If you are a student of Vedanta, you are taught that SatChitAnanada or Brahman is the only Reality. It is explained that SatChitAnanda is our innermost core and the Brahman is the underlying reality of the universe. With the powerful Mahavakya (Major Sentence) ‘Tat Tvam Asi – That You Are’, Vedanta makes a connection between our inner core SatChitAnandaand Brahman. That (Brahman) You (SatChitAnanada) Are. This way Vedanta explains that Brahman and SatChitAnanada are the same, there exists no dichotomy between the two and they are identical. Your innermost core and the underlying reality of the universe is the same. There is only One Reality.

As explained in my article ‘SatChitAnanda vs Self Awareness’, that both SatChitAnanada and Self-Awareness are identical. I always find Awareness is a much easier way to understand our inner core and if we get to know the tone and nature of contemplation then this awareness becomes much easier to reach our inner core.

Vedanta teaches us that SatChitAnanada is the only Reality. Since SatChitAnanada and Awareness are identical, it is correct to conclude that Awareness is also the only Reality. Awareness and SatChitAnanda are synonyms. Awareness is our inner most core and Awareness is also the underlying Reality of the universe. Does that mean that Awareness of the inner core is different from the Awareness of the universe out there? No, they are identical, but they are different forms of the same Awareness. Awareness is One, but there are different Forms. Can there be different forms of the same single Reality?

Yes, the best example is H₂O. H₂O is one, but it comes in 3 different forms – liquid, vapor and solid. In liquid form it is called water, in vapor form it is called steam and solid form it is called ice. H₂O remains the same in all the three different forms. In the same way, Awareness is the only Reality, but it comes in following 3 different forms:

1. Self-Awareness
2. Reflected Awareness
3. Refracted Awareness

The Bible touches upon these 3 forms by the famous Trinity quote ‘Father, Son and the Holy Spirit’. These are 3 forms of the same reality. An equivalent statement from Vedanta could be ‘Brahman, Ishvara and the Guru’. Not any type of Guru, but a pure self-realized Guru. These 3 types can be co-related with the 3 forms mentioned. SatChitAnanda is the same as Self Awareness. Ishvara is another name for Reflected Awareness and Guru and Refracted Awareness are identical.

The focus of this article is to explain these connections and the 3 forms of Reality in more detail.

Self-Awareness and SatChitAnanda

It is very important to understand what Awareness is. A simple question – are you aware of reading this article? Are you aware of your surroundings? Are you aware of any background noise? If your answer is not yes, then you will not experience anything. You will not know you are reading this article; you will not be aware of your surroundings; you will not be aware of the background noise. In fact, without Awareness, you will not be aware of anything of the external universe out there

When this Awareness interacts with this article, you have the experience of reading this article. Awareness has intelligence and the power of reading within itself. When Awareness interacts with the background noise, you have the experience of hearing the background noise. That is because the power of hearing is part of Awareness. Without awareness, we would not know any objects which are perceived by all the five sense organs – eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin. These objects from the sensory organs must encounter Awareness, and then only we can experience the object in its concrete and viable form.

For an analogy, let us think of the sun. If there is no light emanating from the sun, the entire world will be dark; anything and everything become visible only when there is light. In the same way, when any form encounters the light of Awareness, we become aware of the object. If there is no light of Awareness, you will perceive nothing, not even the sun. 

Awareness is the most powerful force in the universe. It has the intelligence to connect with a form present in the mind and fill up the object with Awareness. If you analyze Awareness, you will conclude that Awareness is made up of a Subject, Intelligence, and it also has an Object with the following functions:

1. There must be a Subject, who is Aware of the experience. This subject is the ‘knower’ of the Awareness
2. There must be an Object, which must be experienced. This object is the ‘known’ part of the Awareness
3. There must be Intelligence by which the subject gets to know the object. This is the ‘knowing’ part of the Awareness

Knower, Known and Knowing/Intelligence are the 3 powers of Awareness. It must be clear that

• Awareness = Subject + Object + Intelligence
• Power of Awareness = Power of Knower + Power of Knowing + Power of Known

Awareness is made of Subject, Intelligence, and Object and it has three different powers – Knower, Knowing and Known. It must be understood that the Subject, Intelligence, and Object and the three powers are not something outside in the world, but they are within Awareness and they only make up Awareness. Wherever there is awareness, the Subject, Intelligence and Object must be present with all the three powers.

For a more detailed explanation of Awareness, please read my post ‘Analyzing Awareness’

What is Self-Awareness? Our inner core is full, complete and it is stand alone. For Awareness to be full and complete, it must be Self-Aware. Self-Awareness means that ‘Awareness is aware of Awareness’. Another way to put this is that ‘Self is aware of the Self’. It is like saying ‘I am aware of the tree’. Here ‘I am’ can be referred as the subject and the tree is the object. In Self-Awareness, the subject is Awareness and the object is Awareness. Awareness plays the role of subject and object. In other words, both the subject and object are the same. There is one entity only which is non-dual. This complete, self-standing Self Awareness is our inner core. There is no separation between the subject and object. Even the power of Knower (subject/witness) is the same as Power of Known (Object making ability). Self-Awareness is one non-dual and homogenous. It is Self-Shining.

