Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.
Published on www.academy-advaita.com
The Netherlands
24th March 2017
Meant
“Will”
The enlightened state: What is meant to happen will happen and no force on earth can stop it happening. What is not meant to happen will not happen and no force on earth can make it happen.
Meant is past tense. Meant also implies that someone intended to be or do a particular thing, especially when they have failed to be or do it. Meant could also mean that it is expected to happen or that it ought to happen.
‘Will’ implies present tense and not past tense, and similarly will happen indicates it happens in the present. The first point is, how is man able to understand what the enlightened mean by ‘meant’? - because by meant the enlightened would not imply the past, because the past is not an actuality to the enlightened. Meant, therefore, implies the present to the enlightened.
The second point is: what is man to understand by the words of the enlightened: ‘What is meant to happen will happen?’- because the enlightened also point out that man is not the doer and daily life is illusory.
By the word ‘meant’ the enlightened indicate that in every moment only a letter of a word is present and not the entire word. Also, as the first letter becomes the past, it is evident that every other letter in a word becomes the past and a word is in the past as well, but is imagined to be in the present.
Similarly, to do anything in the present is not possible for, just as only a letter of any word is in the present and not the entire word, only a part of movement is in the present and not the entire act or event.
This indicates that what is meant to happen could happen only in the past and, as it is impossible for anything to happen in the past, it implies that what happens in the past and the present is illusory and not actual, either in the past or the present. As man cannot make the present, it is obvious that man is not the doer in the present, but is merely moving in the present. Furthermore, because the movement in the present happens spontaneously, uncontrollably and unpredictably, it implies that what happens in the present is illusory and not real.
Therefore, the enlightened statement ‘what is meant to happen will happen and no force on earth can stop it happening’ indicates the wisdom of the enlightened: ‘an illusion that is meant to happen will happen and no force on earth can stop the illusion from happening.’
Also ‘what is meant not to happen will not happen and no force on earth can make it happen’, indicates the wisdom of the enlightened: ‘an illusion that is not meant to happen will not happen and no force on earth can make the illusion happen.’
Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
© Copyright V. S. Shankar 2017
Editor’s Note:
Whatever happens happens, notwithstanding the intention of man. Whatever does not happen does not happen, notwithstanding the intention of man. This is the world of illusion, as understood by the wise. This is the world of reality, as understood by man. Man is not to be denied the part he plays in his or her daily life, albeit illusory. In this article, the enlightened reveal their understanding of the illusion.
Julian Capper, U.K
German Translator’s Note:
That "what is meant to happen or not to happen" is nevertheless illusory, is not easy for man to understand. If the understanding of illusory is not deep enough and man believes that he is not a doer whereas deeds and happenings are real to him, he will be imprisoned in his mind as a reality nevertheless. Fear of helplessness and fatalism can be the outcome of this superficial understanding, which is just a spiritual belief, so common in spiritual circles all over the world. Therefore a deeper insight into this omnipresent fact of life is needed: That "what happens" is not an actuality but illusory thoughts in man’s mind. This insight is gifted in Dr. Shankar’s article "Meant“.
Marcus Stegmaier, Germany.