We have been talking about the Brahman, the Creator in the form self illuminating light. A recent article published in
The New York Times goes to prove that what we are discussing is not outside the purview of scientific studies. It is really amazing to realize that the ancient sages discovered these scientific facts without the aid of current technology. Articles of this nature prove beyond doubt that the study of spirituality is no way different from the study of science, provided we are able to analyze and identify the areas of similarity between these two, as occasionally spirituality also unfolds stories to make the understanding easier.
It has been very kind of you to have followed up on the issues that concerned me. I remain grateful to you and remain an avid reader of your words whenever my mundane and routine life permits me that liberty.
ReplyDeleteI think my earlier comment was a little too cryptic and lacked a proper explaination of what I meant when I said that we needed to reconcile Spirituality with Science. I am grateful that you found the cause worthy and chose to elaborate upon it in a very wise manner. This is a subject which perhaps bothers a lot of us and I feel encouraged to delve a little farther along the path thanks to your encouraging response. Pardon me if I appear to be a needless critic or a non-believer. I do not wish to waste your time in arguments so kindly ignore what I write below if it is too obscure or irrelevant.
Continuing beyond, the reconciliation between Spirituality and Science that I referred to was actually meant more from the standpoint of a more evolved (?) mind which tends to question things. A less inquisitive psyche would perhaps progress along a singular path and never attempt beyond.
Let me elaborate my dilemma. Spirituality and Science both have at their heart the quest for the ultimate knowledge. The approaches vary - a scientist experiments in the phsysical realm and a spiritual person does so in the realm of their mind. The outcomes can likewise be both beneficial and/or destructive. Likewise, each can term the other one as being less evolved - the scientist can call the spiritual experiences as mere bio-chemical hallucinations and the spiritual being can likewise denounce the entire physical world as "maya/illusion". Science fails to answer many things logically. Unfortunately so does Spirituality. The point of reconciliation I think is "LOGIC". Let me give you an example below. I actually debated this and found no satisfactory and logical answer. Hence my comment.
Let's probe further the concept of the "Jeevatma/Kinetic Energy" and "Brahman/Potential Energy". The former resides within each organism and the later is eternal. As one evolves and rids oneself of past encumberances, the Jeevatma merges with the Brahman. My mind thought up an analogy of an object moving higher and higher and coming to a state of rest once it reaches a threshold (destination). All the Kinetic Energy expended is now Potential Energy. The object comes to rest. The cycle of birth/death terminates. Logical so far.
Over a period of several millenia, more and more souls reach that state and thus the Kinetic Energy keeps reducing and the potential energy in the Universe keeps increasing in proprotion to the successful ones who have been able to reach that end state. The sum total of energy in the Universe (the divine power from whom we all derive) remains constant. Logical again.
Eventually, logic tells us two things. Firstly, that the process must culminate once 100% organisms evolve (and a few have been evolving every century we can safely presume). Secondly, the cycle must happen only once.
Continuing again from our two conclusions above, we arrive at the contradictions which need answers.
ReplyDeleteDiscounting the mythological tales of "Pralay / Noah's Ark/Extinction and Regenration", the Universe must eventually come to a static end state wherein 100% people have evolved and no one is left anymore. Does it finish there when everyone has won? Or is it that the Brahman (the 100% potential energy then) will yet again shed Kinetic Energy in a process of recreation? Will creatures be born yet again and commit sins and strive for salvation as per some revised schema? Who will be those unfortunate chunks of energy who once having reached the pinnacle get thrown out yet again? Or will these be treated as fresh entities (souls)? Is it just a game that the Brahman keeps playing over and over again to keep itself occupied? Does it therefore run the Universe as a Casino and what causes it to do so? And if that is the way it is, are all these spiritual conquests really worth it? Science has similar conundrums and obscurities. The theory of the Big Bang and Origin of the Universe are quiet identical to what I said above. There are no definitive answers either group of people have.
The only good thing I found more favourable with Science is that the limitations are universally acknowledged whereas Spiritual teachers have never clearly accepted that there is an upper limit to what can be learnt. Once again the answers must come from the Spiritual community for I presume its got a greater reach and that the Brahman can never be replicated in a laboratory or confined to a test tube?
When I said we must reconcile Science and Spirituality, what I actually meant was that spiritual people must strive to provide logical answers to the end state questions like the one above and not merely stop half way at what has already been documented and debated for centuries. The present discourse has become static.
Like I said earlier, it is entirely my fault that I did not elaborate upon what I said. Pardon me for wasting your time in case I have inadvertently done so.