[Sri Ramakrishna] Direction of Science....work in London

[Guest guest]

Jay, I liked the analogy " does existence exist " . Good.

Anup

-

" Vivekananda Centre " <vivekananda

" viv list " <vivekananda >; " list "

<Ramakrishna >; " Self Knowledge List "

<selfknow-l

Thursday, April 25, 2002 11:16 AM

[sri Ramakrishna] Direction of Science....work in London

 

 

> Dear List members

>

> Let me share my experience of the work in London.

>

> Today was the start of a new and interesting phase.

>

> I had asked one of the youngsters at Brunel University to

> arrange for me to give a talk to his engineering faculty on

> 'Future direction of Science'. I had specified that the title

> should not mention words like 'religion, spirituality or

> Hinduism' : ) That talk took place today.

>

> There were about 10 people present (mostly doing

> postgraduate work in engineering).

>

> At some stage I have to take on the science community.

> My real contribution has to come in the field of 'Science

> and Spirituality'.

>

> No doubt, I will meet a lot of resistance from the hard-headed

> scientists who will never tolerate intrusion in their field by anything

> that remotely sounds mystical, or spiritual. Today I had a taste

> of what is to come.

>

> Today the resistance I encountered was from the following

> lobbies.

>

> (1) A strongly materialistic lobby that somehow thinks

> that findings of quantum mechanics etc are just a temporary

> interruption to a further materialistic interpretation of reality.

> I responded that " This however is not possible - Science has

> entered a new era where explaining reality in terms of material

> objects is strictly impossible " -quoting Heisenberg.

> So this reaction can be classed as trivial

> (just reflecting a lack of real understanding of quantum

> mechanics by some in the audience).

>

> (2) At the mention of the word 'spirituality' there was another lobby

> that was up in arms (this included the head of the department)

> against the idea of a creator God...

> I had to quickly cut in saying --I am not here to defend a

> Judeo-Christian Creator God. I am drawing on an ancient

> Hindu philosophy called Samkhya which does not entertain

> the concept of 'God' but emphasises 'existence'.

>

> The head of the department asked:

> Then you are proposing a theory of 'existence' rather than

> theory of God?....... I said yes, in this Hindu philosophy 'existence'

> is elevated to the status of the ultimate and hence the question:

> " Does God exist? " becomes meaningless -as it would translate as

> does existence exist?

>

> Today's experience was very fruitful. I am beginning to enjoy

> this development. From now on my talks at Universities will

> focus on themes from Modern Sciences like:

>

> (1) What is Quantum Mechanics?

> (2) Consciousness in neuroscience

> (3) Theory of evolution

>

> Will keep the list posted on how this develops : )

>

> jay

> Vivekananda Centre London

Sri Ramakrishnaye Namah

> Vivekananda Centre London

> http://www.vivekananda.co.uk

>

>

[Guest guest]

Namaste Jay,

 

Best wishes for a successful adventure.

 

Just as a point of interest, the climb from 'science'

to 'spirit' may be so steep that without acclimatising to a less

rarefied atmosphere of the 'soft sciences', like sociology,

economics, etc., the dialogue may be short-lived.

 

It is the 'soft sciences' that point the way 'moral

science', a step closer to the 'spirit'.

 

Gita 13:6-11 lists the qualities that comprise knowledge. As

long as this is not accepted by the 'hard science' protagonists, any

progress is unlikely.

 

 

Regards,

 

Sunder

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ramakrishna, " Anup Lahiry " <lahirya@b...> wrote:

> Jay, I liked the analogy " does existence exist " . Good.

> Anup

> -

> " Vivekananda Centre " <vivekananda@b...>

> " viv list " <vivekananda@o...>; " list "

> <Ramakrishna>; " Self Knowledge List "

> <selfknow-l@s...>

> Thursday, April 25, 2002 11:16 AM

> [sri Ramakrishna] Direction of Science....work in London

>

>

> > Dear List members

> >

> > Let me share my experience of the work in London.

[Guest guest]

-

" sunderh "

Saturday, April 27, 2002 06:11

Re: [sri Ramakrishna] Direction of Science....work in London

 

 

> Namaste Jay,

>

> Best wishes for a successful adventure.

>

> Just as a point of interest, the climb from 'science'

> to 'spirit' may be so steep that without acclimatising to a less

> rarefied atmosphere of the 'soft sciences', like sociology,

> economics, etc., the dialogue may be short-lived.

>

> It is the 'soft sciences' that point the way 'moral

> science', a step closer to the 'spirit'.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~response~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Dear Mahasaya

 

No doubt, the task is very difficult but unfortunately my expertise

is in 'hard sciences' so I am stuck with it. : )

 

The good thing is that any contribution in the name of spirituality

in the 'soft sciences' may be construed as mere waffle and ignored.

While in the 'hard sciences' the contribution has to be sharp and

well defined. There is no room for waffle. The consequences

of such a challenge cannot be ignored and can be far reaching.

 

With the grace of the 'old man' even this can happen.

: )

 

jay

[Guest guest]

Namaste Jay,

 

In one sense even the search after Truth of the 'hard

sciences' is a waffle! The end result/goal has to be stated too - eg

Physical immortality? Perpetual sensory satisfaction? Total control

of Nature?

 

Though science can be pretentiously equated with Vedanta,

'values' [axiology], a prerequisite for jnana-marga, is notably

ignored, the result being the Frankenstein that now haunts the planet.

 

The goal of Vedanta/Spiritual disciplines is stated as

salvation/liberation/freedom/beatitude [soteriology], and there have

been innumerable instances of individuals whose sublime lives have

served as models for humanity.

 

 

Regards,

 

Sunder

 

 

 

 

Ramakrishna, " Vivekananda Centre " <vivekananda@b...>

wrote:

> -

> " sunderh "

> Saturday, April 27, 2002 06:11

> Re: [sri Ramakrishna] Direction of Science....work in

London

>

>

> > Namaste Jay,

> >

> > Best wishes for a successful adventure.

> >

> > Just as a point of interest, the climb from 'science'

> > to 'spirit' may be so steep that without acclimatising to a less

> > rarefied atmosphere of the 'soft sciences', like sociology,

> > economics, etc., the dialogue may be short-lived.

> >

> > It is the 'soft sciences' that point the way 'moral

> > science', a step closer to the 'spirit'.

>

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~response~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>

> Dear Mahasaya

>

> No doubt, the task is very difficult but unfortunately my expertise

> is in 'hard sciences' so I am stuck with it. : )

>

> The good thing is that any contribution in the name of spirituality

> in the 'soft sciences' may be construed as mere waffle and ignored.

> While in the 'hard sciences' the contribution has to be sharp and

> well defined. There is no room for waffle. The consequences

> of such a challenge cannot be ignored and can be far reaching.

>

> With the grace of the 'old man' even this can happen.

> : )

>

> jay