Look within yourself for enlightenment

CHENNAI: “You ask your questions from your mind and I try to answer them from my heart. That’s the fundamental  difference between evolution and enlightenment,” said Professor Devadas Menon, as he put evolution and enlightenment in perspective on Tuesday. Menon was delivering a lecture on the same topic at the ongoing 136th International Convention of the Theosophical Society in Adyar. “Evolution happens at a material level, but when enlightenment happens, it is the whole blossoming of heart, mind, soul and body and is transformational,” he said.The IIT-Madras professor narrated stories and quoted anecdotes to convey the deeper meaning of enlightenment. He said, “Science looks for answers outside. But to be enlightened, one needs search within oneself to find answers.”To summarise his discourse, he quoted American satirist George Carlin’s ‘The pardox of our time‘. “Today, we have tall buildings, but short tempers, wide freeways, but narrow viewpoints, we spend more, but have less, we have bigger houses and smaller families, we have more degrees, but less sense.”He added, “Instead of looking at the negatives of life, I think there is a reason why each one of us was born, let us work to fulfil it, before we go, there is a lot of work to be done.”