BIG BANG YOGA
A religion for the world Made in Switzerland
PART 1 – CHANCE, CHALLENGE AND GOD’S WILL
1.1 Why invest in spirituality?
In a number of meetings I asked participants to describe the image they have when they pray or think of God. Answers varied not only according to faiths but also among participants of the same faith: ‘No image’, ‘a light’, ‘Jesus on the cross’, ‘the Bible’, ‘Ek onkar’, ‘the portrait of Nanak’, ‘an emptiness’, ‘the sky, the universe’, ‘the temple’, ‘Ganesha’, ‘flowers’, ‘Sai Baba’, ‘Virgin Mary’, ‘the Ka’bah’, ….
In Geneva, Switzerland in 2001, I participated in monthly meetings of a group that discussed the theme: “Investing in spirituality”. At the first session, I asked: ‘before I invest would you explain to me what spirituality is? I know a little about Nestlé and Swisscom and I would not hesitate investing in their shares. I know nothing about spirituality. Why should I invest in it?” No body could help me, even Indian participants proud of their spiritual knowledge embodied in the Vedas, the ancient Hindu writings.
After a number of sessions, I nervously dared to offer to prepare and try to present some drawings in order to understand the enterprise called Spirituality. I let you imagine what force pushed me to risk this adventure. My after-thought told me that it was simply chance or a random process; but a believer would have attributed this to the will of God.
By chance, during the previous three years I happened to have read, among others, The New Testament, A History of God (Karen Armstrong), The Koran, The Message of Upanishads (Swami Ranganathananda), Bhagwat Gita, Dieu et la Science – vers la méta réalisme (Jean Guitton, G. Bogdanov, I. Bogdanov), and Autobiography of a Yogi (Paramhansa Yogananda). Notes I took with interlinking arrows filled only two sheets of paper. I already was familiar with the Sikh holy book – the Adi Granth. Equipped with my professional knowledge in science, environment, teaching, psychology and water resources capped by a guided visit to the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), I launched on designing my image of God. It took me one week including Sabbath, almost the same time that God himself had dedicated to create the world. Not bad!
1.2 The principle
In order to make it easy to criticize religion in a constructive way, we must find an unequivocal base. The first task is to look for an image of an All Mighty God founded on time, if it existed before the “Big bang”. A learned man wrote in the 17th century: “With time came all gods and goddesses. The entire play is the work of time. Time made the world and people, good and bad. Time is the avatar from the beginning to the end. Consider it as your teacher and bow to him”.
Within the all-encompassing flow of time we look for the image in sacred and secular writings and scientific discoveries. By science we mean in the very large sense the way by which we acquire correct and reliable knowledge/information on the universe and world. We must look for the image also in the psychological, spiritual and philosophical findings since the beginning of history. Obviously, it is impossible to depict such an image representing the totality of human concepts. A simple solution would be to draw a sketch of my most recent image of God. Such an image is predisposed to change and improve at every moment as my brain gets light in the form of new knowledge and information. For example, ancient and recent discoveries in astronomy clash head on against the vision of the world defended by most of the big religions. Again, the possibility of extraterrestrial life is not totally incompatible with the belief in God. Every person experiences or perceives a change in God in proportion to the change in himself; God does not change!
1.3 Image of God in eight sketches
Holding eight transparencies for overhead projection I confronted my audience of investors in Spirituality: “Every time I address this subject in front of a group with many Indians I’m very nervous because they tell me afterwards that they already know it all. This time I’m not panicky because I know that you know. There is nothing new in what I’m going to show you except that God and spirituality have never been depicted in eight pictures”. What follows is an expanded version of my forty-minute oral presentation.
Vision 1 – Big bang
“There is no difference in substance between us and the rock”, said our CERN physicist-guide. The whole world has the same basic structure: the atom composed of electrons turning round the nucleus held by an electromagnetic force. Just as at the microcosmic (microscopic) level, the macrocosm, the galaxies, stars and planets function in the same manner. That shows that for everything the origin is the same: The Big bang. What astonished me much is when he said that before our Big bang there was “information” or energy. The Bible calls it “the word”:” When all things began, “the Word already was.” (John). Hindus call it ‘Shabad’ and ‘Vani’ (Word), philosophers talk of ‘thought’, ‘idea’, ‘dream’, ‘vision’, ‘intellect’ ‘sensation’, ‘breath’, and ‘wind’. Who had decided that this phenomenal energy must condense to the size of a pinhead and made it explode with an unimaginable force? This Big bang has produced our cosmos of millions of galaxies.
