आगमे ब्राह्मे विश्वासटिप्पन्यः

To attain purushaartha, one has to give up ahankaara. The only way to do that is to control the chattering and outgoing mind which is solely responsible for all the misery.Shastriji concludes his lecture series, by dwelling on this aspect.

Editor

अस्य संसार दुःखस्य सर्वोपद्रवकारिण:,

उपाय एक एव अस्ति मनसः स्वस्थ निग्रहः.

asya saṁsāra duḥkhasya sarvōpadravakāriṇaḥ,

upāya ēka ēva asti manasaḥ svastha nigrahaḥ.

(Y.V.4-4-1)

OR THE SORROW CAUSED BY THE TORMENTING worldly life, there is only one cure and that is the control of one’s mind.

The author almost makes a ruling that there is only one trick to come out of sorrow. The trick is मनसः निग्रहः - manasaḥ nigrahaḥ - ªÀÄ£À¸ÀB ¤UÀæºÀB – controlling the mind. He further declares that there is no other remedy and any other remedy to come out of sorrow will amount to this. Thereby he declares that mind in the agitated or exited state is duhkha. Otherwise, if duhkha were not the disturbed state of mind, how can quietening the mind be the remedy? Thus we get the definition of duhkha. The disturbances are speed and focussing. I admire Yōgavāsiṣṭha because, it simply goes to the fundamentals without any reservation or inhibition. How I wish that Vedanta abhyasa also develops in the same way without the overtone of tradition. Any number of new models may be developed. New definitions may be developed with the background of science we have. We can work with better models and better explanations. Then Vedanta will be acceptable to all. This does not result in any deviation from tradition or sampradaya. Basic truths are there.

The explanatory part may change from person to person and from decade to decade and era to era. What is wrong when Upanishad themselves permit such thinking. A method of investigation or prakriya tried in one Upanishad is different from that conceived in the other. For example, Panchakosha Viveka, Avasthatraya Pariksha, Sthoola Sookshma Vichara, etc. In Narada Sanatkumara Akhyayika a style of investigation is followed where the disciple questions his Master to give him something greater than the one that exists. When the Guru gives him a proposition, the disciple asks him if there is something greater than that. The questions can go on this way. Investigation style could differ from person to person.

In fact, there is an excellent method of enquiry revealed by Shankaracharya in his Ekasloki. It is in the form of question and answer between teacher and the taught. In five stages you are drawn to the swaroopa.

    किं ज्योतिस्तव भानुमानहनि मे रात्रौ प्रदीपादिकम्


    स्यादेवं रविदीपदर्शनविधौ किं ज्योतिराख्याहि मे


    चक्षुस्तस्य निमीलिनादिसमये किं धीर्धियॊ दर्शने


    किं तत्राहमतो भवान् परमकं ज्योतिस्तदस्मि प्रभो.

kiṁ jyōtistava bhānumānahani mē rātrau pradīpādikam

syādēvaṁ ravidīpadarśanavidhau kiṁ jyōtirākhyāhi mē

cakṣustasya nimīlinādisamayē kiṁ dhīrdhiyo darśanē

kiṁ tatrāhamatō bhavān paramakaṁ jyōtistadasmi prabhō.

Ekasloki

What is the light with which you do your transaction in day time? It is Surya, the Sun.
What about night? When it is darkness in the night with the help of what you transact? Moon light, lamp and the like.
In the absence of that with what do you transact? By the help of vaak or sound – that is by way of recognizing the sound and doing transaction.
Tell me, in seeing the sun, the moon and the lamp, what is the source of illumination? O that is the eye!
What then, when that (the eye) is closed? O, it is the intelligence or buddhi!
What reveals the intelligence - its functions? Ah, coming to that, it is my own Self, the ‘I’!
Well, your own Self is then the supreme brilliance, the Ultimate Light, the first and the last source of illumination! Is it not?

YES, O LORD, IT IS SO – “I AM THAT”.

This is a very unique method of reaching Brahman.

आत्मैव ज्योतिः - ātmaiva jyōtiḥ

You are jyoti swaroopa and so, the

ILLUMINATING CENTER for all actions.

At my own level I discarded all these models and proceeded in my own way of search. That is not anti tradition. I took refuge in science where the whole universe is divided into two components – matter and energy. Science goes further to show that both these are also inter convertible. Science has gone still further to assert that matter is nothing but packed energy. In the whole universe there is nothing but energy both qualitatively and quantitatively.

