Address:
Vice Chancellor Dr. H.R. Nagendra, Dr. R. Nagarathna, Renowned Faculty, Distinguished Invitees, Graduating Students, Friends, My Hearty Congratulations to the accomplished outgoing graduates and to their illustrious alma-mata SVYASA and its faculty.

A world of new opportunities present themselves for those graduating this year from SVYASA as the global economic
slow-down and the menacing terrorism has highlighted the importance of yoga and meditation in the present turbulent
environment.

1. YOGA OF TODAY AS SCIENCE FROM TOMORROW:
True yoga of today may be regarded as science from tomorrow.
Bridging yoga and science requires an open mind from the custodians of both.
There are many paths to truth and true knowledge. ‘Sahasraram Sahasra path’, is an old Samskrit adage.
Dr. Nagendra and I were contemporaries at the Indian Institute of Science around 1965-66. He began his Ph.D research in Mechanical Engineering when I was nearing the completion of my post-doctoral assignment in Electronics and Communication Engineering. Both of us were labeled by fellow researchers as ‘unconventional’. He had his roots
in yoga while he sought deep insights in Science and Technology. My moorings were in S&T but enthusiastically experimenting with yoga and meditation. But our quest was the same. For science, as a quest for knowledge, wisdom of universal laws is a precipitate logically derived from the lowest level of given axioms. Yoga and meditation take axioms of wisdom as given or as faith and seek knowledge as a derivative. All of us ask the same question: Is there a
unified framework where both converge and look the same. Some may say ‘yes’ on faith. Some others will experiment till they convince themselves. My exposition today is only about the latter. For bridging yoga and science, broadly, a four part effort is essential:
1. Individualistic experience derived from experiments with one’s own conscious, subconscious and unconscious mind through given techniques of yoga and meditation.
2. New theorization based on past and present scientific experiments and mathematical constructs or theories, requires creative ideas.
What is that yogic theory of knowledge that present day science could accept?
3. Phenomenological inferences of cause from observed effects, based on actually conducting experiments using contemporary tools of science and technology.
4. Deep innovative instrumentalities for investigating the human being at cellular and molecular scales while in a yogic or meditative state.
I will elucidate these four by giving examples from my own experience or exposure.

2. SELF-EXPERIMENTS WITH THE MIND:
Habitually I am reluctant to readily accept faith. I experiment on myself and let faith evolve in me. Just to prove a point, modesty aside, I would like to share with you one of my earliest such experiments.
The year was 1963. I had completed my Ph.D work with in a year of my joining IISc. I was only a BE and so the Institute stipulated a minimum requirement of three years for submitting my thesis. I had to clear two full years and my liberal minded superviser permitted me to take up any project I liked in any field.
For long, I had a nagging feeling that Einstein was not the first to discover Special Relativity and that Lorentz and Maxwell were, perhaps, primarily responsible for the concept. How can an ordinary researcher like me dislodge an entrenched belief of the community of physicists? I wanted a crutch. I therefore boldly experimented on yogic meditation techniques to do this, that otherwise would be very difficult for me to do. After some trial and error, I hit upon a type of meditation called KoAn. It seemed to be the appropriate method. As some of you with Zen exposure may know, in KoAn meditation you pose a sharp question to yourself like ‘What is Square-root of (-1)?’. Or, you break up a larger question into a number of smaller sharply posed sequential questions. Then, do KoAn meditation, in the same sequence, on each such question, till you get an answer. Mentally recite each, concentrating all your mind, in one ZaZen rechaka, using what is called the ‘bamboo method' of Pranayama. Recite it syllable by syllable and at each change of sound, give a new stress to the tanden. This will transmit the KoAn words to the subconscious mind through ‘nen’, which are penetrative thought impulses. The nen-thought does not stop working when it has infiltrated
the brain. Even if it leaves the conscious mind it dwells in and activates the subconscious mind and produces an answer or a perception. When your subconscious mind is satisfied that the answer is ready, only then it will burst into the conscious mind and occupy your focus of attention.
