science and spirituality

अभी तिरुपति में एक conference सम्पन्न हुआ विषय था... science and spirituality... सौभाग्य से मैं भी आमंत्रित वक्ताओं मैं से एक था । एक तो विषय इतना सारगर्भित है और उसपर वह आयोजित था पृथ्वी के वैकुंठ श्री तिरुपति में ।
Among the invited guests were scientists of eminence and spiritual practitioners from around the world. It was a good opportunity to cogitate upon this dual pronged approach that the society has been dependent upon for it's welfare and welbeing. Several parallels from both the streams of knowldge were drawn and the need to harmonise them were emphasised.

My line of argument was from the spiritually scientific stand rather than sccientifically spiritual one! For I believe it is important to start with the belief and then subject it to rigorous argumentation rather than argue in the begining and make oneself constarined. Krishna says in Geeta .. " श्रद्धावान लभते ज्ञानं " ... 'the person having faith will gain knowledge' ! faith in whom? faith in the one who is giver of the knowledge, faith in the knowledge itself ! one has to start with faith and we do always. If we doubt our mother, we may never know that she was our mother. And once we have grown up we may argue about it and get it rationally established too. We have faith that the food we are eating is somehow going to get digested and it does ! the day we doubt we may not be able to digest it. But once we have digested the food we can go to a learned person and learn how the food got digested ( I do not know if someone really knows it).

Ishavasyopnishads say " अन्धेन तमः प्रविशन्ति ये विद्या समुपासते, ततो भूये एव ते तमो ये विद्यया ॅ रताः । " In darkness those go who worship the worldly knowledge only and in greater darkness those go who who only worship beyond world knowledge! The need to establish a balance between the rational and the intuitive has been layed out in vedas. Though the truth of the world is that nothing exists, that it all maya but that the maya exists cannot be denied! and what for should the maya exist then? the maya itself has a purpose that is to chose a rational approach a scientific approach and develop methods in maya to be able to relish it. As the creation has happened for the purpose of interaction... for the 'रमण ' , the leela of the creator and it's creation. This act of play for the purpose of weaving the joy through defining onself in context of the other and everything around, needs to be done with a scientific orientation of objective thinking. I am male in context of a female and this is a very scientific fact ! My height IS 5'8'' and there is nothing subjective about it! If I need flowers for my gods garland, I will have to grow a rose plant and it needs manure and sunlight .. there is nothing subjective about it! but I do need a feeling to offer this flower, I do need to have a sense of myself being a male and therefor be able to weave a joy in interacting with 'others' and it is purely a subjective issue! and we need to be spiritual about it. Though the fact that food combines with enzymes and saliva and it gets digested in intestine and blah blah are true ... but that is not why I eat my food... I eat it because I ENJOY it! and over ! nothing else. So the subjective reasons for the existence become more strong at the individual level but the objective and rational relationships that the interactions between two entities entail create a platform for the subjectivity to relish!
The balance between the scientific and the spiritual is at the very core of the creation. Though difficult to attain ... for once get swayed away by ones favorite definitions wheher be it scitist or a bhakta, a beutiful or an ugly, a young or an old.... one when forgets that one;s true identity is in the dynamic redifinitions of the self rather than in fixed notions tha trouble and the need for such discuission arise. Over and all it is fun to be at the tension points of two opposits. Hare krishna! LIke at the centre of Radha and Krishna! the creator and it's power, the being and the manifestation, the fire and it's heat. Hare krishna!