[Advaita-l] Trees have life- bhAshya

[Pranav Peshwe]

On Dec 7, 2007 8:57 PM, S.N. Sastri <sn.sastri at gmail.com> wrote:

>  Dr. J.C. Bose (1858 –1937) is said to have discovered that trees and
> plants
> have life and react to stimuli. I do not know whether this was known to
> science earlier. Scientist members of this group must be able to say.
>
> But it is interesting that this has been stated by Sri Sankara himself in
> his bhAshya on chandogya upanishad, VI. 11. 2:--
>
> "That a tree is possessed of a soul is indicated by such signs as
> exudation
> and drying up of sap. From the illustration in the Sruti that the
> non-moving
> living things are possessed of consciousness, the view of the Buddhists
> and
> the vaiSeshikas, who hold that the non-moving things have no
> consciousness,
> is seen to be without substance".
>

Namaskar,
                   The Upanishad talks about the tree having
'consciousness', while science discovered that trees have 'life'. Is
'consciousness' in the bhAshya equivalent to what science calls 'life' ?
Of course, who knows, trees may also possess consciousness, maybe in a
cruder form as compared to us humans. Only some light has been thrown on the
softer problems about consciousness, but answer to the hard one still evades
science.
Kindly correct me wherever wrong. Would be glad to hear comments on the
topic.

Best regards,
Pranav

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Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness.