Arya Samaj

Shishya · Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 5:08 am Post subject: SpiritMag Volume I

The Arya Samaj Forum Presents:

SpiritMag

The Official Online Journal of the Center For Inner Sciences

by
Harish Chandra Ph.D.

Volume I: The Inner Sciences

Shishya · Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 5:25 am Post subject:

About the Author: Harish Chandra Ph.D.

Dr Harish Chandra obtained his first degree (BTech) in aeronautical engineering from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur, India, 1974 in First Division with Distinction. Then he attended the Graduate School of Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA, specializing in “mathematical simulation of combustion processes in internal combustion engines.” He obtained his doctorate degree (PhD) from Princeton University in 1979.

A Combustion Scientist

He worked as an Advisor to the Engine Research Department of Volkswagen, the largest automobile industry in Germany, 1979-'83. Thereafter he was Head, Basic Engine Research, in the Indian Automotive Research Institute in Pune, India until 1994. During 1995-’96 he was a Visiting Scientist in the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. During his world-class research career, he attended research conferences in many countries and published about 25 research papers in international journals. He obtained two patents on advanced engine concepts.

A Spiritual Scientist

Throughout he remained an intensive reader of the Vedic literature, including that of Panini grammar. Through the Center for Inner Sciences, he brings the virtues of the classical Indian wisdom to one and all through his lectures, talks, workshops, books and articles. His workshops on SCOPE (Stress Control for Personal Enhancement) and EPD-WE (Energy and Potential Differential for Work Excellence) have benefited thousands of participants worldwide. Apart from a large array of leading Indian corporate bodies, he has delivered talks/workshops at Ford, Time Warner, Johnson & Johnson, etc. in the USA. He has authored a number of books on the related topics.

He can be reached at director@centerforinnersciences.org

Shishya · Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 5:54 am Post subject:

September/Issue No. 1: The Inner Sciences

The term 'science' means a logical inquiry about the events seen in the world. It is based on rational thinking and, therefore, it is acceptable to any reasonable human being. This has led to a number of scientific subjects that have near-universal acceptability.

When I decided to float the body by the name of "Center for Inner Sciences" (CIS) last year, I had certain issues in mind and had an urge to share some ideas with a number of people. My experience of delivering lectures and talks, conducting intensive workshops worldwide, and writing books and articles in the last ten years had led me to conclude that the intellectual cross-section of the human society everywhere is interested in knowing the inner sciences. I had noticed how people got excited when they saw that the issues hitherto in the domain of religions could be discussed scientifically. The people could see the benefits of a scientific understanding of the issues.

Therefore, in this first article of SpiritMag, I thought of writing about what, in my opinion, comprises of the inner sciences. Human curiosity instinctively wants to approach the invisible within the visible things. We want to approach the unknown from the known truths. We desire to enter into the microscopic inner domains of anything that is gross and macroscopic. This inward journey must be based on a logical scientific basis. This is what we will call "the inner sciences."

Modern sciences have significantly contributed to our understanding of the matter in its all realm. Now we know the atomic structure comprising of the minutest sub-atomic particles. We also make sensible and plausible conjectures about what may be happening in the distant heavenly bodies. However, the predominant thinking among scientists and people by and large is that science pertains to matter alone.

This is where CIS wants to make a distinct point. In addition to matter, there does exist something non-material that is inherently conscious. We will call such an entity 'spirit'. There may be a tiny infinitesimal spirit within us giving rise to our consciousness. Also, there may be an infinitely large cosmic spirit responsible for the infinite creation that is visible to us.

CIS will contribute to a better scientific understanding about both spirits. The spirit is the innermost truth within us and in the world around us that gives rise to the infinite variety in the manifest world.

Every month I will write a short article. Nine articles in the first series of An Introduction to the Inner Sciences will bear the following tentative titles:

The Inner Sciences: (the present article)
The Bottom Line of the Life Experiences: Our discussion should not lose sight of the simple and plain fact that we want to enjoy the life in the present and future.
Inner Sciences: Can We Prove Them? – Part I
Inner Sciences: Can We Prove Them? – Part II: It is generally felt that the scientific study pertaining to matter can be proved in a laboratory. Does it apply to the scientific study of the spirit as well?
Inner Sciences: Why and What to Expect?: Why should we indulge in studying the inner sciences? Will it lead us to a happier life? Can such a study improve the quality of our life? Can it make the world more beautiful and peaceful? Can it give rise to the universal love, brotherhood and peace? We will see that the inner sciences can help us obtain affirmative answers to these questions.
Science and Religion: Didn't religions come into being to reveal the true inner sciences? But now we find that Science and Religion are two poles apart. We will see that there is much less in common between them and there is much more to make them divergent.
Why Did the Religions Fail?: These days the humanity is passing through a critical time. The religions are opposed by intellectuals worldwide. They have caused wars, strife and turmoil. And, probably, they are a principal cause of terrorism as well. Why did the religions fail?
We Need Scientific Religion or Spiritual Sciences: We need the correct fusion of science and spirituality, call it scientific spirituality, or spiritual sciences, or scientific religion, or inner sciences. We will point out some salient features of such a process of fusion that is based on the need to
rationalize religion and spiritualize science.
Inner Sciences through the Outer World: Inner Sciences don't confine to an inward journey within us alone. Besides that it includes an inquiry of the inner sciences pertaining to the infinitely big outer world that we live in. That sector of inner sciences may reveal the existence of a cosmic spirit – a Creator of creation.

