Breaking free from fetters of reason
Shatters the cherished self image.
All ideas dissolve, fade away and vanish
When facing the ruthless reality…
So be warned, precious daring seeker:
No one reaches the lowest rung of truth
Without losing at least temporarily
What is regarded as plain, human sanity!
Fremont: The Center for Indic Studies at University
of Massachusetts Dartmouth held an international conference Science,
Vedanta and Foundations of Physics on 6 and 7 July 2011.
This conference was dedicated to examining the foundations of
physics, especially quantum mechanics from the perspective of
Vedantic philosophy and metaphysics.
Several scholars several universities and centers including UMass
Dartmouth, Harvard, Jawaharlal Nehru University (India),
Universities of Florida, Montana attended the conference.
Psychologist Dr. Jerry Solfvin of the Center for Indic Studies
pointed out the centrality of Non- Duality in Vedanta and its
realization through subjective exercises. Philosopher Dr. R.P.
Singh gave a survey of Western approaches to knowledge and
reality from classical Greece to Hegel and Nietzsche, comparing
and contrasting with the Vedantic approach. Molecular biologists,
Dr. Neeraja Venkateshwaran presented the cause and effect concept
of reality, and how body, mind, and intellect approach helps
explain the universal principles.
Dr. Vinod Deshmukh, neurophysiologist from
the University of Florida presented some recent findings relating
to energy distribution in neurophysics and the approach to the
problem in Vedanta. Dr. Diana Lurie of the University of Montana
presented results showing that combining the Vedic approach
(based on Ayurveda) with modern biomedicine can significantly
enhance the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders,
particularly in elderly patients. Dr. Girish Nath Jha of the
Jawaharlal NehruUniversity in New Delhi presented results showing
the usefulness of the classical Vedantic grammar of Panini in
designing machine translation and other information systems on
the computer.
Educationist Pandit Ramadheen Ramsamooj
demonstrated the use of ideas from modern set theory in teaching
important concepts from the famous philosophic work, the
Bhagavadgita. Panelists of the Science and Vedanta Symposium, (L
to R) Vinod Deshmukh, NS Rajaram, Anita Goel, and Bal Ram Singh
Mathematician Dr. N.S. Rajaram of the Center for Indic Studies
pointed out that theoretical results like Bell's theorem as well
as experimental verifications suggest that quantum phenomena take
place in a domain that cannot be described by space-time
geometry.
He suggested that the idea of 'orders of
reality' propounded by Madhva of the Dualist Vedanta school
combined with the notion of 'reality as process' of Alfred North
Whitehead and Patanjali (of Yoga-sutra fame) can shed light on
the nature of reality in the quantum world. Dr. Sukalyan Sengupta
of UMass Dartmouth gave a comparison of the nature of time as
perceived in Vedanta and in modern physics. Physicist and
biomedical scientist Dr. Anita Goel of Harvard presented results
showing how biological models may be relevant in the study of
quantum effects in single molecule systems.
Physicist and cosmologist Dr. John Hagelin,
formerly of Harvard, presently head of research at MaharishiUniversity
suggested that personal experience gained through meditation was
essential for a unified understanding of diverse phenomena in
quantum physics and cosmology. Dr. Venkat Kodumudi, a biochemist,
explained composition of matter and the guiding force in non-dual
existence by using the idea of twenty four factors that
constitute the universe. Biophysical chemist and Yoga scholar Dr.
Balram Singh, Director of the Center for Indic Studies, drew
comparisons between the Indian Vaisheshika school of Vedanta and
modern chemico-physics.
The TAT Labor Day workshop is coming on
September 2-4 this year. Workshop information page:
