" Aham Brahmasmi " (I'm the Universe / God)... The deep meaning

"Aham Brahmasmi" - I am Brahman / Universe / God

Many Vedas and Upanishads have said this over and over again. It seems like a simple line but a thinker would find the catch in this simple phrase.

Hindu scriptures say that there is only Brahman and nothing else. The Universe is the only and everything. The catch here is that when we hear this quote - "Aham Brahmasmi", there is a speaker ("I") and the object ("Universe"). The speaker is saying that "It" is the universe. 

But since there is nothing else but the universe, it means that the universe itself must be saying this to itself. It is the speaker, the listener, the object and the subject itself. Something like when we tell ourselves something, we are the subject, object, speaker and listener.

The indication in this line is towards perceptions ; that instead of thinking duality (Creator & Creation), one should THINK OF SINGULARITY.

The Brahman / Universe is conscious. We are a part of this current universe in this space and time... Right Now. Are we conscious of ourselves ? Yes we are. Is my friend conscious of herself? Yes she is. Is the dog sitting over there conscious of itself? Most certainly. 
The universe, we being an active part of it right now, is always conscious, and thus it says "Aham Brahmasmi".

So whenever I'm being conscious of myself, this part of the universe bound in me is being conscious of itself. Whenever I gaze at the stars, the universe is gazing at itself. Whenever I dream, the universe is dreaming in its own. Now multiply this into so many other souls on lets say just this planet. This means a whole chunk of the universe is being conscious of itself.

Now I have started feeling that my senses - my eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin, memory, intelligence / brain, etc are just mere tools for the universe to experience itself. 

In other words, I notice that I had no control over the birth of my body, this set of organic tools I have been born with, including my basic senses and also my talents. I just kept discovering along the way what I'm good at and walked on that path. I discovered with time what makes me happy, and did those things. But am I controlling any of the basic things here? Yes I know I can make choices, but those are so heavily dependent on my characteristics, the ones which I never chose. For example, I can decide to quit my job to start a business, but the basic quality of being free willed is something I was born with which is why I feel happily conditioned to be making this choice. Am I what I think I am, or a lost part of a larger consciousness ?

My body, my senses, my brain is just a medium to experience and wonder, to raise questions and seek answers. But the active universe, that decided the way my body and mind would be, is only trying to see and realize itself through all these processes, which I think of as my identity. Isn't it ?

Who else does that ? 

I think, all the souls on this planet do that; i.e search for meaning. Seriously, I constantly try to find out about myself, my paths, my happiness. Sometimes I try to figure out other people also, and they do the same as well with me. We are constantly trying to know and figure out each other. Why would the consciousness of the universe (we being a part of it always) try to do that ?

Seems like the universal consciousness forms my body and mind, my eyes, ears and memory and is looking through me and wondering... What the heck an I doing here ? What am I here for ? What should I be doing in life ? What am I searching for ?

Then I look at the other and start wondering... Who the heck is that ? What does he want in life ?  Whats my connection with them ?... and so on.

Conclusion : The universe is one. All elements (those we call living and non living) are actively a part of it. In fact the totality of it is the universe itself. Our consciousness isn't just ours alone, locked in this body. It transcends our physical self, even our imaginary self.

In fact, it is the single consciousness (God / Brahman / Om) that is creating, sustaining(creating time) and destroying continuously (seen as work of the trinity). 

This consciousness forms waves and frequencies which make matter and energy possible (scientifically observed under modern science, but always a recognized phenomenon in ancient sciences). 

Its only purpose is to create these numerous frequencies (of creation) and then solving the puzzle to return back to its original state (pure consciousness). This solving of the puzzle by the universe is what we experience in our bodies and minds when we search for meaning in ourselves and others (family, friends, humans and animals alike). 

This makes us the Universe, and the universe becomes me, as a single consciousness tied in the illusion of this body and mind. Meditation, spiritual practices and study, helps us realize our true nature. It clears our minds to make us understand that the Gods to whom we pray, whose idols we make, whose images and stories we love, we ourselves are a part of the same divinity, the figures and stories might change, but the unified consciousness is the same. 

