All science is the search for unity. Vedanta discovered this unity in the Atman; it followed its own method relevant to this field of inquiry. But it illustrated its conclusions with whatever positive knowledge was avoidable at the time. In recent centuries, this knowledge has been advanced radically and vastly by modern science, the impact of which on Vedanta, however, has been most wholesome. In fact, Vedanta hopes for and welcomes further radical advances in modern science by which its own spiritual vision of the One in the many may be corroborated by positive scientific knowledge, so that the spirituality of science and the spirituality of religion may flow as a united stream to fertilize all aspects of human life. Referring to this fact and hope in his ‘Paper on Hinduism’ read at the Chicago Parliament of Religions on September 19, 1893, Swami Vivekananda says (Complete Works, Vol.I, Eleventh Edition, p.15):
‘All science is bound to come to this conclusion in the long run. Manifestation, and not creation, is the word of science today, and the Hindu is only glad that what he has been cherishing in his bosom for ages is going to be taught in more forcible language and with further light from the latest conclusion of science.’
Vedanta is thus both religion and philosophy. As religion, it discovers the truths of the inner world, and fosters the same discovery by others; and as philosophy, it synthesizes this science of the inner world with the other sciences of the outer world, to present a unified vision of total reality, and to impart to human life and character the depth of faith and vision along with breadth of outlook and sympathy.
Religion, according to Vedanta, is supersensual knowledge; it is not supernatural, but only supersensual. Vedanta does not speak of any supernatural revelation. What lie within the sphere of the senses is not the concern of religion; nor has it the competence for it, says Vedanta, for that is the field of the positive sciences, the verdict of which will always hold in this field in preference to the verdict of religion. ‘Not even by a hundred statements of the ‘Sruti’ (body of supersensual knowledge, or scripture), can fire become cold’, says Sankara, because it goes against what has been ascertained by sense experience and positive knowledge. On the other hand, the positive sciences have no authority in the supersensual field of experience. They overreach themselves when they pronounce judgments on subjects like soul and God; they may, and often are, competent to provide hints and suggestions; but the inquiry itself is the concern of another science, the science of religion. Clarifying the position of these two types of sciences, Swami Vivekananda says (Complete Works, Vol.VI, Sixth Edition, p.81):
‘Religion deals with the truths of the metaphysical world just as chemistry and the other natural sciences deal with the truth of the physical world. The book one must red to learn chemistry is the book of (external) nature. The book from which to learn religion is your own mind and heart. The sage is often ignorant of physical science because he reads the wrong book – the book within; and the scientist is too often ignorant of religion, because he, too, reads the wrong book – the book without.’
- Excerpt from ‘THE MESSAGE OF THE UPANISADS’ by Swami Ranganathananda (7th edition)
- Published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai
- Pages 626
- Rs.80/-
‘All science is bound to come to this conclusion in the long run. Manifestation, and not creation, is the word of science today, and the Hindu is only glad that what he has been cherishing in his bosom for ages is going to be taught in more forcible language and with further light from the latest conclusion of science.’
Vedanta is thus both religion and philosophy. As religion, it discovers the truths of the inner world, and fosters the same discovery by others; and as philosophy, it synthesizes this science of the inner world with the other sciences of the outer world, to present a unified vision of total reality, and to impart to human life and character the depth of faith and vision along with breadth of outlook and sympathy.
Religion, according to Vedanta, is supersensual knowledge; it is not supernatural, but only supersensual. Vedanta does not speak of any supernatural revelation. What lie within the sphere of the senses is not the concern of religion; nor has it the competence for it, says Vedanta, for that is the field of the positive sciences, the verdict of which will always hold in this field in preference to the verdict of religion. ‘Not even by a hundred statements of the ‘Sruti’ (body of supersensual knowledge, or scripture), can fire become cold’, says Sankara, because it goes against what has been ascertained by sense experience and positive knowledge. On the other hand, the positive sciences have no authority in the supersensual field of experience. They overreach themselves when they pronounce judgments on subjects like soul and God; they may, and often are, competent to provide hints and suggestions; but the inquiry itself is the concern of another science, the science of religion. Clarifying the position of these two types of sciences, Swami Vivekananda says (Complete Works, Vol.VI, Sixth Edition, p.81):
‘Religion deals with the truths of the metaphysical world just as chemistry and the other natural sciences deal with the truth of the physical world. The book one must red to learn chemistry is the book of (external) nature. The book from which to learn religion is your own mind and heart. The sage is often ignorant of physical science because he reads the wrong book – the book within; and the scientist is too often ignorant of religion, because he, too, reads the wrong book – the book without.’
- Excerpt from ‘THE MESSAGE OF THE UPANISADS’ by Swami Ranganathananda (7th edition)
- Published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai
- Pages 626
- Rs.80/-
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