How do we go about from now? We have to look at where from the energy, which may be in any form, comes? See, to what extreme level the question is simplified. If this is solved, then everything is over. In only one step we have finished Vedanta.

My question was where from the energy in me comes and into where the energy sinks? And the only answer is in my own stuff inside. One has to dwell inside to get the answer. Nowhere else in the universe you can conduct this experiment because you cannot try it outside of you. There are energy strokes like light pulses, thermal pulses, magnetic pulses. We cannot search from where they originate sitting on this earth. When a light pulse is released in to the earth what happens? It scatters and attains a lower energy because it gets distributed into a vast space.

Coming back to our experiment, I was disturbed, but now I am calm. That means, into calmness or the garbha of calmness the energy has absorbed itself. How did this happen? It is through my personal autonomy. I have borrowed this phrase from a former director of NIMHANS. What is that? I can decide that I will quieten myself and the mind becomes quiet. Where did the extra energy, which was till then existing, go? The only answer is that it went into that quietness. How can energy go into quietness? But, here it is a fact which cannot be questioned in the light of logic. Logic should sub serve fact. Logic is a general statement of fact. I can increase the activity level or I can soften it. Everyone does this in his own way. The energy that is accumulated in me can thus be judiciously used by me. So activity becomes quietness. But, applying our calculus model it can be said that no activity can be extinguished. It became less and less and less in localization or in other words it got scattered or spread or distributed. Every activity merges into its complementary term called resting or silence. So, quietness is the source for all the activity. Both are complementary terms. When I become active all this scattered energy gets focused into a point. This is the art of localization of the Self. Thus the different centers like talking, seeing, hearing can be activated. Thus energy is either in the potential form or diffused form. This is the facility available in all of us. It is process of going back or re-tracing for which one can have his own method. The aim is to soften the unruly forces and reach the ultimate. This is your guru inside you who gives you the power to relax until you touch the origin one day. It is not shastra or Shastri or even Shankara for that matter. The whole of Vedanta is the act of watching the forces inside to see how they are born, how they are sustained and how they get dissolved – yato va imaani bhootani jaayante, …..Anando brahmeti vyajaanaat, anandena khalu imaani bhootaani.…….That extreme state of relaxation is from which energy is born, sustained and into which it dissolves.

Why do you call the source as ananada?

According to Indian thinking peace is aananda or a joyful state. Silence is ananada. Relaxation is ananda. Every ananda is of relaxation type only. But one can point out that in ananda one is excited. In the moment of enjoyment it is obvious that there is excitement. With this one shuld not conclude that excitement is ananda. On careful examination one can note that because of the very excitement another centre is emptied of its extra energy. Excitement has brought a stretch elsewhere. It has brought a change in the mental activity because energy shift takes place. So, excitement is the element of joy not the agency of joy.

Let us see the text.

श्रूयतां ज्ञान सर्वस्वं श्रुत्वा च एव अवधार्यताम्,

भोगेच्छामात्रको बन्धः तत्त्यागो मोक्ष उच्यते.

śrūyatāṁ jñāna sarvasvaṁ śrutvā ca ēva avadhāryatām,

bhōgēcchāmātrakō bandhaḥ tattyāgō mōkṣa ucyatē.

(4-4-2)

Do thou hear about wisdom in its fullness. After hearing about it, contemplate on it. The desire for worldly happiness is bondage. Renunciation of such desire is liberation.

I am giving the whole wisdom of the Upanishads. After listening to it, contemplate on that. What is that ultimate single truth? bhōgēcchāmātrakō bandhaḥ - Wanting is bandhana or bondage. The force of desire for bhoga causes bondage more than the bhoga itself. One is caught up in going after things and thus getting into duhkha.

tattyāgō mōkṣa ucyatē - Drop it. Mind becomes empty and is beautiful. Bhoga, raaga and dwesha forces are all one and the same. Both, going away from an object or going towards an object are the same. What an excellent hint for saadhana!!!!

Lot of people around us do number of vratas. Some even give up food for three or four nights in a week. There are others who do not do this. However they resort to a method by which they partake food or any bhoga for that matter as a yajna, a sacrifice. So we have to make this as a yajna by approaching bhoga without the speed and focussing element always haunting within.

