Scientist's Guide To Vedic Mysticism

July 6, 2007

The jewel of Vedic Mysticism and Spirtualism has to be protected by the fortress of logic and reason - not dogma and fanaticism. We, as Hindus, need to show the world that there is no obligation to accept or reject every thing from the past. The criteria for selection should be truth and the following article examines how to determine what is truth. This becomes important because religion has become synonymous with blind faith thanks to billions of Christians and Muslims for whom their fault-infested books are inerrant and skeptics are demoniac.

Scientist’s Guide to Vedic Mysticism

The paper attempts to explore the possible characteristics and value of modern scientific approach contrasting it with the Vedic path. It shows that both the quests for truth are scientific in their approach though the latter seems to be based on blind faith.

Attributes of Law

The following are commonly accepted rules for a scientific law according to philosophers of Science such as Karl Popper and James Litt.

Explicitness / Formality / Logical:

The scientific is stated in clear terms without room for misinterpretation. It is represented in rigid mathematical notations or equally formal terms. There are no two ways to understand a formula such as E-mc2 or chemical structure of compounds such as H2O.

Falsifiability:

It is possible to design an experiment or use a natural observation to disprove the theory.

For example, if some one says that higher the atomic weight denser the material it is possible to disprove this by showing that elements with higher atomic weight are some times less dense.

Repeatability:

It is confirmed by repeated experiments.

Young’s Modulus of a material it will come out to be the same in repeated experiments conducted by different scientists who may not know or believe in the results achieved by other scientists.

Sufficiency:

It is sufficient to explain the phenomena observed. Typhoid is caused by bacteria called Salmonella Typhi because by only persons infected with this bacteria show symptoms of typhoid and not others.

Comprehensive:

It is comprehensive in its domain to accommodate exception. There are some variations of this fever that are not causes but the patients were found to be not infected with Salmonella Typhi but by Salmonella Paratyphi.

The popularity of scientific laws is due to “Repeatability” . If you add 1 + 2, the result will always be 3. The weight of carbon will always be 12.011 irrespective of who measures it if he exactly follows the procedure. The margin of error may decrease with more accurate methods of measurements but for a given method the error will be within limits in all the experiments. The practical advantage repeatability is that medicines will work and cars will start – mostly.

Repeatability is the basis of all other statements and let us examine why.

Basis of All Attributes

1. Repeatability is the basis of Explicitness:

Explicitness demands formal expression of a logical statement. For example,

· All Cats have tail

· Maroo has tail

· Therefore, Maroo is a cat

This is an explicit statement with unambiguous meaning but not logical as Maroo could be some other animal that has tail. Maroo may be a cat is a formal statement that will hold grounds logically but may not serve any purpose as Maroo may not be a cat is also equally valid. On other hand, the following is explicit.

· All Cats have tail

· Maroo is a cat

· Therefore, Maroo has tail

Now, Naroo is a cat. Does it have a tail? Based on the above law, one can conclude in the affirmative because of the implicit assumption that a law can be applied repeatedly. As a matter of fact, nothing rules out the possibility of there being a cat being without a tail. There can be no law for which one cannot find exception that demand adjustment to the law itself. But unless evidence is produced one assumes that the law is applicable because of the implicit assumption about repeatability of events described by the law. This implicit assumption exists in the provider and consumer of the law. Otherwise, one has to conduct the verification experiment to check if Naroo has a tail or not though it is a typical cat. Or one has to do a regression test on all the underlying laws before adding a new law. Explicitness is an attribute of a law or an observation. While an

observation could deal with a singular event, a law deals with repeatable phenomena.

It is impossible to come up with an explicit law that does not deal with repeatable phenomena. Therefore, Repeatability is the basis of explicitness.

Even an untrue observation cannot be explicitly (i.e. formally and logically) stated without repeating the same from memory every time it is stated.

· I saw a hare with a horn

· So some hares have horns

Though statements of observation have to reconstruct in memory, they may not be repeatable in the real world.

· We saw two large white discs in the night sky today

· So there are two moons

2. Repeatability is the basis of Falsifiability:

A theory can be falsified by showing the logical weakness, internal inconsistency and incorrectness of assumptions underlying it. A law established using experiment can only be falsified by another experiment that contradicts the predicted results.

If an experiment is not repeatable, it cannot be falsified because there is no foundation to refute. Also the counter-experiment has to be repeatable. Therefore Repeatability is an implicit assumption in Falsifiability. Silver is denser than Gold. Unless Gold and Silver have identical weights and volumes in multiple experiments, it is not possible to design an experiment to falsify this theory.

3. Repeatability is the basis of Sufficiency:

A theory is sufficient if it explains observed phenomena or experiments. Unless the experiments are assumed to be repeatable it is not possible to establish sufficiency. Hence repeatability is the basis for sufficiency.

4. Repeatability is the basis of Comprehensiveness:

A theory is comprehensive if it explains all the observed exceptions in the observed phenomena or experiments. Unless the experiments are assumed to be repeatable it is not possible to establish sufficiency. Hence repeatability is the basis for Comprehensiveness.

Objective Verifiability is the value of Repeatability:

Repeatability makes

a. Knowledge of a theory or experiment equally accessible to all

b. Provable and disprovable by all

c. No one needs to particularly believe in the theory or disbelieve in it to prove or disprove.

d. One need not consider the authority of the person making the statement.

Hence, any one can participate in the search for truth. Therefore Objective Verifiability is the key value of Repeatability. Objective Verifiability in itself eliminates any chance of deception by the proponents of a theory.

Basis of Repeatability:

Repeatability is not possible if the following conditions are not true:

1. The person conducting the experiment does not have influence on the results of the experiment.

2. The underlying law itself does not change due to the experiment or some other cause.

3. The time of experiment does not have influence on the results of the experiment.

4. The place of experiment does not have influence on the results.

The person verifying the law has to have the understanding and skill to conduct the experiment. Laws are inherent in the properties of matter and matter has undergone changes and it may be undergoing changes. It needs study over long period of time to ascertain if and how the laws mutate. Time and Place is known to have influence the experiment and have to be defined as the context for the theory in question.

Subjective Verifiability:

Objective Verifiability, which is based on Repeatability, is better than non-Verifiability because it minimizes the chance of deception. The Vedic school of thought accepts this as valid means of knowledge. In Sanskrit, the modern scientific means of knowledge are called pratyaksha (experimental) and anumana (logically inferential) .

But one cannot say that just because something is not verifiable, it is not true. There are three types of information that we receive, which is not objectively verifiable.

· Ones that contradict Objectively Verifiable Laws

o Earth is flat – Even a person who gives this message has to travel around the world to give it. So one cannot accept these statements as true at a practical level though one may accept as symbolically true but without empirical value.

· Ones that don’t contradict Objectively Verifiable Laws but are fundamentally unverifiable

o Little Green Men from Mars created the world a moment ago and left traces of evidence to make it seem to be billions of years old. This may be true but cannot be falsified and hence not of empirical value.

· Ones that don’t contradict Objectively Verifiable Laws and can be Subjectively Verified

o By controlling breathing or mantra meditation one can control the flow of thoughts. The thoughts shape one’s world experience and create external events to fulfill one’s desires. This can be subjectively verified by individuals who try to rein the flow of thoughts within the framework of a certain value system.

Conclusion:

Subjectively verifiable laws are considered to be pramana or valid source of knowledge at par with objectively verifiable laws. In fact, they are given more weightage because of the value they bring forth for the practitioners.

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