Consciousness: A Deeper Scientific Search

Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture. Book Condition: New. pp. ix + 538 , Figures (Col.)

An International Seminar on 'Philosophy and Science: an Explanatory Approach to
Consciousness' and another International Seminar on 'Life, Mind and Consciousness were
held under the aegis of the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture in February 2002 and
January 2004, respectively. The published reports of the proceedings of these two Seminars
study of Consciousness. Consequent to these, an International Workshop-cum-Seminar was
organized on the topic 'Consciousness: A Deeper Scientific Search' here from the 13th to the
15th January 2006. A special session was held on the 8th January 2006 with Prof. Samdhong
Rinpoche, Kalon Tripa, Chairman o the Cabinet, Central Tibetan Administration of His
Holiness the Dalai Lama. Learned specialists in science and philosophy and veteran
practitioners of religion representing different schools actively participated.
The greatest problem facing perhaps all of sciences is to solve the long-intractable brain-mind
conundrum: How does material brain produce our immaterial but vital sense of awareness?
How the brain's systems work together to create the subjective experiences of the mind the
self-reflective thoughts? For a long time the topic was left to philosophers and religious
practitioners, but of late scientists of several disciplines, particularly the neuroscientists have
taken it up in right earnest. Recent advances in imaging techniques have enabled
neuroscientists to make some remarkable progress, but these achievements too have not
enabled them to understand the higher reaches of consciousness upheld by the Indian Yogis of
yore. The Workshop-cum-Seminar have made it possible to have some worthwhile exchange
of views which I hope, will provoke scholars to proceed further in understanding
Consciousness.

We are grateful to the Ministry of Higher Education, Govt. of West Bengal for their active
support and financial assistance for the Seminar. Also, we are grateful to the Council of
Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi and to M/s. East India Pharmaceutical Works
Ltd., Kolkata for their financial help to party meet the expenses.

The entire proceedings of the Workshop-cum-Seminar have been edited by Prof Jonathan
Shear and Prof S.P. Mukherjee, and I am grateful to both of them. We also extend our thanks
to Smt. Monica Sengutpa for her help to bring out this volume.
I hope this brief study on Consciousness will be well received by scholars as well as others
interested in this subject.

Welcome Address
Swami Prabhananda
Even though the topic 'Consciousness' was discovered and nurtured by the Indian seers for
several thousands of years, it remained almost untouchable with the Western philosophers till
the other day. However, physicists, mathematicians and other scholars belonging to different
scientific disciplines started investigating seriously about the nature of consciousness.
Western philosophers who had given up the earlier inhibition have come forward. We too
have joined in this. Many of you know that earlier in 2002, we organized an International
Seminar on Philosophy and Science An Exploratory Approach to Consciousness. It was
held on 8th and 9th of February 2002. It was followed by another International Seminar on the
theme: Life, Mind and Consciousness, held from 17 to 18 January 2004. The proceedings of
both the Seminars were published.
We know that consciousness has three dimensions: (a) ordinary consciousness, (b) damaged
or deficient consciousness, and (c) higher reaches of consciousness. Appreciating these
dimensions, we have invited this time experts who have specialized through spiritual practices
in understanding and realizing consciousness, fully or partly.

People belonging to different traditions from different parts of the world are going to join.
Also, we have invited expert neuroscientists who will present their experimental accounts and
also invited philosophers and scientists. Each will present a paper. All these presentations will
be followed by discussions.

We are fortunate to have among us Prof Samdhong Rinpoche, Kalon Tripa, Chairman of the
Cabinet, Central Tibetan Administration of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I would request our
Co-ordinator to introduce him elaborately. Prof Rinpoche will remain busy during the period
of 13 to 15 January, 2006 when we are going to have the Seminar. We have arranged a special
session, almost a prologue to the International Workshop-cum-Seminar on Consciousness to
be held here from 13 to 15 January 2006. Prof Rinpoche will also deliver a popular lecture on
meditation according to the Tibetan tradition tomorrow at 6 pm. I invite all of you to attend
the same.

Prof. Jonathan Shear, Department of Philosophy, Virginia Commonwealth University, has
taken keen interest in our project and joined in the last International Seminar held in 2004. At
our request, he is going to serve as the Co-ordinator of this Special Session. We are grateful to
him. I heartily welcome all of you, particularly Prof. Rinpoche, once again. I now request
Prof. Shear to conduct this important session.

