Western Science, Astrology and Arsenic – III

What the gravitational physicists did after Maxwell was to introduce the concept of gravitational field in order to explain or understand how a particle exerts a gravitational force on any other particle wherever in the universe the two particles may be. However, it is a so called explanation as nobody understands what is meant by an explanation in this case. In this regard I would like to mention what I “learnt” from my Chemistry teacher in the fourth form (grade 10). He wanted the students to define an acid. When we could not define an acid to his satisfaction, he asked us to explain definition. Needless to say the fourteen year olds could not come up with an answer and then he in his inimitable style he said define explanation! With these questions he consciously or unconsciously exposed the inadequacy of linear thinking definitions etc., and introduced at least me to cyclic thinking (chakreeya chinthanaya) many years later.

Of course one could say that in the case of gravitational force it is a physical force but in the case of astrology it could be said that the grahayas influence even the mental state of bipedal hominids, and it is necessary to explain this phenomenon. As it is said at present there are physical, biological and mental states associated with the bipedal hominids, and some others would say these states are associated not only with bipedal hominids but with all animals whether with no feet two feet, four feet, or poly feet (apa, depa, sivupa or bahupa). When one could “demonstrate” that physical, biological and mental states are interconnected as in the case of say psycho somatic phenomena, one could come out with a “theory” or an “explanation” of how the grahayas influence the mental states of bipedal hominids. It could be through some ‘field”, say an astrological field exerted by the grahayas including Rahu and Kethu that are points of intersection of the paths of the sun and the moon relative to the earth. It could even be theorized that in general the points of intersection of the paths of sun and any planet or of the paths of any two planets or of the paths of the moon and any planet relative to the earth influence the bipedal hominids but they are negligible!

It is unfair if one wants to experience the astrological field in order to believe it or understand it or whatever, as to my knowledge nobody except that lecturer at the University of Kelaniya has experienced the gravitational field. Also it could be said a grahaya has many properties such as astrological, gravitational electromagnetic etc., and that some grahayas such as Rahu and Kethu exert only fields but not gravitational or electromagnetic fields. In the case of Sun it is believed in Newtonian Physics that it exerts gravitational as well as electromagnetic influences through relevant field and it may be that there are other fields such as astrological fields not recognized by the western scientists. The recognition by the western scientists need not be the sole criterion for us to accept, believe or whatever and we do not have to be guided by their dominant knowledge imposed on us. All theories western or otherwise are mere stories constructed in a certain chinthanaya relative to a culture. Merely because a theory is not accepted or believed in one culture it does not follow that the other cultures also should discard the theory.

There is a western scientific church or mafia and it is the high priests or the leaders of the mafia who decide which theory is to be accepted or rejected. As has been shown by Feyerabend this church is more dominant than the Catholic Church in medieval Europe, and they would not listen to alternative theories or explanations constructed even within the western culture. In the case of the Catholic Church the Pope was prepared to listen to Galileo and gave the latter a fair trial. The Pope did not object to Galileo believing that the earth went round the sun, but he wanted the latter to demonstrate it if he were to teach it to the general public. Galileo could not demonstrate that the earth went round the sun and the pope had no alternative but to imprison Galileo and keep him away from the public.

The present day high priests of the western scientific church do not have the power to imprison people but they debar theories and other knowledge not acceptable to them reaching the public through their so called learned societies and “internationally recognized” journals. Now if one were to ask who has the power to recognize these “internationally recognized journals” the answer is it is the internationally recognized people and societies. Thus it is a case of one recognizing oneself through societies and other instruments that have been empowered to do so by none other than the political powers of the particular culture. The Royal Society of London has been recognized by a Royal Charter and our own National Academy of Science has obtained its charter from the Parliament of Sri Lanka, though its Fellows have not produced anything original enough to be recognized by the “international community”. In this regard it has to be mentioned that when the University of Kelaniya group that studied the Chronic Kidney Disease unidentified etiology CKDu came out with Arsenic as the main cause of the disease, the National Academy of Science went so low as to reproduce cartoons that vilified me in their official website.

