The Hindu Business Line : We're all cosmic kin

After making people see better with their eyes, Mani Bhaumik, one of the pioneers of the Lasik laser technology, now wants to help them see better with their mind.

Can you think of life without cell phones, Internet or other gadgets? Since it pervades our daily lives, we have built up an innate faith that science does work. That same science tells you there is one source at the heart of all spirituality. We are part of the whole universe physically...

Science to spirituality: Mani Bhaumik. - Picture by the author

He never got married because "I never had the time to devote to marriage, as science is a jealous mistress; between science and taking care of my investments (to redeem the pledge he had taken as an 11-year-old child never to be poor again); if I had married, my wife would have felt like a widow. Good marriages are not made in heaven... you have to work at it."

Meet Mani Bhaumik, one of the pioneers of laser technology that made Lasik laser eye surgery possible. He is on a mission — after making "people see better with their eyes, I now want to help them see better with their mind."

This he hopes to do through his book, Code Name God, (Penguin), which says both science and spirituality are essential and complement each other. The seeds for the well-known scientist's quest for spirituality were sown in childhood when he had access to Gandhiji, as his schoolteacher father was active in the freedom movement.

Born in a village "not too far from where the royal Bengal tigers roam", near Haldia, the child's life was at subsistence level; "you ate only what you grew." But the 1942 cyclone devastated the 11-year-old's life, destroying all the crops. With his father going underground to evade the police, the family had to fend for itself. "I could have died and wouldn't be here today had my grandmother not given her portion of food to me," he recalls. When he realised what she had done, "I took a vow never be poor again. By giving me her most precious possession — life itself — she had made the biggest sacrifice."

As a teenager Bhaumik's proximity to Gandhiji influenced him deeply. "His words were simple but spoken with the confidence of a man whose life was his message."

Code Name God, By Mani Bhaumik, Publishers: Penguin Books, Price: Rs 150

One message that stuck was: Be the change that you want to see in the world. "So I started thinking what do I want changed. Get rid of poverty and have abundance; get rid of suffering and get lasting happiness. That's what I've tried to do in this book... to inspire people that if you are determined and work hard, you can indeed achieve your dream, but never to give up."

But the journey has been a tough one; the little boy had to walk to the nearest high school that was four miles away through mud and sans footwear. He studied in Bengali medium, but since his father was a language teacher he learnt Hindi and English at home. Making his way through high school and then a Masters in Physics, all on scholarships, he made it to IIT Kharagpur in 1954 for a Ph.D in Physics.

"We started with an empty lab; research was just starting then," he recalls. After teaching for a year at IIT after his doctorate, Bhaumik got a Sloane Foundation fellowship from the University of California.

Later he did return to India as a member of the Government "scientists' pool", but soon realised that he couldn't do much at that time as the facilities and opportunities were very limited and I was just wasting my time. I thought science is for humanity and I should go where I can contribute the most."

The laser jackpot

So he returned to the US and in 1968 he joined Northrop, the third largest defence company in the US, became head of its laser technology laboratory, and stayed there for 18 years. In 1973, as leader of the group he "hit the jackpot — the Lasik laser."

Though Bhaumik has got many awards and has been quite a celebrity in California, where he has dated quite a few Hollywood actresses, the Nobel eluded him.

So did he aspire for the Nobel? "You can't aspire for the Nobel, there is too much politics involved, but I've had quite a bit of recognition," he smiles.

Did he think he deserved it?

"I thought so, but then other people deserved it too! But it's quite a political process, especially in physics; of course, the Nobel is not the be-all and end-all of recognition," he adds.

