Theobiology

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.

THEOBIOLOGY

As modern science tries to uncover the hidden laws of nature, the complexity of the problems it  faces also increases. For example, as science has advanced from classical mechanics to quantum mechanics, from cellular biology to molecular biology and so on, the degrees of complexity of nature’s working laws that these advances have revealed has also increased manifold. It is thus quite reasonable to state that the human mind and intellect may never fully understand the detailed engineering skill of nature. By this statement, of course, we do not mean to denigrate the brilliant scientific minds and dedicated researchers in various fields of science. Indeed, many scientists have spent their lives attempting to understand nature and bring her into the service of man. It was scientific research that produced the industrial revolution, the forerunner of our age of all-pervasive technology, and everyone appreciates the great positive achievements of science in such fields as medicine, agriculture, transportation, and communication. Yet there is a  price to pay for these great discoveries. The noise pollution of the environment from various systems of transportation; the creation of ecological imbalances by the wide  use of artificial fertilizers, synthetic detergents, artificial insecticides, and nuclear generators -these things all degrade the quality of our life. Just as one problem is partly or temporarily solved, another arises, and the common mass of people turn once again to science to solve this problem. Thus teams of researchers feverishly compete with each other for grants and glory, and this mentality tends to cover up the subtle and inner aspect of life. Genetic engineering, the generation of test-tube babies, the postponement of natural death – are they really worthwhile endeavours? Should scientists mount an all-out battle with nature? Are we perhaps losing sight of subtler aspects of life in the flood of miraculous scientific discoveries. These are some of the difficult questions that human society faces today.

Another problem is that as science progresses,· the moral dilemmas it raises also increase. At present, everyone’s attention is focused on one of the most controversial issues to arise in years: abortion. People are perplexed by the key question: “When does human life really begin?” Should the mother be allowed to deny nature’s plan and abort the fetus in her womb? Is the fetus a  person, or merely a lump of tissue. Who will decide? What is legal or illegal? Whose decision, man’s or nature’s, will prevail? Since the scientists do not have any clear answers to these questions, how can we expect the pregnant mothers, the social workers, the doctors, or the politicians to answer them? People in general are simply confused, and life becomes more and more complicated. Why?

The simple answer to this is that modern science, specifically the biological science, does not know anything about the real phenomena of life. This statement may seem shocking, but its truth will become clear in the following paragraphs.

The general methodology of scientific study is to reduce everything to atoms and molecules and their interactions. This holds true for biology also. In other words, modern biologists simply study the atoms and molecules of the cellular components. By extrapolating from these studies, they try to explain the whole spectrum of life -its origin, activities, feelings, moral principles, and so on -in terms of chemistry alone. The evolutionists very vigorously teach the students and the public that the universe and life started from the big bang and primordial chemical soup. This concept extends to philosophy, sociology, and politics. Thus modern civilization is directed toward reaching the ultimate perfection in materialism. Nearly all the leaders in the world today accept this materialistic philosophy, for they are hesitant to doubt the formidable authority of the scientific establishment that has spawned it. But when the materialists face difficult moral issues, such as abortion, they cannot provide satisfactory solutions. If life were strictly chemistry, morality and ethics would have to be expressible in terms of chemical reactions. But what will be the chemical basis of morality? For that matter, what will be the chemical basis of consciousness, the very essence of life? No one has been able to generate consciousness from chemical interactions; science has totally failed in this area. Thus no one is really satisfied with the materialistic explanation of life, and hence there is great confusion in the life sciences today.

From the above brief account, it is clear that the scientific theory of the basis of life needs careful revision. Consider the question of the origin of the universe. If the original cause of the universe were blind, void, and non-sentient – as modern science claims – it  would follow that the manifested universe would be blind, void, and non-sentient. But this is clearly not the case. Conscious, sentient living entities abound in all directions – at least, in our own experience, on earth. So there is strong evidence that the source of the universe must possess conscious, sentient aspects. Since a cause exists in its effect as well, the characteristics of the former can be deducted from analysing the characteristics of the latter. Thus we can justifiably propose that the primeval cause of the manifested universe, including life, is the “primordiel consciousness,” or “cosmic consciousness” or “universal consciousness.” And for biology to really be a  complete science, it must incorporate this idea -it  must become theobiology. Theobiology deals primarily with the science of consciousness from the perspective that everything, sentient or nonsentient, comes from the “primordial consciousness.”

Theobiology: A New Methodology for the Life Sciences

We are familiar with the two distinct categories of knowledge: (1) the impersonal and insentient energy, characterized by atoms and molecules; and (2) the personal and sentient energy, represented by the innumerable living entities. The living entities differ from the impersonal atoms and molecules in that they possess consciousness. Category 1 has been extensively studied by modern science. As mentioned previously, modern biology is deficient because it studies only the impersonal energy, the physical make-up of the body, but it gives us no clue about the personal energy of the primordial consciousness. We hope that theobiology will shed enough light to clear up many of the confusions in the life sciences. It will not be possible to describe the detailed methodology of theobiology in this paper, but we can describe its essence. Table A explains the two different categories of energy that emanate from the primordial consciousness:

Table A : Primordial Consciousness

Table A describes the distinction between matter and life. Matter is the inferior, inert, insentient, unconscious, and impersonal energy of the primordial consciousness, whereas life is the superior, active sentient, conscious, and personal energy of the primordial consciousness. These are two distinct energies; they cannot be equated. By the desire of the particle of conscious energy – the living entity – life interacts with matter in two categories, listed in Table B and C below:

