J C Bose on Lack of Scientific Resources

(This text is a part of the lecture by Sir J C Bose at Bangla Sahitya Parishad, Kolkata.)

“It is always heard that inventions are impossible due to a lack of laboratories equipped with appropriately specialized equipment. However, this is true to a large extent, but this is not the complete truth. If this were true, then in other countries where millions of money have been spent on laboratories, new principles would be discovered every day. But no such news is heard. We have a lot of inconveniences, that’s right, but what is the use of being envious of the luxuries of others? Remove depression, forget your weakness, and believe that these are our true circumstances. India is our land of action. We have to do our duty. He, who has lost his masculinity, can grieve in vain.

We forget that the real laboratory is inside our brain most of the time. 

Sir J C Bose

There are more problems with experimentation other than the problem of the laboratory. We forget that the real laboratory is inside our brain most of the time. Many experiments have been tested in many countries. Sadhana is needed to keep the insight bright. It becomes weak in no time. The outer preparation does not have any value, where there is no unshakable concentration. The mind always runs only towards the outside. One, who gets too mad to be established in the midst of ten people more than he seeks the truth, does not see the truth. One, who does not have enough faith in the truth, cannot bear every misery with patience and loses his aim to gain fame quickly. For those who have such fickleness, the path of accomplishment is not for them. But for those who want to know the truth, the lack of equipment is not the real absence. The reason for this is that the lotus of Goddess Saraswati is pure white, it is not golden. It is a heart-shaped lotus.”

-Sir. J. C. Bose