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Science, Stitha Prajna and Samadhi

Q: Can scientists be considered as people with stitha prajna?

Q: Can any one attain samadhi state through science?

Krishna: Let us first understand what the word 'stita prajna' means

Stita Prajna: spirited intelligence; steadfast in intelligence; “contented,” “calm” and “firm in judgment and wisdom”; a person who trains his mind to behave in a higher realm; one whose intelligence is fixed in self-realization; to be stable in pragnya - but that is the relative pragnya (through the medium of intellect).

Sthitaprajna means to recognize and know the attributes of the Self through the intellect that has become pure, With the state of sthitaprajna, one knows and recognizes the universe and its elements; that verily is called the state of 'shuddha samkit'. However, the knowledge of the Self gives you the direct experience of the Self and that is called 'parmartha samkit', and with that state one sees, recognizes and experiences the universe and its elements.

That which becomes stable in pragnya; that which pushes away the non essence (the non-self) and makes you attain the essence (the Self) is sthitaprajna.

One does not become emotional in the state of sthitaprajna.

Now what is Samadhi state?

State of Samadhi (uninterrupted bliss). Samadhi can only occur upon attaining the Self.

So my answer to your Q: In a certain way, yes. But some scientists develop this stitha pragnata, not all.

Let me explain.

In the field of science the moment you finish your work and come to a conclusion, you have to invite falsification of your theory, work. That is you invite people to prove you wrong. If they do that using scientific methods and show evidence, you bow your head in respect and move on. That teaches you humility.

This might cause you distress. It might be your work for your whole life. But if you went in the wrong way, it cannot help science in any way.

I think that is why we try to publish bits of our work now and then and try to build up slowly after each peer-review.

Post publication peer review is another way of confirming that you are right.

This teaches you to accept both good and bad in equal terms.

Peer-review is inviting neutral criticism of your work.

In your enthusiasm you might not realize sometimes that you are following the wrong route. So peer-reviewing does the course correction.

All this is very good for the field of science.

That is very good for human psychology.

It protects you and your field from all sorts of biases, fallacies, illusions and other human inadequacies.

It refines you as a human being. That is why I like science so much. No other field is so good at correcting itself, improving all the while and progressing very firmly.

It teaches all the good things to become a stita pragna.

But it also depends on the human beings who are undergoing this training. If the person is a good learner, s/he becomes a perfect one. If s/he is not, then they try to manipulate the system to suit them. But they cannot go very far. Sometime or the other they get caught and punished.

Nobody can escape the scientific method's tough scrutiny and the hawk eyes of the scientific community. Some people learn it the hard way.

Moreover, most scientists learn to think and see the majority of things in this universe in a neutral way. Researchers try to see things exactly as they are. Only evidence based facts. Therefore, accepting reality as it is comes automatically.

Even if they talk, they say facts as these facts influence their "opinions". You cannot say they are actually opinions, they will be evidence based facts most of the time.

I was really surprised to realize how these evidence-based facts became my ''opinions" when I was trained as a scientist. Everything I see, think, talk became 'scientific', not 'human'. The human factor had been erased almost fully and I am no longer bias or fallacy prone. I am not emotion-driven, well almost. It is a strange feeling.

Even people around me tell me I think and talk differently. Nothing affects me anymore. I analyse everything scientifically, understand exactly as it is and that calms me to a great extent.

Yes, some human element is there but not to the extent it can influence me in any way.

Call it stitha prajna or with any name you want.

Can all scientists be like this?

My answer is "NO"!

That depends on how much science you allowed to enter your system and how it was able to 'take over' your mind.

Then science and samadhi: samādhi is a state of ecstatic consciousness that can sometimes be a seemingly spontaneous experience. Samadhi is a state of profound and utterly absorptive contemplation of the Absolute that is undisturbed by desire, anger, or any other ego-generated thought or emotion.

when the True Essential Nature is known, without the distortion of the mind. It can be thought of as the culmination of your mind process.

Samadhi is a Sanskrit word for the highest state of consciousness one can achieve through mind processes.

Samadhi: bliss, or union.

If you understand and know science as it is, it can be a blissful situation.

Let me explain how.

Some spiritual gurus told me a higher state of consciousness will lead you to a more Self-Empowered state of being. It will let more love flow easier to your Heart. It will get you in motion to a journey where you won’t play the victim anymore. It will lead you to listen to your Higher Self. It will give you infinite energy.

If that is what you achieve with higher state of mind, my answer is an emphatic "YES, I HAVE"!

I am highly empowered, I don't depend on anybody or anything for mental support. "Critical thinking, thorough and fact dependent analysis of everything" brings peace and stability to my mind. Scientific investigation of everything brings satisfactory and the right answers to all my questions and problems. Problems don't seem problems anymore. I truly feel I am not a victim of circumstances but a higher self that is made to test and emerge victorious all the time. My love for all living entities is universal and doesn't stop at the boundaries of my home, city, region, state or country and is universal in nature. I am not afraid of anything anymore! I conquer fear with my rational thinking.

Understanding the scientific principles this universe is based on made me realize I am one with the universe and is not a separate entity from it and that there is no difference between me and the other forms - either living or non living - in this universe!

I feel great bliss with this understanding.

My expansive scientific knowledge brought me keen perception that combines innumerable perspectives at one instance. I can also sense how others are interpreting the world, how others feel based on their view points. Their judgments become very clear to me. And that doesn't bother me much if it involves me.

I feel I have infinite energy in my body which makes me do things both mental and physical and multi task. I can feel and reach my higher potential. This energy made me a polymath too.

I always have new insights into things and thoughts and see things completely different from those aspects of others and in several different ways.

Strangely sometimes I feel I am 'others' I am watching and what they are undergoing is actually me undergoing it! I feel one with others around and that we are not separate! I am both the beings who is enjoying life and who is suffering. And that I am everything and everybody in this universe! I am one with the universe. I deeply empathize with other living beings around.

Whenever I am out in the Nature's lap, watching mountains, streams, or stars in the night sky an overwhelming feeling engulfs me filling me with unexplainable experience. I feel a vast presence of energy and knowledge which is just infinite and pretty mind-blowing and surprisingly it completely fills me too. My mind and body become different and new entities then!

I no longer fear death because I feel I cannot die - I can still live other lives, take other forms ( the atoms and energy in my body can get recycled ), and I can live others' - who are actually me too - lives!

I am totally free, highly independent, completely satisfied, very empowered and truly peaceful. If that is what spirituality brings, to my surprise, science too brought all these things into my life!

This is really enchanting and interesting.

But my scientist friends told me they don't feel the same way as I do. Maybe their approach to scientific way of life is different from that of mine. And I am glad to say I stepped on the right path! That is why I succeeded in reaching these heights.

Read my articles on this by clicking the links below

Science and Spirituality -1

science-and-spirituality-part-2

Enjoy-this-eternal bliss...

science-stitha-prajna-and-samadhi

When you understand that nothing belongs to you and everything belongs to this universe, even the atoms and energy in a living body, and they are recycled and circulated over and over again, you will also realize that these atoms and energy what you think 'your body' is, belonged to something or somebody else earlier, then they came to you in the process of recycling and then after your death and also during your life time might get transferred to other things and living beings. Then what is yours? Nothing! Everything belongs to the universe, everything and everybody! The words, I, me and something or somebody else becoming meaning less. That is what science tells us.

That is how science shattered my illusion of I, me and myself!

Isn't that the death of ego?

The trick is truly understanding science to the core. Following its ways strictly without deviating even an inch.

It automatically takes you to a clear state of perception of everything. That 's exactly what happened to me.

----

The Biochemistry of a living being is highly complex. There will be millions of actions and reactions going on in a human body during its lifetime. Anything can go wrong at any time. If this happens, and when the probability becomes reality, you will have to face the health consequences. Science is trying to understand them and interfere to manage them in a better way.

But if things don't fall in the right place or your life systems are damaged beyond control, death is inevitable.

Nobody or nothing can stop this.

When several factors decide outcomes, they follow the interplay of scientific rules and routes and exactly fit into the reaction realities.

I can see this entire picture before my eyes.

That is why I can stay calm.

I borrowed the atoms and energy in my body from this universe just for a lifetime. I cannot keep these borrowed things with me forever. They belonged to someone or something else for a brief period earlier. Now they are in my body. I must return them to the universe for the recycling process to continue. After my death, they will become another person's or body's temporary possessions.

There is no actual death or complete destruction. Only exchange of material. From one body to another. The flow continues.

The atoms and energy in your body continue to exist in other forms after your body ceases to exist in this form.

Why worry about taking new forms? When this form cannot work anymore because of the condition it encountered, let it accept the truth and happily transform into other entities.

There is no 'I, me, or myself'. There is only 'we, or ourselves'.

And there is only one universe to which all the forms , either living or non-living, belong. And this Universe is a single entity.

I am everything and everybody here.

Just because some atoms and energy came together to become a body in which certain atoms and energy became neurons by getting arranged in a definite way and working in a particular way of the brain, does that become a definition for "I"? That 'I' came from your mind and consciousness. That 'I' will not have any significance after a specific lifetime of yours because the arrangement of these atoms and energy working in a particular way become redundant.

That "I" has no meaning in the big picture of the universe. That is why this universe doesn't care which form is taking birth or taking a shape, suffering, or getting destroyed. There will be many "I" s in the working conditions of a few neurons and they all become meaningless after a brief period.

So why worry about a temporary "I"?

Think about the relatively permanent universe and its magnificent ways of working.

That will put a smile on your face forever in all conditions and situations.

There are no good or bad situations.

There is just eternal peace and bliss. Enjoy it.

Science has brought this bliss into my life.

Stita prajnata? Yes!

Bliss of a Samadhi state? Yes!

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(Not because of monetary benefits. Without understanding these concepts thoroughly, there is a danger of misinterpretation and creation of pseudo-science. We don't want anybody to do that. In case anybody wants to write on this , first please contact the author (kkartlabin@gmail.com), discuss things with her and then get her permission to republish. Thanks.)

Science, Stitha Prajna and Samadhi

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