Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 15, No. 2
By Krishna-kripa das
(January 2019, part two)
North Florida and Tampa
(Sent from Tallahassee on February 11, 2019)
Where
I Went and What I Did
I
left Tallahassee briefly and was based in Gainesville from January 17
to January 27, so I could attend the Bhaktivedanta Institute 2019
Consciousness in Science conference in Gainesville and the Gasparilla
Pirate Parade harinama
and
Ratha-yatra in
Tampa. Between these events, I went to Jacksonville for two days and
chanted on the campus of the University of North Florida, where I
invited people to their Krishna Club, which I also attended. While in
Gainesville, I also attended all the harinamas
of
the Krishna House and the Alachua devotees, including a special one
at the Martin Luther King March, and one at the Gainesville Farmers
Market. In addition to describing all the venues I chanted
Hare Krishna at, I share extensive notes on the 2019 Consciousness in
Science Conference, which
follow the “Insights” section at the end of this journal,
and some notes on outreach programs at Krishna House and the
University of North Florida. Even
if you are not interested in the science conference, you may like the
opening lecture by Hridayananda Goswami there the first thing on
Saturday.
I
share notes on lectures by Srila Prabhupada, a quote glorifying the
holy name from the Rg
Veda, and
an instruction by Krishna to Uddhava. I share excerpts from
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami’s Free
Write Journal. I
share notes on classes at Krishna House by Adikarta, Akhandadhi,
Nanda, Ramesvara, Madhumati, Lalitanatha, Ekayani, and Hanan Prabhus
as well as a couple of comments by Brahmatirtha Prabhu and Tulasirani
Devi Dasi. I share excerpts from articles in Back
to Godhead, Volume
53, Number 3 (May/June 2019) by Caitanya Carana, Giriraja Govinda,
Indra Krishna, and Dhruva Prabhus.
Thanks
to Marisa for taking the video of me chanting Hare Krishna at Krishna
House. Thanks to Bhakta
Steven for the use of his phone to take the video of the end of the
Martin Luther King Day march. Thanks to Kira for the video of Krishna
House devotees chanting Hare Krishna with me on the University of
North Florida green. Thanks
to Felicity for the photo of the Bhakti House program. Thanks
to Bhimsadeva Prabhu, who took many wonderful photos of the
Gasparilla Ratha-yatra, for http://festivalofchariots.org/,
some of which I include in this blog, and the rest which you can see
at:
Itinerary
February
10–March 17: Tallahassee, Florida State University (weekdays), Lake
Ella (weekends)
except
February 15: Krishna Lunch and Alachua harinamas
February 16: Krishna House 12-Hour Kirtan
March
18–22: Krishna House
March
23: St. Augustine Ratha-yatra
March
24: Krishna Lunch Sunday Program
March
24–April 6: Tallahassee, Florida State University (weekdays), Lake
Ella (weekends) [March 30: Ratha-yatra]
April
7: Jacksonville Bhakti House program?
April
8: Albany
April
9: Philadelphia
April
10–12: Washington, D.C., harinama
with
Sankarsana Prabhu by the museums
April
13–14: New York City
April
15–18: Dublin
April
19–24: Newcastle-upon-Tyne
April
27: Amsterdam King’s Day harinama
September
8: Great North Run harinama
(Newcastle-upon-Tyne)
Chanting
Hare Krishna at Krishna Lunch at University of Florida
Adikarta
Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at UF Krishna Lunch, and Marisa and
Caranti Devi Dasi dance (https://youtu.be/Npy0actiAEA):
Bhaktin
Lucy plays guitar and chants Hare Krishna at Krishna Lunch at the
University of Florida in Gainesville, accompanied by Prabhupada
disciples, Satyahit Prabhu, on the drum sticks, and Ramaniya Devi
Dasi, on the karatalas
(https://youtu.be/cibNPnb4gKQ):
Adikarta
Prabhu chants a couple Hare Krishna kirtans at UF Krishna Lunch
(https://youtu.be/8P81cK1rdQg):
Satyahit
Prabhu chants a couple Hare Krishna kirtans at UF Krishna Lunch
(https://youtu.be/ig64H3MvfB0):
Adikarta
Prabhu plays harmonium, and he, his wife, Rucira Devi Dasi, and
Animesh Prabhu chant Hare Krishna at University of Florida Krishna
Lunch in Gainesville. At one point you can see the long line of
people waiting to get lunch as Friday is one of the biggest days,
next to Wednesday, which is spaghetti day
(https://youtu.be/BHFuDlZFpxM):
Youthful
Krishna House devotees happily chant Hare Krishna at University of
Florida Krishna Lunch in Gainesville before being called to serve
(https://youtu.be/Y_vVgPcJlSo):
Bhaktin
Lucy chants Hare Krishna at University of Florida Krishna Lunch in
Gainesville, and Daryl and Marisa teach a new guy to chant the Hare
Krishna mantra (https://youtu.be/P5NuRLZqnKw):
Marisa
chants Hare Krishna at UF Krishna Lunch, and Adikarta Prabhu sells a
book to the new guy who just learned the Hare Krishna mantra and who
chanted with us (https://youtu.be/7mNRVgXUplw):
Chanting
Hare Krishna at Krishna House
Often
the Krishna House devotees have Hare Krishna kirtan in their temple
room after their evening class and dinner.
Here
Marisa, who chanted Hare Krishna for the first time last February on
the green at University of North Florida with me and Kira, leads the
Hare Krishna chant one evening at Krishna House, where she has been
living for the last semester learning about Krishna consciousness
(https://youtu.be/fEk-LyH5XFw):
Krishna-kripa
Das chants Hare Krishna at Krishna House, and many dance
(https://youtu.be/4nl6PlvitHU):
Thanks
to Marisa for spontaneously grabbing my phone and taking the above
video.
Animesh
Prabhu, a youthful Indian brahmacari,
chants Hare Krishna at Krishna House, and all the devotees dance
(https://youtu.be/AApdEPu-_28):
The
evening of Martin Luther King Day, the Krishna House devotees had
another kirtan, and Madhumangala Prabhu played the bass as others
sang. Two college ladies who danced with us in the Martin Luther King
March visited Krishna House, and you can see them listening to the
kirtan and sometimes chanting along in these next two videos.
Kira
and Adikarta Prabhu chant Hare Krishna at Taco Tuesday, a Krishna
House outreach event (https://youtu.be/H_xUBnI-pyA):
Adikarta Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Taco Tuesday, and everyone chants and dances (https://youtu.be/z1Gb3zLT8Uo):
Adikarta
Prabhu kept singing and the chanting and dancing became even more
ecstatic (https://youtu.be/h9xLghaK4pI):
Madhumangala
Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at the beginning of the Krishna House
Friday evening program, and several devotees dance
(https://youtu.be/fnMLbuOLkrg):
Animesh
Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at the end of the Krishna House Friday
evening program, and many dance (https://youtu.be/Z3dsZxx5dCw):
Chanting
Hare Krishna with Alachua Devotees at University of Florida Entrance
Even
before I moved to Alachua in 1994, devotees were chanting Hare
Krishna at the entrance to the University of Florida each Friday in
the late afternoon.
Here
Ekadasi Vrata Devi Dasi chants Hare Krishna with
devotees from ISKCON Alachua at
the University of Florida entrance (https://youtu.be/pm_OmA_TP7A):
The
next week, Ragatmika Devi Dasi chanted Hare Krishna at the University
of Florida entrance (https://youtu.be/Ghxb0OSls4o):
Chanting
Hare Krishna by the Bars Across from the University of Florida
Despite
a busy weekend volunteering at the BI Consciousness in Science
conference, serving meals, cleaning up the conference hall, and
cleaning the Krishna House kitchen, the youthful Krishna House
devotees had plenty of energy to chant Hare Krishna in public for 75
minutes, mostly by the bars across from University of Florida the
Sunday evening before Martin Luther King Day, and many students
happily danced, some even being brave enough to chant the Hare
Krishna mantra. One young man in a blue Florida T-shirt joined us for
the rest of the harinama
and told us later that his sister had lived in Krishna House several
years ago (https://youtu.be/uu46jy20aLE):
Chanting
Hare Krishna in the Martin Luther King Day March
Krishna
House devotees chanted Hare Krishna in the Martin Luther King March
in Gainesville, Florida, and black and white and young and old alike
all joined in dancing (https://youtu.be/-_cglsszj7A):
The young lady with the “Students Demand Action” T-shirt (in red), who had never been to Krishna House before, came that night for half the Bhagavad-gita class and an hour of kirtan along with her friend (the Indian lady next to her), who was carrying the “INJUSTICE ANYWHERE IS A THREAT TO JUSTICE EVERYWHERE” sign.
A young man from South Florida met the
devotees for the first time and enjoyed dancing with us. The King March is one of the best events to chant Hare Krishna at.
Thanks
to Bhakta Steven for the use of his phone to take the above video of
the end of the march.
Caranti
Devi Dasi was one of the most interactive dancers,
engaging a variety
of people.
Some of the ladies danced together.
Some
of the guys also got into dancing together.
I
took some video from the beginning of the march before my phone’s
memory
filled up, and you can see many people enjoying playing shakers and
dancing with the devotees (https://youtu.be/IyA-gDaSWAQ):
Chanting
Hare Krishna at the Gainesville Farmers Market
Here Parker leads the chanting Hare Krishna at the Gainesville Farmers Market, a venue which Krishna House does not regularly do now but which we used to do in the past, and which introduced at least two people to Krishna consciousness, including Caranti Devi Dasi, who inspired us to go out this time. Several people
interact with the devotee chanting party by playing shakers and
dancing (https://youtu.be/qt9npbzakFM):
Chanting
Hare Krishna at University of North Florida in Jacksonville
Four
devotees from Krishna House in Gainesville chanted on the green at
the University of North Florida (UNF) in Jacksonville to advertise
the Krishna Club meeting there that evening.
Here
Kira chants Hare Krishna on the University of North Florida green in
Jacksonville with Krishna House devotees, and Olivia, a transfer
student who formerly ate Krishna Lunch at Florida State University,
joins our party. Olivia later came to the Krishna Club meeting and
chanted with us on the green the next day for 45 minutes
(https://youtu.be/xpfIOAL50ww):
Here
Brajananda Prabhu chants Hare Krishna with Krishna House devotees at
University of North Florida in Jacksonville, and induced by the
dancing Caranti Devi Dasi, a guy plays shakers and dances
(https://youtu.be/x8KRf5XL4DA):
Aditya
Varna Prabhu, visiting from Russia for the BI Consciousness in
Science Conference, chants Hare Krishna from the University of North
Florida green to the Fine Arts Car Park
(https://youtu.be/hHfdJfpJEQA):
Brajananda
Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at the University of North Florida Krishna
Club in Jacksonville (https://youtu.be/JFIOnWVpr9o):
Brajananda
Prabhu continues chanting Hare Krishna, and everyone but the drummer dances
ecstatically (https://youtu.be/5tmjNFa54Do):
Amrita
Keli Devi Dasi, Hare Krishna chaplain at University of North Florida
and disciple of Kalakantha Prabhu, has the attendees of the Krishna
Club there recite a chapter from his book, The
Rap of God,
a rap version of Bhagavad-gita,
to begin their spiritual discussion. This week they did chapter 5,
and afterward I read the translation and purport to verse 5.18, and talked
about it (https://youtu.be/eyBObg7T418):
Although
the other devotees who I came with from Gainesville returned after the
program, I stayed overnight at Dhira Prabhu’s place in Orange Park,
along with sankirtana
devotees,
Brajananda Prabhu and Bhakta Blake, to chant Hare Krishna another day on the
UNF campus.
I
met all kinds of amazing people on the UNF green the second day.
Although I was chanting Hare Krishna by myself at one point four
others joined me, Olivia and Marco (on the left), who had come to
Krishna Club the night before, and Emma and Ana (on the right), who had talked with us on the green the previous day.
Later another guy who had talked with us the previous day talked with me and seemed interested in coming to the club.
I met one
girl named Felicity, who had gotten a book from Adikarta Prabhu at a
music festival and had heard we had a club on the campus. While
returning to Jacksonville from the festival, she also met Madhu, who
had attended the Krishna Club before he graduated from UNF. Of the
four books I had displayed she and a friend both had three or four of
them.
She
was
so happy to finally encounter Krishna at UNF, she wanted
to have her picture taken with me.
One
yoga teacher from Jupiter was also happy to learn of our Krishna Club
as she had encountered kirtan before.
Two
girls, who talked with me briefly, agreed to chant three mantras
responsively with me, and they did a good job. I thought in the
future, I might try to induce anyone who talks with me to sing three
mantras with me before they go on their way.
One
guy from a Sufi family came by and talked briefy, and Amrita Keli
said that both he and Felicity came to the club the next week and
that Marco came for the second time.
