Albert Einstein
 
By Vijay Phanshikar :
 
“Every one who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe - a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble.”
- Albert Einstein 
 

 

THAT most scientists realise that spirituality is the core of science, is common knowledge. However, when Professor Albert Einstein talks of how the scientists get confronted with a higher spirit, then the words assume the power and strength and authority of a Vedic hymn. The point here is not about God as such. Of course, Nobel laureate Dr. John Mather had famously said, in effect, that even after isolating ‘God’ particle, the scientists felt that they were still missing something -- “and that must be God”. Yet, Albert Einstein does not talk of God. He talks of how scientists become aware of a spirit higher that that of man. For him, that was humbling -- as he admits. Humbling .. the whole experience or awareness must be. For, when the scientist gets to sense how a whole universe moves within matter’s smallest particles and how that universe has a striking similarity to the universe outside, then the entire perception changes.

 

The scientist becomes deeply conscious of Creation, so to say. He might or might not have read the Nasadiya Sukta from the 10th Mandala of the RigVed, but he becomes aware of how the universe operates -- in close connect, in ever-expanding space in a fine combination of centrifugal and centripetal forces -- far, far, far beyond the idea of a mechanical connect, or in other words, beyond the human capacity to comprehend its dynamics. Iyam visrushtiryat yadi va dadhe va na/ Yo asyadhyakshah parame vyomantso anga ved yadi va na ved (7) (Nasadiya Sukta) (Whence all creation had its origin, the Creator, whether He fashioned it or whether He did not, the Creator, who surveys it all from highest heaven, He knows — or maybe even He does not know). Science by itself was never arrogant or had no business to be arrogant. But when the scientist becomes closely aware of the unfathomable spirit that runs the universe, he becomes humble, and surrenders to spirituality as a domain that requires a deeper engagement. This is one domain that is not even within the farthest reach of technology.

 

This is one domain that makes the scientist one with Creation -- a point where the distinction between the creation and the Creator and the observer dissolves (as stated by theoretical physicist Fritjof Capra, too). When Origin or Creation is so complex -- well beyond human comprehension -- and when the scientist becomes aware of that phenomenon, then he -- or she- gets humbled before that spirit much higher than that of man. This realisation is the true discovery of science -- one must say !