I present in this book a possible explanation regarding the nature of human thought. This is a subject which is as old as human beings and as fascinating as life itself. The history of mankind is full of innumerable attempts by philosophers, religious leaders and lately by scientists to explain the nature of the human thought. I hope to add my tiny bit in the endeavor. It is also my fervent hope that this book will stimulate readers' imagination and help the debate on it.

This book has been written with great humility. The nature of human thought has been explored since the humans have existed on this planet and it will be arrogant on my part to claim the solution of this riddle. If what I have shown in this book presents a new angle for this process then it will be a small progress towards the final frontier - namely the knowledge of how the mind works.

Theme

Throughout the history of human civilization there have been large number of instances where so called "miracles" have been performed. These miracles have included levitation, production of material things from thin air, physical healing etc. The nature of miracles is same, irrespective of religion and different civilizations. Some of the accounts of these "miracles" have been exaggerated but a large body of information shows remarkable consistency in their nature and reporting. To my mind these events have come because of interaction of human thought and material surroundings. After all, a thought produced by physical brain has to be physical in nature and hence governed by scientific laws. Thus the curiosity arose about what laws of science operate which make these things happen. This line of reasoning led to the material presented in this book.

I have therefore tried to show intuitively the basic nature of human thought, its production and transmission. Thus a conceptual framework has been attempted to show how deep thought (a product of intense concentration and meditation), space, time, matter and Universal Consciousness are related. An attempt has been made to explain human thought in the light of modern brain research and cosmology.

The ideas contained in this book have evolved intermittently over a long period of time and were written in diary form and posted on the web. Most of them are however intuitive in nature with very little mathematical formalism. Hence they are not exact in the formal sense. It is my hope that some bright reader will help in providing a rigorous mathematical formulation to some of them.

Most of the time scientists scoff at these conjectural ideas and term them pseudo science. However if in early 1800s somebody had told mankind about Einstein's relativity theory and the space-time continuum, people would have had the same reaction, as today's so called hard-core scientists have about mind/matter subject. The black magic of today is often the science of tomorrow.

The spirit of science encourages our imagination to flower and to conjecture and the only validity of such conjectures is the proof from the experiments. It is my firm belief that we should have an open mind on the matter of mind/matter interaction and try to figure out how it could be possible. When large numbers of people throughout the history of mankind have reported strange phenomena, they were not fools but were simply reporting events about which they did not understand. We owe this much to ourselves to at least make an attempt to understand these phenomena, try to explain them with the present laws of science and in the process even extend the laws of science. Science makes progress only when it helps develop theories which explain the existing experiential facts. To deny the existence of these facts in the mind/matter realm is to rob the science of its jewels and to retard its progress.

There is an interconnection of everything in the Universe. Hence a theory of human thought should be able to explain the interaction of human thought and matter and ultimately the nature of matter itself. This has been attempted in the section on human thought and gravity (chapter 3).

Thinking about the nature of thought is a thought itself and thinking about "ultimate" thought is bliss personified. It is quite possible that with the present brain it may not be possible to perceive the "ultimate reality". A direct perception or experience is the only mechanism which can do that. That is the highest form of knowledge. Thus what has been presented in this book is a signpost towards the goal of direct experience. Hence it is not a "how to" book but will hopefully allow readers to think deeply about some of the basic issues.

Organization of the book

I have been writing essays for the last couple of years on various aspects of human thought and its interaction with events of daily life. These essays have appeared as editorial articles in Times of India (Speaking Tree) and in other websites. I have taken the liberty of putting these essays in the book. They have been modified and expanded for better explanation. However there is some overlapping of information in these essays. For the sake of completeness, I have done this so that each essay is self-contained and can be read without the need to look for information from other essays.

I have arranged the essays into three themes. The first section (Basic Theme) contains the essence of the book. The essays in this section lay down the philosophy of human thought and its interaction with matter; interrelationship of time, space and Universal Consciousness; and the issues of death and reincarnation. These essays are interrelated and hence should be read sequentially.

The second section (Deep thought and more) contains stand-alone short essays on how cultivation of deep thought helps us become spiritual and happier human beings. These essays can be read in any order.

This book is about spirituality. True spirituality helps make us better human beings by giving us depth and long term perspective in life. Besides it also helps us to put a cap on our greed for resources and hence may help us produce sustainable lifestyles. The last section contains stand-alone essays on spirituality and technology and shows that both go hand in hand and are necessary to produce a sustainable society. I consider this a novel insight on the issue of development.

Every book, no matter how esoteric or deep the subject may be, is a reflection of the author's perspective and guided by his/her experiences. It is no different in the present case. I have therefore decided to share with the readers the forces and thoughts that have guided me in this journey. Hence the last chapter gives a short description of how the ideas evolved for the present book.

Data from large body of literature has been taken and references together with detailed notes have been given at the end of the book. I have avoided cluttering the main essays with detailed scientific explanations and the research minded readers will find sufficient material in the notes.

The major source of inspiration for writing this book has been "Patanjali's Yoga Sutras". I have been guided by his spirit and the more I study his sutras the more I realize the infinite ocean of knowledge in his writings. The present book can therefore be thought of as an attempt to provide a partial commentary on his Sutras.

If the readers are inspired by some sections of this book then I will feel that I have touched the truth, though fleetingly. Realization of highest truth is the greatest joy and happiness that human beings can aspire for. That is the whole essence of being human.

Happy reading and thinking!

Reader's Comments

How to order the book

Table of contents

BASIC THEME

• Nature of Human Thought
• Deep Thought in Higher Dimensional Space
• Deep Thought and Gravity
• Time and Universal Consciousness
• Death, Karma and Reincarnation

  DEEP THOUGHT and MORE

• Music, Meditation and Mental Happiness
• Deep thought produces happiness
• Physical basis of Thought and Consciousness
• Prepared Mind helps in getting Universal Knowledge
• Designer dreams through Yoga
• Deep Faith Helps Overcome Fear
• Attributes of a Good Guru

  SPIRITUALITY and TECHNOLOGY

• Spirituality and Technology
• Nature conservation + spirituality = Sustainability
• Web of Love
• Flying as a Spiritual Experience
• Rise up for better world
• Gandhiji - A Votary of Sustainable Living
• Choices and Happiness
• Personal evolution helps mankind's progress
• Some personal experiences
• Notes

Other articles on spirituality and sustainability by Anil K. Rajvanshi are on this site.

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