Iyya

ஒருபொழுதும் வாழ்வது அறியார் கருதுப
கோடியும் அல்ல பல.

 kural-337

Live in now. Think about thinking….

According to a statement by The Centre for the Study of Science and Religion, sciences respond to a felt need to understand the world, and religions respond to a felt need for the world to have meaning.

From these different starting points, one issue emerges at the junction of any science and any religion — namely, are these felt needs commensurate? That is, is the universe a moral place, so that the natural order is relevant to human lives and values? Do faith and family, love and charity mirror any larger meaning than the meanings we give to them?

Today, to a first approximation, the answer to these questions from any religion is Yes, and the answer from any science is No.

There it is then: the absolute inalienable divide between belief and knowledge where faith, family, love and charity turn out to have nothing in common with facts, formulae, laws and chance. However, if we were to consider the quintessence of the entire above statement as the embedded question: “Is the universe a moral place?” and replace it with: “Is reality a knowable occurrence?” they could start sharing something after all.

Two areas of human endeavour — micro and macro studies — serve this purpose well because while one deals with the deep inside, the other delves into the deep outside.

The deep inside goes deeper than just molecules and atoms; it reaches subatomic distances, then entities that make up subatomic particles and finally those that make them up till even the vanishingly small is breached at Planck length which some physicists sometimes humorously refer to as “God’s unit” since it remains independent of human existence, measurement or scaling and is defined as the smallest distance or size about which anything can be known.

The deep outside goes beyond the solar system, galaxy, galactic superclusters, dark matter, the universe and out of the entire known cosmos into an ultimate unknown order comprising extra dimensions, many worlds and multiverses of which, again, nothing can ever be known.

This leads to the conclusion that belief and knowledge — religion and science — occupy a fragile middle zone of the knowable where things like time, causation, identity and free will make temporary sense. Yet science and religion both say their systems do or can transcend even the unknowable. Perhaps, only this sharing of hubris or ignorance can some day be their common salvation.

-Mukul Sharma

Source: The Economic Times

Iyya Comments:

In reality, there is nothing-its all imagination. “andhathil ulladhi pindhathil ulladhu”. go deep inside, what can you search outside?

On the importance of being steadfast in one’s pursuit and progress, not being wavered by factors within or without, three highly powerful quotes 
from The Bible are very relevant. While one cautions (Luke – 9,62) against looking back after putting the “hand to the plough”, the other (James 1,6) observes, “He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed”. The Book also cautions (James 1,8) that always, “a double minded man is unstable in all his ways”.

One who boldly scorns temptations, allurements and also pressures from all over is the one who obtains final fulfilment to his quest. The dictates of Vivekananda to “detach yourself from everything, however much the soul might yearn for it” and that of Ayn Rand to “live up to your highest vision of yourself no matter what the circumstances you might encounter” — these are guidelines to the earnest aspirant to ensure that his heart does not overpower his head.

In his Moon and Sixpence, Somerset Maugham portrays the character of Charles Strickland who, in his single-minded pursuit, learns not merely to sacrifice his own sinecure living, but also “to sacrifice others”! The enlightened, though brutal indifference to the shallow, is epitomised by the reply of a highly evolved character, in Ayn Rand’s Fountainhead, who on a charlatan’s asking eagerly, “What do you think of me?” replies casually, “I don’t think of you”! The need for clarity is expressed fully in the Bhagawad Gita concepts (2-55,56 and 3-17) of sthira dhee munih and also sthithaprajna meaning, “the seeker of steadfast mind and one who is stable in wisdom”.

In his pursuit, the true aspirant would always be guided in a manner that he does not ever lose his human qualities, becoming unfeeling or cruel to others just to obtain his objective. Only he, who pursues an unclear or a sinful objective, would cause harm through his obstinacy or selfishness. When clarity reigns and the end is always sublime, prompted by self knowledge and inner discovery, there would always prevail a strength of character generating that genuinely professional approach, which would also be marked by concern for others around, as long as they too are genuine and worthy.

Such a noble approach may appear, at first sight, to be ruthless. But a closer understanding would reveal the wisdom and sense of precision within. This verily is the practical working of the well known concept, “iron hand in a velvet glove”. This also, indeed, is practical wisdom! 

-K Vijayaraghavan

Source: The Economic Times dated Jan 12 2009

Iyya Comments:

Everything came from one single thing - if this understanding dawns to one, he is brahman. Single point unwavering mind=amaidhiya irunga, whatever which you dont like, how it came, it will go off in the same way…