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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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