Science, Religion and The Quest

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This book is a scientific analysis of religion, spiritualism, life, death. afterlife and faith based on multidiciplinary approach involving evolutionary biology, microbiology. physiology, neurology, sociology. history, physics, geology and fringe science. It deals with evolution of universe, life, modern man and his socio-political transformation accompanied by intellectual development. Somewhere along the course, came the concept of gods as a response to fear, and the important deities worshipped by people of 10 ancient civilization along with their roles and interrelationships have been described accompanied by analytical commentaries on the rationale and its relationship with God; analysis of 13 living religions with reference to historical background, philosophy moral precepts, rituals, sects, etc. and commonalities amongst them. This is followed by an analysis of with quantum mechanics and fringe science. The book goes further to look into the various scientific and philosophical theories of evolution and also the scientific theories of prayers and Mantras as well as the rationale behind the deification of fire, cow etc. Then follows a discussion of the life, death, afterlife and Karma with the help of theories of relativity, chaos, tachyons and helography. Finally the power of fear and faith and the indispensability of conscious faith in something or other have been emphasized.

Kaulir Kisor Chatterjee (b.1944) had his school and early college education in Barddhaman, West Bengal. He studied Applied Geology in Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad for his post graduate and Ph.D. degrees. He served in the Indian Bureau of Mines for over 3 decades and retired in early 2004, as Chief Mineral Economist. Post- retirement, he has occupied himself mostly with writing, teaching and lecturing in various institutions of repute in India on the subject of mineral economics. Besides 50 technical papers, he has authored 9 books.

He has worked in various Government commitees and expert groups and was involved in organization of national mineral Inventory; UN Framework Classitation system of mineral resource; rationalization of the mineral taxation, royalty and mineral legislation framework in India.

He has been examiner and member of selection boards of UPSC, India and is also a recognized guide of the Nagpur University and Indian School of Mines for doctoral research. His resume has been included in the Marquis Who Is Who of the World and in the 2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of the 21st Century, Cambridge.

A boy in his early teens was sitting in a Christian burial ground in a small town in West Bengal in the late evening and not one day but it repeated quite often. That was in the 1950s. He had experienced the first and till then the only death in his life-his grandmother's-only a few years ago. The questions about god, death and life came to his mind and kept intriguing him ever since. The undercurrent of an urge to seek answers to such questions remained in his mind-not philosophical, nor theological, but scientific. This book is about whatever conclusions he has arrived at, more than sixty years later after a long professional life in the field of geology. That boy of the 1950s is none other than me.

Still, nobody is certain about the answers. Philosophers, theologists and scientists are engaged in unravelling the mysteries in their own ways all the time. In fact, no single discipline can match the depth of the mystery; it will require a multidisciplinary approach involving evolutionary biology, microbiology, physiology, neurology. physics, chemistry, geology, philosophy, theology and more. It is, therefore, not surprising that the mirage of an answer is always receding. Piecemeal answers have only succeeded in generating blind beliefs, senseless rituals, dogma, bigotry and fear on one hand and the other extreme of heresy and ridicule of god and religion which in turn have given rise to and have been causing conflicts, battles and wars. Vested and commercial interests have also come up that thrive on fear and blind belief.

Given this scenario, I think that we all should start thinking instead of leaving this task entirely to the philosophers, theologists and scientists. After all, thinking is our most precious treasure distinguishing us from animals.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages