Editorial

Dear Readers,

We are happy to launch the Savijnanam – Scientific Exploration for a Spiritual Paradigm, the Journal of the Bhaktivedanta Institute. The institute was founded in 1974 by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedänta Swami Srila Prabhupada (1896-1977), one of the greatest spiritual ambassadors of India to the world. Srila Prabhupada envisioned this journal in 1976 and he derived inspiration for the journal from the Bhagavadgita (7.2) spoken by Lord Sri Krishna to Arjuna:

jnanam te'ham savijnanamidam vakshyamyaseshatah |
yajjnatva neha bhuyo ’nyajjnatavyamavasishyate ||

Translation: I shall now declare unto you in full this knowledge, both phenomenal and numinous. This being known, nothing further shall remain for you to know.

In the purport to this verse Srila Prabhupada writes, “Complete knowledge includes knowledge of the phenomenal world, the spirit behind it, and the source of both of them. This is transcendental knowledge… When the cause of all causes becomes known, then everything knowable becomes known, and nothing remains unknown...”. Thus, Srila Prabhupada indicates that knowledge of consciousness and God, as explained in the Bhagavadgita, is a fundamental spiritual paradigm and without which the phenomenal knowledge would remain incomplete.

Srila Prabhupäda, therefore, felt the need to bring out an academic journal with a modern scientific perspective of the above-mentioned divine paradigm. We have added an English subtitle – Scientific Exploration for a Spiritual Paradigm, capturing the mood of Srila Prabhupada. Hence, one of the main aims of the journal is to explore a close link between science and spirituality. The journal will serve as an open forum where thoughts and dialogues of prominent thinkers of the world relating to spiritual paradigms can be scientifically presented. We will make a humble attempt to generate some interest among scholars seeking to resolve some of the current ethical problems in bioengineering and biotechnology, for example, cloning, among others. We also hope to generate certain guidelines for global ethics and world peace by investigating the important connection between scientific knowledge and spirituality.

For decades, many scientists from around the world in the fields of biology and chemistry have been trying to investigate life and its origin from chemical evolutionary viewpoints, assuming a totally materialistic paradigm. However, the question of the origin and nature of life remains unresolved. This first issue of the journal focuses on the search for a spiritual paradigm of life. It includes a dialogue on ‘Life and Its Origin’ with Prof. Werner Arber, a well known microbiologist at the University of Basel, Switzerland, who was awarded the Nobel prize in medicine and physiology in 1978. It also includes an introductory paper on ‘Life comes from Life’ by Prof. Jagdish N. Srivastava whose argument is based upon mathematics and logic. Prof. Srivastava, a renowned professor of statistics and mathematics from the Colorado State University, will contribute a series of articles in upcoming issues of this journal demonstrating a mathematical theory on the origin of life and the existence of God. An article compiled from the writings and lectures of Srila Prabhupada, the founder of the Bhaktivedanta Institute on ‘The Goal of Science and Scientific Exploration’, and a dialogue with Prof. Karl H. Pribram, a neuropsychologist from the Georgetown University, Washington D.C., are also included in this issue. The journal also includes an article entitled, ‘A Comparative Assessment of Scientific and Spiritual Disciplines’ by Prof. E.C.G. Sudarshan, a prominent particle physicist from the University of Texas, Austin. In his article, Prof. Sudarshan observes that it is important to note that both the scientific and spiritual disciplines have their respective methods and insights for knowing the nature of reality. Therefore, he feels that it is only natural that both disciplines collaborate and thereby be mutually benefitted. There is also a section on ‘Vedanta and Science’ which will be continued in the upcoming issues of the journal and will contain a series of articles related to Vedanta, the topmost philosophical treatise of Indian spiritual culture and the relevance of its teachings in today’s scientific and technological world under the guidance of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada.

We hope that the articles presented in this journal will provide readers with further insights into their search for the meaning and nature of life, particularly the human form of life.

Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami
[T. D. Singh]
Editor-in-Chief