Yoga and Scientific Thought

YOGA AND SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT ¹

The earliest form of yoga appears to have been the simple form of Pranayamaordained for every twice-born to be practised in the course of Sandhyaprayers (Sandyavandana), as detailed in Vayumahapurana. This simple form had been given the name of Pasupata yoga, a cultus cultivated to realise Pasupati, a manifestation of Lord Siva.  The prevalence of the practice of this yoga cult can be traced as far as the third millennium B. C. The strenuous spade of the archaeologist, while unearthing the full-fledged civilisation, pre-Aryan and far anterior to that of the Vedic period, on the banks of the Indus, in the chalcolithic period of India’s history, craned out some finds with the emblems of the Yoni and the Linga, the characteristics of Saivism representing Siva and Devi, symbols of the “Creative Principles of Life.” These discoveries, without much risk of interpretation, corroborate the existence of a historical period during which this yoga cult was current, hand in hand with Saivism. In later literature Siva goes by the name of Yogeswara, and is considered to be the originator of yoga. Hindu scriptures mention that yoga was first taught by Parama Siva to Parvati, his consort, to realise Brahman, the All Supreme. Though the cult was in vogue since long, the word yoga occurs first in the Rig Veda, the first and foremost work in Sanskrit.

The word yoga, is derived from a Sanskrit root equivalent to the English word, ‘yoke’ derived from the same Sanskrit root, meaning ‘to join’ This word gained a very prominent place in the realms of the literature of the various systems of Indian Philosophy. None of these has refrained from seeking help from this pregnant word yoga, which ultimately means the act of diverting the senses from this gross world, curbing the dross of the Mind, to harmonise the individual self with the Divine Self, that is, becoming one with the Divine Self by the subdual of all outward-going energies, and by gaining balance and by maintaining equilibrium between all the constituent forces in a man, till they vibrate in perfect attunement with the One, the Supreme Self. This is the purpose of yoga. The word yoga crept into literature and gained currency, having ultimate meaning as the conception of a personal God who is indissolubly linked with the subtlest form of matter.

Yoga is primarily suggested in four forms, namely, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Raja Yoga. But as human intelligence developed, and as spiritual revelations dawned on the horizons of the human mind, the term yoga was further extended, to Sankhya Yoga, Buddhi Yoga, Dhyana Yoga and Sanyasa Yoga. But all these were only varieties of the same yoga that manifested itself at different stages in the practice of an aspirant, and came into vogue as per the modus operandi of the exponents. Different ways were indicated to cater to the needs of varied tastes and temperaments. These different methods, leading to the ultimate goal of Liberation of this small self in order to become one with the Supreme Self, had the fundamental unity that underlies the spiritual experiences of these exponents. All these forms of yoga were but the facets of one spiritual life, dealt in isolation only for purposes of metaphysical speculations and theoretical discussions.

Of all the Yogas, Karma Yoga comes first because Karma and Janma(action and birth) are concomitant. The word Karma has a very wide as well as a very narrow meaning. But it must be always understood in a comprehensive sense. It includes all conscious and voluntary acts of man which have any moral value, because morals are higher than rituals and at the same time the Karma does not ignore the value of rites and ceremonies, and it can also be humanitarian work or social service. It is the discipline of the will. This Yoga teachesthe aspirant to give up both the fruits of action and the agency of action as well.

