The Relationship Between Science and Religion: Exploring the Case of India

 The Relationship Between Science and Religion: Exploring the Case of India

 Introduction:

The relationship between science and religion has been a topic of debate for centuries. While some argue that scientific progress leads to the decline of religious influence, others believe that science and religion can coexist. This essay explores this relationship with a focus on India, which experienced a religious renaissance in the latter part of the 19th century, spurring interesting developments in the interaction between science and religion.

 The Absence of Inevitable Causal Relationship:

It is essential to note that there is no inevitable causal relationship between the advancement of science and the decline of religious influence. If there were such a relationship, the decline of religious influence in Europe, where science has advanced significantly, should have happened all over the world, but this has not been the case. Therefore, it is crucial to examine the case of India, where science and religion have had an interesting relationship.

 

India's Religious Renaissance:

In the latter part of the 19th century, India experienced a religious renaissance, spurred by the life and experiences of Sri Ramakrishna. Sri Ramakrishna's life proved that essential religion, which concerns the eternal truth of God and his relation to man, and man's possibility of seeing God and becoming enlightened, is always the eternal religion in its power and promise. No progress of science can have any negative influence on the fact of God because when God is seen, science can only become chastened by it.

 

Different Religions and the Universal Truth:

Sri Ramakrishna proved that what he experienced is true for all religions. Different religions may or may not acknowledge this fact, but when God is seen in the world by anyone belonging to any religion, all religions, irrespective of their differences, are strengthened in this fact. Therefore, it is crucial to recognize the universal truth in religion that transcends individual dogmas and beliefs.

 

Religion's Weaknesses:

However, when religion focuses on dogmas that are not necessarily spiritual, it weakens itself and loses its authority. In these days of vigorous free thinking, any religion that is not concerned with the broad facts of God, but instead, is preoccupied with dogmas that are not necessary, weakens itself further.

 

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the relationship between science and religion is complex and cannot be reduced to a simple causal relationship. Sri Ramakrishna's life and experiences showed that essential religion transcends individual dogmas and beliefs and is a universal truth that strengthens all religions. However, any religion that is preoccupied with dogmas that are not spiritual weakens itself and loses its authority. It is essential to recognize the universal truth in religion and to focus on the broad facts of God rather than individual dogmas.

 Jalatarpanam: The Significance of Water in Various Traditions and Cultures

 Water holds a special place in various traditions and cultures around the world. In Hinduism, Jalatarpanam is a unique ritual that involves standing in waist-deep water while facing the sun, filling the hands with water and allowing it to fall back. The Ganga river is revered as a Mother Goddess, where devotees immerse themselves as well as carry its water home. Water is not just a source of survival in Indic tradition but also a medium of psycho-spiritual cleansing.

 

Buddhist master Atisha noticed the purity of springs in Tibet and proposed water alone to be used as an offering. Bhutanese Yonchap made the daily offering of seven bowls of water a common practice, symbolizing mental purification from afflictions, resulting in clarity and calmness.

 

Water in Mithraism is revered as a living element that nourishes everything and is guarded by Goddess Anahita, Ava, associated with fertility, healing, and wisdom. Prophet Zoroaster considered offering water to be the most meritorious of actions, and Zoroastrians are sometimes called ‘water-worshippers.' Water is also a purificatory ritual in many cultures, such as Islamic wudhu and the washing of the deceased. Baptism symbolizes the death of the old self and the resurrection into a new life in Christ.

 

In Taoism, water is referred to as the watercourse way, and its pliability and ‘allowingness’ suggest humility, a sign of true intelligence and wisdom. Lao Tzu writes, "Water is the softest and most yielding substance. Yet nothing is better than water for overcoming the hard and rigid, because nothing can compete with it."

 

Water is also associated with health in the Rig Ved, which hails water as the reservoir of all curative medicines. Water is one of the five mahabhutas, great elements, and its association with health is due to its function as a healing and regenerating agent. It moistens tissues in the eyes, nose, and throat, carries nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and balances body temperature.

 

Water is a metaphor for resilience and freedom, as its unimpeded flow, even when facing obstacles, is adopted as a principle in martial arts, Qigong, and Tai Chi. Water is also capable of wielding great power, despite its seeming fluidity and weakness. Water metaphors are abundant in our language, with flow being the key to its use, and its stagnation likened to staleness or rigidity.

 

In psycho-mythological literature, water is regarded as the symbol of the unconscious and is connected to the moon. It is often depicted as an inverted triangle. Water in the Chinese tradition is yin, feminine, and its flow is downward, with energy of stillness and conserving.

 

Water is nurturing, gentle, and accommodating, and ancient sages advised virtuous people in leading positions to adopt these qualities. Water's evocations are felt in the fresh smell after rain, the tranquillity of the murmuring river, and in the playfulness of children jumping into puddles or splashing water. As Gene Kelly showed in the film ‘Singin’ in the Rain,’ water can also bring out the joy in adults.

  IF HE EXIST

 I drive joy there was a doctor in Benaras who spent 7 minutes in the morning and evening for mediation on God. Knowing this, his colleagues and friends laughed at him. One day they argued that he was wasting 7 precious minutes on something, which he had been misled into believing. The doctor replied, “Well, if God does not exist, I agree that I am wasting 7 minutes a day. But, if He exists? I am afraid you are wasting your entire lifetime. I prefer to waste 7 minutes rather than a lifetime. Why should you grudge me the 7minutes joy that I derive 4m.-

 

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