It is the same consciousness that was Krishna, it is the same that is me, it is the same that will be Kalki.

Our "Aatmas" (souls), put together, 
becomes "Paramatma" (singlemost / supreme soul).

"Aham Brahmasmi"

Essence of Kali & Durga - The Fierce Mother Goddesses

Kali is a form of the mother Goddess - "Shakti". Shakti in sanskrit means "energy/power". She is like the nuclear reactor(with immense energy) which becomes unstable, on irking by evil forces, turning herself into a nuclear bomb. She does this when terrible situations anger her a lot, typically the demons and the bad elements which threaten creation.

The Vedic Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, who are the phenomenon of creation, time period / lifespan and destruction respectively, have their abiding source of power. This power is feminine. The phenomenon cannot manifest without the power and the power is in turn guided by the phenomenon into the formation of this creation. "Aadi-Shakti"(eternal energy) is the consort of Brahma as "Saraswati"(Goddess of Knowledge), of Vishnu as "Lakshmi"(Goddess of Prosperity) and of Shiva as "Parvati"(Goddess of Strength). 

Parvati also called "Shakti" is also mostly generally referred to as the consort of Shiva, and their union - "ArdhaNareeshwara" (half male-half female form of Shiva-Shakti) is the secret of all creation.They both entwine to form the web of creation, Shiva being the pool of consciousness(the end of all forms) and Shakti being the energy which gives consciousness the medium to create. Which is why she is called Mother. The energy of creation that she is, "Shakti" flows consciously through every particle and is the life force of every being - living or dead. She is the life force of the humans, the ghosts, plants, animals, angels and demons. The whole of creation is her child. She is the nurturer and also the punisher when her child is in danger.

Many forms of Shakti in different
situations & aspects, centre one being Durga,
2 topleft corner ones are forms of  Kaali.
There are still many more forms and Avataars.

HER VARIOUS FORMS : 
Maa Durga, Maa Kaali, Annapurna, and many more.

Maa is kind, benevolent, loving and truly the ultimate mother. She cares and nurtures. In most of her forms, Shakti is in a benevolent state. But when her own creations - the demons, "Asuras", evil spirits, etc go upto the level of destroying nature, killing innocent beings, and creating havoc, she comes into the angry protective mother form. She manifests into "Durga" ("Durg" meaning fortress/ boundary/ protection). Durga is shown as all powerful, skilled in martial arts and with her sheer strength and courage she kills the devils and protects the good people. Till now she is courageous, poised and angry. This can be seen in the story of "Mahishasura" who was a demon who could disguise himself as a buffalo. He was creating havoc. He had got a boon that no man but only a woman could kill him, which he thought was impossible as women aren't as strong enough. 
In his ego he destroyed villages, settlements and entire tribes. His cruel ways were limited by Shakti who transformed into Durga and showed the demon that power and energy itself are feminine in nature. The same energy can become life giving or life taking.

When Evil does not stop at that, and demonic activity continues to anger her even more, Shakti loses it totally. She becomes Raw. She loses her poise. She becomes like the tigress who wants to protect her cubs. She transforms into Kali, the fierce one and does not even try to defeat the demons. Instead she just massacres all of them. She becomes the term - Madness and Wrath in the true sense. She loses her touch of femininity and poise, and becomes only the mad angry Mother taking revenge for her murdered babies and punishing evil. She goes around wild, breathing anger, severing heads of demons and wearing a garland of their skulls and skirt of their chopped hands. It seems like she herself has become a mad demon in nature, but only for a good cause. There are many stories of Kaali, but a famous one is the arrival of this demon called "RaktBeej"(meaning blood-seed). This demon had terrifying powers. The Angels and warriors tried to fight him, but his one drop of blood which fell on the ground would give birth to another demon like him. He could cut his own arm and sprinkle the drops of blood around to create 100's of Raktbeejas like him. This way he went on killing and destroying. When Mother's patience ended, she burst up in massive anger taking the form of Kaali. She wanted blood. She leaped and flung her weapon like a hurricane cutting up all the Raktbeejas, but they wud keep growing more and more as soon as their blood touched the ground. In her fierce madness, mother Kaali opened her mouth wide like a giant and started sucking all the blood that came out of these demons with such a force, that no drop of Raktbeej's blood ever touched the ground. Once all the demons were dead, Kaali was still angry, could not control her wrath, as she is the form of pure wrath. She continued to kill all other evil demons as well, in her madness, to which Shiva and other Gods got worried that she would destroy the meaning of life (good vs evil struggle) if she kills the entire species of demons in her anger. This would harm the balance of life as every creation has an intended purpose of it existing.

