Hinduism and Science: Contemporary

Considerations
with Varadaraja V. Raman, “Hinduism and Science: Some ReflectionsDavid L. Gosling,
“Science and the Hindu Tradition: Compatibility or Conflict Thomas B. Ellis,
“Growing Up Amid the Religion and Science Affair: A Perspective from Indology
C. Mackenzie Brown, “Conciliation, Conflict, or Complementarity: Responses to Three
Voices in the Hinduism and Science Discourse ; Jonathan B. Edelmann, “The Role of
Hindu Theology in the Religion and Science Dialogue”

HINDUISM AND SCIENCE: SOME REFLECTIONS

by Varadaraja V Raman

Abstract. In recent decades scholars in every major religious

tradition have been commenting on the relationship between their
own tradition and science. The subject in the context of Hinduism
is complex because there is no central institutionalized authority to
dictate what is acceptable Hindu belief and what is not. This has
resulted in a variety of perspectives that are touched upon here.
Historical factors in the introduction of modern science in the Hindu
world have also influenced the subject. The reflections in this paper
are based on these.

Keywords: affirmative agnosticism; aparä; avatära; Cärväka; para;

polyodosism; postcolonial; postmodern; Adi Shankara; Ramanuja;
Upanishads; Vaishnava; Vedanta; Vedas

Preamble

In the past few decades the topic of Religion and Science, two major
expressions of the human spirit, has become a growing theme for discussion
and debate. The subject is not altogether new. In ancient Greece and Rome,
in ancient China and India, in medieval Islam and modern Europe, thinkers
grappled with the question of how traditional worldviews that carry the
weight of centuries and the sanctity of scriptures can be accommodated in
the changing worldviews that have come from expanding knowledge, newer
insights, and naturalistic frameworks for interpreting the experienced
world.

Varadaraja V. Raman is Emeritus Professor of Physics and Humanities at the Rochester

Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY 14623, USA; e-mail: wrsps@[Link].

[.Zygon, vol. 47, no. 3 (September 2012)]

© 2012 by the Joint Publication Board of Zygon ISSN 0591-2385 www zygonjoumal. org

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That challenge is handled by thinkers in different cultures in a variety

of ways. Even within any specific culture there are dissimilar modes of
confronting the issues. Nevertheless, it has become a general pattern to
speak of Christianity and Science, Judaism and Science, Buddhism and
Science, Islam and Science, and so on. So, one speaks about Hinduism and
Science.
Over the ages science and religion have been engaging each other,
sometimes harmoniously and sometimes confrontationally. The dual mode
of cooperation and opposition is one common thread among the many ways
in which religion and science have been interacting in different cultures. In
virtually all instances there have been enthusiasts as well as opponents to
efforts at reconciling the two pursuits. In our own times there are countless
articles, books, Internet exchanges, and conferences that explore science
and particular religious frameworks.
What all this means is that any serious discussion of science and religion
is not only informed but also constrained by the religion in question and the
interest or affiliation of the author. Thus, when one sees writings entitled X
and Science, X being a particular religion, it should be clearly understood
that in most cases one is not speaking of universal religious truths but rather
of specific religious, denominational, or sectarian perspectives. All too
often, both author and readers tend to forget this. I wish therefore to make it
clear at the outset that my comments will be those of one who is emotionally
and culturally affiliated with the Hindu world, epistemologically biased
toward modern science, and intellectually anchored to the view that though
formed by different cultures and rooted in different traditions, we are all
striving to find meaning and fulfillment from our quests as human beings
most of all. I will comment as much on how I see the field as on my
own views of the issues. I have always felt that this perspective is not
incompatible with my Hindu upbringing, where variety is thought to add
spice to the religious quest, and humanity is regarded as the family to which
we all belong.

Hindu Perspectives
Ancient Roots: Naturalism in the Vedas. Hinduism traces its begin-
nings to the sacred Vedas, a powerful religious literature in the long saga of
human history. Most of the gods and goddesses, doctrines and worldviews,
chants and incantations, cosmology and spiritual insights in the Hindu
world flow from the pristine poetry of Vedic hymns that are, in the view
of many scholars, unsurpassed in grandeur, majesty, and ancientness. Here
we find the earliest expressions of awe and reverence for the forces and
principles that govern the natural world and sustain humanity. The Vedas
offer homage to sun and moon, to water and wind, and to the order in
Nature that is universal. Here, in short, may be seen the seeds of naturalism
 Varadaraja V. Raman 551

that were to sprout in later centuries as scientific interpretations of the

world. For science also includes the search for overarching principles that
give rise to the phenomenal world.
But that abstract view of the natural world in terms of wind and water,
air and sky was/is too intangible for the average human mind to grasp
and celebrate. Even while revealing truths about nature and the human
condition, poetry often turns to visualizable imageries and personifies the
abstract. Thus, when the poet John Keats sang odes to the nightingale or to
autumn, he certainly did not believe the bird hears or the season appreciates
his evocation; but his language brings beauty and meaning to the reader.
So the sage poets of the Hindu world who articulated their responses
to Natures wonders and magnificence addressed them as if these were
attributes of cosmic personages. Just as the abstractions of mathematical
physics enable us to better grasp the complexities of perceived reality, our
responses to the awesome splendors of Nature, when cast in sublime meters,
become experientially more relevant. Thus arose the Vedic deities.
In due course these were transformed into super-anthropic representa-
tions that eventually became the colorful galaxy of gods and goddesses that
adorn Hindu places of worship. Behind each of these iconic visions of the
Divine in multitudinous aspects are fascinating narratives that are rich in
their sweep and stir up deep reverence in the heart of every Hindu. Some
of them also enshrine explanations, albeit mythic, for cosmogenesis and
biogenesis.

Multiplicity of Ways in the Hindu World: Polyodosism. As in other

religious traditions, the personalized worship mode touches the hearts of
Hindus in their devotional postures, and enriches their religious life. The
variety of icons that are evoked in Hindu prayers is a recognition that
that the Divine, like glorious music, can be experienced in countless ways.
This is reflected in the oft-quoted nugget of religious wisdom in the Rig
Veda (1.164.46): ekam sat: viprä bahudä vadanti: Truth (God) is one, but
is described in many ways by the learned. Thus, it is not that the insight
of monotheism is absent in the Hindu framework, but its formulation is
different from the Abrahamic. Rather than insist that the One God is my
God, it has a different subtext—namely, that the god of every religion is
worthy of veneration.
This is the doctrine of polyodosism or bahumärga: the possibility of
finding spiritual fulfillment through many paths.1 This view is perhaps the
greatest contribution of the Hindu world to the religious quest, especially
in the confrontational context in which humanity finds itself today.
Interestingly a similar multiplicity of approach sometimes occurs in physics.
Thus, problems in classical mechanics may be solved by adopting Newtons
laws or through by adopting variational principles. Some problems in
optics can be solved using the wave theory or the corpuscular theory of
552 Zygon

light. In quantum mechanics likewise, we have wave mechanics and matrix

mechanics.
Indie civilization dates back to more than three millennia. Therefore,
it is not surprising that a great many ideas, concepts, and theories have
emerged there, not all of them in perfect concordance with one another.
These include many philosophical and metaphysical insights. Volumes
have been written on them.
What one may conclude from inquiries into the subject is that the
interaction between science (quest for worldly knowledge) and religion
(quest for transcendental truths) has always been part of Indie culture.
As in the Christian world with its multiple denominations (Catholic,
Lutheran, Quaker, etc.), in the Hindu world too there is a wide doctrinal
spectrum, so that specific elucidations and claims as to the Ultimate are
often a function of sectarian schools of thought. But this is not always
explicitly stated. Thus, for example, an excellent book on Maya (Thompson
2003) is a fascinating exposition of that quintessentially Hindu doctrine,
but the work is very much from the Vaishnava standpoint, so much so
that it scrupulously avoids even mentioning the competing preeminent
Shaiva exponent of Maya—namely, Shankara. Likewise, another erudite
and thought-provoking study, entitled Hinduism and Biology (Edelmann
2012), is actually a fine Vaishnava exposition based on an important
Vaishnava scriptural text. This is hinted only in its subtitle. This is as
philosophically sweeping as when a work on Thomistic philosophy and
Biology is presented as Christianity and Biology. Of course this does not
diminish the value of such books, but only that there is more to any religion
than the perspective of one of its denominations.

