Epilogue Before the preordained glorious consummation of her aeonean pilgrimage, humanity must know more about her divine origin, the imperishable Splendor within, the fragile temple of clay it dwells in, and the life she must lead to fulfill her destiny. By a strange quirk of fate, the phenomenal progress she made during the last few centuries in gaining mastery over the forces of nature, has made her even poorer in the knowledge about her self. But one false step taken by the aristocracy of her intellect in relegating the mind to a secondary position as compared to the body--a palpable oversight--is at the bottom of the present crisis, which needs a counter-revolution in thought to defuse it. Her amazing achievements--abundance, wealth, advancement of learning, conquest over distance, time, disease and famine, unprecedented luxury, comfort and easements, wonders of space travel, marvels of surgery, the glamor and romance of an exciting and delightful life and the prospect of greater triumphs in future--all combined, cannot undo the consequences of the over-sight. If the mistake is not rectified, she would meet the same fate as she did over and over again in the vanished civilizations of the past. The signs of this deterioration are visible even now. Only a keener sight and wider knowledge is needed to discern them. This sight and this knowledge is the prerogative of sober minds that have gained the ability to look beyond the gaudy trappings of a passing show. The current perverse way of thinking that allots the first position to what is perishable and false, and the last to what is enduring and true is slowly cutting at the roots of the society. The great kingdoms and the ascendant nations of the past thought and behaved in the same way after attaining to lofty heights of culture and prosperity, only a few steps lower than ours. They fell because, at a certain point of their ascent, they did not know how to proceed further and came rolling down the slope never to rise again. The modern civilization is threatened in the same way on account of the same lack of knowledge of the path. The downward slide has already begun and, because of the greater height gained, the speed of the descent is more precipitate than ever was the case before! I hope I shall not be misunderstood if I make bold to say that the guiding lights of the race have lost the way, deceived by the luxuriant bloom of their intellect and the rank profusion of their creations. They fail to see, misled by the exuberance of the summer crop, that the icy chill of winter is ready to descend on the gorgeous scene. Why? Because, as the result of over-confidence in our mental endowment, based on an exaggerated picture of its capability, we are devoting by far more attention to the superfluous than the essential, to the branches than to the root in the false belief that our knowledge is comprehensive and correct. Let me take a single example. No one can deny that nature--blind and unintelligent, as we assume her to be--has taken extraordinary pains in designing and fashioning the head of the human body in order to protect from harm its extremely fragile occupant--the brain--a rare masterpiece of super-human craftsmanship, still a sealed book to the erudite. Layer after layer of protective sheaths, some tough and some of downy softness, interpose between the rough skull and the body of the delicate tenant, as a lining to its hard interior, to serve as a velvety cushion for the extremely tender inmate within. The skull itself is a thick, bony structure, dome-shaped for extra strength, covered with a woolly padding of hair to protect it from blows, knocks, strokes, bumps, heat, cold, radiation and the like. Apart from this triple line of defense, the cerebro-spinal fluid fills every fissure, cavity, nook and corner of the brain to act as a stress, jerk, jolt and shock absorber of incredible potency. The blood supply is so skillfully arranged that the chances of a failure are extremely curtailed. Apart from all this, there are ingenious devices in the sensory organs, directly linked to the brain, to prevent harm or pollution from coming in through them. There is no other organ of the body, including the precious heart and the priceless eyes, so well enclosed and protected against a rough environment and the possibility of injury as in this seat of life. At the time of birth, the head comes out first, protected by a marvelous fluidic cushion to ensure safety for this extremely delicate organ, always to be handled with tender care. But with this example of the extraordinary precautions taken by Nature before our eyes, how do most of us more understanding and far better informed than before, behave with this sovereign part of our mortal frame? Does it command priority in our daily roster of tasks and more attention than to other parts of the body? To be honest it does not. Far from that, it does not even figure in our daily thoughts at all. To enhance our beauty, charm, symmetry or strength do we not pay ten times more attention to the face, body and limbs than to the head? Are not beauty parlors, gymnasiums, massage salons, face-lifting clinics, swimming pools, Turkish and sauna baths, sports fields, golf courses, tennis courts, race tracks and the like, galore everywhere to attest the attention we pay to and the fondness we have for the other parts of our organic frame. Does the care of the head figure anywhere in these numerous departments of body care? How we repay the tender care of nature and treat this holy shrine of the soul is obvious from our complete lack of interest in and lack of regard for this master of our body whom she is so anxious to protect. Do not the pugilists make of it the first target for their smashing fists, the wrestlers for their crushing holds, the enthusiasts of self-defense a battering ram to floor their opponents, sturdy footballers a bat to hit back a streaking ball, the Asans--zealots, a