I heard my father say, "In Puranas, it is told that as Kali comes towards its end, people will lose their morality and would physically shrink to the size of a thumb.". My immediate question was, "Whose thumb? A Lilliputian is always taller than his thumb!!". So, when you are dealing with the predictions of mythology, we should realize that dimensions are relative. This relativity is already evident in some of our Puranas. When Vishnu, posing as a brahmin boy, asked for 'three feet' of land to Mahabali, the 'foot' was a relative measure.
Similarly, the concepts of time like Kalpa, Paraabdha, etc (which correspond to year and half-life for Brahma) are also relative concepts. Adding to these complications, now people have proven that the proverb, "If you live a fast-life, life flashes by you." is scientifically true. Time is what you experience, it is not real.
Another curious story which gives the relativity of time and length is the story of King Kakudmi and his daughter Revati. When the king thought that there is no human worth enough to be his daughter's suitor, he set off with her to meet Brahma. Apparently, they spent a few 'Brahma-minutes' in the waiting room. But, this waiting time was 27 Chaturyugas (116,640,000 years) by human timescale. Brahma advised the king that all the prospective suitors that the king had seen were now long gone. However, there is at present a boy named Balarama who is fit. When the king returned to earth to meet Balarama, he found that all the people have shrunk in size.
Similarly, the concepts of time like Kalpa, Paraabdha, etc (which correspond to year and half-life for Brahma) are also relative concepts. Adding to these complications, now people have proven that the proverb, "If you live a fast-life, life flashes by you." is scientifically true. Time is what you experience, it is not real.
Another curious story which gives the relativity of time and length is the story of King Kakudmi and his daughter Revati. When the king thought that there is no human worth enough to be his daughter's suitor, he set off with her to meet Brahma. Apparently, they spent a few 'Brahma-minutes' in the waiting room. But, this waiting time was 27 Chaturyugas (116,640,000 years) by human timescale. Brahma advised the king that all the prospective suitors that the king had seen were now long gone. However, there is at present a boy named Balarama who is fit. When the king returned to earth to meet Balarama, he found that all the people have shrunk in size.
So, the time in the waiting room ...Was it a few minutes or millions of years? The size of a thumb...Was it Revati's thumb, Balarama's thumb or the thumb of Thumbelina?
Thus, if space (dimensions) is not absolute, and neither is time absolute. What IS absolute and real? Well, that is what our Maharshis have talked about as Brahman. Which, if I am right, is bliss. Brahman is not material, for then it would be unreal. Brahman is not time, for then it would be relative and therefore cannot be universal. Brahman is the bliss that one acquires (not experiences) when one realises (not understands) that in reality there is no here or there, that or this, now or then. All these are mere experiences and there is only a single 'thing' (for the lack of a better word), which manifests itself as all the above. Just like an ice cube, a glass of water and a puff of steam are all essentially the same though they seem different.
When I try to find the concept of Brahman in physics books, I come across two concepts. One is the Grand Unified Theory or GUT for short, and the other is String Theory. Before we delve into the details of either, let me point out that the present scientific knowledge has found that everything (that we currently know of) in the universe is governed by four forces. The electromagnetic force, Strong Nuclear force, Weak nuclear force, and Gravity.
The first three are short-range forces and are the cause of chemical reactions, nuclear power, and electricity. Gravity, of course, is a long-range force that keeps the planets and galaxies together. It has already been seen in particle accelerators that the three short-range forces meld into a single force at high energies. However, the force of gravity has not yet been unified with its three siblings, yet. Firstly, the scientists have yet to 'catch' a graviton, the hypothetical particle of gravity, just as the electron is for electricity, and secondly, gravitons can pass through anything. So, you have to be very innovative to even make an observation. However, there is a strong suspicion (the doubt about the existence of a Grand Unified Theory), that at a high enough energy, probably millions of times greater than the energy levels in the present-day accelerators, all the four forces would meld into one. Scientists have already concluded that all matter is composed of the same building blocks (quarks) and suspect (as in a hypothetical Grand Unified Theory) that all the forces are just manifestations of the same force, but, do not have the technology now to verify this theory. Thus, the present scientific theories already suggest that all matter is the same and all forces are the same too. If you factor in the famous equation of Einstein's: E=Mc-squared, it can be concluded that matter and energy can be converted to each other.
