Continuing from this post, is another aspect which usually doesnt get highlighted in this science vs religion debate (which, by the way, we unanimously believe, are not two different worldviews, but rather, two aspects of the same worldview), is that the debate leaves out of the discussion a worldview presented by the seers of antiquity, which seems to be the one which science seems to be converging towards. Many of the discoveries of modern science seem to reach out to some of the concepts laid out by scriptures.
Lets start with the Big Bang. Some of the extracts from the scriptures (which you can find on the wikipedia page here) are akin to the idea of the Big Bang. True, the mentions here are more in a philosophical way, which is to be expected. The Puranas declare that the universe comes into existence, and stays thus, for one day of Brahma, after which it is dissolved for one night of Brahma, and then comes again into existence. This implies that before the moment of creation, there was a universe, somewhat analogous to the Big Bang and the Big Crunch. The Rig Veda declares “that none can know from where creation has arisen” which sounds akin to the fact that the laws of physics break down at the point of the singularity.
Coming to the idea of mass-energy equivalence, a consequence of the theory of relativity. The scriptures mention that matter is, in essence, condensed energy, as Paramhansa Yogananda asserted in the spiritual classic, Autobiography of a Yogi.
Coming to another hypothesis, that of the multi-verse, which religions talk about. Some of these can be found here. A compelling description is given here.
So one needs to either admit that the ancients who wrote the scriptures had a very vivid imagination, or that they knew something we dont. Either way, this does help us to conclude that there is indeed no fundamental antagonism between science and religion, rather, the two complement each other, and the scientific arrogance is somewhat misplaced, and based on an incomplete understanding of our spiritual traditions. It’s about time, then, that scientists deeply studied philosophy, and religionists studied science.
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