This Self-shining Awareness is like Bulb of Awareness and it is our inner core. It is not dependent upon anything else and it generates its own light of Awareness. And it is the Bulb of Awareness.  

Self-Awareness is non-dual, homogenous and it has many inherent characteristics.

• It is Formless
• It is Unchanging
• It is Unborn
• It has the 3 powers of Awareness – the power of knower, knowing and known

SatChitAnanda is the name given to this inner core of Self-Awareness. This inner core is present in every living being. So, it is present within you, me and within everyone. This Self-Awareness just shines like of bulb of Awareness, and it does not do anything, except radiating Awareness. Nothing affects Self-Awareness and is independent of everything. It is always at peace. Peace is its inherent nature. Because Self-Awareness does not anything, all the characteristics mentioned are lying dormant within Self-Awareness.

Reflected Awareness and Ishvara

If our nature and inner core is Self-Awareness, why don’t we know it, why don’t we feel it? The simple answer is that we are ignorant of our inner core. Ignorance has the power to cover Self-Awareness. When we forget, who we really are, ignorance pops up and covers our inner core. Ignorance is like a veil covering Awareness.

Self-Awareness does not do anything; it just keeps shining. When this Self-Awareness is covered by ignorance, this Self-Awareness gets reflected in the ignorance. Ignorance is like a mirror in which reflection takes place. What you get then is Reflected Awareness. When the sun is reflected in a mirror, you still have the sun and you also have a reflected sun. This is exactly what happens here.  You have SatChitAnanda, the non-dual Self-Awareness and the Reflected Awareness. This Reflected Awareness is called Ishvara.

• It is quite strange to know that our ignorance is the cause of Ishvara, which is Reflected Awareness. If there was no ignorance, there would be no reflected Awareness, and then there would be no Ishvara also. If there was no ignorance, the only thing present would be Brahman, the self-shining Self-Awareness. So, our ignorance is the cause of Ishvara.
• Even if there is Reflected Awareness, nothing happens to the non-dual Self Awareness or SatChitAnanda. It will continue to shine, irrespective if there is ignorance or there is no ignorance. This is like the sun which will shine even if it is cloudy, or it is the night. Nothing can stop the sun from shining. Similarly, Self-Awareness will continue to shine if there is ignorance or ignorance.
• It must be understood that in the presence of ignorance, there is no effect on Reflected Awareness. Reflected Awareness remains pure and unaffected. This does seem counterintuitive.  It would be reasonable to assume that ignorance will rub off some of its ignorance on the reflected Awareness or Ishvara. Then again, we know Ishvara is pure, limitless and just cannot have any ignorance.  How to understand this? The classic example that can be narrated here is, suppose you pour water in a red-colored bottle. The water will appear to be red. It seems the redness of the bottle has affected the water. Our ignorance can lead to this conclusion. If you have proper knowledge you will know that the water in the bottle is always colorless and the red color of the bottle has no effect on the water. It is with this logic; we can understand that Ignorance has no effect on the Reflected Awareness, or, Ishvara is pure and limitless.
• Ignorance has two sides, an input and output side. The Reflected Awareness appears on the input side of ignorance. We will discuss the output side of ignorance in the next section.

We have seen that Self-Awareness is nondual, in which ‘Self’ is both the subject and object. Unfortunately, because of our ignorance, we have forgotten that our inner core is nondual, and we are both the subject and the object. Since we no longer know that we are both the subject and the object, it simply means that there is a separation of the subject being ‘in here’ and the object being ‘out there’. Ignorance converts the non-duality into the duality of the subject in here and the object out there. Ignorance has that power.

In the non-dual Self Awareness, the power behind the subject is the Power of the Knower and the power behind of object is the Power of the Known. In non-duality, the subject and object are the same. Therefore, logically the power of the knower is the same as the power of known. There are homogenous with no separation. This is what happens in non-dual Self Awareness or Brahman. We have just seen that because of ignorance, the subject and object separate creating duality. With this separation, even the power of the knower and the power of known get separated. They are no longer one entity, but the power of the knower and the power of the known appear as two separate entities in Reflected Awareness. Even the 3^rd power of Knowing is available in the Reflected Awareness. Each of these 3 powers of Awareness is very much active in Ishvara.

Vedanta teaches us that Maya Shakti is the power or force behind the creation and intelligence of the universe. Power of known, the power of knowing and the power of known are now available in the Reflected Awareness. These 3 powers are nothing, but the Maya Shakti as mentioned in Vedanta.

Maya Shakti = Power of Knower + Power of Knowing + Power of Known

This Maya Shakti is within the Reflected Awareness and Ishvara wields this Maya Shakti to operate and control this universe. The Maya Shakti is lying dormant within Self-Awareness, within the Self-Shining Bulb of Awareness. Due to ignorance, this Maya Shakti becomes active within the Reflected Awareness. The nature of Awareness remains the same, the Reflected Awareness or Ishvara is a different form of Awareness. In this form the Reflected Awareness wields of power of Maya Shakti to create, control and manage the universe. In Reflected Awareness, the Self-Awareness becomes Ishvara.

