Modern man is more
psychologically abnormal than the prescientific age. The crisis in the world
today is more mental than the material. The age of reductionism and the age of
anxiety as the world is known today has divided every aspect of human life
manifested in the problems of existence and reflected in conflicts, tension,
war, competition, jealousy, envy, violence and widespread dis-satisfaction. The
disintegration of man, his bankruptcy in the inner space and abundance in the
outer space is in fact a world problem. Because everything that happens in the
world today grows out of what is happening to the individual and so the
individual problem is the world problem. The science of man is wonderful and unparalleled
but his psychology is deplorable. But the individual problem is the problem of
existence with body, life and mind as manifested carrier and something beyond
that is unmanifest. Man has traveled too far from himself while discovering and
revealing the secrets of nature. He has scattered, divided himself where there
is no place for values, feelings, unity and integration. He has to look within,
gather his mental consciousness scattered outside, discover what he is in
Reality, realize his essential nature and constantly live in “that” is the
whole assertion of Yoga. Sri Aurobindo rightly said that self-conscious finding
is yoga and this self-conscious finding in the midst of living breaks the
prison of body and senses which allows only a distorted perception of reality,
evolves mind beyond reasoning mentality and gradually shifts the center of
individual from self-limited, cultural hypnosis of ego to universal and
transcendental self. That makes yoga a living tradition as it aims at reality
which is eternal, infinite, and blissful and beyond change, finite and
afflictions.
The object of yoga is not the denial of
life of material existence i.e. body, life and mind but using these as
instruments consciously to reveal the basis of Material Existence. Yoga is more
concentrated to discover who is in body than the body itself, which is in the
life than the life itself, which is in the mind than the mind itself. This
makes yoga “a methodized effort towards self-perfection by the expression of
potentialities latent in the being and a union of the human individual with the
universal and transcendent” says Sri Aurobindo. To dwell in infinity, bliss,
delight, love, harmony, compassion in the mist of all activities is the
solution to all problems of existence but this kind of life is eternal which
makes yoga a living tradition. Yoga is not only a living tradition but eternal
too as it discovers one’s essential nature (Dharma) through meditation.
Meditation resolves all discords of problems of existence and brings a creative
realization of himself in which there is only room for harmony, love,
integration, compassion, bliss and constant awareness of reality.
Meditation: A Journey Modern
Science to Spirituality (Comparative View)
Modern science insisting matter as Reality
while yoga insisting on Pure Self as reality appears to have divided the
perception of the world into divergent, often opposing & contrary to each
other but only for the sake: of discovering the reality underlying the
universe. The Indian life since beginning has been a life of spirituality which
revealed a life of egoless, a self-illuminating, self-existent truth pervading
the whole cosmos while the western life has been a life of relative world of
matter which realized life fulfilled only with material possessions, power and
authority. It is important to understand clearly the basis of life and
existence before resolving the problems related to them. Its both divergent
views are concerned about life; therefore, it is essential to perceive the
unity behind their conclusions, interpretations, basis which would enable the
human being to realize the truth beyond change as well as in the midst of
change.
The concept of ultimate cause or the
absolute truth, in modern science, is assumed to be within the range of
physical laws of nature governing matter. This assumption lays the foundation
that life can also be fully understood in terms of atoms, molecules and their
interactions. As life is considered as manifestation of matter, originated by
chance and from random combination of molecules interacting under the influence
of blind natural laws over a period of many years. Then, is life mere pushes
and pulls of these chemicals. Szent – Gyorgyi, the Nobel Laureate and a chemist
said”….. In my search for the secret of life, I ended up with atoms & electrons
which have no life at all. Somewhere, along the line, life has run out through
my fingers…” In fact, a gene or DNA molecule is not life and collection of this
molecule is not life. A life of feeling, meaning, purpose, love, compassion has
been reduced to the life of dead matter, atoms, electrons and their
interactions. “It is premature to reduce the vital process to the quite
insufficiently developed conception of 19th and 20th century Chemistry &
Physics says a French Physicist. It is difficult to explain, morality, honesty,
humility, self-control, tolerance, ego in terms of molecular mechanisms. It is
far from correct the laws governing matter are also the laws governing life.
