One recent article examines if the universe existed for ever or took birth some billion years ago – ‘Before the big bang: something or nothing’ in New Scientist (3 Dec 2012). Modern cosmology attempts to explain the ever expanding universes through many hypotheses, some among them are:

 

1. Big Bang: Traversing backward in time, the universe must had been in a small space. But that would require density and temperature to reach infinity – singularity is a mathematical concept than a reality. Also, questions arise: what existed before big bang and why big bang took place.

 

2. Inflation: If pressure is allowed to be negative then vacuum repulsive gravity causes ever production of universe and there is never an end to them though there must have been a beginning.

 

3. Cyclic Universe: Collision of two universes gives rise to another universe that would appear as a big bang to an observer on the colliding universes. It is of a cyclic nature that the universes get formed for eternity.

 
 

Even in the modern scientific world, people sometimes get carried away by unfounded claims as if the world will be doomed on 21st December 2012, which essentially is the annual astronomical event of winter solstice and has been confirmed by NASA too. Vedas state that the universe has around 2.6 billion years more to live. Furthermore, in the context of cosmology, Vedas say that our universe came into existence a couple of billion years ago the way that had been happening for ever and will continue to happen for ever (RgVeda X.190.1-3). Indeed, natural events are cyclic in nature. Day and night are followed by another cycle of day and night that is due to the spin of the earth about its own axis in 24 hours. A lunar month has about 28 such days that moon completes its revolution around earth, one after another. A solar year corresponds to earth’s revolution around sun in 365 days, again one after another. These astronomical events are cyclic in nature leading to a grand cycle of Brahma-Divasa (also, called Kalpa) and Brahma-Ratri – Cosmic Day and Cosmic Night. Similar to the cycle of day and night we are familiar with, there exists the grand cycle of Cosmic Day and Cosmic Night. Second Law of Thermodynamics states that entropy (disorder and chaos at the microscopic level) in universe must grow with time. Hence, at the conclusion of a Cosmic Day, matter must be ‘reset’ and brought in equilibrium during the Cosmic Night, ready for the next Cosmic Day. Thus, according to the Vedas, the present universe has a beginning and an end too, but it is  a part of the grand unending cyclic event, from eternity to eternity.

 
 

- Dr Harish Chandra
B. Tech. (IIT Kanpur )
Ph. D. ( Princeton , USA )

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Picture courtesy: Luiza Vizoli

Most of the events in the nature are cyclic. We are familiar with water cycle and oxygen cycle pertaining to two most essential life support substances. We use water and it ends up in oceans where it is evaporated in the presence of sunlight. Water vapor forms clouds that disperse and bring precipitation back to the earth in the form of clean filtered water. In the context of oxygen, it is produced by plants from carbon dioxide in the presence of sunlight, called photosynthesis. Vedic terminology sees every event as cyclic such as day and night, birth and death, and so on. What goes around returns around is a statement of the Law of Karma. Hence, it makes sense for humans to take greater responsibility and fit properly in the Mother Nature’s cycles; we said ‘being in sync with nature’ in a recent podcast.

In steady state, a sensible approach should be that the rate of consumption is broadly equal to its rate of production. For example, our water consumption should correlate with the amount of renewable water resource available in a particular location. Likewise, had we been in sync with nature, we would have consumed oil in a more sensible manner. Rough estimates indicate that out of about 2 trillion barrels of oil available to us, we have consumed almost half of it in the last 125 years since internal combustion engine was invented. At the current rate of production/consumption of 74 million barrels per day, oil supplies will last roughly 75 years more. With regard to oil formation, it is formed out of living things in a complex process taking millions of years. Hence, its consumption rate has surpassed its rate of production in alarming proportions. Besides its availability at an affordable price, there are serious consequences with ecology such as greenhouse effect and global warming. The message is loud and clear that we must be in sync with nature. We must become a part and parcel of the natural cycles. We are bound to reap what we sow, another statement of the Law of Karma – a corollary of the law of Cause and Effect.

- Dr Harish Chandra
B. Tech. (IIT Kanpur )
Ph. D. ( Princeton , USA )

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Photo courtesy: Taylor Arbolante

Be Happy

Neuroscience studies such as ‘Towards a functional neuroanatomy of pleasure and happiness’ by Kringelbach and Berridge point that evidence so far available suggests that brain mechanisms involved in fundamental pleasures (food and sexual pleasures) overlap with those for higher-order pleasures (for example, monetary, artistic, musical, altruistic and transcendent pleasures).

 
 
David Linden, professor at the Johns Hopkins Medical School reports some interesting experiments that happiness could be simulated through electrodes implanted in key regions of brains of rats and also in that of a man and a woman to the extent that subjects would seek this sort of pleasure even neglecting food, water, personal hygiene and family commitment.
 
