Consciousness: Scientific and Vedantic Perspectives

Dr. Bhat Nikhil Jagdish

MOT-COI (Center of Innovation, Marine and Offshore Technology, Ngee Ann Polytechnic,

Singapore)

Abstract

What is consciousness? It has been one of the most important and most baffling aspect that humanity

has been trying to grapple with. It is the very heart of our existence yet it is extraordinarily difficult to

describe and explain. Science primarily has been focused in understanding consciousness by peering

into the brain at deeper levels. The human brain has been defined as a the ‘three-pound universe’, the

single most complex system so far discovered in the entire cosmological realm[1]. Although we have

discovered supercomputers, their automation remains that of a simplistic deterministic automation by

comparison with brain. Significant investments in research and development work have been made by

the US and EU to engage in collaborative, fundamental science projects which will ultimately lead to

discoveries that revolutionize our understanding of the brain. This has led to dramatic breakthroughs in

the field of neuroscience such as getting a clear glimpse of our brains’ large-scale wiring patterns[2],

new brain stimulation techniques[3], new models on neural circuitry functions[4], new techniques using

a combination of computerized rendering and human tracing for mapping the precise shapes and points

of contact between neurons[5], etc. However amidst these dramatic developments in neuroscience, the

mystery of consciousness remains untouched. In this paper the author presents a glimpse of various

scientific attempts and their limitations to comprehend consciousness. We will then present the ancient

vedantic insights about consciousness.

Keywords: neuroscience, consciousness, human brain

1. Introduction

How simply we go before a mirror and look at ourselves. We see our face and look into our eyes. But

who is really looking at whom? There is no simple answer to this simple-looking act which we do

everyday. Consciousness or being conscious is a part of our everyday life which we take for granted. We

all admit that we have consciousness, but we do not have any clue as to how it arises. Despite decades

of advancement, scientists in the field of natural sciences and medicine have been trying to grapple with

many of life’s fundamental questions. Some of them are presented below

What is consciousness?

Does Consciousness arise in the brain or is it something else?

What are emotions?

How does the brain simulate the future?

How is memory stored and retrieved?

The field of neuroscience has taken a lead in trying to map the brain functions and thousands of

publications have emerged out of this field in the recent years. Some of the recent efforts undertaken in

understanding consciousness have been highlighted in the next section.

2. Scientific perspective of consciousness

Despite cash-strapped times for research, several ambitious collaborative neuroscience projects have

attracted large amounts of funding and media attention. In Europe, the Human Brain Project[6] aims to

develop a large-scale computer simulation of the brain, whereas in the United States, the Brain Activity

Map[7] is working towards establishing a functional connectome of the entire brain, and the Allen

Institute for Brain Science has embarked upon a 10-year project to understand the mouse visual cortex

(the MindScope project[8]). US President Barack Obama's announcement of the BRAIN Initiative[9]

(Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies Initiative) in April 2013 highlights the

political commitment to neuroscience and is expected to further foster interdisciplinary collaborations,

accelerate the development of new technologies and thus fuel much needed medical advances. A

summary of these different projects has been discussed in [10].

Several issues with regards to these different projects have been cited by experts. For example the

required technologies especially in terms of computing power are not yet in place. For example

optimistic experts believe it’ll take a computer capable of performing at least 1 quintillion (that’s

1,000,000,000,000,000,000) floating point operations per second (1 exaflop) to map the human brain

which is the aim of the ambitious human brain project. In comparison our current technologies are still

miniscule in terms of their processing power and it will require a rapid technology shift to achieve this

goal. But raw computing power is only one part of the equation. In the most basic sense, even the most

advanced computer is just a machine that follows instructions – so even after we’ve built our

exaflopping supercomputer, we’ll still need to know what instructions to give it. The other school of

thought is that even if we are able to take the computing power to the next level, will we be ever able to

simulate the brain functions as the brain does much more things than just mere computation. Lastly

there are several people in the scientific community which feel that these projects may meet the same

fate as the human genome projects in terms of the outcomes of these projects actually benefitting

humanity. Lastly it is highly unlikely that we will be able to understand the origin of consciousness

through these projects.

Some of the prominent scientist’s such as Koch[11] have already started to recognize that the conscious

experience may not be entirely explained in pure physical terms limited to space, matter, energy and

time but our physical space itself requires an extension to be able to explain consciousness. An offshoot

of the current research work [12] shows the possibility of consciousness pervading everywhere from

birds to animals to small insects and may not be exclusive only to human beings. These findings have

also raised several ethical issues like for example the pain and suffering endured by several sentient

beings on account of humans.

