Space is defined as three-dimensional, continuous expanse extending in all directions and containing all matter; variously thought of as boundless or indeterminately finite. The term matter is defined as a thing that has mass and occupies space. The building blocks of physical matter are described as atoms and the building blocks of life are described as cells. The structures called atoms and cells always require the dimension called space. As far as living things are concerned, they define their existence by separating from space that surrounds them as they need to constantly define and defend the boundaries of their identity called ‘SELF’ and prevent intrusion or invasion by ‘Non-Self’. Living things need ‘Living Space’. To some extent, the same rule may govern identity of celestial bodies for they need to maintain their originality taking advantage of ‘Space’ that surrounds them. They always exist in relationship with dimension called space. It is a dimension which the man finds difficult to manipulate. For example, I have no ability to create a miniature Solar System; I can easily manipulate the size of celestial bodies to make a miniature Solar System, but the problem comes with creating enough Space to hold the System together. As we explore ‘Outer Space’, man has to come to a better understanding of Living Space he needs to keep his existence.

Simon Cyrene

What it is to be a Substance? and What it is to Exist? We need to establish knowledge about the man on a firm basis and the information it provides must be tested for its accuracy and consistency with an external reality. We have to make the fundamental distinction between the living and the non-living matter. The scientific advances of the 19th and 20th centuries reinforced the materialistic position concerning the basic similarity of organic living and inorganic physical matter. The man is viewed as a product of natural evolution and is thought to be subject to the same laws of Physics and Chemistry or mechanistic principles.

We need a methodology to study philosophy and to understand philosophical statements. Logical Positivism, also known as Scientific Empiricism aims to clarify concepts in both everyday and scientific language. It describes analysis of language as the function of philosophy. This analysis of language and of concepts is important to understand questions of belief and ideology which affect what we think we ought to do individually and socially. I would use this method of ‘Applied Philosophy’ to analyze the concept of Spiritual Optics, the Spiritual Connection between Energy and Life. The Laws of Thermodynamics are important unifying principles of Biology. The First Law of Thermodynamics, also known as the Law of Conservation of Energy, states that Energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Spiritual Optics accounts for the capacity of photoreception and the term Spiritual Light refers to the creation of Light by God to begin the designing of Matter described by Physics and Chemistry. I may not be able to discover the Purpose in my Life if I exist in Spiritual Darkness.

WHOLE DUDE – WHOLE DESIGNER – WHOLE HAPPINESS:

The word happiness (noun) is about having, showing, or causing a feeling of great pleasure, contentment, and joy. The word glad implies a strong, exultant feeling of joy. Being cheerful requires a steady display of bright spirits or a condition of rejoicing. The term ‘bliss’ can be used to describe the perfect condition of total happiness and in the Indian language of Sanskrit the word “ANANDA” describes the perfect state of existence while experiencing pure happiness, joy, or bliss. It is easy to describe happiness while it could be difficult to find happiness. The reason is that of finding circumstances that favor or cause the feeling of happiness. The problem is, a man’s experience of happiness is affected by both external and internal conditions which could be beyond his control. The pursuit of happiness can be granted as a Constitutional Right and yet there is no guarantee that the man may find the happiness that he desires in his living experience. Arthur Schopenhauer states, “It is difficult to find happiness within oneself, but it is impossible to find it anywhere else.” While happiness is an inner experience, it is formulated by the external circumstances found in a given place, at a given time, and in a given environment. Happiness cannot be discovered and people cannot find happiness until the external circumstances favor the experience of happiness. If the circumstances that do not favor the experience of happiness cannot be changed, the man experiences stress and has to use coping mechanisms to deal with those unhappy circumstances. The ability to cope with unhappy circumstances cannot be described as happiness. I am not inclined to suggest that Schopenhauer teaches a ‘pessimistic’ view of human existence. He places emphasis on human will and he considers that pleasure is simply the absence of pain. Schopenhauer lived a solitary life from 1831 until his death in 1860 and for about 28 years of his life he was resentful at the world’s failure to recognize his genius. Fortunately for him, his works received international recognition during the final years of his life and provided him the experience of some happiness.

