THE GOD CENTER

The thought process is a continuous activity that is effected by the neuronal networks. These networks are developed as the process of myelination continues after the birth of the individual. The development of specific networks is what may be responsible for the conditioning that occurs. Belief systems, behavioral traits and even temperament are all effects of conditioning. Interestingly, there has been speculation of the existence of a God Center in the brain. Some have localized it in the ventro lateral part of the right frontal lobe, some in the temporal lobe whilst some have postulated that it exists in the ventro lateral mid-brain.
A researcher revealed that when a person was subjected to pain stimulus before and after being shown a Picture of a deity that he believed in, the tolerance to pain was significantly better after seeing a picture of the deity.
Speculation was rife that this increased pain tolerance was a consequence of conditioning. That implies that the outcome would have been similar if the subject was conditioned to believing in say even a picture of a Mountain as the object of devotion.
This brings us to the very basic issue of faith. Is religion or spiritualism just a matter of faith? A belief system that makes this arduous life more tolerable? Does it mean that whichever deity one believes in, the final locus of GOD in the brain remains the same?
Theoretically, then if this God center were to be stimulated, it should result in the subject experiencing all the feelings of calm, bliss and probably even ecstacy. This argument taken further would imply that all the spiritually advanced souls have over a period of time been able to devise an intrinsic mechanism to stimulate the GOD center. Occasional temporal lobe epileptics do record feelings of extreme bliss and serenity ,even getting very pleasant smells, hearing calming music as well. So, is divinity just a locus for a particular belief system ?And all spiritually advanced masters just people who by repeated practice develop this locus further? Probably and thereafter stimulate the specific locus at will?
That would reduce realization to within the ambit of a plain neurochemical phenomenon. It would then have some tangible parameters for either localization or verification.
Meditation could be just a process that converts all eccentric thought processes into a concentric pattern with the GOD center as the epicenter. All thoughts pertaining to mundane activities may be eccentric in nature. These eccentric patterns would be a deterrent to stimulating the God center. Most explanations given by Realised masters
seem to defy all logic, which is the domain of the dominant hemisphere. The non- dominant hemisphere is concerned with intuitive and non-analytical networks.
So maybe, that the God center resides in the non-dominant hemisphere and realization could effect a state of awareness that transcends the baseline neuronal activity of just being conscious. The advent of functional Imaging ( Functional MRI) may assist in the verification of such hypotheses. Probably, realization could then be imaged and anatomically localized. Happiness is most often cause based. It is a consequence of perceptive modalities giving a positive feedback via established neuronal circuits. Familiarity, sensory gratification, and above all a very tangible cause effect relationship permeates this sense of joy, or happiness. But, if happiness and joy ,bliss could be devoid of a cause, it may explain the detachment that most masters talk about. The happiness would then be independent of a cause and also stimulation of specific neural paths. It could become the background electro-chemical activity, where any external object is not cognized as a separate entity and analyzed and assigned relative values of joy or pain. This oneness or Advaita may for all we know be identified as the baseline firing of zeta neurons in a specified locus in the non-dominant hemisphere. It would result in a “perception shift” . It could also deconstruct this “I” entity, as having a discrete identity. The equivalent of dissolution of ego. There would be no subjective element to any sensory stimulus. Which is why many Masters seem to revert to a child like innocence. Maybe, then Godhood would be a neurochemical alteration in the mielieu of the neuronal networks. Resulting in a perceptive variance. And spiritual progress could be monitored by an imaging modality. And the quest for happiness may finally end up becoming a very internalised process. It would finally explain the intangible very tangibly.

(The author is a consultant Neurosurgeon and may be contacted at drdeepakranade@gmail.com)

Importance of control and restraint

The wheel was a path-breaking invention. The wheel, however, might not have been as useful if not for the invention of brakes and gears that help us control movement. The wheel made locomotion plausible but brakes regulated this motion. The defining quality of any system is probably based on the degree of control one can exercise on it. In karate, up to the black belt stage, the discipline and regimen is for strengthening the body and speeding up reflexes. Thereafter, all subsequent degrees are attained by perfecting self-control and restraint. In evolution, life forms have been empowered incrementally as they progress through stages. Human beings have the power of control, of temperance and restraint, and the ability to think beyond the self. Physiologically, higher centres in the brain have been given the responsibility of inhibition to maintain restrictive control on lower centres of the brain and spine. In spinal injuries, when the lower motor neurons are disconnected from the higher centres and they fire without control, it leads to reflex movements of the limbs, spasm of the muscles and so on. Though movement occurs, it is involuntary, uncontrolled and purposeless. The evolved brain can store large amounts of data. The data helps in generating a response transcending reflexive and programmed patterns. The ability to rise above reflex behaviour seems to be the summit of the evolutionary pyramid. Olympian Carl Lewis once explained the reason for his spectacular achievement: "I have mastered the art of self-denial". Behaviour that rises above the primitive reflexes forms the essence of culture and sophistication. All religions have a set of behavioural restrictions like fasting, celibacy and observing silence. These restrictions help the individual increase his will power, temperance, self-control and discipline. Some religions talk about renunciation. But renunciation eliminates choice. So it is probably indulgence in abstinence. The swing of the pendulum in the opposite direction charged with the potential energy to swing back to indulgence. It may also reflect a subconscious fear of lack of self-control. Like the instance of the guru, who was invited for a meal by his disciple. Whilst the other devotees were served on plantain leaves, the guru was served on silverware as a mark of reverence. The guru however was offended and walked off as he was a renunciate. He may as well have eaten in the silverware. If he was no longer in any mundane bondage, there ought to have been no distinction between silver and leaves. In reproductive behaviour, too, human beings have the freedom to choose. Any control is self-imposed. This self-control is the evolutionary upgrade. It is as if the remote control which operates all other animals has been substituted by a sharp discriminatory ability which bestows free will. In Hindu culture, it is called vivek buddhi. The intellect of discrimination. Free will reflects the ability to restrain rather than indulge. If indulgence was the purpose, all actions would have been reflexive, with scarce regard to volition. Exercising restraint requires a higher form of intelligence. Indulgence required neither skill nor intellect. And renunciation relied more on extremism. Ailments like obesity, alcoholism, hypertension and diabetes, when they are lifestyle-related, point to the diminishing self-regulatory process. Affluence has given man the opportunity to indulge like never before. Austerity is facing extinction. Patience, contentment are no longer virtues but are relegated to mere words. All catastrophes like global warming, nuclear threat and poverty are merely a reflection of our ever-increasing inclination for indulgence.

