The Enigmatic Voice of God: A Research on Myth

© 2009 Dr. Rev. Narayan Uchigaki. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse

Printed in the United States of America

Bloomington, Indiana

Contents

Introduction

Forward

About the Author

Preface

1 Setting a New Stage

2 A Perfect Sculpture – and Its Imperfection

3 Freedom of Thought and Religion According to Thomas Jefferson

4 The Point where Myth Emerges

5 Myth and Original Will

6 A Cultured Person is One who Understands Myth

7 Question the Historical Intellect

8 Invitation to Myth

9 Having the Sensibility to See Depth

10 The Chain of Being

11 Modern Man has Lost his Vibrancy

12 The Passage of Myth

13 God Appears out of Dialogue with Zero

14 Human Beings are Born Poets

15 The Five Revelations

16 The Greatness of the Fool

17 The Mystery of Egyptian Civilization

18 The Mystery of the Straight Line and the Angle

19 History of the Soul

20 The Mystical Realm of the Soul

21 Dialogue with Birds

22 Fire and Water Know our Hearts

23 Thus Myth is Realized

Epilogue

Bibliography

Introduction

This volume continues in English the stimulating story of Rev. Narayan Uchigaki’s life-long studies of myth and poetry. Until now, the only account of these studies available in English was the relatively brief account included in the book Transparent Reality. Portions of the material included here have been presented to a limited audience in the talks which Rev. Uchigaki gives monthly in Redding, California. Interspersed in the story are thought-provoking poems selected from the hundreds of poems which the author has written. Accounts of past events in his life provide the reader with insight into the personality of this man who has dedicated his life to bringing harmony to the world.

The author looks at the trend of behavior in our society—filled with self-centered greed and intolerance—and warns of a barbaric future unless this trend is reversed. He seeks a return to humility and to a behavior which is in harmony with nature.

In his search for a solution to this societal problem, Rev. Uchigaki has examined in depth the major philosophies of the world (the philosophies of Egypt, China, India, Japan, Greece, Rome, Europe and America)—also the major religions of these civilizations (including the Taoism of China and the Hinduism and Buddhism of India). Writers discussed explicitly in this book include Descartes (I think, therefore I am), Nietzsche (nature is our one true teacher), Heidegger (original will), Thomas Jefferson (separation of church and state), Walt Whitman (all men are equal), and Aldous Huxley (integrated education). Of particular interest to the author are those who wrote on myth (e.g., Vico, Goethe, Herder, Heyne and Schelling) and poetry (Whitman).

A large portion of the book is devoted to making the argument for returning to myth and poetry. Uchigaki uses the terms myth and poetry, he means more than stories of mythology and a collection of poems. His myth includes a peaceful state of mind based on transparent explanations of that which is otherwise not explained; his poetry includes harmony, including a harmony with nature. He believes that myth and poetry have a place in both science and philosophy, and that, if society were to adopt both, we could avoid a barbaric future and live in harmony. You are invited to explore details of these concepts of myth and poetry, and to evaluate their merits, by perusing the following pages.

— Dr. Eldon L. Knuth, Professor Emeritus

University of California, Los Angeles

Forward

A greatness mere words and illustrations fail to portray without all six senses and eleven dimensions realized above and beyond conventional, self imposed constraints, as you catch a glimpse into the genius of this poet, mythologist, physicist, mathematician, transcendentalist, futurist, medicine man, healer and simpleton, as he pushes the limits and bounds of intelligence, wisdom, perception, reality, beauty, and the actualization of truth, revealing the most fundamental questions throughout history and their corresponding answers, as each individual reader will undoubtedly grasp a level of understanding regardless of their path or level of enlightenment.

— Koji Jim Matsumoto, Vice President of

American chapter and Nippon Vedanta Society

About the Author

For the past 25 years, I have had the honor of working in the presence of Rev. Narayan Uchigaki as one of his disciples.

Rev. Narayan started out seeking the salvation of humanity by immersing himself in religious training at the age of 25, studying religions, religious philosophy and science. After all his studies, he came to the crucial realization that the actualization of Myth held the key to the salvation of humanity. He dedicated the next fifty years of his life to seeking out the substance of Myth by researching Eastern and Western philosophy, mythology in Europe, the civilizations of Egypt, Greece, India, China, and other various cultures with deep discernment and scientific analysis, aided by heavenly revelations from time to time.

Rev. Narayan started his first book about the life of Sri Ramakrishna at the age of 28. At the age of 32~33, he published a three-volume trilogy which was presented to the emperor of Japan. In the same year, 1957, he founded the Nippon Vedanta Society in Japan. Seventeen books followed.

In his forties and fifties, Rev. Narayan founded six cultural exchange centers in India and led a productive life there. In Ajimer, he entered a village of untouchables in order to provide medical facilities and an occupational training center. In Bangladesh, he established an orphanage to accommodate war orphans and their mothers, providing food, clothing, shelter and schooling.

