Maya's Laboratory: Reconciling Science with Non-Duality

I’ve been speaking a lot about naive realism of perceived and conceived reality as not fundamentally true. And yet all of science uses perception and conception as its basis. Correct? So scientific truth is what is called empirical evidence. And empiricism means that it can be validly perceived or conceived. So how does what I’m saying reconcile our two approaches? For science, that was extended out of ignorance, even though it’s a useful tool for creating technology, which, according to the understanding I’m sharing with you, leads to further ignorance of fundamental truth. So how does Advaita or Mondiality reconcile science? It does so by granting full validity to scientific knowledge at the empirical level, which is called Vyavahārika or Nitya. While at the same time holding its entire domain appears in and depends on Brahman, Infinite Consciousness, the one non-dual reality, Pāramārthika. So Advaita distinguishes Absolute Reality Brahman Satya from Empirical Reality, which is World, Body, Mind, Science. Because these two levels of reality are functional in their own domains. But Advaita does so without independent existence apart from Consciousness, there is no reality. Nitya is in between, not utterly unreal, like a square circle, but not self-standing either. It is name and form of appearing of operating in time, space and causality. So in all this, where does science fit? Science and scientific studies look at patterns, laws and relations within Nitya, the empirical field of measurable phenomena that includes everything, brains galaxies particles energies. Because that field is dependently real, its structures and laws can be objectively mapped and successfully used. So Advaita does not dismiss scientific truth, it classifies it as valid within its own order of reality. So the key Advaitic formula, Brahman is real, the world is mithyā, the Jīva is none other than Brahman, means that whatever science discovers is ultimately a mode of Brahman, misconstrued as independently existing stuff. Therefore, there is no competition between science and spirituality. Science gives precise descriptions of how appearances behave, and Vedānta speaks to what appearances are, non-dual consciousness itself, seemingly fragmented through ignorance, Avidyā. So Śruti, which is revelation, reasoning and meditative inquiry, are the pramāṇas for recognising Brahman means for recognising, while perception and inference ground empirical knowledge including all of science. So freedom from liberation in Advaita comes not from denying empirical formulas, but from seeing that the knower, known and knowing process, uncovered by science, are all expressions of the same luminous self, and that luminous self is the divine self. So. let's do a short meditation, okay, to see if you understand this completely. Sit in a relaxed, alert posture, with the spine being drawn, the body at ease, the face soft. Tend to close your eyes, or lower your face. Notice that before any thought or word, science or Advaita or reality arises, there is a simple knowing presence, here, right now. Not a concept, not a philosophy, just a bare, luminous, aware space in which everything appears, So, there are sounds in the room, there is a sense of feeling the body, there is a faint ray of light behind the eyelids, all of it already known, already appearing, without effort. Everything that appears on the screen of consciousness, appears without effort. Let a quiet recognition dawn, I am the knowing of all this experience. Stay here for a few breaths, aware of sensations, sounds and thoughts, as movements in a single open field. Now, let's see if we can see the scientific world as a fluid. Now, in imagination, let the scientific world appear in the space of the lens. See galaxies spinning, stars falling down, planets swirling in their orbits. Zoom closer, continents oceans cities laboratories, telescopes, particle accelerators. Notice that all of this, however vast, is appearing right now, only as thought or image. is a subtle a movie in consciousness. It arises in you, which is aware that you are. It doesn't arise outside you, gently repeat yourself, inwardly. The world of atoms and galaxies appears in awareness. Equations, laws and measurements appear in awareness. All objects of science are appearances in this open field. Don’t make this into a rejection of the world. Just notice the status, appearing, changing, knowing. Now sense Māyā, not as a mistake, but as a mysterious part of appearance, like a dream-making energy that gives coherent form, pattern and lawfulness to what shows up, whatever shows up. Feel how, in this very moment, experience arranges itself into a body sitting there a room around it, a world beyond the room, a history of science, learning, inquiry. Let it be felt that this entire arrangement is a shimmering pattern on the surface of still awareness. Māyā is the name we give to the capacity of awareness to appear as a lawful patterned universe. Silently say to yourself, through Māyā, the one appears as many. Through Māyā, the timeless appears as time and space. Through Māyā, Brahman appears as a scientific cosmos. Rest with a sense of shimmering appearance for a while. Rest with this sense of shimmering appearance for a while. Everything precise and lawful, yet insubstantial, like reflections on a mirror. Now, let's see if science is a process within the dream. Bring to mind the instruments of science. Microscopes, telescopes, equations on a chalkboard, a brain scanner, a laptop displaying data. See scientists observing measuring theorising. Notice scientists, instruments and data are all part of the same appearing field. Study together, for a while, into a brilliant still, a brilliant model, all within your lens. Invite the recognition. Science is the dream’s way of mapping the dream. It is extraordinarily useful within the dream. Yet, the entire scientific enterprise itself rises and falls in awareness. Let this be a gentle reminder a gentle smile inside. Nothing is being denied, only brief contextualising. The universe of quantum and galaxies is honoured as a detailed, precise appearance, never separate from the awareness that knows it. Now, withdraw attention slightly from the content of experience and sense what does not move. Thought move, body sensations move, images of the cosmos move, but the basic fact that I am aware does not move. Turn to that unmoving fact. Let the mind whisper, Brahman alone is the appearing world is Mithyā, dependent, shimmering, not other. All of science is Brahman, dancing as patterns. There is only the non-dual awareness, taking on the costume of a measurable universe. Don’t strain to feel anything, or feel anything special. Let the simplicity of being aware be enough. This silent, formless presence is what Advaita points to as Brahman, rest here for a few breaths. Awareness aware of itself, while the world of science floats like a transparent orbit. Now sense both levels at once. At the surface, a lawful, measurable world with bodies, neurons, planets and particles. At the depth, a silent, formless awareness in which all of this appears and disappears. Feel how there is no conflict here. So science belongs to the surface level, the transactional level. Where all services are seen as waves of one ocean. This is what Advaita speaks. Advaita speaks from the depth, Pāramārthika. Where all surfaces are seen as waves of one ocean. Let this understanding settle as a felt sense. Scientific world is not opposed to Brahman. It is Brahman seen through the lens of Māyā. Rest in the non-conflict for a minute. Simply breathing. Now return. Gathering the insight I shared with you. Begin to notice the simple sensations of sitting here. Contact with the chair, noticing the temperature of the air, the rhythm of the breath. Recognize that these too are part of the same Māyā. They are part of the same Māyā. Perfectly valid for action, communication and care. Yet, at no moment do they step outside the boundless awareness that you are. Gently deepen your breath. Wiggle the fingers and toes. And when you are ready, open your eyes. Allowing the scientific world to appear. Knowing that it is known in the luminous field as appearance. And that field is the stillness that never comes and goes. So, this is Māyā’s laboratory where we reconcile science with non-duality. Sarvaṁ Khalvidaṁ Brahma. Ahaṁ Brahmāsmi. All this is Brahman.