Everything is live- J C Bose

In his talk at the founding of the Bose Institute in Kolkotta on 30 Nov 1917, he observed,

“… ( he was) amazed to find the boundary lines ( between physics and physiology) vanishing and points of contact emerge between the realms of the living and the non-living….A universal reaction seemed to bring together metal, plant and animal under a common law. They all exhibited the same phenomena of fatigue and depression together with possibilities of recovery and exaltation…with great hope I announced my results before the Royal Society ( in London), - results demonstrated by experiment. But the physiologists present advised me, after my address, to confine myself to physical investigations…rather than encroach on their preserve “(to lay claims to discovery, theorization and science unrelated to any thought of the Divine and unity in creation). The UK scientist little realized that most of the discoveries whether in the East or in the West were due to flashes of new thoughts. Indian tradition acknowledges that the truth is immanent everywhere and through Tapas or intense contemplation, that truth can be apprehended. The western thought entirely depends upon experiment. Apples always fall to the ground from the tree . None before Newton thought that it was due to the gravity of the earth and that two masses always attract one another. This idea did not occur to all the thousands of scientists in the west until Newton ennunciated it but here in India, centuries before there was the theory of gravitation.

Sir J C Bose founded the Bose Research Institute in the Year 1917 to carry forward his researches and also enthuse a number of spirited young Indians to take to research. He gave several talks in India and in the UK to learned audiences about his works and discoveries and especially to propagate the Indian thought that matter and consciousness, inanimate and animate beings are all expression of the unity of life and immanence of the divine everywhere. While delivering a talk at the founding of the Banaras Hindu university (4 Feb 1916) he made a compelling case for Indian Universities to be centers of research and learning and production of knowledge. He opined that unless India produces knowledge through research in laboratories by hundreds and thousands of Indians, we would not be able to reach the heights in the comity of nations, that is due to a country with the world’s longest civilization and traditions of science and technology and culture that foster the brotherhood of all human beings and unity of matter and life in the universe.