“Marvelous indeed is the Lord’s universe.  Within it He is working all His wonders of creation.  Do not be a walking “dead man” in this world; observe, analyze, and appreciate what God and his agent, man Have wrought here.  How intricate is the universal mechanism!  Reflect on the way we are made, and in what orderly fashion the whole machinery of creation runs according to cosmic law.” (pp.251, Man’s Eternal Quest)

BIOENERGY AND S.R.F. TEACHINGS

By Dr. Stephen Brena


In his writings Paramahansa Yogananda often mentions the duality of energy-matter; in the Bhagavad Gita this duality is depicted as the "pure," astral (energy) Nature (Paraprakriti) and as the "impure," material Nature. (Aparaprakriti.) Master explains how the "thoughts of God" (thoughtrons), the causal world of Wisdom, devolved into units of energy (lifetrons), the astral world of prana, and further devolved into electrons, protons, neutrons, the particles components of atoms and molecules from which living organisms emerged into the material world.

With the advent of Quantum Physics, science has brilliantly proven the empirical and puzzling duality of wave-particle, energy and matter. In classic physics material objects are conceptualized as solid and unmovable unless energy is applied to them by an external force; in Quantum physics an object is conceptualized as a vibrating wave in fluctuating fields of potential energy, from which particles of matter continuously emerge and disappear. Likewise, the laws of electromagnetism in classic physics have evolved into new Qantum theories known as Quantum Electro-Dynamics (QED, in the jargon of physicists.)

Medical science ha followed an evolutionary course similar to that of Physics: from the medical discoveries of the nineteen Century and early twenty Century, there emerged the concept of the human body as a mechanical object, like an engine driven by fixed material forces, an engine with known separate "parts" (the anatomic organs), whose functioning is predictable by physiological norms and fueled by external energy. Hence the increasing specialization of medicine, with each physician being an "expert" in the maintenance and repair of the various bodily parts, or organic systems.

During the second half of the twenty century the conception of the human body as a mechanical "object" evolved into a deeper knowledge of living organisms as biochemical factories at the molecular level, with complex and interconnected biochemical actions and reactions.

In more recent years, Physics has entered the arena of Health Science at the cutting edge of empirical research and has shown how electromagnetic fields play subtle and crucial roles in modulating biochemical molecular activity.

A recent 2004 book published in Italy: "Pain and Energy" (in Italian: "Dolore ed Energia") describes all the energies, both gross and subtle, which are involved in the experience of pain and suffering. A chapter written by Emilio Del Giudice, a leading Italian physicist and professor of Nuclear Physics at the University of Milan, discusses in some detail the role of Quantum-Electro-Dynamics in modulating vital living processes. Q.E.D. performs two important functions: 1) it provides for the circulation of ions in the body. Ions are electrolytes in water solution; seventy-five percent of the body is made out of watery solutions; ions move in highly organized order along channels in the connective tissue, the intercellular substance of the body. These channels are known in Chinese medicine as "Meridians"; they are closely related to the network of "Nadis," the peripheral branches of the subtle energy-distribution system from the spinal "Chakras," as taught by Master. Del Giudice points out that the fundamental cause of pain and disease is energy maldistribution disrupting the proper circulation of ions in the bodily connective tissue. Analgesic drugs suppress the experience of pain but do not relieve the basic maldistribution problem, which can be actually made worse. Del Giudice advocates the empirical use of specific electromagnetic techniques to remove the blockade in ionic circulation. Such techniques are presently investigated both in Europe and the United States; 2) Q.E.D regulates the orderly traffic of the multitude of molecules involved in all living processes, insuring proper intermolecular connections.

To grasp the intelligent complexity of vital functions, an example may be useful: the simple intention to move a finger first activates the neurons in a specific cortical area of the brain on top of the head known as the "supplemental motor area"; in turn the neural activity in this area activates the brain motor cortex, which activates the motor nerves in the arm and they activate the numerous muscles of the hand, finally resulting in the motion of a finger. All these neuromuscular activities occur within milliseconds in neatly ordered sequences through the medium of specific molecules known as "neurotransmitters."

To be effective, certain molecules must link up with other specific molecules; for example, molecule A must find molecule B, molecule B must find molecule C and so on. If molecule A links up by mistake with molecule P , the end-chain disordered result may be the motion of the big toe instead of the intended finger's movement. Molecular traffic is modulated through specific magnetic frequencies (a frequency is a rate of vibration), so that molecules A can only linkup with molecule B with the same frequency.

In Quantum physics a state of "coherence" occurs in a system when all the particles in the system vibrate within an electromagnetic field with same frequencies. To illustrate this phenomenon, Del Giudice brings the example of boiling water where all the molecules vibrate individually and independently with a large dispersion of energy: the system is out of coherence. When the temperature is lowered, the system restructures itself into a state of coherence, where the molecules "condense" themselves into a liquid form with lowered energy dispersion. Some physicists describe as a "coherent personality" one which rests on a coherent Quantum system in the brain. Just as laser beams are more bright than ordinary light because they are more coherent, some individuals are more "radiant" than others for the same reason.

