Airplanes & spirituality

I am sure most people would wonder why I would choose such a vague topic and try to link in aeroplanes in my quest to understand spiritual concepts. But the more I thought of these, it seemed to make sense and so I thought I will present it here.

Let’s assume I am traveling in a 2-seater plane having a pilot and me as the sole passenger. The aircraft obviously has an engine, fuel, necessary sensors, instrumentation etc to enable it to fly. I am not into flying, but I assume that there are sensors which track various parameters at any point and convey that information to the instruments.  The aircraft through these instruments gets information about temperature, pressure, wind speed, altitude and fuel availability. The data from this is processed by a computer and based on the results, the pilot makes necessary decisions regarding the engines/direction etc and ensures that I arrive safe at my destination.

Let’s now apply the analogy to ourselves. We have a body with five sense organs and five motor organs. This is equivalent to the aircraft with its sensors, and the engines.  The part of us that collects all the information from the senses and displays it is the Mind. It is to be noted that just as the instruments perse will just display the information from the sensors and await direction from the pilot, the mind just collects information from the senses and makes it available for decisions. Based on the data displayed by the instruments, the pilot checks in the computer and based on the information stored in its memory, compares current data with the stored information and gives necessary guidance to the engines/rudder etc. In our case, the equivalent of the pilot is the Intellect. The equivalent of memory is what is called Chitta. So, depending on the data got from the senses, the Intellect looks into the Chitta and tells the action organs what to do. Let us take an example. Assume that a tiger is in front of us. The information is conveyed by the eyes (sense organ) to the mind. The mind sends it to the intellect. The intellect taps into chitta and knows that the tiger is dangerous and it instructs the legs (action organ) to run. Let us take another example. Assume we are in a garden. The eyes sense the beautiful flowers and send that information to the mind, which conveys it to the intellect. The intellect based on its memory (chitta) knows that a flower is something beautiful and needed for worship. It tells the hands (action organ) to pluck the flower.

Now, in the plane, I am the passenger. What is the equivalent in the body/mind complex? It is called the individual Jiva. The individual Jiva under the guidance of the intellect, which gets information about the environment through the sense organs, conveyed by the mind, uses the chita and moves ahead in life. 

Now let us do some what if situations for the plane and see what happens in its equivalent. Assume the sensors fail. Then the pilot does not get any information and it is just a matter of time before a crash landing. Similarly if the senses fail, the jiva cannot go anywhere, cannot survive. I read sometime back, that if a human being is born with inability to use any three sense organs, the being will not survive. People may say, Helen Keller was deaf, blind and dumb. Note here that only two sense organs were not functioning and one action organ(mouth) was not functioning.  Similarly if the engine does not function, the plane heads for a crash. Similarly if the body consisting of the external action organs and the internal organs fail, the jiva heads for disaster.

Next let us assume a situation where the sensors are working, but the instrument has failed. So even though the sensors are sending information, it is not available to the computer or the pilot. The plane may not have an immediate disaster, but is sure headed for disaster. This is a situation where people who take drugs/alcohol etc go into a state where the mind is not available. So, even though the sense organs are sending information, the intellect is not getting it and just as a pilot who does not have data through instruments can take crazy decisions, the intellect can instruct the action organs to do crazy things. 

Now let us assume a situation where the aircraft’s computer lost its memory. Now the sensors are sending information to the instruments, which is conveying it to the pilot, who is trying to access the computer’s memory to decide what to do. But since the memory has failed, he will make a judgment, which may or may not be the best action. If there is a short-term memory loss and then the computer is again available, based on the data from sensors, the pilot can still feed the new data and based on the information in the computer’s memory, still do course correction and bring the plan safely. Similarly in humans, the temporary loss of the chitta will probably mean that the person does not know what to do in a specific instant. But once memory returns, the individual will be able to do the same things correctly. But in a case of advanced Alzheimer’s where the memory is totally gone, the individual would have no idea what to do based on a set of data sent by the sense organs. They will have to be reeducated on even the simplest actions.

Finally let us come to that element in the airplane that is giving it the ability to fly. All the greatest engines, the best pilot would be of no use if there is no fuel. Only when there is fuel, in the plane, it can perform its stated objective. That fuel in our individual context is the Brahman or Atman or Consciousness or God. Consciousness provides the environment for the Jiva to function using the body/mind/intellect complex. Just as fuel cannot in anyway be held responsible if the plane crashes or if it lands safely, the consciousness or God cannot be held responsible for either the good things or bad things in our life.  It is to be noted that without fuel, the plane cannot fly, but the fuel is in no way responsible for the outcome of the flight.  Similarly consciousness or God provides the ability for an individual to use his/her body/mind/intellect and without it, the individual cannot function.. However God or consciousness cannot be held responsible for the outcome. This can shake up our concept of God. Right from childhood we have been led to believe that if we pray to one God, he will help us pass exam, pray to another god, we will have wealth etc. If a disaster strikes, we  blame fate and say God is unjust.  Extending our example above to heights of ridiculousness, if I pray to the fuel in the plane, will it take me safely or if it does not, can I blame the fuel? But then the question comes, are all the people who have worshipped and prayed for something across centuries totally wrong? I have addressed the issue of gods to worship in an earlier blog. I will try and cover more details of worship in another blog. Hope this article provides food for though.