Updated: May 23, 2025
This is Deepak
and today I'm in London. And on my way to New York. And I thought I'd
share a few thoughts with you. So this morning, when I was
going through social media, I came across a lovely video by Professor Brian Cox from England,
who's a cosmologist. And it was actually quite lovely. Dr.
Cox has the ability
to take complex scientific ideas in cosmology
and quantum mechanics and make them relatable
to all of us. So first of all,
thank you, Dr. Cox. Brian Cox. So here is what I learned
from the video. Couple of videos this morning that current cosmology is almost certain
that the universe began with the Big Bang about 13.8
billion years ago. However,
the cause of the Big Bang is not known why it happened when it happened. Also, there's something called
cosmic inflation, where the universe tripled in size
every trillionth of a trillionth
of a trillionth of a second and then slowed down. So it moved from the size
of a dot to a period at the end of a sentence
to the size of a grapefruit. In that period,
cosmic inflation. And then it continued to
expand, but at a slower rate. So right now
the cosmic horizon is over 48 billion light years away
from where we are because of the cosmological
constant, etc..
So the cause of cosmic
inflation and the precision of that
mathematically is not known. Also, there's a period called the blank epoch, 10 to the power of -43 seconds, post time zero. And during that period there are no laws of physics. Also, it's not known why laws of physics exist. So, you know, as
I was watching this video, I also remembered an email that I had received from from a prominent physicist. I'm trying to recall his name
at Princeton, one of the only living then
living contemporary physicists of Einstein's time and Freeman Dyson
and Freeman Dyson. In an email that I received
some time ago before he passed on, said that
there were three riddles that he had been confounded
by all his life. Number one, a universe
fine tuned for mind and. And mind and life. Number one. Number
two, around consciousness. And number three, the unpredictable.
He didn't say random, but unpredictable
movement of particles. He said he didn't know
the answer to these riddles, but he thought
they were somehow connected. I thought that was brilliant. I want to share with you. So then I was also watching this video of Professor Cox. Maybe it was another one
where he spoke about life beginning in our planet
about 2.8 billion years ago in probably volcanic thermal voids deep inside, under the sea, in the ocean, several miles under the ocean, where
there was the appropriate, I guess, temperature and an environment
for molecules to arrange themselves
in such a way that maybe DNA was created.
So lots of
very interesting theories. But here is my response
to all these theories. You cannot come up with these theories
or even name elements. Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen. Nitrogen. Or name forcefields. Or come up with hypotheses. Unless before you do that, there is some experience or some mode of knowing in consciousness. And that mode of knowing,
of course, is filtered through the conditioned human
mind and by the limitations of the human brain. So even that which we call an empirical fact, let's take Higgs boson. That's a species-specific
perceptual snapshot. And by the time
you actually locate it, measure it, whatever,
it doesn't exist. In fact, by the time
you measure anything, it doesn't exist. We're only measuring the past, it doesn't matter
in a timescale of a few microseconds or eons, billions of light years. What we perceive,
what we measure, even as empirical facts. Cosmic wave background is a very species
specific mode of knowing. that requires,
first of all, the human brain, but even the mode
of knowing is influenced by scientific bias. An empirical fact
is not a measure of truth.
It's just what we can perceive with all these very complicated instruments
that we create as well. And then we give names
to modes of knowing and experience. Higgs Boson. Higgs
is the name of a physicist. Boson
actually was related to Bose. Another Indian physicist. So these are names given to modes
of knowing and experience. And therefore, I think unless we actually can explain
consciousness, then no theory is valid,
no matter what the empirical facts are,
no theory is valid. And just to remind ourselves
once again that scientific method, the scientific discipline, is also conceived
in consciousness. Experiments are done
in consciousness observations
are made in consciousness. And all of them
have limitations of knowing as well,
the human brain and the conditioned human
brain whether it's conditioned by the scientific method
or mathematics, which remains a mystery
why it's so effective. It doesn't matter. So scientific
conditioning actually is in the mind, and it's
a very useful discipline because without that, I wouldn't be able
to talk to you right now on the Internet or do any of the things
that we do or take for granted flying in planes,
intergalactic probes, all these
observatories in space and all the amazing technology
that has now emerged, including
artificial intelligence.
And of course, the technology that we're using right now
to communicate and the next phase
of our technology, web3. So science is an amazing gift that has evolved, let's say, in the human mind
and human consciousness. Two separate things,
by the way. Consciousness is not really
human. Consciousness
is not species-specific. Awareness is the fundamental
ground of all experience. But then the mind is
species-specific.
And the mind is also, you know, culture-specific, and biased by all theories including all scientific
theories. So unless we know the origins
of consciousness. And unfortunately,
my colleagues, scientific colleagues, philosophical
colleagues, neuroscientists still think of consciousness
as an emergent phenomenon, not as something that is, that is irreducible,
that is fundamental, that is without cause,
that is formless, that is infinite,
and that is modifying itself as the activities in humans,
we call mind, intellect and ego and then modes of knowing
and observation and then labeling our observations
which occur in consciousness, rarefying them as concrete
objects out there and then developing
methodologies to study this. So when we realize this, then I think it's obvious that these amazing theories that Dr. Brown colleagues, colleagues
like Sean Carroll and many others, including Dr.
Wilczek, all these people have come up
with amazing models for explaining the history
of creation of the universe and how the universe
functions. But let's keep
reminding ourselves that models of reality
are not reality. In fact,
we don't even perceive the world directly as it is because our perception
is always filtered through the
conditioned human mind and all we do is make mental models of what we think reality is. And these mental models,
including spacetime, causality, are mental models
created by human beings and modes
of knowing and experience that are given names:
carbon, hydrogen, gravity, force
fields, electromagnetism, are names given to human modes of knowing and experience and labeled as objective reality. But these are not cannot be objective reality. Spacetime causality particles force fields
cannot be objective reality. They're human constructs. And it's very important
to recognize that that human constructs cannot access Truth with the capital "T". Reality. Impossible
unless we transcend the mind. Then we have access to this
field of possibilities, superposition
of possibilities, unpredictability,
non-local correlation, and the source
of all experience. So I would like to propose that we need a
consciousness based science.
And once we do that, then all these conundrums
will be easier. Not that we will be able
to solve the mystery of our existence or even the awareness of
the mystery of our existence. So that's the issue here. Why embrace this new idea of consciousness
and cosmos as complementarities? Well, because it'll expand
our ability to do science and get us closer to truth, closer to truth. Fundamental truth is inaccessible
to the human mind because of the limitations
of the human mind. Now, this also leads
to actually something that is very much part of yoga. I've spoken in the past
on yamas and niyamas. But let's go to the last
niyama which is Ishvara Pranidhana,
surrender to mystery. So this is what I like to propose, that actually, if we take time to do nothing and allow consciousness to be as awareness
as part of our experience, shift from perceptual
activity, cognitive ability, transcend all that and make pure consciousness
as our reference point.
Then in the mere witnessing of form and phenomena
there is a deeper understanding
in this spontaneous evolution that gives us insight, intuition, and some kind of creative insight and imagination that brings us
closer to truth, and that involves great humility. Surrender to mystery. A lot of scientists have that,
by the way, the mystery
and the sense of wonder. But they forget to ask, what is it that wonders? What is it that is mystified? What is it that wants to know? And of course it's you. It's me, but me not as a body, mind me
and as the awareness in which the body, mind, ego, intellect and its perceptual activity
are a unified activity that is constantly evolving into deeper understanding.
So I think we need to revise
Darwin. And I know when I say this, I risk being vilified, burned at the stake,
metaphorically speaking, but it's obvious that random mutations,
we could say unpredictable mutations,
but not random random mutations,
natural selection or the impermanent appearance
of virtual particles as determined
by the uncertainty principle don't really explain reality
or how we know reality. Because without even wanting
to know reality, reality's
inaccessible.
The mystery of existence. Not just the mystery
of existence. It's also the awareness
of mystery of existence. So when I look at the yamas
and niyamas, I see the first Ahimsa peace presence, because
when your mind is disturbed, it collapse
every mode of knowing. So ahimsa first Yama. In the last niyama,
Ishvara Pranidhana, surrender to mystery of existence, but also surrender to the mystery of the awareness of existence. Existence is a mystery,
but even more, more mysterious is awareness
of the mystery of existence. I hope to share this video
of the doctor's Brian Cox, with Dr. Frank Wilczek, with others who have postulated these theories,
including Sean Carroll and the multiverse
and string theories. Michio Kaku and see what their response is. Through dialog, we can all
learn from each other.
Okay, my friends. That's it for now. All the best from England. London. I'm on my way to New York now
after having a fantastic pilgrimage in the Himalayas
and also a period of silence..