Next month I will write on The Bottom Line of the Life Experiences. Apart from being logical and scientific, we must be watchful that our discussion is pragmatic. It must lead to an improvement in the quality of life – the life that is an aggregate of the life experiences we go through every moment. There is no point in developing a great heady philosophy that doesn't make us feel better in the heart as well. Our approach should appeal to both, the head and the heart.

- Dr. Harish Chandra

Shishya · Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 6:01 am Post subject:

October/Issue No. 2: The Bottom Line of the Life Experiences

In the previous article, we discussed what could be called "the inner sciences." Lest our discussion digress to a purposeless hyperbolic mental gymnastic, in this second article we want to bring its objective in a yet sharper focus. The objective of the human life is to make it an enjoyable experience. However, the study of the inner sciences should ensure that the objective is attained in a rational and scientific manner so that the life continues to remain an enjoyable experience in a sustained manner in the future too. Thus, we have a dual purpose in our discussion. Our discussion should meet the scrutiny of an intelligent human mind while leading us towards making our life more enjoyable. In other words, it should appeal to both, the head and the heart.

The first obvious question we ask is: what is it that we find enjoyable in the life? Here itself, we are confronted with a myriad of answers depending on whom we have asked this question. A child may say that she enjoys eating ice cream. But if we probe further she may say that she enjoys the moments she has with her mother. She may also say that she enjoys playing with her friends, reading books, watching her favorite programs on a TV, and so on. The same question will bring different answers from the layman. He is interested in collecting a number of material things for his personal and family needs. If a superior agency were to supply all that he needed even then we know very well that he will not be the happiest person in the world. A few weeks later, if we were to ask him, how is it going? He may come up with another list of material things, which in his view, may further improve the quality of his life.

Suppose he was a more matured person then he might say that there are a few more things between him and the lady luck of happiness, such as the relationship with his wife/children/others going through a slide, or his incomplete creation of a poem, melody, enterprise, or he is disturbed by the injustice suffered by the people in his neighborhood, community, country or in another far away corner of the earth such as Iraq, Afghanistan, etc., or the incomplete nature of his intellectual pursuits in mathematics, or any other subject in which he has scholarship, or the incomplete nature of his spiritual quest. One can be away from "the happy life" due to a number of reasons pertaining to our needs in several domains.

By now, it is obvious to us that the simple question such as, what do you enjoy in the life, may not bring a universally acceptable reply. This is an irony of the human destiny. We all seek pleasures of the life but we do not know what will give us pleasure. At any point of time, we are after one particular pleasure. Once we have obtained it, its charm gets reduced, or some other painful event strikes us. So we have to go after another pleasure – an unending exercise. The question then naturally arises: Is the human life merely a mirage? Or, does something like an "absolute pleasure" exist in the universe? Could it be that if the so-called absolute pleasure is obtained then one has no more thirst for any other pleasure?

These questions have indeed obtained attention since the ancient times. The sage Kapila, in his treatise on Samkhya, raises the issue of absolute pleasure. In his unique, beautiful and persuasive style he is able to prove that it indeed exists. This is his remarkable genius to point out that the sound (dreamless) sleep is the unique experience that whenever we have it, the very next moment we feel that it was a wonderful experience. This proves the existence of absolute pleasure, called ananda in the Sanskrit language. It is but the genius of Kapila that could have noticed the unique strength of such a mundane activity, namely that of the sound sleep, called susupti in the ancient literature. It is the wonderful design of the cosmic spirit that every human being, and even the animals and birds, have been enjoying susupti since birth. However, this state is characterised by the absence of the real time pleasure - we know that we had a wonderful sleep only when we emerge out of the sleep. We remain unaware during the hours of sleep; we are in an unconscious mode. In other words, we do not have the real time taste of this pleasure, probably because it comes to us as a default - we haven't done anything special to deserve it. We have been enjoying it as a default. However the human beings tend to lose the benefit and associated pleasure of susupti if they lead their life wrongly. On the other hand, Kapila states that the right way to live in the world is to continue to enjoy the pleasure of susupti as such, and furthermore, we should progress to enjoy the absolute pleasure (ananda) even in the conscious mode. This is the objective of the Yoga practices – to enjoy the absolute pleasure in real time when we remain conscious.

