Continuum of the stream of consciousness, within and beyond each life

By Surya Vishwa 

Today we live in a world where Western Science is the demi god of the New Age, worshiped on a platform of skepticism and doubt of everything that is not tested in a laboratory. Social Science has followed this route and it is not a mystery why society is in such a bedraggled state of awareness. 

Today we keep ‘religion’ – whatever the religion – in a small box opened ceremoniously for social rituals and also for tribal like appreciations when we want to appear unique and tout our ‘religious’ brand above ‘others.’ 

Yet, within all religions there are complex metaphysical truths linked to the internal universe of the individual and connected to the larger universe and even other planets. The secrets – of cells, atoms, waves and particles – were revealed to the ancient seekers of different faiths though not identifying these in the terminology of today as defined above. If one spends enough time in contemplation, reading, and being taught by the skyline of stillness within, from which comes all knowledge, one would see that miracles, cures and manifestations cannot be labeled as the property of a particular ‘God.’ They are part of the stream of consciousness which is the property of the mind; the human mind from which every conceivable miracle, magic or trick can be wrought – and of course passed on under any religious ‘brand.’ 

The fact is that the mind, that underestimated thing which gets dragged into tedious examinations of the world and often becomes brain dead from exhaustion, is the weaving mill of energy in rhythm with each heartbeat that can, if the need arises, tell a mountain to uproot itself or command ones feet to master the waves of the ocean. However we live in mental poverty that prevents us from these achievements because we do not live in times where it is normal to train and refine our consciousness to do such tasks. These feats were quite ordinary though, to ancient sages. The entire medical science of Ayurveda as with other ancient healing systems that have died out, was developed in the labs of the minds of men and women who aligned their consciousness to that of this planet and to each plant, shrub, leaf and twig and mastering the concept of oneness. This article however is not about such accomplishments. 

The aim of this article is to begin a discourse in the living organism of human consciousness beyond life and death – where each act, thought, intention, aspiration, regret, attachment, sorrow and joy is recorded between the space of the mind and the universe – where every action creates a fitting reaction. The sequence of reactions one would assume naively to end with death. However in the knowledge encompassed within the philosophy of ancient Hinduism – in the teachings of the Vedas, the Upanishads (and other diverse ancient cultural beliefs) and perfected by the knowledge gleaned by the Buddha, each life and each death is but a phase that accumulates, thoughts, actions, deeds and misdeeds. 

The entire gamut of this knowledge is instilled in detail in the teachings of Buddhism; the science of the mind which we ignore in sterile laboratories and if mastered we could learn how to live, lead and govern life to facilitate minimum hurt. This is the template the world needs to free itself from strife. 

The topic for this article then is on the continuum of the stream of consciousness, beyond each lifetime and how our lives are governed by this fact, although we may not perceive it. This theme was inspired by a series of online sermons this writer has been following for few years by several Sri Lankan and Non-Sri Lankan Bhikkus. Some of these sermons could be categorised as falling into the theme of interactions or exchanges in the oasis of time. These sermons unravel the teachings of the Buddha on how each of our lives is just a fraction of a vast – unimaginably vast accumulation of thoughts, intentions, actions, reactions, deeds and misdeeds that we accost each time we surface upon earth or any other realm. 

These explanations sometimes can evade the grasp of someone whose brain has been washed with the acid of thinking that modern knowledge, technology and Western Science – is the only route to awareness of truths. Thus when these Bhikkus talk (as did the Buddha) of amanushya - energy which has left the body and languishing in low realms, or phenomena of afterlife human energy invading different levels of consciousness – (heavenly abodes or the many types of low level abodes or realms) in each life cycle, as per befitting actions done in each life span, our modern psyche of knowledge or education can get in the way of realisation. There is no permanent languishing – after paying the dues for whatever we have done as befitting the actions we move onto the next level as adjudged by universal law. Receiving a human body to house the energy that empowers us is very rare.

What is being said by these Bhikkus are explanations of the teachings of the Thathagatha - Gautama Buddha, the teachings of the science of the nature of the mind and how it influences each life cycle. The mind and the consciousness thereof can accrue the miracle of light (wisdom) or the idiocy of darkness (ignorance). It can be the salvation, the redemption or the damnation. The essence of the teaching is that whatever happens within a lifetime has a connection with a past life action. 

