VEDANTIC SCIENCE IN THE EYES OF SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

Swami Vivekananda, the renowned student of the spiritual master Sri Ramakrishna, was the first great Hindu teacher to bring the message of the East, Vedanta, to the western world. Vivekananda was a true renaissance figure, a spiritual and intellectual giant of his time. He embodied the best of East and West in his spiritual values and personal character.

One of the characteristic features of his lectures on religion and spirituality was a striking balance between Western science and Eastern philosophy. He created a synthesis between the emerging modern science of his time and eastern Vedantic philosophy. Religion was on the defensive in the face of reason and technological progress when Vivekananda started his spiritual career. Science and technology claimed that material prosperity was the only goal for humanity. To combat this onslaught of science and technology on religion and spirituality, Vivekananda entered the arena as the great disciple of the spiritual leader, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. He brilliantly emphasized the fact that science and spirituality are not contradictory to each other but complimentary, and both are but two sides of one and the same coin, Truth.

 In his attempt to reconcile western science and Vedanta he tried to show that the religious way of looking at the Universe was not unscientific.  He showed that the fundamental principles by which all scientific enquiries proceed are also satisfied by Advaita Vedanta. First the particular is explained by the general, the general by the more general, till the universal is reached. Second, the explanation of a thing must come from within the thing itself, and not from outside. Swami Vivekananda was also one of the first Eastern teachers to grapple with Darwin’s evolutionary theory. He formulated a Hindu philosophy that sought to embrace the emerging evolutionary world view of the Western scientific community. He vehemently argued that the effect is nothing but the cause in another form. “The seed is the form out of which the big tree comes and another big tree was the form which is involved in that seed. The little cell, which afterwards becomes the man, was simply the involved man and becomes evolved as a man”. He, through his brilliant logic and reasoning, showed that the creation is in effect the evolution, and not creation of something from nothing. Through evolution, the One becomes many.

The third principle or conclusion of science which tallies with Vedanta is the essential unity of things, the unity in diversity. Swami Vivekananda showed that we are all one, mentally, physically and spiritually, a conclusion the modern sub-atomic physicists arrived at almost half a century later. Through a brilliant exposition of ‘Sankhya Cosmology’ Swami Vivekananda emphasized the necessity of harmonising the internal and external experiences. He said that knowledge from the internal experiences (Microcosm) must bear testimony with the knowledge gained through external experiences (Macrocosm). He thundered...........”Physical truth must have its counterpart in the internal world and the internal world must have its verification in the outside.”  Swami Vivekananda showed that like any other science, religion also has its own methods and procedures, its own promises and conclusions based on reason and experience.

Swami Vivekananda was also critical of the physical and evolutionary sciences. According to him any system or philosophy based purely on materialistic and utilitarian ideas was inadequate to explain the whole of human existence. These sciences are inadequate to provide answers to all our problems. Vivekananda considered the theory of evolution incomplete. He believed that the process of evolution presupposed a process of involution. A machine gives only that much energy that is put into it.  He supposed that if a man is an evolution from a lower organism then the perfect man, the Buddha man, the Christ man, must be present in the lower organism. Of course, the science of Genetics was not there at the time of Swami Vivekananda, and the mechanism of inheritance and nature of hereditary material were unknown at that time. However, Swami Vivekananda saw the theory of evolution, which revolutionized the world, not as a threat to the spiritual world, but as an opportunity to enrich our understanding of the movement of spirit in all aspects of the material world.

Living just decades after Darwin published “The Origin of Species” Vivekananda was well versed in Western science and philosophy. He perceived no inherent contradiction between an evolutionary cosmos and the great tradition of Indian Vedanta. He was truly a Vedantic Scientist.

                                      

  

   REBIRTH: A SCIENTIFIC PERSPECTIVE

According to Hindu sastras life is an endless cycle of birth – death – re-birth and so on, until one attains Moksha – a permanent state from which there is no return.

“Punarapi jananam punarapi maranam

Punarapi janani- jathare sayanam”

(Again birth, again death, and again lying in mother’s womb. This process of birth and death is very hard to cross over. Save me O! Destroyer of the demon Mura through Thy Infinite Kindness.)

