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Mr. N. Kumar, Chennai.
Q: Are Vedas scientific?
A: The Vedas as a whole is looked upon as a means of knowledge, in the Vedic tradition of learning. Being an independent means of knowledge, the subject matter of the Vedas has got to be one, which is beyond the scope of other means of knowledge, and it has to be meaningful as well. It talks about a heaven, punya, papa, duties, rituals with their results to be experienced here or hereafter. This subject matter is certainly beyond the scope of the means of knowledge like perception, inference and so on, which a human being commands. It does not expect any corroboration from other sources of knowledge, much less the subject matter revealed by the Vedas is subject to contention on the basis of other means of knowledge.

Science is a body of knowledge gained by one’s perception and inference. Any scientific theory is, therefore, subject to contention. Any contention is only with reference to a subject matter within the domain of perception, inference etc. An error is committed when one makes a statement that the ‘Vedas’ are scientific. Neither a scientist can accept the declaration nor one who knows the tradition can stand it. Proper it would be to say, that the Vedas are not illogical in as much as their area is independent of perception and inference.

Here, in Vedanta, the subjectmatter being 'Self', the knowledge unfolded by its sentences has got to be “immediate”. If any intellect raises any objection to the way in which the Advaita-sampradaya presents the meaning of the sentences, like “tat tvam asi” (that you are), we employ reason along with the texts of the Sruti and Smrti, to see the fallacy in the arguments raised by the one who objects or differs. If the non-dual vision is contented on the grounds of a given form of reasoning and experience, again the fallacy is shown in the arguments advanced. Thus, 'reason' and 'experience' are meaningfully employed by the teaching tradition.

When the doubts and errors are cleared, the vision of Vedanta that “I am Brahman”, the Absolute Truth stays without any blemish, proving that Vedanta is a means of knowledge, independent of perception and inference. So the subject matter of the Vedas is not within the domain of science. Ofcourse, there are a lot of statements about things empirically true. They can be scrutinized by the scientists, to find out how far they are true.

Vedas are not illogical in as much as their area is independent of perception and inference. The subject matter of the whole Vedas is not within the domain of science.