Prajnanam Brahma - Awareness is Divine
Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai
Founder, Sri Sathya Sai University for Human Excellence

When the first man opened his eyes and looked around in wonder at the suspended stars in the night sky which twinkled and shimmered eternally, the golden disc at dawn which never missed its appointment with earthlings, the soothing silver moon in the night that waxed and waned rhythmically, the mother earth with all her myriad inhabitants – animate and inanimate, minuscule and mighty, and the crest jewel of it all – the humankind with its endless enterprise and enquiry—he asked within himself – Where did all this come from? Who governs this? Where does it all go at the end?

The first man wondered wide-eyed in the wilderness seeking answers to these questions; and when he could not find the answers outside, he turned within in deep contemplation. That’s how seekers and sages evolved out of ordinary beings, just like how a caterpillar transforms itself into a butterfly.

The answers were more of intuitive revelations than experimental conclusions—call it serendipity if you may! The first understanding that emerged from this process of deep enquiry was that—there is a definitive power, ‘a creative force’ that exists, and all creation has emerged from it. The second inference was that this power or force is not mechanical, but it is ‘conscious and creative’, for the kind of distinctive variety and the intelligent detailing of finer aspects in creation, is not possible by a dead unconscious power. Thirdly, this power has no beginning or end, for everything in creation is cyclic—be it days or nights, seasons, or situations, and even life and death. Just that some are shorter cycles, and some are longer. Upon keen observation, a student of science can easily draw striking parallels between the intuitive understanding of the sages of yore and the scientific conclusions of the modern scientists, that say that all matter is energy (e=mc2) and that energy can neither be created nor be destroyed, but can only be transformed from one form to another. Thousands of years ago, much before all the modern scientific studies started announcing its empirical evidence about the universe and creation, taittirīyopaniṣad described the supreme creative force as – satyam, jñānam, anantam, which is to say that this power has three attributes – Existence, Awareness, and Eternity. The aitareyopaniṣad defines divinity as awareness - Prajnanam Brahma, implying that all awareness is Divine and so also the ability to be aware of all things. 

Simply put, it means that it exists, it is intelligent, and it can never be created or destroyed. This is exactly what scientists say now, well almost, except that they are still debating whether it is a conscious energy or an unconscious force of nature. However, with the newer frontiers of Quantum Mechanics and Unified Field Theory, the idea of a ‘field’ – a substratum to the entire universe, is gaining rapid acceptance. This field, consisting of four kinds of forces namely – gravitational, electromagnetic, weak nuclear force, and strong nuclear force, seems to have an intelligent way of its own, leading to the creation of newer materials, its sustenance and destruction as well. Let’s not forget that once upon a time people thought that the earth was flat, till they discovered that it was not! So, science is yet to discover what the great sages had already found millennia ago.

In sanātana dharma, the term given to this power which exists and is conscious as well as eternal, is brahman. brahman is considered as the one without name and form, without attributes and qualities, without dualities and differences, though paradoxically, all the variety, beauty and apparent differences in creation are all due to that one, eternal, non-dual, unchanging brahman. How is that possible? 

Let’s take the example of electricity, which by itself is nothing but a force generated by the flow of electrons in a wire. But, when the same electric current passes through a bulb, it turns into light energy; when it enters a heater, it becomes heat energy; when it enters a fan, it becomes wind energy, and so on. Though electric current by itself does not have any of the attributes of light, heat, or wind; yet its interaction with the various appliances transforms the essential electrical energy into all the other kinds of energies.

Similarly, the conscious and intelligent energy of brahman interacts with nature and generates everything, sustains them, and finally destroys them. The subatomic particles interact to form atoms, which form molecules, elements, compounds, matter, plants, birds, animals, and humans, and when humans die, they disintegrate back into the same subatomic particles and energy. And this cycle continues perpetually! Based on this cyclic nature of the work of brahman, three functions have been attributed to brahman, which are creation – sṛṣṭi, sustenance – sthiti and dissolution – laya.

Thus, this one changeless brahman, essentially energy, appears to manifest in all the changing things or masses of the universe. Just as all ornaments – be it bangles, rings, necklaces are nothing but modifications of gold, and though known by different names which are attributed to their different forms, they are essentially gold only; similarly, everything and everyone is essentially brahman only. This is the primary principle of sanātana dharma. 

