premjan

what is existence?

Raj

A good question. In this context, it means the universe in totality. In the true sense, it is an abstractation of the mind.

premjan

I don't think so. I think there is a real physical world that exists regardless of whether we think about it or not.

Raj

This IS the Hindu philosophy of Maya.

premjan

I guess Maya is just saying that our view of reality is highly conditioned by our individual biases. As the Talmud also says: We see the world not as IT is, but as WE are.

Vajradhara

Namaste Raj,

thank you for the post.

i'm sure that you are aware that Buddhism specifically refutes the idea of Atman as expressed in Hindu Theology, are you not?

in any event, that would be how i would answer the question... no, i do not believe in the existence of an unchanging, eternal spirit that indwells in my body and will exist after this body dies.

Sattwic

Raj..

If you drive deep into Advaita vada, you will tie yourself up in knots trying to define first, the great question Premjan asked: What is existence.

What can exist.

If there is existence, is there non-existence.

What does the realm of non-existence mean? Can there be an exchange between the sheres of existence and non-existence?

Is existence a moment or a flow/stream? Does any existence have a starting point and an end? or it is in perpetuallity?

If there is no existence, will there be time?

Does existence need space?

if I Imagine an Unicorn, does it exist or does it not exist?

If might not exist physicially, but it exists as a thought process.

Now, if we accept that imagination of something too is like bringing into existence as a thought process something that did not exist before.

Is there a limit for imagination? Where does imagination stop?

Only after answering all these fundamental question can we move into the next step of trying to discuss Atman.

You are rushing into Hinduism too quickly by trying to discuss things that take whole scriptures just to introduce.

Cheers,
Jagan Mohan.

premjan

I think that the soul is just a pattern of flow or activity of our bodies, that may escape our bodies by becoming a general cultural pattern that is copied by other people. other than this the immortal atma does not literally exist, at least not for all human beings, IMO. Of course, Christians claim that the soul is so immortal that it can control the physical body (cause resurrection). Devotees of Adi Shankara claim his spirit left his body to inhabit the body of a King, and thus permitted him to experience sex with the King's wife vicariously, and enabled him to discourse on the sex experience. It seems unlikely, and in any case, people who remember "out-of-body" experiences seem to be very rare, so it is probably just a superstition. This is seen in African voodoo also, and in hibernative yogic states. I have seen no evidence that the human mind is other than a chemical-electrical pattern existing within our bodies, so I do not believe there is any quantum feedback component to our human minds, this being the speculation of some quantum physicists. Introspection may lead us to consider such possibilities, however, science must be performed to validate them otherwise they are just speculation.