Refracted Awareness and Guru

In the earlier section we saw that Ishvara as the Reflected Awareness is on the input side of ignorance. In this section, we will discuss the output side of ignorance. This is the side the Guru functions. Before we do that, let us decode ignorance and get a better understanding of ignorance.

Pixel of Ignorance:

It is important to understand the process of Knowledge and the lack of knowledge (ignorance), shows that there are different degrees of ignorance. This ignorance plays a central role in our existence.

Let us start by taking an example of the knowledge of Chinese language. If someone has a complete knowledge about the Chinese language, he knows everything that is possible; this person will have 100% knowledge about the Chinese language. On the other end of the scale, there are people who are completely ignorant about the language; they are 100% ignorant about this language. Every living being in the universe will fall in between this scale of 100% knowledge to 100% ignorance. So, there is a knowledge/ignorance profile about the Chinese language. Take another subject, say Mathematics. Here again, there will be a scale of 100% knowledge to 100% ignorance. People will fall somewhere in the scale of 100% knowledge to 100% ignorance. So, there is a knowledge/ignorance profile for mathematics. In the same way, there must be a knowledge/ignorance profile for every possible topic or object in the universe. If we combine this scale of 100% knowledge to 100% ignorance for every topic, we will get a cumulative knowledge/ignorance profile for all the possible topics and objects. Within this cumulative knowledge/ignorance scale, each person will know his/her own knowledge or ignorance profile. Each living being has more knowledge on some topics and less or no knowledge of the other topics. In other words, every being will have each of their own unique knowledge/ignorance profile.

To the knowledge/ignorance profile of objects, you must also add the knowledge profile of the Self. Here again, the spectrum can be broken down into countless parts and each part has a different amount of Ignorance. An enlightened person will have 100% knowledge of the Self, while a completely ignorant person will have 0% knowledge or 100% ignorance.

In this cumulative and complicated knowledge/ignorance profile, if you can imagine there are countless number of ‘pixels of ignorance’. Each ‘pixel of ignorance’ has its own unique mix of ignorance and knowledge. Each ‘pixel of ignorance’ represents a single individual living being with his/her own ignorance/knowledge profile. There is countless number of living beings and each living being has his/her own ‘pixel of ignorance’. You have a pixel of ignorance and I have a pixel of ignorance, and in the same way every living being has its own unique pixel of ignorance.

We have seen that on the input side of ignorance, the Reflected Awareness is present with duality, with separate subject, object and the intelligence. This reflected Awareness or the Ishvara, makes the pixel conscious and sentient. When this pixel of ignorance interacts with the reflected Awareness, it breaks up the Self-Awareness into the following 4 parts. We know that Self Awareness is made up of the following 4 parts:

Self-Awareness = Self + Subject + Intelligence + Objects

It is like refraction. Place a prism in front of the light and we can see the 7 different colors on the other side. In the same ways, the ignorance of the Self within the pixel refracts the reflected Awareness into the following 4 different components. 

• Manas – The home of the objects
• Buddhi – The home of the inteliignece
• Sakshi – The home of the subject
• Ahamkara (ego) – The home of the self

These 4 components make up the mind. The creation of the mind is the output side of the pixel of ignorance. The mind is the part of the subtle body. So, the ignorance of the Self has that power to create the mind.  

Mind = Refracted Awareness + Ignorance

There are a countless number of pixels of ignorance – one for each individual living being. This refraction takes place in each pixel and thereby countless minds are created. Each mind thus created, will be different; it will depend upon the knowledge/ignorance profile for each pixel. The simple calculation is this: more the ignorance, less efficient the mind. It will have a lower intelligence level. The opposite is also true, lower is the level of ignorance, the mind finds the right passage to evolve fast.

A Sattvic mind will have no ignorance. In Sanskrit Sattvic means pure. This means a pure mind with no Ignorance. This is the mind of a true Guru. These days the term Guru is overused, and it can mean a teacher or expert. In Vedanta, the term Guru is much more specific, it means a self- realized spiritual person with no ignorance.

Guru’s Mind = Refracted Awareness (no ignorance)

The Guru’s mind with no ignorance is no different from SatChitAnanda. Guru is SatChitAnanda in human form.

The Guru’s mind has no ignorance. What does this mean? It means that the Guru knows that his innermost core is Self-Awareness. He knows that it is his inherent nature. He knows he is full and complete, displays a higher quality of mind, knowledge, reflection and free from materialistic desires. He is at peace with everything good and bad. This state is permanent; it is not a fluctuating state. His mind is always immersed in Awareness. In fact, it is correct to say that the Guru has no mind, he has only Self-Awareness. The Guru abides in the source and has no need for the mind.

Almost every living being experiences duality – the subject ‘in here’ and the object ‘out there’.  This is our daily experience. We have seen ignorance of our non-dual nature of Self Awareness, leading to duality with the separation of the subject and the object. Since the Guru does not experience duality, does that mean that the Guru does not perceive the universe ‘out there’? That is incorrect; he perceives the world out there, but experiences non-duality. The Guru’s perceives world and knows it part of the Self, which is nature.

