Synthesis of Science and Spirituality

Question: Thinkers all over the world are striving to synthesize science and spirituality. What can the Indian wisdom-tradition contribute to this attempted synthesis?

Answer: India is renowned globally as the land of profound and peerless spiritual wisdom. Here are a few quotes of eminent Western thinkers:

“Whenever I have read any part of the Vedas, I have felt that some unearthly and unknown light illuminated me. In the great teaching of the Vedas, there is no touch of sectarianism. It is of all ages, climbs, and nationalities and is the royal road for the attainment of the Great Knowledge”- Henry David Thoreau (American Thinker)

“The marvel of the Bhagavad-Gita is its truly beautiful revelation of life’s wisdom which enables philosophy to blossom into religion” – Hermann Hesse, German poet and novelist, Nobel Prize for literature in 1946

Lesser known are the contributions of Vedic India to the field of science. Here are a few quotes from famous Western scientists acknowledging the scientific glory of Vedic India:

Not only does the Vedic wisdom-tradition present profound, detailed knowledge about the spiritual realm, but it also delineates systematic, time-tested and unique techniques and technologies to experience that non-material realm which is otherwise out of the reach of Western science. Thus, the Vedic tradition offers a well-developed science of consciousness study and transformation, a science that that has no parallels in any wisdom-tradition. The potential of Vedic wisdom to bridge the yawning chasm that separates science and spirituality today is expressed by many leading thinkers, among whom is the world’s youngest Noble Laureate scientist:

“The Vedanta and the Sankhya hold the key to the laws of mind and thought process which are co-related to the Quantum Field, i.e. the operation and distribution of particles at atomic and molecular levels.” – Prof. Brian David Josephson Welsh physicist

Indeed, by uniting reason and faith in a higher-dimensional paradigm, Vedic-wisdom can heal the wound that has torn the human brain and the human heart far apart, and thus usher a new era of integrated, holistic development in world history.