THE THEORY AND THE NATURE OF HUMAN WILL:

Will is the term used in philosophy and psychology to describe the faculty of mind that may play a role to stimulate motivation of purposeful activity. Will is a motivating force and is related to other words such as wish, desire, appetite, impulse,choice, purpose, and it involves converting a thought into action. Will also includes the power of controlling one’s own actions. The Theory of the Will and the Freedom of the Will have been variously interpreted. Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Descartes and Kant describe Will as personal faculty or function. Spinoza, Leibniz and Hume describe Will as the externalized result of the interaction of conflicting elements. Hobbes, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche describe Will as the manifestation of personality. The religious doctrine of Determinism does not affirm the reality of individual’s Will. Modern Psychology considers the concept of Will as unscientific and human actions are explained on the basis of unconscious motivation.

During 1813-14, Schopenhauer was introduced to the teachings of Indian antiquity – the Indian Philosophy of the Vedas and their interpretations in texts called the Upanishads. It gives me a very good reason to share his views about human existence and about man’s purpose in life. Schopenhauer views the entire world is the representation of a single Will of which our individual wills are phenomena. He uses the word will to describe desire, striving, wanting, effort, and urging. Man is the expression of insatiable will to life. It is through the will that mankind finds all their suffering. Desire for more is what causes this suffering. Schopenhauer claims that our world is driven by a continually dissatisfied will that is continually seeking satisfaction. He tries to account for the world in all its significant aspects. He considers the pain and striving of the human condition and the possibility of deliverance from it.

Schopenhauer agrees with Immanuel Kant about human perceptions of the world in which the man exists. But he equates Kant’s “thing-in-itself” with a blind impelling force manifesting itself in individuals as the “Will” to live. Schopenhauer’s most important work is “The World as Will and Idea” (1818-19) and a revised edition titled “The World as Will and Representation.”  His doctrine of the Primacy of the Will also emphasizes the irrationality of Will. The Will (“thing-in-itself”) is not perceivable as a presentation and it exists outside Time, Space, and Causality. He views inner experience as intuited through the Will as the most important form of experience. He tries to understand the relationship between human will and human body. The man can go beyond simple perception to know the ultimate reality called the “Will” through which man is compelled to act to express love, hate, desire, and rejection. Although the Will is entirely real, it is not free nor does it have any ultimate purpose. According to Schopenhauer, human will is all-consuming, pointless, and negative. There is also no escape from the Will as manifested in Nature; the expressions of Will are seen throughout the natural world as in the struggles of animals, the stirring of a seed, and the turning of a magnet. Schopenhauer comes to the conclusion that the purpose in life must be that of escaping the Will and its painful striving. The arts, especially the Art of Music with their “will-less perception” provide a temporary heaven. The only final escape is through the “turning of the Will against itself”, a mysterious process that results in Liberation by causing the sheer extinction of the Will. The Indian School of Thought called ‘The Karma – Yoga’ or ‘The Yoga of Action’ describes that the man has no choice and cannot avoid action and it recommends the renunciation of the desire to experience or tasting the fruits of one’s own actions.

In my view, Life cannot be explained on the basis of uncaused, self-caused, unguided, random, and spontaneous actions or events. If Life has a goal or purpose, it primarily involves the striving or desire towards the goal or purpose to maintain the condition called existence. The human organism comprises of trillions of individual, independent, autonomous units called cells that perform the living functions without any assistance from the imagination or thought of the man who lives in the world because of those living functions. Human existence cannot be explained on the basis of human will to exist if that human will is dependent upon human thought and imagination. The human being does experience desires and the man indeed takes action to respond to those desires. However, the experience called happiness depends upon a factor called ‘Contentment’. It is the factor which determines the degree of gratification that is needed for producing the effect called ‘Satisfaction’. The man can choose to set the bar called Contentment at a high or low-level and experience the effect called Satisfaction while seeking the gratification of his desires. There is no “Whole Happiness” until there is Satisfaction of the desires. To conquer the insatiable enemy called DESIRE, to achieve the effect called SATISFACTION, the man must overcome the organs of sense perception, the mind and intellect which are the sitting places of Desire. In my view, there is “Whole Happiness” if and only if the man fully recognizes the existence of his relationship, partnership, connection, and association with an external source of “Whole Happiness.” I describe Spirit and Soul as the material principle that establishes man’s relationship with the external source of Happiness and thereby sustains man’s desire to live or to have life. The man is a Spiritual Being who can use his Spirit and Soul to exercise control over his mind, intellect, and senses to manage the feelings, the cravings, the urge, and the inner striving that could manifest as Free Will and provide motivating power to translate thoughts into actions performed in the external world.