The Guru is not ignorant; the Guru operates on the side of Refracted Awareness. He knows that his true nature is Self-Awareness. He has no confusion regarding this. Since the content of all the objects is Awareness, the Guru who is Self-Aware of sees his true nature of Awareness in all the objects of the universe.  He sees no difference between his own Self and all the objects out there. He therefore sees nonduality everywhere in the universe. He sees all the form of the objects, but he sees them as Awareness, as his own Self.

Yes, Knowing is the Boss. Knowing means to Know. There is much more to Knowing than this simple definition. If you are a student of Vedanta, you will understand that Knowing is the same as Awareness or Consciousness or Chit. Knowing is the most powerful force in the universe and surprisingly this Knowing is our inner core. Knowing is the nature of the Real Self or I. The main goal of this article is to understand the real meaning of Knowing. Understand the power of Knowing. If you properly understand this, it is the most direct way to discover your real Self.

Let us start our discussion with the following statements, we make every day:

• I am listening to music
• I am reading this book
• I am thinking to travel
• I am talking on the phone
• I am seeing a tree

If you analyze these statements, you will notice that each statement has a subject ‘I am’. Each statement has a different object – music, book, travel, phone, and tree respectively. There is a verb which is connecting the subject with the object. More than a verb, there is an inherent power of intelligence which is connecting the subject with the object. This power reveals the object to the subject. How to understand this power of intelligence?

Let us take an example of the power of listening, which is connecting ‘I am’ with the music. If you follow science, it will tell us that the music waveform from the source will hit our eardrums. The job of the eardrum is to convert this into some form of an acoustic signal. This acoustic signal is then transmitted to the brain. What happens in the brain/mind is not known, but we do listen to music. There is an existent power in our mind, which decodes and understands the incoming acoustic signal so that the subject ‘I am’ can listen to the music. This decoding power and understanding within the mind are nothing but the power of listening, which makes the actual ‘act’ of listening possible.  This power of listening is made up of intelligence with sole role of making listening possible.

Let us take another example of seeing. Power of seeing has intelligence, which makes it possible for ‘I am’ to know and see a tree. Without the power of seeing, none of us will see any object. Someone may argue that the eye provides this power. The eye does nothing other than converting the image into an optical signal and bringing the signal to the mind. What is the ability that decodes this optical signal into the understanding that this object is a tree? It is the power of the seeing, which is within Intelligence and which allows us to know that there is a tree. This power of seeing knows that the optical signal is a tree.

The same similarly applies to reading, thinking, or talking. There is a power of reading, power of thinking and power of talking. All these powers encapsulate the crux of intelligence. In fact, you can apply this logic to a much wider range of statements. Any statement which connects the subject with the object is connected by the power of intelligence.

Let us add another dimension by repeating the same statements in the following way. Please just do not read these statements but read this slowly as if you are undertaking these tasks. I agree, we will not talk in the following manner, but the sentence has been constructed in this manner to highlight the knowing part. Normally you would replace ‘I am knowing…..’ with ‘I know……’.

• I am knowing that I am listening to music
• I am knowing that I am reading this book
• I am knowing that I am thinking to travel
• I am knowing that I am talking on the phone
• I am knowing that I am seeing a movie

1. There is a tremendous change in these statements as compared to the earlier statements. ‘I am listening to music’, ‘I am reading this book’ etc., is no longer a self-contained sentence, but they are the object in the statement. The ‘I am’, in ‘I am listening…..’ is no longer the subject, but it is part of the object. The ‘I am’ in ‘I am reading……’ is now part of the object. When you said, ‘I am listening to music’, you always felt that ‘I am’ is really my inner core. You had the impression that ‘I am’ referred to your own self.

2. However, the moment you apply the Knowing part to the sentence, everything seems to change. A new ‘I am’ pops up, and the earlier ‘I am’ becomes a part of the object. Can there be two ‘I am’ within you? Obviously not. Vedanta teaches that there is a universal Real Self which is our common inner core. The ‘I am’ in ‘I am knowing…’ is your real Self and the earlier ‘I am’ in ‘I am listening…..’ is really part of the part of an object. If this is understood, this can be a big change in our perspective.

This ‘I am’ in ‘I am listening……’ is really your ego. The ego always thinks it is the real Self. Vedanta teaches that the ego masquerades as the real I, but when you make a proper inquiry, you will find that the ego is like any other object. Ego is just another thought in the mind.

3. Daily, as you apply the Knowing part to every sentence you say or think you will discover your Real Self within you. The ‘I am’ in ‘I am knowing….’ is your Real Self. Whenever you are doing any activity and watch carefully how the knowing part pops out within you. Repeatedly, say ‘I know this’, ‘I know that and focus on the ‘I know’ part, you will find out that the Knowing part comes out from a spiritual heart.

You could live your entire life saying ‘‘I am listening to music’, ‘I am reading this book’ etc. This way you will never discover your Real Self. The Real Self will remain hidden. The moment you add ‘I am Knowing’ or ‘I know’ to all your activities, the Knowing part pops out from the spiritual heart. The spiritual heart is not your physical heart but is your seed body. This is similar to how the seed of a tree has a potential of the tree within the seed. The tree seed can become a tree only, that to a specific type of tree. A mango tree seed cannot become an apple tree. In the same way, each one of us has a seed body. This seed body plays out the blueprint of our life. This seed body is our spiritual heart. According to Ramana Maharshi, it is two fingers from the center on the right-side rib cage.

