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226 / JAIN STUDIES AND SCIENCE
Acharya Mahapragya's Address
Addressing the Seminar Acharya Mahapragya said, "Yesterday I had a discussions with the President on three issues: How to develop moral and character-related values? How to achieve emotional development? How to get rid of the land 'mine' mindset? If moral values are not developing in spite of so much education, discussions and movements, then the only explanation is that the malady is somewhere else and the treatment is being administered somewhere else. To bring about change, one must reach the unconscious mind. All our effort is focused on changing the conscious mind. Emotion, behaviour, habit and memory - all these fall in the realm of the unconscious mind. For moral and character-related development, we shall have to adopt such effective experiments and procedures which can influence the unconscious mind, and solve the problems existing there. Life science is such an experimental procedure and it can influence the unconscious mind."
Discussing the applications of life science, Acharya Mahapragya said, "The child whose sympathetic nervous system is active will turn out to be rude, cheeky and undisciplined. The child whose parasympathetic system is active will turn out to be cowardly, timid and meek. Till such time as we are able to find a method to strike a balance between the two children cannot have a proper development. The experiment of life science is an experiment aimed at achieving a balance between the two."
Referring to coordination between spirituality and science, Acharya Mahapragya said, “We have been talking about coordination between spirituality and science, but the credit for presenting these two in an applied form goes to Acharya Tulsi. With his intellect and understanding, he pushed it forward. He conceived the idea of building of a spiritual-scientific personality and did significant work towards this end. Mere spirituality is not very useful for this world. A mere scientist can also be dangerous. A person in whom both spirituality and science develop becomes beneficial to the world."
"Socrates said that a ruler must be a philosopher. I want to say that a ruler must be a scientist. A scientist will not only think about a problem will also look for a solution. Today a confluence between spirituality and science is being achieved. Both are engaged in the pursuit of truth. I have discussed several issues with the President. We have decided that this consult be carried on in the future too. That together we may do our bit to find a solution to the problems of the country is what is expected of us today."
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