Cottonwood Park, Richardson

I met Nadine in a Richardson Park on a nice spring morning in late March as she was walking her little dog and she wondered what 911 Day of Service meant on the banner hung on the outdoor park pavilion iron bars. This lady with years of life on her face, was curious and ventured up to the registration desk we had set up in that pavilion. She had seen many folks wearing the bright yellow-orange T-shirts doing the dirty work of picking up the litter around the park.

A Cardinal in the tree

She was genuinely interested, and genuinely thankful that we paid attention to the litter that had accumulated in this otherwise lovely park with a creek and a bountiful of while swans & ducks adorning the rock barrier meant to contain the debris floating down from upstream.

She noted that many people do not care about simply taking care of their surroundings. That upset her. She wondered if we were a religious group. I explained ‘we are a Hindu faith-based group, but not focused on religion. We use our unique religious inspiration that guides us – all living and non-living beings are part of the one same whole. Taking care of ourselves necessarily requires us taking care of them all at the same time. She was happy to hear that.

She introduced herself as a Messianic Jew.  As a child she had understood Jesus Christ to be a messenger but not the Son of God, who sacrificed for the sinning humans. Now she had found a savior in her Lord, Christ.

She was a little unsure about how to ask the question, but she wanted to know who our ‘Lord’ was in Hinduism. My answer was simple: we do not have one ‘Lord’, but we believe, and know, that we all have One Source. We give that source a variety of names – Shiva, Krishna, The Energy, or God etc. Beyond that Truth we differ; we hold different beliefs about how this ‘Lord’ operates his /her universe. To us Hindus that difference is not highly consequential, if these beliefs lead their followers to find positivity, direction, and strength in their own lives, and help develop a loving society.

This conversation jogged her memory. She told me about a beautiful interview she had watched some time ago between two men – a Christian leader and….. a Hindu leader (she thought). She couldn’t remember the details. Search as she tried to do, she did not find the name of that Hindu leader.  She noted how the two men, coming from very different backgrounds, were able to find love in their hearts for each other.

I could relateLove knows no religion to that idea, I explained. If the two men related with each other on a spiritual level where they knew they had the same source and did not focus much on the differences in their beliefs (which, by defintion, cannot be known since they are not knowledge) then such love was possible. I ruminated that in the world today, the focus was on arguing who was right about their beliefs, and that causes strife.  She seemed to agree.

She grew curious. She wanted to know more about Hindu beliefs on Heaven and Hell. Did we believe in such a thing? This has been a topic of another blog I wrote previously – Can Hindus Ever RIP.  Heaven and Hell are merely an accounting system for our Karma. What we do right, according to our considered obligation as humans, opens the doors to heaven where we could enjoy the fruits of our Karma. What we do wrong – unethical, inhuman or such – gives us an entry pass to Hell. We must bear the consequences of all our actions.

But Hindus also believe in something else – reincarnation. This is akin to the idea that our universe is cyclic. It arises out of ‘nothing’, sustains for a while (a long while, which feels like an eternity compared to a mere 100 yrs of our lifespan), and then dissolves back into The Source. Look around…. every natural phenomenon is cyclic; most obviously we know how spring brings nature back to life year after year. We know that the earth goes around the sun in cycles, and results in a repeating cycle of seasons. We have learned about the rain cycle, the carbon cycle, and many others. Is it hard to imagine that our birth and death are cyclic in a similar sense?Karma & Reincarnation Cycle

Hindus believe our soul cycles through a variety of forms before it exits the cycle. Our bodies are just temporary housing for it (I did not use the word ‘Atma’ with her, since I would still need to resort to the word ‘soul’ to explain the ‘atma’ concept, for which there is no parallel in the western culture). She immediately could relate to the idea of permanence and repeated something similar from her religious beliefs.

Then, my explanation continued, our souls simply go from one body to the next, taking several births over many lifetimes. Hindus’ ultimate goal is to liberate from this cycle of birth and death of the bodies we are trapped in. When that is attained, we return to eternal peace, to The Source we all came from. This explanation fascinated her.

