Question and Answers:
Q) Now scientists and doctors have come to an understanding of how the brain works and chemically, what happens in which part of the brain based on thoughts. Can you comment on it?
A) I was with a group of doctors in Oklahoma one day. They did research on my brain to see how it works during meditation and during normal times, and compared it with how the brain works for a non-meditator. The research was done using PET scan and QEEG, by a group of doctors who have been in this field for the last thirty years. At the end of their study they concluded, 'We thought we had come to an understanding of the brain but, after studying your brain, we can say we still have a lot to learn!'
Reality Dream
I asked them a few questions about the brain and mind that they could not answer. I have met many scientists. I was in a discussion with Dr. Charles Townes, a noble laureate from the University of California, earlier on this tour. He said very honestly, 'There are thousands of things science cannot answer, and we still cannot disprove answers and experiences of mystics.'
Unless you disprove something, you cannot say it is wrong. There are two ways: one is making a statement and proving it, and the other is removing all possibilities of disproving the statement. Mystics have gone the second way, removing all the doubts to disprove, which is more solid. We should understand one thing, in science, the discoveries and research can be presented in an objective way without you being interested in it. In the inner world, however, we need to have interest and look into it. Only then, truths can be realized. The inner world is such that it can't be brought across the table, because the table is in the outer world!
Q) It is said that you made idols of many Gods as a child. If there is only one God, why did you need to use idols?
A) Idol worship, an important belief of Hinduism, is being questioned here. You must understand that there is no such thing as idol worship in Hinduism; it is worship through idols only. It is never worship of idols. The Eastern mystics always say God is one. He is the all-pervading energy beyond form and formless, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. Let me ask you honestly, the moment I say formless, what comes to your mind? The sky, an ocean, an open space, am I right? Again it is a form but it is not described by length, breadth and depth.
Please be very clear, unless you experience it, you cannot relate with something formless. So, as an initial way to relate, some forms are created. It's a technique. For example, after learning cycling, you can remove your hands from the handlebars and ride the bike but, initially, you need to hold them and learn. Similarly, when you learn driving, initially you need to follow many rules; you need to be very alert. Once you master it, you can drive casually. You can even chat with your friend over the phone while driving. Just in the same way, when you enter the spiritual journey, in the end, everyone experiences the formless but, at the initial level, you need a form to relate to.
As long as you think you are a form, you can't relate with the formless. Even if you think of something as formless, you will again be giving it a form. It may be a sky or an ocean, something vast, but again it is going to be one more form. How many of you can visualize the formless without visualizing a sky or open space or ocean? Tell me honestly.
If you say the formless just IS, it is an experience. If you experience, then it is okay. You don't need anything but you cannot start with that experience. You can only start from where you are. I have seen many people who start straight away with the formless but they don't feel totally connected.
Reality Dream
That is why, in Eastern religions, they have the initial step as worship through idols as a way of relating and connecting. Once you master that, you can feel the formless everywhere. At least, I can say from my experience, surely a person in the initial level cannot relate to the formless directly. You may say it is possible but, if you do an honest check within yourself, you will understand that it takes some maturity to relate to the formless, and that it has not happened within most of us.