Discussion concerning the first major re-evaluation of Dewey B. Larson's Reciprocal System of theory, updated to include counterspace (Etheric spaces), projective geometry, and the non-local aspects of time/space.
in recent years by the teachings of Advaita, and most especially by the teachings of the contemporary sage, Nisargadatta Maharaj.
Nice that you mention this, advaita is nothing but a-dvaita or a-dual (nondual-like) It is the perfect eastern version of the Law of One...
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Unfortunately, language is a mental tool and works only in opposites.
Language is a conscious act of creating linkages between the two sectors. And as soon as you make the linkage, two 'opposites' are linked. I think that is why only a third density being has language as a tool... and the plants and animals... just 'talk'.
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Consciousness (chidananda) is spirit (purusha), consciousness is matter (prakriti).
Some time ago, I made some PP slides on these topics which I am now uploading. Ask for ‘Show’ option and keep clicking to view. Some notes can be found in the ‘Speaker Notes’ for each slide.
Alas, for some reason my computer would not let me open this file. I'll keep trying-- bear
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----- Original Message ----- From: k_nehru ([url=mailto:(email removed)](email removed)[/url]) To: (email removed) ([url=mailto:(email removed)](email removed)[/url]) Sent: Sunday, December 03, 2006 12:15 AM Subject: [RS2] Man, God and the Cosmos
Hi Friends
Some time ago, I made some PP slides on these topics which I am now uploading. Ask for ‘Show’ option and keep clicking to view. Some notes can be found in the ‘Speaker Notes’ for each slide.
Alas, for some reason my computer would not let me open this file. I'll keep trying-- bear
It is a Microsoft PowerPoint slideshow. If it won't open, you probably don't have Microsoft PowerPoint installed on your system.
Options:
1) Download and install PPViewer (PowerPoint Viewer) from Microsoft: Click Here (about 2 meg)
2) Dowload and install OpenOffice, which is a freeware office suite, with an equivalent to Word, Excel, Access and Powerpoint that can open and edit PP files. Click Here (about 94 meg--BIG)
I did some research on bear's spacelessness and timelessness, to see how it fits into eastern cosmology. Our space/time realm appears to be Jambudv?pa, about 2/3rds of the way down the heirarchy.
Summarized below is the Buddhist cosmos. I find it interesting that the formless realm, ?r?pyadh?tu, has 4 spheres of formlessness identified--kind of like having geometry to spacelessness.
In the measurements below:
AU=Astronomical Units, 93 million miles—the distance from the sun to the Earth.
1 yojana ~= 8 miles, based on the “bow hand” measure.
“Kalpa” can be anywhere from 16 million years to 1.8 trillion years, depending on the source, so I did not attempt to convert to years.
Dh?tus
Tridh?tu (three dh?tus)
?r?pyadh?tu (formless realm; no shape or location)
Inhabitants: catu?-sam?patti, devas whom remained in the 4 formless absorptions in prior life. Never born here because there is no shape, form or location.
Naivasa?jñ?n?sa?jñ?yatana (Sphere of neither perception nor non-perception)
?ki?cany?yatana (Sphere of Nothingness) “There is no thing”
Vijñ?n?nanty?yatana (Sphere of Infinite Consciousness)
?k???nanty?yatana (Sphere of Infinite Space)
R?padh?tu (Form Realm, but no extremes of pleasure or pain; not governed by desire for things; asexual).
