To
read original article published in " Sikh
Bulletin
Volume 7, Number 4,
pages 8-13,
April
2005",
Please go to:
https://acsagurdwara.tripod.com/soul_sbulletin.html
Courtesy: Dhillon, S.S.
"Gurbani, Science, and Soul” Understanding Sikhism-Research Journal,
Volume 7, Number 1, pages 59-63, January 2005
GURBANI, SCIENCE, AND SOUL
Dr Sukhraj S
Dhillon, PhD
ABSTRACT
All religions believe in the existence of SOUL in human body.
Sikhism considers SOUL (atma) to be part of UNIVERSAL SOUL (parmatma), which is
GOD. While all religions admit the existence of soul, but they differ in what
happens after death. Sikh and Hindu concept of soul revolves around
transmigration and reincarnation. Muslims and Christians believe in the Day of
Judgment when its fate will be decided. All the followers have faith in their
religions but if we believe in one and the same God (as Sikhs do), then both
views cannot represent the truth that God made two types of souls. It's time
for scientific evaluation to form a logical opinion. The concept of soul/God is
explained using scientific logic and the theory that the entire universe is
energy. According to law of thermodynamics, this energy can neither be created
nor be destroyed. Everything in the universe came from this 'Energy' and will
go back to this 'Energy' (because energy can convert into matter and matter can
convert into energy). 'Everything' means all matter including human beings and
all other beings. It is concluded that scientific concept enhances our
understanding of religion, and is not about damaging a religious faith or
creating a new religion, sect or movement.
DISCUSSION
Faith and Science
For an enlightened mind there is no
conflict between science and religion/spirituality. In fact science strengthens
our faith by providing eyes. Without science, we have faithfuls who believe
that bacteria and viruses from holy places (
Religion without science is blind.
Science without religion is lame.
We need knowledge of science to understand
religion for spiritual growth, the real purpose of any religion.
Whether scientist or not we should be able
to recognize that science is a modem tool, whether for modem conveniences, or
to understand the nature, or to understand Gurbani and soul. The conflict is
nothing more than religious ego of insecure followers in the name of faith.
Science improves our understanding when something is discovered. It is not
there to change anything. In this very elementary example, science has proved
that earth is round, but there was and perhaps still is "flat earth
society" who does not believe in science's proof that earth is round. And
science has no purpose of changing their (flat earth believers) mind, if they
do not want to. So any fear of science changing the Gurbani philosophy is
unfounded. In fact, science may improve our understanding of Gurbani
incorporated in the Aad Guru Granth Sahib (AGGS) [1] making it a universal
scripture in the modem era of science and technology.
In this age of science and technology, we
cannot ignore scientific impact on religion. I tend to believe what Geneticist
Dean Hamer of Harvard said in his recent book [3] "God Gene" that
spirituality is in our nature (genetic-DNA: probably involving many different
genes), which is nurtured by proper environment. Whether we admit it or not,
science and technology has become a modem day religion although it is perceived
as enemy of religion by many theologians. Today, the risk and damage to
religion is only when scientific logic breaks myths, Surveys show that more
than 95 percent of Americans believe in God, while 90 percent meditate or pray
[3]. However, church attendance has been declining in the
Sikh philosophy interpreted in the real
perspective is an exception. The simple facts such as creator and creation are
not separate:
Kwilku Klk Klk mih Kwilku
AGGS, Kabir, p 1350.
The Creation is in the Creator, and the Creator is in the
Creation.
And there is no immaculate conception:
jYsy
mwq ipqw ibnu bwlu n hoeI ]
AGGS, Kabir, p 872.
Without
a mother and a father there is no child.
And no rising from the dead-- resurrection:
kbIr
mwns jnmu dulµBu hY hoie n bwrY bwr ]
AGGS, Kabir, p 1366.
Kabir: Precious human existence does not
just come over and over again.
The above phrases make it scientific and
have no problem with science.
Science and religion have traditionally
been treated like oil and water - they do not mix. The reason for this
polarization is embedded in the idea that religion is a form of subjective
fundamental belief whereas science is objective verifiable phenomenon.
In existence observe, and see how polar
opposites are functioning together, hand in hand, as complementary. That has
not been done yet for science and religion.
The East has lived religiously - that is one pole - and because it has
lived religiously it has not been able to produce good science.
The West has lived scientifically, and
because of its science it has lost track of religion and spirituality. Now for
the first time in this Space Age and Internet, the East is no more East and the
West is no more West. The earth is becoming one: the earth is becoming one
global village. This is the time when
the reconciliation between science and religion can be seen, can be understood.
