Several years ago, an American scientist received the Nobel Prize in physics. For a long time he had studied and conducted experiments to learn about the subatomic particles of which the physical universe is composed. It was already known that these particles arise and pass away with great rapidity, over and over again. Now this scientist decided to develop an instrument that would be able to count how many times a particle arises and passes away in one second. He very rightly called the instrument that he invented a bubble chamber, and he found that in one second a subatomic particle arises and vanishes 10 (power of 22) times.
The truth that this scientist discovered is the same as that which the Buddha found, but what a great difference between them! Some of my American students who had taken courses in India later returned to their country, and they visited this scientist. They reported to me that despite the fact that he has discovered this reality, he is still an ordinary person with the usual stock of misery that all ordinary people have! He is not totally liberated from suffering. No, that scientist has not become an enlightened person, not been freed from all suffering, because he has not experienced truth directly. What he has learned is still only intellectual wisdom. He believes this truth because he has faith in the instrument which he has invented, but he has not experienced the truth himself.
I have nothing against this man nor against modern science. However, one must not be a scientist only of the world outside. Like the Buddha, one should also be a scientist of the world within, in order to experience truth directly. Personal realization of truth will automatically change the habit pattern of the mind so that one starts to live according to the truth. Every action becomes directed towards one's own good and the good of others. If this inner experience is missing, science is liable to be misused for destructive ends. But if we become scientists of the reality within, we shall make proper use of science for the happiness of all. ~ S.N Goenka
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