Back to to Physics of Soul, Consciousness and intelligence
Human quest for Knowledge exist in the mystery of soul. The ancient knowledge systems - the Vedas, describe that the highest knowledge is the knowledge and mystery of soul or self. It still forms the most important subject of great debate.
Socrates [469-399BC] believed soul is different from the body and is immaterial and immortal. He concluded that the soul get released from the body and exist in another realm.
Plato [427-347BC] also believed the same but considered that there were three parts one part held the truth and wisdom, another held emotional and ambition aspect, and the third consist of appetite and desires.
Aristotle [384-322 BC] compared the body to the ship and the soul to the captain of the ship. Thus plants and animals have soul. However he did not believe that the soul was eternal and existed beyond death. His idea was essentially a monistic one. He believed body and the soul are one mechanism.
Descartes [1596-1650] proposed dualism. He claimed that there were two types of substance, spiritual and physical. The concept of mind and matter thus came into existence. The mind was considered immaterial, immeasurable and invisible. He assumed that it proves its existence by its attributes of thinking “ I think therefore I am” Later in his life he claimed that the soul must be seated in the pineal gland in the brain because this had to be the link where interaction between the soul and the body takes place – However he could not answer the questions of his contemporaries in regard to how the self or soul separate from the body, interacts with the body or what the mechanism by which it interacts. He could not explain how condition of the body affects the mind. In other words he could not explain the relationship of the mind, body and soul. Both science and philosophy and religion disputed the Descartes
Malebranche [1638 – 1715] presented a philosophy of occasionalism where in God came in between the mind and body and enabled the two to interact. A person or soul, which was separate from the body, would decide to do some thing and then the God would give necessary force or mobility. This came close to Vedic explanation. But how God was situated in the body and what our relationship was with this localized form of God was not fully explained. So this philosophy also was not conclusive.
Spinoza who had great influence on Einstein stated that there was only one substance in all the existence, call it God or matter, it makes no difference, but everything is one and has within it natural characteristics of consciousness, in other words molecules, chemicals, etc are all conscious and depending on how they are organized would make lesser and greater consciousness. He however failed to explain how the brain cells develop a collective, integrated consciousness of what exist out side the body.
The biggest problem with western philosophy comes from the fact that it has failed to explain how mind body work together and yet seem to be separate. All great western philosophers dealt with this problem but failed to explain it. The modern science built on western philosophy then discarded all these philosophies and was left with pure mechanism. This meant that every single idea related to consciousness, such as our perception, our feelings, experience and so on, must all be explained in a mechanistic way. In other words they feel that just by understanding the neurons in the brain everything can be explained. This means ultimately everything is reduced to chemistry and chemicals are the essence of life and life comes from chemicals, by chemical manipulation consciousness and everything related to it can be controlled. This means that through our technology we can recreate consciousness and bring our computers to a stage where they are as good or better than Humans.
Very often scientist holds a desire to do some thing, which determines or proves the philosophy they use, rather than simply basing their philosophy on the facts. They tend to base their viewpoints or interpret their experiments on what they desire. The idea that life come from chemicals lets them capable of doing many things, they build better human machine, better brain attain immortality or over come death and so on. The science and the whole lot of scientist are surviving by pushing these ideas to the limits.
Many a great scientist themselves have aired this view; even my own decision to call an end to competitive world of science and pursue my research from a point of freedom comes from this realization. I have tried to express these aspects in various contexts. The biologists have always played a second fiddle to physicist. When the mechanistic era came, they projected life as a machine. Human approach to study biological system still exists predominantly on it. The biologist however found them selves caught in a scissor, when the physical science quickly evolved, into relativistic era, uncertainty/quantum era and the era of chaos and order. Many biologists have tried to play second fiddle to this evolutionary trend. As such, the foundation of science, with the advent of quantum mechanics broke down.
The revelation of quantum mechanics brought physicist back to beginning point and has forced them to reconsider its foundation. We all know Science began by isolating mind from matter and studying matter by splitting it. It hoped to find the secret of nature in matter. Conclusions drawn from quantum science clearly showed that some how mind and consciousness influence the matter and its existence. Welcome change began with this realization, but it is not complete man still exist on ignorance without realizing the interrelationship and oneness of nature.
What stands out, as one reviews science is that it has grown up one sided, hiding one part and projecting another. Thus Galileo avoided the question whys free fall in gravity is independent of weight? Newton avoided explaining the cause of gravitational property of matter, Einstein avoided why speed of light is the maximum speed. Biologist avoid the question why gene is a triplet code, why dominant and recessive, why double helical, why mitotic and meiotic division and so on. In way mankind exist in absolute ignorance. The whole weight of the partial growth is now come to dangle right on his head ready to devour Him.