Shiva laid himself as a corpse to stop Kali

So Shiva laid himself down as a corpse in the way of Kali who was madly walking over them searching for any demons alive. As soon as her feet touched Shiva's body, which is considered super disrespectful, she got a shock, her tounge stuck out in shame and she realized that she is also a poised Parvati, the wife of Shiva. The anger receded, and she got back to her old form of "Parvati".

Why is Kali so fierce?
We see the essence of Kali in nature everywhere. Try troubling new born cubs or pups, surely their mother won't spare you. The mother of a newborn human baby, if someone tries to kill her baby, she takes the form of Durga first trying her best to protect her child, and sometimes she could even become Kaali, take up weapons, knowing no shame, fight to kill. The mother in this form is so full of love & emotions for her child that she will fight anyone even till her own death to protect her child. This is the true essence of motherhood. She doesnt care about dangers, society, and her feminine poise. She only thinks of attacking anyone who comes close to her child, like an animal.


Why is Kaali naked ?
We see naked images and sculptures of all Gods/godesses in ancient Indian historical sites and art. Clothing was more of an ornamentation back then. Mostly it was worn to segregate people in work, like a jersey is used. 

Shame was seen in a bad task, not a bare body.
(Sculpture of a Goddess)

Painting of a queen.
The servant has cloth but no jewels.
Clothing was a way of  tagging & ornamentation back in time.
(Ajanta cave paintings, India)

Another example of ancient attitudes to nudity
visible in the sculpture

Modern art forms of the same Goddesses,
now covered up, shows the ways of our narrow minded society,
which considers bare bodies shameful & lustful.

So for example, all the queens servant wore a white robe, and the kings guards wore a red head gear. Shame because of a bare body, wasn't existent in people's minds, as is seen in the ancient art. This is also seen in all other art forms from Greek to Egyptian to Meopotamian.

We see this culture even today among the tribals anywhere in the world, who live away from the society, in nature's goodness, knowing no shame. Look at their simple faces. it shows that they are much more pure and logical in their thinking. They respect man, woman and nature equally and do not lust after bare skin which is something every human is born with. Cloth is only used for protection and utility.

The free and open minded attitudes of tribals all around the world, which are remnants of civilizations.
Some form of rigid and vulgar mindset took away this innocence from the world.
In each photo you can see men and women together.

But still why is Kali not even adorned with jewels and ornamentation like other feminine forms shown above? Why is her hair flowing wild? Why doesn't she behave demurely and gracefully like women do? That's because only when she quits her poise of a woman, will she be immune to all fear. The shame of a person is the biggest drawback in a fight. If we feel shameful in a fight because our clothes got torn at the wrong places, or for other reasons, and our opponent starts making fun, our strength, our confidence and will to fight is greatly reduced. And knowing the demons, they would definitely try all possible ways, to bring disgrace to a female warrior(who is also a graceful married wife of Shiva), which is why she gives up all her grace in the beginning itself and transforms into a mad animal like being trying to protect her babies; ie us.

Why is Kaali also benevolent?
Kaali is realized as an eternal truth of Shakti - the feminine power of the cosmos. She runs through our very bodies and mind. She is seen as benevolent to those whom she is protecting. It is very obvious that if someone is fighting madly for a cause, like soldiers who madly and bravely fight for their motherland, not knowing fear of death, they must be extremely loving towards their country, ie. the subject whom they are protecting. The Indian revolutionaries who sacrificed themselves at young ages for the love of their country, people still tell tales of their mad love for their motherland (the subject). Thus if Kaali or even Durga for that matter, is fierce against elements who are harming the creation, including us, it would mean that she must also madly love us. We are her babies whom she loves in the same raw, unpoised, feminine way.