Bhaja Govindam – Sri Sankaracharya.

Although, philosophically and spiritually the process of this cycle, its purpose and consequences etc. have been endlessly explained, debated and realized by many, this phenomenon is still beyond the comprehension of modern science. Is it possible to analyse this concept biologically? Or can it be reconciled within the present-day understanding of life and life-processes exposed through modern scientific investigations?

Biologically an organism is the sum-total of its genetic make up. In other words, we are what our genes are. Our appearance, behavior, temperament, basic intelligence, physiology, anatomy, in fact, everything involving our structure and function are dependent on the function or non-function of around 30,000 genes that we possess. These genes are transmitted to the next generation – to our sons and daughters – at the time of reproduction. A set of genes from of the father is transferred to the progeny through his sperm and a set of maternal genes is transferred to the offspring through the ovum of the mother. The progeny, which develops from the combination of sperm and ovum at the time of fertilization, is the sum-total of the genetic make up of the father and the mother. Although the offspring has all the genes of the parents, since they are in a new combination, the children do not exactly resemble the parents. However, parents’ features are, no doubt, manifest in them, both in terms of appearances and behavior. Now, the question is, are we not represented in our children? The features of one generation is the reflection of the previous generation and will continue to be manifested through generations as the same genes, in new and new combinations, are transmitted endlessly generation after generation. If this is not re-birth what is it?

Another instance of biological rebirth is the transformation of a child, through adolescence and youth, to old age. When a child matures into a young man or woman, through the processes of growth and differentiation, the childhood and adolescent stages become past phenomena and when the youth gives way to old age, the experiences and memories of the earlier stage become things of the past. However, by the time the old age is set in the next generation has already become established.

The doctrine of Karma and rebirth are integral to the Indian philosophical systems of thought. The rebirth is considered as a consequence of Karma. We suffer for what we have done. We reap what we sow; every birth is an opportunity for man’s spiritual development as one short life is hardly sufficient for the purpose. This doctrine also assures us that whatever good we achieve in one’s lifetime is not lost forever, but is carried to our other lives. A close scrutiny of biological rebirth also reveals that this cardinal principle is ingrained in this system as well. What we enjoy or suffer in the present is a consequence of our actions in the past. A child brought up with good values, character and discipline, supported by proper education, is expected to do well, personally and professionally in youth, ensuring a trouble-free and smooth old age. Such an individual will be an asset to the family, society, and the nation. Our present life will, definitely, have an influence on our future. Our way of life, ambitions, values, character and integrity will definitely mould the same set of characteristics of the next generation.

In the biological world, every organism has to perpetually interact with its surroundings and also with the fellow organisms in order to survive and reproduce. In this process organisms have to make innumerable adjustments in its system and behaviour. These actions, interactions and adjustments make them more suitable to exist in a particular environment. Since environmental conditions are not static, organisms have to continuously strive for better and better organisation and behaviour. This endeavour continues through generations and the benefits accrued in every generation are carried over to other generations. The minute, imperceptible changes in the genetic system when accumulated and carried through generations, result in perceptible changes in the structure and function of organisms. This is what we call the evolution of new species, which is better equipped to survive in a particular environmental situation. Thus, every generation is an opportunity to improve on the previous one and a step towards attaining perfection. The story of human evolution, perhaps, is the best illustration of this principle. Simple organisms, smaller than an amoeba, through millions of years of genetic change, and through innumerable transformations, have evolved into human species, endowed with a rational brain and an intellect capable of unparalleled achievements. Our progress in science, technology, arts, culture, philosophy and spirituality is a consequence of the experiences of past generations, every generation adding and improving on the previous one. Man’s quest for perfection continues – a search for the ultimate achievement, may be Moksha!

Thus, it is possible to reconcile ancient wisdom with modern scientific principles, of course, with minor adjustments in the process of analytical thinking. There is an over-simplification of philosophy and science in the above discussion. This is mostly necessitated because of constraints of space and also because the intent is not an unequivocal exposition of a scientific theory. The intention is to generate a debate on the topic and as such, readers’ response is immensely valuable.