Science and Hinduism Share the Vision of a Quest for Truth
By Rohitash Chandra, Transitional Artificial Intelligence Research Group, School of Mathematics and Statistics, UNSW Sydney, Australia; Shankara Institute of Hindu Studies, Nausori, Fiji. Originally published by Nature.
Due to certain aspects of Abrahamic religions that challenged modern science and led to the persecution of scientists such as Galileo, there is a consensus in media and academia that all religions are against science. As an academic in a prominent Australian university, I am not only a minority due to my ethnicity but also due to my belief systems. I often try to openly discuss belief systems with scientists and academics. In academia, partially in the sciences, it is hard to find academics with interests in the study or practice of religion. However, I know there is a group of nonvocal academics and scientists who have an interest in studying religion but do not have the time or resources. I usually ask people to study religion, not as someone with blind faith in a particular religion, but to engage in academic study of the religion before forming strong opinions about it. I am a practising Hindu and also take an interest in the academic study of Hinduism. Furthermore, I do not think that in Hinduism we have barriers where you need to believe to scientifically study a religion.
Hinduism: Theism vs Atheism
It puzzles my colleagues when I say that Hinduism includes atheism; yes it does and there are more than 2000-year-old texts about atheism.1 The Charvaka school of Hindu philosophy focuses on atheism with a focus on the investigation of the material nature of the universe based on evidence, similar to modern science. There are about nine major schools of Hindu philosophy which include agnostic schools such as Buddhism and Jainism and atheistic schools that include Charvaka. The six theistic schools essentially take the Vedas as the source of knowledge and Yoga and Vedanta are prominent Hindu schools. I guess in the West, for many, Yoga is essentially a workout routine with some sort of meditation; however, Yoga is a Hindu philosophical school that features thousands of years of knowledge that includes texts about meditation and philosophy that define the nature of spirituality and practise that enables one to reach higher states of consciousness and connect with God. Yoga and Vedanta form the core of Hinduism. I must highlight that Hinduism was developed through the science and philosophy of ancient seers and unlike dogmatic religions, Hindu texts are open for discussion and debate. Essentially, major Hindu texts are a product of discussion and debate; the Bhagavad Gita which is the sacred and central text of Hinduism features a series of questions and answers about ethics and duty that define the karma philosophy.
Hinduism and Science
There’s a widespread view that all religions are against science. Recently in India, the ISRO scientists visited a Hindu temple just as they launched a mission to reach the dark side of the moon,2 sparking a debate about whether scientists should engage in religious events. But to me growing up, Hindu texts and cultural activities were part of what motivated me to study science. The more I wanted to understand the meaning and the timeline behind the great Hindu epics, the more I had to learn about history, archaeology, and literary theory.
Many people do not realize that Hinduism is a secular religion that introduced the concept of secularism to the world where different many paths to God are accepted. It often puzzles my colleagues when I say that Hinduism includes atheism, but it is true – there are more than 2000-year-old texts about atheism.34 Hinduism encompasses a collection of ancient and modern philosophical schools (there are nine major ones) with belief systems that include polytheism, pantheism, monotheism, agnosticism and atheism. I must highlight that Hinduism was developed through an ancient academic system with science and philosophy. The corpora of core Hindu texts are known as the Vedas, and they are a product of, contemplation, meditation, experimentation, discussion, and debate.
Hinduism and Academia
Much of Hindu theology is often mistakenly called mythology, due to the biases in translations by the colonial powers. I believe the term mythology was used mainly to malign Hinduism and it is still being used to confuse people today. The problem has been in the translation and interpretation of our texts and cultural events, when metaphor and symbolism in Hindu texts are taken literally. For instance, Lord Shiva represents consciousness and Goddess Parvati represents matter and their coming together essentially represents the universe and life. The various descriptions of thousands of our Hindu Gods are essentially viewpoints of poets, philosophers, scientists and artists over the course of history.
Hinduism evolved though an ancient academic system for thousands of years. Unlike western religions, where the truth has been revealed and taken as the word of God that cannot be challenged, Hinduism encompasses texts such as Bhagavad Gita that feature discussions of duty and ethics between man (Arjuna) and a divine entity (Lord Krishna), or by man and women sages and philosophers such as Ved Vyasa and Maitreyi. Our scientists and philosophers are known as Acharyas and Rishis, and both were part of an ancient academic system. The Vedas were orally transmitted for thousands of years before being written in the Vedic era and similarly to today, this period also saw publications such as journals and books. The Vedic era was estimated to 1500-600 BC in India by Western academics and has been challenged with new research to be much earlier5. There are known Hindu women who contributed to the composition of sacred Vedas thousands of years ago. The ashram served as a school, university and research centre where both men and women worked together in the composition of texts. The Vedas are not only religious writings but cover a wide range of fields, including literature, politics, philosophy, medicine and surgery, martial arts, yoga and spirituality. India is not only home to the world’s oldest religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism), but also home to two ancient institutions that may have been the world’s oldest universities: Nalanda University and Takshashila University, which have been dated to approximately 5th century AD and 5th century BCE, respectively6. I would argue that India’s religions are a product of knowledge from ancient Indian scholarship and that this comes from a tradition where science, philosophy and religion have always been inseparable789101112
This article was originally published at Nature and is partially reproduced here without the permission of the author, who is not affiliated with this website or its views.
- https://www.worldhistory.org/Charvaka/ [↩]
- https://www.firstpost.com/opinion/why-isro-scientists-dont-find-visiting-temples-antithetical-to-scientific-temperament-12908552.html [↩]
- Dehghanzadeh, Sajjad, and Fatemeh Ahmadian. “Materialistic ontology: A comparative study of the philosophy of charvaka and epicures.” Journal of Philosophical Investigations 13.26 (2019): 169-193 [↩]
- Herman, A. L. (1989). Religions as failed theodicies: atheism in Hinduism and Buddhism. In Indian Philosophy of Religion (pp. 35-60). Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. [↩]
- Bryant, Edwin, ‘The Date of the Veda’, The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate (New York, 2001; online edn, Oxford Academic, 1 Nov. 2003), https://doi.org/10.1093/0195137779.003.0013, accessed 5 Jan. 2024 [↩]
- Cochrane, Steve. “Asian centres of learning and witness before 1000 CE: insights for today.”
Transformation 26.1 (2009): 30-39 [↩] - Gosling, D. L. (2012). Science and the hindu tradition: Compatibility or conflict?. Zygon®, 47(3), 575-588. [↩]
- Akhilananda, S. (2012). Hindu psychology: Its meaning for the West. Routledge [↩]
- Muthu, C. (1913). A Short Review of the History of Ancient Hindu Medicine. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 6 (Sect_Hist_Med), 177-190 [↩]
- Briggs, R. (1985). Knowledge representation in Sanskrit and artificial intelligence. AI magazine, 6(1), 32-32. [↩]
- Raman, V. V. (2002). Science and the spiritual vision: A Hindu perspective. Zygon®, 37(1), 83-94. [↩]
- Gangooly, P. (Ed.). (1989). Sûrya-Siddhânta: A Text-book of Hindu Astronomy. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. [↩]
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