Though modern science has attributed consciousness to be intimately related to the activity of the

brain, there have been controlled experiments [13] wherein slime molds (gelatinous amoebae) which

are essentially brainless can solve mazes, mimic the layout of man-made transportation networks, and

choose the healthiest food from a menu. Similar experiments have been performed on microorganisms

like bacteria and it was shown that bacteria are capable of self-identity and social recognition—that is,

awareness of members of their own species[14].Bacteria have also been shown to anticipate predictable

changes in their environment with a clear sense of both time and space and their immediate neighbors.

These examples have demonstrated that having a brain or a neuronal network may not be a necessary

condition to exhibit intelligence and a limited form of consciousness.

Since consciousness is so bizarre, some of the research work to understand consciousness has been

directed to the area of quantum mechanics. Hameroff and Penrose[15] proposed that consciousness

derives from deeper level, finer scale activities inside brain neurons. The recent discovery of quantum

vibrations in "microtubules"[16] inside brain neurons corroborates this theory, according to review

authors.

However prominent philosophers such as David Chalmers[17] recommends being wary about QM

"hypotheses" for consciousness. In his quote below, he underlines the inherent limitation in any of the

quantum theories of consciousness.

“Nevertheless, quantum theories of consciousness suffer from the same difficulties as neural or

computational theories. Quantum phenomena have some remarkable functional properties, such as

non-determinism and non-locality. It is natural to speculate that these properties may play some role in

the explanation of cognitive functions, such as random choice and the integration of information, and

this hypothesis cannot be ruled out a priori. But when it comes to the explanation of experience,

quantum processes are in the same boat as any other. The question of why these processes should give

rise to experience is entirely unanswered”.

Some of the researchers such as Lanza[18] propose a more radical theory of consciousness. In his theory

of consciousness, Lanza proposes that consciousness is fundamental to all that we see and experience in

this world. In a nutshell, according to biocentrism, time (and space) does not exist independently of the

life that notices it.

Based on the theories reviewed above, it seems that the question of consciousness and intelligence is

more profound than earlier thought and it is likely that we require some radical changes in the way we

think about the fundamental nature of the world. This has been nicely summarized by Penrose[19] who

states ”Firstly to understand the world, we need to be aware of it. To have the awareness of ourselves

and our surroundings, we need to invoke consciousness. So this simply implies that to understand

consciousness we need to look beyond our computational laws of physics”.

3. Vedantic perspective of consciousness

We now suggest an altenative paradigm which is the Vedantic model of consciousness. According to

Vedanta, consciousness is the living energy and the fundamental quality of life particle and it is purely

spiritual. There are two categories of consciousness universal and individual. The Universal

consciousness is a characteristic of the Supreme Being who is conscious of everything, whilst the living

entities are only conscious of themselves. The Sankhya darshan of the Srimadbhagavatam[20] explains

that jiva, life is characterized by the presence of quantum of consciousness and it remains in a separate

domain. It is also the source of all our knowledge and experience.

Furthermore Vedanta describes matter as a field of activity and by its nature; matter is inert and has no

consciousness. But there is an interaction between the individual self and matter through universal

consciousness. How an individual self is different from his body is clearly described in the

Vedanta(Bhagavad Gita 3.42[21]).

indriy i par y hur indriyebhya para mana

manasas tu par buddhir yo buddhe paratas tu sa

Translation: “The working senses are superior to dull matter; mind is higher than the senses; intelligence

is still higher than the mind; and he [the soul] is even higher than the intelligence”.

Figure 1: Vedantic Hierarchy Model

As seen in Figure 1, the human body which is composed of dull matter is at the lowest level. Higher than

the human body are the working senses such as the senses for taste, smell, touch etc. Mind is at a

higher level and drives the senses. Above the mind is the determination of the intelligence and above

the intelligence is the soul proper.

Based on the Vedantic model, it can be seen clearly that individual soul (quantum of consciousness) is a

passenger in a vehicle consisting of the gross and the subtle body and is thus the enjoyer or sufferer in

the association of the mind and the senses. The strong link between the body and the mind has also

been recognized by modern medicine wherein research efforts are being directed towards the

treatment of psychosomatic disorders. [22]. In an interesting study [23] done in 2010 on a vegetative

state patient, it was shown that that a person was able to respond Yes or No fashion for six questions

posed on his/her autobiography. The fMRI scan for Yes/No perfectly matched with correct answers from

parents and relatives. This experiment can be considered as a scientific basis for existence of internal

senses such as the mind.