Over months of practice, I learnt several things. The answer can be accurate only to the extent you have built an accurate data, information and knowledge ecosystem in your memory, which may be disparate and unorganized. But, KoAn and ZaZen will organize it in your subconscious mind. I also found that the answers become more and
more accurate, if you weed out inhibhitive barriers like negative samskaras, unconscious memory slush, ego barriers, false memory and so on. Using a variation of a method called ‘KenSho’, you can streamline the transfer of information and knowledge, between the conscious and the subconscious mind. I used the KoAn – ZaZen – KenSho meditation as a research tool for many of my theoretical research. It enabled me to have several research papers published beginning with the Axiomatic Derivation of Maxwell’s Equations of Electro-magnetism from Lorentz Transformations which intrinsically contained in it Special Relativity - the project that prompted me, in the first place, to take a shortcut through
yogic probing of the subconscious mind. At this level of yoga, there was nothing super-natural. It was just utilizing the properties of the subconscious mind for doing extended thinking that was not easily possible for me to do consciously.
I was then convinced that such techniques can be valuable tools for research in Theoretical Physics and Mathematical Theorem-proving among others. This was because it stood the fundamental test of science, viz., repeatability of experiments deterministically or statistically under the same set of conditions and problem environment. About this, you
should get convinced too only after your own self-experimentations, and where one feels one cannot take that much risk, advisably under active guidance of a Guru.
Many Buddhist meditation techniques like this are, in a way, derivatives or variations of Indian yogic meditation. The Ashtanga-yoga covers more than 0the entire technique of KoAn-ZaZen-KenSho: Yama and Niyama self-discipline to remove the barriers to meditation and to dissolve autonomous mental slush; Asanas to condition the body to minimize psycho-physiological risks; Pranayama to regulate and streamline breathing; Pratyahara to control the senses which otherwise will interfere with KenSho or equivalent methods; Dharana to streamline information and knowledge transfer between the conscious and the subconscious levels; and Dhyana to inject KoAn into the subconscious mind. As can be inferred from Patanjali Sutras, Samyama is indeed a higher form of the KoAn creative process. If you can control KoAn pathway, in principle, you can do the reverse control also. I tried this reverse control and failed and failed again.
Only through these failures I could grasp the lofty meaning of the inaugural sutra of Patanjali: ‘Yogaha Chitta Vritti Nirodaha’.

3. CREATIVE IDEAS – ‘SPHOTA’ THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE
The second part in the quest for a common ground for science and yoga that I mentioned at the outset is whether there is a yogic theory of knowledge that can coincide with the scientific theory of knowledge that is evolving.
On the invitation of Swami Paramananda Bharati of Sringeri Mutt, who hosted the First National Conference on Knowledge Representation and Inference in Samskritam in December 1986, I gave the inaugural key note. I answered this question in the affirmative by showing how the sphota theory evolved more than four centuries ago by Bhartrhari
and Mandana Mishra is a fitting candidate with some modifications afforded by Information Technology and Brain Research of today.
Receptive attitude of Computer Scientists like Dr. Rick Briggs and others could take this idea further over the past two decades. Now contemporary knowledge theorists have appreciated the concepts originally formulated by Bhartrhari and Mandana Mishra. I will very briefly outline these concepts. In the conference, I advocated, as a conjecture, that the sphota theory of language points towards a grammar of synaptic maps of Knowledge Information Processing (KIP-MAPs) occurring in the brain with a relational correspondence with the spoken word or sentence – much like the
KenSho or Samyama mechanisms of information and knowledge transfer between the conscious and subconscious levels of the mind that I mentioned earlier. One of Bhartrhari’s axioms is that sphota, the meaning whole, is
something over and above spoken or written words. He postulated what we can now describe as ‘invariance of meaning under certain transformations of the spoken word with in certain boundary conditions’. The changeless sphota which exists within both the speaker and the hearer makes for a cognizable invariance brought about by a context sensitive learning by both the speaker and the hearer. Hence, transformations of the dhavanis, within certain boundary conditions, do not change the sphota.
