The Strength of India lies in marketing its spiritual software.
We have nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than about peace, more about killing than about living. We have discovered the mystery of the atom and forgotten the Sermon of the Mount," This poignant statement of American World War II general Omar Bradley vividly describes the misdirected development of our times.
THE CONFRONTATION: THE MYTH AND FACTS
The image of a hi-tech paradise is ubiquitous in modern media. But what is the reality? Have all these comforts made us more peaceful or happy?
People of the past never complained of stress or depression, but these have become almost synonymous with a modern way of life. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that mental disease will be the greatest health challenge of this century.
Worldwide addictions are on the rise WHO statistics indicate that tobacco alone kils 10,000 people worldwide every day. There are around 1.1 billion smoke rs in the world (about one-third of the global population aged 15 and over). By 2020 it is predicted that tobacco use will cause over 12% of all deaths globally. This is more deaths worldwide than HIV, tuberculosis, maternal mortality, motor vehicle accidents, suicide and h omicide combined. And smoking is a relatively mild form of addiction as compared to alcoholism and drug abuse.
With the rapid rise in promiscuity in modern times, the family, the basis of a steady and sustainable society, is breaking apart. A survey showed that every third marriage in the US ends in divorce within t hree years of marriage. Marital rupture is traumatic not only for the spouses
but also for their children. Statistics show that divorced people as well as children of divorced parents are more likely to succumb to addictions than their married counterparts. Even if they don't succumb to addictions, the emotional trauma and the resulting mental stress that comes from ruptured relationships and broken hearts leave lifelong scars.
The epidemic due to AIDS and other STDs is set to destabilize major economies of the world. And for AIDS currently we have precious little "aid".
And with the children of today's disturbed, ruptured and addicted generation being the leaders of tomorrow, the future of the world is quite frightening to even contemplate upon. The school massacres in Littleton and other places in US give us a glimpse of things to come.
"Over one million people commit suicide every year. This figure is more than the total deaths in wars and homicides combined," states World Health Organization (WHO). We are so concerned whenever any war breaks out or whenever any serial killer is on the prowl. But more than the number of people being killed by others is the number of people killing themselves. Doesn't this indicate that there is something seriously wrong with the self-conception and world view that people are being taught today? WHO has warned, "People living in metropolitan cities will have their life-spans cut down by an average of ten years due to alarming pollution levels." With the spectre of global warming and the consequent rising of the sea-level looming on our heads, World Watch Institute sounds an ominous warning, "Environmental superdisasters are no longer a doomsday prophecy; they are an imminent reality."
CONSEQUENCES OF REDUCTION IS TIC SCIENTIFIC WORLDVIEW ON HUMAN VALUES
Albert Einstein
While these are alarming enough, science or reductionistic science to be more specific is set to erode all that we cherish as humane and valuable.
1. Consider, for example, the following statements of two eminent scientists, one spiritually minded and the other not:
"The most beautiful and most profound emotion we can experience is in the sensation of the mystical. It is a shower of all true science …. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the comprehensible universe, forms my idea of God." (Albert Einstein)
"But now for many years I cannot end ure to read a line of poetry: I have tried lately to read Shakespeare and found it so intolerably dull that it nauseated me. I have also almost lost my taste for pictures or music … The loss of these tastes is a loss of happiness, and may possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character, by enfeebling the emotional part of our nature." (Charles Darwin)
Which fate do we want our children to meet?
2. "Man may be able to program his own cells with synthetic information long before he'll be able to access adequately the longterm consequences of such alterations ,long before he'll be able to formulate goals and long before he can resolve the ethical and moral problems which will be raised." (Marshall Nirenberg)
Indiscriminate research in fields scientific like genetic engineering and cloning is bound to raise far more problems than it can solve.
3. "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." (Roger Penrose)
If we accept the scientific version that we are genetically programmed machines, then will we be ready to allow a cold-blooded murderer to go scot-free on the grounds that "murder is programmed in his genes"?
4. "We may well reach the point in not too distant future where the parables and images of the old religions will have lost their persuasive fo rce even for the average person; when that happens, I am afraid that all the old ethics will collapse like a house of cards and that unimaginable horrors will be perpetrated." Nobel Laureate in Physics Wolfgang Pauli. Unless one has an understanding of God as the Supreme Controller, the call to ethics has no weight. After all, what is there in an atheist's world view to impel him to stick to morality in his pursuit of pleasure? If a person does not understand his identity as an eternal soul, if he thinks that he can get away with whatever he does, provided he just does it cleverly enough, why will he not try to maximize the pleasure that this life can offer him? "Beg, borrow, steal, kill, but enjoy" becomes the motto of such a spiritually illiterate person.
PARADIGM SHIFT IN SCIENCE
All these ominous trends are known to most people worldwide. But intellectual trend-setters have started questioning the validity and utility of indiscriminate scientific and technological "advancement." What is the purpose of scientific research? Human happiness? But if that is not being achieved, has scienceerred? Where? What can be done about it?
Maybe its time for science to set its priorities right as was recommended by Michael Faraday centuries ago, "We ought to value the privilege of knowing God's truth far beyond anything we can have in this world." Science may add years to our life , but onIy spirituality will add life to our years. Without spirituality, we have no answers to fundamental questions of value, purpose, and meaning all of which are critical for satisfaction and fulfillment.
