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“Understanding or intelligence is the driver of the chariot of the body, driven by the horses of the senses, which are controlled by the reins of the mind.”

"ATMANAM VIDDHI – KNOW THE SELF".

"OUR INNER SELF CONTAINS THE CLUE TO THE ANSWER OF OUR LIFE."

Dreitausend Jahre altem Zitat der wedischen Philosophen:

"Verstehen oder Verstand ist der Lenker des Wagens Körper, gezogen von den Pferden Sinnen, die von dem Geschirr Geist im Zaum gehalten werden."

"ATMANAM VIDDHI – ERKENNE DICH SELBST"

"UNSER INNERES SELBST ENTHÄLT DEN SCHLÜSSEL ZUR ANTWORT AUF UNSER LEBEN".

En citant les philosophes védiques qui affirmèrent il y a plus de 3000 ans :

« La compréhension ou l’intelligence est le cocher sur le char du corps,Conduit par les chevaux des sensqui sont contrôlés par les rênes de l’esprit »

ATMANAM VIDDHI – CONNAIS-TOI TOI-MÊME.

NOTRE MOI INTÉRIEUR CONTIENT LA CLEF DE L’ENIGME DE NOTRE VIE.

TRADEMARK YOGASON - the ethical discipline is registered in Switzerland, The European Union.

CREATED AND MANAGED BY AMIT RAY

WEBSITE DESIGNED BY AMIT RAY

yogason@yogason.com

NILGIRIS-AYURVEDA BY MARIA KOEFER

International Yoga Centers Directory www.yoga-centers-directory.net

AMIT RAY

Amit Ray is a graduate mechanical engineer from Jadavpur University, India.

- Comes from a family of long history in philosophy, Vedic and Western.

- His great grand father was a philosopher, a Pundit specialized in Naya Shastra (Logic), one of the six systems of Indian philosophy - in 1919 was awarded the highest educational honour (MAHAMAHOPADHYAYA) - knighted by the then British Gov .

- His father was a professor of Logic and Philosophy and author of books on symbolic logic and METALOGIC (Theory of Logic) and Director & Secretary of Education, Tripura State

- His sister is the head of the department of logic and philosophy, Dumdum Motijhil College, Calcutta University, just published a book on Modern Logic.

Amit has a keen interest in Yoga philosophy as a psychophysical science.

He is a Yoga practitioner and now a teacher.

Before coming to Switzerland in 1992, worked and lived since 1975 in various countries in Europe & M.E.

Other interests are in golf, Chess and contract bridge.

He now teaches Asanas, Pranayama and methods of Meditation practices in Switzerland and in Italy.

YOGA RETREAT

In Toscana, Italy, he and his wife Michèle will soon open a Yoga Retreat at their residence.

Italy

Amit Ray

CASA MISCI

Via la Sala 5

I-56035 Usigliano di Lari (PI)

Residence: +39 0587 68 42 13

Mobile: +39 331 7539 610

EMAILS:

yogason@yogason.com

amitray47@gmail.com

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DEDICATION

This site is dedicated to my late beloved father, Indra Kumar Ray (15 Dec 1915 - 08 May 1999), a professor of philosophy and logic, author of books on symbolic logic, Metalogic and psychology.

He was the grandson of a logician and philosopher, late Baikunthanath Tarkabhusan Ray, who in 1919 was awarded the highest educational honour (Mahamahopadhyaya) by the then British Government.

MY FATHER'S LAST WORDS

Before I write what my father told us, let me say a few words as I knew him.

In his life, philosophy was his religion and his gods were the western philosophers, from Plato to Kant to Russell, Russell being his most favourite. He never gave us any traditional religious training, though we went through all the rituals, which according to him were nothing but natural things to do as we were born in that environment.

His first religious training to me was the day he gave me (when I was 17 years old ) a book called "Skeptical Essays" by the English Philosopher Bertrand Russell and asked me to read it. Thus, he planted in me the seed of a tree of philosophy that over the years has changed my view of this world in a way that it is not bound by any restrictions in life.

In 1990, on the 14th of July, when I was on holiday in India, he introduced me to Indian Philosophy for the first time in my life by presenting a book "INDIAN PHILOSOPHY" VOLUME 1 BY RADHAKRISHNAN.

