by Dr. T.D. Singh
Dr. Thoudam Damodara Singh (1937-2006), also known as Srila Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami is the founding director of the Bhaktivedanta Institute. He was one of the world’s pioneer exponents of science-spirituality dialogue and inter-faith peace initiatives. He identified the cause of many of the problems in the world today such as terrorism, environmental issues, and social and religious conflict to be due to a lack of understanding between the fields of empirical science and religion. As the International Director of the Bhaktivedanta Institute, he wrote more than thirty books, gave hundreds of talks and seminars, and organized numerous scholarly discussions and international conferences on topics related to the science and spirituality nexus.
VEDANTA AND SCIENCE
“The most beautiful and deepest experience a man can have is the sense of the mysterious. It is the underlying principle of religion as well as all serious endeavor in art and science.”
– Albert Einstein
The essence of Hinduism is contained in the Vedanta, the scientific and theological doctrine of Hinduism, and in the timeless wisdom of the Vedas. Its “Bible” is the Bhagavadgita, the divine song of God. Its scientific and intellectual contents have attracted the attention of some of the world’s finest scientific and philosophical minds, such as Erwin Schrödinger, Robert Oppenheimer, Albert Einstein, and Aldous Huxley. It speaks of billions of years of history, creation of the universe, medicinal science, metallurgy, space travel, embryology, art, music, etc. It is no exaggeration to say that there is almost no branch of knowledge that is left untouched in the Vedas.
There are five core features in Hinduism: (1) God – Isvara, (2) Soul – Jiva, (3) Time – Kala, (4) Matter – Prakriti, and (5) Action – Karma. Of these the first four principles are eternal whereas the last feature is temporary. Based on these principles, Hinduism provides a deep knowledge and understanding of life and the universe. In its pure form, Hinduism is also known as Sanatana Dharma or the eternal function of the living entity. One of the unique features of Hinduism is that it provides a very vivid and broad description of God and His energies.
Nature of Life and Matter
According to Vedanta, there is another reality in nature different from matter. It is the fundamental spiritual particle (called atman in Vedantic terminology), which the author has coined as “spiriton.” It is a transcendental particle and is ontologically different from matter. It has a conscious property and has free will contrary to material particles like electrons. It is only by the presence of the spiriton that matter appears animated. In Vedanta this seemingly animated matter is referred to as embodied life.
Spiritual Particle ‘Spiriton’ and Consciousness
“… all knowledge relates to the spirit, or more properly, exists in it, and that is the sole reason for our interest in any field of knowledge whatsoever.” [1]
– Erwin Schrödinger
According to Vedanta, every life form has atma or spiriton, within it. In other words not only do human beings possess a spiriton, but so do all microorganisms, insects, aquatics, plants, reptiles, birds, and so on. In this regard, Vedanta is unique and different from the scientific and theological views of many other world traditions. The Bhagavadgita (verse 15.7), states: mamaivamso jivaloke jivabhutah sanatanah, which means that all spiritons are eternal conscious particles of the Supreme Lord. The fundamental qualities of the spiritual particle, or spiriton are of the same nature as the Supreme Lord’s and are as follows: sat (eternal existence), cit (full cognition), ananda (blissfulness), sveccha (free will) and cetana (consciousness).
Vedanta explains that matter, however complex, will never generate life or its inherent symptom, consciousness. There are two categories of consciousness, universal and individual. God’s consciousness is universal (all pervasive) whereas the spiriton’s consciousness is individual (localized) and always remains so but both are ontologically non physical in nature.
The Law of Karma, Free Will and The Three Modes of Material Nature
Vedanta states that the material nature is broadly divided into three modes (gunas) — sattva (goodness), rajas (passion) and tamas (ignorance). In order to accommodate the different desires of the living entities (spiritons), the material nature, by the will of the Lord, manifests a variety of forms through the mixing of the three modes of nature. All embodied spiritons—human beings, animals, birds, plants, etc., are influenced to different degrees by the three modes of material nature.[2] Any activity that the spiriton performs under the influence of the three modes of material nature, either psychologically or physically is known in Sanskrit as karma – action.
In the Vedantic tradition there is the concept of a natural ‘Law of Karma.’ The law of karma is similar to the rules of action and reaction in Newton’s Law. All spiritons are engaged in different activities within this cosmic manifestation. From time immemorial the spiritons are enjoying or suffering the fruits of their activities according to the law of karma. The results of the law of karma are singular and pointed and there cannot be any error in them. The answer to the question, ‘why bad things happen to good people?’ is ‘karma’. The law of karma remains although an individual may not remember the action that has caused the current reaction. The wheels of karma are driven by the free will and desire of the embodied spiritons.
It is difficult to deny that we all have free will although it cannot be detected in a laboratory. Professor Charles Townes, Nobel Laureate in Physics says, “Many scientists will say, ‘I can’t believe in religion.’ On the other hand, if you ask them, do you think you have some free will, almost every scientist instinctively thinks so. He has free will. He can choose some things. He can decide to go this way or that way. There is, in fact, no room for free will in present scientific laws and yet almost every scientist essentially assumes he has it.”[3] In regards to modern science’s inability to explain free will which Vedanta describes as a fundamental quality of the individual spiriton or life, Roger Penrose, the world renowned mathematician from Oxford University, has expressed, “The issue of ‘responsibility’ raises deep philosophical questions concerning the ultimate causes of our behavior. … Is the matter of ‘responsibility’ merely one of the convenience of terminology, or is there actually something else – a ‘self’ lying beyond all such influences – which exerts a control over our actions? The legal issue of ‘responsibility’ seems to imply that there is, indeed, within each of us, some kind of an independent ‘self’ with its own responsibilities – and, by implications, rights – whose actions are not attributable to inheritance, environment, or chance. If it is other than a mere convenience of language that we speak as though there were such an independent ‘self’, then there must be an ingredient missing from our present-day physical understandings. The discovery of such an ingredient would surely profoundly alter our scientific outlook. … it will tell us to broaden our view as to the very nature of what a ‘cause’ might be. A ‘cause’ could be something that cannot be computed in practice or in principle. … when a ‘cause’ is the effect of our conscious actions, then it must be something very subtle, certainly beyond computation, beyond chaos, and also beyond any purely random influences. Whether such a concept of ‘cause’ could lead us any closer to an understanding of the profound issue of our free wills is a matter for the future.”[4]
Free will is a quality of the life particle or spiriton and by exercising free will an individual performs actions and is implicated in various reactions according to the law of karma. The use of free will either appropriately or inappropriately will decide the course of life’s journey. In the human form of life, free will is fully manifest and the chain of karma can be cut off by choosing the appropriate action, the spiritual action. Therefore, karma is not eternal.
Vedanta describes that all other forms of life below the level of human consciousness cannot escape the chain of karma under normal circumstances. Therefore, Vedanta emphasizes the importance of the human form of life.
The human race has an obligation to protect and guide not only mankind but also all lower forms of life. We can either destroy ourselves and other life forms or we can act in a way that uplifts and benefits the world, thus making a meaningful use of our human form of life. If a person uses his or her free will for destroying innocent lives, he or she will be regarded as ‘committing crimes against creation’ and be subject to the law of karma.
Biodiversity and Evolution of Consciousness
According to modern biology, biodiversity is due to a genetic variation caused by the process of occasional chance mutation. However, according to Vedanta, the law of karma and the three modes of material nature — sattva, rajas and tamas — are responsible for biodiversity as well as for diversity in terms of levels of intelligence, degree of development of mind and consciousness of the embodied being within the same species. Furthermore, the Vedas state that biodiversity is a process to accommodate the various states of consciousness in different life forms. There is a gradual evolution of consciousness through various species of life according to the subtle laws of karma. These life forms are said to number 8.4 x 106 and include – microorganisms, insects, plants, aquatics, birds, reptiles, animals, humanoids and human beings.[5]According to the conscious evolutionary cosmic time scale, one gets the human form of life after passing through millions of varieties of life forms.
Vedanta further explains that many life forms manifest simultaneously. In other words, genetic variation is already within a cosmic plan. Nobel Laureate Werner Arber’s observation that genetic mutation is not due to error or mistake is in line with the Vedantic conception. He says, “Evolution does not occur on the basis of errors, accidents or the action of selfish genetic elements. Rather, the evolution genes must have been fine- tuned for their functions to provide and to replenish a wide diversity of life forms. . . .”[6] Both of these viewpoints support that biological forms are already within the cosmic plan and are opposite of Darwin’s concept of biological evolution. In fact Darwin’s theory of evolution has many loopholes. Stephen Jay Gould, a prominent evolutionist from Harvard University writes, “The extreme rarity of transitional forms in the fossil record persists as the trade secret of paleontology . . . In any local area, a species does not arise gradually by the steady transformation of its ancestors, it appears all at once and fully formed.”[7] It is not that natural selection and random mutation are the cause of biodiversity. According to Hinduism, the spiriton continually transmigrates from one life form to the next until it reaches the human form where consciousness is fully developed and has a chance to reestablish its pure divinity of existence (see section 10 on ‘Spiritual Evolution’). This conception is beyond the scope of modern biological science. Thus, the Vedic doctrine of evolution of consciousness concept is contrary to the Darwinian evolutionary theory. It is the consciousness that evolves, not the bodies, in the Vedantic tradition.
