NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 16:
Prior
to excerpting the other Ramana Maharshi disciple in the text below we continue
the series: Fine-Tuned Universe 9,
the premise that a small change in several of the dimensionless fundamental
physical constants would make the Universe incapable of Life.
Fine-Tuned
Universe 9:
[In the unreal reflection called the
"Universe", a product of an unreal Mind, even there, Infinite
Intelligence is evident and inspiring.]
Most scientists (as
Atheists) favor Multi-Verses. They only ask: "What sorts could there
be ? And how might their existence help us to understand those Life-supporting
features of our own Universe, that would otherwise appear to be just very
fortuitous coincidences ?" These questions
are not ultimately matters of opinion or idle speculation. Multi-Verses are
thought to be necessary for an underlying "Theory of Everything" TOE that
would join Gravity to the GUT Grand Unified Theory of the other 3 Forces:
Strong & Weak Nuclear & Electro-Magnetic.
A TOE may require many properties of the Universe to have
been selected at random, by Symmetry
Breaking, from a large collection of possibilities [Multi-Verse, dubiously supported by "iffy"
observations of the COBE and WMAP satellites]. The Universe’s Vacuum State
Inflationary Cosmological models contains many apparent
"coincidences" that may allow the Universe to support complexity &
Life. If we were to consider a Multi-Verse of all possible Universes, then our
observed Universe appears special in many ways. Modern Quantum Mechanics provides
ways in which these possible Universes that make up the Multi-Verse of all
possibilities can actually exist.
Once you take seriously that all possible Universes can or
do exist, then a slippery slope opens up before you. It has long been recognized
that technical civilizations, only a little more advanced than ourselves, will
have the capability to simulate [VR]
Universes in which self-conscious
entities can emerge & communicate with one another. They would have
computer power that differed from ours by a vast factor [as in interactive VR simulations like The Matrix movie]. Instead of merely simulating their weather or
the formation of Galaxies, like we do, they would be able to go further and
watch the appearance of Stars and Planetary systems. Then, having coupled the
rules of Biochemistry into their Astronomical simulations they would be able to
watch the evolution of Life & Consciousness – ???? I doubt that), all speeded up to occur on whatever timescale
was convenient for them [like micro-seconds
].
Just as we watch the Life cycles of fruit flies they would
be able to follow the Evolution of Life, watch Civilizations grow and
communicate with each other, argue about whether there existed a Great Programmer
in the Sky who created their Universe and who could intervene at will in
defiance of the laws of Nature they habitually observed.
Once this capability to fully simulate a Universe is achieved, fake Universes [including "nostalgia" Universes
set in our own time] will proliferate and will soon greatly outnumber the
real ones. Thus, Nick Böstrom has argued that a thinking being, here and now,
is more likely to be in a simulated "nostalgia"
Universe reality than in a real Universe. Motivated by this alarming conclusion,
here have even been suggestions as how best to conduct ourselves if we have a
high probability of being simulated
beings in a simulated reality. [Qualified Non-Duality says much the same.]
Some suggest that you should act so as to increase the
chances of continuing to exist in the simulation
or of being "re-simulated" [dreaded
Re-incarnation ???] in the Future.
"If you might be living in a simulation then all else equal you should care less about others,
live more for today, make your World look more likely to become rich, expect to
& try more to participate in pivotal events, be more entertaining &
praiseworthy, & keep the famous people around you happier & more
interested in you." [Sounds like a
fair description of an inflated Ego –
the opposite to the goal of Non-Duality & Liberation from the false notion
of any Ego.]
In response, Paul Davies has argued that this high
probability of living in a simulated
reality is a reductio ad absurdum for
the whole idea that Multi-Verses of all possibilities exist. It would undermine
our hopes of acquiring any sure knowledge about the Universe.
[Actually, Nick
Böstrom's thesis does not require a Multi-Verse at all. Rather it suggests a different kind of
"Multi-Verse" within our own one singular Universe, our own World,
planet Earth. All that is required is going past Ray Kurzweil's so-called
Singularity where Technology & augmented IQ of the Elite has advanced to allow
simulations like & beyond "The Matrix" movie. Simulated
Multi-Verses can be created but no physical Multi-Verse is required for a
Bayesian-like Probability to make our existence as Simulations the most
probable.] Next time: more on the Davies abjection & Simulated Universes.
