Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.
Published on www.academy-advaita.com
The Netherlands
24 December 2018
Drama in Life
“Light and sound”
The drama in life is in the moment. Man fulfils his or her designated parts in the drama believing them to be real - the outcome of his or her own performance in the drama on the stage of life. Thus, the consequences of the performance are his or her responsibilities. There is no other drama in life, as it is accepted, than the drama which is in the moment in life.
The drama in life in the moment is a drama of time and moment, a drama of stillness and movement, a drama of noise and quietness, a drama of love and hate, a drama of happiness and sadness, a drama of argument and agreement, a drama of fight and peace, a drama of gain and loss. The script of the drama varies in intensity and diversity.
The wise proclaim that man plays no part in this drama, except that it is a part that is illusory in a drama that is illusory. This is indicated by the wisdom of the enlightened that man is not the doer, which is corroborated in Bhagwat Gita chapter 3 verse 27. This declares that man is not the doer. Kenopanishad verse (1.3) declares that Word and mind cannot access the Absolute One. Sri Adi Shankaracharya has declared that man is not the doer in Nirvanashadakam and Sri Ramana Maharishi has declared that what is meant to happen, albeit illusory, will happen.
The wisdom of modern science reveals that brain scans reveal that decisions happen seven seconds before man decides. The scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences reveal that human decisions are made seconds before humans become aware of them. In the study, participants could freely decide if they wanted to press a button with their right hand or left hand. The only condition was that they had to remember when they made the decision to use either their right hand or left hand.
Using FMRI, researchers scanned the brains of the participants to find out if they could predict which hand the participants would use before participants were consciously aware of the decision. The results, by monitoring the micro patterns of activity in the front-polar cortex, were that the researchers could predict which hand the participant would choose seven seconds before the participant was aware of the decision. Wisdom reveals that this is proof that man neither does, nor decides. Wisdom reveals that even the movement of the hand to press the button happens and the brain does not make the movement happen in the moment.
Wisdom further reveals that the thought to do and the doing happen for understanding to happen that only moving is in every moment and that every moment is only moving. Also, for wise understanding to happen that moving in every moment is instinct and that instinct cannot be done by man or his brain.
The enlightened realise that man is not the doer because he is only moving and not doing and that his thoughts are a drama, which is illusory and not real. The enlightened realise that life is flow of light and sound.
The enlightened understand that there is a drama about life in the human mind, while life is only constantly moving every moment. The enlightened understand that the ‘here and now’ is timeless and thoughtless and will always be timeless and thoughtless eternally without a drama.
Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
© Copyright V. S. Shankar 2018
Editor’s Note:
There is no human being who has not witnessed a drama in his or her lifetime, whether it is a performance on a stage or an experience. The word itself implies that there may be a stimulus for a particular drama, albeit illusory. It may have an emotional content, also illusory. Understanding that man plays no part in any drama, save in his mind, is the gift of the enlightened. What a gift this is.
Julian Capper, UK