SCIENCE AND RELIGION: EMERGENCE OF A CONFLICT

    The science that Indian sages developed through the inputs of wisdom acquired through  super-sensory experiences during meditation, for the further evolution and spiritual emancipation of mankind, is Vedānta enshrined in the Upanishads. Science is any system of systematic knowledge acquired through observation, inference and often intuition which are verifiable through experimentation.  Both the words ‘Veda’ and ‘Science’ mean knowledge. ‘Veda’ is derived from the root word ‘Vid’ meaning ‘to know’, so also the root word of ‘Science’ is ‘Scientia’, the Greek word meaning knowledge. However, modern science is the knowledge of physical matter acquired through sensory perception compartmentalized in various sections such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Neurology. It has to be remembered that these physical sciences of today were part of the natural philosophy until 17^th century C.E. when it was distinguished into Physics and Metaphysics by Descartes. Then started the great divide and distrust between these two branches of knowledge as evidenced by the endless conflicts between religion and science that was the hallmark of Western World history of the middle ages and thereafter.

    The triumph of the physical sciences in recent centuries, especially in the last one hundred and fifty years, is the victory of the spirit of inquiry over untested beliefs, prejudices and dogma. This unprecedented success of physical sciences heralded episodes of conflicts and clashes between science and its spirit of inquiry and forces of prejudice and blind belief in the form of religious dogmas. These unfortunate episodes are special features of history, especially of modern European region. Religion which reigned supreme during the period of pre-scientific era lost its authority and prestige and got almost discredited either as a ‘dangerous error’ or a ‘harmless illusion’. By the end of nineteenth century C.E. religion almost made an exit in the West. This triumph of science, the spirit of free inquiry and the acquisition of verified knowledge almost is an echo of what the Upanishad sages stated centuries ago. “Truth alone triumphs, not untruth” (Mundakopanishad, 3.1.6). Swami Vivekānanda traced the recurring conflicts of science and religion in the West to the absence of rational and experimental approach; in other words, the absence of scientific spirit in understanding and experiencing religion by the scientists and science by the religious bigots.

THE INDIAN POSITION

     Fortunately for India such conflicts and confusions never occurred because the ancient seers approached religion as well as science in an objective and dispassionate manner. Their spiritual as well as secular investigations aimed only at discovering the truth. They hardly had any interest in any dogmas or fantasies and prejudices either scientific or religious. They considered the secular as well as spiritual sciences as two sides of one coin, both complementing each other. Ancient sages of India through their investigations found out that man lives and functions in two fields, the external and the internal. Human life is the whole range of experiences from both these worlds. The sages realized that the study of one of these worlds gave only a partial picture of the whole phenomenon. They also knew that the result of investigations of one aspect of life is also relevant in understanding the other aspect. Swami Vivekānanda has beautifully elaborated this concept thus: “There are two worlds, the microcosm and the macrocosm, the internal and the external. We get truth from both of these by means of experience. The truth gathered from internal experiences is psychology, metaphysics and religion; from external experiences, the physical sciences. Now a perfect truth should be in harmony with experience in both these worlds. The microcosm must bear testimony to the macrocosm and the macrocosm to the microcosm; physical truth must have its counterpart in the internal world, and the internal world must have its verification outside” (Complete Works, Vol II, p. 432). The sages and thinkers of ancient India studied human being in depth--his physical life, his nature as revealed by his consciousness, his thoughts, emotions and his ego in relation to the physical universe that surrounds him.

     Indian culture, philosophy and religion are all based on the supreme vision of the Vedic sages who accepted both the departments of science namely one dealing with the external world which is within the realm of sensory perception and the internal world which is in the realm of super sensory perception. Upanishad calls these sciences Apara vidyā and Para vidyā respectively. (Vidyā means science). Apara vidyā is ordinary science, what we call physical science, and para vidyā is what is called spiritual science. Apara vidyā or physical science operates at the sensory level dealing with objects. In Vedānta these are the vishayas whereas para vidyā or science of spirituality operates at super sensory level and deals with the perceiver of the objects. This perceiver in Vedānta is known as vishayi. The science that is revealed in the Upanishad is a comprehensive understanding of the vishaya and the vishayi. That is the whole of science that is there to be learned or realized. In India the spiritual science was never against the physical sciences, rather the former was a continuation of the latter. The continuation of these departments of science results in the synthesis of what is called Brahma Vidyā, the totality of reality. Upanishads declare that Brahmavidyā is ‘the basis of every other science’ (sarva vidyā pratishtha).  Upanishads deal with Brahmavidyā or Atmavidyā or the science of self. Brahman is the Self of the universe, and the universe itself is the manifestation of Brahman. Brahman deals with the totality of reality observed from outside whereas Ᾱtman refers to the reality seen from inside. The nature of Ᾱtman and Brahman is pure consciousness. Upanishad seers realized that “this Ᾱtman and that Brahman are one” . ("Tat Tvam Asi" , Chandogya Upanishad).