A rationalist may shake off this upanishadic truth as a mere philosophical statement stating that everything one experiences with the senses and the mind is absolutely real; but before that, let them go through the work of the three physicists who shared the Nobel Prize for 2022 in the field of Quantum Physics. 

This Quantum Physics theory has been around for some time, may be over a century now, which says that the perceived reality is ‘not real’ and is influenced by the observer. Well, that in a way means that the world as we see is the way we see, only because we see it that way. So, without the seer, the seen won’t be real! It almost makes anyone laugh at it, just as the great scientist Albert Einstein did when he scoffed at his friend saying, ‘do you really think that the moon is not there when you are not looking at it?’ However convincing it may sound as an argument, the quantum theory refutes it with a resounding Yes. 

With almost a century of arguments back and forth, and after several experiments that led to the conclusion that the whole universe is connected in some way and the observed is dependent on the perception of the observer, the entangled photon experiments led to this conclusion when John Clauser, Alain Aspect, and Anton Zeilinger split the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics “for experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering quantum information science.” And with that the hope against all hopes of the quantum atheists in some ‘hidden variables’ that were yet to be discovered causing seemingly a telepathic connection between things in the universe crashed to the floor. And now we know that all things are connected in some ‘mysterious’ way.

In an interesting episode from bhṛguvalli of taittirīyopaniṣad, the disciple-son bhṛgu, desirous of brahmavidyā (knowledge of the ultimate truth) approaches his father vāruṇi, to understand the truth of brahman that is behind all existence. vāruṇi being a perfect teacher, does not deploy the usual method of discoursing his disciple, but rather encourages bhṛgu to find answers to the question himself through self-inquiry, and only adds more clues to his query by asking him to investigate through questions like – ‘where does all the creation come from?’, ‘what sustains it and where does it all go at the end?’ He tells the son, “Know that; that is brahman”. bhṛgu goes back to observe and contemplate on these questions and concludes that anna or food is brahman – 'annaṁ brahmeti vyajānāt' – everyone is born out of food or anna; all are sustained by food and at the end all merge into food, which is to say, one creature becomes food for another in the food cycle. But father vāruṇi isn’t satisfied and asks bhṛgu to investigate further. The dutiful disciple bhṛgu, does so obediently. After much contemplation, bhṛgu returns with a newer insight that prāṇa or life force is brahman – 'prāṇo brahmeti vyajānāt' – all beings are born out of the life force, they live due to the life force and ultimately when the life force is withdrawn, they disappear as well. But yet again, vāruṇi is not satisfied and urges bhṛgu to think deeper. So, this time after due thinking, bhṛgu returns with a deeper insight that manas or mind is brahman – 'mano brahmeti vyajānāt' – all is because of the mind or manas. It is the mind that directs the life force, according to which creation, sustenance and destruction of all beings eventuate. Therefore, the mind is the basis of all.

Unsurprisingly, the teacher-father vāruṇi is not impressed yet. So, bhṛgu goes back to meditate further only to return with a newer knowledge that intelligence or vijñāna is brahman – 'vijñānaṁ brahmeti vyajānāt' – intelligence is the basis of everything, and all creation emerges into existence due to a certain intelligence that governs birth, growth, and death of all creatures. This instinctive intelligence is in-built in all, and this governs the mind and directs the prāṇa. vāruṇi is happy but still not satisfied with his son’s answers and sends him back to further meditate upon all that he had been observing thus far. This time, after meditating deep and long, bhṛgu realises that ānanda or bliss is the basis of all existence – 'ānando brahmeti vyajānāt' – for the sake of seeking happiness all are born, all live, and finally perish.

bhṛgu loses himself in the experience of that ānanda and does not return to his father. So, this time vāruṇi scouts for his son and discovers that he has finally found the truth of brahman, the divine joy which is the basis of all creation.

Thus, ‘Constant Integrated Awareness’ about the truth within us – that space or presence which is eternal and peaceful is the ultimate thing to experience and realize, knowing which everything else is known. 

This multidisciplinary journal of the Sri Sathya Sai University for Human Excellence brings not merely scientific but also spiritual enquiry into all investigations and inferences. The thin line between Science and Spirituality is getting increasingly thinner, and I am convinced that 21st Century Science shall finally meet with its other half of Spirituality, with greater awareness of their oneness.