VEDANTA  AND HUMAN NATURE

Science provides information which man can use or misuse. Man is unique among organisms in this world in that he has the discretionary power of choosing the right or wrong path of action. Science and technology are mere tools which man chooses for whatever end he likes to achieve. However to arrive at a conscientious  decision, human nature has to get civilized and man must know himself thoroughly.The wrong steps man takes are due only to the aberrations in human behavior , owing to a breakdown in the moral value system. Human nature and values are all out of step. Science is not responsible for such a state of affairs in society, but man himself is to be blamed. As Einstein stated "science can denature plutonium, but it cannot denature evil in the heart of man".

Ancient sages of India embarked on a mission to understand human nature, and the science they developed for the emancipation of human mind is Vedanta, the science of human possibilities. Vedanta is a system of philosophy, a religion and a science all three combined . As a philosophy it reveals the inner core of man as Atman, and paves the way for the realization or the experience of absolute Reality, Brahman. It gives a unified vision of the universe, at the same time revealing the relationship between individual beings and the absolute Reality. As a religion it provides the personal aspect of God or Iswara, for the ordinary mortal to love and worship. However, religion according to Vedanta, is the super sensual, transcendental knowledge of the Absolute. It is to be emphasized, at the same time, that this knowledge is not a supernatural revelation. As a science, Vedanta gives valuable insights into the phenomena of cosmology, creation, evolution and the facts of human nature and practical ways of further evolution of human species by the development of the positives and the degeneration of the negatives of human mind. Vedanta gives a practical methodology for the ethical and moral emancipation of the human species, Homo sapiens.