 
Patanjali, the author of the original treatise on Yoga, tells us to traverse deep within us in search of happiness for we are a bundle of body, mind and soul. The soul is truly the ‘me’ – my consciousness; the body and mind are my instruments. If I function through both the instruments of body and mind such as when I eat or drink something then my possible states are in a wide spectrum that has one extreme of pleasure and another of pain. If I delink myself from the body and function through mind such as getting lost in thoughts of past events then again the possibilities are in a wide spectrum that I may feel peaceful or disturbed. The question arises, can I take control of my mind and mould it in such a way that I am always happy in either of the two states – functioning with body and mind or with mind alone – without adopting artificial simulation though drugs or electrodes.
 
 

We are aware of the third state of deep sound sleep void of dreams that is enjoyed by everybody and is a unique ‘universally pleasant’ experience though we do not quite feel it in real time mode as we lack awareness during this state yet we invariably emerge from it ‘feeling light and good’ – there is no subjectivity in it. Furthermore, Patanjali says that when we are delinked from both body and mind deep in meditation – all by me, the soul resting in my innermost cave – the fourth state, then there is no possibility of duality of pleasure or pain. I am simply happy, a ‘universally pleasant’ experience as in deep sleep albeit in conscious mode that I can feel it then and there. This is the immediate reward of meditation but it has additional far reaching consequences. Having learnt meditation which is nothing but bringing mind to an absolute calm state, I can now control it better that it can synthesize happiness even in adverse conditions. Thus, Patanjali Meditation has two-fold benefits:

1.      An ‘out of the world’ pleasant experience in conscious mode as opposed to that in deep sleep when we are unconscious

2.      I emerge from meditation empowered with better mind control that I can generate happiness even in adverse conditions

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Beyond Sleep

Everybody enjoys sleep. There must be something special with it for there are not too many things that are universally enjoyed; indeed, there is none besides ‘true deep sleep void of dreams’. Scientists are working hard to understand what sleep is all about. Even though we may feel that we had one long sleep the fact is that our sleep went through some number of sleep cycles, each cycle of about 90-100 minutes. Even one sleep cycle constitutes four distinct phases – NREM (Non-Rapid Eye Movement)–I, II and III and REM-I, each phase lasting 20-30 minutes. Mostly, a person wakes up at the end of REM phase when one is able to recollect the dream. But, the best (and deepest) sleep is during NREM-III when there are absolutely no dreams; this phase is also called Delta Phase and the corresponding sleep is Delta Sleep.

If we are lucky then our first sleep cycle may include Delta Sleep but the later cycles are less likely to include it. Sometimes our sleep is disturbed a couple of hours after we went to bed and we felt that it was very deep sleep though the later part of sleep wasn’t as good because the first part included the Delta Sleep which didn’t show up in the later cycles. Sometimes we suddenly fall into sleep when we are travelling or one afternoon when it was a very hectic day. It was a ‘power nap’ of just 5-10 minutes but we got supercharged!

Imagine if we can have sleep that is almost in its entirety Delta Sleep. Even a six hour sleep of this type will transform your life. Your entire day will be energetic as if you are on Cloud Nine. That’s what happens if you learn Patanjali Meditation. Meditation will help you minimize the mental clutter that dreams will vanish during sleep. Imagine if sleep is so sweet and enjoyable then what will meditation be when one is truly void of anything happening in mind, almost enjoying mindlessness! Patanjali’s predecessor Kapila, the author of Samkhya, reminds us that humans are unique that we can enjoy the deepest state of meditation; no animal will ever venture beyond sleep. That is to say, if deep sleep is a unique experience then humans are unique too that we can enjoy something beyond deep sleep in real time conscious mode, deep inside the clutter of our mind – the real ME!

-         Dr Harish Chandra

B. Tech. (IIT Kanpur )

Ph. D. ( Princeton , USA )

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I-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

B. Tech. (IIT Kanpur)

Ph. D. (Princeton, USA)

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I-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 poetry, 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 of 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.

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

B. Tech. (IIT Kanpur)

Ph. D. (Princeton, USA)

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SpiritMag Sep ’06

I-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 in the name of “Center for Inner Sciences” (CIS in short) 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. The 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 the matter alone.

This is where CIS wants to make a distinct point.  In addition to the matter, there does exist something non-material that is inherently conscious. We will call such an entity as spirit. It 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 the 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” would bear the following tentative titles.

1. The Inner Sciences: the present article.

2. 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.

3. Inner Sciences: Can We Prove Them? – Part I, and

4. Inner Sciences: Can We Prove Them? – Part II – It is generally felt that the scientific study pertaining to the matter can be proved in a laboratory. Does it apply to the scientific study of the spirit as well?

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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?

8. 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.

9. 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 the cosmic spirit – the creator of the 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

B. Tech. (IIT Kanpur)

Ph. D. (Princeton, USA)

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