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This is now a "new physics of
creation" equipped with a unified vision of the East and
West would materialise, taking cognisance of both integrative
and disintegrative forces. In this new science the process of
becoming would begin from the point in the formative ether,
where spirit transforms itself into matter through many stages
like the stage of creative desire (Brahma-proton), of
preservation (Vishnu-neutron), and that of destruction
(Shiva-electron). In new physics the "question of
conventional Western science, ‘Where is the moment at which
consciousness originates?’ ....becomes, ‘How does
consciousness produce the illusion of matter?’" (Stanislave
Grof)
So far we have
perused the theoretical part of Balfour’s work. To produce
such a framework, his mind seems to have meditated for a long
time over the esoteric wisdom of India. He goes through the
history of the Naga race, examining the numinous power exercised
by their chiefs, and studies the role of cobra in fertility
rituals. In particular, he takes note of the Chakra-Nadi
system of Kundalini Yoga which foregrounds his conviction about
the nature of universal energy and its phenomenology of
transference from one level to the other through a serpent
spiral path. Along with the serpent, the Indian swastika also
assists the writer in the formulation of certain notions about
universal consciousness and energy. While the serpent is
"the energising creative force of the Universe," the swastika
both right-angled (evolution) as well as left-angled
(dissolution) — is "that force in motion". The
author comes to realise what a powerful effect the energy
infused into the Hindu icons (according to the traditional
methodology based on Kundalini Yoga) has on devotees. The EM
field of the icon "interacts with the devotee’s own
bioenergy field" modifying the enzyme activities, the
autonomous nervous system, and, eventually, the behavioural
patterns.
This mutual
interaction of the fields of consciousness can be made use of in
the cure of diseases like cancer. Mark Balfour looks at the work
of Haorld Saxon Burr, Rupert Sheldrake, Kim Bong Han and David
Bohm to reach his optimistic conclusions. Prof Burr of Yale
maintains that an electro-dynamic life-field governs the
behavioural pattern of an organism and any anomaly in the
"L-field can give advance warning of future symptoms before
they are evident." Moreover, these L-Fields can be
modulated by cosmic fields (like the Indian icons). The
Morphogenetic Fields of Sheldrake, a Cambridge biochemist, are
the fields that "are present before a living organism takes
up its physical form and suggest a potential state of the
developing system." Further, in connection with the
mysterious growth of cancerous cells, Dr Sergei Barsamian
observes: "It is the interaction between the field of a
cell and another E.M. field that becomes the responsible agent
for growth." The work of all these scientists, along with
that of Bohm, suggests that not only can a diagnosis be made
even before the cancerous condition becomes clinically
observable, but its prospective growth can also be checked
through the application of the E.M. fields (e.g. piezo-electric
techniques).
Thus, the
present book evinces the keen preoccupation of the author’s
with the abstruse problems of physics, biology, and metaphysics.
It is not a mere dallying with the games of abstractions (as a
useful or even a useless pass-time), but through the application
of the abstract principles, the author’s desire is to bring
comfort to mankind as well as to gain an insight into the nature
of self and creation. It is a noble, difficult, and an admirable
ambition indeed.
Primarily, the
achievement of the author doesn’t lie in floating any
remarkably original theories (a specialist in Indian symbology
would hardly find any addition to his knowledge, albeit, Balfour’s
connection of Indian and Australian snake symbology does provide
some new thought), but in the novel way in which he seeks to
establish a connection or at least to juxtapose Vedic knowledge
of the past with the recent scientific developments in the West
(and even in Japan). It is a presentation of a point of view, an
earnest and well-earned one, with the help of valid material
documenting some of the latest experimental findings. Of course,
the stylistic exposition is not a major authorial concern here,
even then I cannot help adding here that there is a sustained
feeling that we are reading classroom text books, the nut-shells
of various theories founded by the theorists other than the
author himself. Also it must be noted that neither are the
photos inside the book well-composed (the point under discussion
is easily lost in them), nor are they well-printed. These
pictures, of not more than an average quality, have caused a
deterioration in the quality of the book and they by no stretch
of imagination tally with the proclaimed status of Balfour as
"a well known international photo journalist" which
has been so prominently displayed on the back-cover.
We end the review with one or
two impertinent posers: Would or could the new physics not
develop in the West even in the absence of the Vedic thought
(granting that the West is itself quite capable of entertaining
the abstruse and spiritual thoughts)? Is it not that the works
seeking the meeting ground or (audaciously speaking!) even
seeking the collusion of the East and the West are lately
acquiring a tone of well-rehearsed, well-harped professional
formula?
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