Focal Points and Differences

Before concluding let me emphasize that to say all this is far from claiming that there are not differences. Differences are inevitable as traditions attempt to weave diverse network of ideas while confronting the wide range of issues and questions related to the cosmos and ourselves. In fact, the soteriological traditions are extraordinarily innovative in this respect. The aim of the dialogue is not to blur the differences but to recognize these as these constitute the identities of diverse traditions. Let us, therefore, preserve and cherish these differences but not by overlooking the focal points that override these differences.

There is a persistent note in the self-understanding of the Hindu tradition that the Reality that is grasped by our religious consciousness at its height is one, as the Upanaşhads put it, “Where all words come to a standstill” - it is inexpressible. This is also why the tradition has insisted on the idea that every expression that seeks to express the Inexpressible is one among many such possible expressions, thus echoing the seer in the Ŗgveda who exclaimed:

“Ekam sat, vipra bahudha vadanti, i.e., The Real is One, the sages call it by different names.

Gazing at the wide canvas where a range of ideas about cosmos seem to be vying with each other to capture our attention, I would like to urge that in order to proceed with the dialogue between science and religion, it is necessary to take up the challenge of engaging in a project that seeks to incorporate into this dialogue the contents of religious consciousness, variously expressed in myth and symbols, philosophical conceptualizations and religious doctrines that are integral to the diverse world-religions across cultures. In a discussion such as this, created with the special aim of removing the ‘hard’ boundaries between scientific and religious thinking while contemplating on such profound issues as ‘cosmic questions’, we need to be on our guard so that we do not continue with the unfortunate practice that tends to play religious traditions against each other’. There needs to be a will and readiness for fruitfully exploring the wisdom and insights that lie embedded in religious traditions - a dimension of knowledge about us and the cosmos that we often lose sight of only our peril. As attempt in earnestness to comprehend these messages and their meaning, we will learn to discern the subtleties present in a give religious discourse where a word or a phrase derived from conventional language has to perform the symbolic function of pointing to that which is I not of this world. Going through this process one becomes more and more sensitive to the levels of thinking that operate in different genres of discourse that deal with these profound issues. Just as scientists with religious concerns and having clear leanings toward specific religious traditions know that from science itself one cannot derive justification for any form of metaphysical materialism or reductionistic thinking making religious quest appear futile, similarly scholars of religious traditions are aware that ‘it is in vain that some seek to find support for any given religious tradition in scientific cosmology.

Progress in this matter calls for an openness that consciously avoids preconceived notions that prejudice the investigation from the start and thereby win over the unwarranted antagonism between reason and faith, scientific observations and religious experience.

Contributed by: Dr. Anindita Balslev