Amid raging debates among the public over faith Vs. science in the country, former ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair on Monday said that even great scientists like Albert Einstein were of the view that there is something beyond the visible universe and referred to it as God or creator.
Amid the debate in social media over ISRO scientists visiting temples in connection with the launch of Chandrayaan-3, Mr Nair said there was nothing wrong with it.
Throwing his weight behind ISRO chairman S Somanath, Nair said he agreed fully with him on his take on religious beliefs vis-Ã -vis scientific temper.
"It is basically a question of searching for the fundamental truth. One looks at the external world, trying to understand what it is. Another is looking internally and trying to understand what is self and where it merges," Nair said.
He justified praying and visiting places of worship as a method to relieve oneself of tension.
"Prayers are for getting mental satisfaction. Whenever we are following a complex scientific mission, there are a lot of hurdles and problems and things can go wrong at any time.
"So to have a calm mind and then observe what is happening in real time, so that your decision-making can be accurate and timely, prayers and worship and all those things help," he said.
Nair said such prayers and beliefs are not restricted to any particular religion, and one can follow his or her own ways of worshipping.
"Each one in the country, every citizen, has his own right to pursue his line of thinking, the philosophical thinking about the mind, and also the self-satisfaction that one derives out of pursuing a particular philosophy," Nair added.
Speaking about the controversy behind naming the Moon landing spot 'Shiv Shakti', Nair said the controversy was completely based on misinterpretation.
He said 'shakti' refers to the force that is behind the creation of this universe.
"Our pandits and rishis named it Shiva. Our Puranas gave it a form as people could not understand the concept of the force, and that is how the human form and Kailasa all came. It is a different matter. The underlying principle is 'shakti' and we do not have to attribute religious motives to it," Nair said.
Somanath has downplayed the issue of naming the landing site of Chandrayaan-3 as 'Shiv Shakti', saying that it is part of a tradition to name places on the Moon where some experiment has been conducted by a country.
After visiting a temple in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday, Somanath said it is not the first time that India had named a site on the Moon.
"There are already a lot of sites on the Moon that have been named after places in India. There are non-Indian names as well. Every country can name a site there. We have a 'Sarabhai crater' there. Every nation names every small site on the Moon where they have conducted some experiments. It is a tradition," he had said.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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