Table B : INTERACTION OF LIFE AND MATTER

Category 1

Table C : INTERACTION OF LIFE AND MATTER

Category 2

Table B describes well-known characteristics of animate and inanimate entities. But Table C is based on the science of theobiology and requires some explanation. It is clear from Table C that there are two states of life. One is the bound state of life influenced by material desire), and other is the unbound state (life free from material desire). Generally we are familiar with bound state, since it is the characteristic quality of the manifested world. Being attracted by the impersonal energy of the primordial consciousness, the living entities forget their real identity as pure consciousness and regard the temporary material world as their final place of happiness. As a  result, nearly all of the world’s population is concerned with the physical aspects of life. As mentioned earlier, modern biology studies only the insentient energy (atoms and molecules), which is animated by the sentient energy of the primordial consciousness. The study of the inner self, life, the sentient energy itself, thus remains unexplored. This is not surprising; since such a  study is beyond the conventional empirical science. Thus the present scientific community labours under the illusion that life is a coordinated chemical reaction. As we can see from Table A this is clearly not true. But as long as this illusion is accepted as truth, life will remain a  continuous struggle for existence and the moral dilemmas regarding life that we mentioned previously will persist.

The bound state of life is temporary: it begins at a  certain point in time and ends at a  definite time – namely, the birth and death of the material body. And since no one has experienced an eternally living material body, it  might seem that life itself were temporary. But sages of ancient cultures have always understood that life is nonmaterial and non-chemical. It is a  spiritual, atomic entity that will ever remain invisible to scientific instruments like the electron microscope. In other words, life is spiritual and transcendental. The bound state of life is extremely complex, for in that state one experiences unlimited desires, which are never fulfilled. In the bound state, the living entity’s mind, intelligence, and five knowledge -acquiring senses (the senses of hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch) are contaminated by the inferior modes of material nature. Hence the living entity has  a tendency to disobey the laws of the primordial consciousness.  This creates an incompatible situation for the living entity, a  feeling of profound dissatisfaction, and after some time he begins to search after inner, spiritual knowledge and soon desires to attain the unbound state of life. The unbound state of life is experienced by transcendental scientists. The sages and saintly people belong to this category. They are concerned only with the inner world of life, which is completely spiritual. Even while remaining temporarily in the physical body, they can mentally dissociate themselves from the influence of the insentient energy (matter) by practising inner scientific discipline, called yoga. One familiar example is Lord Buddha, who sacrificed palatial happiness for the life of an ascetic. Through training and mental control, many great yogis and thinkers in countries like India have for centuries been able to achieve a  state of mental equilibrium and mental fitness by which they have discharged unalloyed devotional service to the Supreme, the primeval consciousness. In this state one experiences continuous, intense ecstasy. How could anyone attain such ecstatic happiness? We cannot dismiss these experiences simply by saying that they cannot be confirmed by modern scientific techniques. Modern science has no idea of these inner, spiritual realms of life. Yet the fact remains that the trained, purified controlled mind can overcome the gross material sensations. Thus by proper training of the mind one can begin to learn how to dissociate the self from the gross encagement of the insentient energy. This is the essence of all yoga processes. Yoga is a strict mental discipline and training to reach the unbound state of life. It is not mysticism; it is solid mental physics.

Theobiology, then, emphasizes the methodology of dissociating one’s inner self from the state of being bound up with the insentient energy, matter. This involves proper cultivation of the freewill  so that one gradually relinquishes one’s attitude of rebellion against the laws of the Absolute. This can be achieved by understanding and practice of the physics of bhakti-yoga. Bhakti, a Sanskrit word, literally means ”unconditional love and devotion towards the Absolute Consciousness.” The mental frame is unalloyed submission toward the absolute. This is the state of mind that one attains by strict self-discipline. Bhakti-yoga embodies the absolute laws of consciousness mentioned in Table C. Below we present a few points to help show how one can dissociate the inner self from the bound state of life:

1. The knowledge acquiring senses are imperfect; therefore we cannot hope to attain ultimate understanding of any form or category of knowledge by the material sense perceptions and their extensions, scientific instruments.
2. Many phenomena are inconceivable to the human intellect -e.g., the beautiful dance of a peacock seeing the dark clouds at the beginning of the monsoon season; to a person in the bound state of existence, the peacock’s dance may appear to be the result of some blind forces generated by the insentient energy. But transcendentalists (those in the unbound state of existence) see the cosmic intelligence behind this phenomenon. In other words, when one is free from the bound state by the cultivation of inner, mental physics, one is able to understand both the laws of nature and the supremely intelligent person behind them. This may sound religious, but there is no avoiding it; direct experience of the Supreme Person is a fact of the inner world of life. When one attains such a state, one can appreciate nature and live in harmony with her.
3. The origin of the universe, including life, must exist in the form of primordial consciousness. This is true because, as mentioned earlier, the cause exists in its effect as well, and the characteristics of the former can be deduced by observing the latter. Since here in this world we experience conscious, sentient personal beings, it is reasonable, logical, and philosophically sound to conclude that the original source or cause of the universe must possess the qualities of consciousness, sentience, and personality.

CONCLUSION

Theobiology is not an attempt to propound a  religious dogma. Rather, it is an attempt to generate open and healthy dialogue among scientists, scholars, and great thinkers of the world regarding the knowledge of the origin and nature of life and consciousness in contrast to purely materialistic science. Theobiology presents a comprehensive and comprehensible explanation of life, matter, and their interactions, and thus it  provides truly workable solutions to the dilemmas and problems facing the world today.