I was overjoyed to come across a book of quotes of world-renowned scholars compiled by Salil Gewali of India, Shillong. Title of the book was “What is India?”. Being overwhelmed with ideas I was harboring all these years I went through the pages of the compilation containing the lofty words of the world-renowned  scientists, philosophers and writers in praise of India’s fathomless spiritual treasure of knowledge. I could relate to each sentence in the quotes. I wholly agree with these men of wisdom because it was my life-changing experience with the wisdom of the East.

              I was growing up as the typical American boy until the day I had my first deep and profound mystical experience. To put it simply, I had one of those “near-death experiences” while lying on the operation table after a car accident. As the mind and the vital energies started withdrawing, and heading towards the light up above, I could witness the doctors operating on my body down below. After waking up in the hospital 2 weeks later, I was left with several burning questions on my mind… If the mind and the brain are two separate things, then what exactly is “the mind”? And of course… What is the purpose of existence, for what reason was I brought back to life? I began my quest to find the answer to these questions.

                   I had never been a religious person, in fact was quite opposed to religion. Eventually I discovered that there is a certain spiritual truth which is the underpinnings of all religions, which all religions tried to capture but just couldn’t put their finger on. One of the first books I read after that experience was The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra. In the middle of that book are four chapters about four of the world’s major religions; Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Zen. After reading these 4 chapters again and again, I finally decided that the Taoist religion was the one which resonated most with me. I began studying Chinese literature at the University and Chinese Medicine. I also started attending many different meditation groups at various Indian Temples around the city I was living. Eventually I discovered that the Chinese words TaoTe (as in the name of the book Tao Te Ching) is a direct translation into Chinese from the Sanskrit word Tantra meaning “the Path and the Goal”, the Path being part of the Goal, and the Goal being part of the Path.

During this time I was a double Major student in the University. My two subjects were Nuero-Immunology and Cosmology. I found that when one studies the ancient Tantric philosophies, the secrets contained within work in perfect harmony with all of the information appearing in modern astrophysics and bio-chemistry. Eventually I decided to move to India and throw myself into the study of the ancient texts entirely. I found that there are no aspects of human life, social, economic or political, which have not already been touched upon, and very thoroughly at that, by the ancient seers. In fact, all of the social dilemmas which humanity is facing today had already been elucidated upon and solidly solutions derived thousands of years ago.

Proudly I may say that neither am I theistic nor am I atheistic, the truth, I find lies somewhere in between these two extremes. This I find to be the beauty of Indian philosophy, it is so mysterious and impossible to put in words, but yet, so practical, down-to-Earth, and all embracing at the same time. As it says in the first line of the Tao Te Ching, “The Way which can be spoken is not the true Way,” we find that the moment we open our mouths to speak about this middle path, we end up falling into one extreme or the other. It is both humbling and empowering to come to know.

Although some people have made the argument that the adaptation to an omnivorous diet was a necessary step in the ability of early hominids to get “out of Africa”, it is clear that the shift back to a pure vegetarian diet in the ancient tribes of India allowed for the next step in human evolution. Thanks to this and to the development of the practice of meditation around 13,000 years ago, advances such as the agriculture, civilization, and philosophy took place. Humanity is still waiting to catch up to the evolutionary leaps of the ancient Indian saints. As Albert Einstein once said, "Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances of survival for life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet."  And another quote from his good friend Rabindranath Tagore, “We manage to swallow flesh only because we do not think of the cruel and sinful thing that we do. If only we do not allow our heart to grow callous, its protest against cruelty is always clearly heard…”

Despite of the vicious attacks of the Aryan invasion to India some 11,000 years ago and the Mogul invasion some 500 years, the true peaceful spirit of the Indian has never died. It is no wonder that so many of the great Western thinkers were able to discover the secret treasures hiding deep with the India philosophy. It is when we finally stumble upon philosophy that eventually our minds will open up to meditation and the non-violent lifestyle, and through this means we will be able to guide humanity out of all the confusions we are in today. The Modern scientists like Niels Bohr, Heisenberg, Julius Robert Oppenheimer, Erwin Schrodinger also great owe their achievement to the wisdom of Upanishads and Vedas.

I would especially like to thank Salil Gewali for his amazing compilation “What is India?” containing the quotes and opinions of the front-ranking modern scientists,  philosophers and writers. These world renowned scholars not only got fascinated by Indian wisdom but drew a great deals of ideas from there.  I salute the compiler’s patience in accumulating those quotes which would in future serve to be a gateway to inspiration and knowledge. I hope that more people will find this book as a stepping stone to launch into the world of spirituality and the development of a true loving compassion for humanity besides deep scientific researches.

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