All India Students’ Essay Competition
Topic: India Should Focus on A Balanced Growth of Scientific Temper and Spiritual Wisdom
In Srimad Bhagavad-Gita 7.2, Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna says: jnanam te ‘ham sa-vijnanam idam vaksyamy asesatah yaj jnatva neha bhuyo ‘nyaj jnatavyam avasisyate Translation: “I shall now declare unto you in full this knowledge both phenomenal and noumenal, by knowing which there shall remain nothing further to be known” Since ages the scholars in India as well as abroad have been inspired by the knowledge available in the revealed scriptures like Vedanta. The knowledge according to Vedanta is of two types: apara-vidya (scientific knowlegde obtained through sense perception) and para-vidya (scientific knowledge beyond sense perception). Vedantic scholars have accepted the importance of both types of knowledge and indicated that the sincere seeker of scientific knowledge must come to a stage where he will be able to appreciate the knowledge available beyond sense perception, which is known as para-vidya. The self-realized saints are perfect in utilizing this para-vidya and have also gifted that knowledge in the form of scriptures. Many sincere seekers, both from India and abroad, like the great Indian mathematician Srinivas Ramanujan, and western scientists like Erwin Schroedinger, Oppenheimer, Albert Einstein and many others have discovered profound and thought provoking insights from the study of ancient thoughts contained in Vedanta. Oppenheimer exclaimed from the Bhagavad-gita, after the explosion of the atom bomb, “Time I am, the great destroyer.” Albert Einstein says, “Science without religion is blind and religion without science is lame.” Similarly the great Indian mathematician Srinivas Ramanujan exclaimed, “An equation for me has no meaning, unless it represents a thought of God.” The Founder Acharya of the Bhaktivedanta Institute, the great saint and scholar of the 20th century India in the Vedantic tradition...