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Science & Spirituality
T.D.
Singh recognized
science and spirituality to be the two foremost influences of our time
and understood them not to be the diametrically opposed disciplines
they are often made out to be. Throughout his life he worked to provide
examples that science and spirituality could be synthesized to form a
new science, a new paradigm that could account for the origins, purpose
and realities of our universe. As the International Director of the Bhaktivedanta
Institute
for over 30 years, he extensively traveled the world lecturing,
authored and edited numerous publications and organized many
international conferences towards establishing this new paradigm.
The
Foundation provides
support to individuals and institutions that work to enhance dialogue
between scientific and spiritual communities. By expanding dialogue we
aim to continue T.D. Singh’s legacy of addressing questions
of ultimate concern and reducing negative influences of ignorance,
scientific reductionism and religious fanaticism.
“Modern
science tries to be exclusively mechanistic. But mechanistic models are
entirely dependent on our limited powers of sense perception. However,
every honest and thoughtful person will agree the electron, just like
God, has never been seen. Although the electron cannot be seen its
nature and existence can be understood by its symptoms. These symptoms
can be inferred from the electrons influence and interactions with
observable energies. In the same way the spirit soul, or the Spiriton*,
cannot be seen but its symptom consciousness can be perceived.
Similarly, God can also be experienced if we look for the symptoms of
his existence, for example; beauty, truthfulness, the intricate and
mathematically perfect laws of nature, etc. Some of these are
quantifiable such as the mathematical laws while others like beauty
cannot be quantified or explained by rigorous scientific processes. But
we all know that both of these groups do exist as a part of reality.
Therefore, the conclusion is that realities exist beyond the boundaries
of empirical observation.”
T. D.
Singh
 “Science
and technology alone
cannot solve the problems of the new millennium. We need additional
guidelines for our actions, for the selection of our research projects
and research goals. These guidelines have to do with ethics, with
philosophy, and with faith.”
Professor
Richard R.
Ernst, Nobel Laureate
 “In
India, there is much more union between the two (science &
spirituality) than there is in the West. I think that the Western
scientists are coming back to that point of view – what the
universe is all about. A few scientists are interested and their
numbers are growing.”
Professor
Charles Townes, Nobel Laureate
 “I
maintain that the human mystery is incredibly demeaned by reductionism,
with its claim in promissory materialism to account eventually for all
of the spiritual world in terms of patterns of neural activity.
… we are all spiritual beings with souls in a spiritual
world, as well as material beings with bodies and brains existing in a
material world.”
Sir
John Eccles, Nobel Laureate
*Spiriton
– a
non-material particle, compulsory for the development of
science’s newfound realities. Term branded by T.D. Singh.
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