Three Axioms – Core Ideas from Vedic Philosophy

Recently, I came across a short video, https://fb.watch/v/3R5Ul1lxD/
Mr. Aatrral Bala explains that every subject has one core, simple idea at its heart. Real understanding of any subject begins when we search for that simplicity. He offers a few examples:

• Euclid defined something as simple as a point. From points came lines, shapes, areas, geometry, and entire systems for understanding space.
• Kepler explained orbital motion through just three laws.
• Newton explained motion through three laws.
• Thermodynamics rests on a few core laws.
• Isaac Asimov imagined all of robotics through three simple laws.

Each of these ideas is the product of years of observation, thinking, and experimentation. Yet, each is often expressed in just a few lines. Most powerful ideas begin very simply.

Maybe education is not about collecting more information; instead, deeply understanding the few core ideas from which everything else emerges.

In that spirit, we offer with due modesty, the following three axioms as the core ideas emerging from Vedic philosophy.

Axiom 1 — Nature Exists, and we Are Part of It

You, I, everyone, and everything are part of “Nature.” — Tat Tvam Asi.

Nature exists thanks to an infinite collection of phenomena, known and unknown, and their effects. Among the enabling forces are:

• Gravity, magnetism, and planetary motion
• Physics, chemistry, and buoyancy
• Physiology, material science, and neurology
• Breathing, digestion, and assimilation
• ………..

These forces cannot be described except through our mind and its ability to perceive, feel, and think. That ability is itself part of nature.

The entirety of nature, its description by the human mind, and the mind itself with all its capabilities — all of this is represented through a single entity or term: “Brahman.”

Brahman is indescribable — without features or characteristics assigned by the human mind. For this reason, Brahman is called “Nirgunathvam” — without association or connection with anything. It remains in its own accord.

At the human level, Brahman the enabler is recognized as Consciousness. Hence, Consciousness is Brahman (Pragjnanam Brahma).

Axiom 2 — We Exist Through Our Connections (Guna) with Nature

You, I, or anyone exist thanks to the connections (Guna) with nature, created by our mind through our Knowledge, Bias, and Ignorance.

Because of these connections, we live a life of Tranquility, Turbulence, and Inertia — known as the three ropes, connectors, or Guna. These three coexist at all times, creating experiences – like scenes in a movie – that shift with time, place, context, and circumstance. It is this pattern — the spectrum, or wave-like constant variation — that we call life and its experiences.

One can understand his or her own connections (Guna) as precisely as possible — in a single instant, in one event, or across a course of events — through:

• Objectivity: giving equal regard to all evidence of prevailing Knowledge, Bias, and Ignorance.
• Non-attachment: looking at that evidence with independence, by stepping away from it.

It is like being a judge, not being judgmental. It is like being a music conductor who enjoys the music yet remains unattached to any single instrument.

This is self-control. This is Yoga — union with the self, undisturbed by the “external.” It leads to even mindedness (Equanimity) equal to input or treatment, and equal to response, to all that happens around us.

Axiom 3 — Enabler and Enabled Are Two Sides of a Coin

The Enabler (Consciousness / Brahman) and the enabled (the human or individual, with all our life experiences) are like two sides of a coin, always co-existing.

They are together like the deep ocean (the Enabler) and the waves on its surface (the enabled). Through the Enabler (Consciousness) our body and our life activities are enabled, much as a rider uses a bicycle, or a driver engages a car, for the journey.

Our Consciousness / Brahman, the Enabler, remains eternal and permanent, just as the rider or driver is free and independent of the bicycle or car, the enabled.

A good rider or driver knows how to use the vehicle as required.

It is also like riding a horse-drawn chariot – Kathopanishad.

Enlightened living requires riding, or driving, skills to engage the vehicle (our body/Brain/Mind complex) properly through Self-control. It is deliberate and conscious engagement of the mind through objectivity and non-attachment using Knowledge, Bias, and Ignorance as the reins to steer the horses or the Body, Brain, and Mind Complex.

For more details watch or listen to the webinar:

The talk begins at 8.00

The talk ends at 1.19.00 (about 70 min. long)

Q and A session follows, if the discussions engage you!