Breaking through a Storm: Intellectual Biography Prof. Dr. I Gusti Ngurah Bagus

PROLOGUE

One day the man contemplated the existence of Hindu intellectuals in Indonesia. In his view they looked so badly behind the hoisting flags of other religious intellectuals. This issue must be resolved, it should not be allowed to continue. He tried to find a way out through contemplation. From there was born a paper entitled "The Science and Technology Revolution and the Duties of Hindu Scientists." This paper was read in the platform of the Saraswati holiday "Reflections on January 31, 1998." He exclaimed, Hindu scientists must participate in overcoming various humanitarian crises faced by humanity lately, especially those caused by the development of science and technology functions. He was reminded very well by the words of historian Arnold Toynbee, that science and technology had developed so fast, which apparently was not in tune with the development of people's moral ethics. Ethics and morals seem to run in place, far behind by the rapid pace of science and technology. The progress of science and technology which is not based on ethics and morals has finally led to the current global crisis.

 To the audience he said loudly, in order to listen and ponder Toynbee's words: "It seems unquestionable, human strength over the environment has reached an alarming level when this power will lead to self-destruction if humans continue to use it to vent their greed. Human nature is greedy because greed is one of the basic characteristics of life. Humans share with other living things in this matter of greed; but unlike other creatures, thanks to the awareness it has, humans can realize their greed. Humans can know the greed that is supported by power, is destructive so it can be called a crime. Thus humans can make moral efforts to control themselves. "

As a result of human greed, it has been felt throughout the universe as reflected in the turmoil of thought between the North-South countries which took place at the Earth Summit in Rio de Jaeneiro, Brazil, 1992. When traced, it is clear that greed is one of the consequences arising from the imbalance of science and technology progress with ethics and morals. Inequality has a long history of journey, rooted in the scientific paradigm that developed in the history of modern thought, specifically the Renaissance, then reinforced by the paradigm of positivism that emerged later. Capitalistic political-economic interests manipulate the progress of science and technology, so that ethics and morals are automatically excluded.

Thus, in addition to encouraging the advancement of the science of positivism paradigm it also turns out to be disastrous. The positivism paradigm pioneered by Newton Physicist and thinker Descartes, later experienced a fundamental change or revolution along with the emergence of a new paradigm in physics that was pioneered by prominent physicists, including Einstein and Hessenberg. The new paradigm gave birth to a science and technology revolution that showed many differences with the previous view of science and technology, and the fundamental thing was the separation of objects and subjects. The purpose of separation is nothing but to obtain objective knowledge, but in the later period the separation is not justified so that a new term appears to replace the two concepts with participators. If the separation of objects and subjects is left in such a way an extraordinary impact will emerge in human civilization. As is known the positivism paradigm teaches humans to look at nature as objects or objects which, by God's grace, can be drained, exploited for the benefit of humans. They take cover behind the concept of a transcendental God.

In such paradigm thinking, humans position themselves as 'masters', dealing with nature as 'servants'. At that time, the real history of ethical and moral underdevelopment began, so that once humans were enveloped in the spirit of capitalism, human relations were constrained, reified, namely humans were seen as second nature. Here the middle-aged man recalled the theory put forward by G. Lukacs, that nature can also be exploited for the benefit of a group of capitalists. It is the application of these theories that is the starting point of the disaster for the current humanitarian crisis. Humans let the science and technology revolution fundamentally revise the positivism paradigm and launch it into various fields of science including economics, social and culture. In the cultural sciences, as it has developed lately, it is unable to avoid the new paradigm called Postmodernism, which is a post-modernist view of development that has its source in the universal human concept that was born through the Renaissance.

Postmodernism has given rise to a variety of critical thinking which gives an opportunity for anyone to fight the old paradigm, so the old pool of knowledge must be filled with knowledge that opposes or provides new alternatives. This theory turned out to be very loved by scientists who study the East, with the aim of releasing it from the old paradigm developed in the West. One Eastern paradigm was put forward by Physicist Jagidish Chandra Bose {30 November 1858-23 November 1937}, a professor in the Physics of the Presidency College in Calcutta, India.

Specifically in the field of physics he received an education at the University of Cambridge, earned an Engineer degree in 1885, and then in Calcutta he was appointed Professor of Physics. Although his work in the field of physics has not been able to deliver him to win the Nobel Prize, but his findings are considered extraordinary by his colleagues so that it is worthy of the title D. Sc., A degree that is very prestigious and respectable in the field of physics. The success of Physicist Jagidish Chandra Bose is very relevant to be appointed to trigger and spur Hindu scientists in Indonesia, because behind its success is reflected the connection of religious traditions with expertise in the field of physics. He was able to live the Eastern spirit and realize it in his scientific career. He was educated and came from a religious family, even initially being schooled in traditional rural areas and in the area of ​​poor people. Why people with such backgrounds can grow into big people in their fields.

Living in an environment of poverty, apparently did not make it dragged and entangled in it and not to hinder the scientific spirit and religious spirit to live the meaning of Hindu theology as deeply as possible. With the experimental method applicable in the scientific paradigm he can prove the existence of the unity of the position and sensitivity of consciousness in both life and death. This is clearly relevant to Vedanta's view, that Brahman is pervasive and is everywhere.

