The Scientist and the Saint: The Limits of Science and the Testimony of Sages

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

My good friend, you are an Athenian, a citizen of a city which is the greatest and most famous in the world for its wisdom and power Are you not ashamed that you give your attention to acquiring as much wealth, reputation and honour as possible, and give no attention or thought to Truth and Wisdom, and the perfection of your soul?

Every time I come to a country where the Beloved is not respected. I find that space narrows down.

Destiny has placed me astride two continents, two cultures, two forms of perceiving the world and life: India and Europe. Between these two "planets" I have spent my life, without for that feeling foreign in either one. However, when I go to Europe after having spent long periods in India, I experience what might be called "culture shock". It is not because of the customs or ways of life, these are very familiar to me, but rather the exclusively materialistic concept of existence and of the universe. I do not pretend to claim by this that India is "spiritual"; in fact, in many ways India can be more materialistic than the West. But there the vast majority of people do not consider the visible world as the only real one; although they may be immersed in the life of the material (mayd, the world of appearances) they know that there are spiritual worlds and a superior intelligence upon which everything depends, and that when faced with this Ultimate Reality, visible reality pales. They know that sooner or later, they must turn towards the spiritual Source, the origin and final destination of all human beings. Furthermore, in India the contemplative tradition has been reasonably well preserved, while in most of the world it has been lost. And it was this contemplative tradition that served as a solid base for philosophical, religious and metaphysical speculation. In the West, and especially in Europe, one avoids speaking of these things, at least in the public context it is almost considered "bad manners", a taboo subject people feel uncomfortable about broaching. In every case, reality is considered to be shaped by the visible world such as it is interpreted by "science". In the media, in conversations, schools and universities, this vision is driven home using every possible means, explicitly or implicitly, whether through act or omission. Europeans are not even aware of this, for it is something accepted as a given, even though throughout its history-as throughout practically the entire history of humanity-its vision has been much more similar to that of India than to the one prevailing in the West over the last two hundred years. It is true that in recent decades one notices more and more a reaction against this narrow world- view and glimmers of more spiritual concepts can be observed-more or less convergent or divergent; nevertheless it has still not made its way into education or the media.

Even the ever-declining number of Christian "believers" profess a very similar vision, and it is only through an effort that they leave a space in their worldview for something supernatural, a God who "soars above", so to speak, this physical world from which his presence has been removed and which they perceive in a very similar way to the rest of the people. A God about whom they scarcely dare speak, especially in public or in the media, for immediately indignant voices are raised clamouring for "secularism", "rationality", and liberation from "superstitions".

In addition, the mentality based on the absolute supremacy of the scientific conception of the world is rapidly being disseminated throughout the planet, including in India itself. It is not due to its intrinsic superiority, but because it has permeated the educational system, putting it in line with the continuous technological advances, and thus making it possible for the students to find work.

This book intends to show (not prove, for no worldview can be proved) that the world is much more than what can be discovered scientifically, that the universe is much more than its visible and measurable parts, that man is much more than a "naked ape", that consciousness-the fundamental characteristic of man-is much more than cerebral activity. And that this "much more" is not a thing forever unknown above and beyond the reach of man, but something that can be "known" (through identification of the knowing subject with the object of knowledge), and which al- ways, throughout the history of mankind, has been known by some men.