Union Of The Jeevatma With The Paramatma

When I wanted to submit this article, I found that it would be published under Yoga-Spirituality। So, I first thought of requesting the editor to change the last part of the link from yoga to spirituality to differentiate it from yoga, which is more concerned with asanas, yama, niyama, pranayam etc., but then realised that the goal of spirituality and yoga is one and the same, that is. union of the jeevatma with the paramatma, the part realising its oneness with the whole, the ego willing to play its role in the drama of life. So, I felt that no change is needed. Many times we talk of Spirituality. What exactly do we mean by that? Let us try to approach this question from the point of view of science.We can very well understand when we talk of a physical world. We can hear, see, smell, taste and touch something. We talk of it being a solid, liquid or a gas. We can touch a solid, smell it if it has a smell, taste it if it has a taste, we see it as having a definite size and shape. We can impact it with another solid and hear the sound of impact. Thus a solid can be sensed by all five sense organs. Sai Ram.When it comes to the liquid, we can certainly see it but with an important difference - it has no size or shape except as defined by a container. It may have a smell and it may have a taste too. It certainly makes a splashing or sloshing sound when moved in the container. Even a dynamic body of liquid like a river makes sound as the water ripples along and meets other solid bodies or when it is separated from itself and then meets itself like a water fall. We can certainly touch the liquid, though it may be difficult in case of mercury and dangerous like in case of corrosive acids. But with suitable precautions, it is possible.

Now let us see vapor state and gaseous state. The difference between a vapor and a gas is that in the case of a vapor it is in contact with the liquid. If the vapor is sufficiently heated, it becomes gas. We cannot see all vapors and gases directly, but we can see them indirectly. We can smell them, taste them (most of the gases don't have a taste but some like carbon dioxide react with water and produce carbonic acid, which gives a characteristic taste to the soda and when oxygen is driven off by boiling water and cooling it without much aeration, it tastes flat) and touch them indirectly (when a breeze blows, we feel it).One important difference between a liquid and a gas/vapor needs to be understood at this point. Though both are classified as fluid (flowing, not having a definite shape and so ever changing), liquids do have a definite density at a given temperature. So a given quantity of a liquid will occupy a definite volume at a particular temperature. Even if we provide a larger volume than that needed, the liquid doesn't flow to fill the total volume. But a few molecules will escape from the liquid surface and form the vapor above that surface. Of course, some of those molecules get kicked back or pulled back into the liquid and some other molecules escape in their place. This is called a dynamic equilibrium. The temperature and the vapor pressure of a liquid, will determine how much part of the liquid will evaporate Alcohol, which is called the rectified spirit has a high rate of evaporation at the room temperature. When the doctor or nurse rubs your shoulder with a cotton swab soaked in alcohol preparatory to injection, you will normally feel cool. That is because the alcohol absorbs heat from your skin for evaporation and that results in a local lowering of your body temperature.So, now it is easy to see what is meant by a spirit. A spirit is a liquid that evaporates easily. Since the rate of evaporation of a liquid at a given temperature is proportional to the average velocity of its molecules and is inversely proportional to the binding force between two molecules of the liquid, it is clear that a liquid with low boiling point, low surface tension will evaporate faster and the vapor pressure will be higher.Another meaning of the word spirit is that it refers to astral entities who may be visible but who can't be touched, for example, ghosts etc. They are lighter, more transparent and can penetrate between the spaces that are impervious to thicker bodies like our normal bodies. So, spiritual means light, less dense.Vapors of a substance are also less dense compared to a solid or liquid and the vapors can penetrate through small crevices which a solid or liquid cannot enter. So, the vapor has better penetrating ability, and thus indirectly better means of knowing things not seen or touched by heavier, denser bodies.If left open, the vapor from a vessel containing a liquid will go on rising and mix with air or if left in space vacuum, will continue to expand outwards forever. Thus a spiritual person tries to expand his consciousness further and further.A person who is all the time attached to his body and its surroundings - a person who is attached to physical comforts, sensual pleasures - see how we are connecting philosophical concepts of a person with scientific concepts discussed above - is not considered spiritual. A person, who feels tied down by these bonds - a person who wants to liberate himself from these bonds - is said to be spiritual.Spirituality expresses itself in several ways - a strong desire in the other worlds, a strong interest in ghosts and other phantoms, a strong interest in study of palmistry astrology and other occult sciences - a strong desire for astral travel - a deep interest in religion, psychology and other behavioral sciences and of course also through a strong interest in philosophy (literally meaning love of knowledge) - physics and other sciences all being branches of philosophy and study of Vedanta etc.

By: Swarna.Venkateswara Swamy