




                   How Science and Religion Come Together
                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

     There has always been science, and there has always been religion as 
long as the human race has walked on this mother Earth.  In fact, these two 
are not only related to each other, but they are really, in essence, 
identical.  

     Examining the meaning of the word "science" we can see that it is 
derived from the Latin "sciens" which is the present participle of "scire" 
which means "to know or to understand".  The word "religion", on the other 
hand, comes from the Latin "religio", which means "to return to the origin".  
In other words then, science is the technology of knowing or understanding 
the essence of the universe, and religion is the actual experience of one's 
own identity with that essence.  






                         - The Nature of Religion -

     We must understand that true religion is experiential.  That is, 
religion is not a set of beliefs or ideals, or even a philosophy or manner 
of behavior, but it is the moment to moment experience of one's origin, the 
source of one's being, God.

     Where can this experience be found?  The answer is: everywhere!  For it 
is not really a question of where at all, but one of how.  Obviously if one 
is experiencing the living presence of God, which is by nature infinite and 
inexpressible, the experience can only be that, an experience.  It cannot be 
written or told.  Over and over in the Siri Guru Granth Sahib we hear the 
phrase: 
              "Nanak tells that story which can never be told..." 

     Both science and religion are the attempt to tell "that story which can 
never be told", to share the experience of the infinite and inexpressible 
with our fellow travellers on this beautiful spaceship we call Earth. 


     Science and religion are identical in purpose, but they are opposite in 
method. In fact, one might almost say that science is religion without a 
heart, and religion is science without a head; two opposite approaches to 
the identical task: to express the inexpressible so that it may be shared by 
others. 




                          - The Nature of Science -

     The task that science has set itself is to describe the essential 
nature of the entire universe precisely and mathematically in the totality 
of its creation.  The irony of this task is that it is endless in nature.  
The supposed ultimate goal of science, to propose a theory that explains 
neatly and logically how everything in the universe operates and fits 
together into a whole, is actually an impossible task.  The reason that it 
is impossible, is that science itself is part of our constantly growing, 
evolving, moving, and ecstatic universe.  The very act of scientific 
observation affects not only the specific process under observation,
 but the entire universe.


     When, at the dawn of the twentieth century,  Albert Einstein proposed 
his general theory of relativity, and Max Planck proposed his principle of 
uncertainty, the world was stood on its ear.  Suddenly the seemingly 
explainable, mechanical nature of the world as understood by science until
then, was dissolved in a sea of uncertainty.  The sudden and unexpected 
announcement by Einstein that everything in the universe is connected to 
everything else, and that every action no matter how seemingly small affects 
the whole, and Planck's discovery that absolute measurements within the 
realm of time and space were impossible because both could not be measured 
simultaneously, made the hard facts of science suddenly seem a lot less 
solid.  The realization that all scientific models and theories are only 
approximate, and that their verbal interpretations always suffer from the 
inaccuracy of language itself was now inescapable.  

     It now seems that the totality of science's accomplishments is 
asymptotic in nature.  An asymptotic function, of course, is one that 
approaches a limit without ever reaching it.  In other words, while the 
scientific method can approach closer and closer to its goal of describing 
the essential nature of the universe, it can never actually get there.  It 
is like Zeno's bridge, crossing it takes forever. The discovery and 
exploration of the sub-atomic world of modern physics has revealed a reality 
which transcends both language and reasoning. 

     At the dawn of the twentieth century science and religion have entered 
the common ground of inexpressibility.  




                        - The Image of the Infinite -

     All religions seem to have begun with the transcendental experience of a 
single individual or a small group in individuals.  Let's take as our 
example here, Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of the Sikh faith.  As a young 
man, Guru Nanak underwent an ecstatic and transforming experience; an 
experience in which he understood the essential nature of existence.  It is 
said that after undergoing this experience, his first impulse was to express 
in words what had happened to him.  The great poem we call "Japji" was the 
product of that effort.  The first part of the Japji, known as the root or 
"Mool" mantra is the expression, in as few words as possible, of Guru 
Nanak's experience of reality.