'Ramkrishna Paramhansa' and wife 'Sarada Devi'
(19th cent - in white clothes), considered to be God
incarnate themselves, are one of the greatest loving
devotees of Maa Kali. Many miracles have been 

witnessed around them in their lives. Their teachings have 

touched many lives & their ashram has a vast following today.

Kaali is invoked to protect from evil spirits, evil intentions and negative feelings. She is invoked in particular rituals for various purposes as she brings in the immense raw power of Shakti, which is sometimes difficult to handle. 

Many exorcists often use her mantras and rituals to ward off evil spirits and sometimes even to gain power to control the spirits or to do black magic. However stories and accounts, and even wizards and exorcists themselves have always told us that whenever any of these powers given by her, which are tremendous, are misused, Kaali punishes and even those punishments are tremendous, usually leading to death of the practitioner.

She is the fierce but also the simple minded mother who wants no Tantra wizardry to impress her, but only pure love and thus would prefer a loving devotee over the wisest Tantra wizards. That is the essence of the largely mistaken Maa Kali- the protector, the master of Tantra, the controller of spirits, the destroyer, the fierce mother, the most loving, the most benevolent, the maddest, the kindest...

She makes me feel secure.
She is Pure Wrath... and Pure Love.

TAGS : Hinduism, Hindu, Vedic, om, India, Veda, ancient, natural, Brahma, Hindusthaan, Idol, worship, Philosophy, avataar, body, consciousness, devotee, devotion, existence, hanuman, idol, images, learning, love, meditation, mind, moksha, religious, shiva, soul, tribals, vedas, vishnu, you, Diversity, Harmony, Kaali, Kali, One, Polytheism, Unity, Unity in Diversity, belief, brain, communal, communities, competition, demon, dessert, education, experiment, eyes, food, forest, goddess, happy, indigenous, karma, lakshman, lakshmi, laws, living, loving, me, nirvana, ornament, love, our, pantheism, parvati, people, powers, prosperous, ram, ravan, rebirth, reincarnation, religare, religion, sage, saint, saraswati, save, search, shakti, share, sita, society, soul, searching, still, trinity, us, we, world, worship

Where is My Soul ? Experience your Soul... Right Now (Guided by Hindu / Vedic teachings)

There are many who say that they don't believe in a soul. Fair enough. Why should one, when one cannot experience the Soul? Our schooling doesn't teach it, and sometimes scientists also say that there is no such thing as the Supreme Soul... Hell... There is even no such thing as a Soul.

Its all mental and nervous mumbo-jumbo, of our amazing brain. We are chemical structures reacting and acting in a particular way, and that's what makes us feel love, hate and such emotions. Nothing like a Soul exists.


How did I experience my Soul ?
Now this is not the only way, its just my method, and I wanna share it. It could be useful.
It is simple and I'm sure many people can do it. Takes a few seconds and a little practice whenever one's got time and solace. If interested, you can give it more time.

Whenever I'm just relaxing, closed eyes or open, I realized that I see a lot of thoughts rushing by in my head, like images and videos, one after the other, which is what we call "Thinking". This thinking always projects images in connections to each other. For example, I could start with - "Oh, the dinner was tasty... yesterday had tasty food at that restaurant... its wall had a picture of a guitar... guitars are cool... that guitarist at yesterdays show was awesome.... "(cont.) and so on. And then I think... What was I thinking in the beginning... and what am I thinking now?
These don't seem like involuntary actions at all, it seems like I'm voluntarily letting the memories flash one after the other, like playing with them. They form a chain in connection to an instance in one thought, leading to another, but as soon as I like something, I voluntarily and creatively start imagining by changing my thoughts, (cont.)... I'm learning to play the guitar... there is a guitar in my hands... crowds cheering for me... I'm dressed in black jacket.... riding in my Bentley... rich rockstar... and so on.