श्रोत्रादीनि इन्द्रियानि अन्ये संयमाग्निषु जुह्वति,

शब्दादीन् विषयानन्ये इन्द्रियाग्निषु जुह्वति.

śrōtrādīni indriyāni anyē saṁyamāgniṣu juhvati,

śabdādīn viṣayānanyē indriyāgniṣu juhvati.

(B.G.4-26)

Some offer their hearing and other senses into the fire of the controlled mind, while the grihasthas, householders, offer sense objects, such as sound, into the fire of the senses.

These are nothing but approaching any bhoga with the attitude of waiting patiently. For example, when food is served watch how the mind acts or reacts. There will be so much of temptation that one is driven by a mad rush and does not wait for the entire menu to be served.

How does it become yajna by waiting?. It is a havis offered to the restlessness inside to cool it down. Every indriya has a restlessness element of the corresponding type. Keeping them under control is a mahasadhana as admitted by shastra. Any professional work, ego increasing work, has to be approached in this way. Don’t hate it but observe with this difference. An agitation has to be treated with poojya bhava and should not be hated. Craving will slowly and slowly die down when a touch of respectability is given to that.

ब्रह्मार्पणं ब्रह्म हविः ब्रह्मग्नौ ब्रह्मणा हुतम्.

ब्रह्मैव तेन गन्तव्यं ब्रह्मकर्मसमाधिना.

brahmārpaṇaṁ brahma haviḥ brahmagnau

brahmaṇā hutam.

brahmaiva tēna gantavyaṁ brahmakarmasamādhinā.

(B.G.4-24)

Brahman can be attained by one who performs yajna in which the sacrificial instruments, the ghee, the fire, the offerings and the priest (agent) are all Brahman. Such a person is qualified to attain Brahman because he is fully absorbed in karma which is of the same nature as Brahman. The evil forces are the fires. I am the offering person. The bhoga or karma is the havis offered. Casualness is the element of vistarata. Slowness or leisureliness is an element of naidhyanya. We should not injure the system in vedantic sadhana. Indians never thought that bhoga was foul. The cheapness of indulgence and the enslavement in that is the foul element. Minus that, it is brahmasadhana and every vyapara fed to the relative centre gives you brahmasparsha.

The locked up centre expands. Why did parampara insist on holding things? Because things are done in excess due to the rush to that bhoga which injures the system. Holding is not starvation. Conduct the programme in a gentle way. Rashness in Bhoga is the element of dukha, element of suffering and element of bondage

मनसश्च इन्द्रियाणां च ऐकाग्र्यं परमं तपः.

manasaśca indriyāṇāṁ ca aikāgryaṁ paramaṁ tapaḥ.

This is Bhishma’s statement in Mahabharata Anushasana parva. Shankara quotes that in his commentary. It is accepted that control of the mind and the indriyas is the best tapas. It is also accepted that any agent which ends up in quietening the mind is within the definition of dharma. Whatever act that brings about the purification of mind, is dharma. This is an excellent definition for Dharma. So indriyanigraha gently done is dharma. Bhoga-aaswadana very gently done is also dharma.

You know now very well Shankara’s statement.

लौकिकोपि आनन्दो ब्रह्मानन्दस्य एव मात्रा.

laukikōpi ānandō brahmānandasya ēva mātrā.

So, even the Bhogasukha is a touch of Brahman. But then, the general public who are not into Vedanta do not accept it. Therefore Shankara had to get the support of shruti. He supports his statement by the mantra of Bruhadaarankyaka Upanishad - etasyeva anandasya anyanibutani maatram upa jivanti - So, everyone in the world is able to live only because of their getting a bit of brahmasukha.

Everytime you are happy, you are in the no mind state. (Amanibhava). In the truptasthiti the speed has gone down, the vistaarata has set in.That is swaroopa anubhava. When it is appetite, it needs to be approached as feeding the panchaagni. The objection to this is, that one is giving a license to bhoga. If you want to be hypocritical, you can always justify irrationally. It is not pretension. One has to satisfy himself. One should have a measure of indulgence.

If the desires are strong, you can overcome them in two ways. One is to suppress them gently or fulfill the desire. If you suppress the desire too much, a break point is reached. You can slow down the bhoga. Still you can be part of the system. Bhoga within the framework of dharma is permitted. Otherwise it would become destructive to him and to the world. There are certain bhoga-vasanas which are to be conquered. An unnatural desire and a desire which causes injury to the cosmic order, is not permitted. Otherwise you will become a victim of the desire itself.

