The Science of Spirituality SIP acro Chittagong 12.6.23-22 Bhakti Sastri podcast

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Transcript

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.

I'll speak on three points, including this whiteboard as providing some things and drawing some things. So I'll offer a sip of wisdom. When we drink something in a sip, then we gently take a little bit of it.

So the same thing, I'll offer three points for reflection, which will also address some of our common questions that we may have. Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of people in the world. Some people are wise and some are otherwise.

And it's not just that these two kinds of people are there in the world. Many times, we ourselves oscillate between being wise and otherwise. Especially, say, if you want to give some advice to others.

At that time, we are sometimes also surprised at the pearls of wisdom that seem to come out of our mouths. Maybe somebody should record this, maybe I should write a book. And yet, if we are provoked by something, somebody angers us, somebody agitates us, at that time, we start speaking things, we might as well speak that.

Afterwards, if somebody would play a recording of what we spoke in anger, we wonder, what is this? How could I have spoken something like this? So, science has explored many of the mysteries of the universe. And what it has found has transformed human society. At the same time, no history is as immediately relevant to us as our own inner world.

As what goes on inside our inner world. What impairs us to do the things that we do? These are questions that come to us when we say, if not we ourselves, but with someone around us. Maybe our children, maybe our colleagues.

They behave in unexpected ways, in unhealthy ways. It raises the question, what is going on? Martin Luther King, the National rights leader, put his finger on the problem when he said that we have guided the science and misguided it. We have guided the science.

We have been able to control our outer world to an astonishing degree. And yet, there is something inside us. Maybe not inside us specifically, but us collectively as humanity, which seems to prevent us to act against our destinies.

And it is this that we will be trying to explore today. I will start with my spiritual journey. And then I would like to ask you, what does spirituality mean to you? Before I go into the three points of S.I.V. As I mentioned in the introduction, I studied engineering.

And throughout my childhood and my youth, I had a lot of faith in the power of education. Education can open new doors. Education can enable us to achieve new things.

Help us to live in a better world. And while I was pursuing education, I was also trying to share with others. When I finished my 10th, I started a free tuition for students who were just going to give their 10th exam.

To give them some broad tips. When I was studying engineering, I joined a social welfare organization. Where I was a part of the organization which pioneered the education for the underprivileged in the slum areas.

And while I was going there, I noticed that the kids were okay, they were interested in studying. But their homes were dysfunctional. There was alcohol abuse, there was domestic violence.

And then I started thinking, how much is the education of say, history or maths or geography going to help them when they are living in double homes? So that means I diversified into de-education. Especially helping people recover from alcoholism. And most importantly, where is the system? He calls the campaigners to talk, he asks them to learn some principles.

And then the small section of the slums where we were trying to share, everybody in that locality resorted to give up alcohol. And American thinker Oscar Wilde, he has stated that giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I have done it over a hundred times.

And so, we give it up when he doesn't give up something. So this is what unfortunately became the harsh reality that I experienced. Then I went to my home for vacations and when I came back, I found that many of them had relapsed.

And why had they relapsed? Because a local politician who was seeking candidature for his party elections had got an o'clock of liquor to move the candidates and lock them in a tree. And not only the parents and the fathers, one parent took the kids and started drinking. So that's when I started thinking that it will consider the journey of life.

Through education, we are opening fresh doors. So we open doors through education. But it seems there are some kind of trap doors which open and it will go on to these trap doors.

So these trap doors are inside us. And these trap doors don't have to be a substance of music. They can just be, as I discussed, a shock to everyone.

They can be being too rude. They can be just being too harsh or being polite or demanding or rude. Basically, we do things which we know we shouldn't be doing.

And then they hurt us. So I observed this not just in the slum areas where people were less educated. But I observed it among the students in my college also.

I was an author. I was studying on the metapolitics in India. And yet, I found that the same thing seems there.

So that is when I started reading more and more about the human world. I explored psychology, philosophy, religion and even spirituality. And that's when I came across the Bhagavad Gita.

And in the Bhagavad Gita, I came across a whole view that helped make sense of the human world, of human behaviour as I was encountering it in me and as I was encountering it in others. And in fact, this was not just a model. But I found that this was strikingly similar to what I had observed in science.

The scientific method had something which was so universal and intuitively appealing. We then evaluated it through experiments. So I found that spirituality is more similar.

And that's what inspired me so much in my study that I decided that this is what I would like to study and share. So I will talk about what I learnt from the Bhagavad Gita about spirituality and what I can tell you. But before I go ahead, I would like to ask you would anyone like to share what spirituality means to you? I am talking about science and spirituality.

So what does spirituality mean to you? Do we have a wide audience? Anyone would like to share? Thank you. To me, actually, spirituality, I think, to think about the creation of the earth, universe, and being that someone behind the creation, and I think to me, spirituality means going to a temple, to think, to serve the people, to be honest, to do good work. Thank you so much.

You inspired me so much. There is an underlying reality, some type of identity with the existence. And then that understanding, that reality inspires us to some kind of virtuous living, which is where we are self-oriented, where we want to do good to other human beings.

Thank you. Anything else? Your thoughts about what spirituality is? I think spirituality is the way to be situated in our constitutional position. Okay, that's a good way of doing it.

Thank you. Thank you so much. It's a way, you can say, to be who we are, who we really are, what our natural identity is, who we essentially are, how we can become or realize who we are.

That is spirituality. Thank you. Anyone else? Yes, please.

Thank you so much. For me, it's like a beyond materialistic world where I can have peace of my mind. That's what spirituality means to me.

Thank you. That's very good. Beyond materialism towards peace of mind.

We may have a lot of materialistic things, but it doesn't take as much time to realize that a lot of possessions does not necessarily mean a lot of peace. In fact, sometimes the more excellence you pursue, the more it seems that peace becomes the illusion. So, what is it that you pursue? Something beyond matter.

So, that is spirituality. In some ways, the material things in the world are constantly changing. So, is there something beyond this changing, something which is unchanging? And if you can hold on to the unchanging, then we can be peaceful.

Yes, thank you. Anyone else? Spirituality helps us to the real meaning of our life and find out the forces inside us. Find? Find out the forces.

Find out the forces inside us. So, it is, we find at one level, meaning in life. And then we also find that there are some greater strength, greater force inside us.

There is a lot within us that is untapped, undiscovered. And spirituality also discovers that. Thank you.

Anyone last answer? Harishna, I think, as spirituality means to get the correct answer about who am I? Why am I suffering here? And how can I stop this suffering? If there is any God, where He lives, what is our relation with God? And how can I establish my connection with God? Concentration of these questions actually means and this is astounding. I think this is actually a spiritual thing. Yes, thank you.

So, there are life's fundamental questions. Who am I really? Why do I exist? Why does happiness seem to give me? So, question that is, spirituality is what often people search for to get answers to this. So, these are all regarded as little points.

I'll try to integrate them as we move forward in our discussion today. So, broadly speaking, spirituality is similar to science. And there are of course some significant differences also.

Science is the study of matter. And spirituality is the study of what matters. The study of matter and the study of what matters.

The study of what is really important in life. Our God will come into action. Now, matter can also come out.

But if there is something more that matters. Like I mentioned that sometimes we have possessions. But they may not provide us peace.

Then what really matters in life? If we have a lot of money, we lack in some quantity. Possessions matter, but they don't matter that much. So, there is a study of what matters.

In the Bhagavad Gita it was spoken, Arjuna was facing a crisis of what really matters in life. And, it was the answer to this question of what matters that was given in the Bhagavad Gita. So, the study of what matters.

Like I said, science has these two aspects. Theory, where some aspects of reality we try to explain by postulating some hypothesis. And then using experiments to try to test whether that particular hypothesis is true or not.

Similarly, spirituality also has two aspects to it. One is philosophy, which is similar to the theory aspect. And then we have practice.

Now, within the practice, religion is what also comes in. So, actually speaking, the practice aspect of spirituality is similar to the experiment aspect of science. So, spirituality is a study of what matters.

This means, first, there is a philosophy. There is a way of looking at the world that is provided within spirituality. And that helps us look at the various aspects of reality and it tells us what really matters.

And then the practice aspect of spirituality helps us do certain activities, certain practices by which we can evaluate for ourselves. Does this really matter? Does it really make a positive difference in my life? So, the study of what matters. Through science, we have explored the world.

And through science itself, one thing that humanity has found is that the world is far more complex than what it seems to our naked eyes. That when we look at the sky, we might just see an endless expanse of white in the daytime or endless expanse of black at night. But inside the space, it's filled with astonishing wonders.

If you look at the universe, it's micro-world. It's very big. But even the atoms have a whole universe within them in terms of atomic particles.

Even the cells within the human body are so complex. So, there is much, much more to reality than what meets the eye. So, spirituality tells us the same principle that what matters is much more important than what we see.

In fact, if you consider what scientific progress means. Now, when I had gone to Kerala, which is in Rajasthan, we passed by the same tree where Newton is said to have got his defining insight. The apple fell.

Some people say it fell in front of him. Some people say it fell on him. Now, when the apple fell on him, imagine if instead of Newton, a monkey had eaten it.

Now, what might the monkey have done? Most likely, he has taken the apple and eaten it. But Newton asked him, Hey, what made this apple fall? And that question led to the development of science. So, now, he came up with the theory of Kerala.

If you see, essentially what is happening is there is a visible phenomena. The visible phenomena was that an apple fell. But from that, he came to the postulation of an invisible principle.

Sometimes, if you are seeing this behavior, then if you really believe that seeing this behavior, then stop using your cell phone. Because the whole cell phone operates based on the concept of the internet and the electromagnetic communication. And the electromagnetic waves are invisible.

The internet is invisible. So, scientific advancement essentially happens by looking beyond the invisible to the invisible. We move from visible principles to invisible principles.

And that is what we will talk about in the second part of the lecture. I said, I will take three points. Either the acronym S-I-T So, spirituality is the study of what matters.

And then, I is intelligence. So, intelligence means that there are things that glitter. Things that are visible.

And beyond them, there are things that matter. So, intelligence is the capacity to see beyond what glitters to what matters. It's like in youth, when somebody wants to form a relationship, you can often go by external rules.

How attractive somebody looks, or how wealthy somebody looks. And that's an important feature to look at. But if you want to be in a long-term relationship, the looks are important, but the character of the person is much more important.

The person is constantly complaining. The person is manipulative. The person is untrustworthy.

And however good they may look, they cannot very well be a person who will have a satisfying, sustainable relationship. So basically, if we look at reality, there is the appearance, how things look, and what often glitters. And beyond that, there is the substance.

And intelligence has the capacity to see beyond appearance, to see beyond what glitters to what matters. Science progresses in the same way. Every scientific theory, in fact, is a movement from the visible phenomena to an invisible principle.

And that same point is applied in spirituality with respect to the point of philosophy. The word philosophy itself means free and so forth. Free is love, so forth is truth.

A love for truth. What is the actual nature of reality? The Bhagavad Gita explains that the same point that there are two layers to reality. There is a material reality, and underlying that, there is a spiritual reality.

Since the material is constantly changing. There is a great philosopher, Sir Thomas, who said that he never stepped into the same river twice, because the river is made of flowing water and constantly changing. So, of the material, there is constant change.

Our body is constantly changing, cells are being born, cells are dying, so the material is constantly changing. But beyond the material, there is something that is not changing. And that is spiritual.

That is, within the body, there is a soul which does not change. And this invisible, which is unchanging, can be perceived. But it requires intelligence to perceive it.

Just as we can see gravity, but from the effects of objects falling, the principle of gravity is a reasonable inference. So, similarly, the idea of an unchanging spiritual is an inference from the material observations. So, basically, when we try to practice spirituality by qualifying some meaning in our life, we will find out something in your life.

So, life is about dualities. Kabhi kushi, kabhi naam. So, that is, always duality, happiness and distress.

Now, one of the things that we find happening in today's world is that a lot of people overreact. So, there is happiness, we go higher. When there is distress, we go way down.

And, in this way, we end up being quite temperamental, quite rude. You may see this especially among teenagers. But, it is something which is very temperamental.

Say, for example, two people, there is somebody who gets a new job and one day they say, I love this job, this is the best job in the world. And then you say, maybe their boss gave you some feedback. And they say, what a terrible job, I didn't take this job, I hate this job.

So, we have this feeling that it's going wrong. How do people come together and they say, I love you, I can't live without you. And, next thing, something, some quarrel happens, some misunderstanding happens, no, I hate you, I can't live with you.

And, in this way, it is up and down, up and down. So, the world is an ocean. It is an ocean.

In the ocean, there will be ups and downs. But, if we are in this ocean, if we are here, as the waves become, they will toss us up and down. However, if we can find an anchor that is large enough and we can hold on to that anchor, then that anchor will ensure that we don't get tossed up and down.

Then we stay steady. And spirituality offers us that anchor. So, the essence of spirituality as described in the Bhagavad Gita is that there is a large reality and we are all parts of that reality.

So, each one of us is a part. That God is not just some being who exists somewhere far away up there in the sky. God is actually all around you.

Of course, he exists far away but he is within us, he is without us, he is everywhere. And we are parts of that reality. And to the extent the part is in harmony with the whole, to that extent the part will be having me to itself.

The part will be joyful. The part will be having an enriched existence. So, there is an ultimate reality and that is the divine and we are parts.

In fact, we are all parts of something like we are parts of a family, we are parts of a community, we are parts of a country. So, all these poles, as we take them bigger and bigger and bigger, there is that ultimate pole that contains all the other poles. That ultimate pole is said to be God.

That is the ultimate reality. And while there are ways in which the existence of God can be perceived through science, when as science advances, we are finding that there is so much order and intricacy in the organization of things that it is very strongly points to the existence of some organizing principle. Imagine if somebody were to play a game of dice and what was staked in that game of dice was the person's life.

If it falls six, nothing. If it falls anything else, nothing. And once you toss it, it falls six.

Wow! Lucky! Second time you play, again it falls six. Hey, you have to take a chance in this. Five times you toss it, each time it falls six.

Does it like how we have six on all sides? What's going on? Hey, 15 times you toss the dice and each time it falls six. It suggests that there is something special going on. If we look at the universe around us, there are so many dice tosses, any of it went slightly wrong, slightly different, we would not exist.

If we look at the way the earth is positioned, if the earth were to be closer to the sun, it would be too hot for us to exist. If the earth were a little further away, it would be too cold for us to exist. If we consider the earth moves on its axis, if the earth moves a little faster, if a day is 24 hours or 16 hours, then the rotation of the earth would be so fast that it would set off storms and tornadoes and again life would not be possible.

If the earth's axis had not been tilted slightly, then there would not have been the alteration of seasons and without the alteration of seasons there would not be vegetation. The life as we know it would not exist. If the percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere had been a little more or a little less, things would have been far more complicated as a lot of years associated with climate change.

It is like this, scientists have found out almost 127 things. Each of these things have to be exactly what they are. Even a slight variation in any of these, life would not be possible.

So many types of things have been told, each of them have fallen in such a way that the broader hole that it belonged to, that broader hole, is just rooted from our existence. So, it is, as an interior space, you see beyond what glitters to what matters. So if we look at the universe properly, it is that there is some organizing principle.

And that organizing principle, how we align with it, that's the last part of my talk. What was the acronym you were going to discuss? Yes, sip of wisdom. So, last part is P. So P is purification.

Now purification is not just some religious ritual, where you know, put some water, put some water in the plate and chant some mantras. And those will be part of it. But the essence of purification is that it is a process by which what we feel matters, it aligns with what really matters.

What we feel matters is aligned with what really matters. When we all function in our lives, we function with the idea of something matters. So, now if you consider the mismatch between these two, mismatch between what we feel matters and what actually matters, that is the cause of great distress.

