Dear Friends
Swagatam (welcome!)
I am going to use this space as a notebook and sounding board for the book I am currently working on, which will be a little autobiographical, tracing both my external and internal life as I traversed across the globe to India and back, and back again, and also philosophical, as I put together my experiences and insights into a cohesive whole as a means to explain raganuga bhakti and the phenomena of having a love affair with Spirit.
I am currently reading Ken Wilbur, and the theory of holons and holarchy is nothing short of incredible as a means to explain all aspects of bhakti, from shraddha to prem, and beyond.
Not stopping at bhakti, the theory is incredible as a means to explain any and everything.
Let's start with this the first sloka of Shri Ishopanishad:
Om purnam-adah purnam-idam
purnaat purnam-udacyate.
purnasya purnam-aadaaya,
purnam-eva-avashishyate
A translation:
That is infinite, this is infinite;
From That infinite this infinite comes.
From That infinite, this infinite removed or added;
Infinite remains infinite.
Another translation (for you shaktas out there, you know who you are!):
Divine Source is perfect and complete, and because She is completely perfect, all emanations from Her, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the Complete Whole is also complete in itself. Because She is the Complete Whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Her, She remains the complete balance.
JAI RADHE!
Or back to the genderless theme:
All that is invisible is verily the infinite Brahman.
All that is visible is also the infinite Brahman.
The whole universe has come out of the infinite Brahman.
Brahman is infinite although the whole universe has come out of it.
Being that neither gender (he/she) or the word "brahman" is found in the Sanskrit of the sloka itself, the first translation is probably the most accurate from a bare bones perspective, though for lovers of Spirit, one that implies individuality and gender would be the preferred one.
Nevertheless, let me again share the first translation:
That is infinite, this is infinite.
From That infinite this infinite comes.
From That infinite, this infinite removed or added,
Infinite remains, well, INFINITE!
Alright, read here a definition of holons and holarchy;
Holarchy is a word coined by Arthur Koestler. It is a combination between the Greek word 'holos' meaning whole and the word 'hierarchy'. It is a hierarchically organized structure of units or entities that are called 'Holons'.
Each Holon could be regarded as either a whole or as a part depending on how one looks at it. A Holon will look as a whole to those parts beneath it in the hierarchy, but it will look as a part to the wholes above it. So, a Holarchy is then a whole that is also a structure of parts that are in themselves wholes.
For diagrams that will aid you in the visual conception of holons/holarchy go to http://www.worldtrans.org/essay/holarchies.html
I will be applying the basics of this theory to rasa-tattva shortly.