NOW AN EXCERPT FROM HIS LAST WORDS:
QUOTE:
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From the level of consciousness mankind in general has achieved up to my time, my life may be considered a successful one. I also tried to do my duty as best as I could; I don't know what the psycho-analytical trappings in the subconscious were, and what impulses they sent. But consciousness is a continuum, and we do not know whether from a different or higher level, success in life will be judged in the same way.

But the analysis of duty reveals certain difficulties. Social duty, in many of its aspects, implies social inequality. If it is one's duty to help the needy, then elimination of poverty and disease, and universal education up to an adequate level, cannot be the social aim, for there must be some poverty, disease and illiteracy to enable some people to be virtuous. The point is delicate, and I may be called a cynic, but it remains to be decided whether poverty, disease and lack of education are ineliminable of necessity (e.g. the result of Karma in previous births, to which I am soon coming), to make social virtue possible.

If I may be allowed to imagine that with the knowledge and technology now at our disposal, and without the methods of politicization and criminalization by which our present rulers (even the Governor-General and the British officers in the days of Raj, called themselves "your most obedient servant" at least in paper) consolidate and aggravate these ills of society, while constantly professing to eliminate them, these ills have actually been eliminated, there will remain little social duty for an individual. The only duties that will still remain are rearing and nurturing the young and nursing the old and the sick, which may hardly be called virtues. Even if an urgency crops up or a call comes to rush in where an accident or mishap has taken place, it is the whole society, which will be acting through the individuals placed to provide immediate relief and do whatever is needful thereafter. Such action will be the social characteristic of the particular society, but hardly a social virtue.

I am not raising the question of individual virtue regarding which, I am afraid, there is little chance of unanimity, and which, I am equally afraid, is of little good to society, of which India itself is a glaring instance.

But aren't we moral beings, and don't we have moral values? Certainly yes, but moral values should be defined in a different way, not in terms of virtue, which smacks of the sense of APOORBO of the MIMANGSA , but in terms of honest (which may include upright, kind, sympathetic, prompt, and the like) behaviour, characteristic of the stage when ills of society, which now plague it and make some people virtuous, are in the process of elimination. It is not for me to prescribe it, it will be of no avail. The whole society must prescribe it for itself, if it is to be at all effective. I cannot now imagine what the moral values will be like beyond this stage. Let us first cross this stage.

The Brahmins in India preached that men are divided into four Varnas, the Brahmins being of the highest Varna, and the duties of each lower Varna is to acknowledge the superiority of and serve the higher Varnas. This may have been done to ensure social stability at that time. But the times have changed, and the evil effects of the Varna theory cannot be worse than what we see in the socio-political field today. The theory propagated that if the lower Varnas do their duty appropriate to the Varna in which they are born, they will be born in a higher Varna in the next birth. Along with this goes the threat that their present birth in the lower Varna is due to some sin committed by them in their past birth(s), and if they do not virtuously perform the duties of the Varna of their present birth, they will be born in a lower Varna, and if their present Varna happens to be the lowest, as an animal.

This is the theory of Rebirth, a rationalization of the ancient tribal belief that the "spirit" in man may even pass over into animals after death. From this theory followed DASHABIDHA SAMSKAR for ensuring a secure means of livelihood for the Brahmins, for whom manual work was considered by Manu to be a moral lapse.

If my present birth in the particular Varna, with the social, economic and health conditions, intelligence, etc., is due to my Karma in previous births, to what Karma was my first birth due?

Sraddh (a Hindu ceremony) is said to be performed to help the deceased reach heaven and stay there longer. But if whither I shall go or what state I shall assume is determined by my Karma in my present and past births, how can Sraddh performed by another person help me? Where is heaven? Nobody knows. How is it? It is, of course, described in salacious details.

Some speak of higher levels of consciousness, some even of a highest level, from which the truth may be perceived. This is rather uncertain, for us, who are at the present level, hearsay, until in the course of evolution mankind in general achieves those higher levels gradually. But confound the philosophy which preaches that the highest level is for a favoured few, the rest being relegated to a succession of births and deaths.

I had thought over the matter since I had learned to think, say, for about sixty years, but found no solid argument in favour of the theory of rebirth in what has been stated in the Brahminical texts about it. As I grew in years, my doubts about its truth also grew stronger. I am now over eighty one, weak in body and mind, but my doubts did not relent. I, therefore, consider it proper now to state clearly that I don't believe in rebirth.

