Los Angeles, Feb 23 (IANS) The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA)
here will soon have another Indian chair. The chair - to be named Dr Mani
Bhaumik Chair of Consciousness Study - will be set up at the Cousins Center for
Psychoneuroimmunology of the UCLA. The university already has the Navin and
Pratima Doshi Chair in Indian History, set up by Los Angeles-based millionaire
Navin Doshi in 1999.
Beverly Hills-based physicist Mani Bhaumik, who co-invented the laser
technology that made LASIK surgery possible, will fund the new chair, named
after him.
I have given $1 million to UCLA for the chair. The groundwork has been done.
We have to just put our signatures on paper. It can start any time now,
Bhaumik told IANS.
This research chair will be geared towards exploring the mind-universe
connection, he said.
The 77-year-old scientist said: Physics has done a wonderful job of pinning
down the physical reality of the universe. But it has no knowledge about the
origin and nature of its consciousness. This chair will work on this theme.
Referring to ancient Indian Vedic heritage, Bhaumik said: Consciousness is
not just within our skull, but throughout the universe. In Hinduism, we call
this consciousness Brahma, which is the basis of the universe. In Physics, the
so-called magnetic field is the basis of the universe. Thus, Brahma and physics
are two sides of the same coin. The goal of my chair is to marry Brahma with
physics.
He said the late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of the transcendental
meditation (TM) programme, showed to the West how our consciousness affects the
body.
The mind of man and god is a single finely tuned broadcast system. Ten
universities are now doing research on the effects of TM on the human mind,
Bhaumik said.
Bhaumik said he chose the Cousins Center for the chair because it has done
pioneering work on the mind-body relationship.
The Indian-born scientist has also instituted the $15,000 Mani Bhaumik Award
at the Cousins Center for pioneering work on mind-body connection.
The multi-millionaire bachelor scientist is also building the Mani Bhaumik
International University in Kolkata.
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