Theos-Talk Archives (February 2006 Message tt00000)

Science and Religion are both after the Truth. That is, pure
science and pure religion. 

Religion, specially the Vendanta philosophy of Hinduism has 
proclaimed eons ago (and at least 7,000 years ago in the 
researched history of mankind), that the Truth is Brahman or Tat. 
This Brahman or Tat is both energy and intelligence that manifests 
as the universe and all its contents. 

Modern science is already on the way towards a unified theory of 
everything, and only needs to account for how intelligence fits 
into this theory.

So, pure science and pure religion are both good and necessary 
for mankind's evolution towards the Truth.

Pure science, since it is after the Truth, cannot bother about the 
repercussions of its revelations. Pure religion, in its essence, 
is also not bothered about the acceptance or otherwise of the 
Truth it proclaims. While pure science chooses a materialistic 
path to the Truth, pure religion chooses a spiritual path.

Then why is the clash and strife between religion and science? 
Actually, the clash and strife is not between pure science and 
pure religion, but between applied science and applied religion. 
To be precise, while this clash and strife is rampant in the case 
of Semitic religions, it is far less marked in the case of Indian 
religions, which from their origins have fostered the growth of 
science. 

For example, the four Upa-Vedas of Hinduism fostered the earliest 
versions of science and art known to mankind: Ayurveda, which is 
one of the current international buzzwords, is the science of 
health. Dhanur veda is the science of weapons and the military. 
Artha Shastra is political science. And Gandharva veda is the 
science of music. Thus science has been a way of life and, along 
with the six darshanas (philosopies) of Hinduism, an accepted path 
to the Truth in the Indian culture, which is why the name Sanatana 
Dharma (dharma that is universal), that unfortunately carries the 
misnomer Hinduism as its name today.

So the clash is between the applied sciences and applied religions 
and among the applied religions themselves. Both of them are bad, 
to a lesser or a greater extent, and delay the spiritual progress 
of mankind.

Technology, as the face of applied science, breeds desire in 
common man and greed in the powerful, and in both cases, blunts 
spirituality in man. As Buddha said, desire is the cause of all 
miseries in the world. Since science is after all for the welfare 
of mankind, why don't the countries pool their technological 
resources and strive to establish a hunger-free and disease-free 
mankind in all parts of the world, irrespective of creed and 
color, which are supposedly the bane of applied religions? It is 
not happening because of the greed (for wealth and power) of the 
key players--nations, politicians, corporate houses and people 
who matter.

Dogma and rituals, as the face of applied religions, divide 
mankind even more than the applied sciences. They pamper the ego 
of their followers: my god and my path are better than yours, or 
worse, my god needs me to convert you to my path or kill you.

When the followers of applied religions unite with mutual 
understanding, tolerance and help, then will be the time when 
technology will be cleansed of its ill-effects. But this is not 
going to happen in the foreseeable future, so the drama of strife 
goes on, on the stage of this holy earth.

Regards,
saidevo
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