Sadhguru with Scientists at Harvard – Redefining the Term “Consciousness”

One of the most prestigious universities in the world, Harvard Medical School, hosted Sadhguru in conversation with Dr. Emery Brown, Professor of Anesthesia, Computational Neuroscience at MIT & Harvard and Dr Nicholas Schiff, Professor of Neuroscience at Cornell.

Several people inquired about purchasing a ticket to the already sold out event with over 1000 people. Many of the security personnel gave up their seats to accommodate the last minute requests.

The Sanders Theatre, famous for its design and acoustics, was a beautiful backdrop for the event. At the entrance of the theatre attendees were enthralled by the the stained glass window, John La Farge’s Athena Tying a Mourning Fillet, his last work for Memorial Hall.

The topic of the conversation – “Memory, Consciousness and Coma” – was introduced by  Dr. Bala Subramaniam, Prof. of Anesthesia, Harvard Medical School. He shared that two years ago he had asked Sadhguru the secret behind how anesthesia makes one unconscious. Sadhguru had briefly responded with, “Anesthesia cannot touch consciousness, it can only take away memory.” He was then intrigued and attended an Inner Engineering program with Sadhguru. This made Dr. Subramaniam realize there is so much more to explore with Sadhguru and led him to organize this event to redefine the term “consciousness” itself.

The conversation went on to explore a connection between yogic sciences and modern medical sciences to understand what consciousness is and how it is lost and regained during anesthesia and brain injury. Dr. Emery Brown kicked off the conversation with the current medical understanding of consciousness under the effects of anesthesia. Dr. Nicholas Schiff took it one step further, saying he wanted to explore the rules of recovery once the state of consciousness in a brain injury is established.

Sadhguru began with clarifying that the English language when used to define the internal dimensions of life is very limited, “What you are referring to as consciousness is wakefulness. We do not consider wakefulness as consciousness. Being wakeful and being conscious are two different things…Consciousness means you went beyond your memory and grasped the nature of reality as it is.” Throughout the event, the two esteemed scientists were engaged and enamored with Sadhguru’s insight and were taking notes as well as asking questions.

From consciousness, the topic probed deeper into the role of memory in our lives. Sadhguru suggested that it would be interesting for the doctors to study yogic processes which create a distance from one’s genetic memory that result in dramatic changes to their mind, emotions and at times even their body.

They discussed how the role of anesthesia is to primarily eliminate the pain of surgery and Sadhguru said, “If you find a way to monitor the entire neurological system, not just the brain, the entire art of anesthesia could be raised to a different level with minimal interference.”

The audience eagerly waited to ask questions and one of them asked about near death experiences during surgery. Dr. Emery Brown clarified that at times people become aware during surgery due to insufficient anesthesia versus a near death experiences.

Sadhguru illuminated the subject by introducing what happens during Shoonya meditation. He said, “About near death experience… what is being referred to as meditation, we have a certain type of mediation called Shoonya, which literally translates as emptiness. That’s not the right translation, but there is no appropriate word in English, so it’s emptiness or nothingness.  If you settle down into Shoonya meditation, it’s not near death, it’s actually death, but conscious death.”

The two hours passed by in the blink of an eye and much to everyone’s disappointment the talk had to close. With uproarious applause and requests for more questions to be answered the event culminated with everyone gathering to catch a closer glimpse of Sadhguru.