Your Questions Answered

by Swami Krishnananda

Chapter 14: The Inadequacies of Science

(Addressed to Dr. Saklani)

Swamiji: Modern subatomic science is not measurable in terms of ordinary mathematical calculations. All the values of life get negatived in a realm where mathematics and logic do not operate. In this condition, science also will not operate. When you cross that limit, it becomes metaphysics. It is not physics any more; it is not geology. It becomes meta-geology afterwards, because any kind of measurement, observation and calculation cannot apply in certain realms.

You are feeling that you are sitting here as a whole person, but how should you feel that you are one whole total being when you are made up of little parts? You have got ears and eyes and nose and bone and flesh, heart and lungs. Why don't you feel that you are an assemblage of so many little things? Who is sitting here? You should not say that you are sitting here; you should say that here is a bundle of little particles. Why don't you feel like that?

Here you yourself are something behind science. Your very existence as so and so defeats the calculative process of science. Otherwise, if it is an observable, measurable thing that you are, then you have to describe yourself as an anatomical and physiological entity, and not Mr. Saklani. Who is Mr. Saklani? Is it a nose or eyes or ears? None of them is Mr. Saklani. Who are you then – not the nose nor ears nor brain nor lungs, and not even an aggregate. When you call yourself Mr. Saklani, are you calling yourself an aggregate of little things? No, you are something which is beyond description in physiological terms. So it is said, "Know thyself and be free." You have not succeeded even in knowing who you are.

How is it that you feel that you are one total compact whole, in spite of the fact that you don't seem to be that? Anatomically, physiologically, X-ray-wise, you are not that. The X-ray will never show Mr. Saklani there. Where is Mr. Saklani, then? How did the conviction arise in your mind that you are Mr. Saklani? When no scientific instrument can prove it, why should you say something contrary to it? Here science fails. You will say that what you are feeling is much better than science – let the X-ray say anything, but you are not that.

So, you are a mystery, a mystery that eludes every other mystery. To understand this requires concentration of mind. It is not a question of time. Even if you go on thinking in a shallow way for years, it won't work. If you dig only one foot down, even if it is for years, it won't show water inside.

The entire earth also is a mystery. You must have observed that all the great cultures of the world have thrived in the northern hemisphere. In South America, Africa and Australia you don't find these cultures as you have in North America, Europe and Eastern Asia. Why should the earth be differently constituted in the northern and southern hemispheres? Why should there be a difference?

And, why are there physiognomically different structures of body? The Mongolian, Caucasian, Red Indian, and Negroid all have different faces. Generally, people say there are four types of human structure. Why should it be like that? How is it that if you go north from here into Nepal, to the Chinese and Japanese side, the face changes, and if you go to Africa, it is another? The impact of the structure of the earth on human beings should not really vary, because everywhere the earth is the same, but it does not seem to be the same.

We say the entire earth is a ball of mud, and everywhere it must be the same, but it is not so. It has produced varieties of cultures. If you go to the Middle East, people think in one way; if you go the Far East, they think in another way. In the West, they think in a third way. Why should they think differently? Who told them to think differently?

The very atmosphere of the earth generates the personality, the psycho-physical individuality, and has such an impact upon them that they start thinking differently. Otherwise, why should there be so many different cultures?

The whole earth is made like a human being; it is one person. Sometimes we say it is Mother Earth, sometimes we say the Father in Heaven, whatever. The human personality will, to some extent, explain the difference in the structure of the earth and the whole solar system, also.

The sun is the brain of the solar system, and the moon is the mind. Scientifically you can't understand this. Though the head, heart, lungs, stomach, thighs and legs are all parts of one particular person, they don't operate in the same way. You revere the head much more than the feet. It is not that the feet are unimportant, but they are not so important as the head.

You have certain very valuable parts of the body like the head and heart. The brain and the heart may constitute the positive and negative sides of action, like electricity's positive and negative current. You cannot say which is more important or less important, yet they act differently like sun and moon, yin and yang, etc. But as you go down, the importance becomes less and less. The most important thing is above the neck and the trunk; if any part fails there, the lower parts will not help you much. The whole human being is valueless if one cell in the brain is not working properly. And when you go further down to the thighs and the feet, you would not mind even amputating them, if necessity arises, as long as the upper part is safe. But you won't like any upper part to be removed. There, even a little of it should not go.

Why I am saying this is that the earth also is made in that way only. The upper part, the northern hemisphere, the Arctic region, has some effect, something like the brain of the earth, from where the electric current flows. A peculiar electric current flows from the north to the south. There is one saying that when you sleep at night, you don't keep your head to the north; otherwise, the current will pass through the brain and go through the legs and it will have some adverse effect.

Some people say Lord Siva cut off the head of a little child whom Parvati created from her own body; afterwards it became Ganesha. Parvati said, "How is it that you have cut off the head of my little child?" Siva said that he didn't know and that he would make it all right. He told his retinue to bring the head of somebody who was sleeping with the head towards the north. Nobody was sleeping with the head towards the north except one elephant. So they took the head of the elephant and put it, on the sacred trunk, and Ganesha became elephant-headed. So what is the fate of the elephant? His head went off! In the future, don't sleep with the head towards the north. But actually, the story has arisen on account of this magnetic current passing.

In the same way, the Vedas say that the whole universe is considered as one cosmical human being. You need not call it human; call it super-human. In the Purusha-Sukta the universe is compared to the body of the Supreme Creator. The whole universe is One Person. We say many purushas are there in the world, but they are all like cells in the body of that Universal Purusha.

Thus, everywhere this logic of the structure of the human personality applies, and that is the reason why we say the human body is a miniature cosmos. It is called pindanda, and the other one is called brahmanda. This is the microcosm, that is the macrocosm. So, you are the cross-section of the universe. As the different parts of the body are evaluated by you in different ways, in the structure of the earth also the northern part has one effect, the southern part another effect – and beyond that, in the whole solar system also, says the Veda.

The Sun is the soul of the solar system; the moon is the mind, and all the planets constitute the other limbs of the body. You can go to the galaxies, and beyond the galaxies to the entire space-time structure. Finally, you will find that the universe of creation is one organic living being. That is why they say there is only one God. Just as you say you are one person inspite of your being made of little parts, there is only one Creator, one God, inspite of your seeing many things in the world.

You are seeing millions of things, just as you are seeing millions of parts of the body, but you are one person. In a similar way, there is only One Person in the whole universe. You unite yourself with that One Person. Then, you will have no problems. This is called Yoga, spirituality, religion, or meditation, and that is the aim of life.