But, there is one hurdle left. Matter is matter and energy (or force) is energy. They are not equal. The more recent development of string theory suggests that all matter an
d forces are, to put it in simple words "vibrations at different tunes, of very strong one-dimensional 'strings', moving in time, space and beyond.". One may yet argue that we can comprehend vibrations as a change of position in space with respect to time. So, what is the big deal? The deal is that the vibrations of these strings happen in nine spatial dimensions. Now, try use your brain to understand that. The human brain is incapable of visualizing anything beyond three spatial dimensions. In essence, the human brain is incapable of comprehending the true sense of reality.
Thus, if space (dimensions) is not absolute, and neither is time absolute. What IS absolute and real? Well, that is what our Maharshis have talked about as Brahman. Which, if I am right, is bliss. Brahman is not material, for then it would be unreal. Brahman is not time, for then it would be relative and therefore cannot be universal. Brahman is the bliss that one acquires (not experiences) when one realises (not understands) that in reality there is no here or there, that or this, now or then. All these are mere experiences and there is only a single 'thing' (for the lack of a better word), which manifests itself as all the above. Just like an ice cube, a glass of water and a puff of steam are all essentially the same though they seem different.
When I try to find the concept of Brahman in physics books, I come across two concepts. One is the Grand Unified Theory or GUT for short, and the other is String Theory. Before we delve into the details of either, let me point out that the present scientific knowledge has found that everything (that we currently know of) in the universe is governed by four forces. The electromagnetic force, Strong Nuclear force, Weak nuclear force, and Gravity.
The first three are short-range forces and are the cause of chemical reactions, nuclear power, and electricity. Gravity, of course, is a long-range force that keeps the planets and galaxies together. It has already been seen in particle accelerators that the three short-range forces meld into a single force at high energies. However, the force of gravity has not yet been unified with its three siblings, yet. Firstly, the scientists have yet to 'catch' a graviton, the hypothetical particle of gravity, just as the electron is for electricity, and secondly, gravitons can pass through anything. So, you have to be very innovative to even make an observation. However, there is a strong suspicion (the doubt about the existence of a Grand Unified Theory), that at a high enough energy, probably millions of times greater than the energy levels in the present-day accelerators, all the four forces would meld into one. Scientists have already concluded that all matter is composed of the same building blocks (quarks) and suspect (as in a hypothetical Grand Unified Theory) that all the forces are just manifestations of the same force, but, do not have the technology now to verify this theory. Thus, the present scientific theories already suggest that all matter is the same and all forces are the same too. If you factor in the famous equation of Einstein's: E=Mc-squared, it can be concluded that matter and energy can be converted to each other.
But, there is one hurdle left. Matter is matter and energy (or force) is energy. They are not equal. The more recent development of string theory suggests that all matter an
d forces are, to put it in simple words "vibrations at different tunes, of very strong one-dimensional 'strings', moving in time, space and beyond.". One may yet argue that we can comprehend vibrations as a change of position in space with respect to time. So, what is the big deal? The deal is that the vibrations of these strings happen in nine spatial dimensions. Now, try use your brain to understand that. The human brain is incapable of visualizing anything beyond three spatial dimensions. In essence, the human brain is incapable of comprehending the true sense of reality. Coming back to the string in String Theory, isn't it beautiful to realize that it is just the variations in the song (of that string) that we see as nature. Basically, everything is the same, matter or energy. Prakriti or Prana.
Scientifically, this "string" which manifests into everything, is Brahman. Everything is just the music that it produces.
Good Analysis. Chapter 12 of the Bhagavat Gita also deals with the same aspect of Brahman.
ReplyDeletethats a good article. btw, this should be read by those human psychological forces who are here in India to divide hindus on caste lines. neither these people understand what is Brahma and who is Brahman (Brahmin) nor will they let the innocents to understand them.
ReplyDeletebut still, the enormous intelligence our ancestors had to put such a complex connections in the universe into verses in vedas is simply extraordinary. no other human written books or epics or religious texts can equal this.
thanks for your article :)