It would be my constant endeavor to seek out the ways to improve the quality of life so that we attain greater ability to deserve the absolute pleasure (ananda) without compromising on the rationality and rigor of our scientific inquiry. As stated by Kapila, one must use all the domains and faculties of our body, mind and intellect to reach the ultimate and absolute pleasure that is reserved for deserving human beings only, and it is in the reach of the human beings alone. There is absolutely no way to taste ananda without a firm intellectual scrutiny because it is the same cosmic spirit who gives us ananda and who has given us the body, mind and intellect.

The next article will attempt to prove what I have said above. Can we prove what we call inner sciences? Can we prove that something like ananda indeed exists?

- Dr. Harish Chandra

Shishya · Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 6:07 am Post subject:

November/Issue No. 3: Inner Sciences: Can We Prove Them? – Part I

The term "inner sciences" pertains to a scientific inquiry when we traverse inward of a subject of interest. If our inquiry pertains to the human beings then we are interested in the innermost core of a human being where resides a tiny infinitesimal soul – the individual spirit. Thus, a scientific inquiry towards the study of our spirit would be the first arm of the inner sciences.

In addition to this, the second arm of the inner sciences would relate to a scientific inquiry pertaining to the cosmic spirit that permeates through the infinitely large universe. In other words, our definition of inner sciences includes both the spirits – the tiny individual spirit and the infinite cosmic spirit. Both the spirits possess consciousness as their inherent and intrinsic property. While the first spirit is infinitesimally small – a singularity in our body structure, the cosmic spirit is an infinitely large entity.

When we discuss spirituality (study of both the spirits – the tiny one and the infinite one) then the very first question arises: can we discuss and examine spirituality in a well-accepted scientific manner. It is generally assumed that spirituality is a matter of faith and personal belief. This is where the Center for Inner Sciences (CIS) makes a firm point that nobody should accept anything without ascertaining its truthfulness based on a rigorous scientific inquiry.

This being the case, we must state at the outset that the so-called inner sciences must be provable. If it cannot be proven then we shouldn't accept it.

An ancient sage Kapila discusses the pleasure and pain in his classical treatise Samkhya-Darsana. This is our basic instinct that we get away from what causes pain and then we tend to get towards what is pleasant. Indeed, come to think of it, the ability to feel the pleasure and pain is the proof of our consciousness. However, the discussion here is not whether we are a conscious being or we are void of consciousness. Everybody knows that we are a conscious being – we differ on the seat of consciousness. Is it an attribute of our body or that of the mind. Else, could it be that an entity such as a soul must be thought of that is the ultimate seat of our consciousness.

Let us come back to Kapila. He raises a question: what gives us pain and what gives us pleasure. The question sounds simple enough that even a child can list ten things that give her pain and another ten things that give pleasure. But a deeper thought will indicate that it is not easy for all the human beings to concur on a universal source of pain and another universal source of pleasure.

Yes, it is not easy to find the universal source of pain or pleasure that every human being has come across in his/her life. Let us first look at a more positive side, namely, the source of pleasure. A cup of coffee may give pleasure to many people. But there are many people who may not derive pleasure from it, or have no idea of its taste, and therefore, they may not say that it gives pleasure to them. Similarly, one may say that it pains when his/her finger comes in contact with a fire. But there are many who may not have experienced such a thing, especially those who are small infants and children.

Then Kapila continues further to state his observation that "hunger" is the commonest pain that everyone has suffered. Even an infant child of the richest person, a few moments after birth, has cried out of hunger. Thus, hunger is the universal source of pain every human being has had first hand experience about.

Kapila, furthermore, says that the universal source of pleasure, which everybody has experienced in his/her life is deep sleep or sound sleep – what he calls susupti. Try to recall the last time you had deep sleep void of any dream and you were not awakened by an alarm or any other event in the external world. In other words, you emerged out of the deep sleep in a natural manner. Try to recall the very next moment after you emerged from the deep sleep – you definitely felt that "I had a nice sleep" or that "I enjoyed the sleep."

Next month we will see how Kapila goes on to make the most powerful statement from such a trivial event of the life, namely the sleep. How he proves the existence of our spirit and that of the cosmic spirit from the observation that "the sound sleep is the only experience every human being has gone through and whenever one goes through that he/she finds it to be a pleasant experience."

- Dr. Harish Chandra

Shishya · Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 5:52 pm Post subject:

December/Issue No. 4: Inner Sciences: Can We Prove Them? – Part II

Last month we discussed that the inner sciences must be provable. Then we went on to discuss pleasure and pain – something the life experiences lead to. It is the inherent nature of our consciousness that we feel pleasure and pain. Then we asked, in the words of the ancient Sage Kapila, what could be the universally painful experience and universally pleasant experience, if any. Kapila had observed that hunger and sound sleep are the universally painful and pleasant experiences, respectively.

