Stone Alive

This article appeared in the January 2012 issue of Back To Godhead (India Edition)

Stone-Alive

Presence of joy is higher than absence of sorrow

By Abhijit Toley

I was zooming along a beautiful tree-lined highway when I slammed on the brakes. Screeeech! Thud! Generally, when you run over a squirrel scampering across the road just a little too late for you to stop, you get a sinking feeling. Unless you’re stone-hearted, the next few minutes are not joyful. The guilt of having taken a life lingers until it’s replaced by more important things. But this time I was not gripped by remorse; I had just run over not a squirrel but a rock. Stones are, by definition, already dead. Stone-dead.

Life of a Stone

Suppose for a moment this stone has life. It still has all the characteristics of a stone, but now it knows it exists. No matter how many trucks choose to run over it, it feels no pain. It is, after all, just a stone. And, just as befits a stone, it doesn’t feel joy when spring is right round the corner. Isn’t that a most coveted state of existence? Granted, there’s no exhilaration in life, but not a bad price to pay for escaping the agony of being crushed under the nonchalant tires of some nameless truck. Yes, the stone is happy to be alive!

Wait! This does not sound right. Are we saying a stone’s life is better than ours? Suppose you go and open your heart to someone: “I have a problem. Why am I suffering like this?” and that someone replies: “Because you’re not dead.” This is not an answer that will fill your heart with happiness. Neither will such a stone hearted reply help you. Yet, there are many philosophers who say this—perhaps not as bluntly, but it is pretty much the essence of their philosophies. You are suffering, yes. Suffering is because of your desires. Put an end to your desires; do not rejoice for anything, and do not lament for anything. And so on. What they are suggesting, really, is that you must eventually (not immediately) develop the qualities of a stone.

This philosophy is called impersonalism, and it has many flavors, all with a central theme: ultimately, the highest truth, the source of everything, is a unvariegated oneness. Therefore since the ultimate truth is quality-less oneness, attaining the ultimate truth lies in merging oneself into that oneness. Once merged, all dualities disappear, so there’s no happiness or sorrow, no pleasure or pain, no good, no bad—no feeling at all. Sounds a lot like our friend, Mr. Stone. And what’s more, in that merged state, all individuality is lost in the merger.

Why Impersonalism is so popular

Let’s think about this for a moment. Who will get really hooked on a philosophy whose end goal is negation of everything that characterizes life? The immediate answer that pops into my mind is those who are so totally frustrated with their lives that their lives have become unbearable. To them, the philosophical escape to a featureless oneness sounds like relief. They do not mind the concomitant relinquishing of their pleasure, either, since they don’t have much to rejoice about in their lives.

The other people who tend to relate to this philosophy are those who understand the miserable and temporary nature of this world. Since their understanding is based on a sound philosophical understanding of the temporality of all things in this world, they choose not to be a part of anything and to strive for desirelessness.

So yes, people do have valid reasons for accepting impersonalist philosophy. But if I were to write an essay on the happiest day of my life,” I doubt I will be able to glorify a day I spent doing nothing, thinking nothing, feeling nothing, and with no one around. Instead I imagine will glorifying a day I spent in nature or joking with friends. We seek the surge of joy.

Why then is the impersonal philosophy so prominent in the world? Because most people hardly ever get to live the “happiest day of their life.” And even if they do, their time of happiness is just too fleeting that it stands as insignificant when compared to the number of mediocre or pain-filled days in their lives. So to make all their days “happiest” they redefine happiness as oneness, even a sense of nothingness—and something they will achieve in the future. Happiness becomes the absence of sorrow, and since we can’t seem to have worldly happiness without its counterpart worldly unhappiness, they’re willing to relinquish what they would normally consider joy to avoid their suffering.

But what if we could live that “happiest day” forever? Would we still choose no-feeling? What if we lived in a place where every step was a dance and every word a song? A place where not only is there no sorrow but where happiness abounds? Who in their right minds would reject such a place and opt for a mindless existence devoid of anything at all?