Felicity liked it so much the very next Saturday she also attended one of the
semimonthly programs Amrita Keli has at their Bhakti House in
downtown Jacksonville, and she shared this message and photo with her
Facebook friends:
“I
would just like to put this one out there for my family to see that
I’m doing exceptionally well here in Jacksonville! I found my
Krishna family. Thank you again for allowing us to spiritually come
together with such hospitality, Amrita Keli.”
Thus
as usual University of North Florida is a very inspiring campus to
chant Hare Krishna at, and it remains my favorite.
Chanting
Hare Krishna at the Gasparilla Pirate Parade in Tampa
For
several years Hare Krishna devotees have been chanting Hare Krishna
in Tampa before the Gasparilla Parade which is watched by hundreds of
thousands of people. This year and last Bhadra Prabhu has gotten a Ratha-yatra cart in that parade as well.
I tried to attend both events, but this year our starting point in the parade lineup
was a twenty-five-minute walk from where the devotees were chanting, so I
could not participate as much as I wanted in it.
Here Adikarta
Prabhu chants Hare Krishna with devotees from Alachua and Tampa
before the Gasparilla Pirate Parade in Tampa, and festival goers
dance with joy (https://youtu.be/AUXzZ12fyws):
Animesh
Prabhu played the drum with such wonderful youthful energy and
expertise that Puskara Prabhu offered him $20 to remain in the
harinama
and
not return to the Ratha-yatra.
Visvambhar
Prabhu chanted
Hare Krishna for
the entire three-hour Ratha-yatra procession.
Some
parade
goers delighted
in joining the beginning of the Gasparilla Ratha-yatra
(https://youtu.be/ekRXh1joXxM):
As
our Ratha-yatra cart was float number 97 in the Gasparilla parade, we
had to go a long way before reaching its beginning. Here Visvambhar
Prabhu chants Hare Krishna as a growing crowd begins to appreciate
our Gasparilla Ratha-yatra (https://youtu.be/c3yRj8NSrIk):
When
we finally reached the thousands of parade viewers, it was a most
amazing sight. I
have never seen a crowd so enthusiastic to encounter a Ratha-yatra
procession as that watching the Gasparilla Pirate parade in Tampa, as
Visvambhar Prabhu and devotees from Alachua, Gainesville, and Tampa
chanted Hare Krishna and danced for three hours in jubilation.
Viewers perfected their sight seeing Jagannath and their touch by
touching the passing devotees. Not allowed to distribute literature,
devotees shared lollipops with the crowd
(https://youtu.be/NtmV4GJWznY):
I
was very happy to be part of it.
Unlimited
thanks to Bhadra Prabhu, for arranging our participation for the
second year in that popular Florida parade, and to all his
assistants.
I
suggested when we returned to Gainesville from the Tampa Ratha-yatra
at midnight, we might do a quick harinama,
as we usually do one by the bars across from University of Florida on
Saturday night. Animesh, whose birthday commenced at midnight,
decided it would be very auspicious to begin celebrating his birthday
with a harinama,
so we chanted from 12:07 to 12:27 a.m. by the UF bars along with
Daryl, who played the karatalas,
and Marisa, who danced (https://youtu.be/YY9s_48Ra5s):
Chanting
Hare Krishna in Tallahassee
Yogi
Garuda Prabhu has been investing lots of energy in the Tallahassee
Sunday feast program in recent months, bringing additional
instruments and participants, and distributing many invitations along
with his friends.
Here
Yogi Garuda Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at the Tallahassee Sunday
feast program, and many dance with joy
(https://youtu.be/E_gnIiq362k):
Thoughts
on Goals from the Krishna House Taco Tuesday Program
Caranti
Devi Dasi:
My
goal is to be of benefit to all I meet.
Madhumangala
Prabhu:
When
I do not have clue how to reach a goal, I seek help from older
people, who are well rounded and experienced.
What
I am doing in the future is so open-ended I find it frustrating to
think about.
Kira:
We
have to have a direction. Otherwise we will not go anywhere.
One
of my teachers says that 95% of the time an airplane is not on
course, but constantly the pilot is bringing it back on course.
Brandon:
If
the choice is pushing myself or being pulled by God, I would rather
be pulled by God.
Christ
said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven, and all will be added
to you.”
Gautam:
It
is important to know where you are, to know where your goal is, and
to not be distracted.
Caranti
Devi Dasi:
I
found endeavor for eternal happiness is actually easier than
obtaining so many practical material things.
Moka:
I
had an idea of remodeling my grandfather’s house after he died and
making it a place for spiritual cultivation, but somehow that did not
work out, and I am here at Krishna House serving with all of you.
Adikarta
Prabhu:
If
we live for the body, life will definitely be a let down.
If
your educational institution does not teach you who you are, then
leave it.
Ekayani:
Sometimes
people do not change the external features of their situation, but
they work on their internal motivation. Others change everything in a
big way.
University
of North Florida Krishna Club
Selected
contributions from the ice breaker: When I think of Krishna I think
of . . .
Caranti
Devi: I just like the way the sound Krishna feels in my mouth.
Damodar
Pandit Prabhu (of Russia): The post modern God.
Insights
Krishna:
From
His conversation with Uddhava:
“Just
as gold, when smelted in fire, gives up its impurities and returns to
its pure brilliant state, similarly, the spirit soul, absorbed in the
fire of bhakti-yoga,
is purified of all contamination caused by previous fruitive
activities and returns to its original position of serving Me in the
spiritual world.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam
11.14.25)
Srila
Prabhupada:
From
a class on Srimad-Bhagavatam
7.9.8
in Montreal on July 2, 1968:
“Any
work, if you do it for Krishna, is bhakti.
Don’t think that bhakti
means simply chanting Hare Krishna and sitting down in one place. No.
Bhakti
means all kinds of activities. God is all-pervading; therefore bhakti
is also all-pervading. From all spheres of life, devotional service
can be done.”
“These
things Krishna has taught. For those who are attached to work, bhakti
is for them; for those who are attached to philosophy, bhakti
is for them; for those who are attached to the yoga system, bhakti
is for them; and for those who are devotees, bhakti
is certainly for them. From all angles of vision, when one comes to
the point of krishne
bhakti kaile sarvakarma krita haya,
if one is engaged in the transcendental loving service of Krishna
then everything is perfect.”
“You
have to approach a guru, a representative of Krishna, and if he says,
‘It is all right,’ then you know that Krishna is satisfied. You
have to approach a person whose certification of your activity will
ensure that Krishna will be satisfied. You have to find such a
person. Then your life is successful. You will get success according
to your sincerity of purpose, because Krishna is within you.”
“After
understanding Bhagavad-gita,
if one becomes faithful that ‘I shall devote my life for the
service of Krishna,’ then he is eligible to enter into the study of
Srimad-Bhagavatam.
That means Srimad-Bhagavatam
begins from the point where Bhagavad-gita
ends.”
“Mad-bhakta-pujabhyadhika:
‘Take
it for granted that if you worship My devotees, that is more than My
devotional service.’ (Bhagavatam
11.19.21) Krishna is more pleased if you worship His devotees than if
you worship Him. It is very natural. If a gentleman has got a little
child and you try to please that little child, that gentleman
automatically becomes pleased. You can please the child with a
two-cent lozenge, and if the child is laughing and very pleased, his
father immediately becomes pleased. But if you want to please the
father, you will require at least two hundred dollars. So you can
finish two-hundred-dollars’ business with two cents.”
From
a conversation with reporters in Melbourne, Australia, on June 29,
1974:
“Reporter:
Your
Divine Grace, do you see a time coming when all mankind will be
united?
Srila
Prabhupada: That
is very difficult to say, but we can be united on the spiritual
platform, not on the material platform.
Reporter:
Well,
then, would you say that this spiritual unity of all mankind is
possible within this generation?
Srila Prabhupada: It is possible at any time, provided people take to the actual principles of spiritual life. But they’ll not take to these principles. For example, one of the basic principles of spiritual life is no meat-eating. Now, do you think this principle will be embraced by everyone? And yet this is one of the fundamental principles of spiritual life – no meat-eating.
Srila Prabhupada: It is possible at any time, provided people take to the actual principles of spiritual life. But they’ll not take to these principles. For example, one of the basic principles of spiritual life is no meat-eating. Now, do you think this principle will be embraced by everyone? And yet this is one of the fundamental principles of spiritual life – no meat-eating.
Reporter:
Is
that a necessary . . .
Srila
Prabhupada: Oh,
yes. Without this – if you don’t stop meat-eating – you cannot
understand what spiritual life is. One who is mired in sinful life
cannot understand what God is or what devotion to God is. That is not
possible.
Reporter:
And
would it be the same for the rest of what you call the principles of
spiritual life?
Srila
Prabhupada: Yes.
People who are sinful, who do not follow the spiritual principles,
cannot understand God or devotion to God. The basic spiritual
principles include four prohibitions. We instruct our students not to
indulge in gambling, illicit sex, meat- or fish- or egg-eating, or
intoxication, including cigarettes, tea, and coffee.
Reporter: Drinking coffee and tea is also prohibited?
Reporter: Drinking coffee and tea is also prohibited?
Srila
Prabhupada: Oh,
yes. It is also a form of intoxication. Gambling, illicit sex,
flesh-eating, intoxication – these are the
four pillars of sinful life. So unless one gives up these four
things, he cannot understand what God is, what God’s kingdom is,
what our real business here in this material world is – namely
preparing to go to God.”
From
a class on Srimad-Bhagvatam
1.10.3–4
in Tehran on March
13, 1975:
“The
conception of one world state can only be fulfilled if we can follow
the infallible authority. An imperfect human being cannot create an
ideology acceptable to everyone. Only the perfect and the infallible
can create a program which is applicable at every place and can be
followed by all in the world. It is the person who rules, and not the
impersonal government. If the person is perfect, the government is
perfect. If the person is a fool, the government is a fool’s
paradise. That is the law of nature. There are so many stories of
imperfect kings or executive heads. Therefore, the executive head
must be a trained person like Maharaja Yudhishthira, and he must have
the full autocratic power to rule over the world. The conception of a
world state can take shape only under the regime of a perfect king
like Maharaja Yudhishthira. The world was happy in those days because
there were kings like Maharaja Yudhishthira to rule over the world.”
“These
rascal state executive, sometimes they make a show of benefit for the
men, but no benefit for the animal. Why? Why this injustice? They are
also born in this land. They are also living entity. They may be
animal . . . they have intelligence—not as good as of man—but
does it mean that regular slaughterhouse should be constructed for
killing them? Is that justice?”
“If
he comes to the state, the king should give him shelter. Why
distinction? Anyone takes shelter, ‘Sir, I want to live in your
state,’ so he must be given all facilities. Why this ‘No, no, you
cannot come. You are American. You are Indian. You are this’? No.”
From
a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam
1.10.3 in Mayapur
on June 18, 1973:
“Bhismadeva
recommended in the rajasuya-yajña
that ‘Krishna is greater brahmacari
than me. Although I am brahmacari,
but Krishna is greater brahmacari.’
Why? ‘I am brahmacari.
I have avoided association of woman. But Krishna, He was young boy
and He had so many young girls friend, still, He was not sexually
agitated. He is the greatest brahmacari.’
That is the recommendation given by Bhismadeva. When Sisupala was
criticizing Krishna, Bhismadeva supported Krishna, that ‘What kind
of brahmacari
I am? He is greater brahmacari
than me. I think I could not save myself, keeping myself amongst the
young girls. No. But Krishna can do so. He is real brahmacari.’
So therefore His another name is Acyuta, ‘never falls down,’
‘infallible.’”
“Bhisma
promised, ‘Krishna, tomorrow either Your friend Arjuna will die, I
am determined now, or You have to break Your promise,’ because
Krishna said, ‘I will not fight.’ But when Arjuna was practically
devastated by the arrows of Bhisma, he fell down, his chariot broke,
everything shattered. Now Krishna saw, ‘Now Arjuna is going to
die.’ So immediately Krishna took the wheel of the chariot and went
to the front of Bhisma – ‘Now you stop; otherwise I will kill
you.’ So this is fighting. So Bhisma saw, ‘Now Krishna has broken
His promise. I stop.’ So to keep the promise of Bhisma, that Bhisma
promised, ‘Either Arjuna will die, or Krishna, You will have to
break Your promise,’ two things. So Krishna said, ‘Yes, I am
breaking My promise. Don’t kill Arjuna.’ Therefore, for the sake
of devotee, He sometimes breaks His promise. But if His devotee
promises, ‘I shall do it,’ Krishna will give him all protection –
‘Yes, it must be done. In all circumstances it must be done.’
This is Krishna. If His devotee promises something, that ‘This must
be done,’ Krishna gives all protection.”
“So
Maharaja Yudhisthira ruled over the earth. Now, it is clearly stated,
paridhyupantam:
‘up to the limit of the seas.’ That means all the seas – the
Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, the biggest oceans, the Indian
Ocean. That means the whole world. Here is the proof, that formerly
the emperors in Hastinapura, Maharaja Yudhisthira, he ruled over the
whole world. There was only one flag. That is also stated. Up to the
time of Maharaja Pariksit, there was no division. The whole world was
Bharata-varsa, and the emperor of Hastinapura, they ruled over,
paridhyupantam.”
