Guest guest Posted September 30, 2005 Report Share Posted September 30, 2005 http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/050808_human_consciousness.html Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 30, 2005 Report Share Posted September 30, 2005 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 2, 2005 Report Share Posted October 2, 2005 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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