The film "The Matrix" was released not so long ago and has already gained great fame.
He even managed to become a cult film of our time.
Surprisingly, how accurately the filmmakers saw many subtle philosophical moments that the “enlightened” of this world and many great philosophers tried to convey to people.
People leave the cinema, slightly shocked. It turns out that everything that we see around us is nothing more than an illusion. Computer program. A giant Internet network, a game in which we have gone headlong and are no longer able to get out.
Different forms of people, all our feelings and experiences are nothing more than rows of numbers in the processor of a giant computer.
We're trapped. This world is ruled by cruel and soulless machines, and they simply use us as "batteries".
Most viewers, of course, will soon recover from this shock and again "believe" in the reality of what is happening.
They will eat, drink, have fun, confident that this is real life.
Promotional video:
However, the filmmakers weren't joking. Only a few will understand that what is told in this film is true.
If we remove all the outer Hollywood tinsel: endless fights, chases, “the great battle for the survival of mankind”, without which the film cannot be made at the box office, ultimately there will be a very deep philosophy, the origins of which go back to the ancient Vedas.
What is the philosophy of the Vedas and the Matrix?
Alas, sad as it may seem, you and I are really in the matrix - in this material world. (The word "matrix" is also derived from the word "matter" by the filmmakers.)
We are not at all what we used to think of ourselves: men, women, Americans, Russians, young, old …
We are eternal spirit souls, free from birth, death, old age and disease. We just found ourselves in an illusion for a while, carried away by the games of this world.
It is not so difficult to understand that “something is wrong with this world” (as the heroes say in the first film “The Matrix”). We do not want old age, disease, death, injustice, endless enmity - but we have to endure all this. This is clearly some kind of mistake. Reasonable people at all times understood this and tried to find out: who we really are, where is the true reality? And sincere seekers have always received an answer. In any culture, wherever they lived, they could always find the key to the Truth: the mysteries of Ancient Egypt, the esoteric philosophical schools of Ancient Greece, the teachers of early Christianity, the wisdom of ancient Russia, the spiritual mentors of India - all of them led the sincere seeker to the answer: “You are not a body, your true Home is not here. " So "Mr. Anderson" is given the chance to become "the chosen Neo". But the choice is always up to the person himself - to take the "blue or red pill."
“I am only showing the door, you must enter yourself,” the spiritual teacher says to his student (like the mysterious Morphius in The Matrix).
Blue pill matrix
What's next? If you take the "blue pill" - and you continue to remain in the "matrix", incarnating again and again in the material world, playing the roles that are assigned to you by the inexorable law of cause and effect - Karma.
You sincerely consider yourself to be a king, now a beggar, now a young girl, now an ugly old woman, now a demigod, now a worm or an infusoria … An endless chain of reincarnations - and so on until the next meeting with the Spiritual Teacher, who will again give you a choice.
Red Reality Pill
Choose the "red pill" - oh, everything is not so simple here … A long struggle to return to reality begins. (Even in the movie, thousands of needles are driven into Neo's body to bring him back to real life.) This is called the Spiritual Path.
Maybe this path will also take more than one life … But so what? No price will be too high, for you return to reality, forever leaving the fetters of illusion.
Sometimes for this you have to go through some kind of restrictions (like the heroes of The Matrix, revolving around the Earth on their Nebuchadnezzar, are forced to eat tasteless porridge - they have nothing else).
Someone may not have enough patience, and he will want to go back to the “matrix” (like one of the heroes of the first film who made a deal with “agents” to “connect to the matrix” again and again “eat meat and drink wine, let and illusory ).
But those who survive will open the Way Home, to a much more beautiful world than in the film.
And while we are still here and hovering over this world of the Matrix, not being a part of it, we can only try to open the eyes of other souls seeking the same truth, who also began to guess that “something is wrong in this world”.
And then we can take this soul with us and say to it the same words that once told us:
"Welcome to the real world!" This is how we assume the position of a spiritual mentor in this world. (“Thank you, Neo, for saving me,” says one young man in the second part of The Matrix. “No reason, you saved yourself,” Neo answers him).
This is true: only the joint efforts of teacher and student lead to success.
Such an amazing film is now walking across the screens. Only which audience will really understand the deeper meaning of this film? Maybe you?
Why did we get into the Matrix?
Why are we in the Matrix? And if we got into it, then from where?
And if you can get out of it, then where to go? What is needed for this?
Sages, spiritual teachers of the past, have revealed and are revealing knowledge of how to overcome the Matrix. And the authority can only be the teacher who received this knowledge from his teacher, received through the chain of succession, starting from the source of the entire universe - the Lord.
Karma as a cosmic law
Cosmos is a Greek word, and it means "orderly, intelligent system." The polar ancient Greek word is chaos. Space is an ordered system where everything has meaning and its own logic. It also has its own laws. The law is outside of faith. It doesn't matter whether I believe it or not: the law is the law, and it operates within the cosmos. Everything in the Universe belongs to the law of karma: both the birth of planets and the cry of a child in the next apartment.
Karma or fate
What we call destiny are reactions that have come to us according to the law of karma. And always the cause of these reactions is ourselves.