(The writer is a consultant neurosurgeon.) Email: drdeepakranade@gmail.com
5 Sep 2008, Times Of India,Speaking Tree

Learn the cause to know the effect

The process of learning programmes us to think in a specific manner. That every event or thing has a cause. Learning or knowledge is based on accurately interrelating cause with effect. Learning helps make the effect a predictable outcome based on our understanding of all the forces acting on the cause. The cause and effect thought process programmes our intellects unidimensionally. The paradigm works fine within a narrow spectrum only on the gross level. At the subatomic or subtle level, all the predictable physical laws become redundant. Reductionism, causality are incomplete tools of the human mind. Even in the Bhagavad Gita deliverance from all unhappiness is advocated by transcending the cause-effect algorithm. Indian philosophy has described this concept of noncausality as ‘ajati’. This concept is at the crossroads of the spiritualscientific divide. Singularity or advaita as described by seers stuns the intellectual process which is under the spell of the cause and effect pattern. The instant one veers from the path of cause and effect, the intellect is severely handicapped. Even scientific thought has now started inclining towards ‘experience’ rather than ‘experiment’ and the very quaint principles of quantum mechanics force one to abandon all rationality and reason. The Upanishads talk of “totality” , where even if one were to remove totality from totality, one would still be left with totality. This concept cannot be comprehended by the cause-effect principle. The mysticism shrouding spiritualism is because of the apparent disconnection from cause-effect . Science is a process of evolution of thought, whereas spiritualism is involution of thought. Physicists have been battling all along to come to a consensus Theory of Everything. The need for this theory is because the scientists are unanimous in accepting the discrepancy in laws governing the subtle and the gross. Spiritualism is getting to that elusive Theory of Everything without the mediation of the causeeffect hypothesis. The Theory of Everything is in essence singularity or advaita. Herein lies the experience that transcends causality. Where the observer, the observed and the act of observation merge into unison. The reductionism that science is obsessed with will finally culminate in the realisation that the elementary building block of all manifestation is just energy. That is what the String Theory seems to point to. What varies is the form or the perception of the form, not the content. Reductionism will reach a level where matter transforms into conscious energy, just as water becomes vapour. What has changed is the state, not the fundamental substance. This change of state from water to vapour is unidimensional. Manifestation is the ability of the source to virtually express itself multidimensionally . How can one therefore employ cause and effect to comprehend that singularity when both are mere projections of the same singularity? When we talk of virtual reality as in simulators or even cinema, is it not paradoxical that the intellect is aware of the illusory nature of the projection? At one end of the spectrum is pure awareness and the other end is also awareness which forces the senses to temporarily assign reality to the virtual image. Realisation is the process of moving from the awareness of virtual reality to pure awareness. Identification with this singularity will necessarily happen only by transcending the causeeffect protocol.
(The writer is a consultant neurosurgeon.) Email: drdeepakranade@gmail.com
23 Jun 2008, Times of India

Stages Of Knowledge For Becoming Aware

The brain is ever endeavouring to learn, comprehend, understand. It is being flooded with information that it processes at astonishing speed. Processing data implies prioritising the data and assigning meaning to it. Interpretation of data requires a highly developed intellect. Data is ubiquitous. Right from the radio waves emitted by celestial bodies from a few million light years away, to the feel of our clothing against our bodies, we are being bombarded by data. Intelligence is the skill and speed with which to scan incoming data, compare it with the existing database, discard the unimportant part and also store the useful new data for future reference. Apples fell even before Newton discovered gravity, but Newton processed the same data witnessed by others in a different way. He discovered a force which till then was not known. This realisation was abstract intelligence at a sublime level, where his conclusion was not a mere deduction, or just analysis. Analysis would be a synthesis or jugglery of already known facts but where the summation leads to a ‘greater than’ phenomenon - that is where awareness transcends intellect, analysis and reasoning. Science is essentially related to a spatio-temporal grid. It is seemingly restrained by the confines of cause and effect. Any theory has to be reinforced by experimental verification and then ratified by adding the attributes of repeatability and predictability, mediated by measurable parameters, which again are slaves of tangibles governed by the senses. Sense organs can navigate the intellect only within the ‘waters’ of the tangible. Once it touches the shores of the intangible the sense organs are powerless. The realms of the intangible may be delved into only by awareness, which is supra-sensory and out of the spatio-temporal Cartesian grid. The reason why this aspect of knowledge is termed as “realisation” is that realisation implies knowledge which is already there but which we are unaware of. The knowledge of the form shifts focus to awareness. Awareness is independent of subject-object bifurcation. Reasoning, deduction and investigation are meaningless tools which only obfuscate. The knowledge of the manifest is a stepping stone to enhancing awareness. By knowing what you are not, you get to know what you are. If you cannot fathom the manifest, then you cannot even dream of the unmanifest. The journey to realisation involves travelling over a diverse terrain. Each distinct terrain requires a commensurate vehicle. The vehicle of reason used to traverse the terra firma of tangibility needs to be abandoned when one has to take to the aerial journey of enhanced awareness. For this journey one has to travel very light, against the gravity of reason, logic and sensory perception into the realm of consciousness. The only navigation system being the guidance of the guru. Most perceive the guru to be in a particular form and person. But the guru is a tatva or principle. It could manifest in any form. It only requires the disciple to be in a state of conditioning before it reveals itself. Consciousness can be conditioned and adulterated by desires, vasanas. But awareness supersedes all and is the dwelling or source of the supreme being. This awareness is bliss, joy bereft of any duality, form and shape. In this state all derivatives of consciousness like space, time, form and appearance melt into just “I am”.

