Light Obsession

[renuka]

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Almost all religions talk about Light..Be it Jyothi or An Nur..Christianity goes one step further even the Devil's name Lucifer is from the word Luciferin means Light.

Deepavali is supposed to be the festival of Lights.

Devas are called the shining ones again talking about Light.

Technically we need light to see and its important for survival.

But why do most religions downplay the role of Darkness?

Which is original..Darkness or Light?

Well the Sun too had to be "created" may be from the Big Bang as the saying goes.

We have to make an effort to light up our homes..Light is not present on its own at home.

Even the Rig Veda hymn says that in the beginning there was only enveloping darkness.

Light was not talked about.

So how did Light become linked to all major religions?

Did it arise becos men feared darkness and imagined God to be Light?

Gayatri Mantra talks about "illuminating "intellect..I know its not physical light here but again its a light no doubt.

Darkness too has an important role in our lives..without darkness even growth hormone and melatonin wont be secreted.

Can we sleep comfortably in a lit room?

Nope..we cant..its darkness that gives us the best quality sleep.

Even conception takes place in a sans light cavity..darkness again.

When darkness is clearly older than light..why do we have to link light and God?

Even to say Surya Koti Sama Prabah is a comparison that can only be done after we know the Sun.

So long long ago when the galaxies were not yet present..could a Surya Koti Sama Prabah exists?

In deep sleep too when all senses are not kicking into action..its darkness that envelops our very being.


So the question is "have we been misled"? Is it darkness that is the oldest of all?

Do we need the concept of Light?

 

[sravna]

Dear Renuka,Darkness comes before light because knowledge comes after ignorance. Simple?

 

[renuka]

Dear Renuka,Darkness comes before light because knowledge comes after ignorance. Simple?

Dear Sravna,

At the same time..why should something that is "eternal" make a late entry? Complex?

 

[renuka]

Sravna..take this stanza from Purusha Shuktam for example;

• vedAhametam puruSHam mahAntam | AdityavarNam tamasastu pAre |
  sarvANi roopANi vicitya dheera: | nAmAni krtvAbhivadan yadAste || 16 ||
  (yat)
• That (dheera valorous puruSHa (Aste) who is, who has
  (vicitya materialized (sarvAni) all (roopANi) forms, and (krtya
  made (sarvAni) all (nAmAni) names, (abhivadan) and maintains all
  of these, (etam) that (mahAntam) glorious (AdityavarNam)
  sun-brilliant (puruSHam) puruSHa, (astu) who is (pAre)
  beyond(tamas) darkness, (aham) I (veda Know him.

• I Know Him,
  Glorious, Valorous,
  Who Names, Forms,
  And Keeps all this,
  Bright as the Sun,
  Beyond all Darkness.

It says I know the Supreme Person who is as resplendent as the Sun (Aditya Varnam) and beyond darkness etc.


Ok what I am saying is..the comparison here is with the physical sun..hence Aditya Varnam.

So this feeling of "I know this Supreme Person" is based on a comparison..the sun had existed and compared with the sun hence even said to be beyond darkness.

So when the sun was not known? What would anyone have to say? "I know the Supreme Person or I do not know or I am not even there to know?" So who actually knows??


Note: I am no Vidwan just a Pamara.

 

[sravna]

Dear Renuka,

Light is not late entry. It is just that it has been veiled. Just as the veil is removed and knowledge emerges from ignorance, light emerges from darkness.

 

[renuka]

Dear Renuka,

Light is not late entry. It is just that it has been veiled. Just as the veil is removed and knowledge emerges from ignorance, light emerges from darkness.

Dear Sravna,

But this still does not answer the question of "if the sun had not existed..what was there to compare with? how would the Supreme Person be described as?"

So it seems to be that after "creation" some fear of darkness in men had driven them to think that the Supreme Person is Aditya Varnam.

So before the sun came..how did the Supreme Person "look" like? What was there to compare with?

When there is no real witness to what was there before creation came into existence..how can we even say that Light was ever present as the Supreme One.

It just seems to me men could not accept the fact the there could have been a void of darkness and it seemed so scary that the Light concept was created in the minds of those who desired God.

So again I ask.."does anyone actually know?"

 

[sravna]

Dear Renuka,

The veil has an effect only on the ignorant. The knowledgeable sees through the veil. He knows light as well as darkness even if light did not exist. One does not have to perceive something by the senses to know its truth.

 

[renuka]

Dear Renuka,

The veil has an effect only on the ignorant. The knowledgeable sees through the veil. He knows light as well as darkness even if light did not exist. One does not have to perceive something by the senses to know its truth.

Dear Sravna,

So why compare it with the Sun? If it is something that existed even before the Sun came into existence why doesn't it have its own way to be described? Why the comparison.

The more I read and think I can only conclude that none of us will really know..sometimes I wonder if God Himself actually knows?LOL

 

[vignesh2014]

Even krishna is told shyamala varna ..therefore mostly vishnu is always portrayed in black or dark in complexion.Therefore it is not out of fear but usually we give sentiments to the fore..this is not old things ...but new ones which compares dark as bad and light as bad. But Veda never told in that way.There was no discrimination in god's forms also because god or godessess are dark or white

 

[JR]

When there is no real witness to what was there before creation came into existence..how can we even say that Light was ever present as the Supreme One.

It just seems to me men could not accept the fact the there could have been a void of darkness and it seemed so scary that the Light concept was created in the minds of those who desired God.

So again I ask.."does anyone actually know?"

The way I see it is that before Sun sprang into existence, there was probably 'dark matter' - all condensed with untold pressure of having billion Suns in condensed form as trapped energy. There was great unrest and internal heat and pressure during this period - all coming from the 'Supersun' energy within the blackhole.

Whereas when the same energy burst out into big bang, the whole universe got created - the whole energy formerly contained within the enormous blackhole causing unrest now gave way to created universe and light and orderliness and nature.

Thus, we worship Sun, giver of orderliness and structure, which manifested both as sublime energy in dormant form as well as manifested energy in potent form.

Similarly, ignorance is compared to darkness because it gives 'unrest'. And knowledge is compared to 'light' because it gives orderliness, structure and tranquility.

 

[renuka]

The way I see it is that before Sun sprang into existence, there was probably 'dark matter' - all condensed with untold pressure of having billion Suns in condensed form as trapped energy. There was great unrest and internal heat and pressure during this period - all coming from the 'Supersun' energy within the blackhole.

Whereas when the same energy burst out into big bang, the whole universe got created - the whole energy formerly contained within the enormous blackhole causing unrest now gave way to created universe and light and orderliness and nature.

Thus, we worship Sun, giver of orderliness and structure, which manifested both as sublime energy in dormant form as well as manifested energy in potent form.

Similarly, ignorance is compared to darkness because it gives 'unrest'. And knowledge is compared to 'light' because it gives orderliness, structure and tranquility.

Dear JR,

Nice explanation..you think like Sravna.

So it seems to be that Light is just to lead the human mind to some path and nothing more.

But what lies beyond even that Light is not known.

 

[renuka]

Dear Sravna,

The concept of Light is only possible for anyone who is sighted.

For a person who has been blind all his life..he would have no idea what even Light is.

For him even physical light would be just a sensation of warmth and tactile in nature.

Only when our brain has been exposed to light can our mind even see light when our eyes are closed becos the brain has the ability to project stored images.

For a person who is blind..the brain stores tactile and auditory and olfactory data.

Taking into account all these..It would not be totally fair to all humans to imagine the concept of God or Goodness as Light.

How can a Blind person decipher that?

For him God could be a sound isnt it?

Now what about a person who is hearing impaired and blind?(rare I know) but then what will he depend on?

He will depend on the sense of touch and smell.

So for Him how will he even know the concept of Light?

This shows that senses are nor reliable in anyway to know anything.

The Light concept could have coined by a perfectly normal person with all senses functioning.

So just for a moment if the senses were not in the picture..how would it be?

The concept of Light can not exists isnt it?

So what remains?

Darkness obviously..so if you ask me I feel Darkness is the precursor of Light.

I think its high time we all enjoyed the concept of Darkness too..its primordial.

 

[Kuvalayavalli]

Dear Sravna,

At the same time..why should something that is "eternal" make a late entry? Complex?

