North India Tour Report
Nov - Dec 2011
&
Interviews with Scientists
on
‘Origin of Life’ & ‘Origin of Universe’
| SCIENCE AND RELIGION
are the two most influential forces shaping the
advancement of human civilization. It is practically impossible to
ignore the contribution of either science or religion. Both will
remain, as long as the culture of civilization exists in the world.
Hence, it is of utmost importance to examine the relationship between
science and religion – in past, in present, and in the future. Ancient literature and archeological evidence clearly indicate that there was a great harmony between science and religion, and theistic science was gloriously practiced before the time of Galileo (1564 – 1642) and Descartes (1596 – 1650). During that period both in the scientific community, and religious tradition, life was considered superior principle to inanimate matter. However, the conflict between science and religion prominently began when Galileo and Descartes started contemplating the nature of the universe. Galileo separated the two realities: (1) primary qualities and (2) secondary qualities. Primary qualities are objective or external qualities like temperature, wavelength, hardness, etc. On the other hand, subjective qualities are more internal, such as the sensations of heat, color, pain, pleasure, etc. Galileo tried to address primary qualities based on his scientific endeavors and was silent on secondary qualities. Descartes further provided a philosophical explanation to it, which is now known as Cartesian duality – res cogito and res extensa. Later Hume (1711 – 1776) practically destroyed rational thought by striving to create a totally naturalistic science of man. Newton (1642 – 1727) introduced the mechanistic concept for motion of physical bodies, by completely ignoring the role of the subject in all the scientific studies. In line with Cartesian philosophy, modern science believes that the object and subjective knowledge of the object are separable. Modern atheistic science started developing based on such dualism, which had created the belief among the people that scientists can replace God. Thus scientists – the god of the gaps had thought that they can play with the whole universe and by proceeding scientifically they can define everything in terms of objective qualities. Influenced by such reductionist thinking, Charles Darwin in his famous ‘warm little pond’ scenario, postulated speculatively that life originated from a chemical combination of molecules. This is now known as the theory of abiogenesis. Chance combination of molecules gradually evolved into all the life forms that we are now witnessing. Neo-Darwinism is a term introduced to describe the modern synthesis of Darwinian objective evolution thorough natural selection along with Mendelian genetics. It is important to note, that these two materialistic theories of life (abiogenesis and objective evolution) fail to include the key characteristics that distinguishes life – sentience. The works of majority of scientists are limited to very narrow fields. It is often impossible for them to perceive the complete reality. Hence, even though their field does not prove objective evolution they presume that maybe other areas of science probably justify it. Even though they are well–meaning men, being ignorant of reality they remain dogmatic in their approach to understand life. Most biologists and geneticists recognize that their research does not verify objective evolution. [1] However, they take for granted that geology proves it. On the other hand, geologists identify that geological evidences undermines objective evolution, [2] but expect that the biologists and geneticists have established objective evolution. In this way the materialistic conception of life is imposed on mass at large in colleges and universities. This is the prime cause of the greatest disharmony between science and religion in our time. This objective science has become so influential that many scientists believe they have no need of a God at all. Modern science now even threatens to completely eliminate very religion from the face of our earth. Considering life as a mere combination of molecules, educated people in science do not hesitate to grossly disrespect life and nature to its highest degree. The grave consequences of this advanced materialism has already started threatening the entire human civilization in the form of environment pollution, highly stressful mechanistic lifestyle, increased suicide rate, terrorism and the list is neither complete nor ever-ending. In order to come up with a lasting solution to these problems that our civilization is now witnessing, it is the duty of every thinking person whether a scientist or a religionist, that he must show a keen interest to understand life very deeply. We should not be under a misconception that biologists only have a monopoly to study and understand life. In this regard Schrödinger can be an inspiration for all men in science. Although a quantum physicist, not a biologist, Schrödinger in 1944 wrote a classic monograph entitled, ‘What is life?’ Considering the energy, matter and thermodynamic imbalances offered by surrounding atmosphere, Schrödinger claimed that consuming negative entropy is a central necessity for the existence of life. Recent findings in cellular biology and advanced research on the behavior of bacterial colonies confirm that besides Schrödinger’s criterion of ‘consumption of negative entropy’, ‘consumption of latent information’ is an additional basic necessity of Life. The essential elements of cognition in such sentient biological systems can take into account the interpretation of chemical messages, distinction between internal and external information, and also the ability to discriminate between self and non-self. [3] What is information? Norbert Wiener an American mathematician interestingly stated that “Information is information, neither matter nor energy.” [4] This is because information arises only through purpose (teleology) and purpose is a cognitive act – a non-material principle. Excluding subject we cannot address the purpose through a purely objective means – using the laws of physics and chemistry. For example, we cannot produce a book of biology by a mere random accumulation of alphabets. To produce a book we need an author. To represent his/her own concept in the book, the author purposefully arranges the alphabets in a suitable manner. This is the example of external teleology where the purpose lies outside the system. All artifacts can be considered as an outcome of external teleology. On the other hand, living systems (biological systems) are the outcome of internal teleology, where the purpose lies within the system. We must seriously question that can we ever be able to reduce life and consciousness to mere objective or external qualities? Every living cell comes from another living cell only – life comes only from life. Life manipulates matter in a biological system according to its own purpose. To have a wholesome understanding of reality we cannot ignore consciousness in our scientific studies. Not only biology, but quantum mechanics also demands that we must address consciousness to comprehend the metaphysical implications of that theory. Sripad Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaja, Ph.D. a devotee scientist from Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math told in past that: “A recent book by American stem cell scientist Robert Lanza, entitled "Biocentrism" makes the point that consciousness is fundamental, and everything else rests upon that. This is the same paradigm that Vedanta has held since antiquity. “Scientists of India should be leading the way in the study and presentation of these ideas that the West is only beginning to discover rather than following the hard line materialist science that has dominated the scene for too long. Not that the material side is to be neglected, but a synthesis is needed that will explain both sides in an overarching world view that does not loose sight of the spiritual dimension of life. Such neglect, we have witnessed, leads to so much disillusionment and destruction in the name of mundane progress.” We are a group of scientists and scholars from Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math working on the fundamental topics in science (Consciousness, Origin of Life and Origin of Matter) under the guidance of Sripad Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaja, Ph.D. We are regularly organizing conferences, seminars and publications on these topics. We are also regularly traveling to different research organizations, universities, colleges and yoga centers to deliver lectures on these topics to propagate the 'Harmony of Science and Religion'. You can find videos of a few of our programs at different technical institutes here. Recently (November – December 2011) we visited North India and organized scientific seminars on 'Origin of Life' and 'Origin of Universe' in different colleges and universities at Mathura, Delhi, Panipath, Pilani and Jhunjhunu. We had also conducted interviews with different scientists. You can find the videos of these recent tour programs below. There were many interesting exchanges with professors and scientists in this tour. Some of the highlights were tours to BITS Pilani, Shridhar University at Pilani, Central Soil and Water Research Station at New Delhi, APIIT, Panipat, Haryana and several colleges and institutes in Greater Noida. One of the highlights of the tour was an interview with Professor R.C. Gupta from GLA University on the Big Bang theory. He accepted that God may be a solution to the problems confronting the Big Bang theory. He also showed keen interest on the question of life and admitted that modern science needs to recognize the role of sentient phenomenon in the origin of universe. Prof. Anup Gupta, registrar at GLA University, admitted that such programs on the harmony of science and religion are now becoming prime necessity. He expressed that students need a spiritual foundation in life so that they can face both success and failures with equanimity. Today materialism has created a gap in the consciousness of students that need to be urgently filled by the priceless wisdom of the scriptures like the Bhagavad-Gita. He also accepted to arrange a regular spiritual program of harmony of science and religion by our Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math at his college. Since then many of our Eastern and Western Devotee Scholars from Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math including Sripad Bhakti Ranjan Mahananda Prabhu (from London), Sripad Jagadananda Prabhu (from California), and Sripad Poorna Brahma Prabhu (from New Zealand) and Sripad Gaurachandra Prabhu, (faculty in GLA University) have been delivering lectures on Vedanta, Bhagavad-Gita and Science of the Soul at the GLA University. We sincerely thank everyone for the invaluable service they are rendering. Our tour to Greater Noida saw us going to several colleges and institutes. We covered many medical colleges, engineering colleges, and management institutes in that area. People in this area were very pious. We discussed issues related to Information, Biology etc with several professors. The Director of IIMT College of Engineering, Prof. S.N. Singh was very happy and he asked many interesting questions. Faculties were also quite happy. Prof. S.N. Singh arranged nice fruits for our team. They admitted