(Editor: This may be the reason that
Humanity is entering into a new phase; a
new consciousness is to dawn. There have been Buddhas and there have been
Albert Einsteins, but we are still waiting for a Buddha who is also an Albert
Einstein or an Albert Einstein who is also a Buddha. In his last days Albert
Einstein, however was very interested in spirituality and religion. Nanakian philosophy put in proper perspective
is quite scientific and logical.
Rather than underscoring the conflict
between religion and science and point to their mutual exclusivity, we need to
unravel the strands in both and see the extent to which one augments the other.
Attaining scientific knowledge is not about
damaging a religious faith or creating a new religion, sect or movement, but in
fact is about understanding and loving every religion. The understanding of science, religion, and
spirituality can fulfill our scientific as well as spiritual needs in this
modern era of science and technology. We
need scientists from various fields such as biologists, microbiologists,
geneticists, molecular biologist, biotechnologists, and biochemists to
interpret Gurbani. We can no more depend
on theologians to do justice, if we want to understand our scriptures in the
real perspective.
"The significance and joy in my
science comes in those occasional moments of discovering something new and
saying to myself, 'So that's how God did it.'
My goal is to understand a little corner of God's plan.” -- Henry
Schaefer, Professor and Director of the Center for Computational Quantum
Chemistry
It does not do a justice when we challenge
science by taking few science courses or none at all. For example, to relate
the concept of "Soul/DNA/energy..." with Gurbani is lot more
complicated than many of us assume. It's
a simple fact that just to master (not completely) one discipline of science
takes almost lifetime commitment. And we
have so many specialties and sub-specialties in science related fields. It is no more physics, chemistry, biology or
just medicine and technology - there are hundreds if not thousands of
specialties. One of the exciting
disciplines is to analyze mind-body connection in terms of emotions and changes
in body chemistry and physiology. To understand science is lifetime
commitment. It is unfortunate that someone
with no science background blindly starts challenging use of science in
Gurbani. I am not sure if the same
applies to theology. We do not need
theology courses to recognize our spirituality.
It's the balance between material,
psychological, and spiritual dimensions that make a wholesome life, and this
union brings feelings of comfort and security.
However, this unified perspective cannot be forced on anyone until his
or her consciousness is prepared to accept it.
The Concept of Soul and Its Relationship with God
All religions believe in the existence of
soul, and Sikhism considers SOUL (atma) to be part of UNIVERSAL SOUL,
which is GOD (Parmatma):
Awqm
mih rwmu rwm mih Awqmu
AGGS, M 1, p 1153.
God is in the Soul and the Soul is in
the God.
The same concept is repeated at various
pages of the AGGS. For example:
Awqm
dyau dyau hY Awqmu ris lwgY pUj krIjY ]
AGGS, M 4, p 1325.
The soul is divine; divine is the soul.
Worship Him with love.
Awqm
rwmu rwmu hY Awqm hir pweIAY sbid vIcwrw hy ]
AGGS, M 1, p 1030.
The soul is the Lord, and the Lord is
the soul; contemplating the Shabad, the Lord is found.
Concept
of God and Soul
We can have scientific explanation to the
concept of Soul - God (atma-parmatma) (individual soul as part of
universal soul) from Gurbani.
God and Soul is explained by Guru Nanak as
the 'Jyot', which is scientifically 'Energy'. Scientifically everything
in this universe came from this 'Energy' and will go back to this 'Energy'.
'Everything' means all matter including human beings and all other beings. Guru
Nanak still goes further that this 'Energy' came from 'Sunn'. The 'Sunn' means
'Nothingness' and 'Nothingness' means 'Everything'.
A universal mind or one mind or one God of
which we are part of is universal energy, because "the universe is all
energy and the energy is all universe." Albert Einstein discovered: the
energy can convert into matter and matter can convert into energy. The basic
units: atoms and subatomic particles - that form molecules, and cells, and
tissues, and organs, and individuals, are our common origin. The atoms and
subatomic charged particles do not grow old and are ageless and timeless. We can call these basic units of matter as
soul (atma) created from the energy of the universe (parmatma) -
the two are inter-convertible and represent atma-parmatma. The atoms in a child or a seedling are no
younger than that of a wrinkled person or a yellowing leaf. That is why we can
say that soul is eternal and never ages or dies, if we choose to say so.
