As science keeps people away from God can scientists be considered reincarnations of demons?

Answer Podcast

So, scientists often keep us away from reality. They don’t allow people to go towards God.
So, might the scientists be demons in a previous life who have now become scientists? See, first of all, it’s not at all healthy for us to judge people based on their previous life. Because we are meant to function in this life based on how people are acting in this life. If we start attributing everything to previous life, where will it stop? If a king, if a thief robs a person, a citizen, the citizen goes to the king.
And the king says, you are robbed because of your past life karma. If a baby is crying, should the mother think baby is crying because of past life karma? No, we, when we are dealing with people, we shouldn’t get into, we shouldn’t judge people based on their past life karma. That’s the first thing.
We should simply respond to them based on how they are acting. And it is not that scientists in general are atheistic. See, science, especially modern science, uses a particular methodology for understanding reality.
And that methodology is that science looks for material explanations for material phenomena. And because it looks for material explanations for material phenomena, science inherently does not talk about anything non-material. So, for example, when Newton saw the fruit falling, you know, Newton himself believed in God.
But at that time, what made the fruit fall? He could have said it is God, which is true ultimately. But he was looking for a material mechanism to explain that. So, and he came up with gravity.
So, science has a particular focus. It looks for material explanations for material phenomena. It is simply a tool for acquiring knowledge.
Now, unfortunately, over the centuries, as science has acquired more and more knowledge, some materialistic people, especially some atheistic people, they have misappropriated science. And then they use it, use science to propagate atheism. So, I mean, science is a tool for acquiring knowledge.
Science in itself does not say anything about God, because science looks for material explanations for material phenomena. And God is a non-material reality. But science is sometimes misappropriated by atheists to promote their own ideology.
But science in itself does not make any statements about God. It just does not deal with God directly. Now, the important thing for us when we are dealing with scientists is that we are not meant to demonize people.
Yes, Shrila Prabhupada, and often he would speak strongly against scientists. But if you look carefully, his critique was against their atheism. There’s one conversation on LA Beach where he had, he says, we are not against the knowing spirit of scientists.
We are against their atheism. So, when some scientists extrapolate from valid scientific findings to extra scientific extrapolations, and they make statements about the non-existence of God, that is where our problem comes with. So, now why do they do this? You know, quite often, people have certain experiences with certain religions.
Now, if you look at some of the atheistic scientists, and you look at what kind of religion they experience, they experience some irrationality, some superstition, some religious violence. You know, it is quite possible that if we had gone through those experiences, we might also have become atheistic. So, people make choices based on their intentions, also on their circumstances.
So, we should give people the benefit of doubt. It’s not that we are against science, we are for God. And science as a tool can be used to point towards God, it can be used to point away from God.
So, our focus should be on the evidence that points towards God. But we don’t demonize any particular people. Recognize that today science has a lot of influence, scientists are intelligent people in their own right.
And if science is understood properly, it can be used as a tool to help people to point towards God. Science cannot decisively point towards God, but it can lead an inference towards God. So, the important thing is, we don’t position science and God as competitors.
Actually, God is the foundation of science. God is not an explanatory alternative to science. God is the explanatory foundation for science.
Because science also operates on faith. How is that? The faith is when Newton saw the fruit falling. He asked, what made this fruit fall? His answer, finding the answer of gravity, that is his brilliance.
But the very asking the question, what makes this fruit fall? That means that he is assuming that things don’t happen by chance, that there is some order over there. Now, where does this order come from? So, science can explain nature, but the explainability of nature requires an explanation. And that explanation for the explainability of nature, that is God.
So, science and God are not competitors. God is the foundation for what science can explain. And if we position science and God as competitors, unnecessarily we are creating tension.
So, what we need to do is, science can give material explanation for material phenomena, but the explainability of material phenomena, that comes from God. And if we present it properly to scientific people, without being value judgmental, then many scientific people also appreciate this point. And they can also use their intelligence for exploring beyond matter and moving closer to God.
Does that answer your question? Thank you.