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Re: Faith & Healing
Vijay Sadananda Pai (vijaypai@mridangam.rice.edu) wrote:
: In article <4r8u94$3da@babbage.ece.uc.edu>,
: Giri <gmadras@pinto.engr.ucdavis.edu> wrote:
: >gururj@erols.com (Gururajan Ramachandran) writes:
: >>It appears that the wisdom in Hinduism is finally being discovered
: >>by the "scientific" community.
: >>Regards,
: >>Guru
: > There has been many scientific studies on yoga and the body. For
: >example, the book 'yoga and psychotherapy' extensively deals with this.
: >I think Swami Rama was able to change the temperature in the palm of his
: >hand.
: That's too bad that all these scientific studies on yoga are just
: looking at the body -- really cheapens yoga, IMHO. I mean, c'mon, I
: can change the temperature in the palm of my hand by sticking my hand
: in the fridge or by sticking my hand in a glass of hot water. But what
: has that accomplished? But it's only stuff like that that a certain
: segment of scientists are going to look at, unfortunately.
While I agree that a "scientific" analysis per se, does
cheapen Yoga, if the study is restricted to just that,
there is a lot of reason why such analyses should be
done. The Hindu society has never been 100% spiritual,
nor has it been 100% material. It has sought to balance
the two aspects, thru notions like: artha, dharma, kaam
and moksha. Further, we have this notion of preyas, and
shreyas, and people take their pick, depending on their
inclinations. Yoga, literally means union. Of physical,
psychological, and anything that transcends the psycho-
somatic reality. So, Yogis claim that their approach
can give you a sound health, a sound mind, and a sound
anything, that lies beyond the realm of body and mind.
So, if someone claims that Yoga does lead to a better
body, it is a part of the whole picture. And this part
should be studied with care and attention, while keeping
in mind, that this is not the entire picture.
: >Science changes its views with new experimental evidence but the essemce
: >of yoga and scriptures remain the same.
: > For example, the dasa-avatars of Vishnu are linked to show the
: >evolution of being according to Darwin. But there is no scriptural support
: >for this (as far as i know).
: In fact, as far as I can tell, it would take a really twisted view of
: the scriptures to come up with this. For example, if one insists that
: Matsyaavataara represents the lowest stage of evolution, one must ask
: why there were humans (such as Satyavrata Rshi -- maybe I had better
: say "human-like lifeforms" since I'm not sure if Rshis are actually a
: higher species) present at the same time?
Yes and no. On a too literal stance, perhaps, I will agree
with Vijay. However, we do see in the dasavataar, that society,
at both physical and psychological level change with the descent
of time. So, while in the beginning, a fish is sufficient to
save the world, the last avataar (Krishna) needs a lot of
aids (arms, tact, ...) to do the same. The instruments of
God become more complicated, more intense, and more puzzling.
In the fish era, it was simple. The fish just carries on
the oceans, during the pralaya, with all the species on her
back.
: >Darwin's theory is the best science can offer
: >right now, but that may change with time and new evidence. Hence association
: >of things like avatars to an imperfect science is not only dangerous but
: >may look foolish in the long run.
: Right; as an orthogonal point, there is also a danger in saying "God
: is in the details [the gaps that science hasn't filled in yet]"
: because in a few years science might fill those gaps in [since not
: even the _greatest_ astrologer can predict what science will come up
: with next], and guess what, that person's view of God just
: disappeared...
I agree with your sense of danger in the direct association
of dharma with science. It is for this reason, that I hold
the opinion, that though a lot of modern scientific notions,
like duality of reality, are quite concordant with our own
Upanashidic notions, the Upanishads do not end here. Rather,
they say much more, than just that. And sometimes, those
messages are strikingly simple, time tested, and useful from
an eternal perspective. One such thing is: satya_nishthha.
--
Nachiketa Tiwari
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