stool to support their inverted trunk and legs in the air, keen swimmers a wedge to cleave the water with when diving from giddy heights, and so on. When closely examined, there surely will be found many other instances of this abuse. Do not even fond parents make this precious part of their child or its component, the face, their first choice for a box or a slap as a corrective for misbehavior, gentle ladies, when violent, their favorite site for scratching with nails or tearing out each other's hair; ardent lovers, when excited, the ideal place to pinch hard and bite the beloved, children, in fun, their butt to squeeze tightly under the elbow, and belabor with shoes, satchels or fists and mature grownups, to vent their rage, their chosen spot to hit with stones, beat with sticks, rain shattering blows on, shake violently by the throat or dash against a nearby wall of solid brick or stone? Has anyone, I ask, raised his voice against this desecration of the shrine of life, the most precious and the most tender organ in our body which nature takes endless pains to guard? Do we not expose this full-blown, exquisite flower of thought, unprotected to blistering heat and biting cold for sheer bravado, to jolts, jerks and knocks for fun and frivolity, to dizzy speed and giddy sport for amusement, to grinding labor and killing work for gain or fame, to sleepless nights and hectic days for nocturnal revel and even-tide sickly pleasure, without ever reminding ourselves that, as in the case of our other organs and limbs--heart, lungs, stomach, arms and legs--the resources of the brain cannot be unlimited and that there must be a border beyond which it is not safe to proceed. Apart from all these excesses, do we not in our self-escalated battle of life and frantic search for a front seat make this invaluable organ a helpless tool for our selfish designs, subjecting it to tension and distraction in pursuit of over-ambitious dreams, to ceaseless worry and anxiety as the fruit of acute rivalry and competition or to fear and fright by fostering hate and enmity? On top of these do we not expose it needlessly to rapid change of emotions--excitement, shock, terror, revulsion, suspense and the rest by senile infatuation with the sensation-loving news media, and immoderate passion for thrilling novels, exciting fiction, horror stories or bizarre narratives perused endlessly at all hours? Lastly, besides all this, do we not repeatedly subject it to angry outbursts and emotional storms, so furious they leave even the tough body sick and exhausted, what to say of the hyper-sensitive cerebral lobes? Above all, do not most of us sell this priceless treasure dirt cheap to its sworn enemies--bemusing drugs, befuddling wine and begriming tobacco--beyond a certain limit, all three sure poisons for the cerebro-spinal Tree of Life? Heaven alone knows to what monstrous degree we are out to undo with our own hands the master-work which it took patient nature millions of years to complete for the simple reason that, even at her present height of culture, mankind is still a stranger to her own brain? The fanatics who believe that human beings can carry on with impunity in any environment or dwell safely on man-built satellites orbiting the earth, or that families can be sent in rockets designed for exploration of distant planets, needing a life-time to reach, and then return to earth in the second or third generation, are living in a paradise of fools. The first internal study of the living brain will make the empiricists involved reel back in awed silence and surprise, for nature has concentrated all her ingenuity in this organic masterpiece. It is well to remember that there exists every device and every artifice in the brain to prevent the human race by her exuberant intellect from swerving even an inch from the path aligned for her. She shall either follow it or extinguish herself. This is the reason why the victorious empires of the past, often at the zenith of their glory, came tumbling down to earth to roll in dust for centuries, in the grip of delusive ideas of greatness, vain-glorious customs, unhealthy habits and unwholesome appetites. Humanity might be able to achieve anything by her matchless wit: flout the physical laws of nature, dry up oceans, inundate deserts, level mountains or make her home in the skies, but she never will be able to by-pass the brain to escape her destiny. Every word that I write is to be treated as a solemn affirmation of one who, by a strange dispensation of Providence, was led to an internal observation of his own brain, day and night, for a period of nearly forty-five years. The knowledge gathered, rudimentary and imperfect at this stage, will take volumes to fill. It is this hidden knowledge of the fountain-head of our life which is the aim of my life to bring to light. All that I write is not to be treated as a revelation in the usually accepted sense of the term, nor as a communication from a supernatural source, but as the carefully observed data of a normal human being--initially more of an agnostic than a believer--who has been irresistibly led to the conclusions expressed after he had exhausted every explanation he could think of to throw light on the occurrences in any other way. Even so, the observations made and the conclusions drawn are not to be accepted unless confirmed by a series of experiments done by other servants of humanity who believe that the tenets expounded have a degree of plausibility, entitling the phenomenon to further investigation in order to arrive at the truth. Nothing would grant me greater happiness than to see the start of a massive wave of interest in the internal exploration of the cerebral Temple and the Divine Light within, that has been the aim of every spiritual and occult discipline ever practiced on the earth. It is my prayer that, considering the magnitude of the phenomenon that I am relating and its paramount