It's only when we look at life in a
specific form, we fall victims to our separation from rest of things. That
separation is called the ego. (See article of Dr Chandan on EGO on pages 39,
42-46). The ego is a false self that we made up to compete with God based on
the thought that we are separate. That iron curtain of selfish ego separates us
from Universal Spirit/Universal Energy or God. Once we accept the God within
and realize that it's not possible to be separate from God and that we are one
with God, then we know that we are love and we are peace and we are joy and we
are happiness and we are eternal.
Here’s what Guru Nanak Says:
Awqmw
prwqmw eyko krY]
AMqr
kI duibDw AMqir mrY]
AGGS, M 1, p 661.
Whose soul and the Supreme Soul (God)
become one; the duality of the inner mind disappears.
We are all part of one indivisible divine
mind or the universal mind or Universal Energy or God. Our individual mind or
soul (atma) is divine image of supreme (or Parmatma), but we have
to recognize it:
mn
qUM joiq srUpu hY Awpxw mUlu pCwxu ]
AGGS, M 3, p 441.
O'my soul/mind you're the image of
Divine light; so know your source.
And the same mind or one mind is the same
as one God.
While all religions admit the existence of
soul, but they differ in what happens after death. Sikh and Hindu concept of
soul revolves around transmigration and reincarnation. Muslims and Christians
believe in the Day of Judgment when its fate will be decided.
Therefore, the soul of Muslims and
Christians is locked in the grave of a person waiting the day of judgment when
its fate will be decided, whereas the soul of a Sikh and Hindu who believes in
transmigration is immediately released after funeral so that it’s ready to
enter into another body.
The question is:
Will God (One and the same God for entire
humanity, as the Sikhs believe) make two types of souls one for Hindus and
Sikhs and other for Muslims and Christians?
Therefore, it is time for scientific
evaluation to form a logical opinion, one way or another.
Soul, Science, and Concept of Energy
Science can explain soul (atma) and
God/Universal soul (parmatma) in terms of energy.
Discovery about the basic concept of energy
has shown that all matter is convertible into energy and vice versa. So every
thing is nothing but manifestation of energy. Any kind of matter can change or
be destroyed but the energy, according to law of thermodynamics, can neither be
destroyed nor be created (ajooni*). This is also called the law of
conservation of energy. This energy can be considered the Highest of All or the
Divine Force or the Almighty God? It's
this creative energy that created every thing from almost nothing in a very
methodical and organized way: consciousness, intelligence, love, beauty,
happiness, organization of all living things from atoms to molecules to cells
to complex organisms. Accepting the Energy of the Universe as the Doer Force
(or Creator/ karta purkh*) is accepting the scientific basis of
soul.
The individual soul is part of universal
soul/energy created from charged particles (electrons, protons, neutron) to
atoms to molecules to cells to complex organisms. The soul is part of mind that is associated
with our consciousness.
Consciousness means awareness. The
consciousness is not existing by itself as many people think, rather it is one
of the most important aspects of energy itself [2]. Living organisms can only
reveal it where nervous system connected to senses is present. Our five senses
(sight, smell, taste, hearing, touch) can work only in the presence of
consciousness. A conscious person is aware of himself and his environment,
whereas, an unconscious person is totally cut off from the world. A person in
coma even though living, is like living without consciousness. Our conscious
mind while awake can see the world around but the same mind during deep sleep
becomes completely unaware of any thing. Our life will have no meaning in the
absence of consciousness because the five senses linking us with the
environment become functionless. Consciousness is not limited to humans. It is
a part of all types of life wherever with and without the presence of nervous
system connected to senses.
The big question here is that where does
the consciousness come from? Does the offspring get it from the parent/s or it
comes from the environment? The only link between an offspring and parent is
chemical material, chiefly DNA. Does the DNA have consciousness? The DNA itself
contains a very small amount of conscious energy as chemical energy and DNA is
not a conscious molecule from the standpoint of a conscious mind. But it's DNA
that carries all the characteristics of living system from the parents to
offspring. Consciousness is realized when the nervous system is fully
functioning.
Let us focus on the living forms in which
the nervous system is well developed. For the source of consciousness, the
fully developed wiring system of the nervous system gets connected to the
consciousness, which is an important part or property of energy within the
living system and the environment or the universe around. The amount of
received consciousness is according to the capacity of a particular nervous
system in humans or animal life forms. Consciousness in the Universe is like an
audio or audiovisual program ready to be received by a functioning radio or TV
- whenever we turn them on. Similarly, the nervous system is turned on during
the wake cycle when it becomes functional, while it is cut off during the deep
sleep cycle by built in mechanisms under the control of full consciousness
prevailing in a non-cessation manner. The full consciousness is fully alert
continuously even when the conscious mind is fast asleep. The whole body
functioning is governed by intelligence of energy under its full consciousness
continuously, with absolutely no pause. The mind is all natural consciousness
of energy. The energy is everywhere, so is the consciousness because it is one
of the properties of energy.
