The Science and Non-Duality (SAND) forum is one I have watched and followed since 2012 with a lot of excitement – revelling in the sheer novelty of the conferences they hold for dialogues between scientific research and spiritual unfoldment. Their logo of ‘Aum = MC2’ was so precisely on point with my own convictions that it was but natural for me to approach them to make a presentation based on my spiritual experiences at their conference. Witnessing and participating in SAND 2017 – Emergent Universe was so novel in so many ways. My first visit to San Jose, USA; my first attempt to share my deepest and most sacred spiritual experiences; my first exposure to a community of scientists who were not limited to the reductionist view but far more open to the phenomenon of emergence; my first experience of having people use with so much liberty concepts and practices from my ancient country that many back home revere too much to say out loud… In all an amazing exposure to higher scientific thought, deeper spiritual clarity – beyond all boundaries.
Mario Martinez, a clinical neuropsychologist who is known for his theory of bio-cognition, raised a very important question – ‘Does the immune system have morals?’ – and went on to present how cultural and spiritual beliefs affect health and longevity. He succinctly shared how emotions triggered by moral violations affect the immune system – ‘The immune system reacts to shame with inflammation. The moment you loose hope, the immune system shuts down’. Though it was not a surprise, it was heartening to listen to scientific validation that ‘touch’ enhances the immune function with increased IGAs (immunoglobulin A or antibodies), flooding the body with oxytocin when you hug! His reference to the Buddhist tenet that feelings and thoughts, or rather emotions and cognition as he said it, were treated by the body as the same warmed my heart!
Another interesting scientist I heard was Sky Nelson, whose ‘Physics of Flow’ was revitalising for it reiterated so much I believe in! Talking about synchronicity and how ‘when we align with circumstances, they align with us’, my brain did a virtual dance trying to stay connected to this physicist who threw in some of the most difficult to assimilate theoretical work such as ‘Space and time are not defined between the beginning and end point’; ‘Light travels at NULL interval’; ‘Light appears where you measure it’ and so many more. Ultimately for me, it was the song of my soul to hear his theory (based on the pillars of physics, relativity and quantum mechanics) – “All the possible outcomes of a situation exist in a mathematical space of possibilities. Opportunities available to you are determined after you make your choice of what to do, unlike the current worldview that the future possibilities are already in motion, and we have to guess the right response in advance.” This is so true to the concept of Karma bija or seeds of action rather than only Karma Phala or fruit of action.
Yet another mind-blowing presentation was a panel discussion between Donald Hoffman – a cognitive scientist with a PhD in Computational Psychology, Ricardo Manzotti – a psychologist and a AI scholar with a PhD in Robotics, Deepak Chopra – a MD in internal medicine and endocrinology with over 80 books to his credit and Jennifer Nielsen – a researcher in quantum information theory. Hoffman began with a quote of Rumi ‘Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation’, Chopra with a quote from the Vedas ‘that which cannot be seen but without which you cannot see’. Hoffman insisted that there is a mathematical aspect for pure awareness – a mathematical concept of consciousness still in the unconscious; Chopra reiterated that non-dual reality is inconceivable for concepts imply duality. Chopra’s bottom line ‘I am the Universe’ brought in Manzotti into the discussion with ‘the Universe is I’. Manzotti expanded how existence and experience differ, concluding that as each experience is based on how it is perceived by every individual, each individual lives in his / her own space-time! Though brief, Nielsen’s sharing on the concepts of quantum entanglement and spooky action at a distance were enlivening and added to the depth of the conversation. The entire 90 minutes was a dance of the intellect drawing strength from every arena of contemplative research to weave a vibrant pattern of colourful coherence – a pattern and therefore a ‘construct’ nevertheless 🙂
A title that had sparked me in many ways to attend SAND was ‘The paradox of unity and spiritual autonomy’ – a talk by Adyashanti, an author and American born spiritual teacher. ‘The paradox of the quest for self-realisation, is that in order to realise the self we must transcend the very self consciousness that gives rise to the yearning for self realisation… The riddle of enlightenment is how do we transcend the self while retaining and enhancing our individual autonomy?’ While the question drew me to the conference, the answer was delivered not in words, but from the depth of sacredness and reverence of SILENCE.
I was invited to present at SAND USA 2017 as part of the ‘Contemplative Collaboration – a CERN-inspired Collaboration Model for Contemplative Science’. The organisers introduced the session thus: ‘Existence conceived and discussed only in terms of “absolute and relative”, “unconditioned and conditioned”, “emptiness and form”, etc. becomes sterile, although true. The preciousness of the human person becomes only a conditioned, illusory form. The beauty of the manifold creation becomes an evanescent illusion. Nevertheless Reality seems to delight in revealing and knowing itself through innumerable created treasures. Affirming that, in this presentation we will explore how integrating the preciousness of the human being, the innate value of human experience as it is, and reverence for life can be the West’s contribution to the further evolution of the nondual vista.’
My presentation titled ‘The Parallel lines’ was based on a revelation I had in the presence of my Guru Mahatria in early 2003, attending my very first spiritual retreat – ‘Time is dynamic & space is static on the physical plane. Time is static and space is dynamic on the spiritual plane’. The revelation made me realise that on the physical plane movement is chronological – travelling to the second floor can happen only after passing through the first from the ground level. On the spiritual plane however, speed of process rules – it prompts revelation beyond chronology – a knowing born without the ‘steps to arrive at that knowledge’.
