Tamoharadasa vanaprastha, Canada, Tue, Aug 4, 2009 at 10:34 PM
“vede ramayane caiva, purane bharate tatha …”
Sri Caitanya Caritamrta Adi 7.131
“In the Vedic literature, including the Ramayanam, Puranas, and Mahabharata, from the beginning to the end, as well as in the middle, only Hari, the Personality of Godhead, is explained.”
But what of those who do not accept sastra, but depend upon their tiny brains instead? How can they be delivered? How can the agnostics take the Pure Names? I have had occasion to have to preach to some atheists lately. These persons, who are often devotees of modern science, try to influence innocent others by making cheap criticisms of the Christians, for example, so my tendency is to want to sway them with deeper reason.
It occurs to me, from seeing our Srila Prabhupada preach to scientists, that an honest person can be shown truth by a path of successive approximations. One starts out at a low enough level to capture their materialistic vision and reason, and then proceeds logically upward from there. An example of such reasoning follows, which line of thought goes from molecules bumping up to the lotus feet of Lord Sri Krsna.
One major difference between living things and dead matter is that live things have VALUES, ie. they favor and appreciate everything which enhances their life! For example, we can observe that even a tree existing on the edge of a cliff will do everything in its power to hold on there as long as possible. Similarly, a squirrel collects food to ensure its survival over the scare winter months. Both are determined to continue to enjoy life, to fulfill their potential, to go on, and enjoy. For the tree, the earth and the rain and the sun are it’s Greatest Good. For the squirrel, good is food and warmth and continuation. Thus, the principle of preference and values is clearly established by the actual behaviors of all living things. There is a natural and observable valuation of good and bad. The living things, from microbes to humans, consistently display these inherent values. Life is not at all random, unlike molecules, but is even co-syncronous in purpose, harmonized, and this is so far fully observable in all of biology, at least on this planet, anyway! There is NO example of opposition to this universal principle of life that we have observed so far on earth.
Thus, we can see in the world around us daily, that there is a natural tendency toward values, inherent at a “root” level. We can also look at matter. It is less organized, and less variable, tends to homeostasis such that variety is minimized in a system, just like cold and hot mix to form lukewarm. Living things, on the other hand, have highly organized and energy producing and using structures, with complex purposive behavior patterns. The human inner ear is an example of a highly organized structure with very specific coding and tuning, and purpose and use. It can sense microseconds and micro pressures. It uses more energy to function than the other organs do, having a very high metabolic rate, but all of which organs are still far more information rich than non-living matter, and require energy, produce byproducts, etc. So there is a clear and observable difference between the essential character of life and dead matter. Life has values, is highly organized, is self aware in some degrees.
The OBSERVABLE bias of matter, and hence living beings, whose bodies are made of this matter, is then towards individual self-actualization and a system of cogent values! We all visibly cherish, protect, and expand our potentials, our life. It is built in. A hankering for life is seen among the plants, whose heads turn towards the light. We do NOT observe, as a rule, life rushing to end itself. We are attracted to those things and persons who can help us survive and enjoy as nicely as possible.
Further, one can argue that the more Purposefully Organized the matter, the more Value it has for living things, and the more varieties of enjoyment are there. For example, a computer versus a rock; both are useful, but the uses of the computer are much more. (Some of us Luddites would argue to use the rock to smash these computers!) So the source of all things, including the computer, must also be at least equally intelligible and organized! The source of all things will be useful and attractive to all.
The more dense the information, the more potential it has to be practical, also. An example is a stick versus a spear. The stick is simple information, whereas the spear has the potential to provide a terrible dinner! Similarly, a wheel versus a jet engine; the complexity goes with the higher function, the greater potential to create and use energy. This, and not entropy, is the universal constant.
Molecules tend to entropy, but living things to negentropy, organization. We, as tiny cognizant beings, cannot be in this universe without variety, such as food, water, light. Variety is now observed to be necessary for, and valued by, life. Mere chemicals have less organization; certainly they display little or no self-aware consciousness, until they become organized by life. Thus, it makes more sense to accept a Complex Living Source as the fountainhead for being, and variety, as opposed to random chance, which displays theoretically No Values! Chance, which has no values, is unlikelier to lead to variety and life which HAS values! The honest person has to admit this simple truth.
Srila Prabhupada liked to argue that life only comes from life, that no scientist can take dead chemicals and put them together and produce a living being. Thus, we can go back far enough, following the historical string of lifeforms, and we find that the original Father is the Source of Life! We know Him as Sri Krsna! Prabhupada would ask the atheistic persons for even one example of life coming from dead chemicals. Rarely, an educated person I meet speaks of strings of peptides or reproducing modular cells, made in biolabs, which display some characteristics of life. Then I say, very good, your maybe / maybe not evidence is .001 percent of all observable life, as opposed to the observable 99.999 per cent, all of whom came from another living being! They are defeated statistically, and if at all honest, must then admit that they may have been misdirected by a bias in science, and are presenting a blind faith in science, whereas the devotee is presenting Observable Truths in this regards.
So, the living universe requires organized information, and observably values or prefers it to uniformity. The nature is as according to the qualities of the Ultimate Source, which or who must also value variety, as opposed to a void or uniformity, because the richest creations, the living things, are from the source, and we are ourselves entirely value driven. As below, so above. It is very simple, just like a gold ring has all the qualities of pure gold, but it is but a small chip off the vein in the mine.
All creatures desire; desire good variety, desire life, and potential fulfillment. We can understand then, if our “as above, so below” observational principle stands, that the source and Principle of Life, from which all life is derived, also loves being alive, indeed IS LIFE, and wishes to go on! If we have it, it is because the whole Universe has us within it. We must accept what we can observe. If science says we are chemicals, we cannot observe that in reality, so we should reject speculative atheistic science. If science says the purpose is not clear, we can actually see daily and without exceptions, the universal tendencies of the components.
The sum source cannot be less than the derivatives, i.e., you can’t get out more than what is there to begin with! We have values because they are inherent in the universe. This means that, as all we intelligent living things display values, and we are all but a small part of a much larger and observable universe, that the Supreme Source of the Living Universe contains the fullest set of values, is Intelligent, with a natural tendency to individual identity and values, which tendencies we have universally inherited! This Living Principle will be perfectly and highly organized, information rich, fullest in attractivity, most fulfilling and hence valued as “beauteous” or all-attractive = the definition of Lord Sri Krsna!! All glories to Sri Krsna, the All-attractive Living Force and Precedent Setter, Supreme Personality of Godhead!
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