importance for the race, the subject may not be a topic of frivolous controversy over trifles, but an issue for other reflection and fruitful discussion, demanding a healthy exercise of the intellect on either side. From those who for whatever reason turn their nose in contempt at the avowals made, I humbly implore patience, reminding them of the truth that, "there are more things in earth than we can ever know of." It is good to remember that the object under discussion is the matchless asset and the very spring of life in every human being. But from all that is happening, it is clear that the people are not really conscious of the savior they carry in their head. For instance, how many of us reflect on the fact that every time we fall into the oblivion of sleep at night, we entrust ourselves without knowing it into the hands of a Guardian Angel who looks into every nook and corner of our reclining figure and with a gentle, feathern touch makes order where a jumble has been caused by our hectic or aggressive activity during the day? When awake in the morning, refreshed and calmed, cured of a mental fever or a bodily ailment by a restful sleep, how many of us send thanks to Providence for the priceless boon of the heavenly nurse who puts us to bed when, like naughty children, we have bruised ourselves in careless frolic and reckless sport, torn our dress with the brambles and thorns of vice, wickedness, excess or violence, or soiled our face and hands with the dirt of impure crooked, spiteful, vindictive or treacherous thought or act and wakes us up after healing the cuts, repairing the rents and washing clean the stains to make us presentable once again. How many of the wealthiest, the most learned and the mightiest of the earth ever realize that, after retiring to bed at night, now like other humble creatures no more inflated by their greatness, they rise in the morning the same as they had gone to sleep, to continue the thread of their life of affluence, academic honor or high command, only because the divine healer had been at work in their brain while they were lost to themselves and their applauding world. Our ceaseless activity of thought and endless play of emotions, from the tenderest to the most violent, make an ever-present process of repair an essential requirement of our cranial machine. The amount of bio-energy used in this continuous work of renewal and restoration depends on the extent of the wear and tear or the impairment caused. A balanced life of equanimity, patience and forbearance makes the process of repair less exacting, with less expenditure of the precious organic fuels sustaining life. With every improvement in the mental caliber of a population, there must come about a corresponding improvement in the repair mechanism, as in the mode of life to prevent excessive consumption of the vital essences. For this reason, at every stage of the mental or cultural progress of a people, concordance must prevail between the advancing intellect and the way of life of the multitudes. If this does not happen, the canker of decay invades the mass. It might be argued that over-occupation with the brain and over-attention to its care can become an obsession bound to curtail one's freedom and hamper the performance of other duties. To say the least, this is an imaginary fear. Our primitive ancestors walked barefoot over stones and thorns, squatted on bare earth, ate with unclean hands and took no notice of bodily hygiene at all. We have now learned to take good care of our feet, use fine socks and shoes, take a morning bath, pare our nails at intervals and wash our hands several times a day. This daily routine, the fruit of our culture, has not become an obsession nor does it interfere in any way with our normal schedule of work. On the other hand, it saves us from dirt and infection and makes us feel more composed and refreshed in attending to our duties during the day. But apart from using a head cover by day and a pillow at night, in contrast to our distant forbear who went bare-headed (except in the glacial periods) and stretched his uncovered body on the ground at night, we have not advanced much in our treatment of the encephalon, save giving it a wash and occasional trimming or cropping of the hair. Beyond that we have hardly made any progress compared to the care we lavish on the other parts of the body, exposed to view or used for movement and manual work. On the contrary, at least in one direction, we are even more careless than our savage ancestor. Denied the spectacle of alluring beauty and scintillating lights at night and less voluptuous in thought, from scanty food and hard exertion during the day, he usually followed the natural hours of sleep, allowing good rest to his growing brain. The result was that he progressed slowly, until the leisure and sensuous allurements of civilized life, leading to indolence, intemperance, abuse, excess, intoxication, late hours, unhealthy excitement, vice and venality, acting on the delicate organ--most precious and now most abused by him--brought every civilization he erected irretrievably to the earth. The rationalists believe that the elements and forces of nature surrounding us are dead; that the wind blows and the earth rotates in concordance with inviolable physical laws, and that man is the monarch of all that he surveys as there is no sign or evidence to prove the existence of a divine power or a Master-Mind behind the vast creation known to us. They argue in this vein because they have little knowledge of the very source from which this thinking comes. If the ancient physicians had been as knowledgeable in the distempers of the brain as they were in the diseases of the body, the history of mankind would have been radically different and the nations that once rose to the pinnacle of power would never have lost their supremacy. Similarly, were the erudite of today as highly versed in the knowledge of