                       Ek Ong Kar             ONE Creator/creation
                       Sat Nam                called TRUTH
                       Karta Purkh            does EVERYTHING
                       Nirbau                 beyond fear
                       Nirvair                beyond anger
                       Akal Moorat            beyond time
                       Ajooni Saibhang        beyond birth and death...
                                              full of light

                       Gur Prasad             this EXPERIENCE is a GIFT
                                              of grace

                       Jap                    Remember!

                       Aad Sach               primal Truth
                       Jugad Sach             True through all times
                       He Bhe Sach            True at this very instant!
                       Nanak, Hosee Bhe Sach  Oh Nanak, forever True.


     The utter simplicity of the Mool Mantra is striking.  It is the very 
essence of which all religions are made. It is interesting to realize that 
the very first line of it expresses exactly the same concept which is the 
foundation of all modern relativistic science: 

                                  E=MC}

     Ek Ong Kar:   The Creator (energy) and the Creation (matter) are ONE!


     This primal truth is expressed in various ways in all the world's 
religions.  Let's take as another example the Taoist symbol called the    
"Tai C'hi", which many people know as the "yin-yang" symbol. 

     The Tai C'hi is an attempt to express the experience of the infinite in 
an image or picture.  In reality the Tai C'hi is not a two dimensional image 
but a four dimensional one.  While such a symbolic representation is 
difficult to express in words, I hope that you will bear with me while I 
attempt to do so.  Examining the Tai C'hi, we notice that in the center of 
the black teardrop shape is a point of white, and in the center of the white 
teardrop is a single black point.  Now imagine that the "tail" of the white 
teardrop actually continues "behind" the symbol itself and is connected to 
the white dot at the center of the black half, while the "tail" of the black 
half comes around the "front" of the image and connects to the black dot at 
the center of the white half. Got it?   Ok, now imagine that the Tai C'hi is 
not static, but that it is in constant flowing motion within itself. i.e. 
that the white portion is constantly flowing out of the center of the black 
portion and the black portion is continuously being born out of the center 
of the white portion.   In other words, the Tai C'hi is not a circle divided 
into a black half and a white half, but an attempt to express in a 
beautifully simple image the constant process of creation, growth and 
evolution itself.  It is a picture or image of "Ek Ong Kar".  It is an "Akal 
Moorat" a timeless, infinite image. 



                          - The Power of the Word -


     In the Christian bible, in the book of John, is written:

                       "In the beginning was the Word, 
                        and the Word was with God , 
                        and the Word was God."

     What is the Word of which John was speaking?   

     For thousands of years the sacred texts of India, the Vedas, Shastras 
and Smritis, have taught that sound vibration holds the key to the mysteries 
of the universe, to the actual creation and sustenance of our world, and to 
the means of extricating ourselves from its bonds.  In the Vedic tradition, 
the world we see, the world of phenomena, is said to be the visible 
manifestation of the infinite combinations of sound patterns, all derived 
from the soundless sound (Anahat Shabd) of the One who is both the Creator 
and the Creation.  To express it another way, the Word of which John is 
speaking is the Anahat Shabd of the Vedic teachings; the continuous 
vibrating of the Creator/Creation in action.  

     Once we accept that what we call "time" is really only a matter of 
appearances, and that what we know as "past", "present", and "future" are in 
reality just ways of describing what appear to us to be different parts of 
what is actually a continuous, infinite, timeless process, then we can begin 
to understand that the actual manifestation of that process is vibratory in 
nature.

     In order to explore the nature of creation itself, we must correlate 
the sciences of biology, sub-atomic particle physics, chemistry, and 
mathematics because sound vibration is the integrating phenomenon of life, 
the common denominator, through which and by which everything in the 
universe operates. 

