Science and Spirituality are but, Two Sides of the Same Coin
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind” – Albert Einstein
Are Science and Spirituality mutually exclusive?
The answer that mainstream material scientists and mainstream dogmatic (holding on to highly rigid and opinionated belief) religionists would give would be ‘yes’. A common misunderstanding is that science is a pursuit of matter and mind, while spirituality is the pursuit of spirit. The presumed/perceived differences are more of artefacts (spurious or false) of their respective myopic (short-sighted) and defective fragmentary approach. These differences would disappear the moment we accept Cosmic Consciousness and, it would then help link the two sides of the coin.
Why do they remain exclusive?
There are inherent saboteurs (underminers or subverters) within both religion and science. The saboteur of religion is the blind faith of its followers in a personal God. This personal God does not represent the Cosmic Consciousness much less the Supreme Consciousness. Similarly, the saboteur of science is its refusal to go beyond matter and, to consider matter itself as the only reality.
The long-standing conflict between science and religion has much to do with how they go about perceiving reality. Science, by its reductionist approach, splits matter into the smallest possible particles. Religion, on the other hand, relies on faith to propagate the concept of a God or Creator totally disregarding science. Science has failed to recognise the inherent Consciousness in nature, and religion has overlooked the scientific revelations about the universe.
Perceptions
Apparently, the differences or conflicts between science and religion attest to inherent deficiencies and inconsistencies. Science can smother matter into the smallest possible particles as done by the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. However, it is incapable of reorganising them back; an intelligent action that happened spontaneously at the beginning, as though by an elusive cosmic glue, during the genesis of the universe. And religion, by its penchant for cultivated ‘blind faith’, has wittingly or unwittingly concealed reality. This concealment of fact opens the door for scepticism and uncertainty. Neither experimentation nor blind faith is complete, and hence, incapable of leading to the realisation of the Cosmic Reality or the Absolute Truth. Ironically, experimentation gets taken as the religion of science and, faith as the science of religion.
The incompleteness or inconsistency of science and religion and the long-standing conflict between the two will persist unless and until experimentation and faith get integrated with Cosmic Consciousness. There is a need for the differing ways of science and spirituality to converge on to this Cosmic Reality.
What are their limitations?
An obsession to matter alone as by mainstream scientists or, spirit alone as by mainstream spiritualists, can only help perceive a relatively limited reality. The materialistic experiments of science suffer from some sort of oscitancy (a kind of stupor or paralysis) like that of a blind belief-based ritualistic religion. This oscitancy prevents the realisation of Cosmic Reality/Cosmic Truth.
Science that fails to accept spirituality/consciousness would always remain incomplete with the possibility of only a partial perception of reality. The inadequacy of mainstream science finds reflection in the fact that not more than 4% of the total matter in the universe is known to it. Again, more than 80% of the matter remains elusive to science and represents the enigmatic invisible matter. Science with all its developments has only succeeded in providing material comforts and uncontrollable greed for more but has never been able to provide genuine happiness.
Again, spirituality merely based on subjective judgements devoid of objectivity, ignoring the established scientific facts, is nothing but pseudo-spirituality. Many self-proclaimed mystics and spiritual masters remain steeped in such pseudo-spirituality. They not only mislead their followers but also cause increasing suffering and chaos. Such pseudo-spirituality has wreaked havoc and spread violence causing untold suffering and misery to humanity.
Blind disbelief is as defective and dangerous as blind belief; they are both contrivance of ego – nescience, the anti-thesis of Consciousness.
This world is of duality and hence, its two principal aspects, scientific facts and spiritual faith, are merely relative reality and not Absolute Reality. They can never be said to represent Absolute Reality or the ONE TRUTH. Only by understanding the manifest universe based on perceived intuitions, hypotheses, observations and experiences from the time of Big Bang and, of the pre-bang scenario based on authentic spiritual input, can we understand the ABSOLUTE TRUTH to be distinct and separate from this universe.
What is needed to bring about convergence?
The neurological basis of body/brain and the current understanding of genomes of individuals themselves are grossly inadequate. It fails to explain the Cosmic Reality much less the Supreme Consciousness/Absolute Truth in terms of wholesome behaviour of the cosmos and life within it. Quantum Physics and the best of astronomical advancements have only helped us understand merely 5% of our universe with the rest 95% remaining enigmatic.