Moreover the reductionistic non-spiritual paradigm of modern science has not been proven, but presumed. This presumption was questioned by eminent scientist Louis Pasteur centuries ago "You pass from matter to life because your intelligence of today". cannot conceive things otherwise. How do you know that in ten thousand years one will not consider it more likely that matter has emerged from life?" Now in the light of devastating social ramifications, open minded questioning has become vital for human happiness and even survival itself.
Science needs to harmonize itself with the supreme scientist God, as recommended by Albert Einstein, "I believe in God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of the Universe. I believe that intelligence is manifested throughout all Nature. The basis of scientific work is the conviction that the world is an ordered and comprehensible entity and not a thing of chance. When I sit here and watch the mighty ocean , I can imagine the treasures hidden below the bed of the sea, when I see the clear blue sky above, I feel sky is the limit. When I cast my eyes a round I see the wonders and beauties of Nature. Science must learn to live in Harmony with all these magnificent gifts of God to Humanity."
INDIA IS THE ONLY HOPE
"It is already becoming clear that a chapter which had a Western beginning will have to have an Indian ending if it is not to end in the self-destruction of the human race. At this supremely dangerous moment in history, the only way of salvation for mankind is the Indian Way." This remark of Dr Arnold Toynbee (British Historian , 1889- 1975) indicates that the best contribution of India to the world should not be in the form of software engineers, but in the form of spiritual engineers.
If we want intellectually satisfying spiritual alternatives to the materialistic worldview offered by reductionistic science, India is our best hope. Many Western thinkers have acknowledged the glory of Vedic spiritual wisdom.
1."In religion, India is the only millionaire …… the one land that all men desire to see, and having seen once, by even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for all the shows of all the rest of the globe combined." (Mark Twain)
2."Whenever I have read any part of the Vedas, I have felt that some unearthly and unknown light illuminated me . In the great teaching of the Vedas, there is no touch of sectarianism. It is of all ages, climbs, and nationalities and is the royal road for the attainment of the Great Knowledge." (American Thinker Henry David Thoreau)
3."The marvel of the Bhagavad gita is its truly beautiful revelation of life's wisdom which enables philosophy to blossom into reIigion." ((Herman Hesse) (1877-1962), German poet and novelist, awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1946)
4."The Bhagavad-gita is the Best of books containing a wisdom blander and far more sane than that of the Hebrews, whether in the mind of Moses or of Jesus of Nazareth. Were I a preacher, I would venture sometimes to take from its texts the motto and moral of my discourse. It would be healthful and invigorating to breathe some of this mountain air into the lungs of Christendom." (Amos Bronson Alcott (1799- 1888) writer, philosopher, visionary)
5."The message of the GWI is a universal call to Democracy, liberty for the peoples, liberty for each individual. The great affirmation of the Bhagavad-gita is that every individual , whatever he may be, rich or poor, can and must raise himself on life's path and that he has a right to his emancipation, social, intellectual, and spiritual." (Louis Revel French author of The Fragrance of India: landmarks for the world of tomorrow and Les Routes Ardentes de L'Inde)
The glory of Vedic wisdom was seen in the calibre of its followers. When we become devoted to God, we become godly. This was the basis of the theistic Vedic social order. of India before imperial motives destroyed its spiritual foundation is depicted by British statesman Edmund Burke, "This multitude of men (the Indian nation) does not consist of an abject and barbarous populace, much less of gangs of savages; but of a people for ages civilized and cultivated; cultured by all the arts of polished life while we (Englishmen) were yet dwelling in the woods. There have been in {India} princes of great dignity, authority and opulence. There {in India} is to be found an ancient and venerable priesthood, the depositary of laws, learning and history, the guides of the people while living and their consolation in death. There is a nobility of great antiquity and renown; a multitude of cities not exceeded in population and trade by those of the first class in Europe; merchants and bankers who vie in capital with the banks of England; millions of ingenious manufacturers and mechanics; and millions of the most diligent tillers of the earth."
Srila Prabhupada, the founder of ISKCON, taught that the foundation for real peace can be established only by spiritual wisdom, "Unless there is an awakening of divine consciousness in the individual, there is no use of crying for world peace." We need not mistake genuine devotion with the irrational religious fanaticism seen in some parts of the world today. Srila Prabhupada analyzes the failings of such so-called religion as follows , "Religion without philosophy is sentimentalism or sometimes fanaticism, Philosophy without religion is mental speculation." India may not be financially strong, but the West is spiritually bankrupt. That's why for our modern times, Srila Prabhupada envisioned an East-West synthesis; spreading Indian spiritual wisdom with Western material technology. (Of course, spiritual wisdom is not Indian and material technology is not Western. Both ultimately come from God, Krsna, who is the Universal Father of all people – Eastern and Western) He compared the coming together of Vedic spirituality and modern technology to the coming together of the proverbial blind man and the lame man. But for this synthesis to take place, the technologically advanced West has to recognize that it is lacking in spiritual vision. And the materially crippled India has to recognize its wealth of spiritual knowledge. If we acknowledge our respective endowments and deficiencies, we can become pioneers in bringing about an international spiritual revival. In our sadly misled modern world, this may be the only hope to usher in a new era of harmony and happiness. Are we ready?
Caitanya Caralla Dasa is a disciple of His Holiness Radhanatha Swami. He holds a degree in electronics & telecommunications engineering and serves full-time at ISKCON Pune. He runs a free cyber magazine, The Spiritual Scientist, which gives a scientific presentation of Krsna conscious philosophy. To receive new issues as they come out, write to iyfpune@vsnl.com.
