Pale Blue Dot--Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan titled his 1994 book Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space after the photograph. In it, he expresses his thoughts on a deeper meaning of the image:--

From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity – in all this vastness – there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known, so far, to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment, the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

Nasadiya sukta( Song of creation)

------------ In Hindi --------------
सृष्टि से पहले सत नहीं था

असत भी नहीं

अंतरिक्ष भी नहीं

आकाश भी नहीं था

छिपा था क्या, कहाँ किसने ढका था

उस पल तो अगम अतल जल भी कहां था

नही थी मृत्यु , जी अमरता भी नही,

नही था दिन, रात भी नही,

हवा भी नही, साँस थी स्वयमेव फिर भी,

नही था कोई कुछ भी , परम तत्त्व से अलग , या परे भी

कर्म बनकर बीज पहला जो उगा,

काम बनकर वो जगा।

कवियों, ज्ञानियों ने जाना ,

असत और सत का निकट सम्बन्ध पहचाना

पहले सम्बन्ध में - हिरण्य

परम तत्त्व उसपर

ऊपर या नीचे ....... वह था बंटा हुआ ।

पुरूष और स्त्री बना हुआ ....

ऊपर .......नीचे ......

सृष्टि यह बनी कैसे ,

किससे आई है कहाँ से ।

क्या कोई जानता है ,बता सकता है ।

देवों को नही ज्ञान,

वे आए सृजन में क्यों ??

सृष्टि का कौन है कर्ता? कर्ता है या है विकर्ता?

ऊँचे आकाश में रहता

सदा अध्यक्ष बना रहता

वही सचमुच में जानता 

या नहीं भी जानता

है किसी को नही पता

नही पता

नही है पता

नही है पता

-वह था हिरण्य गर्भ सृष्टि से पहले विद्यमान

वही तो सारे भूत जात का स्वामी महान

जो है अस्तित्वमान धरती आसमान धारण कर

ऐसे किस देवता की उपासना करे हम हवि देकर

जिसके बल पर तेजोमय है अम्बर

पृथ्वी हरी भरी स्थापित स्थिर

स्वर्ग और सूरज भी स्थिर

ऐसे किस देवता की उपासना करे हम हवि देकर 

गर्भ में अपने अग्नि धारण कर पैदा कर

व्यापाथा जल इधर उधर नीचे ऊपर

जगा जो देवों का एकमेव प्राण बनकर

ऐसे किस देवता की उपासना करे हम हवि देकर 

ओअम ! सृष्टि निर्माता स्वर्ग रचयिता पूर्वज रक्षा कर

सत्य धर्म पालक अतुल जल नियामक रक्षा कर

फैली है दिशाएं बाहु जैसी उसकी सब में सब पर

ऐसे ही देवता की उपासना करे हम हवि देकर

ऐसे ही देवता की उपासना करे हम हवि देकर

Neither existence nor nonexistence was there

Neither matter nor space around

What covered it, where it was and who protected?

Why, that plasma, all pervading, deep and profound?

Neither death nor immortality was there

And there was neither day nor night

But for that breathless one breathing on its own.

There was nothing else, surely nothing

It was darkness concealed in darkness

And an uninterrupted continuum of fluid

Out came in material form and shape

That one lying deep inside, on its own intent.

In the cosmic mind, all pervading Desire,

 the primal seed made its first appearance

And the wise men, seeking deep in their heart

Could see the link between ‘that is’ and ‘that is not’.

Reins of the link, a grid of crisscross lines,

Holds all the seeds and mighty forces,

Microcosmic forces within

And macro forces out above.

Who really knows,

who can declare When it started or where from?

And where will the creation end?

Seekers and sought entered later –

And so who knows when all this manifested?

That one, out of which the creation came May hold the reins or not,

Perceiving all from above, That one alone

Knows the beginning – may not know too.

Consciousness

The senses cannot feel It and mind cannot understand it.Consciousness alone is everywhere and rises as 'I" within you.It is the shining of the sun and the motion of the earth.It is beyond space and time which derive their existence from it.The mind cannot go to touch it, or to reach it,and will miss it if it tries to find it.These attempts are movements hiding the Stillness.It is found only by itself when mind does not move.Check all movements of the mind for one moment only,stop all desires and all thought for one second only,and you are beyond the cycle of birth and death forever.This cycle is samsara, your own imagination.It has no beginning and only Self knowledge will end it.The question "Who am I?" will end it.So firmly decide, "I have to do it Now."This human birth is such a blessing, don't waste it!Postponement is samsara, the cycle of suffering.Whenever you are in trouble ask, "Am I dreaming?"This is "Who am I?" and it will wake you upand make you fall in love with your own Self.Then you will know all "others,"and will take this candle wherever you go!~ Papaji