SCIENCE|SPIRITUALITY|LIFE LESSONS

Scientific And Spiritual Experiences Are Two Dimensions To Be Explored In Life.

Do we believe only in scientific realism or is there a role of intuition, love, and spiritual experiences.?

Science and Spirituality

Is there a hidden power or do we believe only in scientific revelations? Yogic philosophy of Indian culture introducing Buddhi, Manas, Ahankara, and Chitta has explained the concepts of life and living.

While science has its own importance, and it can never be denied, yet we must not forget that there is an important place for spiritual reasoning in life.

Intuition has no scientific basis, yet it gives us hints and signals from the universe and if followed, the results are astounding.

Many a time, I am sitting at home and I get the intuition that someone is remembering me. Sure enough, I receive a call from the person after a while telling me how much I was being missed and that it is time we met and reconnected. What is this? There is no scientific evidence and yet it matters a lot to me in life.

I read an article by Dr. Mehmet Yildiz about Do I believe in angels? and this resonated with me. There may be no real angels with flapping wings yet many of our philosophies encourage us to think those good things that are delivered to us from some quarters which make us believe in the powers of the subconscious.

The yogic practice consists of spiritual well-being and spiritual intelligence, increased levels of spiritual health, and a positive outlook on life, happiness within, and fewer existential anxieties. It is a connection with something bigger than ourselves, and it involves a search for meaning in life. Our personal definitions of life and spirituality change throughout our lives, adapting to our own experiences and relationships.

Science in our lives is very important for the dynamic progress of life but Yoga spirituality goes beyond it and it is yet unexplored. Science goes to the extent of intellect but neglects the other dimensions of the mind that give meaning to our lives.

There are four categories of our minds according to yoga. Buddhi, Manas, Ahankara, and Chitta.

Buddhi

Buddhi or intellect or the logical thinking mind on which our education systems are based but yoga says that the other dimensions are also important. The mind itself has some dimensions

The logical reasoning and the data are based on scientific principles that are tried and tested. If you are able to get better marks than others you are considered intelligent and sharp. You are assessed on the existing data. It does not access anything beyond that.

This is only Buddhi. You are neglecting the other three aspects of manas, ahankara and chitta. Let us understand those concepts.

Manas

Manas or memory is not only the brain but it is supposed to be in all the cells of the body. The cells are supposed to be part of the memory not only of this life but of millions of years. Our body remembers our previous parentage and life.

This is manas or memory and intelligence in every cell of the body but no intellect is present here. This is called Manomaya kosha in Hindi.

We have never been trained to go deep within and look into ourselves or try to remember anything

The brain has intellect but not intelligence.

Ahankara

Ahankara is the third dimension of our mind, called ahankara. It is termed ego, but it is much more than that. It gives a sense of identity. It starts from the time a person is in the mother’s womb it gives an identity and the intellect functions in that context. It functions beyond the intellect because the intellect is part of identity.

Chitta

Chit means meditation. It does not include visualization only . What is happening in other parts of your body functions cannot be forgotten. Does it have the answer to why do our thoughts disturb us? When we think, we say “I think so.” We deeply identify with our thought process, it bothers us.

We do not identify with our foot or hand unless it bothers us. If it functions normally, we do not think about it. Our body is functioning properly so we forget about it. The body is functioning so efficiently we can forget about them.

The notion that if we do something spiritual, our brain should stop working is simply wrong. We are always conscious of things that bother us.

According to Sad Guru, “The moment you identify yourself with your body, your thoughts, your emotions, and many other things around you, the thought process will be endless.”

Being human is being unique

The brain is more sensitive compared to other organs. We are born with organs that have been assigned specific functions. but the brain has a few specific functions, and the rest is left open.

This is the difference between human beings and other animals and creatures in our lives. They are born with specific goals, like eating growing, reproducing, and dying one day. Only a human being can think and use his brain clearly.

Do we think about where we came from? Where should we go? What is our purpose in life?

“ The difference between a human being and any other creature is that in human beings, the cerebral cortex and other parts of the brain have flowered”.- Sadguru

The takeaways

#1. Seen and unseen aspects of life: Scientific reason believes in facts, figures, experiments, and testing and it is very important in our lives to standardize things. We however cannot forget that there are hidden truths in our lives that should also be considered and then there can be a total picture of our lives.

#2. Logical and rational: Science is logical and rational but so is the mind that needs to be explored further to get the true meaning of life.

#3 Beliefs and thinking: Scientific thinking tilts into the fact-finding process and stops there because manas, ahankara, and Chitta are based on a belief system and no research has been done on them. They cannot be defined.

To conclude

The purpose of life should be explored through scientific reasoning as well as considering some belief systems.

Do we believe only in scientific realism or is there a role of intuition, love, and spiritual experiences.?

Scientific And Spiritual Experiences Are Two Dimensions To Be Explored In Life as a whole.We will then believe that there are angels in our lives.

Do read Dr. Mehmet Yildiz’s article below:

©Dr. Preeti Singh, 2021