AI and the Four Layers of Mind

It occurred to me that there are many people who prefer to watch videos instead of reading blogs. To test that, I used an AI tool to convert my previous Blog entry into a video. The response to my video was staggering! Even though I only used AI as a tool, the interaction took my thoughts to the evolution of AI itself. How far can AI evolve? I decided to examine how AI would fit into the vedic understanding of the nature of the Self.

We stand at a crucial threshold. Machines now “think” in ways that mimic the human mind. They are not alive, not conscious, not burdened by birth or karma, yet they simulate aspects of cognition once thought to be uniquely human.

Can Njana Yoga benefit society?

The njana yogi (known by other names in other spiritual cultures) seeks unity with divinity by introspection, striving to understand his true nature and his purpose in the world. So the question is, if his focus is introspection, how can he be relevant to the world around him?

Many make the mistake of assuming that a njani necessarily has to retreat into solitude in order to meditate and introspect. In fact, the term njani applies to any person who engages his intellect in seeking to understand the world around him and his role in it. First of all, the study subject of a njani may not even be spirituality. A technological inventor delving into the magic of devices is a njani. A doctor striving to understand the nature of disease and discover healing solutions is a njani. A musical composer immersed in the sublime compositions of nature and replicating that into his work is a njani. Even the religious scholar who studies revealed scriptures in search of the multi-layered message embedded within is a njani. Njana yoga is more widespread than people imagine it to be.

Being human is in our nature

When we were born, we were blank slates. Then we started to receive input from our surroundings. Those inputs were saved in our memories and used as the reference from which to determine how we acted. 

We learned by observing how the people around us interacted with each other. We learned from how people acted towards us. We learned how the things we did caused people to do things. We learned how to do things to get what we wanted.

The things that happen in our lives are not accidental. They are the natural flow of karma of the bodies that we have chosen to be born into. We chose the lifestream we are in because, in our spirit state, we could see that the karmic flow of this body will offer us the challenges we need to resolve the longings that we still carry. But once we enter the body, we no longer have access to the knowledge of our spirit state. We become blank slates and have to learn from our own experiences.

Bhaja Govindam by Sadhguru

Adi Shankara, when he saw a group of scholars in Varanasi debating the finer points of Panini's grammar, admonished them for wasting their time on meaningless worldly pursuit. He sang the opening verse and the first 12 verses of the Bhaja Govindam to them. His disciples later added another 14 verses addressing other unnecessary distractions that people tend to get caught up in and also teaching what is important if one seeks mukti (realisation).

Sadhguru Jaggi includes three of the verses in some of his meditation cycles. He considers understanding of these principles to be critical in being able to cross the internal barrier and connecting with the divinity within. Having raised their receptivity during the previous stages of their meditation, the last stage is to meditate upon the meaning of these verses. Daily repetition of these meditation cycles helps to reinforce their internalization.

Do animals have souls?

The monotheistic religions are generally quite firm about humans being special and different from other beings. The belief is that humans are made in the image of God and only humans have souls. Therefore only humans have an afterlife which can be in heaven or hell. Some Christians believe there's a space called purgatory where lesser sinners suffer for a while until they qualify to enter heaven. 

But it looks like all three faiths have not taken into account one common theme in their scripture - the forbidden fruit and the banishment from Paradise. It is only humans who disobeyed, ate the forbidden fruit and were banished. Presumably, all the other beings are still in Paradise. If that is true, how can humans be the special ones?