Yoga says that consciousness is the ultimate cause or absolute truth which is
all pervading, all knowing, self-existent, blissful all powerful and infinite.
It creates the world of name & form known as the material world and enters
into every creation. The body, life, mind are its manifestations and original
manifestation is known as Prakriti. When this consciousness is fully involved
in lowest manifestations it begins the ascending process of evolution. The
human being has fully evolved physical body, energy body, mental body as
Prakriti and the self as Ultimate Consciousness (Purusha). The conscious
journey to separate oneself from the manifestations and abiding in self is the
aim of meditation. The approach of modern science is objective, experimental
and reductionist, which begins with division and ends with an idea of holism. The
reasoning mind divides and perception of reality. The spirit of inquiry to
realize the self or the truth also follows in yoga almost in a similar fashion
but only in the beginning and gradually awakens to knowledge that reasoning
mind cannot perceive the truth wholly and integrally. So, effort is made in
this process to perceive independently from senses which leads to total and
united perception. Life is realized as a natural movement of the ultimate
consciousness and in tune with Manifested world and Unmanifest. A Yoga aspirant
feels no utility of objective experimentation in controlled conditions as
everything concluded from the rational mind may help in eliminating the errors
of perceptions but cannot understand its creator the ultimate truth.
Modern Science considers mind and
consciousness either as same or unable to explain in clear terms. It heavily
depends on turning the mind outward in the field of known together information,
facts related to matter, and mechanisms through senses and offers an indirect
knowledge. Philosophy is the term lightly used as all principles of science and
technology heavily relies on the science of logic. Mind is considered an
instrument of knowledge tries to fathom the secrets of universe analytically,
logically and concludes the life as a machine or in terms of mechanisms.
Reasoning mind always moves in time that gives only a reference about truth but
not the truth as it is. Mind is considered in yoga an instrument of
consciousness and organizer of knowledge not as an instrument of knowledge. It
is used in a similar fashion on yoga as Modern Science uses it but for keeping
instruments fit and proper to receive the truth that too only in the beginning.
But gradually synthetic, intuitional, multidimensional, creative aspect of mind
are utilized to break the distorted perception built out of one’s conditionings
habits, sensual perception unlike modern science where it is strengthened.
Further mind is gathered inward so that mind begins studying the mind in the
absence of any concept, pre-knowledge, image, imagination etc. And gradually
mental self-awareness disappears and one realizes the absolute truth.
Meditation: A Journey from Modern Science to Spirituality-II (Union)
Modern Science is based philosophic assumptions
or world views that change continuously as the new discoveries replaces the
old. It aims at understanding the secrets underlying the universe through these
basic philosophic assumptions known as paradigms after objective
experimentation, analysis, conclusions in controlled conditions. The
Newtonian-Cartesian world view which started in the second half of the 17th
century still dominating the modern science even when there is clear shift in
paradigm after 19th century. This world view considers matter is real and self-dependent
cause of evolution; from matter to life-higher species and also to human
consciousness. World seen by the senses (indirect perception) is considered
real as senses can see material or physical as factual and real. The life
appeared by mere change; out of matter and energy and it further evolved into
higher and higher species by genetic mutations, unguided and ungoverned
struggle for existence. Mind, consciousness even creative intelligence,
spirituality, art, ethics are considered the product of brain. This view was
heavily supported by objective experimentation, clinical and experimental
neurology, which brought knowledge about various physiological or pathological
and/or psychological processes and various operations of nature’s functioning
in the External world. Further this world view has developed a philosophy of
life heavily depends on animal instincts viz money, sex and authority. This
kind of life, this perception of world with animal instincts can never help in
understanding/entering into the state of meditation. The world view cannot
transform the life; bring delight, peace, harmony, compassion.