Let us now examine how Kapila made these observations and brought spirituality within the purview of a scientific inquiry. He observed that the sound sleep is the universally pleasant experience that has been experienced by one and all, right from an infant to the oldest person on the earth. Its universality is two-fold: 1) Every human being has had a taste of it, and 2) Whenever we have the sound sleep, we enjoy it. It should be pointed out here that the sound sleep is the deep sleep without dreams, called susupti in Sanskrit. While we may overlook sleep as a trivial event, Kapila's outstanding genius saw much within it. First and foremost, the sound sleep is an experience when our body and mind domains are void of any conscious voluntary functions. Any other life experience is made possible by a certain activity level in our body and/or mind domains.

For example, when I drink a cup of coffee and if I am enjoying its taste then my body and mind are functioning. My taste buds come in contact with the coffee and the mind is very much "connected to the 'taste signals' being brought in by my sense organ of taste." The particular taste signals, being to my liking at the particular moment of time, gives rise to the sensation of pleasure. Let us now discuss another kind of life experience when I am bodily inactive (except for the involuntary functions such as breathing, blood circulation, etc.) and I am lost in recollecting some past pleasant events. I find the recollection of the past pleasant events as a pleasant experience and during this experience certain "voluntary functions" take place in the mind domain.

In contrast to the above two instances (the first one related to the drinking of a cup of coffee and the second one pertaining to the recollection of the past pleasant events) when the body and mind domains are voluntarily active in the first instance and the mind domain alone is active in the second instance, the sound sleep is characterized as an experience when both, the body and mind domains are void of any voluntary functions. Kapila says that the fact that 'I' enjoy sound sleep when my body and mind domains are inactive means that 'I' am something beyond my body and mind. That 'I' is truly the 'me' and my true consciousness. That is my spirit, my soul.

Furthermore, according to Kapila, the sound sleep is found to be pleasant by everybody and at all times, and therefore, it demonstrates that there is a source of absolute pleasure, called ananda. This Sanskrit word denotes an experience different from the typical joys and pleasures of the life that it has no negative counterpart as the other synonyms have (for example, sukha-duhkha, santi-asanti, etc.). Indeed, this absolute pleasure is possessed by the Cosmic Spirit that permeates through the entire universe. The Cosmic Spirit is called saccidananda in Sanskrit – this is a compound word made of sat, cit and ananda, meaning it is existent, consciousness and blissful.

The creation allows our tiny individual spirit to look forward to the absolute pleasure that has its infinite abundance in the infinite Cosmic Spirit. The Cosmic Spirit would share its tastiest sap with the deserving souls. The creation gives us an opportunity to demonstrate that we deserve the tastiest sap of ananda. By default every one of us has been enjoying the sound sleep as if to be reminded at the end of the day that "do not get lost in the world for the temporal pleasures that come and go, and never become permanent." The fact that the sound sleep comes to every conscious being as default bears a condition that we are unaware of its real time pleasure. Though the sound sleep is universally pleasant yet we have no real time awareness of that 'universal pleasure.' However, it's a wonderful 'out of the world' experience and it leaves sufficient after-effect that once we are awake, we recall that 'I enjoyed the sleep.' As if the Cosmic Spirit would like us to become more deserving to obtain the absolute pleasure in its real time conscious mode. Kapila said that this indeed is the objective of the human life and is possible only in the human life though all species enjoy the sound sleep. He then goes on to elaborate the principles of Yoga to realize this objective, and the same Yoga principles were further elaborated by Patanjali in his classic Yoga- Darsanam at a later time. It is heartening to see that the present world is making a conscious shift from the religious spirituality to the scientific spirituality when it is exploring more of itself inward while sitting for meditation.

In summary, Kapila proves that a tiny spirit exists within us because we feel the pleasant nature of the expereince known as the sound sleep, called susupti in Sanskrit. During the sound sleep, both body and mind domains are void of voluntary functions. Therefore, the entity that recollects at the end of the sound sleep that "I had a wonderful sleep" or "I enjoyed the sleep" must be an entity beyond the body and mind domains - that entity is my true spirit further inward to the domains of the body and mind. Indeed this is my true spirit that enjoys a cup of coffee and the recollection of the past pleasant events when the body and/or mind domains play merely the role of an instrument. Parenthetically, Kapila makes another important observation from the fact that the sound sleep is a universally pleasant experience. He says that an entity does exist in the universe that is abundant of ananda, a Sanskrit word for universal absolute pleasure. That entity is the Cosmic Spirit.

It should be sufficient at this stage to say that both the spirits, namely the tiny spirit of an individual human being and the Cosmic Spirit in the universe, are provable. As we will discuss the inner sciences further, we will get further closer to their understanding. Center for Inner Sciences (CIS) is committed to traversing this exciting journey with you in such a manner that it utilizes the myriads of the human faculties, and without forgetting that the bottom line is to enjoy every moment of this journey. The next article will emphasize that the human life must be lived in a dignified manner using all our potentials – both, the head and the heart. CIS believes in a rational approach that appeals to our head and get closer to the humanism that resides in the heart of every human being.