“According
to Vedic instruction, everyone should approach a guru. But who is
that everyone? One who is jijñasu.
Athato brahma jijñasa.
One who is inquisitive to understand, ‘What I am? Am I this body
or something else?’ That is beginning of spiritual instruction.
Therefore, in the Bhagavad-gita
the first instruction to Arjuna was to know that beyond this body,
there is the soul. Dehino
’smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara tatha dehantara-praptir
dhiras tatra . . . [Bg.
2.13] . . . Anyone who is bodily identified, there is no question of
spiritual instruction. He is an ass. Yasyatma-buddhih
kunape tri-dhatuke, sa eva go-kharah
[SB 10.84.13]. The first spiritual instruction is, one must be
convinced thoroughly, vijñana-vidhuta-vibhramah,
that he is not this body. ‘I am not this body. Aham
brahmasmi.’
This realization, ‘I am spirit soul. I am part and parcel of the
Supreme Brahman.’ Krishna is the Supreme Brahman. Param
brahma param dhama pavitram param bhavan
[Bg. 10.12].
From
a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam
1.10.4 in Mayapur
on June 19, 1973:
“This
is very important instruction. If the king of the state is an impious
man, sinful man, that kingdom will never be happy.”
Krishna
wanted Yudhisthira, who was a pious king, to rule the people so they
would prosper in every way, and He wanted to remove the impious
Duryodhana, thus He supervised the whole battle of Kurukshetra,
becoming the chariot driver of Arjuna.
“So
seeing us, the sadhus,
one young man came to me.
So
he introduced himself, ‘Sir, I am Christian. I faithfully discharge
my religious principles.’
So
I, I told him, ‘No, no. You do not faithfully discharge your
religion.’ So he was surprised that without talking with him,
immediately I charged that ‘You don’t follow your Christian
religion.’
‘No,
why do you say like that?’
‘Do
you eat meat?’
‘Yes,
sir.’
‘Then
you are not a Christian. You are not a Christian. Because in the
Christian religion the first commandment is “Thou shalt not kill.”
So you are encouraging killing. How you are a Christian? You are not
a Christian.’ . . . .
Actually
everyone is very proud of becoming Christian, Hindu, Muslim, but
nobody is following. Nobody’s following.”
“So
when one becomes devotee, it is the statement of sastra:
yasyasti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcana... Akiñcana-bhakti
[SB 5.18.12]. Akiñcana-bhakti
means without any motive. That is akiñcana-bhakti.
‘I’ll
become devotee because I’ll get this opportunity to exploit
Krishna.’ That is not devotion. When one shall be ready to be
exploited by Krishna, then he’s a devotee. Not that with a motive,
that ‘I
shall become a devotee and exploit Krishna and Krishna consciousness
movement and aggravate my position as sense gratifier.’ No, that is
not devotion.”
“[Regarding
the Kurukshetra battle] Either this party or that party, it doesn’t
matter. Everyone died seeing Krishna, so they were all liberated. . .
. We have to remember Krishna at the time of death. But Krishna is so
kind, in the Battlefield of Kurukshetra, He’s personally present.
Anyone is dying, he’s seeing Krishna. So what is the question of
liberation? Everyone is liberated.”
Baladeva
Vidyabhushana:
Quoted
in his commentary on Rupa Gosvami’s “Namashtaka 3”:
“O
Vishnu! Your name is spiritual in nature and self-effulgent. Thus
even though we understand but a fraction of its glories, by merely
repeating its syllables we attain a refined intelligence capable of
understanding the Lord. (Rg-veda
1.156.3)
Satsvarupa
Dasa Goswami:
From
Free
Write Journal #23:
“But
even in Prayaga the Lord experienced extreme Vrindavan ecstasies. He
saw the black waters of the Yamuna and jumped in. When He was
returned to the boat, He continued dancing and almost sunk the boat.
And then He heard a cowherd boy playing a flute, and He fell
unconscious. Lord Caitanya was almost too ecstatic to be safely
contained within the world.”
“Prabhupada
showed himself as an ecumenical preacher, especially when he traveled
in Europe and met with priests and seminarians. He was friendly to
them and gave inclusive lectures. When asked by the Franciscan
seminarian at their monastery what Prabhupada thought of St. Francis,
who addressed the various energies of God as ‘Sister Moon, Brother
Sun’ – and later in life he added ‘Brother Death’ –
Prabhupada widened his eyes and said, ‘That is real God
consciousness.’ Traveling in Europe and meeting Christians, he said
all they had to do was chant the name of Jesus and stop eating meat.”
“As
Jayadvaita Maharaja likes to quote, ‘As the sages say, if it’s
not one thing, it’s another.’”
“I
hardly ever go out from the house, and I don’t visit temples or
attend kirtana
melas,
such as the kirtana
mela that’s
held in North Carolina, to which thousands attend every year and hear
the kirtanas
of the wonderful singer Madhava Prabhu. Last year he came to
Stuyvesant Falls and held a kirtana
right across the street in Saci-suta’s yoga studio. That
I was able to attend, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. He keeps the same
tune and the same beat and rhythm and goes for an hour and a half.”
“I
heard someone speak of ‘New Year’s resolutions,’ then I thought
whether I should make some. The first thing I thought of was, ‘I
resolve to improve my japa.’
I also resolve to go on writing for my somewhat small but faithful
audience. I will continue to take part in the out-loud readings from
Prabhupada’s books at mealtimes. I will try to see all living
entities as spirit souls, although it is sometimes difficult.”
“‘A
little louder,
from the heart.’
This was spoken by the kirtaniya
as he led us in chanting Hare Krishna
the same melody
and the same beat
for an hour and a half.
I was attentive and entranced.
From my chair I sat and participated
in the congregational sankirtana.
There were a hundred devotees
in the room
following the kirtaniya
who led us into bliss.”
from the heart.’
This was spoken by the kirtaniya
as he led us in chanting Hare Krishna
the same melody
and the same beat
for an hour and a half.
I was attentive and entranced.
From my chair I sat and participated
in the congregational sankirtana.
There were a hundred devotees
in the room
following the kirtaniya
who led us into bliss.”
Adikarta Prabhu:
Rupa
Goswami mentions in Lalita-madhava
that
Satyabhama is Lord Krishna’s favorite wife although Rukmini is His
first and principal wife.
A
lot of the literature of the Six Goswamis describes Krishna’s
pastimes with the gopis
and
not so much describes Krishna’s pastimes with His queens.
Practically
all the Goswamis, including Svarupa Damodara and Ramananda Raya, were
intimate followers of Radharani.
There
are many religions where people have faith in God, but if one has
faith but no knowledge it is difficult to progress in spiritual life,
and therefore, the Goswamis wrote so many books.
Our
goal should be to love Krishna, in whatever rasa
[relationship].
The
more you know about Krishna, the more you can love Krishna.
The
gopis
and
Krishna have many joking affairs. They do not have sex. They just
have fun.
Akhandadhi
Prabhu:
From
a morning class at Krishna House:
“In
the association of pure devotees, discussion of the pastimes and
activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is very pleasing and
satisfying to the ear and the heart. By cultivating such knowledge
one gradually becomes advanced on the path of liberation, and
thereafter he is freed, and his attraction becomes fixed. Then real
devotion and devotional service begin.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam
3.25.25) This verse really describes sambandha,
abhidheya, and
prayojana.
The
second verse of Patanjali says that yoga is to free you from all
mental anxiety.
In
the beginning Patanjali says you can meditate on anything, to bring
everyone in, like a super Krishna House [laughter], but later on he
makes it clear that you should meditate on isvara,
the
Supreme Lord, Vishnu.
At
one point in his description of yoga practice, Patanjali says, “or
you can just do devotional service to Krishna.”
You
can only get devotion from one who is devoted.
Buddhists
would agree with Kapila that “every learned man knows very well
that attachment for the material is the greatest entanglement” but
they do not know as we do “that same attachment, when applied to
the self-realized devotees, opens the door of liberation.”
(Srimad-Bhagavatam
3.25.20)
I
do retreat groups and all kinds of groups come, but in all cases,
they are looking for a person to follow who has a greater
understanding.
Brahmatirtha
Prabhu:
We had the most successful BI conference in 25 years.
In
my experience of organizing conferences those with good snacks get
the best reviews.
Nanda
Dasi:
Although
killing many people on the battlefield, Yudhisthira had no hatred for
those on the opposite side. He was fighting just as a matter of duty.
Thus he is known as one whose enemy is never born.
Srila
Prabhupada is always interested in the essence.
If
we read the scriptures in a systematic way we will not be inclined to
imitate the pastimes of the Lord.
Even
though Lord Brahma is the most intelligent living being, when he
appeared he was confused about his duty.
Krishna
will reciprocate our attempt to love Him because he is very, very
kind.
Krishna
is not worrying about all the details of each living entity’s
karma; He has agents to do that.
Ramesvara
Prabhu:
From
a morning class at Krishna House:
In
Los Angeles in 1969 Srila Prabhupada standardized the morning program
so devotees would have the same experience in our all temples all
over the world.
Srila
Prabhupada personally trained devotees in cooking, deity dressing,
and studying the sastra
[scripture],
and
those he trained would train others.
He
would have the temple president, head cook, head pujari,
and
head kirtana
leader
in each of the temples come to Los Angeles for two weeks to be trained.
At that time there were twelve temples in America, and one in
England.
Whenever
Srila Prabhupada would chant Jaya
Radha Madhava anywhere
in the world you could see he was completely absorbed in Vrindavan,
and you could sense the of current love of Godhead emanating from
him, and in the videos you can see that the devotees were overwhelmed
to witness it, considering themselves very fortunate.
In
Los Angeles we have one of the steamer trunks that Srila Prabhupada
brought the First Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam
to
America in.
To
be living in the world in a human form during the one time in a day
of Brahma (8,640,000,000 years) when Lord Krishna appears is very
rare.
Krishna
is so attracted by Radharani’s love He decides He must experience
it Himself.
It
is wonderful that our stay in this material world for trillions of
years can be ended in one short Kali-yuga life by the mercy of Lord
Caitanya.
We
are illusioned in that in each life we imagine that in this life we
will be happy.
As
soon as we think “Why I am not the most beautiful, the most
intelligent, the strongest?” we are mercifully removed from the
spiritual world so as not to cause trouble to the pure residents
there.
We
tried to have seven original paintings in each 400-page book. Every
time we had to ask Srila Prabhupada details like: What did Draupadi
look like? What did the devas
look
like? What does this part of the universe look like? He always knew.
I
praised Srila Prabhupada for his writing. He said, “When I choose
each word, I choose very carefully, considering that these will be
the law books for the next ten thousand years.”
When
you read Srila Prabhupada’s books, there is no difference between
the association I had with Srila Prabhupada and the association you
have with Srila Prabhupada.
Q:
During Srila Prabhupada’s time, there was a sense that the
sankirtana would
very soon conquer the world. It is not like that. Why?
A:
When we were awake, we were always bothering Srila Prabhupada, so when was it he
could have time alone with Krishna? Thus he worked on his books when
we were all asleep.
When
Srila Prabhupada said I want all seventeen books of Caitanya-caritamrita
in
two months. I blurted out, “That is impossible!” He looked at me
with a penetrating glance and said, “Impossible is a word in a
fool’s dictionary.”
He
left. We thought about impossibility and realized that nothing is
impossible for Krishna. Then by his mercy only we were flooded with
thoughts about how we could do it.
Anyone
who worked on that marathon, there only credit was they were willing
to work on it. If asked how we did it now, I would say it is
impossible.
In
answer to your question, I would say the only answer is that we are
forgetting that nothing is impossible for Krishna.
Madhumati
Devi Dasi:
Every
kind of knowledge we need in life is there in the Vedas, and
in the cream of Vedas, Srimad-Bhagavatam,
in
addition to pure devotional service to Krishna, other practical
necessities of life are also mentioned.
Many
kings in the Bhagavatam
teach
by their example how to rule, while others demonstrate how not to
rule.
Comment
by Rupacandra Prabhu: Americans tend to think that democracy is good
in itself, but it is just an experiment and that is not true.
Comment
by Lavanga Devi Dasi: The good thing about democracy is everyone can
vote, and the bad thing about democracy is everyone can vote.
Although
superficially it seems the kings are on top, in reality the brahmanas
are
in charge. This is shown in the case of King Venu being removed by
brahmanas
when
he became disobedient to the brahmanas
and
averse to dharma.
Comment
by Rupacandra Prabhu: Although Srila Prabhupada advocates autocracy
as opposed to democracy, Krishna consciousness has spread much more
in countries ruled by democracy.
Our
society is unique in that there is not one guru but many, and the
gurus are subordinate to the Governing Body Commission (GBC).
Lalitanatha
Prabhu:
From
a presentation on Rethinking
Darwin:
Ernst
Meyer said Darwin made more impact on human society than any other
scientist.