Feeling that my explanation may have been somewhat tedious, I inquired about her work – she had mentioned earlier in passing that she still worked – I found out she was associated with a Jewish service organization. More conversations revealed that we shared an interest in mental health of the community and were working in our own ways to address this. She invited me to her next monthly meeting on the topic. We exchanged contacts and are now looking forward to the next steps. Hopefully, we can follow in the example of the two people who she had earlier cited.

She left as her little doggie got up on her hind legs and, with a bark, informed her that she’s had enough of being a bystander in this long conversation. She wanted to move on.

Just a few minutes later I saw her back in the pavilion. She had returned to share the picture of the Hindu man she spoke of earlier. It was the current Dalai Lama’s photograph. I did clarify that he was a revered Buddhist leader but felt glad to think that we are all Hindus if we simply live spiritually, looking at what is the essence of our existence rather than dwelling on the differences in our own mental creations.

 

Diwali always comes with a new message of hope and gaiety.

It also brings with it an opportunity to introspect on what it means to lead a life of Dharma. This word is often found incorrectly translated as religion. It has many other meanings with subtle differences, but ‘religion’ is not one of them.

 

Rangoli-A tradition of devotion

Dharma refers to our human duty or discerned responsibility, inspired by and dedicated to the Universal Consciousness that unifies us all. That consciousness is our source and our destination. It is one where all our differences arise and dissolve. It is the One that powers the Sun, as also our mind-body-intellect. 

From this Divine consciousness which transcends all fractured identities, arises our dharma, our human duty to help create joy and happiness for every one. We celebrate the victory of good over evil, of light over darkness, of knowledge over ignorance, but this battle is truly a perpetual one, within ourselves, that we must win each year, each day, each moment of our lives.

Wish everyone a joyous victory! Shubh Deepawali.

The 1973 movie, Westworld features a theme park with simulated people (humanoid robots). Ordinary folks like us could let themselves go, and safely engage in otherwise undesirable or unsafe fantasies with these ‘people’ – such as fighting, shooting and more.  When technical malfunctions begin affecting them, the amusement park transforms into a world of robots acting on their own whims. Futuristic?              

Not really. Our human world is another theme park. Aren’t we just robotic beings acting on our own whims, our desires, our egos?

I hear your protests – this analogy is far-fetched! These robots are not the thinking, feeling machines that we humans are. I concede, at least not yet. Nevertheless don’t we share some fundamental similarities?  

To your point, this robot in the picture can hardly be compared to a human skeleton!  The robots’ shape follows their function – shuffle loads, sort mail, vacuum floors, walk our dogs, offer companionship, or be the ‘people’ of theme parks. They are not always similar to humans, even superficially!

However, the more complex the function they serve the closer they must be to us –  ‘arms’ to manipulate objects,  ‘legs’ to move around, ‘eyes’ to ‘see’ around obstacles, ‘ears’  for our voice commands and even touch-sensitivity for touch commands.  They must all have a ‘brain’ (hardware and software) to control these senses and their actions. Even so, these brains can’t learn & perform functions they have not been programmed for. Most certainly they don’t understand feelings.

But as artificial intelligence opens up these possibilities, such machines could conceivably grow into ‘humanoid robots’ – robots with human-like abilities to sense, act, learn, and yes, even ‘feel’ like those of Westworld.

So what is the point? Humans are not unlike robots, even if different in lots of ways. There is one deeper similarity that generally escapes our attention, and is worth dwelling on.

Without electricity, the robots are just powerless machines. Their internal systems need it to perform the intended functions. Which electricity do we speak of here – that which permeates the air around us as electrons, protons, ions? No that does not drive robots; it must be ‘harnessed’. This ‘organized’ energy is the ‘life-blood’ for working robots. It simply flows through the components. In the process it enables them to perform their function. That energy just flows, but it does not perform any actions itself. It is there; it just is. Fundamentally, the robots owe their living, active existence and capabilities to this energy.