     The ancient Indian texts explain that sound is the cause and not the 
effect of vibration and that there can be sound without any vibration, even 
without the usual media of conveyance such as air, water, or so called solid 
matter.  This is the concept of the "Anahat Shabd", the driving energy and 
force behind all manifestation; the "soundless sound" or "unstruck melody" 
which is the infinite, endless continuum... indivisible, unfragmented, and 
unimaginably potent... the most powerful source of all... the sound of the 
Creator/Creation constantly creating itself. 

     This constant hum of creation, the primal AUM, is the vibratory 
activity od all energy aed matter.  The power within the atom's core is but 
a minute pinpoint of this infinite energy, and yet even this is able to 
utterly destroy cities, nations, and even our planet itself.  With the 
exception of the work of a few advanced scientists (most of whom were 
ostracized by the traditional scientific community) such as Nikola Tesla and 
John Keely, the relatively coarse instruments of modern science have barely 
begun to probe this infinite energy source. 

     The Anahat Shabd, the "soundless sound", is the subtlest element of 
all.  It is the etheric essence, finer than earth, air, water, or fire, 
beyond the speed of light... all pervasive, the source of cohesion, of 
electricity, of magnetism and gravitation, of all that exists. 
          
      The modern physicist E.C.G. Sudarshan has described the etheric 
essence of the Anahat Shabd in scientific terms as follows: 

          "The ether as superfluid is consistent with relativity and quantum 
          theory.  It is the support of all light, in it all bodies exist, 
          it is attached to none, it is ever present beyond the limitations 
          of time and space.  It has no inertial qualities, no interactions, 
          yet it is the very substance of illumination."
          
                      E.C.G. Sudarshan (preprint, University of Texas, 1974) 


     This is the secret of the power of the Word.  If the creative activity 
we know as God is manifested through vibration, and if the entire universe 
as we perceive it is nothing but a constantly changing pattern of 
vibrations, then the knowledge of how to consciously create vibrations which 
affect the vibratory continuum in a specific manner is the knowledge of how 
to consciously participate in the creative process itself.  This is the 
ancient science of sound which is known as "mantra".  


     In the Japji of Guru Nanak, he speaks in great length and depth of the 
Anahat Shabd and of the effects of both listening and speaking: 

     "Akharee Nam Akharee Salaah.       In sound is naming and praising. 
      Akharee Gian Geet Gun Gaah.       In sound is all knowledge and song.
      Akharee Likhan Bolan Baan.        In sounds spoken and written.
      Akharaa Sir Sanjog Vikaan."       In sound lies the destiny.
 
                                           Guru Nanak, Japji Sahib, pauri 19

     "Ant Na Vekhan Sunan Na Ant.       There is no end to seeing and hearing
      Ant Na Jaapai Kiaa Mant?          There is no end in sight...
      Ant Na Jaapai Keeta Aakaar.       What Mantra lies within God's mind?
      Ant na Jaapai Paaraavaar."        The structure of the universe is
                                                                    infinite.
                                        Endless vibrating expansion.

                                           Guru Nanak, Japji Sahib, pauri 24


     "Suniai Sidh Peer Sur Nath.        Listening...saints, heros, masters
      Suniai Dharat Dhaval Akash.       Listening... the earth, power, ethers
      Suniai Deep Loa Pataal.           Listening... high and low realms
      Suniai Poeh Na Sakai Kaal           oceans of light.
      Nanak, Bhagataa Sadaa Vigaas.     Nanak, God's lovers bloom forever.
      Suniai Dookh Paap Kaa Naas.       Listening destroys all pain and error.
      
      Suniai Eesar Baramaa Ind.         Listening... men become gods.
      Suniai Mukh Saalaahan Mand.       Listening... praise comes from the
      Suniai Jog Jugat Tan Bhed.          mouth of the most negative person.
      Suniai Saast Simrit Ved.          Listening... the way of yoga and the
      Nanak, Bhagataa Sadaa Vigaas.       body's secrets.
      Suniai Dookh Paap Kaa Naas.       Listening all holy books and scriptures
                                        Nanak, God's lovers bloom forever.    
                                        Listening destroys all pain and error.

