Science,Technology,God and Religion as Distinct Entities

Science, Technology, God and Religion as Distinct Entities

Albert Einstein said , “ Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind.” It is therefore necessary to understand what these terms individually mean as they are sometimes used loosely. Just as science & technology are distinct but complimentary so also God and religions are different yet complimentary.

Science & Technology

Science through research converts ideas, thoughts, surmises and theories developed by human intellect and imaginative mind into a realm of proven possibilities through repeated physical experimentation and explains why various phenomenon occur with certainty. Technology converts scientific possibilities into a viable mechanism for exploiting commercially or otherwise for the benefit of mankind.Science showed the possibility of generating electricity when a coil could rotate in a magnetic field. Technology converted the phenomenon into well known electric generators and motors for human comfort. Science proved that when a current is passed through a tungsten wire it would glow and emit light. Technology converted the idea into a light bulb for our benefit.Science indicated the possibility of generating immense power through atomic fission. Technology converted the theory into atomic bombs and reactors for generating electricity. Man could use it any way.

Concept of God

Similarly God and religions are also different, yet essential and complementary.Creation of a concept of God is an amazing ingenuity of a fertile human mind. God is an unknown Supreme Power and has been vested with overall authority over the universe.
He can create and destroy the universe. God has been bestowed with all the purest values and attributes which humanity could think of. Humanity wishes and strives to assimilate these ideal values and virtues. Otherwise one may face God’s wrath. God is defined by humans. He has no beginning or end. He was neither born nor would He ever die. He is immortal and eternal. He has no form or substance. He does not exist physically. Fire can not burn Him and nothing can harm Him. His august presence is in our minds where He has the most influencing power. He can only be seen in mind through intense meditation in one’s own perception as visualized by him in his mind. Even in Gita, Bhagwan Krishna showed God in all His glory, splendor, piety and awe to Arjun in his mind. Nobody else could see Him. Mind is the most sublime place in human beings where the faith in God resides. He becomes the guiding force for all our actions
The fear of God was the main ingredient as the primitive society had not yet evolved enough to regulate and govern itself by one of its own member. We now call it Government. Faith in God has imparted tremendous social and mental strength to humanity. God gives solace and comfort to humanity even in their adversity. God is essential for sustenance and acquiring values for living at peace in a society at large. Faith in God is essential to keep societies alive, intact and peaceful. No normal human being can live at peace with himself without having faith in God. In adversity one finds solace mainly from Him. Faith ultimately begets belief. He becomes the savior. So God is an absolute necessity for all humanity.
We owe a great gratitude to our wise ancestral seers who gave us concept of God much before the Governments came into being to keep human beings at peace.


Religion
Religion is a guide to human beings for achieving salvation and become godly and pure like God without any desires and vices. This means complete adoption of God’s values and virtues without being aware that self has disappeared of its own without making any effort. One loses ones entity entirely in God. All actions are like writing on a slate and wiping them off. All actions or inactions are what God would have wished. To achieve this ideal state is an uphill task. This is where religion comes.
Religion indicates ways and means along with rigid and austere rituals to tread the holy and virtuous path to attain the heavenly bliss. Many saints from time immemorial have rigidly followed this path. Even in ordinary people religion imparts good human values and selflessness for a peaceful and happy life together in this world. In due course various religions generated philosophies considering the needs and environments of the time and the values the society cherished.

Philosophy is pure science of life and when transformed into living practice it is called “Religion”. Philosophy is a theoretical aspect delving into the purpose of life and rituals and practical aspects of religion, laying down the spiritual practices for attaining the presumed ultimate goal of life – to become one with the God with all His attributes.

Assimilation of Science and Religion
Science creates knowledge for physical and material benefits of mankind. Religion creates philosophies for the spiritual needs of the human mind. Both are essential as material comforts and disease free environment are necessary for the body and philosophical pursuits for peace of mind. Humanity needs both for a peaceful happy existence in pluralistic societies. All individuals have the intellect to discern and assimilate the best in both to suit their needs. Human intellect can create a balanced relationship for a happy, healthy and a meaningful life through coexistence..


Creation of Concept Of God - A Supreme Being, In Early Ancient Primitive Vedic Period


Now a question arises why at all and how the idea of a Supreme Being – The God - came into the mind of human beings and when.