Of course, today’s robots do not understand this! But will they never? They might very well do. 

Pause to wonder the capabilities the cognitive robots of the future.  A recent article published by ScienceNews.org conjectures this possibility: “A robot with a sense of touch may one day “feel” pain, both its own physical pain and empathy for the pain of its human companions. Such touchy-feely robots are still far off, but advances in robotic touch-sensing are bringing that possibility closer to reality.“  A projection further into the future allows us to imagine a day when robots could have a mind of their own, an ego of sorts –  not dissimilar to humans!  And this brings us full circle to the question – how, then, would these ‘humanoid robots’ be different from ‘robotic humans’?  

Humans are a fully functional, complex machine. Our body is equipped with organs to navigate & manipulate, with five senses to interact with the outside world, and with a brain for intelligence. But, to parallel a robot, what ‘electricity’ activates our hardware and firmware and bring it alive as a thinking, feeling being? What ‘organized’ electricity powers the human machine and gives it life, it’s powers of thought and action?

Our living bodies are powered by a ‘harnessed’ conscious energy that otherwise pervades the universe, the fundamental entity on which existence rests!  Without it, the body is simply an assembly of organs – lifeless and useless – quite similar to the assembly of components that a robot is without electricity. That ‘organized’ conscious energy is what enables the ‘robotic’ humans to feel, think and act as it ‘flows’ through them. That is what gives life to the purely biological, chemical and physical processes of the robotic human machine.  Life is not born out of these processes; the processes are born out of life. While our bodies are the robotic vehicles that feel, think and act, we owe our thoughts and actions to that consciousness in which they are inspired, and which enables the body and mind to act.

We are robots in the theme park of this world. We are unaware of our life-blood, our ‘electric’ conscious energy being the inspirer of all our thoughts, deeds, and in turn, the results.  Our ego – that association of self with the body-mind-intellect – acts to blind us to the real us – the conscious energy, the soul, that powers our machines.

 

With each passing away of an Indian celebrity, the social media gets flooded with shorthand RIP messages. What does one make of these – just short-hand expressions of condolence or a prayer for the departed soul?  Can Hindus ever RIP? Let’s decode what a RIP prayer would mean for a dead Hindu.

RIP is a Christian term first found on tombstones in the 18th century. It reflects the belief that the soul and the body are separated at death and must ‘rest’ until resurrection when they will be reunited and be with the Lord in Heaven. Only Christian faithful will have peace. Others will be eternally damned in Hell. So, can Hindus ever RIP?

The closest Hindu conception of ‘rest’ in the afterlife is when the ‘Jeevatma’, upon leaving the dead body, may enjoy Heaven as a reward for its good karma on earth. It must resume the cycle of rebirth and suffering upon completion of its term. But heaven is not what the jeevatma needs. It’s ultimate destination is Moksha, a liberation from the cycle of reincarnations and attainment of unending bliss.

Wishing RIP to a Hindu is like wishing the Chandrayaan mission success in reaching the earth’s orbit, rather than in landing successfully on the moon!

Words are tied to ideas, values and beliefs, e.g. words like ‘Chairman’ have fallen out of favor as they tend to associate only men with positions of authority, subconsciously.  The city of Trivendrum is better referred to by its original name Tiruvananthpuram, which means the ‘town of Lord Anantha’, rather than the meaningless one coined by the British.

Foreign words, like RIP, reinforce foreign concepts. They dissociate the vocabulary from our native values, ideas and beliefs. Without continuous nourishment, these cultural traits wither and die. It is essential, therefore, that Hindus use the traditional terminology to help sustain our paradigm of life. It is at the root of our culture and traditions.

Only then will our future generations know what it means to say ‘Om Shanti’.

Om symbolizes the formless infinite from which all creation arises and dissolves into. Shanti refers not just to peace, but to Bliss that is an unchanging characteristic of the infinite soul. Om Shanti is a prayer that the jeevatma gets off the cycles of reincarnation, realizing its own True nature – an inseparable part of the infinite whole Paramatma – conscious, eternal and blissful.