Back of the Book
The objective of this Workshop-cum-Seminar is to bring together the scholars belonging to
different disciplines on the fascinating subject of the nature of consciousness. The essential
thrust of the Workshop-cum-Seminar is to move beyond the exploratory stage of the two
Seminars held earlier on art analogous theme and try to arrive at a clearer configuration of the
nature of human consciousness. This is a subject, which has challenged as well as fascinated
the intellectual community across the disciplines. It calls for a concerted application of minds
of philosophers, scientists and the experientialists. As such it involves a truly cross-cultural
venture, a meeting of minds representing the major cultural tradition.

Contents
Page
Publisher's Note v
Prologue To The Seminar
Welcome Address 3
- Swami Prabhananda
Consciousness: A Deeper Scientific Search 5
- Prof Samdhong Rinpoche
Inaugural Session
Welcome Address 19
- Swami Prabhananda
Inaugural Speech 22
- Prof M.G.K. Menon
Address by the Chief Guest 35
- Swami Smaranananda
Chairmai's Address 38
- Prof Kireet Joshi

Vote of Thanks 42
- Dr Saroj Ghose
First Academic Session
The Internal Instruments of the Witness-Consciousness 47
- Swami Vidyadhishananda Giri
Introduction to Kabbalah 70
- Prof Avraham Elqayam
Second Academic Session
The Path Yet Travelled 83
- Prof I.H. Azad Faruqi
Deep Consciousness Experiences 88
- Prof Oded Maimon
Third Academic Session
Experiences and Experiments in Spiritual Consciousness 105
- Swami Sachidananda Bharathi
Revelation of Consciousness in the Experience of Indian Sages 115
- MM Dr GovindaGopala Mukhopadhyaya
Fourth Academic Session
The Depths of Inner Awareness: Scientific Knowledge and Research Problems Illustrations
from Maharashi's Transcendental Meditation 137
- Prof Jonathan Shear
Consciousness of the Self: The Only Path to Spiritual Serenity 152
- Prof Nilanjana Sanyal
Fifth Academic Session
On the Seat of Consciousness 169
- Prof P.K. Mukhopadhyaya
Vibrations and Forms 192
- Prof Ralph Abraham
Sixth Academic Session
Consciousness in the Indian Medical Tradition 215
- Dr. M.S. Valiathan
Consciousness as Revealed to the Seekers of Spiritual Truth 223
- Prof Debrabrata Sen Sharma
Seventh Academic Session
Explorations in Consciousness and Inevitable Relevance of Yoga 243
- Prof Kireet Joshi
The 'Mechanistic' View of Nature Its Refinements and Relevance to Consciousness 264
- Prof N. Mukunda
Bhavamukha Sri Ramakrishna's Unique Contribution to the Science of Consciousness
273
- Swami Atmapriyandnda
Eighth Academic Session
The Conscious versus the Subconscious: A View through the Neurobiology of Memory 305
- Dr. Sumantra Chatterji
Ninth Academic Session
Ravana Mahamati and Shakyamuni Buddha in the Arya-Lankavatra-Sutra (A symbolic
dialogue regarding the universal consciousness) 327
- Prof Suniti Kumar Pathak
What is Consciousness? 345
Prof Arabinda Basu
Discussions
Discussion of the Paper of Prof Samdhong Rinpoche 353
Discussion of the Paper of Swami Vidyadhishananda Giri 374
Discussion of the Paper of Prof Avaraham Elqayam 382
Discussion of the Paper of Prof I.H. Azad Faruqi 385
Discussion of the Paper of Prof Oded Maimon 396
Discussion of the Paper of Swami Sachidananda Bharathi 404
Discussion of the Paper of Prof Jonathan Shear 410
Discussion of the Paper of Prof Nilanjana Sanyal 417
Discussion of the Paper of Prof P.K. Mukhopadhyay 419
Discussion of the Paper of Prof Ralph Abraham 423
Discussion of the Paper of Dr M.S. Valiathan 426
Discussion of the Paper of Prof Debabrata Sen Sharma 432
Discussion of the Paper of Prof Kireet Joshi 436
Discussion of the Paper of Prof N. Mukunda 444
Discussion of the Paper of Swami Atmapriyananda 451
Discussion of the Paper of Dr Sumantra Chatterji 456
Discussion of the Paper of Prof Suniti Kumar Pathak 463
Discussion of the Paper of Prof Arabinda Basu 465
Valedictory Session
Concluding Address 477
- Swami Prabhananda
Brief Summing-up 479
- Prof Samir Bhattacharya
Panel Discussion 483
- Participants: Prof Kireet Joshi, Prof N. Mukunda, Prof Jonathan Shear, Dr. M.S. Valiathan
and Prof A.K. Sharma
Vote of Thanks 505
- Prof A.K. Sharma
Appendix
Quantum Mechanics in Relation to Heading 509
- Prof E.C.G. Sudarshan
Delving into the Depths of Consciousness 516
- Prof J.N. Mohanty
Problems with Our Knowledge Domain 522
- Dr. V.S. Ramamurthy
Single Genes, Single Neurons, Behaviour and Perception: Implications for an Understanding
of Consciousness 529
- Prof Vidyananda Nanjundiah
The Contributors 537

