Video Information: 29.09.23, IIT-Madras (Online), Greater Noida
Context:
~ How science helps internally ?
~ How science helps to remove superstition and inner darkness ?
~ Why we need both Vidya and Avidya ?
~ What is technology ?
~ What is difference between science and technology ?
~ Why technology can be disastrous ?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
Context:
~ How science helps internally ?
~ How science helps to remove superstition and inner darkness ?
~ Why we need both Vidya and Avidya ?
~ What is technology ?
~ What is difference between science and technology ?
~ Why technology can be disastrous ?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00So my question is that, what are your thoughts on the developments in science and technology
00:15affecting what is right and what is wrong?
00:18Will it make it more clearer or will it make it more obscure?
00:22For example, now to take the example of animal cruelty by eating non-veg and dairy industry,
00:38say technology is now developing lab-grown meat and such alternatives, where now it is
00:46making it clearer what is right.
00:48Now even if people want to eat meat, they can eat meat without animal cruelty.
00:54But then there are also technologies which are making it more obscure.
01:00Like for example, during the pandemic, when we were having online sessions and online
01:07exams, the technology allowed everyone to cheat in a way that would not be possible
01:14in offline exams.
01:16And they had many justifications for doing so.
01:21In a sense, what I'm trying to say is that the technological development is giving us
01:27new options.
01:30So some options make it clearer that the new option is right, while some options give more
01:37confusion.
01:38So I just want to hear your thoughts on how the technology and scientific developments
01:44affect what is right and what is wrong.
01:48These two are, when it comes to the inner domain and how these two affect the person
01:59from inside, these two are not in the same dimension, science and technology.
02:05You see, science helps you learn the facts of the universe, including the human body.
02:14And the brain.
02:17That's what science enables you to look into.
02:21And when that happens, a lot of superstitions are cleared and beliefs, needless beliefs
02:29are removed.
02:32And when those beliefs are gone, then the inner center you operate from, that improves.
02:41I'll clarify through an example.
02:44Let's say you believe in racial supremacy, as the Nazis did, right?
02:52Now you can have science that will tell you that when it comes to physicality, the races
03:02are hardly any different from each other.
03:06They were talking of the pure Aryan blood, for example.
03:11And science will tell you that when it comes to blood, there are just those four categories
03:17and then the RH plus, RH minus, whatever.
03:21There is nothing called an Aryan blood.
03:25You can be O, you can be Bhi, whatever, but you cannot be Aryan.
03:28When you fall sick, you do not go out looking for Aryan blood.
03:33So the center that you had, the egoistic center that you had, that is challenged, rather clarified
03:40and purified by the findings of science.
03:44And science has helped human beings a great deal, not just materially, not just physically,
03:52but also in the physical sense.
03:54You think of the travails of the ancient man, the fellow did not know what all those things
04:02up above in the sky are.
04:04Sometimes he was thinking that it's a large black canopy and all these things are little
04:10gems and diamonds studded on the canopy.
04:14And he was thinking that it's a big black canopy and all these things are little gems
04:20and diamonds studded on the canopy.
04:24And all that would lead to a lot of inner confusion.
04:29And that would translate into personal incapacity.
04:34When you do not know who you are and the world you are operating in, then everything that
04:42you think, feel or do simply goes haywire, does it not?
04:47I do not know why there is an eclipse.
04:49And I might feel that I need to slaughter my neighbor to avoid the curse of the gods.
04:55And that was indeed happening in several parts of the world.
05:00The sun appears hidden.
05:04Surely the God is demanding some sacrifice to reappear.
05:10Otherwise the God is threatening to go away.
05:12And if the sun goes away, that would be a bad thing.
05:15So what do I do?
05:16And then some learned priest comes over and says, you know, you need to sacrifice your
05:21neighbor.
05:23Because the neighbor in some way was aspiring to be the next priest, but that's the hidden
05:28story.
05:31So the neighbor has to be sacrificed and all those things are happening.
05:34So backwardness in science leads to a lot of inner darkness also.
05:42Inner darkness.
05:43The one who we are inwardly, he needs science, not just spirituality.