Beyond Impersonalism

The make-or-break question is whether such a place of boundless happiness exists. It does. This place is called the spiritual world, the kingdom of God, a place full of life and joy, where all the inhabitants are ever engaged in the loving service of God and as a result are completely blissful. The essential difference between this world and the spiritual world is that everything in the spiritual world is eternal and full of knowledge and bliss. We know from our experience in this world that it’s just the opposite: everything here is temporary, ignorant, and filled with sorrow at one point or another. Further, the oneness the impersonalists hope to achieve is simply the light of the spiritual sky rather than the spiritual world itself. Anyone convinced about the existence of the spiritual world will naturally choose to go there.

Those philosophers who choose the spiritual world are known as devotees of God. By serving God, even in this world, the devotees experience spiritual bliss. They do not have to try to become desireless because all their desires are centered on serving God, which brings them joy and no sorrow. Contrast this with the impersonalists’ understanding of desirelessness—no desires whatsoever. The impersonalists do not know that the spiritual kingdom of God exists beyond the oneness of the spiritual sky. Therefore they settle for the lower platform of happiness defined as “absence of sorrow.”

Our journey started with a dead stone. Then we wandered into nothingness with our imaginary Mr. Stone. Fortunately we crossed the featureless oneness and arrived at where we really wanted to be—the spiritual world. Since everything there is spiritual, even the stones are alive and full of eternality, knowledge, and bliss. Stone-alive!

Stone-Alive

While I was zooming along on the beautiful tree-lined highway, suddenly I hit the brakes! Screeeech! Thud! Generally, when your car tire runs over a tiny little squirrel that chooses to scamper across the road just late enough so that you cant do much about what’s about to happen, you get that sinking feeling. And unless you are quite stone-hearted, the next few minutes are not so joyful. That guilty feeling lingers on for a while before it’s replaced by things more important than the life of an innocent squirrel that chose the wrong moment. But this time, I was not feeling any remorse. Because I had just overrun, not a tiny little squirrel, but a little boulder. It was just a stone, and by definition, it was already dead. Stone-dead.

Just suppose for a moment that this stone had life. It still has all the characteristics of a stone, but just that it knows that it exists. No matter how many trucks choose to trample it, since its after-all a stone, it does not feel any pain. And just as is fit for a stone, it cannot feel any joy when the spring is round the corner. Isn’t that the most coveted state of existence? Well, granted that there is no experience of the exhilaration before the promising spring, but then definitely that’s not a bad price to pay for escaping the agony of being crushed to pulp under the nonchalant tires of a nameless truck. Yes, the stone is so happy to be alive, as alive as a stone!

Wait a moment! This does not sound quite right. Are we saying that the life of a stone is better than our present lives? Suppose you go to someone and open up your heart to him: “I have such and such problem in life. What could be the reason? What is the remedy?”. And that person replies: “Because you are not yet dead, you are suffering.” Its not an answer that will fill you up with so much joy that your heart cant contain it. Such a stone-hearted reply will hardly help you. And yet, there are so many philosophers who will tell you just this. Not quite as bluntly, but that will pretty much be the essence of their philosophy. You are suffering, they will say. Suffering is because of your desires. Put an end to all your desires. Do not rejoice for anything, and do not lament for anything. And so on. That means one must eventually, not immediately, but eventually, try to become qualitatively just like a stone, or something equivalent that has the same qualities of lifelessness as does a stone!

The philosophy I am referring to is known as impersonalism. It has got many flavors, but all of them have one central theme. That ultimately, the highest truth, the source of everything, is an un-variegated oneness. And therefore, since the ultimate truth is that quality-less oneness, attaining the ultimate truth lies in merging oneself into that oneness. Once merged into that oneness, since its all oneness, there is no question of the dualities represented by happiness and sorrow, pain and pleasure, good and bad, and so on. Hmmm, sounds quite like our friend, Mr. Stone. And what’s more, in such a merged state, true to the definition of oneness, all individuality of the “merger” is lost.