How many Big bangs have occurred before ours? This is beyond imagination and scientific theory. Imagine that our earth is a minute dust particle generated by the initial explosion. Compared to the Earth the universe or macrocosm that the Big bang has produced is infinite, dimensionless, continually expanding at a diminishing rate. For our purpose it is assumed to form one unique flow or flux. The term “flow” which gives a feeling of a continuously moving medium will be used hereafter gradually transforming from “flow” to “Flow”
Vision 2 – Structure
The flow made up of information/energy is indivisible, infinite, dimensionless and timeless. Nothing can stop it. It is perpetually in equilibrium. Its structure is cellular/atomic, be it macroscopic or microscopic constituting planetary systems; planets going round their suns harmoniously just as electrons and protons round their nucleus. Ancient thinkers were of the view that these physical elements (anu) were blind. For them more important was the ‘intelligent’ force or vital energy or ‘lifetrons’ (prana) that fills all space and holds the elements together. And that engenders molecules. The scientists as well as ancient texts agree on the fact that the origin and birth of everything is ONE UNIQUE FORCE and this force continues to flow eternally or until the hypothetical apocalypse in the yet unknown future. Because everything has a unique and common birth, the internal structure of rocks, animals, insects, birds, plants and humans is common. Every object is subject to the laws of nature. “These laws that appear immutable in time and space force on every real element in the world to do that it is not able to do.” (A. Jacquard). Yet every individual has his own vital energy or ‘lifetrons’. Is “soul” the other name for it?
The ancients explained the length of lifespan of humans in terms of number of respirations or heartbeats preordained by God because they did not know modern microbiology. We now know that the lifespan of living things is determined at the level of the cell, its structure, genes and the active internal clock. The cellular or microscopic clock synchronized with the macroscopic clock determines existence. All clocks form a constituent of the vital energy inter-acting within the overall flow.
Vision 3 – Flow or flux
An abridged poem of the 15th century describes the aftermath of the Big bang before ‘the creation’:
Through uncountable ages, complete darkness pervaded
Over utter emptiness;
There were no worlds, no firmaments.
The infinite Will alone reigned.
There was neither day nor night, nor sun nor moon;
But only a multidimensional Force
Forming a perpetual, unstoppable, unfathomable flow in incessant trance
No procreation; no speech, no air and no water.
No creation and destruction, no birth and death.
No continents, nether regions, no seven seas, no rivers or flowing water.
Heavenly realms, middle regions and nether worlds did not exist.
Except the Unique (Force) nothing could be seen.
There were no gods, … nor females and males. ….
No ascetics, no voluptuaries, no monks, no hermits and rites; no one lived in the forests. There were no churches with their creed and rites
Vedas, and Semitic Scriptures (Torah, Bible, Koran) had not been written.
None recited the gospel at dawn or evening;
Only the Incomprehensible spoke to Himself and had the knowledge.
By His will He created the universe and
The firmament, without a prop to support it.
He created and sustains His creation.
He installed stars and our universe in boundless space.
And He manifests in them. No one knows His beginning or end.
We know that our solar system that includes the Earth is a living element of this flow, a sort of fluid flux that manifests all the traits of the Universe. At the macrocosmic level, asters are born and die within this steady flow. On the Earth the miasma engendered molecules. One of these molecules evolved into a human being. I will not fight to defend the idea that this was an accident or brahmanic “deliberate will” or biblical “creation”. Bury or cremate the human body its inherent atomic structure does not change and it carries on in the flow. Thereafter the molecules that will join up will determine the form of rebirth. It is important to note that science as well as theology accepts the existence of physical, atomic and ‘lifetronic’ flow or flux. Just because we cannot comprehend the enormity of the flow we have devised symbols and descriptive words: the Truth, Reality, Satya, Active Intellect, Deo, Light, God, Bhagwan, Allah, Waheguru (giver of wonderful light). However, the fact is that the Reality is beyond these words and symbols.
Interpreting the thought expressed by the new Pope in his first encyclical message (January 2006) I can see that the flow is God: he who lives correctly within the flow expresses his love and himself becomes the flow which is love. Love is the vital energy (‘lifetrons’) that interacts between humans as well as between elements of the micro- and macro- cosmic flow. Astrophysicists talk about cosmic breath: the universe and the flux breathing at a certain rhythm.