Francisco
Ayala writes in “Renaissance Man of Evolutionary Biology,” in
Faith &
Science,
July 27, 2007, “It was Darwin’s greatest accomplishment to show
that the complex organization and functionality of living beings can
be explained as the result of a natural process–natural
selection–without any need to resort to a Creator or other external
agent.”
“This
most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets, could only
proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful
Being.” ― Isaac Newton, The
Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy
The
geochemist Jeffrey Bada, from the San Diego Scripps Institute writes
in an article published in Earth magazine in 1998: “Today as
we leave the twentieth century, we still face the biggest unsolved
problem that we had when we entered the twentieth century: How did
life originate on Earth?”
From a morning presentation at Krishna House:
You
have to be really on the cutting edge of science to present Krishna
consciousness.
I
was impressed that kids from the university here and in Orlando came
to the consciousness conference saying they came because no one ever
teaches about consciousness.
Comment
by Brahmatirtha Prabhu: I know that Sacinandana Swami puts on
conferences with lots of time for people to interact between
sessions, and they are very successful.
In
cultures all over the world there are stone molds into which molten
metal is poured. The indicates worldwide communication as independent
development would be highly unlikely. In one there are traces of
platinum, which has only been known to be worked with for the last
few hundred years.
In
Egypt there are coffins weighing 100 tons made of rock transported
from at least 1,000 km, if from the nearest quarry.
The
Sphinx is carved out of a single rock. One geologist discovered rain
erosion on the Sphinx, but there has not been rain in Egypt like that
for 7,000 years and more like 9,000 or 12,000 years old. Geologists
all agreed with him, but the archaeologists refused to accept it.
In
Turkey there is an accepted 12,000-year old site like Stonehenge but
perhaps 50 times in size. The archaeologists deny the existence of
the site, but you can go there and see it.
In
Bosnia there is a site with two pyramids larger than the Egyptian
Great Pyramid. It is more controversial, and I would not have
included it, had I not been there and seen it myself. It is dated to
15,000 and 26,000 years ago. It is like there is another elephant in
the room, but how long can it be ignored?
These
extremely ancient artifacts are difficult for archaeologists to
accept because they would have to admit they have been wrong for
years and so many books would have to be rewritten. Funding is also
an issue. Most archaeologists are honest and sincere but they have
human imperfections. Because they are paid they cannot give pure
knowledge like the Vedic brahmanas.
There
is in Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu, India, situated on a slope, an
enormous round rock weighing 250 tons that they call Krishna’s
Butterball, which was moved 1,200 years old. How it was formed, which
is not possible by known geological processes, and how it was moved
are inexplicable.
There
is an uninhabited island, Pohnpei in Micronesia, with 7,500 tons of
carved basalt stones although there was no basalt on the island.
In
Kanchipuram there are chains of sandstone fixed into a granite
ceiling as if by melting the stone, but how was that possible?
Caitanya
Carana Prabhu:
From “The Life of Devotional Dynamism” in Back
to Godhead, Vol.
53, No. 3 (May/June 2019):
“If
God had wanted us to be someone else, He would have made someone
else.”
“The
healthiest form of comparison is comparison with ourselves. If we can
strive to every day become a better version of what we were the
previous day, then we are on the sure path to growth.”
Giriraja
Govinda Prabhu:
From “Perspectives on Time and Space” in Back to Godhead,
Vol. 53, No. 3 (May/June 2019):
“The
Bhagavatam invites us
to go higher, up to the spiritual realm, for a complete picture of
reality. Modern science, in its study of space and time, limits
itself to the domain of matter. The Bhagavatam
takes both material and spiritual things into account in its grand
narrative. So it would be difficult to expect science to reach the
exact conclusions of the Bhagavatam
unless science acknowledges spirit, or consciousness, and admits it
into its framework. This may take time. Meanwhile the interested
reader is requested to open-mindedly undertake an in depth study of
Srimad-Bhagavatam,
along with Srila Prabhupada’s elaborate purports.”
Indra
Krishna Prabhu:
From “Time” in Back to Godhead, Vol.
53, No. 3 (May/June 2019):
“Time
is a great leveler; no matter who you are, you have only twenty-four
hours in a day.”
“Today
many people have money, fame, and position, but no time.”
“We
see that destruction and death are occurring around us, but the
import of it all does not get into our brains till we come to the
pages of Bhagavad-gita.”
“So
let me focus on You, my Lord. You, the protector of the world, who
gave me this life will also take it away. I have no complaint,
because I am Your servant. My only request is that I would like to
remember You always, including that moment when I leave this body.
And if I am able to remember only You then, will You take me to Your
world, where there is no effect of time? I know Your promise never
goes in vain. O Lord, please help me remember only You at the end of
this life, so that I do not have to return to this mortal world,
where there is danger at every step.”
Dhruva
Prabhu:
From “Narasimha” in Back to Godhead, Vol.
53, No. 3 (May/June 2019):
“Narasimhadeva
is worshiped and celebrated throughout India, mainly due to the fact
that He is considered the supreme divine protector, something
appreciated by all traditions regardless of sectarian affiliation.
Although Hindus tend to create a hierarchy of gods and often debate
who among them is actually the greatest, Narasimhadeva is respected
by all Indic traditions equally, both in India and in other parts of
Asia. As the divine protector and remover of obstacles, He is seen as
Ganesh’s supreme counterpart. While Ganesh removes material
obstacles, Narasimha can even remove spiritual ones.”
Tulasirani
Devi Dasi:
While
appreciating Krishna House volunteers at the recent consciousness
conference:
Everyone
was amazed how wonderful, warm, and inviting you were.
If
people are charmed by the devotees, they will be more likely to hear
from us.
Ekayani
Devi Dasi:
Because
Krishna has both impersonal and personal features, we can consider
that impersonal realization is simply incomplete.
Comment
by Lavanga Devi Dasi:
I have been around Krishna House for years, and I see those who
formerly practiced some kind of impersonal spiritual path have more
difficulty than who were just attached to sense gratification.
Direct
path (from best to worst):
Complete
absorption in thinking of Krishna
Practice
bhakti-yoga
Work
for Krishna.
Indirect
path (from best to worst):
Meditation
Cultivation
of knowledge
Giving
up the results of work
Hanan
Prabhu:
When
Krishna showed His universal form to Arjuna, at first Arjuna’s
friendship remained prominent, but as the amazing display expanded
unlimitedly, feelings of awe and fear overpowered that.
As
his family members are not interested in going to court to see the
judge, those in an intimate relationship with Krishna are not
interested in seeing His opulent manifestations.
When
the police want to apprehend one who is speeding, they have to also
speed to catch the offender, but that is not considered wrong. The
acaryas
says
that Krishna overstepping rules of ksatriya
dharma
to punish the Kuru warriors on the Battle of Kurukshetra is like
that.
Valmiki
was going to rob Narada Muni, but Narada Muni warned him he would
have to suffer the karmic reactions for that sinful act. Valmiki said
he was not responsible because he was robbing people to maintain his
family. Narada Muni told Valmiki to ask his family members if they
were willing to share the karma from all the criminal activities he
was doing to maintain them, but his family members refused. Thus
Valmiki realized he had to change his lifestyle. Ultimately by
following Narada’s advice he become such an elevated saint he wrote
Ramayana.
In
pure devotional service we must engage our body, mind, and words, not
just one or two of them.
2019
CONSCIOUSNESS IN SCIENCE CONFERENCE
In
1990 Sadaputa Prabhu attended a conference on consciousness organized
by Bhaktivedanta Institute in San Francisco. Now 29 years later, the
friends and followers of Sadaputa Prabhu based in Gainesville and
called Bhaktivedanta Institute for Higher Studies, Inc., organized
another conference on consciousness.
I
was impressed that important people in the field came, notably Stuart
Hameroff, who has a yearly conference on consciousness in Tucson,
Arizona, each April.
Another
presenter, Brenda Dunne, who worked with Dr. Robert Jahn, in PEAR
(Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research) was interesting to me
because Sadaputa Prabhu quoted from their numerous studies which
demonstrate that human subjects can influence the output of random
number generators by their mere intention, which is inexplicable to
modern science.
Perhaps
one of the nicest features of the conference for me was to see
Drutakarma Prabhu for the first time since he and Sadaputa Prabhu
moved in different directions back in 1995, twenty-four years ago.
Although we both travel extensively, we were never in the same place
till now, in all that time.
What
follow are my notes on the conference which are not meant to be
complete but are just things I found interesting or humorous. If any
of the presentations seem attractive to you, someday there will be
video recordings of them all online. For more information on the
conference, go to their home page at https://www.consci19.org/.
FRIDAY
Bob
Cohen, MS, Bhaktivedanta Institute for Higher Studies:
The
mayor of Gainesville taught political science at Santa Fe Community
College, and then decided to do community service and become a
commissioner. Then he went on to become mayor.
Lauren
Poe, Mayor of Gainesville:
We
are one of several welcoming communities in the USA. We join with
faith-based groups and businesses, and try to make new people feel at
home. This is especially important since the last election when there
was a lot of negativity arising toward immigrants.
“I
would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery
than live in a world so small my mind can comprehend it.” (Harry
Emerson Fosdick, Riverside Sermons)
Brenda
Dunne, MS, Director of International Consciousness Research
Laboratories:
My
teaming up with Dr. Jahn was joking called “the marriage of the
white coat and the white turban.” I was the white turban.
The
PEAR (Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research) researchers did
several million trials of participants willing a random number
generator to behave in a certain way.
The
participants would say, “I have to have more than an intention. I
have to have some emotional investment in it.”
The
most amazing thing is that neither time or location mattered in the
studies. The random number generators could be run either before or
after the people had the intention, and they could be situated
thousands of miles away, but still the statistically significant
effect would be there. Thus it was clear that there was nothing going
on in the brain that could have physically affected the apparatus.
Stuart
Hameroff, MD, Center for Consciousness Studies of the University of
Arizona:
Integration
is in the nucleus, and firing in the dendrites.
The
Hodgkin and Huxley idea is standard thought in science these days,
that consciousness is at most an epiphenomena of matter, and that
eliminates the idea of free will.
Penrose
used Gödel’s theorem to show that conscious understanding is
non-computational, that something outside the computational system is
required, and
that ‘something’ is most likely to be involved with quantum
mechanics, such as the the collapse of the wave function and the
measurement problem in quantum mechanics.
Einstein
admitted he was wrong about nonlocality which he did not like like
because it involved going beyond the speed of light.
In
quantum superposition a particle can exist as a wave of multiple
possibilities.
The
‘conscious observer’ effect of the ‘Copenhagen interpretation’
of quantum mechanics means the conscious observers cause the
selection of a single state.
Most
physicists, a plurality, accept the untestable many worlds theory,
which is a cop out.
Sir
Roger Penrose theorizes that the different quantum states are
unstable, and one wins out at a given time and generates a moment of
consciousness.
Anesthesia
acts on microtubules. Research shows that there frequencies disappear
in the blue light region of the spectrum during anesthesia. Thus
consciousness can be thought of as a blue light in the brain that is not emitted. He mentions the blueness of Hindu deities, showing a
photo of Vishnu.
[Comment
by me not made but sent to Hameroff in an email: Interestingly the
Siddha Yoga people speak of a blue light seen in meditation.]
Sir
Roger Penrose argues that Platonic values are embedded in space-time
geometry.
Some
scientists have found in the ICU when about 50% of patients die, for
a minute of time from 90 seconds to several minutes after, the brain
waves jump from almost zero to the level of full consciousness.
Some
Eastern and some Western philosophers say consciousness existed
before the big bang.
There
are about twenty constants such that if they differed from their
present value even slightly then life could not have happened. These
constants could be set by God, or consciousness could optimize the
universal constants in the course of time.
SATURDAY
Bob
Cohen, MS, Bhaktivedanta Institute for Higher Studies:
When
Thomas, after whom this Thomas Center where this conference is being
held was named, was mayor of Gainesville, they were choosing a
city to locate the University of Florida (UF) between Gainesville and Lake
City, where the toothbrush was invented. Mayor Thomas offered free
water, and so UF was established in Gainesville.
Howard
Resnick, PhD:
“The
Epistemology of Physics and Metaphysics”
Science
can only study the physical not the metaphysical. Thus if
consciousness has a metaphysical component science can never
understand it completely.
If
you deny Zeus is the god of sky and thunder you are making a
metaphysical claim just as much as if you say Zeus is the god of sky and
thunder, but you are allowed to do the former as a scholar but not
the latter.
Science
has saved us from fanatical religion but has also become a fanatical
religion itself.
You
cannot prove your waking consciousness is superior to your dreaming
consciousness.
Foundationalism
teaches there are great truths. Those who oppose that say there are
no great truths which is hypocritical because that is also a great
truth.
Democracy
is based on the assumption we are all equal, which is a metaphysical
statement, yet science shows we differ in strength, intelligence,
beauty, etc.
Those
who say “we worship the only real God, and everyone else worships
false gods” can ruin your whole day.
