Conceiving the Inconceivable Part 1: A Scientific Commentary on Vedanta Sutras

Enlightenment in the West was predicated on the idea that the questions of the soul and God cannot be answered through reason, and therefore, we must stop asking such questions. Vedanta arrived at a different conclusion 500 years ago in the Acintyabhedabheda philosophy of Sri Chaitanya: the questions of the soul and God cannot be answered through reason, and therefore, we must answer them through devotion. The rejection of the ultimate questions, or the rejection of their rational understanding, are both unsatisfactory, and this commentary on Vedanta Sutra arises out of that dissatisfaction.

It traces the problem to the nature of language: words have multiple meanings, but they cannot be applied simultaneously. Each type of meaning is instead revealed in a different context. The problem of irrationality is the contradiction between language and logic: linguistic truth is contextual, and logical truth is universal. To solve this problem, we need a modal conception of reality in which everything exists as a combination of three modes (called by various names in Vedic philosophy), but one of these modes is dominant at one time, place, or circumstance, while the others are subordinated. Logic is the change in mode priorities, and contradictory claims can be true, although not simultaneously.

Thus, God, matter, and soul, are three modes, called puru