Authentic Sprituality vs. Scholarly Presentation: The Truth can be Unpopular

Authentic spirituality, and especially pure devotional service to God, is not about gathering information from scriptures (authentic or dubious), interpreting it in different ways independently, and presenting the various interpretations in an entertaining or scholarly way. This is what many popular personalities in society do. They speak publicly, write books, and so on. Ignorant fools, no matter how academically educated they are, get impressed by such people.

On the contrary, authentic spirituality is about applying unchanging timeless specific principles that are clearly presented in authentic time tested scriptures; principles that are demonstrated time and again by the pure devotees of God in different circumstances of life. These same specific principles are taught carefully and with precision by pure devotees of God as a service to God and compassion for all. They don't feel the need to present something different in order to be popular amongst ignorant fools. Instead they forcefully present the Truth, sometimes going against populist notions, to enlighten ignorant people about their true benefit.

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True Foundations

Certain truths take a long time for us to accept. It takes a humble heart and an unagitated mind to make these truths the foundations of our living.

It's Now Time to Enquire

Atheists write volumes of books explaining how or why God does not exist. But they cannot even explain why or how things that they believe exist exist; unless of course you consider chance as a logical, reasonable, and convincing explanation.

Due to some reason the atheists have got estranged from God. So much so that they are willing to be dogmatic about their chance explanation rather than allowing even a possibility of God.

Science was initially hailed as the search for truth but now it has become more of a rigid institution that is stifling free enquiry into the nature of truth. If trying to prove that there is nothing beyond matter is encouraged, then trying to prove otherwise should be equally encouraged.

What is the goal of humanity? To spread happiness and joy by harmonizing with the truth or to stop further fundamental enquiries about truth and try to be happy in potential ignorance?

The whole world is more or less is ignorant of the spiritual dimension of life. More research into matter is not bringing any fundamentally new knowledge to mankind.

It is now time to enquire into the spiritual dimension of life, individually and collectively. 

Truth about the Absolute Truth

Today’s world is characterized by freedom of expression. Gradually all kind of censoring is going away, subtly at first, blatantly later. All notions of right and wrong are becoming personalized – What I like is good. Period. No other consideration. I don’t poke my nose in others’ life, so I expect that no one should poke theirs in mine. Such freedom of expression has also made its way into notions about spirituality. Spirituality is about the Absolute Truth, which does not depend on personal preferences. However, today, even spiritual conclusions have become a matter of choice, rather than a matter of fact.

In such a relativistic environment, when some spiritual organization asserts their path to be superior to that of others, it’s seen as a clear case of blatant fundamentalism. But, one would do well by taking a step back and evaluating a spiritual path on its profoundness rather than on how it fits into ones current lifestyle. Since spirituality talks about the unchanging Absolute Truth, it’s up to the human beings to align themselves to that unchangeable Absolute Truth, rather than making the foolish and imaginary attempt at changing the unchangeable.

The understanding that spirituality talks about an Absolute Truth which is independent of all personal preferences should make a sincere seeker seek out for that Truth, rather than trying to just reason about it. What’s the guarantee that whatever conclusion his reasoning takes him to is actually the Absolute Truth? Therefore, the scriptures tell about another procedure to approach the Absolute Truth. It does not preclude logic and reasoning, but gives it a particular direction. We will talk about that procedure a little later (look for *).

The scriptures of all wisdom-traditions point us to the Absolute Truth. Not all of them describe the Absolute Truth to the same degree. And sometimes, their conclusions seem to differ. The difference can be understood to be one of two types. Either one conclusion is higher than the lower, and therefore includes the lower one; or one conclusion is actually incompatible with other. Now, if we make a hierarchy of the various conclusions of the different spiritual paths, we must end up with one topmost path which includes the conclusions of all others in that hierarchy. The conclusion of this topmost path thus will most closely represent the Absolute Truth. However, it’s possible that there might still be some other paths whose conclusions are not compatible with the highest in the hierarchy we just described. This means that this left out path neither includes all the conclusions of the others, nor are all its conclusions included in any other.

