A Review for ‘The Hindu’
SCIENCE AND MYSTICISM - The Essence of Vedic Philosophy. H.K. Kesavan;
New Age International (P) Limited, Publishers, 4835/24,
Can a good Scientist be a truly religious
person? Yes, says the author, provided
we understand what true religion ‘truly’ means! We have seen lots and lots of
books which explain Science to an intelligent layman. We have read
several books which discourse on the great philosophies of the Hindu
world. We have also heard vaguely about the various rendezvous the frontiers of
modern science have with Mysticism that
is usually associated with Religion. Of
late quite a few books have been written
by Scientists in this area, particularly
on the specific subject of Consciousness so intensely talked about in
Hindu philosophy. These Scientists have
several claims to make. On one side the exercise seems to attempt a ‘rational’
explanation of the convictions of Indian philosophy about, God, Soul and the
Universe. On the other side the exercise
also seems to reveal – to some of the scientists at least – that they are
chasing a receding horizon. Amidst this
spate of publications it is heartening
to find a book written by a competent Indian Scientist who exhibits an open mind to the ‘mystic-like’
interpretations of Hindu scriptural proclamations and simultaneously is able to
put them forth with perfect clarity in the context of modern scientific
language. He completely captures the essence of the Vedic message without
belittling evidence that is un-amenable to means of rational inquiry, The strategy adopted is to express the
Vedantic thoughts - this is the welcome novelty of the book - in the language of standard paradigms of
modern Science. The purpose of religion being transformation of character
rather than information for memory, the author concludes, after a superb
exposition running to more than 200 pages, that the aim of spiritual
instruction should be to present both
the theoretical and practical aspects about the science of the ultimate truth,
known as mysticism, and the efforts of the individual are to be directed towards unveiling the
self-luminous knowledge that is ever present. It is the theme of mysticism that
provides the common basis for comparison of religious truths with the basic
tenets of science. The author develops
this theme and, en route, carries a
legitimate, leisurely survey of
Hindu Vedanta, with a masterly precision that is characteristic of a
good scientist and with the firm conviction that is natural to the truly
religious.
The first chapter entitled ‘Some Paradigms of Science’ dwells on the
bifurcation between the pursuit of science and that of religion. Science researches into the constancy of
Nature through its ‘laws’ that are continuously unravelled by its relentless
research. Reasoning reveals that side by
side with the basic existence of the external universe there is a constant
change and flux. This paradoxical union of being and becoming may be attributed
to what one might call a universal ‘mind’,
the complete ramification of which is what science is all about. The word ‘mind’ used here is only an
imitation of the concept of ‘individual
mind’ which is the other feature of the twin existence of Man and Nature. While
the individual mind has the facility of a subjective verification and ‘experience’ of its own conclusions, the universal mind
has no way of revealing itself to us except through human observation,
experimentation (which is most often indirect), a rational analysis, a further
speculation and further experimentation. The march of this absolutely honest
science leads us to the concepts of causality, reductionism which seeks to
understand the universe by fragmenting it, the seminal discovery that we are
living in an expanding universe, the notion of eternality suggested by the
concept of space-time, the possibly non-inert nature of the sub-atomic world,
the blurring of the distinction between the observer and the observed in the
micro-universe, and the opening out of genetic secrets through the gadgetry of
molecular biology but which still is far away from the understanding of the
origin of consciousness in life. Hindu
philosophy on the other hand starts by investigating the individual mind, but
the complete holistic picture emerges only when the infinite character of the
universal mind is brought in.
In the
next chapter, The Vedas and the
Vedic Philosophy, one finds, after a
brief background of the scriptures, a
really smooth outline of the
philosophy embedded in the Upanishads.
Very rightly the author emphasizes that Hindu philosophy prefers to
start its probe of the mystery of the universe by first probing into what is
experienced at the human level, by investigating what constitutes the innermost
essence of man and the observer in him.
This is the Psychic Principle, the substratum of the individual Self,
called Âtman. Contrasted with this is the Cosmic Principle,
called Brahman. The unique
declaration of the Upanishads is that these two are the same. This identity is of special significance.
Bereft of this identity the Cosmic Principle is only in the nature of
speculation . Brahman of the
Upanishads is not any more an isolated concept, nor is Atman to be mistaken for
‘something which is characterized by
diminutive dimensions of finitude’, though experienced only by the
individual self. ‘It was here’, says Paul Deussen, ’for the first time the
original thinkers of the Upanishads, to their immortal honour, found God’.