Let everybody be happy and in good health, "see the good", let none whosoever suffer. (A quote from Sanskrit literature).

UNQUOTE

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SPECIAL THANKS TO
H.E. Swami Prabhananda of The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Kolkata, India for permitting me to quote from the book "The cultural Heritage of India" (6 volumes). www.sriramakrishna.org
Mitra Ray	My sister. Teaches philosophy at a college under the University of Calcutta, India. Kept a keen eye on the philosophical content, I wrote.
Dr. Asoke Bandopadhyaya	My brother- in- law, who gave his all to see to it that the film was successfully completed in India.
Michele Lagorio	My American friend. Teaches at the American School of Paris, who did the French narration in the film.
Rolf Bösch MENTAL POWER GOLF	My Swiss friend, who did the German narration in the film.
Dr. Josette Chareyre	My friend in France, who edited the French text of the leaflet.
Renate and Rolf Gehrig	My Swiss friends for editing the German text of the leaflet.
Priska and Joerg Meier	My Swiss friends for editing the German text of the yogic instructions.
Maria Koefer	My Spanish friend, who edited the Spanish text of the leaflet.
Francisco Rossi	My friend in Italy for editing the Italian text of the leaflet.
Carmen-Manuela Rock	My German friend - M.A. Physiotherapist, for her advice on yogic poses from the western point of view and for editing the German texts.
Paul Nelson	My American friend, C.P.A for his continuous encouragement and advice on financial management.
Marc and Nadine Janssens	My Belgian friends in France for their help, interest and encouragement.
Anne Nyth	My Australian friend in Sweden for her encouragement in my project.
My family in India and UK and all my friends in Switzerland.

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A NOTE ON PHYSICS AND METAPHYSICS

As a student of science I am inclined to physics and I have come to know that in modern physics intellectual debate and intense search are going on, on the question of some conscious energy behind the phenomenal world, which may be called GOD OR ONENESS. All these efforts are to search for or to find out an ultimate truth behind this Universe.

Last year I read a book called Mathematical Undecidability, Quantum Nonlocality and the Question of the Existence of God. I must admit that I did not really understand the book well due to lack of my knowledge in higher physics and higher mathematics. However, I did like some parts of some articles, and please let me quote a few lines from them.

One of the authors, Dr. Paul Pliska, whom I personally know, wrote in his article Nonlocality and the Principle of Free Experimentation,

“ In today’s physics, in which quantum mechanics plays a decisive role, there is room for the human free will. This is an astonishing although natural connection between physics and metaphysics.”

As final remarks in this book, Dr. Alfred Driessen and Dr. Antoine Suarez wrote:

One should bear in mind that science is not the only access to reality. The rich world of human feelings and thoughts as expressed, for example, in literature, art, humanities and also in conversations in daily life, provides alternative routes to reality in all its dimensions.

They also wrote, “Man with his intellectual effort is able to know the existence of an unobservable reality, which he already encounters deep in his heart.”

The classical physicists looked to the outer world to find the reality behind all phenomena. Modern Physics has added to the search for mysteries of the Universe as well as human consciousness.

The Vedic Philosophers looked inside themselves to find the truth underlying the phenomenal world and they realized that the Self or the Atma is the only ultimate reality, which is conscious in nature. All other reality, i.e. all phenomenal reality is only relative or conditional.

What is fascinating is that thousands of years ago what the Vedic thinkers searched and realized in their own way, now it appears that modern research on quantum mechanics

is approaching to a similar goal.

Our great poet, the Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore, expressed this oneness beautifully in one of his poems,

"As shadow, as particles, my body fused with endless night,

I came to rest at the altar of the stars.

Alone, amazed, I stared upwards with hands clasped and said,

“Sun, you have removed Your rays; show now your loveliest, kindliest form

That I may see the Person who dwells in me as in you.” (Translated by William Radice)

As a person inclined to physics, I would fervently desire that physics and spirituality walk hand in hand, compliment each other’s intelligence.

Let us bring harmony to the extrospective nature by being introspective.

India is ever ready to extend her introspective hand to find together the reality, the oneness, the truth.