Whole Happiness, Pure Joy, and Perfect Bliss is a condition that demands a connection, a relationship, a partnership, and the association between man and his external source of support that formulates the conditions of human existence. In other words, the man finds the experience of Sunshine, Cheerfulness, and Happiness under the influence of an external source of Whole Happiness.

Simon Cyrene

What it is to be a Substance? and What it is to Exist? We need to establish knowledge about the man and the world on a firm basis and the information it provides must be tested for its accuracy and consistency with an external reality. We have to make the fundamental distinction between the living and the non-living matter. The scientific advances of the 19th and 20th centuries reinforced the materialistic position concerning the basic similarity of organic living and inorganic physical matter. The man is viewed as a product of natural evolution and is thought to be subject to the same laws of Physics and Chemistry or mechanistic principles.

We need a methodology to study philosophy and to understand philosophical statements. Logical Positivism, also known as Scientific Empiricism aims to clarify concepts in both everyday and scientific language. It describes analysis of language as the function of philosophy. This analysis of language and of concepts is important to understand questions of belief and ideology which affect what we think we ought to do individually and socially. I would use this method of ‘Applied Philosophy’ to analyze the concept of Spiritual Optics, the Spiritual Connection between Energy and Life. The Laws of Thermodynamics are important unifying principles of Biology. The First Law of Thermodynamics, also known as the Law of Conservation of Energy, states that Energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Spiritual Optics accounts for the capacity of photoreception and the term Spiritual Light refers to the creation of Light by God to begin the designing of Matter.

WHOLE DUDE – WHOLE DESIGNER – PHOTORECEPTION:

Photoreception is the biological response of an organism to stimulation by light. It is not the same as the Photoelectric Effect which non-living matter such as metals can exhibit. Among living things, the presence of consciousness is displayed by their biological responses to environmental stimuli. In plants the primary photoreceptive response is described as photosynthesis, a photobiological process which leads to the conversion of carbon dioxide and water to the essential nutritive elements of all life using the energy of the Sun. Photoreception is the mechanism by which animals receive sensory information transmitted by light of different qualities and wavelengths. Just like photosynthesis, the function called vision is a vital photobiological process that is required to support existence. At a fundamental level, the visual function is concerned with supporting existence. Visual clues assist in finding food, to avoid threats to existence, and help to achieve reproductive success. Almost all organisms derive their food directly, or indirectly from the organic compounds formed within plants during photosynthesis. The stored chemical energy in those organic compounds is essential for growth, repair, reproduction, movement, and other vital functions. In animals, the ability of photoreception is dependent upon the chemical energy provided by organic molecules called Adenosine triphosphate or ATP that is produced by intracellular organelles called mitochondria which use the chemical reaction called oxidation-reduction to oxidize the organic molecules created by plants using photosynthetic energy. Thus photoreception is the fundamental photobiological process that maintains life on planet Earth. If God is viewed as the Creator of Light, Photoreception could be stated as the most important feature of a Whole Design to establish life on planet Earth. For the man has the capacity called vision, he should be able to visualize the Whole Design used by the Whole Designer, or Whole Architect, or a Whole Artist. The man gained insights about photoreception and the photosynthetic process over several centuries of careful observations and scientific experimentation.

PHOTORECEPTION AND PLANT GROWTH:

It will be interesting to note that Aristotle, 384-322 B.C. Greek philosopher held the view that the plants grow by obtaining all the components from the soil.