Twentieth Century science is revising and
discarding this world view in light of accumulation of contradictory data,
concerning nature and her secrets. There appears a clear shift of paradigm
which has opened a new area of knowledge about Nature, human consciousness and
other related areas appears coming closer to the science of yoga and its
concepts laid down before us many thousands of years ago by our seers &
saints and yogis. Twentieth Century Science has questioned almost every
paradigm of Newtonian – Cartesian era.
The paradigm, of spirit-matter dualism
central to classical physics has undergone a radical shift in this century
1. The sub-atomic particles acting as wave and particle both has
replaced the world of substance to only process, event and relation. This
further means that objective world of time & space no longer exists and
what physics calls as facts falls into the category of possibilities.
2. Einstein theory of relatively compels us to realize that universe is
not a machine but merely a network of events and relations.
3. Quantum mechanics presents that mere fact of observation alters the
observed phenomenon, hence observed and the observed are both a combined event
and cannot be regarded as separate.
4. William James in his famous Gifford lectures on natural religion
later known as classic “Varieties of Religious” experience said “It is that our
normal consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is but one special
type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of
screens, these lies potential forms of consciousness entirely different… the
presence in the midst of all the humbug, of really supernormal knowledge.”
5. Systems Theory: States why only man be regarded as an individual
possessing body, life, mind and ego. But a social system, a family, ecological
system, galaxy have peculiar individual attributes. They also are regarded as
individual.
6. By Prigogine’s Theory of Dissipative or Non Equilibrium Structures :
The old paradigm that thermal death is the ultimate end of all structure (Law
of Thermodynamics) have been replaced by the fact that fluctuations can restore
an order not only in chemical reactions, but all system from atoms to galaxy,
even in society and cultures.
7. Reality in Paranormal states : David Bohm (Physicist) proved that
what we observe by senses is one aspect of reality, another aspect is revealed
in episodes of mystical or paranormal states.
8. Space Vortex Theory : The four independent fields of Einstein have
now been possibly replaced by one. Dr.D.Tiwari’s theory explains how they can
be created, vortices in a mass less dynamic medium, which we call space or
vacuum, when its whirling motion reaches the speed of light.
The above theories, concepts of
modern science are very near to yogic concepts revealed in meditation to its
practitioners.
Conclusions
1. There is neither space, time nor causation, neither beginning nor
and…. It is all one – indicates Prakriti.
2. Reasoning mentality through senses cannot perceive the Reality. Mind
is the barrier.
3. The whole manifested world is one and only one – Maya
4. Clinical death is myth.
5. One field theory indicates Prakriti.
If the shift in paradigms opens a new and
revolutionary area of knowledge it is also coming closer to the science of yoga
and its ancient established concepts. Meditation is the state that discovers
these aspects of reality and leads one to holism, integration, globalism,
peace, harmony & bliss.
Prakriti is the source of all
manifestations with body; life and mind of human frame are its inclusive
manifestations. There is neither space, nor time nor causation in the absolute
truth but they are essentially one which indicates experience in meditation
that is beyond time, space and causation. It is the mind which divides itself
into subjective and objective reality but both observer and observed are
essentially one and one has to transcend the very mental structure in
meditation to witness the absolute reality. The new scientific paradigms even
perceives that sensual perception restricts and limits the individual to
objective perceptual reality and objective social self or ego which, in fact,
do not exist.
Acharya Girish Jha took yoga and spirituality to its highest level by teaching it as the science of conscious evolution, a fact that attracted global attention. He taught over 60000 people world wide. As a Board Certified Professional Counselor, Acharya combines the wisdoms of Yoga, Science and Spirituality based on authentic texts, himalayan tradition, and consciousness approach aims at Health, Harmony & Happiness. http://www.shreyasyoga.com
Yoga Plus Herbs, Marlboro Plaza, Intersection of Rte 9 and Rte 520 in Marlboro, NJ 07726, 732-617-2020, http://www.yogaplusherbs.com, info at yogaplusherbs dot com
