Pope's Big Bang

I am writing this blog as a follow-up of my earlier writing "Science and Religion".

I was surprised to read a news item to-day giving details of Pope Francis's speech at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.In his speech, Pope has said as follows: "When we read about Creation in Genesis, we run the risk of imagining God was a magician with a magic wand able to do everything. But that is no so.

God created humans and let them develop according to the internal laws that He gave to each one so that they would reach their fulfillment. The Big Bang which to-day we hold to be the origin of the world does not contradict the intervention of the divine creator,but rather requires it. Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation--because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve"
The Catholic Church has long had the reputation of being anti-science. Galileo faced the Inquisition and  was forced to retract his "heretic" theory that the Earth revolved around the Sun. He was eventually forgiven,some 400 years later and given post-mortem pardon in 2008. This recent statement of Pope Francis has therefore come as a very big surprise as the Church has always remained staunch in its belief that God ultimately is responsible for the world we know to-day.
Beside, the statement  contradicts the meaning of "Creationism".

Creationism is the belief that the Universe and living organisms originate "from the specific acts of divine creation" The president of Italy's National Institute of Astrophysics has this to say about the
statement of the Pope. "The Pope's statement is significant. We are the direct descendants from the Big Bang  that created the Universe. Evolution came from Creation". The christian Church does not believe in re-birth,though they do believe in good and evil. They believe that on the Judgement Day, the deeds of humans are judged by Jesus and the soul is directed to either Hell or heaven. They do believe in Heaven and Hell, but do not believe in re-birth."You only live once" is their line of thinking.

Being a staunch Hindu believing in Karma, I do not subscribe to the statement of the Pope. Belief in Karma enables me to be disciplined and lead a moral life.Fear of being born again with disabilities or being born in a disadvantaged family compels me to lead a good moral life. This theory suits me.
I am not anti-science. I do not accept the recent statement of the Pope as it rules out "karma" theory.
Let me lead a life like my great fore-fathers.

V.K.Balasubramanian
29th October 2014

Science and Religion

For a long time, I have been planning to write my views on this subject. In my college days, I have read a lot about Bertrand Russell's views on this topic. I had also read of Einstein's famous statement "Science without religion is blind and religion without science is lame" These statements meant nothing to me until I started thinking on my own.

According to the Vedas, human beings go through "Sthai Bhav"  (permanent thoughts) and "Sancharik bhav" -(thoughts which come and go). In my "Sancharik bhav", I was always asking questions to myself about this subject and trying to form my own views

As a student, I knew very little of science and absolutely nothing about religion. I knew that physics was dealing with matter-electrons and neutrons, Biology was dealing with life  and chemistry with elements.(it was 98 when I was a student and now, I understand, it is 108). Likewise, I knew I was a Hindu and that going to temples would benefit me. In the matter of religion,I was totally influenced by parents and family back-ground.

I was a school student in an era when Dravidian leaders like Annadurai were influencing young minds with their thoughts and speeches.His famous statement "Onre kulam.Oruvane Devan" (There is only one sect and one God) set me thinking.With a view to getting clarification on this I consulted my Sanskrit teacher at School,Mr Thathachariar. He patted me, put his hands on my shoulders and told me "Look Balu, people dress differently.You like sweets and your friends like something else. To please everybody, different forms were given to God and different names created. In fact, God is only one". This did not satisfy me at that time. I even stupidly began to feel why such a pious and devout Hindu should align himself with anti-social elements.

The dispute between Science and Religion arose over evolution,creation and origin of life.All religions, excepting Jainism,credit creation to God,while Science does not accept this theory of One Creator. There were many instances of disputes between famous Scientists like Galileo andSir Isaac Newton and Religious Heads. Galileo once stated that "The intention of the Holy Spirit is to teach us  to go to Heaven and not how the Heavens go". The acceptance of the fact that God created the world  as a self-operating system is what motivated many Christians throughout middle ages. to investigate Nature. It was believed by many that Religious Scientists  like Newton could have  achieved much more had they not accepted religious answers to unsolved scientific issues

I came to know about Jainism from my friend Nareshkumar Jain. All I knew earlier was there were two sects of Jains--Shewtambara (wearing white clothes  and Digambara (wearing no clothes).Mr Jain explained to me about Jainism in detail.Jainism does not believe in a Creator Deity.Universe and its constituents--soul,matter,space,time and principles of motion--have always existed.All the constituents and actions are governed by Universal natural laws,It is not possible to create matter out of nothing and hence the sum total of matter in the Universe remains the same. Throughout the ages,Jain philosophers have adamantly rejected and opposed the concept of Creator and Omnipotent God.This has resulted in Jainism being labelled  as "Nastik Darshana".

Around the time I came know about Jainism, I also came to know about Bahai Faith.This religion insists on the harmony of True Science and True Religion.According to this faith,"Religion without Science is Superstition and Science without religion is Materialism"True religion must conform to the conclusions of Science.

Buddhism is another religion which accepts science totally.The 14th Dalai Lama once said"If scientific analysis were to conclusively demonstrate certain claims in Buddhism to be false then we must accept the findings of Science and abandon those claims". 

According to Islam,"Science,the study of nature,is considered to be linked to the concept of TAWHID.(the oneness of God). 

Hinduism and Christianity on the one side and Science on the other side,do not agree about creation and origin of life. In fact, there is one sub-sect among Kerala Christians who do not even consult doctors and take medicines even when seriously ill. Their sub-sect does not allow them to take recourse to medicine,which is the product of science.