During this period, he devised light speed meditation. After intensive training with this method, he successfully achieved unity with Brahman and received the revelation that Brahman was pure.

In 1975, upon receiving a heavenly revelation, Rev. Narayan came to the United States and founded 2 branches of the Vedanta Society, the first one located in Los Angeles, California and the other one located near Redding in Northern California. There is where he came to grasp the substance of Myth. On a barren hillside of 8 acres, having a serene view of the mountains, and with help from a few of his disciples, he started to cultivate the wasteland using a pickaxe and a hoe. With the help of Mother Nature, he created a Japanese garden, an orchard, and a vegetable garden.

Rev. Narayan has also arranged various celebrations and festivities, including the Thomas Jefferson Celebration and the Walt Whitman Celebration (held both in Los Angeles and Tokyo). He has always been extremely self-disciplined, dedicated to his research of Myth, although in his personal life, his true character is one of humor. He is known to create a good laugh and a sense of relief to the people around him. Over the years, I have witnessed his simplicity, his nobility, and the utter dedication he pours into each and every day. I have often felt, that it is because he is the man that he is, that he received so many revelations from the heavens.

Rev. Narayan’s lectures give us moments that seem to uplift the soul; this great man stands before us as someone who awakens within our hearts the Myth that reverberates within the universe.

This book is the second book in English—following Transparent Reality. It is a comprehensive survey of his studies of Myth, explaining some of the most intimate mysteries of the universe. As Rev. Narayan writes in the book, Myth does not refer to mythical tales, but to the depth from where those stories appear—the mysterious world that cannot be fathomed by rationality, the essence of the fantasy world. He has pursued and analyzed Myth with the tools of mathematics, science, metaphysics, and finally with the flood of five revelations with which he was able to grasp its essence. He presents it here in a way that is easy to understand; the origins of the universe, how something can seemingly appear out of nothing or void (mu), and why the universe is as it is. For us who have become separated from nature during our long trek through history, this is a rare treasure that presents us with a way to recover the mythical soul of the ancient peoples that were inspired by existence and achieved self realization; resonating with the vibrations of the universe.

It is my hope that this book will lead us to a wider understanding of Myth, the true nature of the universe and man. It is also my fondest wish that, through the creation of a network of simple people who are in touch with and resonating with a universe filled with Myth, this book would eventually lead to everlasting peace in the world, as is Rev. Narayan’s vision.

— Plab. Mary M. Matsumoto

Proofreader / Editor

Preface

I was born into a Shinto church household, and around the age of seven, became aware of the importance of Myth even though the understanding was still far from mature. In my youth, I studied Eastern and Western philosophies while undertaking religious training and discipline, and became painfully aware of the lack of studies on Myth in the contemporary world. Since then, for the past fifty years I have dedicated myself to the study of Myth. Fortunately I have been blessed to receive divine revelations throughout my research, my invigorating pursuits, which enabled me to finally grasp and unravel the substance of Myth, revealing just how important Myth is in light of my many real-life experiences.

Throughout human history, ever since man created language, creating such words as you and I, he fell into the relative world of you versus me, here versus there. By creating distinctions and differentiations, he separated himself from the universe, losing oneness with nature, distancing himself from Myth, becoming as he is now, a human being without freedom of spirit.

The primeval peoples of a lost past were friends with all things around them, connected to all things; they had eternal souls with neither beginning nor end, and from birth, living freely in poetry and Myth. They were free spirits. The study of Myth is a study of human history, a science to restore human beings to their original free spirit.

Poetry and Myth is the very life line of humanity, and the essence of true science, mathematics and art. However, mankind held Myth in contempt; man did not befriend this Universe, but instead chose to study it in relative and rational ways, fashioning himself with finite and rational knowledge, becoming more and more rigid and linear in his mentality. As a result, man relinquished Myth from his spiritual grasp, losing imagination, creativity, miraculous powers, and true gentleness of spirit. This is why man is forever repeating the history of destruction. Is this really how things ought to be? Mankind must value and engage in dialogue with nature, or true peace of mind and social order will not be possible.

As a prologue to this volume I would like to share the following experience.

A long time ago, during my regular trips to India, I happened to come across a number of clay horse figurines placed in front of a simple shrine in the countryside of the Bengal region, ranging in size from four inches to a foot high. I took a real liking to the biggest of the horse figurines, so with permission from the priest I brought it back with me to Japan and placed it on my bookshelf as an ornament.

A few years later another trip to India was approaching, and a visit to that same shrine out in the countryside was scheduled. On the eve of my departure, a figure appeared to me in my dream; it was that horse figurine that had withered and wasted away so much it looked close to death. It spoke to me, saying Since you brought me here I have been so lonely. Won’t you please take me back to where I came from?