Ancient Science in the Hindu World. Classical Indie thinkers reflected

on the origin and meaning of human existence, explored the nature of
ultimate reality, hypothesized on cosmogony, developed the concept of
zero, and more. In astronomy, ancient rules prescribing how Vedic sacrificial
altars are to be constructed display sound knowledge of arithmetic and
geometry. It has been pointed out that in verse numbers in Vedic hymns
the authors were correlating patterns in the numbers of syllables, lines, and
verses with celestial periodicities through an astronomical code (Kak 2000a,
2000b).
In Indie culture mathematics was described as “the crest on the head of
the peacock,” which was a metaphorical way of saying that it is the crowning
beauty of all knowledge (Joseph 2000). In his Liber Abaci (1202) Fibonacci
explicitly stated that he had been introduced “to the art of the Indians’ nine
symbols through remarkable teaching___” Historians of science know of
the work of A1 Khwarizmi s Latin translation on Hindu mathematics that
introduced Hindu mathematics into Europe. Some still refer to the decimal
system as Arab-Hindu numerals (Ifrah 1985). Pierre Simon de Laplace paid
 Varadaraja V. Raman 553

homage to this invention, adding that it had escaped two of the greatest
mathematical thinkers of antiquity: Archimedes and Apollonius. E. T.
Bell recalled that “the first clear recognition of imaginarles was Mahavira s
extremely intelligent remark in the ninth century that, in the nature of
things, a negative number has no square root” (Bell 1945, 175).
Classical Hindus also explored the nature of the physical world, the
properties of matter, the origin of consciousness, and more. The Hindu
world also elaborated a complex system of medicine with a theoretical
framework that continues to flourish and expand to this day. Many of
these works have been published in many volumes (Bose 1971 ; Rahman
1999).
What may be less widely known is that there was sophisticated
technology in India prior to the encroachment of the British. That
technology dealt with metallurgy and chemicals, agricultural techniques
and the manufacture of alloys, inoculation, and so on. Dharampal, who
carefully looked into mounds of documents on aspects of Indian technology
in the eighteenth century, recounts details of the subject (Dharampal 1983).
To give but one example from his book, consider what J. Z. Holwell
wrote in 1767: “Inoculation is performed in Indostan by a particular
tribe of Brahmins, who are delegated annually for this service from the
different Colleges of Bindoobund, Eleabas, Bañaras, etc., over all the distant
provinces; dividing themselves into small parties, of three or four each, they
plan their traveling circuits in such wise as to arrive at the places of their
respective destination some weeks before the return of the disease___”

Hindu Philosophy and Science. Classical Hindu thinkers probed

deep into the nature of human knowledge. Their reflections form an
impressive body of philosophical literature that is a rich treasure-chest
in Indias cultural heritage (Radhakrishnan and Moore 1967). Because
the fundamental concern in much of this relates to the religious and
spiritual dimensions of the experienced world, these writings sound more
like theology and metaphysics than philosophy or science. This is not
unlike what we find in the scholastics of the Western tradition. In todays
world, just as there are keen Jewish, Christian and Islamic scholars who
write on how modern science may be seen from the perspective of their
own tradition, we have a number of learned thinkers in the Hindu world
too who write on science and Hinduism.
Much of the vast corpus of literature on this subject is related to what is
known broadly as the Vedäntic worldview. Vedanta is one of the six major
canonical schools of classical Hindu philosophy. It has several subgroups
with which are associated the names of several eminent thinkers of the
tradition. Perhaps the most widely known of these to the Western world is
the system expounded by the eminent Adi Shankara, who was one of the
most prolific visionaries of classical India. A great many Hindu scholars
554 Zygon

who used to write on science and Hinduism were anchored to Shankara s

version of Vedanta.2
Another classical philosopher-sage of spiritual stature was Ramanuja,
who differed from the Advaita school on fundamental issues as to the
nature of the relationship between individual consciousness and the
Supreme One.3 Such disagreements on metaphysical questions led to
different religious schools (sects) that persist to this day. In recent decades,
thanks largely to the prolific erudite commentaries and inspiration of
the charismatic A. C. Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada and some of his ardent
followers, many books, articles, and conferences on Hindu science-religion
discussions have come from Vaishnava scholars. There is also a vibrant
Internet group on science and religion ([Link]/harmonizer)
initiated by members of this group.

Upanishadic Epistemology. The philosophers of the tradition went

beyond piety to explore the roots of the religious thirst that seems to be
intrinsic to humans. They recognized this to be something that required
not external observations and instruments to probe but introspection and
meditation to become aware of. They reflected on these in a number
of works that sometimes read like Plato s Dialogues, except that they are
not all attributed to a single author. Their works, collectively known as
the Upanishads (Radhakrishnan 1994), form the foundations of Hindu
philosophical-spiritual and traditional-scientific worldviews. Among the
many insights of Upanishadic seers, we may mention four:
(a) The undergirding of the Universe: The Upanishadic authors affirm
with experiential certitude that beneath and beyond the tangible
world of perceived reality there is an unsubstantial realm that is more
omnipresent in its cosmic stretch than electromagnetic radiations
in the physical world. This substratum was there even before the
emergence of the physical universe, and will persist even after
its physical dissolution. It is subtler than the throbbing vacuum
of current physics with its virtual particles. This pre—big bang
principle undergirding the world is endowed with a consciousness
that palpitates throughout the length and breadth of the cosmos.
It is referred to Brahman. This indestructible aspect is the spiritual
dimension of the world.
(b) Human knowledge is of two kinds: In the Mundaka Upanishad it
is stated that knowledge is of two categorically different kinds that
may be called this-world-knowledge {aparä-vidyä) and transcendent
knowledge {parä-vidya). The first is what is obtained through the
normal modes of perception, logic, observation, and analysis. This
kind of knowledge is no doubt important and useful. However, it
does not relate to the knowledge of the imperishable dimension of
 Varadaraja V Raman 555

