Sixth Sense

Viswamitra · Apr 5, 2014

Dear Manju,

Like Rajni's song "Oh Oh Oh kicku erudhe, oh oh oh Gnanam urudhe", I am sure that those caramel custard with rum that you take as midnight snack will make you throw something at me to help me cross the ocean. Who knows?

Jokes apart, you delve a lot into the territory of wisdom and if I learn to connect with your thought process, that could be the moment of my salvation. I have so much respect for the way you present your thoughts.

Viswa

Cheeniya · Apr 5, 2014

My dear Viswa
It is amazing how you can choose a very tough subject and play around with it as if it is Rubik’s Cube! I read this about a week back and honestly I could not get a grip on it. Basically I am not a Koshas and Chakras man but my great interest in comparative theology has finally helped me to unravel the basic import of this subject. But I am still not sure if my understanding of what you have presented is sound enough to make a presentation or I should be more prudent and keep my mouth shut. Finally I decided to check in keeping my fingers crossed. What if I make a fool of myself, I asked myself and assured myself that it was Viswa after all whose patience is monumental!

Boethius, the erudite Roman Philosopher of the 6[SUP]th[/SUP] Century, sums it up very well. ‘In other living creatures ignorance of self is nature; in man it is vice’. Manju’s take ‘Humans are fortunate among animals to have been endowed with sixth sense, beyond the basic five. But it is distressing that this sixth sense is not at our bid and command, but lies beyond ordinary grasp’ is like a Bashyam for the philosophy of Boethius. Man is expected to pursue an understanding of his self through the 6[SUP]th[/SUP] sense so mercifully provided to him by God. If he chooses not to employ it and continue to remain ignorant of his self till his dying day, it could only mean that self knowledge is painful and he prefers to indulge in the pleasures of illusion. The consequence of such ignorance can be bad by every yardstick, from the utilitarian to the transcendental. It is bad because self ignorance leads to unrealistic behavior and so causes all kinds of trouble for all concerned.

The importance of self knowledge has been a favourite subject of all Saints and Doctors of every one of the religious traditions from Socrates to Buddha. Buddha’s discourse on ‘The Setting Up of Mindfulness’ for example expounds the whole art of self-knowledge of one’s body, one’s sense, one’s feelings and one’s thoughts. This helps the man to get rid of the many skins that hide his heart. Eckhart Meister nicely explains it thus: ‘Thirty or forty skins and hides, just like an ox’s or bears’s, so thick and hard, cover the soul. Go into your own ground and learn to know yourself there’. The similarity in the thought process of the great religious leaders is indeed striking!
Sri

Viswamitra · Apr 5, 2014

Dear Cheeniya Sir,

What a fantastic presentation of your take on what a human being is supposed to do with apt quotes from 6th Century Roman philosopher Boethius and Lord Buddha. There is no question that similarity of thoughts emanating from all these great souls are remarkably identical!

Adi Sankara in His Viveka Chudamani known as crown jewel of wisdom says, "Let people quote scriptures and sacrifice for Gods, let them perform rituals and worship the deities, there is no Liberation for anyone without the realization one's identity with Atman, no, not even in the lifetime of hundred Brahma's put together (one day of Brahma (the Creator) is equivalent of 432 million years)".

Buddha suggested the best mean to reach the summit is not to focus on rituals and stay course to realize Self. However, Adi Sankara taught that overcoming the maya is difficult and hence training the mind to do idol worship will keep the mind focused but eventually one should realize Self.

"Janthunam narajanmam dhurlabam" says all the learned saints. If that is the only life in which we have the ability to realize our true Self, how can we afford not to make a sincere effort towards that goal? That is why I said it is our commitment to journey towards Self that is our sixth sense.

"When a door closes, God will open another door" - This appears to be a simple quote telling that if we face a huddle in life, something will help us to achieve our goal. I sincerely believe that it has much deeper meaning than that. All our senses and mind open the door to see the world around us. When we close the door to the outside world i.e. control our senses and mind, the journey outward ends and the door towards inside opens and our journey to our Self begins.