I thought to myself, Oh, what a terrible thing I have done. I should not have brought and placed the figurine on my bookshelf as a decoration in the first place. Those horses were offerings placed in front of the shrine by the faithful. However, I did not want to part with that horse, I consoled him, saying, I see, I see, I’m truly sorry to have made you suffer like this, but I’ll come back with the other horses so you won’t be lonely anymore. And I’ll place you in the shrine, offering you meals in the morning and the evening. Please stay here with me. The horse nodded in agreement.

Even clay horses have life. I repented my negligence, of neglecting to value that life that was feeling loneliness. All things have life. All existence, which makes up this universe, is linked together.

The study of Myth makes us aware of our thoughtless ways, and builds the bridge to entering a friendship with nature, building our souls up to a higher level, so as to enable us to enter a world of poetry and Myth. When we enter into the Chain of Being, and gain understanding of the interplay between the point and the line, we may even gain insight into the mystery of the movements of the electron that suddenly seem to disappear and show up in a completely different location.

When we study Myth, we begin to understand the true nature of man and the universe; that playfulness is the basis of Myth, dancing freely amongst zero, a point, a line, time, and no time, and that is where the strings of the heart’s melody are played.

The historical figures mentioned in this book include Thomas Jefferson, the former President of the United States; the poet, Walt Whitman; Giambattista Vico, known as the founder of modern history and theorist of Myth in Italy; Christian Gottlieb Heyne, philosopher of Myth, called the first genius of Göttingen University in Germany; Herder, known as the greatest of the founders of the studies of Myth; the philosopher and poet Goethe; the philosophers Schelling, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Descartes in France, Confucius and Lao-Tzu in China, Buddha and Ramakrishna in India, and Herodotus, known as the father of history, the first historian in Greece.

I am thankful to all of the above for pioneering in this field against the difficult and at times resistant historical environments of their times, that have enabled me to progress in my studies to the present stage.

I would like to express my appreciation to the following people who have assisted in bringing this book to publication. Many thanks to Mikiko Watanabe, who has translated the original Japanese manuscript with attention to detail, using a variety of referential materials. My deep appreciation to Dr. Eldon Knuth, Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles (in USA), who assisted in research regarding the German scholars of Myth using the library resources at UCLA and Göttingen University (in Germany), proofreading, publishing and writing of the introduction for this book. Heartfelt thanks to Mr. Bryan Compton (M.A., California State University, Los Angeles USA, in English and American Literature) and Sri. Ravi Vedaratnam, Managing Trustee of School (Kindergarten to Middle College, South India), who helped with proofreading.

Thank you, my disciples, Plab. Mary Matsumoto, for proofreading, typing, editing, and publishing work, Plab. Maya Kawasaki for typing the original Japanese manuscript, Br. Frank Hamada for his research on Egypt, and Mr. Tom & Koji Matsumoto for their proofreading.

1 Setting a New Stage

1

Setting a New Stage

The Poetic Heart of a Peacock

It is a beautiful day today, daffodils are in full bloom, and spring is here. I have peacocks roaming free in my garden, sixteen in all. One of them likes to stay in the east side of the garden in the morning, but toward the evening it comes over to the west side. I wondered how this was that he comes to the west side toward the evening. Then I understood. It likes the east side in the morning when it gets the morning sun, and toward the evening it goes to the west side because the sun comes around to the west.

One day when the sun was about to set in the west, I saw the peacock jump up on a large rock in the grounds. It would stand on the rock every evening, quiet and still, watching the sunset in the western horizon. I was amazed at this. How poetic! It touched me that a peacock would have such a poetic heart. Human beings have been gradually losing that sort of sensibility. The peacock stands on the rock, and patiently, awaits a long time, watching the sun go down. When it is satisfied, it comes down and hurries back to its cage. Peacocks, too, must have poetic sensibility.

Another story, this is about a Japanese florist. This florist travels around the world in search of unusual breeds, which he purchases and propagates to sell at high prices. One day, he was on a high mountain in a foreign land, looking for unusual flowers. At long last, he finds some very unusual flowers in front of a humble little cottage. He asks the owner of the cottage if he could buy these plants from him, but the owner tells him, These are not my flowers; my daughter grows them. Please ask my daughter.

So the man started negotiating. The Japanese florist asked the young girl, who grew the flowers, to sell them to him in return for a lot of money. The amount was enough for someone in that part of the world to be able to live comfortably for the rest of his life. However, the young girl said no. She did not want to sell them. These are my flowers, she said. Yes, it was something that could not be exchanged for money.

It is a beautiful story—the beauty of this young girl’s heart, that treasured these flowers and raised them. Myths are made of such things. It is gentle. It is said that the Japanese florist was touched by her, and reexamined how he lived his life. Maybe he may have even decided to change his line of work.

People nowadays have lost that precious heart. Today it’s all money, money, money. How precious then, are the heart of the peacock and the heart of the young girl on the mountain. We must not forget that element of poetry in our lives.

I have had another memorable experience. I arrived in America in 1975 with a few of my disciples, and in those days we worked as painters to support ourselves. I helped out as well. It happened about that time.

In the