Paul's epistle says, "Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap."
The real cause of karma formation is activity in material consciousness. The desire to enjoy leads to action, and this action causes the desire to do it over and over again.
You sincerely consider yourself to be a king, now a beggar, now a young girl, now an ugly old woman, now a demigod, now a worm or an infusoria … An endless chain of reincarnations - and so on until the next meeting with the Spiritual Teacher, who will again give you a choice.
In experiments with rats, wires were connected to the rat's pleasure center, and she died, pressing the button that turned on the current, unable to move away. Often we ourselves are looking for this button, and when we find it, we cannot move away, and are forced to move from body to body, prompted by material consciousness.
Therefore, it is useless and foolish to look for those responsible for our happiness or suffering. An Indian proverb says: "When I point with one finger to the other, then three points to me."
good and evil
There is a relative understanding of Good and Evil. For example, the fact that food for one is poison for another. This is as it should be, since this determines our free will.
But, if we are talking about the whole world, then it is necessary to accept the existence of cosmic norms of good and evil.
These norms are described in Vedic literature and other revealed scriptures. For example, actions such as loving your neighbor, helping those in need, not committing adultery, etc. are taken good.
On the other hand, violence and murder are considered bad practices.
Having understood the cosmic norms of morality, a person is able to act correctly in any situation not on the basis of relative rules, but on the basis of global truth.
In our lives, we can learn from our own examples and mistakes and draw appropriate conclusions.
Each event in our life should become a lesson in cosmic morality for us. Then the whole life will turn into a school of holiness and ascent to the Light, which will lead us to self-improvement in the course of one life.
How The Matrix Holds Us
How does the Matrix keep us here in this world, which is actually a place of suffering?
Why can't we see this? How and with the help of what does it cover our consciousness so that we do not see it? Why, when we are told about this, we do not believe it?
The Matrix has only a few simple tools with which it holds us firmly in the illusion.
This is our desire to be independent of the original source of our appearance - from God, and our desire to enjoy material nature - the Matrix. Ultimately, these desires mean only one thing - the desire to become such a kind of god himself, with his possessions (house, car, etc.), subjects (children, wife, subordinates, etc.), wealth (bank account, gold).
But, not suspecting anything, we ourselves create for ourselves the strongest chains and shackles, with the help of which the Matrix firmly holds us in itself.
These are our desires for sexual pleasure, more and more money and the necessary power (even over our family) to support all this. As a spider weaves a web for itself, so we create for ourselves the nets of the Matrix, from which it is not so easy to get out later.
The Matrix - Illusion Program
The matrix is illusory energy. This is a program that acts to deceive living beings so that they can enjoy where it is impossible to enjoy … In the ancient Sanskrit language, the Matrix is "maya". The etymological meaning of the word maya is "that which can be measured."
The Supreme Lord is the master of maya; It is not measurable. Where there is an attempt to measure, to know God, the Matrix rules there - maya, there is no God. "Ma" means "no," "ya" means "what," that is, what is not God is maya. Maya, according to the ancient Vedic literature Srimad-Bhagavatam, is not Satan of Christian theology, a being separated from the Lord, living his own life. Maya resides in God (Bhagavan), who gave her the duty to condemn the subordinate tiny living beings (i.e. jivas) to receive just punishment.
This lower energy maya from the time of the creation of the world amazes and bewitches souls who are indifferent to God and misleads them.
To the question: why is this happening? - there is an answer: because souls are endowed with free will and a certain independence. We are the atomic particles of the Lord. Its tiny drop also has the properties of ocean water to a small extent. God is completely independent; accordingly, His atomic particle also has independence. Then the following question may arise: all the suffering, troubles and problems that fall to our lot also stem from the soul's right to independence?
The answer is yes. We ourselves choose this or that situation, this or that life path, and in the future, accordingly, we receive the results of what we chose earlier. No one but ourselves creates suffering or happiness in our lives. We are responsible for everything that happens to us, and when we begin to understand this, then we become able to change our life for the better.
Our happiness is in our hands.
Then we begin to perceive all the troubles and obstacles in our life as a kind of test and life lessons. And the Matrix or maya is the energy of the Lord, which helps us to go through these lessons, creating certain situations for us.
This is the so-called school of life, through which we must pass with honor and dignity and successfully pass the exams at the end of it.
Then we will be able to move to the next level of our development.
In the course of our training, we begin to understand that all obstacles and hindrances are needed in order to educate us and test our diligence and perseverance.
And the Matrix, or maya, as the energy of the Lord, can both become our teacher, helping us, and finally entangle us in the networks of our own endless desires and their discouraging consequences.
Depending on our choice, we perceive the reality of the existence of the Matrix, maya or even the Lord Himself. And accordingly, our acceptance or rejection of them as an existing reality is formed, and our attitude towards them.
So, for example, when doctors prescribe bitter medicines, a diet or open an abscess with a scalpel, the patient may be unhappy, believing that the doctor is cruel, malicious and is his enemy. But a reasonable person understands that the doctor is his true well-wisher and only wants to help him recover.
