True Measure of Worth

“Yatha pinde tatha brahmande,
Yatha brahmande tatha pinde”

—Yajurveda

As in the body, so in the cosmos
As in the cosmos, so in the body

Every atom, a universe
Every universe, an atom
Every brain, a galaxy
Every galaxy, a brain
In every heart, the pulse
In every pulse, the heart
Order and freedom in nature
Patterning self similarity across any scale
Zooming in, zooming out, who can measure
where absolute worth does not lie?

True Measure of Worth

A spiritual story of material existence, dedicated to anyone feeling unworthy or worthy of living, just as they are.

..

Bindu by H.S. Raza

In the palm of his hand lay a grain of rice and in it a world of hidden dimensions.

With his fingers, Uluka broke the grain into miniature pieces of itself. Particle by particle, he divined the secrets of the whole.

Whereas it took a handful of grains to nourish a person, an armful for a family, and a granary for a village, it took but a granule for the ant at his feet. There was no measure of matter that wasn’t in itself of intrinsic worth.

There was no measure of matter that wasn’t in itself of intrinsic worth.

To bear witness at the heart of the matter, he disassembled the small into the infinitesimal, until he would divide nothing less than the indivisible. Until he validated nothing less than the subatomic, the sonic and the true value of the individual.

In the central role of observer, independent of the system—sworn only to accurate perception and reasoning—he would unveil the spatial interplay of indestructible, spherical particles called paramanu, as the basis for all material existence.

He deduced that paramanu neither created or destroyed—each with their own individuality— variously conjoin and disjoin as anu in a process that involves radiant heat, motion, contact and by virtue of inhering to natural law.

As he classified interactions of the atoms and the nature of their elemental bonding, he would infer adrishta, “the invisible force” of cosmic ordinance across multiple scales.

In the context of science estranged from philosophy, he may be called a great thinker. In the context of Hindu philosophy-science, he is called a great seer, a Maharishi. Rsi spontaneously perceives and transmits the verity of rta (the immutable, inhering laws) of sat (reality).

Rsi penetrates the apparent mystery of life and death. The observer-observing, is one with the observed. In so being, rsi divulges to the world the purification and inner radiance technologies, for attaining the absolute as the true measure of Self and—by the agency of invariance—the true measure of every part of the whole.

Rsi sees the true measure of oneness. Oneness of atom with atma (Inner Self) and oneness of Atma with Brahman (Absolute), each of essence imperishable.

Uluka was an Indian ascetic—in possession of axioms from the scandalised Ajivika sect—who may have lived as early as the sixth century BCE. He is known to the world by a handful of names. But it’s as Kanada (atom eater), that he is historically recognised as the earliest known preceptor of realist ontology, metaphysics and atomism, central to Vaisheshika.

Vaisheshika—of Shaivite pedigree—is one of the oldest of the Shad Darshana, six interdisciplinary schools of Vedism. The six perspectives of reality—in one pluralistic system—Samkhya, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Yoga, Mimansa, Vedanta continues to be simultaneously applicable to Ontology, Philosophy, Metaphysics.

And in the case of Samkhya, Nyaya and Vaisheshika, further applicable to Physics, Medicine, Mathematics, Music, Arts, Martial Arts, Ritual and Political Science.

And in the case of Vaisheshika alone, further applicable to alchemy. In the Vaisheshika dissection of reality, experiences are substances. Experiences of full worth. Experience is a play of dravya (substance: a function of atoms, their quantity, and aggregation), guna (qualities), karma (activity), samanya (sameness), vishesha (diversities) and samavaya (inherence, inseparable connectivity of all things).

In the dissection of reality, our experiences are substances. Experiences of full worth.

Dravya, substance, is sub divided into nine entities, Atma (“Inner Self/Soul”), Mana (Mind), Kaal (Time) and Dig (Direction). And furthermore into the Maha Panchabhuta, (akasha (Space/ether), vayu (air), tejas (fire), ap (water), prithvi (earth).

The Panchabhautkitava system of five elemental classifications of matter, forms the basis of the Indian medical system of Ayurveda. Knowledge of individual elements is to understand the creation as a whole. Knowledge of the substance of experiences can promote equilibrium at the molecular level.

The Vaisheshika qualification of unique, interconnecting substances, including the “I” of the observer, provided Ayurveda with the fundaments of personalised diagnostics, formulae, therapies and preventative care.

The primary goal of Ayurveda (maintain dynamic equilibrium in healthy people and regain equilibrium in the diseased person) is informed by Vaisheshika’s Samanya and Vishesha. (“Like increases like. Opposite cures”).

This Law of Similars and Contraries counsels physicians to restore and sustain homeostasis, by adding or subtracting the various dravya (drugs) for elevation or reduction of the doshas (bio forces).

“The standpoint of Vaisheshika is more scientific than speculative, more analytic than synthetic. Science sorts out, while philosophy sums up.” (Professor Radhakrishnan). It was this “sorting” of distinct qualities of the individual self and the atomic nature of the whole, that gave rise to the threefold Ayurveda approach to health and disease: root causes of pathology; signs and symptoms; lifestyle, nutrition, therapy, medicine.

The Charaka Samhitha, a 200-400 BCE body of over 8,400 metrical verses, is still being committed to memory by medical students of Ayurveda in India. Charaka specialises in the branch of Ayurveda called kayachikitsa (internal medicine). Out of the three great compendia of Ayurvedic literature, it is the Charaka Samhita that draws the attention of students and patients to the timeless wisdom of the seers.

“Yat pinde tat bhramande”.
As in the small, so in the almighty.

“An individual is the epitome of the
universe, as all the material and spiritual
phenomena of the universe are present
in the individual, and all those present in
the individual are also contained in the universe.

As soon as he realises his
identity with the entire universe, he is in
possession of true knowledge, which
stands him in good stead for salvation.”

CS 4:5.3, 7 Charaka