The Personal Side of Science

The following piece  was written by an Indian writer and mystic named Jagdish Chandra.  He was a practitioner of Raja Yoga Meditation, a true yogi who valued the power of silence,  and an ardent lover of the Supreme from whom he imbibed tremendous jewels of knowledge.

In this excerpt, he challenges us to look into the personal writings of some of the great scientists of the world to see how successful they felt on the inside. The article begins by looking at the impact that Darwin’s theory of the ‘survival of the fittest’ had upon society and upon Darwin, himself.

“If one believes the principle of ‘the survival of the fittest’, then life becomes very depressing.  Darwin himself experienced this.  Although many are familiar with his theory of evolution, how many have read his personal letters which he wrote to his friends and colleagues?

Read those and you will find how unhappy his life was!  You would come to know the extent to which his life was full of sorrow.  At the end of his life, as he lay sick and dying, having realized that he was not going to survive anymore, he wrote about how a funeral was going on outside his window.  He could hear women’s’ voices singing songs in God’s remembrances, with lots of intoxication.  He felt their happiness and came to realize that his own life was a sorrowful one.  He thought: ‘I am dying at this moment, my body is going to be left, and what have I attained?’  He was overwhelmed by feelings of sadness and peacelessness which he could not understand.  He felt he had no answers and had attained nothing in life~

Many others have revealed similar experiences.  Read the autobiography of Albert Einstein, and see what he said at the end of it!  Read the books of famous scientists. Their principles are taught in our colleges, but what of their life-styles and the inner state of their minds~these things are not widely known.

Many scientists struggle with their minds and the question of what they have attained in life plagues them.  Their principles of ‘only the worthy can survive’, ‘struggle for survival is necessary’, ‘a violent nature is a natural instinct of humanity’, caused so much loss in their lives.

If these principles are lived by and considered true, then war would exist as a natural and obvious aspect of life.  So why talk about peace?  Close the United Nations!  On the basis of such principles, one nation is bound to attack another nation because to attack violently and to fight is the natural nature of humanity.  They say that our ancestors are monkeys and that is why human beings act just like monkeys.  If this is the case why expect good behavior from human beings at all?…

Due to these wrong ideas turbulence has broken out throughout the entire world. Fighting and quarreling have increased.  Of course, before these ideas, humans also used to fight and quarrel due to not knowing the Self.

However, when you explore history, especially after the introduction of the principles of Charles Darwin, Sigmund Freud, and Karl Marx, you will find that the bloodshed which has occurred in the world has become immeasurable.  By considering themselves to be naturally violent by nature, humans have killed other fellow beings and fighting has happened to an extent unprecedented in earlier times.  Earlier, at least some manners used to exist within humanity.  But since these ideas have taken root, such manners have finished and immense violence has entered human life.”

Brother Jadgish dedicated this divine gift of writing towards the establishment of a new world.