Science and Religion

Dev Dharma is only religion in the history of religion just as experimental Physics is not the only Physics in the history of  Physics. All science and institution have history, which means there have been change in them. We can notice growth and development in them. We know how modern experimental physics differs from the speculative Physics of Aristotle. The modern physics is so superior to Aristotle Physics in its width and depth of knowledge. It is scientific in character  , which means that its results are verified by scientific method. The greatest discovery  of man in the field of knowledge is the scientific method. It has yielded a harvest of knowledge , unimaginable to man before its discovery & the development of scientific instruments. Scientific knowledge is standard of true knowledge of whatever exists. Today all education is oriented to scientific knowledge. It is to be the blood of our blood & bone of our bones. We are saturated by it. It is irreplaceable by any other form of knowledge about the universe. this scientific knowledge is modifying all our social institutions. Religion as a social institution cannot be exception to it. If it is to survibe as a crucial institution of society and play effective part in our life, it must be scientific. If there is conflict between science and religion has to quit, for scientific truths cannot be rejected. There must, therefore, be no conflict between science and  religion holds on to God, or any supernatural being, the conflict between science and religion is unavoidable. Let us hear what the greatest physicist of the twentieth century, Einstein, says in his autobiography ‘Out of the Later Years ‘on this issue: “Though I have asserted above that in truth a legitimate conflict between religion and science cannot exist, I must nevertheless qualify this assertion once again on an essential point, with reherence to the actual content of historical religions. This qualification has to do with the concept of God. During the youthful period of mankind’s spiritual evolution, human fantasy created  gods in man’s own image , who by the operation of their will were supposed to determine, or at any rate to influence the phenomenal world. Man sought to alter the disposition of these  gods in his favour by means of magic & prayer .The idea of God in the religions , taught at present , is a sublimation of that old conception of the gods. Its anthropomorphic character is shown , for instance , by the fact that man appeals to the Divine Being in prayer & pleads for the fulfillment of his wishes.

“There are decisive weaknesses attached to this idea in itself , which have been painfully felt since the beginning of history. That is , if this being is omnipotent then every occurance , including every human action , every human thought , & every human feeling & aspiration is also his work ;how is it possible to think of holding men responsible for their deeds & thoughts before such an Almighty Being ? In giving out punishment & rewards He would , to a certain extent , be passing judgment on Himself. How can this be combined with the goodness & righteousness ascribed to him?

The main source of the present-day conflicts between the spheres of religion & of science lies in this concept of a personal God. It is the aim of science to establish general rules which determine the reciprocal connection of objects & events , in time & space. The more a man is imbued with the ordered regularity of all events , the firmer becomes his conviction that there is no room left by the side of this order ed regularity for causes of a different nature. For him neither the rule of human nor the rule divine will exist as an independent cause of natural events”.

“In their struggle for the ethical god , teachers of religion must have the stature to give up the doctrine of personal God , that is , give up the source of fear & hope which in the past placed such vast power in the hands of priests. In their labors they will have to avail themselves of those forces which are capable of cultivating the Good , the True , and the Beautiful in Humanity itself. This is , to be sure , a more difficult but an incomparably more worthy task ”

The idea of impersonal God , a Brahman , is no less unscientific.

The scientific mind needs a non-theistic & non absolutist scientific religion . As Julian Huxley , the great biologist puts it : ” The beliefs of this religion…… are not revelations in the supernatural sense , but are the revelations that science & learning have given us about man & the universe .”

Dev Dharma offers us a scientific religion. Bhagwan Dev Atma , the founder of Dev Dharma thus states the method of his investigation in His autobiography , MUJH MEN DEV JIWAN KA VIKAS , Vol. 1 chapter 17 ; ” After i abandoned the belief in God & came to develop perfect love for the scientific method for arriving at truth , I could accept only such knowledge as was proved correct by that method . Nothing remained worthy of belief merely because it was ancient or modern , current or non-current , calamitous or non-calamitous , swadesi or foreign. Whatever could be proved & tested as true by the scientific method, was alone worthy of acceptance for me , & an investigation into all that became the prime motive of my life .” He further affirms it in chapter 24 thus  : ” From this time , Vishva Tattwa & Manush Tattwa formed the chief topics of my study. The canons of scientific method of investigation which were essential in all such studies acquired complete sway over my heart . the principles of experimental interrogation together with right logic had captured my heart to such an extent , that it became impossible for me to accept any knowledge merely on the basis of imagination or blind faith .”