Newton
was one of the best scientists of his day but deeply religious.
[He
tells an elaborate story about how the pope gave Galileo another chance
but he blew it].
In
Europe for years physicists and metaphysicists lived in peace because
science did not bash religion.
Fanatical
metaphysics caused great difficulty.
Now
scientists use the same words they formerly used to discredit
religion and magic in describing quantum mechanics.
Now
we have to restore the balance between physics and metaphysics.
Science
is not the keeper of the gate of objectivity.
We
have to get past both fanatical materialism and fanatical religion.
Someone
said “I am these billions neurons,” but to me that is absurd.
I
love science when it does science and not philosophical materialism.
It
is important to understand “Why?”
Brenda
Dunne, MS, Director of International Consciousness Research
Laboratories:
“The
Science of the Subjective”
Mass
and energy can be objective, but information is subjectively
interpreted.
It
is funny to me that quantum leap has come to mean something very
great when actually quantum leaps are very small.
I
asked a physicist the difference between trivial and nontrivial. He
said trivial means understandable, but nontrivial means impossible to
understand.
When
two hydrogen atoms form a hydrogen molecule the molecule has greater
energy that the two atoms. Where does the energy come from? A little
information is lost, but energy is gained.
When
asked why I was studying quantum mechanics, I said, “I thought I
was studying the psychology of subatomic particles.”
Complementarity
means that there are not two different realities, but two different
ways of seeing the same reality.
Uncertainty
is what you get if you try to describe both aspects of a
complementarity at the same time.
Scientists
could use to learn to say, “I don’t know.”
Objectivity
and subjectivity are two different ways we can interact. I can treat
you as an object apart from me or see what we have in common.
I
see it may be that consciousness creates the perception of space and
time to organize our experiences.
We
studied persons mentally affecting machines, both micro and macro.
We
studied people who visualized from a distance.
One
man tried to replicate our experiment but failed to get the results.
I asked what he told the people who were his subjects. He gave us the
equipment and we spoke different words to our subjects that were more
positive, and we got very significant results.
Martin
Fleming, Director of Science and Philosophy Initiative:
“Why
Consciousness is a Big Deal for Science”
The
trait of consciousness that needs to be described is unified
qualitative subjectivity.
I
am the continual subject of my own conscious awareness.
Qualia
are what we experience during sense perception, for example, seeing
redness. It is not the emotion we experience seeing the redness.
Qualia
are private and indescribable.
“The
dress,” what color is it?
[According to Wikipedia, “The dress is a photograph that became a viral internet sensation on 26 February 2015, when viewers disagreed over whether the dress pictured was coloured black and blue, or white and gold.” Actually the dress on the left is black and blue, but it looks white and gold to me. How about to you?]
We
can understand animals have consciousness if they have qualia.
Crick
and Koch say we cannot account for the redness of red or the
painfulness of pain anywhere in the brain.
Does
every color have a wavelength?
Newton
pointed out there is not a wavelength for magenta. It is a
combination of two colors, but two wavelengths of light do not
combine. The combination is in the mind.
Hitting
the retina are 6 billion bits of information. Ten million bits goes
down the optic nerve, but in the brain there are only 10,000 bits.
Sound
and light are processed at different speeds but are experienced
together.
There
is clear rational evidence that consciousness is a nonneural
phenomenon.
Science
should embrace consciousness and not ignore it. It is the foundation
of science.
If
we see many people have the same subjective experience that is an
objective fact.
Science
deals with how things act but not what things are.
If
you have the idea “I will disprove this experiment” you are
contaminating experiment.
My
daughter once told me: “My mind is like my browser. Seventeen
windows are open, three are frozen, and I do not know where the music
is coming from.”
Louis
Ritz, PhD, University of Florida:
“Shifts
of Attention: The Origins of Transcendent Experiences”
In
my youth I wanted to understand what life was all about. I chose two
paths, neuroscience and meditation.
Our
mind, emotions, and physical frame are like space suits that limit
our consciousness.
Out
of body experiences, meditation, and death change our focus of
attention.
Dr.
Eben Alexander, a neuroscientist, has a book called Proof of
Heaven based on his brush with death.
We
are aware of that which our attention falls on.
Physical
world
Body
Emotions
Mind
You
can control the mind or the mind runs on its own.
Science
has shown a wandering mind is an unhappy mind. It goes to the past
and future, neither of which exists.
We
can quiet the mind with a mantra.
Consciousness
evolves when the self dissolves.
Every
night when we sleep we turn off the world and the body. That leaves
the emotions and the mind. When these are quiet we can pay attention
to the sacred channel.
Did
your parents ever tell you to sit down and be quiet? They were giving
instructions on meditation.
Someone
said, “I am looking for someone with a profoundly quiet mind.” I
did not know who to direct him to.
Ricardo
Silverstre, PhD, University of Campina Grande:
“Dualism
and Beyond: Some Thoughts on Explaining Consciousness”
The
thesis that everything is physical is a very metaphysical statement.
People
see in fifty years many features of consciousness have not been
explained by physicalism.
A
zombie has no qualia.
A
plurality of theories make for better science, so in the face of the
fact that physicalism has limitations, it is good to examine
alternatives.
David
Chalmers suggests adding consciousness to the natural world studied
by science.
William
Haskers suggests emergent dualism. What emerges? Experiences and a
self that experiences. And one more.
At
present we don’t have explanatorily successful dualistic theories.
If
some are developed which can explain consciousness then we can
include consciousness as a feature of nature and thus expand
naturalism.
Stuart
Hameroff, MD, Center for Consciousness Studies of the University of
Arizona:
Consciousness
is a low energy function. In medicine we are always amazed that even
when the body is severely damaged consciousness can still function.
Consciousness
unifies.
Different
features of a visual experience are processed in different parts of
the brain, even at different times.
I
suggest a quantum soul with the same alterations of space-time within
the brain happening outside.
I
see consciousness and good feeling directing evolution.
Mauricio
Garrido, PhD, Bhaktivedanta Institute for Higher Studies:
[This
was immediately after lunch, and I missed part of it.]
The
decision models in business do not take into account the environment
around us.
I
tweaked the parameters based on knowledge of the gunas [the
three qualities of material nature described in the Vedic literature]
to take these into account.
“The
laws of nature are but the mathematical thoughts of God.” –
Euclid
Jonathon
Banks, PhD, University of Alberta:
“Does
Modern Science Falsify Scriptural Claims About the Age of the
Universe?”
We
do not get to define science or the scientific method. These are well
defined.
Different
estimates of the age of the earth:
March
22, 4004 BC (Ussher)
3929
BC (Lightfoot)
20–40
million years old (Baron Kelvin)
4.54–4.56
billion years (modern science)
Fedor
Vodolazskiy, PhD, Ural Federal University:
There
is sound on the madyama (mind) level that can effect
crystallization on metal.
Venugopal
Damerla, MD, ABoiM :
“Neuro-Cardiac
Effects of Audible Mantra Meditation”
90%
of people believe in a higher being.
96%
of family practice physicians believe spiritual practice improves
health.
People
with a spiritual practice live 4 years longer.
mananaath
traayate iti mantrah – a
mantra frees the mind
Biological,
social, psychological, and spiritual are all important.
David
Wolf’s study showed those chanting the maha-mantra had less
depression p < .01, and even 30 days afterwards the depression did
not return to its former state.
Depression
leads to increased heart disease.
Nitika
Parmar, PhD, California State University Channel Islands
The
human genome has 3.2 billion DNA base pairs, sharing 95% with
primates and 50% with bananas.
99.9%
we share with other humans, and the other 0.1% make us unique.
110
billion miles of DNA are in human body when unraveled
Originally
it was thought DNA goes to RNA and RNA goes to proteins, but it has
been shown that proteins can go to RNA and RNA can go to DNA.
DNA
can be changed.
Four
Ss can change consciousness:
Sadhana
– spiritual practice
Seva
– spiritual service
Sadacara
– spiritual behavior
Sanga
– spiritual association
There
is evidence that spiritual practice can change DNA.
Alexander
Zalivin, PhD, Omsk State Medical Academy:
“Clinics
and Dynamics of Suicidal Behavior”
Suicide
is greatest in teenagers and persons aged 45–55.
WHO
(the World Health Organization) considers spiritual health to also be
important.
Who
is at risk for suicide?
Teenagers
/ those aged 45–55
Males
Those
with low education
The
unemployed
Those
with no family or one parent
The
isolated
If
a suicidal person can understand he is not his mind, he can progress
spiritually quickly.
Tom
Aechtner, PhD, University of Queensland:
“Enhancing
Religion-Science Communications”
I
study persuasion for and against evolution.
There
exist different techniques of persuasion:
A.
Messenger credibility
B.
Source attraction
C.
Asking questions
D.
Statistics and technical jargon
E.
Social consensus
F.
Message repetition
G.
Contrast principle and negativity effect
H.
Scarcity principles
I.
Targeting undecided people
J.
Tailor communications
Antievolutionists
use a greater variety of techniques of persuasion.
Advertising
is so effective it is regulated or banned in some countries.
Scientists
assume giving people more facts will make them change their minds,
but that is not necessarily true.
Most
attempts to motivate to vaccinate fail.
If
the people are given appointments for vaccination, but have the
option to opt out they usually go along with it.
In
one-on-one sessions with their doctors, if their doctors recommend
vaccination, that is the most powerful factor in motivating people to
get vaccinations.
Oliver
Zambon, PhD Candidate, University of Queensland:
“Vaishnavism,
Antievolutionism, and Ambiguities: Revisiting ISKCON-Evolution
Discourse”
Modern
ISKCON writing is not so antievolutionary as earlier writing.
Prabhupada
was averse to atheistic ideas but not evolutionary theory.
Prabhupada
was not so concerned about whether there is evolution or not but that
Krishna was understood to be behind everything.
Ravi
M. Gupta, PhD, Utah State University:
“Can
Empirical Observation Influence Scriptural Testimony? An Exploration
Through Jiva Gosvami’s Sarva-samvadini”
Jiva
Gosvami says there are three pramanas (proofs).
Sabda,
trusted literature
Direct
perception
Inference
Sabda
describes things the others cannot touch, and it is independent.
What
does Jiva say is sabda?
The
Vedas.
Medical
texts based on the Vedas.
In
ordinary matters direct perception is not discounted in favor of
sabda.
The
main domain of sabda is that which is beyond what can be
directly perceived.
Sabda
is eternal, but it is revealed at different times.
Sabda
can, when it decides to, overrule our sense perception, but that is
very rare.
Jiva
says the world is real because it is accessible to our senses.
SUNDAY
William
Deadwyler, PhD, Bhaktivedanta Institute:
I
asked Srila Prabhupada how I could help him.
He
said, “You could defeat Darwin.”
I
was in shock, thinking of all the Christian creationists I knew from
Texas, and wondering if we would end up like them.
Then
Sadaputa came to my temple in a sankirtana
[book distribution] van from New Vrindavan. Because he had a Ph.D. in
mathematics they made him treasurer but he lacked the practical
skills of a treasurer. Not knowing what to do with him, they sent him
with a traveling sankirtana party.
Learning
he had a Ph.D. in mathematics, I showed him Prabhupada’s letter,
and asked him if he could defeat Darwin. He replied with words I will
never forget, “Most mathematicians know that Darwin is wrong, but
they do not say anything because it upsets the biologists so much.”
Thoudam
Damodara Singh, PhD – tribute, BS Vrajapati Swami:
Bhaktisvarupa
Damodar Swami got typhoid at fourteen and was cured by a naturopathic
doctor by fasting forty days on whey. Thus in later life he opened a
nature care hospital.
In
Manipur as soon as a child is born, they chant the Hare Krishna
mantra in his ear so that is the first thing they hear.
A
friend told Bhaktisvarupa Damodar Swami when he was in college, “If
you do not come and see Srila Prabhupada our friendship is over this
day.” Thus he met Srila Prabhupada.
Srila
Prabhupada told him, “I have come here to give the Americans
something valuable. Why do you not do like me? Why are you simply
taking?”
He
started schools in Manipur and Agartala.
Nobel
prize winning physicist, William D. Phillips, says that God is a
person.
“I
suspect happiness is not in the purview of physics.” – G.
Sudarshan
Richard
L. Thompson, PhD – tribute, by Joshua Green:
[Note:
Joshua Green said many important things which I did not write down
because I worked with Sadaputa Prabhu for seventeen years and so it
was not new to me.]
Sadaputa
Prabhu found Easy Journey
to Other Planets in
a Boston bookstore in 1972. That book launched him on a lifetime
career.
Themes
in Sadaputa Prabhu’s life:
Life
as more than matter
the
excitement of discovery
inspire
spiritually
“The
most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the
fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true
science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer
marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed. It was the
experience of mystery—even if mixed with fear—that engendered
religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot
penetrate, our perceptions of the profoundest reason and the most
radiant beauty, which only in their most primitive forms are
accessible to our minds—it is this knowledge and this emotion that
constitute true religiosity; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a
deeply religious man.” from “The World As I See It,” by Albert
Einstein.
