Scientism makes it impossible for us to be scientific
→ The Spiritual Scientist

Does science make it impossible for one to be spiritual?

That is the misleading claim not of science, but of scientism, the belief system that science has a monopoly on knowledge.

Ironically, scientism makes it impossible for us to be scientific. Let’s see how.

The success of science, indeed its survival, is based on a presumption and a precondition. The presumption is that nature has a rational order discernable through human investigation. And the precondition is that we have minds capable of such rational contemplation.

But why does nature have a rational order? Why are our minds capable of rational thinking? When faced with such perplexing questions, scientism usually hides behind the back of its twin: reductionism.

What is reductionism?

The notion that everything can be explained by reducing it to its smaller constituents and their interactions.

Reductionism posits that everything has evolved from a primeval soup, which in turn has emerged from a big bang. And that bang came from a singularity that somehow singularly existed and suddenly exploded.

 “With me, the horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man’s mind, which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy.” - Charles Darwin

Given the immense complexity of the mind and the world, the probability of their having come about thus is infinitesimally, even impossibly, low.

But even granting that this somehow squeezed through that ultra-microscopic portal of probability, a bigger roadblock awaits. Darwin confessed it thus in a letter to William Graham (3 July 1881): “With me, the horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man’s mind, which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy.”

If our mind is unreliable – and reductionism gives us no reason to believe otherwise, then whatever beliefs our mind comes up with are also unreliable.  As reductionism and scientism are also beliefs coming from an unreliable mind, they too have the warning tag: unreliable. Thus, reductionism reduces, even ruins, its own reliability.

Worse still, reductionism destroys rationality too. Physicist John Polkinghorne explains in his book One World: The Interaction of Science and Theology the logical consequences of reducing the mind to the signals in the brain: “Thought is replaced by electro-chemical neural events. Two such events cannot confront each other in rational discourse. They are neither right nor wrong. They simply happen… The very assertions of the reductionist himself are nothing but blips in the neural network of his brain. The world of rational discourse dissolves into the absurd chatter of firing synapses. Quite frankly, that cannot be right and none of us believes it to be so.”

Thus, scientism sentences our rationality – and consequently our science – to the scrapheap of irrationality. Better to be rational and retain the privilege of availing valuable sources of knowledge such as science and spirituality.

 

 

Four kinds of faith
→ The Spiritual Scientist

 “Faith directed toward spiritual life is in the mode of goodness, faith rooted in fruitive work is in the mode of passion, faith residing in irreligious activities is in the mode of ignorance, but faith in My devotional service is purely transcendental.”

Srimad Bhagavatam 11.25.27

Three times around the universe!
→ KKSBlog

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 21 May 2014, Prague, Czech Republic, Lecture at Govindas)

vrinda devi_bhaktivedanta manorDid you know that one Tulasi leaf has the same benefit as all the holy places in the universe? Every morning in the temple, we do parikrama - we go around Tulasi. This means we go around all the holy places in the universe each time you walk around!

“I went three times around the universe this morning!”

How much mercy is there? How much mercy is Krsna giving to all the devotees? This is on my mind today. I’m thinking about Krsna being so available to all of us. But the most mercy is in his name, because in his name, he is fully present – immediately!

Harinama in Florence, Italy (Album 15 photos)
→ Dandavats.com

The holy name of Lord Krishna is a reservoir of all transcendental happiness. It destroys the sins of the Kali-yuga. It is the most purifying of all purifying things. It is the saintly person's food as he traverses the path to the spiritual world. It is the pleasure garden where the voices of the greatest saints, philosophers, and poets play. It is the life of the righteous and the seed of the tree of religion. May that holy name of Lord Krishna bring transcendental auspiciousness to you all.—author unknown (Padyavali 3) Read more ›

Ter Kadamba Das reports from his “Ask a monk” preaching experience
→ Dandavats.com