One of my friends is from Russia and he was telling me that when he was growing up, there were the ads about awareness about alcohol addiction. So, there was this ad where a family was watching TV and the news comes that the price of vodka has risen. And then the kid is really asking his father who is drinking a bottle of vodka and says, Dad, can you drink less? And the father says, No, you drink less.

So, this tragedy of disruption of values, we may do the same thing. We may value money so much that we may lose their health to gain wealth. And then after 40, 45, 50, they lose their wealth to gain back their health.

And in the end, we lose both our health and our wealth. So, often we are driven by an idea of what matters in our life. Somebody may think the biggest purpose of my life is to get a huge mansion like home.

But in that time, we neglect our relationship, we neglect our health, we neglect our spiritual growth. We may get that big house, but that big house will only provide us a lot of space in which to be lonely and unhappy. So, what matters and what we feel matters, there is a mismatch between the two.

And unification is what helps us to bring it around. Greed, greed, or deep anger, there are these inner impurities, greed, anger, lust, jealousy, all of them, what they do is, they create a mismatch between what matters and what we feel matters. When somebody is jealous, they are very good at counting blessings of others.

Oh, this person got this, this person got that, this person got that, no, I don't have this. Actually, our happiness will be different. It depends on what we have and what we do with what we have.

It doesn't depend on what others have. So, purification is the process by which what we feel matters becomes increasingly aligned to what matters. And this brings me, I said spirituality has these two parts, philosophy and practice.

So, philosophy is understood through intelligence where we see beyond what glitters, what matters. And practice is what the various practices are what enable us to become purified, to align what we think matters with what really matters. So, basically, what spirituality describes to us is that each one of us, as I said, we are parts of God.

And because we are parts of God, what it means is we have parts in God's land. Every one of us is a precious part of the divine. And every one of us has an invaluable part in the divine land by which each one of us can do good for ourselves and for the world.

So the practice in spirituality is a practice which centers on two things. There is connection internally to the divine and there is contribution externally to the universal bliss. So when we establish the inner connection and the outer contribution, we find that our satisfaction will increase substantially.

For example, I downloaded one image which I don't know this session that we all function in the world and we function in the world quite often we do certain things and we expect certain things from the world. We may study a lot and expect that I should come and talk in my class. We may work in our professional field and we expect that I have become famous and recognized as the best person in So we expect things to happen particularly in the world.

We may offer love to someone and expect that person to reciprocate. But unfortunately the world doesn't always do that. If our vision is limited only to this much, I and the world, then what we have will never be.

What somebody else has, that's what we long for more and more. Let's suppose some friend of ours loses their job. It's easier to feel empathy and empathy for them.

But if they get a job better than our job, they may be more than happy, but not happier than me. There is always this insecurity, this sense of the comparing mentality keeps us constantly insecure and unhappy. So if our vision is focused only on the world, then there is going to be insecurity and eventually a sense of inferiority.

And this makes everyone miserable. The Gita expands our vision. It says that we are here in this world, but above us is God.

And what we have, what we have, is a gift to us. It's a gift given to us by God. Each one of us may have some talents, some interests, some abilities, and each of these is a gift to us given by God.

And what we do with what we have is our gift to God. What we do with what we have. That is our gift to God.

In this way, each one of us give a gift so that we can give a gift to the world and help contribute to the world. So, Bhakti is about establishing this inner connection. This inner connection where we understand that we are all parts of the divine.

That our connection with God is not dependent on anything external. With how much fame I have, how much wealth I have, how good are my looks, they don't matter. Each one of us has intrinsic self-worth because each one of us is a beloved part of the divine.

Many of you have children and the greatest gifts that any parent can give to a child is to help them realise that they have intrinsic self-worth. The world defines our self-worth only in extrinsic terms. But that propels us in the path of spirituality.

So each one of us, when we adopt spiritual practices, we were doing some kirtan over here, chanting Hare Krishna mantra. So this is not just a religious ritual, it's a way by which we connect to the divine. We chant this mantra Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare It is basically a reminder to ourselves that we are parts of higher reality.

O part, stay in harmony with the Lord. O part, return to harmony with the Lord. And that is why such mantra They bring, if we do diligently, a peace of mind that no amount of wealth can provide.

Because this brings us a little connection. And then, once we have established a little connection, then each one of us can make an outer contribution. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna, He says, you remember me, remember that you are part of me, remember that you have a plan in my vision for the world.

So stay internally connected, stay secure. And then, your particular role in society is that you are marching guard in the society. So you use your archery skills for fighting.

So each one of us, some of you may be professionals, doctors, engineers, professors, homemakers. We all have different roles. But all these roles can be done in a room of seva, in a room of service.

And when we do this, we find that the greater our inner connection, the greater our outer contribution. We find that a sublime satisfaction starts coming our way. A satisfaction that no amount of material possession or material position can provide.

And that is the ultimate blessing of spirituality. The Bhagavad Gita concludes in the image of Arjuna having raised his bow and released his arrow. So what happens is, at the start of the Gita, Arjuna is dejected.

He is confused, he is rejected. He has put aside his bow. I can't fight him.

But that same Arjuna, at the end of the Gita, is confident, is energized. He has picked up his bow. So Arjuna's bow represents our determination.

Life's struggles and challenges can dishearten even the best of us. We start thinking, is it really worth it? I am working so hard, people are appreciating what I am doing. The world is not recognizing me.

Is it really worth it? But then we get this spiritual vision of life. We understand that everything that we do matters. That life, when we live it in a new connection, contribution, is something that really matters.

Every one of our existence, every one of us, our entails matter. And it is that vision that fills our life with meaning, it opens and grants us the identity we need. So someone else, who I discussed with, we discussed about the relationship between our God in science and spirituality, our God in a scientific approach to spirituality.

So I talked about a sip of wisdom. The first one was spirituality. So many of you mentioned various aspects of spirituality.

And we discussed that spirituality is the study of what matters. There is a study of matter in science itself, but there is a study of what matters. What is really important in life? And as a part of this study, there are two aspects.

Philosophy offers us a postulation of reality. What are the various components of reality and what matters within? Practice is what enables us. Within practice, there is religion.

But practice is what enables us to align us, to verify the philosophy as such. So philosophy in science is like a theory, an experiment, that is similar to the practice. And then, the second point, I talked about SIB, intelligence.

So this intelligence is associated with the philosophy as such. So intelligence means we see beyond what deters to what matters. That there is more to reality than what we perceive.

Science has also told us that beyond visible phenomena, there are invisible principles. And it is to the extent we understand those invisible principles, to the extent we tap great power. Just observing apples fall does not give us power.

But understanding the invisible principle of gravity gives us great power. So similarly, what the Gita tells us is that there is duality in this world. And just being buffeted, tossed up and down with duality, will keep us unstable.

But if we can connect with an anchor, which is far bigger than that duality, then that anchor will be in a sense. So how do we connect to that anchor? The Gita explains that there is a larger reality, and we are parts, each one of us is part of a larger reality. So that there is a larger other reality, I talked about the point of the game of dice.

That there are more than 100 things which are exactly right for our existence. So the larger reality that we are part of is not just an arbitrary existence. There is a more progressive existence behind it.

The last part of our world was communication. So this was associated with the practice by which, what happens is that what we feel matters becomes more and more aligned with what actually matters, what really matters. Most of the distress in life, like addiction is an example where the addict thinks that what matters is alcohol, even at the cost of relationships, health, finances, life.

Anger which is controlled right now matters more than a certain relationship. But what we feel matters, what we feel matters. But to the extent that we get aligned with it, we find that we become saviour, happier in our lives.

So as long as our vision is just I am here, and the world is here, and I will work and I will get fortune from the world. This will always keep us with a feeling of insecurity. But if we understand that we are parts of a higher reality, then we have been given gifts, and we are meant to give gifts.

Then this inner connection and the outer contribution, these are the dual aspects of spirituality. Through personal spiritual practices like Matrajyanati, we establish our inner connection. And through adopting the humble service in everything that we do in our life, we get out of our confusion.

In this way, we find that our life will become filled with a sublime meaning, with a divine purpose, and with the ultimate truth. Thank you very much. Dear presence, did you like the session? Now I want you to follow my question and answer.