Only a very small portion of the mind is
conscious mind connected to our five senses. The rest is all subconscious or
unconscious mind or we can call it the greater consciousness or the
Our wakefulness, therefore, is only a
partial opening with large potential still remaining. The real wakefulness will
be if we expand our conscious mind into the full consciousness of the
subconscious mind and become awake to the full. This is also called "Surati"
or the realization of the highest of all or enlightenment. The whole universe
is all consciousness, because it is all energy. The most important part of the
conscious mind is the Attention or "Dhyan". To whatever thing
we pay our attention we remember that, and from whatever thing the attention is
withdrawn, we forget that. This is the most valuable tool of the conscious mind
to expand wakefulness, but it is being lost into worldly things or what we call
an attachment to material world, depriving it of the real opportunity of
merging with the Highest of All or Divine Force to see through and enjoy every
thing in the whole universe, as many of the religious prophets have suggested
us. We may have to divert our attention from outward to inward to experience
and know the Almighty we call God.
Love, intelligence, beauty, happiness...
are all other aspect of the energy depicted in humans and some animal
life. But these are realized only in the
presence of consciousness.
The basic units of life (electrons,
protons, neutrons, atoms, molecules) do not die but change form and rearrange
themselves. So we can say soul (part of
energy of the universe) never dies but body does, if we choose to say so.
[“The Soul can never be cut to pieces by
any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the
wind.” Bhagvad Geeta
Guru Nanak means essentially the same:
nw
jIau mrY n fUbY qrY]
AGGS, M 1, p 151.
Soul does not die; it does not drown or
swim across. ]
In conclusion, the charged particles
(electrons, protons, neutrons), atoms, molecules, which are basic units of
creation including human body and Soul (atma) are created from and end
up with the universal energy (parmatma) that we have explained above as
divine force or highest of all or Lord of the Universe or almighty God. Therefore, a universal mind or one mind or
one God of which we are part of is universal energy/energy of the universe,
because "the universe is all energy and the energy is all universe."
Soul Transmigration
As discussed above the Sikh's and the
Hindu's concept of soul revolves around transmigration and reincarnation.
Muslims and Christians believe in the Day of Judgment when its fate will be
decided. There has not been any Judgment
Day for over 2000 years of Christianity and nobody knows when it will happen.
And those who believe in transmigration, we don't know when and where their
soul enters into another body of what species.
Again it is time for scientific evaluation to form a logical opinion,
one way or another.
Prof Chahal (Sikh Diaspora Digest 1369
Message 5, 2004) has provided a scientific concept on transmigration: "The
child have all the dominating and midway between characters of both the
parents. It means the DNAs (SOULS) of both the parents have been duplicated and
they have been transmigrated into a new life while the parents are still
alive."
Buddhists believe spirituality is
determined by chromosomes (that contain DNA) from your mother and father.
We can take this concept a step further
that what one sows so does one reap:
Awpy
bIij Awpy hI Kwhu ]
AGGS, M1 Jap 20, p 4.
What you sow so shall you reap.
The good deeds parents do in this life to
be good role models or bad role models is the reward or suffering they earn in
this life for next life (children). If
parents are criminals, they pay through their children as bad deed. On the other hand if they are good parents
and some times even sacrifice their life to raise children properly, they are
rewarded through children as good deed.
I concur with Khushwant Singh [4] that
"the real test of the worth of any religious system is how much of what
its founders said can stand up to the challenges of present day scientific,
social and psychiatric advancement." We, who try to bring in science, are
not here to challenge anyone's faith but sincerely believe that Nanakian
Philosophy embodied in his Bani if interpreted in its real perspective, will
survive forever as 'Eternal Truth'.
So any fear of science changing Nanakian
Philosophy is unfounded. It certainly
has a potential to improve our interpretation and understanding. The fact is,
it was scientific findings by Herbert Benson of
CONCLUSIONS
·
All
religions believe in the existence of SOUL in human body. Sikhism considers SOUL (atma) to be
part of UNIVERSAL SOUL (parmatma) which is GOD. Science explains the same concept in terms of
energy of the universe.
