Science & Religion — My thoughts and struggle

Juhi Parekh
Nov 6 · 2 min read

Being a highly dedicated science student and a deep analytical thinker since childhood, I have often questioned the existence of God. I must confess, there is a deeply spiritual side to me that often conflicts with my practical disposition.

In the last week — I had the privilege of learning about Jainism, experience the pain of being a life without a mind (eg — plants, insects), understand the positive effects of prayer and meditation from some of the brightest and enlightened Gurus and Mahasatijis in Parasdham, Kolkata who very patiently answered 100s of my questions about science, religion and reality.

Albert Einstein was so impressed by this religion that he once said “I do not know if there is rebirth or not, or life after death. But if its true, then I would like to be born in India as a Jain” [source — (1)Jainism: Give Life, Take Not & (2) The Guardian, Saturday 27th January 2007 by Aidan Rankin ]

Looking back at my experience, I do believe something has changed inside me. I look at “life” a little bit more objectively now and my belief that we are all “souls” has been reaffirmed multiple times in the past week. I have asked questions about this vastly complicated topic encompassing science, religion, cosmology, metaphysics, epistemology, divinity etc with my very limited knowledge and I came to the conclusion that not everything has answers and everything has not been discovered yet but it is very important to have some FAITH — in the universe, in energy, any superpower (whatever comforts you). For me — that faith came in the form of restoration of my belief in Jainism — much more strongly this time around because now I understand how scientific it is.

And practically, the past week helped me develop more empathy and adopt it in my daily life. And as a divine guru rightly told us — Jainism is more of a lifestyle than religion. It is nothing but loving all beings on this planet. :)

People with similar questions, hyperlinking another medium article — do give this article a read : https://youngminds.yja.org/the-compatibility-of-jainism-modern-science-ce2dec78eee5

Hope its helpful :)

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