From Yoshita Singh 
New York

 Indian spiritual leader and humanitarian Sri Mata Amritanandamayi, fondly known as ‘Amma’ to her followers, has stressed on the importance of reducing the divide between science and spirituality, saying that it has been detrimental to society’s sustainable growth.

Amma, serving in her role as Chancellor of Amrita University, addressed researchers representing 93 leading international universities here on July 8 at a conference co-hosted by Amrita and the UN Academic Impact (UNAI), attended by more than 700 delegates.

“Segregating science and spirituality has been the greatest crime against humanity in the past century. These two main branches of knowledge that should have gone hand in hand were divided and practitioners were either labeled as modern scientists or representatives of religious faiths,” she said.

“Only scientific discoveries apply to logic and intelligence. They are the only truth. Religious faith is blind and misguided,” she said at the conference that featured presentations of research by experts from the world?s top academic institutions – Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge, Monash and the National University of Singapore.

She stressed that spirituality is also a science and is a “valid branch of knowledge that cannot be ignored. The scientific community is researching the physical world in an attempt to discover the secrets of the universe.” 

She urged the scientific community to approach their research with a balance of awareness and compassion, stressing the importance of keeping the upliftment of the poor and suffering in mind when they undertake technological research.

“Today, universities and their researchers are ranked mainly based on the amount of funding they receive, the number of papers they publish and their intellectual calibre, but along with this, we should take into consideration how much we have been able to use their research to serve the lowest and most vulnerable strata of society,” she said.

UNAI also inaugurated an online portal created by Amrita University to foster further discussion and collaboration among researchers worldwide on technology for global sustainable development.

PTI