UNIT 4

Understanding the harmony in the Nature, Interconnectedness and mutual fulfilment among
the four orders of nature recyclability and self-regulation in nature, Understanding Existence as
Co-existence of mutually interacting units in all-pervasive space, Holistic perception of harmony
at all levels of existence.

Harmony in nature

The aggregate of all the mutually interacting units – big or small, sentient or insentient together can be
called nature. These units are infinite in number and we could easily observe that there exists a
dynamic balance, self-regulation among all these units. This self-regulation is harmony or balance in
nature. The law of nature has a unique cause and effect system which must be understood in order to
be in harmony with the natural law of things.

Natural harmony is necessary for the following reasons:

1. Natural harmony is necessary to solve the problem of global warming and depletion of non-
renewable natural resource can be avoided.
2. Natural harmony with trees cure all problems like – reduction of wind velocity, energy
savings, doing companion planting, development of an eco-subsystem in terms of establishing a
forest garden, reduction of building heat.
3. It is possible to achieve natural harmony in the establishment, maintenance and management
of educational institution like schools, colleges and universities.
4. One can understand the depths of harmony and alignment in natural by contemplating and
reflecting upon the natural order. It is possible to unravel the mystery of the natural synthesis in
the midst of ongoing chaos at the material plane.

Co-existence
Co-existence in nature means there is a relationship and complementarity among all the entities in
nature including human beings. Co-existence is a state in which two or more groups are living
together while respecting their differences and resolving their conflicts non-violently. Co-
existence has been defined in numerous ways:
1. To exist together (in time or space) and to exist in mutual tolerance.
2. To learn to recognize and live with difference.
3. To have a relationship between persons or groups in which none of the parties is trying to
destroy the other.
4. To exist together (in time or place) and to exist in mutual tolerance.

The world is full of Diversity – there are different nations, cultures, religions, communities,
languages, and beliefs. The beauty of existence can only be maximized if everything in this world is
in harmony. Peaceful, symbiotic co-existence is the key to harmony in the world.
Innateness

Innateness (dharana): Innateness means qualities which are innate to the unit. Each unit in
existence exhibits an innateness, an intrinsic quality that cannot be separated from it. We refer this
principle as innateness also called dharna of that unit. This is intrinsic to the unit.

Material order: When we burn coal and it has finished burning and only some ash is left and smokes
have gone out, it is not that the basic material, the fundamental particles in coal, have ‘cease to exist’
or ‘disappeared’ from existence. They may not be visible to the eye at that moment, but they continue
to exist, they still are in the form of other matter or in the form of gases, etc. This is there with all
material units. We cannot destroy matter, we can only convert it from one form to the other. Thus, “to
exist”, or ‘existence’ is intrinsic to all material, it is innate to it. We cannot separate the ‘existence’ of
a thing from the thing itself.

Plant/bio order: Because the pranic order is a development of the material order, it also has the
innateness of ‘existence’. In addition, it also exhibits the ‘growth’. This principle of ‘growth’ cannot
be separated from any units of this order. If it is of pranic order, it will grow. For example, if you have
a plant, you cannot stop it from growing. It will continue to respire and keep changing in this way.
The only way you can stop it from growing is by cutting it, but when you do that, it ceases to belong
to the pranic order, instead decays and then belongs to the material order. So, as long as you have a
plant, it will grow.

Animal order: The animal body is a development of the pranic order and therefore this order inherits
the innateness of the previous order namely ‘existence’ and ‘growth’. This is at the level of the body,
which is physico-chemical in nature. In addition, all units in this order have the ‘will to live’ in ‘I’.
Indeed no unit in this order can be separated from this ‘will to live’. It is intrinsic to every unit in this
order.

Human (knowledge) order: When we look at the human being, we find that ‘existence’ and ‘growth’
are fundamentally present in the body, just as in the animal body. At the level of ‘I’ however, in
addition to the ‘will to live’, a human being’s innateness is the ‘will to live with happiness’.