Noble lauret Sir John Eccles thinks that mind or consciousness is separate from the brain. While performing experiments on the cerebral cortex, which controls the movement in our bodies by sending appropriate signals to various muscles he has noted that before any voluntary act is performed, the 50 million or so neurons of the supplementary motor area [ SMA] with in the cortex begins to act. Thus SMA acts before the cerebral cortex send the necessary signals to the muscle needed to perform the desired activity. Eccles concludes that conscious will, separate from the brain, must first be there before the chain of neurological events begins. Therefore mind controls matter than matter or the brain controlling the mind, thus clearly telling us that mind and brain are two separate realities. The brain is the functioning material organ of the body and the mind or consciousness is the immaterial symptoms of the living entity or soul which motivates the body, a conclusion that takes us back to ancient knowledge system obtained by sense perception and communication with the living nature.
What
the ancient Knowledge tells about soul
Unlike science that is in all confusion,
the ancient knowledge specially Vedas very clearly and logically differentiates
self or soul from the body and defends the existence of the superior soul or God
that guides. Off course the lack of perception have led to different schools of
thoughts advocating monism and dualism and the whole lot of Hindu philosophy
diluting its essence.
Upanishad [Chandogya
Upanishad 6.10.3] tells us that the subtle essence in all that exist is the
self. It is the true and thou art it. It
tells us that self is hidden in the seed to grow into a huge tree or human body.
It is the salt mixed in water that cannot be seen but only be known by tasting
it.
[These great words are not different from what scientist have
explored but never understood - the two information becoming one in the egg and
splitting its self into two cells one to the left and one to the right leaving
the middle empty from which the force to flower whole system emerges. It simply
is the unseen energy from the center that does the work].
In Bhagavad-Gita Lord
Krishna tells consciousness is the light that illuminates the body as the sun
illuminates this entire universe. [Bhagavad-Gita 13.34]. Thus self is understood
as the motivating factor with in the body and when it leaves the body, the body
breaks down and disintegrates.
It also tells us soul
is eternal. The following verses from Bhagavad-Gita explain it at length.
“Never was there a
time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all the kings; nor in the future will
any of us cease to be. As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body,
from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul passes in to another body at death”
Bhagavad-Gita 2. 12-13].
[This
equates to greatest laws of science – the first law of thermodynamics that
states nothing is created or destroyed. One form of energy is gets converted
into another. It can also be related to perpetuation of information and essence
of life through a process of unity and diversity, when the two results in to one
in the embryo and differentiates into left and right to form new body.].
“ Know that which
pervades the entire body is indestructible. No one is able to destroy the
imperishable soul. Only the material body of the indestructible immeasurable and
eternal living entity is subject to destruction” Bhagavad-Gita 2.17-18.
[This
equates to the basic reality that energy cannot be created or destroyed. It
speaks of the spirit that works behind the information that gives the power to
flower one embryo into whole life.]
“ Those with the
vision of eternity can see that the soul is transcendental, eternal and beyond
the modes of nature. Despite the contact with the material body, the soul
neither does anything nor is entangled in the body. ---- the soul situated in
Brahman vision [spirit] does not mix with the body, though situated in the
body” [Bhagavad-Gita 13.30-33]
[All
the above verses speak the truth that the soul is spirit or the unseen energy
that does the work.]
Chandogya Upanishad
6.3.3, tells us that it is very small and situated in the heart. This is
understandable for the energy within the body is expanded from the heart. The
body disintegrates when the heart stops. The
nature of the soul is described in Vedas as Love. Love is instinctive, without
conflict, it does not seek, or conquer. It produces no friction or conflict; it
serves and binds every thing in warmth of life. The constitutional position of
the living being is to serve with love. But in the material atmosphere no body
want to be a servant every one wants to be master. Thus he
projects a conquering and corrupt motive and all the problems of life and the
world comes from here. No wonder the Lord forbids Adam and eve from eating from
the tree at the center.
The goal life that
ancient knowledge describes is to know the loving relationship with greater self
or God. The path to know it that the ancient knowledge system describes is
Bhakthi yoga or the devotional service or Faith as West calls. We must note that
all the ancient knowledge whether it be of the east or west it leads us to a
truth that human self or soul are simply an extension of higher self or soul.
[This basic truth is reflected in the Bible, the first part reflects
the mankind because of his inherent nature breaking the commandment moving away
from God. In the second it reflects a recall back to HIM. It is the two phases
of life, the exhaling and inhaling]
Vedas very clearly
tells us the substance that unifies everything is the universal consciousness.
Just as our individual consciousness unifies all our tasting hearing, seeing,
feeling and willing into one collective experience, so the universal
consciousness unifies and is aware of everything in the universe. It is this
universal consciousness that exist within each of us which integrates the
individual soul with the body. This super soul or God is visualized as the
mechanism that integrates the individual soul with body.