reality (akshara). The second relates to the spiritual dimension.4 This

categorization has a resemblance to Stephen Goulds NOMA idea,
which regards science and religion as nonoverlapping magisteria.
But the Upanishadic NOMA says something more. The parä-aparä
distinction is not about religion and science, but about human
awareness at the core. It gives full credit to the many human endeavors
(including science) to unravel the nature of physical reality. But it
also affirms, on the basis of investigations into the deepest recesses of
consciousness, that there is a dimension of reality that is to be realized
rather than understood, apprehended rather than comprehended. In
a modest way every religious practitioner in a state of prayer or
meditation gets, or attempts to get, a glimpse of that ineffable parä
dimension of reality.
We may also describe this as affirmative agnosticism, by which
I mean this: Normally we simply cannot know anything about
transcendent reality, postmortem phase, nature of God, and so on.
However, through spiritual disciplines it is possible to erase this
nescience and become aware of such matters.
(c) We are fragments of the Cosmos'. The third and perhaps the most
remarkable thesis of the Upanishads is that every living entity is a
splinter from the Cosmic Fire. Per current scientific understanding,
every proton and electron, no matter where in the world it is,
came from the first grand bang that led to the physical universe
such as we know it. Moreover, according to current understandings
in astrophysics, the heavier atoms in our bodies came from the
core of supernovas where they were concocted. Likewise, from
the Upanishadic perspective, every individual consciousness is an
emanation from the universal consciousness. This is expressed
through the aphorism tat tvam asi: Thou art That (Puligandla 2002).
Modern astrophysics tells us that we are stardust. The Upanishads
tell us that we are cosmic-consciousness-dust.
(d) Hints at the empirical method: The Upanishads contain metaphys-
ical speculations and spiritual visions. Yet, there is at least one
section there that reveals an experimental outlook. In the Chändogya
Upanishad we read about a certain Uddälaka Aruni. He has a
discussion with his son about the essence of things in the course of
which he mentions water as essential for life and food as indispensable
for the mind. This he establishes by instructing the son to live only on
water for two weeks. The son survives, but does not remember many
things. Then he is asked to eat for some days and come back. The son
does this and gets back his memory. This is an empirical methodology
for establishing the truth value of a proposition. As one historian of
science who explored the matter in detail stated, Uddälaka Aruni,
556 Zygon

who predates Thales of Miletus, “did in fact boldly knock at the gates
of natural science to be opened,” for which effort he deserves to be
called “the first rational natural scientist in the history of the Indian
subcontinent, if not in global history.” (Chattopadhyaya 1991, 105
et seq.).

Nontheistic Understandings of the World. Worldviews are usually

of two kinds: theistic, which regard the universe as resulting from an
intentional personal God; and naturalistic, which view the world as
a phenomenon that can be understood without imagining a Creator-
God. One classical nontheistic Hindu interpretation is known as the
Sämkhya {Sämkhya) system, one of six canonical schools of classical Hindu
explanatory structures (Larson 1979). Its origin is traced to a thinker by
the name of Kapila, but it has been elaborated and commented upon by
numerous other authors.
Leaving aside the metaphysical paraphernalia associated with the system,
the essential thesis of this school is quite simple. It states that, corresponding
to the big bang of current cosmology, the Cosmic Consciousness
(paramätman) splits into two entities: a subject (called purusha) and
an object (called prakriti). Purusha experiences prakriti. Then prakriti
variegated into countless simple and complex entities, and purusha into
countless individual consciousnesses {jîvâtmans) that are independent and
separate experiencing entities.
From this perspective one might say that the jîvâtmans are engaged in
two kinds of activities. One is to interact with and interpret prakriti. This
constitutes what we call science. The other is their effort to discover the
source from which it emerged. This constitutes what may be called the
religious or spiritual quest (Raman 2011, 88). This is an interesting model
for interpreting the enterprises we call science and religion.
We may also see the Samkhya system as containing one version of the
notion of emergence. One of its central thesis, known as satkäryaväda
(doctrine of cause-effect-potentiality), is that the observed effect is already
implicit in the apparent cause, not unlike oil being already present in the
sesame seed. The causal principle is essentially an operation that transforms
the potential into the actual (Shaw 2011).
Associated with this is the idea of an agent (kartä) in the context of
causality. Though it is an extrapolation from anthropic creativity, it is an
idea that can be extended to the natural world as well. From the laws of
physics alone, the orbit of a projectile can be shown to be parabolic. The
laws of physics constitute the cause and the orbit is the effect in any given
projectile motion. However, the particular trajectory and place of fall of the
projectile, let alone the fact that it was projected at all, will be determined
by the initial conditions of projection. These are specified by an agent: the
person who throws the projectile. In many natural phenomena the agent is
 Varadaraja V. Raman 557

an unobserved entity. Thus, when a radioactive nucleus decays in a sample

of the element there is no visible physical agent that causes one particular
nucleus rather than another to disintegrate. Or again, when an electron in
an atom jumps from one stationary orbit or another, the agency responsible
for this particular transition is not physically discernible. Likewise, when
planets were formed, what caused each of them to be at a certain distance
from the sun or in a certain orbital plane is totally unknown. In current
physics all such instances are ascribed to randomness. The notion of kartä
can be very helpful here.
Indeed, scholars have traced in the Samkhya system the roots of “the
fundamental ideas of positive science” and “a theory of matter, a theory
of causality, a theory of knowledge and a theory of evolutionary process”
(Chattopadhyaya 1978, 363).

Explicit Atheist. It is true that the Hindu world, like many other
religious frameworks, has a strong and pervasive God-component. Aside
from nontheistic schools like the Samkhya, there have also been explicitly
atheistic schools in the Hindu tradition. One virulently antisupernatural
system is/was the so-called Cärväka school, whose members were rank
materialists. For them all that mattered was matter itself. True, there is
consciousness, they conceded, but this was to them no more than another
manifestation of matter. Jivätman and paramätman were all gibberish, they
maintained. A person dies, and that is the end of it: No spirit and no
reentry into another body. In their view, rituals to the departed served no
purpose but to feed the priests. Their worldview was very similar to that
of the New Atheists.
The Cärväka philosophy led to hedonistic ethics: As long as we live, we
must make the best of it. Pleasure should be the goal of life. Those who
preach that we should renounce the world because of pain and suffering
want to throw out the baby with the bathwater. There is a thorn in every
rose. Does it mean we should ignore the rose? Should grain be discarded
because husk comes with it? Such ideas may seem alien to the normal Hindu
thinking such as it has been portrayed by mainstream Hindu thinkers. To
a degree they are. But they were/are as Hindu as any other. All through
Hindu history, thinkers with such views have come up now and again.
Such radicals either broke away, or were subdued and silenced. Some of
them established new religions or became brief chapters, if not footnotes,
in books on Indian philosophy. There have been many scholarly studies
on Hindu materialism (Chattopadhyaya 1978), but for various reasons
the Cärväkas have not acquired the widespread dissemination that the more
orthodox schools have received. It has also been argued that those who were
disparaging the pure pleasure-seekers were themselves “subscribing to the
same philosophy, though surreptitiously” (Chattapodhyaya 1978, 35), but
in lofty metaphysical terms.
558 Zygon

We may picture the philosopher Cärväka—if such a one existed—as

a highly original thinker who could not possibly accept what must have
seemed to him to be a lot of mumble-jumble in rituals, and who dared to
speak out against the system. Intellectual and spiritual rebels have but two
fates: they are eventually deified or destroyed. It is entirely possible that
Cärväka was but a symbol, a name for a whole group of people who did
not take the routine rites and rituals seriously; for whom feast and frolic
were more meaningful than prayer and pilgrimage. There is at least one
historical fiction on Cärväka s life (Randreas 2005).

