Here Is Life - Page 2

^^Thank you so much for replying di! 🤗

Yes di, I agree with you.

I wish that I had put the entire thing as it was, but if I did that, then my fingers would have fallen off from typing all of that.😆 The pursuit of worldly knowledge isn't necessarily bad, but the pursuit of material happiness is. That's what I meant by materialism. Medical research and engineering is no doubt a good thing, actually medical science goes perfectly with the whole idea since it's helping life here, but we have less of that and more of a negative development.😔 If someone learns about the self, then they will have very little reason to cheat others because then they'll realize that everyone else is equal to them because of the fact that they, and I'm going to use his apparent favorite words, "a part and parcel of God." 😊That's why he said that there should be some sort of real spiritual schooling in the modern world. And not the phoney baloney stuff we get everywhere.

And yeah, my Dad wouldn't like it if I started bad-mouthing science in general either. He's a scientist himself.😆

😊@Rehan

Thanks Shivang. That was indeed thoughtful reply. I have never spoken of violence. I spoke of deterrence - of pro-active defense. As for 'shooting off rockets', that is crucial in modern world. Of course when Mr. A.C. 'Prabhupada' Dey was alive, that was the high point of cold-war era where space race was a number game between two superpowers. So I don't complain if he thought space-tech is worthless. But today Space science is no longer a cold-war adventure sport. It has spread its tentacles in every aspect of our life. The mobile we use, the DTH services in our TV, internet services, agriculture, industry and most importantly defense. In today's world no modern defense force can think to operate without satellites and space assets. The world will be blind without space science. People are now contemplating of space-mining in other planets due to increasing scarcity of resources. Space science is no longer a luxury - its a basic necessity for a nation's progress. Prabhupada spoke from his arena - ie religion - I am speaking from the arena of the entire nation, which also includes defense, science and politics besides religion - and none can be downplayed or ignored😊.

Today we have a very gross idea of politics, military and world affair. In politics there is nothing called good and bad. There is no room for compassion, sympathy or sentiments. The same goes for military as well. Its a simple policy of the survival of the fittest. Compassionate and idealistic politicians prove to be blunders for their country and people. They might be good father, good son, good husband etc, but never a good leader. They end up impaled in a bed of arrows or tricked to lay down weapons and then hacked off into pieces or shot from behind when they are fixing their chariot wheel. This happens in all ages. Harsh, but true. 😃

However I have never opposed spiritualism - but today it has become more of ritualism. If India had truly understood the original Vedism or Buddhism, it would have been indeed a first world nation with all-round development, because these two cultures instilled self-faith and proclaimed the divinity within rather than turning people into mindless zombies practicing illogical cults. They were most scientific and progressive cultures, but unfortunately they were short lived and were replaced by idolatry, hollow ritualism and unreasoned regressive faith which strangles every deviation, every argument and every new idea and latches us to illiteracy and blind beliefs. Faith in God has turned into fear of God.😕

I remember a Rig Vedic hymn from my ISC Physics book - Yojananam Sahastra Dwe Dwe Shate Dwe Cha Yojane Aken Nimishardhena Krammana Namostute - which translates to 'I bow to thee, who covers 2202 yojanas in a second (ie light)'.

In Metric scale, 2202 Yojanas adds up to nearly 3 x 10⁸ m/s. This was the level of our scientific progress in that age. Those people who wrote the ancient scripture must have been themselves the greatest scientific minds of there times. Nobody, however, knows how the Vedic scholars reached such an accurate figure nearly 4000 years back whereas relatively modern Western scientists with modern apparatus fumbled for centuries in determining the speed of light.

The same goes with Buddha. He spoke of wave-particle duality, quantum field, emptiness, relativity, mass-energy equivalence and even spacetime nearly 2400 years before Einstein. While all other medival/modern religions speak of Creation and Creator God, Buddha was the first one to put forward transformation (of matter and energy) and evolution (of body, mind and soul), as he perceived Creationism as a direct violation to the Physical laws (this feeling was shared by the Jains as well).

In my first comment I spoke of the intertwined and inseparable nature of physics and metaphysics. I guess Rig Veda and Buddha are the finest example.

Please watch these videos...Really great in my opinion.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj_i7YqDwJA&feature=related[/YOUTUBE]
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlmrHMBW36w&feature=related[/YOUTUBE]

"Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected of a cosmic religion of the future; it transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural and spiritual and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things - natural and spiritual - as a meaningful unity" - Albert Einstein, 1954, Albert Einstein : The Human Side.

Thanks to you too Rehan. You also made a very good point in fact of resources reducing on the planet earth, etc. So discovering life on the other planets can't just be taken to be activity to establish just the own superiority over other countries or just useless curiosity or activity without purpose in that sense. It is not done to find the life on other planets and enjoy the success or achievement as a time pass hobby but to explore the potential and possibility of life as a substitute of planet earth. Too much far to think for future generations burdening taxes on present generation but then as Lola rightly put, it is all intention that matters and after all, if intention is so far visionary, then possibly it might qualify to be actually in the category of philosopher and far thinker rather than ordinary practical person. Yes you are also right regarding satellites and all that but I didn't mean rocket launching to be useless in that context. I simply wrote my earlier post keeping in mind rocket launching on other planets as a matter of just discovery as a matter of sense of achievement or establishment of supremacy.