I am Brahman is a theory that I knew till now. I am not yet purified to a level to really practice the same. That cannot apply to me as long as I have pulls of the indriaays. At that level, I should feed them in a gentle way until a point is reached where the conviction becomes so strong, that I can drop them. When the hunger to fulfill the desire is strong, you have to feed them.

I was wondering why in Rudramantra the rishi always asking for so many things when you have to have vairaagya. But, the answer to this could be, that a dignified desire is not a taboo, unless you snatch them away from someone else.

Taking liberties does not mean that you should indulge in bhoga. The rush to bhoga should drop helping you to give up the bhoga itself. Even then the pull will be there in a small measure. At that point, discrimination helps you to take it or reject it. What is the test for this? Even when you indulge in bhoga, there should not be any rush. Then, slowly the hankering for that bhoga disappears. Shanti before, shanti during, and shanti after the bhoga moment is the watch word. If you catch this point you will never falter during sadhana. This care is important.

किमन्यैः शास्त्रसंदर्भैः क्रियतामेतदेव तु,

यद्यत्स्वाद्विह तत्सर्वं दृश्यतां विषवन्हिवत्.

kimanyaiḥ śāstrasaṁdarbhaiḥ kriyatāmētadēva tu,

yadyatsvādviha tatsarvaṁ dr̥śyatāṁ viṣavanhivat.

(4-4-3)

Of what use are the extensive scriptures? Let this alone be accomplished. Whatever is thought of as pleasing be known to be like poison and like fire.

Ultimately, I would like to say that sadhana is very essential for the internal progress. So, why worry about studying Yoga vasishta. There are hundreds of such texts. Saadahana is the only tool for you

Physics has helped us to reduce the whole universe into one aspect. We should thank them. Matter and energy were thought to be independent. With the Einsteinian concept that matter is nothing but locked up energy, the question as to whether the whole thing is spandana or a movement or an activity gets strengthened. This is called conservation of mass-energy totality. Once that is done, then the question arises as to where from this energy arises. Vedanta being a peculiar science says that this energy is from silence. The attack on spirituality is to show the evidence for this one. This has to be practically experienced. But the scientific fraternity does not accept this in the absence of a proof. This was a trouble for me for a long time as I was to find the proof from Shastra which was necessary. So I had to do a lot of research.

The proof stands on the three regions of evidence - Shastra, Upapatti and Anubhava. See the accuracy again. In my own field of experience, I have gone to shastra repeatedly whenever there is a knot in the thinking. A well accepted science tradition says that shastra pramaana is nothing but the research findings of the previous research done by a rishi. A PhD student understands this aspect. Any person who registers for a PhD has to spend six months in the library for doing detailed study in the concerned area in which he is interested. Whatever earlier study that has been done has to be accepted and one needs to continue from that landing point. Whosoever researcher reported his findings in the identical area is called shastra. We trust the previous researchers. We do not say that they are dishonest or not clever. The same thing applies to Vedanta also. This is called shastra.

Upapatti is the logic or inference. Ultimate confirmation is anubhava. Shankara makes a point here by not agreeing to most of the schools who say that shastra is the ultimate. As per him, it is a tentative pramana or proof. But pramana culminates in anubhava. That is the courage of vedanta. It has the courage to say that unless a proof is there, there is no need to agree to a postulate.

आनुभवान्तं शास्त्रानुभव पर्यवसाने श्रुतिः.

ānubhavāntaṁ śāstrānubhava paryavasānē śrutiḥ

The sruti reports on findings which must culminate in any one’s experience. Then only one can accept the shastra.

My own study told me that while I am quiet, I get a stroke of anger or, I get a stroke of fear. How did I get that when the prior state was very gentle? Where from that burst of activity come from? It came from silence, an experience not available in science. Yōgavāsiṣṭha describes the structure of mind in this way.

स्वयमेवाशु भवति स्वयमेव विलीयते,

स्वयमेव प्रसरति स्वयं संकोचमिति च.

svayamēvāśu bhavati svayamēva vilīyatē,

svayamēva prasarati svayaṁ saṁkōcamiti ca.

(6-19-19)

He rises spontaneously of himself, and then subsides in himself, he expands hi own essence all over the universe, and at last contracts the whole in himself.

