Dr Harish Chandra's article in Vedoday2050 October 2010
Vedoday2050
Vedoday2050
Volume II, Number 9, October 2010
Since March 2010, we have been discussing the faculty of knowledge that is the first element in the three-fold human pursuits, called Prasthana-Trayi – Jnana, Karma and Upasana. The common thinking is that Jnana (knowledge) is the means to select the correct karma at a given point of time. And, with good karma one gets success in Upasana (being with God, the Cosmic Spirit). However, we noticed in our discussion that success in Upasana leads us to a better understanding of the knowledge that we started with. Now the knowledge is less bookish and more experiential and it is so about the spiritual knowledge. Ultimately, the true spiritual knowledge gives rise to liberation from the cycle of birth and death. Thus, knowledge is the beginning and end, too. This is the full circle that encircles the human life in a meaningful manner. But it includes karma and Upasana (meditation practices as described by Patanjali) as integral elements. In the last couple of millennia, people lost the understanding about the holistic nature of Vedic view of life. Then they coined the word Jnana-Yoga, Dhyana-Yoga, Karma-Yoga, etc. as if there are many possible ways to attain ultimate objective. This is a gross misunderstanding of the Vedic teachings. The correct understanding is that there is only one Yoga and that is acquired by continuous practice in all the faculties of Jnana, Karma and Upasana. Two months ago, we discussed the need to balance life in so far as acquisition of knowledge is concerned. We must go for both material sciences and spiritual sciences simultaneously on a day-today basis and be clear in mind that the former is the means while the latter is the end. Today we want to discuss these two types of knowledge and their growth and/or decline with time
Knowledge – Its Evolution or Devolution
It’s well recognized that the build up of knowledge, and its transmission and preservation are the most important human pursuits. In the age of rapid scientific development we tend to think that knowledge build up is evolutionary in nature. For example, Newtonian laws of mechanics explained the motion of gross bodies but failed in the realm of minute particles where quantum mechanics developed. Similalrly, the bodies moving at large speeds comparable to the speed of light didn’t obey the Newtonian laws and then came the theory of relativity. These are the examples of the evolution of knowledge. We will simply remark here that we merely discover knowledge that is pre-existent and don’t quite invent it. The knowledge of quantum mechanics and theory of relativity existed a priori as the natural laws (and may be there are more accurate versions yet to be discovered by us) and our quest for true knowledge brings them to our awareness. It is not that the material sciences have evolved. The correct way to put forth is that our understanding of the material sciences has evolved. Thus, the word evolution of knowledge is left rendered incorrect in the context of knowledge build up.
However, the realm of spiritual knowledge is quite a different story. Let us first make the fundamental remark pertaining to our encounter with knowledge. According to the Vedic tradition, we have inherited Vedas when the humans first came into existence. Humanity has thus possessed the knowledge of Vedas since the Day One. Distinction should be made here about the two types of knowledge. The first humans had the ultimate spiritual knowledge in their experiential mode but the material knowledge was in its seed form. Thus, the challenge for humans has always been dual in nature: First, to preserve the spiritual knowledge that we had ab initio inherited and Second, to build up the material knowledge. The balance should always be maintained between both types of knowledge that the latter is the means and the former is the end.
Today we live in the modern age when the material sciences have advanced greatly but the spiritual sciences are at their low point. Many intelligent people even question the very concept of God. Most of us live as if matter only exists. Furthermore, there are people following one religion or another who profess to believe in God but their understanding of God is very skewed that they have wrong knowledge about spirituality. As we know, wrong knowledge is more harmful than lack of it. Thus, we shouldn't be surprised that followers of religions perform in a manner worse than atheists do. One example is due to the class of people called suicide bombers - an atheist is less likely to become a suicide bomber!
Vedic Rsis were successful in the dual task of evolving the material sciences and arresting the decline/devolution of the spiritual sciences. They could foresee that the later generations may not be able to get to the depth of the Vedic teachings and its sublime beauty. To help them, they produced several disciplines of knowledge called Vedanga - Siksa (Phonetics), Vyakarana (Grammar), Nirukta (Etymology), Jyotis (Astronomy), Chanda (Metres) and Kalpa (Rituals). They evolved/developed Vedanga body of literature to arrest the devolution/decline of the Vedas.
In conclusion, our understanding of a particular type of knowledge may evolve or devolve with time. Broadly speaking, spiritual sciences devolve with time whereas material sciences may evolve or devolve with time. The first humans were at the climax of spiritual sciences and inherited the material sciences in its seed form. India for several millions of years maintained a balance that it remained at the climax of spiritual sciences and also developed all kinds of material sciences including Vedanga body of literature. Today the challenge with us is to revive the true spiritual sciences contained in Vedas. Maharshi Dayananda (1824-'83) did the essential work by interpreting Vedas in classical form with the help of Vedanga. That should be presented before intelligent and open-minded people worldwide.
- Dr Harish Chandra
B. Tech. (IIT Kanpur)
Ph. D. (Princeton, USA)
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2. Previous Vedoday2050 articles: Dr Harish Chandra's previous Vedoday2050 articles may be seen at: http://groups.google.com/group/vedoday2050?lnk=srg&pli=1