The deeper scientific understanding goes, the more elusive it becomes, while also becoming more powerful. For example, a hammer is a very superficial level device which has some power to drive a nail, etc. Getting a little more subtle and elusive, we have the level of chemistry and electromagnetics. It can obviously generate even more power, while simultaneously the science becomes more subtle. The deepest level of existence is the quantum mechanical level, the science of which is profoundly subtle, the awesome power of which is represented in the formula mc2. Vedic Knowledge is the knowledge of the most sublime level of existence. Its technology is tremendously subtle.
If technology must be misused, it is better to use it on a less powerful level. When Vedic Technology (havans, yagyas, mantras, etc.) is misused, the results can be devastating. India is the Land of the Veda, the source of knowledge of the most profound technology possible. Why then is it a country of such poverty, unrest, and calamity? If Vedic Technology was employed with precision, this would not be the case. However, as Adi Shankara said, the Knowledge must be revived by every generation or else it is lost. It is a Knowledge so subtle that it does not exist in books. It only exists in the awareness of the enlightened sages.
Though well-intended, people may chant mantras that are not appropriate for them. People may build temples that are not consistent with the subtle Vastu principles. Powerful Vedic techniques may, by sheer accident, be employed improperly. The results of such things have devastating consequences.
No one would take a carburetor out of the car and set it on the roof, thinking it is so amazing it should be placed where everyone can see it. No one would just walk into a pharmacy and start ingesting all the pills on the shelves, thinking that it’s all medicine. No one would think that the transistors in the cell phone could be rearranged at will. The science and technology is precise. The understanding and appreciation of Vedic Science must be even more respected than other sciences because it is more subtle and more powerful.