      Suniai Sat Santokh Giaan.         Listening... Truth, patience, wisdom.
      Suniai Ath Sath Kaa Ishnaan.      Listening... bathing at all holy places
      Suniai Par Par Paaveh Maan.       Listening... reading and reading
      Suniai Laagai Sahej Dhiaan.         gains honor.
      Nanak, Bhagataa Sadaa Vigaas.     Listening... concentration comes easy.
      Suniai Dookh Paap Kaa Naas.       Nanak, God's lovers bloom forever.    
                                        Listening destroys all pain and error
      

      Suniai Saraa Gunaa Ke Gaah.       Listening... deep oceans of grace.
      Suniai Sekh Peer Paatishaah.      Listening... kings, emperors, saints.
      Suniai Aande Paaveh Raaho.        Listening... blind ones find the Path.
      Suniai Haath Hovai Asagaaho.      Listening... the unknown is known.
      Nanak, Bhagataa Sadaa Vigaas.     Nanak, God's lovers bloom forever.    
      Suniai Dookh Paap Kaa Naas."       Listening destroys all pain and error.
      
                                           Guru Nanak, Japji, pauris 8 - 11


     All religions use sounds to affect consciousness.  From the shaman's 
drum at the peyote meeting, to Gregorian chant and the Latin Catholic 
liturgy, the effects of sound on the human consciousness, and on the 
perception and creation of reality, are universally experienced.  

     If all matter is in reality the interplay and patterns of waves of 
sound, then it requires no great leap of imagination to see that all form in 
nature is the outpouring of causative sound.  If God as the constant Creator 
can form and change the vast array of the plane of matter, then we as co-
creators can use the science of sound to form and change the patterns of the 
world and of our own inner beings.  In the Vedic view of the cosmos, the 
whole universe is an ocean of sound and light of varying degrees of density 
or luminosity.  It is understood that sound precedes even light. 




                         - God and the Superforce -


     During this latter part of the twentieth century the forefront of 
scientific research has been theoretical physics.  Theoretical physics 
consists of the postulation and subsequent proof of the actual manner in 
which the universe is constructed.  Most people are aware that the "stuff" 
of reality is made up of molecules, and that molecules are made up of atoms.  
Most are also aware that atoms are made of so-called particles known as 
protons, neutrons, and electrons.  

     These things were understood at the turn of the century, but with the 
arrival of Neils Bohr's quantum mechanics in the early part of the twentieth 
century, a whole new world of sub-atomic particles has opened up.  As 
physicists began to discover and name these new particles they were looking 
for an underlying symmetry, a pattern that would make sense both logically 
and aesthetically, just as all patterns in nature seem to have an inner 
rhythm and beauty to them. 

     The Newtonian image of the atom, that of a tiny "solar system" with a 
sun/nucleus made up protons and neutrons, and a whirl of little 
planet/electrons surrounding it has now become obsolete.  It now appears 
that what at first seemed to be three different basic types of particles, 
and later was understood to consist of these particles made up of, and 
interacting with, smaller component particles, mesons, neutrinos, quarks, 
and charmed particles, etc., are in fact simply one energy; one energy that 
is constantly transforming itself into different frequencies of vibration, 
spinning right and lift, up and down... a constant flow of changing ripples 
and waves in one cosmic sea of energy.


     Compare the description of God given by Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth 
Nanak, in his poem "Sukhmani Sahib", The Jewel of Peace, to the quantum 
concept of the universe described above.


   "Parbrahm ke sagle thao.             The entire Creation is One with God.
    Jit jit ghar rakhai taisa tin nao.  But we call its parts by different 
    Aap karan kravan-jog.                 names.
    Prabh bhavai soi phun hog.          God is the Doer of everything.
    Pasrio aap hoe anat tarang.         Whatever He wills happens.
    Lakhe na jaah Parbrahm ke rang      God is an ocean, pervading everywhere,
    Jaisi mat dee taisa pargaas.        filled with endless waves of creation.
    Parbrahm karta abinas."             His play cannot be described.
                                        But each man has a vision of Him
                                        according to the light granted to him.