We will ask questions throughout the room. There are wireless available. We already got a question.

There are some real questions as well. Can we have the questions, please? Hare Krishna, thank you very much. Thank you for your wonderful presentation.

This meeting is very fruitful to me. The way you define and explain spirituality, as you speak, the total meaning of it, spirituality, evangelism and purification, that's really meaningful to me. I don't believe all of us realized the intensity of it, the impact of spirituality.

And really, the way you explain is a very thought-provoking picture, no doubt. And it helped us to realize the way we should understand God, the way we need God, the impact of God and the role of God in our life. But you know this, all the general people, the general people are getting very confused sometimes.

You know this, the way you state this, spirituality, the philosophy and practice. And we are, nowadays, in the era of globalization, we must be here, we are encountered by a lot of philosophies. And this philosophy is guiding us, guiding us in a different way.

The way you say what really matters in life, that means that brings happiness in our life. So, different philosophies are saying what really matters to bring happiness in your life. So, if we are living in the era of globalization, when we are facing lots of philosophies, some philosophies say happiness lies in sacrifice.

Some philosophies say happiness lies in consumption. When we see the other peoples are growing, developing, like in developing world, the governments are focusing on work hard to grow in terms of material science. If you work hard, if you gain money, you bring happiness for you and your family.

On the other hand, when we make the alignment with what we feel matters and what we really feel matters. That is, if we follow a particular religious philosophy, a particular religious philosophy, for example, the Vedas explain us to live our life. That says what really matters.

But when we are guided by the economics, society, the way our society is leading us, we compare with other selves, like Americans have that, we must have that. Otherwise, we cannot get that happiness. We love to go to USA for making money, to send it back to the country, to make the people happy in our society.

So, under such circumstances, I am really asking you, like the way you started with the philosophy, psychology and the science of explaining the spirituality and the life. That is a very good question. You want to complete it? No, no.

Just continue, please. I was confused with that. So, nowadays, I got three points of introduction.

First is that there are so many different philosophies in the world. And especially in the western world, there is so much progress. And they are not necessarily spiritual, they are mostly material progress.

And we also feel that when there is material progress, then without that we cannot be happy. So, how does a person find their way through all this confusion? One thing about Bhagavad Gita is that the Bhagavad Gita is in no way against material progress. It is against material progress becoming the sole definition of progress.

That we are, while we are spiritual beings, we are also in physical bodies. And physical bodies need a certain level of requirements and conveniences for function. There is absolutely nothing wrong in requirements.

The Gita says, युद्धाधार्विःस् that our body needs to be taken care of appropriately and equitably. So, if we consider progress, progress definitely within that material progress. Progress has a part to it.

When Arjuna went to his Gurukul, he studied archaic. And by that study he became better and better in archaic. So, he progressed routinely.

In terms of the archaic studies. So, the material world works upon its own principles. So, if you look at the Western world, last ten years I spent almost more than half a year in the Western world, speaking and talking and sharing spirituality over there.

And two things. First, I noticed is that the level of material thought and organization that is there in the Western world is far, far more than what is there in the Eastern world. So, the Indian subcontinent, which is where I live in the world.

So, in general we humans, wherever we invest our energy, there we make progress. So, humanity, especially in the Western world, has invested its energy in the material domain. And it's progress phenomenon.

And rather than denying or downplaying or deriding that, we just acknowledge that humans have the capacity to make a change. So, when energy is invested in the material domain, we progress in the material world. At the same time, the second thing that has struck me is there are so many mental health problems.

And in fact, to the extent Indians or Asians, they go to the West and they become prosperous, to the extent their mental health problems also decrease. The same people, Asians who are in India, whether it's Indians, Chinese, Bangladeshi, whoever, they, as long as they are here, they do not seem to have that many mental health problems. But they go there and it goes away.

So, the problem is that material progress does not lead to all-round progress. And that is why the Western world is more and more becoming old. It's still spirituality.

There's a book called The American Veda. So, I met him also when I was in Africa. He talked about how in the heartland of America, there are still spiritual practices, there are still Indian spiritual practices, be they yoga, be they mantra chanting.

Now, kirtan is like a music category in itself. And people pay a fortune to just be totally mystical concepts. So, why is all this spirituality? Yoga is so huge in the Western world.

Almost one in every fourth person in the West has done some post-yoga. How many could practice? A century. Almost one in a ten or one in fifty people who practice something also.

So, because again, the point is, material progress alone does not lead to happiness. So, we can go to both extremes. Material progress is everything.

That's the Western conception. And that is clean false. But then the other side, there was a material progress is nothing.

Now, this is a distortion of spiritual teaching of the government. What the Dikta says is that, if we want human progress, so in human progress, material progress can be one aspect of it. But along with that, we humans, along the physical side, we have a mental side.

Then we have a spiritual side. So, all three need to progress. If all three are progressing, then that's when our progress will be holistic and sustained.

So, the Dikta offers a holistic world. That's why I say spirituality, and we say spirituality is the study of the spiritual. It is the study of what matters.

So, material progress matters. Physical convenience and comforts matter. But our inner state of mind matters.

And our spiritual well-being matters. So, a philosophy, there can be many philosophies in the world, but a philosophy that integrates various aspects of reality and places them in a hierarchy and harmony, that's what I have found in the Dalai Lama Dikta. Thank you.

Any other questions? Yes, we have some questions here. Dear audience, if you want to share your questions, we have tips available in our blog. Just please select from the list.

Firstly, may I give a question to you? Yes, please. In terms of reincarnation, as far as we know, the concept about rebirth is discussed only in Hindu religion. Why other religions did not discuss about rebirth, reincarnation? Please discuss briefly about reincarnation, which is confusing to many of us.

Okay. So, firstly, I am not sure that reincarnation is discussed only in Hinduism. It is generally discussed in Buddhism.

It is discussed in Jainism. And even in Christianity, there are clear references to that. When a baby is born blind, when the child is born blind, Jesus asks his followers, why is this child born blind? Is it because of the parents' misdeeds or the baby's misdeeds? Now, unless there is some understanding that the baby existed before, what misdeed did the baby have done? Did the baby just fold its legs wrong inside the womb and that's why it was born blind? That's it.

So, there are references Now, the concept of reincarnation is explained elaborately in the mythic tradition because the mythic tradition centers on sages who have dedicated their life to spiritual growth. The Bible, the Old Testament, is basically the story of the chosen people, the followers from Egypt who became Jews. And their adventures.

There is no very serious philosophical discussion about the nature of reality. It is a book of miraculous interventions of God in his chosen people's lives. And the New Testament, the Bible, is again basically a book about private gospels, which are Jesus' life story.

And in the Epistles of Paul, there are basically instructions to how we can live a life faithful to Jesus. Jesus' teachings. So, there is not much serious philosophical discussion.

So, there are Christian philosophers who have said, Alice McGregor is one, who said that the idea of reincarnation is completely opposed to Christianity. I have written a book called The Mystifying Reincarnation where I talk about how reincarnation has acceptance in all the major traditions of the world across history and geography. Now, basically what is the idea of reincarnation? It is that, say, we are spiritual beings.

So, inside us, this is the body. And within that is the soul. So, at death, basically the body falls.

But then the soul comes out. And then the soul goes through a journey and then it enters into a new body. So, the soul entering into a new body is called reincarnation.

To come incarnate, to come in flesh, to come again in flesh is reincarnation. Now, if the soul does not get a body, soon, for whatever reason, then the soul exists in a said body and state. And that is what is called as a ghost.

But that's a different subject. Now, there are many cases of children who remember their past lives. Dr. Ian Stevenson is a pioneer in the study of this.

There is John Tucker and many others who have studied after that. So, they looked at that. Two people in a completely different places at different times.

The second person remembers specific details of the person's previous life. So, that is, in reincarnation studies, or past life studies, there are about four levels of evidences. First is recollections.

That a child recollects specific details in the reincarnation. I talked about how there is a case about a boy, T. U. Sharma. He is living in Lucknow and he says, My name is Suraj Puneesh Varma.

