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Life, Mind and Consciousness

Papers Read at a Seminar Held at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Kolkata,

India on 16,17 and 18 January 2004

About the book

Life, Mind and Consciousness comprises the conference proceedings of a seminar convened

by the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Kolkata between 16 to 18 January 2004. The

approach of this conference, like the previous conference held on 8 and 9 February 2002 and

the next held between 13 to 15 January 2006, was to cultivate interdisciplinary dialogue on

consciousness. Specifically, this conference sought to identify the link between life and

consciousness through the experience of the mind. In spite of the challenges posed by such

interdisciplinary forumseven for formulating a consensual definition of consciousnessit

was hoped that such an interdisciplinary dialogue would enable researchers to hone their own

research programmers by interacting with others working in the same field, but in different

paradigms. This volume contains the eighteen papers that were presented at the eight

academic sessions of the seminar, transcripts of the discussions following the paper

presentations, the addresses of the inaugural and valedictory sessions, and the transcripts from

the panel discussions.

The subject of the seminar is highly topical and has been debated in several similar seminars

and conferences around the world. There still does not appear to be any meeting ground

where all of them could come to a common conclusion. Philosophers and scientists appear

like to independent teams trying to dig a tunnel through a mountain but from opposite sides it

is only when there is a common meeting ground that discussions become meaningful. The

Ramakrishna Mission Institute of culture deserves to be thanked for organizing seminars of

such topics from time to time. We look forward to more such seminar in the future.

Publishre's Note

The International Seminar on Philosophy and Science : an Exploratory Approach to

Consciousness held on 8th and 9th February, 2002 at this Institute created great interest

among scholars of different disciplines. This prompted us to hold another International

Seminar on Life, Mind and Consciousness on 16, 17 and 18 January, 2004. Renowned

philosophers and scientists from different parts of the country and abroad actively participatedin the Seminar and their deliberations were quite educative.

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In 1931, the world renowned Physicist Dr Max Planck wrote in the concluding paragraph of

his book The Universe in the Light of Modern Physics, Philosophers have realized that they

have no right to dictate to scientists their aims and the methods for attaining them; and

scientists have learned that the starting-point of their investigations does not lie solely in the

perceptions of the senses, and that science cannot exist without some small portion of

metaphysics. find that he went so far as to say I regard consciousness as fundamental. I

regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness.

Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing postulates consciousness.

Not only Dr Planck, but others too transcended the limit of their own scientific work and

entered into the arena for philosophers. A galaxy of renowned thinkers belonging to different

disciplines explored consciousness in their own areas of study, sometimes crossing the

boundaries of more than one disciplines, and consequently there opened a floodgate of new

thoughts. Some of such scholars participated in this Seminar. Resides, there were other

brilliant scholars, and their deliberations and interactions were quite interesting and

illuminating.

The Inaugural session received the benediction of Swami Ranghanathanandaji Maharaj,

President of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission. Prof. Murli Manohar Joshi, the

then Minister incharge of Human Resource Development, Science and Technology and

Ocean Development, Government of India, delivered the inaugural Address and also opened

the exhibition on consciousness organized by the Department of Architecture and Planning,

Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. Prof M. G. K. Menon, Dr Vikram Sarabhai,

distinguished professor of the Indian Space Research Organization, chaired the session.

In the Valedictory session which was open to the pub lie, Dr Samir Bhattacharya, Director,

Indian Institute of Chemical Biology presented a brief summing-up of the proceeding of the

eight Academic sessions. It was followed by a panel discussion by Prof M. G K. Menon, Prof

P. N. Tandon, Prof G. J. Larson. Prof E. C. G. Sudarshan, MM Govindagopal Mukhopadhyay

and Prof I. N. Mohanty.

We are grateful to the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India, for their active support and

financial assistance to the Institute for the Seminar. Also we are grateful to the Council of

Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi, who extended financial help to partially meet

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the expenses. Equally grateful we are to Prof Joy Sen and his team of the Indian Institute of

Technology. Kharagpur, who set up an excellent exhibition on consciousness.

This volume contains the papers of all the participants and also the discussions that followed

after each presentation and the proceedings of the Inaugural session and Valedictory session.

The Co-coordinators of the Academic sessions took the trouble of editing the proceedings of

the respective session, and we are grateful to them.

In the Papers presented by the learned scholars, probably enough light has not been shed on

the relation of the life force (prana sakti) with consciousness as held in Indian philosophy. Dr

Dehabrata Sen Sharma, one of the participants, has presented a brief note on this subject

based on the views of Abhinava Gupta, the well-known Kashmiri Saiva writer. We are happy

to include this note in the Appendix.

We hope this volume on consciousness will evoke further interest among scholars of different

disciplines for more investigations on the subject.

Contents

Publishers Note on the Second impression V

Publishers Note on the First Impression VII

Address of Benediction IX

Inaugural Session

Welcome Address 3

Address by Guest of Honour 7

Inaugural Speech 12

Chairmans Address 29

Vote of Thanks 38

First Academic Session

The Ultimate Aim of Biological Research: An Understanding of the Human 43

Matter Memory and Unity of the Self 67

Second Academic Session

The Meaning of Understanding Na Lure 97

Can Molecular Biology Enlighten the Study of Mental Processor? 108Some Thoughts on the Origin of Life and Upanisads 121

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Third Academic Session

Irreducibility of Consciousness and the Unity of the World 135

Consciousness The Unanswered Questions 143

Fourth Academic Session

The Evolution of Life Through Higher Mind and Consciousness 161

Are Animals Conscious of Their Actions? 232

Fifth Academic Session

What we know from Science about the Origin and Evolution of Life its relevance to the issues

of Mind and Consciousness 255

The Intrinsic Nature of Consciousness and its different Manifestations as Envisaged in the

different systems of Indian Philosophy 271

Sixth Academic Session

Indian Traditions and the Emerging Science of Consciousness 289

Life. Mind and Consciousness A Physicists View 303

Are Thought Things?Neurophysiological data that Challenge Western based Models of

Consciousness and Perception 310

Seventh Academic Session

Consciousness Its Relation to Mind According to Advaita 335

Understanding Life, Mind and Consciousness Using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) For

Response-stimulus studies in Architecture {from Physical (local) to Cosmic (non-local }

355

Eighth Academic Session

Is Godel s Theorem Relevant in the Mind Machine Debate? 383

The Notion of Consciousness as Witness in Indian Philosophy and Modem Science 395

Discussions

Discussion on the paper of 413

Discussion on the paper of 419

Discussion on the paper of 424

Discussion on the paper of 430

Discussion on the paper of 432

Discussion on the paper of 437

Discussion on the paper of 443

Discussion on the paper of 446Discussion on the paper of 453

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Discussion on the paper of 458

Discussion on the paper of 464

Discussion on the paper of 466

Discussion on the paper of 472

Discussion on the paper of 475

Discussion on the paper of 480

Discussion on the paper of 485

Discussion on the paper of 487

Discussion on the paper of 490

Valedictory Session

Concluding Address 495

Concluding Remarks 497

Panel Discussion 499

Vote of Thanks 511

APPENDIX

Concept of Prna in Kashmir Saivism 515

The Contributors 518