Since the Absolute Truth must include all conclusions, if we have more than one conclusion claiming to be the Absolute Truth, then only one of them is actually the Absolute Truth, and all others are either bogus, or included in the actual Absolute Truth.

(*) The procedure talked about in the scriptures is one of sincerely following the instructions of the scriptures under the guidance of one who has realized their conclusions. Since the conclusions of any spiritual path are well-known before hand, a practitioner can clearly verify whether his practice is leading him to the same realizations as those claimed by the path.

Now, one may wonder, that by following any one of the scriptures, one can only reach up to the realizations mentioned by that particular scripture. What if there are even higher realizations than that offered by the particular path he is following? This natural question clearly supports the notion that there can be different scriptures which proffer different levels of spiritual realizations to the practitioner and that one path can definitely be higher than the other.

This discussion might prompt one to hastily declare that since there is a possibility of realizations higher than those offered by even the highest conclusions known yet, why not leave aside the scriptures and try one’s own way? This is certainly an intelligent enquiry, but one which is easily answered when one hears the nature of the Absolute Truth from highly elevated souls who have realized the Absolute Truth as the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna.

The Absolute Truth is defined as the source of everything, and of whom there is no source. The Absolute Truth is the supremely independent entity who does not depend on anything else for His existence; on the contrary, everything else depends on Him for its existence. The Absolute Truth is the fountainhead and the supreme controller of everything, including the power of reasoning. No other definition of the Absolute Truth can better this one, and hence, any path that leads one to the realization of such an Absolute Truth can be considered the highest of all.

The Vaishnavas realize this Absolute Truth as the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna. The Vedic scriptures, especially the Bhagavad Gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam, declare Sri Krishna as the Absolute Truth (param satya). No other scripture of the world describes the Absolute Truth in such detail and clarity as do the Vedic scriptures. At the same time, the theistic conclusions of all theistic wisdom-traditions are included in the spiritual path of the Vaishnavas, known as the Bhagavat Dharma.

Even the conclusions of the impersonalist spiritual paths (who claim the Absolute Truth to be an undifferentiated entity with no attributes) are included in the Vaishnava conclusion of the Supreme Person as the Absolute Truth. This is because the Vaishnavas don’t deny the impersonal undifferentiated entity which is the goal of the impersonalist, but on the contrary describe it as an emanation from the Supreme Person, just like sunrays are an emanation of the sun. The sun is clearly superior to the sunrays, being their source.

But what about the non-theistic conclusions of some of the popular wisdom-traditions like Buddhism? The Buddhist conclusion is that ultimately there is nothing. Since the Absolute Truth is the source of everything, and surely something exists (at least the power of reasoning that “nothing exists” exists), and that nothing can come out of “nothing”, the Absolute Truth must surely not be “nothing”. Moreover, the Vaishnavas have positively realized the Absolute Truth as Sri Krishna, and they don’t have to go into a long philosophical debate to convince themselves of that. A man who can see does not have to prove to himself that the sun exists, and the blind man with his own ability can only reach up to the conclusion that there is no such thing as light. On the other hand, how can one realize that actually there is “nothing”? Similarly, some others might claim that actually there is no God. But again, on what grounds can one insist that an entity does not exist when someone else has actually realized the existence of that entity?

By exercising ones mental muscles, one can only reach up to the understanding of impersonalism. This is because material mind and senses cannot conceive of a personality as Supremely powerful as Sri Krishna. Impersonalism essentially boils down to saying that ultimately everything just exists and there is no one supreme entity independent and superior to all other existence. In other words, all entities that exist must just be manifestations and parts of the sum total of everything that exists. And this sum total of everything that exists is the Absolute Truth. Even though voidism (e.g. Buddhism) sounds a bit different in its conclusion, as far as comparison with Vaishnavism goes, for all practical purposes, it’s the same as impersonalism. This is because it doesn’t allow for the existence of a Supreme entity who is the source of everything, and of whom there is no source. In fact, voidism doesn’t allow for the existence of anything! Thus, both impersonalism and voidism are a result of not being able to reach the conclusion of a Supreme Person being the Absolute Truth. Since its not possible to reach the Vaishnav conclusion by one’s own mental speculation, what possibility is there of reaching a higher conclusion than Vaishnavism just by the power of logic and reasoning?

The Vaishnavas have realized the Absolute Truth to be the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna, and therefore, any other conclusion about the nature of the Absolute Truth must either include the Vaishnava conclusion, or be included by it. If not, we can safely reject it as bogus. One has no right (and means) to deny that the Vaishnavas have actually realized the Absolute Truth to be the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna. One can only judge one’s own conclusion against the Vaishnav one. And better still, one can give up ones mental speculation and accept the lofty Vaishnav conclusion and earn a chance to someday come face to face with the Absolute Truth, who is not an unreciprocating impersonal entity, nor is who “nothing”, but who is the supremely beautiful and loving Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna.

Modes of Nature – The Plight and the Extrication

(When Krishna and His friends were threatened by a forest fire, Krishna swallowed the fire.)

December 30, 2007

Dear All,

Yesterday, I was transferred back in time to the days when I was very much entangled and harassed by the modes of nature. The eternity of the soul’s existence can be easily divided into two types of phases of existence – the ones in which the soul is not Krishna Conscious, and the ones in which it is. The former is an existence full of plight and the latter is the existence leading to the extrication from such plight and to the eventual establishment of the self beyond the dualities associated with the modes of nature into the realm of the eternal and blissful existence of the Kingdom of God. Before coming to Krishna Consciousness, making such an analysis would not have been possible. In that state of ignorance, all attempts at rationalizing the observations around are baffled by that unrelenting foe known as the Duality of material existence. This duality is characterized essentially by the personal definitions of the favorable and the unfavorable, and by the dissension caused between different individuals because of conflicting definitions of the same.

We were talking yesterday about different kinds of music – Indian Classical, Western Classical, Jazz, Rock, Metal, and so on… Three of us were there and initially I too was trying to establish by likes and dislikes as the “correct” ones. And inevitably, there was some disagreement amongst us. Since one always wants to be “correct”, a disagreement of this kind suddenly gives rise to at least a slight discomfort in the heart. And as soon as that happened I fearfully realized that I had been gullible and had been sucked into the world of duality once again by the stealthy forces of Maya -- that illusion-causing potency of the Lord which keeps everyone bound to this material world! After this, I lost interest in the discussion and while physically present there I was intellectually trying to get to the essence of what Krishna wants to teach me using this particular situation.

That feeling of discomfort immediately reminded me of the same feeling I used to get before coming to Krishna Consciousness. I remember how I cherished my likes and dislikes and maintained that I was the wisest of all by having those particular ones. That how liking Indian Classical music is better than liking Hard Rock. How tennis was a better sport than cricket. How the sporting heroes I loved were better than their sporting rivals. How the political views I harbored (though I was never really into politics ever) are better than those opposing them. Fortunately, I never cared too much about too many worldly things but of the few I did care for, I was quite strong about it. And of course, those were the ones that gave me most misery.

What is that misery? When one harbors strong likes and dislikes in this world of duality, inevitably one encounters opposing forces in the form of opposing ideologies, fans of other sports stars, patrons of another genre of music, readers of another kinds of books, and so on. In the face of such opposition, one tries to somehow establish within ones mind that what one is doing is the best. Such a mental adjustment is flimsy and once agitated it takes a long time for the mind to again get settled into a calm state. Unfortunately, the time it takes is so long that the probability of having a calm mind for a considerable duration of time is quite low, almost nil. All this eventually leads to the classic heinous philosophical conclusion that is the root cause of all sorts of nonsense that prevails in the modern world – “You do what you like, I do what I like. There is no absolute right and no absolute wrong.” This way everyone can freely do whatever one likes to do without worrying about what others think about it and more particularly, whether it is right or wrong.

