Is there a God somewhere who can be found outside the domain of the temples, churches and mosques? Beyond the rituals, incense and rosary beads; beyond the scriptures, beyond the theological disputations? Who answers to the innate need of man for a higher purpose? When we cry out for a meaning behind “all this?” We live in a fantastic, miraculous and mysterious universe. So, who or what is behind this great Magic show? Can we hope to know? What is His nature? How does He manage to hide from us thought being Omnipresent?,
Calling all atheists, agnostics, and non-believers to come and explore your own negation in an honest way. Come to know in what way the greatest scientists like Einstein, Niels Bohr, Heisenberg, Newton, Scroedinger, Whitehead, Eddington were religious and why they were forced to admit the existence of an unknowable dimension beyond the range of their knowledge.
Let us set sail into this ocean of mystery. Let us explore.
REVIEWS
Amitava Basu *****
“The Religion of Wonder”, by Narendra Murty has been a captivating and stimulating journey for me that excel in its ability to provoke and nurture intellectual curiosity. The paradoxical question bothering most of us today, ‘Can we be religious without being associated with the traditional symbols of religion?’, seem to find an answer in this work. The author portrays the existence of a divine force beyond the confines of traditional religious institutions. He believes that the harmony and order inherent in the laws of nature, surpasses the capabilities of human thinking and understanding. Despite stupendous advancements, modern science still struggles to unravel the mysteries of the cosmic universe. This sense of awe and wonder for the natural world reflects a deep connection with a higher power, which the author has seen as a form of religious or spiritual experience.
One of the greatest strengths of this book is its adeptness in conveying complex ideas with utmost simplicity and its slim size with profound content. The visual elements throughout the narrative made the read even more interesting and comprehensible.
Prasiddhi ****
Being a spiritual seeker, I simply tend to attract books that are innately spiritual. This book too is in the same vein. Formulating my thoughts about this book was a huge task for me because this tiny book is a book of wisdom. It has treasure trove of knowledge, is insightful and sure going to change your perspective. This book isn’t about a particular religion. When you arrive at the meaning of the book title you will be in awe of the author’s pencraft, I am sure. Because this book goes beyond organized religions, telling us what is Religion of wonder and why do we need it in present times. The book speaks of foraging that was a stepping stone of human civilization and shows us how with the it was nature that was worshipped back then. Moving on we see how Science takes over and becomes Godly with scientists being the priests of this Scientific universe. However, when it comes to answering the questions like – what is the purpose of our lives, how to live a meaningful life, this faculty fails. And despite the growing industrialization, consumerism, entertainment and hedonism being all available a click when the chaos dies down, deep within we seek peace to fill in the void and that peace comes from Religion of wonder! This book tells you how despite all the progress that we have made God is the supreme Mathematician there ever will be. The book is short yet comprehensive and it comes across as a monologue by the author. The arguments presented are done with much conviction and I was in complete awe of the research, scientific and literary views presented in this book!
Harish *****
In this nimble volume titled The Religion of Wonder, writer Narendra Murty explores the history of religions and explains how science turned itself into another religious entity. He proposes a new religious thought that can bring back the concept of an enchanted world, something that we lost on our way when we decided that we were apart from nature and that nature was just dead matter, a storehouse of resources that was meant to be used up for our progress.
The cover of the book offers a gist of its philosophy. You find the silhouette of a person standing on a hill, using a torchlight to light up the dark sky. In the sky, embedded with stars, we find that the light illuminates minor portions of mathematical equations and geometric shapes. A huge part of them is still hidden in darkness, and the torchlight is too weak to fully light up the entire sky. But with the wonder that they have in their soul to uncover the remaining secrets of the sky, we hope they should lead the way forward for humanity.
The Religion of Wonder is all the more special for me because it is able to provide a perspective that ties in several concepts, like nature, religion, and science, that we imagine as being separate. It asserts the importance of preserving the mysticism within us, even when it is science and mathematics that can take us deeper into the religion of wonder, and they aren’t antonymous.
Book Enchanted *****
The Religion of Wonder’ by Narendra Murty is the latest addition to my favourite philosophical reads that talks about the fundamental questions of human existence. In the first chapter ‘the story begins’, the author asked “what does life mean? Does life have a meaning?” The author shows, to find the answer of this question human mind followed two paths of Nature and soul. The first one provided the birth of science whereas the second one emerges with religion. Though religion was expected to search the fundamental questions of human mind, it shifted to rituals and traditional symbols. Science whereas moved towards hollow rationality. The modern scientist fails to observe the wonders of god’s creation. Ignoring the whole, the Science now pushes towards a purposeless and meaningless life. The illusion of technology disenchanted human mind from the true self. Kant warned us about the limitation of reason but none listened. Thus, with science we have reached an absurd life as suggested by Sarte, Camus and Beckett, where we assume “god is dead”(Nietzsche). Actually, the modern man has lost his way as Dante observed in the opening lines of Divine Comedy. But we have to understand the eternal peace is waiting inside all of us and no modern tech can translate that. We must shun the ways of consumerism and hedonism in search of true god, not of any organised religion. We have to believe that life isn’t meaningless. We have to find the religion of wonder which provides us the realisation that we live in a fantastic, miraculous universe.
We must understand that “God is simply a dimension that is beyond our human reason” and we should worship that God with “our amazement, with our humility and with wonder” opening the doors of our soul. If we open our heart to feel the magical mysteries of daily life – “child’s laughter, bird’s song, each sunbeam dancing on the rippling waters”, perhaps one day we can understand The One behind all the magic of creation. To reach him we must embrace the “religion of wonder”.