Order Things Innateness

Material order Soil, water, metals, etc. Existence
Pranic order Plants and trees Existence + growth
Animal order Animals and birds (Existence + growth) in body + will to live in ‘I’
Human order Human beings (Existence + growth) in body + will to live with
happiness in ‘I’
Natural characteristic
When we look at the different orders in nature, we find that each order has a certain value. In a
fundamental way, this is the ‘usefulness’ or ‘participation’ of the order in existence. This ‘value’ or
‘participation’ is also referred to as “natural characteristic”. The ‘characteristic’ the order displays in
‘natural to itself’. This is the same as the value of the entity, or its participation also called ‘svabhava’.
The svabhava of material order is ‘composition/decomposition’, of Plant/bio order is
‘composition/decomposition’ and to nurture or worsen other pranic units. The svabhav of animal
order and human order can be understood in two aspects: body and self. The svabhav of animal order
is Composition / decomposition, nurture / worsen in body and non cruelty, cruelty in ‘I’. The svabhav
of human order is Composition / decomposition, nurture

/ worsen in body and perseverance, bravery, generosity in ‘I’.

Similar as to the case in animals, the human body also belongs to the plant/ bio order and hence has
the same svabhava or value/natural characteristic as the pranic order. It either nurtures or worsens
other pranic units. As in the example above, when I digest the vegetable, I absorb the plant and it
worsens, while my body is nurtured. The svabhava/ value of the self (‘I’) in human beings is
perseverance (dhirata), bravery (virata) and generosity (udarata).
 Perseverance (dhirata): Being assured that the all encompassing solution is to understand and
live in harmony at all levels of existence, living with this commitment without any perturbation.
 Bravery (virata): Being assured that the all encompassing solution is to understand and live in
harmony at all levels and I am ready to help the other to have the right understanding. This is the
commitment to help the other have the right understanding of the harmony and living at all levels
of existence.
 Generosity (udarata): Being assured that the all encompassing solution is to understand and
live in harmony at all the four levels and I am ready to invest myself, my body and wealth to help
the other have the right understanding.

Human beings are not living as per this natural characteristic; even though we have a svabhava,
we are not living according to this. This is basic reason for the contradiction and conflict that we see
in human being. This is what leads to a state of unhappiness. Only when we live according to our
basic human characteristics as mentioned above, we have definite character, otherwise, it is not
definite, it is uncertain, unlike other three orders as discussed above.

Order Things Natural Characteristic

Material order Soil, water, metals, etc. Composition / decomposition
Pranic order Plants and trees Composition / decomposition + nurture / worsen
Animal order Animals and birds (Composition / decomposition, nurture / worsen) in
body + (non cruelty, cruelty) in ‘I’
Human order Human beings (Composition / decomposition, nurture / worsen) in
body + (perseverance, bravery, generosity) in ‘I’
Four orders of nature

All the physical objects that are in solid, liquid or gas state either living or non-living, collectively
termed as nature. In other words, the aggregate of all the mutually interacting units – big or small,
sentient or insentient together can be called nature. These units are infinite in number and we could
easily observe that there exists a dynamic balance, self regulation among all these units. There are
four orders of nature:

Material order: The big land mass of the continents, gigantic water bodies like ocean and seas,
mountains and rivers, the atmosphere above, the heaps of metals and mineral below, the dense gases
and fossil fuels deep below the surface of the earth – all fall into the material order or padartha
avastha. In fact, if we look around beyond the earth, the material order is visible even in the form of
stars, planets, moons and several astronomical bodies.

Pranic order: Our land mass is covered with grass and small shrubs and they form the lining on the
entire soil. Shrubs, plants and trees form huge forest along with the flora in the ocean. All of this is
the plant/bio order or prana avastha and it is the next big order on our planet. (The material order is far
greater in quantity compared to the plant/bio order)

Animal order: Animals and birds form the third largest order and we call them the animal order or
jiva avastha. Here again, we see that the plant/bio order is far greater in quantity than the animal
order.

Human order: Human are the smallest order and they are referred to as human order or gyana
avastha. Animals are far greater in quantity as compared to the human order.

Differences and similarities between animal order and human order

The two orders can be distinctly recognized in terms of their characteristics, participation with other
units in similar order, activities, pattern of inheritance, etc. We can see this in the following diagram:
Order Things Activity Innate- Natural Basic Conformance
ness Activity
Characteristic
Animal Animals (Composition / (Exisetence (Composition / (Recognising, Breed

order and decomposition, + growth) decomposition, fulfillment) in conformance

in
birds respiration) in nurture / body +
body + will worsen)
body + (assuming,
selection to live in in body + (non
‘I’ recognising,
in ‘I’ cruelty,
cruelty) fulfillment) in

in ‘I’ ‘I’
 Human Human (Composition / (Exisetence (Composition / Recognising, Right values /

order beings decomposition, + growth) decomposition, fulfillment in sanskara

in
respiration) in nurture / body + conformance
body + will worsen)
body + (knowing,
to live with in body +
(selection, assuming,
happiness (perceverance,
thought, in recognising,
desire) bravery,
‘I’ fulfillment) in
in ‘I’ generosity) in
‘I’ ‘I’

Things (Vastu)

Animal order: The animal order is made of various kinds of animals and birds. These entities display
both a body (physicochemical activity) as well as a conscious activity (self or ‘I’). The animal order
thus is the coexistence of the animal body (pranic order) and the self (or ‘I’ = consciousness).