And I live in Kanpur. And I own an electrical shop. And there he goes, then the next thing is his recollections.

When he is a small five-year-old boy, he is taken by his parents to Kanpur. And he has never been there before, but he tells the top-up, where should we go? And when he goes there, there is actually a studio over there, one-mile electrical studio. And there is a woman, who recognizes, she is my wife.

Now, she is much older than him, but she recognizes her by name. And then, her children, the children are older than this boy, but he goes to them and fondles their hair, as if like a father fondling the head of a child. Ruffling the hair.

And then, not only recollections, there are behaviors. Behaviors means, the person behaves, not like the person of this life, but like the person of the previous life. There are many cases of people behaving completely different from their world family, and behaving as if they are the previous family.

This could be in terms of food preferences, this could be in terms of behavior, specific likes and dislikes. And most strongly, there are world marks. So, Suresh Varma had killed Point Black in an attack.

So, a bullet had entered into his head, from one side of the temple, and come out from the other side. So, Titu had birth marks exactly in the same place in his body, where the bullet marks had entered and departed. So, police investigation had been done, because Suresh Varma had been murdered.

And the post-mortem reports of Suresh Varma, when they compared, where exactly was the entry wound and exit wound, they found exactly the same locations, where Titu had birth marks. So, these are all four converging lines of evidence, which point to the reality of reincarnation. We have got so many questions.

Next question is, how this concept of size and speciality, how the new generations of Samadhi, specially our Samadhi girls, are converting at an alarming rate. Sorry. Converting to other religions at an alarming rate.

I didn't get the last part. How this concept of size and speciality, how the new generations of Samadhi, specially our Samadhi girls, as they are converting at an alarming rate. Converting to what? To other religions.

Well, from a practical perspective, there is a religious market in the world. And more the markets, the little better. People will get back to that.

So, what happened in the broad religious traditions, that when there were kings who were ruling, the kings would patterns for the spiritual teachers, for the religious priests. So now, the priestly infrastructure is still there, in terms of their temples and priests. But the educational infrastructure, in terms of sharing spiritual wisdom, sharing the philosophy has been lost.

So, if there is no one sharing the spiritual wisdom of our tradition, people will be attracted to other traditions. And worse still, if our tradition is presented simply as a set of rules, which don't make sense, then people will adopt something else, which seems to make more sense, or seems to offer some social advantages. So, it is, if you just take a scientific approach to this, scientific means, look at the practical factors at play.

I'd say that things are changing. That what you are saying is true, but there are lots of people, especially when I go to America, UK, I find a lot of young people are also turning towards spirituality. And especially Indian spirituality.

At their homes, their parents will tell them to chant some mantra that they have not chanted. But when they go to college, and the college has a mantra meditation club. And there, they learn about mantra chanting, and they feel, hey, this is cool, I want to do this.

So basically, we need more and more educational initiatives. If I don't believe in God, can I be a spiritual person? According to the philosophy of Sip, if I don't believe in God, can I be a spiritual person? According to the philosophy of the Bible, Sip. Sip, okay.

Okay. So now, many times people say, I don't believe in God. What they have the idea is that everyone has a particular conception of God.

And we are reacting to that conception of God. I was in America, and one boy told me, I don't believe in God. I was doing my college job.

And he said, okay. What is the conception of God you don't believe in? He said, no, I don't believe in any God. Okay, let's see.

What is the conception? He said, I don't believe in a God who sends you to hell, who sends people to hell, just because they don't believe in Him. So I said, even I don't believe in God. The Gita doesn't say you have a conception of God.

The Gita says, hell is for wrong-doers, not non-believers. People can believe what they want. God gives us freedom to believe.

But if we act in harmful and destructive ways, then that is what we are under control of. So basically, many people say, I don't believe in God. If it is explored, what is the conception of God that they are injecting? Then it is a conception of God which is quite distinct from the conception that we might be under the law of Gita.

So, to be spiritual means to be seeking something beyond the material. To at least value the substantial. And, we value something beyond the material.

Then gradually we become more open to exploring what that non-material thing is. And then we may compare our conception of God with what is taught in the tradition, what is taught in spiritualism. We will come to a greater understanding.

So I would say that the key characteristic of being spiritual is giving due importance to something beyond the material. How can we remain naturally undisturbed by provoking situations? To remain undisturbed means provoking situations. The more things change, the more we need to hold on to the things that don't change.

So, first of all, we need to have something that does not change. And then we need to be able to hold on to that thing. So, for example, somebody whom we care for, that person is behaving very disturbingly.

We give a lot of importance to money. Our self-worth is equal to our net worth. And then a storm arises and we feel disturbed.

So the key to not be disturbed is to be able to connect with the things that don't change. So, spiritual practices like mantra chanting, like praying, these connect us with the divine reality that does not change. So, basically, I gave the example of an anchor.

We are all in this ocean. But the divine, as I said earlier, is the anchor. But actually, the divine is the anchor that extends throughout the ocean.

And wherever we are, from there, we can just catch hold of the anchor. And to the extent we hold on to the anchor, to that extent we develop samantra, the anchor will become steady amidst duality. Thanks for the nice lecture.

To be spiritual, there are so many rules and regulations to maintain. How can we apply them in today's busy life? See, the point of spirituality is not rules. The point of spirituality is a relationship.

And relationship is developed by focusing the personal connection. When you want to relate with a particular person, naturally, you try to understand what their likes are, what their dislikes are, and you align and answer the point. So, spirituality is about coming to harmony with ultimate reality.

So, the rules, if you are only focusing on the rules, then they can seem restrictive. But all rules have a purpose. If you consider cricket as a sport, cricket has so many rules.

The bowler has to bowl, but should not go the opposite way. The batsman has to bat, but the batsman has to hit the ball only when it is in the zone. Often, the batsman will hit the ball, and the ball has gone into the sky, and the fielder is coming to catch the ball.

At that time, the bowler cannot go and hit the ball. Or the bowler cannot go and hit the fielder. You cannot do that.

But what happens is, within those rules, the bowler, the batsman, the fielder, they can all develop their skills, and they can all excel. So, rules are not aims in themselves. Rules are for developing excellence and playing the sport.

Similarly, in spirituality, the rules are meant for us to develop the relationship, to come in greater harmony, as I said, to appreciate our gifts through inner connection, and to contribute in world service using those gifts. This world is so competitive nowadays. It's how? Complicative.

Complicative. Competitive. Complicative, yeah.

Obviously, our southern culture and beliefs are much advanced and wholesome than any other religious belief. But our spiritual thoughts are not being able to combat the aggressive attitude of other religions, and our views are easily being converted. Is it not our spiritual and modest ideology lagging us behind? Is it not our spiritual and modest ideology lagging us behind? Modest or modern? Modest.

Modest. Ideology. Well, as I said, conversion is a challenge.

But when you consider what is the cause of it, no other tradition in the world has been as attacked both geopolitically and intellectually as has been the Vedic tradition. In the Indian subcontinent, the Vedic tradition was there for a long time. But the Indian subcontinent is, you could say, geo-optically extremely vulnerable.

Like, I was in America for three months. America is uniquely geopolitically blessed. That means, in the Northeast, Canada is not as hostile as it is in Mexico, it's not as involved politically.

It's surrounded by oceans. The Indian subcontinent is vulnerable from above. Although there is Himalayas, still there are passageways through the Himalayas, people can die.

And from below also, there are other land masses, people can come by ships. So, no other tradition has been as attacked as the Indian tradition. And the fact that it has survived in spite of that, that itself is remarkable.

And no other tradition from classical or prehistoric times. If you go to Egypt today, there's nothing of the pharaohs and Egyptian civilization there. If you go to Greece, there's nothing of the Greek civilization.

Even modern China is very, very different from ancient China. It's hard to even think of Chinese civilization. So, the Indian civilization has remarkable resilience.

And that comes from its intrinsic spiritual strength. So, we could tap that strength and share that. So, Swami Prabhupada, he was 70 years old when he decided that he would share his spiritual wisdom with the world.