Johannas (Jan) Baptista van Helmont (1580-1644), Belgian chemist, physiologist, and physician conducted experiments to show that water provided the growth material to plants. He studied gases, and identified carbon dioxide.

Stephen Hales studied plant growth, plant transpiration, and found that air is necessary to the food-making process in plants. He was the first to note the relationship between the process of plant growth and Sunlight.

Joseph Priestly, during 1774 studied gases and found that plants  produced a gas that he called “dephlogisticated” air. He stated that the most important equations for living things are mutually inverse. In terms of gases exchanged, the respiration of humans represented the reverse of what plants do. He had concluded that some of the mass of plants comes from the air.

Antoine Laurent Lavoisier had correctly identified oxygen and discovered the chemical composition of water. He had described the role of oxygen in respiration.

Jan Ingenhousz discovered that light plays a major role in the process by which green plants in Sunlight absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen. In 1779 he published his study on the chemical effects of plant physiology: “Experiments Upon Vegetables, Discovering Their Great Power of Purifying the Common Air in Sun-shine and of Injuring It in the Shade and at Night. He found that light is necessary for the restoration of air quality, only the green parts of the plant actually perform photosynthesis while all living parts of the plant damage the air by respiration.

Jean Senebier had published several papers on plant physiology: 1782 – Physico-Chemical Memoirs on the influence of Light; 1783 – Research on the Influence of Sunlight; 1788 – Experiments on the Action of Sunlight on Vegetation; and 1800 – Plant Physiology. He had established that Light is the agent responsible for the fixation of carbon dioxide and that oxygen is liberated only in the presence of carbon dioxide.

Nicolas Theodore de Saussure was a student of Jean Senebier. His published articles include; 1797 – Articles on carbonic acid and its formation in plant tissues; 1804 – Chemical Research on Vegetation; and 1808 – Biochemical Reactions in Plant Cells. He proved Stephen Hale’s theory that plants absorb water and carbon dioxide in Sunlight and increase in weight. He had also demonstrated that plants are dependent upon the absorption of nitrogen from soil.

Julius von Sachs during 1865 proved that Chlorophyll was not generally diffused in all the tissues of a plant but instead was confined to special bodies within the cell which were later named Chloroplasts. His research during 1862-64 proved that the starch present in the chloroplasts is a product that results from the absorption of carbon dioxide, and starch is the first visible product of Photosynthesis.

Richard Martin Willstatter studied the structure of Chlorophyll and other plant pigments. He found that the blood pigment Heme bears a structural resemblance to the Porphyrin compound found in Chlorophyll. He had also discovered the structure of many of the pigments of flowers and fruits.

Robert Hill made significant contribution to the understanding of the photosynthetic process. During 1937, he had established the concept of light-activated electron-transporting photosynthetic chain to release oxygen from water.

In this story on Photoreception, I must mention the name of Otto Heinrich Warburg who investigated Photosynthesis and demonstrated that the process consists of several distinct steps and found that a variety of molecules are involved in the photoreaction.

Melvin Elvis Calvin worked with Andrew Benson, and James Bassham to trace the path of carbon molecule during the entire process of Photosynthesis.

PHOTORECEPTION – VISION:

The photochemical events in vision involve the protein Opsin and the isomers of Retinal. Nerve impulses are generated by changes in the shape of proteins. The activation of visual pigment called Rhodopsin causes the nerve impulse. The photoreceptor cells of eye absorb light through a layer of pigment and convert it  into a stimulus directed toward the nervous system where it is recognized. The pigment responsible for nerve excitation consists of the chemical compound Chromophore which absorbs light, and a protein complex known as Opsin. The Chromophore contained in all visual pigments is nearly identical. Variations in the range of wavelength reception by different pigments are the result of differences in the structure of animal proteins. To describe very briefly, the process of photo or light reception involves the conversion of the light stimulus into a nerve response which is caused by changes in the electrochemical equilibrium of cell membranes.