When religious revelations happened humans did not understand or could not explain the importance of their relationship with the total environment. They were rather concerned with relationships between themselves, singularizing love between humans and neglecting the all-encompassing divine love. Our total environment is perhaps the only and the best manifestation of the flow or God. History is full of models where communities, when they had mistreated their environment; in theological terms when they did not dip in the flow and did not appreciate the ‘lifetrons’ of love, engendered hate between humans. None of the religious practices and prayers could stop their apocalypse. We are well aware of the collapse of communities that ignored their environment: Mesopotamia, Indus, Easter Islands, Anasazi, Mayas, and Scandinavian settlers in Greenland. On the other hand, the community of a thousand persons living on a tiny island of Tikopia survived because it took measures to adjust itself and live within the meagre means that its environment offered; thus expressing its respect and love of that part of the flow that it had to live with and understood it well.
The Christian image of God could be much larger, concrete and real if we would apply the information and ideas revealed by the present day knowledge. Spinoza’s image that God and nature is one and the same thing should be interpreted in a broad global way expressing the utilitarian depth and amplitude instead of words. Visualization of the flow offers this possibility. Love of the neighbour should be enlarged to all living things and the environment that envelops us. How can the flow or God come to meet us when we are in Him and he is in us? “It is love that makes the sun and stars to move” (Dante) thus starts the first encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI implicitly confirming that the flow is love and our destiny, and the object of real and scientific spirituality.
Vision 4 – Name
I am convinced that ‘spirituality’ is ‘pragmatic’ and ‘non abstract’. Spirituality is knowing the flow and flowing with it. None of the designations of the word ‘flow’ describes its true unconceivable nature that is neither big nor small, without any quality yet with all qualities, that is light and energy of ‘Reiki’ and ‘Ki’ and the ultimate reality. We can sense only a minute part of this flow and we almost cannot perceive internal interactions and information. In the flow all things are interdependent. Their relationships are close and causal. Human world and the flow are not separated. Terms like Om, Kalma, Jump, Holy Spirit, Lao, Naad, Sarosha, Silence, Active Intellect and Voice try to define these interrelations.
We should recognize that all information carried by the flow since the Big bang remains eternally in equilibrium. This notion conforms to results of research in ecology, quantum mechanics, astrophysics, neurobiology, and parapsychology. A word that has its root in Greek (neumena) and Sanskrit (naman) “Nam” (literally ‘Name’) is often used to express the ensemble of the flow, information, interaction and interdependence in equilibrium. The Nam is also the divine principle, vital energy, God, and sentiment, a sense of ‘spirit’ one feels within. It is a universal law. It also expresses monism and new religiosity: every thing is intimately linked – elements of the universe, planets, ecology, nature, animals, humans, supernatural, natural, divine and human.
Vision 5 – Human being
Human beings could have been born of a disease transmitted by a virus from the stars, or a result of Darwinian genetic combinations, or a voluntary Lamarkist adaptation to a change in climate, or an urge to outdo all other animals in order to eat them. Whatever is their origin they form an element of the universe. The molecule that had evolved or reincarnated into a human being is an image of the flow or God, carrying sparks or bits of all information. Human beings as well as other living beings are formed of the same elements, and have a similar genetic code. According to the law of probability, the mutations have endowed humans with an exceptional system. Highly developed human capability to observe, reflect, imagine, comprehend, communicate and question crowned by his egoist nature has resulted in him behavioural qualities that are almost not found in the flow. These are the seven capital sins: greed, lust, pride, anger, jealousy, gluttony and laziness.
A human being, deluded by a combination of his intelligence and wicked attributes, has wrongly placed himself as the master of the flow: The flow that is made for him and he is the owner of nature. Instead of managing the environment he has acted like a dictator, ravager and devastator. His senses perceive only an infinitesimal part of the flow. Yet pushing the flow aside, he has bifurcated himself imagining that he has become the flow forgetting that it is impossible because, according to the laws of science and theology, there is only one and Unique flow. In this way he has created an insurmountable problem. He ignores that he is a part of the flow. To console himself he has humanized the Force (Flow) by giving it such names as God, Dieu, Ram, Ishvara, Lord, sitting high up like an emperor. The flow has been corporealized in the form of a human being.
Vision 6 – Prophets
The principle of ego, self, or anthropocentricism is an inveterate cause of separation of human beings from the flow, his Creator. Ego has subjected him to the law of maya and non-knowledge that represent the principles of relativity, duality and ignorance. Hence the subject appears to him as object. In practice and less in prayer the human being imagines and acts as if he himself is the Creator.
