Conversion of Energy
There are also, in less deep seas, some animals that generate electric lights to catch hold of their prey…whether the human body can generate electric current or not?...While working, vital energy is transformed into mechanical energy. The same vital energy can be transformed into electric energy also, but in that case, the body will be electrocuted and the person will die. Human vital energy can be converted into magnetic energy as well. In the case of conversion of vital energy into spiritual force, it does not affect the body and mind. But in the case of conversion of vital energy into magnetic energy, it does affect body, mind, etc.
Whatever stamina, physical, mental, or spiritual, exists within you is not your creation. Can you create anything? No, you cannot. You convert the external energy derived from food, light, water and soil into vital energy. You cannot create any energy; you can simply convert it into other forms. …While working, you convert your vital energy into mechanical energy. While speaking, you convert your vital energy into sound energy. The moment this vital energy is gone, the living unit turns into a corpse. You derive your vital energy from the external world, a gift of Parama Puruśa. Similarly, the strength to move towards the Supreme Father can also be obtained from Him. But the tragedy is that you do not ask for spiritual force from Him…You remain so busy with your worldly desires that you hardly manage to get any time in your daily life to ask for spiritual strength.
The greatest drawback of materialistic thought is that materialists think that this visible world is the ultimate reality. They deliberately refuse to understand that their existence is completely transient, subject to time, space and person. They deliberately refuse to turn their eyes towards the original causal entity of the world, in whose body the rhythms of changes appear and disappear. Matter resides in energy and energy resides in thought; energy begets matter and thought begets energy. Rejecting this simple, obvious truth, their palsied minds cannot face all problems with courage. Thus, they become avidyá’s slaves by worshipping transience as eternity, impurity as purity, sorrow as happiness, and self-ignorance as self-consciousness. Truly speaking, any molecule, atom, electron or proton which is taken to be the fundamental stuff of this world, are but the manifestations of energy, for matter is nothing but bottled-up energy. But energy is not an original entity either; it is simply consciousness under the bondage of Prakrti. Hence for the true comprehension of the essence of matter one must accept the theory of Brahma composed of Puruśa and Prakrti. Whether He is considered in His all-pervasive aspect or in any of His individual aspects, His Macrocosmic State manifests the same characteristic that is manifest in His individual aspect also.
Every entity develops by virtue of its own internal strength. But where does that internal strength come from? The strength acquired from the external world is fundamentally crude. Food, air and water are created from the five fundamental factors which, being crude, can only directly help the growth of physical energy and not the more subtle psychic energy and spiritual energy. One should not be over-dependent upon that physical source of energy as it is transient by nature
From the very beginning it was my opinion that it would not be wise to depend on external objects alone. This is the advice I have given to members of Ananda Marga, saying that they should rather depend upon psychic energy. Psychic energy is of two types. One is a product of physical energy, the other a product of spiritual power. Suppose some people stop eating food for a number of days: their physical and psychic stamina will be affected. They will be unable to continue their studies and other activities due to a lack of physical stamina. Their minds, infatuated with food, will repeat “bread, bread” instead of “Krśńa, Krśńa”. Thus, crude psychic power which is a product of physical energy is also undependable.
The second type is internal psychic power. Those who are moralists, those who are armed with spiritual power, naturally develop a kind of psychic power. Whether they eat or not, their strength remains unaffected. Staunch moralists would never agree to drink alcohol even if they were about to die. Their moral strength is so strong that they would rather put their heads in fire than violate their ideology. The energy that originates from crude food is not adequate for the development of this sort of indomitable psychic power. It requires spiritual strength, spiritual moral force which originate, from unit consciousness or átman. In the absence of spiritual power, this unflinching psychic power and moral force quickly fade. That is why from the very beginning I have been stressing that human beings should depend more on spiritual power.
They work for self-realization and social upliftment, and hence the utilization of their energy is never in vain.
During práńáyáma the vital energy controls the mind.
If people labour beyond their capacity, whether just taking a risk, or driven by the mentality of gaining applause or by financial greed, then their vital energy is reduced and tuberculosis may attack.
Extreme mental exhaustion and despondency in life also destroy people’s vital energy...
