Science itself sees the origin of the Universe as the result of blind, unconscious chance, a fluke.
So are you saying that Brahman is not conscious, and then via some process, becomes or acquires consciousness?
because that is exactly what the Universe IS: change. Therefore, the 'changing' world that is Brahman, is an illusion, or maya. There is no such change; Brahman is The Changeless, playing itself as a changing Universe.
Or are you like those scientists, who, unable to know what to do with consciousness, simply 'solve' the hard problem by declaring that consciousness is nothing more than electro-chemical reactions. Then what of the consciousness of Brahman? Where does that originate from? The accumulation of interstellar dust and stars? But wait....those came from Brahman, didn't they?
Likewise, consciousness is not a characteristic of Brahman; it IS Brahman itself.
Patanjali is saying that, by stilling the activities of the mind, ie 'thought', one will realize yoga, or union with Brahman, which is, of course, the goal of the jiva.
No, Brahman does not understand these as objects of the mind, because Brahman is Perfect Joy itself, which is the reason that the jiva dedicates himself to realization of his true nature, which is Brahman itself.
".. And there's a principle in quantum mechanics, which is called the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, which says you're not allowed to sit still. And the field has to obey this. So even when there's nothing else there, the field is constantly bubbling and fluctuatingin what's, quite honestly, a very complicated way. These are things that we call quantum vacuum fluctuations."
We either see things as they are, or as they are not. .. You may be dead by then. Now is the time to see things as they are, and no other time. .. Your true nature is Brahman, but science cannot show you that.
You had stated that the Universe is maya. The Universe is change. Now you are saying that change is not maya, and that Reality is a duality?
Do you agree that the jiva 'becomes' Brahman? How is it possible that human consciousness 'becomes' the consciousness of Brahman unless they are one and the same consciousness? 'Living beings' are none other than Brahman. The world is Brahman. The fact is that jiva consciousness does not 'become' Brahman; it already IS Brahman, but that is not yet realized. That's all. Jiva consciousness is Brahman, playing itself as 'the jiva'.
1. Yeah, many things happen by fluke, e.g., the five extinction events, meteorite hits, super volcanoes, 'Chaos Theory'. I have no problem with that.
2. I have always been saying that Brahman is conscious in its own ways (interaction of force fields). That is totally different from human consciousness.
3. Brahman does not change. The changes
that you perceive (as fed by your senses and as interpreted by your mind) are illusions. Even the universe is an illusion.
4. Yeah, I am like those scientists, though I am not a scientist myself. I have described the consciousness of Brahman in #2. There is no interstellar dust. That too is an illusion. As I said even the universe is an illusion.
5. Consciousness, a property belongs to something. Brahman and its consciousness are different.
6. If you have no thought, you are a cabbage.
7. Brahman has no property of joyfulness or sorrow. They belong to humans, whose existence is illusory. Brahman is not concerned with what these illusory creatures do.
8. Atoms too are illusory. Perhaps a force field or many exist. We have not yet arrived at a '
Unified Field Theory':
"In physics, a unified field theory (UFT) is a type of field theory that allows all that is usually thought of as fundamental forces and elementary particles to be written in terms of a pair of physical and virtual fields. According to the modern discoveries in physics, forces are not transmitted directly between interacting objects, but instead are described and interrupted by intermediary entities called fields."
9. ".. And there's a principle in quantum mechanics, which is called the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, which says you're not allowed to sit still. And the field has to obey this. So even when there's nothing else there, the field is constantly bubbling and fluctuating in what's, quite honestly, a very complicated way. These are things that we call quantum vacuum fluctuations."
David Tong is actually describing Brahman here.
10. We can never see the things as they are. Our sense organs do not have that capacity. We will see only what our mind makes us see. Thousands of generations of humans have lived without the answer to this. I would be one more. How does it matter? Sure, It would be a long time before science is able to get answers. But even then,
I would not jump to a wrong conclusion. I know that I am none other than Brahman and death is only an illusion.
11. There are two kinds of changes. One that David Tong was talking about, the inherent property of Brahman. The other kind of change is what you perceive in the world. This latter change is 'maya'.
12. You rightly say that Jiva does not become Brahman, Jiva always is Brahman, all things here are Brahman (Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma) even air, water, stones, not just the Jiva. Because nothing other than Brahman exists (Eko sad, dwiteeyo nasti). But the jiva is dependent on what its senses feed it, how brain's chemical and electrical processes sort it and finally how the human mind finally pictures it. It is not Brahman's consciousness. As I said in #11, the two things are very different.
There is one more long post of yours that I have not yet replied. I will do that too quite soon.