Robert
L. Wintermute – tribute, by Robert K. Burnside (BBT)
Easy
Journey to Higher Planets
was inspired by the launching of sputnik by the Russians and the
discovery of antimatter.
Ian
Stevenson’s colleague said, “You are either making a colossal
mistake or you are the Galileo for the 20th
century.”
Yamaraja
Dasa was one of the soldiers in the trenches.
BBT
was founded in 1972, and Yamaraja joined in 1973 and worked for 45
years from the BBT.
The
1975 Sri
Caitanya-caritamrita
marathon, in which BBT devotees, challenged by Srila Prabhupada,
produced 17 books in two months, created a competence and spirit
existing to this day.
He
did the layout for Mechanistic
and Nonmechanistic Science.
He
was very stoic although having one of the most painful forms of
cancer.
A
few days before his death, he realized he would not live. His
caretaker said he radiated a glow the last few days of his life.
The
BI in Russia – Natalya Antonova, PhD
The
Bhaktivedanta Institute in Russia went through four stages:
A
Russian devotee philosopher wrote a book on consciousness and mind.
He introduced the term sankirtana
to
the scientific community.
Stage
1:
There
was popularization of Krishna conscious philosophy in scientific
circles in 1980s and 1990s.
They
had institute called Institute of Vedic Culture beginning in 1992.
Stage
2:
They
compared Gaudiya Vaishnava to Western philosophy and culture
beginning in 2000.
They
produced a book called Bengali
Vaishnavism gaining
good reviews in scientific circles.
Drutakarma
Prabhu came to Russia during this period.
Vaishnava
scientists take part in different scientific conferences and are
considered as equals.
Stage
3:
They
formulated an alternative scientific paradigm based on Vaishnavism.
Stage
4:
Synergetic
model of Vaishnava school
We
have first ashram of Bhaktivedanta Institute in Russia.
A
scientific school including epistemology and social philosophy, based
on Srimad-Bhagavatam.
Mauricio
Garrido, PhD, Bhaktivedanta Institute for Higher Studies:
The
main purpose of this conference is to inspire a new generation of
devotees to do consciousness studies.
We
want to do good science and good theology.
For
some years, I saw how other scientists could participate but not how
a physicist could participate.
We
should think:
Is
there something I am inspired to do?
Is
there someone I feel inspired to collaborate with?
Is
there a group I am inspired to work with?
Maybe
you are inspired to bring the lofty knowledge that is discovered down
to the general mass of people.
Allan Keislar: I was researching oxygenated red blood corpuscles when I met
the Hare Krishnas, and I was amazed to find in Srila Prabhupada’s
books: “The individual atomic soul is definitely there in the heart
along with the Supersoul, and thus all the energies of bodily
movement are emanating from this part of the body. The corpuscles
which carry the oxygen from the lungs gather energy from the soul.
When the soul passes away from this position, the activity of the
blood, generating fusion, ceases.”
Dmitri
Mendeleev, the chemist famous for making the periodic table of the
elements, saw a table of rows and columns a Sanskritist was using to
translate Sanskrit to German. Later he had a dream with the elements
being placed in the same pattern.
We
have three audiences:
scientists
the
people in general
practitioners
of bhakti
Doubts
people have:
Will
it jeopardize my career? If so, you do not have to try to publish
controversial things in scientific journals. Other people may
appreciate your contributions, and you can contribute anonymously.
If
we have enough people, we can each stick to that discipline we know
best.
The
Vedas tell much about both transcendence and this world as well. Why?
We have to navigate through the material world to get to
transcendence.
Don’t
have time? Start something small.
Don’t
think that science will take it seriously? Try speaking their
language. Try talking about things they are interested in.
We
want to be heard, and we want people to conclude, “Here is another
good idea.”
Martin
Fleming, Director of Science and Philosophy Initiative:
We
are not trying to prove Vedic statements but show there are relevant
ideas in the Vedas that can help us answer the big questions.
Science
teaches everything proceeds from matter in this sequence: Matter,
universe, life, consciousness.
The
Atma paradigm teaches everything proceeds from consciousness in this
sequence: Consciousness, matter, life, universe.
We
say there is a continuum of reality with the conscious field on one
side and physical matter on the other.
As
a computer requires an interface, we require an interface between our
conscious field and physical matter.
Conscious
Field↔Interface function↔Information Field ↔Physical matter
Because
the sensory information in the brain is insufficient to account for
the detailed images we see it has to be supplemented by sabda
from
the akash.
Remote
viewing experiments give evidence that we can take information from
the akash.
The
potential is more important to the group.
The
specific is more important to the individual who expresses his will.
Rice
experiment by Japanese scientist:
Put
rice into two containers labeled ‘thanks’ and ‘fool.’ Praise
the first and criticize the second, then put them on the shelf, and
look at them after six months, a year, eighteen months, etc. The
‘fool’ one rapidly decomposes but not the other.
Ryan
Bissett, PhD, Science and Philosophy Initiative:
There
are many scientists who have new ideas about DNA.
DNA
is a template library.
DNA
is a master mediary.
Cells
can survive without DNA for a few days.
Drastic
reductionism is out. Systems biology is the new idea.
Organism
use organs which use tissues which use cells. What is the organism
used by? Our consciousness.
The
atma
paradigm is that the atma
uses the organism.
Maybe
we cannot make much difference by our intention but a group of people
manifesting the same intention could make a big different in biology.
There
is an experiment where cells that were inhibited by an antibiotic
grew flagella in a completely new way.
There
is a new field of remote biology.
Martin
Fleming, Director of Science and Philosophy Initiative:
In
Syracuse there is a tree with branches from 40 different trees grafted on to it.
There
is no one tree of life. It depends on what features you use to
construct it. The branches split at no real species, only fruits.
The
trunk and branches are the path of tan-mantric flow.
The
example given of evolution is always microevolution such as the
finches in the Galapagos.
In
the Galapagos the finches are going back to one species as they are
all eating the same human food waste from the tourists.
Now
people are saying the group desires of the living entities are
resulting in mutations even within a single lifetime.
Cointentional
transformation: Transformation
occurs by group desires relating to existence, understanding, and
pleasure.
Consciousness
is the only source of new information.
Altruism
in plants is a great subject for investigation.
You
cannot prove something is random or by chance. If you are using these
words, you are leaving scientific discussion.
If
you cannot show that consciousness evolves from matter, you are much
better assuming consciousness is the beginning.
Kunal Mooley, PhD (Astrophysics), Caltech:
Kunal Mooley, PhD (Astrophysics), Caltech:
It
could be the constants were right from the beginning, or they could
have been properly adjusted later.
At
present there is a chasm of ignorance.
Martin
Fleming, Director of Science and Philosophy Initiative:
We
talk like we have figured it out, but we would like your help.
When
you see high information coming from low information, think about
what is actually going on.
We
are not creationists but co-creationists because the type of universe
we have is based on the desire of the supreme and all of those
individuals here. Thus you cannot blame the supreme.
Dmitriy
Popov, PhD. (Philosophy), Philosophy of Mind and AI Research group:
“Alternative
Scientific School Based on the Vedic Gnosiology”
I
will speak as a Vaishnava philosopher.
Aim:
to
form an alternative (Vedic) scientific school, explain epistemology
of sabda-pramana
and
guru-parampara
Vedic
nyaya
scriptures
are the experience of sages
Krishna
describes parampara
in
Srimad-Bhagavatam
11.14.7–9
and
anumana
in
Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.22.4–9.
Scientific
theory (anumana)
is based on metaphysics (sabda)
and is verified experimentally or falsified (pratyaksha)
[Popper]
Natalya
Antonova, PhD (Philosophy), Chelyabinsk, Russia:
“Maya
as Re-creation of Reality: Consciousness in the Context of E.
Cassirer’s Representation Concept”
different
levels: transcendence, intelligence, mind, physical
Yurii
Zavhorodnii, PhD (History of Philosophy), Skovoroda Institute of
Philosophy, Kiev, Ukraine:
“Yoga
in the Bhagavata
Purana, Book
1”
Westerners
think Puranas
to be mythological and do not think them seriously philosophical.
There
are 664 forms from yuj,
the
root of yoga in
Srimad-Bhagavatam
(Bhagavata
Purana), Canto One, such as:
yoga
bhakti-yoga
yogin
yogesvara
mahayogin
yoganidra
kriyayoga
Srimad-Bhagavatam
emphasizes Krishna is the master of yoga.
Christopher
Beetle, ISKCON, Tallahassee:
[I
insert the abridged version of my paper here. I was frustrated as I could only read about 70% of it, and my audience was only about fifteen people. I got way behind on both preparing this journal and my personal scriptural reading because I took the time out to write my original paper, which I then had to edit to make it shorter. I was hoping to inspire some new people to purchase Mechanistic and Nonmechanistic Science or Bhagavad-gita As It Is, but I doubt that happened.]
“Consciousness
in the Bhagavad-gita”
Although
many scientists think modern science has or will very soon explain
consciousness, other scientists have suggested consciousness is not
explainable by known physical laws. Darwinist Thomas Huxley said, “It
seems to me pretty plain that there is a third thing in the universe,
to wit, consciousness, which . . . I cannot see to be matter or
force, or any conceivable modification of either.” Physicist Max
Planck said, “I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard
matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind
consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we
regard as existing, postulates consciousness.” Schrödinger wrote,
“Consciousness cannot be accounted for in physical terms. For
consciousness is absolutely fundamental. It cannot be accounted for
in terms of anything else.”
In
Mechanistic and
Nonmechanistic Science (1981) (MNMS),
Richard
L. Thompson presents a nonmechanistic theory of consciousness drawn
from the Bhagavad-gita,
a
summary of Indian’s ancient wisdom.
He
reveals his motivation:
It
[science] tells us that the individual person is nothing more than a
machine composed of material elements. This machine has come into
being only because it and the other machines in its ancestral line
happened to be effective at self-duplication in their particular
environmental circumstances. All of this machine’s
attributes—including its thoughts and feelings, its abilities, and
its hopes and desires—are meaningful only insofar as they
contribute to the propagation of the machine’s genetic blueprint.
And this is meaningless in any ultimate sense, for the genes
themselves are nothing but inanimate molecules. . . .
In
psychology the mechanistic premise implies that mind is merely a name
for certain patterns of electrochemical interaction in the brain.
This means that psychological terms such as "purpose" or
"meaning" correspond to nothing more than patterns of
behavior that arose as evolutionary adaptations. The mechanistic
premise implies that it is pointless to seek an absolute sense for
such terms or to apply them on a universal scale, for the universe as
a whole consists of nothing but an inexorable flux of physical
actions and reactions. . . .
Of
course, some people may argue that if we have no purpose in an
absolute sense, we can create our own purpose. Yet . . . if we
contemplate such [a] manufactured "purpose" from the
mechanistic viewpoint, we see it dissolve into nothing but a
meaningless juxtaposition of physiochemical events. . . .
Actually,
the mechanistic principles cannot support any line of reasoning about
how people should behave. The mechanistic philosophy implies that you
will simply do whatever your bodily chemistry drives you to do. This
philosophy denies the very idea of the self as a responsible agent
with free will, and thus it also renders meaningless the idea of
moral choice.
In
chapter one of his book, Richard Thompson analyzes visual perception
and shows that consciousness cannot be identified with the image on
the retina, the impulses traveling down the optic nerve or the
activity in the visual processing centers of the brain. Visual data
is transformed from one form to another, but nowhere is conscious
sight taking place. He concludes that a nonphysical self perceives
and makes sense of complex patterns of information in the brain and
illustrates this with an analogy. As a person reading a book is not
conscious of the ink on the paper but is aware of the plot and theme
of the story, the conscious self is not aware of the states of the
different neurons in the brain but rather complex patterns of
information stored there.
Richard
Thompson justifies introducing the theory of consciousness from
Bhagavad-gita
because
“even though consciousness is a fundamental aspect of reality, it
has not proven possible to adequately explain or even describe
consciousness within the framework of modern science. The problem, in
fact, is not that we presently have an inadequate theory of
consciousness. Rather, we find that our scientific statements do not
even refer to consciousness. This is a fundamental limitation of the
mechanistic point of view, in which we try to reduce all explanations
to mathematical calculations involving measurable quantities.”
(MNMS, p. 76)
Speaking
through the character Avaroha in a dialogue between characters
representing different viewpoints Thompson summarizes the
Bhagavad-gita
understanding
of the conscious self. Thompson uses the term jivatma
instead
of the more common atma
to distinguish the individual conscious self from the paramatma
(the supreme consciousness):
The
Bhagavad-gita
states that each individual living organism consists of an
irreducible conscious entity riding in a physical body composed of
gross material elements. The body is insentient, and it is described
in the Bhagavad-gita
as a complicated machine. (Bg., p. 830) In contrast, the conscious
entity, or jivatma,
is the actual sentient self of the living being, and it cannot be
explained in mechanistic terms. (Bg., Chapter 2) Each jivatma
possesses all of the attributes of a person, including consciousness,
intelligence, and innate sensory faculties. These attributes cannot
be reduced to the interplay of some underlying impersonal entities
that we might hope to describe by a mechanistic theory. In a sense,
we can compare the jivatmas
with the hypothetical fundamental particles sought by physicists.
