abhyAsa : The importance of I, Here and Now!
I am the puruSa, the tat, the brahman!
Yet I am conscious not of the universe but of my own here-and-now and my own individual consciousness.
Even as an individual, I cannot be conscious of all the things that I am capable of being conscious at an instant.
With Guruji I am conscious of being a student and learning and focusing on the subject.
In the kitchen, I am conscious of cooking and not of anything else.
Even though I have a greater consciousness, I am only conscious at any time of my present activity. Nothing else exists.
I am different with each person, in each role!
Similarly, as the Purusha, I am many people and many beings each with their own here-s and now-s and I-s, doing whatever they should be doing.
I understand the idea that the one who made breakfast and trimmed plants earlier is the same as the one who is typing now.
I do not understand the idea that Terry Pratchett who wrote the book and I who read it are the same. We have different bodies and occupy different here-s certainly and even different now-s if I consider the now of his writing and the now of my reading.
I can understand that I am connected to all the other stuff in the universe. I can understand that I am made of the same stuff as the universe is made of and that I exchange this stuff with the universe all the time. I understand that I am part of this universe just as any other star or asteroid or lump of rock.
But I think, I am not that star or that asteroid or this lump of rock.
I think I am that kid who cried to be born, to go to school, to go to work, to get married, to give birth, to get divorced, to get up … all the rest., but you are a different kid who dealt with all these things hopefully smilingly!
I understand the idea of a me at other times, doing other things in other places - as mySelf.
I cannot understand the idea of a me at other places at the same time, doing other things - as mySelf.
Thus I writer and you reader are different.
At least with regard to myself, I have an illusion-if that-is-what-it-is of control. I respond to the stimuli in my environment according to a combination of my position, nature, nurture and hopefully/possibly choice!
I think that the reason we are wired with a here-ness and now-ness and I-ness, is that what we do is extremely important. No one else can or will do exactly what we do, once you add the here-and-now dimensions to it!
We must do-our-bit, whether as puppets, robots or autonomous people, it is the bit that we do, that is very important.
We may be instruments, but you could be a saw and I could be a blade. Both with their own purpose and work!
Satya Sarada Kandula
