The Splendour
Let us take a lemon in our palm. We know that it is a lemon by seeing its color and form. If it is dark, we can cognize it by its smell. We can also cognize it by touching and tasting it. All physical objects are cognized by the sense-organs or by means of touch, taste, color and smell. But the color and form of the lemon are not the lemon. These are only the modifications of the lemon. Each sense-organ is capable of cognizing only a single modification of an object. The eye catches the color only and the nose catches only the smell. The skin catches the touch only and the tongue catches only taste. What then is the object whose modifications alone are known by the sense organs? What is the real nature of the objects? Scientists have been trying to ascertain the essence of objects for centuries together and the search is continuing even today. They have come to know the particles of which things are made but the real nature of objects continues to evade scientific investigation.
Philosophers also have been engaged for the last thousands of years in search of the basic substance of the universe but they have not been able to ascertain it. The difficulty arises because of the fact that the universe is composed of waves and waves only. The universe is a modification of its original substance. This substance remains hidden behind the waves and modification. The sense-organs which catch the waves and modifications are themselves the modification of the substance or of its waves. Each one of them can catch only a single modification of the substance. The eye for example can catch only colour. No sense-organ is capable of comprehending what lies behind the waves or modifications. Therefore, what lies beyond the waves or modifications remains a mystery. Those who have conducted investigations in this area say that there is nothing beyond the waves. Both the knower and the known are themselves nothing but the waves. The question as to what is beyond the waves is a wrongly framed question. Breath, because of which we live, is itself composed of waves. The living bodies are conglomeration of waves. We generally believe that our bodies are solid. It is not so. We can perceive the subtle vibrations of our bodies by means of anitya anupreksha (contemplation on the transitory nature of things). We generally think that our bones are solid. That is not true. The bones have pores in them. If we see a cork with the help of a microscope, we will find it to be a network of holes. We generally believe that a wall is solid. It is not true. It is composed of innumerable tiny particles. Everywhere, on each object, there are holes and pores or liquids. These modifications are so numerous that we cannot cross them and arrive at the basic substance of things.
Like the human body, the mind and the intellect are also a series of waves. Whatever we know through the medium of waves is composed of waves only. The medium of knowledge determines the nature of the things known. In comprehending the waves we do not comprehend anything which is beyond the waves. We do not comprehend anything beyond the modifications with the help of the body, breath, sense-organs, mind and intellect. It is, therefore, not surprising if people have declared that there is no basic substance like the soul. The mediums of knowledge mentioned above do not allow us to posit the existence of a substance beyond the comprehension of the mind, we will be wrong because such a substance is the creation of mind itself. How can the mind comprehend that which is beyond it? The mind knows nothing except itself. It is like a tape recorder. It communicates only that which has been recorded on it. Unfortunately we have planted in the mind the idea that there are things beyond it, which it cannot comprehend. There is no evidence to prove the existence of a substance beyond the mind because all evidence is a mental construct. It may very well be said that meditation is also a wave of the mind and, therefore it does not reveal anything beyond itself. We are so much enmeshed in the world of modifications and waves that we are unable to see anything beyond them. It is the limitation of ours, which compels us to search for the soul. It is the limitation, which is the starting point of the spiritual quest. There are thus two things: the waves, which compose our knowledge and that which is beyond the waves. The starting point of the spiritual quest lies between these two.