- Dr. Harish Chandra

Shishya · Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 3:32 pm Post subject:

January/Issue No. 5: Inner Sciences: Why and What to Expect?

It is interesting to note that all living species – animals, birds, fish, insects, etc. – are a composite of body, mind and soul, and so is true with the human beings. Yet, we are very different from all other species. There are two important features that distinguish us from other species. First and foremost is our intellectual faculty. Other species are largely programmed that they function pre-dominantly through their instinct.

On the other hand, we are least programmed. Our instinctive knowledge is minimal. However, we have been provided with a powerful intellectual faculty and are expected to function pre-dominantly intellectually. Thus, instinct versus intellect is the first unique feature differentiating us from others.

The second feature that makes us different from others is our needs, wants and expectations. Imagine a dog, for example. If supplied sufficient quantity of good food, a small doghouse and a mate – the dog will lead a contented life. It cannot imagine anything more. But a human being is always interested in upgrading his state of happiness. If all his sensual desires are met then he has a long list of emotional, mental, intellectual, creative goals, and so on. If nothing else, he is disturbed because of the poor state of other fellow beings, environment, flora and fauna, and what not.

I have earlier conveyed these two features by pointing towards our two faculties, namely, the head and heart. Symbolically, our head represents our intellectual faculty and our heart represents our ability to sense pleasure and pain, in the layman's connotations that the words head and heart carry. I am of the firm opinion that any effort of a human being should be weighed against both head and heart. Center for Inner Sciences will always attempt to keep this in mind. Indeed, this is why I called spirituality as "the inner sciences". The word "sciences" implicitly means that the intellectual faculty will be fully utilized – the "head" domain. And, the word "inner" means that our attempts will always be towards getting into the innermost domain of an issue – the "heart" of the matter in a manner that the intellectual attempt should be pleasant and the final objective must be pleasant as well.

Thus, "inner sciences" will represent our intellectual effort, which if done properly, will lead to the absolute pleasure. My approach will be slow and cautious. It will be balanced so much so that both our head and heart will participate and gain equally. Neither will it be a dry mental gymnastics and nor will it be superstitious and dogmatic.

Why to engage in inner sciences? This is essential because it utilizes the unique features of the human beings in a very productive and constructive manner. Those who tilted more towards "the science" did use the intellectual faculties well but didn't care to focus on the basic inner needs of the human beings. The lopsided approach did not result in the corresponding holistic advancement of the human beings. The result is the scientific and technological advancements that led to degradation of the environment (ozone layer hole, acid rain, greenhouse effect, oil crisis, extinction of species, etc.) and mass killings through wars fought with sophisticated war machines and nuclear bombs.

Those who tilted more towards "inner" – the people following one religion or another – have caused untold miseries through conflicts and strife. The religious warlords divided the humanity among their zones of influence. Such a mad race void of any positive thinking has caused the largest ever number of conflicts and wars. What was supposed to give solace to our innermost feelings has deserted us even from the most trivial joys of living. The current spread of terrorism also owes its existence to such a one-sided approach.

I can confidently say that inner sciences will bring a positive shift to our way of thinking – to think rationally and scientifically on the issues that relate to the innermost core of every human being. If properly done, our efforts will certainly give rise to a new wave of universal brotherhood, love and peace based on a set of deep and lasting human values.

Having made some remarks on science and religion, it would make sense to make a comparative study of science and religion in the next article.

-Dr. Harish Chandra

Shishya · Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 9:54 pm Post subject:

February/Issue No. 6: Science and Religion

Last month we discussed what we can expect from "inner sciences" and had briefly mentioned that the religions came into being on the pretext of giving us spiritual peace but they ended up causing so many miseries to the humanity. The worst thing that happened was that the best individuals with intelligent minds and compassionate hearts became averse to the very concept of spirituality. Let us now discuss science and religion the way they are understood by the larger cross-section of people.

Science typically means study of matter and all that is made of matter, right from the sub-atomic particles to the heavenly bodies. It is observed that science is logical and rational. It is reproducible that a scientific theory developed by one scientist in one part of the world can be proven by another scientist in another part of the world. This gives rise to a near-universal acceptance of science. There may be different schools of thought while a particular scientific theory is in its developmental stage. But, as it progresses to greater maturity, it gains universal acceptance as well. We have also noticed that certain scientific theories had to be modified over a length of time. For example, Newtonian laws of mechanics did not work well in certain circumstances, and this gave rise to the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. Thus, science keeps on progressing based on our current understanding of the behavior of matter though the scientists are humble enough to admit that they never have the final word.

Today religions profess the domain of spirituality – our consciousness and the associated needs, what modern sciences do not look into. But as we have discussed earlier, the human destiny is to upgrade his level of happiness, or let us call it, his level of inner fulfillment. Such a desire would remain incomplete unless one can explore within the innermost core of his consciousness. This is what religions promise to do. However, as opposed to science, no religion has found universal acceptance and it is not likely to happen even if we decide to wait for some more centuries. And, there is a good reason for that.

