men be breaking the commandments? Someone is confusing the Spirit with the soul. Souls are in all animals, including Man. But only Man can ask for the Spirit to come into him.

This Spirit is everywhere, omnipresent. It’s the pure energy that surrounds us. We are living in it as do the fish in the water. Only the fish doesn’t know it’s in H2O. If Spirit is something ethereal that we live in, it shouldn’t be difficult to communicate with it. In The Bible we are told ‘ask and you shall receive’. So, the function of the Spirit must be to fulfill man’s desires. The prerequisite is its close contact, residence in you. In Christianity the acquisition of Spirit would be a rebirth. In Vedas, when the Spirit is within you, you will have realized the Self within you. You would then be a Brahmin. A Brahmin is therefore equivalent to a born again Christian. Once that happens, all your future Karma (deeds) will be good. If not, the Spirit is not within you yet.

It is assumed that good karma bears good fruit; bad karma, bad fruit. But we know this is not always true. Bad things can happen to people with the Spirit, and good things to those who have not realized the Spirit (or the Self). In other words, good things can happen to bad people and bad things can happen to good ones. That is not uncommon in this world. Ecclesiastes makes this clear by saying “There is vanity that is done upon the earth; that there be just men unto whom it happens according to the work of the wicked. Again, there be wicked men to whom it happens according to the works of the righteous.”

This is a paradox. However, if bad things happen to a man judged good, he’s is perhaps not so good. And the reverse is also the case. But who’s doing this judging. It’s you. Man’s judgment of others is probably flawed. Man is not the know-it-all. Each man, though, is his own best judge. This, however, excludes the mentally deranged.

So what is the moral, the bottom line? If the scriptures are true, ask for the Spirit of God to come within you. Once you’re so re-born, you’re pure. Then whatever you shall ask will be given to you. And this includes material goods, wealth. Let no one kid you about acquiring material things. God has nothing against acquiring wealth, so long as you acquire it by fair means (i.e. Commandments). It is the ill-begotten gains that you don’t want. That’s the forbidden fruit. But don’t get attached to your wealth. It can have bad consequence.

In Christianity, the process of acquisition of the Spirit is simple. You have to ask it to come within you, and it will. You don’t have to take a dip in the River Jordan. In Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, it’s also simple. It requires meditation and/or the recitation of a mantra. Most common is the mantra OM. Well, what is OM? It is the sound of creation, the first sound produced when pure energy converted to the material cosmos by its own will. (Joseph Campbell, a well known theologian, discovered this in a Purana). So OM takes you back to that moment when pure energy existed, perhaps at the very moment of the Big Bang. That pure energy being the inherent form of God, OM could be His name. I say His, assuming its male in character. But I wouldn’t dwell on that?

You want good luck? Let the Spirit come into you. You will overcome all adversity. That’s the truth that will set you free.

What do you think?