Mind has acquired that freedom to will, to change by itself. Some of the statements from Yoga Vasishta are extremely helpful to clear some fundamental misgivings. In human beings, there is a chetana which can magnify or thin out. This facility is not available in Jadavastu. We will be coming across such situations in our daily life. So, activity can come from silence. You can also absorb the anger as soon as it comes. Where did that activity go? Back into silence of course!

The pulling elements are ego, nidra, self importance, pressure of the senses. One needs to introspect as to whether one is possessed by these elements of obstacles for sadhana. With the background of Vedanta we can easily see whether these are the hindrances in our becoming quiet. If they are the factors, then a correction has to be done externally. When you are at the desiring level, why not take them in their stride. Take bhoga in the dignified way. Work for it and fulfill those desires. If you become a parasite or if you steal someone’s money, it is wrong and unacceptable.

Q. What was the difference between the attitudes of Shikidwaja and Viswaamitra?

A. The moment Shikidwaja came to know this secret, he was set in swaroopa. But, for Viswamitra, this swaroopanishta came at the end only when he realised that there was no point in getting the praise from Vasishta. Whether Vasishtha called him Brahmarshi or not, why should he bother was the stand taken by him at the end. Till the time the mind got thinned out to that level, Vasishta was calling him only Rajarshi. When Viswamitra stopped bothering about the title, Vasistha called him Brahmarshi. In this episode we have to see these points. One is the ego part and the second is the determination that he should be called Brahmarshi. When indifference took the upper hand his shaanti was restored. At that point Vasishta himself goes in search of vishwamitra.

Q. Is not activity not our inherent nature?

A. We can accept this to an extent that we have two activity filled phases of wakeful and dream states. And there is the sleep state without any activity, excepting the general pranic activity. We can accept that we exist in these two phases. It is also possible for a person to exist in the non doing state. If we take zero as the .point of reference, 1, 2, 3, cannot accommodate zero. That is, Variety cannot accommodate nothingness. But, nothingness, taking a bit of an activity can accommodate hundreds of activities. Variety can be an outcome of generality. But generality cannot be the outcome of variety. Swapnadehi and mano- dehi are two characteristics of dream. But duhkha has not gone even in the dream, because the world one sees in a dream also becomes a bhogasthaana. In dream also, you have likes and dislikes. You are not happy when you do not get what you want. Even in imperishable dream body fear is built in. To get out of the fear you have to have aakaasha deha, just as you are in sleep, a state without any transaction. Every day we go into the sleep state. Suppose you don’t get the right sleep, the whole mind gets agitated. This proves that the mind is the only state where duhkha phase is created.

It is the fickleness of the mind, chanchalata, which is responsible for duhkha. If we accept that the material state of the mind is the chanchalya phase then why do we complain all the time? The meaning of nidra from the vedantic point is not the rest for the body. It is the rest for the mind. Therefore we have a moral from our dreamless sleep state. The whole Vedantic structure is built on the foundation, the experience called dreamless sleep state. But even this state is not considered holy.

Q. What is wrong with too much of bhoga?

A. Let us take the example of enjoying music. Not only are you directing the energy bothering at the aajanachakra, when you are listening to music, you are also dissipating the energy through shabda. Naada is next stage of aakaasha dharma in terms of bringing in expansion and so is the highest and nearest. But the problem is you are seeking more and more of music since you think you are in the happy state because of it. When indulged in excess it brings in more excitement, and when it stops, urge to have it again increases. Therefore there should be moderation of indriya bhoga.

न जातु कामानां उपभोगेन शाम्यति.

na jātu kāmānāṁ upabhōgēna śāmyati.

It is not possible to control the kaamanas or desires by repeated enjoyment of them all the time. It is like pouring ghee into fire. It increases the hunger since you are destroying the normal way of releasing the energy from the respective centers. Such person succumbs to pressure and the normal mind cannot tolerate this pressure and gets destroyed.

In Yōgavāsiṣṭha, at one place Vasishtha talks of shamasukha and brahmasukha. He says that brahmasukha is hundred times more than the other sukha. In shamasukha, we retain the confinement of ’I’-ness. We moderate all activities like eating, talking, and others which disturb the mind and we are always watchful. There is a limit to the benefit. The observer is always there watching the actions. You have not tampered with that center where confinement still exists. Though purification is going on, this sukha is limited to brahmasukha minus the focusing burden. That is the limitation of shamasukha, since the correcting centre is active and operating. We do not know how to undo this notional correction. Why not smash the correction centre itself? A Jnaani does away with the correction centre itself and the sukha that he gets at that point is brahmasukha.

