II Science and Beyond 11 Cosmology, Consciousness and Technology in the Indie Traditions Editors Sangeetha Menon B V Sreekantan Anindya Sinha Philip Clayton R Narasimha N a t io n a l In stitute o f A d v a n ced Studies Bangalore, India IIScienceandBeyondll Cosmology, Consciousness and Technology in the Indie Traditions Editors Sangeetha Menon B V Sreekantan Anindya Sinha Philip Clayton R Narasimha National Institute of A dvanced Studies Bangalore, India © National Institute of Advanced Studies 2004 Published by National Institute of Advanced Studies Indian Institute of Science Campus Bangalore 560 012 Price: Rs.350/- US$35 ISBN 81-87663-56-1 Copies o f this publication can be orderedfrom: The Controller National Institute of Advanced Studies Indian Institute of Science Campus Bangalore 560 012 Phone: 080-23604351 /2360 6594 E-mail: [email protected] This is Special Publication 2-04 Typeset & Printed b y : Focus Communications 140/2,8th Cross Malleswaram Bangalore 560 003 Phone: 2334 6692 Contents Editors’ Note vii Introduction Roddam Narasimha..................................................................................ix Inaugural Address Karan Singh.......................................................................................... xxiii Science, Technology and Society 1. A brave new world... Scientific and ethical issues in human clon in g.............................................................................3 Anindya Sinha 2. Quest for healing..........................................................................................14 Devaki Jain 3. Technology, society and values...............................................................21 N R Narayana Miirthy 4. The fundamental problem of human action ........................................ 26 Roddam Narasimha 5. Science, peace and sustainable development....................................... 35 M S Swaminathan 6. Science, religion and harmony.................................................................39 D R Kaarthikeyan Indie Traditions 7. Indie challenges to the discipline of science andreligion .................. 47 Rajiv Malhotra 8. Scientific content in the exploration of the spiritual world in the Jain tradition........................................................................86 Ashok Kumar Jain 9. The cosmic dance of Siva: An icon of science and beyond............. 98 Sharada Srinivasan 10. The making o f a Sadhu: An inquiry into higher states of mental health.............................................................................106 R L Kapur ni 11. Collective wisdom: Some Indian experiments.............................. 118 S Settar Consciousness 12. Platonic ideals and the real world.................................................... 141 Roger Penrose 13. Knowing and being: Exploring the cross-cultural contours of consciousness studies..................................................... 155 K Ramakrishna Rao 14. Free-willed consciousness in interaction with will-free cosmos: Is there an inconsistency?..................................................181 N Kumar 15. Beyond ‘what’ and what is ‘beyond’? ............................................ 185 Sangeetha Menon 16. On the synthesis of neural Darwinism and affective neuroscience............................................................................................191 George F R Ellis 17. Preliminary case for a hypothesis of the superconscious............199 P G Vaidya Cosmology and Biology 18. How did the universe begin? Modern cosmology and the Islamic tradition........................................................................ 209 Bruno Guiderdoni 19. Towards the future in cosmology, consciousness, and religion ............................................................................................. 218 Jean Staune 20. Universe from beyond: Role of unobservables in science...........224 C S Unnikrishnan 21. Science as an evolutionary product....................................................231 Vidyanand Nanjundiah Science and the Spiritual Quest 22. Basics for initiating dialogue between science and spirituality.........................................................................................241 Swami Bodhananda Sarasvati IV Contents 23. The quest for ultimate reality............................................................... 247 B V Sreekantan 24. Boundaries................................................................................................264 Suiidar Sarukkai 25. Transforming ‘the beyond’ from enemy to ally: Methodological suggestions for the dialogue between science and the spiritual quest............................................ 270 Philip Clayton 26. Do Chimpanzees have souls? Possible precursors of religious behaviour in animals....................................279 Jane Goodall 27. Quantum physics points to a spiritual universe................................283 M L Bhaumik 28. The power of faith in science and spirituality..................................291 Thomas R Odhiambo 29. Knowledge, ignorance and limits of science....................................299 M G Narasimhan 30. Faith and the pursuit of understanding in science and religion............................................................................................... 306 Charles Townes 31. A response to the address of Prof. Charles H Townes...................314 M S Swaminathan 32. A response to the address of Prof Charles H Townes................. 316 Ramanath Cowsik 33. Overview...................................................................................................322 Philip Clayton List of Contributors...................................................................................335 Editors' Note The scientific quest and the spiritual quest are two of the major forces in human history and in the world today. It is vitally Important that we understand the similarities, and the differences, between these two powerful drives, which are anchored deep in the human spirit and which may reflect back to us something o f the nature o f reality. In this spirit, an International Symposium was held at the National Institute of Advanced Studies during 8-11 January, 2003, on “Science and Beyond: Cosmology, Consciousness and Technology in the Indie Traditions”. This Symposium was the fourth and last in the series ‘Science and the Spiritual Quest IF, an international programme of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences in Berkeley, California. The primary objective of the Symposium was to promote dialogue among leading scientists on the connections between their scientific work and their religious or spiritual convictions and ideas. It drew together the most distinguished Indian scientists, philosophers and other scholars, as well as their colleagues from the rest of the world. The programme included short presentations by leading Indian and foreign scientists and philosophers on what is science and what is beyond science for them, a panel discussion, and public lectures by the Nobel Laureate Charles Townes, the British astrophysicist Sir Roger Penro.se and the well-known primatologist Jane Goodall. Many different views were presented at the Symposium. This Volume contains all presentations made at the Symposium, except for a few which the authors could not .send within the stipulated time. The papers are classified under five headings. There is also an ‘Introduction’ and an ‘Overview’ of the Symposium written by Roddam Narasimha and Philip Clayton respectively. The style of diacritical marks used for Sanskrit words follows the style used by the author, and changes have been made only when essential. In some vii cases the listing of References and End Notes also follows the method adopted by the author. The papers have been copy-edited. The Symposium was jointly organised by the National Institute of Advanced Studies and the Sir John Templeton Foundation, and co­ sponsored by the Infinity Foundation, Indian Council for Philosophical Research, the Center for Studies in Civilizations and Universite Interdisciplinaire de Paris. We would like to express our thanks to all of them. We thank Dr Raja Ramanna and Dr Mark Richardson for their remarks at the concluding session. We also thank Ms K Shashikala, Ms V B Mariyammal and Mr G D David for their help in copy-editing. Sangeetha Menon B V Sreekantan Anindya Sinha Philip Clayton Roddam Narasimha 17 March, 2004 Editors vin Introduction RODDAM NARASIMHA National Institute ot Advanced Studies The announcement of the Symposium whose proceedings you now hold in your hands said: Modern science, mathematics and technology have, during the last three centuries, transformed our understanding of life, nature and the universe, and provided mankind with unprecedented power to control its environment - for good or ill. This extraordinary development, built on older scientific and technological traditions in both East and West, has been so spectacularly successful that it has raised a fundamental question: Is there anything beyond science? For, even as scientific knowledge is increasingly translated into power over the physical world, the very practitioners of that science have often been drawn on a quest beyond it - and that quest has often led the seeker to philosophy, religion, spirituality, humanism and other similar paths to an integrative view o f life and the universe. If there is something beyond science, what is it - for each of us, and for mankind as a whole? This is today a central question