Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.
Published on www.academy-advaita.com
The Netherlands
22 January 2019
Expect
“To happen”
Human beings expect somethings to happen. The expectation may be an action or a spoken response. When what humans expect to happen does happen, they are comfortable in the moment and expect it to happen again.
When what humans expect to happen does not happen, they are not comfortable in the moment. They are anxious, look forward for the expected to happen and are in fear that it may not happen.
Wisdom reveals that the moment in daily life is manifested by the intelligence in life and is neither done by man nor by his brain. Wisdom further reveals that what is within the moment is the potential of intelligence.
Wisdom signifies that what is within the moment, albeit illusory, is manifested by the potential of intelligence within that particular moment. It is not done by man or by his brain.
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 decides nor predicts nor predetermines. 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.
The moving happens for understanding to happen that what is meant to be within the moment will be within the moment and nothing beside what is within the moment can be within any particular moment. Also, for understanding to happen that the moment in life does not expect a moment. Furthermore, what is within the moment, albeit illusory, is manifested by the potential of intelligence within the particular moment.
Sri Ramana Maharishi has declared that what is meant to happen, albeit illusory, will happen. Sri Adi Shankaracharya has declared that man is not the doer in Nirvanashadakam. Kenopanishad verse (1.3) declares that word and mind cannot access the Absolute One. Bhagwat Gita chapter 3 verse 27 declares that man is not the doer.
The enlightened are grateful to daily life as it is in every moment and do not expect in daily life. The enlightened understand that life will go the way it is meant to go. Therefore, the enlightened are calm and steady in every moment and are neither in fear nor hope in any moment.
Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
© Copyright V. S. Shankar 2018
Editor’s Note:
The day lies ahead as the usual calls of the morning summon each one of us. Expectation and anticipation, our habitual companions, attend us, whether we like it or not. This daily experience is repeated again and again, albeit it is illusory and it is not an actuality. Nonetheless, it weighs as a burden on the minds of every human being, until that is……, until a wise man meets you on your journey. The wise understands that what happens in your daily life, in every moment and with precision, is not of your or any man’s doing. Thus, each of us meets precisely what we are meant to meet. That it is met fearlessly and without expectation is the gift of such understanding.
Julian Capper, UK
German Translator‘s Note:
To be familiar with somebody means to be minimally strange to the other. Believing you know pretty much everything about the other is an illusion that leads to condemnation, accusation, disillusionment and disappointment. Expectations about the other based on the belief of knowing him well are an inevitable habit of the human mind. But, Dr. Shankar shows it once again in this wise article, life is spontaneous, unpredictable and uncontrollable. Therefore, individuals are always more or less strangers to each other, because one cannot know their liveliness in the here and now with the mind. This wisdom reveals unconditional love for strangers and confidants in every moment. And gratefulness for the moment.
Marcus Stegmaier, Germany.