It was lovely interacting for over 3 hours with various delegates of SAND during my presentation on 20th October 2017. Many a genuine seeker wanting to know more on meditation, seeking to begin/continue their spiritual journey stopped by to chat and discuss with me. A few wanted to validate my stance with a nod of approval that I was on the same wavelength as them, and one vehemently opposed it! I had to convince her that my sharing was based on my experience and not really ‘prescriptive’ but more ‘descriptive’. It in no way negated her own belief or experiences!
One kid wanted to know where and how to begin; a girl was so thrilled she wanted to dance with me 🙂 They loved the poster layouts and several took pictures.
The highlight was how the scientists responded to the presentation. One in particular, Philip L’Hommedieu from New Jersey, just kept looking at the ‘revelation’ on my poster and kept saying ‘this is exactly what I’m proving in my paper’. He went on with a long drawn explanation with ‘1s & -1s’ and 8-dimensional time-space – none of which I understood 🙂 I told him it was a revelation and I wasn’t a scientist. He was so much in wonder and to an extent disbelief. He kept saying ‘you have put in words what I’m proving with numbers’…
A radiologist – oncologist, Ramesh Kumar, who teaches at the Harvard medical school, is engaged in research on telomeres and chromosomes. He was stating how his research findings revealed that ageing was so similar to effects of radiation, proposing that perhaps radiation was a property of time! Reading about my revelation, he went into great depth on how I could help him come to terms with ‘time’ in his equation! I don’t know why, but I asked him, “what happens to birds when they hibernate – do they still age and do you still find radiation like changes during that period?”; he was so excited promising to pursue on those lines for research.
I was out of my depth when a young woman walked up to me, heard me talk about my experiences and nodding her head said, ‘Yes I have experienced all that trance like altered states of consciousness when I use LSD. It is very similar!’ Culturally, I have no clue how to respond. I simply smiled. There were a number of groups that promoted psychedelic states and offered ‘processes’ to altered states of consciousness.
My sharing at SAND was to showcase how every spiritual experience – energy surges, out of body experiences, premonitions, intuitions, trances, altered states of consciousness, an intellectual construct of spirituality – every one of them that are absolutely sacred to the experiencer, are nevertheless not the final destination. Experiencing SILENCE – that state of non-duality where the experiencer is not available to witness any experience thereby causing the state where there is neither an observer nor an observed – was the liberating state from where the universe emerged without fear or doubt, agenda or malice, personalised intent or glorified humbleness.
While I absolutely enjoyed the scientific dialogues with cognitive scientists, cosmologists, neuropsychologists & so many more practicing scientists, I was unprepared for the freedom with which people use esoteric Indian terms, with authority & ownership but with very individualistic meaning! For instance, SAND is about Science & ‘Non-Duality’ – a term that is used by almost everyone to mean ‘one with’. As a concept it has spread its wings creating a mindset of ‘connectedness’ for many believe that shifting awareness from separateness or duality to participating with aware connectedness is what will make non-duality embodied! Honestly, there were many a time when someone said ‘we are all connected’ with the most cinematic peaceful expression, I began to wonder if Buddha’s serene smile is overpriced! It also made me pause – did Einstein roll over in his grave every time people used E=MC2 with as much liberty as their total ignorance for what it truly implies! Made me seek to feel the sacredness of every unfolding rather than merely the thrill of understanding. I do believe ‘experiencing’ oneness in daily life is a striving worth emulating, for empathy is indeed the anvil for spiritual evolution. However, the yearning caused by a need to ‘experience’ spiritual states – even if through the use of LSD, reiterated my own presentation.
Experiencing SILENCE is a ‘happening’. In the presence of one who is in SILENCE, the awaiting witnessing consciousness is magnetised . The meditator consciously entangles with the knower of silence and gets dissolved into that SILENCE. That state of Non-duality – no space or time happens. There is no ‘me’ to witness this entangled universe. But when I return to my relative world as ‘Gita’ the fragrance of that entanglement directs the emergence of my universe. To one who experiences SILENCE there is no noise – inside.
In my own mind’s eye, an absolutely clear answer arose to what ‘Advaita’ (non-duality) actually meant. To me ‘Advaita’ is reaching that point of faith where there is no personal agenda, no fear, no doubt, no independent outcome desired, no preferences metered nor validations sought. It is the state of being in flow with the universe’s plan – no duality between an ‘I’ and a ‘Thou’.
It does not make every other finite object ‘one with’ me, to feel their head ache & exalt in their joy. For if it did, my personal attainment should equally be theirs! Intellectually projecting that, is again a mere construct of the human mind! On the contrary, every time someone says ‘I have experienced this too’, my inner voice whispers ‘No you haven’t, for if you had you wouldn’t think anything so sacred could have happened exactly this same way for any body else’. You would never want validation from another to the sacredness of your own experience!
To me, non-duality means I am no separate from the infinite. And that infinite cannot be equated in finite terms. I am me & you are you; I can never be you, nor can you ever be me! I respect that so much that out of that sacredness of the infinite in me, I respect every other grain of sand, every human experience, every moment in time, every vistas of space so uniquely sacred that I bow down in awe for the spiritual autonomy of every atom alive. I realise ‘Non-duality’ is not the recognition of ‘similarities’ in the ‘source code’ of all the programs. It is recognising that every program is written by the same source but created so very very uniquely individual that if ever you say ‘I have felt it too’ or ‘We collectively experience this’ – it is the most divergent form of non-duality devoid of even a peep into the very premise of Advaita!!!
It’s very liberating to know, this is ‘my’ definition of ‘Advaita’ as of this moment and has no obligation to be attested by another or even by me at any future date in time!!!
Written by Gita Krishna Raj on 1st November 2017