Del Giudice uses the concept of coherence to propose a theory which may provide a subtle explanation for the power of spiritual healing in group meditation and prayers. In his chapter of the book "Pain and Energy" Del Guidice shows how the input of a coherent personality into a community with similar coherence results into a transfer of energy from the individual into the community, eventually promoting coherent states in ever larger communities until, theoretically, a state of coherent electromagnetic oscillations may structure itself within the entire human race, non locally, that is, outside space-time dimensions, which is a common feature in Quantum events. Actually, the formation of "species-coherence" has been empirically demonstrated by the American scientist Philip Callahan, (quoted by Del Giudice).

Indeed, as Master writes in the Gita (X: 34, p.803), through vibratory fluctuations. (frequencies) of the mighty AUM all nature communes. Humans, endowed with free will, too often choose to ignore the Voice ("vach") of Nature, and live in incoherent, individual "boiling pots" of selfishness.

In closing his brilliant presentation, Del Giiudice remarks that contemporary and future scientific knowledge might provide a rational basis to explain those superconscious experiences reported by great Sages and Saints, which are often labeled as "miracles."

To students of SRF teachings from Paramahansa Yogananda this brief summary of contemporary -- and still controversial -- knowledge about the subtle forces governing the life of biological organisms, may already have shown many puzzling similarities between modern theories and ancient Vedic intuitions so clearly explained in the two masterpieces, the "Bhagavad Gita" and the "Second Coming of Christ."

For example, the term "Bioenergy" is frequently found in scientific literature. This is a composite Greek word (from "bios" = life and "ergos" = work) which can be loosely translated as "Vital Force," a term often used by Master to indicate the subtle energies governing living organisms. Are Quantum electromagnetic fields to be equated with "lifetronic fields" ? Is the Q.E.D. circulation of ions to be equated with the circulatory prana, one of the five Prana modalities in living matter?

There are some cues that, indeed, there may be a substantial identity expressed in different languages. On one side, Master teaches in the Gita that prana is the "soul of the cell," an intelligent principle which guides and sustains living organisms. On the other side, it is become ever more obvious that the incredible amount and complexity of information stored in biological codes, which orderly regulate molecular activities, shows all the prints of an immanent Intelligence. Actually, this is an ongoing debate between materialistic scientists who claim that bio-vital information is emerging from random evolutionary selections, and those other scientists who view in the same marvelous bio-vital complexity the "Hidden Face of God," as Gerald L.Schroeder, both physicist and biologist, has brilliantly written in his book with the same title.

In another example, long ago, in his booklet "Scientific Healing Affirmations" Master advocated the use of electricity to "bring back a lost harmonious condition to the cells" (an electromagnetic coherence?). In the "Second Coming of Christ" (Discourse 25, p. 416) he writes "The primary medicine of the future will be rays, the vibratory nature of which is more compatible with the molecular-atomic nature of the human body." Technology based on Electromagnetic Resonance is already widely used for diagnostic purposes and the search for similar technologies for the treatment of many diseases is actively on, as mentioned by Del Giudice and in a footnote on p. 416 of the "Second Coming of Christ."

Finally, the theory of Quantum group coherence proposed by Del Giudice not only offers a rational explanation for the spiritual power of group meditations and prayer circles, but is also of practical value to all SRF devotees. Many of them follow faithfully Master's advice to attend frequently group meditations with hope to get from the group positive vibrations to sustain and strengthen their own spiritual efforts; it may be a greater motivation for any devotee to know that he or she can also offer to the group valuable strength; according to the laws of Q.E.D., when a person joins a meditation or prayer group, he or she inserts into the group his or her own harmonious vibrations, transferring energy to the group. In so doing, any devotee can help to create greater and greater coherent fields, touching unknown numbers of other devotees, everywhere. In this way, effortlessly and unconsciously, each devotee fulfills Master's aim to build a World-Wide Fellowship of Self-realized souls and becomes a "little agent" of God's plan, as commanded by Lord Krishna to Arjuna in the Gita (XVI, 15-34, p. 826).

The earth is now four hundred years in the Electro-Atomic Age (the current ascending Dwapara Yuga); humankind has witnessed an explosion in the understanding of subtle energies and is enjoying their related technological marvels. It can be said that the level of knowledge and material comfort of a person living at the beginning of the XIX Century was closer to that of a man who lived in the first Century AD than it is to contemporary man at the beginning of the XXI Century.

Unfortunately, humankind must wait until the next Treta Yuga to gain knowledge of the Universal magnetism of Love, (Chitta with its polarities) and how it in-form living matter through thoughtrone and lifethrons. Humankind must wait even longer until the next Satya Yuga to grasp the supreme Joy-Wisdom of a vibrationless Reality (Sat), which vibrates Itself into divine, creative Energy (AUM), imbued with divine, creative Intelligence (TAT).

But SRF devotees do not have to wait so long. The magnetic power of Love and the Joy-filled Wisdom can be realized right now, early in the XXI Century, by any devotee who loyally follows SRF teaching and faithfully practices its two cardinal principles: devotion and Kriya meditation.