The Dicey Problem of New Age Science

The Dicey Problem of New Age Science

Einstein, Hawking and God at the Casino

Dwaraknath Reddy

The Dicey Problem of New Age Science

Einstein, Hawking and God at the Casino

Dwaraknath Reddy

A DIVISION OF MAOLI MEDIA PRIVATE LIMITED

APPRECIATION

Elevating, thought-provoking and delightful from the points of view of spirituality, science, and literature…. While enriching parallels between science and spirituality, Reddy’s book all the same faces the scientist squarely. His poser on consciousness: Is brain the powerhouse, or the power source?…… Get the answer right, for Reality revolves on that pivot.

– Swami Chidananda (physicist and scholar)

Earlier, Chief Acharya of Chinmaya Mission;

Later, Director, Chinmaya International

Foundation, Cochin.

Excellent book…. Grippingly tight script in impeccable idiom reveals the creative mind of the intellectual and spiritual author…. leads the reader from origins of the universe, through the limitations of science, to prior and pervading Consciousness (like electromagnetic field that fills the universe).

– Dr. K. Srinivasa Rao, FNAsc.,

Senior Professor (Retd.),

The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai

Comments on earlier writings by the same author:

Here we have an artist at work, an artist who is a scientist by education and a mystic by accomplishment. This singular combination sets the book apart…. A gifted writer… with a style that is precise and incisive…. able to drive home subtle points in a few vibrant words. His keen sense of humour makes the entire work lively and spiced with witty ‘asides’ and whispered sarcasm… A very enjoyable and invigorating experience for me to read him.

– Swami Iswarananda Giri (Vedantic scholar and saint.)

Mount Abu, Rajasthan.

Chiselled expressions of the intricate beauty of his soaring thoughts…. each chapter an upanishadic canto….

– Swami Chinmayananda

(Internationally acclaimed exponent of vedanta, and spiritual master.)

One line, one thought, and it is enough to drive one to contemplation…. a book to be savoured, not swallowed.

– M.V. Kamath (Nationally acclaimed intellecual)

Bhavan’s Journal, Bombay.

The approach is both scholarly and mystic. Pages soaked with fundamental upanishadic ideas regarding mind, consciousness, ego, along with concepts of Relativity and quantum physics… scintillating lines… clarity of vision of author’s flight on two wings of reason and intuition.

– Swami Jitatmananda (Physicist, turned senior monk.)

Sri Ramakrishna Mission, Rajkot.

…‥reproducible reliable subjective experiences also can be communicated and evoked. Dwaraknath Reddy shows us by example how this can be done. I am pleased to introduce this book to the scientific spirit of enquiry in all of you, professional scientist and layman alike.

– Dr. E.C.G. Sudarshan, (Reputed Maths-science professor)

University of Texas, Austin, USA.

Marvellous book… the spiritual personality of the author unfolds in an extraordinary manner… a treasure… profound ideas conveyed with rare skill effortlessly.

– The Hindu, Leading National Daily

A humanist? word-artist? Seeker of Truth? Reddy is all and more. Beauty of style and power of thought… authenticity of experience…. precision of expression….

– M.P. Pandit (Author, Scholar, and Teacher)

Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

He was already thirty-five when a tragic event raised haunting questions about creation and creator, about order or chance decreeing birth and death, and about ultimate meanings and methods in all our lives. Could there be in creation an overall unfolding cosmic purpose? Perhaps not, said his rational mind. But that answer would have to be the final conclusion of diligent enquiry, it would not be the first dogma of furious frustration.

A’ 48 batch post-graduate in Science from Louisiana State University (USA), he joined his father in starting a modest food processing unit, which he built up gradually into the largest in India in that industry. Prosperity, prestige and recognition became the outer facade of success. The inner urge to seek and resolve his rightful place in creation remained the focus of his life.

With no traditional training or exposure to philosophy till then, he listened, studied, contemplated, and alertly remained concerned. Openness and earnestness were his only assets, but they were enough to gain step after step an unravelling of the answers with objective clarity and linked logic.