No religion is purely on logical and rational basis. Every religion includes one or more dogmatic ideas. Therefore, there was never a time and there will never be a time when the entire humanity will accept one religion – be it any current major religion or any of the myriads and shades one can think of.

In order to see it better, let us tabulate certain features of Science and Religion as they are seen in the present times.

The above table shows a deep divide between science and religion. We cannot let religions divide and destroy the world as witnessed in the last couple of thousand years. What is the way out?

The way out is to let the scientific spirit prevail in the domain of spiritual studies as well. The need of the hour is a scientific religion – scientific study of both, the matter and spirit. This is what we intend to explore when we speak about inner sciences – a journey to explore the innermost domains of both, within us and outside, in a scientific manner.

This may sound impossible to many people because every free thinking person is almost fed up with religions. Religions promised to take us closer to God but in the process they have brought God into disrepute. Nowadays, we often see that if somebody begins to talk about God even in a rational and logical manner then many educated people have an instinctive feeling of distaste. So much harm has been done to the true spirituality by the selfish warlords of religions. They have insisted on positioning a mortal human being as an intermediary between the humanity and true Infinite Cosmic Spirit of God. Different religions came in competition to bring the largest crowd in its fold giving rise to worst kind of clashes and wars. The humanity has traversed backward and has lost millions of precious lives and precious time to the extent of a few millennia at the altar of these religions. But the fact of the matter is, the humanity can not live without true spirituality – this is our true spirit. Therefore, there is a strong and urgent need of fusion of science and religion to develop a unified theory of both matter and spirit.

- Dr Harish Chandra

Shishya · Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 2:50 pm Post subject:

March/Issue No. 7: Why and Where Did the Religions Fail?

Last month we saw the salient features differentiating science and religion. The most striking one is that science has universal acceptance because it is rational and logical while no religion has universal acceptance because it includes dogmas too. The consequences are enormously devastating for the entire humanity.

Most of the religions claim to make human being a better person but this is not found to be the case. The irony is that the more religious a society is, the more corrupt and inhuman are likely to be its followers. Most of the religions claim to give our individual spirit a kind of solace in the shadow or vicinity of the infinite cosmic spirit of God. But the fact of the matter is that the religions tend to position a human being (claimed to be a prophet, the son of God, the incarnation of God, a guru, and so on) between us and God. The result is that the religious followers get further away from God though the religions promised to take them closer to God.

On a more practical term, one would have expected that the religious followers will consider themselves as children of God, besides treating other human beings and other species likewise. Should this have happened, the entire humanity would have become one family consisting of the children of God. That would have definitely given rise to universal brotherhood and love leading to a peaceful world. But the reality is vastly different. Different religious groups view one another as adversaries and go to any extent, including killings and wars, to subjugate and even eliminate the opposing groups. It has almost come to such a pass now that the so-called "clashes among cultures" is being taken for granted as if we are made to believe that we cannot live in harmony with one another if we belong to different cultural backgrounds.

Specifically, due to their dogmatic ideas and irrational beliefs, the religions failed on the following accounts:

They failed to come up with a rational and consistent explanation of the events taking place in the world. In other words, they did not present any acceptable philosophy. They even took resort to unacceptable statements such as, the sun revolves around the earth, the earth is flat like a mat, etc. They have the courage to keep harping on their rhetoric even in the present age of science and thereby they are willfully keeping their followers in darkness.
They encouraged people to believe that the laws of nature are not infallible. A mortal human being can override the laws of nature.
They positioned a human mortal between us and God. Thereby God was sidelined and devalued.
They brought arbitrariness in God's way of functioning as if God favors people of certain religious affiliation.
Followers of no religion lead a better quality of life than others do and nor do they demonstrate more humane qualities.
Most importantly, the humanity is divided on the basis of religion. One religious group hates another causing enormous pain and miseries. The human beings are behaving 'inhumanly'.

The result is that during the last few decades, a significant cross-section of the human population has exhibited its distaste towards religions, thanks to a continuous build up of scientific temper. Attendance in the so-called places of worship is on decline. As the humanity gets away from religions, it is getting closer to its natural human tendencies. We see greater presence of human compassion among those who are not followers of any organized religion. These days people prefer to become spiritual rather than religious – they now want to explore the true human spirit that can sustain the entire human population in an atmosphere of love and peace.

There are loud vocal protests against wars, terrorism, environmental degradation and injustice. The media is playing very active, and generally, a positive role. Gone are the days when millions of people were massacred at the whims and fancies of a bunch of individuals and a large population wasn't even aware of it. These days even if a few people die in an unnatural manner and due to a deliberate human act then media, especially the electronic media brings such a vivid picture that people around the world condemn it in a matter of a few hours.

This is a good sign and every positive thinking person should welcome it. The next few years will see collapse of most of the religions almost the way communism collapsed in its own heartland. Imagine how much the people in erstwhile Soviet Union got fed up with the non-acceptance of the individual's spirit within the doctrine of communism. Their intrinsic thirst for spiritual freedom led them to vote to disown communism that they had carried on their shoulders for so many decades. The days are approaching when I can foresee that the followers of different religions will begin to see the idiosyncrasies in their religions and they themselves will give the final blow to their own religions that they had professed so religiously. Let us welcome the current age of science.

While welcoming the dawn of a new scientific age, we must exercise great care lest we swing from one pole to another. It will be equally fatal if we do not learn from the failing religions. The religions did not expose spirituality in its pristine beauty with sufficient logic and rigor. On the other hand, scientists were wrong that they hesitated to include spirituality in their scope of study. Their exclusion of spirit and consciousness encouraged the religions to flourish in the past. The hesitation of scientists to study consciousness and the realm of the spiritual domain left a vacuum that led to the birth of the present religions. They almost went into an arrogant phase when they were appreciating the art that this creation is, but refused to even explore the artist. Let us not make this error again.

This is where inner sciences will play increasingly more important role. We are entering into a beautiful exciting period. Who would have imagined a few decades ago that more than 10 million Americans will practice meditation everyday? They are definitely deriving benefit from this scientific approach – one arm of inner sciences wherein one explores his/her innermost core of individuality, the individual's spirit. Who would have imagined that beefeaters in the western world would become compassionate enough and give up meat eating? The times are changing rapidly. Every religion will now find its base shrinking and on the other hand science will be widening its base. However, the care must be taken that our study includes both matter and spirit, and it must be done scientifically. The world consists of both matter and spirit closely inter-linked. A human being is the closest example. We should note that we are a composite of body and spirit.

Next month I will write where the future lies. There is an urgent need to create a fusion of science and spirituality, call it scientific spirituality or spiritual sciences. We must study, explore and experience both matter and spirit, call it a unified theory of both matter and spirit. Generally, people think that our senses can study matter alone – what is called direct perception, pratyaksa. The spirit and its existence is on a feeble ground that it must be inferred and is not amenable to direct perception, and hence, it is called inference (anumana ). Usually, we have a lower opinion about anumana in comparison with pratyaksa. I don't have any intention to keep you in suspense but I do want to say at the outset that I will make some startling observations that:

1) If at all pratyaksa (direct perception) is possible, it is for the spirit only, and;

2) The matter is known through anumana (inference) only.

Having made the above statements, many readers will not like to wait for me to prove what I have stated. I promise to do so in the early part of the Second Series of my articles that should begin after I complete the First Series in the next two issues. The Second Series of articles will develop "fusion of science and spirituality" with all its components. Next month I will discuss its need.

- Dr Harish Chandra

Shishya · Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 3:02 pm Post subject:

April/Issue No. 8: We Need Scientific Spirituality or Spiritual Sciences

Last month I had remarked that today's science pertains to matter alone. And, religions claim to study our spirit and the cosmic spirit albeit unscientifically. Therefore, it is easy to see that what we need is a fusion of science and religion – a scientific study of both matter and spirit. This could be called a scientific religion. Ancient Indian tradition called it Dharma.

Dharma is an unusual word that it is missing in all non-Indian languages. On the other hand, religion is a word that is missing in the Indian languages. What is non-existent in a community does not find a word in that community – we all can firmly believe this to be true. For time immemorial, India was guided by dharma. About 6000 years ago, dharma suffered its decline in the country and that began to give rise to the birth of religions. It should be noted that all the existing religions took birth within the last 5000 years – the oldest being Zoroastrianism and Judaism. Buddhism, Jainism, Christianity, Hinduism (in its current form with idol worship included), Islam and a host of others took birth within the last 2500 years.

The religions have existed for sufficiently long. They might have given some benefit and temporary solace to a section of the humanity but as a whole, they have caused havoc. Millions of people have suffered and died at the altar of one religion or another. Inter-religion conflicts and wars have killed millions of people. The present "hot spots" such as the Western Asia (Middle East), Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Kashmir, Chechnya, East Timor, Iraq, etc. are primarily inter-religion conflicts. Even the current wave of terrorism sweeping the whole world has its origin probably in religions.

The correct answer to the current situation is an ideal fusion of science and religion as it existed in India for thousands of years, and probably, for millions of years. There is a blueprint in the name of dharma readily available in the classical Indian literature. Even with all kinds of onslaught, the core of this literature has survived. This will form the basis for our exploration of the inner sciences. Undoubtedly, the exploration will yield an appropriate fusion of science and religion that it will be based on logic and rationality and it will include both matter and spirit within its scope of study.