The seeds of Bhakti Yoga are sown in the final stage of Karma Yoga. One learns to give up the fruits of action and the agency of action while actually taking part in it. It is only by means of self-absorption or self-forgetting love, one will be able to achieve it. Thus Karma, slowly but definitely, automatically but unconsciously, leads one into the regions of Bhakti, and between Karma and Bhakti there is no deep line of demarcation. Here one dies unto one’s self and lives unto God, and makes himself or herself a perfect instrument of God, eliminating every trace of self or ego. Pure Bhakti or self-forgetful love of God lifts the soul to a spiritual plane where a higher law of Love, the law of God, prevails. This Bhakti is of nine types, known as Nava Vidha Bhakti, entailing the excessive emotionalism of the five different schools, that is, Pancha Bhava. The warm emotion of Bhakti should be held in its place by more enthusiasm on one hand and spiritual vision on the other. It is the discipline of emotions. Bhakti Yoga leads to Dhyana yoga. Dhyana yoga is nothing but an intensive phase of Bhakti yoga in which state the soul raises itself to the heights of the eternal bliss, living through rolling moments of rapt prayer standing speechless but serene. By this means the holy communion is achieved and this union with a spirit higher than the human self, with God, is known as Jnanaor self-realisation. The word Jnanacomprises much more meaning than what it corresponds to in the English word “knowledge”. Jnanais both knowing and being the known. It is even more. It is the secret of Thriputi, that is, the secret of the unity of the Trinity: the knowing, the knower and the known. “Thou alone knowest Thyself Through Thyself, O Supreme Person!” (X-15, Gita.) This is the final stage of spiritual life. The spiritual life begins with the awakening and proceeds along Karma yoga and Bhakti yoga to Dhyana yoga, and culminates in Jnana yoga.

The sustained and continued practice of the above three yogasleads to a stage where everything is done in accordance with certain laws and rules in a very well-regulated manner: even the minutest act, even the least conscious act of breathing. This discipline mode of living, embracing the above mentioned three Yogas, is Raja Yoga. It starts with the control of Prana by which all forms of energy are being manufactured. “What is it, knowing which everything is known?” is the inquiring objective of Raja Yoga. It further teaches, in simple and unambiguous terms, the value, the worth, the merit and the power of that particular part of human energy which expresses itself in sexual thought, and in the act of procreation, which, when checked, controlled and conserved, changes into a potent power ‘Ojas’ which, in its turn, changes into ‘Tejas’. Indian sages, of times beyond the reach of history, knew that sexual vitality and sexual energy were potential ‘Tejas’, but modern science and modern thought see in sex only a biochemical product of the human mechanism, moving towards procreation and the gratification of the senses.

That part of pranayamawhich attempts to control the physical manifestations of pranaby physical means is called physical science. Prana manifests itself as mental power also. It can only be controlled by mental means, and that part of pranayamathat tries to control the manifestations of Prana as mental force by mental means is Raja yoga. Raja Yoga awakens the immeasurable power lying coiled up in every human being, and arouses it, and makes it enter into action. This power is known as Kundaliniin the yogic terminology. All manifestations of supernatural power or wisdom are only the promotions of a decimal part of that current into the Sushumna, a passage that runs straight from the pelvic region through the spinal column to the pituitary region.

Patanjali, the venerable codifier of this science of yoga, has given eight steps (ashtangas). These are arranged in gradation, each one more difficult to master than the previous one. They are: Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi.

Yamasignifies truthfulness, non-stealing, continence and non-receiving of gifts.

Niyamameans cleanliness, both external and internal, contentment, study, and adoration of God.

The third step is that of Asana, that is, a posture for contemplation. A posture is necessary to keep the body motionless, lest its unchecked restlessness should disturb the mind and dissipate the energy of the will.

Pranayama, the fourth step, has to be practised with the greatest care. This word is heard many a time. The real meanings and the full significance of the word, Pranayama, is intelligible to but a few.

The next step is Pratyaharawhich means the restraining of the senses from gratification.
Next comes Dharana, that is, the holding and the fixing of the mind on certain points to the exclusion of all others, that is, the fixing of attention on the image of God.

Dhyanais the next step in Yoga and means contemplation on the Self, that is, when the mind is free from the thraldom of the senses, when it is not allowed to wander outwards but is employed in the contemplation of the Self or the Atman.

These last two naturally lead to Samadhiwhich is the state of super-consciousness. It means absorption in meditation. In this state, the soul is able to enjoy its essential nature which is total Bliss.

