Skip to main content

The calculus of Brahma

I have been writing a lot about Brahma. But please do not assume my writing as if I am pro-Brahma or against Brahma. I am just trying to understand the universe created by him and the universe we all live in. As I said, the journey is my quest and not the goal itself, because there are many goals depending upon one’s thoughts and mights.

Looking back at some of the ideas as discussed in the previous posts, Brahman comes from the summation of two words – Briha and Manas. While Brih means expansion and Manas means the mind. Thus I understand a Brahman to be a person who helps expand the mind. At the same time, he is able to expand his mind trough knowledge as well.

The process of expansion is understood by the thoughts provoked and understood by the mind – which is the seat of thinking and imagination. Imagination is quite beautiful and also awful. Imagination helps the humans to understand their future and the life they want to lead within the realm of nature. Imagination also helps them to realize the time when all the resources would fade away. This leads to the race of greed to satiate their hunger for the future. Still, its imagination – the thought of future, while no one knows what happens in future! Imagination also leads to the vision of oneself. One imagines how he or she is perceived by themselves and others. Imagination is usually driven by fear. Most of the times, we run away from fear in our imagination and sometimes, we try to drive away our fears through some other new fear while imagining. Thoughts or imaginations that are pertaining to self are the easiest for any one. These help create a progressive mind. However, the thoughts or imaginations about others create a sensitive mind which is sensitive towards others and their needs. A balance between the two is what makes a human great.

The thinking process thus leads us in three ways –

1. Seeking the objective truth – One that is evident and is often related to material – the self-centered thought

2. Seeking the subjective truth – One that is immaterial or intangible – the altruist thought or sensitiveness towards others

3. Seeking the subject itself – One that understands the purpose and hence creates a path for oneself and others together

When we say a brahman helps expand the mind, he helps the growth of mind in all three aspects. Growth or expansion can be infinite as the nature. And here comes calculus to our rescue! Ever wondered the power of the limit functions in differential calculus? Well, let’s see it here. In postulations by Dr Devdutta Pattnaik,

clip_image002 = Brahma, where e is the measure of expansion of mind

Brahma is pronounced such because there is no end to it! It is an asymptote to the learning.

Also, Sanskrit gives us a word Brahmand for the universe. Applying the same summation concepts, it is Brahma’s Egg or his creation.

Thus, when a person stops learning, they think of themselves as Brahma and create their own universe and remain oblivious to other universe that exist all around them.

Break this thought. There will always be innumerable Brahmas and Brahmands around you.

Realization of one’s knowledge and the universe around oneself helps them and others around them.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Flags and their meanings in Mahabharata

Last night I was telling the bedside story to the younger love of my life, when she asked – “How do you identify the leader of the troop in a war – particularly in a warzone where a lot of people are fighting against each other”? While I explained to her how the modern warfare works and how the generals lead the army today, I also imagined the warcraft of yesterday and started to describe the vivid imagination fueled by the magnanimity of the movies like Bahubali, Bajirao Mastani and Padmaavat. The job was simple as we both had watched the movies together. And she understood all that I told her. Yet a question from her made me fumble – Do all the warriors have a flag on their chariot, and what do they mean? In my research for the answer, I stumbled upon the information that I would like to share with you too. In the Viraat Parva of Mahabharata, Arjuna under the disguise of Brihannala plays the role of the charioteer for Prince Uttara of Virata kingdom. Under the condition

Karwa Chauth - Why does moon rise so late?

I have often wondered as to why the moon rises late on the Karwa Chauth night. It’s probably because our hungry stomachs rebel and start cursing the moon instead of praying, that slows it down! Actually on a full moon day, the moon rises exactly at the time of sunset. The moon takes 27.3 days to travel once around the earth. This is also the next full moon day. To travel 360 degrees in 27.3 days, the moon moves approx. 13 degrees towards the east every day. Thus the moon rise increases by approx. 48 min per day in relation to the sunset. On the Karva Chauth day – 4 days after the full moon day, the moon rises 48*4 = 192 min (3 hrs and 12 min) after the sunset. Now please do notice the moon rise timings everyday and see the pattern!

Ganesha - Reviving the series - 10

The series cannot be completed without mentioning the reach of Lord Ganesha to cultures outside of India. In this last post for this year’s series, I shall try to present some more lesser known facts about the spread of the Lord Ganesha’s influence in Indian and non Indian cultures. During the early medieval period, both Jains and Buddhists incorporated Ganesh into their pantheon. The Ganesha cult thus travelled with the Mahayana Buddhism to distant lands, including Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, Tibet, China, Mongolia and Japan. Ganesha’s worship spread in all the regions rapidly. Manjangan ( Ganesha ) temple in  Bali ,  Indonesia Ganesha in Ta Prohm, Angkor For the Jains, Ganesha appears to have taken over certain functions of Kubera. The earliest reference to Ganesha in Jainism is in the Abhidhanacintamani of Hemachandra. It refers to several appelations of Lord Ganesha such as Herama, Ganavgnesa and Vinayaka and visualizes him as elephant headed, pot bellied