The super soul is able to unify the machinery of the body and the
conscious self. In other words the conscious self is dependent on the super self
for it to have the power to use the body, brain and intelligence. The super soul
is also understood as the one that connects the conscious self with the
intelligence
This
naturally leaves a question, what then integrates the super soul? The answer is
there in Vedas – the vision of the universe as the organic whole, the God as
the center of all the centers, capable of perceiving the whole, capable of
conquering death and self-creation “ Swayambu”. You will understand this
aspect as you finish this article. Thus
fundamentally the Vedic philosophy establishes that consciousness is some thing
non-mechanistic and irreducible, Meaning it does not come from chemicals nor can
it be broken down into parts. The conscious self is irreducible particle of
spirit within the body. So if we accept that there is some thing in nature,
which is conscious, a particle of consciousness, and another particle, which is
super conscious, which are both irreducible, we have complete system for
explaining the consciousness. We have a system, which explains the interaction
between the self and the brain. We have an explanation for how the brain cells
and the bodily organs are actually organized together during the embryo’s
development under the direction of the higher consciousness, being designed
rather than happening randomly. And we have an explanation for all things
science is trying to explain
Does it not match with the realization that
science has come to know, there is wave here, and wave there, and there is back
ground wave to which everything falls and originates, There is information here,
information there but all information comes from the one fundamental
information, there is family here and there is family there and all the family
come from a single parental source. As we end this article probably we will
understand this aspect and its cyclic existence.
The super soul is
described in Bhagavad-Gita by Krishna “I shall now explain the knowable,
knowing which you will taste the eternal. This
is the beginning less and it is subordinate to Me. It is called Brahman, the
spirit and it lies beyond the cause and effect of the material world. Everywhere
are his hands and legs, His eyes and faces and he hears everything. In this way
super soul exist. The super soul is the original source of all sense yet He is
without [material] senses. He is un attached although he is maintainer of all
living beings. He transcends the modes of nature, and at the same time he is the
master of all modes of material nature. The supreme truth exist both internally
and externally, in the moving and non-moving. He is the beyond the power of the
material senses to see or to know. Although far, far away, He is also near to
all. Although super soul appears to be divided, he is never divided, He is
situated as one. Although He is the maintainer of every living entity, it is to
be understood that he devours all and develops all. He is the source of light in
luminous objects, he is beyond the darkness of matter and is unmanifested. He is
the knowledge and the object of Knowledge, and he is the Goal of Knowledge. He
is situated in everyone’s heart." Bhagavad-Gita 13. 13-18], The Vedas
tells us that super soul is perceived through meditation, cultivation of
Knowledge, by working without fruitive desires.
Bhagavad purana
elaborately deals with the relationship of the self and super self. It states
“ By chance two birds have made nest in the same tree [material body]. The two
birds are friends and are of similar nature. One of them however is eating the
fruits of the tree, where as the other who does not eat the fruit is in the
superior position due to its potency. The bird that does not eat the fruit of
the tree is the supreme personality of Godhead, who by his omnipresence
perfectly understands His own position and that of the conditioned living
entity, represented by the eating bird. That living entity on the other hand,
does not understand Himself or the Lord. He is covered by the ignorance and is
thus called eternally conditioned, where as the personality God head being full
of perfect Knowledge is eternally liberated” Bhag 11.11.6-7
Svetasvatara Upanishad
4.6-7 says, “ Although the two birds are in the same tree, the eating bird is
fully engrossed with anxiety and moroseness as the enjoyer of the fruit of the
tree. But if in some way or the other he turns his face to his friend who is the
Lord and knows His glories – at once the suffering bird becomes free from all
anxieties” This reality that human being can get relief from all temporary
pleasures and problems by looking towards God is repeatedly explained in various
Upanishad and forms the basis of all religion. In Bhagavad-Gita Lord Krishna
says “ the supreme Lord is situated in every ones heart—and he is directing
the wanderings of all living entities who are seated as on a machine, made of
the material energy” Bhagavad-Gita 18.61
The super soul guides
the individual souls although he does not personally take part in fulfilling
their desires. He arranges the fulfillment of such desires by the workings of
material nature. The living entities are independent in the respect that they
are free to desire whatever they want. Only the supreme allows one to fulfill
their desires, but the supreme is never responsible for the actions and the
reactions of the situations, which may be desired by the living entity. In other
words as the living beings pursue their various desires by the power the super
soul has given them, they must realize that this universe is governed by certain
laws which the supreme has established. If we perform activities that break
those laws, particular reaction will automatically follow. The Lord is neutral
to every one and does not interfere with the desires of the living beings. We
there fore cannot blame for the reactions that we will have to endure which were
caused by our own unlawful desires It is said that when man exhausted from
continuous ups downs and distress look towards God, he can be relieved from the
suffering. At that time the super soul helps the conditioned soul by giving real
intelligence for understanding the ever bliss full spiritual position.