This conclusion never ever satisfied my heart. But nevertheless, I had no other option but to accept it in the absence of a better answer. Given all the evidence around me, and without any understanding of the transcendental, this conclusion was all that I had. I even wrote a mail to one of my highly intelligent acquaintances that I accept that “Everything is Relative. There is nothing Absolute”. I was never happy about this philosophical conclusion… but I had no other option.

Truth alone satisfies the heart. If one is not satisfied with the Truth then it means either that what one thinks as Truth is not the Truth or that it is the Truth but that one is not harmonizing oneself with it. If harmonizing oneself with the Truth doesn’t satisfy the heart, then how will anything else for any considerable duration of time? Can building ones life on a flimsy foundation of untruth ever lead to prolonged satisfaction of the heart? Won’t one be harassed by unsuspected harsh surprises if one does not understand what is Truth and what not?

The Truth is that everyone in this material world has acquired a certain combination of the modes of nature based on their activities and desires from their past lives. Everything in this material world, including likes and dislikes, depends on the modes of nature acquired. So its not surprising that different people think different things to be right. The Truth also is that there exists a Supreme Person Krishna (God) who is the source of everything, from whom everything emanates, whose existence depends on nothing else, and on whom everything else depends. He is the supreme cause of all causes and is inexhaustible and unlimited. Krishna is thus the Supreme Absolute Truth. The Truth is also that we are all souls, eternal parts of that Supreme Absolute Truth Krishna and can be happy only if we base our existence on this knowledge. Unless one builds ones life on the foundation of this Truth, one is bound to be unhappy. Not only that, the ignorance of this knowledge of Truth gives room for other partial truths or even blatant untruths to take birth from imaginative brains and become known as truths. And this in turn gives rise to the popular ignorant conclusion that “You do your thing, I will do my thing.”

But, your thing and my thing can not be fundamentally different because you and I have the same fundamental identity (in Truth) as a part of the Supreme Lord Krishna. And thus your thing and my thing should be fundamentally same – to serve Krishna. This is the Absolute Law. Whatever be your material likes and dislikes, mould them in such a way so as to please Krishna! Then, despite your likings being different from mine on a material relative platform, they will be the same on the spiritual absolute platform. Both of us will like to serve Krishna but perhaps according to our different ways. Such is the unifying nature of the Supreme Absolute Truth Lord Krishna! Under Him all contradictions are resolved and hence all philosophical questions answered while completely satisfying the heart.

In fact, by working on such a spiritual platform, ones activities will cease being material. They will be transcendental to the modes of nature because by working only for the pleasure of Krishna, one can cut the strong ropes of the modes of material nature that bind one to this material world. Thus, one who is in the plight of being bound by these ropes can be extricated by using all his activities in the service of the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna. Thus he will gradually transcend the modes of nature and eventually achieve that supreme abode of the Lord in which there are not contradictions and everything is perfect and where once gone, no one returns back to this miserable existence of duality in this material world.

The ISKCON movement of Srila Prabhupada is facilitating such dovetailing of all resources in Krishna’s service all over the world and is thus doing the world the greatest welfare. Let us all join hands and help spread this movement all over the world like wild fire and please Srila Prabhupada and Lord Sri Krishna!

Yours in the service of Krishna,
Abhijit.

Letter To A Polite Refuser

Here is the mail I just wrote to one of my friends when the friend politely refused to donate :-)

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Anyways, I understand. Not all are fortunate enough to understand the significance of this event. Thats why we are building this temple. So that we can propogate the "Science of God" to a large number of people and thus help the whole humanity.

But not all understand this. Most people think that they will become happy if they have a good bank balance, a good education, a good spouse, a good house, good children, good car, and so on.. But any intelligent person can understand that no one is completely satisfied for long with any of these.. everyone is always aiming for something which he has not got or lamenting for something he has just lost.. Carrying on all life in this constant state of anxiety for the future or lamentation for the past, the person one day dies and all that was dear to him/her cannot save him/her from death. So foolish are people that they overlook this stark reality and carry on their day-to-day activities without taking a moment off and contemplating on all these truths.