At the age of 70, he left India. And in the same time, he went to America, which is 40 years. And within 10 years, just by his eager to share his spiritual wisdom, and by his faith in the value of what he was sharing, he built up a hundred temples.

He wrote 70 books. He went on and on and on, circumnavigating the world 14 times. He inspired millions of people.

So, there is a lot of spiritual wisdom, spiritual competencies that are available right now. So, rather than worry too much about what other religions are doing, how they are doing, we need to focus more on understanding what is actually the teaching of our tradition, and aligning our life according to it. The more we do that, the more people will be attracted to it.

You have some questions there? So, I am basically a pediatrician, which is a physician pertaining to the child care. So, my conflict is, when I teach my students about the early childhood development, that means we believe that childs are born with their genetic potential as dictated by nature. Again, that will be transmitted into action when the environment is being nurtured.

So, that is called nature-nurturing interaction. So, in that case, if I am born in a prostitution, I would not have been a doctor. It is assumed that.

So, what is the problem? And how do you really correlate this thing that I was born earlier and made a lot of mistakes to come to this world as an individual from prostitution? And that is one. So, there is no prostitution? Yes, I mean that this environment Just to say, I didn't hear the whole thing. Sorry.

Next is, when I was studying about the presence of soul and the gospels, you know, the modern physics. Okay, is this a separate question? Yes. Let me complete one question first.

Then I will go to the second question. You can set up this. So, basically, nature-nurturing is a very important subject and it is true that people are shaped by both.

Now, what you are saying is true that if somebody is born in a bad neighborhood, it is very likely that their life is going to go on a dark pathway. But, it is not always like that. Some of the most inspiring stories in human history are of people who were born in terrible circumstances and those who rose above the adversities.

So, while nurture does play a significant role, nurture alone is not necessarily destiny. Nurture alone does not determine our future. It definitely determines our future, but not alone.

Similarly, nature alone does not determine our future. We all have a particular nature, but we can discipline our future. Some kids might be born with a very aggressive nature.

Short temper, fighting, aggressive. But, the child is brought up by people who are moderately behaved, who are restrained. Maybe not in a damaged character, but it can be disciplined.

It cannot be completely changed, but it can be disciplined for respect. People who are aggressive, if they also have a certain level of discipline, then that aggression can help them become protectors, instructors, attackers and disruptors. So now, what the Gita says is that each one of us has some karmic baggage that we carry from our previous lives.

So, this is birth and this is death. Now, we have existed before this. We had a death and we had a birth.

And we will have another birth and another death. So, like this, there is multilayered progression. And, what do you call it? Genetic evasion.

That, in one sense, from our previous lives, we get a certain level of dignity or destiny. This is the same idea that is talked about in different traditions, weddings and names. It's called as Kishnath in the Arabic tradition.

It's called as Shubhala in the Japanese tradition. So now, what the Vedic tradition says is that a major installation of destiny, of past karma, comes to a death birth. Death birth means that, as I said, the kind of genes that we have, the kind of complexion that we have, the kind of IQ level that we have.

Now, IQ level can definitely be improved. But it's very difficult for somebody if their starting level is 17 to go to 140. After 120, somebody can go to 140, 150, something like that.

So, there's a starting point. And then, similarly, by our karma, by destiny that is resulting from our karma from previous lives, there are certain events in our life that are lost. So, the kind of environment in which we grow up, that to some extent is fixed.

So that's where the nurturer comes. But within that environment, whom do we focus on? So, beyond both of which and nurture, there is freedom. Now, destiny may determine the complexion of our base.

Some people may have dark complexion, some may have fair complexion, some may have a little bit of whatever. Somebody may have blonde hair, somebody may have black hair. So, destiny determines our complexion.

But we determine the expression on our face. And even a face which does not have a very attractive complexion, if the person is cheerful, will be attractive. Now, destiny may determine, again, the broad kind of people in which we grow up.

But within that community, whom do we focus on? Whom do we spend more time with? That's up to us. Somebody may have very loving parents, but they may have a bitter cousin or a bitter uncle and they spend more time with that person or they take more from that person and they become bitter. Or somebody may have very neglectful parents, but they may have a caring grandmother and they may take more from their grandmother.

So, within nurture, it is that there are different people who are nurturing in different ways. And the individual has free will, whom they focus. And conversely, even the caregivers, those who are giving nurture also, they also have free will.

And sometimes the parents just complain about, you know, my life is so unfortunate, this person did this to me and that person did that to me and that person did that to me. But that influence will go through. The parents make the best of what they have.

Children will get that. So, basically, we all have… So, the nature and the nurture, situations of that, both of them are determined by our destiny, which is determined by our past karma, which is determined by our use of free will. And we also have free will right now.

The marginal free will may be small or big depending on the situation, but we always have some free will. And to the extent we use it well, we will find that we can create a brighter future for ourselves. And our free will, it can be boosted, it can be strengthened by divine will.

So, if we practice bhakti, if we connect with God, whatever free will we have, it becomes much stronger. And that's how we can transcend or rise above our situations. Thank you for the explanation, Guruji.

I think it is completely based on faith rather than scientifically proven mechanism. Can I add something? See, there is faith required in science. Because science, you can say it operates based on evidence.

But we have not studied all of humanity yet. We study a particular sample, and based on that, we project, we infer, we induct, we use the method of induction. So, whether our future induction will be true or not, that is the article of faith.

So, faith is required even in science, when we do the vaccines. Some testing was done, but that does not mean that in the future, those vaccines will not have some other counterproductive effects. So, faith is required even in science.

Now, is faith required in spirituality? Of course. But it is not completely faith. It is faith coupled with, in science you may have physical evidence in terms of case studies.

In spirituality, there is reason and logic. So, basically, we notice that there are different starting points for people. Now, why are there different starting points? We could basically have three explanations.

One is that, life is a game of chance. And some people are lucky and some people are unlucky. Well, okay, that is a possibility.

But that is not the way we function within this life. No parent tells their children, whether you wash your teeth or you don't wash your teeth, still your teeth are going to get disturbed. No parent teaches their children that whether you make your bed or don't make your bed, life is going to be the same.

No, we operate based on an implicit acceptance of causality. So, if during life we operate based on cause and effect, then why at the start of life there should be no cause and effect, there should be only chance, life chance? So, basically, the starting conditions of life, we can explain that in one way, is chance. But that is inconsistent with how we function in life.

Now, the other explanation could be divine will. Or more precisely, divine calculus. God's arbitrary will.

God has decided this person should be like this, this person should be like that. But then, why does God discriminate like this? And if God discriminates arbitrarily by getting some children born in wealthy families and some in poor families, then why should he be such a worshipper? Worship is a discriminatory God. How can we love and trust a being who is so discriminatory? So, this basically alleviates us from God.

And in fact, when the choice is between chance and arbitrary divine will, many thoughtful people will choose chance and become atheists. But, that is one of the main reasons why atheism is growing in the rest of the world. Because as people become more thoughtful, the dogmas of the kind of religion which says that everything is determined by God's arbitrary will, that is utterly illogical.

But what the Vedic tradition offers us, is that there is karma and progression. So, our starting point is determined by the place where we left in the beginning. It's like if a cricket match is going on, and say one team starts right in the beginning with a score of 200.

You say, why is this team trying to score 200? One explanation could be that it is a scoreboard approach. It's chaotic. And by chance, this team got a 200 score.

That's not the way you function. During the innings, only when a batsman scores, then the scoreboard goes. So, I guess starting is arbitrary.

The second could be that the scorekeeper is biased. The scorekeeper arbitrarily decides that this team is starting slow. The third and most reasonable explanation is that it is not the first instance.

The team which seems to have a starting score of 200, has scored more in the previous innings. So, basically, when we look at the world as it exists, the idea of a previous life in continuation from the previous life, is the most reasonable explanation we want. Now, is it based only on faith? Of course.

