[Advaita-l] Object Oriented Programming & Advaita

Kuntimaddi Sadananda kuntimaddisada at yahoo.com
Wed Jun 24 06:21:23 EDT 2020


Mahadevanji - PraNAms
Thanks for the explanation. 50 years ago for my post-doctoral work I used to do the programming to solve multivariable non-linear problems using Fortran language.  I used to carry a big box of punched cards to feed into the IBM computers. There were no personal computers at that time. Only familiar with variables and arrays and of course loops with subroutines, etc.  
Hari Om!Sadananda
 

    On Wednesday, June 24, 2020, 12:47:57 PM GMT+5:30, Mahadevan Iyer <mahadevan.n.iyer at gmail.com> wrote:  
 
 Pranams Atman,
Programming is the implementation of logic to facilitate specific computing operations and functionality.

Just like a civil engineer, who develops a building with physical materials ( like bricks and cement ), a software programmer develops a software application. The difference is that, for a civil engineer, a world with all the physical objects are readily available to manipulate. A software developer needs to first create these objects from scratch, and then manipulate it to get the desired effects.
In Object Oriented Programing, we emulate the real world.

There are two fundamental concepts. Class & Objects.

Class : It is the blueprint. Here we define a set of aspects and functions. eg: potness.

Object: An object is an instance of the class.  An object has a name ( objective identity ) and form ( attributes ). eg: a pot.

>From one potness blueprint, many numbers of pots could be created. Also pots could be modified into different kinds of pots, as long as the fundamental potness aspect of it is retained.

Hence, we create many different classes,  ( and one class could also inherit functions from other classes ), and many different objects, which interact with each other to create a universe of possibilities.
The article says :
<em>
"Nataraja Guru (1895-1973) was an Indian philosopher who was a proponent of the Advaita Vedanta Philosophy, an Indian philosophical school based on the non-dualism of a supreme force that governs all of us. According to this philosophical school, whatever we see around, be it humans, animals, or plants, are manifestations of the Absolute (called Brahman in Sanskrit) and it's only positive affirmation is SAT-CHIT-ANAND (Vedanta philosophy uses negation and proof by contradiction to depict Brahman). This can be translated into the English language as existence, essence, and bliss (the implied meaning of bliss is "good" here). 
In a book titled The Unitive Philosophy published by DK Print World, New Delhi, he gives a mapping of SAT-CHIT-ANAND to Ontology, Epistemology, and Axiology (the three primary branches of philosophy). The Ontology, Epistemology, and Axiology are the theories of existence, knowledge, and values respectively. 
The following table gives possible mappings of SAT-CHIT-ANAND to other entities that mean more or less the same:+-------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| SAT                                 | CHIT                                  | ANAND                    |
+-------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| Existence                        | Essence                             | Bliss                          |
+-------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| Ontology                         | Epistemology                      | Axiology                    |
+-------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| Who am I ?                     | What can I know ?              | What should I do ?    |
+-------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| Structure                         | Behavior                             | Function                     |
+-------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+------------------------------------+
In Vedanta (the Advaita school) philosophy, the whole World is viewed as existence, essence, and bliss. From the table, we will map the problems in the software design world into the problem of structure, behavior, and function. Every system in the world can be viewed from the structural, behavioral, and functional perspectives. The canonical structure for a OOP programs is hierarchies. We will model the world we are interested in as hierarchies and process them in a canonical manner. "</em> 
Here, I think what the author implies is that; 
The description of Brahman with respect to jiva is that of SAT, CHIT and AANANDA. A Jiva realises his true nature to be that of SATCHITAANANDA, which is the result of his questions "WHO AM I ?", "WHAT CAN I KNOW", & "WHAT DO I WANT ?".
Similar to that, an Object in the programming universe should answer these 3 questions. Which results in defining its Structure, Behaviour & Function. 
Pardon me, if I was not able to explain it well.
Hari OM,
Mahadevan Iyer



On Wed, 24 Jun 2020 at 07:49, Kuntimaddi Sadananda <kuntimaddisada at yahoo.com> wrote:

Mahadevan - PraNAms
Can you summarize what it says in the language that we all can understand- otherwise one cannot make a head and tail out of this.
Hari Om!Sadananda
  


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