The irony is that the scientists in El Salvador have recognized that Arsenic is the cause of their Kidney Disease , and recently invited Drs. Channa Jayasumana and Kumudu Dahanayake to their country and thanked Sri Lanka for the information, knowledge or whatever on Arsenic that have been conveyed to them and other South American countries at a seminar held in another South American country by Dr. Jayasumana the most unwanted person the University of Kelaniya that attempts to deny him a postgraduate degree using so called University Autonomy throwing the work he has done during the last two and half years to the Kelani Ganga. In essence El Salvador has recognized Natha deviyan and Vipassaka deviyan when the imitators in Sri Lanka of high priests of the western scientific Church and its Cardinals and Pope refuse to do so. The Kelaniya Arsenic group holds a media conference today to inform the public more details of the El Salvador recognition.

The western scientific church did not recognize the work done by Rupert Sheldrake on what are known as Morphological fields. In essence what he says is that “past forms and behaviour of organisms influence present organisms through direct immaterial connections across time and space”. For example a crystal formed say for the first time at the University of Kelaniya with difficulties would influence the formation of a similar crystal in a University or research institute in El Salvador and it would be done much easily. This is what has happened in connection to Arsenic in Agro Chemicals with reference to the Kidney Disease. It could be said that the Arsenic experiments done at the University of Kelaniya for the first time have created a morphological field across space and time or space - time.In the South American countries cane farmers are affected by the Arsenic present in the Agro chemicals.

The high priests of the western scientific church object to research on Homeopathy. They do not recognize Homeopathy as a so called science or a technology and when some researchers in France about twenty five years ago were able to get a paper on Homeopathy principle based on dilution in the Nature the high priests of western science and medicine intervened and the editor of Nature had no alternative but to withdraw the published paper under pressure! That is the freedom of expression in the western scientific church and the high priests do not give even the freedom to believe that was not denied to Galileo by the Pope. (To be continued)

(13/05/15)

Nalin De Silva

Asymmetry in international affairs

It is unfortunate that Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapakse has to give interviews to the BBC and other western media who parachute to Sri Lanka as international media personnel. It is not only the Defense Secretary but even the President of the country has to be involved with these so called international media from the western countries and also from India. I am not sure whether Sri Lankan journalists interview the English Prime Minister at number ten Downing Street or the American President in his Oval office. Occasionally Sri Lankan media personnel would interview the Indian Prime Minister but even that is a rarity. Then we have the “good fortune” of listening to the words coming from the wisdom of western and India diplomats in Sri Lanka representing their respective countries. However, I have never heard of Sri Lankan diplomats in those countries expressing their views on the internal matters of the countries where they represent Sri Lanka. It was not long ago that we had Dixit and Gladstone who acted as if they were the viceroys of Sri Lanka. This asymmetry in what they call international affairs clearly shows how much independent we are after forty years of becoming a so called Republic.

As I have said on many occasions this asymmetry is verse in economic and cultural fields. We are dictated by the western economic relationships and structures and have to adjust our policies to suit them and follow their so called development models, which are about to ruin the world. It is the culture that dictates finally that all these relationships have to be asymmetrical. Education is part of culture and the cultural colonialism could be found in the university senates of the country more than anywhere else. In the name of maintaining so called international standards which are nothing but western standards the universities have to teach and engage in peripheral research which is nothing but applying western theories to solve a very mundane problem. We are so much dependent on the western knowledge that includes western science some of our scholars try to demonstrate that Buddhism is scientific! They would claim that Kalama Sutta embodies the so called scientific attitude without of course reading or understanding what I would call the second part of the Sutta that advised the Kalamas to follow the Vinnus (the knowledgeable people) in their day to day affairs. Then there are others who would try to interpret Buddhism in such a way that it would be acceptable to the westerners.

