BIRTH OF A GRANDCHILD: CONTINUUM OF LIFE

Ellora was born on last Friday. She is the first child of our eldest daughter. Her husband is also the eldest sibling. Imagine the happiness of four inexperienced, eager, and anxious grandparents on her arrival. A granddaughter indeed!
Children join only two persons: grandchildren link six. No wonder we like them so much. As the generations go forward the number of people connected together increases geometrically. Of course go back in past for long enough and we all are connected to each other through the First Couple.

The granddaughter makes you aware of your mortality and also simultaneously provides the antidote to it. Your frailty suddenly vanishes when her innocence and vulnerability induces an overwhelming urge to protect her.
You can dream to see the future through her eyes and simultaneously relive your past. She tells you of her aspirations and you tell her the tales of time gone by. Future and past meet at the platform called present to catch the train known as time and the eternal journey continues.
You teach her and you learn from her. The boundary between who teaches and who learns becomes not just blurred but completely obliterated.
Life becomes a continuum instead of unconnected dots.

STEPHEN HAWKING AND ASHTAVAKRA: NEED TO INVOKE GOD

08/10/2010

Recently Stephen Hawking was in news with the publication of his new book "Grand Design". The most provocative bit in the book is its assertion that Creation can happen spontaneously without the need for a Creator. "Spontaneous creation is the reason, there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist,----It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going."

I saw him on the TV talking about his book and his work. Seeing this genius professor in his wheelchair, all crumpled and distorted, explaining the origin of universe with extreme clarity and logic, I was reminded of Ashtavakra, a sage and philosopher from ancient India. As many of you already know he was called Ashtavakra because his body was distorted by being bent in eight places (in Sanskrit ashta means eight and vakra means bent). He is renowned for being one of the most cerebral of the Indian sages. I was aware of the story of his birth and also how he came to be noticed by the then great king Janak. But I knew nothing about his philosophical and religious views. I looked on the internet and found that his most important work is "Ashtavakra Geeta". Like the more famous Bhagwat Geeta, Astavakra Geeta also has the format of a dialogue between a sage and a disciple. Ashtavakra explains his views to Janak on the fundamental questions "who am I?" and "how can one attain happiness?"

According to Ashtavakra, "Me" or "I" is pure consciousness, the external world including the mind and the body is just the creation of this consciousness. It only exists because I create it in my consciousness. He does not distinguish between God and I. according to him I am everything or nothing at the same time.

I read the English translation by John Richards http://www.realization.org/page/doc0/doc0004.htm. Here are some excerpts:

--You do not consist of any of the elements; earth, water, fire, air, or even ether. To be liberated, know yourself as consisting of consciousness, the witness of these. 1.3

  

-- The stupid does not attain Godhead because he wants it, while the wise man enjoys the Supreme Godhead without even wanting it. 18.37

-- Some think that something exists and others that nothing does. Rare is the man who does not think either, and is thereby free from distraction. 18.42

-- It is the feeling that there is something that needs to be achieved which is Samsara. The wise who are of the form of emptiness, formless, unchanging, and spotless see nothing of the sort. 18.57

-- Neither happy nor unhappy, neither detached nor attached, neither seeking liberation nor liberated, man is neither something nor nothing. 18.96

--For me who am forever pure there is no illusion, no Samsara, no attachment or detachment, no living organism, and no God. 20.11

Ashtavakra like Hawking does not need to invoke God.

This I think may also be the reason why Ashtavakra's Geeta was suppressed by the people whose livelihood depended on invoking God.