Spirituality and science

Spirituality needs God. It has God. Science has no God. Neither does it need one.

The funniest thing is that science is constantly and perpetually challenged by science itself. The scientific discovery of yore pales into insignificance before the scientific discovery of today, whereas the realisation of Krishna, Buddha and the Christ defy the strength of challenge, outer or inner. It is true that science offers man all his practical needs. It is equally true that spirituality reveals to man the meaning of his life and the significance of his earthly existence.

Science condemns the seeker by accusing him of being afraid of the Unknown. The seeker blesses the utter stupidity of science and calmly says that he is not at all afraid of the Unknown. He is just enamoured of the Unknown and he cannot help embracing the Unknown.

Science depends on outer experiment. Spirituality depends on inner searching and seeking. A scientist discovers the power that very often threatens even his own life. A spiritual seeker discovers the power that guides and moulds his life into a life of divine fulfilment.

Now what should be the relation between science and spirituality? It should be a relation of mutual acceptance and true understanding. It is an act of folly on our part to expect the same truth, the same knowledge and the same power from both science and spirituality. We must not do that. Neither must we set up the same goal for science and spirituality.

Let us listen to the message of Matter through the voice of science. Let us listen to the message of the Spirit through the voice of spirituality. Finally, let us not forget that spirituality is the soul and science is the body.

Sri Chinmoy, Songs of the Soul, Herder and Herder, 1971