Photoreception is an intelligent function that leads to immanent actions in which the living thing senses, grows, and develops performing those actions. Photoreception in living things is unlike the mechanical action performed by a camera made by man. Photoreception is created to synchronize the existence of the two major systems of life; plants and animals perform their living functions to complement the functions and actions of each other. Hence Photoreception could be described as the spiritual basis for all kinds of existence on planet Earth.

Who is the Artist? Who is the Designer?

No single function can explain the coloration of living things. We need a comprehensive theory that predicts the lines and patterns of coloration of plants and animals. An artist’s palette containing only three properly chosen colors is entirely adequate under most circumstances to produce the various visual effects of color that is observed. The optical mechanisms involved in the production of color are complex. Coloration is a dynamic and complex characteristic and the term must be clearly distinguished from the term ‘color’ which only refers to the spectral qualities of emitted or reflected light. It is apparent that plants, and animals have no cognitive abilities to produce the coloration by which they are recognized. However, the coloration displayed gives us a clue about the nature of the “Whole Artist” who could be using imagination, has feelings for the forms created and seeks satisfaction from the visual effects that he produced.

If a man has the ability called visual perception, he must use the ability to visualize the “Whole Artist” who is at work. I ask my readers to give attention to the three dimensions of Color Perception. These are, 1. The Designer or the Artist, 2. The Object of Perception, and 3. The visual capacity of the Viewer.

Simon Cyrene

Two events in the 1960s underlined the urgent need to restructure and revitalise India’s Intelligence system: the 1962 war against China, and the one against Pakistan in 1965, both shocking instances of failures in information gathering. The officer who would be given charge of this task was R.N. Kao—someone as unlike romanticised ideals of spies in films and novels as possible.

The founder-chief of India’s Research and Analysis Wing lived and operated from the shadows. Understated and gentlemanly, he may not have looked the part, but Kao undoubtedly put Indian Intelligence on the world map. In this riveting book, authors Anusha Nandakumar and Sandeep Saket trace the roots of modern Indian espionage, and describe the newly formed R&AW’s integral role in the liberation of Bangladesh.

Kao had one goal, to build an Intelligence-gathering agency that would ensure the security and integrity of India. And eventually, the legend of the ‘Kaoboys’—the nickname given to the team he built—would spread far and wide. This is the compelling tale of how it started; of covert operations, courage and quick thinking; and of how wars are won as much off the battlefield as on it.

Kao also played an integral role in setting up the National Security Guard (NSG), an elite force that has proved invaluable in dealing with hijackings and terrorist attacks. Along with B.N. Mullick, he helped form the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and the Aviation Research Centre (ARC). In 1963, Kao set up and served as the first head of the Aviation Research Centre (ARC)  with the US assistance. Kao orchestrated the defence and intelligence cooperation between India and the US after 1962.

Spymaster RN Kao: Far Cry From James Bond, Who Helped Liberate Bangladesh & Put R&AW on World Map

Authors Anusha Nandakumar and Sandeep Saket, in their book ‘The War That Made R&AW’, traces the roots of Indian espionage and establishment of R&AW in 1968.

True to its name, the book ‘The War That Made R&AW’ authored by Anusha Nandakumar and Sandeep Saket, takes us on a voyage through the tumultuous and uncertain times leading up to the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, which tested the tenacity of the newly formed R&AW, India’s External Intelligence Agency, and helped put it on the world map as a name to reckon with.

The book sheds light on the work of the brave men who fought in the shadowy realm of intelligence and espionage, an often-neglected subject in Indian non-fiction as first-person accounts are hard to come by.

The authors also narrate the story of Rameshwar Nath Kao, the father of modern Indian espionage, who helped India liberate Bangladesh, and also gives detailed and vivid accounts of several covert operations and off-the-battlefield wars that the R&AW had to win in the past to save the country from foreign threats.

Tracing the history of Indian espionage, the authors show why Kao is such a pivotal figure in R&AW.

“Kao was a visionary who single handedly put Indian intelligence on the world map. It is said that he was a man of few words and someone who preferred to let his work speak for him,” the authors say.

A far cry from the flamboyant James Bond, Kao lived by the maxim: ‘The life of a spy is to know and not be known.’