?uddh?v?sa (Pure abodes)
Akani??ha (Equal rank)
Lifetime: 16,000 kalpas
Height: 167,772,160 yojanas
(14.43 AU; approximate distance to Uranus)
Sudar?ana (clear seeing)
Height: 83,886,080 yojanas
(7.22 AU; approximate distance to Saturn)
Sud??a (beautiful)
Height: 41,943,040 yojanas
(3.6 AU; asteroid belt)
Atapa (untroubled)
Height: 20,971,520 yojanas
(1.8 AU; approximate distance to Mars)
Av?ha (not falling)
Lifetime: 1,000 kalpas
Height: 10,485,760 yojanas
(0.9 AU; approximate distance from sun to Earth)
r?padhy?nas
B?hatphala
B?hatphala (having great fruit)
Lifespan: 500 mah?kalpas
Height: 5,242,880 yojanas
(42 million miles)
Pu?yaprasava (offspring of merit)
Height: 2,621,440 yojanas
(21 million miles)
Anabhraka (cloudless)
Height: 1,310,720 yojanas
(10.5 million miles)
?ubhak?tsna (quiet joy)
?ubhak?tsna (total beauty)
Lifespan: 64 mah?kalpas
Height: 655,360 yojanas
(5.2 million miles)
Apram??a?ubha (limitless beauty)
Lifespan: 32 mah?kalpas
Height: 327,680 yojanas
(2.6 million miles)
Par?tta?ubha (limited beauty)
Lifespan: 16 mah?kalpas
Height: 163,840 yojanas
(1.3 million miles)
?bh?svara (delight & joy; lowest worlds not destroyed by fire at end of mah?kalpa)
?bh?svara (possessing splendor)
Lifetime: 8 mah?kalpas
Height: 81,920 yojanas
Apram???bha (limitless light)
Lifetime: 4 mah?kalpas
Height: 40,960 yojanas
(328,000 miles; approximate distance to moon)
Par?tt?bha (limited light)
Lifespan: 2 mah?kalpas
Height: 20,480 yojanas
Brahm? (observation, reflection, delight, joy; regularly destroyed by fire)
Mah?brahm?
Lifespan: 3?4 of a mah?kalpa
Height: 10,240 yojanas
(81 thousand miles)
Brahmapurohita (Ministers of Brahm?)
Lifespan: 1?2 of a kalpa
Height: 5,120 yojanas
(41 thousand miles)
Brahmap?ri?adya
Lifespan: 1?3 of a kalpa
Height: 2,560 yojanas
(20,000 miles)
K?madh?tu (bound by desire, suffering)
4 “planes” that float in the air above Mount Sumeru, each 80,000 yojanas square (640,000 miles—twice the distance between the Earth and the moon)
Parinirmita-va?avartin (with power over (others') creations)
Height: 1,280 yojanas
Lifespan: 9,216,000,000 years
Deva height: 4,500 feet tall
Ruled by: Va?avartin
Nirm??arati (delighting in their creations)
Height: 640 yojanas
Lifespan: 2,304,000,000 years
Deva height: 3,750 feet tall
Ruled by: Sunirmita
Tu?ita (joyful)
Height: 320 yojanas
Lifespan: 576,000,000 years
Deva height: 3,000 feet tall
Ruled by: Santu?ita
Y?ma (heaven without fighting)
Height: 160 yojanas
Lifespan: 144,000,000 years
Deva height: 2,250 feet tall
Ruled by: Suy?ma
Mount Sumeru
Tr?yastri??a (summit; world of the 33 devas)
Height of summit: 80 yojanas
Lifespan: 36,000,000 years
Deva height: 1,500 feet tall
Ruled by: ?akra
C?turmah?r?jikak?yika (slopes; Four great kings)
Height: 40 yojanas
Lifespan: 9,000,000 years
Deva height: 750 feet tall
Ruled by: Vir??haka, Dh?tar???ra, Vir?p?k?a, and their leader Vai?rava?a
Retinues:
Kumbh???as (dwarves)
Gandharvas (faeries)
N?gas (dragons; serpents)
Yak?as (goblins)
Asura (base and ocean)
Ruled by: Vemacitrin
Chaotic; once lived in Tr?yastri??a, constantly trying to reclaim.
Manu?yaloka (humans and human-like beings)
Sumeru surrounded by ring of mountains, then ocean, then more mountains (Cakrav??a) that mark the boundary. The oceans contain 4 continents that cannot reach each other by sailing vessels. But an airship, cakraratna, can be used between them. Each continent has a tree, 100 yojanas tall in the center.