that our preparation was good. We discussed with them about a possibility of holding a conference on Harmony of science and Religion in the 21st century. Professor R.L. Misri, a civil engineering faculty from Sharda University expressed his interest when Sripad B.N. Shanta Swami, Ph.D. explained to him the results of the work of Guy Berthault [2] which has challenged the Geological column coming from Steno’s assumptions. Thereby Guy Berthault has posed a serious question mark on the geological interpretation of the fossil record, which has thus become one of the crumbling pillars of objective evolution (Darwin’s theory). Another Professor, a doctor also expressed her keen interest on the sentient phenomenon, [5] that is being recognized today all over the world. She explained that E. Coli was certainly a good candidate for research and that cognition was common in all organism even though they have different structural and functional paradigms (like nervous systems, sensory motor systems etc.) Thus she expressed keen interest in the Vedantic paradigm that it is life which is the fundamental basis of Reality. Prof. R.K. Choudhary, Director at APIIT, Panipat was very eager to help us in our humble services. He gave us a generous donation and also arranged for a sumptuous prasadam at his college. We sincerely appreciate his kindness. We are dependent on the Lord’s mercy for continuing our services and such gestures are beneficial for the contributors' own spiritual and religious progress. Moreover, he also gave us an interview that centered on Artificial intelligence and he also explained how life cannot be a mere computation. He explained that Physics and chemistry may be good for machines but we will commit a blunder if we think it can be applied on human beings and living organisms. He said he totally disagrees with the physicists and chemists on the question of life. He also accepted that Bhagavat-Gita Paradigm of the atma (soul or intrinsic identity) should be explored within biology. Our tour at New Delhi was also fruitful. We conducted an interview on Harmony of Science and Religion with one medical doctor Prof. A.K. Mukhophadyay who is the Head of the Department of Laboratory Medicines at AIIMS. While discussing on theory of abiogenesis, Prof. Mukhophadyay expressed that no doctor can look at his patients as a bag of chemicals. We were also able to present our ideas at the Central Soil and Water Research Station, New Delhi. The Director of the institute, Dr. Murari Ratnam and several scientists attended the presentation. The Director said, “Our civilization, as I put it, has been thinking about this since time immemorial. And these kinds of presentations reiterate our thought process. Whatever kind of philosophies – Vedantic philosophy or people may be adhering to other kinds of philosophy, you have to go deep into it. And subconsciously we all know that. Anyone from this country knows that there is something beyond. Only thing is we have put a smokescreen over our thought process.” Professor Natarajan Pro-VC at Shridhar University, Pilani gave us a warm hearted reception and introduced the subject to everyone. He highlighted several problems like those related to color and subjectivity. He said God is definitely there and He is the driving force for all knowledge. He said that we don’t know whether Darwin’s theory was right or wrong (in Science). He also noted that today science is saying that there is a particle which travels faster that light. As all our science was based on the precept that there is nothing faster than light, therefore now we do not know what is the next thing. Whether the assumptions that Darwin made were right or wrong we don’t know. On being asked, what is the utility of holding this type of seminars in his college by a lecturer in electrical engineering, Sripad B.N. Shanta Swami, Ph.D. replied that from the present advanced science, can we provide a distinction between life and matter. On the other hand, that very advanced science and biology are redeeming the concepts explained by great philosophers like Kant and thus this approach of harmony of science and religion in 21stcentury has a great utility. Prof. Rajesh Mehrotra at BITS Pilani, a premier engineering college of India, related his knowledge of modern biology and said that concepts explained by B.N. Shanta Maharaja, Ph.D. in his interview were interesting. We are very grateful for his kind cooperation and his keen interest in these subjects. Prof. S.K. Verma, faculty in biotechnology department of BITS Pilani explained to us in an informal meeting that certainly material ideas do not explain the concept of cell and living organisms. He said that at the end of every semester course in biotechnology at BITS Pilani, he quoted the statement of Szent-Gyorgyi “In my quest for the secret of life I started my research in histology. Unsatisfied by the information that cellular morphology could give me about life, I turned to physiology. Finding physiology too complex, I took up pharmacology. Still finding the situation too complicated, I turned to bacteriology. But bacteria were even too complex, so I descended to the molecular level, studying chemistry and physical chemistry. After twenty years' work, I was led to conclude that to understand life we have to descend to the electronic level and to the world of wave mechanics. But electrons are just electrons and have no life at all. Evidently on the way I lost life; it had run out between my fingers.” We are also grateful to Prof. Shuvendu Narayan Patel, a Civil Engineering faculty, BITS Pilani (our old friend and devotee) and also his family for he so kindly arranged everything for our preaching services. We are also grateful to Prof. Haripad Prabhu, Chemical