05:49He needs science to be a great human being.
05:55The Upanishads put it this way.
05:58You need both Vidya and Avidya if you are to be of any avail.
06:05Vidya is knowledge of yourself and knowledge of others.
06:11Knowledge of yourself, your own inner processes, how your thoughts operate, your mind, your
06:16feelings, your impulses, instincts, reactions, all those things, relationships, all those
06:21things.
06:22So that's Vidya.
06:24And the Upanishads very bravely and very forthrightly declare that if you do not have Avidya,
06:33Avidya is knowledge of the universe, which you could loosely call a scientific knowledge.
06:40That if you do not have Avidya, there is no point having Vidya.
06:45In fact, they declare that between someone who has only Vidya and someone who has only
06:52Avidya, the one having only Avidya has an edge actually.
07:01And then they say the great one, the liberated one is the one who has both Vidya and Avidya.
07:09If you want to cross over the ocean of ignorance, you need knowledge in both the directions.
07:15You need to know the world which comes to you from science and you need to know yourself
07:20which comes from self-observation.
07:24So that's science for you.
07:26Now what's technology?
07:28Technology is application of science according to your own convenience or need or greed or
07:35interest or whatever, right?
07:36So science purifies the one within, whereas technology is simply a toy in the hands of
07:45the one within.
07:47Please understand, whosoever you are, you will be pulled up if you really go deep into
07:54science.
07:56And that is the reason why we find a lot of wisdom in the personalities of a lot of eminent
08:04scientists.
08:06The same thing you cannot say for CEOs of tech companies.
08:13You cannot compare, let's say, a Bill Gates to an Albert Einstein.
08:18Very different.
08:22So technology is simply your slave.
08:27While science can make you better, in that sense, science can pull you upwards.
08:34Whereas technology is something that is always behind you.
08:42You are operating your slave called technology like a dog on leash.
08:52Getting it?
08:54So we need a lot of science to be better and we need a lot of self-knowledge to be better.
09:00And if we do not have science and self-knowledge, which is Vidya and Avidya, then unfortunately,
09:07technology can be a very, very dangerous thing.
09:11Technology in the hands of the wrong kind of population will prove disastrous to everybody.
09:21Disastrous towards the entire planet and self-destructive for the human species.
09:27So, progress in the field of technology alone does not mean much.
09:31In fact, it can be a thing of concern.
09:35You would have heard that anecdote, the monkey and the sword and the king and the king had this
09:43very pet monkey and the monkey too was fond of the king and the king went to sleep and the monkey
09:52went to sleep and the monkey was watching over and a fly came from somewhere and sat right on
10:00the nose of the king and the monkey was appalled. Such a great king and a mere fly is perched on
10:09the nose. So what does the monkey do? Picks up the sword and slash. What does technology do?
10:18Instead of the sword, it gives an intercontinental missile to the monkey.
10:25And that's what has happened. Inwardly, we are still monkeys,
10:29but technology has given us huge power. Power that we don't even deserve.
10:37Power that we cannot even responsibly wield.
10:40So, science is useful. Spirituality is useful. Technology can be disastrous.
10:50For technology to be of constructive use to human beings, you would have guessed by now,
10:57what is needed? It is needed that
10:59growth in wisdom keeps pace with growth in technology.
11:07If the rate of growth of wisdom lags behind the rate of growth of technology,
11:15then we are hurdling towards disaster.
11:20Do you think now the rate of growth of wisdom is matching the rate of growth of technology?
11:28No way, no way. I think you too know that. You just wanted it from me. So,
11:34we all know that. We all know that. The monkey has at most graduated to an orangutan.
11:44But in no way are we still capable of being called human beings.
11:49And we have unmatched power and you see what we have done with that power.
11:54Where is the forest cover? You know the number of species that are going extinct every day.
12:01We have been able to do that only because we have a lot of economic and technical power
12:07at our disposal. And we are using that to ruin this planet. In fact, it's already gone.
12:14Already gone. We are de facto in the sixth mass extinction phase. So, that's what we have done.
12:20Thank you, sir.