Lets think for a moment or two about this. Who will get really hooked onto such a philosophy whose end goal is negation of all that characterizes life? The immediate response that pops up in our minds is: those who are so totally frustrated with their lives that life has become an unbearable burden for them. To them, the philosophical escape to featureless oneness gives relief from the pains of their routine lives. They do not mind the concomitant philosophical relinquishment of all pleasures either, since they don’t have much to rejoice in their lives anyway. The other category of people who would hook on to this philosophy is of those who have understood the miserable and temporary nature of this world. Since their understanding is based on sound philosophical understanding of the truth of the temporary nature of all things in this world, they choose to not be part of any of it. Due to this strong philosophical conviction, it is not so tough for them either to desire becoming desire-less.

So yes, people do have valid reasons for accepting the impersonalistic philosophy. But if I ask myself to write an essay on “The Happiest Day of My Life”, it will hardly glorify a day I spent in nothingness doing nothing thinking nothing feeling nothing with no one around. Instead it will perhaps glorify a day which I spent in a scenic natural place with a stream of crystal clear water flowing nearby, joking and playing around with my best friends, and feeling a strong current of joy surging through me. Someone else might have a different essay, but surely it will not describe a day full of nothings.

Why then is the impersonalistic philosophy so prominent? Because, most people of this world hardly ever actually live the “happiest day of their life” that they would describe in the essay. And even if they live some, the number is just too insignificant compared to the number of other days. In order to make all their days the “happiest days”, they redefine their happiness as oneness, or even nothingness. This way, their happiness means the absence of all sorrow. Since positive happiness of this world has the dual counterpart of unhappiness, to eradicate the unhappiness, they would go to the extent of eradicating the happiness too!

But what if one could live the happiest day of one’s life every day? For ever. Would you still like to take the other alternative of living days full of nothings? What if every day of your life is in a place where every step is a dance and every word is a song? A place where not only is there no sorrow, but where positive happiness abounds in boundless abundance? A place where happiness does not have the unhappy counterpart. Who in their right minds would reject such a destination and opt for a mindless existence devoid of anything at all!

The make-or-break question is whether such a place of boundless happiness really exists? The answer is that it does. This place is called the Spiritual World or the Kingdom of God. A place full of life and joy where all the inhabitants are always engaged in the loving service of God and as a result are completely blissful at all times. The essential difference between this world and that is that in the spiritual world every thing is spiritual, i.e. eternal, full of knowledge, and full of bliss. As opposed to that, in this world everything is material, i.e. temporary, devoid of knowledge, and devoid of any bliss. Further, the oneness that the impersonalists desire to become desire-less in, is just the spiritual sky in which the spiritual Kingdom of God exists. Any person who is convinced about the existence of the spiritual world will quite naturally make this choice. Because this is the place which more than fits the place we described in our “The Happiest Day of My Life” essay. Those philosophers who make this choice are known as devotees of God. By serving God, even in this world, the devotees experience spiritual bliss. They do not have to attempt desirelessness, because all their desires are centered around serving God. Such desires are all spiritual, and the happiness derived from them does not have the unhappy counterpart. Contrast this with the impersonalists’ understanding of desirelessnesss where it means no desires whatsoever. The impersonalists do not know that the spiritual kingdom of God exists beyond the oneness of the spiritual sky. Therefore they settle for the lower platform of happiness defined as “absence of sorrow”.

Our journey started with a dead stone. Then we wandered around for a while in nothingness with our imaginary not-quite-alive Mr. Stone. Eventually we crossed over the featureless oneness (or nothingness), and fortunately reached where we really wanted to be! The spiritual world. Since everything there is spiritual, even the stones there are spiritual, i.e. they are eternal, full of knowledge, and full of bliss! Stones that are truly alive - Stone-Alive!