I realize that all this while there is an entity(Me) that was using my brain to browse through and produce these images by will. The brain was like the super computer producing such fast results, animating and editing videos(thoughts) in split seconds;
the nervous signals were like a super duper heavy duty video/animation software;
the memory was like the 50,000 GB hard drive which stores so much information.

But who was the video editor? 

Oh no, I got so lost in all these videos and images, that I never realized the existence of that one entity that is operating all this. That was Me. I was using my brain. I was in control. But who am I ?

Then I thought, my body is a machine. My brain being a part of it, functions like a machine too. When it functions well, my reflexes are fast, my imagination is good. When it malfunctions, like in the case of all sorts of mental disorders, it does not function properly. Now I started thinking that suppose I have an accident and lose my memory, or some part of the brain stops working to cause paralysis, my consciousness will still be intact. I know that I'm paralytic and a part of me isn't working. I KNOW that. Even the heaviest of brain damages do not take away that sense of "Me". Suppose, if I go into coma, and wake up after many years, supposing that my memory is washed, and I'm even not thinking stright, can't calculate, but still, the question I would ask is, Who Am I ?  Somehow I still know the existence of ME.

Sometimes people call this, The Soul. 

"Aatma" in Sanskrit(Vedic language) means Soul.
"Paramatma" = "Param"(Supreme) + "Atma" = Supreme Soul / God

In Vedas, it is clearly established, that if we learn to see our own soul, in other words, when we realize it more and more, see our souls activated and in constant action all the time, we start getting closer to answers to that very basic question - What/ Where/Who is God ? Because all the souls who think they are separate from each other are actually the same Soul trying to find its meaning by forming different forms / bodies and using different "Indriyas"(senses in sanskrit). Once we start to control our "Indriyas", we can clearly see the Soul - Live in action. Once we know the soul completely, all the desires which are projected through the senses seem so unimportant in comparison to the true bliss.

I realized that my soul/Me, its constantly working and making decisions willingly. It does what is necessary without rest. And why would it rest, it never tires. My body gets tired, I decide to sit. My mind gets tired, I/ my soul decides to take a break, go out. But if there is urgent work, I pressure my body to work, I pressure my mind to work. This sense of urgency depends from soul to soul so differently, that it cannot be calculated. If it were upto the brain, it would have calculated the stress levels of my body in terms of chemical imbalance, and would have put me to sleep. It believes in the survival instinct, so why would it let the body perish knowing that over working is not good for the body. But I / The Soul is thinking about commitment to work and others benefit, which is why it pressures my body to work not listening to the signals of my brain.

I'm actually never getting tired. When I say that I'm getting tired, it just means that my body is getting tired, or my brain is, but try to see that one being, that is You, that never feels tired. 

I also realized, that when I'm doing something out of greed or thrill (like over-speeding in traffic, or refusing a beggar whose asking for alms, or stealing someone's job, shoplifting, or even over pricing a product to earn a little more from a customer, or telling a lie for personal benefit, etc), at that very moment my Self splits into two; one tells me to go for it, one tells me not to.

Its generally my social learnings and values, my mental structure, my thinking, etc which tells me to think of myself, my pleasure, my greed, my fears, my reputation (what is also called for the devil / satan). But there is this other strong force, always there, which knows what is wrong and right once it gets information. Its so sensitive, that it pricks me in a slight way even when I'm having meat these days, for example. Since the time(about 6-7 years of age) I realized, that a whole animal has been killed, and customers like me are the reason why they're being killed frantically, I started to get that poking from the soul whenever I had meat.

Q. What would my brain tell me based on evidences it grew up with over the years, and survival instincts? 
A. My parents eat meat. Everyone has it. Its tasty, its proteins. If humans can grow them they can kill them too. This is our societal norm. People have been doing it for ages. People would think I'm stupid if I quit. Food chains promote it. Its delicious. Being Bad is Good in today's world.

Q. What would be bugging / poking me, even when the brain is giving evidences?
A. Why should an animal die for my taste buds. Humans give birth on intention too, so does that mean that the parents can kill their child. All these arguments are being given by the brain to satiate addiction of the senses; in this case, its taste buds.