Primitive human beings needed to live together for their very existence. Their only means of learning was by watching the behavior of animals in their vicinity. Survival instinct brought the people together to live as a society. Individual societies thus erupted all over the world where human beings lived.

Initially there were no major problems as there were neither clothes to wear nor any personal possessions. Each day all will go and eat whatever was available and edible in the jungles. This continued till the time man developed the art of stitching the leaves together to make a receptacle ( Dauna ). A social revolution had taken place. A storage device was in existence. Every one collected the edibles for future to avoid the necessity of going to jungle every day. Soon there was shortage of food and fights and quarrels became the order of the day. Thus a need arose for discipline in the society to avoid a possible extinction.

An accepted code of morality was required. Rules for morality had to be framed for individual conduct. Some one had to be put in authority for ensuring and enforcing these rules. Easiest way was to accept the strongest member as head as was prevalent in animal kingdom. Fear of punishment had to be instilled in the society. So the need for awarding punishments for delinquency emerged. Head's position was coveted by all young adults. Regular fights ensued to assume this position. The society was on the brink of disintegration. Ways and means had to be found out to avoid this.

The wise men among them felt the need of some one Supreme from outside the existing society. They had observed that among all of them there was fear of the Unknown, who was controlling the bounties and furies of the nature. They used this vital information in creating a concept of a Supreme Being who would control every thing in this world including human beings. Then they needed to connect all the beings with the Supreme Being to justify their hypothesis to the other members of the society. Hence they wisely and cleverly thought of the concept of 'souls'( Atma ) in all nonliving and living beings on earth. They logically related these 'souls' with the highest and noblest 'Soul' - "Paramatma"- the Supreme Being with all powers at His command. This divine view was easily acceptable to all the members of the society without questioning. Supreme Being is now called by various names, such as , God, Allah etc

Then the wise men , we now call them 'Sages' or 'Rishies", held long discussions on connecting the Paramatma with the universe and imparting Him with qualities which would be acceptable to all the persons just as a simple corollary to the basic tenet. This had to be a conscious effort for general acceptance.

Thus unwittingly and spontaneously a modern Democratic process was evolving in such ancient times. They thought that a single person be He a Supreme Being should not be assigned all the powers and authority , lest He may appear to be a Despot , a Dictator or an Autocrat . They felt that human beings would copy the Almighty some time or the other and absolute power would corrupt them with evil results. They thought of devolution of power just as democratic societies do now. A trinity was created of three semi gods. Brahma was given the responsibility of creation of universe, Vishnu for its sustenance and Mahesh / Mahadev / Shankar / Shiv for destroying the evil. The feature of destruction or punishment was necessary to instill fear in the minds of errants. Powers were further devolved into many more lesser gods, such as, Indra for controlling rains, Surya for light and heat , Varun for air etc ,etc. Thus each lesser god was assigned a specific regime. They all were vested with advisory and implementing authority by the trinity, who themselves were responsible to Paramatma for their actions.

After so many centuries modern democratic concept follows the same intuitive knowledge of our old Rishies and Sages. Modern democracies have a powerful Prime Minister or President who exercises authority through his cabinet and is held in bounds by the trinity - Legislature ( Creating rules and laws), Executive (Sustaining the society through implementation of rules and regulations ) and Judiciary ( Destruction of evil through punishment ) . This can not be brushed away by mere coincidence.

Humanity owes a great deal to our wise ancestors and we pay our homage to them. Plato, the Greek Philosopher, known to Islam as Aflatoon rightly said, “ He was a wise man who invented God.”



Creation of Life Through Science & Technology


Now a further question arises as to how was life initially created from inert matter and by whom.

. It seems obvious that creation of innumerable varieties and all kinds of lives in the universe be it human, animal or plant has to be simple. So also is the creation of all inert matter in the universe with no end. The greatest mystery however is how the universe was created initially from nothing. At the moment it appears to be beyond known reasoning.Yet the end result is before our eyes. Similarly the proof is also evident that living beings can be created from inert matter.

