Elusive Consciousness

Author(s): Narendra Bhandari, Surendrasingh Pokharana, Jitendra B Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

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Recent developments in this field are covered during an international conference on consciousness which was organized by the Centre for Studies on Consciousness of the University of Arizona at Tucson during April 21-26, 2014. Interest among academicians in this field is reflected by the following observations. Around 1000 scientists from 60 countries participated in this conference and about 500 papers were presented in it. Experts from various fields like computer science, neuroscience, neurophysiology, anesthesiology, cognitive sciences, cybernetics, schools of medicines, bioengineering, artificial intelligence, physics, quantum biology, quantum computers, relativity theory, naturopathy, philosophy, psychology, religion, arts and many others were present.
In view of these developments, some scholars from different fields decided to form an informal group at Ahmedabad to regularly meet and discuss some of these developments and take these studies further. The major driving force for this activity was a feeling that India is a country where lot of work has been done in this field in the past, and where several concepts were developed through ages by several different religious groups which can make significant contributions to the current search for consciousness and soul. This document describes some of these efforts. It is mostly based on the work done by scholars coming from widely different fields which appear to be somehow related with the problem of consciousness.
We start with a lecture delivered by Prof. Achinta Yajnik, who covered the concept of soul and consciousness in Indian philosophy along with the current status in the modern science. She covered many interesting developments in science and also limitations of the current approaches like insufficient emphasis given to the Extra Sensory Perception (ESP).
Dr. Vishwa Mohan Thakore, MD in Clinical Psychology and a doctor of repute in Ahmedabad talks from his inner heart and believes that consciousness is the most fundamental entity in the world. Matter, space and time are all secondary.
Professor C R Mukundan, an internationally renowned scientist, a brain scientist turned behavioral scientist, talked of non-material nature of consciousness, and equated it with energy but showing that it is different from matter. He discussed space-time and their role in understanding the concept of consciousness. In the process he also touched upon the modern neurosciences and psychological dimension of consciousness.
Professor A R Prasanna an internationally known expert in the field of Relativity