For an understanding of not only the remaining 95% of our universe but also of the infinite number of other universes in the manifest cosmos (a concept of the multiverse), we will have to go beyond the mainstream principles of science and pursuits of spirituality in vogue. At best, our spirituality is limited and our science, incomplete and materialistic.
So, the question in the above context would be ‘what is the need of the hour’? The need is of ‘ecumenical science’ (all-inclusive unifying science; cosmically valid) or ‘holistic science’ and ‘ecumenical or holistic spirituality to understand the Absolute Reality. Holistic Science is nothing but ‘Vitarag Vigyan’ or all-encompassing wholesome science. Similarly, holistic spirituality involves overcoming the dualistic perceptions of body and spirit or matter and Consciousness. In this perspective, holistic spirituality is an all-encompassing wholesome oneness of existence, a unified whole of body, mind, soul and the whole universe. Seen from such a holistic perspective, a scientist who is not spiritual (lacking perception of Consciousness) is not a holistic scientist. Similarly, a spiritualist who is not scientific (in approach) is not holistic.
Some examples
Einstein, to some extent, was a scientist with a spiritual bend of mind. His theory of relativity and the mathematical equation E = mc2 as an intuitive outcome of his mental faculty without even performing one single experiment speaks of his inclination for meditative ingress into the true nature of reality.
Many a spiritual master also exemplifies the application of the scientific approach in spirituality. Buddha and Nanak are two such masters who had experimented and observed the subjective mind in terms of contemplative scientific investigations. Their experiments with physical (yog and other ascetic practices) and cognitive techniques (prescribed by scriptures) represent their pre-enlightenment scientific approach. They were essentially directed towards an understanding of the innate workings of the mind and to comprehend the true nature of reality. A consequence of their spirituo-scientific experimentation is the understanding that blind belief and worldly practice of religious rituals, memorised information, knowledge of scriptures, physical penances, fasting, yoga, postures and such, are ineffective in the realisation of the Absolute Truth. The pursuit of Absolute Truth requires a preliminary inward journey. This journey is through primary meditational practice followed by advanced/appropriate meditational concentration.
Scientific proof of spiritual practices & brain merely a machinery
Meditation and neurological changes
Recent investigations in the field of neuroscience in relation to advanced meditational practice have shown structural and functional changes in the brain, referred to as neuroplasticity. Meditation induced increase in the grey matter of hippocampus (concerned with memory and learning) & prefrontal cortex and right anterior insula (concerned with attention and awareness of sensations and emotions) and, development of more folding in the brain cortex (associated with faster mental processing) are essentially wittingly induced or free-willed plasticity changes resulting in increased brain volume. These changes in the brain are something akin to “rewriting” of the brain. In contrast, mindful meditation also brought about a decrease in cell volume of the amygdala (responsible for fear, anxiety, and stress). Such individuals reported reduced levels of stress. These pieces of evidence suggest that mindful meditation brings about structural changes in the brain favourable for self-awareness of the soul and its spiritual journey. This understanding shatters the myth of mainstream scientists accrediting importance to the brain. Overall, the above collective shreds of evidence clearly show that the brain is mere machinery for exteriorisation of the Consciousness which operates it.
Holistic science & Holistic spirituality
A link between the spirituality of Einstein and the scientific approach of Eastern Masters gets established by integration of Cosmic Consciousness and holistic relativity. This integration helps resolve the paradox between scientific and spiritual concepts. It is only the spiritual understanding of ancient Indian masters that can provide meaningful explanation and a significant outlook. To seek the Indian masters was probably the compelling drive for Jesus to travel to the east and, India in particular, accounting for the unrecorded 18 years of his life. Those years of sojourn in India seem to have been spent in contemplative experimentation with the mind in a scientific way in the company of Indian spiritual masters. What he gained was reflected in his compassion, and Kenosis (unconditional love towards the Supreme Lord) directed teachings during his ministries.
In short, Consciousness integrated holistic science, and scientifically driven holistic spirituality are not mutually exclusive but mutually inclusive.
Can’t faith lead to enlightenment and, if not, what is true enlightenment?
How can we define enlightenment?
In a more straightforward sense, enlightenment is a state of liberation from the darkness of ignorance. Our Consciousness has been pushed into this ignorance by the illusory entity (Maya) acting through our alter-ego. Everyone needs to strive to attain this state.
Faith is an essential aspect whether it be science or spirituality and it gets very often misinterpreted or misrepresented. In the field of science, a researcher has faith in the reality he is searching through his experiments. A spiritualist is a seeker who places trust in the reality of one’s pursuit. Faith, in a real sense, has to be open-minded and dynamic. But the pitfall comes when that faith becomes a rigid blind belief either in the materialism of science or in the imagined sectarian belief system. Such misplaced faith becomes noxious, which tends to close all doors to reality. The noxious faith, in turn, corrupts the ego and imprisons Consciousness. Most of the prevailing conflicts and strife of the modern world are a consequence of the delusion created by the ‘ego imprisoned and numbed’ Consciousness.
Many spiritual masters talk of and strive to attain enlightenment. Enlightenment itself is a problematic term as there exist levels of enlightenment attainable by a seeker. In this context, enlightenment can be of different levels of the divine hierarchy/plan depending on the objective of the seeker. It can range from self-consciousness realisation to the basis of the worldly dramas of life and death to Cosmic Consciousness realisation. Almost all the spiritual masters in pursuit of Absolute Truth have their attainment destination ranging within these levels. Buđha’s enlightenment in this perspective relates to the second level as he sought peace of mind and enlightenment on the miseries of humans and, the truth behind birth and death.
When his mind got purified by meditational concentration, he acquired enlightenment in the form of three knowledge. The first one was that of his past lives and the various forms of life. The second one was the laws of karma that govern the cycles of birth and death. The third knowledge was of emancipation from all obstacles and liberation from all attachments. Be it understood that enlightenment is not a destination to be achieved within the confines of time and space of this universe. Spiritual attainment of mainstream spiritual masters/spiritualists is essentially, therefore, a realisation of one’s inner Consciousness as well as of the Cosmic Consciousness and the awareness of a connection between them. Generally, though we talk of a path or paths to enlightenment, it is more of a misnomer. We do not need a set approach or rituals to eat when hungry, to fall asleep when sleepy or to wake up in the morning after a night’s sleep. So do enlightenment also need no rigidly set path or externally imposed morals/rules of conduct or rituals to be performed.
Note: But, there are still two higher levels of realisation that is, Superior Consciousness and Supreme Consciousness which had remained hidden and unreachable so far. These higher levels of Consciousness have become attainable only by the advent of the Ultimate Revealed Wisdom available with the Nijanand School. In this context, the Cosmic Consciousness (known as the ultimate attainment by mainstream spiritual masters) represents only Super Consciousness.
The wisest approach towards enlightenment is: You feel it is dark as it is night, but, “the moon is shining, just open your eyes.” This approach is more of an outward journey or vision. But in spiritual enlightenment, it is more of an inward journey, and inner vision as the glow of Consciousness is there, and you only have to look inward.
Wisdom of spiritual masters sabotaged, pathetic
Many a spiritual master like Adishankara, Buđha, Mahavir, Jesus, Nanak, Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Ramana Maharshi, Paramahansa Yoganand etc. had all been practitioners of this wisdom. Unfortunately, the inventors of dogmatic ritualistic religion have twisted this simple wisdom of the above-enlightened initiators into hardcore sectarian paths, convictions, beliefs, rituals, traditions and/or ideologies. Self-appointed custodians of these religions then make it obligatory for the followers to strictly adhere to the set rules and practices to find their promised God, to attain heavenly abode, avoid going to hell or, enlightenment etc. So, what we witness in the world is an entourage (collection) of middlemen and brokers of God using invented dogmatic religions as lucrative enterprises.
Application of physical science to enlightenment & spirituality
Now let us look, as to whether holistic science can vindicate the wisdom governing enlightenment. The consciousness-integrated holistic relativity reveals that no particle, howsoever small, can ever be accelerated to the speed of light by any externally imposed force, howsoever large, as it would need an infinite amount of energy beyond this universe. In contrast, any particle howsoever small has enough potential energy within its mass that could be transformed into kinetic energy to make it move at the speed of light. For that matter, photon, the unit of light, moves at its speed via self-induced or free-willed transformation of stationary mass to kinetic energy.
The essence of the message of spiritual masters to achieve enlightenment can be related to the above scientific dictum. Any person of ego, howsoever small or large, has enough capacity as part of its free-will to transform its enlightenment or de-massment into conscious awareness. However, no amount of external force in the form of rules, rituals or multitudes of path can ever enlighten an ego to achieve consciousness awareness.