4. Knowing is nothing but the intelligence which connects the subject ‘I am’ with different objects. Knowing is the common element which connects the subject with all the different objects in the universe. If you study the statements made earlier, you will realize that Knowing is the ultimate intelligence. Knowing knows listening, Knowing knows reading, Knowing knows thinking, Knowing knows talking and Knowing knows seeing. The power of Knowing includes the power of listening, reading, thinking, talking and seeing. The scope and width of the Power of Knowing is infinite, and it encompasses everything which is to be known in the universe. To put it differently, the power of listening, reading, thinking, talking and seeing etc, all these powers come out from the Power of Knowing. Power of Knowing is the ultimate intelligence.

Someone might say, I am knowing that I cannot speak Chinese. The ego I cannot speak Chinese and Real I knows that fact. That does not mean that the ‘Real I’ does not know Chinese. The knowledge of Chinese is within Knowing. If you now learn Chinese, the ego I will speak Chinese and the Real I will know this fact.

Knowing is indeed the boss of all the knowledge and intelligence in the universe. The question to ask is from where does all the knowledge and intelligence come from?

The simple answer is Awareness. Understand Awareness and you will lean that Knowing is a key ingredient of Awareness.

Understanding Awareness

Awareness is the most powerful force in the universe, and it is the underlying reality of this universe. It has the power to connect with a form present in the mind and create an experience that you are aware of. If you carefully study Awareness, you will conclude that the Awareness is made up of a Subject, Object, and Intelligence with the following functions

1. There must be a Subject, who is Aware of the experience. This subject is the knower of Awareness.
2. There must be an Object, which must be experienced. This object is the known part of the Awareness.
3. There must be Intelligence by which the subject gets to know the object. This is the knowing part of the Awareness

Knower, Known and Knowing are the 3 powers of Awareness. It must be clear that

• Awareness = Subject + Object + Intelligence
• Power of Awareness = Power of Knower + Power of Knowing + Power of Known

Wherever there is awareness, the Subject, Object and Intelligence must be present with all the three powers. At this moment you are aware you are reading this article. This awareness has a subject, object and intelligence.

The Power of Knowing is the key power of Awareness. In Awareness, Subject and Object are things and its functions are limited. The power of Knower only witnesses what is available to witness. The power of the Known has the power to become the different objects in the universe. The Power of Knowing is crucial; it decodes the objects and lets the subject witness these objects. This intelligence or the Power of Knowing is the driving force of Awareness and completes any experience in the mind.  

The Knowing/Intelligence within Awareness has an unlimited range of power, in fact, it is infinite. We can comprehend only what experiences our mind can handle. Our mind is full of ignorance and has a limited Power of Knowing. Awareness is not limited by the capacity of our mind. It is much more and has an infinite amount of intelligence; it has an infinite amount of knowledge about everything possible. What is amazing, this unlimited intelligence, this pure intelligence, this Knowing is available within everyone’s mind. Remove the deep-rooted ignorance and unlimited power of Knowing will be available to everyone.

Is there a fabric for space? Is there an underlying fabric on which the entire universe rests? Looking at the space in all its vast eternity, we do not see any fabric. The space looks empty and only the distant stars and planets are visible, but no fabric can be seen. However, if you are a student of science and follow the latest happenings, you would have seen the formed images as follows:

The above images represent the fabric of space. It may not be visible in the universe out there, but Einstein with the discovery of the theory of Relativity confirmed the presence of the fabric for space. This fabric is not your typical fabric, this fabric is made up of time. Yes, it is made up of time. A concept not easy to grasp. Einstein showed that space and time were interlinked, and he changed the terminology from ‘space and time’ to ‘spacetime’. This spacetime had 4 specific dimensions, among which the 3 dimensions are for space and the 4^th is for time. We can visualize the 3 dimensions out there in space. We are used to the 3 dimensions. Time is supposed to be a 4^th dimension. It is hard to understand and visualize the 4^th dimension of time. The fact is that, the spacetime fabric is made up of time and it operates in the 4^th dimension.

One of the objectives of the theory of relativity was to show that in the presence of energy, time slows down. The slowing down of time is represented by the spacetime fabric bending or it curves around an object. This bending or curvature is like placing a heavy ball on a stretched-out rubber sheet. The weight of the ball will curve the rubber sheet around itself. The spacetime fabric operates in a similar manner. Place a heavy ball of mass on the spacetime fabric, the spacetime fabric curves around the object. It is to be noted here that the heavier the mass, greater is the curvature. A blackhole as shown above has a much deeper curvature as the mass of the blackhole is much greater.

The images above do show the spacetime fabric, but there are many unanswered questions that do follow:

1. Let us take for instance that the fabric is made up of time and it operates in the 4^th dimension. A good question – where exactly is the 4^th dimension? We know that thespace has 3 dimensions only. It is impossible for time to function in the 3 dimensions of space out there. So, where do time and 4^th dimension function?

2. If the fabric is made up of time, then there must be a t = 0 for the fabric. There must be a start point for the spacetime fabric. Where is the t = 0 for the fabric?

