When a child is born, does it first become aware of its own existence or that of its mother? We will perhaps never know the answer to this question. But what we know for sure is that as soon as a child comes out of the Mother's womb, the mother becomes the other! The mother is then no longer a part of the child's sense of Self, but is still someone the child feels deeply connected with. For some months after the child's birth, there is also perhaps the confusion about whether the child and the mother are two separate individuals or the same. Though this confusion subsides over the years, there are other things the child gets to interact with at varying levels of intimacy. There is a sense of separateness with certain things at certain points of time, and then there is also a feeling of oneness. The love and hatred that a person experiences for his/her favourite sports teams is also a result of his/her own changing mental landscape. There is a world that exists outside, and there is its reflection that exists inside. Another perspective could be that the world outside is a reflection of the world inside. Which of these perspectives is right, and which of these worlds is more real is hard to say. But the two worlds do exist and they are not really the same. The world outside is made of matter. And the world inside consists of the mind and consciousness. The world outside can be measured. And the world inside can be experienced. Can a measurement be experienced, and an experience measured?
Measurements and experiences are equally important pillars of the human society. Measurements enable us to have interactions between individuals at various levels. And experiences enable us to make sense of those interactions. Both are essential for a fulfilling human experience. If we could only measure but not experience, we would be no different from lifeless machines. And if we could experience without being able to measure, we would end up being too frustrated with our solitary existence. Measurements enable communication with the world outside. And experiences enable communication with the world inside. A deeper exploration of the world of measurement has led to tremendous developments in science and engineering. And a deeper exploration of the world of experience has led to the development of various Yogic techniques.
Since both measurement and experience pertain to the human condition, it is natural for there to be some interaction between the two. And undoubtedly, scientists have shown lot of interest in learning the Yogic techniques of meditation for improvement of their quality of life and reduction of stress levels. And modern Yogis regularly use many of the technological gadgets to reach out to people in a more effective manner. Although there has been a healthy interaction between scientists and Yogis on this front, there is another aspect where there seems to be a serious conflict. And that pertains to all Yogic siddhis mentioned in the scriptures like the Patanjali Yoga Sutras [PYS] that seem to defy modern science! Its fine as long as PYS talks about meditation and states of consciousness. But its claims on the subject of matter and its modifications seem in direct contradiction to modern science. One standard approach that scientists usually take is to completely discard all these siddhis as mere hallucinations or fancy imaginations. But that's not a rational approach since the possibility of acquiring siddhis has been supported by Yogis of the highest character and integrity over many centuries up to contemporary times. We do not have to blindly believe in them, but we should not discard them either without trying to properly understand. As Aristotle once said, "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." Is it possible to reconcile Science with Yogic siddhis?
If we look at various scientific theories carefully, we will find that they all pertain to interaction of matter with itself. For example, Science describes interactions between electron-proton, electron-photon, proton-neutron, etc. Strictly speaking, there is no scientific theory of matter itself! This is a very important distinction to make. Just because we have a scientific understanding how how an electron will interact with another electron, does not imply that we have a scientific understanding of what an electron actually is or the nature of its interaction with consciousness. On the other hand, PYS talks about interaction between consciousness and matter, and also about interaction of consciousness with itself. But why should interaction of consciousness/mind with matter be any different from interaction of matter with itself?
At the fundamental level, it is almost impossible to say with certainty whether matter and consciousness are two different things or identical with each other. Science is currently tied up with theories of particle interactions, and does not have any coherent theory of consciousness. There are some scientists who believe that consciousness is an emergent property of matter, but these ideas are still in the domain of speculation largely, because till now, there is no scientific instrument that can measure consciousness. This is a very important point, since for a theory to be called scientific, it should be possible to validate/falsify its predictions through empirical measurements. Yoga, on the other hand, clearly states that consciousness is within the domain of experience and is not necessarily within the domain of measurement. And we know that different humans can experience the same object in different ways. And the same human can experience the same object in different ways at different points of space-time. Even though the same set of particles/waves fall on our sensory organs, it can still lead to very different experiences within the mind. Thus, there does seem to be a fundamental difference between matter-matter and matter-mind interactions. This concept can actually have very profound implications for modern science.
When the theory of quantum mechanics was developed in the early 20th century by physicists, it sent massive shock waves in the entire scientific community. Many leading physicists, including Albert Einstein, found it very hard to accept this theory for several reasons. One of the most profound aspects of quantum mechanics is the role of an observer. Newtonian mechanics is simply a set of equations which can be solved to precisely predict the future of classical systems if we know their initial conditions. Quantum mechanics, on the other hand, does not give a single solution for a given initial condition, but a collection of several solutions with varying probabilities. A system on its own is said to be in a superposition of all these varying solutions at any point of time, and collapses to one of them due to an act of observation. This is a very disturbing concept if one thinks about it deeply and has led to many philosophical questions like, "Does the moon exist when no one is watching it?". Physicists have since then proposed theories of decoherence which try to take away the requirement of observation at least for large systems with many interacting parts. Though this may restore sanity at the classical level in some sense, there is no way to escape the role of observation at the subatomic levels. And it is this concept of observation that connects Science with Yoga.
In order to make sense of the Yogic siddhis described in PYS, it is important to understand the underlying process, at least to some extent. PYS describes a process called samyama through which most of these siddhis get activated. Samyama is a very complicated concept which only avid meditators can properly explain but, for our present purpose, it will suffice to say that it is a certain process of intense concentration which leads to a fundamental change in the nature of observation carried out by the mind. What this implies is that during our usual wakeful state, we can only perceive certain aspects of reality around us, and it is possible to perceive much more by properly training our mind. What this also implies is that all the varied solutions that the current theory of quantum mechanics gives us for a given system is only a small subset of a much larger set of possibilities. Just because the current theory of quantum mechanics does not include these possibilities does not imply that they do not or cannot exist. But whether quantum mechanics can be expanded to include all these possibilities will depend on whether their effects can be empirically measured by mechanical instruments. The aphorisms of PYS neither support this possibility nor do they deny it. But what they do clearly state is that it is possible for humans to enhance their abilities of perception through certain Yogic practices to experience these possibilities. When we look at the moon on a clear night, can we be sure that all that there is to the moon is what we can see with our naked eyes or even with the most powerful telescope?
In summary, Yogic siddhis are not really in opposition to modern science. Science is only about what can be measured using a mechanical experiments. And Yoga is about what can be consciously experienced by a human being. Science is about matter-matter interactions. And Yoga is about consciousness-consciousness and consciousness-matter interactions. To say that matter-matter interactions is all that there is to reality is surely meaningless since humans experience subjective consciousness all throughout their lives, and the idea of observation is important even in quantum mechanics. What Yoga says is that observation comes in many varieties and it is possible to radically enhance our perception through certain techniques, which can lead us to perceive things that is beyond the capabilities of unconscious machines. Here it is also important to note that these advanced Yogic practices should be taken up strictly under proper guidance. This is because, as quantum mechanics also says, at the subtle levels of this world, a system exists in a superposition of many different possibilities and we can't be sure which one will our system finally collapse to. Some of these possibilities may be desirable and some may be undesirable. And proper guidance helps us in ensuring that we avoid those undesirable possibilities.
Note : Practice of the Yogic siddhis described in PYS is not required for spiritual progress and is actually best avoided since it can have undesirable consequences. However, siddhis are an integral component of Yogic scriptures and hence, it is important to try to understand them in the light of modern science which has become so ubiquitous in our daily lives.
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