In the late 19th century, Charles Darwin propounded his now famous theory on Natural Selection and Evolution of Species. A debate raged on in scientific circles; this was on the issue of whether nature played a greater role in human behavior than nurture. On the one side were those who believed that we were helplessly in the clutches of our genes, and our inheritance decided how we talked, how we behaved, and how we performed. This reached an extreme in the form of Eugenics, practiced to malignant perfection by Hitler, leading to the Holocaust. On the other side stood those in the scientific community who fondly hoped that the human mind was a blank slate, that genes had no say at all; it all depended on parents and teachers to write on the blank slate of the child and to nurture the child in whatever direction they chose. Only in the last few decades has this debate now reached some degree of maturity when science has finally solved the conundrum: it is not “Either Nature Or Nurture”, but “Nature THROUGH Nurture”! Genes play a major role in human behavior, but they HAVE to be guided by experience, by events in the individual’s life, by NURTURE! So all the while, the debate was wrong, Hitler was wrong, and the Holocaust was wrong! Now we have another debate raging in another situation: so-called Rationalists seek to castigate God-men of all hues and denounce them at regular intervals. One of the most censured has been Sathya Sai Baba of Puttaparthi, India. I recently read a long-drawn debate on this topic on a web-site maintained by the Indian Rationalist Association. Many of the comments from readers are equally short on understanding and quick on judgment. They are especially harsh on all forms of religion. The problem of baby-with-the-bath-water occurs all the time. I wish these Rationalists would first set their own house aright first. First of all, what is a Rationalist? He is one who has a rational or balanced view of things; he listens, understands, and then forms an opinion. Tell me, who among us understands matters of spiritual nature to the extent that we can even comment on them, leave alone judge them?Can we judge on the experiences of Buddha, of Jesus, of Ramakrishna, of Prophet Mohammed?These are phenomena which science has not yet been able to explain. In fact, Science has been fighting shy of this for far too long. The scientific method demands that when there are a set of verifiable observations, then a hypothesis be generated and tested; if one hypothesis is not proven, then another is generated to explain the observation. It has never been the scientific method to deny something exists simply because you could not find proof for it! These pseudo-Rationalists do not undertake any rigorous process of study of spiritual phenomena, but are quick to denounce them. Every phenomenon is worthy of study, and none worthy of denouncement. Yes, if there is a fraud, and you can prove it, then denounce it by all means; but the existence of the fraud proves that there has to be a genuine article! I call upon mature leaders of society to study the phenomena of spirituality through the methods of science, to find out their validity, and then make them generally available for the greater good of humankind. in Hindi?