It seems I went a little bit viral a couple of days ago with the “Ask a Monk” picture. It has to be said, that the original idea was not mine, but my dear friend and Godbrother Sadbhuja Prabhu's . Thanks must be given also to my dear friend and Godsister Sanatani Devi-dasi who suggested I did it and took the pictures. I have never gotten as intimate with people on the street as I did with this method. As I see it, this is mainly due to three factors, namely 1: They come to me, I don't approach them, so naturally they are inclined to listen to what I have to say. 2: It says “any topic” so that means we are talking about something they identify with from the get go, and 3: I am sitting down, they are walking by, so psychologically I look inferior to them. This means I am not confrontational in any way. Read more ›

Iskcon devotees perform Harinam in Tel-Aviv, Israel, despite the sirens and fire caused by bombing (Album 22 photos)
→ Dandavats.com

Lord Krishna said to Arjuna, 'O Arjuna! Listen attentively. When the living entity chants My name, whether out of devotion or indifference, I never forget this act. It remains always close to My heart. There is no vow like chanting the holy name, no knowledge superior to It, no meditation which comes anywhere near it, and it gives the highest result. No penance is equal to it, and nothing is as potent or powerful as the holy name. Read more ›

Does ISKCON have a phobia for the tenth canto? (Bhagavatam 10.47.28)
→ The Spiritual Scientist

Lecture Podcast

Outline:

1. Krishna from Mathura sent message through Nanda to his loved one but not gopis - so sent special written message through Uddhava

2. Uddhava's declaration "I am Krishna's confidential servant" is not out of pride, but out of desire to reassure gopis - humility is not meant to detract from our service

3. Are Krishna's pastimes with the gopis confidential? No textual delimiters at the start of the tenth canto or at the start of the rasa-panchadyaya

4. Gita Govinda a devotional and musical super-hit for centuries without any aspersions of immorality

5. Victorian prudishness of Christian rulers of India imputed immorality on Krishna and Bengali bhadraloka had no persuasive answer

6. Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati cautioned against premature trespassing into tenth canto. Not phobia, but rational caution to protect from two misconceptions: presumptuous rejection or premature imitation

7. Prabhupada's usage of honorifics for Radha as 'Srimati Radharani' and Krishna as "Supreme Personality of Godhead"

8. Inconceivability in the Gita - attempt to change sarva-dharman parityaja (give up all religions) as sarva-'dharman parityajya (give up all irreligions)

9. Need philosophical conviction and devotional purification to move from reflection to reality

 

Let Other Things Wait
→ Japa Group


"Doing other things while chanting is not good. Still, sometimes out of expediency you do it. But you should try to put off so-called expedient actions until after chanting. Chant at a designated time and chant loudly. Let other things wait."

From Japa Reform Notebook
by Satsvarupa dasa Goswami

A Morning in Mayapur
→ Seed of Devotion

From a journal entry awhile ago...

Wow. I am so in love with Mayapur. The deities here emanate love. They emanate sweetness and magnanimity. Every single person that I meet is a true Vaishnava - an example of kindness, sweetness, patience, tolerance, and of paka principles.

I chanted japa in the temple this morning, I was a little out of it. But slowly, slowly, I warmed up. Some men sat down to sing the most heartachingly beautiful bhajans, and I let my mind absorb in that poetry of music. The music soothed my mind - so much that I didn't want to leave, just stay in the templeroom with the curtains closed. I felt such shelter from the world in the templeroom. No plans, no drama, no one to meet, no one to talk to... just chanting and receiving darshan of the Lord. 
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Why did Bhima kill Duryodhana unfairly by hitting him below the waist during their final battle in the Mahabharata war?
→ The Spiritual Scientist

Answer:

Let’s first consider how unfair the whole battle was for Bhima. Due to Gandhari’s blessing Duryodhana’s body had become invincible, no matter how expertly or forcefully Bhima hit it. What was he supposed to do? Just let himself get beaten to death for no fault of his – all because his opponent had got a blessing for no virtue of his?

A “blessed” batsman

To grasp the unfairness of the situation, consider a rough cricket analogue: during a faceoff between a champion batsman and a champion bowler, suppose the batsman gets a “blessing” to never get out, even if he is caught, trapped leg before wicket, clean bowled, hit wicket or whatever else. What is the bowler supposed to do? No matter how well he bowls, there’s just no way he can win.

Suppose a batsman gets a "blessing" to never get out, no matter what. What is the bowler to do?

Fans with even a modest sense of fairness would be up in arms protesting the way the contest had been rigged against the bowler. But suppose no one protested. The poor bowler bowled the best spell of his life, got the batsman out several times and yet got no credit for it. Wouldn’t that be patently unfair?

That’s what happened to Bhima. He hit Duryodhana twice with such awesome force that the blow could have rent a mountain apart, what to speak of breaking a human frame apart. His achievement was like that of a bowler clean-bowling the batsman not just once but scores of times. And yet what did Bhima get for his feat? Nothing – leave alone victory, not even a crack on Duryodhana’s body.

How long could Bhima go on like this especially when Duryodhana was counterattacking and wounding Bhima? Among the many blows that hit Bhima, two of Duryodhana’s blows were so brutal that they would have instantaneously killed a lesser warrior. Though Bhima was badly injured by those devastating blows, he with superhuman fighting spirit maintained a stoic face, showing no weaknesses. His plight was like that of a bowler carted for six sixes in two successive overs. Actually, Bhima’s plight was a million times worse. Why? Because Duryodhana’s blows were wounding not just Bhima’s morale, but also his body. It’s something akin to the batsman’s shots hitting the bowler, thus rendering him less and less capable of bowling – while still being expected to go on bowling till death.

Can we really blame the battered bowler if he took the only way out of the carnage: bowl bodyline and get rid of the batsman, retired hurt? If we were being wounded like that, can we be sure that we too wouldn’t do something similar?

Understandably, Bhima took the only way out of the slaughter by hitting Duryodhana at the only place it hurt: his thighs. Just as bowling bodyline in normal cricket is unfair, so was hitting the thighs unfair in a normal mace-fighting battle. But when it was the only way to bring some fairness back into an unfair battle, would it still be blameworthy?

Honoring the spirit of the rule, adapting its letter

Rather than blaming Bhima for hitting that unfair blow, perhaps we need to give him credit for fighting fairly for so long, despite being sentenced to an eminently unfair contest. Bhima could have claimed justification for finishing the battle quickly with an early unfair blow:

1.     Maitreya Rishi had cursed Duryodhana that he would die due to the breaking of his thighs and Bhima could have claimed to simply be an instrument for fulfilling the sage’s curse.

2.     Bhima could even have claimed that he had vowed to break Duryodhana’s thighs for having obscenely exposed those thighs to publically humiliate Draupadi – and that he had to do whatever it took to fulfill his vow.

That Bhima did not take recourse of any of these reasons at the first possible opportunity demonstrates his respect for for the spirit of fair play. But the battle had been rendered unfair not because of his action, but even before he took any action.

Krishna implemented part A of the emergency plan when he persuaded Duryodhana to cover his private parts while going to see his mother. And then he told Bhima to implement part B of that plan by hitting Duryodhana’s vulnerable thighs.

Their battle was not like a normal mace-fighting battle to which the standard rules applied. Duryodhana had brought something extraneous into the battle – his mother’s protection in the form of an invisible invincible armor.  That extraneous factor so totally tilted the scales in Duryodhana’s favor that to re-balance the scales Bhima too had to bring something extraneous – Krishna’s protection in the form of an action plan to bypass that armor. Krishna implemented part A of that emergency plan when he persuaded Duryodhana to cover his private parts while going to see his mother. And then he told Bhima to implement part B of that plan by hitting Duryodhana’s vulnerable thighs.

Yes, that kind of blow was unfair in a normal wrestling battle, but what was normal or fair about a wrestling battle in which one player couldn’t win, no matter how well he fought? Understandably, such an abnormal battle couldn’t be played by the normal rules if there was to be any hope for a fair result.

As Krishna later said, there was no other way Bhima could have won – and so he had to take the only way available.