Science has allowed me to fathom certain facets of the flow and to understand better the true laws of nature that do not interest religions. However these laws do not give me the capacity to understand the totality of the flow because science and religion are also maya and participate in discovering already existing and operational laws of the micro-and macro- cosmos. If I am not too optimist, we have passed over the state of absolute incapacity and taken the first step to detect the Unique Creator. If science and religion would cooperate our advance to reunite the non-existent human flow with the true flow would accelerate. One thing is unquestionable: neither intellectual conviction nor science-philosophic analyses can wipe out anthropocentric maya.
The universe (flow) resembles more like a great thought or a brain rather than a machine, the brain carrying elements all the information of its past. Maimonides was of the view that God is an Active Intellect, with which the human intellect has an analogy. All living beings other than humans remain and flow in the flux because their brain responds automatically to their milieu. On the other hand, human brain is constrained by maya. But there are many exceptions: Those who let themselves be carried by the flow were genetically gifted and had access to information in the flow. Such personalities became our ‘spiritual guides’. They were endowed with a powerful imagination. They were blessed with intuitive knowledge. They had sacrificed their life to help us unite with the flow. Our ancient guides are the prophets, avatars, messiahs, gurus, ascetics, yogis and many others less known. These persons are the gurus or teachers who shed light on the flow. The True or Perfect Guru is the Flow Itself. To draw directly on this Guru we must prepare our brain so that maya does not obstruct us. The antenna of spiritual guides is adjusted to the frequency emitted by the True Guru (Flow); so they do not require a human guru. According to legends teachers like Krishna, Jesus, Nanak, and many other we will never know, were born in the Flow. Gurus like Moses, Buddha, Mohammad, Kabir and other yogis, ascetics were obliged to work hard to educate themselves on the Flow and end up being in it.
Vision 7 – Miracles
As mentioned earlier, spirituality is to know the flow and have access to the information, energy, light/speed that is there. This concept that appears so simple now could not be easily explained to people in the past. It is quite possible that the authorities had no desire to know it for various egoistic reasons (power, greed, pride). The main well-known sacred books on spirituality are the Vedas, Torah, Upanishads, Gita, Bible, Koran and Adi Granth. Few can read, understand and interpret them correctly. Religions were founded based on these books. In some societies these books form a focal point of worship which is worse than the worship of an idol. Neither the books nor their content constitutes a religion. In reality, the true representation of a religion is the behavioural product of the society, its culture and traditions. The outrage against criticism of religious texts and prophets is nothing other than a camouflage of flaws in the behaviour of people.
Religion practiced by one society is unable to exhort equality and unity towards other societies. Others are labelled pagans, kafirs, infidels, and godless. Crusades, jihads, conquistadores, inquisitions and colonization have engendered inter- and intra-religion cruelty and hateful divisions. Evidently religious antagonism takes us further away from the Flow that is love.
Happily, scientific thought does not engender serious divisions. Individually many persons having benefited spiritually from religion and science have advanced towards complete union with the Flow. Are there modern techniques that can unite us to the Flow? The practice of meditation, service, prayer etc. is known. The most objective and effective technique is to hold on to the omnipresent Flow and live simple. This is the true sense of spirituality, holiness, the way of dharma leading to a concrete goal. At least respect the part of the Flow that surrounds us. Such a transformation of our behaviour is possible by accepting and practicing the wisdom of new emissaries of God (see Part 4). We must enlarge our anthropocentric vision into love (Flow) that envelops us. The method to learn to live in this way varies according to each individual and his capability to respond correctly. On the other hand a method imposed on the entire society by an institution has always driven us far from love (Flow) towards hateful and cruel divisions.
Uniting with the Flow we gain access to the information, energy, light and speed. Such a reunion is salvation, revelation, nirvana, and enlightenment. When we cannot comprehend certain natural phenomena the power of the Flow manifests among people in a number of ways:
- Miracles – Traditionally attributed to prophets, miracles continue to attract those who cannot know that there are innumerable unrevealed miracles in the Flow.
- Prophecies and predictions – Meteorologists provide accurate and very reliable daily weather forecasts using very precise information on the composition, structure and dynamics of the atmosphere replacing in Switzerland Madame Soleil’s woolly forecasts based on empiric observations. The same is possible now for all other aspects of natural phenomena and life.
- Telepathy, ability to materialize and dematerialize: Using means of astral transportation at the speed of light Jesus materialized himself walking on the Dead Sea to reassure his terrified disciples having received their SOS message telepathically. Physicists and parapsychologists have made important progress to understand, explain and use these extraordinary paranormal phenomena. Until recently understanding the nature of such miracles had defied us. Research in EPFL (Ecole Politechnique Fedèrale de Lausanne) and NASA has used one feature of the “lifetrons”: How flying objects in vacuum can integrate and auto-organize themselves.
