Random thoughts occasionally become repetitive and keep coming to us. These silently work in our subconscious taking inputs from  many information  we hear or read- here and there- and  firm-up as a definite opinion or belief.

It is but natural  that these thought processes  take place in a language with which we are most familiar with. Its original flavour is best felt in the language of its origin. For this reason the following  article is also published in Tamil.

To avoid the problem of font down loading  the Tamil version is in animated Gif format.  As it has been set for a particular speed of page change, those who have difficulty in matching their speed of reading can reactivate the animation by clicking the Buddha's figure again.

Cell Phone and Spirituality                                                       Click here for Tamil version

Those of us who are familiar with computers know very well that the entire principle of its working is based on Binary codes. It is  explained as  combination of 0 and 1(also known as 'OFF' & 'ON') in multitude ways to create the entire world of computers. They are no more 'computers' but can bring the whole world in its myriad colors and sounds in front of you with multimedia . Yet its secret is 0 and 1. View this fact against the Hindu philosophy claiming that the whole universe is made up of Siva-Shakti principle.   We can draw the inference that 0 is  Siva and 1 is Shakti components in a three dimensional world of ours.

The message we send through the cell phone travels through space to reach the nearest tower from where it is sent to the address it carries through a network of  computers. Juxtapose this with the theory of Atma, the soul (or spirit). Atma is nothing but a 'bundle of thoughts'. The constant pursuit of worldly mundane pleasures create such deep impressions in the spirit ( or Atma) it does keep looking for another 'instrument' or body to express itself to fulfill the unfinished task set for itself. However in the process it further gets entangled with new set of ideas and impressions. Thus the cycle of birth and death never ends.

The struggle of Atma to realize its true nature is possible only through the  human body. This is the biggest gift and purpose of human birth. This calls for dissolving away all worldly desires. It is known as 'Vairagya' or 'Niraashaa'.  In that state the shakti principle merges in the shiva principle and the fact that the whole world is its own creation would become clearer to the sadhka, the spiritual aspirant . And that is what sadhana, the spiritual exercise, is all about. This is the essence of the preaching of all saints through the different ages in our country.