Human (knowledge) order: The human order is constituted of all the human beings. Each human
being is coexistence of the self (‘I’, conscious entity = consciousness) and the body (pranic order).

Activity (Kriya)

Animal Order: Body In Animals – Physico-Chemical Activities: The body displays respiration, or
breathing, or pulsating also there is composition/ decomposition in the body.

‘I’ In Animals – Conscious Activities: The activities in ‘I’ are fundamentally different from those in
the body. ‘I’ is a unit that has the ability or capacity of assuming. Animals make assumptions. If
we have a dog and some strangers come into the house, the dog may start barking at him. If this
person stays at our house, the dog may stops barking at him, but will continue to bark at other
strangers. What has happened here is that the dog’s ‘assumption’ about this person has changed, due
to which; the way in which it responds to the person has changed. We call this assuming.

Human Order: The activities in human body are similar to that in the animal body, i.e. composition/
decomposition and respiration. When it comes to consciousness or ‘I’, however, the human displays
more than just an ability to ‘select’ or make choices as animals do. In human beings, ‘I’ has the
activities of desiring, thinking, and selecting/tasting, with a possibility or need for understanding and
realization. Only humans have this need to know and that is why it is called gyana avastha – the
knowledge order.
Innateness (dharana)

Animal Order: The animal body is a development of the pranic order and therefore this order inherits
the innateness of ‘existence’ and ‘growth’. This is at the level of the body, which is physicochemical
in nature. In addition, all units in this order have the ‘will to live’ in ‘I’. Indeed no unit in this order
can be separated from this ‘will to live’. It is intrinsic to every unit in this order.

Human Order: When we look at the human being, we find that ‘existence’ and ‘growth’ are
fundamentally present in the body, just as in the animal body. At the level of ‘I’ however, in
addition to the ‘will to live’, a human being’s innateness is the ‘will to live with happiness’.

Natural Characteristics (Svabhava)

Animal Order: The body of the animal belongs to the plant/bio or pranic order, and hence has the
same ‘usefulness’ or ‘value’ as the pranic order. Thus ‘nurture/worsen’ is the svabhava of the
animal body. The svabhava of the self (‘I’) of the animal order is non-cruelty (akrurata) and
cruelty (krurata). Cruelty (krurata) means the feeling that it can fulfil its needs through violence and
forcefulness. For ex., cows may largely be living with a feeling of non-cruelty (akrurata); while
animals like tigers and lions may exhibit cruelty (krurata).

Human Order: Similar as to the case in animals, the human body also belongs to the plant/ bio order
and hence has the same svabhava or value/natural characteristic as the pranic order. It either
nurtures or worsens other pranic units. As in the example above, when I digest the vegetable, I
absorb the plant and it worsens, while my body is nurtured. The svabhava/ value of the self (‘I’) in
human beings is perseverance (dhirata), bravery (virata) and generosity (udarata).
1. Perseverance (dhirata): Being assured that the all encompassing solution is to understand
and live in harmony at all levels of existence.
2. Bravery (virata): I am ready to help the other to have the right understanding.
3. Generosity (udarata): I am ready to invest myself, my body and wealth to help the other
have the right understanding.

Basic Activity:

Animal Order: there is only recognising, and fulfilment in body, and in self (I) there is the basic
activity of assuming, recognising, fulfilment.

Human Order: human displays the same basic activity as that of animal body i.e. Recognising,
fulfilment, but in self (I) human have one more activity i.e. knowing.