Even after this, I pushed my soul away and continued with meat for more than 25 years since birth. It was because I liked it and could not refuse it. Later, when I started to pay attention to this poking going on inside me, I decided to quit eating meat. I saw myself going closer to peace, understanding and happiness. By body became healthier and my mind could work much faster and sharper.
I slowly started to develop control over my senses and thus the addictions too.

I saw, that the Soul constantly thinks of the other(other than me), which is why the virtues come up to pinch me, but my brain only thinks about its own survival and greed, and it argues with my soul constantly, and most of the times I let my brain and body win.

Why does the soul always think of the other??? 
Could it be that it realizes that the other is also itself. And it realizes that the brain and body are locking it in illusion but it is eternally connected to every other soul in the planet. Which is why when we see a person cry, we start to feel the pain. Even babies, their thinking and understanding is not so developed. But you keep a crying baby in a room full of babies, soon they'll all start crying. There is something connecting them, even when they do not have the means to communicate.

This is why the Vedas indicate that babies are like purest forms of God themselves. Their soul is so pure, because their brains haven't developed yet. They know no fear but are able to sense everyone's pain. You would sense that capability in pets also. And yet sometimes we grown up humans, who have so many advanced tools and techniqueswith the mind and body, cannot understand others pain and others problems and point of view. That's because we have so covered up ourselves in materialism and materialistic thoughts(career, house, car, reputation, sex, bank balance, self image) always. That is why we always feel insecure and intolerant of the other.

People don't even wanna adjust with their families anymore, forget the rest of the world.

When its a case of survival, and you haven't had food for 3 days, your Soul justifies stealing this one time. Brains wouldn't function that way. Brains would work according to programming. But souls(The Real You) make the same body and mind function differently in different situations.
It only knows right and wrong.

You'll notice that the soul never rests.
If the body is too tired, it lies down, but the soul keeps observing. Even when we sleep the soul imagines (what we call dreams). It uses the brain's data and plays around with it and also creates new imaginary mixed  up stuff that never existed in the brain, in quite the same way, when we were thinking voluntarily, remember?

When you wake up from sleep, it seems real till 
the time you've woken up.

So if our soul is behaving exactly the same way when we are awake or asleep, it means that our souls are not in the control of our brain. Its the opposite. Our soul / We have a different reality with our eyes open, and a different reality in sleep.

One real world for the soul

Another real world for the soul

I like the dialogue in the movie - "The Matrix". A question is asked - "Imagine if you could never wake up from your sleep, how would you know the difference between the two worlds".
In our world(not in the movie) somehow we can never teach ourselves, when we dream, that it is a dream right now and I will wake up from it. Its only when you wake up, that you realize that it was not reality.
I think that when we sleep in this world, we (our soul) wakes up in the another world and we say to ourselves - "Oh that was just a dream", and when we sleep there, we wake up here, and say the same thing. And this happens every single night. No matter how much you try to tell yourself that you'll just be dreaming at night and that it isn't real, you still believe that its real, till you wake up.
Why would that happen?

An Experiment with the Soul
I imagine if I was blind since birth, I wouldn't have this immense video gallery in my memory obviously.
If I was also deaf since birth, I would have no sound files in the memory.
If I also did not have any other senses of hearing, taste and touch, I would basically have no means to experience this world through my senses, thus no memory at work, thus no imagination.
In that case, would I still have, pretty blank surely but still, a sense of myself? What would it be like? I would know no happy moments, no sad ones, I won't feel when someone pushes me, throws me, no sensory feelings basically. But would I sense my existence in a very still manner or not? What do you think?

Try feeling this. Ok wait, even imagination wouldn't work in a person like that, so how would you imagine.
Mmmmm.... if only you and I could blank out all our senses, which basically means all our connections to the outer world, would we be able to realize what that would feel like. Just the soul.

Could meditation help?