In one sermon our awareness was brought to how many times would we have drunk milk from different mothers to fill oceans – how many millions of countless times would we have been returning here – to the human realm, the animal realm and other realms of the unseen – of gods, demons and prethas. People think today that when something is not seen that it is not so. It has been preached by the Buddha that each human comes to this life so many times that he or she cannot but evade the fact that over the expanse of the infinite time and space, that each human has but to be related to each other.

Contemplating this last line of our humane connection within and between lives and geographical spaces, would be sufficient to commence an entire training on world peace and a beautiful, loving way of conducting actions of this world. 

How many friends do we have in each lifetime, each phase, how do they appear and disappear? How is it that we get drawn to some and gets irritated by others, for no logical reason? This is not happenstance. According to Buddhism there is a reason for each of these reactions. This is why detached kindness is advised. Because to be attached and suffer from that attaching is to once again be drawn into the orbit of clinging samsaric imprisonment. Selfless love would free us.

We see one human being acting in a very cruel manner to another. We say how terrible it is to treat such an innocent person in this way. We are speaking ignorantly. What we do not know is what the other person has done previously to merit this treatment. This is why when we meet another person and is treated well or badly, we must have enough of awareness to know that it is a circumstance occurring as it should – based on past conduct and past interactions. If we are such persons doing such acts we must contemplate and practice understanding, tolerance and kindness (metta, muditha and karuna). This is the only solution.

There was a true incident recently where a burglar ended up murdering a family because he could not get a few thousands of rupees from them. These are sansaric exchanges - ganu denu. When we hear of these incidents we play judge as to who is innocent or not and we get disturbed. Let none of these disturb you. You just be aware how you interact with the person/s you meet. Sometimes it is very pleasant. The same premise holds whether the exchange is pleasant or not. If it is unpleasant or unbearable it is only by cultivating love and compassion – Maithriya that you could possibly reverse the situation in this life and create a different circumstance in the next one.

Knowledge and cognition as well as its diverse layers are part of the accumulation of life cycles as per the Hindu and Buddhist knowledge systems. If one spends time improving on the sensitivity of perceptiveness of the senses, one could possibly detect, well and beyond the limitations of Western Science as to what happens when human beings get stuck – when they cannot redeem themselves from trapped levels of consciousness, are relegated to demonic, or related spheres of the unseen worlds.

To fully redeem oneself from this rotation, life after life, is what we call nirvana – complete liberation, and many use this term lightly without possibly realising the gravity and the arduousness of the objective. How this realisation would make us better people in the particular human life that we grasp it, is because we would start treating each person we meet with the understanding that we are paying off a karmic debt. This would make us detached from taking the sentimental value of the interaction too strongly upon ourselves or being hurt by any negative element. It would help us to understand that in any negative instance that we may have acted far worse in another lifetime. 

This article is best ended focusing on the view of religions such as Islam and Christianity which do not pay attention to the concept of afterlife – it could be said that this is so because those religions focus on extremely strict rules of conduct within the human life sphere that could be seen as dogmatic and severe at times but which is laid out so for the human consciousness to live with a higher sense of principles (owing to God all actions) so that both life and death will be within this conduit. Charity and kindness are upheld strongly. Thus these religions do not dwell on what would happen if the energy of the body did not set forth itself into paradise (of liberation) because the religious rules have been strictly guided to be lived out to merit such a point. However the terminology and the linguistics are different. The concept of God comes into play which does not in Buddhism. The terms nirvana or nivana not used and the general philosophy of freeing oneself from the cycle of life and death not detailed out as done explicitly in Buddhism and Hinduism.

No religion tells a person to do harm. A correct and wisdom based practice of any religion would take one up the mountain path to the very summit of freedom – though the routes and language based descriptions would be different. 

 This piece of writing has been an attempt to portray a different realm of knowledge than what we are assailed with in this current world; to facilitate contemplation and a deeper introspective understanding of life and what is beyond it, and to promote peace and love in this world, beginning with oneself.