Ultimate Reality and Non-Material Origin of Universe

Introduction
There are two types of realities; apparent reality and ultimate reality. Apparent reality is the one which appears real to our five senses; sight, sound, touch, smell and taste. Most of the things around us like table, chair, book, bed, body, house, etc. appear real to our senses and mind. These things come in the category of apparent reality. Ultimate reality is the one that remains invariant against time and condition. In other words, ultimate reality remains unchanged under all conditions and under all times. Is there anything in our knowledge that meets the requirements to be termed as ultimate reality? Let us examine.
We know that planets are changing, stars are changing, galaxies are changing, and the universe as a whole is changing very fast. Everything around us including our body is changing. What about senses, mind and intellect which are our knowledge acquiring agencies? A keen observer will find that his senses are changing with age and health; his mind, the seat of thought and emotion is changing very fast; his intellect, the faculty of logic, reason, discrimination, and conclusion is also changing with change in his knowledge. Thus we find that our knowledge acquiring agencies namely sense, mind and intellect are also changing. The knowledge acquired by the use of changing agencies can not meet the requirements of changeless ultimate reality. Is there any entity which we know without the use of our senses, mind and intellect and does that entity remains unchanged under all conditions and at all time to be called ultimate reality? Let us examine.


Awareness of One’s Existence
While contemplating on the ultimate reality a question emerged in my mind. “Others know that you are by seeing your face. How do you know that you are”? I thought, like most other people, that the answer is very simple. But it is not so. To know the true answer one should ask, am I or am I not? The answer without any doubt will always be that I am. There is never any doubt to anybody at any age under any condition about his existence. No one has ever known that he is not. The question is; how do you know that you are. Others know that you are by seeing you face. You do not see your face. Then how do you know that you are? Do you see or touch your body or hear your voice or use other two sense organs to know that you are? The answer after keen observation will be no. It means that you know that you are without seeing your body and using five senses. One may wonder how I know that I am without bringing my body into picture and using my five senses.
Rene Descartes the first great philosopher of science who lived in the first half of the seventeenth century thought that he had found solid answer when he made his famous statement. “I think, therefore I am”. Is it true? “In fact, by his famous statement Rene Descartes had given expression to the most basic error; to equate Being and identity with thinking” (Tolle, 1997). The question is; are you not when you are not thinking? Leave aside some persons who remain in Samadhi (thoughtless state of mind) for hours during the course of meditation; there are moments, though very rare, in the life of every one when one is not thinking. Still one is. No one at any time under any condition has known that he is not. It means that one knows that he is without bringing his body into picture and using his five senses and mind (thinking) which implies that the awareness of one’s existence (amness) is automatic.

Undifferentiated Consciousness
As shown above, one is aware of one’s existence (amness) without the use of his five senses, mind and intellect. It means that awareness (consciousness) of one’s existence is independent of five senses mind and intellect. This consciousness (awareness of one’s existence) is free from the knowledge of the individual I denoted by one’s name, fame, virtues, vices etc. There is no knowledge other than the knowledge of one’s impersonal existence (amness) in this consciousness. The knowledge of one’s impersonal existence is the only knowledge that every one has without the use of five senses, mind and intellect. It a unique doubtless knowledge called Prajnanam in Vedanta. Since this consciousness (amness) is independent of our five senses, mind and intellect, and as our body does not have any consciousness other than the consciousness experienced by five senses, mind and intellect, therefore this consciousness is independent of body also. It means that this particular consciousness (awareness of one’s impersonal existence) has independent existence.
“Though its systematic study has only just begun, consciousness---in the opinion of some eminent scientists today---is an absolute fundamental part of this universe and cannot simply be computed away or dismissed as airy metaphysics. Their conviction is based firmly on the careful examination of quantum nature (nonlocality and entanglement) of primary reality” (Bhaumik, 2005).
Since the awareness (consciousness) of one’s existence is not caused by the body and mind it must be the same for one and all. And for the same reason it must be free from thoughts and emotions, pleasures and pains, inferiority and superiority, anger and greed etc. caused by the body and mind. Because of this it must be an experience of perfect peace and bliss (absence of grief and also absence of sense pleasure). This has been found to be true by the persons who have been able to experience it in the thoughtless state of their mind. This consciousness (awareness of one’s impersonal existence) which has independent existence and is free from thoughts, emotions, pleasures, pains etc. is called Undifferentiated Consciousness. It is called Atman in Vedanta. Since this consciousness is independent of mind and body as shown above, it is the same for one and all. Therefore at the core of existence all is one. This oneness of all is the basis of ethics. The difference that we observe from person to person is due to the difference in their thoughts, emotions, pleasures, pains etc. caused by different brain processes. The consciousness caused by different brain processes is called differentiated consciousness that is being studies by neuroscientists, cognitive psychologists and artificial intelligence specialists. The consciousness that we normally experience is differentiated consciousness. The consciousness that one experiences in the thoughtless state of mind during meditation is undifferentiated consciousness. It is a very rare experience.