Holistic relativity equation for spirituality
Again, as per the holistic relativity of science, whenever a particle is accelerated to a higher speed by any external force, its relativistic mass tends to increase (because of gain of kinetic energy) making it increasingly difficult to accelerate. In the same way, an ego subjected to external forces of rules, rituals etc. also makes it heavier (gain of inertial mass) by the false inputs making it harder and harder to achieve enlightenment*. Expecting more significant profit from business or even with a desire to go to heaven, many people do good deeds or indulge in charity. Since these deeds or acts are driven by an expectation of the ego and not driven by sincerity, such deeds or actions are contraindicative of true spirituality.
*Application of the relativity equation in holistic spirituality tries to explain how relativistic ritualistic force creates spiritual inertia.
E = mc2
m = E/c2
E = Rituals (External Force) So, I may call it as Rf
m = ego (getting heavier by the gain of Rf) and hence getting bogged down.
c = speed of attaining consciousness awareness (this is a constant) = CSP
So, the relativity equation for holistic spirituality is:
Rf = E/csp2
Rf (Ritualistic force) makes the ego to gain relativistic mass and thus, slows down its speed of attainment of consciousness awareness.
Put in another way; we can say that left to itself without the external ritualism which, generates inertia, ego by its inherent energy could progress at the actual, intrinsic speed to attain enlightenment.
Religious practices an impediment to holistic spirituality
The question now is, can enlightenment be achieved through other modes of religious acts like Bhakti yog, Gyanyog and Karma yog? Talking of Bhakti yogis, it is not their physical rituals of chanting by mouth or dancing in a frenzy that would fetch them enlightenment (as believed by ritualistic religionists) but only by achieving unity (Yog) by the dissolution of their ego. Be it Bhakti yog, Gyanyog or Karma yog, the secret of enlightenment is true yog or inner union with the Cosmic Consciousness.
An overall consideration suggests that one and only one set of universal law governs both science and spirituality. It is nothing else but the Cosmic Reality or the Creator God representative of a continuum of matter, mind and consciousness-both individual and cosmic. There exist only one non-duality and no differing spiritual or scientific laws.
From what we discussed above, one thing that becomes clear is that like any external force that tends to decelerate an object by adding to its mass, even the ego tends to drag in its pursuit towards enlightenment by the inflationary effect of external rituals. Ritual is an acquired motivational force to undertake an action in a religious set up. Chronological repetition of a ritual then gets established as a habit. ‘Habits die-hard’ as the saying goes and so, with time, it leads to emotional imprinting and false convictions. Such an ego, hardened by the beliefs or personality traits, in turn, imprisons the Consciousness. Additive rituals and their repetition strengthen the walls of the ego-prison and entirely corrupts the consciousness-prisoner. As the Einstein equation of E=mc2 suggests that the relativistic mass of a moving object increases with more significant input of energy which leads to its slowing down, so does, the infusion of external rituals lead to a boosting of the ego and thereby dulling the Consciousness.
This imprisonment of Consciousness is nothing but a veil of corruption that clouds its perceptions. As long as this veil is there, the Consciousness fails to see the Truth and, it assumes the veiled vision falsely as the Truth. The Consciousness now exists in a delusory reality.
Misconceptions v/s true spirituality
The didactic teachings of dogmatic religions create a ‘false understanding’/misunderstanding of the need for rituals for spiritual enlightenment. This misunderstanding is more of a reductionist outlook and related with the classical ‘cause – effect’ Newtonian concept applicable to the external world, trying to convey the image that actions in the form of rituals (as the cause) lead to spiritual enlightenment (as effect). However, this principle doesn’t work in the inner world of individuals and, what applies to the inner world is the Einsteinian relativistic laws that involve the inherent transformation of mass to energy and vice versa without the involvement of external factors or actions.
There is a reason why some people consider or imagine that they have had some sort of realisation by the repetitive mechanical or monotonous performance of rituals. Many people worship their personal Gods ritualistically by keeping in mind the imagined image of their Gods and, over a while, the person might have a hallucinatory experience of the image of God appearing. This happening regularly leads to the misplaced interpretation of progress in spirituality or, as an act of God-realization. This interpretation is not actual reality but only an artefact of imagination getting strengthened by the repetition of rituals and the hallucinatory vision.