Darwin’s mistake was that he could not conceive of an eternal existence of consciousness. Thus, Vedanta does not accept Darwin’s theory of evolution. Under normal circumstances, the consciousness of the spiriton evolves linearly as well as step- wise. As previously referenced, the Brahma Vaivarta Purana affirms, asitim caturas caiva laksams tan jiva-jatisu bhramadbhih purusaih prapyam manusyam janma paryayat, meaning one gets the human form of life after having changed 8.0×106 other forms of life. The Padma Purana gives a detailed statement regarding the different forms of life as follows:
jalaja nava-laksani sthavara laksa-vimsati krimayo rudra-sankhyakah paksinam dasa-laksanam trimsal-laksani pasavah catur-laksani manusah
Translation: There are 8,400,000 forms of life. There are 900,000 forms of life in the water, and 2,000,000 forms of trees and other plants. Then, there are 1,100,000 species of small living beings, insects and reptiles, and 1,000,000 species of birds. Finally, there are 3,000,000 varieties of beasts and 400,000 human species.
As stated earlier, biological forms impose a limitation on the development of consciousness. Therefore, different degrees of consciousness are expressed through different bodies. Vedanta divides the degrees of consciousness into five broad categories: acchadita (covered), sankucita (shrunken), mukulita (budding), vikasita (blooming) and purnavikasita (fully bloomed).[8]
Trees and plants, for example, are almost inert. They fall into the category of ‘covered consciousness.’ When we observe them carefully, we see that they have a limited or covered consciousness. The famous scientist Jagadish Chandra Bose reported that plants do have consciousness.[9] Other living entities, such as worms, insects, and other animals are in ‘shrunken consciousness.’ They are not as covered as plants, but their consciousness is not fully developed either.
Human beings have ‘budding consciousness.’ A bud appears shrunken, but it has the potential to bloom into a flower. Human consciousness has a similar potential. Thus, human beings have the innate ability to develop their consciousness to an almost unlimited extent, up to the point of knowing the Absolute Truth – God. Other species do not have this special ability. That is why Vedanta emphasizes that brahmajignasa, inquiry into the Brahman, God, is specifically meant for the human form of life. When one begins to sincerely inquire about Brahman, one’s bud-like spiritual consciousness begins to bloom and as a result of this blossoming of consciousness one practices regulated spiritual discipline and evolves further and further. Finally, one attains complete transcendental realization, God consciousness – saccidananda – the ‘fully bloomed’ state of consciousness.
[1] W. Moore, Schrödinger: Life and Thought, 1989, Cambridge University Press, p. 429. 3.
[2] A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, Bombay, 1997, Ch.14. 3 Thoughts on Synthesis of Science and Religion, eds. T. D. Singh and S. Bandyopadhyay, Bhaktivedanta Institute, Kolkata, 2001, p.103.
[3] Thoughts on Synthesis of Science and Religion, eds. T. D. Singh and S. Bandyopadhyay, Bhaktivedanta Institute, Kolkata, 2001, p.103.
[4] Roger Penrose, Shadows of the Mind, Vintage, 1994, p. 36. 5 Refered in Brahma-vaivarta Purana and Padma Purana.
[5] Refered in Brahma-vaivarta Purana and Padma Purana.
[6] T. D. Singh & W. Arber, “Dialogue on Life and its Origin”, Savijnanam – Scientific Exploration for a Spiritual Paradigm, Vol.1 Kolkata, 2002, p.12.7 Stephen Jay Gould, “Evolution’s Erratic Pace”, Natural History, vol. 86, May 1977, p.14.8 Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Jaiva-Dharma.
[7] Stephen Jay Gould, “Evolution’s Erratic Pace”, Natural History, vol. 86, May 1977, p.14.
[8] Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Jaiva-Dharma.
[9] “… In many other ways we are able to find that the plant has a heart that beats continuously as long as life remains.” [Cf. Dibakarsen and Ajoy Kumar Chakraborty, J. C. Bose Speaks, Puthipatra, Calcutta, 2000, pp.153, 195-200.]