Inner Sciences by Looking Inward

Dr. Harish Chandra

I can say with reasonable confidence that the humanity is now passing through an exciting phase of "the age of science" that will see collapse of false and dogmatic beliefs. I foresee that the prevailing religions will collapse in the next four-to-five decades as communism did some years ago. A few years before Leningrad became St Petersburg, who would have believed that communism will collapse in the very lands where it took birth. But the man-made divisive wall crumbled in Germany; the entire Eastern Europe, Soviet Union included, now breathes fresh air. Likewise, religions are based on false and dogmatic beliefs that are not tenable to an intelligent mind. Moreover, they have divided the humanity into different groups clashing with one another. If an impartial study of the last 2000 years is done then the losses the humanity suffered on account of religions far outweigh the benefits that might have accrued from them. The greatest casualty has been the human rational thinking. Rather than encouraging a human mind to develop a rational and compassionate ideas, the religions treated them as sheep and shepherded them to all kinds of ills, including violence towards the peoples subscribing to other religions. While taking this view of religions, we must bear in mind that every human being seeks true spirituality like every child seeks nearness to her mother and father.

Therefore, we must develop inner sciences that will fill up the vacuum created by the departure of religions. The sooner we develop inner sciences, the sooner we will see the departure of religions from this beautiful planet because the inner sciences will act as the catalyst for the exponential growth of rational and compassionate humans. The future is for inner sciences that will take the entire humanity towards humanism that embodies –  

• a new world order void of  religions but filled with scientific  spirituality that  everybody  will love  every other living  being – humans, animals, birds, included;
• a new world order void of capitalism, communism or any other kind of exploitation but filled with equitable distribution of material wealth;
• a new world order void of excessive usage of material wealth but based on the material goods that are produced in a sustainable manner with due respect to the environment;
• a new world order without the mad rush for sensual pleasures but with an optimal mix of the pleasures that an enlightened human being derives from the physical, emotional, mental, intellectual and spiritual faculties of a total human personality.

In short, we will attain maturity to the extent that we will "eat to live and not live to eat." We owe it to our next generations to hand over this planet better in all respects – void of all kinds of pollution in air, water and soil, and the most frightening one that the human minds are presently in the grip of 'mental pollution'. We want freedom and liberty from our own weaknesses that have divided the humanity on so many parameters instead of us living as one small cohesive family. We are aiming at a new world order based on the inner sciences. It is worth all the efforts that it may require. We have an ambitious agenda. With determination, we will achieve it sooner than later.

Inner sciences can be expected to have three arms. The first arm is explored by taking a close look inward, such as, when one meditates. We want to know our true nature. We want to know us as we see and find us and not the way we are told by others. We need to conduct an inward journey beyond our body and mind domains. We need to explore our consciousness that plays a hide and seek with us. In the daytime it regulates both the body and mind domains and when we go to deep sleep then we are not even aware of our own self. Then there is a grey area of dreams – sometimes sweet and sometimes disturbing. We are also aware of the event that will eventually strike us when this wonderful consciousness will leave the body for never to return, called death. Knowing the self in a total and true manner is the first arm of inner sciences.

The second arm of inner sciences will require us to see the outside world. Is it made by itself that the sub-atomic particles were dancing and thence came the creation of the stars and galaxies, the sun and moon, the earth and planets, the water and air, the trees and plants, the animals and birds, the flowers and fruits, and so many other wonderful things, including the human being? We know that even a few bricks lying haphazardly do not become a straight wall themselves unless a human being makes a concerted effort. Therefore, we want to objectively seek out the intelligent spirit behind this wonderful creation, and its true nature. This inquiry will help us understand if this spirit could come on the earth as a living being as a so-called incarnation in the human or non-human form; could it beget and then send its so-called only son to the earth through a virgin woman; could it send a series of messengers to communicate to us and then suddenly decide to send the so-called last messenger; and so on. Thus, the second arm of inner sciences will require a closer and inside look at the outside world.

The third arm of inner sciences will be the most challenging: How to connect the above two arms, if at all they could ever be connected? There are some plausible pointers that we must attempt to connect them. For example, I wasn't consulted (not at least that I am aware of) about the place and time of my birth, about who would be my mother and father, what community and nation I would be born in, what talents and deficiencies I will have at the time of my birth, etc. The present life has simply been thrust upon me. But then, the most amazing and remarkable thing is that I love this life. I want to live. I want to survive all the odds that I come across in life. Furthermore, for me to survive, I need certain life support substances, namely, food, water and air, in the increasing order of essentiality. I could survive a couple of weeks without food, a couple of days without water but not even a couple of minutes without air. And when I look around then I find that with some effort I can gather food, and with much less effort I can find water. But the greatest remarkable thing is that I don't have to make any effort to obtain air anywhere on the surface of the earth. Hence, I see a wonderful correlation that what I need most for my survival is most easily available for me. Could it be that one who sent me into this world is same as the one who made the world? This is a strong pointer that every human being worth slightest intelligence must make some effort to bridge these two arms of inner sciences.

These are the issues that we want to discuss as we develop inner sciences. Two things will always guide us and we will never compromise on them. First, any idea that we develop must go through a strict scrutiny by our intellectual faculty. Our intelligence is an integral part of us and we must utilize it fully before we accept any idea. Second, it must be for the collective good for the entire humanity without any distinction based on race, color, culture, language, religion, or any other parameter. We want to live under the constant shower of peace at all levels – from an individual's mind to the global arena. Indeed, our compassion must include even mute animals and birds. They share this planet with us and if we are superior to them then it is so because we can be compassionate towards them and not because we can kill or harm them. Furthermore, we are concerned about the environment that we enjoy. We owe it to ourselves that we must leave it the way we found it for the future generations to enjoy it too. Thus, two poles of intelligence and compassion will constantly guide us as we develop inner sciences – our head and heart will work together. We will not do mental gymnastics just for the fun of it to develop a rigorous blueprint that does not give rise to a natural smile on every human face. Nor will we allow ourselves to be cowed down by a set of sentimental myths and fallacies even though it might have been accepted by a large cross-section of humanity for a great length of time. We will cross-examine every principle, belief and faith. In short, we will be ruthless towards lies so that we emerge truthful and compassionate.

Dr. Harish Chandra