If we have scriptural knowledge, why do we need science?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
is, if we have spiritual, scriptural knowledge, then why do we need science? Answer, the scriptural knowledge has two parts. The Mundaka Upanishad describes that there is Paravidya and there is Aparavidya. There is Paravidya refers to direct spiritual knowledge, which is knowledge of soul, God and their relationship.
That is what Bhagavad Gita primarily talks about. And Bhagavatam also focuses primarily on that. Now, there is another branch of knowledge that is called Aparavidya, that is material knowledge.
Now, in the past, at the time of Vedic culture, even this Aparavidya was extensively available. That means material knowledge coming from the Vedas was extensively available. But over the centuries, over the millennia, since Kali Yuga started and India was invaded by many other foreign invaders, so much of that Vedic Aparavidya is not accessible now.
So, the Vedic material knowledge is still there in many significant ways. We have Vedic mathematics, which is being increasingly adopted all over the world, which is we have Ayurveda, we have Vastu Shastra. There are fields which are still available, but there is much that is not available.
So, for example, there is Vimana Shastra, which describes Vimanas. But how exactly those Vimanas are to be made, that sort of books are not so precisely available now. So, for living in this world, we require material knowledge.
So, if that material knowledge can come from Vedic sources, that’s excellent. But if those sources are not available, then we can use material knowledge coming from other sources. So, vidyam cha vidyam cha yas tad vedo bhayamsah.
So, the Ishopanishad says that we need vidya and avidya. avidyaya mrtyum tirtva vidyaya amrtam asnute. So, by avidya, we can learn how to live in this world.
sorry, avidya helps us to live in this world, and vidya, vidya refers to spiritual knowledge that helps us to go beyond this world, vidyaya amrtam asnute. So, avidya doesn’t refer to ignorance, avidya refers to knowledge about the dark world, material world, which is a place of ignorance. So, without going into technicalities, simple thing is that material knowledge for living in this world, we can acquire from various sources, we can acquire from scripture, or we can even acquire from experience.
So, material knowledge we can acquire from science. So, for living in today’s world, where the world is largely dominated by technology, so, we do need knowledge of science so that we can use the technology and use it for our living in this world, and also for our devotional service. Now, of course, some people feel that we don’t want to use science at all.
Then, Vishal Prabhupada also provided that option, and that is a part of Vedic culture, that is, live in farm communities, live entirely naturally, and there are many several ISKCON devotees who are preparing this kind of projects where people live entirely without using science. So, that is possible, but that is not essential for spiritual practice. Spiritual life is primarily connecting us with Krishna, and while connecting with Krishna, when we have to live in this world, we need material knowledge.
That we can acquire from Vedic sources or from scientific sources. Both, whichever is practical, we use that, and we move forward. So, for example, if a devotee is sick, now Ayurveda is a Vedic branch of knowledge, and that is good.
But, if a devotee finds that Ayurveda is not working, or there are not good Ayurvedic doctors available, then the devotee can use allopathy. So, the point is, we take care of the body, so that we can do our duties and we can move closer to Krishna. So, science, we can use it for living in this world, and doing our duties in this world, and taking care of the body, so that we can practice bhakti, knowledge of which we get from