Buddhism is not (western) scientific and is not a rationalist theory. Western Science is inductive more than anything else, and I would say that all the western scientific theories are products of induction, even deduction including syllogism and Aristotelian logic is based on induction as has been shown elsewhere, whereas Buddhism does not appeal to induction and is based on “prathyaksha”. There is no suitable word for “prathyaksha” in English, and it is not empiricism, perception or any other concept found in western philosophy. Budunvahanse is never referred to as “maha pragnyananvahanse” (the great intellectual) but as “mahakarunikayananvahanse” (the most compassionate) and karunawa is not an outcome of pragnava. Our colonial mentality is such that when a non Buddhist “scholar” says that karunawa is an outcome of pragnava there are some prominent Bhikkus who would agree with the former. It has to be mentioned that they are no theories in original Buddhism as theories are products of induction. The terminology such as Karmavada Dharmavada was not of Budunvahanse though the word karmaya has been used.

However I am more concerned with the western diplomats and journalists who come to this part of the world thinking that they have to be listened to by us without challenging them. It is true that Sarath Fonseka the newly found hero of the TNA and the west and the western funded NGOs has also declared that the army camps in the northern and eastern provinces have to be withdrawn. He may have forgotten that after the defeat of the LTTE he wanted the government to expand the army. It may be that he wanted the army to be confined to barracks but he never said so while he was in the uniform. However Sarath Fonseka appears to be more democratic and diplomatic as far as international affairs are concerned he has not asked England (called Britain or UK depending on the thickness of the colonial mentality) to withdraw their camps in many foreign countries including Northern Ireland.

However, the “British” High Commissioner in Sri Lanka has challenged the Sri Lankan President and has tried to intervene (yes it is intervention) in our affairs as far as at least the army camps in the northern and eastern provinces. Our High Commissioner in London would never think of challenging the English Prime Minister, and I wonder what would have happened if he were to do so. The “British” High Commissioner should be reminded that even after we got our limited independence the English kept their naval and air force camps in Sri Lanka until Mr. Bandaranaike on behalf of the common people, and not of the top hat types requested the English to close the camps. English on their own would not close camps in any part of the world but the “British” High Commissioner in Sri Lanka thinks that he has to be respected when he expresses his “viceroy” comments on our camps in our country. There is only one course of action that the Sri Lankan government should have followed and that is to make Rankin a persona non grata.

Then we have that journalist from the BBC who interviewed the Defence Secretary on Tamil homelands etc. The Defence secretary has replied him well as there are no Tamil Homelands or habitats if we are fond of Indian diplomacy more than of western diplomacy as all these have been shown to be myths. The anti Sinhala and especially the anti Sinhala Buddhist bandwagon may think of these concepts when they want to attack what they call Sinhala Buddhist supremacy totally ignoring that they are using these western and Indian concepts which are the products of colonialism. Would the “British” High Commissioner in Sri Lanka arrange an interview for a journalist from the Rupavahini with the Defence secretary in England (do not tell me that there is no country called England), whoever he is, on the Irish problem or on Falklands?

There are some pundits who claim that it is internationalism and not the sovereignty of a country that matters in the twenty first century of the westerners (it is our twenty sixth century). I am not prepared to accept it even with symmetry in international affairs. With asymmetry in international affairs we should not listen to these pundits who are imitating the concepts and theories of their masters and mistresses in the west. This concept of internationalism and not sovereignty does not apply to western countries and the concept together with so called human rights R2P etc., are themselves have been coined by western colonial intellectuals who are paid by their governments to come out with this type of concepts as and when necessary. It is time that the non western world (India is a weak country in many ways that cannot survive without the west and I am not thinking of them as long as they have western dependent governments) think of this asymmetry in international affairs and try to change the political, economic and cultural structures in the world, which are essentially colonial. The non western world should try to regroup and breakaway from the clutches of western colonialism with more trade and cultural ties among themselves. Let us think in terms of a self sufficient non western world with respect to politics, economics and culture. SARC is not such a regional get together as India on behalf of the west is trying to dominate the region. I am also not thinking of so called exchange programmes involving so called intellectuals of the non western countries as they are not independent of western concepts and theories and in general of knowledge. Let us learn from each other through the common people and not through the western educated intellectuals.

Copyright Prof. Nalin De Silva