Discoveries for the Twenty-first Century
These discoveries can have a profound impact on human progress
My research into technologies for achieving perfection in manufacturing and services spanning several decades while I was on the faculty of Chemical Engineering at the University of Louisville, has produced certain discoveries in my retirement years that explain why the world keeps encountering the same problems, and how they can be tackled.
The two fundamental mistakes the world keeps making are: (1) To believe that all problems can be solved with the products of reason, like sciences, laws and policies, and (2) To be ignorant of the link between emotional excellence and the performance in the external world.
With the strength of Swami Vivekananda’s wisdom, I have shown through several examples that there is definitely something higher than reason. This means when the existing knowledge is insufficient to solve a problem it may become necessary to transcend reason to the domain of undifferentiated consciousness and yogic processes are the pathway to progress.
The upshot of this background is that while the products of reason based on existing knowledge are essential and useful to solve many problems, they are not sufficient to solve all problems. Transcending reason with meditation, or more generally yoga, is the means to make progress and to make new discoveries.
This is how the Vedic knowledge came about.
As to the link of emotional excellence to the performance in the external world, please see the article, The Secret of Exemplary Performance, BizED (now called Insights), 2019. BizEd is a publication of the Association to Advance College Schools of Business (AACSB), the body that accredits B-School curricula in the United States. Please also see the related article, The Hidden X Factor for Exemplary Performance, on the Pulse, January 19, 2023.
To build a firm scientific framework that is logically consistent and with measurements wherever appropriate, I have had to dig deeper and look at topics such as how the universe was created and how life began, why civilizations rise and decline and how the world can be made better and more peaceful.
Specifically, these discoveries are:
1. How the universe was created (Ancient Indian perspective).
2. How the universe was created (Modern physics — Amanda Gefter, James P. Kowall, MD, PhD)
3. How life was created.
4. Rationale for how we come from the source and should want to return to the source. See this article on the Buddhist concept of Thukdam.
5. Why there is a flaw in the theory of evolution and why & how to fix it.
6. Experimental assessment of the fundamental nature of human beings.
7. The world’s insistence on primacy of reason for solving significant problems is flawed.
8. Proof that “something beyond reason” exists.
9. Proof meditation is key to transcending reason.
10. How transcending reason is the key to solving many problems and to make new discoveries.
11. Proof, intuition can be purposefully inculcated. This is important since intuition is linked to leadership as leaders are often called upon to make split-second decisions at a moment’s notice (Intuition is knowing without the benefit of the five senses and the rational mind).
12. Success in transcending reason with meditation is accompanied by a dramatic rise in emotional excellence — a shift from negative emotions (anger, hatred, hostility, resentment, frustration jealousy, fear, sorrow) toward positive emotions (Love, kindness, empathy, compassion).
13. Scientific measurement of pranic energy is indicative of the level of emotional excellence.
14. Meditation enhances the pranic energy, reduces the heart rate, increases heart rate variability (lowers stress) and reduce the respiration rate automatically, all of which are supportive of better health and a longer lifespan.
15. Cultivation of emotional excellence is not an intellectual exercise; the required positive changes have to come about from within. This claim can be validated with a thirty-day self-assessment experiment.
16. The popular term emotional intelligence is the notion of knowing the importance of emotions within oneself and in others, while emotional excellence additionally includes the know-how of how to bring about the required positive changes from within.
17. Gallup estimates that negativity is costing the US economy $1 trillion annually. Negative emotions lead to stress, positive emotions do not, and stress is also a major contributing factor for all kinds of diseases.
18. The shift from negative emotions towards positive emotions is a well-posed scientific problem as emotions can be measured (EQ Radio, Bio-Well) and the process to bring about the positive changes from within is meditation, or yoga, known for thousands of years. The availability of a measurement device for emotions means progress can be audited.
19. The US-developed technology, six sigma, is an appropriate tool to use to organize and operate human activities in the best possible manner.
20. The problem is that in the absence of emotional excellence, the best of the best quality initiatives including six sigma do not and cannot deliver the best possible performance. Boost emotional excellence and the performance will zoom.
21. According to American Society for Quality, some 80% of Fortune 100 companies and 50% of Fortune 500 companies have six sigma programs in place to some extent. Introducing science and practices of emotional excellence is a pathway for companies and societies to emerge better and more peaceful.
These discoveries have led to a scientific framework for external and internal excellence toward a better and more peaceful world. The framework is detailed in three books listed in the references, all available on amazon, and many articles. The framework is resonating both in the United States and in India. The framework may be seen to be fulfilling the prophecy of Yogananda Paramahansa who remarked at the time of his death: I look to a model world that combines the best qualities of “efficient America” and “spiritual India.”
Acknowledgments
The author is deeply indebted to Dr. James P. Kowall, Sanjeev Aroskar, Dr. S. N. Bhavasar and the late Dr. B. D. Kulkarni over the years for interactions and collaboration. The editorial assistance of Tony Belak, mediation consultant and former Ombudsman, University of Louisville, is gratefully acknowledged.
My writings carry the blessings of H. H. Guru Mahan, Founder, Universal Peace Foundation, Thirumurthi Hills, TN, India. They are often conveyed by long-time friend Raja Atmamayan in Coimbatore, TN, India. Guru Mahan has been going into three weeks of meditation with no food annually for the past thirty-two years for world peace.
Further Reading
1. Deshpande, P. B., East Meets West: What It Will Take to be Vishwa Guru, 2022 (amazon).
2. Deshpande, Pradeep B. and Kowall, James P., The Nature of Ultimate Reality and How It Can Transform Our World: Evidence from Modern Physics; Wisdom of YODA, 2015 (amazon).
Dr. Kowall is a triple board-certified physician who additionally holds a doctorate in Theoretical Physics.
3. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Scientific Framework for World Transformation, Dialogue and Alliance, 33, 1, June 2019. (Dialogue and Alliance is a publication of the Universal Peace Federation, a New York City-based international organization with consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Cultural Council).
4. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Six Sigma for Karma Capitalism, 2015 (amazon).
5. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Democracy is not the True Arbiter of Societal Excellence, The Pulse.One, September 30, 2022.
6. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Have the British Civilized India, The Pulse.One, September 23, 2022.
7. Deshpande, Pradeep B., A Flaw in the Theory of Evolution: A Perspective, ThePulse.One, September 14, 2022.
8. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Rise and Fall of Civilizations Deciphered, ThePulse.One, March 25, 2022.
9. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Underground Nuke Testing a Major Contributor to Climate Change: The Hansen Hypothesis, ThePulse.One, November 19, 2021.
10. Deshpande, Pradeep B., How to Measure and Attenuate Stress, ThePulse.One, December 23, 2021.
11. Kasanoff, Bruce, How to Measure and Strengthen Your Intuition, Forbes, November 26, 2020.
12. Deshpande, Pradeep B., The Secret of Exemplary Performance, Insights, August 2019.
13. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Steve Jobs — Yogananda Paramahansa Link Unraveled, Siliconeer, June 9, 2018.