It is to take people out of this slumber of ignorance that we are coming up with this grand temple. Because people do not accept the truth that God exists, they are sufering and they will ocntinue to suffer unless they accept it. One cannot expect happiness if one totally ignores facts.

We pride ourselves as being scientific minded people but do not try to ask the most fundamental questions and seek their answers.. Who am I? Who is God? Does God exist? What is my relationship with Him? Why is there suferring in this world?

But those who are intelligent ask these questions and for their benefit we are coming up with this temple. But the temple will be such a place that those who just visit will also get inspired and start thinking about these fundamental questions.

Because of this fund raising exercise, I have found out that almost all my close friends are atheists. It is quite unfortunate. Those who say they accept the existence of God do not really do so because they do not act in that consciousness. They do not really try to understand Him and His teachings.. then what is the use of accepting Him?

Why are we more interested in the Scinece of 0s and 1s than in the Science of God? Just saying "I do not believe in God" wont prove His non-existence. And isnt it worth the trouble to try and understand Him and find out whether He exists or not? People take all kinds of trouble to scale the Mount Everest and some die in the process. Then what is the logical reason for not taking the trouble for understanding God? Is scaling Mount Everest more important than understaning God? Is a Ph.D. more important than understanding God? Is anything else more important than understanding God?

Whether you believe or not believe, the truth remains. As the saying goes, "Truth comes as a conqueror for those who know not the art of receiving it as a friend". For those who do not accept the truth of the existence of God, God conquers them in the form of death.

Take care,
Abhijit.

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Things To Ruminate On

Things to ruminate on:

1. My beliefs do not necessarily match the actual reality.

2. Unless I work according to the actual reality I can not expect lasting happiness and satisfaction.

3. Therefore its important that I atleast try to find out the reality.

4. If such a quest requires some difficult steps, then I should take them even if they seem "extreme" because my whole future depends on whether I am ready to take up some pains for lasting gains.

5. What is the use of a "balanced life" if it doesnt give me lasting happiness and joy? In fact, a balanced life can be a means to achieve the end of lasting happiness, but not the goal in itself.

6. I have to accept that I am not happy and satisfied and have never really been so all my life. Therefore, if I carry on with life as I have been all these years, there is not much hope that I will suddenly find happiness and satisfaction. This is not pessimism, but realism and logical reasoning.

7. But that does not mean that I can never be satisfied and happy. Just saying this means I dont really want to take the pains to be really happy. There is a saying "Everyone has the will to win, but not many have the will to prepare to win".

8. Because I know people who are satisfied and happy. So, if I consult them and follow their instructions, I can also find real lasting happiness and satisfaction.

9. But I need to follow their instructions strictly with proper understanding of why I am doing what. I should not whimsically follow some instructions and reject others based on my convenience. Its like taking a medicine does whimsically and still expecting a recovery.

10. Krishna Consciousness is a science and not just a set of beliefs.

11. Its followers are serious about the goal they want to achieve and therefore are ready to take the trouble for it. The followers are very focussed in life and have a definite aim in life. They are happy and satisfied. Therefore whatever they follow definitely works!

12. Some famous critic has remarked something like : "If truth is what works, then definitely there is truth in the message of 'Bhagavad Gita - As It Is' because its followers are so happy and joyful.."

The choice is mine. Do I want to scientifically understand the truth by enquiry, contermplation, regulative principles in habits, service to God, etc. or do I want to reject everything that even slightly goes against my comfort zone and therefore deprive myself of the truth?

Established in Non-Truth!