Engineering, BITS Pilani who also helped us enthusiastically. He is our old Godbrother and also a good scientist. We celebrated the Vyasa Puja (appearance day) of our Gurudev Srila Sripad Bhakti Svarupa Damodara Goswami Maharaja, Ph.D. at his residence. One important observation we had was that people in India sometimes think that we cannot provide evidence for spiritual and religious questions. Sometimes therefore people think that anyone could express something based upon their subjective experience. But we explained to them that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has discussed the Concept of evidence before discussing any other subject matter. There are five levels of evidence – pratyaksha, paroksha, aparoksha, adhoksaja and aprakrta. But the demand of scientific method on Baconian principles has lead to a decline of spiritual concepts in the general mass. But as 20th century physics, chemistry and biology are seriously undermining such interpretations, many 20th century philosophers became inclined to Kantian principles. Srila B.R. Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaja, Founder Acharya of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math explained that Hegel was a good thing to happen in the western world. Thus the Vedantic concepts of evidence were not really understood by even the so called intelligentsia of India. So they could learn these concepts from our teachers and feel that they have been presented with critical and penetrating insights. Another observation that we had was that some people think that we need to retire from our usual activities to feel the spiritual nature. But we are explaining to everyone that it is possible to express spiritual concepts within our daily scientific pursuits. Science and Religion are never exclusive to each other to an expert scientist or religionist. On the other hand if everyone could utilize the gifts they have received in their life, especially the scientists, they can render great service to higher spiritual necessities of life even from where they stand in their respective social positions. We had numerous other pleasant exchanges and we look forward to meet everyone again. We also invite everyone to our Math in Sri Nabadwipa Dham, where we have our world head quarters of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math. You may also visit or contact our office for advice or speakers who can present lectures on the Harmony of Science and Religion, and how you can begin programs at your own organization, institute, or college. For inquiries you may contact us at: Sri
Chaitanya Saraswat Math New Pal Para (Netaji Sarani), Hayder Para, Siliguri – 6, West Bengal, India Email: invite@scienceandscientist.org, scsmath.siliguri@mahaprabhu.net Land Phone: +91-3532592004, Mobile: +91-9748906907 Web Page: www.mahaprabhu.net/scsmath.siliguri References: [1] Swami, B.M.P. (2010). Darwinism Dead at 150. Refer: http://scienceandscientist.org/Darwin/2010/12/01/darwinism-dead-at-150 [2] Swami, B.N.S. (2010). Modern Geological Evidence Undermines the Chronology of Geologic Column. Refer: http://scienceandscientist.org/sedimentation.html [3] Swami, B.N.S. (2011). Sorry, Darwin: Chemistry Never Made the Transition to Biology. Refer the section 21st century biology – View of organism as a sentient system, at: http://scienceandscientist.org/biology [4] Wiener, N. (1948). Cybernetics, or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, Hermann et Cie, The Technology Press, Paris. [5] Das, P.J. (2010). Cellular Sentience. Refer: http://www.scienceandscientist.org/papers/Cellular_Sentience.pdf
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Videos: Scientific Seminars
Videos: Interviews with Scientists |
Interview with Prof. R.C. Gupta on 'Origin of Matter and Origin of Universe': 10th November, 2011
| Prof. R.C. Gupta is now the Head
of the Department of Mechanical Engineering in GLA University, Mathura,
UP, INDIA. In this interview the fundamental problems connected to the Big Bang Theory, Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, Gravity, Dark Matter, Dark Energy are briefly discussed. The importance of Vedantic conception of Origin of Life and Origin of Universe is emphasized. |
Interview
with Prof. A.K. Mukhopadhyay on 'The role of Harmony of
Science and Religion towards a wholesome understanding of
reality': 20th
November 2011
| Prof.
A. K. Mukhopadhyay is the head of the Department of Laboratory
Medicines in All India Institute of Medical Science, New Delhi, INDIA. In this interview the fundamental defects connected to the Chemical Origin of Life (Abiogenesis) are briefly discussed. The objective was to explore the important role of Harmony of Science and Religion in attaining lasting harmony and peace in the society. |
Interview with Prof. R.K. Choudhary on ‘Man & Machine, and Harmony of Science & Religion’: 25th November 2011
| Prof. R. K. Choudhary
is the Director, APIIT SD, Panipat, Haryana, India. In this interview a few fundamental misconceptions in the field of Man and Machine problems are discussed. The objective was to explore the important role of Harmony of Science and Religion in attaining lasting harmony and peace in our society. |
Interview
with Prof. Rajesh Mehrotra on 21st Century Biology – Science Beyond
Physics & Chemistry: 1st
December 2011
| Prof.
Rajesh Mehrotra is working as a Assistant Professor in the Department
of Center for Biotechnology, Biological Science Group, BITS, Pilani,
Rajasthan, India. Modern researchers have begun to recognize the fact that the molecular level explanation is undoubtedly insufficient to elucidate the complex activities of living organisms. The focus of the interview was in the light of 21st century biology — view of organism as a sentient system. |