Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.
Published on www.academy-advaita.com
The Netherlands
11th October 2015
To be or not to be
“That is the question”
Man wants and expects ‘to be’ happy in his life. Man does not want and does not accept ‘not to be’ happy in his life. Man also longs ‘to be’ in bliss in his life and searches for bliss. Similarly, man does not want to be unblissful, and searches in his daily life for ways ‘not to be’ unblissful. But nevertheless, both happiness and bliss are always in the horizon, which is away from him, meaning the future, and man is neither happy nor is he in bliss in every moment of his daily life where he is.
If happiness and bliss are always in the future, the horizon will ‘not be’ away from him once the future is understood ‘to be’ where his feet touch the ground in daily life, which is the ‘here and now’. What will make man understand that the horizon is the ‘here and now’ and not away from him? Man will understand that the horizon, which is the future, is the ‘here and now’ and that the future is not away from him.
The question is, does life happen ‘to be’ what the mind expects and accepts life to be? What is the proof that life will ‘not be’ what the mind expects or accepts life ‘to be’? Man needs to understand that the present moment is the future that happens in the ‘here and now’ ‘to be’, because man is CERTAIN of happiness in the ‘here and now’ only after the happiness happens and he does not know the exact moment of certainty of happiness before it happens. This is proof that the ‘here and now’ is the horizon (future) and will be what it is meant to be, and will ‘not be’ what the mind expects and accepts life ‘to be’.
Why is the horizon always away from man? The horizon is away because the mind has evolved to accept the future ‘to be’, which is ONLY what the mind expects the future ‘to be’. If the future, which is the moment ‘here and now’, is not what the mind expects, the mind is in the horizon expecting the future, which it accepts life ‘to be’, that would make him ‘to be’ happy.
When man accepts every moment of life as it happens ‘to be’, man will be happy every moment, which is bliss. If you ‘do not’ accept every moment of life as it happens ‘to be’, man will want and long for both happiness and bliss. When man understands his mind, he will understand that the question ‘to be or not to be’ happy or blissful in life, is not up to man, but it is up to life.
Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
© Copyright V. S. Shankar 2015
Editor’s Note:
The confusion and stress endured in the life of a human being by virtue of his or her conditioned mind is laid bare in this article. Thus the question posed in the title is the nub of the dilemma. Life, in its manifestation as the enlightened author, is gifting man his own realisation.
Julian Capper, U.K.
German Translator’s note:
All of us have a conditioned mind do not know that living life means only “to be“ what we are and not “to be this or that“. “To be or to become this or that” is in the mind and not in life. The mind never indicates the here and now ‘in life’. The mind indicates the future or the past repeated or refined as the future. Trust in life, happiness and bliss, is the outcome of the understanding conveyed in this wise article “To be or not to be” by Dr. Shankar.
Marcus Stegmaier, Germany
Dutch translator’s note:
This article is of great importance in understanding the mind. It shows what a mighty instrument the mind is. The mind seems to be an obstacle on our way to realisation, but it is also the passage to wisdom. The understanding that comes from within, is being awakened and fed by the words of the wise. This is the reason Dr. Shankar speaks and writes, to give us the opportunity, in this era of complexity and confusion, to ponder deeply over the eternal wisdom, so understanding may happen.
Paula Smit, The Netherlands