These various processes, prescribed by Yoga Sastra for the attainment or the realisation of eternal Bliss, lay open a royal road to reach this goal, and hence the term Raja Yoga. The conscious mind acts as a gate at each stage, closing this road at different points, and it requires eight keys to unlock and pass into the next stage, and these are the eight keys that lead the soul to the regions of Bliss, of Liberation.
For the practice of Raja Yoga a sound body is a pre-requisite. To keep the body in good condition certain exercises are prescribed. These exercises comprise or asanas, that is, the various postures of the body, each one of which has a separate significance of its own, and a definite purpose to serve. Further, certain ablutions are also prescribed for the internal cleansing of the physical system. A series of all these purposive acts, to tone up the body and to withstand the rigours of yogic practices, put together, is called Hatha Yoga. This is a necessary counterpart of Raja Yoga.

Ancient rishis had formulated these as aids to spiritual culture, the preservation of high standards of health, vigour and vitality to achieve the Soul. Whatever they did, they did in the best scientific way, congenial to the physical and mental qualities of a human being, taking into account the nature of his physical conditions, his mental attitudes and his social environment. The continued practice of Raja yoga on the lines laid down by Maharshi Patanjali will lead step by step to the ultimate goal of Nirvikalpa Samadhi, as already mentioned, a state in which mere mental activity is lulled down, and the pure chit or chtlitanya, the core of the Atman, achieves self-expression and self-realisation, and that is Libeation. During the practice, a process takes place in which the scattered splendours of the mind focus themselves on one object, and super-human powers (Siddhis) become manifest. The aspirant is here severely tested. If he or she does not rest content to possess and perfect and perpetuate these powers but goes furtherer ahead, the mind and its prior evolutes merge in Prakritior Nature in regard to the aspirant, and the individual dissociates the long-associated Prakriti or Nature from self and enjoys the glory of the nature of the Atman, the Ultimate Truth.

Continued and constant practice makes one a perfect yogi.
The yogi gets the power to create many bodies and to tenant them each by a mind and to control all such minds by his mind. Thus the Yoga Sastra of Patanjali is a great boon. It is a guide for the development of modern science in the right direction. Yoga is the science of all sciences. Savants of yoga in antiquity perfected various sciences, employing the powers attained by yogic practices for the benefit of mankind, in an efficient and powerful way, without the aid of modern paraphernalia. Their yogic vision itself was searchingly powerful and curing. All modern scientific advances put together do not endow on men, even for a fraction of time, that Supreme Bliss which is enjoyed in the state of Samadhi.

The body is linked to the mind. Since the dawn of history various extraordinary and supernatural phenomena were regarded as happening to human beings. Cosmic consciousness was being recorded as in progress. Expert occultists demonstrated the phenomena of the separation of the astral body from the physical body. Some superficial scientists, when unable to explain the various extraordinary yogic phenomena, studiously managed to ignore them. Many scientists who were sensitive were endeavouring to study, to investigate and to generalise in respect of such phenomena which were the outcome of rigid yogic practices. Man can control his inner and outer nature and transmute himself into something supra-human or divine. This represents a form of personal discipline, with the object of ‘yoking’ the body to the soul, and ‘yoking’ the individual soul to the universal soul. From a practical aspect its aim is to help the cultivation of emotional stability.