However the ability to perceive the super soul depends on ones sincerity to
advance in the right direction.
I am tempted here present the gist of
vision revealed to me that forms the core around which the system design is
presented. The relationship between the human kind and God could be compared
with a living system. A living system originates from two information/essence
and a body. It results into billions of cells organized into parts. Each of this
cell is basically is a whole system, it has the complete information of the
whole. Each cells is determined to function to uphold the life of the whole
system. In this exist the life of the individual and the whole. When Lord forbid
the created not to eat from the tree at the center, it was a loving advice of
the Father, not to try to conquer and corrupt the source - the source of life.
But by design this was inevitable, man looked to the center with a conquering
and corrupt motive and began to fall. This fall invariably means the Universal
Consciousness and Intelligence is getting devoid of a body or death engulfing
the whole, the survival now exist in the creation of a new body to perpetuate.
This means the secret of life and
perpetuation that we witness in all living systems becomes applicable to the
whole. The secret of life and perpetuation as observed in nature tells us that
perpetuation happens when the dominant information/essence leaves its body and
enters the female body and mixes with the information in the female and
perpetuates developing a new body out of the old. Here the conception is
beginning of time and the birth is the initialization of time. However when it
comes to the Universal soul and Universal intelligence, that exist at the center
as a unique system capable of perceiving the whole and thus is the source of all
information, the mixing of information does not become a necessity, but the
creation of new body and its deliverance becomes a necessity It is here I
deduced Calvary as the conceiving point, the big bang origin and the Second
Coming of Christ as the birth of the new universe, the initialization of the
universe by Revelation. Only when man realizes the truth will he repent and
initialize, and this alone can bring peace and order to this world which is now
erupting, bursting, exploding, burning and flooding under human conquering
motive and corruption.
Vedas thus very clearly
tells us that soul is different from the body; the body is compared to the
chariot and the soul the charioteer who rides the chariot. “
Transcendentalists who are advanced in knowledge compare the body which is made
by the order of the supreme personality Godhead, to a chariot. The senses are
the horses; the mind, the master of senses, is like the reins; the object of
senses are destinations; intelligence is the chariot driver; and consciousness
which spreads through out the body, is the cause of bondage in this material
world” [Bhagavatham 7.15.41]
In this example, the
senses are like horses always pulling the mind towards the objects they are
attracted to. The mind is always restless, turbulent, obstinate and very strong.
Only through practice of yoga can the mind be controlled. Other wise mind is
always trying to convince the intelligence to make plans to satisfy the senses.
In this way the intelligence, referred as the chariot driver, will take the body
here and there in hopes of arriving at the destination of sense objects. Mean
while the self within the body is riding and observing all these bodily
activities. Thus it tells us that the self lies beyond the mind and beyond human
intelligence. In fact it tells us that it is a part of greater self and greater
intelligence. Thus it speaks of two self one individual self of human and
greater or absolute self. To know once own self one should discover the greater
self. This is the fundamental essence of Vedas, Bible and Koran. From science we
know everything exist in relative manner, you cannot determine one unless there
is some thing to compare.
Vedas,
Bhagavad-Gita, Bible, Koran basically speaks of the path to knowing greater
self. This path and the goal are scientifically described in Vedas, enacted in
Bible, reminded in the Koran. All of them speak that mind absorbed in sense
objects is the cause of bondage to material activities and the mind detached
from sense objects is the cause of liberation.
Bhagavad-Gita tells us that person must elevate
themselves by their own mind, not degrade themselves, the mind is the friend of
the conditioned soul, and enemy as well. For one who has conquered the mind, the
mind is the best friend; but for one who has failed to do so, their very mind
can be the greatest enemy” Bhagavad-Gita 6.5-6]
Vedas and all the religious knowledge very
clearly write that the false ego or “I” that separate our self from greater
self gives shape to illusionary material existence and thus experiences material
happiness and distress. The spirit soul is however transcendental to material
nature. Much of our world problems the division based on religion, the conflict,
war, terrorism, all has its base in the “I”.
So the path to liberation or the great goal of conquering death exist detaching the mind, and focusing the mind to enquire into self, and this path opens the way to greater self and a union with it, which is experienced as bliss. The whole truth of nature is revealed at this point. The whole of Vedas speak of this path. Vedas also speak of the need to approach the great self with out any seed. By design this is impossible, mankind will not take up a journey unless he has a goal. The Vedic teacher leads the student till the last door but leaves him alone to tap the door and find what he wants; when the door opens he exclaims, “ This is not”. This tells us that everyone fails for h
e approaches the greater self with a seed. So mans quest to know the truth of nature both through spiritual and physical exploration is always contaminated with a seed of self and thus the goal remains elusive, leaving the supreme self to act to direct the whole and save his creation from impending death.
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