Conformance (Anu-Sangita)

Animal order: Animals conform to their lineage. How animals are, their behaviour is according to
their lineage they belong to, the lineage they come from. Hence, we say that an animal conforms to
its breed, or has ‘breed conformance’. This breed conformance method is the mechanism by means
of which the continuity of an animal species is maintained in nature/existence.
Human (knowledge) order: We humans are not according to our lineage or race, as in animals. We
humans are according to our imagination; according to our desires, thoughts and selection in ‘I’. The
desires, thoughts and selections we have in ‘I’ can come from past memories, our parents, the
environment, and the media, anywhere. In the case of humans, we can say ‘as the education, so the
human’. Together, we call these ‘sanskara’. Hence, we say that a human being conforms to his or
her sanskar or has ‘sanskaar conformance’.

Activities and Natural Characteristics

Combination of all that is in solid, liquid or gas state, or the aggregate of all the mutually interacting
units – big or small, sentient or insentient together can be called nature. We can categorize all these
units into four distinct orders.

 Material order  Pranic order

 Animal order  Human order

The four orders can be distinctly recognised in terms of their natural characteristics and activities.
Order Things Activity Natural Characteristic
Material Soil, water, Composition / decomposition Composition / decomposition

order metals, etc

Pranic Plants and Composition / decomposition + Composition / decomposition + nurture
/ worsen
order trees respiration
Animal Animals (Composition / decomposition, (Composition / decomposition,
and birds nurture / worsen) in body + (non
order respiration) in body + selection in cruelty, cruelty) in ‘I’
‘I’

Human Human (Composition / decomposition, (Composition / decomposition,

nurture / worsen) in body + (bravery,
order beings respiration) in body + (selection, perseverance, generosity) in ‘I’
thought, desire) in ‘I’

Q. How will you show interconnectedness and mutual fulfilment in four order of nature with
examples?

or

There are four orders in nature. How does each order participate in the harmony in the nature?
Give few examples. * Imp

or
Human order related to the other three orders in nature
In the nature, all the units are connected to each other and fulfilling each other. Human being is
related to all other human beings. On this basis, we have feelings and emotions for everyone. Human
being is connected to all the material units in the existence and gets aware of it as he starts exploring
it. We can see this interconnectedness and mutual fulfilment in the following diagram:

Material Order and Plant/Bio-Order: The material order provides the nutrients to the plant/bio
order in the form of soil, minerals, etc while the plant/ bio order decays and forms more nutrients,
thus enriching the soil. The plant/bio order also decays to substances like oil and coal, which are
stored deep within the earth as protection against the heat from the molten core inside the earth as
well as the heat from the sun (today, this is the material we are removing and using as fuel). Plants
help move the nutrients through the various layers of the soil. The roots of the plants hold the soil
together and prevent the soil from erosion. Plants produce oxygen/ carbon dioxide and thus help in the
movement of the material order. There is a mutual interdependency and co-existence we can see here.

Material Order, Plant/Bio- Order and Animal Order: The material order provides the basis for
movement of all animals, birds and fishes. Water, oxygen and other gases are necessities for both
plants and animals. At the same time, the animal order helps enrich the soil with its excreta and these
excreta help the plants with nutrients. The plant/bio order provides food for animals, birds and fishes.
The animal Order helps in pollination of the flowers of the pranic order.

Material Order, Plant/Bio- Order, Animal Order and Human Order: We humans also have a
natural acceptance to be mutually fulfilling to these three orders. However, we are not able to ensure
this mutual fulfillment. We are dependent on the material order for soil and minerals and metals, but
only end up polluting the soil and depleting the fossil fuels; we are dependent on plants for our food
and holding together the larger ecosystem, but we have destroyed forests and destroyed multiple
species of plants and herbs; we are dependent on animals to carry out our production and
transportation activities, but have made many species of animals extinct, and are today known for our
cruelty towards animals. We can see that there is interconnectedness and mutual fulfillment in all the
orders of nature except human order. We have to work on this.
Recyclability and self-regulation in nature

There are several cyclical processes that we can see in nature. For example the cycle of water,
evaporating, condensing and precipitating back to water giving the weather phenomena. The cycles
keep these materials self-regulated on the earth. Breeds of plants and animals are similarly self-
regulated in their environment. In a forest, the growth of trees takes place in a way so that the amount
of soil, plants and animals remains conserved. It never happens that the number of trees shoots up and
there is a lack of soil for the trees. The appropriateness of the conditions for growth of both plants and
animals are self-regulated in nature keeping the population proportions naturally maintained. This
phenomenon is termed as self-regulation. In a single breed of animals, the number of males and
females generated through procreation is such that the continuity of species is ensured by itself. This
happens with humans too, but inhuman practices have led to disproportionate numbers of men and
women. These two characteristics namely, cyclical nature and self-regulation provide us with some
clues of the harmony that is in nature.