Money and more

After the laser jackpot, he got a lot of stock options from the company, invested his money in stocks, bonds, futures, etc. The focus always was on the promise at age 11... never to be poor. With his investment going beyond his "wildest dreams", he took early retirement at 55. The money brought him the "freedom to do what I wanted. I have six houses, I was jet setting around, dating movie stars, etc.," says Bhaumik, adding that he didn't get married because "when you're at the cutting edge of science, you have to run like crazy to stay where you are because what you have done yesterday is too late. You open a journal to see: Have I been scooped? Because when something is good a lot of people are working on it; if it's no good, nobody is interested. So you don't have any time to do anything else."

The money did bring him a lot of excitement, "but it's almost like a neurosis; you need bigger excitement. So I asked myself, I have everything, so why not abiding happiness? Most people think that if you have lots of money you can live happily ever after, but it just doesn't happen that way. I've known so many rich people who are very unhappy."

The meaning of life

And then Gandhiji's words on spirituality being the essential element for everlasting happiness came back to him. "But by that time I had also become a big scientists and our nature is to question and not take anybody's work for it. So I really drove into what science has to say about who we are, why we are here and what existence is all about. I was looking for god in the sense of vedic tradition, a transcendent power that is present everywhere, is the source of everything."

So has he found him?

"Yes, through science and as a researcher," Bhaumik says, adding, "Some call it Allah, others Rama, Krishna, etc." Elaborating on the connection between science and spirituality, he says technology is all pervasive in our lives. "Can you think of life without cell phones, Internet or other gadgets? Since it pervades our daily lives, we have built up an innate faith that science does work. That same science tells you there is one source at the heart of all spirituality. We are part of the whole universe physically... "

Ask him if he believes in the Darwinian theory of evolution or the Adam and Eve saga and if there isn't a conflict between the two and he says: "Yes and no, in the sense that evolution did take place and today through the Mitocondrial DNA — which is outside the cell but within the source of energy — that is transmitted from mother to daughter, they have traced that even though in the beginning there might have been more than one female, all living beings can be traced to one single female. It is the same story for male. So it is true that modern humans came from one particular man and woman. The cell in your body has lineage going back to 3.5-4 billion years! So everybody is related; we are all cosmic kin!"

Bhaumik's mission is to take people through the exciting search for the meaning of life. India with its heritage of spirituality is best suited for the origin of this journey, he says. "The theory of monotheism... . that god is one was invented in India. Westerns think this is a product of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, and ask why Hindus worship so many gods and goddesses. I tell them the Vedic seers realised god is very abstract and most people don't have the ability to connect with the abstract. Since everything is creation of god, why not let them choose their own icons as long as they realise this is only a vehicle and there is something behind it."

He thinks the conflict in the world in the name of god and religion is due to ignorance; "ego gets in the way, everybody thinks that theirs is the only religion. Allah literally means god is one, if god is one then your god and mine is the same."

With the threat from weapons of mass destruction (WMD), today the world needs spirituality more than ever. "Science has given us abundance to change our lives radically, but at the same time given us WMD... ten times more deadly than required to destroy the world," he says.

Mani wisdom

Meditation: Not only meditation, but also prayer, yoga, music, whatever can bring your balance back, is important.

Emulating the West: Young Indians emulate the worst part of the West — drugs, alcohol, etc. We have to satisfy our bodily needs but mind over matter has to triumph, or else we'll lose ourselves in the pursuit of material happiness, as often happens in the West.

On the "business" of spirituality by some gurus/swamis: They all begin well, are able to convince people that spirituality is important. But like any organisation, as they grow, get saddled with excess baggage; some become rich and get into a rat race. But you have to take the good with the bad; unfortunately that's the way life is!

Importance of spirituality: The mind has a spontaneous tendency for distracting thoughts, so to drive inward you need some guide — a picture, guru, breathing techniques, meditation; it's a focusing tool to get rid of extraneous thoughts and focus on one thought.

His mission: To promote spirituality through my book; I'm not doing it for money and this is not the source of my income.

His mother: She is 95 and lives in the village. I bought her a nice flat in Kolkata, but she says it's too fancy! She's come to US twice, but wanted to get back.

Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in

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