Hinduism and Psychology. More than in any other field, it was in

the field of psychology that the Hindu world distinguished itself with
some important discoveries. It was not so much in the doctrine of a
transmigrating soul which carries with it traces of a previous birth, but in
the exploration into the nature of the mind, its multiple layers, its various
facets of experience and the like that Hindu thinkers developed the spiritual
discipline ofyoga. The yoga system has enormous practical benefits, and it
rests on a complex conceptual foundation. It is a major recognition relating
to the human condition. It speaks to us about the perennially restless mind
and prescribes ways to bring the mind under full control. It prescribes
techniques for actualizing the full potential of the body and the mind.
The theory and practice of yoga have undergone many changes over the
centuries. They have been revised and reformulated by many enlightened
practitioners over the ages. In todays world they have spread far and wide
beyond the shores of India, enriched and distorted in a variety of ways. As
a science it has several technical terms that have philological dimensions
(Desmarais 2008). Leaving aside the incredible feats that individual yogis
have performed—some defying normal physiological capacities—yogic
discipline has enabled millions over many generations to achieve physical
fitness and mental balance, and a select few to experience cosmic ecstasy.
The associated meditation techniques have not only brought peace of mind
to many in the modern world, they have also saved many from the ruin of
drug addiction in their search for elevated experiences.
Modern applied psychology is concerned mostly with sick and deranged
minds and is not anchored to anything spiritual. Traditional Hindu
psychology focused on how to bring normal minds to their full potential.
A number of Hindu psychologists have been working on the connections
between the two approaches. Classical Hindu psychology is not one
monolithic system but includes several systems that sometimes contradict
and sometimes complement one another. For example, it has been
pointed out that “the metaphysical underpinnings of the Yoga system
and Advaita Vedanta are glaringly different. Yoga... embraces dualism of
matter and consciousness and pluralism of purushas, whereas Advaita is
uncompromisingly non-dualist and absolutist. Yet there is a great deal
 Varadaraja V Raman 559

of similarity in their conception of mind and theories of cognition and

perception” (Rao and Marwaha 2005, 24).
Associated with this are efforts to uncover the nature of inscrutable
consciousness. Already in the distant past Hindu thinkers proposed some
very profound theories on the subject. It was only in the twentieth century
that science began to take upon itself the challenge of explaining what
consciousness is all about, how it came to be, what its ultimate status will
be, whether and to what extent it is bound to the physiology of the brain,
and so on. It is interesting to study how these questions are explored in the
West and in the Hindu world (Rao 2002).

Biological Evolution: A Mythopoeic Metaphor. In the mythopoesy of

the Puränas, the Divine incarnates periodically here on earth to save
humanity from unhappy situations that might arise. Such a descent of
the Divine to the earth below is referred to as an avatära. The avatära
concept is an important doctrine in the Hindu framework. Aside from
its expression of a historical optimism that says even the most difficult
phases in human history will end eventually through the emergence of
savior-personages in societies, what is interesting is that according to some
reckonings there have been nine mythic avatäras already. These appeared
in the forms of Fish, Tortoise, Boar, Leonanthrop (Lion-Man), Dwarf,
Personage with Axe, Ideal Hero, Super-strong Man, and Divine Wisdom.
The list of the forms of the various avatäras cannot but remind us
that it refers to beings from the aquatic and the amphibians to mammal,
theranthropic animal-man and humans culturally and spiritually evolved.
The biologist J. B. S. Haldane once referred to this as a metaphor for
Darwinian evolution. Since then, quite a few Hindu writers have taken
this up as proof that ancient Hindus knew about biological evolution, if
not as proof for the occurrence of the avatäras. In the rich tradition there
are other enumerations of avatäras as well.5 A scholarly analysis of the
Hindu view of evolution with considerable academic integrity, as reflected
in particular in the Bhägavata Puräna, is given in Edelman s book (Edelman
2012).
The Tamil Shaiva poet Mänikkaväsakar, probably of the ninth century,
wrote that in previous births he had been a blade of grass, a shrub, a worm,
a tree, a dog, a bird, a snake, a stone, a mean spirit, a demon, and a sage,
and that he had grown pretty tired of rebirths (Raman 2012a, 2012b).
This is another poetic vision of evolving life forms, but it has little to do
with the Darwinian biological worldview.
While the world was laughing at American creationists trying to
introduce intelligent design in schools, ardent Hindu creationists have
been working hard to refute Darwinian evolution (which, like their
fundamentalist brothers in other religious traditions, they reject overtly
or indirectly). Again like their Muslim and Christian counterparts, some
560 Zygon

of them propound their antievolution views in Internet messages and

websites or publish learned volumes to expound their scripture-inspired
perspectives. No matter how intensely they differ in their local doctrinal
beliefs, all traditional religionists reject evolution for two important reasons:
The idea displaces Homo sapiens from the privileged pinnacle assigned to
the species by religions, and it usurps the role of God in the context of
biology. These are valid endopotent positions to adopt, but to argue that
they are equally scientific may be blurring the demarcation between religion
and science (Raman 2001).
What is noteworthy in the Hindu notion of the avatära is that it
embodies the idea that the variety of life-forms emerged sequentially in
more and more complex forms, from the simple to the complex, from the
lifeless to the mindful, from the aquatic to the superhuman. This may
not explain anything, but at the very least it is an intelligent observation.
Ancient reflections are significant for their insights rather than for their
precise formulations or explanations. It is entirely possible, as per the
Kuhnian view of science, that current versions of cosmogenesis, biogenesis,
and anthropogenesis will undergo changes, mild or momentous, in ages to
come, but it is unlikely that there will be a return to ancient mythologies
within the scientific framework.
The essence in the Hindu perspective that I find reasonable and least
contradictory to our scientific understanding is that every instance of life
and life-process is an emanation from a larger cosmic cause or principle.6

Hinduism and Cosmology. Every culture has its cosmology. This is

true of Hinduism also. What is exceptional here is, again, its multiplicity.
There are, in the Vedic tradition, several different cosmologies. Perhaps
the best known of these is the Näsadiya sûkta (Mandala X: 129) of the Rig
Veda. What is remarkable here is that the sage-poet reflecting in mystical
language on how the universe began concludes by saying that perhaps
even the One above might not know how it all started. This extraordinary
agnosticism stands in glaring contrast to the more self-assured (not to say
dogmatic) affirmations that scriptures generally make on this matter. This
creation hymn reveals a commendable and uncommon humility in the face
of what is perhaps the most difficult question confronting any thinking
mind.7 Traditional Hindu accounts of the creation of the world range from
the fascinating to the mythical.
But two things of relevance to modern cosmology stand out in all this.
First, here for the first time in all of ancient speculations on cosmic origins,
and never even imagined elsewhere until the dawn of the twentieth century,
are statements to the effect that the age of the universe is not a few thousand
or a few million years, but several billion. It was stated that our current eon
began some 5,000 years ago (this should make Bishop Ussher feel good),
and that it will last for a total of 432,000 years (this should disappoint
 Varadaraja V. Raman 561

some Mayan-sooth sayers). In Hindu reckoning, this eon {yuga) is the last
phase of a four-eon cycle of successively much longer yuga-periods, lasting
for a total of 4.32 million years. After going through a thousand such cycles
(4.32 billion years) the universe will be dissolved, only to be reborn again. It
has been conjectured that perhaps this number was arrived at from the fact
that there are 43,200 seconds in 12 hours. Whatever the source, the point
to remember is that until the discovery of radioactive elements and their
half-lives, physics could never even imagine anything of this time-span.
This brings us to the second interesting thesis of Hindu cosmology.
At the close of each four-yuga cycle, the universe will dissolve and be
reformed. The process will continue indefinitely. This notion of a cyclic
cosmology was a hypothesis of modern science some decades ago. It has
been revived in recent years (Steinhardtand Turok 2007). It had never
before been imagined in any culture before.

