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Friday, March 29, 2024

Science And Democracy Are Fundamental Requirements For Spiritual Quest

There are challenges in applying scientific methodology to validate answers of one’s own spiritual questions and to replicate such findings of self-experience in another person individually or collectively. One’s mind is not obliged to infer spiritual observations the same way as another’s mind. From a scientific perspective, while mind is incomparably the most important tool that humans possess it has a serious limitation that its processes and results are subjective as no two minds think alike.

It is perhaps this complexity that led to two distinctly different approaches of using mind as a tool of spirituality. One method where the infinite potential of the mind is unleashed in the form of self- spiritual exploration versus the other of curtailing the free spirit of the mind, to standardize the experience, in the method of collective spiritual exploration.

In Eastern traditions such as the Indic or Dharmic traditions, where self- exploration is encouraged or even celebrated, individual seeker has the freedom to find his or her own answers. Several masters such as Rishis, who over a period of time have realized the answers following their spiritual quest, have spoken or written about their findings such as Yoga. A spiritual seeker following this tradition finds these as useful guides and practical tools to aid his or her spiritual exploration.

In Western traditions, where collective spiritual quest is recognized, the spiritual experience of a single master, such as a messenger of god, have been codified as the commandment of god and there is an expectation for the adherents to collectively explore within the limits of the strict word of the book. As of today, non-adherence is known to have serious implications named Blasphemy, a concept not found in Dharmic tradition where debate is accepted as part of seeking truth.

The difference is that in dharmic tradition the tools or guides are used to explore infinity whereas the codified traditions limit exploration to finite space. If we draw parallels to the idea of democracy and autocracy, dharmic traditions are truly democratic in their spirit and no wonder Bharat has been able to embrace democracy so easily much to the dismay of the western world who believe they have championed the idea of democracy.  

Now let’s explore the relevance of democracy in spiritual quest. To answer this we first need to go back to the concept of scientific methodology by asking questions such as- Is there a divine energy? If so, does it take a form? Am I born divine? Am I born a sinner? What happens to us after this life?  and so on.

An atheist or a scientist would find it easy as he or she will answer the first question as NO. Hence that’s where the debate ends for them. They would argue that they would only be interested if there is evidence. As mentioned previously, the problem we have in relation to mind and science is that experiences of one individual’s mind cannot be replicated in another’s mind space. For that matter, using science, we have not identified the location of mind yet! However, interestingly we have well established mind sciences practiced across the world. Hence the atheist or a scientist has no choice but to engage in the debate until such a time when we find the answers.

It can be argued, that in the meantime, we will have to recognize spiritual experiences of various masters whose experiences have on several occasions resulted in similar findings although experienced in different geographical and time settings perhaps mostly intuitively rather than copying from one another.

As much as relative replicability of experiences of spiritual masters is well established so is the practice of adherents of a particular religion or spiritual path leaving it, in quest of spiritual truth, as the answers from their religion or spiritual path were not satisfactory.  This is universally applicable to all religions, albeit to different degree, as Dharmic traditions allow absolute freedom to leave the faith without penalties whereas Western faiths impose penalties of varying severity.

However, the crucial point to observe is the fact that adherents do leave their faith, to find answers elsewhere, suggesting that till date no religion has yet found the absolute answer that is scientifically replicable in another individual’s mind or collective minds. All that we have are approximate descriptions, of what may be absolute truth, following self-experiences of various masters. This is not a vindication for atheists or scientists as it is work in progress like the clichéd phrase in conclusions of research articles “more research needs to be done in this field before arriving at conclusions” or “the jury is still out”.

Therefore, till such a time when a religion proclaims that it has found the truth and is verified by scientific methodology all spiritual seekers should have the democratic liberty to explore spirituality in this vast infinity using such methods which don’t curtail their freedom to think, to explore, to express, to reject and to declare their findings without any penalties imposed on them overtly or covertly. Spiritual quest is an individual journey as one’s mind is unique and the not the same as the other.

Thanks to the Indic or Dharmic traditions, time tested tools are already available for use. Over the centuries, largely due to the exclusivist nature of the Western religions, several native cultures and spiritual paths have been effectively wiped out of this planet. All we now need is the true translation of the concept of democracy to truly empower the individual spiritual seeker in every nook and corner of this world while nurturing mutual respect towards all schools of thought.

Spiritual Democracy means the Spirit of Infinity. Happy Spiritual Quest!


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Srinivasa Malladi
Srinivasa Malladi
Dr. Malladi Srinivasa Sastry - MBBS MRCPsych

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