When my Guru told me that it is elimination of the mind that helps us realize who we really are, I didn't grasp the inherent teachings in that statement. When we move from thoughtfulness to thoughtlessness, selfishness to selflessness in our human form, we begin our journey from forgetfulness (body, mind & intellect ("BMI"))to Self awareness. Mind is to narrow down the essence of everything and in other words prune otherwise vast information into meaningful analyzed substance whereas the heart is to expand beyond the limitation of human selfishness to expansive selflessness. Knowledge is only to eliminate the layers around us and when we reach the summit of Anandamaya Kosha, it is Self-knowing and full of knowledge. All other tools we have become redundant. Self can only be experienced and not comprehended.

Viswa

satchitananda · Apr 6, 2014

Dear Viswamitra,

A very profound piece as usual. I have heard about these when I used to attend Vedanta classes. However, I have to admit, much to my despair that many of these theoretical elements elude my understanding. I just have a superficial, vague grasp of what they are or what they mean.

As such, I don't think it would be prudent of me to say much on the topic. I am, however, very curious about the thoughtfulness and thoughtlessness that you mention. How would you describe the state of thoughtlessness? Is it a kind of shutting down of the mind and just being there in the absolute present?

I also wonder all the time about another state of mind and shall risk asking about it even if it sound like a stupid question - it might get me some explanation. Seeing all these people stricken by dementia/Alzheimer's, I often wonder what state of existence that is. Are they devoid of thoughts? Is that an altered state of existence where they experience things which are out of bounds for so-called "normal" people?

Viswamitra · Apr 6, 2014

Dear Satchi,

My understanding is not perfect either and I continue to improve my understanding of Koshas. Every day, I learn something new when I delve deep into such subjects. At least you learned Vedanta in a structured class and my understand is purely based on what I learned by reading the teachings of beloved Saints.

In simple terms, I believe thoughtlessness is a state where a human being has complete control over the mind and senses. A person has to live in the present moment every millisecond. Emotions will have no role to play in life. Total equanimity will be established and pleasure and pain will have no effect in the mind. Manas will cease to exist and only the intellect will function as per the rich knowledge residing in the Divine Consciousness. Mind is nothing but cauldron of thoughts and when all thoughts cease to exist, the mind will also cease to exist. The actions will be made based on the Sankalpa (Will Power) skillfully, selflessly and lovingly.

I have answered the question relating to Dementia/Alzheimer's in an earlier response to the best of my ability. These diseases affect only the progression of the brain and they would continue to have thoughts (as the mind continues to exist) but lose their ability to act upon it.

Viswa

navs23 · Apr 8, 2014

Dear Viswa Sir,

I am so glad for the opportunity to read about such complex stuff, but, I do feel bad for being ignorant(I couldn't understand most of it).

I associate the sixth sense as the master for controlling the other senses, mind over heart/feelings/senses. It makes me understand the difference between right and wrong, reach to my subconsious when indecisive or incorrect, feel guilty when one or more senses go overboard and stop being impulsive or rash. It is what makes me think before acting and stay a human. So, is the sixth sense, in one way, our subconsious mind? I do not know if I am completely off the topic, pardon me.

Satchi,

Dementia in old age, must be one state of mind, where, the person's mind becomes like that of a child. They must be blissfully unaware of the nitty gritty of life and must have let go of all the toxic thoughts and feelings. A clean slate, innocent and ignorant like that of a small child. Maybe, there is a reason for that too. It is impossible to let go of one's thoughts, feelings, opinions, guilt or regrets on our own, however toxic they are and there must be some kind of intervention needed to make it a clean slate that would make it easy to connect to the inner soul.

Viswamitra · Apr 8, 2014

Dear Navs23,

I am actually so privileged to interact with ILites here in this forum and them responding to all of my posts. I wish I was like you at your age understanding the right living ways. You definitely have a great perception of the sixth sense. You are absolutely right in your perception of the sixth sense.

The discriminative power or intellect allows you to make the right decision after analyzing the current and past experiences. It is able to discriminate the right from wrong. Intellect normally is closely connected with the divine consciousness that resides in all of us. It draws its strength from this all knowing and blissful superpower.

At that stage, we only know how to draw knowledge from the source. However, over a period of time, we need to realize that we are that superpower and when we do that we lose our duality and all other tools become redundant in our life. We become one with our divine consciousness. The Anandamaya Kosha I mentioned is that knowledgeable and blissful being. Once we are aware, "I am that", we are no longer dependent in this world and all over actions become divine. Jeeva becomes a Being, achieves Awareness and always Blissful. That position is known as "Satchitananda".

Viswa