V. Vemuri, Pleasanton, CA
Science is good at explaining what is known and religion is good at explaining what is unknown. In the beginning, almost anything man saw or experienced was unknown. Mysteries and miracles abounded. What once appeared like a snake in the darkness of ignorance turned out to be a harmless rope under the light of knowledge. During the two hundred and odd years since science began to reign supreme, many mysteries were solved and many miracles explained away. Many more remain, begging for an explanation. Because religion had its sway on human affairs for a much longer period of time than science, it had a chance to permeate every segment of society and entrench itself on our psyche. Science is still struggling to make its mark.
When IndZine asked me to comment on the phenomenon of Lord Ganesha's idol drinking milk, I began to wonder. Am I going to explain this away using a principle of physics such as surface tension or capillary action, or am I going to look for a message from gods? In my childhood, the conventional wisdom was, "if God begins to eat the prasadam we offer Him, no sane person would offer Him anything any more." That milk sales apparently skyrocketed in the wake of this phenomenal event proved a part of this statement to be wrong. God, people are becoming insane.
Since we are seeking a scientific explanation, let us first, look at a similar situation from science. It is well known in mathematics that every even number can be expressed as the sum of two prime numbers. For example, 4 = 3 + 1; 6 = 5 +1; 28 = 23 +5 or 11 + 17; 100 = 47 + 53, and so on. You give me an even number and I can show you two prime numbers whose sum is equal to the given even number. It never fails! It is so obvious. Why do we need a proof? But mathematicians like to prove every thing, just to make sure that there is no rope "hissing" in the darkness. This task proved to be surprisingly difficult. Even a stalwart like Euler could not prove it. Nor could he disprove it by finding a counter example. This riddle was first identified by Goldbach in the nineteenth century. Finally, in the 1930's a young German mathematician, Gšedel, proved that "in any self consistent theory there will always exist statements that cannot be proved one way or another." In simple terms this means, "we cannot prove the statement, but that does not mean the statement is wrong." This is scientific double talk.
What Gšedel proved in mathematics has consequences in religion. Simply because you cannot prove the existence of God, that does not mean God does not exist. We simply failed to prove His existence. Sounds like the Simpson verdict, doesn't it? This is the same kind of dilemma we are in now in regard to Ganesha's statue drinking milk. The beauty of Gšedel's proof is that it allows science and religion to embrace each other without trying to be logical or emotional. Lovers close their eyes when they kiss. The scientific reason, I was told, is that they want to shut out all visual cues invading their brain so they can truly enjoy the mystery of touch. Let science and religion embrace. Let them enjoy the devine touch. What springs forth may do us some good.
(Written at the request of IndZine magazine)