The Scientific Art of Living Chapter 4

Our pre-occupation with the present day rat-race burns us out even before we reach forty years of age. The speed with which we live does not allow us to cope up with the quality of life we expect from the modern age life style. It is the greatest surprise, that we claim to be scientific in our outlook and achieve great advancements in science and technology and yet we hardly have any scientific approach to our life. Life is an expression of the infinite, divine bliss through the limitations of the instruments such as body, senses, organs of action, mind etc..

A natural objection to this statement would be - If life is an expression of infinite bliss, how come we have finite blisters all over our personality in and through our life?! Therefore, either the statement made is wrong or we do not know the science behind life which will allow us to express the divine bliss, the source of life.

Science is not a property of one particular scientist to whom all the discoveries of science can be attributed to. In fact, science reveals the principles in nature and a number of scientists have contributed their might in the development of science. This is the discovery of scientists of life of the yore, technically called as the Rishis. Their experiments, experimental material and the researchers were none other than their own enquiry about this great, grand, divine bliss and the search for the reasons that can be attributed to the seeming contradictions of life. This forms the bulk of the ancient Indian wisdom contained in the books of knowledge and wisdom called as Vedas. This Vedic knowledge was required to be reinterpreted for the crisis of life that Arjuna faced on the battlefield of life.

In fact, he was never afraid of wars for that was his specialization in life. Yet, at the deciding moment of his life, he failed to face the challenge that life presented to him. The net result was, the ‘challenge’ was mis-spelt by him as ‘problem’. In fact, life is a series of challenges to be faced to learn from every event in life and grow wise. Instead when we do not learn from our own life experiences and consider life as a series of problems, we get tired in life and as a result, simply grow old and otherwise. This is the story of majority of Arjuns in this world.

Bhagawan Shri Krishna through His unparallel, inimitable, delightful exposition brings about a quality change in the attitude of Arjuna to face the challenge of life at a particular juncture in the period of history. This book of history called Mahabharata contains this “Scientific Art Of Living” wherein we are educated to live in the same world where we are placed by the Lord and face the challenges of life with a smile on the face and courage in the heart.

The following pages are a compilation of talks delivered at Prempuri Ashram, Mumbai, under the auspices of Geeta Chitanmala. In all, there were hundred and thirty-six talks delivered on as many number of topics to bring out the scientific approach to life in the language of modern science easily acceptable to the modern scientific man. We have appended the original text of this chapter along with transliteration with diacritical marks which will be convenient for those who are not familiar with Sanskrit language.

It is hoped that this publication may inspire many people to live life scientifically and express bliss in and through all the activities of life.

Be Happy Scientifically!!

Swami Anubhavananda