Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.
Published on www.academy-advaita.com
The Netherlands

8th March 2017

Situation

“Event”

The most important situation to note is: we come to know a situation only after the situation is present in the present. The situation that is known in the present is however in the past the moment it is known, because in any moment in the present only one letter of any word that is known is present and not the entire word. Therefore, every letter of any word of the known is in the past when the word is known, which implies the word is in the past the moment the word is known.

It is obvious that the past can neither be changed nor controlled. This implies that the situation that is known, which is in the past, can neither be controlled nor changed. But every human being believes that he reacts or responds to the present situation in which he or she is.

Similarly, man or woman knows the reaction or the response in the mind to the situation in the present only after it happens. This implies that the reaction or the response to the situation, which is in the past, is in the past as well.

Human beings, however, believe that they react or respond to the situations in the present. This is impossible, because the human body is always in the present moment and not in the past and therefore the body can neither react nor respond to the past. This implies that the reaction and response are thoughts in the mind and not an actual bodily event in the present. 

Human beings merely believe in the mind that they know the situation in the present and react or respond to the situation that is in the present. This belief however is not the truth, because the body is constantly moving in the present with the mind, but without thoughts being present within it.

This belief makes human beings plan for their future. What man needs to understand is: the planning too is a situation. And since situations that are known are in the past, even the planning is in the past the moment it is known. This implies that the future is a projected past.

It is impossible to know whether it is the future or the present that is known in the present the moment that it is known, because the moment a situation is known it is in the past and not in the present, and knowing is a situation. 

It is obvious that neither the future nor the past can be in the present. So the question is what happens in the present and remains in the present and who does anything in the present moment?

A moment is followed by the next without a distinct, actual separation, because even the separation, if it were present, would be a moment as well. This implies that the present is an eternal moment.

The eternal moment is not done by man and therefore all that happens in the present moment is merely a movement of the body, which is not separated from the next movement of the body.

This implies that a situation or an event in the present is an illusion in the mind, because the body is constantly moving in the eternal moment. The enlightened have rightly declared that life is an illusion.

Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
© Copyright V. S. Shankar 2017

Editor’s Note:
This article liberates the mind from its beliefs of situations it faces daily. The wise reveal this understanding. This is the situation. Man searches. He searches for a path or a teacher. He settles for what he believes he has found. Yet this finding is revealed by the wise to be false. However, life enables man or woman to live the illusion as though it were real, until understanding happens to him or her regarding the truth. Life allows human beings to believe that he knows, that he thinks and that he does. Man lives his life supported by this illusion until the understanding of the wise becomes his own understanding of the truth.
Julian Capper

German Translator’s Note:
Every day there are situations when we don’t know what to do. This makes us uncertain, because we don’t trust life. That life makes the situation and the solution, one way or the other, this understanding brings peace in every situation. This article by Dr. Shankar, once more, helps every one of us to be relaxed in every situation.
Marcus Stegmaier, Germany

back to articles page