Hinduism and Quantum Mechanics. Another topic of interest in

the context of Hinduism and Science is the degree to which quantum
mechanics brings to the fore some of the worldviews articulated by ancient
Hindu thinkers. It must be noted here that it was not Hindu theologians
who claimed such interconnections, but some quantum physicists. In
particular, the notion of the centrality of consciousness in the world was
minimized, if not eliminated, in classical physics. In a widely read book
Erwin Schrôdinger, one of the founders of quantum mechanics, stated
explicitly: “The plurality that we perceive is only an appearance; it is not
real. Vedäntic philosophy, in which this is a fundamental dogma, has sought
to clarify it by a number of analogies, one of the most attractive being the
many-faceted crystal which, while showing hundreds of little pictures of
what is in reality a single existent object, does not really multiply that
object” (Schrödinger 1964, 18-19). Many quantum physicists concede
that it is not possible “to formulate the laws of quantum mechanics in a
fully consistent way without reference to consciousness” (Wigner 1970).
On the other hand, consciousness is a cornerstone in Hindu interpretations
of the world.
Among the authors who have linked the role of consciousness in
quantum physics to classical Hindu metaphysics is the Hindu physicist
Amit Goswami (1995), a knowledgeable and highly regarded spokesman
for Vedäntic perspectives on quantum mechanics. He has discussed in
depth such complex questions as the quantum mind, quantum physics
and the demise of materialism, and the nine lives of Schrödingers cat.
Though considerably different in tone from Tipler (1994) but in a very
similar spirit, Goswami has also authored a book that explores the quantum
physics of the soul, spirit, reincarnation, and such matters with Deepak
Chopra (Chopra and Goswami 2001). Deepak Chopra is a prolific and
sometimes controversial but highly successful celebrity with a background
562 Zygon

in medicine. He has written, among other things, on such topics as

quantum healing, perfect digestion, and how to know God. Some of
the assertions in the Chopra-Goswami book run counter to the current
paradigm of quantum physics, shifting though it is; but in postmodern
science, boundaries between science and imaginative extrapolations are
getting to be blurred considerably, especially in the popular-book market.
Nevertheless professional quantum physicists are somewhat taken aback
by New-Age claims about science and are reluctant to accommodate them
into mainstream science.
No matter whether or where modern quantum mechanics and ancient
Hindu worldviews concur or diverge, the fact remains that some of the
thought-provoking reflections of ancient Hindu visionaries can be fruitfully
recalled while discussing Bells theorem, quantum entanglement, or the
subject-object interface (Raman 2011).

Historical and Intercultural Aspects

Ancient Impressionsfrom Beyond. India has had perhaps more visitors,
welcome and unwelcome, more unpleasant intruders and helpless refugees
than most other countries. Since time immemorial many of them have been
recording their impressions on the country and its people. These writings
reveal that over the centuries people from many regions of the world looked
upon India with awe, respect, admiration, and even adulation, not only
for her natural resources, but also for her intellectual life.
The seventh-century traveler Xuanzang (Hiuen Tsang) from China was
so impressed by the vigor and curiosity of the people that he observed that
students at the university where he studied did not have enough time in a
day to ask questions. They spent many hours from dawn to dark discussing
various issues (Watters 1996).
The eleventh-century scholar Abu’l-Qasim from Andalusia wrote:
“Among the nations, during the course of centuries and throughout
the passage of time, India was known as the mine of wisdom and the
fountainhead of justice and good government and the Indians were
credited with excellent intellects, exalted ideas, universal maxims, rare
inventions and wonderful talents___They have studied arithmetic and
geometry. They have also acquired copious and abundant knowledge of
the movements of the stars, the secrets of the celestial sphere and all other
kinds of mathematical sciences. Moreover, of all the peoples they are the
most learned in the science of medicine and thoroughly informed about
the properties of drugs, the nature of composite elements and peculiarities
of the existing things” (Salem and Kumar 1996).
Marco Polo, the thirteenth-century world traveler had only the most
complementary things to say about the Brahmins of South India. He
wrote, for example, that they “are the best merchants in the world, and
 Varadaraja V. Raman 563

the most truthful, for they would not tell a lie for anything on earth___
They eat no flesh, and drink no wine, and live a life of great chastity... ;
nor would they on any account take what belongs to another; so their
law commands.... These Brahmans are very long-lived owing to their
extreme abstinence in eating.... They have capital teeth, which is owing
to a certain herb they chew, which greatly improves their appearance, and
is also very good for the health” (Atherton 1912, 140).
In more recent times, several thinkers even from the colonizing West
have paid homage to the intellectual and spiritual dimensions of ancient
India.

Impact of the British. It is a well-known and unpleasant fact of

history that India was among the victims of the age of expansion of
the West. A number of European nations (Portugal, France, Denmark,
and Great Britain) arrived on Indian shores as merchants and gradually
settled themselves there on a different basis. As elsewhere, the colonizing
European powers fought among themselves to acquire regions that they
would call their own. In due course, the Danes were completely routed
out, the Portuguese and the French managed to hold on to some territories,
while the British succeeded in usurping a vast chunk of Hindu and Muslim
kingdoms that were in power in vast portions of the Indian subcontinent.
By the middle of the nineteenth century much of India was under British
political domination. Associated with this was considerable economic
exploitation, which was the primary goal of European expansionism.
The period of British colonialism in India has had several lasting effects.
The four most important of these are (a) the political unification of
India as a modern secular democratic nation; (b) the bifurcation of the
Indian subcontinent into a secular democracy (Republic of India) and
a theocratic state (Pakistan); (c) the penetration of English as a primary
medium of communication among the linguistically different groups of the
Indian people; and (d) the introduction of modern science in the Indian
educational system.
It should be noted in this context that India has also benefited in
countless ways from her contacts with the outside world, though this
fact is not always acknowledged explicitly these days. In particular, it was
the intrusion of Great Britain into India that ushered some sections of
the Indian people into the modern world. But it is also important to
remember that colonial domination, besides the considerable harm it did
in other ways, was not a necessary condition for this transformation. In the
minds of many modern Hindus India’s, entry into the world of modern
science via the British has created the misperception of modern science as
a colonialist tool for economic exploitation.
English as the medium of expression and mutual communication for
modern Indian scientists and engineers made their expertise available
564 Zygon

to the world at large. But it also had the ill-effect of creating a schism
in the British-Indian Hindu world: an English knowing upper class with
all the advantages that come from knowledge and power and English, and
a more traditional, less sophisticated, less powerful, and often marginalized
class to whom only ancient views and values were available. The first group
was brainwashed into believing that its members were intrinsically superior
and that ancient traditions needed to be disparaged, decried, or discarded.
New movements have now arisen to correct such erroneous and culturally
suicidal attitudes.8