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ARTICLE ON THE OCCASION OF THE BIRTHDAY OF THE BUDDHA - 09 MAY 2009

BUDDHADEVA - LORD BUDDHA

SIDDHARTHA GAUTAMA / SIDDHATTA GOTAMA (ca 566 BC – ca 486 BC)

Written by Amit Ray

(www.yogason.com)

This is in commemoration on the occasion of the Buddha Purnima day, the 9th of May the auspicious birthday of Buddhadeva, whom we consider the greatest man on this earth, to remember him, to pay him homage.

The great people, like the wise, the brave, the politicians, etc, exercise their will over other people. They mould history according to their own design. During the period when Buddha was born, it was not difficult for him to occupy a small space in one corner of the history as a king of one of India’s innumerable small kingdoms. He could have become valorous, could have become a great victor, the students could have memorized his life story, depicted in a small chapter of the modern history included in the school curriculum, and then perhaps would have forgotten him.

But those who engage themselves in austere endeavour to advance the work for salvation of mankind, for completing the unfinished perfection of the human nature/spirit, for flourishing of the human mind, for bringing clarity to the obscured human consciousness behind the thick veil of imperfection enveloped by ego, take first their seat of all times on the great throne of the human hearts. We are not able to understand our incompleteness, we are unable to comprehend the facts of human nature, and our inability to attain a life of a finer quality until some fully enlightened person appears before us. Lord Buddha is foremost among those enlightened by their own profundity who appear age after age to guide the dejected, the depraved, and the stricken people.

“We find in Gautama the Buddha, in powerful combination, spiritual profundity, moral strength of the highest order and a discreet intellectual reserve. He is one of those rare spirits who bring to men a realization of their own divinity and make the spiritual life seem adventurous and attractive, so that they may go forth into the world with a new interest and a new joy at heart.” ^{(The
Dhammapada, P56, by Radhakrishnan)}

The main feature of the Buddha’s message is here that he not only talked about benevolence but also about compassion. When at the end of his austerities and after long meditation he gave up asceticism, all of his companions left him, because they used to think that asceticism is the only criterion that a person is searching for the transcendental truth.

But Buddha, after attaining Sambodhi, full enlightenment, engaged himself in his work and untiringly continued his work until the last day of his life. He had universal compassion for all living creatures, whether human or animal. He said: “As a mother at the risk of her life watches over her only child, so let every one cultivate a boundless love towards all beings.” We should always have love for all sentient beings and should not deviate from this path.

Many Pundits explained Buddha’s Nirvana concept as Shunyata i.e. nothingness or void. Lord Buddha preached practice of profound loving kindness to all creatures. We are not able to understand with ordinary intelligence how this loving kindness can be manifested through Nirvana. In order to bring about the universal compassion, extinction of one’s ego is absolutely necessary, but it does not amount to self-annihilation. Just to hear about self-annihilation, people would never have crowded to hear him.

“Nirvana is not the annihilation of the self, but only the extinguishing of selfhood in the ordinary acceptation of the term.” ^{(The
essentials of Indian Philosophy, P73, by M. Hiriyanna)}

And what a crowd! Most Indians became his followers in one thousand years. The great emperor Ashoka (304 BC -232 BC) alone built 84,000 Stupas to preach Buddhism (A Stupa is a bell shaped monument to offer devotion). India became a land of pilgrimage; people of other lands were drawn to her through the words of the Buddha. Along the route that Huen Chang took to travel to India from China, the powerful kings bestowed upon him the honour and help only because he was a Buddhist; and this only tells us the extent of the influence of Buddha’s message in all the neighbouring countries. The message of truth reached across seas and mountains to Sri Lanka, China, Japan, Tibet, Mongolia, Burma/Myanmar, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Persia and Egypt.

“The serenity and gentleness of his face, the beauty and dignity of his life, the earnestness and enthusiasm of his love, the wisdom and the eloquence of his message won the hearts of men and women alike.” Indian Philosophy, P349, by Radhakrishnan.

People painted frescoes of him in the dark caves of inaccessible mountains, built Stupas by carrying enormous blocks of stones to the top of steep snowy mountains, carved in hundreds of images around the Stupa, each a perfect specimen of the sculptor’s art, chiselled with loving care and infinite pains to pay homage to him. It is not enough to salute him only once a day, the saviour of all mankind of all times. The irresistible call, the victory call of the truth by the Supreme Man, who sacrificed his life for easing the difficulty in the progress of mankind, who had rent the veil of darkness, was thus announced in desert plains, on steep mountain tops, in solitary caves, in the Stupas.