It begins with a unique and unparallelled exploration in the regions of the involuntary muscles, and with bringing them under the control of the mind, and proceeds to liberate the mind from its sense-impressions, from its own drag-like layers that clog it by constituting narrow subconscious instincts, like ego and sex. Finally, it aims at the destruction of the mind for the liberation of the soul, which, in the very recent years of this century, has been expounded and demonstrated by Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi of Arunachala. This is Maha yoga. The soul transcends this stage, having freed itself from the bonds of the mind, and becomes inseparably merged in the Supreme Soul. The individual soul, thus librated, shines from within the tabernacle, seemingly attached to worldly things like any common man. But this attached-detached state develops as though it were as natural a state as a state of attachment, and the individual soul begins to identify itself with the Supreme Soul, which is known as the Sahaja Samadhi and the resulting yoga is known by the name Brahma yoga, the cultus of Sri Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi.
The goal of life is self-realisation. All branches of Indian spiritual science (the yoga systems) have one goal in view, the liberation of the soul through practice. Every man wants happiness, and shuns pain. No one need teach any one to seek happiness It is the innate inherent nature of every one to seek happiness because one’s essential nature is Ananda. All the different yogas (paths) are not antagonistic to one another. On the other hand, they are complementary. They only indicate that the methods adopted, in the several branches of the spiritual science of the Hindu religion, must educate and develop the whole man, his heart, head and hand. Then only man reaches perfection. One-sided development is never commended. Karma yoga purifies the mind and develops the hand. Bhakti yoga destroys inconstancy, Vikshepa, and develops the heart. Raja yoga steadies the mind and makes it one-pointed. Jnana yoga removes the evil of ignorance, Ajnana, develops will and reason, and brings knowledge of self. Each yoga should be practised, with Jnana yoga as the principal one, and the other yogasas auxiliaries to get rapid progress.

All yogasare based on the ascetic principle that spirit should conquer flesh. They lead humanity from matter to life, from the mere consciousness of an animal to the self-consciousness of man, and from the self-consciousness of man to Universal Consciousness or the Bliss of God. With the appearance of man, with an ego, as a free agent, the beginnings of a conscious purpose appear. The ego and the free agent take devious ways, and suffer frequent slidings. All the yogasare for the quest of the Supreme Self, for the conquest of the Ego. The purpose of every yoga is the same. The motto of every yoga is contemplation, concentration and conquest.
Science in the study of a thing from its very origins–of how it generates, develops and reacts to the rest of creation in mutual relationship. It is a critical attitude. It is an attitude, no doubt resting content with tentative conclusions, which tries to put each observed fact in a universal scheme of creation. Revolution of thought in this direction commenced since the days of Aristotle. He was the most profound of all the Greek thinkers. He insisted that no natural phenomenon could be explained scientifically until the purpose it served was really understood and fully taken into account. After 2000 years his thought survives, and we are where he was. Search for final causes was not thereafter logically insisted on till the Renaissance in Europe, till Europe’s Middle Ages came to an end. Even then there were pitfalls in scientific thought. There were lapses into mid-thinking and into premature explanations of observed or grasped phenomena. Physical crucibles of observation soon outnumbered and outlawed Mental crucible of explanation. The physical sciences grew into modern times in a lop sided way.

Modern thought may be said to have begun with the rejection of this Aristotelian doctrine. Modern natural science came into being as the result of a growing determination to banish purposive explanation from scientific procedure. It may be said without much risk that Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes of the 16th and 17th centuries were the first to anvil and hammer out the problems of scientific method. Both of them at a particular stage agreed and accepted that nature did serve an ultimate purpose. Their protest was that the strategy of this purpose was not known, and was not open to empirical observation. That strategy was a mystery. Thus, Bacon in one of his famous essays confessed: “I had rather believe all the fables of the Legend and the Talmud and the Alcoran than that this universal frame is without a mind...For while the mind of man looketh upon secondary causes it may some times rest in them and go on further, but when it beholdeth the chain of them, confederate and linked together, it must need fly to Providence and Deity.” This was to say that the Aristotelian tradition was after all justified in the main concern which animated it. The desire of science to interpolate a multiplicity of final causes as for each link of the chain of scientific explanation, before reaching the end of the chain, was wrong. Even more wrong was the attempt of science to read into each link or each detail of nature nature’s final cause itself instead of a limited cause that serves, and links itself to, the final cause, without itself being the final cause.