But is it based only on faith? Certainly not. It is a logical, and the most logical explanation, of what would otherwise be completely unexplained. Okay? My question is, actually, we came from the this told by Stephen Hawking and others, that we came from one infinite ball, in a very small center of when we have been to the existence, I mean, it is a sort of expansion.

That is deep bank theory. So, if you try to correlate me that way, probably, the philosophy of evolution goes better than the physiology of belief. So, you have to rethink, because the scientists are not in a point to admit the fact of the thing.

So, they have to be linear, which can be experimented, interpreted, and now is the evidence to be repeated and reproduced. So, we have to be scientific, number one. Yes, then we can address this point.

Thank you. See, this is a good question. So, science has three different methods for determining the theory.

One is deductive, the second is inductive, and third is abductive. So, deductive is, for example, math. So, okay, 3 plus 9 is 12.

It is based on the principles of mathematics. Now, very little in the physical world can be actually deduced, because real life, its basic complexity is not just about numbers. So, most of science operates based on inductive laws, or inductive reasoning, where we do a certain number of experiments, and based on that, we infer this is the law operating over.

So, when Newton saw an apple falling, he postulated the idea of gravity, and based on that, he did repeated experiments. So, others did repeated experiments. There's a stone fall.

There's a fall, not just in London, but in Paris also. And other parts of the world. So, there's repeated experiments.

And this is where science has had the most success. In philosophies. The sound system, the internet, any transformation.

However, when it comes to origins, origin of the universe, origin of life, origin of species, science cannot use that inductive method. The origin of the universe is a one-time event. There is no possibility for doing repeated experiments to evaluate how things are.

Origin of species, origin of life, these are all one-time events that have happened. Now, we can speculate and guess about what kind of conditions were there, and how those things may have happened in that. But, we really don't know exactly what kind of conditions were there.

And we don't really know when those conditions interact at that scale, what would happen. So, my point is, adaptive reasoning is highly tentative. So, what happens? This is sometimes an honest mistake, and sometimes a dishonest mistake.

Honest mistake is that the credit that is due to science, because of its success, through theories made using adaptive reasoning, that same credit is applied to theories deduced using adaptive reasoning. So, Big Bang Theory, there is no experiment to replicate that command. Even origin of life or origin of species, there is no experiment specifically to replicate that.

So, theories made using adaptive reasoning, they are basically like a mystery novel somebody is deducing, how this murder happened. So, you cannot tell the criminal, please come and commit the murder again and catch me, actually. So, theories of science, which are developed using adaptive reasoning, they need to be seen with new caution.

Like say, you are a pediatrician. Now, there are medicines which have been well tested and there are experimental medicines. Now, sometimes if the child is really sick and there is no medicine available, then you may recommend some experimental medicine.

But you have a moral duty and a professional duty to tell the patients or the patient's parents that this is an experimental medicine. It may work, but it involves some unpredictable risks also. And then these patients should be given willing consent to that kind of experimental medicine.

So, theories like Big Bang or evolution, they need to come with that kind of disclaimer that the same credibility that comes with theory of gravity or with fluid mechanics and the laws of thermodynamics, that cannot be applied to these theories. So, they fall in a different category and they need to be seen with due skepticism. Now, having said that, these are talking both, whether these theories are true or false, they are talking about how matter evolved.

They are not talking about how consciousness emerged. There is no satisfactory explanation. The theory of evolution in terms of biological evolution may have some evidence.

But a theory of evolution in terms of chemical evolution, how consciousness emerged from matter, that has very, very little evidence. The Science Magazine in its 120th anniversary published an article about 125 questions that science doesn't have answers to. The second question over there was what is the original consciousness? The first question was what is the original universe? So, what Dawkins proposes, singularity, how something emerges, that is this theory.

That is this. But if you consider realistic scientists, the origin of the universe and origin of consciousness, these are unexplored, these are unanswered questions and there is a lot more to explore within that. So, the spiritual explanations or the explanations of Vedic traditions or other traditions is also unexplored.

Rather than presuming that certain scientific things are necessarily true, even mainstream science acknowledges that these are unanswered questions. Another point is that whether, my point, that is my point, is this so, it is said in deeper, it is not perceivable, not expressible. So, which is not perceived, which is not expressible, how can we really have faith on it? Number one.

And I had a last question to you. Let me complete. So, the Gita is saying that it is not perceivable.

Perceived, yes. And it is like this, that means it cannot be expressed, it cannot be perceived. I got it from Gita.

Okay, now, now that particular point, that particular phrase doesn't come in the Gita. It might come in some other books. The Gita does talk about certain aspects of the soul, achityo, garyam, it talks about things like that.

Now, what it means is important. Like I said, that there is something, science itself says that we go from visible phenomena to invisible principles. So, the Gita also says that in the search for identity, in the understanding of who we are, we need to go beyond our visible roles.

So, you are a doctor, you are probably a father, you are a baby, you are a son, not baby, you are a son. We all have different roles. But is there a core to us beyond our roles? That's the question Gita is exploring.

And it says that this core itself cannot be perceived by externals. Now, we all have our roles, but some people do not like to be reduced to their roles. Yeah, you know, I'm a parent, I'm a convolutionalism, but there is so much more to me than just these roles.

So, the Gita says the soul is not perceivable. What it means is through the externals, we identify ourselves with certain roles. But the core of us is beyond these roles.

Now, when it says it cannot be perceived, it means that simply by our senses, it cannot be perceived. But with our intelligence, Gyan Chakshu, with the eyes of wisdom, Utkram Nidra Sattvam Vapi, Bhunjan Nudha Nidra, Vimudha Vashanti, Vashanti Gyan Chakshu, with the eyes of wisdom, we can perceive it. So, like that, whether it is the principle, now we can talk about gravity, can be perceived, but in science, there is the idea of dark matter.

Dark matter, or in science, there is the idea of parallel universes. Now, parallel universes, by their very definition, they cannot be perceived. But there is some mathematical influence by which their existence has been postulated.

And those scientists who are postulating it are not just engaging in free imagination. There is some reason. So, the Gita is saying that it cannot be perceived in the sense that with our senses, with what is visible, we can't perceive it.

But with intentions, we can. So, Doctor, I was in Canada. I spoke at Toronto University.

But there is a research centre dedicated to Dr. William Henry. He is considered the father of modern neuroscience. He is a researcher.

So, he wrote several books, one of which is The History of the Mind. And there he used an excitement which led him to conclude that consciousness does not have a material or a cerebral origin. So, what is the experiment he did? Now, we know different parts of the brain are connected to different physical functions.

So, there is a part of the brain, the parietal cortex or whatever, is connected with the motor nervous system. So, he asked the subject to raise his hand. And the subject raised his hand under neural imaging.

They saw that a particular part of the brain got activated. And he asked the subject to lower his hand. And that part of the brain got deactivated.

Now, using electrodes, he activated that part of the brain. And then the subject's hand went up. And then he asked the subject, what happened? He said, my hand went up.

And he asked the subject more specifically, did you raise your hand? He said, no, I didn't raise my hand. He said, you raised my hand. And he deactivated that part of the brain, that probe, and the hand fell down.

He said, did you lower your hand? What happened? He said, my hand fell down. Did you lower your hand? He said, no, I didn't. Now, Dr. Penfield, he repeated this experiment while simultaneously activating other parts of the brain.

He wanted to see whether there is any part of the brain where it is activated gives the patient, the subject, the sense of agency that I am active. So, when different parts of the brain were activated, the subject remembered some childhood food they ate, maybe they played some games, a conversation they had years ago. Many stimuli came, but no part of the brain when activated gave a sense of agency to the subject.

So, the idea is, to explain in analog terms, that he said, hey, this is my computer, and here is a printer register. Now, I can press the print button over there. And in the printer, his hand will start moving.

Now, you can come and you can press the print button. And the hand will start moving. So, in Penfield's experiment, in the second case, it was he, Dr. Penfield, who pressed the print button.

The print button is like the center of the brain which is associated with the motor nervous system, which causes the hand to go up and down. So, now his question is, who pressed the print button in the first case? Who is it that is saying that I didn't press it in the second case? So, no matter how much he moved the brain, he couldn't find that. So, therefore, he concluded that the source of consciousness is extracellular.