He explains verbal communication as follows: Meaning is not conveyed from the speaker to the hearer, rather, the spoken words serve only as the simulus to reveal or uncover the meaning which was already present in the mind of the hearer. In the speaker the word at first exists in his mind wholistically. When he utters it, he produces a sequence of
phonemes which appears to have differentiation. The listener who hears the sequence of phonemes, ultimately recognizes the utterance wholistically. The learning context becomes essential to this theory, as a series of association of ideas. Each partial impression gets related to the others in the memory mechanism of the subject. At every stage an
‘integrated’ view of the partial memory impressions get created giving rise to a partial perception of the sphota progressively tending towards the full perception of the sphota.
Mandana Mishra elaborates on this by pointing out that each cognition learns a common memory trace, which he calls the linguistic concept of ‘Samskara’. Only the last cognition, superposed on the samskara of the previous one, fully perceives the object of cognition, as an ‘intuitional flash’ or ‘pratibha’ at the level of the conscious mind. All the intermediate cognitive steps do not give such a flash as they take place at the subconscious level.
Mandana Mishra also gives a ‘Theory of Error’ in relation to the intermediate steps and defines a convergent series, the series being formed by a progressive addition of Samskara impressions. Mishra calls the difference between summation of the number of steps tending to infinity and the summation for a finite number of steps as an ‘error’, and named this the ‘Maya’ of perception. As the number of steps tend to infinity, maya tends to zero. Mishra’s treatment of cognition is so
deep that he defines and quantifies several types of errors. He also defines a ‘universal error’ for the wholistic sphota which he terms as ‘Avidya’.
With these linguistic concepts of Mishra, Bhartrhari takes the theory further on to two levels of language constructs. On one level, there is pratibha or intuitional flash sharply at the, say, nth step. He calls it Pashyanti Vak or inner speech. On the other level, there are the uttered sounds which steps by step gives a language construct in the form of sentences or stanzas as a whole. This he labels as Vaikhari Vak or outer speech. In between, there is middle level – the Madhyama Vak. According to him any linguistic theory should address itself to all there levels with the same set of theorems.
The reason why sphota theory is more attractive to contemporary theories of knowledge is that, Mishra’s framework is based on samskara or memory processes in the conscious, subconscious and unconscious planes of the function of the brain. In the 1986 conference I had conjectured that there are complex topological relationships related to the synaptic mechanisms in the neural networks in the brain. Each phoneme triggers a synaptic memory map based on relational grammars which have context sensitivity. When the first phoneme is uttered, there is a probability cloud to
such synaptic map. As more and more phonemes are added, the cloud progressively becomes deterministic. When the last crucial set of syllables are added, the mental picture of the object crystallizes. This transition of the cloud from probabilistic to deterministic form is what scientists call ‘Negentropy’ or disorder to order transition, whose
convergence is the ‘sphota’.
The MIT Brain Research Centre and other such labs have experimented with some of the underlying neurophysiologic
mechanisms of the conscious to subconscious to unconscious transition but Science still has a long way to go to comprehend the mechanisms behind the subconscious mind.
What is striking is the fact that in this entire Linguistic Theory of Bhartrhari and Mishra, propounded more than four hundred years ago, there is nothing supernatural about the connotation of concepts like samskara, vak, maya, avidya, prathiba, sphota and so on. Nor is anything supernatural in the acrimonious ‘tharkas’ between their school and the
schools of Kumarila Bhatta and other Mimamsis or with the Sankhyas and others. They were all scientifically exploring the subconscious mind in the human brain.

4. INFERENCES OF CAUSE FROM OBSERVED EFFECTS
The third part in the quest for unifying yoga and science is something that SVYASA has done meticulously and extensively over the past six years. It is the drawing of phenomenological inferences of ‘Cause’ from quantifyable observed ‘effects’ or from a mass of experimental data. This is, of course, a very important activity.