The influence of a sage in matters spiritual ismore conspicuous when he, without disclosing to his disciples the ends he has in view, is able to make their behaviour serve these ends. Similarly, the wisdom of God is more subtly displayed when nature acts in one direction and providence elicits from nature results in another direction.
The aim of every science should be to have the correct conception of Truth or God, and of the relation between Truth or God and the world. This physical world is conceived as having been created by God, or as having emanated from Him, or, at the very least, as having the same substance as God. Nature itself is divine, and therefore holds the ultimate principle of its explanation within itself. Ancient science was essentially deductive inmethod. The great thing was to understand the pattern and then to understand the details, to discover the essence of natural objects and then to follow their behaviour. The aim of Bacon and Descartes, and of a host of 17th century scientists, was to understand the pattern which is ‘hidden’ from us, and, therefore, they sought from the ‘hidden’ end. The method of modern science is fundamentally inductive, working by observation or experiment, using the evidence of the senses, believing naught else. It is glorifying the link and ignoring the chain. It is putting trust in movement without achieving a sense of direction.
There are two aspects of modern science which set it in contrast with ancient belief, namely, its dependence on empirical observation or experiment, and the measure of its placing man in control over processes of nature. In this connection the declaration of Descartes in his “Discourse on Method” deserves attention. Bacon’s conclusion of his “Novum Organum” with the statement of his belief that the development of the new science would lead to a progressive improvement of man’s estate may also be recapitulated. The dreams dreamt in the early seventeenth century were not fulfilled till the middle of  the 19th century. Science, after a strenuous struggle for about a period of three centuries, arrived at the following results: (1) The ultimate basis of the whole universe consists of indivisible material particles called atoms. They are 92 in number. But the number used in the actual creation of the world is only 14, the others occurring very rarely. (2) Matter and energy are two distinct entities. Mass is the peculiar property of matter, and energy is without that property. (3) It is the inter-action between these two that creates the world, and the law which operates in this process is the law of casualness or the principle of determinism. These findings pale down when viewed in the light of the assimilated Sankhya yoga. These results were obtained by modern science at a huge cost, in laboratories constructed on a colossal scale. But the Sankhyascience was expounded by the great Kapila Maharishi, he having attended to the problem only in the laboratory of his own mind unaided, aided only by his own intuition, and worked out on the tables of his intelligence, ages ago. Modern science, in one sense, is only an attempt to understand ancient science, the science of all the sciences put together. It is an apology for the science, of the great yoga. The sankhya yoga enunciatcd the empirical formulae of the atomic theory, of the physical existence of the molecule, and the theory of the chemical combination of the atoms, and even went farther, and established the fact that the evolution of the whole of nature was based on five elements which were primary and fundamental.

Later on, the atomic composition of both the animate and the inanimate, of organic matter and inorganic matter, was found to be the same, exactly the same, governed by the same physical laws. The various movements caused by volition were taken to be merely reflex actions controlled by material process in the cerebral regions, and consciousness itself was only a phenomenon occurring simultaneously with other physical phenomena. This materialistic view of the world produced a host of materialistic philosophers in the 19th century. Patanjali Maharishi had codified it already in the mnemonic rules.

This truth, this explanation of the human mind, was put in vivid colours in Aphorism No. 44 of the 3rd Canto of the Patanjali Yoga Sastra, as long bask as in the Sutra Yuga.

“As a result of constraint upon the coarse (Stula) and the essential attribute (Svarupa) and the subtile (Sukshma) and the inherent (anvaya) and the purposiveness (Arthavathia), there is a subjugation of the elements”

In the progressive search of Science there was a period of classical science. To this belonged Bacon and Descartes and many before them. With the dawn of the twentieth century, modern science attained the age of adolescence. Within a span of about 30 years it gained a robust body. It then shattered to pieces all the fundamental concepts of classical science. Atoms were split into electrons and protons, the particles charged with positive and negative electricity. They were constituents of all atoms. The quantum theory of Max Planck and the wave mechanics of Schroedinger advanced further, dropping the idea of the charge. The electrons are now regarded merely as systems of waves. Einstein, with his theory of relativity, advanced still further and established that mass and energy were convertible. The ultimate substance of which the whole universe is composed is to be sought in the fact that “bottled” waves form matter and “unbottled” waves form energy. That energy is the basis of the universe is an accepted fact of modern science. There is a famous verse in the second portion of Kurma Purana which was written evidently during the Purana Yuga. No better statement of scientific deduction was ever made to the effect that energy forms the basis of the Universe.