·
Characteristics
of God defined by Gurbani and by the concept of energy are more similar than
different. Energy of the Universe is the
Doer Force or Creator/ karta purkh*.
And according to law of thermodynamics, this energy can neither be
destroyed nor be created (ajooni*). This is also called the law of
conservation of energy. We can refer to this Divine Power as He, Him or His. He is Universal God (The
Energy of the Universe), the Supreme Being or the Lord of the Universe.
·
He
(Energy of the Universe) is everywhere in all forms as well as formlessness (sargun
as well as nirgun). All matter and all space is Him (energy). He has
been and will be there forever (akaal murat*). He creates, maintains and
destroys any thing. He is Life. He is Self Creating (saebhang*).
·
Energy is
creator and matter created from energy is creation including humans and their
souls. Therefore, creator/creation or
energy/matter are interconvertible.
Gurbani says the same that creator and creation are not separate.
·
Soul/
DNA/Energy/Mother Nature's universal laws/God are different representations of
the same concept in view of scientific logic.
All matter is a form created from formless
Energy, i.e., Him/God/Creator. His creativity is infinite and His method of
self-creativity is a real wonder when we look at the creation and growth of
living organisms. A scientist cannot deny the feeling of being startled at
Nature’s absolutely phenomenal and the most intelligent work of self-creation
into all the complicated life forms including a human being through a greatly
thoughtful and organized manner. And
that's why Albert Einstein said: "God
does not play dice with the world.
We have tried to provide alternate views
using science and logic to questions that were perceived to be confusing and
contradictory varying from faith to faith. We hope these will be more
acceptable to our next generation of science and technology. Have we settled the discussion on soul? Not likely, even though we have learned a lot
about soul in this discussion.
REFERENCES
1. AGGS = Aad Guru Granth Sahib. 1983 (reprint).
Publishers: Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee,
2. Dhillon, S.S. 2006. "Science, religion,
and spirituality." Publish America, Frederick, MD.
3. Hamer,
Dean. 2004. "The God Gene." Random House/Doubleday,
4. Khushwant Singh. 1968. 'Guru Nanak Lectures'
delivered by the author at the
*From Commencing Verse (Manglacharan or
Moolmantra): AGGS, Manglacharan, p 1.
***********************
More
on Concept of: SOUL,
ENERGY, AND DNA
SOUL
and ENERGY
Let
us talk first: what happens to soul after death.
In my humble opinion, the immortal soul, a popular concept in theology,
is the energy that makes us alive. Once
that energy is gone, we are dead. The
molecules including DNA (we will talk about DNA later), tissue, organs etc are
there but no life. [I recall folk
saying: chuk lo, chuk lo, hoe-ju-gee, jadd udgia bhaur (energy) vajudoon (body)].
What happens to this energy. This
becomes part of universal energy according to the well-established scientific
fact. This is law of thermodynamics
as I have mentioned in the article above:
“The entire universe is energy. According to law of thermodynamics, this energy can neither be created nor be destroyed. Everything in the universe came from this 'Energy' and will go back to this 'Energy' (because energy can convert into matter and matter can convert into energy). 'Everything' means all matter including human beings and all other beings. [There is no place for details but I have detailed account including consciousness etc in my book that should be out sometime in 2006 “Science, Religion, and Spirituality”]
I am not interested in whether you are a scientist or not and agree or disagree, but please try to understand. If you do, it will clear the entire concept of immortal soul and soul merging with God, atma-parmatma etc. So coming back when this soul or energy is gone at the time of death, it merges with universal energy which we can call by any name: God, Parmatma, Universal energy, lord of the universe, or any other name you prefer.
So everybody’s soul merges with God irrespective of our deeds. As we hear quite often from our brothers in theology.
SOUL and DNA
So far nothing about DNA. Now how does DNA fits into this picture. Understanding role of DNA is very crucial when we talk about reincarnation of soul etc and karma theory. If you pay attention, the above soul/energy doesn’t explain anything about reincarnation etc because that energy after death is not intact anymore. It was just for the functioning of that particular organized body. It has merged with universal soul and can be used for anything.
Believe whatever anyone wants depending on one’s understanding: DNA is the only molecule that can be passed from one generation to other and carries all the genetic information. If there is no DNA there is no life the way we know it and nothing to pass on. So that’s where DNA has its role if we believe in reincarnation of soul.
I know these concepts make many of us feel uncomfortable because it shatters all our myths. For them they are free to keep their myths, if they think that’s the truth. I believe that only truth sets us free.
With regards,
dr sukhraj singh dhillon
usa
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