3. Time is never static; it is always moving forward. So, what is the implication of this forward- moving time on the spacetime fabric?

4. Did you notice that the spacetime fabric is not a continuous, it is represented by a grid. Why a grid and why not a continuous fabric?

5. Spacetime and the Einstein theory of relativity are interconnected. What impact these theories have on time and on the spacetime fabric?

So, we can see that there are many unanswered questions regarding the fabric of the space. We will try and answers these questions in this article.   

The unanswered questions can be summarized as follows:

1. Location of the Spacetime Fabric
2. Start Point of the Spacetime Fabric
3. Construction of the Spacetime Fabric
4. Creation of Space
5. Expansion of the Space
6. Spacetime Fabric and Special Relativity
7. Energy and Spacetime Fabric

Location of the Spacetime Fabric

Where is the time based spacetime fabric located? It should be at the same place where time is located. We have seen earlier that time is supposed to the 4^th dimension. In that case, then, the spacetime fabric is also operating in the 4^th dimension. Where is the 4^th dimension? To hunt down the 4^th dimension, let us understand the functioning of time.

Most people would try and locate time in the space out there. In other words, they would try and locate the 4^th dimension within the 3 dimensions of space. For time to be effective, it must operate in the following 3 zones.

• Past
• Present or Now
• Future

Are these 3-time zones available in the space out there? The answer is a definite NO. Why? Try and focus on the space out there. At any given moment, what you will always see in space is the Present or the ‘Now’ moment. You can never see the Past or the Future. There is no past or future in the space, there is always the Present or the Now moment. Just try it. At this moment, you will see the present only. What is the duration of the present? According to the plank constant, the smallest block of time is 10^-44 sec. Once this extremely tiny time duration passes, the current present becomes the past and it is replaced by a new present. It always the Present or Now in space out there. There is no chance or possibility to have the past or the future in the space out there. 

As mentioned, time to function properly, it must have the ability to operate in the past, present and the future. This is not possible in space, because space only has the present moment, no past and future. Therefore, we need to look elsewhere for the 4^th dimension for time and the spacetime fabric?

The only possible location is the mind. The mind is the storage of all the past events. We may not remember all events, but each moment of our lives is stored in the mind. We can and we do time travel into these past events regularly. Whenever the mind is idle, it is thinking of the past or daydreaming of the future. Also, time is never static; it is always moving forward. This forward push by time means that future events become the present and then the present becomes the past. All this happens in the mind only.

Vedanta has always been clear that time or ‘kala’ is present in the mind only. The source and location of time is the mind only.

Start Point of the Spacetime Fabric

It is not easy to grasp, but the spacetime fabric, which is made up of time is in the mind only. The space with all the objects is out there, but the fabric is within the mind only. As far as accepting or seeing and visualizing the concrete form of this spacetime fabric is concerned, it is not possible to locate it. You can only imagine or visualize the spacetime fabric. We are going to use this imagination to try and locate the start point of the spacetime fabric.

It is important to know the start point of the spacetime fabric. It will answer many unanswered questions. There must be a t = 0 for the fabric. Since the fabric is made up of time, it must have a start point, it must have a t = 0 location. The question is where this start point for the spacetime is?

We know the big bang happened about 13.7 billion years ago. We also know time started with the big bang. Before the big bang there was no time. Does that mean that the start point of the spacetime fabric occurs from the advent of the big bang? Yes, the start point of the spacetime fabric was the big bang, but it was the start point when the big bang happened. The big bang is no longer the start point or the t = 0 location for the fabric. Science really confuses the issue by saying the spacetime fabric starts with the big bang. Yes, time started 13.7 billion years back, but at this current moment, at this now moment, the t = 0 is for the spacetime fabric is not the big bang.  The big bang is the outer edge of the universe.

If not the big bang, where is the start point (t =0) for the spacetime fabric? To understand the t = 0 point for the spacetime fabric, you must look at space out there in terms of time and not distances. We measure everything in space in terms of distances. The tree is 50 feet away; the plane is flying at a height of 30,000 feet. You can also look at the same objects in terms of how much time light will take to reach us from different objects. Since we will be looking at objects in terms of time, this will help visualize the spacetime fabric.

Let us study the external objects ‘out there’. If we can see a faraway star, say 5 million light years away, it takes light from that star 5 million years to reach us. Now, we see the sun, the light from the sun takes 8 min to reach us. We look at the moon; its light will take 3 seconds to reach us. We look at the plane flying in the sky, at 30,000 feet; its light takes about 300 milliseconds to reach us. As the distance of the object being viewed is reduced, the time taken for light to reach us or for us to see it is much smaller. I now look at the tree outside the window; the time taken for light to reach me is 10 microseconds (10^-6). For instance, I am looking at the computer screen 1 ft away typing this article, then light will take about 1 nanosecond (10^-9). As the distance reduces the time taken for light also reduces. If you extrapolate this backward, the only logical place for it to be equal to 0 is the observer, who is watching all these objects. This means that the observer within you is the starting point of the spacetime fabric. This is the t = 0of the spacetime fabric. This means that the spacetime fabric starts with the observer within you.