Since the Vedantic model considers consciousness to be non-material, it may well lie beyond the scope

of modern science. This has been corroborated in the earlier sections, wherein it was shown that

despite large scale efforts being put to research the the area of consciousness, it remains still elusive

3.1 Categories and evolution of Consciousness

From a Vedantic perspective, life is everywhere and evolution is defined as the journey of the

innumerable conscious particles of life(soul) in time and space as they travel from one form of body to

another under the law of karma[24]. Each living entities degree or the level of consciousness, guna[25]

and karma (activity) will determine the direction of the evolutionary path. Thus the Vedantic model does

not accept Darwinian model of evolution as it does not include consciousness. As can be seen from

figure 2, consciousness evolves linearly as well as step-wise. The different bodies or forms to

accommodate a specific conscious being are already arranged within a cosmic plan [26].

Figure 2: Each living entity’s degree or level of consciousness, guna (quality) and karma (activity) will determine the direction of his evolutionary path

Padma Purana gives a detailed account on the different forms of life as follows

Jalaja nava-laksani sthavara laksa Krmayo rudra-sankhayakah paksinam dasa-laksanam

Trimsal-laksani pasavah catur-laksani manusah

As stated earlier, the biological forms impose a limitation in the development of consciousness.

Therefore, different degrees of consciousness are expressed through these different bodies. Vedanta

divides the degrees of consciousness into 5 broad categories: acchadita(covered), sankucita(shrunken),

mukulita(budding), vikasita(blooming), and purnavikasita(fully bloomed)[27]. This has been shown in

Figure 3

Figure 3: Vedantic model of evolution of consciousness

Trees and plants are in almost inert and hence are in the category of covered consciousness. Other living

entities such as the worms, insects and other animals are in ‘shrunken consciousness’ which is higher

than that of plants but is not yet fully developed. Human beings are in the category of the ‘budding

consciousness’ which has the potential to bloom into a flower. Thus the human form of life has a special

place in which it is given a facility to develop its consciousness to almost an unlimited extent, upto a

point of knowing the absolute truth. Other species do not have this special facility. That is why the

Vedanta declares that the human form of life is the most elevated and brahmajijnasa, inquiry into

Brahman is especially meant for the human form of life.

Thus in Vedanta, life is distinct from the material body it inhabits. In the human form of life, when one

begins to sincerely enquire about Brahman, absolute truth, one’s bud like spiritual consciousness begins

to expand and evolve. That is the ‘blooming’ state of consciousness. When as result of his enquiry, he

practices regulated spiritual discipline, he evolves further and further. Finally he attains complete

transcendental realization, God consciousness, the ‘fully bloomed’ state of consciousness.

From this discussion, some salient features of the vedantic model and its comparison with the scientific

model of consciousness have been highlighted below

Scientific studies on consciousness have thrown open the possibility for consciousness to be an

intrinsic part of all the living beings including plants[28] and animals[29]. This stands in good

agreement with the Vedantic postulate that consciousness pervades in all the living beings

although in different degrees

Since the degree of consciousness varies as shown in Figure 2, individual experiences vary

according to the type of body of a living being. This is in good agreement with Hagel[30] who

concluded that subjective experiences are known only to the subject and not to others.

As per the Vedantic paradigm, consciousness continues to evolve stepwise and in a linear way

which is opposed to Darwinian model of evolution wherein the species evolve continually based

on the theory of natural selection.

4. Conclusion Consciousness is the unsolved mystery of modern science and philosophy. There are many

theories for Consciousness and none of them can actually conceptualize all features of

Consciousness. Slowly scientists are opening up to the fact that consciousness which is the

fundamental property of life may be more than just mere computation happening in the brain

and may well lie beyond the scope of space and time.

Consciousness study has long been a part of spiritual wisdom. In the ancient literatures of India

such as Srimad Bhagavatam, the topic of consciousness has been treated as a central issue.

Vedanta presents a transcendental origin of Consciousness. Many postulates of Vedanta on

Consciousness have some kind of scientific agreement. Plants and animals also have some kind

of intelligence. The scientific community therefore needs to broaden their understanding of

consciousness. Also in search for a deeper understanding of life and consciousness, inclusion of

spirituality within the scientific research works can become a significant factor.

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