The path of yoga and buddhism to be purifying and quieting the mind, to be performing meditation practice and self inquiry for annihilating the veil of ignorance, to be attaining direct self realization towards the dhamma, does not go against the advanced science and technology in the world at all, and vice versa, but contrary, both of them complimenting one another.
Just as the path of yoga and buddhism or the teachings and practices of yoga and buddhism can be contaminated and misused, the world of knowledge and information deriving from advanced science and technology can also be contaminated and misused by the minds that are functioning under the veil of ignorance and its by-products.
The uncontaminated scientific fact, or information, or knowledge deriving from the genuine research and discovery under the help of advanced science and technology will only be supporting the validity of the dhamma as it is, and vice versa. Because they are not different or separated from one another.
The world of knowledge and information deriving from advanced science and technology is neither good nor bad, as it can be used for something constructive or destructive. While the world of yoga and buddhism also can be used by the minds for something constructive or destructive.
Meanwhile, the knowledge and information deriving from advanced science and technology can be used for something constructive and beneficial for all and everyone, unconditionally and indiscriminately, by the minds that are free from the influence of the veil of ignorance, upon attaining direct self realization towards all the truth about the selfless impermanent limited and conditional existence and function of all and everything, or the dhamma, via genuine yoga and/or buddhism practices, or some other kinds of genuine teachings and practices under different names and forms.
Genuine scientists/biologists/physiologists/chemists/psychologists/mathematicians, and so on, are not different or separated from adept yoga and/or buddhism practitioners. The names and forms, and the identification of 'yogi' and/or 'buddhist' don't really exist in the minds that truly practice yoga and/or buddhism as it is.
Similarly, being a scientist/biologist/physiologist/chemist/psychologist/mathematician, and so on, that is highly intelligent and knowledgeable, and being a yoga and/or buddhism practitioner, that has been accumulating huge amount of practice and knowledge about yoga and buddhism, doesn't necessarily mean that the mind is also free from the influence of the veil of ignorance, a.k.a. the idea of 'I', egoism, impurities, and restlessness, unless the mind attains direct self realization towards the dhamma of selflessness, impermanence, limitation, conditional, and non-self, not being conditioned by all kinds of worldly passionate egoistic impure ideas, beliefs, values, practices, behaviors, actions, reactions, desires, aspirations, and visions.
Yoga and buddhism is all about knowing the truth of the (life) existence and function of the body and mind, of the existence and function of all kinds of sentient and non-sentient living organisms and non-living objects, in this infinite space of the vast universe, a.k.a. the science of life existence and function and the surrounding living atmosphere or environment that are inter-connected and inter-supporting and inter-impacting one another to be existing and functioning momentarily in this infinite beginningless and endless space that doesn't belong to anyone or anything, via direct self realization through self inquiry under the help of several 'tools' of the different physical and mental practices that are being carried out under certain essential observations to be purifying and sharpening the conscious intellectual reasoning power as well as quieting the restless modification of the mind or the mind stuff, or the knower (the perceptive conscious mind awareness) and the receiver/reflector/storage of knowledge (the mind stuff or the modification of the mind), that is all about science and the different branches of science.
They appeared to be two separate extremity contradicting towards and going against one another for many minds, is due to the minds, including some minds that are practicing specific type or lineage of yoga and/or buddhism, would think and believe that the path of yoga and buddhism, and their teachings and practices are something spiritual, that it is about spirituality, and even more so, many minds that don't know and don't practice yoga and/or buddhism would think and believe that yoga and buddhism is something religious, or is a form of religion, because of the existence of certain rituals and prayers, or chanting, or worshiping, or glorifying, and the many different stories/myths, or images, or statues of the 'creator of the universe', or the 'gods or deities', or the 'buddhas', or the 'enlightened saints and sages', or the 'yogis' and the 'gurus', that exist under the existence/manifestation of the many different paths/lineages/schools that have their own particular purpose of existence and function for the many different personalities and characteristics in the many different individuals or communities.
The truth or the dhamma can be realized by the genuine truth seekers either under the absence or presence of all those names and forms that are neither right nor wrong, neither good nor bad. It is about the presence or absence of non-grasping, non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving, non-aversion, non-comparison, non-judgment, and non-expectation, that is determining whether the minds realize or couldn't realize the truth or the dhamma, as it is.
It is understandable that why there is such confusion.
Upon direct self realization towards the dhamma, the mind will know that yoga and buddhism is not different from one another even though they appeared to be under different names and forms, and the origin/existence/function/purpose/objective of yoga and buddhism is nothing to do with spirituality and/or religion.