I have always believed that the incarnations of Vishnu's Dasavadharam is almost identical to the scientific explanation of the sequence of biological evolution of man and animals. Educated Hindus accept the theory of biological evolution Enough scientific evidence exists to support  Charles Darwin!s theory of Evolution.

I had read a story long time back about a young boy asking his mother "Can I be Christian and yet be a Scientist" This is because that over time,people have tried to separate science from faith,but tn truth,the two can co-exist.A Scientist can have faith in GOD while still trying to explain the world around him through the logic of scientific study,The two do not contradict nor should they cause a crisis of faith.

Human beings are curious creatures.We want to know why water boils at a particular temperature,why stome trees grow in some state,but not in another,why some babies have blue eyes and others brown.Out of our innate need for understanding came science.Scientists study the world around us to explain things.They look at the world through impartial eyes to see how things work. From these studies have come wonderful things like medicine,air-planes,cars etc. Faith also gives explanation ro everything,but gives a different sort of explanation. To Christians and Hindus,God created Universe.Though we cannot see HIM,HE is in everything and knows everything.Faith gives us the idea that there is order in the Universe,because God created it..However,faith does not always give us detailed answers to how things work.

We know things work.We know that things have relationship,because God created the word that way.This aspect of our faith is important in understanding how faith and science can go hand-n-hand.

Some people in both communities think that science and faith should never co-exist.Some feel that they have to choose one over the other.Others believe that faith is crutch people use when they have not studied something to give a scientific explanation for an occurrence.Some feel that that science challenges their belief too much and feel that it is the enemy speaking to them to pull them away from GOD saying that science does too much to question God.

Take the case of the Big Bang Theory.Scientists have been trying to figure out the source of the Big bang to explain the start of the Universe. However,some scientists of the Faith believe that God  was the source of the Big Bang which is how He created the world.Instead, they study how the Big Bang led to the evolution of other creatures on the earth. The scientists use faith to explain why Big Bang theory happened (to create the world) and how  it impacted us (how we have evolved since then).They have reconciled their faith with their scientific study.

Let me come to my own personal experience.

Religion has given me mental strength,peace of mind and a value system.By following the value system, I have been able to live a disciplined life.

Science, on the other hand, has given me animal comforts.To-day, I cannot think of a comfortable life without the benefits provided by Science during the last one hundred years.Who would have thought of internet some thirty years ago? Today, if I am not able to access internet during power break-downs, I become uneasy.

Religion is a matter of faith.It appeals to my spirits.When distressed,I take recourse to religion and not sleeping tablets (product of science).Science provides me with comforts.I need them both for a balanced living.

"Religion for the Soul and Science for the body" is my mantra.

Held hostage by a Cat

I had a strange and revealing experience on Friday,22nd December. Presently, we are staying with our son Kaushal and his family in Monte Sereno,California. The house is quite big and the neighborhood very quiet and lonely. On this day, it was raining and we had planned to go out at 5 p.m. for shopping, dinner and a movie. We were planning to go to Santana Row first, then dinner at Pizza Antica and then to a movie - the latest James Bond movie "Sky Fall".

We could not go out of the house for an hour because of a cat. We were practically held as hostage by this cat belonging to our neighbour. My grandson had invited two of his friends for sleepover the previous day. They were playing basketball in the rain and when the drizzle became a full fledged rain,they came into the house from the rear,leaving the door open. At that time. our neighbor's cat entered our house and began to move around the house very freely. As the neighbour had gone out of town, we did not know what to do. My daughter-in-law(Vidya) suddenly remembered that she had the phone number of our neighbor's son, Justin, living about 30 minutes away. She called and asked Mrs Justin to come and take the cat with her. She advised us to leave the cat near a hole in her mother-in-law's house. We asked our grandson (Vishal) to go and leave the cat near the hole. My grandson was so compassionate that he refused to let out the cat in rain. "After all a cat is a living being" and we should be very nice to the cat, argued my grandson. After some time when the rain stopped, Vishal and his friends went out and left the dog near the hole in our neighbor's place. We all heaved a sigh of relief.

In the evening, my son had to go out to bring the children back home from basket ball practice so that we could go ahead with our plan for the evening. When he went out around 5 p.m., he was greeted by this cat. It would not let hime go out of the house. It was circling around him and in between his legs. This went on for some time. It was then that my daughter-in-law advised my son to start the car. When he did so, the cat went under the car. My son was very reluctant to start the car for fear of killing the cat. We did not know what to do. After waiting for a while, Vidya telephoned our neighbor's daughter-in-law. It became a daughter-in-law to daughter-in-law conversation. We requested the Mrs Justin to come and fetch the cat as it was blocking our way.

Suddenly, Vidya, thought of something. She asked my son to start the car. Like any living being, the cat also would have survival instinct and that it would move out of the way once the car is started. It happened that way once my son started the car. However, instead of going away from the house, the cat came towards the house and started going around the house - first in the front and then again in the back. It started scratching the windows in the front, almost appealing to us to let her in (it is "she" cat). We were watching this for sometime when my son returned with the children. When they entered the house, the cat also came in. My grandson wanted to keep the cat in his room till it was fetched by Mrs Justin. It refused to take milk or water which was offered, instead continued roaming around the house at its own will. The lady came around 6.15pm with her daughter and took away the cat.

That a very small cat could hold us as hostage for more than an hour was a shocking revelation to me. The highlight of the whole incident was that after a lot of shouting at the cat, we came to know from Mrs Justin that the cat was deaf.

We left the house around 6.30 p.m. and returned after dinner.We also watched the movie "Sky Fall". Incidentally, "Sky Fall" was "Paisa Vasool" V.K.Balasubramaian Monte Sereno,CAlifornia 23rd December 2012.