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

9 September 2018

To Think (1)

“Does think”


Every educated or uneducated man and woman wishes, wants and desires to think in life. What they think in life and the thinking is done in the moment and the content of the thinking is known in the moment only after thinking is actually done or is being done. 

Whatever the educated or the uneducated man or woman thinks in life, if it is accepted, it is applauded and appreciated not only by them, but also by the society. The same is expected every time whenever he or she wishes, wants and desires to think.

The acceptance, applause, appreciation and the expectation also happen in the moment and is known in the moment not only to him or her, but also to those who know what is thought.

Wisdom reveals that every moment in life renews itself and in between a moment in the mind and in life is moment as well. This signifies that a moment in life and in the mind is eternal.

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 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. 

Wisdom further reveals that thinking happens for understanding to happen that only moving is in every moment. Also, for wise understanding to happen that moving in every moment is instinct and instinct cannot be controlled by man or his brain.

Thinking happens for understanding to happen that thinking is not an actuality in a moment. Thinking happens for understanding to happen that thinking in any moment is illusory and not real. Thinking happens for understanding to happen that thinking is not present, but only moving is present.

The moving happens for understanding to happen that, when the moving is accepted as thinking, it is believed that man and woman can think what he or she is expected to think. 

Wisdom reveals that thinking is not done in the moment because life is only moving in the moment. Wisdom also reveals that the intelligence in life manifests the moving and man or woman does not make the moving in the moment happen, because they do not make the moment in life.

The enlightened accept what man or woman thinks and do not expect them to think, because they understand that thinking is not present, but only moving is present in any moment in life. The enlightened proclaim that man or woman will think what he or she is meant to think, albeit illusory.

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 understand that the moving is instinct in any moment and is manifested by the intelligence in life and is neither done by man nor by his brain. The enlightened have declared that life is a singular movement.

Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
© Copyright V. S. Shankar 2018

Editor’s Note:
One of the preoccupations central in the daily life of a human being of whatever age, but seemingly of no other living creature, is thinking. It is respected as the initial stage in the planning of many actions and decisions:  ‘I must think this editorial comment out before going any further.’ The thinking process acquired philosophical support with the 17th century dictum ‘cogito, ergo sum’: ‘I think, therefore I am’. Furthermore, a particular thought may happen to coincide with a subsequent outcome. Does this refute the wisdom in these articles? The revelation of the wise is that thinking happens for understanding to happen that thinking, albeit illusory, happens to man by the intelligence in life, but man believes he can think and must think.
Julian Capper, UK.

German Translator’s Note: 
What are the ideas that make life difficult for us? They are decisions: Career choice, choice of partner, family planning, major purchases, daily decisions and so on. The greater the choice, the greater the likelihood of regretting a decision later. The comparison of what one has decided for with what one could have decided for leads to dissatisfaction. So you regret a purchase, so marriages fail, so you are dissatisfied with your career choice. And because it is to be feared with each decision that one could regret it later, life seems difficult, because humans believe, their life is determined by their daily decisions. Since decisions become known to man as thoughts, man believes that he must think the right way instead of the wrong way in order to make his daily decisions successfully. However, as Dr. Shankar clearly states in this article, man is not the thinker. This deep understanding makes the illusion of daily decisions clear and reveals the easiness of life as it is. 
Marcus Stegmaier, Germany.

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