Science today says that everything in the world is interrelated. To explain this, they use words from physics and say: ?Inseparable quantum interconnectedness where every particle contains every other particle.? Indian sages had expressed this in very simple terms by saying that the seed comes from the tree and the tree comes from the seed. Yadpinde tad brahmaande which means that whatever is in the body, is in the universe too.
This way, with the development of science, scientists in the west have started thinking that truth cannot be discovered on physical ground alone. Hence, scientists like Heisenberg, Irwin Schrodinger, James Jeanes, Fridzofkapra, Gezhukov, Geofriechwe etc. believe that if one wants to understand the world, one must understand the mind and the conscience. Thus, one will have to contemplate this not in parts, but in an integrated way. So, today, people are talking about a holistic approach. The basic question, however, is that even today, this outlook is not as influential as it ought to have been. Even today, science is divided into groups. Physics, biology and psychology are all working in their own fields. There is a lack of a holistic outlook. As a result, alongwith scientific development, man is standing at the crossroad between human pleasure and problems.
6. Einstein had said that science could denature platinum but it is unable to denature evil from human mind. Hence, while science has, on one hand thrown man into the sea of comfort to swim, it has, on the other hand posed a great danger for the very existence of mankind.
Today'sTragedy
Science has, today, helped man go into space, set foot on the moon and return, scan the mineral resources hidden in the womb of the earth on his screen and made it possible to scan the minute fibres or tendrils of the brain. Today, anyone can go around the whole earth in 24 hours and can send his message from one end of the world to another within a second and sitting in the comfort of his drawing room, he can see all what is happening around the world on his TV screen and this progress has been very fast. These are the creative aspect of science.
On the other hand, man has lost the feeling of motherhood that he had towards nature. That has been replaced by a feeling that it has to be enjoyed. It is because of this that science is becoming an enemy of the entire living creation. While on one hand, radiations from the factories are becoming the cause for many deadly diseases, depletion of the ozone layer, which protects the earth from the ultra-violet rays of the sun, is also endangering the earth. Jungles have been cut down. As a result, climate is becoming irregular. The temperature of the earth is rising because of uncontrolled industrialisation. The recently held Earth Summit warned that if the temperature of the world rises by 2.5 or 3 degrees, then the glaciers will melt, the level of sea water will rise by 80 cm and many cities and islands will be drowned. Sound pollution is increasing so much that it will take us close to madness. Industrial waste is polluting water. Animals are cruelly or mercilessly killed for our own pleasure. So, the plants, animals and the entire living world is in danger.
A long time ago, Bertrand Russell had written in his book Science and Its Impact on Society that ?Man today is living between human skill and human folly. If his prudence does not increase alongwith his skill, then the more and more development will end in more and more sorrow.?
An incident easily describes this situation. The Development Council of India had a conference in Ahmedabad. A Jain ascetic, who had come there, narrated his experience. Once, there was a programme at a University, where a speaker said that science thinks about a problem that is going to come up or occur 100 years from now. For example, since one knows that coal will finish in the next 100 years, science, is looking for an alternative source of energy today. At this, the Jain ascetic said that the way scientific development does not follow any principles, is valueless and is becoming an enemy of creation, the manner in which chemical and annihilatory atomic weapons are being made and the way in which man is becoming selfish and greedy, the time is not far when this ability of science will change the whole world into coal. Hence, there is need to deliberate on who will burn this coal in the world turned into coal itself.
Today'sneed
Swami Ranganathanandaji, the Chief of the Rama Krishna Mission, has made a statement that is worthy of contemplation. The main question is whether science is ready to cross its limited materialist boundary to discover truth? Will the search for truth still be made by keeping aside human consciousness and human mind? Is life only a particle? Is life a mere coincidence of DNA and RNA or is it some other deep valuable thing? Do we today, have enough courage to accept that abstract or intangible element or that satyasya satya (truth of truth) as ultimate truth? The completeness of our search of truth and the future of human beings depends on the answer to this question. As Prof. Fritzofkapra says, modern physicists experience the world with an extremely logical brain and experiment whereas a spiritualist experiences it with a logical brain and realizations. Both investigate in different ways and reach conclusions. They will either join together later or break up or depreciate. However, for the complete knowledge of the world they are both necessary and complementary to each other. A Chinese philosopher has said that a spiritualist knows the root of Tao (a name well known for the ultimate truth or god in China) but he does not know the branches, whereas a scientist knows the branches of Tao but does not know the root. A spiritualist does not feel the need for a scientist and a scientist does not feel the need for a spiritualist. Man, however, needs both.
(This book is available with Ocean Books (P) Ltd., 4/19 Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi-110 002.)