Scientists latterly saw that electrons and protons are not the final forms of cosmic energy. There are other and finer forms of energy, exhibiting a higher degree of consciousness in the world, beyond physics, leading in a direction where almost the very primordial, cosmic energy, which is the only reality, and which is pure consciousness, is reached. This same truth is embodied in other words as having been said to Arjuna by Krishna (Verses 4, 5, IX Chapter, Bhagavad Gita). Modern science is at last understanding that the material cause of the universe is energy which has two attributes: Sat reality, and Chit, consciousness. Science has touched a stage when the substance on which modern science has to work has become too thin and vapoury for its physical instruments, has become too subtle for its gloss physical approach, reaches beyond the physical plane, and challenges the mind as mind, the soul as soul. Modern science is incapable of proceeding further. It is the spiritually intuitive plane that really draws the new scientist today–even when he is experimenting with the moon.

Introspection sparked by intuition was the method adopted by the ancient Rishis of India. They maintained that the universe was only the manifestation of cosmic energy, and that cosmic energy had three attributes. Sat (or reality), Chit (or consciousness), and Anand (or Bliss). Modern science with all the elaborate equipment, complicated machinery and colossal laboratories, has been able to establish only two aspects of it–Sat and Chit–and failed to, realise Anand, the third and more supreme aspect. A formidable challenge is thrown to the modern materialistic scientists to grapple with, because it is beyond the scope of these physical appliances and can only be realised by means of any one of the yogas mentioned. Modern science has gone out and investigated the universal in every direction, except one, and that is the scientist himself. Science does not possess in itself the necessary nourishment of its own vitality, but has to be nurtured by a greater science. Modern science is only intellectual inquisitiveness in its theoretical aspect, and in its practical aspect it is only an attempt to extend the area of human control over materialistic things. Mere inquisitiveness can never be a self-sustaining attitude of mind. Positivist science becomes pragmatic and utilitarian. When the creation of nature is believed to be without any preordained meaning or purpose in itself, speculative interest in it fails and the remaining concern is only to subdue its inherent purposelessness to man’s own chosen ends.

The means and the ends must be pure morally, and should move towards a noble purpose, so as to achieve an end which is beyond human selfishness and materialistic ends. As in yoga in natural sciences also, if the results obtained are not employed for a higher and ethically noble purpose, consequences will mar the efforts of man engaged in the quest of ultimate truths and realities. Science knows its objects only from without, having no insight into the inward secret of their behaviour.

The utilitarian character of science started with Francis Bacon to find out the final causes. Its aim had been, and is still, not the search for the truth nor the quest for the happiness, which does not belong to this mundane world, but to give the man control over the material world. In itself, and in its aim, it is purely practical and utilitarian. It is useful so far and no farther. It ignores the study of the human mind and of its potential manifestation as Soul and Spirit, which is the crux of the problem. Science is incapable of doing this. Yoga and yoga alone is capable of doing this. Science, in the sense of modern science, dissolves itself in the other science, yoga, the parent of all sciences, the moment modern science begins to think of mind and spirit. The science of yoga made a thorough study of mind, dissected it, and made an anatomical study of it in an analytical manner. And having done so, subdued its enslaving activities. (chitta vrittis) to harness the energy for a higher goal. Modern science ignores all that is most important in human experience. It ignores the essence of things. The idea that what is not science is not knowledge is a form of mental blindness.

Latest researches and interpretations in modern science reveal that life is not a spontaneous generation of living organisms (Pasteur 1822-1895), that the physical world consists of matter and energy, both of which in their own turn have been explained as wave systems in ether, and that ether is a figment of the imagination (Einstein 1879-1955). The reasoning faculty is found only in human beings and in no other beings.

Birth in human form is a great and valuable thing because of thisspecial faculty.

