ATTn: Dear Friend
Why the so called scientists have ever tried to
find out the truth by analytical/statistical methods.
Usually these are the ways that the scientists try and
goes on trying.The Archeological Department could have
tried to see whether the structure has got any
engineering skill employed or not.The Mohanjodaro and
Harrappa findings were the result of such works.To
leave anything as myths and unscientific should have
some basis /reasonings.How the story came to be so
deeprooted in the minds of so many generations with
out any break is to be researched.Let the so called
rationalist thinkers/scientific people work it out and
come with an answer.Instead of that to pretend that
millions of devotees are following some myth as if the
so called progressives are the only intelligent ones
on earth is nothing but perversion.
Dr.M.C.George,Advocate,INFAM(IndianFarmersMovement)
--- Chan Mahanta <<mailto:cmahanta%40charter.net>[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
There was an article in the Indian Express under
the heading "Ram, science and religious belief",
by P.V. Indiresan, a former Director of IIT ,
Chennai, which can be seen below. I responded to
it to the Indian Express. But if past experience
is any guide, it won't be posted either in the
Letter to the Editor section or in the Feedback
forum. Since it deals with the Ramsethu issue,
even though it was never mentioned by the author,
I thought Water Watch members might find it
relevant.
cm
************************************************************************************************************
Dr. Indiresan spent a lot of time pretending to
be singing the praises of scientific pursuits of
the truth and rational thinking. But really he
bares in this article, filled with inane
arguments , his own inability to reconcile
rational thinking expected of a man of his
stature as a technocrat and educationist,
supposedly excelling in inculcating an ethos of
learning with a critical and analytical approach
required of technical/scientific studies, with
irrational dogmas camouflaged as a defence of
Hindu 'sentiments' from an unfair and/or
selective challenges to the irrationalities of
the faith's myriad myths. Dr. Indiresan is
attempting to have it both ways, sporting the
aura of a rational technocrat while spouting
irrational arguments in defense of 'feelings' and
'sentiments'.
Allow me to explain:
>The same holds good in the case of Ram too;
>there is no proof that he existed; neither is
>there any >scientific proof that he did not
>exist. That is where ‘rational’
scientists drift
>outside the scientific path. >They make
>assertions about matters of faith, forgetting
>their own principles. They can say, at the
>most, >there is no proof that Ram was a real
>person. They cannot proceed further and assert
>that Ram was >not a real person.
*** Fair enough. Rationalists cannot prove or
assert Lord Ram was NOT a real person. But what
does that have to do with the issue at hand:
Whether Ram-sethu was built by Ram or his
minions? Should the likes of Dr. Indiresan , no
doubt someone endowed with wisdoms that shallow
rationalists are deprived of , NOT pursue the
question to its logical end? Or would it amount
to attacking a soft-target, thus out of bounds
for the wise rationalist?
*** Furthermore, a rational scientist /technocrat
would NOT stop at that. She would also dig deeper
to look at the REAL issue: Whether destroying
the geological features of the sea-bed referred
to as the Ram-sethu in Indian folklore is a
prudent thing to do, considering its many
ramifications that could be examined
scientifically. Is he doing that? Is he showing
any inclination to do that?
>But why not tolerate the dogma of scientists
>when no objections are raised about religious
>dogma?
*** Scientific dogma is an oxymoron. While I am
acutely aware of Indians' proclivity for misusing
English words and phrases, often because it is a
foreign language, but many times willfully in
pursuit of less than noble ends; one would have
expected someone of the stature of Dr. Indiresan
to be a tad bit more careful. But it is a well
worn tactic to devalue and demonize objects of
one's dislike with clever use of words and
phrases when one is dealing with a paucity of
reason.
>In the Indian context, rationalists become
>dangerous, because they attack selectively. All
>religions >survive on myths. Rationalists would
>have been on more solid ground if they had
>attacked myths of all >religions.
***This is Dr. Indiresan's coup-de-grace in his
devaluing of rational thinking on the matter. Or
so one might think unless one is careful to
analyze it.
Faith, even Dr. Indiresan would agree, is a very
PERSONAL thing. One does not have to be rational
about it, like he tells us. If so, it ought not
to be an issue to be injected into matters of
state, that affects ALL, regardless of their
faith/s; particularly to a state that is as
vastly diverse in its faiths as India is.
Furthermore, it is one thing to be analytical
about ones own faith; to question its beliefs,
its myths, its dogmas; but quite another to do so
about somebody else's. One would have expected
Dr. Indiresan to be mindful of such nuances of
ordinary propriety and courtesy that he implies
others of lacking. It is NOT unbecoming of a
Hindu, even a nominal one, to questions Hindu
myths or superstitions or prejudices. For he is
the one who is being affected by them. But it is
uncouth to go questioning others' faiths. The
Hindu, widely bandied to be tolerant, has no
business meddling in
somebody else's faith, UNLESS, they are meddling
in his lifestyle or well-being by imposing their
will on matters of state, which affect everyone.
That is the subtle but critical difference that
Dr. Indiresan fails to note. That is why his big
argument against the 'rationalists' in 'the
Indian context' is little more than yet another
foray into that twilight zone of foggy logic
where ordinary meanings of words and phrases no
longer operate, as in special Indian meanings to
"secularism", "democracy", "rationalist" and so
forth.
What Dr. Indiresan tells us here is that in
spite of his implied approval of rational
thinking in general, he is unable to accept it
when it is not applied 'fairly' to ALL religions
'in the Indian context' , as if it would somehow
rid Hinduism of its irrational burdens or absolve
the Ram-sethu issue of its irrationality. What he
demonstrates is his personal insecurity over his
own faith, unable to reconcile the dichotomy
> imposed by injection of faith in affairs of state.
No wonder that so many Indian scientists,
technocrats and intellectuals can cite chapter
and verse
of the collective wisdoms of mankind acquired to
date, but are unable to apply them for the
well-being of their own.
cm
<http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Ram-science-and-religious-belief/218687/>http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Ram-science-and-religious-belief/218687/
>
>New Delhi, Spetember 19: A week is a long time
>in politics and the Ram Setu controversy may
>soon die down. But even as it fades away
>politically, it may linger intellectually.
>Everyone is agreed that the battle is between
>scientific attitude and faith. As Francis Bacon
>argued nearly 500 years ago, the scientific
>spirit requires that we accept nothing as true
>unless it can be verified by experiment. Karl
>Popper goes on to say that the purpose of
>scientific enquiry is to disprove a hypothesis,
>not buttress it. As Thomas Kuhn has explained,
>science re-writes its textbooks all the time.
>In stark contrast, religious texts are sacred;
>they are unalterable. Science holds a hypothesis
>untrue if it does not satisfy even one out a
>hundred conditions. For the faithful, belief is
>sanctified even if it comes true only once in a
>thousand times.
>In modern times, the proposition that science
>will replace faith has become an attractive one.
>Much that was a mystery earlier has now been
>rationalised through scientific discoveries.
>Inevitably, many more mysteries of the present
>will also get explained in years to come. But
>science has its limitations. For example, it can
>theorise how the universe began with a Big Bang,
>but not explain what agency caused it.
>Scientific theories are also fickle. Five years
>ago, hormone replacement therapy was the
>cure-all idea for older women. Now, it is
>anathema. Science propagates knowledge; it does
>not necessarily confirm wisdom. That is why
>stories about mad scientists remain a recurrent
>theme in cinema!
>There is no scientific proof that God exists;
>neither is there any proof that God does not
=== message truncated ===
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