New Member, and about my book

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Dear members,

 

Greetings! I am a new member of your group and I look forward to a stimulating

exchange of ideas through this forum.

 

Let me introduce myself as the author of the recently released book on Science

and Religion: "The Science of Enlightenment." I am a practising doctor from

India, with the (philosophically speaking) rather unlikely profession of a

gynaecologist.

 

In this letter I would like to tell you about my book.

 

In this book I have combined the essence of several traditional philosophies

like Advaita Vedanta, Buddhism (including Zen), Taoism, Christian mysticism and

Sufism, and showed how they can all be synthesised into one single philosophia

perennis, which is also amenable to scientific reason.

 

The book is listed on Amazon.com, but I believe the publisher is offering a

better bargain (see my homepage).

 

You can read more about the book on one of my homepages:

 

http://personal.vsnl.com/ntrasi

 

OR

 

http://mail.indiatimes.com/indiatimes/users/ntrasi

 

but to give you a brief idea, here is the comment I have prepared for

Amazon.com:

 

----

 

Author comment on Amazon.com internet bookstore

 

 

Dear (potential) reader,

 

 

Mystics understand mysticism, but does the common man?

 

 

Saints and mystics have been known in the history of both the East and the West,

but the exact nature of sainthood has remained a mystery, even in spiritual

circles. All mystics, be it J.Krishnamurti, Ramana Maharshi or Nisargadatta

Maharaj of our own times, or Meister Eckhart, Jalal-ud-din Rumi or Jnaneshwar of

olden times, or the Zen masters of yore, speak in the language of mysticism.

 

 

My purpose in writing this book is to bring mysticism to the common man in a way

that he can understand - to present mysticism (and the ultimate truth as seen by

the mystics) in a language which is easily understood by the average person at

least intellectually, if not (yet) intuitively. What Stephen Hawking did to

astrophysics, I hope to do to mysticism. That is why I have tried to explain the

topics in a down-to-earth, rational way. I have used spiritual `technical' terms

(both Vedanta and Zen) sparingly and then too, only after defining and

explaining them in a scientifically acceptable manner. In order that all the

commonly occurring questions of the average spiritual enthusiast be answered by

the book, I have tried to cover a wide range of topics which include: the

genesis of the `me'-illusion which the mystics talk about; psychological

suffering; Enlightenment (satori); Liberation (nirvana); death; the guru;

different spiritual paths or spiritual `ways and means' and their scientific

basis; the techniques and relevance of meditation; and the existence and meaning

of `God.' I hope I have made this book a basic scientific primer as well as an

encyclopedia and reference book of spirituality, readable by the sincere

spiritual seeker as well as by the scientist and the lay man interested in

spirituality.

 

 

What exactly is Enlightenment and can it (and Liberation) be explained in

ordinary and scientific language? Are these conditions compatible with everyday

ordinary life? Can a mystic continue with his professional duties? What does the

mystic look like, what does he do in life, what does he think? What is his

relationship with God? Does he at all believe in God? Be prepared to be startled

and shaken, even shattered! This book is only for those who seek the undiluted

truth with an open mind, not for those who wish to find only what they want to

hear. It is a book for the new millenium. And (perhaps surprisingly to many),

the book will show that what the mystics have been saying is something with

which science should have no quarrel at all. That (for example) the separate

soul is an illusion - it does not really exist; that (therefore) there is no

after-life in the way it is commonly believed; and that God as a personal entity

is a mere concept. And yet, as the book shows, the truth seen by the mystics is

even more beautiful, even more beatific than if there had been a soul,

after-life and a personal God.

 

 

Being a medical person myself, my special interest has been to also show how the

states of Enlightenment and Liberation do have an eminently satisfactory

explanation from the psychological point of view. Probably for the first time

ever, this book defines Enlightenment and Liberation precisely in scientific

(psychological) terms and gives a detailed psychological profile of these

states. Not only that, I have shown that the mystic is not a freak of nature or

a psychological aberration, but is in fact the most sane and normal human being

on earth. I have tried to de-mystify the whole business of mysticism and

separate it from the baggage of myth and superstition, miracle and mystery, from

fire-walking and from super-conscious trances - demonstrating instead how it is

a very simple, objective, eminently practical way of living not only in the

Supreme Reality, but also in the mundane day-to-day reality of simple everyday

life. And it is this everyday life itself which becomes something special and

interesting to the mystic.

 

 

Not trances, miracles, special powers or visions, but simplicity, objectiveness,

utter sanity . . . and compassion.

 

 

"Miraculous power and marvellous activity:

 

Drawing water and hewing wood"

 

the Zen poet P'ang yun.

 

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