Life is a play of light and sound

Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.

Published on www.acadun.com

The Netherlands

4th June 2014

Life is a play of light and sound

The scriptures have mentioned and the sages have proclaimed that life is a play of light and sound, but it has yet to appear to the human mind that it is so. The statement and the proclamation remain confined to the annals of spiritual philosophy, and are left to be realised as an actuality. Is it possible is the question? It certainly would be. If not, how it could have been possible for the sages, as they are humans too?

Man does not see light as he believes he does; he thinks light that is inherently visible to him. This means man’s sight spans a certain range of sunlight and not the entire range of sunlight. Man’s sight does not reach beyond the range that is visible to him. His sight does not include small insects, bacteria and viruses, though they are within the visible range. If they were included in sight, his daily life would be a nightmare the whole day. This means sight is finite, while light is infinite as is space. Similarly, man hears sound as words with meanings within a certain range and not beyond the range. Sounds remain as sound beyond this range, but not as words with meanings. Even within the range of audible sounds, all sounds are not heard as words with meanings. If every sound within the audible range were a word with meaning, life would be impossible for man to bear. The ability to hear sound as words and meanings is finite too.

Man sees and hears words because he has a mind, without which he can neither see nor hear.
Life reveals its nature as understanding of it evolves within man. The understanding of the nature of life has happened to the sages, who wrote the scriptures and proclaimed that life is a play of light and sound. Man believes that a DVD contains varied scenarios of daily life, some unimaginable, but nevertheless all are real to man. The DVD in fact contains just electromagnetic signals. The mind, however, thinks of this range of electromagnetic signals on the screen as real, daily-life scenarios. Even the screen on which a DVD is screened is light as everything that exists in the world is energy, which in simple words is light. The DVD camera and player too is light. Science is yet to discover how the mind is able to think a range of visible light as daily life and believe it sees it too. What man thinks he sees in life are thoughts about a range of light that mysteriously appears as the world and daily life. The world and any object that appears real to man is in fact an optical illusion of visible light - a play of light.

Similarly, man believes a CD contains music, songs and speech. A CD, in fact, contains just electromagnetic signals. The speaker transmits magnified, electromagnetic signals which the mind hears as music, songs and speech. When man speaks or sings, he utters sound waves which again are electromagnetic. The mind nevertheless hears them as words. The human mouth is similar to a speaker: both emit electromagnetic signals, which the mind converts to words, songs and music. The word and music is an auditory illusion of a range of sound waves - a play of sound.

So what is life? Life is a play of light and sound.

Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
© Copyright V. S. Shankar 2013

Editor’s Note:

The gift of Knowing and Understanding inherent in man distinguishes him from all other creatures that cohabit this earth and share this life. Libraries full of books, treatises, manifestos, ancient scrolls, etc. and museums displaying countless expressions of this knowledge and understanding are a powerful demonstration of man's status and potential. Human beings too are distinguished from each other by their acquisition of knowledge, at the highest level often referred to as scholarship, and their depth of understanding. Knowledge is of the mind and is of the knowable and the known. This is the region of the past, where mind is active. With maturity a human being may understand what they have understood and rejoice in their knowledge.

Absolute Understanding is beyond mind, however. It is always alive and present. Here human beings are distinguished by the completeness and depth of their understanding. At the highest level, this is the region of those who are referred to as sages, whose understanding is beyond the reach of mind, and whose proclamations are timeless. Such is this article ‘Life is a play of light sound’, expressed by one who has crossed beyond mind. 

Julian, UK

German Translator’s Note:
Man may not have much knowledge about the technical and physical background of a CD or DVD, nevertheless it should be obvious to him that a film on a TV-screen is nothing but light and sound. And when man is immersed in the play on the screen, he feels and identifies with the persons showed on the screen as if it were real in his daily life. So "light and sound" alone make the watcher feel anxious, happy or whatever, though nothing really happens in front of him. Obviously it happens in his mind, but man is not aware of it, though he knows it. In his "real" life, the same is the case, but he is not aware of it either and most of humanity does not even know it. This is what the sages have proclaimed ages ago and Dr. Shankar reveals to modern man in whose world the play of light and sound has sophisticated to higher stages in CDs and DVDs. Evolution of life as a light and sound will continue to evolve and the way a modern sage in times to come will reveal wisdom to mankind will also evolve.
Marcus Stegmaier, Germany 

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