With his physical theory, he proves truth and awareness, until finally positioning himself as an inventor, the inventor. His work is widely scattered and the most famous is "Response in the Living and Non Living." For these works, the Hindus then held ācārya, a spiritual thinker, so that his name was aligned with ācārya Sangkara, ācārya Madwa, and ācārya Ramanuja. He certainly deserves a title like that, because he has been able to use spiritual abilities to draw a broader link between the relationship of the concept of religion with the concept of science. Until finally a group of physicists and biologists acknowledged that there were indeed parallels between the concept of religion and the concept of science, so that more and more scientists were interested in making it an object of research. The results of their research, as written by a Western scholar, show that there are parallels between modern science and Hindu religious concepts.

This recognition has had a tremendous impact on the development of science and technology, so it is not surprising that so many Indian scientists consciously or unconsciously mix scientific thought with Hinduism. If the findings of Physicist Jagidish Chandra Bose originating from the principle of unity are related to the scientific crisis as stated by Arnold Toynbee, then it can be concluded that if the process of secularization of the Western scientific world is not carried out in absolute terms, but rather recognizes the relationship between objects and subjects, as listed. in Vedanta philosophy, humans will not exploit nature to the utmost.

Vedanta philosophy teaches humans about the immanent view of monism, that basically humans are part of the whole. This view of life is not exclusive, not only possessed by Hinduism, but also in other cultures, even in the religions before Judaism in the West, and also includes so many ethnic groups in Indonesia that state that humans, animals are part of universe. The success of Physicist Jagidish Chandra Bose using Vedanta's view to unlock the secrets of science and religion turned out to be influential in non-physical sciences, especially political science, economics, social, and so on. In this case, India through the figure of Mahatma Gandhi again played a role. This will remind people of the practice of political culture which is also shared by President Haji Muhammad Soeharto with the principle of mind taken from the Ramayana epic called astabrata.

All the things done by the two Indian scientists were able to inspire, if the current environmental and humanitarian crisis were overcome by taking various efforts and paradigm views, then the future of man and world civilization would be saved. It seems that Hindu scientists need not hesitate to move, because the physicist Jagidish Chandra Bose and the cleric and humanist Mahatma Gandhi have given examples of how they should position themselves in the midst of the development of science and technology. Many fields of work: environment, economy, social culture, and medicine developed through the principle of unity contained in Vedanta's view.

The man closed his paper with the sentence, the above description cannot be called systematic or perfect, there are still many weaknesses, it requires deep cross-scientific understanding, so that broad and deep insights are obtained about a phenomenon. Moreover, when realizing it, of course it will be bumped into a number of obstacles. But there is nothing wrong in holding a reflection on Saraswati Day and at the same time challenging Hindus to contribute ideas to overcome local, national and global problems.

If the paper above is left anonymous, the author's identity is not stated in full, anyone will have difficulty knowing his scientific background, because the substance of his thinking is very broad regarding the process of growth and development of civilization, from the collapse of the metaphysical world replaced by physics, to the crossing and crossing between both. But if the writer is mentioned is Professor Doctor I Gusti Ngurah Bagus, of course a generation contemporaries when this book was written will be easy to answer, that he is no other Professor of the Faculty of Letters at Udayana University in the field of Anthropology that was second to none in Bali until the end of his life. But who knows their struggle to reach the title?

Based on these considerations, I Gusti Ngurah Bagus is biographical. Biographies or records of a person's life, though very micro are part of a larger historical mosaic. Some people even agree that history is the sum of biographies. This opinion is very plausible, because through a biography not only can be understood by a number of historical actors who interact with figures, but also the age that is the background of his life, and socio-political environment. Thus, it means writing a biography of I Gusti Ngurah Bagus is the same as writing a subsection of the history of Bali; because talking about him will always offend or grazed the history of Bali, both political history, economic history, cultural history, and so on.

Writing a biography whether the subject is a hero who determines the path of history, participants or the unknown, people who are not well-known need a general knowledge of the local history where the character was born and raised throughout the span of his life. Local history will be easier to understand if you are familiar with national, regional and international history. General knowledge of history will be very helpful in placing characters in historical events and vice versa linking historical events with the presence or activities of figures. Historical knowledge will also help connect or unite fragments of the characters' memories into a micro history story. This historical picture will eventually arouse the consciences of contemporaries with figures {either older or younger} to associate themselves with historical events that are around them.

The micro history of a character, especially as I Gusti Ngurah Bagus is not only useful for his contemporaries, but also that today is still in the "pockets of God," because his life experience and thought journey will be able to inspire, inspire enthusiasm to make life more meaningful than before. Imagine, in a biography that is illustrated not only a historical journey but the educational and imperative values ​​that are needed by anyone who always wants to achieve progress in his life. At the very least, his life experience can be used as a comparison in maturing thoughts, so as to be able to formulate more strategic and precise steps in facing the challenges of an increasingly complex era.