Dear Sundari,
Thank you so much for your reply and for sharing the satsang! I can’t claim to understand all the theories and explanations behind black holes and the event horizon, but I find it mind-blowing. And just from a standpoint of reasoning, everything you say seems to reveal the biggest blind spot of most, if not all, scientists!
You express it so well: “Though they can infer that the senses do not give the whole story, their epistemology does not allow them to make the leap to identifying the knower as the one non-negatable Self, Consciousness appearing as the scientist…
They do know that you can never get rid of the substratum, the unified field. But what they cannot register is that Consciousness is another name for the unified field, or what Vedanta refers to as “Existence with a capital ‘E”.
Consciousness/Existence is not an object of perception because it is that which makes perception possible. There is no way from within the creation to understand this. And sadly, science is stuck trying to prove the unprovable within Maya.”
Some books I’ve been reading recently (on neurosciences and psychology) just hover around the edges without really “getting” it, while acknowledging that some Eastern scriptures and philosophies might have more to teach than the scientific establishment is always ready to accept (and they usually lump them all together in a paragraph or two!).
It would be wonderful to have more of science as seen and explained by Vedanta, as you did in the satsang – I haven’t phrased it in the best way, but perhaps you know what I’m trying to say with “explained by Vedanta”?
And the funniest thing of all is that if a scientist actually uncovered this knowledge, he or she would probably be awarded a Nobel prize!
Vedanta is truly a great gift to humanity.
With much love.
Sundari: It is so true that everything the scientist uncovers about how the field of existence works was known by the rishis of old in the Vedanta lineage. There is nothing in the field of existence that cannot be explained by Vedanta. Though sadly even if nonduality were to be recognized by science it would not change anything in the life of the scientist unless they took Consciousness as their true identity. Even if science is grounded in Consciousness, without Self-knowledge it won’t make any difference to existential suffering. Maya is a wonder indeed!
Vedanta is a science of Consciousness, but scientists (and intellectuals) invariably dismiss non-duality as spiritual nonsense. You can approach Consciousness with the intellect, but you will only get to the doorway of Self-knowledge and no further. Isvara is very strict about such things. You will not get through the door until the intellect has been trained to think differently and the mind has evolved to want different things, or Isvara will not give you a pass.
To want different things, the mind must be purified. And to think differently, you need to be taught. To be taught, you need the right qualifications. Without qualifications, you will not get anywhere and dismiss non-duality as an interesting theory. You have glimpses of it, but it fades in and out, which is very common with inquirers, especially those with so many ideas and opinions. James and I have both written extensively on science and Vedanta. For the mind to accept the true import of nonduality, it must be prepared to forego all it thinks it knows.
And scientists for the most part are very invested in their intellect and ability to think, so it is not likely that many of them will develop the qualifications. Though there have been many scientists that have come very close throughout history, Einstein is perhaps the most famous. But not close enough, unfortunately. Recently a branch of science has evolved to a more enlightened approach regarding the ‘study’ of Consciousness, but even the most enlightened scientists still objectify Consciousness and confuse the apparent reality, reflected Consciousness (mithya) with pure Consciousness (satya).
Vedanta has no quarrel with science, but, as I said, it is only a suitable means of knowledge for objects. The problem with science is that it represents the mind’s best effort to figure out the objective truth of the material reality, within the confines of the apparent reality. It cannot step outside of the apparent reality without Self-knowledge. The only way to step out of Maya/mithya is with Self-knowledge, there is no other way. How do you explain that to someone who thinks the creation is real?
When you have Vedanta as the lens through which you view the world, it really does not matter what science or anyone other means of object knowledge says about the nature of reality. You observe it all with some amusement because everything can be known and understood from the Self’s perspective. An individual jiva is not omniscient like Isvara is because we do not know all the factors operating in the field. But we know how things operate and we know the essence of all life, thanks to Self-knowledge. So, there are no more mysteries, only the certainty of the One Self in which everything resolves.
Much love
Sundari