Just as these particles are envisioned as having certain irreducible
material properties, so the jivatmas
can be thought of as fundamental units of conscious personality
endowed with certain irreducible personal traits. (MNMS, p. 76)
Later
he describes the conditioned and liberated states of the conscious
self:
When the jivatma is embodied, its innate senses are linked up with the information processing system of the physical body, and thus the normal sensory perceptions of the jivatma refer almost exclusively to the physical states of machines, including the machine of the brain. (Bg., pp. 702–704) In this condition, only the jivatma’s direct perception of its own internal sensory and cognitive activities involves something that cannot be described in terms of mechanical configurations. For this reason, there is a strong tendency for the jivatma to overlook its own nature and view the world in an entirely mechanistic way.
But the inherent senses of the jivatma are not limited to observing the states of the physical body. The jivatma is capable of a relation of direct reciprocation both with other jivatmas and with the paramatma, or the Superconsciousness. This mode of interaction directly involves the use of all personal attributes and qualities, and thus it cannot be described in mechanistic terms. It can be understood and meaningfully discussed only by persons who have attained to this level of experience by direct realization. (MNMS, p. 78)
Nobel
prize winning physicist, Eugene Wigner, wrote about this section of
the book, “I admired Avaroha – he not only reproduces . . . the
ideas on reality virtually forced on us by quantum theory, he also
points to the close similarity of these ideas with those of
Bhagavad-gita.
As I said, this was totally new to me and refreshing. Pages 76–78
[which I just quoted above regarding the Gita’s
theory
of consciousness] are truly excellent.”
Thompson further explains, “The advantage of the Bhagavad-gita is that it provides extensive information about consciousness, and it also provides scientific procedures whereby a person may make practical use of this knowledge.” (MNMS, p. 81)
In
Chapter 6 of his book, Thompson uses information theory to explore
the claim that complex biological form can be produced from simple
fundamental laws of nature in the course of vast amounts of time, and
concludes the probabilities are so low that it could not happen.
Complex biological form requires a complex description not present in
the known laws of nature. He then introduces another element of the
Bhagavad-gita’s
description
of consciousness, namely paramatma,
the
supreme consciousness, as the source of the complex forms of the
living entities. As Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita
14.4,
“It
should be understood that all species of life . . . are made possible
by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving
father.”
In
Chapter 7 of the book, Thompson discusses inspiration, where one
suddenly receives the solution to a problem without having
consciously made steps leading up to it. The mathematician Poincare
proposed a model where the brain subconsciously tries many
possibilities until the solution is found. Thompson points out the
enormous number of trials needed and the extremely unlikelihood of
such a mechanism evolving are problems with that model. The model in
Bhagavad-gita of
a supreme consciousness aware of the desires of the individual
conscious self and able to manipulate matter in accordance with them
is a simpler solution. In the Gita,
such
enlightenment by the supreme soul is described in verses such as “To
those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the
understanding by which they can come to Me. To show them special
mercy, I, dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of
knowledge the darkness born of ignorance.” (Bg. 10.10–11), and “I
am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me come remembrance,
knowledge and forgetfulness.” (Bg. 15.15)
Thompson
uses an analogy from science to illustrate the relationship between
the individual and the supreme consciousness:
In
classical physics we can fully characterize an electron as a minute
charged particle that interacts in a certain way with an
electromagnetic field. Similarly, we can understand the true
character of the jivatma
in terms of its natural interaction with the Supreme Person. Just as
we can think of the electron as being defined by its interaction with
an electromagnetic field, we can understand the jivatma
as being defined by its personal interaction with the Supreme
Conscious Being. (MNMS, pp. 79–80)
Features
of that relationship are described in different verses in
Bhagavad-gita such
as 15.7 in which the individual conscious self is said to be an
eternal fragment of the supreme consciousness, 4.11 where the supreme
promises to reciprocate according to the individual’s surrender,
and 9.29, where the supreme consciousness says He is equal to all,
but for one who treats Him as friend, He reciprocates such friendly
dealings.
In
Thompson’s discussion he says though some may protest that
knowledge of the conscious self and the supreme consciousness is not
verifiable, it is certainly more verifiable than some new scientific
theories involving multiple splitting universes. (MNMS, p. 83)
Since
neither the individual or supreme consciousness can be measured with
the devices of science, Thompson proposes the nonmechanistic science
of bhakti-yoga as
the means of verification.
Anticipating
people will argue that the experience derived from bhakti-yoga
is
subjective and thus unscientific, he gives an analogy of two people
watching a sunset in the presence of one who is blind from birth. The
two people describing their vision of the sunset can be confident
they are sharing the same experience, while the blind person may
either accept it or reject it in blind faith. Thus two self-realized
souls could confirm their realization while those not on that level
may or may not accept their version, although it is real to them.
That
the realizations of bhakti-yoga
can
only be confirmed by some, may cause people to reject it as
unscientific, but actually that difficulty is present to an even
greater degree in scientific fields like physics where one needs a
multi-billion dollar particle accelerator and years of education to
verify findings. Anyone can practice bhakti-yoga
who
has the desire to do so, without any cost, special qualifications, or
years of education.
Thompson
explains, “One of the most important principles of bhakti-yoga
is that higher realization is impossible as long as the material
senses are not brought under control. In the materially conditioned
state of consciousness, the jivatma
is motivated by the desire to enjoy his material situation, and he is
completely preoccupied with the barrage of stimuli presented by his
material senses. In this state the jivatma’s
sensory channels are overloaded, and he is unable to perceive the
presence of the Supersoul, even though he is constitutionally capable
of doing this. Since the jivatma
with uncontrolled senses has no direct access to the Supreme Person,
he is prone to indulge in fanciful speculations that simply lead him
further and further from the truth.” Later he quotes one
Bhagavad-gita
verse
in this connection:
“For
one who has conquered the mind, the Supersoul is already reached, for
he has attained tranquility. To such a man happiness and distress,
heat and cold, honor and dishonor are all the same.” (Bg. 6.7)
He
introduces the positive and negative injunctions of bhakti-yoga
which
make conquering the mind possible. These involve refraining from
activities which agitate the senses and thus the mind and adopting
acts to bring the mind in touch with the supreme soul by hearing and
chanting about Him. The absolute is present in the form of
transcendental sound that can be heard and vibrated, and one can
experience this by practice. In the Vedic tradition, one particular
mantra is stressed for attaining realization in this age:
Hare
Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare
Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Although
famously chanted by the Hare Krishnas, other groups such as Siddha
Yoga, also chant it, knowing it to be recommended as protecting one
from the faults of this age and promoting spiritual enlightenment.
Thompson
mentioned just as in science you have authoritative literature and a
community of scholars who can verify one’s progress in a certain
field of study, there are bodies of literature revealed by the
supreme consciousness and others empowered by Him and lineages of
spiritual teachers and communities of sadhus
(saintly
persons) who can verify one’s progressive realizations in
bhakti-yoga and
thus it can be considered a bona fide science, although a
nonmechanistic one.
Brenda
Dunne, MS, Director of International Consciousness Research
Laboratories:
The
human mind has a small but measurable effect on random number
generators. Several kinds of random number generators were used, and
these were tested to be free of interference.
Dr.
Jahn says the human operator seems to enter a relationship with the
machine and both affect each other.
Remote
viewing – a person goes to a place and tries to share information
with a percipient at a distance.
Military
folks have recorded gremlin effects on machines.
I
was not prepared for the degree of recalcitrance we received due to
the nature of the experiments.
Sharing
the findings have been difficult.
One
critic said, “I would not believe in it even it were true.”
We
do not see learning curves or other cognitive effects.
Males
and females produce different results.
Couples,
especially those bonded together, and groups, produce greater
results.
Analyzing
all results it is a one in a trillion chance.
It
is for the next generation to try to understand the phenomena.
Once
a group of Nobel laureates in physics marched into the president’s
office at Princeton demanding we close down as we were an
embarrassment to the university. We got the secretary of defense and
the President to tell the university president they were happy the
university was supporting our work because it was good for national
defense.
We
observed beginners luck. The second time the effect was less, but if
the subjects kept going it would increase and stabilize.
Nothing
gets in the way of your own mind like your own mind.
When
people’s minds were free, there was a greater effect.
Q:
Did meditators do better?
A:
We do not know. We could not study people, only machines. The
psychology department was looking at us.
Q:
Is this type of work continuing?
A:
It is difficult because you could not get funding, and you could not
publish. Some individuals like Dean Radin and Rupert Sheldrake do
such studies.
Robert
Jahn was involved in the Society
for Scientific Exploration, which
was set up and had a journal to provide publishing opportunities for
scientific work not accepted in the standard peer reviewed journals.
Plenary
Presentation on the TOVP Vedic Planetarium
And Museum Exhibits on Elevating Consciousness
And Museum Exhibits on Elevating Consciousness
Robert
Grant:
We
need the best science-minded devotees and the best philosophers to
give their input in the TOVP. We do not want exhibits people will
scoff at.
By
creating doubt in different scientific explanations, we hope to leave
people open to accept the possibility of the Vedic explanations.
Michael
Cremo:
TOVP
will answer “Who am I?” and “Where am I?” according to Srila
Prabhupada’s teachings.
We
will have exhibits showing the limits of anumana
and
pratyaksa, and
we will introduce the idea of sadba
pramana.
Given
the self is not material there must be a place the self can fully
express itself.
Many
scientists believe that universes will ultimately contract.
The
first exhibit will use virtual reality technology to give people
experiences of being different ages, different genders, and different
species. It will ask the question “Who am I?”
In
the material world, souls have to have different material bodies.
There
are 8,400,000 species. Different beings inhabit different lokas
[planets]:
earthly
lokas, hellish
lokas, and
heavenly lokas.
First
we show the universe according to the Surya-siddhanta,
which
is more like the universe we usually see in science.
There
is reincarnation, and there is scientific evidence for reincarnation.
We
need to know where we are to attain the spiritual world as we need to
know where the airport is to catch our flight out.
They
are things in the universe that we cannot see.
There
are also things in the universe that astronomers cannot see.
There
will be exhibits of the unseen features of the universe.
The
most important events in the history of the universe are the
appearance of avatars who teach us why we are here.
When
people have a true understanding who they are and where they are,
they can cooperate to satisfy their material needs in a simple and
efficient way so we can focus on attaining the spiritual world.
Q:
How to avoid people saying this is a Hindu perspective?
Q:
Which arguments are best? Collect all the arguments from devotees and
ask professionals which are the best.
Q:
Science has theories, which are always changing, which are like Veda,
but they are not Vedanta, the conclusion of knowledge.
Q:
Make the chandelier as a hologram.
Q:
If you have dioramas of other avatars that Srila Prabhupada accepted
like Jesus Christ it will make people more open to our ideas.
A:
It should not be presented as one of many world religions.
Q:
Could devotees show how people could apply this knowledge in their
lives?
There
is the physical branch.
There
is a exhibit branch where we have a small dome theater, which will
show videos, and we need all kinds of devotees to produce material.
In
the entry level, we will have an animatronic exhibit of Srila
Prabhupada inviting people to enter into the Vedic knowledge.
Temple
of the Vedic Planetarium (TOVP) Meeting at Brahmatirtha Prabhu’s
Place
Brahmatirtha
Prabhu:
Srila
Prabhupada wrote the temple presidents asking for all the names of
those with masters or Ph.D. degrees, to give to Svarupa
Damodara.
Acyutananda
Swami, preaching to people at Govinda’s Restaurant in New York
City, was telling how we have so many intelligent people in our
movement, and he called over to Sadaputa Prabhu, who was sitting at
another table, and said, “Sadaputa, say something smart.”
Ravindra
Svarupa Prabhu:
Srila
Prabhupada asked about starting a college, “Bhagavata College,”
in Mayapur. I talked to people at the University of Calcutta about
it, and they were supportive and helpful.
I
explained to Srila Prabhupada we need a research library, and he said, “Only our books.” I wondered, “How could we have a whole
library with only our books?” Later I inquired from Srila
Prabhupada and he elaborated, “All the books from the four
sampradayas [the
four bona fide spiritual lineages mentioned in the Padma
Purana].”
Soon
before Tamal Krishna Goswami died, he told me he really wanted to
work on that Bhagavata College, which encouraged me. The next day he
lost his life in a car accident.
We
started a project of microfilming all the Vedic literature called
MATSYA.
In
1910 Bhaktivinoda Thakura wrote to Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura,
and he said many things including, “Mayapur will prosper if you
build an educational institution there.” Caitanya Math there
teaches that all the four sampradayas
teach
acintya-bheda-abheda-tattva.
In
our college non-Vaishnava scholars can participate, but they have to
understand the principles of sattva
as
principles of cognition.
