"I am not proud of Everest"

“Tell me something about your country, Umang,” said one of my friends from Iraq.

“My country Nepal is the country of Lord Buddha and Mt. Everest, the highest peak in the world.”

I did not prepare for this answer. It came out spontaneously. I wanted to tell him some more things realted to Nepal that would make me feel proud , I had to think for a while to recall them though. After about a pause of  few seconds, I added, “My country Nepal is the second richest country in water resources  and yes it’s the country of lakes and mountains.”

“What’s the per capita income of your country?”

This was something he should not have asked. I would not have answered it for any price if he belonged to somewhere from Europe or America . Luckily he was from Iraq , I answered, “$ 1400 ” without feeling much shame.

He also asked me about the number of Universities in my country. I answered in subdued voice, “Only 5….hmmmm actually few are under construction…”  Perhaps he noticed how uncomfortable I was in answering all those questions. May be,  to make me feel  better , he said, “My country has only 2.” I indeed felt better. I was really happy to know something somewhere was  worse than ours.

To make the lousy situation of his country look reasonable, he explained how the development in Iraq froze during the rule of Saddam Hussein. More than 80% of the budget used to  get spent on  weapons and bombs. He also recalled the moment when  he was forced  to join army during war time, a month after receiving his Engineering certificates. But now the situation was different. Iraq was rejuvenating after the fall of Saddam. Things were changing . He was  in great ecstasy about the change as like we Nepalese were 5 years back after the fall of Kingship. However, every change does not guarantee progress. Who else knows it better than us. Only after this conversation, I realized how pathetic our country’s situation was. We haven’t been involved in war since long ago. We have reasonably  long history of democracy. We choose our leader by ourselves. Still we lie at bottom 20 out of 181 countries according to World bank GDP estimate. Nevertheless, we always have 2  reasons to be proud of, Buddha and Everest. Hundred of years back, when America was filled with nomadic people and Australia used to be land of English slaves, our forefathers used to have 2 reasons to be proud of, Buddha and Everest. Hundred of years have passed away , America  has now found reasons to be proud of Neil Armstrong , Abraham Lincoln, Edison , Bill Gates , Larry Page and the list goes on. We still are pretty much satisfied to be proud of same 2 things. In near future, America might gain privilege of exploring Mars. Meanwhile, we Nepalese  will continue to be proud of same Buddha and same Everest. Why can’t we be proud of something new? Why can’t our country create leaders like Roosevelt? Why can’t we have people like Bill Gates? Why can’t we think like Edison?

I am thankful to god that he has blessed our country with the highest peak.  But, what have we done to own it? We did not win it in a battle. We did not create it. We did not bring it from outside. It’s a gift of nature to us. How can we be proud of gifts? I can be thankful about it but I can’t be proud of it. Why do we keep on gassing about  same Everest time and again? May be because, we don’t have any other reasons to be proud of. It’s because we want to cover up our nations failure beneath the shadow of Everest.

We have a privilege of being part of earliest civilization that dates back to period of Janak (mentioned in Ramayana) and Birat (mentioned in Mahabharat). 700 years back when USA  had not even been  discovered, we used to have palaces made up of gold and  silver. 200 years back , our brave ancestors did not allow British force to set foot in our nation. We do have such a great history. In today’s date, can we imagine our Nepalese troop resisting British force for even a single day? The truth hurts.

What actually went wrong for us? Where lies the flaw? Well, I think , flaw lies in our attitude. We get satisfied too easily. We live in the glory of past. We don’t adjust ourselves with the pace of time. Today, in the era of Science and Technology , we are happy with the tag of ‘Brave Gorkhalis’ bequeathed to us by our ancestors. It's not the era of  bravery, it's is the era of  intelligence. When are we going to realize that?

We need to first change ourselves in order to change our country. Let’s not be proud of the highest peak. Let’s build a skyscraper taller than Everest. Let’s not be proud of same old Buddha. Let’s create people like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Let’s  give our future generations some authentic reasons to be proud of.

Spiritual pursuit

ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यम्

भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ||

 OM, I adore the Divine Self who illuminates the three worlds physical, astral and causal, I offer my prayers to the one that shines like the Sun. May He enlighten our intellect.

I always wanted to be atheist. I wish I was not bothered about how  universe was created. I wish I could  blindly accept what big bang theory has to say. I wish I could be satisfied with the logic of organic evolution. But  I can’t make myself to believe that  something as complex as universe can be created without any intelligence. Did Pentium II modify  into Core i7 by itself? The answer is obvious. Even to modify small device like processor, we require hundreds of Engineers  then how can we take for granted that something as bulk as universe operates by itself without any intelligence. Perhaps, we human might never be capable enough to reach the root but that does not change the fact. However, I still wish I was an atheist. At least that would save lots of my time I waste on searching the answer in  Geeta, Upanishads and few books of other religions like Gurugranth and Koran . Thankfully, one of  my closest friends is much  more relentless than me in this pursuit. We have been discussing on this topic for more than 4 years  and our discussion still continues without  us reaching anywhere near conclusion. Mostly, our discussion involves his questions, my answers and his logic that marks fuzziness within my answer. I try my best to answer his questions but  he always manages to find  flaws within it.