“Buddhism succeeded so well because it was a religion of love, giving voice to all the inarticulate forces, which were working against the established order and the ceremonial religion, addressing itself to the poor, the lowly and the disinherited.” ^{(Indian
Philosophy, P 475, by Radhakrishnan)}

“Buddhism is essentially psychology, logic and ethics, and not metaphysics.”

^{Indian
Philosophy, P353, by Radhakrishnan}

Sacrifice is not just to disavow or giving away in charity; in order to achieve the big, it is necessary to sacrifice the little. During the flourishing of Buddhism and the subsequent time in India, the progress in arts, science, commerce and imperialistic power was never like any time before. This is because when man’s religion becomes alive, the progress is not bound by speculations regarding eschatology. That invigorated religion engages it in all kinds of great endeavours.

One cannot talk casually about universal compassion for all creatures. In the human world, we encounter usually lesser examples of such compassion. The sacrifice for the welfare of the offspring in the animal world is not unusual. The same form of sacrifice is found in groups of human beings as well as in bees, for example. Unparalleled loving kindness flows through love, compassion and innumerable little incidents, like as published in a newspaper, a female dog breast-feeding the young of a goat.

The Jataka stories tried to illustrate the virtue of universal compassion.

The feeling of amity is also present in some parts of the animal world. When this feeling of compassion is boundless, only then it becomes self-sacrifice; small sacrifices of material desires attain their fulfillment at that stage. Our effort, love, care for our biological group only is transcended at that point. In the abundance of universal compassion, we find the impartiality between the deserving and the undeserving, the spontaneity, the self-engaged relinquishment are the elements, which make a person, fit for Nirvana.

Compassion is the Buddhahood. Wherever there is compassion, there is Buddhahood.

Buddha said that seeking the only truth, valid for all times, all countries, for all people irrespective of caste and creed, poverty and affluence, is the duty of all - “The unending love is flowing in the world, invite it to your heart, cultivate immeasurable love and good-will towards all creatures, void of obstacles, hatred, and feud.”

Buddha advises us, the lay people, not to give up the world but to lead virtuous lives as householders and to promote the welfare of the community.

The Buddha advised his disciples to plant a tree every five years by his own hand and to look after it so that it grows properly. What a beautiful exercise to practise kindness! If today this advice were to be followed by all in the world, we would have avoided deforestation and through this process would have achieved economic prosperity as well; and moreover proper ecology could have been maintained.

His true greatness stands out clearer and brighter as the time passes, and even the sceptical-minded are turning to him with a more real appreciation, a deeper reverence and a true worship.

“He is one of those few heroes of humanity who have made epochs in the history of our race, with a message for other times as well as their own.” The Dhammapada, P57, by Radhakrishnan

“For the Buddha, Dharma or righteousness is the driving principle of the universe.” ^{The
Dhammapada, P42, by Radhakrishnan}

“When we purify our heart by ethical training, when we focus the total energy of our consciousness on the deepest in us, we awaken the inherent divine possibilities, and suddenly a new experience occurs with clarity of insight and freedom of joy.” ^{The
Dhammapada, P43, by Radhakrishnan}

“Nirvana means annihilation of passion, hatred and delusion. It is the waning out of all evils – diminishing the vicious and the weak in man, which is the negative aspect of his positive advance in becoming. In its negative aspect, it means the removal of greed, ill will and dullness. In its positive aspect, it means mental illumination conceived as light, insight, and the state of feeling happiness, cool and calm and content, peace, safety and self-mastery. Objectively considered, it means truth, the highest good, a supreme opportunity, a regulated life, communion with the best.” ^{The
Cultural Heritage of India, Vol. 1, P547 by Ramakrishna Mission,
Institute of Culture}

Today, in this world of selfishness, greed, and jealousy, let us pray to the great compassionate Buddha to grant us a tiny bit of loving kindness so that we all become stronger in our spirit, so that our strength lies in mercy and compassion.

BUDDHAM SHARANAM GACCHAMI – (In Buddha do I seek my refuge.)

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