Can we make a living being by assembling some chemical ingredient?

My personal relationship with Prabhupada was based on preaching. Prabhupada’s thesis was life comes from life, and it remained so from the moment I met him to the day he passed away in Vrindavan. In that last onemonth, Prabhupada was generally awake from midnight on. At thosetimes, he spoke mostly in the Bengali language. He often discussed the conceptthat life comes from life, because it is the foundation of Krishna consciousness,whether one takes the philosophical, theological, or scientific viewpoint.

Life comes from life means we all come from Krishna. Krishna is the originof everything. That was Prabhupada’s very strong instruction. In May 1977, Prabhupada’s secretary, Tamal Krishna Goswami, ordered all GBC members to come to Vrindavan, because Prabhupada was ill. In May of that year the first gathering of all the leaders of our society was held in Vrindavan. By Krishna’s arrangement, I was in Vrindavan at that time. With so many devotees gathered there, we conceived the idea of organizing a conference to discuss the science of

Krishna consciousness. I suggested to Prabhupada that we call it the Bhaktivedanta Conference and that we hold it regularly for generations

to come. Prabhupada said, “If we call it the Bhaktivedanta Conference, scientists may not take it very seriously. It is better to call it the First International

Conference on Life Comes from Life.” That was Prabhupada’s position.

We organized the conference very hurriedly, and within one month the

plans were finalized. The conference would be held in Vrindavan, October 14-16, 1977. After the dates were set, I went to Boston where the other Bhaktivedanta Institute scientists were preparing monographs and booklets for presentation

at the conference. When I returned to Vrindavan in August, Prabhupada was on his way to the United States. He was supposed to go to Gita-nagari farm, in Pennsylvania, but his health was failing and from London he returnedto Vrindavan. Realizing he hadn’t much time remaining, Prabhupada said again and again, “Do something before I depart. I want to see that conference.”

The conference started on October 14, exactly one month before Prabhupada departed this life. I wasn’t so experienced, and the time we had to organize the conference was very short. I mostly invited scientists from Delhi, Agra, and Mathura. Some U.N. representatives, medical scientists, and philosophers attended, and our Bhaktivedanta Institute scientists, six of us at that time, conducted the program.

During the presentations, Prabhupada called for me almost every hour to ask, “How is the conference going? Who is speaking?” I appeared before Prabhupada in a suit and tie to report to him. Then at the end of the day, when the conference was over, he wanted to see all the Bhaktivedanta Institute scientists. Because we were in civilian dress, Prabhupada asked devotees to bring us chairs. I said, “Prabhupada, we are fine.” “No, no,” he said, “sit on the chairs.” As he requested, we sat around him on chairs, and he asked us who spoke what, and how we felt about it. That was the First International Conference on Life Comes from Life. And Prabhupada was extremely pleased. He said we should have conferences presenting the scientific aspects of Krishna consciousness in every city around the world.!

Scientists are truly and sincerely seeking knowledge. They seek empirical knowledge, which is based on experimentation. Scientists are not easily convinced by spiritual precepts, because they are satisfied only by rational thinking. Therefore, it is useful to use scientific knowledge to connect such persons to spiritual life. Scientists may come to spiritual life through their scientific study. By collecting information and drawing conclusions from their observations, they may gradually come to appreciate that there is a supreme brain behind the complex processes present in nature. For a scientist to come to such a conclusion indicates he is making spiritual progress.

For that reason scientific knowledge is not useless. It is useful for those whose minds are directed in that way. Some observe that among scientists there are many atheists, but atheists are always present. There are two types of people, suras and asuras. Sura means devotee of the Lord, and asura means atheist. These two classes of men are found in every age. At certain times the atheists are more prominent, at other times the theists are more prominent. The prominence of each may fluctuate, but both types are always present. I am hopeful that in the twenty-first century theists will become more prominent, even among scientists. By some indications it appears that scientists are becoming more interested in spiritual matters. For instance, two weeks ago there was a very important conference in Paris funded by UNESCO. Six Nobel laureate physicists and biologists participated. By the mercy of Prabhupada I was invited to attend but could not make it. The conference explored how scientists can appreciate spiritual matters. In recent years, many institutions have emerged in the United States and Europe to address matters of scientific and spiritual knowledge. This is very encouraging. As time passes, I think we will see science and spirituality increasingly tied together. Personally, I feel Krishna consciousness gives a profound explanation of what life is. Thirteen chapters of Bhagavad-gita are about life. In the second chapter, Krishna’s instruction to Arjuna is solely about the science of life.

Knowledge of what is life is the foundation of Krishna consciousness.

In modern biology and even cosmology, scientists are trying to understand the origin of life. Many books are written on the subject.

From the Krishna conscious point of view, life has a nonphysical, nonchemical origin. From the scientific viewpoint, life is an outcome of complex chemical reactions. As more scientists become interested in spiritual matters, we can anticipate interesting developments in the views of the origin of life. In the Vedic understanding of cosmology, there are four yuga cycles: Satya, Treta, Dvapara, and Kali. These four cycles are going on continuously in an eternal process. Three qualities–goodness, passion, and ignorance– are the binding forces that keep the living entity in the material world. But the Lord has given prescriptions for each yuga, and by following these prescriptions one is able to free oneself

from the bondage of material influence. In chemistry we say we recover or isolate the pure form of a substance. Similarly, by following the

Lord’s prescription for each age we can isolate the pure jivatma, the soul, from the influence of material nature. In this yuga, the prescribed process is sankirtana.