In course of our discussion,  both of us take reference of different verses from scriptures like Geeta, Bhagwat Purana, Upanishads and many more. Our entire discussion basically revolves around 1^st  statement of Isa Upanishad that says

!!ॐ!!

!!पुर्णमद:पुर्णमिद:पुर्णात:पुर्णमुद्यच्यते!!
 !!पुर्णस्य: पुर्णमादाय: पुर्णमेवावशिष्यते !!

Aum

This is wholeness( whatever our mind can perceive),

That is wholeness( whatever our mind can not perceive),

Wholeness  arises from wholeness,

If wholeness is removed from wholeness , that still remains is wholeness.

When I first came across this statement, I was pretty sure that it must be the ugliest statement I've ever encountered. ‘When wholeness is removed from wholeness, that still remains is wholeness’, how  in world can it be true? Isn’t it analogous to 1-1=1? Later only, I realized the depth of it. It ceases the boundary between completeness and emptiness and tells us that every emptiness is complete and perfect in itself.

Me and my friend ,both of us are in pursuit of answer to same question. However, our path clearly contrasts. He is  fascinated more towards philosophy of Buddha that clearly denies existence of soul. While, I am more tempted by philosophy of Krishna that is entirely based on foundation of soul. The soul that has no birth and no death as Bhagwat Geeta in chapter 2, verse 23 states

नैनं छिंदंती शस्त्राणि,नैनं दहती पावक:

नचैनं क्लेदयंत्यापो,न शोषयति मारुत:

The soul is immortal.

Weapon cleaves it not, fire burns it not

Water moistens it not, wind dries it not

I do believe in existence of soul, not just because Geeta says so. The logic is simple. Our body  is made up of cells which in turn is made up of biochemicals. Our body is nothing more than the accumulation of such biochemicals .How can abstract entities like  thoughts, desires and feelings  come out of biochemicals?
There must be something (non matter) within us that gives rise to abstract experience within us .That "something" is what scriptures call "Soul".

It's not ironic that scientists have not yet accepted the  existence of soul. I'm sure they will never do.They can prove existence of something that their mind can perceive. Soul is beyond the reach of  mind. It can't be touched, seen or heard. It doesn't have taste , nor does it have odor. It simply does not exist for our mind. Anything that is beyond the access of 5 senses does not exist for our mind. Therefore, physical existence of soul can never be justified experimentally.However, our  inability of proving something doesn't mean something doesn't exist. Existence of soul  is not a hypothesis, it's an axiom . It's like 1+1=2 in Mathematics. Neither can we prove it, nor can we move any further without accepting it.

Alhough my friend and I do not agree in most of the points, there is one common theory of Hinduism that we both love .It’s Advaita philosphy established by Adi Sankara ( some scholars believe that lord Narayana himself propounded it and it came to Sankara through chain of passing knowledge). Swami Vivekanand, who shook whole world with his extra ordinary speech at International Religion  Conference, Chichago, was one of the most popular propagators of this philosophy. Advaita defines oneness of god. It says

अहम ब्रह्मास्मी |

I am the supreme one.

अयम आत्मा ब्रम्ह|

My soul is the supreme soul.

सर्वम् खलुइदं ब्रह्म |

Everything around me  is supreme in itself.

This philosophy ceases the difference between man and god and tells that we are not different from god. We indeed are god and the god is one, we all are one. 

 How can we all be one? We all are different, aren’t we?   

Shankara explains, “As like single moon has uncountable images within  uncountable ponds, we  all are the reflection of same supreme being within different bodies.“

Once my friend asked me, “If we all are god, what’s the purpose of meditation, why do we need salvation? If we already are god, why should we attain Nirvana?”

“Suppose that there is a resorvior with potential of 100 MW, Does that mean we can electrify a city directly  without converting potential energy into electrical energy?Obviously not. Likewise, Advaita tells that infinite potential lies within our consciousness. But  in unmanifested form. May be ,meditation is the way to extract it. All human are equal by potential but only few like Krishna, Buddha and Jesus were able to crack the trick to unlock it,” I answered.

Our discussion did not end here. He asked me few more questions. With my limited knowledge, I tried to answer them all. As always, I could not satisfy him with my answers. Once again our discussion ended without conclusion.

