[Quick links] [Pause]       Many of us often make the mistake of jumping to conclude identity, based on similarity between two things. If two things are similar, that does not mean that they are identical. A cow has 4 legs and so also a dog. That does not make cow and dog same!  The Vijnyaana Vadi Buddhists see the similarity between the dream world and our wakeful world and jump to the conclusion that since dream world is nonexistent, our wakeful world also does not exist! The brahma supporters reject this reasoning. Let us see how.

[Quick links] [Pause]             There was another sect of Buddhists who denied the existence of the material world. They said that “all that exists is only the minds. What we think as something existing outside is actually inside our mind!”

[Quick links] [Pause]   The Buddhists have a fantastic theory of existence which neither needs the concept of soul nor the God. They say that there is no one who experiences anything. But still they say that you need to toil all your life to free yourself from all the suffering! That is the focal point of Buddhism. The Brahma supporters ridicule this theory of Buddhists not only as illogical but something that contradicts our day-to-day experience. This is how they pull down the Buddhist theory –

[Quick links] [Pause]    In the previous episode we noted that the Buddhists rejected the concept of soul as well as God. These two were central to the philosophy of the Brahma supporters. Definitely there is a serious difference. Before we sort out the differences, let us first listen to what the Buddhists have to say.

[Quick links] [Pause]    I am happy to announce the release of my 23rd book namely “Krishna's 4 paths to ultimate happiness”. Though not exactly a book on Yoga in the conventional sense, the subtitle of this book reads as “Complete Yogic science of the Bhagavad Geetha”.  Like the Bhagavad Geetha, specifically in this book, I use the word Yoga in a wide connotation – to mean a path to ultimate realization or happiness. This path also includes conventional Yoga as a form of meditative practice, in addition to other paths such as Jnyaana Yoga, Karma Yoga and Bhakti Yoga.

[Quick links] [Pause]   As we discussed in the previous episodes, the supporters of Brahma or God somehow managed to silence their opponents in the Vedic camp. Prominent among these opponents were the Samkhya and the Vaisheshika.  These opponents, though they accepted the authority of the Vedas, were not willing to accept the concept of God. Not at least as a source of the created world. They had their own reasons which the Brahma supporters vehemently refuted.

[Quick links] [Pause]           Continuing our discussion on the debates on Brahma or God, in this episode let us see how the Brahma supporters face the criticisms by the Vaisheshikas or the ancient Indian atomic theorists.

[Quick links] [Pause] Did you know that there existed atomic theorists in India more than 2000 years before Dalton and others developed our modern atomic theory?  You may not find their theories as elaborate as the atomic theories of today. But the fact is that they did come up with such a theory thousands of years ago! And without any sophisticated gadgets that we have today. They did not even have an ordinary microscope for that matter. Isn’t that amazing?

[Quick links] [Pause] We human beings get bored sometimes. And we end up doing all kinds of silly things. But does God also get bored sometimes? Does he also do silly things?

[Quick links] [Pause] We were talking about the debates between rival Indian groups about their ideas on Brahma or God. While we discuss these things, we should keep in mind that we are talking about a time period when many of the major world religions of today did not even exist. When even the concept of God was not a matter of mere faith but something that had to pass through the rigors of logic and reasoning. The people in those times too had their scriptures, but they did not accept anything with closed eyes. They questioned everything, even the God!