Why do gods, miracles, and superstitions persist in an age of space missions and artificial intelligence? Originally written in Hindi, the English edition of scientist, poet, and filmmaker Gauhar Raza’s book, From Myths to Science: The Evolution of Religious Beliefs & Scientific Knowledge (Ebury Press), seeks to answer this by tracing humanity’s intellectual journey from myths and faith to science and reason.
Launched at Delhi’s Jawahar Bhawan, Windsor Place, the book release event was attended by several eminent personalities, including lyricist Javed Akhtar, critic Purushottam Agrawal and historian Mridula Mukherjee.
“Words like science and democracy are used by people, yet only few can clearly define them. Over the past decade, my journey to seek this answer made me talk to scientists, activists, and religious scholars alike, as I tried to understand how humans have tried to explain existence. In the end, I discovered that their answers were not so different; from an activist to a senior scientist, the quest for meaning remains the same,” the author remarked.
According to the author, human curiosity began when early humans first started asking questions about their surroundings—about life and death, the sun and the stars, and the origins of the universe itself. The answers emerged as stories and myths that invoked gods, aatma (soul), and unseen forces. These, Raza argued, were elegant conceptual responses to the same questions that science would later explore with new tools and methods. In his view, religion was humanity’s first attempt to make sense of mystery through imagination and collective belief.
The ‘how’ and ‘why’
The distinction between science and, as he put it, “extra-science”, lies not in the questions asked but in the way answers are sought. While religion attributes phenomena to divine will, science insists on asking ‘how’ and ‘why’…. The author used two landmark discoveries to illustrate this shift: the understanding of the expansion of the universe that roughly began 14 billion years ago, and Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, which explained the diversity of life through the lens of evolution by way of natural selection. Both, he noted, fundamentally changed how humankind viewed itself.
Raza also reflected on philosophical traditions that predated modern science but encouraged rational thought -- Aristotle’s notion that every effect must have a cause, and Buddhism’s insistence on examining a claim before accepting it, while citing the teachings of 20-century philosophers like Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn.
The contradictions
At the heart of From Myths to Science lies an inquiry into why irrational beliefs endure even in societies that are scientifically advanced. Despite India’s achievements -- from space exploration to digital innovation -- superstitions, astrology, and pseudo-science continue to shape decisions in areas ranging from health to politics. Raza finds this contradiction interesting and troubling at the same time.
The book argues that reason and rationality are as vital as ever. While technology advances rapidly, critical thinking lags behind. “Science is not just facts,” Raza writes in the book, “but a way of questioning and revising our understanding.” Belief systems, he noted, offer comfort but resist doubt.
Raza’s exploration is neither an outright rejection of faith nor an uncritical celebration of science. Instead, it is an invitation to think about how humans construct knowledge, how societies balance tradition with progress, and how individuals negotiate between inherited belief and rational understanding.
At the launch event, Javed Akhtar made a plea for the development of scientific temper among the public, and highlighted the timeliness of Raza’s work, calling it necessary in an era of misinformation and unscientific claims.
In From Myths to Science, Gauhar Raza offers a deeply reflective and accessible narrative that connects philosophy, history, and contemporary life and the quest to find a deeper meaning.