Further useful inferences can be made by making use of some Information Technology tools that are evolving. For this, the phenomenological constructs have to be viewed from two distinct strata.
1. Your experiments and observations may throw up a lot of data, some immersed in a lot of noise or useless data relative to your goal. Sifting this useful information would be like finding a needle in a hay stack. But this is exactly what techniques of ‘data mining’ do elegantly. Data mining is based on statistics, artificial intelligence and machine learning. This will be an ideal tool for research on yoga. Data mining tools can be used not only to analyze the effects of existing yoga techniques but also to synthesize new techniques.
2. The next level is knowledge mining. Large text data bases potentially contain a great wealth of knowledge. We cannot use data mining because this is not statistical information. Knowledge mining uses special Artificial Intelligence techniques like Natural language processing. There is an excellent knowledge mining software developed by IBM for English texts. I wonder how much valuable a similar package developed for samskrit texts could be for crystallizing consistent knowledge on applications of yoga.

5. INNOVATIVE INSTRUMENTALITIES FOR MOLECULAR AND
CELLULAR LEVEL INVESTIGATIONS:
The last of the four parts for unifying yoga and science is the most difficult and costly part. To make headway in this, SVYASA would need sizable investments to buy equipment and instruments or rent available facilities to enable researchers to investigate the effect of various forms of yoga and meditation at the molecular and cellular levels of the human anatomy, physiology and metabolisms. However costly, the use of such labs cannot be avoided, if we have to carry conviction about the benefits of yoga and mediation to scientists and health specialists, while at the same time enable us to knowledgeably modify techniques and therapies.
I will give the example of only one major technology that has the potential to revolutionize the scientific understanding of yoga and meditation, especially in therapeutic applications. This technology is called Nanobiotechnology and the science underlying it is ‘Nanobio science’.
Nanotechnology is one of the most exciting new technologies of the twenty first century. It is having increasing impact on a variety of sectors and even consumer goods. Within the next ten years or so it is slated to transform our society much more sweepingly than computers, electronics and telephony.
As its ubiquitous prefix connotes, nanotechnology entails the creation of functional materials, devices, systems and instrumentation at an incredibly small scale of one millionth of a millimeter – which is the domain of small molecular clusters and even a DNA molecule. You can imagine what such tiny molecular level devices, instruments and systems can do to unravel the mysteries of the living organisms at the cellular and molecular levels. This is the new advent of the emerging discipline of Nanobitechnology is a fusion of nanotechnology and biotechnology – but the whole is much more revolutionary than the sum of its parts.
We are on the threshold of enabling the injecting of molecular size nanorobots into the heart, lungs, kidney, brain, arteries, and central nervous system and any other internal parts of the human body when it is in any yogic state – be it an asana, a bandha, pranayama, dhyana or even Samadhi. The nanorobots from inside those body parts can measure various parameters though nanosensors and the measured information is transmitted via a nano RF transmitter to an external computer outside the body. This computer stores the measurements along with the specific local coordinates of the measured part. You can simultaneously measure a hundred parameters and store the time series of all this. A computer aided simulation of all these parts can then give you the exact physiological status in steps of a fraction of a second. This is almost the technological limit for yogic experiments on the physical body. This is no science fiction. It is already an operational technology but now the preserve of a few dozen institutes and labs like the John Hopkins institute of Nanobiotechnolgy. In about 5 to 7 years it will become as common place as Biotech labs are now. This is doable, but I am not in the least suggesting that SVYASA should heavily invest in such a nanobio laboratory for yogic studies.
As the chairman of the newly constituted committee of VTU for setting up a Centre of Excellence for Nanobiotechnology, I am keen to recommend the availability of the resources of this centre to any important research project in Karnataka that can significantly benefit from Nanobiotechnology. We are contemplating a seeding investment
of $10-12 million but in the next five to seven years it is likely to be much more. Without Nanobiotechnology all experimental research in yoga and meditation therapies and even the physical understanding of the yogic and meditation phenomena will, at best, be just a beginning.
