Sunday, December 4, 2011
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Guide to Consciousness Map
What is Consciousness Map?
It is a model of the inner world that will help you to understand your nature, your relationship to others, the world in general, and importantly your relationship to God. Although the principles are universal in nature, they are expounded clearly and eloquently in the Hindu scriptures (summarized excellently in The Bhagavad Gita). This specific expression is based mainly on teachings of Sri Paramhansa Yogananda, a great spiritual master who lived in the early part of 20th century, mainly in USA, and widely known through his illustrious work: “Autobiography of a Yogi”.
How to read the Map:
Imagine a corner of a room as the starting point. Three edges from the corner forms three dimensions (or axis). Then imagine a diagonal line from the starting point corner to the other corner. The other corner of the diagonal line and the edges do not end and they extend all the way to infinity. Now, compare that to the CM. Three edge dimensions are: Thought, Feeling, and Power. The diagonal dimension is Bliss.
Every human, being in the image of God, has the potential of expressing all these aspects and these are represented as three interconnected circles of Thought, Feeling, and Power and placed in reference with the Bliss dimension. Note that the circle shape is chosen for simplicity. In reality, the consciousness can take any innumerable shapes and forms but the concept illustrated here will apply in the complicated patterns as well.
Visualization:
Imagine each “atom” (or point in CM) in the consciousness is made up of vibration that has a frequency and phase of light and darkness. The frequency and phase determine the position of the atom in the map. Imagine yourself as three circles in 3-D diagram (or two circles in 2-D diagram) with differently sized and located, depending on your temperament.
For those who find it somewhat difficult to visualize the above, you may use Ocean-wave metaphor. Imagine the middle white cone (God) as ocean and the colored portion (Creation) as waves protruding out from the the ocean surface as each atom or individual.
For those familiar with “C” Programming language or its variants, it will be interesting to consider each atom as a Null Pointer. Null Pointer is in itself does not have a specific data type yet it can refer to any other defined data type. Similarly, an atom in itself is nothing, but can become identified with anything, including everything (when it becomes one with God).
Core Principles:
1. The goal of every human being is to achieve eternal, ever-new joy, which is God, by eradicating all suffering, permanently without recurrence. In order to achieve it, the human consciousness must be balanced in all the three aspects (Thought, Feeling, and Power) and must be expanded to omnipresence.
2. Any inward and upward movement is a relatively good action from one’s position, however must be balanced with the rest of the consciousness. The opposite movement (i.e., outward and downward) from one’s position will be a bad action unless it is to achieve balance.
3. In the consciousness, the movements are not physical but only vibration of ideas. Repeated actions (i.e., vibrations) will form a habit and will set one’s mentality. One reasons according to his mentality. As a Man Thinketh So Is He.
4. Ignorance (comprehension of Truth as untrue and of untruth as Truth) is mother of all evils. Ignorance leads to desire (of any aspect which is other than God) that in turn results in binding actions. So it is of paramount importance to attain Wisdom (comprehension of things as they truly are) and act accordingly.
5. An unenlightened person cannot comprehend Truth as they are since he reasons according to his mentality. Hence, a True Guru's guidance (Enlightened Master) is essential for achieving the goal.
6. Environment (or association) exerts enormous influence on one's mentality. However, the responsibility of one’s action still lies only with the individual to face its consequence without fail, whether in this life-time or in future. There are truly no accidents.
7. Any actions that make imbalance in the consciousness will result in suffering. On the other hand, any effort to make the consciousness balanced will yield happiness.
8. Every circumstance or condition that one confronts represents the next step in one’s unfoldment towards the goal. The circumstances (or opportunities) are provided continuously until one achieves the goal whether in this life time or in the forthcoming lives.
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These core principles and many other key aspects are illustrated in the examples with annotations. Suitable quotations from various scriptures are given in the examples to underscore the universality of these principles.
Uses of the Map:
"A picture is worth a thousand words". The map can be used in a variety of ways. Some of the uses:
- To introduce Spirituality in a visual manner using universal language
- To provide framework to place various aspects one hear or read about spirituality, or life in general, in a proper context
- To explain why virtues must be pursued and vices must be shunned
- To aid in understanding the relationships and cross-currents between different individuals.
- To underscore that every problem in life can be solved by true wisdom..
Note on 3-D vs. 2-D diagrams:
The 3-D diagram provides the closest approximation to the Consciousness Map (CM). However, it lacks details and is hard to represent in the format that is viewable on a computer screen. In order capture the details and make it easy to comprehend the dynamics of various concepts, 2-D diagrams are used. Remember, these 2-D diagrams do have a limitation that at a time it can only represent two of the three dimensions (Thought, Feeling, and Power), along with the Bliss dimension. Depending on the concept represented in the diagram, two dimensions that are most impacted for the concept are chosen.
Some Examples (Others on the main page):
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Limitations of Examples:
These examples take one or two variables in consideration for simple illustration. But the life is not that simple and has infinite number of variables are at play. I consider God as infinite variable equation solver who provides the circumstances every moment for every individual taking infinite number of factors into consideration. These examples will help reinforce fundamentals of spirituality and the directional aspects of various actions, yet in order to apply them in one's life oneself, the guidance of a person with true intuition (i.e., a Self-realized Guru) in very essential. As stated above, one reasons according to his mentality.
Acknowledgements:
No list will ever suffice to list all those who helped me. I am thankful for everything that happened in my life and without them I couldn't have been what I am. Although inadequate, my special thanks to those who helped me in this endeavor:
- My mother and father
- Baba Hari Dass, for his guidance and blessings, and his associates at Mount Madonna Center
- Swami Kriyananda - A direct disciple of Sri Paramhansa Yogananda - for his blessings and for sharing his experiences with Guru and his associates at Ananda Sangha community.
- Self-Realization Fellowship - for the comprehensive home-study lessons.
- Swami Bhakti Vidyananda (Pathanjali Krishnaswami) - a close friend of mine - for his loving help in introducing to my Guru and continued guidance
- Mata and Swami Ramalingananda - for their continued encouragement for my spirituality and blessings.
- Venkat Hariharan - a close friend of mine - for his loving support
- Sri D.J. Subramaniam - my grand uncle - for his loving guidance
- AT&T and my colleagues at AT&T (Mark Worrell, Bard Rosell, and many others) - for allowing me to keep a work-life balance and for providing opportunity to witness various principles in practice.
- My wife and our two wonderful children - for giving me the real-life experience and for their cooperation in my spiritual quest.