CONFORMANCE

Each unit conforms through the principle of conformance or anusangita. It means how the continuity
of the fundamental nature of the unit is preserved.
Order Material order Pranic order Animal order Human order
Things Soil, water, Plants and trees Animals and Human beings
metals, etc birds

Conformance Constitution Seed Breed Right values /

sanskara conformance
conformance conformance conformance
Material order: The continuity of the fundamental nature of the material unit is preserved through
the physical and chemical processes. Take iron for example. Each atom of iron conforms to the
constitutional structure of ‘Iron’. There is no atom of iron that will be unlike the other atom of iron, if
it were, we would not call it iron. We call this ‘constitution conformance’. The material order exhibits
constitution conformance. We can verify this for all things in the material order. For example, oxygen,
nitrogen, other gasses, gold, silver, aluminum… all of them conform to and are always according to
the constitution of their kind. Hence, we say that any matter conforms to its constitution or has
‘constitution conformance’.

Plant/bio order: A neem seed will always sprout a neem plant. All of us know this. Its fruits, its
leaves, the taste of the leaves, the colour of the leaves, all this information, this basic information of
every neem plant are stored in the seed. Thus, we say the plant is always as the seed, or we can say,
‘as the seed, thus the plant’. Hence, we say that a plant conforms to the seed, or has ‘seed
conformances’. This ‘seed conformance’ method is the mechanism by means of which the
continuity of a plant species is maintained in nature/existence.

Animal order: We see that a cow is always like a cow, and a dog is always like a dog. Animals
conform to their lineage. How animals are, their behavior, is according to their lineage they belong to,
the lineage they come from. Hence, we say that an animal conforms to its breed, or has ‘breed
conformance’. This breed conformance method is the mechanism by means of which the
continuity of an animal species is maintained in nature/existence.

Human (knowledge) order: We can see that we humans are not according to our lineage or race, as
in animals. We may pick up something from our parents as we grow up, but we are usually very
different in many ways from them. We humans are according to our imagination; according to our
desires, thoughts and selection in ‘I’. The desires, thoughts and selections we have in ‘I’ can come
from anywhere. It can come from past memories; it can come from our parents, the environment,
media and from anywhere. In the case of humans, we can say ‘as the education, so the human’. We
are according to our desires, thoughts and selections. Together, we call these ‘ sanskara’. Hence, we
say that a human being conforms to his or her sanskar or has ‘sanskaar conformance’.

HUMAN ORDER IS DIFFERENT WITH THAT OF ANIMAL AND

PLANT ORDER

An activity means something that ‘has motion’ and /or ‘has a result’. The material order is active in
multiple ways, and the same with the plant order or animal order or human order. We are sitting in a
room. But we are active. We are thinking, desiring, the body has breath running, heart throbbing. The
air in the room is blowing. The wall standing constantly also has activity. The chair in the room is
also active. It may not be very visible to our eyes but the chair is still active.

We can understand this activity in two ways:

 Things that we see are ‘visibly moving’, through the naked eyes, such as a spinning top, a
moving bus, a running man, are active, and
  All things that are ‘visibly stationery’, are not moving, are also active. Like a stationary chair.
The activity of chair is that the wood of the chair is interacting with the environment and as a
result it decays with time.

All units around us, including ourselves, are active, all the time. They are interacting with the
environment. In the activity, there is a state or configuration and motion simultaneously. This remains
all the time.
Order Things Activity
Material order Soil, water, metals, etc. Composition / decomposition
Pranic order Plants and trees Composition / decomposition + respiration
Animal order Animals and birds (Composition / decomposition, respiration)

in body + selection in ‘I’

Human order Human beings (Composition / decomposition, respiration)

in body + (selection, thought, desire) in ‘I’

Material order: All material things (i.e. units in the material order) can be understood as an activity
of ‘units’ coming together to form a bigger unit. We call this ‘composition’. For example, the chair is
made of smaller pieces of wood. Bigger units can also separte from each other to form smaller units
and we call this ‘decomposition’. Like a wooden chair can decay after a few years. Thus any unit in
the material order can be understood as an ‘activity of ‘composition/decomposition’.

