I have never seen any place in the world but India where science and religion are taken cared of at the same time as if they are siblings. Unfortunately I haven’t met any doctor in the Indian subcontinent who doesn’t believe in god. I have no idea how doctors who are fine scientists find it so easy to believe in mythological gods or superstitions.
Today I talked with a few doctors working in a reputed hospitals in Delhi about my mild health problem. Everybody advised me to have faith in god. Then the medical clinic I visited this evening was having a god at their gate. It is almost impossible here to keep science and religion separated.
It’s an interesting phenomenon, to be sure. I live in the US, and every Indian person I have ever met has been both Brahmin and Hindu (except for one Brahmin woman who was married to an American and who was in a pseudo-Buddhist cult, but that’s another story lol).
Somehow, where high education in the West, in Christendom, correlates strongly with loss of religious belief and atheism, highly educated Indians are able to remain devoutly Hindu. It’s a really striking difference – more educated people find it more and more difficult to believe Christianity’s claims, while more educated Hindus don’t have a problem with it.
Do you have any idea why?
To believe that God does not exist is stupidity at best. The Gita says that God is the base for all that you see and all that you do not see. Hindu religion says that the universe as we see it is the material energy of God (you can call it Maya or Prakriti). It is given the female role. The other and more important power of God is the unseen power. The unseen power of God (called Purusha) is the real power. This power is what makes the plants grow, sun shines or the earth moves.
Sathya Sai Baba compared the Purusha to that of electricity and the Prakriti as bulbs or gadgets. Without electricity nothing works. On a dark night look at the sky and look all the stars and moving sky and ask yourself ‘where did all these universe come from and why??? More importantly, ask yourself ‘Who am I and what am I here for? Where did I come from and where will I be going when I die?
Elephant gods are hysterically funny·
When a religion is full of fantastic tales, the followers understand, implicitly, that there is no conflict. Either the stories are allegorical or the are unique, never to happen again. In Hinduism, there is no “coming messiah” who must be personally impressed. There is a system, a world view, that integrates the need for solace and hope into daily life without the need to make G-D personally happy. We are not “slaves” of a powerful and petulant god, but rather dancing partners of a pantheon of mystical and unknowable beings who inhabit with us, and who may choose whether or not to pay attention to us.
Yeah. We have the king of Gods (Indra) that chase wives of other Gods or humans, and hence having to hide from somebody or the other constantly. We have Gods (Shiva) that have to be on the run in fear of life because he granted a wish for ability to kill ‘anyone’ to a demon. We have Gods(Kama/Manmatha, God of sex/romance) that are without a body because they have burned to cinder by other Gods. We have an avatar of God (considered God by his own right – Krishna) whose highest accomplishment seems to be his 8 ‘major’ wives and some 16,000 ‘minor’ wives.
No thinking Hindu can take their religion seriously. More than 90% of Hindus I know (including my extended family) are nominal Hindus, believing in God only so they can enjoy the festivals and the consequent food-heavens.
Unfortunately Hinduism is not taught to children as Islam and Christianity is taught. Today’s Hindu in India knows only that negative part of Hinduism which the Christians and Islamists keep repeating. Learn the religion, my friend, and you will be a changed man. Hinduism answers more questions than any other religion and that is why it is considered as a scientific religion and that is why the really educated keeps their faith.
With today’s internet providing information, there is no excuse not to study Hinduism.
Well said messenger especially in the matter of converting people from other religion esp in Christian & Muslim they do, we as hindus are far behind in that idology nor we make compulsion to someone to indulge
Not only Indian doctors even reputed scientists are believers they don’t trust their own intelligence they offer prayers even when a satellite is to be launched, it has become a habit imposed on them by their parents, the society they find something is missing if they don’t pray out of habit. But India has always tolerated atheists, agnostics from the time of Upanishads. Only now certain bigoted elements are making noised also the communists & rationalists are to be blamed for this as they are open to Islamic dogmas and attacking Hindu traditions & superstitions for vote bank politics as Taslima herself is a victim of this.
Hinduism ds nt order u to follow a specific book or ideology…..atheism n agnosticism do exist in hinduism…..nd also hinduism ds nt condemn Science….u can b a devout Hindu as well as a rational person…..The range of beliefs n philosphies makes it accomodating……hindus r free to choose their way of life…….provided it ds nt harm anybody……thus u find those who are vegan bcz hinduism prescribes it n at d sm tm a great Hindu Vivekanand who prefers non veg eating to keep bodu fit……..
Did the doctors prick you?
Nice observation.
A big fan
We Hindus have no difficulty being devout even after being highly educated is because our devotion is not because we believe he stories literally.
We don’t really care whether the stories are true or not, we only believe what we feel in our hearts.
See http://www.thehindugods.com for an analysis of where the Gods come from.
Just try google-ing Super Brain Yoga and Thoppukaranam and find the similarities… 🙂
science and religion
science is the power of man.it is said that india is the first country in which religion is more powerful then science. when a doctor doesn’t give a solution for a patient then he said that belief in god he might help you.