But his faculty is being wasted in a vain search for final causes: in quest for the happiness of humanity, based on material means. The origin of life is a persistent ‘Quiz’ troubling the scientists, ancient and modern. The Russian scientist, Academician Alexander Oparin, opined that life is a stage in the evolution of matter. It is said that the difficulty lay not in the essence of the problem (as though it was an easy thing) but in the wrong methodological approach to its solution. It is yet to be seen whether a correct methodological approach could be possible (other than the yogic method)while dealing with physical matter in order to find the origin of life. And even supposing that a particular thing is found to be the origin of life, could that particular thing be any other thing than the combination of the fundamental five primary elements with their three inherent qualities explained in the Sankhyasystem which was handed to us from the times of Kapila Maharishi.

The above conclusions drawn by experiments in modern science show the confusion into which modern science is being thrown. Yoga started with spirit, the essence of every thing, and explained the existence of every being and of every thing in creation. Modern science is probing in the dark to explain spirit without being able to look up from its materialistic base towards a guiding ray of light.

The science of yoga looked beyond all these stages. This particular stage was an elementary stage in the sweep of yogic science.

Science means a critical attitude towards matter and yoga is a knowledge of reality. Science deals with the perceptible, and yoga deals with the imperceptible. Science deals with facts and yoga deals with essential values and ultimate truths. Science deals with “What is.” Yoga deals with “What it means.” Science deals with the “How” of things and yoga deals with the “Why” of things. Science deals with the body (matter), yoga deals with spirit (energy). The very essence of true yoga is the conviction that there exists the Universal Creator. Much of the trouble arises out of ignorance and misunderstanding. The problem of the relation of Science to yoga is one that deserves deep study. The depth of the problem is realised only when the man of science and the man of yoga coincide. The two entities get related in the total outlook of a single mind.

Both yoga and Science should have something to say about Nature and Soul. Yoga encompasses all sciences. It is the essence of science, the science of all sciences, speaking both of matter and soul, while the modern science is mute about the soul.
Laws are of two types–Nature’s and Man’s. The law of nature cannot be broken while the law of man can be broken. The law of Man is ever-changing, changing with the change of ideas, the change of authority, and that is science. The law of Nature is not a command issued by authority. It is a statement of conditions under which certain things invariably happen, and that is Yoga.

Great wars are followed by loose morals. During the first half of this century, the ethical side of life, buffetted against wars, suffered a good deal. The race for power, which in the 19th century gained a tempo with the industrial revolution in Europe, touched its limit in the 20th. Tremendous productive capacity, gained by mass techniques based on machines, won the day. Inventions of modern science gave men necessities, amenities and luxuries, enveloping his outer life and depriving him of inward satisfaction, of the inner functional value. Man is being treated as made of the statistical zero instead of the One of Spirit.

Modern science has turned many into automatons. It has made life complicated, and intellect has bred the baser qualities of man, making him restless. A poised serene attitude towards life and all that lives seems to be a utopias reality, far beyond the human horizon. But the need for it is imperative. Science has investigated every thing but the scientist himself It is becoming less and less possible for Man to find time to look at his own self, much less to look into his own self.

The ascetic potion, popularised by such men as Ruskin, Tolstoy, and Mahatma Gandhi, that mechanisation beyond a limit is certainly harmful and mostly evil, has a basis in practical truth. Let not the ambition of the modern science mock the useful toil of the ancient thought. Let not the machine, the invention of modern science, enslave, and lord it over humanity.

Today humanity is torn by hatred and violence. Science, modern science, has distracted itself from its aim to find the final causes, which was its motive noble. But the results obtained led it to ends ignoble. In the name of modernism, civilisation and progress, the entire human race is threatened by destruction, by mass annihilation. Atomic and nuclear weapons and their disastrously explosive tests are creating a perpetual menace for all the inhabitants of Mother Earth.

Spiritual leaders, true yogis, are today’s need; to raise the banner of Truth, Non-Violence, Peace, Tolerance, Fraternity, Co-existence and Humanism, the characteristics on which the whole human race is based.

¹ This essay won for the author the “Narasingh Prasad Hari Prasad Buch Metaphysics Prize” of the Banaras Hindu University in 1959.