Although, there is neither right nor wrong for the minds that are still not free from the influence of ignorance, where they perceive, recognize, think, and refer the teachings and practices of yoga and buddhism as a form of spirituality or religion, if not, there is the intentional or unintentional desire to transform yoga and buddhism into a form of spirituality and/or religion.
Because most minds are being internally (genetically/biologically) and externally conditioned by, or deep rooted in, or coming in contact with the many different worldly egoistic spiritual and/or religious ideas, beliefs, values, practices, desires, aspirations, and visions, consciously (wittingly) and/or unconsciously (unwittingly), where they are being conditioned to think and believe that all and everyone in the world of human beings cannot live or function without the existence and function of spirituality and/or religion, or more precisely, a specific system consists of specific beliefs, values, practices, and visions, that creates the power of influence/manipulation/control/authorization over the majority of the human beings, if not all human beings, to be thinking, believing, reasoning, desiring, aspiring, behaving, acting, or reacting in certain way and not in certain way, to be controlled under certain rules and regulations, as well as deserving punishments or rewards, in accordance to the desires and don't desires, or the agreements and disagreements of the specific individuals, leaders, heads of the family and/or communities, and carried out by an authority of one single person and/or a group of people.
The significant difference between the non-universal worldly beliefs, values, practices, and visions in the many different communities, and the universal teachings and practices of yoga and buddhism for all minds indiscriminately, is that the non-universal worldly beliefs, values, practices, and visions have the common vision or practice of converting or recruiting as many members as possible, including the non-by choice autonomous identity of specific spirituality inherited by birth, where renouncing, or abandoning, or non-observing the inherited spirituality by birth is 'sinful and punishable', as well as the enforcement of non-questioning towards the truth of the specific spirituality/belief, the teachings and the practices, and the authority/the leaders/the teachers under certain threatening or fearful judgment, disciplinary, and punishment, while the universal teachings and practices of yoga and buddhism don't have such vision or practice at all, except maybe in certain lineage of yoga and/or buddhism that were/are being contaminated by some worldly egoistic impure minds functioning under certain impure ideas, belief, values, desires, visions, and practices.
Such as, the nature's law of cause and effect, or the teachings of selflessness and impermanence, or the practice of selfless service, or the practice of letting go, non-attachment, non-craving, non-aversion, non-judgment, and non-expectation, or the practice of silence, are being misused by certain minds under certain lineage of yoga and/or buddhism to be threatening and/or even abusing/bullying the yoga and/or buddhism practitioners or the public that were/are in some kinds of suffering, confusion, and desperation, who were/are seeking certain knowledge, love, support, understanding, acknowledgement, acceptance, agreement, and comfort, for manipulating and controlling them to behave or not behave in certain way, by sowing fear into the minds under the belief of good and bad KARMA and the belief of 'ceaseless loop of endless reincarnation', especially reincarnating repeatedly back into the superior higher realm of human beings that are full of all kinds of fleeting momentary goodness and enjoyments, as well as painful sorrow and suffering that are inevitable, due to the nature of impermanence, and that are evitable, inflicted or generated by ignorance, not to say, to be reincarnating into the unpleasant inferior realms of animal, Asura, hungry ghost, and hell, or even, the existence of many other sub-realms under specific lineage of buddhism, while even the highest superior realm of the pleasant, enjoyable, and desirable heaven under huge accumulation of virtues and merits of good KARMA, which is also an impermanent transition that will come to an end upon the exhaustion of the accumulated good KARMA, and eventually will be reincarnating into other inferior realms accordingly, because of the inevitable endless generation and accumulation of KARMA.
And hence, many of the existing teachings, practices and observations were/have been/are continuously being contaminated by or being mixed with the many different worldly egoistic cultural and spiritual beliefs, values, practices, observations, desires, aspirations, and visions, because that is one of the most significant common behaviors of the many minds that are functioning under the influence of the veil of ignorance, the idea of 'I', egoism, impurities, and restlessness. Where the passionate egoistic impure restless minds naturally/instinctively want to possess, to take control, to influence, to manipulate, and to transform all and everything to be the way that one desires and not being the way that one doesn't desire.
It also depends on what the minds think and believe what does 'spirituality' mean. It might mean slightly or largely different for different minds under the different degrees of understanding and knowledge, under the different intentions and desires.
Some minds think and believe that 'spirituality' and 'religion' is the same thing, while some minds think and believe that they are two different things, where 'spirituality' doesn't necessarily have to be something 'religious', while 'religion' is not necessarily related to 'spirituality'.
Many minds believe in the existence of the countless different infinite independent individual existences of the countless different immortal and pure spirits or souls existing in all kinds of momentary mortal life existence of the many different impure and imperfect sentient living organisms existing under the many different names and forms, and even, residing in certain non-sentient living organisms and non-living objects, or things, or mountains, or plants, or space, or water, or fire, or ocean and river, or caves, or buildings, or the sky, or all and everything, and so on, as what 'spirituality' is about.