If you or anyone else looks at the universe, they will reach the same conclusion. Everyone has their own spacetime fabric and t = 0 for the fabric is the observer within themselves. This will apply to every living being in the universe. It would seem; therefore, I have my own spacetime fabric, you have your own spacetime fabric and every living being in the universe has his or her own version of the spacetime fabric.

An important conclusion is that the t = 0 for the spacetime fabric start is always the observer with you.

Construction of the Spacetime Fabric

Logically you would expect that the spacetime fabric to be continuous. The images shown earlier, explain how the fabric is not continuous but it constitutes grid with discrete nodal points. Why? This is because time is not continuous. The time does feel continuous, but it is not continuous. Based on the Plank Constant, it is proven that time is made of discrete elements. The shortest separation between two discrete elements is 10^-44 seconds. These discrete time elements make up the spacetime fabric. The start of the spacetime fabric is the t = 0, which is the observer within you. The first node will be at 10^-44sec away from the observer. The second node will be at 2 x 10^-44sec away, the third node will be 3 x 10^-44away. With these small increments of the time nodes the entire spacetime fabric is built up. 10^-44is small value. The human mind can even comprehend this. Can you imagine the number time nodes in the fabric to reach the sun which is 8 min away or to a faraway star which is 5 million light-years away?

Do you see the entire spacetime fabric at any given time? No. If you are sitting within your house, the spacetime fabric will end at the four walls of the house. If you move out, during the daytime the spacetime fabric will end with the sun. The limit of the spacetime fabric really depends upon what you are watching.

Creation of Space

The timebased spacetime fabric within the mind creates the space out there? How? If you read the post ‘Awareness –The Infinite Energy Source’, you will find out there is infinite energy available in the cosmic mind.  The energy which is available in the mind is pure energy. This energy plays different roles within the mind. It must be understood that this energy is independent of time; it is raw or pure energy which is available in the mind. Let us see what happens when a part of this energy interacts with time in the individual mind. This energy stretches out time, so that every second in time is equal to 186,000 miles (speed of light). Just like a rubber band can be stretched outwards, in the same way, time can be stretched outwards by this pure energy. With this stretching of time, space is created. One second in space becomes 186,000 miles. This is the space we see ‘out there’. So, space is created when this pure energy stretches out time, which is part of our mind.

Expansion of Space

Does the universe expand? Science tells us the universe is expanding. Why is the universe expanding? How fast the universe is expanding? Science is not very sure about these questions. Using powerful telescopes, they have watched the movement of different planets and galaxies and noticed the expansion is uneven. Some places the expansion is faster and other places the expansion is slower. There is proper no explanation about this uneven expansion. There is immense confusion about this subject.

To remove this confusion and get a proper understanding about the expansion, you need to know the start point or t = 0 for the spacetime fabric and you need to know the end-point of the spacetime fabric. We have already seen that the t = 0 for the space is the observer within you. The observer within each one of us will always be the start point for the spacetime fabric.

Science tells us that the age of the universe is 13.7 billion years old. This is the big bang moment. Light reaching us (or the observer) from the big bang moment constitutes the outer edge of the spacetime fabric. Light takes 13.7 billion light-years to reach us from this big bang moment. This is the outer edge because there was no universe before the big bang.

Is this spacetime expanding? Yes. How much? Let us try and understand this. If you assume the universe is 13.7 billion years old ‘right now’. After one second, the age of the universe will be 13.7 billion years + 1 sec. The light must now travel an additional 186,000 miles to reach the observer, which means the size of the universe has grown by 186,000 miles. After 10 seconds then, the size of the universe would increase by 186,000 x 10 = 1,860,000 miles. After one year from now, the size of the universe will increase by 1 light year. 1 light year is the distance light travels in one year.

From the above, we can conclude that the rate of expansion of the outer edge of the universe = 1 light year per year.

If you can imagine the spacetime fabric as an elastic rubber sheet, starting from the start point t=0 (which means you) to the outer edge of the universe. The end at the observer’s side is fixed. It is always t = 0, it does not change. The other end which is the outer edge of the universe is being pulled outwards. The outer edge of the elastic space time fabric is expanding by 186,000 miles every second. It expands at the speed of light every second, which is one light year every year. As time flows, the expansion of the spacetime fabric continues at the speed of light.

It must be understood that only the outer edge of the universe is expanding at the speed of light, and so, anything in between will not expand at the same speed, it will be proportional to the distance from the observer. Using the rubber sheet example, if you pull the outer edge by a certain distance, the inner parts will not be stretched by the same amount. The stretching therefore will be more at the outer edges, and it will be much less as you move inwards to the other side which is fixed. This idea can also be applied to the spacetime framework. This means that the rate of outward expansion of galaxies, stars etc., would really depend upon how far these galaxies are from the observer. The observer is t=0. Stars close by will expand more slowly, as compared to stars which are further away. This is because the space time for the stars nearby will stretch less as compared to the stars which are further away. 

Spacetime Fabric and Special Relativity

Einstein theory of special relativity had and has a great impact on science. It gave a new perspective to many aspects of science. Not only science, but this theory also affects our daily life.  