Plant/bio order: When we look at all the units that make up the plant/bio order we will find that they
can be understood in terms of composition/ decomposition and respiration. Not only do plants
compose (following new plants) and decompose (decaying), they are also breathing, or pulsating,
which we call respiration.

Animal order: We can understand the activities of animal order in two aspects:

• Body In Animals – Physicochemical Activities The body displays the same activities that we see
the plant. The body displays respiration, or breathing, or pulsating, as we call it. The body is also
formed at one point in time and keeps building cells as well, i.e. there is composition in the body.
Hence, the activities in the body are the same as that in the plant/bio order, which are: composition/
decomposition and respiration. Hence, we say that the body belongs to plant/bio order.

• ‘I’ In Animals – Conscious Activities The activities in ‘I’ are fundamentally different from those in
the body. ‘I’ is a unit that has the ability or capacity of assuming. Animals make assumptions. If
you have a dog and some strangers come into the house, the dog may start barking at him. If this
person stays at your house, the dog may stops barking at him, but will continue to bark at other
strangers. What has happened here is that the dog’s ‘assumption’ about this person has changed, due
to which; the way in which it responds to the person has changed. We call this assuming.
It is important to note that this consciousness or faculty of assuming is not in the body. The body
belongs to the plant/bio order, and is physicochemical in nature. It just responds to physicochemical
inputs.

Human (knowledge) order: The activities in human body are similar to that in the animal body, and
we have seen this in detail as: composition/ decomposition and respiration. When it comes to
consciousness or ‘I’, however, the human displays more than just an ability to ‘select’ or make
choices as animals do.

Thus, in human beings, ‘I’ has the activities of desiring, thinking, and selecting/tasting, with a
possibility or need for understanding and realization. Only humans have this need to know and that is
why it is called gyana avastha – the knowledge order.

BASIC ACTIVITY IN THE FOUR ORDERS IN NATURE

Order Things Basic Activity

Material order Soil, water, metals, etc. . Recognizing, fulfillment
Pranic order Plants and trees Recognizing, fulfillment
Animal order Animals and birds (Recognizing, fulfillment) in body + (assuming,
recognizing, fulfillment) in ‘I’
Human order Human beings Recognizing, fulfillment in body + (knowing, assuming,
recognizing, fulfillment) in ‘I’

In the material and pranic order, there is only recognizing and fulfillment. Such units do not
have the activities of assuming and knowing. Take for example, hydrogen and oxygen recognize
the relation to each other, and combine to form water. A brick and the other brick have a definite
relation, recognize it and get arranged to form a building. A plant recognizes the relation with sun and
water, and fulfils it by acting accordingly. Such activities take place in a similar way all the time,
there is no selection involved here. A plant does not choose to turn or not to turn to sun, absorb or not
to absorb water. Similarly, the fan in your room does not choose to rotate clockwise or anti-clockwise.
It turns as per the winding in the motor. No choice.

When we look at the animals and humans, we find selection taking place.

NATURE IS LIMITED AND SPACE IS UNLIMITED

Nature has four orders and there are units in each order. Each unit is limited in size. The size ranges
from being really small (atom) to really big (galaxies). Each and every unit is finite and limited in
size, be it the smallest particle or the biggest galaxies. Space, on the other hand is unlimited. Space
has no ‘size’, unlike units, it is not bounded. So, there is no beginning or end to space, as there is to
units. For example, when we take a book, we know that it starts and finishes. We say the book is
‘limited’ in size. When we take space, there is no such thing. There is space behind us, inside us,
between us and the book, between the book and the earth, in the book, in every page of it, inside the
page, and beyond the earth…. all the way till we can imagine. We find that space pervades; it is all-
pervading. Units, on the other hand are not all-pervading. This is how we recognize them as units.

NATURE IS SELF ORGANIZED AND IN SPACE SELF-ORGANIZATION

Every unit is an organization. A unit recognizes other units and combines to form a bigger
organization. Starting from the atom, to the big galaxy, this organization goes on, as a self-
organization. At every level, we get a self-organization. Sub atomic particles recognize each other and
come together to form atoms. Cells recognize each other and form organizations like organs and a
body. Planetary bodies, solar systems, galaxies are still bigger organizations. We are not organizing it.
We are not supplying it organization from outside.