Drutakarma
Prabhu:
I
plead guilty to naming the Matsya Project. A senior devotee asked me
to promote it. I said you have to have a good name.
“Science and Krishna Consciousness: Questions on How to Position Oneself”
[Drutakarma Prabhu read a paper about how to position oneself as a scientist and as a devotee in which he asked a lot of relevant questions. I asked him for the paper, and I insert it here:]
“Science and Krishna Consciousness: Questions on How to Position Oneself”
For
anyone seeking to engage with modern science as a devotee of Krishna,
specifically as a member of the International Society for Krishna
Consciousness, the question of positioning becomes important.
1.
What is my actual identity, and how do I position myself publicly in
relationship to it?
A
practitioner of Krishna consciousness ultimately identifies as a
jiva, an eternal conscious self, whose constitutional position
is to render loving service to the supreme conscious self, Krishna.
But practitioners of Krishna consciousness now find themselves in the
world of matter, which covers but also reveals Krishna. The
Srimad-Bhagavatam recommends that as a first step
practitioners of Krishna consciousness may learn to perceive the
world of matter as a feature of the virat rupa, the universal
form of Krishna. Material scientists also try to understand the world
of matter but in terms of atheistic views, or views that acknowledge
God only as the initiator of the world of matter, which then
continues to function as if there were no God.
So
how does a practitioner of Krishna consciousness position himself in
relation to science and scientists? Is the practitioner positioning
himself professionally in a secular educational institution or
scientific institution? If so, does the practitioner publicly
identify himself as such? If one does identify oneself as a
practitioner, then how does one position oneself to colleagues. Does
one maintain a complete separation between one’s practice of
Krishna consciousness and one’s practice of science? Does one keep
one’s Krishna consciousness as a matter of private belief, which
does not intersect or interfere with one’s practice of science?
Does one’s sharing of one’s Krishna consciousness with one’s
scientific colleagues extend no further than explaining cultural
elements of one’s practices to those who express curiosity about
them? Or does one try to introduce elements of the worldview of
Krishna consciousness into one’s practice of science? If one does
this, how does one position oneself? Does one think, “I am
primarily a scientist, just like all other scientists, but I also
just happen to be a practitioner of Krishna consciousness”? Or does
one think, “I am primarily a practitioner of Krishna consciousness,
who happens to be a scientist”? Perhaps if one is situated in a
secular educational or scientific institution, one is more likely to
adopt the former positioning. If a devotee is situated in an
educational or scientific institution that is part of the society of
practitioners of Krishna consciousness, one may be more likely to
adopt the latter positioning. Should one go so far as to position
oneself as a member of another knowledge tradition engaged in
dialogue with the knowledge tradition of contemporary secular
science? Whatever the case one has to position oneself in terms of
one’s actual intellectual center of gravity.
These
preliminary questions on positioning lead to other questions.
2.
How does a practitioner of Krishna consciousness interested in
science position himself in relation to the traditional system of
Vedic epistemology? A brief summary of this epistemology involves
three pramanas, or sources of knowledge: pratyaksa (sense
perception), anumana (logical inference), and sabda
(verbal testimony, specifically, the statements of sastra). Modern
secular science is based primarily on pratyaksa and anumana,
which are limited and imperfect. The statements of sastra,
properly understood, are taken as expressions of truth. I am here
giving a basic simple understanding. There are of course many nuances
and subtleties. But the point is that a devotee interested in science
will have to position himself or herself in relationship to this
basic epistemology, especially when it involves apparent
contradictions between the provisional conclusions of modern secular
science and the statements of sastra.
Here
one has to also position oneself in relation to traditional Vaishnava
hermeneutical principles for understanding the statements of sastra.
The default position is to take the direct, dictionary meaning of the
words (the mukhya vrtti) rather than taking secondary meanings
or indirect interpretations. Again there are nuances and subtleties,
but whatever the case, one will have to define one’s position in
relation to these hermeneutical principles.
3.
How does a practitioner of Krishna consciousness interested in
science position himself or herself in relation to the core texts of
the Krishna consciousness movement, such as the Srimad-Bhagavatam?
This question is of course related to the epistemological and
hermeneutical questions just mentioned. Practitioners of Krishna
consciousness generally accept the statements of sastra as
evidence, a valid source of knowledge about this world as well as the
spiritual world. Modern secular science does not. One approach might
be to position oneself as a scientist and, while making no explicit
mention of sastra, do research that results in findings that
are in fact consistent with sastra, without mentioning sastra.
Or one could openly position oneself as an advocate of the Vedic
worldview as a source of true knowledge about the observable world,
and propose that the findings of scientific research, properly
understood, are consistent with the Vedic worldview, which should
encourage respect for and faith in the Vedic literature. One way to
accomplish this, while respecting the position of secular science
that scripture is not evidence, is to propose: “If what the Vedic
literature says is true, then we should expect to see X.” And then
show we do see X. Another option, which I personally do not favor, is
that we adjust our reading of sastra to conform to the current
consensus in secular science. My main point is that one has to
position oneself in this regard.
4.
How does the practitioner of Krishna consciousness interested in
science position himself in relationship to Srila Prabhupada and his
statements about science? Any member of the International Society for
Krishna Consciousness, whether a professional scientist or a devotee
interested in science, has to position himself in relation to Srila
Prabhupada in this regard. Ideally, this should be done taking into
account the full range of Srila Prabhupada’s statements about
science and scientists. Some of his statements were more positive,
some more negative. It would be incorrect to take the more negative
statements as representative of his whole point of view, just as it
would be incorrect to take his more positive and conciliatory states
as representative of his whole point of view. I believe it is
possible to formulate a coherent overall picture. But the main thing
is that one will have to position oneself in relation to some
realistic depiction of Srila Prabhupada’s views on science. Some of
us will be doing this as direct disciples of Srila Prabhupada and
others as granddisciples.
5.
How does the practitioner of Krishna consciousness interested in
science position himself in relationship to the previous acaryas?
What do we do in cases where there appears to be some contradiction
between the statements made by Srila Prabhupada about science and
those made by another acarya? The default position for a
member of ISKCON is to defer to Srila Prabhupada. In any case, the
point is that one will have to position oneself in this regard.
Ideally, the decision will be made based on a truly comprehensive
understanding of both the statements of Srila Prabhupada and those of
the previous acaryas.
6.
How does a member of ISKCON interested in science position himself in
relation to other members of ISKCON who have previously made
contributions to science and Krishna consciousness? How can previous
contributions be fairly evaluated, how can there be building on
foundations without blind following or imitation, how can there be
respectful correction of mistakes, identification of shortcomings, or
expressions of disagreement? Similar questions arise in the
positioning of the older contributors in relation to the newer
contributors. How can the new contributions be properly evaluated, so
that new contributions that may differ from older ones are not
rejected just for that reason alone, and not for any actual
shortcomings?
7.
How does a member of ISKCON seriously interested in science position
himself in relationship to the existing science groups and
organizations in ISKCON—the various Bhaktivedanta Institute
branches, other organizations for science and Krishna consciousness?
Is one already a member of one of these institutes or groups? If so,
how should your group relate to the others? Should there be more
unity? Should there be more diversity? Or perhaps one chooses to
remain independent of any group.
8.
How does a member of ISKCON seriously involved in science position
himself in relationship to ISKCON as a whole? This of course will
depend on the other positioning decisions one has made. For example,
has one positioned oneself as a member of an ISKCON science group? Or
is one independent? Whatever the case, the question of the position
of science within ISKCON arises. To what extent should efforts
related to science be supported by ISKCON, including financially?
What priority did science have in Srila Prabhupada’s strategic
vision for ISKCON?
9.
Getting back to questions related to individual efforts, it seems a
member of ISKCON seriously involved in science must ask, “What do I
personally want to accomplish? What aspect of the Vedic worldview
would I like to see introduced into the world of science? And how
exactly am I going to do that? Who will my audience be, and how do I
intend to reach that audience?” The question of audience is
important. Will my audience be professional secular scientists? Will
my audience be devotee scientists? Will my audience be the general
public? Or all three. And again one has to consider positioning. Do I
position myself as an independent researcher and make all these
decisions on my own, or do I consult others or make such decisions
collectively as part of a group, or even take direction from someone?
I
can give answers to all these questions, recognizing that others may
answer them in a different way. But are these the right questions?
Brahmatirtha
Prabhu:
Brahmanas
are facilitated not managed. Historically in ISKCON we tried to
manage brahmanas
and
that created problems.
Some
devotees say, “I am a scientist from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and after 5
p.m. I am a devotee, and never the twain shall meet. I need that
separation.” How many people have felt that or seen people who felt
that?
Hari
(formerly Harikesa) Prabhu:
I
told the head of CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research),
“I am working on a project in India, and I have a question, ‘What
would things look like if we stopped the earth?’”
He
drew this diagram with all these epicycles, and explained, “We like
the sun centered model better because it is a lot simpler.”
I
asked if it was possible to tell which vision was true, and he said, “No, it all looks the same.”
I
said, “Thanks, that is what I wanted to know.”
Ramesvara
Prabhu:
When
I traveled with Srila Prabhupada for a month when I was BBT trustee,
he said, “It is the mission of our movement to oppose any
government or institution that teaches there is no intelligent
designer behind the universe.”
[Regarding
Connecto, a online conference for devotees interested in BI projects]
Murali
Gopal Prabhu:
Study
scriptures with other devotees through the eyes of science.
Study
scriptures with other devotees in your field.
Comments
by Brahmatirtha Prabhu:
For
humanities, we have the VAST (Vaishnava Advanced STudies) conference,
mostly for devotees in the humanities. We want something for devotees
in BI.
Regarding
VAST, we have these guidelines:
Absolute
confidentiality.
Respect.
You
have a degree or equivalent.
Anything
goes.
Akhandadhi
Prabhu:
We
want to get all your papers.
We
want to compile a list of devotees involved in science.
Identity
and Purpose:
Aristotle
introduced the idea of the whole being greater than the sum of its
parts.
Group
contributions:
It
will help build relationships.
It
would be a good way to bring people from all different BI groups
together.
Akhandadhi
Prabhu:
People
want to know, “How is your knowledge going to be benefit us? From
science we get all these nice gizmos. What can your knowledge give
us?”
Can
conscious intent affect machines? Can conscious intent affect
biological systems? That we want to investigate.
Comment
by Adideva Prabhu: The Los Angeles museum has only been working a third of
the time it has been existing. We have to make sure that the exhibits
are maintainable.
Drutakarma
Prabhu:
We
plan to rewrite Divine
Nature and
make it up to date.
Murali
Gopal Prabhu:
The
government in the UK looks for input in curriculum development.
Akhandadhi
Prabhu:
It
is important that devotees know how to answer questions in a way that
is faithful to our philosophy and to science as well.
Selected
Appreciations of the Conference and Suggestions for Improvement
Hari
Prabhu:
If
you try to do too much, you end up doing nothing at all. Do one thing
great. If everyone does one thing great, you will have a great
effect.
Just
sitting is too passive. If you get similarly minded people together
to do a task together, they will be excited.
Sustainability
means doing what you like well. Then you will like it and continue
doing it.
Krishna
Bhajan Prabhu:
I
found people to connect with, and that is what I really wanted.
Murali
Gopal Prabhu:
Start
by writing a paper about something that is meaningful to you in
relationship with Krishna consciousness. Submit it, and we are
willing to work with you.
Anand Kishore das Babaji (formerly Amogha-lila
Prabhu):
I
liked the spirit of it. I am sure Srila Prabhupada was pleased.
Akhandadhi
Prabhu:
We
would not have done it any differently, but we will not do it like
that again.
-----
The
2019 Consciousness in Science Conference reminded me of this
important verse which advises that all fields of human endeavor
should be applied in the service of the Lord:
idam
hi pumsas tapasah srutasya va
svistasya
suktasya ca buddhi-dattayoh
avicyuto
’rthah kavibhir nirupito
yad-uttamasloka-gunanuvarnanam
“Learned
circles have positively concluded that the infallible purpose of the
advancement of knowledge, namely austerities, study of the Vedas,
sacrifice, chanting of hymns and charity, culminates in the
transcendental descriptions of the Lord, who is defined in choice
poetry.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam
1.5.22)
In
the purport, Srila Prabhupada writes, “All the sages and devotees
of the Lord have recommended that the subject matter of art, science,
philosophy, physics, chemistry, psychology and all other branches of
knowledge should be wholly and solely applied in the service of the
Lord. . . . There is no use presenting dry speculative theories for
sense gratification. Philosophy and science should be engaged to
establish the glory of the Lord. Advanced people are eager to
understand the Absolute Truth through the medium of science, and
therefore a great scientist should endeavor to prove the existence of
the Lord on a scientific basis. Similarly, philosophical speculations
should be utilized to establish the Supreme Truth as sentient and
all-powerful. Similarly, all other branches of knowledge should
always be engaged in the service of the Lord.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam
1.5.22, purport)
