07.06 – From the reality of nature to the nature of reality

The reality of nature: This is what science tries to understand by equating the natural with the material. All the great theories of science are essentially attempts to understand what nature really is. These theories have led to enormous technological advancement, but a coherent conceptual framework about nature is more elusive than ever before. For example, quantum physics and relativity are violently contradictory in their conceptions of the reality of nature: the first says waves; the second, particles. And no reconciliation seems anywhere near the horizon; in fact, the contradictions are so profound that no one is even sure where the horizon is.

The nature of reality: Gita wisdom deems the current scientific approach misdirected; it agonizes over the reality of nature without apprehending the nature of reality. Reality, the Bhagavad-gita (07.06) indicates, is an integral whole centered on the Supreme Absolute Truth, Krishna. Nature is his energy, emanating from his wisdom and working under his will. Studying nature as if it were an independent reality without considering its connection with the whole is an intrinsically fragmented approach. It can yield at best disjointed islands of comprehension amidst an ocean of incomprehension. More consequentially, such an approach can’t provide any compass for finding the end of the ocean because the ocean alone is the object of study. The exclusivist study of matter fails to tell anything about the purposes or principles for living, thereby sentencing millions to meaningless existence.

Gita wisdom releases us from this sentence by informing us that life’s purpose is loving harmonization with the highest reality, Krishna. It offers the key principle of devotionally utilizing everything, including nature, for that purpose. By, using nature as a tool for transforming our hearts from disharmony to harmony, each of us can realize the nature of reality.