However, objective knowledge is a science learnt, not a science lived. One learns physics, biology, economics, history and the knowledge serves utilitarian purposes. But knowledge of oneself, the deeper significance of know thyself, has to be subjective. It is not to serve a need, but to place one beyond need. What could be more challenging, or rewarding?

Dwaraknath Reddy stays and strives on that path. When he came across the teachings of Ramana Maharshi, unfolding the nuances of Self-Enquiry, focussed on the core question WHO AM I?, he was flooded with an inner conviction that Ramana Maharshi was the epitome of all scriptures and their promise to humanity of attainable perfection. Therefore, for strength and comfort in his chosen pursuit, Reddy lives in the sanctified sanctuary of Sri Ramanashramam, Tiruvannamalai, S. India (TN 606 603). While walking towards a cherished destination, every step is pure delight. He remains a seeker.

Other Books by Dwaraknath Reddy

    Can God Improve My Balance Sheet?

    Diving Deep into Ramana Maharshi’s Teachings

    Death Was Never Born Life Never Died

    The Physics of Karma

    Gentle Breeze, Rustling Leaves

    Rising Sun Melting Mists

    Divya, The Rainbow Child

    Sumangali

‘God does not play dice.’

Einstein

’God is quite a gambler.’

Stephen Hawking

The Dicey Problem of New Age Science

Copyright © 2002 Dwaraknath Reddy

Zen Publications Edition: February 2015

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CONTENTS

Appreciation

About The Author

Preface To The Second (Enlarged) Edition

Preface To The Third Edition

Preamble: The Great Divide

Where Is The Beginning?

The Knower And The Known

Mind And Brain

Einstein, Hawking, And God At The Casino Of Creation

Is The Observer Of Physics Conscious?

What Is Consciousness?

Energy Is For Ever

Am I In Time, Or Is Time In Me?

Where Can Space Go For A Stroll?

Darwinism: Unpaid Wages And Unearned Income

An Eternity Of Time, Or Timeless Eternity?

Shall We Reflect On Light?

Images And Illusions

Both Science And Philosophy Need Practising Priests

What Is The Length Of My Shadow?

The White Hole

Consciousness Is The Infinite Energy, Brain Is The Transmission System

When Bodies Die, What Happens To The Personalized Consciousness?

The Content In Creation And The Intent Of Creation

The Wandering Minstrels, One Lame, One Blind

Pebbles On The Sea-Shore

Substance Amongst Shadows

Who Am I?

The Achilles’ heel: Time for physics and brain for biology

No Bridge To The Creator, Because He Is Right Here

Am I Creature Or Creator?

Entropy And Matter – What About Entropy And Mind?

Epilogue

SUPPLEMENT: CONTENTS

Code Name God – Author’s Name Mani Bhaumik

From A to Z

Save Me, God or Save Me, Gravity?

Four Forces, One Symmetry

God’s Address House Number Zero, Infinity Road, Creation

The Seventh Hill-Top

   Modern physics says time began with the Big Bang.

   Bio-science says mind is a product of brain-cells.

   Philosophy has always said that Consciousness is eternal.

   A holistic study of these statements is possible.

   Such study is essential to understand creation and creator.

DEDICATED TO

BHAGAVAN SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI

The Personified proof of the promise of transcendence that the Absolute holds out to the relative.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND

(ENLARGED) EDITION

When a reprint of this book was being considered, I came across Quantum Questions by Ken Wilber, in which, through personal comment and compilation, he has created a volume that for me was deeply and delightfully relevant. My book had been written addressing the physicist and the bio-scientist, with acceptance of and admiration for their analyses and insights into cosmic energies and molecular evolution, while simultaneously stating for their consideration, or reconsideration, that, within the disciplines of their linked and linear rationale, the reference to the First Factor, or Creator, or Beginning, or the Thing-in-itself, or the Unified Field, or the Theory-of-Everything, could not even be adequately formulated – how then could it be answered? Wrong questions elicit wrong answers.

