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The Scientific Basis of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness
<< 1. The Bewildered Spirit Soul >>
 | Modern scientists, especially geneticists, have gone so far that it appears as if the destiny of man lies in their hands. They proclaim that in the future they will make human beings according to demand and necessity(1) This sort of scientific revolution started in 1543 with the publication by Copernicus, the Polish astronomer, of the heliocentric theory (i.e., the premise that planets revolve around the sun). E. E. Snyder, in his book History of the Physical Sciences, writes: “Since an understanding of the natural world was possible through science, it was also possible through science that man should be able to alter the world to his own ends and thereby improve his nature. The burden for man's progress, then, was on man, not God. God created the universe so that it obeyed certain natural laws. These laws were discovered by men (scientists); therefore God was not particularly necessary except in a personal sense.”(2)
| | | My concern is to show that God is still as necessary as ever, and that the further advancement of science itself is necessarily dependent on this understanding. We have reached a point in our technological capability where humanity, whose independence is the cornerstone of the scientific edifice, is threatened by its own achievements. Doomsayers abound, but whether the end comes by bomb, pollution, automated loneliness, or whether it comes at all, there can be no doubt that a fundamental error is being committed in thinking that humanity alone has all the answers.
| | | Science-that is, observation and hypothesis-is a basic fact of the mechanics of thought. What is lacking is a purpose, and a larger intellectual setting within which this empirical exercise can take place.
| | | The word “revolution” is appropriate to describe the history of science. It has been most essentially a chronology of attempts to overthrow the authority, not only of the Church, which burned Bruno at the stake, but also of that kind of thinking called a priori, deductive, submissive, or faithful, and that Person to whom such a thinker pays homage Kṛṣṇa-God. There is no reason to document here the progress of this intoxicating rebellion. What is important is that once it started, no one could stop it.
| | | This booklet is primarily directed to our scientific friends. Instead of centering one's consciousness around temporary machines, one should transfer his consciousness to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the supreme scientist, knowing that He is the central point for all activities. There can be innumerable concentric circles around a common center. Similarly, all scientists, philosophers, businessmen, politicians, etc., can engage in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, keeping Kṛṣṇa in the center of all their activities.
| | | Kṛṣṇa consciousness is defined as “one's eternal relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead; the ultimate goal of life, which is to return home, back to Godhead; and the process of returning to the spiritual world.”(6) Zero, if it stands alone, has no value. However, when a one is put before it, it becomes ten. Similarly, all activities have no value unless Kṛṣṇa is included within these activities. Thus we can understand that the science of Kṛṣṇa is the only real science which is to be learned and practiced.
| | |  Whatever one's occupation, one should learn the science of placing Kṛṣṇa in the center of all ones activities.
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NOTES
| 1 | | Tom Paskal, Tampering with the Machinery of God, Weekend Magazine, September 18, 1971, p.5. | | 2 | | E.E. Snyder, History of the Physical Sciences (Columbus, Ohio: Merrill Publishing Co., 1969), p. 28. | | 3 | | Bhagavad-gītā 5.15 | | 4 | | prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ
ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate
(Bhagavad-gītā 3.27) | | 5 | | mayādhyaṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram
hetunānena kaunteya jagad viparivartate
(Bhagavad-gītā 9.10) | | 6 | | A.C. Bhaktivedanta Svāmī Prabhupāda, Teachings of Lord Caitanya (New York, Los Angeles, London and Bombay: The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1968), p. 23. |
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