Dear All,

Suppose I have an exam to give tomorrow. Then accordingly, I will study, not do any dangerous stunts on my bike lest I get hurt, wont stay awake late at night lest I dont get up tomorrow, wont eat out lest I get sick, and so on.. Given the facts, one acts accordingly. Similarly, today I have to leave for Pune from Nanded at night. So, I'll plan my day accordingly. Or suppose I have a deadline to meet at work, then I will work keeping in mind that deadline. However, if I dream that I have to go to the moon today, I will still not plan my day accordingly :-) because I know that it was just a dream. In short, one naturally acts keeping in mind the truth and not keeping in mind the non-truth.

So then why dont we inquire about the Absolute Truth? Who am I? Who is God? Does God exist? What is this cosmic manifestation? What is my role it it? Why is there misery in this world? Without knowing answers to these questions where is the question of happiness? If I am a cricketer, but try to be like a footballer, how can I be happy? If I am a soul and a part and parcel of God, how can I be happy without taking His shelter? How can I be happy if I do not act according to my natural inclinations? How can I expect happiness if I base my actions on non-truth and not on truth?

The truth is that we are all part and parcels of Krishna and therefore its our natural propensity to serve Him. We have forgotten that and are instead trying to serve so many others but not Krishna. Not only that, we keep watching movies and reading novels and therefore keeping ourselves in a dream (fictitious) world and do not open up to reality. Thats why the great Acharyas condemn sense gratification so much. Indulging in personal sense gratification keeps us more and more engrossed in the temporary sense titilations and therefore we are unable to understand or enquire anything about that which is beyond the senses.

So many great saints have given their lives to propogating this message. And still we are so unfortunate that we will continue suferring the miseries of this material world and still not turn our attention to what the saints have said. We come up with our own justifications about why we cannot take to the instructions of the great saints. We think that we know better than the great saints about our welfare. We think that there is no God despite the fact that nothing else has been able to relieve us of our misery. This is our stubborn and foolish arrogance. We are suferring but we will not accept that. We can see that the devotees of God are the most satisfied people, and yet we will not take up the process!

Why? Because we are too attached to sleeping, smoking, meat-eating, watching TV, reading fiction novels, reading newspaper and so on. We can go on for hours speaking useless socio-political talks but wont use that time for chanting the Holy Name. This is our pitiously unfortunate situation.

Who can save us if we cannot identify the truth in the message of the saints and especially of Srila Prabhupada?

Abhijit.

Sincerely In Search Of Truth!

Dear All,

I have a very intense desire to know the Truth. I am ready to take it even if it is painful to digest. I wont say that I am not hurt by pain, but I will surely say that I would welcome that pain if that’s what is required to know the truth. All my childhood life, I had been subconsciously searching out for the truth and after that in my youthhood, I have been very consciously searching out for the Truth. I just have to know the Truth! Perhaps such a quest is termed as philosophical, but I don’t really care what it is termed as by others. All I know is “I want to know the Truth”.

With this background, perhaps my readers can now appreciate why I painstakingly right logical arguments in a lot of articles. However, I would like to add that understanding God is by definition of God, beyond logic. This statement suddenly seems to deflate all the high sounding things I have written in the first para.. but if you think deep enough, it just gets us back to the question “am I ready to accept the truth even though it doesn’t make sense to me at this moment?” Note that we are talking about truth, that which exists without any other support. Truth is truth whether one likes it or not.

However, it also does not mean that one cannot understand anything about God. Saying that it is beyond logic does not mean that there are no other means. The other means we will come to later once there is an honest acceptance of the limitations of logic to understand or express something beyond its domain. Any elementary logician will accept that. One cannot prove properties on fractions in a logical system that defines only integers and transformations on them. Similarly, one cannot prove properties of the inconceivable potencies of God with a logical system that only defines conceivable things and their conceivable transformations. Unless one accepts the limitations of contemporary scientific logic, how can one wholeheartedly focus on a superior logic that explains God quite easily. Why? Because that logic is based on the axiom that God exists and has inconceivable qualities!

