Is it possible to live a superhuman life in this human body?
Are some individuals really wired differently from the rest of us?
Does such an awakened state as ‘enlightenment’ really exist?
Are the expressions of an enlightened consciousness scientifically quantifiable?
Can spiritual states be transmitted from Master to disciple?
For centuries, science and spirituality have been battling it out on these issues of perennial importance for humanity, attempting to find a unified thread of existence. Although spiritual teachers have always maintained that enlightenment is a ‘real’ phenomenon, and a perfectly realizable goal for all of us, the scientific community has naturally been unwilling to accept this without solid proof. It is only in the recent past that science has made a sustained effort to demystify the ancient mystic yogic sciences, and to gather sound scientific evidence that explains why the spiritually super-evolved are endowed with ‘powers’ that the rest of us can only dream about.
The Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism Nithyānanda Paramashivam has been endeavoring to bridge the gap between traditional Vedic wisdom and modern science by putting Himself under the scanner, so to speak. A dedicated team of doctors and researchers have put significant time, expertise and resources into the effort to decode, document, analyze and present these events for the benefit of science and humanity.
The results continue to intrigue the world of medical science, but we now have growing proof (called ‘pramana’ in Vedic philosophy) that a range of extraordinary abilities do lie latent in us, just outside the sphere of our current experience. Not to be awakened by effort alone, these abilities (known in Sanskrit as siddhis) also demand of us a courageous life of intense integrity, authenticity, deep devotion to seeking the Truth and an unquestioning surrender to the flow of Existence – the Divine, the Tao, God, or whatever else we may choose to call that most intimate mystery of our lives.
Poised delicately on the border of the scientific and the mystical, these phenomena serve to remind us, as Einstein was to famously observe, that science without religion is lame, while religion without science is blind. It also leaves us with the unsettling realization that we may be much more than we can ever imagine – divine beings merely enjoying a human experience, slumbering spiritual giants only awaiting the touch of inner awakening from the Avatar.