Hi Michael,

I read the DNA article with interest and made some comments that you might find useful.

It is interesting that microbiology is now getting a better picture of the subtlest manifestation of the Consciousness as it outpictures the sentient aspect of existence just as elementary particle physics is providing the world with some idea of the workings of Consciousness in the creation of the insentient i.e. material world. Several of the ideas in this article are in harmony with Vedic science if you accept that the DNA is an equivalent term for the Causal Body and the vasanas.

The statement ‘One revolutionary corollary of the Gariaev group's research is that, to rewrite and heal damaged DNA, one can simply use words ' is in harmony with the views of Vedic spiritual science. To put it another way, ‘words alter the vasanas.'

But words themselves are not the end of it. Words are the vehicles for ideas and for conveying the intention of the speaker. They do not speak themselves. Does the Causal Body, the DNA, record the intention of the speaker and the idea being expressed as vasanas? Yes. This leads us even further back and raises another question. Who is speaking the words and why?

The author's statement “to learn how to quickly and easily access Universal intelligence to facilitate the changes that are necessary in your own personal energy matrix and that of the planetary grid” suggests that there is somebody or something behind both the words and the ideas they are meant to convey. He calls it ‘spirit or universal intelligence or God.' In Vedic science it is called Consciousness (chaitanyam). It is limitless and eternal.

The author seems to be trying to sell the idea that this knowledge of the DNA and how it works can be put to use to ‘facilitate changes.' At this point Vedanta would ask, “Who wants things to be different from the way they are and why?”

It won't be the Self because it is not dissatisfied with the way things are. It knows that, as the French say, “the more it changes the more it stays the same. In other words what ‘changes' doesn't change in any significant way. Or in the language of Vedanta it ‘apparently' changes. The DNA is in Maya. Maya is neither real nor is it unreal. This means that any changes that take place don't last. Therefore if one wants to enjoy a certain activity one has to continue to perform that activity. This reprograms the DNA, keeping the memory of how to perform alive.

The problem with trying to change something that begins to change again the moment it has changed from what you didn't want raises another important question, ‘why is the object you wish to change not acceptable in the first place?'

This, of course, immediately identifies the ego, the incomplete ‘person.' The ego wants things to be more/better/different because it sees itself as incomplete and believes that the desired change will complete it. But how acceptable will a changed ‘ personal energy matrix and that of the planetary grid' be to someone who by definition is incomplete? Alas, as soon as the desired change starts the sense of limitation that caused the desire for change kicks in and the ego has to set about making further changes in its ‘personal and the planetary energy grid' to achieve satisfaction. When does it end?

This is basically a description of life from the ego's point of view. There is nothing inherently ‘wrong' with it, but it is inherently dissatisfying. And dissatisfaction is unnatural, contrary to one's true nature. If dissatisfaction were natural to human beings they would not try to rid themselves of it by trying to change themselves and reality.

So it seems that the sole reason for interest in the DNA is to get what one wants out of life. Change what I don't like into something I do like and I'll be happy. But you and I know that this is absurd.

Once one accepts the absurdity of this situation one can begin a more fruitful investigation of what is beyond the DNA. This is where Vedanta begins. It is a number proven ideas that help in the investigation of Consciousness, the Self.

The inherent unworkablity of changing oneself and the world either by altering the DNA or by changing gross situations is obvious. It often seems that life is very unfair; change will not set you free, neither can you get rid of the desire to be free. Yet there is a way out. But the way out involves seeing that you were never caught in the mayic DNA matrix in the first place. And this is done by investigating the Self.

In the investigation of the Self words play an essential role: they are the vehicle for the wisdom that destroys ignorance. Ignorance, like knowledge, is enshrined in the DNA. But words themselves do not permanently alter the DNA. Only the knowledge that they contain can alter them.

Michael: Isn't ‘permanent alteration' an oxymoron? You just said that the DNA is in Maya and that Maya is constantly changing. So isn't it impossible for a change to be permanent?

Yes and no. Yes, the removal of ignorance is a change, but it is not a change in the Self or in the way it outpictures reality. It is simply an apparent change, one that ‘returns' the DNA to its original form. What is the original form of the DNA? Eternal awareness.

The author seems to get it. He says, “It is important to know that you ARE your DNA.

While this statement seems to be correct on the surface it is actually only partially accurate. It should be, “It is important to know that the DNA is you but you are not your DNA.”

Although it seems to be conscious, the DNA is not conscious. It simply reflects Consciousness. The DNA is the subtlest karmic force, the cause and the consequence of the Self operating in Maya. The DNA does not know. From an individual's limited knowledge it seems to be all knowing because it creates all the myriad names and forms that appear in the creation. But its knowingness is borrowed from the Self, you, eternal Consciousness. I, the Self, know the DNA. It does not know me. I see it. It does not see me. But for my light it cannot program and replicate the matrix of life.

The DNA that enshrines the notion that I am limited and inadequate, that I need to do something to make myself and my world more/better/different needs to be destroyed by the DNA knowledge that I am eternal awareness. This knowledge is already programmed into the DNA. It has been apparently covered by Self ignorance. So, if I want to be free from change and the desire to change myself and the world I need to subject myself to that knowledge. I need to receive teaching. Just the words themselves will not remove the ignorance. Understanding the true meaning of the words does remove it. The DNA does not understand because it is not conscious. Only the Self masquerading as an ego can understand…and free itself of a sense of limitation that was never there.

Ram