While that is how everything begins, let us keep our eyes and ears open to adopt such innovations as they become affordably available. Friends graduating from SVYASA – You are finding your wings at a time of accelerating convergence between yoga and science, thanks to the sustained efforts of Dr.Nagendra, Dr.Nagarathna, Dr. Shirley Telles and others like them. No longer the credibility of Yoga is in question in the minds of Scientists. There is considerable flux of activity to find a common ground which is throwing up challenging problems. I am sure you would meet these challenges with self-confidence and determination and carve a name for yourself and for your alma-mata SVYASA.
My best wishes to you all for a bright future in the spirit of karmayoga.
Thank you.
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His professional contributions include the conception, formulation, design, and implementation of Technological Projects funded by UN and GOI: NICNET (the first VSAT Network outside USA now with over 1000 VSATs), ERNET for education and research, and Fibre-optics Promotion Programme.
He was Chairman of the Technology Development Council, Chairman of DSTSERC Panel on Molecular Biology during 1981-84, Chairman of DBT Council for Bio-Informatics from its inception in 1986 and until 1995. He is currently Chairman of the VTU Committee for setting up a Centre of Excellence in Nanobiotechnology. His research contributions in Biophysics Include Enzyme Kinetics, Protein Tertiary Structure, and VR in Bio-modeling and in IT include computer-communication, computer simulation, Relational Databases and GIS. He has also made theoretical contributions to Electromagnetism, Relativity and High Energy Physics.
Under his guidance, computer centres were set up in every department of the Central Government, in the Secretariats of the State/Union Territories and the Collectorates of over 500 districts. Under his sustained initiative NIC developed over 6000 databases and software packages for the Government,
Utilities and Public Sector which include the National and State budgets, Online coverage of Lok Sabha and Assembly Elections, computerization of Land Records, Treasury Accounting, Registrar of Companies, Agri-Marketing mandis, Passport Offices, Customs Offices, and Public Food Distribution System. He is the founder Chairman of NIC Services Inc., a PSU that sustained an annual growth rate of 60 percent for over a decade. He was director in the boards of MTNL Ltd., ETTDC Ltd., Instrumentation Ltd.(Kota), Sterling Infotech Ltd.and Karnataka Bank (Pvt) Ltd. He was a Member of the first council of the Board of Governors of the Deemed University: Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana.
He coordinated the formulation and implementation of the first liberalized Computer Hardware Policy of GOI in 1984, and the first liberalized Software Development, Export and Training Policy of 1986. He was Member-Convener of the PM’s National Task-Force on I T in 1998 and as a member of the NCP-99 contributed to the liberalized Telecom Industry Policy.
He has authored 8 books, edited 8 other books and authored 87 research papers. He also edited the twenty-seven volume Encyclopedia of Cities and Towns of India.
He was an elected Governor of the International Council for Computer- Communication at Geneva, a nominated Governor of UNESCO Institute for IT in Education at Moscow, and Director of IT pour la Developpament
Internationale at Paris. He is Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, Indian National Academy of Engineering, The Institution of Electronics and Telecom Engineers, eISSA and CSI.
Some of the awards and honours to his credit are: Asiad Jyoti awarded by The President of India; Udyog Jyoti Award of All India Economic Forum; Om Prakash Bhasin Award for Telecommunication; the first Vikram Sarabhai Research Award for System Analysis and Management; DATAQUEST Award for Lifetime Contribution to IT; ELCINA Award for Lifetime Contribution to the Electronics Industry; NAFEN Corporate Excellence Award for IT, TECHIES award for Networking, Systems Society of India Gold Medal, and Rajyotsava Award of Karnataka Government for S & T.
The President of India awarded to him ‘Padma Bhushan’ in 2005.
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