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| "Engineered Fruit" by Baiju Parthan |
There is a story in Yogavaasishtam which can perhaps give us some fresh ideas on the illusory nature of Time. Likewise, the Gita says, other dimensions too are illusory. On plebeian terms we can define Maya as the universal possibility for error.
Now, into the Yogavasishtam story.
Now, into the Yogavasishtam story.
Lavanan, the king has a craze for horses. As the king gets the best of
everything, one of his subjects presents him with a thoroughbred and
the king goes out for hunting. Alas! He is lost in the forest and
perhaps for the first time in life, longs for food and water. At the
end of a desperate search, as luck would have it, a young girl appears
before him, carrying both. Relieved, King Lavanan immediately makes a
passionate request for the grub. However, the girl declines. She is
carrying the tiffin for her father who is awaiting it at home.
"Don't worry", said the King, "I shall come with you and get his
permission”. And he did. Interestingly, King Lavanan not only
gets his food but his wife too...the father gives away the daughter to
the stranger in marriage. They are Chandalas but the King has no other
option. The King resigns to his fate and settles in the forest as a
family man. Children are born. Its a normal life, equal in comfort-level
as a King as well as a Chandala. Not for long! Things are bound to
change anyway! The forest gets depleted and the hard times are in.
Food, of course, is in short supply. The starving children are crying
for meat. Lavanan creates a bonfire and jumps into it. He is offering
himself as food so that his children can be alive. .......
Now, the King wakes up from his dream. He has dozed-off in the
afternoon. It’s a dream, afterall. What a relief! He is upset, however.
Spurred by an unknown urge, he sets off to the forest. He follows the
dream and strangely enough, finds the exact location in the forest
where the bonfire is still burning! What's more, his wife and
children are there, crying! King Lavanan knows the reason why. He is
perplexed. How this can happen!!!!
everything, one of his subjects presents him with a thoroughbred and
the king goes out for hunting. Alas! He is lost in the forest and
perhaps for the first time in life, longs for food and water. At the
end of a desperate search, as luck would have it, a young girl appears
before him, carrying both. Relieved, King Lavanan immediately makes a
passionate request for the grub. However, the girl declines. She is
carrying the tiffin for her father who is awaiting it at home.
"Don't worry", said the King, "I shall come with you and get his
permission”. And he did. Interestingly, King Lavanan not only
gets his food but his wife too...the father gives away the daughter to
the stranger in marriage. They are Chandalas but the King has no other
option. The King resigns to his fate and settles in the forest as a
family man. Children are born. Its a normal life, equal in comfort-level
as a King as well as a Chandala. Not for long! Things are bound to
change anyway! The forest gets depleted and the hard times are in.
Food, of course, is in short supply. The starving children are crying
for meat. Lavanan creates a bonfire and jumps into it. He is offering
himself as food so that his children can be alive. .......
Now, the King wakes up from his dream. He has dozed-off in the
afternoon. It’s a dream, afterall. What a relief! He is upset, however.
Spurred by an unknown urge, he sets off to the forest. He follows the
dream and strangely enough, finds the exact location in the forest
where the bonfire is still burning! What's more, his wife and
children are there, crying! King Lavanan knows the reason why. He is
perplexed. How this can happen!!!!
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| "MilliJunction-1" Oil on canvas by Baiju Parthan (2009) |
The story ends here. There is no moral as such.
The past as we call it may not have happened in the past! Future does
not belong to the future! Events are not based on 'cause & effect'.
The past as we call it may not have happened in the past! Future does
not belong to the future! Events are not based on 'cause & effect'.
Space & time are inextricably intertwined and hence space could be an illusion too!
In the simultaneously existent multiverses, events could very well be happening in accordance with a different set of physical laws! In fact, we needn’t go that far. Take the case of the dream experience.
Dream psychologists tell us that actual dream duration (which rarely exceeds a few minutes), which can be monitored using EEG, bears no relation with the content duration of the dream.
Which time is real…. The time on the physical plane or the time in the dream? Is there a correlation between the two? How does time exist in deep-sleep (sushupti)? We do not have an answer. The space factor is simpler to explain. You make love to a woman in a dream and the proof is there to show! So, the dream is a “non-ordinary reality” which makes “the ordinary time & space” an illusion. Extrapolating this, we may have to admit that our thoughts are based in the unreal. Hard-core vedantins insist that the first letter “അ” stands for “അയഥാര്ത്ഥ്യം”. Though not a die-hard vedantin, Poet Kunjunny Mash used to wonder “ആരുടെ തോന്നലാണ് ഞാന് !” i.e., Whose delusion is me, anyway !
Which time is real…. The time on the physical plane or the time in the dream? Is there a correlation between the two? How does time exist in deep-sleep (sushupti)? We do not have an answer. The space factor is simpler to explain. You make love to a woman in a dream and the proof is there to show! So, the dream is a “non-ordinary reality” which makes “the ordinary time & space” an illusion. Extrapolating this, we may have to admit that our thoughts are based in the unreal. Hard-core vedantins insist that the first letter “അ” stands for “അയഥാര്ത്ഥ്യം”. Though not a die-hard vedantin, Poet Kunjunny Mash used to wonder “ആരുടെ തോന്നലാണ് ഞാന് !” i.e., Whose delusion is me, anyway !
There is a beautiful quote in Yogavasishtam. “The world exists at the mercy of fool”.
You and I are not inclined to accept this. We aren’t fools, are we?
You and I are not inclined to accept this. We aren’t fools, are we?
Now, take this sloka from the Gita
Tatraikastham jagat krusnam pravibhaktamanekadha
Apasyaddevadevasya sareere pandavastada
(sloka 13, Chapter 11- Viswaroopadarsana Yogam)
At that time, Arjuna saw that the whole Universe, seen dividedly in various forms are already merged into One, that of the Lord.
Let me illustrate this with the example of an elephant and a house-fly.
The elephant experiences its massive body with its various organs such as trunk, tail etc. as a single and continuous whole. The fly is sitting at the bottom of the trunk, pretty comfortably. Other organs of the elephant, as far as the fly is concerned, are invisible and distant. Non-existent.
What does it know about the elephant? Practically nothing.
(No prize for guessing who is the fly here !)
Now, let me wind up with a quote from Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (1917-2008), Science-fiction author , inventor and futurist..(from memory)
“The Universe is not just wonderful that we can imagine but more wonderful than we can ever imagine !"
Over to you, now.
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| Baiju Parthan |
Acknowledgements
1.Prof.G.Balakrishnan Nair whose book on Gita “Sivarandam Mahabhashyam” is the basis of my posts
2. Swamy Tapasyananda for explaining things that I couldn’t grasp
3. Scientist friend Radhakrishnan Sir for scanning my ideas from a Modern Physics view-point.