Religion and Science (soul, disciple, bible, quotes)

[Travelling fella]

Do you think Religion and Science complement each other?

if so, why?

Do you think Religion and Science mutually exclude each other?

if so, why?

Do you think Religion can be considered the holy science?

if so why?

imho religion can be a holy science of getting to know God, specially Yoga and meditation because the scientific method is based on having an hypothesis and experimenting until you can prove it right or wrong, with Yoga you have the Hypothesis that God exists and you can experiment His/Her presence with meditation until you feel his presence and know by yourself based on your own experience that God is real.

Yoga, or the sacred science also contains extensive information about the workings of the universe e.g. the karma law if you practice your meditation faithfully and pay attention you can see these workings on your daily life experience


what are your thoughts?

[MontanaGuy]

I think the answer to your question would depend on whether or not you're a believer in the first place. Since I'm not a believer I tend to think they contradict each other because they clearly have opposing views of the origins of life. On the other hand, if someone is a believer I think it's at least reasonable to be a little open minded about interpreting the Bible in an effort to acknowledge certain truths that science has discovered and still maintain their faith. I've always thought that taking a word for word literal interpretation of the Bible was a big mistake.

[june 7th]

Travelling fella,

Am not sure I am following you here...Can you possibly reframe/rephrase what you are referring to as regards science, religion, yoga, meditation, etc?

[Travelling fella]

sure June 7th

well my religion is very progressive, our guru always gave explanations using XX century terms, he also stated always how Yoga and Christianism had the same ideals and that's the reason Jesus Christ and Krsna are among our Gurus.

we consider Yoga as a sacred science, because it has the same basis that other sciences have, you have an hypothesis and you do experiments to know if that hypothesis is right or not, the techniques we use to do those experiments are the meditation and yoga techniques that our guru gave us, if you follow them faithfully you can experience God by yourself.

I remember the first time a monk taught me some lessons about meditation he told when you are in meditation position, fix your eyes between the eyebrows and concentrate in the spiritual eye, then keep concentrated calling God with all your soul in the language of your heart until he comes, when he told me that I thought that only people like Christ could be honored feeling God's presence, but then I discovered that without much effort I could have those divine experiences myself.

I'm trying to find a good example of Yogananda's (my guru) view on some concepts so you can better understand why was he very progressive and how did he explain the things in a XX century language, for example he said that we human beings are like batteries, filled with cosmic energy or prana, this energy comes from the medula oblongata (God's mouth) and it is what keeps us alive, it is also this energy what regulates all the bodies internal functions and it is the one who digests and uses the energy we take from food.

If we artificially put food on a dead person stomach, it won't do any good because that cosmic energy is not present there anymore, what we try to do with meditation techniques is to retire that energy from the 5 senses, to do this we have techniques that allow you to slow your heartbeat and breath, advanced yogis can completely stop their hearts and enter into a breathless state, in this state that cosmic energy frees from the five senses and you can direct it through the spiritual eye and visit the astral plane and have a conversation with saints, only the most advanced yogis can enter in this state and it's achieved after years of daily meditation practice, but even spiritual beginners can feel the divine presence if they really concentrate during meditation.

Guru also had very progressive views on most things that most people think mutually exclude each other, for example we believe in evolution but we also believe that everything is a God creation, it is just that God designed his creations to follow a natural evolution course over time, I could go on forever but I guess this information is enough (hope so)

Guru also taught us, that all religions lead to God, that we should respect them and if possible try to meet people from other religions and have enlightening conversations with them, it was all these things that won my heart and I became his disciple, when you really wish to find God, he sends a guru to you to help you, I really thank God everyday for sending me my Guru.

I hope this makes it clearer for you if it doesn't then I'd have to recommend you some books for further reading.

God Bless you!

Jai Guru!

[june 7th]

Originally Posted by Travelling fella

then keep concentrated calling God with all your soul in the language of your heart until he comes, when he told me that I thought that only people like Christ could be honored feeling God's presence, but then I discovered that without much effort I could have those divine experiences myself.

Thank you, Travelling fella!

I think I understand.

You and I practice a completely different type of meditation, but I highlighted your words, above, as they spoke very compellingly to me...

I know that many years ago, I began reading Yogananda's book, however, I never finished it...Perhaps I should give it a second try?

As for Religion and Science, (staying on topic here) I remember reading "The Tao of Physics" a long time ago...And yes, it too speaks to the fact that religion and science are NOT mutually exclusive!

Take gentle care.

[Travelling fella]

Originally Posted by june 7th

Thank you, Travelling fella!

I think I understand.

You and I practice a completely different type of meditation, but I highlighted your words, above, as they spoke very compellingly to me...

I know that many years ago, I began reading Yogananda's book, however, I never finished it...Perhaps I should give it a second try?

As for Religion and Science, (staying on topic here) I remember reading "The Tao of Physics" a long time ago...And yes, it too speaks to the fact that religion and science are NOT mutually exclusive!

Take gentle care.

Exactly!

Regarding Yogananda, his books are really a gift for all mankind, not only the autobiography of a yogi, but his spiritual interpretations to the bible (the second coming of christ) and of the bhagavad gita (god talks to arjuna) are a must read, you'll see how everything is explained scientifically and they have bibliographies and quotes of scientific books to make a point of several explanations.

You too take care, it was great to meet you

Love and Light!

[litlux]

Einstein believed in the existence of God.

However, he was not nearly as sure about the various religions.

So, I while I think God and Science can easily get along, it is when we come down to the various religions that the problems begin to show up.

So, some religions and sciences are compatible, and some are not.

I suppose it depends on how literally you take the Bible, Koran, etc. and which religions's interpretation you apply to it.

[GCSTroop]

I can't remember if it was on this forum or another forum where someone talked about attending a science class in college. The professor held up the bible and said "This is not a science book" and then held up the course book and said "This is not a bible." That pretty much sums up my point of view

[b. frank]

If there was an option for: science CAN compliment religion - I would have marked that one.
But I won't say that science necessarily does compliment religion - or that it doesn't.
Holy Science? I don't think so.

[sean98125]

Science tells us how.

Religion tells us why.