No logician can logically argue against an axiomatic system for the simple reason that all practical logical systems are axiomatic. The number theory (who has not heard about it?) is based on the undefined axiom of the point. So, does that mean arithmetic is not a valid truth? In fact, throughout the (quite short) history of modern science, the observations have come first, the hypothesis next, and then the logical systems that were built around the observations so as to mathematically model the perceivable observations. And remember, these logical systems are all based on unverifiable or undefined assumptions which are called axioms!

Modern science accepts (should accept) a theory (or a logical system) only when that theory explains all observable events in that particular domain. Even if the theory is based on axioms (which it always is), as long as it can explain all observations in the particular domain, that theory has some merit. However, as soon as the theory falls short in explaining an event in that domain, the theory is no longer valid and has to be either totally rejected or modified to incorporate the new observation while still able to retain the other observations in its provables. A well known example of how well established logical and mathematical systems can prove ineffective in certain circumstances is how the laws of linear geometry don’t apply in curved spaces. For example, in curved spaces, parallel lines can meet!

But truth, by definition, is unchangeable.

What this means is that a theory constructed by a human being does not represent the truth. It represents a mathmatization (or philosophization) of the observations so far in a limited domain of human perception. And what to speak of the realm of the imperceptible? No scientist or philosopher can claim that his theory or philosophy is the last word in realizing the truth. Any theory or philosophy has to always by definition lag the truth!

This is what I want to establish by this article. That a theory or a system of logic coming out of the human brain can never claim that it is perfect. In fact such a theory will kill the modern understanding of scientific research! How will scientists earn a living if the perfect scientific theory is discovered? Perhaps this is one of the concerns of modern scientists in not accepting the perfect science of God as it is given by the spiritual masters (scientists) of the ancient times. The truth never changes and thus the science given by them is equally valid even today and will always be valid in the future eternally.

So then, is scientific research or philosophical research a waste of time? Yes and No. Yes, if one is concocting a hypothesis based on observations made by undoubtedly limited and imperfect senses, and then constructing a scientific theory or philosophy around it just to satisfy ones intellectual hankering and/or perhaps to get some fame. No, if the scientific research and philosophical understanding is directed towards trying to better understand the already well known and universally accepted Absolute Truth – The Supreme Personality of Godhead!

Having said this, I want to assert that the intent of this particular article is not to prove that God exists or to get into an argument with those who believe otherwise. As I have already mentioned clearly earlier in this article, any theory, whether proposing the existence of God or proposing His non-existence, coming from the limited human intellect, is bound to be imperfect. However, the truth remains irrespective of whether we have a theory that supports it or not. And the human endeavor should be to find out what it is!

Once reaching this mutual understanding that there in no evidence that any theory coming from human intellect can possibly explain all that exists, all the parties involved will be forced to think of alternative ways to find out the truth. This I am saying assuming that all parties are really interested in the truth and not in personal fame and/or in gratifying their own intellectual hankerings.

So, what is the way to get perfect knowledge? The Bhagavad Gita comes to our rescue! Just ask someone who knows it, a bona fide spiritual master, because he has seen the truth! He has seen it because he followed the instructions of his own spiritual master. And so on.. And the original spiritual master is? Yes, you guessed it – God! In the absence of any evidence contrary to this, one has no choice but to accept this method. It saves time too! For a person eager to know the Truth, this is exactly the method. If one carefully analyses this system of ways and means and the ultimate goal (achieving love of God), and carefully studies under the guidance of the bona fide spiritual master, then that person will no doubt realize that this system is more robust than any that has ever been built by modern science. He will realize that this is as scientific (or even more so) than the so called scientific theories of modern science.

But, that initial step forward is required. One has to start following the process to appreciate the system and the philosophy. Any sincere seeker of the truth will take this step, but not those who are not really looking for the truth.

Let me conclude with this : I am not against science. But I am also very much eager to know the truth. And I rather take it from a source that has never got amended (Vedic literature) as instructed by a pure saintly person than from a source that has always proven to be inadequate (modern science with its innumerable amendments) practiced by people full of desires for personal fame and glory and who would not hesitate to change their experimental observations just to prove a theory that they have proposed.

Thank you,
Abhijit.