Are miracles compatible with science?
Lecture Summary:
Were past people so naïve that they accepted miracles unthinkingly?
No, they too acknowledged it as special – eg Vrajavasis asking after Govardhana lila.
They acknowledged the natural order as the normal order, but they were open to extraordinary forces superseding the natural order temporarily
Naturalism is rajasic knowledge, a product of the redefinition of knowledge from virtue (Socrates eg Euclid – give a coin to a student who asked “What will I get by studying geometry?”; Gita 13.12) to power (Francis Bacon)
God’s non-existence is not the conclusion of naturalism, but its presumption
Extremes –
Only supernatural explanations for everything in nature eg. black plague caused by evil spirits / Ayurveda is similar
Only natural explanations for everything in nature. Eg can’t explain origins
Natural phenomena affected by both natural and supernatural causes
Normally – the two are complementary eg billiards
Specially – the Lord or those empowered by the Lord intervene
Atheist’s story of the universe: Nothing exploded because of nothing and something came out which changed because of something and everything came out
Science studies nature, philosophy studies nature of nature
Eg. Don’t disrespect science, but don’t over-respect it
Eg. US President is not the CEO of the world
Abductive knowledge doesn’t have the same validity as inductive knowledge; so science’s claims about origins are nowhere near as credible as science’s theories about current functioning of the universe.
Science can’t observe or replicate the times when the Lord appeared
Science’s supernatural is also natural in Vedic philosophy eg Ghosts
Modern science acquires power by domination, whereas Vedic science acquires power by supplication. Though the two have different process, still they have same purpose – can manipulate matter, but can’t liberate us from it.
SP – Vedic technology is guru-shishya parampara
The potency of spiritual sound vibration is the ultimate miracle.