“That Thou Art: The Unknown Dimensions” is a lecture exploring humanity’s timeless quest to understand the universe, reality, consciousness, and the nature of the Self. The lecture examines the relationship between modern science, philosophy, and spiritual inquiry, recognising that while science has expanded our understanding of the physical world through increasing specialisation, questions of ultimate reality, meaning, consciousness, and existence continue to remain open.
The lecture will draw upon both Western and Indian philosophical traditions, referring to thinkers and sages ranging from the ancient Greeks to modern philosophers, and from Kapila, Patanjali and Yajnavalkya to the Upanishadic sages, Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo. At its heart is the Vedantic understanding of the relationship between Atman, the Self, and Brahman, the ultimate reality, reflected in the Upanishadic declaration “Tat Tvam Asi” — “That Thou Art.” The discussion will also explore Yoga as a method of investigating consciousness and the inner dimensions of human experience, going beyond intellectual enquiry to include disciplined spiritual exploration. The lecture ultimately invites a dialogue between science, philosophy and spirituality, raising a fundamental question: while we seek to understand the universe, who is the one who seeks to know it? The search for the universe and the search for the Self may, in the end, be one journey towards the same unknown reality.
Indu Kumar Pande was born in Nainital on 4 December 1949 and completed his schooling there before graduating from D.S.B. Government Degree College, Nainital. He obtained a Master’s degree in Physics from the University of Roorkee in 1969 and taught Physics at Almora Postgraduate College from 1970 to 1972.
He joined the Indian Revenue Service in 1972 and the Indian Administrative Service in 1975. He served in Uttar Pradesh until 2000 and subsequently moved to Uttarakhand, where he settled. He retired as Chief Secretary, Government of Uttarakhand, in December 2009.
Alongside his career in public administration, Pande has maintained a longstanding interest in literature, Indian philosophy and spirituality. He is the author of Divija, a collection of poetry in Hindi and Urdu with English translations. His second book, That Thou Art: The Unknown Dimensions, explores the philosophical traditions of Yoga and Vedanta through the medium of fiction and brings ancient Indian thought into a contemporary and accessible form.
His diverse journey through Physics, teaching, public administration, poetry and Indian philosophy gives him a distinctive perspective on the relationship between the rational, creative and spiritual dimensions of human experience.