The few exploiters degenerate themselves due to excess of physical enjoyments, and the many exploited cannot elevate themselves because all their energy is taken up in mundane problems and all their mental waves are always tending to attain psycho-physical parallelism, thus getting day by day cruder. Hence for the physical, mental and spiritual welfare of the administrator and the administered of the society as a whole, it is essential that no one should be given any scope to exploit the rest of society.
For you, unity is the natural course, and division is unnatural. You well know that the Cosmic Energy will not long tolerate what is unnatural.
So it is natural for human beings to live together and to make a Great Universe. By not doing so, by mutual fight, all will be destroyed. This is the law of the universe (Prakrti).
The electricity formed in clouds is wasted in most cases because no intellectual being such as the human being utilizes it…Those unaware of the fundamental difference between physical force and divine force often make the flippant remark that everything has come from nature. But how is that possible? Nature does not have its own intellect but is simply the way in which the physical force has manifested itself. Nature cannot do anything original – it cannot create such a well-ordered universe itself. It is not an intellectual force but a blind force. The divine force walks behind it.
This energy, unless guided and controlled by consciousness, may indulge in destructive activities.
In this solar system, we derive energy from the sun. But from where does the sun get energy? The sun gets energy(3) from the Cosmological Nucleus. There are countless solar systems in the Cosmos. And for all these solar systems, the hub is Parama Puruśa, Puruśottama. He is the Nucleus of all energy. The sun gets energy from Him alone – therefore Ráti mahiidhara.
The Sufi influence on Indian society (an influence particularly on Indian Vaishnavism) is actually of Persian and not of Islamic origin. The vibrational expression of the Sufi influence is in harmony with Indian thinking and it has therefore supplied vital energy to Indian social life for centuries.
Prakrti, the qualifying principle of this abstract entity, can also only be understood as an energy, force or principle which cannot be seen even though it qualifies the crudest of things.
An energy or principle can never have a shape. It cannot be seen or heard. Prakrti, also a unique force, a principle, is a subtle entity. Puruśa and Prakrti are both subtle. Brahma, the collective name for these two
Although unit consciousness is not the original source of inspiration, the Cosmic Ideation works through its apparent medium. This inspirational energy guides the unit mind on the path of progress and expansion.
Wheat increases physical strength, but as it is a bit acidic, it reduces vital energy after the age of fifty-five. According to some people, wheat bread brings strength to the body but dulls the brain, but rice is free from this defect. Rice takes up much room in the stomach, which is why people feel lethargic and sleepy after a meal of rice.
Here ekendriya means that all the expressions of the sensory and motor nerves and all the energy and subtle power of the organs should be focused on one point. The consolidated power of the nerves, indriyas, and mind stuff should be directed towards the supreme goal
The crudest solid is the final stage of saiṋcara. The energy or práńa working therein slowly gets converted into práńáh, vital energy. This vital energy functions as the direct cause of life and thus controls the activities of the animated physical structure.
It is my personal opinion that we should help those people who have some genius to maximally utilize their potentiality. It is because human beings have to exhaust so much of their energy in coping with the numerous mundane problems of life, that they do not get any opportunity to utilize their higher capabilities.
The more the mind gets concentrated, the more the mind goes deep, the more bliss a person will experience. Ultimately, they will become one with the Supreme Mind. On their part there will be no physical or psychic effort. They will have living bodies which, without any movement, will look like dead bodies. This is sárúpya samádhi – the individual and Paramátmá become one. In this state, the sádhaka’s mind remains full of knowledge. During samádhi, the body does not become as stiff as it becomes in the case of death.
If the nuclei of protoplasmic cells are split up, they release innumerable times more energy than a nuclear explosion does. Obviously, living bodies, being composed of countless protoplasmic cells, possess huge proportions of energy – something which is beyond ordinary comprehension.
Now, energy, what is energy? First, what is matter? Matter is bottled-up energy. And, what is mind? Mind is when matter gets powdered down, then it is mind.
Suppose you are to undergo hard physical labour; in that case your physical body will become – what? It will be tired. But suppose you didn’t undergo any physical labour, you, did intellectual labour, say for ten or twelve hours continuously. In that case, also, you will feel tired, and that tiredness will be not only of the mind but of the body also. Is it not a fact? So the human body is not only a material body, but a psychic body and also a spiritual body.