Vision 8 – Go forward
The day I was writing on this subject, I was surprised to read in Le Temps of 16 January 2006 the words of a scientist: “Traditional biology breaks down all elements of a cell, genes, proteins, ions, membranes, etc and studies them separately. This is necessary. But we must also understand how all these parts interact because it is life: the interaction of millions of molecules. Nothing reacts singly. The interactions must be understood. This is the aim of top-secret research – the Project System X”. It would be difficult to find a better definition of “vital energy” or “lifetrons”. Let us imagine extending System X to every thing from the cell to organs, to human body, to other living beings – animals and plants - to the entire ecosystem, to the earth, planets, sun, galaxies and to the universe. The quantity of information and number of interacting systems that can be expected are beyond imagination. This gives us a good definition of the nature of the Flow, the Reality, and the True God. Indisputably, the person who has access to this information is surely a prophet, messiah and guru.
The particularity of the Flow is to advance, go forward. It cannot be stopped. All sacred and secular writings recommend to us to go forward resolutely in the Flow. How to go forward? It is important not to be bound by the servitudes of the past or the stubborn ill-conditioned facts of the present. In many societies there are priests, monks and gurus who have not learnt the real message and do not stop abusing their power to restrain people from returning to the past against the current of the Flow to Vedic, biblical and Koranic times. This is impossible. Sadly this is our affliction and unhappiness. To go forward and clear the way for the future is the responsibility of every true spiritual leader.
Thinkers are also of the view that the origin of the world in an Idea and that atoms and energy are the elements of the overall and all mighty Conscience. The will of God is inscribed in the form of information on interactions and interdependence within the Flow. Therefore behaving according to His command is our duty and prayer. My prayer is: Help me to become a simple and natural person and assimilate me in the Flow of information, energy and light, and immerse me in the Conscience steering me to bliss.
1.4 VIETE
Without remembering its definition the term “Name” does not evoke the most recent image of God. So I have used an acronym VIETE comprising the attributes of the new image: ‘Vital energy’, ‘Information', 'Interaction and Interdependence’, ‘Eternal’, ‘All Mighty’ (Tout-puissant), and ‘Flow’ (Ecoulement). Hereafter “Flow” and “VIETE” are often used synonymously.
Deepak Chopra in The Book of Secrets (Rider, 2004) in Secrets 11,12 and 13 directs us to follow the practical spirituality by evoking the concept of "simultaneous interdependent co-arising". He skillfully describes the relationship of human and other beings with the total Flow/Universe (Conscience) and how humans could reunite with and live in it.
If Maimonides and his other illustrious contemporaries like Al-Farabi, Avicenna, and Ibn Bajja in the 12th century had access to the vast store of present day scientific knowledge and other information we would have been spared the dread of clash of civilizations. Many of them accepted the concept of a permanent natural order similar to VIETE, explicable by science. The only positive knowledge of God i.e. VIETE, possible to humans consists of their understanding the natural phenomena. Is God merciful and revengeful? Maimonides was of the view that such attributes originate in the self-serving purpose of humans and anthropocentric misinterpretation of VIETE. All attributes of God listed in the Puranas, Koran, Bible and Adi Granth are meaningful only if applied in the context of the Flow (VIETE). Ancient texts explicitly state that love of God is a function of knowledge and it is impossible to love something one does not know. Now I am ready to invest in spirituality.
An increasing number of ordinary people can understand theoretical knowledge. More than ever before, individuals and institutions have acquired advanced scientific and theoretical knowledge and information derived empirically and experimentally at micro and macro scales. This knowledge is being used to understand the dynamics of VIETE and translated into action to safeguard the ecology and environment. The third type, mainly people of religion and some philosophers who in the past had assumed the role of agents of union with the Active Intellect and God, have failed miserably to contribute and lead humans towards the Flow.
Maimonides and his contemporaries tried to unite science and thought because they identified God with systems of sciences. At present the people of religion and others are unable to benefit from the vast knowledge that is available. They are ready to die over petty traditions. No wonder, the Jewish God wears-out on Friday evening and rests on Saturday (Shabbat). Christian God works differently: he is tired on Saturday evening and takes his rest on Sunday. Muslim God experiences fatigue on Thursday evening and for him his rest day is Friday. But my God, VIETE, is never tired. He flows eternally forward. Would VIETE made in Switzerland be the first Occidental religion?