The third chapter brings an assortment of
various concepts which throw further light on the Vedic Philosophy. Some of
these are: Ways and means to overcome our spiritual ignorance, the Karma
doctrine which informs us that God does not play dice in the case of the
spiritual evolution of the individual soul, the four goals of life, the three
states of Consciousness, the possibility of inferring a fourth state, the
descriptive verbal model of the five sheaths that exist between the state of
spiritual ignorance and the state of spiritual enlightenment, the proclamation
of the scriptures on the existence of a
primal sound of the Universe, the strategy of
controlling Prajnâ (mental energy) and Prâna for the purpose of turning the
mind away from its outward obsessions and towards the inner ocean of
tranquillity, and some medical findings about Meditation - which are pointers
to the fact that ‘the human personality is not confined to the triad of states’ only.
What is Reality? Is it subjective or objective? Can it be
both? Do we cognize the world because it is already there or do we create it by
our cognition? Are there ever-increasing orders of Reality? Is there a
mathematical model? Is Evolution only a biological phenomenon? By penetrating
deeper and deeper towards the core of the human soul, does one get close to the
comprehension of the Incomprehensible Reality? What kind of testimonies are
valid in this quest? Are Eastern and
Western philosophies different in their handling of testimonies? Why is verbal testimony, the testimony of the
Sruti, important? What is Consciousness?
What is the seat of Consciousness? In what sense are attempts like
Chardin’s Thesis of The Omega Point (1959) wherein the idea of a non-physical entity (like
radial energy) was used for purpose of guiding future evolution, analogous to
the concept of Mahat in Indian
Philosophy? How logical is the
conclusion (for example, as in Shadows of
the Mind of Roger Penrose, 1989)
that ‘human insight lies beyond formal
argument and beyond computable procedures’?
These and other questions form the subject of a meticulous discussion in
the rest of the third chapter.
Chapters 4, 5 and 6 forming one-third of the book, constitute a
bonanza of encyclopaedic ancient wisdom,
not to be usually expected in a book on Science and Mysticism written by a
scientist. In conformity with the
sub-title of the book, these three
chapters form a delightful thesis on
three technical areas of Indian Philosophy, namely, Sankhya and Yoga; Samkara’s
Non-dualism (Advaita); and Ramanuja’s
Theism (Visishtâdvaita). All the technical concepts pertaining to
these doctrines, namely, the several evolutes of Prakriti; the staircase model versus the feedback model, of Ashtânga
Yoga; Mithyâ, Mâyâ and Adhyâsa in the theory of Advaita; Prapatti and Bhakti in Visishtâdvaita; the absolute with
attributes and without attributes;
and a host of other concepts, all
find their due place in the discussion. A reading of these chapters would lead
us to believe that they have been
written not just to satisfy an intellectual curiosity but to share with the
reader a certain deep faith in the
philosophical tradition handed down to us by towering Indian
giants of Spirituality.
The last chapter is the crowning glory of
the book. The fact that a mechanical or
intellectual comparison of the different philosophical doctrines is not as
important as a consistent spiritual practice to overcome one’s own unique set
of conditions of ignorance is well brought out. Religion should imply the
sparking of a burning desire for the realization of God. Whatever school of
philosophy one believes in, the goal of
attaining a higher state of consciousness should be the dominant purpose.
This higher state of consciousness
is not that of the physicist who ‘sees’ the microscopic universe as composed
of myriads of ‘quarks’ and ‘strings’ but it is the Consciousness of the
mystic who ‘sees’ the macro and the
micro together in a holistic
all-embracing Infinitude. When the
individual mind gets into the habit of frequenting this non-manifest field of existence through
Meditation, automatically it also attains a heightened awareness for its pursuits of material excellence. To embark on this spiritual journey is the
first step towards an enduring solution for the chronic problems afflicting
mankind. So concludes this remarkable
book. It has a list of references and an
index at the end. The index can, however,
afford to be much enlarged.
Comments on the side are everywhere in
the book. These add spice to the already relishable menu. For instance, while
writing about Advaita he says (p.143):
Samkara’s emphatic assertion that the philosophical investigation should
proceed from (the Vedic testimony of)
the Absolute rather than from consideration of the relative field of existence
can be viewed as a qualitative assertion of the (implications of the) famous
mathematical theorem (of Godel) that we can never successfully explore the
infinite from the realm of the finite.
The whole book may be likened to
a running commentary by an expert cricket commentator who takes us along
by his enthusiasm and educates us without our knowing it as he moves from one
subtlety to another of the fast-moving game. On the whole, it is an excellent addition to the spiritual literature
of the modern world, that should be in the hands of every one interested in
uplifting himself.
V. Krishnamurthy.