Role of Science in spirituality

[dattaswami]

Science plays a very important role in the spiritual knowledge. Science is the logical analysis, which is present in the analysis of this world as well as in the analysis of the divine knowledge. In fact, sages have analyzed the items of the creation with logic and finally concluded that no item is God. In fact there is no direct way to indicate God. The only way leftover is the elimination of all items of the creation through logical analysis as said in the Veda (Neti neti). Thus the entire spiritual knowledge is only full of science because you cannot analyse God who is beyond creation. Thus Jnana Yoga, which is the identification of the Lord in human form, requires the elimination of fraud human incarnations through logical analysis. The Gita says that the constant association of spiritual knowledge (Jnana) with science (vijnana) always continues (Jnanam teham savijnanam, Jnanavijnana triptama).

The knowledge ends when the Lord in human form is recognized. Upto this point there is every possibility of slipping and therefore science should be in your hand like a glowing torch. When you reach the house, the torch is put off and now the next step is to please the Lord in human form. You require blind love and blind faith in Him. Therefore logical analysis should be shut down because the Lord is beyond logic. From this point onwards, devotion (Bhakti) starts. For example, in selecting a girl for marriage, you can examine several alliances with logical analysis. But once you marry a girl, you should not continue to look for new alliances and go on continuing with logical analysis. Devotion finally leads to service. In both the stages of devotion and service, scientific analysis must stop.

Thus science is the torch that helps you examine yourself and conclude that you are not already God [the misinterpreted Advaita philosophy erroneously claims that each individual is God already]. Science also acts as a torch in detecting the true path to reach the Lord. Science or Vijnana is also called as Buddhi or Vijnanamaya Kosha. This is the driver who leads you in your car up to the place of God. Therefore the Gita starts with this driver (Buddhi Yoga). This torchlight is also useful to eliminate the wrong house. That means you can distinguish the real human form of God from other fraud incarnations. But once you enter the house after deciding that it is the correct house, there is no need of the torch because the house is full of lights. The Sadguru is full of knowledge and logical analysis.

Apart from such excellent participation in the spiritual knowledge, science also helps you to earn your livelihood. Earning one’s livelihood is a part and parcel of the Lord’s work. But science should not divert you to earning money without limits and leading you to hell due to over enjoyment. In this context, science, knowledge or the part of Veda related to the world, is condemned by the Gita (Vedavadaratah).

Even the attainment of the self by eliminating the gross body and the subtle body is done by logical analysis, which is science. With the help of science, Yajna (sacrifice) becomes possible. Yajna means cooking food and offering it to the divine preacher and devotees along with money as Guru Dakshina. To earn money, scientific work is required. This is stated in the Veda (Vijnanam Yajnam Tanute Karmani). The Gita also says that God gives the Veda or knowledge. Knowledge leads to work and sacrifice is the result of the work (Karma Brahmodbhavam). Thus science is required even in the sacrifice of work and the sacrifice of the fruit of work. It forms the very foundation of the entire spiritual knowledge. Science leading to over enjoyment should be cut down and this is proved by the present environmental pollution. It is going to severely harm humanity, which is the result of over enjoyments by over-application of science. Such science is condemned by the Lord (Traigunyavishayah—Gita). Here science means knowledge and the Veda also means knowledge. Therefore here the Veda refers to science, which is used to earn money.

However, science shuts its mouth before the supernatural human incarnation. A scientist need not be an atheist. He should either try to explain the miracles of a Godly man or he should accept the theory of miracles preached by the Godman. Instead of this, if a scientist rejects the miracles as mere magic tricks, he is not open-minded. He is another specimen of conservatism of science-religion [Religions are commonly seen to be conservative. A scientist must be open-minded. If he is not open-minded then he is as good as a religious follower. He can be called as the follower of the religion called science]. When some sacred ash is produced by a miracle, you cannot condemn it by saying that the same ash can be produced by some magic trick. There may be two different paths of production of the same thing. If you can generate it by one path, it does not mean that the second path to generate the same thing does not exist.

[socrat44]

Role of Science in spirituality
"If He (God) understands Maths and Physics then He exists"
/ Frank Tipler/

[dattaswami]

Role of Science in spirituality
"If He (God) understands Maths and Physics then He exists"
/ Frank Tipler/

God comes to this mainly to preach spiritual knowledge. For preaching maths, physics etc already professors are there in this world in plently. God only given science to the humanity. The discoveries made by scientists are inspired by the omniscient God for the sake of the welfare of the world. God’s ultimate aim is only to help the world. He has no interest in projecting Himself as the real source of the discovery. God is the ultimate source of the Veda, which is primary spiritual scripture. He is also the source of the Śāstra, which is the secondary scripture that enables the correct interpretation of the Veda. Finally, He is also the source of vijñānam or science (Vedāḥ śāstrāṇi vijñānam, etat sarvaṃ Janārdanāt). The scientist is only a medium to convey that discovery to the world.

For God, it is immaterial whether the medium is a theist or an atheist. A theistic scientist recognizes the importance of God in his discovery, whereas an atheistic scientist does not recognize God at all. God is not bothered about receiving credit as the original source of the discovery. Einstein and Newton discovered very prominent concepts in science and acknowledged God as the source of their discoveries. But an atheist can also make discoveries. In fact, he can even become a Human Incarnation when he is fighting against injustice in an atheistic region. The atheist does not know that God entered into him to oppose the injustice. But God does not care for the credit and His aim is only to oppose the injustice and ensure the victory of justice.

Once a scientist was unable to solve a problem in his research and was so frustrated that he went into a forest to commit suicide. He was a strong devotee of Shri Satya Sai Baba. Shri Satya Sai appeared before him and suggested a new formula, which could solve that complicated problem. This incident is mentioned in the life history of Shri Satya Sai.

[Iwannaplato]

Science plays a very important role in the spiritual

This was published online before 2010.