Impact of the Enlightenment. The rise of European Enlightenment

in the seventeenth century had major impacts on Western civilization.
Notwithstanding its devaluation and denigration by some postmodernists,
many of these impacts have been positive. It has also changed the
worldviews of leaders and movers in non-Western civilizations. The results
and ideas of modern science were transmitted to India via the universities
initiated by the colonizers. Before long Hindus entered into the mainstream
of international science. They have now become an integral part of the
seamless scientific community that in principle knows no ethnic, religious,
or national boundaries. Hundreds of them publish in professional journals.
Five of them have received the Nobel Prize for their technical work, and
quite a few have been elected Fellows of the Royal Society.
Another significant consequence of the emergence of modern science
was that scholars began to undertake systematic inquiries into the past,
delving into ancient texts, translating them, digging for archeological finds,
deciphering ancient scripts, and so on. Those investigations into the past,
not only within Europe but in other areas of the world as well, brought
within human reach much of ancient history that had been practically
erased from our collective memory.9
Research of this kind brought to the attention of the larger world
the scientific achievements of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, India,
China, and more. Prior to the eighteenth century there was hardly a book
within reach of Westerners, or even of indigenous scholars, on the scientific
traditions of other peoples. There were inevitable ethnocentric biases in the
interpretations of the findings by Western scholars. These are being brought
to light in postcolonial literature. But what is seldom acknowledged in such
assessments is that many peoples in non-Western cultures became aware
of the scientific dimensions in the legacy of their own distant ancestors
as a result of the scholarly investigations initiated by post-Enlightenment
probes by Western investigators.
Thus, for example, the astronomical works of Aryabhata and Bhaskara,
the medical treatises of Charaka and Shusruta, the mathematical works
of the Kerala school, and the empirical approach of Uddälaka Äruni of
Upanishadic fame—all these became mainstream knowledge even within
 Varadaraja V. Raman 565

India, only because of researches that began in the eighteenth century and
has continued since.10
These facts need to be mentioned because in the understandable
negative reactions to Western economic exploitation, political domination,
and cultural marginalization of the non-West, perpetrated during the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, quite a few recent writings either
underplay or ignore the positive byproducts of Western Enlightenment.
Recalling this is by no means intended to condone and justify the
unconscionable aggressions perpetrated by the West for well over two
centuries, but only to remind ourselves of dimensions of European
awakening that have been beneficial also to the rest of the world. One
may hope that scholars of a new era will assess the good as well as the bad
aspects of all peoples when they write histories.

Reactions to New Worldviews. Another impact of the West via modern

science is the jolt it gave to traditional modes of interpreting the world.
This sometimes led to direct confrontation between the emerging scientific
interpretations of natural phenomena and long held religion-centered
worldviews. One confused reaction to this among some Hindu writers
is to regard the modern scientific framework as Western and to contrast
it with Hindu science. This has led to some antagonism toward science
and to the belief that the British were trying to uproot traditional Hindu
worldviews by imposing their science on the people. It is surprising that
this perspective was not there before Indian independence and has emerged
only in the past two or three decades. What was/is not realized in such
contentions is that very similar confrontations have occurred (and continue
to be there) between traditional Christianity and modern science in the
West also.11 On the other hand, a great many Hindus who have been
drawn to science by dint of their own studies realize that science is not as
culturally biased at the core as some people in the non-West imagine. They
not only embrace modern science wholeheartedly but also productively
participate in the endeavor.
When the full merit and culture-independent validity of modern science
came to be realized, there emerged another reaction. One began to recast
ancient philosophical and scriptural writings in the language of modern
science. This nostalgic error has its parallels in other religious traditions
as well (Raman 1999, 18). This perspective sometimes leads to claims to
the effect that some of the recent results of modern science are implicit in
ancient writings that need to be properly interpreted to see the science in
them. This thesis is different from the views of men like Johannes Kepler
and others who merely argued that biblical passages had to be seen in
symbolic terms, rather than be taken literally in order to avoid conflicts with
modern findings. It is also quite different from the admonition of thinkers
like Sri Aurobindo to the effect that mindless embrace of materialism
566 Zygon

that is often a corollary of the physical sciences could be hurtful to the

human condition in the long run. The goal of some of the new thinkers
is not to satisfy religious authorities, but to argue that what is claimed
as scientific knowledge in the West is not all that new. In this spirit, a
number of science-informed writers have detected significant similarities
between some results of twentieth-century fundamental physics and their
deeper epistemological implications on the one hand, and some of the
penetrating visions of Hindu seers on the other. Their writings have had
considerable impact on science-religion discussions in the Hindu world.
Swami Vivekananda, a pioneering spokesman for Hindu worldviews in
the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, declared optimistically, or
perhaps presciently, that “science and religion will meet and shake hands.
Poetry and philosophy will become friends. This will be the religion of the
future, and if we can work it out, we may be sure that it will be for all times
and peoples” (Vivekananda 1947, 149). This is yet to come to pass.
In the early twentieth century Pierre Duhem s scholarly work resuscitated
medieval thinkers who had been marginalized or rendered irrelevant by
the thinkers of the Enlightenment. Long before that, Swami Dayanand
Saraswati, a man of great learning and impeccable spiritual integrity, who
was a social reformer no less, delved deep into the Vedas and argued
eloquently that science was well and vibrant in ancient India. Furthermore,
he affirmed that Vedic civilization was also technologically advanced.
In the Christian world, scholars like Étienne Gilson saw the relevance
of Thomistic philosophy to the modern world and went so far as to
suggest that only Thomism can save us from the precarious world created
by modern science—a thesis reiterated by a number of thinkers of good
standing. Such ideas have their counterparts in the Hindu world where
again eminent scholars have gone beyond the philosophical contents of
Vedanta and explained how Vedäntic worldviews alone can solve the
social, cultural, and ethical problems humanity is facing. Thus, one author
concluded his scholarly presentation by stating that “when all has been said,
the outstanding fact remains that it (Vedanta) is the science of wisdom and
happiness, of truth irrefutable and vital to the perennial interests of man”
(Iyer 1965, 530).

Postmodernist Impact. Scientific methodology led to the science of

anthropology and sociology. Just as a child born of loving parents can grow
to be loving of its own parents, sociology turned its focus on science itself.
Thus arose the academic study of science, not as a body of knowledge but
as a human enterprise, spurred by factors that its own practitioners were
not consciously aware of. Now investigators unraveled that there is more
to science than disinterested quest for knowledge. Extreme versions of
these commentaries on science claim that science has no greater claims
to objective truth than other enterprises, that science is essentially a
 Varadaraja V. Raman 567