Likewise, the Divine energy, maya, immersing us in various situations and tempting, makes us make every second choice between Good and evil. So, going through these life lessons, making mistakes and falling, reborn life after life in various bodies, but, nevertheless, rising again and choosing good and light, we can finally be affirmed in our chosen path forward, to Divine Love.
Matrix in ancient sources
“Earth, water, fire, air, space, mind, intelligence and ego - all these constitute My separated lower energies (maya), whereas that which is different from them is My higher energy, which constitutes living souls (jivas), existence itself which is the basis of the universe."
Bhagavad-gita
This book was a discovery for us. We were amazed that information about the Matrix was known thousands of years ago. Moreover, it says that the Vedas are instructions for the Matrix, material energy. The Vedas contain the knowledge of how to live in the Matrix so that life becomes liberation from the cycle of birth and death.
Bhagavad-gita is one of the world's greatest philosophical classics. It reveals the confidential knowledge about the world, material energy (Matrix), its influence on the consciousness of a living being and the method of liberation from the captivity of illusion, and many other issues. The secrets are revealed by the Creator of all the worlds, Matrix - Krishna, the Personality of Godhead, through dialogue with Arjuna, His close friend, whom He taught the science of self-realization and liberation.
Liberation from the Matrix
I am different from my body. The body is a machine given to me by the Matrix.
Having been born in this body, I so identified myself with it that even when I speak to myself, I think about this body.
Those who have come out of the influence of the Matrix act as liberated individuals. They never identify themselves with the body, do not depend on it, realizing that they are just temporarily in it. The body, as a part of the material world, is the material energy of the Matrix.
There is a higher and eternal energy to which we, the eternal souls, belong. Transcendental, or - spiritual energy - the energy of the spiritual world, which is far beyond the Matrix and it is about this world that the Vedas and all the divinely revealed scriptures of the world speak about. Vedic philosophy refers all the various manifestations of the surrounding and inner world to either spiritual or material energy. Some objects are simultaneously a manifestation of one and the other energy.
There are also objects that at first glance seem to be a manifestation of material energy, while in reality they are pure spirit (for example, the Holy Name of God). The method of getting rid of the material cover is called yoga in Sanskrit, or - restoration of connection with the Supreme Source.
What do the Vedas mean in the concept of spirit and matter?
How do you learn to distinguish between these two energies? We find the answers to these questions in the Bhagavad-gita:
“All material elements constitute My separated material energy. (This lower energy is Maya - the Matrix). In addition to this lower energy, there is another, My higher spiritual energy, which consists of living beings who use what is created by the material, lower energy."
The direct opposite of matter (maya) is the soul - the spiritual particle of the Supreme Whole, Bhagavan - Krishna.
In other words, in order to comprehend the difference between matter and spirit and learn to distinguish between their manifestations, one must first comprehend the soul, i.e. yourself.
This is what the Bhagavad-gita says about this: “The sages who saw the truth came to the conclusion about the transience of the non-existent (material body) and the immutability of the eternal (soul).
They made this conclusion by carefully studying the nature of both."
In his commentary on this verse, world famous Spiritual Master Srila Prabhupada writes:
“Our constantly changing body cannot exist forever. Modern medicine recognizes the fact that at the cellular level, the body changes every moment; this determines the processes of growth and aging. But the eternal soul, despite all the changes that occur with the body and mind, always remains unchanged. This is the difference between matter and spirit. The concept "existing" refers exclusively to spirit, and the concept "nonexistent" - to matter. All who see the truth affirm this."
The structure of the universe
The Vedas, like other scriptures of the world, recognize that this world was created at a certain point in time. The details of this process, which are full of whole volumes of Vedic literature, will make even skeptics ponder.
The effective cause of creation is material nature, which creates all kinds of life and various conditions of existence.
Also, the created world has a semantic reason.
The goal or meaning of the universe is to give a living being (soul) the opportunity to fulfill his desires and, satiated with material pleasures, to comprehend his original position and escape from the darkness of this world.
In other words, we are all also the cause of the creation of this world.
The Vedas proclaim Krishna (in Old Slavic - Kryshen), the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supreme Lord and Creator of everything, as the original and constructive cause of this world.
In the most ancient "Brahma-samhita" Krishna-Kryshenya is called "the cause of all causes" and the main cause of creation. This is the One without whom creation is impossible. However, the way He creates is fundamentally different from the way we know.
The point is, God doesn't have to do anything by Himself; for this, He has a lot of servants and helpers.
In other words, God works through His energies.
In different parts of the Vedic literatures we find detailed descriptions of the creation process.
Some of them differ from each other, which suggests that creation does not happen once in history, but is repeated over and over again, each time with some variations.
Our universe is divided into three large parts: these are the higher planetary systems (Rule - in Old Slavic), middle (Reality, which includes the Earth) and lower (Nav - demonic systems and hellish worlds).
Living conditions on these planets also differ: six earthly months are a day on the higher planets, and millions of years in hell are equal to one earthly second.
The higher planets are inhabited by demigods, ancestors (of humanity) and great sages, the guardians of the universe.
On the terrestrial planets there are creatures with the human body type, and on the hellish planets there are fierce creatures who torture sinners.
Such is the greatness of God's creation glorified in the Vedas.