(The writer is a consultant neurosurgeon.) drdeepakranade@gmail.com

Learning to unlearn

Learning is as much a process of deprogramming as much as acquiring or acquainting with something new.
Learning something new, must be preceded by a process of deprogramming that eliminates pre-existing paradigms and misconceptions. Learning physiologically is a process of conditioning. It involves recruitment of neural networks or pathways, which after sufficient time and repetitions get established. Thereafter, conditioning works at a quasi involuntary level. A classic example is that of driving. Initially as a novice, every action is deliberate, premeditated and one has to very consciously focus on the activity. Later on as the reflexes get strengthened, the same activity becomes very effortless and gradually moves to a sub-conscious level. And soon we can engage in a conversation or even grab a bite whilst driving. Many of our belief systems and thought processes post conditioning work below the consciousness horizon. Once the template is set, these anagrams become an integral part of the individuals perceptive and thought processes. We scarcely realize that these deeply etched programs serve as major deterrents from learning anything new. That partly explains why adults need a longer while to learn a new skill like computers or a new language whereas kids seem to take to this new skill like a fish takes to water. That is because the kids hard disc is unformatted and can imbibe a new concept faster and better than an adult who first has to undo some hardwired programs. These established neural networks increase the resistance to accepting fresh thoughts and ideas. On deeper introspection we would realize, that most of our belief systems are just a legacy of our environment and upbringing. Religion, culture, behavioral patterns are a few such examples. This indoctrination happens subconsciously but has far reaching consequences.
Along with the passage of time, all such recorded programs spin a cocoon around the individual. Impermeable to newer thought process. All intolerance to new ideas is consequential to this rigid unyielding cocoon.
All revolutionary inventions have become possible only when the concerned person broke open this cocoon of conformist thought process. The person had to delearn conventional wisdom to make way for newer wisdom. Religion has always beckoned mankind along the ages. It still remains one of the most profound influences on our lives. Religion programs the thought processes and sooner than we realize, we align ourselves to one of the many ‘isms’. But the basis of all religion is to attain Godhood, or self-realisation or ‘swaroop saakshaatkar’ Various sects and religions have over the years programmed their followers along different lines. These regulatory protocols are ideally the means to the end but unfortunately have become the end themselves. The extreme obsession with form precludes any tryst with the formless. All spiritual pursuits are adulterated with preformed notions and are the scourge of liberation. It would be paradoxical to confine the omniscient omnipresent being to the narrow bandwidth of our perceptive focus . As a learned sage said, Liberation is not of the individual but from the individual. From the shackles of our thought processes. Self-realisation as a concept, is again a construct of our thought. But self-realisation transcends thought. Till there is thought, there is an entity that is thinking, and this separate entity that asserts its separateness is bondage. The finite can never perceive the infinite. It can only become infinite. And once that happens, who or what remains to perceive ?. It cannot be engineered, because all attempts made by the doer only underlines his separateness, which defeats the very purpose. Somewhat akin to the monkey, with its hand trapped in a cookie jar. Trying to get its hand out of the narrow neck of a bottle whilst holding the cookie. All efforts are in vain until the monkey releases the cookie and extricates its hand. This cookie of our belief systems and conditioning that we all hold on for dear life surely has to be relinquished. This delearning of all pre-existing programs and concepts is a precondition to self awareness.

Dr Deepak Ranade
(The author is a consultant Neurosurgeon and may be contacted at drdeepakranade@gmail.com)

Scientific search for the elusive particle

The elusive Higgs-Boson particle popularly called the God-particle is the focus of the world's largest scientific experiment. If identified, it would help explain why some subatomic particles are heavy and have a greater mass than others. Hindu tradition believes that the entire cosmos is a combination of Shiva and Shakti. Shiva represents tangible matter and Shakti, intangible energy and qualitative aspect associated with matter. Mass and energy are interconvertible. Shiva and Shakti are also deeply interrelated; they cannot be separated. The particle is like Shiva and the charge, spin, mass energy and such parameters are like Shakti . Looking for the Higgs-Boson particle is like looking for Shiva in Shakti finding the cause of the particle's mass ^ when actually they are both just different manifestations of the supreme unity. The entire experiment is analogous to finding the quantitative basis of a quality. Like trying to find a particle that makes beauty beautiful. Is it possible to find a tangible quantitative parameter for a very fundamental attribute? Beauty is because there is an observer. The observer is also as much a manifestation as the observed entity as the act of observation. Nothing exists a priori. Even if the Big Bang theory were to be ratified, the bigger issue of who engineered its initiation still remains. And if space was also a derivative of the Big Bang, then in what space did this phenomenal expansion take place? Every objective existence is entirely a function of the observer. So any phenomenon is inexorably connected with the noumenon. Subject and object are interdependent on cognition. Like the quaint example of a falling tree in the forest. If no one has seen it falling, then it never fell. The supreme knowledge ^ unification or segregation of Shiva and Shakti cannot be studied or experimentally verified. It has to be experienced. One has to become it. Meaning that the knower-knowledge distinction is no longer there. Science might keep trying to satiate its unquenchable desire for tangibility but the end point of this endeavour will only yield ambiguity. Because the fundamental truth is that the observer in any experiment is a constituent of it. Identification and ratification of observer-observed dichotomy is an apparition. The hypnotic spell of maya . The greatest quality of maya is that it appears uniform to one and all. So, if everyone is unanimous about the existence of a tree, then it has to be there. Maya creates a uniform and consistent mirage and statistics coerce the senses into believing the appearance. Physics didn't stop looking once Einstein proclaimed and proved the interconvertibility of mass and energy. Quantum physics opened a Pandora's box and ridiculed logic and the basis of scientific deduction. Quantum theory is virtually the science of the improbable, scientific logic leading to the illogical. It has come up with bizarre predictions like Schroedinger's cat supposition. We have tried to understand nature through a narrow prism and force its entirety into a limited frame of comprehension. Probably, failure to demonstrate the Higgs-Boson particle might impel us to turn inwards and seek to redefine scientific approach. The Higgs-Boson particle is just a logical extrapolation of our limited understanding. It might just end up being the non-existent proof of a non-existent theory... Experience never needed any experiment since it cannot be reproduced at will and under specified conditions. Probably unravelling the entire mystery of Creation needs not a Large Hadron Collider but a large perception assimilator.
The writer is a consultant neurosurgeon. E-mail: drdeepakranade@gmail.com

Sever Connections, Overcome Illusion

Consciousness cannot be fragmented. It can only alter its mani-festation and seek expression in different forms. This alteration - energy being converted into mass - results in life forms and the universe. It appears that each form is separate and unique. The sense organs are specifically designed to further refurbish this illusion of separateness. As the process of segregation of consciousness further evolves, it creates an illusory spatio-temporal grid. Breaking the symmetry or congruence of the nirakaar or unmanifest into a spectrum of forms and shapes is Creation. The frequency of this energy gets scattered within a band. At the highest end of this spectrum is zero entropy energy - pure awareness, God or satchita-nanda - and down the hierarchy, the entropy keeps increasing, resulting in a plethora of forms and figures which is Creation. Pure awareness gets distorted into a split awareness, gene-rating a subject-object dichotomy and subsequently identity, ego. At the subatomic level, the building block of all matter accor-ding to one theory is the string, which is actually energy vibrating at different frequencies. Entire Creation being illusory is that Creation is actually energy manifesting in different frequency bandwidths and each object represents a cons-truct of a particular frequency. Sense organs then trick the brain into believing the separate existence of all that it sees, feels and hears. This master programme weaves the trichotomy of the seer, the seen and the process of seeing. What my eye sees may just be a transduction of the signal in a preset pattern at a specified locus in the microprocessor called the brain. What my sense organs perceive may just be a function of their programme. Any visual image is actually an interpretation of the incident - light falling on the rods and cones in the retina. The brain thereafter is programmed to interpret these inputs. So the interpretation of any object would essentially be a derivative of this programme. The interpretation of the incoming data from cognitive apparatus has inherent limitations. The brain receives all signals and through a complex relay system helps in interpreting them. This system itself may be subliminal and may produce incongruous conclusions. In the phantom limb phenomenon, wherein a person feels like scratching a non-existent (amputated) hand, the brain refuses to accept the non-existence of the limb because the specific area in the brain that represents the hand remains functional. So it may just be possible that the hand which i am scratching is a construct of a brain pre-wired to believe its existence. Could the consciousness apparatus become conscious of its own self? The only way it can perceive itself is by effacing itself completely, and merge into the vastness of universal consciousness. This would end the deceptive trilogy of the seer, the seen and the process of seeing. This assimilative technique is the only method for perception to perceive itself. The merger is a quantum leap and cannot be achieved by the reductionism approach, which is moored in the “observer and the observed” realm. Yoga is aimed at disconnection. Yoga is defined as Chitta-vritti nirodh. Chitta is the cumulative awareness of all the sensory experiences and vritti is the intense desire for sensory gratification. This disconnection is in effect overcoming sensory deception.

The writer is a consultant neurosurgeon. 30 Nov 2007, 0024 hrs IST,

E-mail: drdeepakranade@gmail.com

Search For The Centre Of Consciousness

The brain's neurons are differentiated to execute specific functions. All sensory perceptions reach nerve centres that are specific for a particular sensory modality. However, all attempts to localise the centre for consciousness have failed..In an experiment, an electrode was implanted in the brain adjacent to the pleasure centre of a caged mouse. When a lever was pressed, a small current would be released which would stimulate the locus of neurons and the mouse experienced a sensation of pleasure. When the mouse realised that pressing the lever was the cause of the wonderful sensation, he endeavoured to keep pressing the lever tirelessly till he died of exhaustion.
Happiness is therefore just a matter of neurotransmitters stimulating specific areas resulting in momentary gratification a chemical reaction in the brain.
Duality is a warp in perception. In reality these partitions do not exist. They are just notional values assigned by the perceptive apparatus. They are actually variations in the intensity of only one modality. The experiment where light is made to pass through two slits to determine if light is a wave or particle form, pronounced that light simultaneously exists as wave and particle. This presented the scientific community with a paradoxical conclusion hard to fathom, a daunting task for the perceptive apparatus which is limited to comprehending only one of two possibilities.
Science is based on reductionism. Science teaches one to classify, make subgroups, and analyse all events as cause and effect. It programmes the brain to fragment, not assimilate. But observations in quantum physics show that subatomic particles behave in a way incomprehensible to classical Newtonian concepts.Similarly, dark and light, pleasure and pain, cannot have an either/or existence. It is our perception that triggers this dichotomy Events or people get classified by the intellect, which analyses the event, compares the event with its database or memory and delivers a threat or no-threat verdict. This makes the subject interact with the environment. This interaction is primordial in nature, in-built for survival. The categorisation of reality into subgroups such as pleasant or unpleasant, endeavouring only pleasant situations to prevail, causes unhappiness.Medically when there is a threat perception, there is a rise in heart rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar, which keeps the individual in a state of combat with typical responses: fight, fright or flight. If the threat perception apparatus keeps getting stimulated too frequently then the body instead of shifting gears, often compensates by raising these parameters permanently. This causes high incidence of hypertension and diabetes where stress is a definitive cause. In the enlightened state, what changes is not the environment but the perception of the environment. Consciousness is just awareness. It is non-judgmental, with no reaction. There is no classification. It is just a witness. When perception eliminates all fragmentation, one becomes conscious, aware. Then we no longer get exhausted like the mouse did, trying to manipulate the pleasure-giving lever.

Dr.Deepak Ranade The writer is a neurosurgeon, is setting up Centre for Consciousness Studies. E-mail: drdeepakranade@gmail.com
SPEAKING TREE--TIMES OF INDIA

“Need for a religion”

With such a diverse number of religious sects, Gods and belief systems, one can’t stop wondering what their respective followers or devotees are searching for. Is religion a mere legacy? A set of rituals that have been practiced by successive generations? Is it just one more piece to complete the jigsaw of life? Has religion been reduced to a hypnotic? To numb the agony of existence? A stress busting pill? Or merely an activity that brings a sense of belonging to the herd - mentality of our social mind-set?

The religious doctrines have shrewdly incorporated a slew of tangible benefits that will accrue if the follower gets indoctrinated. Either material gains, comforts, a hypothetical better life in the next birth, or then , a guaranteed berth in Heaven. Providing access to divine intervention when faced with the trials and tribulations of life serves as a very potent incentive to induct members.

The atheist by this logic is committing sacrilege and is doomed. Or for that matter any non-conformist who does not accede to all the protocols and practices of a specific religion? Like a primitive tribal in the jungles who still worships the rain and thunder? Is he condemned to reappear as a nondescript creeping reptile in his next birth? For travesty of sacrosanct benevolence. Has he relinquished his seat on the next flight to heaven? Of course religions conformism has never been detrimental. It forms a very important aspect of civilizations and culture. But surely, religious conviction cannot be a precondition to lead a good life.
Does helping a depraved soul mandate some celestial brownie points as a trade off? Can it never be pristine without the quagmire of religion or spiritual gratification? Surely compassion does not need any moral currency. Being humane, honest and compassionate certainly is possible without subscribing to any sect or community.
All the realized souls or prophets have always been very inclusive. They were great advocates of equality, and compassion. They experienced a sense of oneness, where every aspect of creation was a manifestation of the same creator. The successive generations and followers thereafter claimed exclusive rights to the tenets and teachings. This resulted in religion becoming exclusive. This fragmentation has been the scourge of mankind. The effort to be first among equals, to propagate each ones exclusivity.
The creator wanted his subjects to experience his presence within each one. Probably also in the fragrance of a flower, in the chirping of a bird on the tree, or the laughter of a child. In the amber hues of the evening skies or the unadulterated love in the eyes of a mother.
Don’t all these wondrous phenomenon bear adequate testimony to the Creator’s existence and benevolence? Even the almighty must be wondering –“I never expected such stiff competition ? Why are my children looking for me in hypothetical and imaginary beings when I manifest before them in so many tangible ways? Why has my child complicated his life subjecting himself to all these conditions and protocols? How can I make my child realize that the sprouting of a sapling is enough of a miracle for him to believe me?”
Religion is very personal and strictly a matter of connecting with the God within. Like the proverbial musk deer who keeps hunting for the source of the fragrance that emanates from itself. Morals and value systems have been incorporated by the religions to preserve the social fabric of society. Rituals and penances are more to promote discipline and temperance. Breaking a fast could scarcely incur the wrath of a deity. But such heresy incurs the wrath of the ‘Agents of God’ who have the very selfless task of ensuring my safe sojourn to the heavens. These agents – of God have become stronger and wield a greater influence than God himself. Paradoxical that they preach ways to reach the Lord when they themselves are groping. Reaching for him never required the crutches of any religious dogma. This segregative approach would only culminate in propagating disharmony. And that certainly cannot be the objective of any religion.

Dr. Deepak Ranade
(Consultant Neurosurgeon) Email: deepakranade@yahoo.com

Of memory templates and free will

Thinking seems to be a constant involuntary drone in our waking state. Thinking often is also the root of many psychosomatic ailments. The process of thinking is essentially quasi-voluntary and spiritual seekers aim to reach a state of thoughtlessness. There is no specific centre in the brain that has been identified as the originator of thoughts. It would be absurd to conclude that thoughts arise empirically and randomly. Logically there has to be some cause-effect basis of thoughts arising. Perception of the outer world lays the substrate for thoughts, responses and actions. Hence perception and thought initiation must have some source code which is unique for every individual. Since computers closely mimic neural networks, we could analyse their functioning to shed some light on the working of the human brain. The computer's Read Only Memory or ROM is a preset programme which cannot be modified. ROM has the blueprint of basic operations as well as anagrams for processing data. It operates and controls vital processes. The computer also has a Random Access Memory or RAM, which is a storage device for data that can be erased and modified. Every human being also comes with an inbuilt ROM programme. This is the database of all past karmas and vasanas. Vasana is un-manifest thought; it is the substrate of thought. It pre-empts all thoughts and actions. Thoughts are constructed on the infrastructure of vasana. This data is not deletable. Every individual is born with a unique ROM that contributes not only to thought initiation, perception but also to programme the responses of the individual. This explains why each individual reacts differently to the same external stimulus. The varying reactions are therefore also a function of the operative system. Every individual is also provided with a RAM, which records all events as they take place. It serves as input for subsequent encryption into ROM. ROM is then subsequently formatted onto the hard disc of the individual in successive births. Vasanas precede thought and thought precedes action. Action thereafter generates further vasanas and this cause and effect cycle generates karma. So we are now dealing with an operating system that has an inbuilt programme, an encryption of all previous karmas and vasanas. However, we also have free will to ignore this inbuilt programme. We could script a new programme which subsequently gets transferred to the ROM. Free will represents the ability of each one to rebel against the inbuilt programme. Science could determine the past as it may have the ability to access the ROM, but no science can predict what is going to get written in the RAM. Mind is the effecter of ROM. It generates all thoughts as a function of the unique source code of ROM. Unbridled execution of ROM results in impulsive actions. But volitional control can help us overcome the diktat of ROM. With intense determination and control, it can be forbidden to enforce the encrypted script. If efforts are not taken to counter this preformed template, life travels along the uncontrolled path determined by the sum total of the past. To script a new ROM is the aim of all sadhana, discipline and meditation. Life vacillates between surrendering to the programme and endeavour to exercise the free will. The power to recondition responses which otherwise would be just a meek submission to ROM resides in every individual. So does the free will to use this power.

( The writer is a neurosurgeon.)
September 12.,2007 Times of India by Deepak Ranade

Scientific Basis Of Mediataion

Matter and energy are interconvertible. This was a path –breaking contribution by Einstein and was unequivocally proven albeit in very morbid and destructive circumstances. Thus, matter is present in various energy states. These energy states were found to be temperature dependant. The higher the temperature, the greater the energy. A simple example of this would be water that boils upon heating to higher temperatures. This increases the disorder in the molecules as they are energized. This disorder is referred to as entropy. It represents the excitability and chaos of the molecules that constitute matter. Satyendra Bose, a reputed Indian scientist proposed to Einstein that if matter was cooled to very low temperatures (Absolute Kelvin- minus 273 degrees ) then the entropy of that matter should decrease and matter should come down to a zero energy state. This remained only in the realms of hypothetical speculation until it was proved much later on. This zero energy state is now known to physicists as the Bose –Einstein condensate. This state of matter is also called a superatom as the entire mass behaves as if it were a single atom. It loses all its characteristics of shape, charge, polarization etc. It probably reverts to a shapeless attributeless phenonomenon. De-evolution of matter, reverting back to just the potential to manifest as anything and everything.
Our brain is as aggregate of close to a 100 billion neurons. The various thoughts that constantly crowd our minds are the sum- total of simultaneous activity of different neurons. No wonder that there is such chaos in our awake state. These thoughts then translate into various biological changes mediated by the hormonal apparatus at the pituitary interfacing system. The complex interconnections that abound the nervous system ensure that even a small impulse rapidly spreads seismically via this dense network. Certain individuals have innate higher entropy levels and therefore find it harder to concentrate. They are known as distractible in common parlance. They have fleeting thoughts and are very restless. The sensory organs serve as an important pathway to increase the entropy as they stimulate various neuronal circuits adding to the entropy. Therefore closing the eyes helps in the process of concentration. Continuous stimulation of the neural networks is what happens in awake states.Sleep is therefore necessary for minimizing these constant excitatory inputs. Sleep deprivation leads to fatigue of the neural networks
When one concentrates, there is a resultant decrease in the disorder of the neural system. As concentration increases, the tendency of the mind to waver and scatter decreases. The mind is more sharp focused. We all have experienced the need to concentrate when we are studying or performing some important activity. So when we concentrate, we are increasing the synchronicity of a specific group of neurons and silencing unrelated neuronal activity. In scientific parlance, concentration decreases the entropy of the neuronal apparatus. Reverting to the earlier example, as we approach the Absolute Kelvin, just as the entropy of matter drops to near zero levels, similarly, the neuronal disorder keeps waning as we concentrate. The neuronal firing decreases in amplitude as well as frequency. So would the propagation across various networks.
In awake states, when one consciously attempts to decrease the entropy of the nervous system, it is referred to as meditation. As the entropy of the neurons keeps decreasing, a state of calmness is perceived. As this progresses further, the neurons start becoming synchronous. That is, they neither modulate or amplify any incoming signal. They just resonate in harmony. As this orchestra starts becoming more in synch the subject experiences varying states of bliss and happiness. Till what is presumably the final state of zero entropy, where all 100 billion neurons function in total unified quantum coherence . This Bose Einstein condensate equivalent of the neuronal system is what may be termed as Samadhi.

Dr Deepak Ranade
(The author is a consultant Neurosurgeon)

Scientific Basis Of Mediataion

Matter and energy are interconvertible. This was a path –breaking contribution by Einstein and was unequivocally proven albeit in very morbid and destructive circumstances. Thus, matter is present in various energy states. These energy states were found to be temperature dependant. The higher the temperature, the greater the energy. A simple example of this would be water that boils upon heating to higher temperatures. This increases the disorder in the molecules as they are energized. This disorder is referred to as entropy. It represents the excitability and chaos of the molecules that constitute matter. Satyendra Bose, a reputed Indian scientist proposed to Einstein that if matter was cooled to very low temperatures (Absolute Kelvin- minus 273 degrees ) then the entropy of that matter should decrease and matter should come down to a zero energy state. This remained only in the realms of hypothetical speculation until it was proved much later on. This zero energy state is now known to physicists as the Bose –Einstein condensate. This state of matter is also called a superatom as the entire mass behaves as if it were a single atom. It loses all its characteristics of shape, charge, polarization etc. It probably reverts to a shapeless attributeless phenonomenon. De-evolution of matter, reverting back to just the potential to manifest as anything and everything.
Our brain is as aggregate of close to a 100 billion neurons. The various thoughts that constantly crowd our minds are the sum- total of simultaneous activity of different neurons. No wonder that there is such chaos in our awake state. These thoughts then translate into various biological changes mediated by the hormonal apparatus at the pituitary interfacing system. The complex interconnections that abound the nervous system ensure that even a small impulse rapidly spreads seismically via this dense network. Certain individuals have innate higher entropy levels and therefore find it harder to concentrate. They are known as distractible in common parlance. They have fleeting thoughts and are very restless. The sensory organs serve as an important pathway to increase the entropy as they stimulate various neuronal circuits adding to the entropy. Therefore closing the eyes helps in the process of concentration. Continuous stimulation of the neural networks is what happens in awake states.Sleep is therefore necessary for minimizing these constant excitatory inputs. Sleep deprivation leads to fatigue of the neural networks
When one concentrates, there is a resultant decrease in the disorder of the neural system. As concentration increases, the tendency of the mind to waver and scatter decreases. The mind is more sharp focused. We all have experienced the need to concentrate when we are studying or performing some important activity. So when we concentrate, we are increasing the synchronicity of a specific group of neurons and silencing unrelated neuronal activity. In scientific parlance, concentration decreases the entropy of the neuronal apparatus. Reverting to the earlier example, as we approach the Absolute Kelvin, just as the entropy of matter drops to near zero levels, similarly, the neuronal disorder keeps waning as we concentrate. The neuronal firing decreases in amplitude as well as frequency. So would the propagation across various networks.
In awake states, when one consciously attempts to decrease the entropy of the nervous system, it is referred to as meditation. As the entropy of the neurons keeps decreasing, a state of calmness is perceived. As this progresses further, the neurons start becoming synchronous. That is, they neither modulate or amplify any incoming signal. They just resonate in harmony. As this orchestra starts becoming more in synch the subject experiences varying states of bliss and happiness. Till what is presumably the final state of zero entropy, where all 100 billion neurons function in total unified quantum coherence . This Bose Einstein condensate equivalent of the neuronal system is what may be termed as Samadhi.

Dr Deepak Ranade
(The author is a consultant Neurosurgeon)

Scientific Basis Of Mediataion

Matter and energy are interconvertible. This was a path –breaking contribution by Einstein and was unequivocally proven albeit in very morbid and destructive circumstances. Thus, matter is present in various energy states. These energy states were found to be temperature dependant. The higher the temperature, the greater the energy. A simple example of this would be water that boils upon heating to higher temperatures. This increases the disorder in the molecules as they are energized. This disorder is referred to as entropy. It represents the excitability and chaos of the molecules that constitute matter. Satyendra Bose, a reputed Indian scientist proposed to Einstein that if matter was cooled to very low temperatures (Absolute Kelvin- minus 273 degrees ) then the entropy of that matter should decrease and matter should come down to a zero energy state. This remained only in the realms of hypothetical speculation until it was proved much later on. This zero energy state is now known to physicists as the Bose –Einstein condensate. This state of matter is also called a superatom as the entire mass behaves as if it were a single atom. It loses all its characteristics of shape, charge, polarization etc. It probably reverts to a shapeless attributeless phenonomenon. De-evolution of matter, reverting back to just the potential to manifest as anything and everything.
Our brain is as aggregate of close to a 100 billion neurons. The various thoughts that constantly crowd our minds are the sum- total of simultaneous activity of different neurons. No wonder that there is such chaos in our awake state. These thoughts then translate into various biological changes mediated by the hormonal apparatus at the pituitary interfacing system. The complex interconnections that abound the nervous system ensure that even a small impulse rapidly spreads seismically via this dense network. Certain individuals have innate higher entropy levels and therefore find it harder to concentrate. They are known as distractible in common parlance. They have fleeting thoughts and are very restless. The sensory organs serve as an important pathway to increase the entropy as they stimulate various neuronal circuits adding to the entropy. Therefore closing the eyes helps in the process of concentration. Continuous stimulation of the neural networks is what happens in awake states.Sleep is therefore necessary for minimizing these constant excitatory inputs. Sleep deprivation leads to fatigue of the neural networks
When one concentrates, there is a resultant decrease in the disorder of the neural system. As concentration increases, the tendency of the mind to waver and scatter decreases. The mind is more sharp focused. We all have experienced the need to concentrate when we are studying or performing some important activity. So when we concentrate, we are increasing the synchronicity of a specific group of neurons and silencing unrelated neuronal activity. In scientific parlance, concentration decreases the entropy of the neuronal apparatus. Reverting to the earlier example, as we approach the Absolute Kelvin, just as the entropy of matter drops to near zero levels, similarly, the neuronal disorder keeps waning as we concentrate. The neuronal firing decreases in amplitude as well as frequency. So would the propagation across various networks.
In awake states, when one consciously attempts to decrease the entropy of the nervous system, it is referred to as meditation. As the entropy of the neurons keeps decreasing, a state of calmness is perceived. As this progresses further, the neurons start becoming synchronous. That is, they neither modulate or amplify any incoming signal. They just resonate in harmony. As this orchestra starts becoming more in synch the subject experiences varying states of bliss and happiness. Till what is presumably the final state of zero entropy, where all 100 billion neurons function in total unified quantum coherence . This Bose Einstein condensate equivalent of the neuronal system is what may be termed as Samadhi.

Dr Deepak Ranade
(The author is a consultant Neurosurgeon)

Are you imagining your fears?

Human beings feel very vulnerable. Totally at the mercy of destiny, and forever battling circumstances, waging a war against financial, emotional and social insecurity. We are perennially choosing from a myriad options and we keep hoping we’ve made the right choice. The fear of the unknown tends to loom large and we spend most of our present worrying about the future. This despondency drives many to soothsayers, clairvoyants, astrologers and palm readers and futurologists. If we look around and take a few cues from nature, it seems animals and birds live life with scarce planning, manipulation or worrying about tomorrow. And they manage all right, too. Humans are unique in that they are bestowed with frontal lobes, those extensions of the brain that insinuate between the eyebrows and the hairline, which also cleave us from our immediate ancestors, the apes. Frontal lobes are the seat of abstraction, intellect, and empower us with qualities like imagination, and conceptual thought. Our primitive nervous system was designed to enable us to perceive and interact with the environment. Successive evolutionary improvements in the nervous system served to increase the speed and complexity of the response, albeit only as a reaction to the environment. But with the frontal lobes appearing in us humans, we could engage in abstraction. Philosophy, poetry and culture are some intangibles that the human brain could delve into. But then came the catch. This added faculty - the power to use creative imagination - also became a tool to conjure abstract fears. The fear of the unknown, the concept of destiny, suspicion, anxiety and the entire spectrum of "imaginary" fears and angst. But then was that the objective of this latest edition of the brain? To believe that this device was designed only to make life more comfortable is a bit far-fetched. We can take the credit for advancing technology, making inventions, and generally utilising the tool effectively. But we still have to realise that we just utilised the tool. We are not the creator of this tool. So what is the objective of this very versatile complex nervous tissue that has helped man transform the external world? Was it to distort and manipulate the external world? Couldn’t the creator have done so himself? Abstraction was given as a boon to us to comprehend the 'inner' world. It is unlikely that other species would query "Who am I?", or "Why has this creation been made?" These are doubts that can arise only as an extrapolation of the thought process beyond the travails of daily mundane living. So this heightened ability of imagination and comprehension was made available for the human mind to fathom itself. An ability no other animal possesses. Needless to say almost all fears arising in the mind are a side-effect of this enhanced cognitive ability. Nothing more than that. The knife with a sharp cutting edge is a very versatile instrument if it is used appropriately. We as proud owners of this add-on gadget need to realise that this tool has to be utilised for the appropriate objective of self-knowledge. To understand the self. To look within and not misuse it to end up as hypertensive and diabetics, disorders very human- specific stemming from gross misuse of this magnificent evolutionary upgrade.
(The writer is a consultant neurosurgeon.)
23 May 2008, 0041 hrs IST, DEEPAK M RANADE

Discover your identity only to lose it

Unified source of consciousness (Getty Images)
The self is a projection from the unified source of consciousness. Any attempts by the self to be enlightened are based on the premise that this projection has a unique identity. Like a bubble in the ocean. There is a fine distinction between the bubble and the surrounding water. But the bubble is within the water, it is made up of the same water. If the bubble were to make any attempt to understand itself, it would momentarily feel that it is separate with an identity of its own. But that remains only till the thin separating membrane exists. Once this assertive margin gives way, it is revealed that there has been no change in either the content or the nature of the water. It was water, and will remain water. All creation is analogous to bubbles in the vast expanse of consciousness. Realisation involves loss of this separateness from the surrounding water, a sense of just merging into the water. It is dissolution of that membrane of separateness called the ego. If this dissolution occurs during the journey of life, it would be similar to the bubble losing the differentiating membrane on the way travelling from the bottom of the sea to the top. When the mind-body organism ends (death) it would be the equivalent of the bubble reaching the surface and then just popping. This bubble has a plethora of forms and shapes. But still just a transient identification of being separate. This feeling of separateness motivates all our attempts and endeavours to embark on the path of understanding the Self. Like the bubble trying to understand itself as a separate entity when actually it is surrounded by and made up of the same water. The separateness that desires this enlightenment is the ego, the identification with the mind-body organism. The consciousness that animates this mind-body form is the true Self. The true Self creates a projection which has great conviction of separateness and independent existence. It is a distortion induced by the perceptive apparatus. Religious orientation and beliefs are not congenital. They are a product of conditioning. Many cultures believe in reincarnation or rebirth. Which entity takes rebirth? The identity that each of us has is an entirely man-made nomenclature of convenience. So what would reincarnate? The identity that i have in this birth? This identity is as meaningless as trying to name the different drops of water in a flowing river and then trying to locate that specific drop which had evaporated (died) and fallen from the skies again (rebirth). Then which entity achieves that elusive Self-realisation? Is it the individual, the ego or the mind? Is this elusive Self-realisation just another object of desire? A subtle ego-trip puts the individual on a pedestal because he is in pursuit of the intangible. All attempts to seek or reach God probably induce a state of moral well-being. Probably, the labourer who sweats it out in the heat and lives an ego-less existence is far more spiritual than the hymn-singing affluent person. Any belief system that segregates cannot be a spiritual path. If we are unanimous in the belief that the Creator is One, He cannot be partial to any one clan or sect. Because that automatically disqualifies all other belief systems from reaching the ultimate truth. So science should help us redefine religion and metamorphose it from the ritualistic domain into a more all-inclusive and all-embracing state of mind, not cleaved by differences. Then we might realise that we are all just drops of water in this vast ocean of Creation. The writer is a consultant neurosurgeon.

10 Sep 2008, 0016 hrs IST, DEEPAK RANADE Speaking Tree- Times Of India

The Democratic Nature Of All Creation

All creation is an induced illusion of duality to enable the source to experience itself.

Obsession with the materialistic world is actually as ludicrous as my hand being obsessed with my nose.

The ultimate objective is for consciousness to be able to perceive itself.

The original undivided pluripotent being had the option of remaining unmanifest. Manifestation was one of the limitless options available to this source. For awareness to experience itself, a state of duality had to be induced. It needed to cleave itself and induce a pseudo-dichotomy of perceiver and perceived. This process is similar to the process of a developing embryo. The single cell replicates itself rapidly and metamorphoses into this complex and differentiated multiorgan form. In reality, we all are just one cell that has differentiated itself into specified functional units. When i touch my hair it actually is the manifestation of a single cell touching another expression of itself and the same cell also has the capability to comprehend this “touch” phenomenon. All creation is an induced illusion of duality to enable the source to experience itself. The process of creation is in itself a gratifying experience. All artists, when they create a work of art, experience ecstasy on giving birth to a new idea, new thought. The sheer joy of manifesting in such diversity may be the objective of this exercise by the source. He not only created multiple loci of consciousness but also ensured that His creation was made oblivious to the source of its origins. Time and space were introduced as illusory media to ensure the delusion of separateness of creation. This being was programmed with the ability to discover his origins, and provided the means to enjoy the rest of creation as well. Since the being was just a manifestation of the source, he also had all the attributes of the source. The resolve and ability to achieve anything he desires, the capacity to experience total bliss, and above all the freedom to exercise choice. Selfless creation mandated that the being was given an illusion of being the ‘doer’. The self-effacement of the source could be a precondition for nourishing the identity of His creation. This illusion of being the doer and the centre of the universe manifests as ego. Ego served initially as a tool for self-preservation but as it crystallises further it totally envelops the consciousness and impedes realisation of its true nature. The ego constantly reaffirms this illusionary duality. The more the ego hardens the farther it moves the being away from the knowledge of his true identity. It then embarks on a game wherein the being gets an illusion of having control and the ability to manipulate the environment for its own happiness. Awareness when focused outward gets entangled in a web of duality. Then there is no limit to its indulgence. This kaleidoscopic creation has a potent arsenal to engage this awareness into its diverse forms. Indulgence is addictive and it keeps drawing this awareness into its throes, distancing itself from its true identity. Obsession with the materialistic world is actually as ludicrous as my hand being obsessed with my nose. The ultimate objective is for consciousness to be able to perceive itself. This could be attained by various means and paths. This knowledge is already there within. The illusion is to look for it ‘without’. All other knowledge is duality-based and may at best help in providing analogies. However, analogy is a cheap substitute for experience. The purpose of creation was for the source to experience itself. Creation is like democracy. Made of the source, by the source and for the source. Self-awareness or unperceiving is self-realisation.

Source: The writer of this article- Deepak Ranade,is a consultant neurosurgeon. Published in Times of India(26/03/08),Speaking Tree.
Thursday, 27. March 2008, 11:32:40
spirituality