Beyond The Physical World
(Vinod Anand)
We are part of manifest creation that has the inherent tendency of movement. The movement is either upward or downward, whether in the spiritual, commercial or emotional worlds.
Relationships play a significant role in all of this. Nothing is ever constant or unchanging. No matter what your position in life, who you’re with or how much power and influence you wield over others, nothing is constant.
What goes up has to come down. An average individual does not know what lies beyond the physical world and is so engrossed in the pursuit of the senses and collection of wealth and fame; because of this preoccupation he does not want to understand or know that one day this will all go away due to the inherent destructive nature and non-permanency of all aspects of physical creation.
He might search for a - guru in the hope that what is temporary can somehow be made permanent. One forgets here that even the guru’s body is not permanent. So to look for permanency from something or someone temporary is foolish and will not happen. The purpose of human birth is experience and going beyond higher states of consciousness.
This is facilitated by the guru who has overcome the bondages of maya and shows you the reality and futility of the physical world. He plants the seed of detachment in you. But to grow and nurture that seed is up to you, for this is the only reality. Detachment is the state where whether you have something or not, it does not have an effect on you.
Even when it is with you, you are prepared that one day it has to go, that is, you understand that nothing is permanent in a temporary world.
It is very easy to leave something when you are given something higher, you think you have now overcome the lower pleasure but you forget that it is actually the satisfaction of getting something bigger and better that makes you think so.
Only when you attain a state of detachment that comes irrespective of whether you get something or not, you can attain yog.
You may overcome the physical world with your power and ability you may even reach the pleasures of swarglok, but you cannot overpower the tridev, the three-pronged divine power that is the epitome of detachment, for the tridev have and do nothing for themselves, they represent creation.
The only way to access them is through vairagya or a stable and firm mind. Even if you rise up to the abode of the gods, thereafter begins the descent, for what rises has to come down; where there is pleasure, pain is not far away as you are attached to pleasure. It is only detachment from pleasure which will nullify the effect of pain and this state of vairagya will effectuate your merger with the tridev.
Just look at all the scams, the levels of pollution in soil, water and air, the animosity and jealousy among people, the disrespect shown to elders- all this is enough proof to us that teachings of deep wisdom are no more being followed and the world is moving towards its logical end, towards a new begin- fling. I invite you to experience reality so as to get enabled to look forward to freedom from rebirth, the pain and suffering associated with birth, and then move towards liberation.
VINOD K.ANAND: A BRIEF PROFILE
Born in 1939, and holding Master’s Degree both in Mathematics (1959) and Economics (1961), and Doctorate Degree in Economics (1970), Dr. Vinod K.Anand has about forty five years of teaching, research, and project work experience in Economic Theory (both micro and macro), Quantitative Economics, Public Economics, New Political Economy, and Development Economics with a special focus on economic and social provisions revolving around poverty, inequality, and unemployment issues, and also on informal sector studies. His last assignment was at the National University of Lesotho (Southern Africa) from 2006 to 2008. Prior to that he was placed as Professor and Head of the Department of Economics at the University of North-West in the Republic of South Africa, and University of Allahabad in India, Professor at the National University of Lesotho, Associate Professor at the University of Botswana, Gaborone in Botswana, and at Gezira University in Wad Medani, Sudan, Head, Department of Arts and Social Sciences, Yola in Nigeria, Principal Lecturer in Economics at Maiduguri University in Nigeria, and as Lecturer at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in Nigeria. Professor Anand has by now published more than 80 research papers in standard academic journals, authored 11 books, supervised a number of doctoral theses, was examiner for more than twenty Ph.D. theses, and has wide consultancy experience both in India and abroad, essentially in the African continent. This includes holding the position of Primary Researcher, Principal Consultant etc. in a number of Research Projects sponsored and funded by Universities, Governments, and International Bodies like, USAID, IDRC, and AERC. His publications include a variety of themes revolving around Economic Theory, New Political Economy, Quantitative Economics, Development Economics, and Informal Sector Studies. His consultancy assignments in India, Nigeria, Sudan, Botswana, and the Republic of South Africa include Non-Directory Enterprises in Allahabad, India, Small Scale Enterprises in the Northern States of Nigeria, The Absolute Poverty Line in Sudan, The Small Scale Enterprises in Wad Medani, Sudan, Micro and Small Scale Enterprises in Botswana, The Place of Non-Formal Micro-Enterprises in Botswana, Resettlement of a Squatter Community in the Vryburg District of North West Province in the Republic of South Africa, Trade and Investment Development Programme for Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises: Support for NTSIKA in the Republic of South Africa, and Development of the Manufacturing Sector in the Republic of South Africa’s North West Province: An Approach Based on Firm Level Surveys. Professor Anand has also extensively participated in a number of conferences, offered many seminars, participated in a number of workshops, and delivered a variety of Refresher Lectures at different venues both in India and abroad. Dr. Anand was placed at the prestigious Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), Shimla in the State Himachal Pradesh, India as a Fellow from 2001 to 2003, and had completed a theoretical and qualitative research project/monograph on the Employment Profile of Micro Enterprises in the State of Himachal Pradseh, India.