When we look at humans, we see that we are self-organized at the level of the body. We are not
organizing the body. We are not doing anything for the coordination between the heart, kidneys,
lungs, eyes, brain, hands, legs, etc. All these are functioning together. Our input is needed only to
provide the required nutrition, and to assist the body when we fall sick/get injured. At the level of ‘I’,
we are not self-organized, but being in space, self-organization is available to the self (‘I’). That’s
why we are in pursuit of happiness, which is essentially being in harmony. Whenever we are not in
harmony, we are unhappy. All the units of four orders are self-organized. No one is organizing them
from outside. No one is supplying this organization. This self-organization is available to units being
in space. Hence, for space, we say ‘self organization is available’.

EXISTENCE IS CO-EXISTENCE

All the units together constitute nature. All the units of nature exist in space which is an important
reality to understand. Existence is nothing but the nature in space.

Existence = Exist + Essence, whatever exists.

 
To be harmony

We define unit as something that is limited in size. Like a small blade of human hair to the biggest
planets we know of, they are all limited in size, i.e. bounded on six sides. So, all the ‘things’ we have
been studying so far: the human beings, animals, lumps of matter as well as various atoms and
molecules, are all ‘units’. We can recognize them as such, they are countable.

But there is another ‘reality’ called ‘space’. We normally don’t pay attention to this ‘reality’, because
it’s not a ‘unit’. We can’t ‘touch it’, smell it. We normally just ‘see through it’. But the fact is because
we can’t ‘touch it’ or ‘see it’ as we would see a unit like our body, our friends, or a piece of rock,
doesn’t mean it does not exist. Space exists everywhere. Co-existence is a state in which two or
more groups are living together while respecting their differences and resolving their conflicts
non-violently. Coexistence has been defined in numerous ways:
1. To exist together (in time or space) and to exist in mutual tolerance.
2. To learn to recognize and live with difference.
3. To have a relationship between persons or groups in which none of the parties is
trying to destroy the other.
4. To exist together (in time or place) and to exist in mutual tolerance.

EXISTENCE

Nature submerged in Space

(Collection of units) (Empty)

Limited Unlimited

Active No activity

Energized Equilibrium energy

Recognizes and fulfils the relation All reflecting, transparent

Self organized Self organized is available

Unit All pervasive

Abundance with diversity All pervasive

Consciousness (I) – Nirantar Nitya

Material- Anitya (Ulimited in space and time)

(Niranatar: Limited in space, Unlimited in time, Anitya: Limited in space and time)

When we look at the existence around, the first thing we see is space. And then we see the units in
space. Between every two units there is a space. The units exist in space. If we were to define this,
we would say that there are two kinds of realities in existence and these are: space and units (in
space). So we say,

Existence = space + units (in space)

Since nature consists of the four orders we have been discussing, we can say,

“Existence = Nature submerged in space”.

Nature = Four orders (Material, Plant/Bio or Pranic, Animal and Human Order)
HOLISTIC PERCEPTION OF HARMONY IN EXISTENCE

The existence is units in space. Space is the empty area all around. The units are of two types:
material (insentient) and conscious (the sentient ‘I’). The material units are transformable, and
their composition keeps on changing, hence these are gathansheel. The other category of units, the
sentient ‘I’, does not transform and are complete in composition, hence gathanpurna. The
material units are changeful (with activities of recognizing and fulfilment only) while the other kinds
of units are continuous (with activities of knowing, assuming, recognizing and fulfilment). The
material units are available in two orders – material order and pranic order. In the material order, an
atom combines with another atom to form a molecule; a molecule similarly forms a molecular
structure. Molecular structures are found in two forms: lumps and fluids. Fluids give nutrition to
pranic order. In pranic order, the smallest units are plant cells which combine with other cells to form
plants, animal bodies and human bodies. The co-existence of ‘I’ with the animal body becomes the
animal order, and the co-existence of ‘I’ with the human body becomes the human order. Completion
of right understanding in human being is called kriyapurnata and ability to live with complete
understanding is called acharanpurnata.

If we look at the left side of the chart, the transformation keeps taking place and the transformation is
cyclic in nature. But on the right hand side, the transitions are acyclic. This implies that what we have
understood continues to stay with us. We will never miss it. This is a transition in one direction. This
is actually called development (vikas).

So, Existence is in the form of co-existence. It is in Harmony. We don’t have to create this harmony,
it already exists. We only have to understand it to be in it. This means that having the knowledge of
self (‘I’) gives me the knowledge of humane conduct (how to live in existence, with the four orders).
With this knowledge, I can live with humane conduct. This is the pending task we have to complete.