By Eric Hutchins on October 21, 2011:
Getting together a bunch of Indian academics to discuss whether or not, and if so how,
science might lead us to a better understanding of consciousness is an ambitious project. For
better and for worse, this book shows us how ambitious. If the reader is camped on the edge
of this frontier, and plans to be here for a while, this is a moderately useful resource to your
own thinking. If you are just passing through this territory and wanting to graze on something
coherent, full of "ahaaa's" and "eureka's," this is not your book.
I stumbled on this book during my research for my own soon-to-be-released book entitled,
"REAL CHANGE BEGINS WITHIN, How to elevate Consciousness, Relationships, and
Humanity." You might say that I am permanently encamped out here on the frontier between
science and consciousness. You might get a fuller idea of what that means if you knew that I
have been researching this topic for 43 years, have practiced a traditional form of Vedic
meditation twice daily for that long, first started reading Jonathan Shear in 1968, and did
physiological studies on traditional Vedic meditation as an undergraduate at UC Santa
Barbara starting in 1970.
This book consists of the transcriptions of a series of presentations and papers given at a
conference held in Kolkata, India under the auspices of the Ramakrishna (Vedanta) Society in
2006. I'm surmising that the conference was "by invitation" and all presenters were
considered "august" in one dimension of reputation or another. The book also includes
transcriptions of round-table discussions of each presentation. These are sometimes
stimulating and useful, sometimes not. Why they are bunched together in the back instead of
each immediately following each presentation is anybody's guess.
The overall ambitiousness of the project (examining how science can tell us useful things
about consciousness) earns a sympathetic context of any evaluation of the book. As a report to
the interested public of a topic of vital global interest, "Consciousness, A Deeper Scientific
Search" is an "as-good-as-it-can-gets," 5-star effort. However, as a useful tool, there are only
two or three presentations that are memorable and useful to this student of the nexus between
science, philosophy, consciousness, and spirituality. In other words, the value of the book to
me was limited by the coherence and insight of the presenters. Jonathan did the best he could
with what he had to work with (my mother would be proud).
The paper by the Buddhist emmissary of the Dalai Lama was particularly bracing and
coherent. By contrast, most of the other presenters of Vedic/Hindu points of view seemed less
thoughtful and focused. Two or three of the presentations/papers were, to this student,
completely undecipherable, and the rest were the fairly muddled products of what I infer as
fairly muddled minds. It would have been nice to have a short bio on each presenter, and
some way for the reader to contact each presenter with questions/comments. After all, we are
in the age of global communication and collaboration.
On these unvarnished truths, this varnish can be spread: The two or three "good" (meaning
stimulating and useful to this student) presentations were well worth the price of the book.
Given the credentials/titles of presenters, this book would seem to be a pretty good measure of
the level of discussion in India on this topical nexus. This later point is no small contribution
given the fact that Southern Asia is the Cradle of Human Spirituality and the origination point
of the most thoroughly-tested, safe, efficacious, and efficent "first-person" research tool for
the observation of human consciousness. Knowing what their scientific community is
thinking is quite useful to anyone interested in contributing to the discussion globally.
My encouragement to Jonathan would be to pull together an entire book of coherent, useful
presentations (essays, perhaps) of individuals, East and West, on this topical nexus... and
include round-table comments from each person on each person's presentation... no small
achievement or contribution to the new millennium. If asked, I would be happy to tender a
submission and participate. If the reader of this review knows of similarly useful books along
these lines, he/she is encouraged to contact me: "eric at erichutchins dot name."