[Advaita-l] About the term in 'Ishwara' in Advaita - a brief note

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

> > Let us not convert this list into a classroom on physical science, modern
> > or ancient. Please pick up one of the thousands of books on physics and
> > find out why all matter is essentially energy. If what you read results in
> > more confusion in your mind, please take this up offline with somebody
> > else, not on this list.
> >
> But we cannot believe the Scientists. They are confusing us. They are
> saying everything is matter and energy. Then they can say the person
> Sri Vidyasankar = matter and chemical reactions producing energy. They
> are saying Sri Vidyasankar can be defined on some pages of paper
> writing some equations. But will you agree you are matter and chemical

May I suggest that the confusion lies not in the science but in the
human beings involved? No scientist is close to writing a set of
equations to define me or you. But it is nevertheless true that the
physical bodies of both Sri Vidyasankar and Sri Venkatesh, along
with the bodies of the scientists, are only matter and chemical 
reactions. As a matter of fact, vedAnta also tells us, independently
of any physical science, that my body is matter.

As a vedAntin, I reject the dehAtma buddhi that seeks to define me
or limit me to my body. This does not mean that I have to reject the
scientific concept that says that it is energy that appears as matter
under a set of constraints. That part of the science is solid. Where
there is room for disagreement is with those scientists who hold that
consciousness is merely a product of biologically organized matter.
That is a matter for a completely different discussion.
 
As I said, please take understanding/misunderstanding of science
offline. This is not the forum for it. I was merely making an analogy,
assuming that the basic physical principles governing the behaviour
of mass and energy was understood by all. 
 
Vidyasankar