Sankirtana means chanting the glories of the Lord all the time. Kirtaniya sada hari. What we are doing right now is called the sankirtana

process. Simply by chanting this Hare Krishna mahamantra one can attain the perfection of life very quickly.

My experience is that scientists are very interested in the mahamantra and the slokas we chant. Generally, we start each scientific and inter-religious meeting with prayer and mantras. We typically chant slokas from Bhagavatam and

Brahma-samhita, and afterwards scientists ask, “Where can I find the mantras?”

Because the chanting is spiritual sound vibration, sincere souls somehow, by the blessings of paramatma, get some kind of happiness from it. The importance of chanting is already there. It is the prescribed process for this age. All we need do is to create the proper environment to allow people to hear it. By hearing the mahamantra and by hearing scientific arguments in support of spiritual knowledge, more and more scientists will become favorable to spiritual ideas. If brilliant scientists turn toward Krishna consciousness, they can do much good for the welfare of humanity. This is the purpose in organizing conferences on life comes from life. To organize conferences, however, takes a lot of time, a lot of thinking, and a lot of financial support. So far, we have held three conferences. The last conference was called Synthesis of Science and Religion and took place in Calcutta in January 1997 in honor of Prabhupada’s centennial festival. About 2,000 scientists and philosophers attended. The next conference is scheduled for Rome, Italy, in 2004 and will be called the International Congress on Life Comes from Life. I have already spoken with biologists and Nobel laureates, and many are very interested. For example, I invited the editor of a wellknown statistical journal to write a paper. In response, he wrote a challenging paper arguing from the basis of mathematics that life comes from life. We can likewise develop arguments using principles of chemistry and biology to support spiritual precepts. If a few prominent scientists become interested in spiritual knowledge, their scientific arguments will prompt other scientists to examine spiritual precepts of the origin of life. I consider the precept that life comes from life the most important preaching field that Prabhupada gave us. But the sankirtana movement takes many forms. If we can greatly increase Krishna conscious activities throughout the world, whether through scientific conferences or other projects, the entire planet will feel the pulse of sankirtana vibration, and every living being, not only human beings but all forms of life–plants, animals, birds, microbes–will benefit.

Source: “MATCHLESS GIFTS” newsletter edisi agustus /September 2002

by Radha-Govinda Mandir, SA, NYC, USA

for mor on ORigin of life based on The Scientific Vedanta Please read theese books:

1. Life Come From Life (kehidupan berasal dari kehidupan)

2. Life, matter and their interactions

3. Life and Spiritual Evolution (english and indonesian available)

4. VEdanta and Science: Life and origin of universe

5. Bhagavad Gita: the science of life (khususnya chapter 2 and 13)

for order the books please send sms to putu: 081805681672 or wayan: 081237592245

DR. T.D. Singh (1937-2006) His Holliness Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami: A pioneer in advancing the dialogue on synthesis of Science and Spirituality throughout the world since 1974

Dr. T. D. Singh received Ph.D. in Physical Organic Chemistry from the University of California at Irvine in 1974. He was a scientist and spiritualist known for his pioneering efforts in the synthesis of science and religion for a deeper understanding of life and the universe. He was trained in Vaishnava Vedanta studies from 1970 to 1977 under Srila Prabhupada and was appointed Director of the Bhaktivedanta Institute in 1974. He organized four major International Conferences on Science and Religion – First and Second World Congress for the Synthesis of Science and Religion (Mumbai, 1986 & Kolkata, 1997), First International Conference on the Study of Consciousness within Science (San Francisco, 1990), and Second International Congress on Life and Its Origin (Rome, 2004). Collectively thousands of prominent scientists and religious leaders including several Nobel Laureates participated. He has authored and edited more than dozen books including What is Matter and What is Life? (1977), Theobiology (1979), Synthesis of Science and Religion: Critical Essays and Dialogues (1987) and Thoughts on Synthesis of Science and Religion (2001). He was also the founder Editor-in-Chief for two journals of the Bhaktivedanta Institute.

Dr. Singh had lots of concern for the student community with regard to their holistic development. He felt our younger generations were exposed to the latest scientific and technological developments in various disciplines at numerous colleges and universities around the world, but lacked spiritual foundation to make proper use of them. Hence, he felt the need to organize students’ conference on the interface of Science and Spirituality for the holistic growth of their personality. With this vision, Dr. Singh conceptualized the series on All India Students’ Conference on Science and Spiritual Quest (AISSQ). He personally organized the first conference in the series in December 2005 at Vrindavan, UP. However, by the will of Providence, Dr. Singh left for the spiritual abode on 2 October 2006. He had made all the arrangements for the 2nd AISSQ conference that was held in December 2006 in Puri, Orissa. Dr. Singh also expressed his Nobel desire for the third and fourth AISSQ conferences in the series to be organized in Tirupati and Sri Rangam (Trichy), respectively. Today, inspired by his vision, his students, friends and well-wishers throughout the world are making a humble attempt to carry out his grand vision for harmonizing the modern culture through the synthesis of science and spirituality.