Bettina Sharada Baumer
anyadevahurvidyaya 'nyadahuravidyaya iti susruma dhiranam ye nastadvicacaksire 1 vidyam cavidyam ca yastadvedobhayam sa ha avidyaya mṛtyum tirtva vidyayamṛtam asnute ||
- Isa Upanisad 10-11
Something is expressed through wisdom, something else through conventional knowledge, thus we have heard from the wise who explained it to us. He who understands both wisdom and conventional knowledge as one, through conventional knowledge passes over death, and through wisdom attains immortality.
Dr S. RADHAKRISHNAN, the founder of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, envisaged as a topic to receive special attention in the deliberations among scholars: "Indian and Asian contribution to the synthesis of science and spirituality". The present volume, which is the outcome of an international seminar on "Science and Spirituality: Bridges of Understanding", is an attempt to contribute to this important subject. It was the desire of Radhakrishnan that this Institute be a place of meeting and dialogue, not only between disciplines and cultures, but also between the so-called "objective" disciplines and spirituality, an essential dimension of the Indian traditions.
The first question which will be asked is: which science? and which spirituality? Another question will be, why not science and religion? Should we not narrow the topic down to be more focused? But the purpose of this seminar having been a dialogue at different levels, the topic was purposely left open, to be defined by the scholars of the various disciplines and spiritual traditions and their underlying philosophy in their own context and understanding. However, one question has to be addressed at the outset: We know that ancient and medieval Indian sciences, which are partially still alive today, were spiritually oriented, their ultimate aim being expressly moksa. It may be Ayurveda, Vastusastra, Jyotișa (both, astronomy and astrology) and the Sastras of the various arts like Sangitasastra and others, they were embedded in a spiritual world view. Thus they were not in need of "bridging the gap". Even if we witness a rediscovery, these sciences are under the pressure of the all-dominating modern science and its offshoot technology.
This seminar was not addressed to these Sastras, but to our present predicament of being situated and sometimes caught between modern science and spirituality, whether based on a specific tradition such as Buddhism for example, or independent of it, as in the case of J. Krishnamurti, among other spiritual movements and personalities of recent times. The focus of the seminar was thus not historical- that would require another approach and methodology but contextual in our present world. And yet, being open to a multilayered dialogue, nothing was excluded, especially whatever is conducive to such a "bridge of understanding".
At the outset I only want to point to some issues which are important to keep in mind while approaching the "other" discipline and getting into a dialogue.
The first problem which comes to mind is the question of language itself. Scientific disciplines and spiritual traditions cannot help but use many of the same words and concepts in describing their respective contents, insights and discoveries, but they may have a very different meaning and connotation. I may only mention some concepts which are central to both:
Energy to a physicist means something else than to a follower of Tantra. Consciousness in neuroscience, psychology and cognitive sciences has a different connotation than cit/caitanya or samvit translated equally as consciousness in Advaita Vedanta or in non-dualist Kashmir Saivism for example. The void in physics cannot be identified with the Buddhist ssnyata and so on. And yet, being human experiences expressed in language, these concepts are also not so totally different as not to allow for any attempt at mutual understanding. The problem here is one of the level at which a concept is understood - physical or spiritual. But precisely in the context of the latest developments in sciences such as neuroscience and quantum physics, attempts have already been made to bridge this gap.
The limitations of language in expressing an insight have to be overcome on both sides: in science by taking recourse to mathematical formulas, and in spiritual traditions of Indian origin in the form of condensed Sutras. Both, the formulas and the Sutras can be understood and interpreted only by those experienced in their respective disciplines.
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