Are we the only one?

One fish said to the another, “Do you believe in the ocean that they talk about?”
This Chinese saying illustrates how narrow our vision of the universe can be. We see the world from our limited perceptual framework. Despite an overwhelming evolution of the human race, the human mind is severely restricted by what it can perceive through the sensors. What we can hear is limited by the frequencies our ears can process---Canines can hear many higher frequencies and hence have a very different perception of the same sounds. Our sight is limited by the light frequencies our eyes can relate to; since pit vipers can sense heat from infrared rays they must construct the same world rather differently. If we had a different receiver mechanism, we would be hearing other frequencies and seeing in new ways.
With scientific knowledge, we know that many things are not what they appear to be--- the sky is not blue, only the scattering of the blue light absorbed by the atmosphere makes it appear so; the moon doesn’t rise in the night; and the house we live is not stationary, but rotates along with the earth. Essentially, we see, hear and process what we can and not what realty is.
Truth realization is not easy. Besides the difficulty, our perceptions are further clouded by our personal thoughts and emotions. A Buddhist verse says:” Is anything on earth universally and unanimously recognized as beautiful? For a lover, a beautiful woman is an object of desire, for the hermit, a distraction, for the wolf a good meal.”
What is the truth, then? Everything in the universe is made up of energy. All beings are manifestations of the same energy. This vital force breathes life into every living being and sustains every cell and organism. IT is like an enormous field of colourless and odourless energy which encompasses everything and every being that we can imagine--- all of that existing; not in isolation or in separation, but in one continuum.
What appears solid is only so because of the frequency of wavelengths that our senses are capable of perceiving. Our minds create a three-dimensional world from this continuum of free-flowing energy, comprising of electrons and neutrons. Like the fish in the Chinese saying, when we cannot see this continuum, we are limited to noticing the individual parts of the creation. As a result, the trees, the animals humans and all other objects seem disjointed from us. ‘I’ as an individual does not exist, never will—the sense of ‘I’ is merely a perception of our limited mind.
From Einstein we know that matter and energy are interchangeable; they are essentially one. Similarly the same identity ( call it God, if you wish) is in each one of us, and we are part of the same whole. This knowledge can set us free.
As we make a conscious effort to stay connected with this realization, we become better equipped to playing the roles of our life—businessman, teacher, wife, father and friend--- with tremendous happiness and inner peace. This connection lets us like an actor who plays his role on stage with great sincerity but stays conscious of the fact that he is really not the character he is playing--- and thus not overly identifies with the fortunes and misfortunes of his given role!

India conquers poverty, on paper

The Planning Commission has told the Supreme Court that anyone spending more than
Rs.965 per month in urban India and Rs.781 in rural India will be deemed to be not poor. Updating the poverty line cutoff figures, the Commission says those spending in excess of Rs.32 a day in urban areas or Rs.26 a day in villages would no longer be eligible to draw benefits of government welfare schemes for those living below the poverty line.
According to the suggested new criterion, if a family of four in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore or Chennai is spending more than Rs.3860 per month on themselves, it would not be considered poor.
Is it not just a ploy to artificially depress the number of poor in India?