That was s the difference between Shikidwaja and Choodaala. Choodaala understood the non importance of the controller. But, Shikidwaja was constantly monitoring the same. This cautious approach itself became the burden as it involved confinement.

येन त्यजसि तत्यज - yēna tyajasi tatyaja - - IS THE KEY FOR THIS PROBLEM.

The drushya or the scene is alive because of the drashtu, the seer. When we do away with that fellow, there is nothing to think. It drops off by itself. It is ‘aham’ tyaaga that is important.

Let us see this way. Karmakaanda gives us the methods of moderation in performing our activity and thereby adherence to dharma. Therefore why should we not end here? This is the argument of some people. The answer to this is that we did not get the peaceful state even after careful control. We go on searching for new things like japa, pooja dhyaana etc. You are continuously searching for giving up things or reducing the burden. Where is the limit for this? For a person who is trying for perfection which is elusive, this is not sufficient and such person should go to Aatmavidya.

That was the case with Naarda Maharshi. And the famous statement – shokam tarati aatmavit - has to be kept in mind always. This is how one should take life and its disturbances. It is trying to show that even the highest qualified person has some soft problem still disturbing him. In Puraana they refer to the case of Vishnu going to a yoga nidra for getting rid of the burdened state.

Another argument is that while working one is more comfortable than when one sits without work. When we sit quietly, all the external indriyaas including the talk center have become quiet. But, in the same proportion, the internal disturbances increase and the mind does not calm down resulting in burden. Meditation is one which reduces this burden which pushes the mind not to chatter.

One should sit quiet with the understanding that he has to be in a peaceful state. Let the veekshaka or the observer reshape himself into relaxed watching without the strain. The forces should not be killed instantaneously. Every centre has to calm down to weaken the attentive mood.

Q. What is the difference between knower and Brahman?

A. The knower cannot be described. Knowing activity is personified and is being called a knower. Knowing is wrongly stated as knower. The difference between the knower and Brahman is that with the latter there is sarvavyaapakatwa, all pervasiveness. Whereas, knower is stationed as MIND and has a locus in space. The owner of an activity is bound in a local point.

Q. What does Patanjali’s sutra (1-2):

योगश्चित्तवृत्ति निरोधः.

yōgaścittavr̥tti nirōdhaḥ.

specially mean? Does it suggest nirodha for practice?

A. That is one way – see the sutra (1-34).

प्रच्छर्दन विधारणाभ्यां वा प्राणस्य.

pracchardana vidhāraṇābhyāṁ vā prāṇasya.

Optionally, mental equanimity may be gained by the even expulsion and retention of vital force or prana or breath. Or by pausing after breath flows in or out - which will give you the answer.

ईश्वर प्रणिधानाद्वा.

īśvara praṇidhānādvā.

Or by surrender to God.

This is another method adopted by some. Surrender to a higher force. But Iswara pranidhana is easier. Similarly pranayama by itself can be a tool. By slowing down prana, chittavrutti can be mellowed. Surrender to God can be a single tool. You can reject all other tools. Surrender does two jobs at the same time, slowing down and vistarata or expansion. When you thrust all your problems on Him, then the whole mind gets to a peaceful state.

But, so far as I am concerned, I cannot accept a God (personal) of that type. People who are logical cannot accept the concept of God unless there is tangible evidence. I have to get two evidences:

That there is a GOD (personal) – a doubtful case.
That he is all powerful and compassionate.

If he is all powerful, he will not create this hellish world - a person highly diabetic at 30 years, a widow at the age of fifteen or twenty, an orphan of ten years of age! See another example, a very good saatvic man with too much of poverty. If He is a sarvashakta, he should monitor this. If he is a karunamayi, he should not create such a bad world. Either he is not compassionate or sarvajna. See the difficulty when science comes in.

The whole thing of life can be explained by the law of accident says science. Because of a thermal difference between the earth and sun, water vapour goes up and drops down as rain, resulting in germination etc. Anything in the world can be explained by science. Why should there be a GOD for this? Forces and variations in them are sufficient to explain the whole movement and even the flux in the universe can be explained.

But if you have shraddha, you can accept it – that is where iswara pranidhana comes into picture.