Let's try this simple one right now. Close your eyes, and focus on certain imaginations constantly for 5 seconds each - like a tree, a laughing girl, a laughing boy, a dog, sunset, etc. Like this make a few projections of your choice (let them come randomly) and keep each constant in your mind for a few seconds(but don't count, don't be rigid with timing, let it be natural).

Realize that these images are all in front of you, so you should turn your focus inwards on the one who is looking at these images. Feel the presence of You - the video editor.

Feel the stillness that is not your body, and not your mind.

And Ask
Who am I ?
What I visualize as myself is just my body and face, what if I did not have my eyes.
What I imagine is just my name(given by parents) and designation(given by society),
suppose I could not hear.
What I love in food is also a sensation only. Suppose I could not taste or smell.
What I feel are touches on skin, suppose I could not feel touch.

But do I still feel me, as still as a rock , but do I sense the presence of ME?

Note : Those who are disabled from one or two senses are known to be more sensitive to love and emotions. The soul is always as active, as loving(like a child), as innocent; Maybe its the memory of the senses that form an illusion of who I am, build my ego, build selfishness. The soul is like unending love and is the same that runs through everybody(which is why it can sense pain of others). Its the mind that covers it up in "Maaya" (an illusion).

When we try to separate the illusory senses that wake up our ego, we should be able to feel the presence of The Self - The Soul.
When we realize and feel the same Self / Soul running through every being, we feel the essence of God, omnipresence of God. When we're able to practice this, we are filled with knowledge, peace and senses that are far more capable than the basic 5 senses we think we have.


Keep Realizing the never tiring Soul every moment.
Saurabh Dey (OmCultr)



TAGS : Hinduism, Hindu, Vedic, om, India, Veda, ancient, natural, Brahma, Hindusthaan, Idol, worship, Philosophy, avataar, body, consciousness, devotee, devotion, existence, hanuman, idol, images, learning, love, meditation, mind, moksha, religious, shiva, soul, tribals, vedas, vishnu, you, Diversity, Harmony, Kaali, Kali, One, Polytheism, Unity, Unity in Diversity, belief, brain, communal, communities, competition, demon, dessert, education, experiment, eyes, food, forest, goddess, happy, indigenous, karma, lakshman, lakshmi, laws, living, loving, me, nirvana, ornament, love, our, pantheism, parvati, people, powers, prosperous, ram, ravan, rebirth, reincarnation, religare, religion, sage, saint, saraswati, save, search, shakti, share, sita, society, soul, searching, still, trinity, us, we, world, worship

Vedic Culture / Hinduism – Base Philosophy

It could get extremely difficult for a person to understand another culture, whose base values are alien to their own. We should remember, that philosophy is basically human thoughts, so by clear understanding, everybody’s mindset can be analysed. To understand behavior of a particular society, we need to understand its history and belief with an unbiased approach. . 

Different people, different mindsets, different backgrounds, different environments of development lead to differences in understanding. Well obviously. Here we will majorly discuss the base philosophy in Hinduism which sets the tone for any other thoughts and practices.

Base Philosophy – Unity in Diversity

Vedic culture (Hinduism) is not a religion at all.

Since it’s one of the oldest belief systems which are in current practice, in quite the same way as before, you can clearly notice one thing that it wasn't born in competition. Thus people did not even think of it as a religion / community. Various communities would have the same beliefs. It was just imparted as knowledge by the knowledgeable. Quite Simple! That's why, there was never striving towards making more followers. The focus was always on learning, realizing the Ultimate Truth(by those who wanted to), answering questions and developing philosophy. It was quite a personal quest, not a power quest.

The Vedas say that the Supreme Conciousness runs through, and thus connects, every being, whatever they are, wherever they are. Different bodies and minds but the same soul. Once a person realizes this much, he sees no point in distinction and separation. He / She sees "Unity in Diversity"

Since this knowledge is applicable to everyone and everything, it should be left to each individual whether they want to inculcate and understand it or not. It can't be done by force or subjugation.