Jambudv?pa (south, ordinary human beings; triangle with tip pointing south)
Lifespan: 10-80 years
People height: 5-6 feet
Extent: 10,000 yojanas
Tree: Jambu
P?rvavideha (east, half circle w/diameter pointing west)
Extent: 7,000 yojanas (2,000 diameter)
People height: 12 feet
Lifespan: 250 years
Tree: Acacia
Aparagod?n?ya (west, circular)
Circumference: 7,500 yojanas
People height: 24 feet
Lifespan: 500 years
Tree: Kadambu
Uttarakuru (north, squre)
Wealthy, communal people, with cities in the air
Perimeter: 8,000 yojanas
People height: 48 feet
Lifespan: 1000 years
Tree: kalpav?k?a
Protector: Vai?rava?a (Kubera)
Tiryagyoni-loka (animal kingdom)
Pretaloka (hungry ghosts)
Earth dwellers with bad mental state; live mostly in desert or wastelands. (Dero)
Naraka (purgatory, below Jambudv?pa)
Cold Narakas
Arbuda – the "blister" Naraka
Nirarbuda – the "burst blister" Naraka
A?a?a – the Naraka of shivering
Hahava – the Naraka of lamentation
Huhuva – the Naraka of chattering teeth
Utpala – the "blue lotus" Naraka
Padma – the "lotus" Naraka
Mah?padma – the "great lotus" Naraka
Hot Narakas
Sañj?va – the "reviving" Naraka.
Life in this Naraka is 162*1010 years long.
K?las?tra – the "black thread" Naraka.
Life in this Naraka is 1296*1010 years long.
Sa?gh?ta – the "crushing" Naraka.
Life in this Naraka is 10,368*1010 years long.
Raurava – the "screaming" Naraka.
Life in this Naraka is 82,944*1010 years long.
Mah?raurava – the "great screaming" Naraka.
Life in this Naraka is 663,552*1010 years long.
Tapana – the "heating" Naraka.
Life in this Naraka is 5,308,416*1010 years long.
Prat?pana – the "great heating" Naraka.
Life in this Naraka is 42,467,328*1010 years long.
Av?ci – the "uninterrupted" Naraka.
Life in this Naraka is 339,738,624*1010 years long.
Wow. I was finally able to open these up (Thank you, Bruce!) I'm glad I did. Wow. Although I didn't see any option to click on "speaker's notes," the slides themselves, and the processes/worlds/realms they point to are wonderful, clear, precise, encapsulating. I felt the kundalini rising, just contemplating them. I look forward to further contemplation, and finding the "speaker's notes." I suspect this slide presentation was not prepared for the local Kiwanis Club. I would have loved to have been there when the slides were presented and explained. They seem to encapsulate the whole of the Wisdom Tradition in delightful images and flow charts. (And after such a presentation does one then go out for a cheeseburger and fries?) Thank you, Nehru. And wow. I love such "maps" of consciousness and awareness. They somehow bring more consciousness, more awareness. This is truly a "gift" of images. Wow. Thank you. -- Bear
I think we probably need to re-measure all of these, just to make sure measurements are correct, before we submit them for the peer-reviewed journals. I hereby volunteer to measure the realms of Quiet Joy and Pure Being, and will get back to you after I've measured them out.
Bruce, where in the heck did you come up with these measurements? Is it "Pure Land" Buddhism, or...? Reading this immediately sent my brain into the "Naraka of shivering," which we hear in the west translate as "Tilt," although I had difficulty measuring it's height and depth. Wow.
Thanks-- can you put images/slides to these, like Nehru did? Geez. Beautiful. -- Bear
Bruce, where in the heck did you come up with these measurements? Is it "Pure Land" Buddhism, or...?
They come from the ancient stories on eastern philosophy, not my measurements. Biggest problem is that the scholars never agree on the sizes of these measurements, and sometimes they are extremely different.
bear wrote:
Reading this immediately sent my brain into the "Naraka of shivering," which we hear in the west translate as "Tilt," although I had difficulty measuring it's height and depth. Wow.
My question is: Is a "yojana" actually a measure of distance? That is assumed to be the case by the Buddhist scholars, but based on the story contexts, it almost seems more a measurement of a vibrational frequency (a speed, not a distance).
bear wrote:
can you put images/slides to these, like Nehru did?
There are probably many people who have already done that, as this cosmology is VERY old. Gopi or Nehru might know of some references; I'd have to search the Web to see what I can find.