Dharma is what everyone holds within, intrinsically and inherently. Of course, humans have the freedom not to follow the dharma but all other species must follow their respective dharma. Obviously, it means that every thing's dharma is determined by the Dharmaraja , the designer and creator of the creation. For example, the fire has its dharma of giving heat and light and it always does so. Every thing in the creation and all the conscious beings must follow their respective dharma, only exception being the human beings. We have the freedom to follow the dharma or otherwise but then we must be prepared to obtain the rewards in accordance with the Law of Karma that applies to us. So, the dharma for the human beings is what is acceptable to every objectively thinking, intelligent and reasonable human being. It is not that we decide what our dharma is – it is decided by Dharmaraja (another name for the Infinite Cosmic Spirit whom people may call Isvara, God, Allah, etc.); we merely discover it within our pure conscience. Let us tabulate the key differences between dharma and religion as we did a couple of months ago with science and religion. This is necessitated by the fact that a number of people use these two words interchangeably, thinking that they are synonyms though they are as different as day and night.

Let us now summarize the key features of inner sciences – some of which I might have mentioned in the previous articles.

Scope

Method

Purpose

To indicate the above features, I have used the words "inner sciences". But these words may give an impression that the word "inner" may refer to "within us" only. Therefore, it should be clarified that the inner sciences will include "within everything". That is, we will study the outer world as well but our investigations will attempt to take us to the innermost core of the outer world. I hope that our scientific inquiry will justify the choice of the words "inner sciences".

Indeed the next article will be titled as "Inner Sciences through the Outside World" that will briefly tell us what to expect in so far as the inner sciences pertaining to the outside world is concerned. That will be the concluding article in the first series of "Introduction to the Center for Inner Sciences."

- Dr Harish Chandra

Shishya · Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2007 9:59 pm Post subject:

May/Issue No. 9: Inner Sciences through the Outer World

This title may sound odd and yet it is very true. A proper perspective of the inner sciences can be developed only if we are able to see the entire world in its totality, the tiny world within us and the infinitely large world outside. A deeper insight must be developed to probe into all the wonderful things that exist in the world. We must ask questions, such as, how does a little bud blossom into a flower? What makes the flower petals separate from the flower and fall onto the ground one day? What is it in the flower that gives rise to a new plant with the same kind of more and more flowers? Is there any great artist or designer behind these events? What makes it repetitive that the events of the same kind take place with a particular type of flower anywhere on the earth? How is it that the flowers are so colorful and beautiful? Do they have any purpose in their existence?

Should there be a creator or designer behind all that we see in the infinitely grand universe around us, then what would be the attributes of that entity? Would it be a conscious being? It must be so, otherwise, how could it have the intelligence and knowledge, and the ability to make these things. What are the motives behind the creation? So to say, is there any purpose in all that we see? Indeed, isn't it true that I didn't come into this world out of my own accord? I am not quite aware of it. I don't seem to recall exercising my choice in selecting my parents, my place and time of birth, and so on. Who decides all this, why and how? All these are intriguing questions, to say the least. But they seem to be very much inter-connected and they may hold the key to the destiny of my life.

We have a choice. On the one hand, we can ignore these intriguing questions and lead the life just to survive, and while doing so, we maximize the pleasures of the life. But this choice doesn't really work out for very long. Nobody is interested in falling into the traps of the painful experiences but nevertheless everyone does fall into one or more such traps – be it an accident, a chronic illness, betrayal by a loved one, finances going into disarray, or a clash with another person or community. Probably, there is nobody in the world who did not want to simply eat, drink and be merry but his/her plans were knocked down by the more powerful external forces, sometimes known and sometimes unknown, but mostly, beyond our control. The message is very clearly written on the walls. For this reason, we cannot overlook the other choice and that is to attempt to answer the above intriguing questions. That is the principal difference between us and other species of animals, birds, etc.

Therefore, a good choice would be to utilize our intellectual faculty to understand the world we live in – its beauty and design, and furthermore, its agenda. For this to happen in a systematic and scientific manner, we must probe inward of all that exists in the world. This is the choice declared by the title of this article that we must develop inner sciences through what we see in the outside world. Therefore, CIS includes everything under its scope of study – both, the world within us and the world outside of us.

While the first series of articles on "An Introduction to the Center for Inner Sciences" comes to its conclusion with the present article, next month will begin its second series of articles broadly under the title of fusion of science and spirituality. After an introductory article, we will move on to "the world within us" and then to "the world outside."

As promised a couple of months ago, I will discuss in an article that will appear sooner than later, why matter is not amenable to direct perception (pratyaksa). Indeed it is other way around that spirit can be perceived directly and matter is always known indirectly through inference (anumana ). This assertion must be new to most of the readers. I am conscious about the enormity of what I am saying, and therefore, I am duty bound to explain my stand within the next few articles before we begin to conduct an exploratory journey to know what a human being is. What is our consciousness? Where does it reside? Is it a singularity or is it continuously distributed throughout the body? Is our consciousness same as that in other living species? What makes my different states of waking, dream and sleep?

Furthermore, is there a purpose in the world we live in? Is it made by chance or is it well-designed? These answers could help us find the objectives of the human life. Next month I will present a broad outline of the second series of the SpiritMag articles attempting to create a fusion of science and spirituality.

- Dr Harish Chandra