human-made construct, that science s goal is to acquire power, to exploit

the masses, and to serve the cause of capitalism and European colonialism.
This last thesis appeals to thinkers in nations that had been victims
of Western imperialism. So there began to appear articles and books
exploring and emphasizing this view of science. While Indian/Hindu
scientists, working in various laboratories and universities in India and
beyond, have been making contributions to modern scientific knowledge
through their research and publications like their counterparts all
over the world, not unlike in the West, there have been a growing
number of scholars—sociologists, historians, psychologists, and general
commentators extramural to the scientific citadel—who write on science.
Their insights and scholarship have enriched the discourse on science and
Hinduism. Aside from journals like the Indian Journal for the History
of Science and Science and Culture, there are symposia, conferences, and
books on the theme of Hinduism and Science. Anthologies of essays on
this subject are published on a regular basis, with titles like Thoughts on
Synthesis ofScience and Religion (Singh and Bandyopadhyay 2001), Modern
Science, Religion and the Questfor Unity (Kozhamthadan 2005), and Science
and Spirtuality in Modern India (Paranjape 2006).
Unlike the scientists of the first half of the twentieth century such
as Jagdish Chandra Bose, Meghnad Saha, C. V. Raman, Subramanyan
Chandrasekhar, and scores of other productive scientists, postmodern
Hindu writers on science insist, as mentioned earlier, on differentiating
Hindu culture and traditions from modern science. They are right in that
culture and tradition, community and nationalism, religion and hegemonic
undercurrents play a role in the growth of science. However, when this
multicomponent liquid is distilled an essence comes out: and that is science
qua knowledge. This knowledge-component-science, which all initiates
into science understand and which many of them enrich, transcends caste
and creed, race and religion, culture and nationality. Claims and comments
on science may be inspired by parochial pride and culture-complexes, but
when it comes to writing the equations of motion, analyzing the structure
of molecules, or tracing the genome of a species, passport and patronym
play no role whatsoever. It is in the non-recognition of this core feature of
science that interpretations of culture-centered science—whether Hindu
or Islamic, Catholic, Buddhis, and Judaic—grievously err.
One perceptive commentator described the situation succinctly as
follows: “Indian modernity is thus Janus-faced if not schizophrenic.
On the one hand it seeks to preserve, almost cling to, traditions that
would have become obsolete in most parts of the world. On the other
hand it champions modern science even though scientific premises and
methodology contradict its own traditions” (Paranjape 2008, xxii). This
paradox may be resolved when it is realized that modern science did
not grow out of Indian soil: more seriously, it was ushered in by a
568 Zygon

colonizing power. But it also is very useful, indeed indispensable, for

practical purposes. As a result, science (or at least the scientific spirit)
is as yet not whole-heartedly embraced, as has happened among thinkers
in Japan, China, and Russia, for example. This is one reason why modern
science is still regarded by many, including and especially by those who are
unable to rid themselves of postcolonial victimhood, as an imposition by
miscreant aliens, or as old wine (visions of their ancestors) in the new bottle
of Western languages. Not many practicing Hindu scientists share this view
while they are doing or teaching science. As to being marginalized, one
author has pointed out that “the easy demarcation of the society into the
elite and the subalterns in postcolonialism fails to capture the complexity
and heterogeneity of the history of modern science in India” (Sur 2011,
25). This statement is equally true when some Hindus talk about the effects
of the writings of Western authors on Indian culture, science, and history,
where they consider themselves to be the subalterns in the global context
dominated by the hegemonic West.
Postcolonial scholars do not seem to recognize that there was, and
still is, a continuous tug of war between traditionalists (Christians) and
modernists within the Western matrix also, except that in the West modern
science is not an exotic import, much less brought in as an imposition by
aliens who wished to destroy the local culture. Those who see science as
an instrument used by Western and science-awakened Indians thinkers
to destroy Indias traditional culture (Chatterjee 1986) have their vocal
counterparts in the Islamic world also, where some resort to other means
than writing articles and books to counteract the alien cultural force.
They seem to be unwilling or unable to recognize that new ideas always
transform cultures and civilizations, whether from internal or external
impetuses, for the good in some ways and for the bad in other ways, that
such transformations cannot be averted in the global-knowledge context,
and that the alternative to change is stagnation in ages whose glories are
more in the recalling than in the reliving.
This is not to deny that radical changes in the cultural framework of a
people have the potential for destroying a tradition altogether. It is therefore
extremely important that thinkers in the non-West be deeply concerned
about the integrity and survival of their culture, and it is appropriate that
they alert us to the hegemonic and all-devouring nature of the changes
ushered in by science, technology, and the globalization of English and
Western lifestyles. The challenges facing traditionalists in this regard,
whether in the West or in the non-West, are significant and nontrivial.
Indeed, they are among the difficult challenges facing all peoples.

Science in Scriptures. In the first part of the twentieth century an

important theme in many books was to the effect that classical Hindu
philosophical perspectives had significant elements that were very relevant
 Varadaraja V Raman 569

in current issues in the philosophy of science. But in the last quarter of

that century germinated another thesis: that some of the results of modern
science were already implicit in ancient Hindu science. Spurred as much by
provocative books like The Tao ofPhysics (Capra 1975) and The Dancing
Wu Li Masters (Zukav 1979), as by serious rethinking about ancient works,
a new paradigm has been gaining ground in the rich imagination of some
Hindus, to the effect that even the notion of quarks lie occult in ancient
aphorisms. Instances of this may be found in books like Vedic Science and
Technology (Biswal and Ray 2009) and Vedic Physics (Roy 1999). In a work
entitled Vedic String Theory (Bhakta 2006, 3), the author says: “In the
depth of their meditation, the Vedic sages intuitively gained the concept
of strings of consciousness as the originators of the fabric of space-time,
and following their tradition of using mundane experience (the familiar)
to describe the Divine (the unfamiliar) used the analogy of a handloom,
which makes fabric from thread.”
In this context it should be pointed out that in recent decades some
Europeans and Americans have adopted Hinduism and India to the point
that they have not only settled down in the country but have been writing
with affection, respect, and knowledge about India and her culture, and
about the gross injustices her people have suffered at the hands of ruthless
invaders. Some of them have written on Vedic science and astrology and
their connections with modern science. They are certainly serving Hindus,
if not Hinduism, in making them feel positively about ancient Hindu
science. Unwittingly, they are also reinforcing the natural inclination not
to let go of ancient ideas even when new knowledge is available.
Meera Nanda has given a robust critique of efforts to reinstate old ideas
in the garb of new science. Her thesis is that the resurgence of Hindu
cultural patriotism, inspired by postmodernist relativism about scientific
truths, is propagating the fantasy that much of modern science lies implicit
in old sayings. She sees in all this the resurgence of Hindu fundamentalism
that has its counterparts in other traditions as well. She writes with some
exaggeration that “those who are agitating for the scientificity of ontology
and epistemology are also at the forefront of defending the righteousness of
the traditional Hindu social order which gives priority to the social group
over the individual” (Nanda 2003, 88).
Western postmodernist writers, some of whom are practitioners of
science, have been contributing to this situation. They have successfully
propagated the thesis that all truths are relative. This means that scientific
truths do not occupy a privileged position in the arena of human
knowledge. This is not the place to discuss the merits or demerits of this
contention. Suffice it to say that it has played an important role in devaluing
modern science in the estimation of many people everywhere. The science
and Enlightenment that originated in the West have turned topsy-turvy
its own culture and transformed its own millennia-long traditions in
570 Zygon

unrecognizable ways. They have been doing this in other cultural settings as
well. What is not recognized in this tradition-destroying global onslaught
is that it is not colonialist governments that have been changing the minds
of the people, but the reasoned knowledge, information, and emancipating
values that are part science and Enlightenment. The feel-good call to
reject modern science because it had its origins in the West has been
persuasively expounded by some thoughtful scholars in India. But they
have not succeeded in diminishing the practice of science within India
where research and inventions continue. Nor have such musings slowed
down the pace of modern science education and progressive social values in
colleges and universities in India. Thanks to these, the country is emerging
as a leader to be reckoned with in the comity of nations.
In my view, modern Hindu scientists working in research centers, ob-
servatories, and laboratories are, literally or metaphorically, reincarnations
of the founders of the Sämkhya, Nyäya, Vedäntic, and other classical
Hindu schools who did not simply parrot what their ancestors had said,
but thought boldly and independently, and formulated new and original
perspectives.