The brain is like a computer, but it is programmed by something outside of itself. So, there is, there are not scientific, I would say, proof, but there are scientific pointers toward the idea of consciousness coming from something beyond matter. Okay.

Last question. Do you service a society of law or a society of spirituality to be interrelated, to be present for a very conducive society? I think it is law if you want love, and in the law, and in the way that is held in place. Okay, good point.

See, actually, spirituality recognizes that law is essential. See, one of the things about spirituality is that it says we humans have a higher nature and we have a lower nature. So, the higher nature is what needs to be developed.

This needs to be developed. But at the same time, the lower nature needs to be disciplined. And traditionally, there are two aspects to society, social management.

So, the higher nature is developed through Shastra. And the lower nature is disciplined through Shastra. Shastra is wisdom.

Shastra is weapons. So now, there will be a small and significant minority with whom the higher nature is more prominent. And for them, Shastra, wisdom, is vital.

And they will themselves realize how acting on morality, acting on spirituality, is in their best interest. But there are many in whom the lower nature is prominent. And for them, Shastra in terms of wisdom alone will not do.

And that's why Shastra is required. So, when the Bhagavad Gita describes that the Avatar descends to this world, the Avatar uses Shastra. The Avatar also gives wisdom, Shastra.

So, wisdom and weapons. Both are required. Shastra and Shastra.

So, spirituality is not just about spiritual. It is also about recognizing the reality of the material. And that means, people with lower nature will need law to the bigger pieces.

However, if society is developed only by laws, then people will keep finding new ways to get out of the laws. So, laws need a purpose. A vision.

And that vision is not just order in this world. It's also to have higher purpose beyond this world. So, Shastra and Shastra will both go together.

Thank you. Very good questions. Thank you.

We are running out of time. Excuse me. Can we go to the next question? I have an announcement.

Yeah. Are you sure? Sorry, we have to catch up time. So, I really think we will not be able to take all the questions.

I have an announcement for all of you. We have three books available. Written by our Chindan Acharya Guru.

Translated into Bengali. Available at the front desk. Aptik Shambhudin Iba Bishur Dhanarajai.

Amaran Bodhe Prarajyoti Yano. Why We Need a Temple. And Energy.

These three books are available at the front desk. If you need, you can collect those. And we will move to our next question.

We will not be taking much questions. There was a question. We will take the question.

But there is also a question. I request all of you to have patience please. Guruji, you got a question.

Do we really need a Guru or an organization to practice spirituality? Okay. So, do we need a Guru organization? See, Guru is a person who is essentially has gone to the spiritual path. In every field, if you are serious, if somebody is in athletics, they want a coach who will help them grow on that path.

So, same principle applies to spirituality. That's why the organization is concerned. Essentially, what is an organization? It is made up of individuals.

So, the example is given that each one of us, we are like a trickle of water. And let's say there is a large mountain. And then there is an ocean over there.

So now, from the mountain, the water is coming down. Now, there can be many obstacles in the way. So, now each small trickle of water, maybe it can come all the way out of the ocean.

But, if many trickles of water come together to form a tributary, the tributaries come together to form the river, then the river has a far greater chance of getting to the ocean. The river will eventually form a bed. But the flow of the river itself will form a bed.

And that will make it easier for the water to go out of the ocean. So, each individual who wants to practice spirituality is like a trickle of water. And they want to get to the ocean.

That is the ultimate spiritual destination. So now, when spiritually minded people come together, at that time, they form an organization. Just like coming together is an organization.

But unfortunately, whenever there is an organization, like whenever there is a, whenever there is water flowing smoothly, in large quantity, there will be people who will come and form a dialogue. They are not interested in going to the river. They are interested in tapping the water for their own purposes.

So, like that, when a community of spiritually minded people come together and they create some infrastructure, they create some resources, so that everybody can go on the spiritual journey smoothly, there are people with vested interest who come. They are not interested in spirituality. And they want to use those facilities for their own purposes.

Such people give spiritual organization a bad name. So, on one side, organizations, on a negative side, they can have rigid hierarchy which can interrupt the spiritual growth of individuals. It can have selfish, self-interested people who can exploit it.

But, on a positive side, organization can also provide rich facilities for spiritual growth. So, anybody can pray to God. But, if there is a temple, then there is a whole atmosphere which directs our consciousness higher.

And now, if there is a substantial big temple, there has to be some organization to maintain that temple. So, in this world, organization is a necessary element. And when you join an organization, if at all, it is important that we remember the purpose why we are here.

So, we are joining the river so that we can get to the ocean. We are not joining the river so that we can build a dam and we can block the water from going there. So, if we keep our purpose clear, the organization can become a very rich resource.

It can provide us many resources for our spiritual growth. Thank you. Actually, to me, the whole world is nothing but a sumption of millions of chemical reactions and millions of rules of physics.

And some of them are known to us. And most of them are unknown to us. The very few which are known to us, we are calling them as we are practicing science.

We are the so-called scientists that we are calling them. We are more something out of science. Actually, these are very few millions of chemical reactions and millions of rules of physics that is happening in our universe.

And the question is that that we are calling science and we are doing that in a particular way of learning. And that is a way of learning through some western methods of learning. And we are going through some schools and some universities.

Now, my question is that, so far I know you are an engineer. You have taken yourself from engineering to your way of spirituality. I also have an inner profession.

But I am not telling that I am not from spirituality. But I am practicing spirituality in my own way. But you are far ahead from me.

My question is, if I also convert myself from my profession to do a spirituality like you, so millions of chemical reactions happening in your universe or in the millions of rules of physics that is happening in the universe, how I can arrive at spirituality like you, knowing about their chemical reactions or their rules of physics, how can I go there? You have set some examples of science. My teacher, also have set some examples of science like some neuron that is falling from the machine or most of the student bodies. So, how can spirituality can help or by any way of spirituality how can you work that practical way of science? Good question.

Essentially, there is a notion of spirituality where we turn away from the world and we neglect to reject the world. Well, that is not the thought of spirituality. We have been given some gifts and we are going to use those gifts.

So, for me, even before I came to spirituality, I was interested in all kinds of issues. And one says, now I am sharing, I am doing what I have been doing. I am sharing spirituality.

The content of what I am sharing has evolved with time. But essentially, I am doing what I am meant to do. So, each one of us, wherever we are, we can find out what gifts we have, what nature we have, in terms of what are the natural conditions and we try to know them.

And in fact, if you consider a spiritual view is actually the most conducive for scientific research. And a non-spiritual or an atheistic view is actually the least conducive for scientific research. Why is that? Because, like you said, the universe is rich with so many laws that are unexplored.

So now, if we came across, we say, if we are archaeology, and we came across some battles or some war that was discovered after digging. Now, if we presume, oh, these are just random marks that have come from nature, then we wouldn't explore them any further. But if we knew that these are indications, these marks are scripts of some ancient language, then we would focus more energy.

Okay, what are these scribbling, what is this particular symbol? So, basically, the idea that the universe is prevalent with meaning is most compatible with the idea that the universe has an organizing principle in it. So, if the universe is just a random product in its entirety, is there a randomness in the universe? Of course. But if the universe is completely a random product, then even the very existence of law itself is a question.

Because in the rigid materialistic worldview, where do the laws that science is discovering come from? That is in itself an unanswered question. It is taken like an article of faith that the universe operates based on laws. But what is the origin of these laws? So, that is an open question.

So, the point I am making is if we have a spiritual worldview, then we understand that the universe has an organizing principle behind it. And we can explore that organizing the way the universe has been organized with greater confidence and greater energy. Newton famously said that, O father, I think thy thoughts after thee.

What he meant by that is, he saw his scientific discoveries as spiritual insights into how God has fashioned the universe. So, in that sense, a spiritual worldview can actually help us do scientific research. We see that it is the higher reality to the divine who has split meaning in the universe.

And that divine who has given us intelligence by which we can discover that. Thank you.