                          Guru Arjan Dev Ji, Sukhmani Sahib, Ashtapadi IX

     The appearance of separate and definable "particles" is only an 
illusion, a trick of perception that occurs in the same manner that a 
baseball seems to be suspended in mid-air in a short exposure photograph, 
when in fact it is hurtling through the air quite fast and, in actuality, is 
in another place completely by the time we ever see the photograph.  Even 
with the "high-speed photography" possible with our modern atomic 
accelerators such as Cern in Geneva, and Fermilab in Chicago, the 
"snapshots" of our bubble chambers and tracking emulsions are much to slow 
to catch the divine dance of energy as it actually occurs. 

     In fact, it is our minds that are too slow to catch the divine dance! 

     But it can be experienced, and this experience, beyond the limitations 
of time and space, beyond the mind and it's symbolic and linear thinking, is 
the experience of constant ecstasy and immense joy which is the very flow of 
the Anahat Shabd itself.   

     In addition to the illusion of separate particles of matter, science is 
now beginning to discover that what was previously thought of as separate 
types or kinds of energy, are really only one.  The very latest concept of 
modern physics is the idea of a so-called "Superforce ".  What were 
previously thought to be the five basic separate energies of the universe, 
electricity, magnetism, weak atomic bonding force, strong atomic force, and 
gravitation, each with it's own mathematical expression and laws, are 
currently beginning to be understood as merely separate expressions of ONE 
force, which physicists call the Superforce.  These energies are constantly 
transforming themselves into each other, just as the "particles" of matter 
are constantly transforming themselves into each other.  

     The One appears as many in all His manifested forms. 





                               - Ek Ong Kar -
 

     There is One Creator/Creation.  This is the fundamental discovery of 
modern science.  That not only is all matter convertible into energy, and 
vice versa,  but that energy and matter are simply different appearances of 
the very same thing.  And that not only are energy and matter the same 
thing, but that the constant interplay of this energy is the very play of 
God itself, the divine play of "lila". 

     The religious experience is the experience that we and God and God and 
we are one and the same.  It is only our minds, our egos, that make us ever 
feel that we are observing, that we are separate from other forms of 
consciousness and energy.  But science is the process of observation, and 
observation implies an observer.  How wonderful it is to realize that there 
is only One observer... and that He is constantly observing Himself through 
His/our eyes, and enjoying it immensely! 

     The modern scientific view that consciousness is within everything has 
been expressed by E.H. Walker: 

          "Consciousness may be associated with all quantum mechanical 
          processes.  The uniqueness of our consciousness lies in the fact 
          that it is a part of a logic machine, which in turn is the brain 
          of a particular kind of physical system, a living organism.  That 
          is, the terms "life", "thought", and "consciousness", properly 
          defined, are separable.  An organism does not have to be conscious 
          or capable of thinking in order to be alive.  A brain does not 
          have to be conscious to be capable of "thought" (we are using the 
          term in the restricted sense of "data processing").  Only the 
          higher organisms have brains for data processing, and only under 
          very special conditions, when a large part of the data processing 
          functions of the brain is handled by an irreducible quantum 
          mechanical process, does the organism become a conscious, thinking 
          being.
          
          Any of these attributes may exist independently of the others, or 
          in conjunction with only one other.  A non-living computer that is 
          capable of both thought and consciousness would be a real 
          possibility.  Consciousness may also exist without being 
          associated with either a living system or a data processing 
          system.  Indeed, since everything that occurs is ultimately the 
          result of one or more quantum mechanical events, the universe is 
          "inhabited" by an almost unlimited number of rather discrete 
          conscious, usually non-thinking entities that are responsible for 
          the detailed working of the universe.  These conscious entities 
          determine (or exist concurrently with the determination) SINGLY 
          the outcome of each quantum mechanical event, while the 
          Schrdinger equation (to the extent that it is accurate) describes 
          the physical constraint placed on their freedom of action 
          COLLECTIVELY." 
          