this organ as they are in the other parts of the human frame, the race would not be facing a serious threat to her life at this time. That is the reason why the foremost nations of our day, commanding the richest and most fertile intellectual talent the earth has ever seen, display the same symptoms and are poised for the same fall. The rise and fall of empires, kingdoms, royal dynasties, princely houses, aristocracies and wealthy families presents a most instructive phenomenon of history. The erudite, even when professing belief in God, seldom envision the existence of a divine law ruling the fate of human-kind. For many of the believers God is a figure-head who lets His creatures manage their affairs as they like. It is hard to imagine for a dry intellect that every quantum leap of an atomic particle, every descent of a raindrop and every fall of a leaf happens under command. We are encompassed by an Intelligence beyond the widest flight of human thought. The recent studies of the marvelous code embedded in a gene should have proved sufficient to humble our pride, but it has had a contrary effect and made many of us proud of our own ability in discovering it. We seldom imagine, when face to face with a wonder of creation, that the Intelligence behind it surpasses our understanding a million times more than we surpass the understanding of a mole. Our own brain marks the frontier where the human wit must come to a halt. From it the territory forbidden to the intellect begins. This is the place of confluence where the divine and the mundane meet. The most minute scrutiny of the organ carried on for ages would only show the corporeal. The cerebral chamber must be illuminated from within to light up for us the otherwise invisible planes of creation to which our mind and spirit belong. Inner Light has been a common feature of all genuine mystical experiences, irrespective of the place and the period of time. The appearance of this splendor marks the opening of a new center of perception in the brain, vital for the knowledge of supersensory worlds. With this endowment, a new chapter in the life of an individual is opened, a new heroic adventure and a new illuminating study begin. There was a time when human beings viewed the epidemics of smallpox, plague or cholera as the work of evil spirits or as a visitation from heaven against which no human effort could prevail. Our attitude of mind towards the ascension and decline of ancient kingdoms of the moral deterioration occurring before our eyes is, more or less, the same. Humanity is in grave jeopardy because she faces a deplorable lack of expert advisers on the organ of her thought. Looking at specialists and experts in every sphere of human activity, interest or need, from the care of feet to the exploration of space, or from the culture of bees to the nuclear Armageddon, it is heart-rending to find a gaping void where the space should have been most crowded to keep the race well posted about the state of health and efficiency of the sole arbiter of her destiny, the one very delicate instrument of her life, progress, happiness and survival on which all her other interests depend, that is, her brain! The ideal will be realized when, in the years to come, expert knowledge of the incorporeal and the corporeal constituents of the human encephalon is combined in the same specialist. This combination of the sage and the scientist would be the harbinger of a Golden Age for humanity. Intuition and reason must walk hand in hand to prepare the race for her existence in both the sensory and super-sensory worlds. No one can be more surprised than I am at the unbelievable results that followed my staggering experience in December, 1937. Had I heard the same story from the lips of another before I underwent the experience myself, I would have found it hard to believe the narrator, even if I knew that he was a strict adherent of truth. It is, therefore, no shock to me when I fail to enlist belief from those who hear or read my narrative. I never ceased to be a self-critic, even after my entry to the lustrous plane which forms the wonder-gallery of my life. Repeatedly I ask myself, as I would ask a stranger: how does it happen that an obscure creature, so poor in academic attainments, so unimpressive among the glittering assemblies of the earth, and so acutely conscious of his insignificance in so vast an amphitheater, should push himself forward at this particular time to call attention to a serious omission in the knowledge of the learned about an important subject of utmost urgency for the race. But knowing how inscrutable are the ways of Providence, I content myself with the answer that I should accept it as my destiny and do all that I can to perform the duty that now devolves on me with truth, honesty and proper care, until the Light that brought the summons discards the body, which is now executing it, to mingle with the splendor wherein she dwells, letting the dress of clay return to the earth wherefrom it came. To divert attention towards a new subject of study is a hard task to achieve. In this case, it is more so as it involves a departure from the current methods employed for the study of mind. Secondly, the subject itself is likely to be frowned upon as an archaic superstition paraded in disguise. The reason is that there are always only a few who reflect seriously on an entirely new concept or an unexpected line of thought and fewer still who can envision the future possibilities inherent in it. But there always are courageous men and women who, intuitively drawn to the new idea and convinced of its importance, dedicate their lives, their time, talent and resources to find out and disseminate the Truth. It is by the noble effort and heroic sacrifice of this rare class of benefactors that the race has progressed, so far, and shall continue to do so in the ages to come. Gopi Krishna October 5, 1982 Dehra Dun, (U.P.) India