a very cogent explanation. must read.
Does science contradict Hinduism? How do you deal with scientific discoveries that don't line up with the Vedas?
actually this issue was anticipated and resolved by the Vedāntācārya over 1000 years ago.
The Mīmāṁsa-Vedanta position avoids all possible conflict between scripture on one hand and history and science on the other.
Śankarācārya emphatically declared in the 8th century
“You cannot prove that fire is cold, or that the sun does not give heat, even by citing a hundred quotes (from the Veda), for the facts would already be known to be otherwise through other means of knowledge. And one means of knowledge cannot contradict another, for the Veda only tells us about those things that cannot be known by any other means. Nor can the scriptures speak about an unknown thing without having recourse to conventional words and their meanings.” (Brihadaranyaka Bhāṣya on 1:4:10)
“And as regards appeals to authority of Śruti (Veda), we say that no such appeal should be made, inasmuch as Śruti is an authority in transcendental matters, in matters lying beyond the bounds of human knowledge. Śruti is an authority only in matters not perceived by means of ordinary instruments of knowledge, such as pratyakṣa or immediate perception:- i.e. it is an authority as to the mutual relation of things as means to an end; but not in matters lying within the range of pratyakṣa; indeed Śruti is intended as an authority only for knowing what lies beyond the range of human perception”. (Śaṅkara Gītābhāṣya on 18:66 translated by Swami Gambhirananda.)
Rāmānuja agrees:–
Padārthagrāhi pratyakṣam, śāstram tu pratyakṣādyaparicchedya …. Viṣayam. Iti śāstrapratyakṣayoḥ na virodhaḥ || Vedārtha Saṅgraha 66)
Perception apprehends things material; while Veda has as its object what is not determinable by perception and inference. There is no contradiction between perception and scripture.
And even Madhvācārya concurs with both Śankara and Rāmānuja.
Na ca pratyakṣa siddhim anyena kenāpi bādhyaṁ dṛṣṭam | candra prādeśatvādi viṣayaṁ tu, dūrasthatvādi doṣā yuktatvās apaṭṭu | na ca jagat pratyakṣasya apaṭutve kiñcin mānas ||
Sense perception is its own standard of truth. It cannot be negated by inference or Scripture. The moon’s small size and other such erroneous perceptions are accountable as being due to distance and other conditions. There is no reason to reject the evidence of sense-perception regarding the existence of a world external to our minds. (Madhvacharya — Tattvodyota page 7 refutation of māyāvāda)
So all the three doyens of Vedanta declare that the function of scripture is to inform us on those matters which are metaphysical and transcendental and have nothing to say about the physical world and physical science which operates with empiricism and reason.
So any “science” that is discoverable in the Veda is incidental and of no consequence whatsoever and is irrelevant to the knowledge content of the Veda.
So science can continue to do what it does best and teach us about the physical world and the Vedas can do what they do the best and teach us about consciousness and metaphysics.
We Hindus are very happy and content with science.
N.B. for all those Pauranikas reading this post the observations of the Vedāntācāryas apply equally to all the Puranas as well - they cannot contradict history and science - whatever in them does so needs to be rejected.
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