                       E.H. Walker, "The Nature of Consciousness", 
                       Journal of Mathematical Biosciences 7 : 175-176, 1970
          

           


              - The Heart of Science and the Head of Religion -


     Earlier we said that science is sometimes thought of as religion 
without a heart, and religion as science without a head.  The current 
evolutionary state of human consciousness is that these two are finally 
becoming one.  Religion is giving its heart to science, and science has given 
its head to religion. 

     In the 1980's we are experiencing the continuing explosion of 
information sharing and group consciousness on this planet.  Our entire 
planet is linked electronically by a network of computers, televisions, 
radios, electronic cables, optical fibers, and satellites.  Ideas and images 
that affect us all are instantly transmitted and shared with others of our 
species all over the globe.  We have even begun to acknowledge and connect to 
the consciousness of other species, as John Lilly's research with dolphins 
has shown.

     The group sub-conscious described by Carl Jung is now openly reflected 
in a visible planetary group consciousness. 

     The age of blind faith is over.  The age of belief without knowledge 
died with the advent of instantaneous global information sharing.  We have 
irrevocably entered the age of conscious knowledge, experience, and 
responsibility.  The union of science and religion is now taking place.  The 
people of planet Earth can no longer march under a banner that reads:       

                     "I believe, therefore I know"

but are joining together under a new banner which proudly proclaims: 

                     "I know! Therefore I believe". 





                            - The Age of Khalsa - 


     This is the age of the joining of all the Dharmas.  This is the age of 
sudden transformation.  Not since the incredible evolutionary speedup which 
marked the beginning of mankind's use of the forebrain, the factor that 
separated us from the apes, has such a quantum leap in consciousness 
happened on this planet.  We are entering the age of the Khalsa.  The age of 
purified and subtle creative behavior and consciousness.   

     The religion of the future, which is evolving out of the union of 
science and traditional religion, is the worship of God as Truth.

     I'd like to close with my translation a poem of the Khalsa, originally 
written in Gurmukhi, and  transmitted to this Earth by the most pure, humble, 
and devoted channel I have ever met, Yogi Bhajan. 

     From the volume called the "Furmaan Khalsa", The Inner Command of the 
Pure Ones, here is the poem called "Lohe da Mandir", The Temple of Steel: 

 
     The Temple of Steel has been built! 
     The Light of Wisdom is Shining !

     Today the sinners are filled with fear.
     Today the Sovereign Khalsa Nation has proclaimed:
     "Only the Righteous will survive!"

     Today Satan is dead!
     The New Nation of the Earth comprises all the Dharmas.
     This Order comes direct from God!

     The cycle of births and deaths is ended.
     Today, only TRUTH will be accepted!
     Today, no one is weak.
     Today, the power of the Will reigns Supreme.
     Today, by the grace of the Lord of both the Worlds,
     The being is reborn as Khalsa!
     Strong as steel
     Steady as stone.
     
     A face radiating sweetness...
     A forehead shining with self-respect...
     An inner voice that calls out to all people...
     And carries them across the Ocean of fear.

     The Flag of TRUTH is flying High!
     Falsehood lies in ruins.

     The Path of Love is simple:
     There is no loss or gain.
     White Hot Steel, heated in the fires of the times,
     Has branded "TRUTH!" upon our foreheads.

     The Temple of Steel has been built!
     The Light of Wisdom is Shining!

     We shall live our lives in TRUTH!
     For this is the Priceless Blessing of our Guru.


____________________________________________________________________________ 
S.S. Guruka Singh Khalsa 
Research Associate
Department of High Energy Physics
Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio

December 13, 1987
____________________________________________________________________________