Vedas have never been dogmatic. They believe in the concept of unity in diversity, not just unity alone. Matter is diverse at every level but is still the same. Everything is changing all the time, nothing is constant in this universe. Your bodies are not your bodies but processes, they keep changing every moment. Only the soul is timeless and is One. The source of all this is Divinity/God. It unites all that is extremely diverse. This was taught and explained in all Gurukuls(shools) of ancient India. It was a tradition and method which is very different from modern education systems.

In this system, it was the student who always decided whether his/her studies and education was complete or not. A good Guru could thoroughly read his students and know what their intellect is demanding. This is the first example of establishing tolerance through "Unity in Diversity". Only when the wise men like Gurus realise the different potentials in students, instead of making all of them give the same exam, will they be able to inculcate the same habbits in their students. What could be more important that developing, unbiased, intellegent and observing students who will later form the society?

Secondly, never did Hinduism consider one thing superior and another inferior. This also began in the schools. Each student was also given their own customized shot at learning according to their own capacities. Every student was important. How? because it is due to the weaker students, that the brighter gets noticed, if everyone was equally bright, then being a bright student would have no meaning. Just like prey doesn't have any meaning without a predator, good has no meaning without bad, and light has no importance without dark, similarly a bright student has no meaning without dull ones. All that exists is with a reason and is thus respectable. By being biased towards what pleases us, we are only filling our societies with hate, jealousy and anger. 

So Vedas / Hinduism says - quit hating and see the beauty and oneness in all diversity- the black and white, the curly and straight, the tall and short, the bright student and the dull student, the one who is among our tribe and the one who is not, they are all respectable, all the same.
So, I think, that maybe the stronger students never bullied the weaker ones back in those days.

Note : The reason why you can find many Hindus going to Dargah(holy shrine of Muslim faith) and to Churches, with mostly no hesitation, is Unity in Diversity, followed in almost a sub conscious manner.

Hinduism / Vedas believe that everything is divine as it is and it has a place in this universe whether it’s a part of my lifestyle and beliefs or not. The reason why you have so many  sub-cultures in India is "Unity in Diversity". So many types of foods, different languages and scripts, variety of spices, diverse clothing styles, hair and makeup, different beliefs, various auspicious items, ways of cooking, musical genres, dance genres, architecture, etc. exist. Its all diverse, its all beautiful, it all coexists, and its all divine. Its inevitable also.

This concept of harmony, is seen in nature. Look at the sea creatures, so different and co existing, look at forests and its creatures, creatures below the earth, in the river. They co-exist in a harmonious system. Nature is like that everywhere.  Its diverse. Diversity is natural and almost defines the essence of existence, the essence of God. We are only a tiny part of nature, a few species of it living in different parts of the world and are bound to be different, and so will our beliefs be different depending on climate, resources, food and other factors. 

Thus, people who have been so respectful of diversity are definitely going to have diverse worship techniques and many diverse deities. The people who so constantly also believe in Unity in Diversity, will also see all deities as beautiful manifestations of the same that is Divine and that is ONE.  This is what Vedic knowledge / Hinduism’s core is.

I think Albert Einstien mentioned that if all bees die, humans would die too in a matter of years. So that makes the bee as important a part of creation as humans. 

That’s why what the western world sees as chaos and confusion, Hindus / people residing in India see as curry, an aromatic blend of differences. Some people also believe, that it is so embedded in the daily life of Indians, that regardless of community and religion, Indians follow the Hindu philosophy of Unity in Diversity subconsciously. Its actually very simple, very pleasing, and could bring a lot of good health, harmony and peace in anyone's life. It could stop the hating and jealousy in the world.

So, "Unity in Diversity" somewhat forms the base of the tonnes of Hindu philosophy. God is ONE but with countless manifestations...

Q. Why is  Unity in Diversity so important as a philosophy?

A. When we believe in Unity in Diversity, we learn tolerance and the ability to see a person’s heart and soul inspite of the obvious differences in thoughts and cultures. Only in this way do we know what’s right and what is wrong in given situations, keeping our mind unbiased. 
"Unity in Diversity" concept teaches us to put down our ego, anger and false pride, to attain knowledge and spread it, to feel love and love back.

Thanks for your time

Saurabh Dey

(OMCULTR)