Dear Renu,

Are we not Light ourselves! The Light inside us has no beginning nor end. This Light has been eternal. We did not look inwards, introspect into our own selves for long. Our spiritual eyes had been blinded by long years of conditioning and programming of our minds, which was populated with lot of junk, so much so that we could not see that brightest Light which was inborn. We have been seeing only our outside with our spiritual eyes and hence we concluded light made a late entry. It was not until we shifted our spiritual focus off from the deceptive, illusory external and towards the absolutely real inside, that we saw the Light.

 

[Kuvalayavalli]

Dear Sravna,

.....For a person who is blind..the brain stores tactile and auditory and olfactory data.

Taking into account all these..It would not be totally fair to all humans to imagine the concept of God or Goodness as Light.

How can a Blind person decipher that?

.

A blind person deciphers through dreams.

 

[renuka]

A blind person deciphers through dreams.

Kuvs..good you brought this up.

I was reading an interesting article sometime back that those who were blind since birth do not have visual dreams.

The mind can only dream from what it gathers from the awake state.

The theory goes that the blind have auditory or tactile dreams...rising from what they heared and felt when they are awake.

Only the sighted have visual dreams.

 

[renuka]

Dear Renu,

Are we not Light ourselves! The Light inside us has no beginning nor end. This Light has been eternal. We did not look inwards, introspect into our own selves for long. Our spiritual eyes had been blinded by long years of conditioning and programming of our minds, which was populated with lot of junk, so much so that we could not see that brightest Light which was inborn. We have been seeing only our outside with our spiritual eyes and hence we concluded light made a late entry. It was not until we shifted our spiritual focus off from the deceptive, illusory external and towards the absolutely real inside, that we saw the Light.

Dear Kuvs,

I would not want to 100% agree that we are Light ourselves. I think that is just a perception becos Darkness creates fear in humans and Light gives a sense of security..so we choose to believe that the true self is Light and identify God and Goodness with Light.

The very usage of the word Spiritual Eye is still identifying and comparing with a known sense..that is the visual apparatus.

Why should there be a comparison?

The more we dissect it seems that Reality could just be a Void of Darkness.

 

[Naina_Marbus]

Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night:
God said, "Let Newton be!" and all was light.
But the devil howling "Ho! Ho! Ho!
Let Einstein be!" restored the status quo!

 

[renuka]

Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night:
God said, "Let Newton be!" and all was light.
But the devil howling "Ho! Ho! Ho!
Let Einstein be!" restored the status quo!

Dark and Void was the primordial..not even matter,
Could God have felt lonely without a chatter?
I am One..let there be many.. He thought in delight,
To witness His creation..He switched on Light.

 

[sravna]

Dear Renuka,

The analogy of light and darkness to me seems to be very apt. Just as in darkness we are not able to see the reality but with light we do, the same is when we are ignorant, we do not know the reality and with knowledge we do. The same cannot be said of sound and silence or with other senses. The verse was just trying to give an apt analogy that would capture our understanding or lack of understanding of reality.

 

[CHANDRU1849]

Dear Renu,

Are we not Light ourselves! The Light inside us has no beginning nor end. This Light has been eternal. We did not look inwards, introspect into our own selves for long. Our spiritual eyes had been blinded by long years of conditioning and programming of our minds, which was populated with lot of junk, so much so that we could not see that brightest Light which was inborn. We have been seeing only our outside with our spiritual eyes and hence we concluded light made a late entry. It was not until we shifted our spiritual focus off from the deceptive, illusory external and towards the absolutely real inside, that we saw the Light.

Are there two spiritual lights - one each for inside and outside, or only one working for both and inside portion is switched off?

In KOUNDAMANI style: KUZHAPARINGALEPPA!

 

[renuka]

The same cannot be said of sound and silence or with other senses.

This is becos we are sighted so it is hard to imagine being without it and being dependent on other senses.

For us its light and darkness..for another person it could be sound and silence.


Light has perceivable quality..it can be seen by the sighted and be felt by the non sighted(light has perceivable warmth)..light creates images in the brain too.

So what about Darkness?

Darkness has no perceivable quality.

We cant say we see darkness becos darkness does not create images in the brain..absence of light is darkness.

Light has a form..light has a speed..

Darkness has no form and no speed. Darkness is the closest to nothingness.

It is the darkest of the nights (Shivaratri) where the human mind is said to be the most spiritually conducive.

Reason? Becos darkness does not excite the senses.

Its light that excites the senses.

So I think all of us have been giving darkness a bad name..dont you think so?