Vijnana Yatra envisages journey through scientific heritage to ignite minds to further build greater edifice of discoveries
The word pilgrimage carries immediate connotations. It is a trip undertaken to offer thanks. We embark on it to experience a higher state, an elevation — sometimes physically represented by a hill summit. The determined spiritual seekers go into deep forests and remote mountain caves, while the more ordinary among us visit major and lesser shrines that honour deities, saints, or ascetics. Likewise, our scientific teams go as far as Antarctica or dive under sea to study ancient port cities. They journey to remote places to study the grammar structure in isolated dialects as spoken currently. So we too ourselves can undertake modest but stimulating itineraries.
The benefits of a Vijnana Yatra are closely comparable to any Teerth Yatra or trips to holy sites. Let’s make the comparison in some details. Science has given our lives many things we can be thankful for — life saving medicine, effort saving appliances, entertainment devices, speedy transport, and when we look to our history — Ayurveda, astronomy, semantics, calisthenics with a holistic approach, textiles, manuscripts on constructing structures, mathematics and many more.
It takes us to a higher plane of knowledge — through particle physics, the study of genes, molecular structure, carbon compounds, life cycle of stars, and marine biology. It powerfully harnesses wind, solar, hydel, hydrocarbon and atomic energy. There are modern plants and installations where hundreds of megawatts are generated and distributed.
Our scientific research, like our pilgrimages, connects us with the larger forces and mysteries of Nature. Like scripture, it gives us an opportunity to ally with a tradition of belief and dedication. Science has an organised body of updated theory and ongoing saga of rigorous research. It is a fine example of proceeding with established knowledge and determinedly pursuing new results. The struggles of scientists, their perseverance and steadfastness can serve as lessons for us.
Exploring our scientific heritage in an intensive and educative way is vastly different from forwarding vainglorious WhatsApp messages about fortress designs, and rust-free columns. A Vijnana Yatra can be empowering to give insights, while also being inspirational — a pilgrimage that helps us develop and apply a scientific approach to more aspects of our lives.
We need better curated walk-throughs of Ayurveda and ancient astronomy. The emphasis has to be on how the knowledge was obtained, how it was applied, and the extent of proof or results obtained. An input from today’s scientists can be of help to us in connecting ancient records with the current frontiers of knowledge and application.
Scientific knowledge quite often has economic and cultural implications. An institution such as the Calico Museum in Amdavad conveys information on the manual, technical, chromatic, aesthetic, social, commercial and historical aspects of weaving in an inter-
related manner. Our prominent science museums help us understand basic laws in physics through their apparatus displays. The planetariums create a mind-expanding experience by helping us conceive how vast the galaxies and nebulae are. The Jantar Mantar in various cities tells us a fascinating story of how techniques and implements were devised to measure distances to celestial bodies with remarkable accuracy.
Our manuscript museums and preservation centres in Pune, Thanjavur, Tirupati, Varanasi, Guwahati, Shravanabelagola, Sambhalpur, Nalanda, Gaya, Kolkata, Guwahati and elsewhere hold centuries-old commentaries and detailed debates on methods, rules of evidence, atoms and states of matter, and the experiencing of eternity.
To really cherish something we have, we should actually feel thankful for it. Without such a felt gratitude, we merely take all that long legacy for granted, which we can wave airily at and swagger about. When we sincerely treasure knowledge, we have an idea of how it is gleaned, refined and transmitted. We can actually appreciate the human attentiveness and diligence required for these processes.
Isaac Newton said that he saw because he stood on the shoulders of giants, and we have more reasons than anyone to be grateful to so many savants, sages, scholars and scribes for adding to the wealth in almost every generation to the extent the general circumstances allowed.
Tours need promoters. Traditional bus tour operators typically offer religious tours of a week or two, and similarly the online
travel portals should be able to
easily market Vijnana Yatras to
colleges, where they can do an informative three-hour pre-tour orientation. Not only would such a trip be relevant to science and engineering students, it’s easy to chalk out customised itineraries for life science or mathematics or linguistics students. The idea of relating concepts to actual places, objects, history and people, is to take the successors physically closer to their vast legacy in enquiry and systematic knowledge.
To extend support and encourage such Vijnana Yatras, the railways can subsidise these bookings or have the fare partially borne by the Ministry of Science and Technology. Over time, various student groups can be safely expected to assemble and edit video clips from their tour and upload the content to an online platform, which itself would be richly informative to all students. Labs, factory floors, power stations, observatories, botanical hothouses, sanctuary parks, heritage institutions, museums, archives have lessons to offer about nature, society and scientific principles. Not only young students, other types of visitor groups — families, corporate groups, media teams, bureaucrats, science publishers and others — could find them appealing and
useful.
In our country especially, pilgrims derive satisfaction from a dip in a lake or river, or from wearing certain clothes during the journey. To satisfy such needs, it shouldn’t be difficult to develop selfie points and suitable souvenirs to celebrate these Vijnana Yatras.
There is a true saying that you can take a fellow pilgrim to the river bank, but it’s up to him or her to take a dip. Science itself is a body of evidence about a unifying supreme principle as there is an unmistakable similarity of structure across the basic laws operating in Nature. The spirit of science is to share and explore patterns in the vast universe around us, and not to thrust limiting conclusions or narrow dogmas. Its message is always to foray towards a further frontier.
The common faith that drives both the Teerth as well as the Vijnana Yatra is that with an openness and a seeking, we receive glimpses and have insights by the hour and by the day. Over a few years, they add up to a vision of what is true and properly aligned with the universal principle. Thus, pilgrimages are cumulative. They begin in the very first step of the journey and are not only about a grand culmination at the end.
This is why inculcating a scientific outlook in our everyday living does so much for us as it encourages an active intellect and alert senses and reasoning in every individual. Underestimating the place of science can make us rely heavily on some revelation experiences of a few. Taking sound guidance where it’s available can be advantageous. Placing our trust could also serve us. However, a detailed understanding of a masterpiece in its outer and inner dimensions is the best tribute and salute to its creator, and reached only through scientific knowledge.
(The writer is a creative director, advertising faculty.)
