Schroedinger & other physicists praised wisdom of Hindu Vedic writings

Dear John,

The physicist, Erwin Schroedinger, lived during a time when Hindu
religion/philosophy was of greater interest to the Western mind than it is
today.

See the website: "A Tribute to Hinduism" for quotations praising the
wisdom of ancient Hindu Vedic writings from Schroedinger and other
physicists, including
Nicola Tesla (1856-1943)
Heisenberg (1901-1976)
David Bohm (1917-1992) a former associate of Einstein
Julius Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967) Scientist, philosopher, bohemian,
and radical. A theoretical physicist and the Supervising Scientist for the
Manhattan Project, the developer of the atomic bomb.

http://www.atributetohinduism.com/quotes21_40.htm

--------------

See Schroedinger's books, "Contemplations on the Nature of Life," and, "My
View of the World."

More on Schroedinger and Hinduism:

http://www.hindunet.org/srh_home/1996_1/msg00493.html

---------------

Albert Einstein's religious views are also well documented:
I believe in Spinozaís God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of
what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions
of human beings.
-- Albert Einstein, following his wife's advice in responding to Rabbi
Herbert Goldstein of the International Synagogue in New York, who had sent
Einstein a cablegram bluntly demanding ìDo you believe in God?î Quoted
from and citation notes derived from Victor J. Stenger, Has Science Found
God? (draft: 2001), chapter 3. ["Both deism and traditional
Judeo-Christian-Islamic theism must also be contrasted with pantheism, the
notion attributed to Baruch Spinoza (d. 1677) that the deity is associated
with the order of nature or the universe itself. This also crudely
summarizes the Hindu view and that of many indigenous religions around the
world. When modern scientists such as Einstein and Stephen Hawking mention
'God' in their writings, this is what they seem to mean: that God is
Nature." -- Victor J. Stenger, Has Science Found God? (2001), chapter 3]

It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a
lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal
God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If
something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded
admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal
it.
-- Albert Einstein, 1954, from Albert Einstein: The Human Side, edited by
Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press

I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his
creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who
is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the
individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor
such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotisms.
-- Albert Einstein, obituary in New York Times, 19 April 1955, quoted from
James A. Haught, "Breaking the Last Taboo" (1996)

I do not believe in immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics
to be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it.
-- Albert Einstein, 1954, from Albert Einstein: The Human Side, edited by
Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press

A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy,
education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man
would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of
punishment and hope of reward after death.
-- Albert Einstein, "Religion and Science," New York Times Magazine, 9
November 1930

It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological
concept which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or
goal outside the human sphere.... Science has been charged with
undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man's ethical behavior
should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and
needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way
if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after
death.
-- Albert Einstein, "Religion and Science," New York Times Magazine, 9
November 1930

It was the experience of mystery -- even if mixed with fear -- that
engendered religion.
-- Albert Einstein (attributed: source unknown)

Scientific research is based on the idea that everything that takes place
is determined by laws of nature, and therefore this holds for the action
of people. For this reason, a research scientist will hardly be inclined
to believe that events could be influenced by a prayer, i.e. by a wish
addressed to a Supernatural Being.
-- Albert Einstein, 1936, responding to a child who wrote and asked if
scientists pray. Source: Albert Einstein: The Human Side, Edited by Helen
Dukas and Banesh Hoffmann

I cannot conceive of a personal God who would directly influence the
actions of individuals, or would directly sit in judgment on creatures of
his own creation. I cannot do this in spite of the fact that mechanistic
causality has, to a certain extent, been placed in doubt by modern
science. [He was speaking of Quantum Mechanics and the breaking down of
determinism.] My religiosity consists in a humble admiration of the
infinitely superior spirit that reveals itself in the little that we, with
our weak and transitory understanding, can comprehend of reality. Morality
is of the highest importance -- but for us, not for God.
-- Albert Einstein, from Albert Einstein: The Human Side, edited by Helen
Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press
I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures, or has
a will of the kind that we experience in ourselves. Neither can I nor
would I want to conceive of an individual that survives his physical
death; let feeble souls, from fear or absurd egoism, cherish such
thoughts. I am satisfied with the mystery of the eternity of life and with
the awareness and a glimpse of the marvelous structure of the existing
world, together with the devoted striving to comprehend a portion, be it
ever so tiny, of the Reason that manifests itself in nature.
-- Albert Einstein, The World as I See It

http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/quotes/einstein.htm

http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/albert_einstein/index.shtml
Received on Wed Nov 10 17:17:12 2004