Concluding Thoughts
Science and religion are in harmony and in conflict in the Hindu world,
as in all dynamic civilizations. Hindu worldviews are rich in insights and
flexible in their capacity to incorporate new ideas and grow. Evolution
and other scientific paradigms can be accepted even by religiously inclined
thinkers, and even though astrology and numerology continue to impress
and guide the masses, by and large they do not influence decision makers
regarding the place of modern science in colleges and universities. In spite
of attempts by some groups, educational institutions have thus far been
shielded from such ancient sciences creeping into the curriculum. Perhaps
the greatest strength of the Hindu framework lies in the fact that those who
are brought up in the tradition generally have the capacity to accommodate
contrarian worldviews that have contextual appeal and significance. The
cheerful practice of traditional modes in the religious context gives meaning
and purpose to most Hindus; and the willing embrace of rational science
gives them a fuller appreciation of the natural world.
Given the rich intellectual heritage, it is not surprising that when
the Hindu world encountered what was then largely Western science,
it received and absorbed it with eagerness. There are at least two reasons
why very soon Indians of Hindu heritage began to accept the scientific
framework and to participate productively in the international endeavor we
call modern science. First, the Hindu psyche has always been accustomed
to new and divergent perspectives, and it accepts multiplicity as intrinsic
to the human condition. The second and no less important reason is that
 Varadaraja V Raman 571

there has never been an institutionalized supreme authority, elected or

anointed in the Hindu world, to dictate to its adherents what should and
should not be accepted, what can and cannot be regarded as the Truth.
This implies an extraordinary freedom in the religious context. Therefore,
while rigid orthodoxy and what one would call fundamentalist doctrinal
believers are still common in the Hindu world, there are also open-minded
religionists, free thinkers and atheists in the tradition, as also enlightened
bridge-builders between time-honored culturally meaningful (endopotent)
worldviews and impersonal scientifically derived (exopotent) results.

General Comments on Science and Religion

What makes the subject of Science and Religion interesting is that
notwithstanding all the advances that modern science has made during the
past four and odd centuries, religions continue to play an important role in
human culture, civilization, and history. One reason for this is that religions
answer to some of the basic needs of humanity. Religions give joy in the
celebrations of ancestral visions, hope in times of despair, and solace in times
grief. Religions bind people through practices and add sanctity to life and
relationships through sacraments. Religions have instigated commendable
ethical principles like charity and love, compassion and service to others.
They have inspired great art and glorious music and sublime poetry.
Religions furnish meaning and purpose to countless billions. Severing
links to these could be traumatic, with unhappy collective consequences.
Whenever and wherever a religion has been removed, it has been replaced
by another, by persuasion or by force.
Unfortunately, associated with many historical and current practices of
religions are elements that are neither healthy for the individual nor safe
for society. Such, for instance, are superstitions, intolerant attitudes toward
the beliefs of others, sectarian persecutions, bigotry, sometimes racism and
class hierarchy.
Since time immemorial people have been studying religions in systematic
ways. There is a difference between studying ones own religion and that
of a different group. In the first instance one tends to be spontaneously
more sympathetic, while in the latter case, such sympathy does not arise
naturally. The sheer strangeness of it all tends to incline the outsider in
the opposite direction. Anyone who approaches another religion without a
positive feeling toward it is not likely to benefit from the study in any way.
Such a person is likely to distort and devalue what the practitioners regard
as worthy and sacred. The goal of interfaith movements should be, not
simply to learn about other religions but to learn to respect and appreciate
other faith systems for their intrinsic non-hurtful qualities.
One topic that is seldom made explicit in discussions on science and
religion is the methodological differences between science and religion
572 Zygon

and the criteria for the truth content of propositions in the two contexts
(Raman 2010,60 et seq.). When these differences are ignored controversies
are inevitable, for the participants in the two systems are like players playing
with same ball, each following the rules of a different game.
It is important to emphasize that modern science—as distinct from
ancient science and religious systems—relies largely on precise quantified
data obtained through ingenious and carefully constructed instruments of
varying degrees of sophistication for its conclusions. It utilizes well-defined
constructs and, in many instances, mathematical techniques in the analysis
of mounds of carefully collected data. There are meticulous methods of
examination, verification, critiques, and reformulations when necessary, of
scientifically proclaimed results.
The roots of religious truths are revelations that are accepted on the
basis of the weight and sanctity one attaches to the source. From the
religious perspective these are as trustworthy as a meter reading is to
the scientist. In the religious context revealed truths are no less relevant,
reliable, and important than logically derived theorems are in mathematics.
More importantly, they are significant for culture and civilization.
Therefore, in viewing scientific and religious views on any issue, even
while appreciating and respecting the enrichment that both bring to
human responses to perceived reality, it is important to bear in mind
the fundamental ways in which science and religion differ as valid and
worthwhile pursuits in the human experience to achieve intellectual and
spiritual fulfillment.

Notes

1 Though stated with a different purpose, this idea is expressed in the first stanza of
Hermann Hesse s poem Allein

Es fahren über die Erde Straßen und Wege viel,

Aber alle haben dasselbe Ziel
Many streets and ways on earth do lead.
But their goals are all the same indeed.
2 The central thesis of Shankara is known as Advaita Vedänta or Vedan tic Monism
3 Ramanujas system is known technically as Visishtadvaita or qualified nondualism
4 dve vidye veditavya iti, ha sma yad brahma-vido vadanti—para caiväparäca There are
two kinds of knowledge One deals with transcendental knowledge and the other with material
knowledge
3 It should be pointed out that the ten avataras are of Vishnu Thus, this is an essentially
Vaishnava view The Bhägavata Puräna lists twenty-two explicitly The Tamil Chaiva tradition
has the epic Kanda Puranam, which narrates the avatära of Murugan
6 If saying this or referring to the fact that there are aspects of life and mind, culture and
cognition that have yet to be explained to the full satisfaction of all scientists qualifies me to be
classed as “a sadhu-inspired and sadhu-citing scientist,” I am flattered for a compliment I do not
quite deserve (Brown 2012, 227)
7 The latest version of scientific cosmology, as popularized by Stephen Hawking and
Lawrence Kreuss, is that the universe came out of nothing—which has all along been an
assumption of any nontheistic cosmology since time immemorial
 Varadaraja V. Raman 573

8 Ironically, the vast percentage of eloquent spokespersons calling for the overthrow of the
West-inculcated mindset are products of modern education in British-inspired schools, and well
read in European Enlightenment literature
9 Thus, in 1759 the first modern history of mathematics was published by Jean Étienne
Montucla (Sarton 1936) Such investigations revealed, contrary to the Baconian view, that many
ancient cultures had developed serious science in a variety of fields
10 The same may be said of science in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China also
11 Just as Marxism called for the workers of the world to unite against the capitalists of the
world, and in today s global economy the capitalists of the world are united in the exploitation
of the laborers of the world, the religious traditionalists of the world (though not united in their
doctrinal convictions) are speaking out against the Darwinists of the world

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