You stumble around in the darkness of your Mind, not knowing
that you have a torch in your hand. That light is the Light of the Self. Switch
it on and leave it on and you will never stumble again. You are all here
because there is a desire in you to realize the Self. This desire does not
arise randomly or accidentally in some people and not in others. It is there
because of the punyas you have
accumulated from previous births, punyas
that may have come from meditation, charitable works, and so on. These punyas will manifest as a desire for
freedom, a desire to do earnest sadhana,
a. desire to find a good teacher in whose presence the Truth will be taught and
revealed. If someone is destined to be a jnani
in this life, it means that he has come to this final birth with a mountain of punyas to his credit. These punyas will take him to a real Guru, to
a real Satsang, and in this
environment he will do sadhana and
achieve the goal. If one does not have this mountain of punyas from the Past, there will be no desire for Freedom, no
desire to look for a Guru who can deliver it. Such a person may meet a Guru and
that Guru may even give him good advice, but the determined resolve to put that
advice into effect will not be there.
The fierce determination to succeed and the Discrimination
that allows one to ignore Worldly entanglements only arise in those who have
accumulated these punyas. Other
people may hear the words of truth, but although they accept that they are
true, the inclination to act on them will not be there.
Wet wood does not catch fire easily, but if you dry it for a
long time in the Sun it will be much more combustible. Other materials such as
camphor, gasoline, kerosene and gunpowder will ignite as soon as they are
touched by a flame. Devotees can be classified in the same way: some ignite as
soon as they meet a Guru or hear the truth for the first time; others need a
period of drying out before they are ready to catch fire. Those who are damp or
wet can dry themselves out by sadhana,
by having a strong determination to be aware of the Self at all times. Self is
readily available all the time but we cannot be aware of it or even put our
attention on the thought of it because our vasanas
are continuously leading our interest and attention in other directions. That
is why it is so important to have the awareness, "I am not the Mind. I am the
Self." You have forcibly to drag your wandering attention back to the Self
each time it shows an interest in going anywhere else. Don’t be interested in
the words that the Mind is serving up for you. It is putting them there to
tempt you into a stream of thoughts that will take you away from the Self. You
have to ignore them all and focus on the Light that is shining within you. When
I was serving Bhagavan in the 1930's and 40's, I obeyed only him. For me, he
was the Light, and everything else was the chattering Mind trying to lead me
astray. I ignored the words and advice of everyone else in the Ashram and kept
all my attention on Bhagavan and his instructions to me.
If there is no external Light such as Bhagavan to guide you,
you have to look within to find the Self. You will not benefit from looking
anywhere else, from doing anything else, or from listening to any other voice.
Walking round and round a temple, doing rituals to a deity — activities like
these will not bring you any nearer to the Self. The pujas, the japas, the
rituals - these are just for beginners. Meditation is the syllabus in a higher
class. We need not waste our time by indulging in the activities of the infant
class again and again. Here, in this class, l ask you to put all your
attention, all your interest on realising the final teaching: "I am not
the Body or the Mind. I am the Self. All is the Self." This is Bhagavan’s
Final teaching. Nothing more needs to be added to it. Keep good company while
you pursue this Knowledge and all will be well.
You must believe the Guru and you must also believe your own
experience because the Gum is not telling you to add another belief to your
Mind. He is instead telling you to look at your own experience of yourself, and
in doing so, disregard everything else.
Ram Tirtha used to tell of a man who was a little mad lived
in a small village with his wife. His friends liked to tease him and make fun
of him because they all thought he was stupid. One day, one of them said,
"We have some bad news for you. Your wife has become a widow." He
believed them and started crying out in grief, "My wife has become a
widow! My wife has become a widow!" Some of the people he passed on the
street laughed at him and said, "Why are you mourning ? You are very much
alive. How can your wife be a widow if you yourself are alive to complain about
it ?" "My closest friends have told me this," he replied, "and
I trust them. They are very reliable people. If they are saying that my wife
has become a widow, it must be true." We would think that a man who
behaved like this was utterly stupid because he chose to believe the words of
others instead of his own experience.
But are we any better ? We believe, on the basis of indirect
information provided by the Senses, that we are the Body. The experience of
"I am", of the Self, is present in all of us, but when the
mischievous Senses gang up on us and try to make us believe something that is
patently untrue, we believe them and ignore our direct experience. Then we
grieve about our State, lamenting, "I am bound; I am unenlightened; I am
not free." And even when the Guru comes along and says, "You are the
Self. You are free. Why do you insist on believing this misinformation that the
mischievous senses are giving you ?", still you do not believe the truth.
You tell him, "The Senses have always given me reliable information in the
past. I have learned to trust them. What they |tell me must be true."
And so you go on grieving and complaining, even when your
direct experience and the words of the Guru agree with each other and reveal
the truth.
The above themes & 1600 pages
more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of
a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:
or with
Caps-sensitive:
Duplicates
(but with graphics) have been available on:
jstiga.wordpress.com/
[But from now on, they will be different & still usually
daily.]
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