Someone had told me that everything from creation  to dissolution of Universe has been  scientifically explained in 5^th canto of Bhagwat Purana. I downloaded English translation of it but I found myself helpless when I came across stuffs written over there. Everything was written in the form of  riddle. It was impossible to understand anything without guidence of good  teacher. Luckily, I found someone who could guide me, during one of my visits to  ISKCON temple, Buddhanilkantha. He was associated to ISCKON (International Society of Krishna Consciousness) since his childhood and had received knowledge of Vedic science from Vrindavan, India. I used to tell him about my confusions, he used to solve those with reference to Vedic scriptures. During our conversation, I used to feel myself as Arjuna and him as Krishna. It sounds wacky but it’s one of the sweetest feelings I’ve ever had.

I started getting answers to my questions. Ironically, instead of clinching my confusion , it made me even more confused. Then only I understood the meaning of 12^th  verse of Isa Upanishad that states

अन्धं तम: प्रविशन्ति ये अविद्यामुपासते| 
ततो भूय इव तमो य उ विद्यायां रत:।| 

Into darkness enter those who worship ignorance.
But into greater darkness enter those who seek for knowledge.

 
This statements tells that, more one  tries to unlock the mysteries of knowledge, more he  gets trapped into it. I love everything about Hinduism except the ambuigity it has for the supremacy of god. Bhagwat Purana tells that Vishnu is the supreme one and he created Shiva. Skanda purana tells just opposite.

I asked my teacher ,”Can you tell me who is the supreme one between Vishnu and Shiva?”


 
He answered ,” Suppose you have two candles of same shape  and size of which one has fire and other does not. If you  lit the second one with the help of 1^st  , can you tell me which one will be brighter? “
   
I became speechless.  It was my last meeting with my guru.  I had to go to Karnali region in course of my job to install solar mill in remote  areas like Mugu and Humla. When I returned  back, he’d already left  the temple.

 
I don’t know if I shall ever meet him again. But if I do , then I have one more question  for him.

  
‘‘In between Vishnu and Shiva, who actually  is the 1^st candle?"

Frequent conflict between followers of Vishnu and Shiva has always stained Hinduism. There are numerous gods in Hinduism and different scriptures depict superiority of different. But the most authentic of all books, Vedas clearly states that God is one. 

एकम ब्रह्म द्वित्य नास्ते नेह नानास्ति किंचन|

God is one, without a second.Not at all, not at all, Not in the least bit. 

Bramha sutra 

एकम सत, विप्रा बहुधा वदन्ति| 

Truth (God) is one but sages call it by different names.

Rig Veda, Book 1, hymn 164, verse 46 

एकम एवाद्वित्यम ब्रह्म|  

God is one without a second. 

Chandogya Upanishad, chapter 2, verse 1 

 A question arises here, if god is one, what about 33 crores mentioned in Purans?

Bhagwat puran clearly tells that they are not god. They are superior to us , that's why they are misinterpreted as god by some scriptures. As like, we live in  planet earth, they live in another planet known as heaven, ruled by Indra and some day, they will also have to die like we do. Simply, they are nothing more than an alien to us, more powerful and highly advanced though. Bhagwata further tells that there are uncountable universes, each with one Bramha, one Vishnu and one Shiva . Bramha lives in planet known as Satye loka, Vishnu in Vaikuntha loka and Shiva in Kailasha. These 3 form trinity and are superior to Indra and others in heaven. However, they too are not god.  They live only upto 100 years of Bramha which is equivalent to 411 trillion 40 billion human years. After this time period, everything including trinity perishes and gets annhilated into supreme god, Maha Vishnu who is the limited  form of unlimited , unmanifested Narayana. In this sense, Narayan is the one and only  god. He is without shape,size and image. He is unmanifested yet omnipresent. 

Yajur Veda, Chapter 32, Verse 3 says

नतस्य प्रतिमा अस्ति|

Of him (god), there is no image.

Concept of God in Hinduism is confusing yet immensely beautiful. Other religions say that God creates universe. On the contrary, Hinduism tells that god himself is universe and every single atom lies within God himself. Meanwhile, it  also says that god lies within every single atom. These two  statements seem contradictory but are not. Both  becomes true simultaneously if we  view every thing as God and vice versa.

 I have read almost all important scriptures of Hinduism and few of other religions too. I should have completely understood god by now. No, I haven’t. Had I understood him, I would not have written this article to logically justify his existence ,for he is beyond all the logic. If I had understood even a  least bit of him, I would not have tried to interpret him  with the  verses of Geeta and Vedas . In fact, I know nothing of him. I’ll never be able to know anything about him as long as I try to analyse  him with my limited mind. Now, the first thing I need  to do in my pursuit  is to unlearn everything I have learned till date. Its really tough and dispiriting. I wish I was an atheist. .

 

 

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