“Knowledge is complicated. Wisdom is simple"
Dr. Vijai S Shankar
‘Body and Mind’
by Dr. Vijai S Shankar
The body and mind is like a train. The body is the engine and the mind is the carriages. The carriages are with the engine and not in the engine. Similarly, the mind is WITH life and not IN life, and life has IN it only the body and life has WITH it the mind as the carriages. The carriages occupy the space the engine had, after the engine leaves the space and passes ahead. Similarly the mind occupies the space life had, after life leaves the space and passes ahead. The engine of the train is always ahead of the carriages and the carriages are always a delay in the space occupied by the engine. Similarly, life is always ahead of the mind, and the mind is always a delay in the space occupied by life. Life and the body in it, is the present ‘here and now’. Life with the mind is the past ‘there and then’.
‘Words and thoughts’
by Dr. Vijai S Shankar
Words and thoughts are unreal, to mean though they are present they are Illusory, but not real. They are illusory, because our ears receive sound-waves but the mind hears words. For example, a foreign language is just sounds to the mind, which does not understand the foreign language and not words. Similarly, thoughts are subtle sounds, but the mind thinks subtle sounds as thoughts.
At last, someone has dared to confront death with real understanding! So long have we waited to discover what death really is, knowing deeply, but not having the light to realise what was deeply known, that it could not possibly be that awful tunnel of darkness and nothingness that grips all of us in abject fear. It suddenly becomes clear while, for example, the car is being driven from here to there: no real car, no real driver, no real where. Thus, there has appeared for our enlightenment, in this chapter entitled ‘Death’, the dissolution of man’s eternal enemy and object of terror: death.
‘Death’ is a profound inquiry for every man on the gravest event that is believed to take place in his or her life. It is for everyone the inevitable conclusion to a life, however it has been spent, and it is believed to reduce the highest and the lowest to an awful kind of extinction or oblivion. The shock and grief throughout any family and beyond is immediate and intense. The realisation of the process of sophistication through death, as shown poignantly here, begins to dawn. This is a life-changing realisation; it dissolves the dark tunnel that is waiting at the end, for there is no end – the end and the beginning are one and the same. And so too is this volume, endless and beginningless. Celebrate!
Such a weight is lifted on reading this book- a weight that is not even known to exist. The examination of this book gives rise to a most unexpected levity. It’s as though a cloud gets dissolved and all effort is released – quite extraordinary. If there is a physical analogy, it is like the body entering the Dead Sea and then just floating – so unexpected and exhilarating! And then, whilst reflecting on this book, the mind is realised to be a make-believe thing – and action is realised to be a make-believe thing. All this is being witnessed – extraordinary – beginningless and endless. Such is the gift to man if only he were to receive it.
Peter Julian Capper (UK)
Letters to Academy:
Sonja, Canada.
Dear Dr. Shankar,
Appreciating your books and c.ds. In the book 'What Am I" there is a particular paragraph that hit home to me. On page 40 it says "When it comes to taking care of man, it is not about pleasing his mind, as is generally believed. This would amount to giving him shelter in the mind, but this is not life. Taking care is guiding man into life away from the comfort of mind's beliefs-- mind is not life. Thank you for the clarity.
What is it that man believes is happiness? Something happens which existence itself gives it to us, the mind becomes very excited. That is the first sign you did not get it yourself, it came to you. We simply excite each other's minds and thinking we are happy. That excited state of mind the man believes it is happiness, that is the happiness man thinks, that is not happiness. Sad means a non-excited mind. These beliefs which you have which will make you happy are never in life. It is the greatest illusion of mankind, he thinks there is happiness and he does not know what it is and he tries to find out that which he does not know what it is. So interesting also where Dr. Shankar speaks of what happens to the tremendous amount of potential which exists in the animal and the vegetation kingdom, where does the potential go away? Such an 'exciting' satsang. So much enjoyed the satsang, it is like the purest form of self-enquiry.
Article - "Essence and Uncertainty"
No matter how knowledgeable man or woman is, they are nevertheless uncertain in daily life or about life in general. They may be certain about what they will do in daily life, but are nevertheless sometimes uncertain in daily life too. Why is this?
Firstly, we have to be clear what is man or woman uncertain about? Man or woman is uncertain about the details of daily life. Man or woman is certain about the broad details of their daily life, but not the precise details of every moment of their daily life. This makes man or woman uncertain.
