Resolving conflicts between Science and Scriptures

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So how do we resolve the science-scripture conflicts? So we discussed this whole cosmology in such a way that whatever descriptions of cosmos are there, they can be understood by a reasonable person. Not that everything can be understood, but there can be a reasonable understanding where one doesn’t have to reject science to accept scripture. So this is the last part I’ll take about how science-scripture conflicts can be resolved.
So basically if you consider scripture knowledge as a big circle, some of it will agree with science, some of it will disagree with science, and some of it will transcend science. Now for the purpose of depiction, I’ve seen these three circles in a particular size, but actually speaking, if you see, most of scriptural knowledge will fall in this category of transcend science. That God is a bluish black cowherd boy who lives in a pastoral paradise.
Science can neither prove this nor disprove it. It’s just beyond the domain of science. So most of scriptural knowledge falls in the category of that which transcends science.
And if we look at our own lives, when we are practicing scripture, we practice that aspect of scripture which transcends science. That is what matters to us the most. That is what we relish, that is what we learn from, and that is what we grow by.
So, now most of you have been performing the austerity of hearing these three classes on cosmology for three days. Your austerity will end in 10-15 minutes, hopefully. So, but this doesn’t really matter much for us when we are practicing bhakti.
Because when we are practicing bhakti, okay, we may use science, but what our focus is, how can I improve my consciousness? In general, some people practice spirituality. They want to become, maybe manage their emotions better, become more forgiving, become more sensitive, more kind-hearted, have some kind of meaning and purpose in their lives. So, people, when they come to spirituality and they come to spiritual wisdom texts, that is for some knowledge that transcends science.
So, our approach, the way it can be is, if there are some things in scripture which agree with science, we use those things to help people get faith in scripture, so that they can start focusing on that part of scripture which transcends science. And if there are some things in scripture which disagree with science, we have to manage them in such a way that that doesn’t become an obstacle for people to come towards the section which transcends science. So, the whole idea is, get people to the section of scripture which is transcendental.
And manage the other two sections, first to give faith and the other to avoid damage to faith. So, cosmology, if we consider from that perspective, the cosmological descriptions will fall in which of these categories? Yes. At one level, some of the descriptions of cosmos just transcend science, if we talk about the spiritual world.
But some of the descriptions of, say, some things which we observe, they seem to contradict science. So, our idea should be that, how do we manage this contradiction? So, get people of that onto the area that is transcendental. So, don’t obsess on this.
Because we ourselves don’t dwell too much on it. So, why should we have people who are new dwell on it? So, now, somebody might say, is there something that transcends science? What happens, science is basically a horizontal bar, and then the horizontal bar expands. But it expands only vertically.
So, that which is beyond knowledge always stays beyond knowledge. So, science knowledge expands in one domain. And that domain is the domain of matter.
So, we may know a lot of things. But we know things only in the domain of matter. Like science is the study of matter.
Spirituality is the study of what matters. Of what matters. What is important in life? There are 10 things which is more important, which is less important.
So, when Arjuna came to Krishna, he is not interested in learning Dhanur Vidya. He has already learnt. That is the study of matter.
He has already learnt it from elsewhere. But at that time, what is it that matters? Does protecting the lives of my elders matter? Does not killing Bhishma and Drona matter? Does it matter that we gain the kingdom back? What matters most? So, spirituality is the study of what matters. So, science has its scope and spirituality has its scope.
So, science is based on assumptions and axioms. And it leads to powerful understanding in a particular way, but incomplete understanding. It is silent about existence, purpose and value.
Existence means why do we exist at all? That question is not answer. Purpose. What are we meant to live for? And while living, how do I choose? Should I do A or do B? The values we live for, that is something which science itself can’t tell us.
It is we who have to choose. So, these are things that science doesn’t provide and scripture provides us that. That’s why faith and enquiry, faith means learning from scripture and enquiry means the rational spirit of enquiry.
Both can coexist and they can complement each other. So, what would be the attitude towards science? Somebody might say it’s right. And anything that is not accepted by science, we reject it.
That would be, that is actually not science, that is called a scientism. It’s imperialism in the name of science. Because science itself doesn’t claim that it tells everything about everything.
What science says is, it offers natural explanation for observed phenomena. So, that’s within the definition of science itself. So, one extreme to science is to say that science is right always.
The other extreme is to say that science is wrong. And unless you reject your faith in science, you cannot really have faith in scripture. It’s not like that.
Within is, it’s useful. Useful means that we learn the purpose of living from scripture. And while living in the world, science is a useful tool.
So, just like there could be many useful tools. Say, we learn the purpose of living to raise our consciousness and attain Krishna from Shastra. But if our health falls sick, Ayurveda could be one tool for recovering.
Allopathy could be one tool. There could be, Yunani could be one tool. There are so many other tools for recovering.
So, these are useful tools. Sometimes they may work, sometimes they may not work. If they work, use it.
So, our approach towards science can be Yukta Vairagya. That we use it to the extent it is useful. And we don’t have to necessarily reject it,