Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.
Published on www.academy-advaita.com
The Netherlands
1 January 2019
Determined
“Resolute”
Determined means wanting to do something very much and not allowing anyone or any difficulties to stop you. Determined also means having made a firm decision and being resolved not to change it.
Man and woman who are determined to do anything in life and are successful, they are applauded and appreciated. Man and woman are proud of their determination to do. Man and woman are advised to be determined by the knowledgeable in society.
The knowledgeable also say that primitive man lived without the knowledge that he or she should be determined. Primitive man was merely moving in the present, which is the timeless and thoughtless ‘here and now’, without knowing whether he was determined or not. He also did not know that he was moving.
Wisdom reveals that every moment in life renews itself and in between a moment in the mind and in life is moment as well. This signifies that a moment in life and in the mind is eternal.
Brain scans reveal that decisions happen seven seconds before man decides. The scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences reveal that human decisions are made seconds before humans become aware of them.
In the study, participants could freely decide if they wanted to press a button with either their right hand or left hand. The only condition was that they had to remember when they made the decision to use either their right hand or left hand.
Using FMRI, researchers scanned the brains of the participants to find out if they could predict which hand the participants would use before participants were consciously aware of the decision.
The results by monitoring the micro patterns of activity in the front-polar cortex, were that the researchers could predict which hand the participant would choose seven seconds before the participant was aware of the decision.
Wisdom reveals that this is proof that man neither decides nor predicts nor predetermines. Wisdom reveals that even the movement of the hand to press the button happens and the brain does not make the movement happen in the moment.
Wisdom further reveals that determination happens for understanding to happen that only moving is in every moment and that every moment is only moving. Also, for wise understanding to happen that moving in every moment is instinct and instinct cannot be determined by man or his brain.
Determination happens for understanding to happen that determination is not an actuality in a moment. Determination happens for understanding to happen that determination in any moment is illusory and not real. Determination happens for understanding to happen that determination is not present, but only moving is present.
The moving happens for understanding to happen that when the moving is accepted as determination, it is believed that man and woman are determined and can be determined as well.
Wisdom reveals that determination is not present in the moment because life is only moving in the moment. Wisdom also reveals that the intelligence in life manifests the moving and man or woman do not make the moving in the moment happen. This is because they do not make the moment in life.
The enlightened accept what man or woman do and do not expect them to be determined, because they understand that determination is not present, but only moving is present in any moment in life. The enlightened proclaim that man or woman will know to do what he or she is meant to do, albeit illusory.
Sri Ramana Maharishi has declared that what is meant to happen, albeit illusory, will happen. Sri Adi Shankaracharya has declared that man is not the doer in Nirvanashadakam. Kenopanishad verse (1.3) declares that word and mind cannot access the Absolute One. Bhagwat Gita chapter 3 verse 27 declares that man is not the doer.
The enlightened understand that the moving in any moment is instinct and is manifested by the intelligence in life and is not done by man or his brain. The enlightened have declared that life is a singular movement.
Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
© Copyright V. S. Shankar 2018
Editor’s Note:
Every human being wishes to complete or succeed in a task which is contemplated or undertaken, particularly when it demands resourcefulness and energy. ‘Keep at it’ and ‘don’t give up’ typify the advice given which inspires determination - and the belief that ‘I am the doer’ adds the element of responsibility, albeit illusory.
However praiseworthy determination has become as a human quality in daily life, at whatever age, the understanding of the enlightened gifted in this article is that man is not the doer. Thus, the illusory nature of determination is revealed and the burden of man’s responsibility for the outcome is dissolved.
Julian Capper, UK
German Translator‘s Note:
The illusion of being a doer, especially a determined one, has become so deeply rooted in the human mind over the course of evolution that it is inconceivable not to think of it as real. It may even be frightening to see determination as an illusion, because then, as always in the dual world of the mind, its opposite shows up, in this case the opposite of determination is the feeling of helplessness. Even the deep understanding of the wisdom of this article is not attainable with determination. The understanding so clearly presented here by Dr. Shankar is that precisely what is destined to happen happens and therefore determination is illusory and not real.
Marcus Stegmaier, Germany.