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advaitin, Shailendra Bhatnagar

<bhatnagar_shailendra> wrote:

>

http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/050808_human_consciousness.ht

ml

 

Namaste, Shailendra-ji

 

Thank you for drawing our attention to the article on Consciousness.

Two quotes from that article seem to be relevant for us advaitins.

 

-------

 

Quote No.1: (This is the following statement involving human

consciousness): "He wondered whether scientists would ever be able

to measure the onset of consciousness in infants and speculated that

consciousness might be similar to what physicists call a "phase

transition," an abrupt and sudden large-scale transformation

resulting from several microscopic changes".

 

In connection with the first part of the above quote, I want to

quote a passage from Chapter 31 of Skanda III of Shrimad Bhagavatam

where, in the description of the growth of a foetus in the mother's

womb, Kapila Muni says the following: (Shlokas 3, 4, 8, 9, 10): (Tr.

By Shrila Prabhupada). Note that it says that the child develops

Consciousness from the seventh month of the growth of the foetus in

the womb! This answers the physicist's question about the onset of

consciousness. (I am not commenting on his speculation above).

 

Verse 3: In the course of a month, a head is formed, and at the end

of two months the hands, feet and other limbs take shape. By the end

of three months, the nails, fingers, toes, body hair, bones and skin

appear, as do the organ of generation and the other apertures in the

body, namely the eyes, nostrils, ears, mouth and anus.

Verse 4: Within four months from the date of conception, the seven

essential ingredients of the body, namely chyle, blood, flesh, fat,

bone, marrow and semen, come into existence. At the end of five

months, hunger and thirst make themselves felt, and at the end of

six months, the fetus, enclosed by the amnion, begins to move on the

right side of the abdomen.

Verse 8: Placed within the amnion and covered outside by the

intestines, the child remains lying on one side of the abdomen, his

head turned towards his belly and his back and neck arched like a

bow.

Verse 9: The child thus remains just like a bird in a cage, without

freedom of movement. At that time, if the child is fortunate, he can

remember all the troubles of his past one hundred births, and he

grieves wretchedly. What is the possibility of peace of mind in that

condition?

Verse 10: Thus endowed with the development of consciousness from

the seventh month after his conception, the child is tossed downward

by the airs that press the embryo during the weeks preceding

delivery. Like the worms born of the same filthy abdominal cavity,

he cannot remain in one place.

 

*Arabhya saptamAn mAsAt labdha-bodho'pi vepitaH* (III - 31 -10,

first half)

 

Note(by VK): I have quoted several shlokas above, just to inform the

readers that our ancients had so much information about the foetus.

Whether they corroborate with modern medical knowledge, is a

question I would like to ask the medical academia.

------

Quote No.2: "Instead of trying to reduce consciousness to something

else, Chalmers believes consciousness should simply be taken for

granted, the way that space and time and mass are in physics.

According to this view, a theory of consciousness would not explain

what consciousness is or how it arose; instead, it would try to

explain the relationship between consciousness and everything else

in the world".

 

This seems to echo with what we hold to be true in advaita.

 

PraNAms to all advaitins.

profvk

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advaitin, "V. Krishnamurthy" <profvk>

wrote:

> advaitin, Shailendra Bhatnagar

> <bhatnagar_shailendra> wrote:

> >

> http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/050808_human_consciousness.ht

> ml

>

> Note(by VK): I have quoted several shlokas above, just to inform the

> readers that our ancients had so much information about the foetus.

> Whether they corroborate with modern medical knowledge, is a

> question I would like to ask the medical academia.

> ------

 

Namaste,

 

For the latest on human fetus development, pl. visit:

 

http://www.wprc.org/trimester1.phtml

 

 

Regards,Sunder

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