Where certain minds think and believe that 'spirituality' is universal while 'religion' is non-universal, that 'spirituality' is more real and authentic than 'religion', or vice versa. And certain religions consist and embrace 'spirituality', while certain religions are against 'spirituality'.
There are many amazing selfless natural manifestations of the nature, as well as certain internal physical and mental biological condition that the minds couldn't comprehend, where the minds would just refer such manifestations as 'spiritual', or 'mystical', or 'miracle', or 'supernatural', or 'trance', and even, 'possessed'.
There are also many personal, family, and community affairs/happenings/conditions/situations/interactions/relationships, or the physical and mental illness/injury/weakness/complication/limitation/disability, or the death of the beloved ones, that are imperfect, unexpected, unpleasant, disagreeable, undesirable, hurtful, or painful, as well as many things that the minds don't understand and don't desire, where the minds would just justify all that as unexplainable 'Interference, or interception, or influence, or possession, or activity deriving from something non-human beings, or spiritual/mystical/alien/foreign entity'.
In the end, it is neither spiritual nor non-spiritual, upon the mind attains direct self-realization towards attributelessness, namelessness, formlessness, non-duality, and oneness. Where whatever that is happening/coming/going/manifesting in the selfless impermanent limited and conditional restless modification of the mind that is non-self, of whatever the minds know and don't know, understand or don't understand, desire or don't desire, agree or disagree, of all kinds of qualities of all kinds of names and forms, are all not different from one another.
Just as the sentient or non-sentient living organisms and the non-living objects are all not different from one another, where all and everything are selfless, impermanent, limited, conditional, and non-self, existing and functioning only for a momentary duration, and are governed by the nature's law of cause and effect to be arising, changing, decaying, disintegrating, and passing away, being what all and everything are, as they are.
There are (too many) worldly cultural and spiritual or religious beliefs, values, and practices have been mixed into the path of yoga and/or buddhism, or into the teachings, practices, and observations of yoga and buddhism.
Siddhartha Gautama Buddha already knew what is and will be happening, and he did what he could be doing during his momentary life existence, to be delivering the dhamma, as it is, no more and no less, and laid down a few essential and simple advice or guidance, or the teachings and practices or observations for engaging in the practical mind purification and silencing process, meditation, and self inquiry in everyday life, for the minds to pick up, practice, purify, quiet down, meditate, contemplate, reflect, inquire, and realize the dhamma directly by the minds themselves, at their own cause and own pace.
All kinds of ceaseless accumulation of all kinds of complicated rules and regulations, of countless layer and layer of thick and cross contamination over the original simple teachings and practices and observations of the dhamma, were/have been/are being created/introduced/added onto the teachings and practices and observations of yoga and buddhism, by the passionate egoistic impure restless minds that were/are functioning under the veil of ignorance and its by-products, either intentionally or unintentionally.
There is neither right nor wrong, neither good nor bad.
That is why the most basic and essential teaching and practice in yoga and buddhism is about non-blind believing/non-blind following/non-blind-agreeing or disagreeing/non-blind practicing/non-blind propagating/non-admiring/non-glorifying/non-worshiping/non-praying/non-ritual, to be activating/initiating the process of self inquiry to be inquiring towards the truth of all and everything, including all the teachings and practices of yoga and buddhism coming from anyone and anywhere.
Because the dhamma is in all and everyone and everything and everywhere, within and without. The dhamma is infinite, timeless, causeless, unlimited, and unconditional.
All minds, including the most restless, ignorant, disturbed, evil, and violent minds (unless there is completely absence or no presence of consciousness, where there is no conscious perception/distinction of pleasurable enjoyment or painful suffering, where liberation from ignorance or painful suffering doesn't exist, or is unnecessary), can access to the simple and straightforward dhamma as it is.
All and everyone and everything are selfless, impermanent, limited, conditional, and non-self.
Even though there have been/are so much contamination, but all these all time contamination cannot determine, or damage, or hurt, or change, or increase/decrease, or limit, or destroy the dhamma as it is, or the truth of things as it is, however, the many different contaminated teachings and practices are what the minds coming in contact with, and hence, the minds would think and believe that, that is what yoga and buddhism teachings and practices is about.