The narrative style of the book makes it an easy and captivating read. It runs as interestingly as a novel or a film, with many dramatic moments that keep the readers hooked.

Filled with several anecdotes, the book brings history to life with vivid details, and makes unknown individuals seem familiar and real.

For example, the chapter ‘Kaoboys’, which talks about Kao putting together his core team and bringing R&AW to life and building it from scratch, contains several anecdotes of the team members casually joking, which adds life and colour to the story, making spies more human.

KAO’S TALES OF BRAVERY

At the heart of the storytelling is the handsome, incorruptible, sophisticated and intellectual Kao, shy and humble hero of Indian espionage. The book recounts many tales of his intelligence and bravery.

In one such retelling, Count Alexandre de Marenches — former head of the French External Intelligence Agency, or SDECE (Service For External Documentation And Counter-Intelligence, as it was then known) — names Kao as one of the ‘five great intelligence chiefs of the 1970s’.

“What a fascinating mix of physical and mental elegance! What accomplishments! What friendships! And, yet so shy of talking about himself, his accomplishments and his friends,” the Count’s remarks on Kao.

Kao held the position of secretary (research) in the Cabinet Secretariat of the Government of India, and his first assignment, talked about in the first chapter ‘The Intelligencer’, was the Kashmir Princess probe in 1955, where a chartered Air India plane named ‘Kashmir Princess’ was sabotaged in hopes of assassinating the then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, who fortunately did not board the flight.

Kao worked the case so efficiently that to show his appreciation, Enlai awarded Kao with his coveted personal seal, an honour reserved for the most deserving public servants in the Chinese republic.

The second assignment handled by Kao was the setting up of an intelligence agency in Ghana in 1958.

According to the book, “Kao left for Ghana in February 1959. Operating out of Accra, the nation’s capital, he worked there for a year.”

“To begin with, he did not even have an office table, let alone qualified personnel. He had to set everything up from scratch, building up the basic framework and infrastructure of the country’s intelligence apparatus. But the Ghanaians assigned to Kao at Accra were a cheerful lot. They were eager to learn and extremely devoted to Nkrumah and their country,” it adds.

“After a year of dedicated hard work, despite minimal funds and the complete absence of a trained workforce, Kao succeeded in establishing the Foreign Service Research Bureau (FSRB), Ghana’s external and internal intelligence agency. The FSRB was the first foray made by an Indian intelligence officer at a global level.”

The book says Kao saw his “stint in Ghana as an opportunity to use his newly developed methodology and international experience in intelligence and counter-intelligence. This assignment would give him much-valued experience”.

CONTRIBUTION TO 1971 LIBERATION WAR

The chapter indicates that these two assignments tested Kao’s mettle and grit, and helped mould the man, who would shape the future of intelligence-gathering in India.

Kao took over as the director of R&AW in 1968 after then prime minister Indira Gandhi split the Intelligence Bureau to create an intelligence wing solely dedicated to international and external threats.

His aim was singular: to create an intelligence agency capable of playing at the same level as other foreign intelligence agencies of the leading powers to ensure the safety and security of the nation.

The agency’s efficiency and indomitable spirit came to the spotlight during the Bangladesh Liberation War.

From the training of Bangladeshi freedom fighter group Mukti Bahini, getting most of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s close aides out of the country before the Pakistani Army cracked down on them to gathering and passing crucial intelligence to the departments concerned, R&AW performed splendidly.

The book contains an epigraph from the famous book ‘The Art of War’ by Sun Tzu that says: “The reason the enlightened prince and the wise general conquer the enemy whenever they move and their achievements surpass those of ordinary men, is foreknowledge.”

One cannot imagine a more apt and suitable quote to use as an epigraph for this book. It summarises the entire point of intelligence-gathering in one single line.

It also gives an apt description of the book as it is filled with the exciting story of R&AW, its conception and creation, to it being transformed into a force respected by its counterparts from different countries.

The literary skills of the authors combined with the historical accounts make the book a great read. Its evocative style, narrative quality, and the wonderful, and humble hero at the heart of the story will undoubtedly appeal to the readers.