In the East they had reached, five thousand years ago, to such a peak in every direction and dimension that only religion was left to be an adventure. So those who had any adventurous spirit were attracted towards religion -- the best, the chosen ones, the most intelligent, the genius, the giants, became interested in religion because there was nothing else left.
These people, like Mahavira, Buddha, Krishna, Nagarjuna, Shankara -- these people gave tremendous heights to religion, and all the best minds moved towards religion because that was the only challenge left. Everything else was being done by mediocre people. And they were doing perfectly well, there was no need ....
If Einstein had been born in Buddha's time he would have been another Buddha, for the simple reason that that was the only challenge for a man like him. Mathematics was done by mediocre people, and they were doing perfectly well. There was no need for an Albert Einstein to get caught in a mediocre game. No, he would have moved in the same way as Buddha or Mahavira. All the best people were attracted towards religion; that's why religion touched the pinnacles of height.
But science was ignored, consciously ignored, because the people who had reached religious consciousness could see the destructiveness of science. They changed the direction of science. Rather than science becoming allopathy, in the East it became ayurveda, it became acupuncture, it became yoga .... These are the same kind of people who, in the West, created allopathy. They were the same kind of mind, but in the East they created acupuncture, they created herbal sciences.
The word for medical science in the East is ayurveda. Even the word will show you the difference. In the West you call it "medicine." Medicine means curing, healing, but can you see the implication: it does not mean health, it comes after the disease has already come in. It is a follow-up. First you are sick, then comes the doctor. The doctor follows sickness, with his bag of medicines.
Ayurveda means the science of life. The very word has nothing to do with disease, sickness; it has something to do with life, health, longevity. It is positive, it is not negative. It shows you the way to remain healthy, to remain young as long as you want, to live longer if that's what you want. Its focus is not on sickness, its focus is on health.
In China, Confucius advised the emperor of China that doctors should be paid not for curing a sick man -- that is dangerous because that means the doctor will like people to be sick so that he can cure them. If everybody remains healthy then only the doctor will be sick, he will die of hunger. So to create a system in which the doctor is paid by curing and healing people is to create a dilemma.