So it was refreshing that Ken Wilber put scientific conclusions in right perspective, and brought to our ears and minds a chorus of voices, his own included, of brilliant men of science, who never claimed to be saying the last word but said distinctly that quantum physics did not reduce or blur – how then, eliminate? – the division between the subjective and the objective. To think so involved a misuse of language. An honest assertion. And the perfect jumping- board to dive into the very words subjective and objective, till we can set apart the subject from the object, the perceiver from the perceived, the knower from the known.

I found myself in debt to Ken Wilber for his summary of Eddington’s precise analysis that "the exploration of the external world by the method of physical science leads not to a concrete reality, but to a shadow world of symbols. To penetrate beyond, we return to human consciousness….

The core purpose of my writing has been to lay relentless stress on consciousness. If this is a factor in the processes of matter – by which we mean, if consciousness is a product of neural chemistry – then it too is one of the symbols that science is already familiar with. There can be no penetrating beyond.

If in saying that we place upon ourselves a self-imposed limitation, we defeat and frustrate ourselves. The solution lies in re-examining the potency of our tools, which are words (symbols). Let us find the words to understand the word word, for without words there is no mentation. Then let us see what opens up.

Let us not take comfort in soothing phrases. If science is blind without religion, and religion is lame without science, creeping about individually both will fall into pits individually. If they team- up piggy-back and march together, both will still fall into the pit of limitation together. Take your choice.

Ken Wilber’s precise, pertinent, and probing questions pushed me deeper into my contemplations. As a result, I felt motivated and empowered. The clarity of his questions invoked clarity of mental response in my search. Gratefully and joyously I have added a few chapters to the first edition and feel a deeper sense of fulfilment.

At this point of time another book From Science to God by Peter Russell (Publisher: Yogi Impressions) has come to my hands. I have benefited from the reading, and have felt propelled to look deeper into the significance of the word Light in terrestrial and celestial connotations. I have now included in my book the extension of the train of thought initiated upon reading Peter Russell. Light which facilitates material perception is gross. The light of knowledge that facilitates mental responses is subtle by comparison, it is the pointer to consciousness. When the word knowledge is subjected to scrutiny and seen in the context of cosmic manifestation, it stands exposed as just another aspect of relativity, in which frame of reference our knowledge (the known) and our ignorance (as yet unknown) add up to be the twins born of a primal descent from the Absolute to the relative, from Absolute Reality to a relative reality, from Light to reflected light. At that level primary light denotes its causal state. Words here are demanding our deeper probe; they cannot be abandoned, as they are the only tools of the intellect. Hone the tools, sharpen them, and we will find them adequate for the task. They can cut the ropes that bind thought.

Third edition includes a new supplement.

Please see page 131.

PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION

Towards the end of 2007, I came across a book by Mani Bhaumik of Laser renown, a physicist and spiritual seeker. The book Code name God is an intelligent, informative and illuminating probe on the physics/philosophy border, an area of the deepest relevance to my own spiritual contemplations. I found that some thoughts of Dr. Bhaumik could be corelated, compared or contrasted purposefully and profitably with what I had written in my book The Dicey Problem of New Age Science. Therefore I wrote a supplement to be included in the third edition of my book.

This development is further elaborated in the chapter Code name God – author’s name Mani Bhaumik, which is the first of the added chapters in this edition.

Dwaraknath Reddy

December 2008.

PREAMBLE: THE GREAT DIVIDE

Early in January, 2001, some of the world’s leading physicists gathered in India to discuss the findings and problems of their discipline centred in particle physics. Why is the universe the way it is? How did it get there? And where is it going? These were some of the basic questions to be answered.

Amongst the celebrities, and deservedly acknowledged not only as a scholar of rare genius, but also as a legendary symbol of human courage, endurance and determination, was Dr. Stephen Hawking. Around 1963, then only twenty-one years old, he was diagnosed as a victim of an incurable disease affecting the nerves responsible for movement. The progressive malady, doctors said, would end his life in a couple of years. Yet, with a wasted body, confined to a wheelchair, deprived of the ability to speak and compelled to articulate the inward flashes of his transcendental intellect only through computer wizardry, Dr. Hawking is blazing new trails in physics and allied mathematics.

Naturally, media attention was focussed on the conference. Even laymen were willing to labour through