Awareness is the substratum of this universe. In fact, Awareness is the content of each object in the universe. Without Awareness you cannot experience anything in the universe. If you study Awareness, you will find that the Awareness is made up of a Subject, Intelligence and Objects. If any one of them is missing you cannot have Awareness.

• If there is an object to be observed but there is no subject, there will be no awareness, as there is no one to see the object.
• If there is a subject but no object to see, there will no awareness as the subject has no object to observe
• If there is an object but the subject has no way of knowing what this object is, no awareness will take place. This knowing must have intelligence.

Wherever there is awareness, the Subject, Intelligence and Object must be present. This Awareness is present in the mind. When any form or object meets Awareness in the mind you will have experience that object

Vedanta teaches us that our inner core is full, complete and it is stand alone. Awareness is our inner core and for this to be full and complete, it must be Self-Aware. Self-Awareness means that the ‘Awareness is aware of Awareness’. Another way to put this is that ‘Self is aware of the Self’. 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 – it is one. It is Self-Shining. This Self-Shinning Awareness is our inner core. It is not dependent upon anything else and it generates its own light of Awareness.

Vedanta teaches us that our inner core is Atma and this Atma is SatChitAnanda. Self-Awareness is the same as SatChitAnanda.

Self-Awareness = SatChitAnanda = Atma

Does Self-Awareness or SatChitAnanda have infinite energy? Yes, it does have infinite energy. How can we understand this? Obviously, there is no scientific proof, but we can use logic and correlate with other scientific investigations. To understand this, a good example is to see how the atomic nucleus works. In school we learned that the atomic nucleus is made up of neutrons and protons. Different elements have a different combination of neutrons and protons. Neutrons have a neutral charge, while the protons have a positive charge. We also know that positive charge must repel each other. If they are supposed to repel each other, how come they stick together within the nucleus. The answer is that there is a strong nuclear force which keeps these protons together within this nucleus. This nuclear force binds the protons together. This nuclear force is within the atomic nucleus and is always present in the nucleus. In fact, this nuclear force is the source for the atomic bomb.

This concept can be applied to keep the object and the subject together as one entity within Self-Awareness. We have discussed earlier that in Self Awareness; the subject is same as the object and the object is same as the subject. Logically they must be separate. The subject is ‘in here’ and the object is ‘out there’. Can you imagine the energy required to bring the subject and object as one homogenous entity? To force them to become one entity. To make the subject into an object and the object into a subject. It seems like an impossible task, but it does happen within Self-Awareness. It is not wrong to predict that the energy required to undertake this task is infinite. An infinite amount of energy will be required to keep the subject and object as one unit within Self Awareness. Like the nuclear force is present within the nucleus, Self-Awareness is a store house for infinite amount of energy to keep the Subject and Object as one homogenous unit. This infinite energy stored in Self-Awareness is the source for the energy in the universe. This energy within Self-Awareness is in ‘unmanifest’ condition and is in ‘potential’ form. This energy within Self-Awareness is inactive, it is dormant, but it is present. Vedanta calls this infinite energy stored within our inner core as Maya Shakti.

How is the Infinite Energy Activated? We have just seen that Self-Awareness is the storehouse for infinite amount of energy. How is this energy activated? All this energy is within Self-Awareness. If all this is true, why don’t we know this or why don’t we experience this. The simple answer is that we are Ignorant. We are ignorant that we are non-dual, we are both the subject and object. Since we are not aware that we are both the subject and the object, this means that the subject and object are no longer one entity, but they are separate. Ignorance separates the subject and object. We then feel this duality with objects ‘out there’ and the subject ‘in here’. This ignorance may seem routine, but it has that power to separate the subject and the object. Ignorance is the only thing which can separate the subject and the object. We saw, it takes an infinite amount of energy to keep the subject and object as non-dual. Despite this, ignorance has the power to separate non-duality to duality of subject ‘in here’ and object ‘out there’. This is the power and strength of ignorance.

We saw earlier that it takes an infinite amount of energy to bind the subject and object as one homogenous non-dual entity. With the separation of subject and object, this infinite energy ‘pops-out ‘and is now available in the cosmic mind and a limited subset of this energy in the individual minds.

The energy which is available in the mind is pure energy. This energy plays different roles within the mind.

• A part of this energy is used to stretch out time, to create the space out there.
• Another part of this energy combines with the time pixels to create the full spectrum of the electromagnetic waves. A wide range of frequencies and wavelengths make up the spectrum of the EM energy. The known spectrum starts from Radio waves (300 Khz) to Gamma rays (3 x 10²¹) Hz. Each time pixels in the spacetime fabric oscillates in such a manner that it is a combination of all the possible frequencies in the EM spectrum. Each pixel is the source for the complete range of EM frequencies. Since time pixel is available in every part of the spacetime fabric. This means the spectrum of energy also covers the entire spacetime fabric. This EM energy provides the coating for spacetime fabric.

A detailed explanation of the above two bullet points is available in the article ‘The Science behind the Projection of the Universe’

Okay, we have shown that Self-Awareness is the storehouse for an infinite amount of energy and this energy makes its presence in the cosmic and individual minds. Is there any other way to corroborate this discussion? Anything which will support this. Yes, there is. For this we need to understand photons and the Einstein special theory of relativity. This will show and support that there is infinite energy in the mind.

Photons and Infinite Energy:

A Photon is unique; it is the only particle in the universe which travels at the speed of light – 186,000 miles per sec. According to science it is physically impossible for anything to travel at the speed of light, because it will require infinite amount of energy to push something to achieve the speed of light. Infinite means infinite, therefore it is just impossible to achieve the speed of light for any object. At the Large Hardon Collider in CERN, Switzerland, it has been possible to achieve 99.999% of the speed of light – achieving 100% is impossible.

This really makes you wonder- if it is impossible to achieve the speed of light how come the photons achieve this speed so easily, and to top it all, they seem to be everywhere in the universe. Anything traveling at the speed of light must have infinite energy or mass, but photons have zero rest mass.   If you apply the tool kit of the special theory of relativity to the photon, you get a better understanding about energy and photons. To explain the implications of this theory, Einstein provided a thought experiment, as it is impossible for cars or rockets to reach speeds anywhere close to the speed of light.

You are on earth and your twin brother goes into space in a rocket. You both have atomic clocks. Your twin brother’s rocket is traveling at the speed of 0.8c. You at earth measure the speed of the light, you find it be c, your twin brother also measures the speed of light, he will also find the speed to be c. How come? The clock in the rocket slows down and his ruler in the rocket gets compressed and is much shorter so that the speed of light is still c. His spacetime framework is more compressed, but the speed of light is still c. Your twin brother returns to earth. Your clock shows he travelled for 10 years, while his clock shows he travelled for 6 years only.

Your twin brother goes on another trip and now he increases his speed to 0.9999c. He measures the speed of light and he still finds it to be c, the same as you will find on earth. His clock will be running very slowly as compared to your clock on earth. He returns after 50 days according his clock. Your clock on earth will show he has travelled for 10 years. Amazing stuff! His spacetime is extremely compressed.

Here’s an addition to the Einstein thought experiment. Your twin brother enjoys being in space. He goes back for another trip, and now his rocket travels at the speed of light c. He is tries to measure the speed of light, but he is unable to do so. Light travels at c and his rocket is also traveling at speed c, both are going in parallel to each other speed wise. To make a measurement you need light to bounce of an object, but if the rocket and light are going at the same speed, it is impossible to take this measurement. When he returns to earth, your clock shows he has travelled for 10 years, he will find his clock is at a standstill, no time has passed for him. Also, according to him he has covered no distance. You aged 10 years; he felt he did not go anywhere, both time wise and distance wise and therefore did not age at all.

Now replace the rocket and the twin brother with a photon. The photon will have the same experience as your twin brother travelling at speed of light c in a rocket. Here’s what you could say the photon “experienced” the following according to the special theory of relativity.

• Distance travelled by photon = 0
• Time experienced by photon = 0 or standstill
• Energy content of photon = infinity. The formulae for the Lorenz Transformation will confirm this.

What is your experience as an observer stationed on earth tracking a photon traveling for 10 years?

• Distance traveled by photon = 10 light years
• Time travelled by photon = 10 years
• Mass of photon = 0
• Speed of light = c

Amazing conclusions – you think the photons move around at the speed of light, but ‘according’ to the photons, it does not move, it is stationary. In the thought experiment, you see your twin brother is travelling at the speed of light, but your twin knows he is not moving, because his clock is stationary.

According to the photon, it feels it is at a standstill not covering any distance and has infinite amount of energy. However, the observer feels the photon is covering a large distance traveling at the speed of light. How do we interpret this information? Based on the information we have understood, we can make the following important conclusions

1. The photon travels only in the presence of the observer. If there is no observer, then the photon remains at a standstill. An observer is a prerequisite for the photon to travel. So, whenever a photon comes in the presence of Awareness in any mind – your mind, my mind or the cosmic mind, the photon becomes conscious and then and only then we are aware of the photon. It is this photon which zips around at the speed of light. The perception must take place in the mind first, only then it is possible for the photon to be observed in the physical world.
2. From the photon’s perspective, it is always at standstill in time and covers no distance. If time does not move for the photon, it must be outside time and it must be beyond the spacetime framework. If it is within the spacetime framework, time for the photon must change. Time changes for everything in space. Where is beyond spacetime? According to Vedanta the cosmic and individual mind is beyond time and the spacetime framework. This means that the infinite energy of the photon is present in the mind only.

So, the infinite energy of the photon is present in the mind. We saw earlier that the infinite energy ‘popping out’ from Self-Awareness is also in the mind. This means that the infinite energy of the photons is the same energy which was released by Self-Awareness due to ignorance. Therefore, the energy for the photons comes from Self-Awareness.

The mind is a power house and it has the capacity to handle and manage the infinite amount of energy. It is not easy to fathom how there can be infinite energy in the mind. Looking at the sun, the awesome energy it has, the destruction power it has. The sun energy is just a tiny tiny minuscule of the total energy of the universe. So, how awesome the total energy of the universe must be? All this energy is in the mind only. How can this infinite energy be stored in the mind? The cosmic mind stores all the energy and just a small subset is available in the individual minds It must be understood that the energy in the mind is in the subtle form and not gross or physical form. The subtle form is part of the subtle universe. Very little is known of the subtle universe. The energy could be in a wave form or energy equations or some software code representing objects in the gross world out there. These are living wave forms or living equations, and these are converted to gross forms and these are the gross forms we see out there. Whatever the format of the energy in the mind, it is a fact there is an infinite amount of energy in the cosmic and individual minds.