my notes on philosophy - some reflections - subramanian a

8/3/2019 My Notes on Philosophy - Some reflections - Subramanian A

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MY NOTES ON PHILOSOPHY

Somebody had asked me a few questions in a philosophical forum

after reading my ‘The many angles of God” and “Knowledge”. My

answers are given below.

1. Who hijacked our consciousness during our sleep and returned it

to us safely the moment we woke up in the morning?

2. What is the need of hijacking our consciousness during our

sleep?

3. What is the need of returning it in the morning?

4. If death happens during our sleep, why the hijacker fails to

return the consciousness to the owner in the morning?

5. If our consciousness is hijacked during our sleep, how could we

say in the morning that we had a nice sleep during night?

Something was aware of the proceedings during our deep ,something was enjoying the solitude of sleep and that awareness

was continuous during our wakeful state. Thus, we could make

out this statement. This awareness is “I”.

What is it this 'something'? The body, mind intellect? Body was



there but the mind was not there. Mind was not there and so

emotions were not there. Mind was not there and so sensations

were not there. Mind was not there and so, thoughts were not

there. Remember, a wakeful mind can never go to sleep. When

crowded thoughts are there, we cannot sleep. So, sleep is amindless state. Mind has gone to its very source. What is this

subtler source?

Oriental philosophy gives a clear answer. The entity 'I' was there

watching the whole proceedings during our sleep as in the

wakeful state. 'I' means pure existence, one level of awareness,

one level of pure consciousness. It requires no proof. Do we

require any scientific proof for our individual existence? I exist -

this is the only answer. We never ask ourselves - am I dead? Even

if we are in a pitch dark cave, we need not search for a torch to

see whether we exist or not. This self endorsing consciousness is

what is termed as 'I'. 'I' exist even in our sleep. It is an

individualized awareness. It is this awareness that tells our

consciousness in the morning that we had a good sleep.

See, awareness cannot be defined in words. It can only be

experienced but not defined in so many words. We have a

tendency to believe that only wakefulness presents any sort of

consciousness. Consciousness is always present and throughout

this entire universe and beyond. Body is gross. Mind and intellect

are subtler. I is very subtler. The indwelling awareness or the

indwelling spirit is the subtlest. Subtler concepts cannot be easily

defined or grasped by the still grosser entities.

For example, earth is gross. Water is subtle. Fire is still subtler.

Air is subtler than fire. Space is the subtlest of all. Subtle means it

can hold all that are gross up to that stage. This means Space can

hold air, fire, water and earth. When I say that "I" is subtler, it

means that it can hold mind, intellect, senses and body within its

capacity. This means that "I" is inclusive of all of these as a tree

is included in a seed.

Do “I” change with the change of time? No. The “I” when I was

four years old is the same “I” that I presently am. So, there is a



changeless dimension beyond the body, mind, intellect sphere.

Again, if we took a review of our personal nature, we can see that

despite changing circumstances over a long period, there is an

inherent Nature within us that has remained so changeless. We

may call them traits, certain inclinations etc when it comes todefining this inherent Nature. This stream is very personal to

every individual, as we can see. So, there is a changeless sphere

within everyone of us that can be coined as “I” and Inherent

Nature. This sphere is certainly beyond the material plane and is

more or less connected with the sphere of consciousness.

2. What is the practical side of any knowledge in human life? Do we

learn anything for practice alone in life? Knowledge has not suchpractical purposes alone. Only time can tell. We are only throwing

seeds upon the sands of Time. It will do its goodness in the

evolution of human mind, in the process of human life. We will

certainly be blest by such knowledge in times of necessities. No

knowledge was ever a waste. Thirst for knowledge, quest for

knowledge doesn't know any limits. Man is in long contemplation

on the various concepts of life. God is one such concept and man

is in contemplation on the various aspects of God as well. This

article is the outcome of one such ramification.

One more thing. Practicality is decided by the degree of

application, attitude of mind. It doesn't lie in the object. It does

lie in the Subject, ie in the individual attitude. Objects of the

world do not offer us anything. It is only the Subjective mind that

discovers the importance of the objects, the various relationships,

the importance of a particular knowledge etc. From this angle, no

scientific knowledge too has any purpose in our life unless we

have an attitude to apply it in our life. What is the practicality of

'Theory of Relativity' for a savage living in deep forest or even for

a layman? What is the practicality of the knowledge for a layman

that another earth is surviving at a distance of 20 lac light years

away or 1 liter of water is available in 20 or 30 tons of lunar soil?

Think philosophically and you can discover the trivialities of

human knowledge. But, man is in long contemplation and



reflection on various subjects.

3. We can determine the belief of others only

according to our individual scale. There is no

other scale possible in our life. It is only with our

mind and intellect that we can measure this

world. We can't see the world through the brain

of others. Our individual scale is a combination

of various factors - views regarding society,

religion, art, literature, music, philosophy etc.

This is how your belief is viewed as superstitionby me and vice versa. Our scales need not

coincide. That is all. Belief and superstition -

these are only relative ideas. My belief can be

your superstition and your belief can be my

superstition from different angles. Every

individual has his own system of belief. This is

an unquestionable parameter. This means,everybody has a scale. It can be Metric system

our or otherwise. It is more important to ask

oneself - where do I stand - rather than asking -

where do others stand.

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my notes on philosophy - some reflections - subramanian a

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