Ultimate Reality
Ultimate reality is that entity which remains unchanged under all conditions and at all times. Awareness of one’s impersonal existence (amness) called undifferentiated consciousness meets all the requirements to be termed as ultimate reality since it remains unchanged under all conditions and at all times. No one has ever known under any condition that he is not. The awareness of one’s existence remains unchanged during the entire life time of a person. There is nothing else other than this awareness (undifferentiated consciousness) in the experience of one and all that remains unchanged under all conditions and at all times during entire life time. It should be so on theoretical considerations also because undifferentiated consciousness is not caused by the body and mind that under go change with condition and time. Therefore, undifferentiated consciousness is the ultimate reality.
It is very difficult to describe undifferentiated consciousness because it is neither matter nor energy. Because of this it is not confined to any particular place. and The nearest description of undifferentiated consciousness is conscious space with one major difference. Before the emergence of universe (Big Bang) space was not there as matter and energy were not there to exist in it. There will be no space in the absence of the matter and energy. No such limitation is there for the existence of undifferentiated consciousness as it does not need space to exist because it is volume less like thought and emotion. It is timeless because of being changeless. It is called Brahma in Vedanta.

Non-Material Origin of Universe
The universe did not exist before 13.7 billions year ago as per the Big Bang model of universe. The known science can not explain from what and how the universe (energy and matter) came because when the cosmologists extrapolate the Big Bang model of universe just 4 minutes and 4 seconds further back in time before the Big Bang, the universe’s density and temperature becomes infinite, calculations become impossible and known physics breaks down completely. “The problem is such that careful theoretical work combined with a wealth of observations may never give us ultimate answers to how the universe came to be” (Aguirre, 2006). Science simply can not answer what was there before the Big Bang (Kruesi, 2007). “When we talk about before (Big Bang) we are taking in terms of time. Is it even reasonable to ask what happened in a time before time itself began, or are we stepping on God’s toe’s? Stay tuned for some interesting ideas” (Bhaumik, 2005).
The simple answer as to, what was there before the Big Bang and from where the universe (energy and matter) came 13.7 billion years ago is that undifferentiated consciousness was there because of being ultimate reality which remains unchanged under all conditions and at all times as proved above and, the universe (energy and matter) came out of it. The question is whether energy or matter came out first from undifferentiated consciousness or both came out together. The answer is provided by the fact that in the beginning the universe was almost entirely made up of energy (Aguirre, 2006). It means that energy came out first and got converted into matter because energy and matter are inter-convertible.
Since energy and matter are inter-convertible, and nature prefers symmetry, it is quite logical to assume that energy and undifferentiated consciousness are also inter-convertible with one major difference. Inter-conversion of matter and energy is quantitative given by well known Einstein’s equation E = mc2, but there can not be any quantitative relation in the inter-conversion of undifferentiated consciousness and energy. Because in the former, both the entities (matter and energy) are physical, while in the latter, one entity (energy) is physical and the other (undifferentiated consciousness) non-physical. There is no question of any increase or decrease in a non-physical entity. Undifferentiated consciousness will remain unchanged by any amount of energy going out of it or coming into it. It implies that any number of universes may emerge out or merge into undifferentiated consciousness without causing any change in it.
Thus the hypothesis about the inter-conversion of undifferentiated consciousness and energy is able to explain the emergence of not only our universe but trillions other as predicted by superstring theory, the best candidate for the theory to unify nature forces. However, the inter-conversion of undifferentiated consciousness and energy is not without any restriction. Such a conversion can take place only when laws of physics are not operative as was the case at the time of the origin of the universe. Such a conversion can not take place at the earth where the law of conservation of energy (matter) is operative.
To test this hypothesis one has to create conditions similar to the one that exited at the origin of universe when the laws of physics were not operative. Such conditions can not be created and the hypothesis can not be tested experimentally. However, inability to test the hypothesis does not mean that the hypothesis is not correct because there is no logical flaw in it and it is able to explain the origin of the universe in a very simple way.



Acknowledgement
I owe a deep sense of gratitude to my Guru Swami Bhoomanand Tirtha of Narayanashrama Tapovanam, Thrissur, Kerala, India for teaching me Vedanta, giving me Diksha and answering my many questions that led me to know the ultimate reality and write this paper.



References

Aguirre, Anthony (2006), ’Where Did it all Come From’, SKY & Telescope, 112(6), pp. 36-41.
Bhaumik, Mni (2006), Code Name God, pp, 162,175,176 (Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd, 11Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi, India. First published in the USA by the Crossroad Publishing Company in 2005).
Kruesi, Liz (2007), ‘Cosmology: What Came Before the Big Bang’, Astronomy, 35(5), p. 32.
Tolle, Eckhart (1997), The Power of Now, p.12 (Nameste Publishing Inc., Canada).