"The only book that one should be reading, is within oneself." - Ajahn Chah
Both yoga and buddhism are also 'sort of' originated from a land or an area called 'India', where the people are called 'Indian', and 'Hinduism' is the main spiritual belief and practice, or religion. Where certain minds would think and believe that yoga and buddhism are the branches of Hinduism. Most minds would think and believe that yoga and/or buddhism were born after and under the existence of Hinduism, that they come from and belong to the names and forms of India, Indian, Hinduism, Hindu, or particular 'deity'/'entity'/'yogi'/'buddha', or particular enlightened being.
There is neither right nor wrong about that either. Because there are lots of the teachings and practices, especially the many stories telling, are sort of 'inter-sharing' among Hinduism, Buddhism, and Yoga Vedanta.
If the mind attains direct self realization towards the dhamma, the dhamma doesn't have a beginning or an end. It exists as what it is. It is what things are, as they are. It is not an idea or a creation of the mind. More importantly, the dhamma can never be contaminated, influenced, affected, determined, hurt, damaged, altered, changed, manipulated, increased or decreased, limited, or destroyed by anything. It is only the 'recorded' or 'conserved' dhamma/teachings/practices under certain names and forms that can be 100% contaminated, influenced, affected, determined, hurt, damaged, altered, changed, manipulated, increased or decreased, limited, or destroyed by something and anything.
That's why Siddhartha Gautama Buddha never interested in 'conserving' the dissemination of the teachings or the dhamma into certain names and forms, and he insisted that any 'conserved' dhamma/teachings/practices under certain names and forms, must have the term of 'Thus have I heard', or 'Thus as I heard', in the beginning of all kinds of teachings, because it might not be the dhamma/the teachings/the practices as it is, that it might not be completely true, or even, it might be completely not true, but more importantly, that naturally initiates any minds to be performing self inquiry towards the truth of everything upon coming into the teachings or the dhamma that are being conserved and exist under certain names and forms.
Even Swami Sivananda Guruji, had mentioned repeatedly many times in many of his books, emphasizing on Self inquiry and direct experience and self realization towards the truth of everything - "Purify. Meditate. Realize." and "Do not build ashrams. Do not hoard disciples. Do not mix. Live alone. Eat alone. Walk alone. Meditate alone."
Regardless of whether 'Hinduism', or 'Buddhism', or 'Yoga' was being manifested and have been existing earlier or later, is non-essential, as 'Hinduism', or 'Buddhism', or 'Yoga' are not even Hinduism, or Buddhism, or Yoga. Yoga or buddhism doesn't belong to anyone or anything. It is the dhamma as it is, that is always here and everywhere, being realized by the minds under a purified and calmed modification of the mind, regardless of whether the minds were/are existing, or coming from, or living, or carrying certain names and forms in any specific era, or area, or continent, or family lineage, or community, or culture, or spirituality, or religion, or none of that.
While the original teachings and practices of 'Hinduism', or 'Buddhism', or 'Yoga', could have been/are being influenced or contaminated as well as inter-contaminating one another by the many worldly egoistic impure ideas, beliefs, values, desires, aspirations, visions, and practices. It doesn't matter which existed first before the other, or which has been contaminating the other or being contaminated by the other first, and it doesn't mean that the earliest manifestation of any particular belief, values, and practice is the most authentic one, or the truth of things.
Worldly egoistic beliefs/values/desires/practices/ways of living/ways of doing things/behaviors/actions/reactions have always been existing since the beginning of the existence and function of mind stuffs and mind consciousness that exists under the selfless impermanent limited and conditional physical structure under certain names and forms, that are non-self.
It is upon coming in contact with suffering and doubt, the minds started to inquire the truth of many things under the intense yearning towards knowledge, liberation, freedom, and peace, that gives rise to the realization towards the dhamma, as well as gives rise to the path, or the teachings and practices and observations that is accessible for all the others that are also in certain suffering and doubt, that also want to inquire and know the truth of all and everything, or the timeless dhamma as it is, that doesn't come from or belong to anyone or anything.
For the minds that have attained direct self realization towards the truth of the mind stuff, or knowing Thyself, or the truth of all and everything that is coming and going in the selfless impermanent modification of the mind, of all and everything that the mind comes in contact with, or perceives, or experiences, regardless of pleasant or unpleasant, desirable or undesirable, agreeable or disagreeable, enjoyable or painful, where all and everything are selfless, impermanent, limited, conditional, and non-self, they also know that yoga and buddhism are universal, neither spiritual nor non-spiritual, and it doesn't even come from or belong to the names and forms that exist on the planet Earth, not to say, it didn't come from and don't belong to any particular area, or country, or continent, or people, or being, or spirituality, or religion.
It is universal, and it cannot be limited or conditioned by any quality of names and forms.
It exists in all and everyone and everything, regardless of all and everyone under the selfless universal conscious mind awareness realized or don't realize towards that.
Inquire the truth of everything, including all that is here.
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