Without going into much details, one of the major conclusions of this theory is that time and motion are interconnected. Put simply, wherever there is motion time slows down. Yes, time does slow down with motion. Your clock will slow down. Faster you go, slower the time becomes. The ultimate possible speed is the speed of light (186,000 miles per sec). At that speed of light time does not move but it becomes standstill. This connection between motion and time is a proven fact. We are always on the move, walking, running, driving a car, flying in a plane. All these are at different speeds. The implication is that with this motion, the pace of your clock will be different at different speed. Also, if you are sitting on a chair and your friend is running, the pace of time ticking you and your friend will be different. Yes, the time frame keeps changing with motion, but the change is very small that the human mind cannot notice it. We have seen the smallest time frame is 10^-44sec. Mother Nature operates with these parameters and it is sensitive to these very small-time changes. It does make all the required time changes to very small change in speeds. The changes are happening in nature, but the human mind is unable to discern these small changes.

Okay, motion and time are interconnected. So, what happens to motion and the spacetime fabric. We know the fabric is made up of time. Motion and the spacetime fabric must be interconnected. What happens?

The start point of the spacetime fabric is always the observer which is the t = 0 location. This never changes; it always remains the starting point. When motion occurs (time slows down), the observer at t = 0 does not move, but time nodes on the fabric get closer to the observer and the spacing between the time nodes get closer. Overall the fabric is more compressed as compared to the fabric before the motion happens. If the speed of the motion increases (time slows down further), the observer is still fixed at t = 0 and the spacetime fabric gets further pulled towards the observer. Now if you reach the speed of light (time does not move), there is no time and there will be no spacetime fabric. The fabric would then merge into the observer at t = 0. If now, you slow down and come to a complete rest – the spacetime fabric would pop out from the observer, and you will reach the initial state before we started this exercise.

As you increase speed, the fabric starts getting compressed and as you decrease speed, the fabric starts expanding. The interesting question to ask over here is what happens to the objects sitting on top of the spacetime fabric? These are the objects we see out there in the universe. With the increase in the motion speed, the fabric would compress to bring the objects on the fabric closer to the observer, which does not move at t = 0.

It must be understood, the observer does not move, it is fixed at t = 0. So, the motion is not happening to the observer (which is you), but instead the objects on the spacetime fabric are moving closer to the fixed observer. Can you see the illusion which is taking place? We always feel that we as the observer are moving and the objects out there (like trees, houses etc.) are always fixed. This is our daily experiences. We are being fooled. This is exactly like sitting on a stationery train and watching a moving train on the next track. We have an illusion that the train is moving, and the other train is stationery. This is exactly what happens with the motion and the spacetime fabric.    

Please read the following post, for a more detailed explanation of connection between motion and time.

• Mind Does not Move. What Moves?
• Understanding Motion

Energy and Spacetime Fabric

Is this image an accurate representation of the spacetime fabric? It does convey the idea of the fabric quite well, but it is not accurate. Why? The fabric is made up of time and the Earth shown is a physical form and is present in the space out there. There is no spacetime fabric out there; it is in the mind only. So,logically it is incorrect for the physical earth to be shown on the time-basedfabric.

Just like space and time are connected. Space is physical and time is subtle and is present in the mind. In the same way mass and energy are also connected. The famous Einstein equation shows this connection E = mc². Mass is the physical form and energy is the subtle form. Vedanta teaches us that everything subtle is and must be present in the mind only.Energy is subtle and must be part of the mind only. As shown in the post ‘Awareness –The Infinite Energy Source’, there is infinite energy available in the cosmic mind. A part of this energy is used to represent different objects in the universe. Every object has its own unique energy wave function and this wave function is present in the mind. Even quantum physics confirms that every object in this universe has the particle and wave duality. 

This energy wave function of the objects is placed on the spacetime fabric. In the image above, the energy wave function of Earth is placed on the spacetime fabric. In the same way the energy wave function of every object is placed appropriately on the spacetime fabric.

Based on the Einstein theory of general relativity, this energy wave function curves the spacetime fabric. It should be clear that every object with the energy wave function will curve the spacetime fabric. An ant, a stone, human being, trees, planets, suns, galaxies, blackholes, every object will curve the spacetime fabric. The only difference is that objects with greater energy will curve the spacetime much more. The blackhole has the greatest curvature because it packs in the largest amount of energy.

How to understand the curvature of the time based spacetime fabric? How is time affected by the curvature of the fabric? We have seen in the earlier section that the observer is the start point (t =0) of the fabric and the end point is the big bang which is 13.7 billion light years away. Also, this outer edge is expanding 1 light year every year. The size of the spacetime fabric is fixed based on the amount of time which has elapsed. When the spacetime curves or wraps around the object, the size of the time-based fabric does not increase, it remains the same. Then what happens? The time around the objects gets curved and that part stretches out. Let us take an example, the

• Diameter for sun is 1.5 x 10⁶ km.
• Speed of light is 3 x 10⁵ km/sec.
• Time taken by light to cover the diameter = 1.5 x 10⁶ km/3 x 10⁵ km/sec = 5 sec

In the spacetime fabric, the sun will occupy 5 sec of space. These 5 seconds of space on the fabric would curve and wrap around the energy wave form of the sun. The same principle will then apply to every object from an ant to a blackhole.