Friday, February 12, 2010

What is दर्शन (Darshan = Worlview)

What is Darshan (world-view)?
Each human being is endowed with the ability to see/observe (understand), and is therefore a Drishta (Seer or observer). The observation is of all that there is (reality/existence) which is the Drishya. The process of observing this reality is Darshan. The observer always views with a certain viewpoint and this viewpoint is Drishti.
There are three facts available to all humans from the time of birth:
I am. (I exist)
Existence is. (Many other entities exist besides me - existence)
I am in existence wanting happiness. (All my actions in the existence are motivated by the want of happiness)
These three facts come with three eternal questions:
I am but I want to know WHAT I AM.
Existence is but I want to know WHAT EXISTENCE IS.
I want happiness but I want to know HOW TO BE HAPPY.
In the past the above three questions have been answered in the following way:
Spiritual world-view:
I am - I is an illusion, there is only one consciousness which is all pervading, omnipresent and cannot be fragmented. The illusion of ‘I’ is the eternal trap.
Existence is - Only formless, all pervading Supreme Consciousness exists, all rest is illusion.
Happiness is - ultimate bliss is freeing oneself from the illusion of I and the illusion in form of other entities with form and realising eternal oneness of the supreme consciousness.
Scientific world-view:
I am - a body made with physical substance and consciousness is a function of body. I exist from the time of birth and till death. I am the body.
Existence is - All that is perceived through senses and is made up of matter (atoms). Everything in existence is a resource for my body (me).
Happiness is - Sensory pleasure through consumption of physical resources is happiness.
Madhyasth Darshan:
I am - the conscious of a human being, separate identity from the body. I in fact is the conscious atom and each I is a separate identity.
Existence is - co-existence in form of infinite units of matter energised and immersed in the all pervading, omnipresent, formless space. This co-existence is the fundamental law of existence. This co-existence is present as the material order, vegetative order, animal order & the human order. Further, in the human & animal order there is the co-existence of the biological body and the conscious atom. The material order, vegetative order and the animal order are in harmony with themselves and with each other too including the human order. Humans have to understand co-existence to be in harmony with rest of existence, which is yet to happen on this planet.
Happiness is - Understanding the existence in form of co-existence and living according to this understanding and in this way verifying the universal principle of co-existence within and without for self and others.