We can only infer that life has been initially designed and created by beings with brains who themselves were created perhaps by accident and developed with time on their own since eternity. ( If God created them then who created God earlier and from what ? There was nothing in the universe before Him. ) Once the art and science of life was developed by such intelligent and diligent brains, whose knowledge of science and technology was at the zenith unreachable by us for several centuries, ordinary laws of nature followed. Till we find out and master the chemical memory and unveil the mysteries of life, each one of us would be presenting a theory of our own. Perhaps one may brighten the hazy landscape.

According to the tablets of Sumerian civilization, deciphered only a few decades back, life on earth was seeded from the portions of the moons of a planet circling the sun every 3500 years from deep space in the opposite direction of other planets of the solar system which collided with it during its early formation and also tilted it enabling the creation of seasons. It appears that the debris uprooted from earth formed the asteroid belt and the Hailey's comet which also keep revolving round the sun. One clay tablet which is preserved in a museum shows very distinctly the locations and size of the sun and planets of the solar system existing at that time which is absolutely identical to the solar system as of now with the exception of an additional planet. It can be mentioned that the Sumerians knew how to preserve information for eternity unlike our scientists who have also tried to save existing knowledge in stainless steel containers underground with a life span of about 500 years or so. However tablets indicate life there too came from outside. Thus the mystery of creation of life still remains unveiled. ( Ref ‘ Tenth Planet’ by Sitchen Zakharia) Recently on 22 may 2010, US scientists successfully created through genetic engineering a first synthetic self-replicating bacteria cell. Venter’s team had taken a modern cell, removed its DNA and had replaced it with a host of other inert materials. Since life by definition has to be self-replicating and of independent movement, Scientists have at least shown that inert matter can be engineered to reproduce itself. Creation of synthetic life is yet a far cry.

Just like early humans on earth learnt and benefited from observing the animal behavior as they had no other inputs, so also we too are learning from observation. This way while we know the end result we can only visualize and imagine how the life came into being. We see that human and animal lives are quite similar. Functions of the organs and their locations are similar. Life seems to be from the same mould - the initial cell and insertion of instructions as memory.

Now let us observe the human body – both male and female. There is one obvious inherent defect because perhaps animal life came earlier as the animals walk on four feet, while our hands move in air when we walk except our toddlers initially walk on all fours. In a perfect design this could have been avoided. Secondly male bodies have nipples and small breasts which have no function and are not needed at all. Thirdly while female bodies are flawless, male bodies have reproductive external organs stitched to it as though an after thought. One would like to know why these two flaws came into being? A possibility of creation of first human being as a female appears obvious. Female would have the capacity to produce an egg with all the pairs of chromosome present without needing any external fertilization. Thus they produced their clones –all females. Initially there was no ulterior effect as the population was small and nature remained untouched, clean and devoid of pollution, parasites etc. But at some stage in the hoary past when the population increased genie defects multiplied and the species began declining. A real crisis developed to the possibility of extinction of the human life altogether. The designers intervened and modified the human life by inserting a male reproductive system and halving the female egg chromosomes. The other half pair of chromosomes would be provided by external fertilization. This could mitigate the decline in human life .Designers left the nipples and breast intact in the male body as they were not at all interfering with the new concept and would lie dormant. Just like any one else they took the easy path. The male organ was just stitched to the modified body as an addendum. This was perhaps the most simple and easiest way to solve the problem and proof of the pudding is that they have marvelously succeeded as observed now. The male body though remains imperfect yet functions well. Even today the females can not produce a male child. Only husbands have the capability for both.

Now the question arises why the designers took all the trouble to save the human race. Why the nature has applied all its force on reproduction whether human, animal or plant life. Every tree produces enormous number of seeds so that in any adverse circumstances the specie may have a chance not to become extinct. In animals and humans force of attraction has no limits. Thus there can be no possibility of reincarnation or resurrection. Once dead, it is the end. The concept and belief in souls which being part of God never perish falls through. Similarly God being infallible could not have made these errors in the first instance and secondly would have made the male body flawless in any case. It is obvious that this has not been done. His physical existence is therefore appears at least doubtful.

Albert Einstein had said, “Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter can not understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence.”

R.K.Singhal
Air Commodore ( Retired )
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Maharani Bagh
New Delhi – 110065

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