There are some interesting similiarities in the story of the Matrix to the Vedanta philosphy (Interestingly the Sanskrit recitation at the end encapsulates all this brilliantly)
Vedanta states three mental temparaments known as Tamas,Raja and Satva. Thomas Anderson's / Neo's life seems to have been taken to show how a person evolves thru these states in his lifetime.
Tamas is supposed to be lowest state, filled with inaction and a person is steeped in ignorance. ( signified by a person plugged into the Matrix) Rajas is the next state,higher than Tamas but where a persons actions are driven by desire and a person who is agitated(signified by people in Zion) Satva is the highest state of the mind. A man's actions are perfect,his state is free of wordly desires and passions. Actions done in this stage are what are ones obligatory duties (refer to Ramchandra's conversation with Neo in Mobil Avenue) and is not based on a persons likes or dislikes. (signified by Neo,during the latest stages of M3) .
Indian philosphy believe that a Atman exisits in each living being. The Atman is supposed to the same in all living beings and infite. The reason individuals are different of differences in one's intellect,body and mind. (this has been illustrated through choices made through the film). This is also what is called one's self. The scriptures also convey the message that the purpose of one's life is discovering this Atman in one self or Reunite with U'r self (interestingly the word Religon etomologically is derived from Re (BACK) Ligare (BIND), which means the same...and so does the buzz word Yoga), A person is able to evolve into this higher state thru right actions and thought and his life experiences help him in doing so. One's self is immortal, infinite and all prevading.
The Atman is not supposed to be limited by the Human body, his mind or intellect. If u look at the text of the Sansrkit Shlok in the end you could appreciate this a bit more.
From delusion lead me to truth
From darkness lead me to light
From death lead me to immortality.
He who knows both knowledge and action,
with action overcomes death and with knowledge reaches immortality
In him are woven the sky and the earth and all the regions of the air,
and in him rest the mind and all the powers of life.
Know him as the ONE and leave aside all other words.
He is the bridge of immortality (Tamas stage to Satva and then the Self)
Beyond the senses is the mind, and beyond the mind is reason, its essence.
Beyond reason is the Spirit in man, and beyond this is the Spirit of the Universe, the evolver of all. (Humans according to Vedanta is composed of his Body, Mind and Intellect, and his Self)
When the five senses and the mind are still, and reason itself rests in silence,
then begins the Path supreme. And when he is seen in his immanence and transcendence, then the ties that have bound the heart are unloosened, the doubts of the mind vanish, and the law of Karma works no more. (This describes the Self, one a person realizes this he breaks away from the cycle of life / death)
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Purpose of Life
I often wonder for how long have humans been trying to figure out the meaning and purpose of life and at times when I think more / deeper, have humans actually been able to make any progress in our thinking and ability to philosophize.
The reason I feel this is. Almost universally people regard the Bhagvad Gita, and other ancient Vedic texts as supreme….in philosophy. We have not been able to carve out anything more substantial or significantly better over the last 4000 – 8000 years. This is mind boggling considering the scientific advancements which we as race consider ourselves to make.
People feel in today’s materialistic age that these text make a lot more sense and people revert to them for peace and solace. What were the circumstances 4k-8k years ago which allowed people to think the way they did. In an age which could not have been materialistic or atleast we would find it hard to believe it was, the Bhagvad Gita talks about detachment.
Anyway some of us continue to struggle with the basic questions of what is the purpose of our life, and figure out why things happen the way they do. I personally have now come to the conclusion that this is a self posed question. My life has a purpose if I want it to have one. The purpose is on going, and not pre-defined. We figure the purpose out retrospectively or at the best as we go along. The circumstances around one do help in forming one’s opinion and reasonining, however if determined one can break out of those constraints.
The question then for me morphs to: why do we look for a reason in the first place. Would our life be any different if we knew.
I think as a specifies this is critical for our survival. We now have evolved into a stage / state where our consciousness wants to understand the experiences (this now is a weird way , connecting back to Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle effects what we do on a day to day level : since there is now an observer, which is our consciousness). Life or let me use the universe has evolved into a stage where it is trying to understand what it needs to change to evolve into another state.
This could be because of two reasons. The universe wants to speed up things now. There could be a case made that whatever we did we would evolve into a final state. The means or the path could be different but the end or the destination would still be the same.
So the universe is using us: live beings as a way to evolve further. So in a way all life forms are part of an attempt of the universe to keep evolving itself.
The reason I feel this is. Almost universally people regard the Bhagvad Gita, and other ancient Vedic texts as supreme….in philosophy. We have not been able to carve out anything more substantial or significantly better over the last 4000 – 8000 years. This is mind boggling considering the scientific advancements which we as race consider ourselves to make.
People feel in today’s materialistic age that these text make a lot more sense and people revert to them for peace and solace. What were the circumstances 4k-8k years ago which allowed people to think the way they did. In an age which could not have been materialistic or atleast we would find it hard to believe it was, the Bhagvad Gita talks about detachment.
Anyway some of us continue to struggle with the basic questions of what is the purpose of our life, and figure out why things happen the way they do. I personally have now come to the conclusion that this is a self posed question. My life has a purpose if I want it to have one. The purpose is on going, and not pre-defined. We figure the purpose out retrospectively or at the best as we go along. The circumstances around one do help in forming one’s opinion and reasonining, however if determined one can break out of those constraints.
The question then for me morphs to: why do we look for a reason in the first place. Would our life be any different if we knew.
I think as a specifies this is critical for our survival. We now have evolved into a stage / state where our consciousness wants to understand the experiences (this now is a weird way , connecting back to Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle effects what we do on a day to day level : since there is now an observer, which is our consciousness). Life or let me use the universe has evolved into a stage where it is trying to understand what it needs to change to evolve into another state.
This could be because of two reasons. The universe wants to speed up things now. There could be a case made that whatever we did we would evolve into a final state. The means or the path could be different but the end or the destination would still be the same.
So the universe is using us: live beings as a way to evolve further. So in a way all life forms are part of an attempt of the universe to keep evolving itself.
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