The method of utilization of every object changes according to time, space and person…For instance, the energy which a powerful person utilizes to operate a huge hammer should be utilized through scientific research to operate more than one hammer at a time.
In the same way all the urges and longings should be gathered together and directed towards the Supreme. If this is done indomitable psychic energy and invincible spiritual energy will grow from within. This will enable people to solve all the world’s problems – economic, social cultural, big and small. Unless one develops oneself in this way, as an ideal human being, one will not be able to solve any problem, no matter how madly one beats one’s chest or how loudly one shouts slogans.
In the mundane world, people are always moving towards some material goal. If they move without first defining their goals, then their movement will be nothing but a waste of time and energy. There may be movement, but there will be no progress. A bullock tied to an oil mill may trudge along for a hundred miles [in a circle], but not even a step of that distance will signify real progress.
Humans accumulate shakti [power] through japa, dhyána, kiirtana,(1) etc. Crude unit minds [, on the other hand,] receive an impetus to move forward [only] when clashes arise. Those living beings progress on the path of evolution as a result of clash. But having attained the form of human beings, they forget to accumulate power. The method through which humans acquire energy is called Tantra or yoga. Virtuous people endeavour to infuse motion into their stagnant lives through spiritual practices. Struggle on the spiritual plane is a necessity for social progress. But this is not possible for ordinary people
They could not wait that long in the past, nor will they be able to do so in the future. After intense analysis, therefore, they concluded that if they could focus their psychic propensities on one point and merge them into cosmic energy, they would, with the help of that cosmic energy, be able to remove their imperfections and thus attain the cherished state of perfection.
A time will come when there will be no language. With the advancement of science human beings may again adopt new types of postures and gestures, and they may think of using the energy saved by minimizing the use of spoken language for higher pursuits.
Some people believe that by eating nutritious food they will acquire more energy to do better work; others expect to get the same results by increasing their intellect through intensive study. Different people have different ideas. On deeper analysis, however, people will realize that the source of permanent wisdom and energy must be a permanent entity.
One must know what one is and what is one’s goal. A goal-less march is meaningless, mere wastage of time and energy. So the aspirant must know who he or she is and what is the goal, what is his or her destination. When moving along the road, if you don’t know what is your destination, your energy is wasted. So you should know what is your goal and this is called Samyak Darshan in Samskrta.
What is the system of thought-process? What is thought? Some portion of the ectoplasmic stuff takes a particular form, and that form is a crudified form of ectoplasm; when projected internally, it takes form. Similarly this quinquelemental universe is a projected crudified form of Cosmic ectoplasm. And, after that, due to internal and external clash and cohesion, energy is created, light is created, psychic structure is created in individuals. And, as a system of thought-process, it finally gets merged into the nucleus from which it came.
Your Pratiika [Emblem]
A triangle with one vertex up superimposed on another triangle with one vertex down, with the rising sun having a swastika inside. These are symbols of energy, knowledge, advancement and permanent victory, respectively.
You have a physical body, you have vital energy, and with their help you can move an object from one place to another. The change of position of an object is called karma; it is just a segment of the eternal flow of time. You certainly have the right to action: you have a body, you have vitality, you have arms and legs, you have power to think, you have an ectoplasmic structure, you have so many things; you can certainly do many things.
Both believe that Prakrti is not within Puruśa but is a separate Entity. This is also illogical since Prakrti is only energy or the shakti of Puruśa, and like the dahika shakti or burning facility of agni or fire, it cannot be a separate entity. These philosophies are called Dvaetavádii or dualistic because they believe in two separate entities of Puruśa and Prakrti.
People feel uneasy when they speak in a language other than their mother tongue. If they constantly feel such uneasiness, their Práńa Shakta or vital energy will be disturbed. Consequently their vital force will be weakened. In such circumstance a sort of psychological crisis will occur in the collective mental body as well as in the individual mind.
So at the kiirtana place, not only will there be a huge concentration of physical energies, but also of psychic energy which will remove collective accumulated miseries of this material, quinquelemental world.