True spirituality is an inner journey to unlock the ego from its acquired convictions, fixations, beliefs and habits. Any great saint or spiritual pursuer engrossed in a deep meditative state is essentially involved in disentangling his ego from its corruptive clutter. He/She is not engaged in external rituals as physical/external rituals cannot lead on to the path of enlightenment. It was only the realisation that rituals fail to achieve enlightenment that led many a spiritualist like Budħa, Mahavir, Nanak etc. to tread the path of meditation that would lead to the undoing of ego or dissolution of the ego and ultimate enlightenment or unveiled view of the Reality /Truth.
Need to engage oneself with Consciousness
There is need for materialistic/reductionist science to look to disengage itself from its outer ‘matter only’ concept and engage itself in the realisation of the existence of the intangible Consciousness. At the same time, true spiritual wisdom is ever involved in the dissolution of ego and freeing Consciousness from the clutches of the corrupt ego. On the other hand, dogmatic followers of a religion or lesser spiritualists are falsely engaged in performing rigorous rituals which might at best help them fetch some material benefits but never lead to the realisation of the Reality/Truth. In this sense, ritualism is not true spiritualism and indulgence in ritualism; however, disciplined, would not lead to self-awareness.
No doubt, the so-called ritualistic spiritualists do impress the world by their occasional acts of miracles. Many people would flock to such miracle mongers and even worship or revere them as if God. Both the miracle performing master and the followers are doomed as they are oblivious to the fact that they are tangentially off from true spiritualism and real spiritual pursuit. They never come to perceive either their innate Consciousness or the Cosmic Consciousness.
The fallacy of ritualistic science
Just as there are ritualistic spiritual practitioners (more of religionists), we can also talk of ritualistic scientists. The reductionist scientists experimenting to understand the universe giving primacy to matter believing it as the reality are also mere ritualists. They would never be able to get the all-encompassing enlightenment about the origin or existence of the universe. After all, investigations of quantum physicists and astronomers about the universe are more of a backward journey trying to reach the time of origin of the universe, essentially trying to trace back, using the background cosmic radiation. This journey backwards is like trying to catch hold of the tail of a snake and reach to its head. Unfortunately, the head remains covered in an invisible nothingness, and so the astronomical journey takes us back to the point of singularity whence space and time manifested. In real terms, all that the physicists and astronomers could achieve is to only reach to the point of time 10 -43 to at the most 10 – 30 seconds after the Big Bang. Everything prior to is a big blank for science and so have reached up to the neck of the snake, but the head is invisible and not reachable. Without the enlightened awareness of a Cosmic Consciousness, nobody can understand the reality before the Big Bang and immediately after. It would remain unfathomable and, an onward journey with the manifesting and growing universe cannot be undertaken.
So, scientific enlightenment becomes possible only with a holistic science that has an integrated understanding of matter, body, soul and Super or Cosmic Consciousness. Viewed this way, even spiritual enlightenment needs to have a holistic view incorporating the firmly proven scientific facts. An all-encompassing cosmic law integrating all into oneness, or a concept of non-duality, alone would be the common law for both scientists and spiritualists. So, acceptance of a Cosmic Consciousness alone can help science resolve all the paradoxes and mysteries of the universe. Again, the realisation of this Super Consciousness alone can help spiritualism to shed its dualism and become egoless to achieve enlightenment.
What does it all add up to? OR, What is the take-home conclusion?
Succinctly put, both spiritualism and science had been more dogmatic and less pragmatic. They tended to remain dualistic and on the opposite poles. There was never a reasonable attempt from either side to end this dualism and integrate into a merged oneness. Imagine a hollow rubber coin inflated into a rounded blob, both science and spiritualism will appear as a continuum linking one into the other depending on from which side of the blob you are looking. And now, if you deflate and flatten it into a coin, science and spiritualism will appear as two opposite sides of the same coin.
Only by killing its ego and accepting the existence of individual Consciousness and a Super Cosmic consciousness can science progress to its sublime heights and uncover all secrets of the universe and the life within. Similarly, only by shedding ritualism and moving away from the limited religious objectives can spiritualism lead to an integration of individual Consciousness with the Superconsciousness and attain enlightenment by the dissolution of the corrupt ego. The ending of existing clash of contradictory dualism alone can enrich science and spiritualism. It would help the former to create order out of chaos and create an enlightened understanding of the reality of the universe and the oneness within it. At the same time, the latter can benefit from it and progress towards non-ritualistic enlightenment about the Super Consciousness and Supreme Consciousness.
So, only by a rational approach can the chasm between Science and Spiritualism be bridged and developed into an intelligently integrated S2(SxS). Only by this can the saying of Einstein, which we started with shall stand vindicated.
