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 forums even 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 participated
in the Seminar and their deliberations were quite educative.
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
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? 108
Some Thoughts on the Origin of Life and Upanisads 121
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 446
Discussion on the paper of 453
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