ANCIENT INDIAN PHILOSOPHIES & SCIENTIFIC BELIEFS # 5

NON-ABSOLUTISM

Anekanta Vada

Some body asked a Jain Seer, " Which religion is true? Which path should I follow?"

Seer replied," Have you seen cows?"

He said, " Yes, I have"

Seer asked," What are the different colours of the cows which you have seen?"

He answered," They are of many colours- white, brown, yellow, spotted, black, etc."

Seer further asked," Are they giving different colours of milk or the same?"

He thought seer must have gone mad. He annoyingly replied," What rubbish !!! Cows give only one colour of milk -white, whatever may be the colour of their skin. It doesn't matter. "

Seer smiled. And said," Then you must have known, from this analogy, that religions may have different names, but the essence is same."

This is the principle of anekant vada or non-absolutism or "truth-depends-on-stand-points" philosophy. I will elucidate it further.

Bring the picture of your family into your mind. A person is a father, is a son, is a husband, is a brother, is a uncle, etc. His wife is 100% correct in saying that Mr. X is my husband. His mother is also 100% correct in saying that Mr. X is my son. Both of them are correct when seen from their point of view. But they are not absolute. They are stating the relationship of Mr. X with respect to (w.r.t.) to thenselves. This is an-ekant i.e. absence of absolutism.

We must have studied the coordinate system in our school mathematics. A point is defined as (x,y,z). Einstein further added fourth dimesnion 't' for time. Thus, a point in space becomes (x,y,z,t). If a point A is (2,5,7) then his position is 2 w.r.t. x, 5 wrt y & 7 wrt z. All three propositions are correct but they dont give complete position of A. When all of them are put together we get A.

Thats what Mahavira explained 2500 years ago. He said that Truth is not absolute, it is relative. It was a revolutionary statement. It contained in itself the seeds of conflict resolution. Albert Eintein put this into the "Theory of Relativity".

The topic of anekanant would take more than one articles and I am sure you will read all of them and grasp the depth of teachings of one of the greatest religious figures of this world.

Keep reading !!!!!!

ANCIENT INDIAN PHILOSOPHIES & SCIENTIFIC BELIEFS #4

JAINISM

Jainism is perhaps the most scientific way of life/philosophy prevelant during ancient Indian civilization. Basically a nontheistic (see first article on Blog) tradition, it has put forward radical principles like non-absolutism, syadvada, classification of living beings, etc. in a very logical & scientific way. Jainism provides a great insight into atomic and matter physics as well. Atomic Science & classification of matter is explained in great details in Jain Agamas. The Tattvarthadhigam Sutra (Insight Into the Meaning of Matter) has several shlokas on the topic of matter (dravyas). Some salient features of Tattvarthadhigam Sutra are:

• The 1st ever written complete text book of science.


• Written by: Arya Umasvati in 1st Century A.D.


• It describes atom & sub-atomic particles 5/25


• Explains fission and fusion 5/26


• Gives a detail account of Origin, Cessation & Persistence 5/28


• It says: “Matter is eternal, but it changes”

The chart of matter, thus, derived from Tattvartha Sutra & other Jain Agamas can be drawn as below:

Thus, we see that how definitely matter has been classified at that time. What is most surprising is that without any scientific laboratory or any other reference material, it has been explained. It shows the height of mental ability of Jain philosophers. It has been already stated that matter is indestructible but it flows from one form to another. Thus, we can deduce from this chart that solids/liquids or for that any matter is convertible to light or other form of energy (E=mc2 !!!). Mass & light are interconvertible is proved by Einstein. Who knows in future that such interconvertibilty is proven in case of sound energy as well !!!

Thus,
->Matter and Energy: one and the same and thus INTERCONVERTIBLE
->Energy is neither generated nor destroyed
->Einstein in 20th century: Mahavira 25 centuries ago.

So, more research must be taken in this field. Mankind's many hidden principles can be extracted from Jain Agamas.

In next article, we will discuss the unique principle of non-absolutism or Anekantavada.

ANCIENT INDIAN PHILOSOPHIES & SCIENTIFIC BELIEFS #3

CONCEPT OF LIGHT SPECTRUM & BIG BANG IN VEDAS

Hi !!!

As discussed in the last article, vedas contain various concepts of science, matter, space, life, etc. but all in very symbolic form & deified (i.e. every phenomenon has a deity "devta" attached to it) Today, we will take concepts of light spectrum & big bang.

1) Light Spectrum

"Seven horses draw the chariot of the sun, tied by snakes". Rig Veda 5. 45. 9

What do these seven horses signify?

What do the snakes signify?

On carefully thinking, we will find that this is just a poetic verse describing the nature of light as being composed of 7 rays and the snake symbolizes it's curved path. Now, its meaning is clarified for us in the Atharva Veda, where it tells us there are seven rays of the sun. Now, these colors are actually described as red, orange, yellow, green, blue, Indigo and violet in the Ramayana, the yoga sutras and the Vedic Upanishads. So it becomes quite clear that this is indeed referring to the 7 colors of light. This was not discovered in western science till Newton split light into it's 7 colors by a prism.

2) Bigbang

Vedas say: All emanated from HIM

“Mahavishnu is lying in Causal Ocean. Millions of Universes are created while he exhales”

It further states that Millions of Universe go away from Mahavishnu till he exhales and come back again to Mahavishnu when he inhales. His one cycle of breath (i.e. exhale+inhale) is very very long almost around billions of years.

Does it sound similar to the Big Bang?

All matter is concentrated in a whole. An explosion and millions of galaxies/ universes are created & they are receding apart. Prof. Stephen Hawking states in his book "A Brief History of Time" states that life cycle of universe when plotted against time, will take a parabolic shape. It will expand till a point of time (the inflexion point) & then it will be reversed i.e. Universe will start contracting and again get concentrated in a dense form of matter.

Thus, we can say that Vedas may have tried to explain this phenomenon by drawing an analogy with a superficial entity called Mahavishnu or Para-Brahm.

ANCIENT INDIAN PHILOSOPHIES & SCIENTIFIC BELIEFS #2

In this article, we would peep through the mysteries of Vedic Philosohpy. Vedas are considered to be the oldest compilation work of Aryans & Indus Valley Civilization. The language is very obscure & uses personification extensively. Like the idea of Trinity. Brahma- the creator, Vishnu- the preserver & Shiva- the destroy. Now the idea behind this is that any form of matter (dravya) passes through three states- it originates, it persists & it ceases (or extincts) . It is same as the tripadi (Uppaneyi Va, Vigameyi Va , Dhuveyi Va) given by Jina to his Ganadharas. Thus, we can say that Vedas emphasized the cycle of matter in a symbolic form which was later deified.
Of all the great ancient religions, only Hinduism gives an age of the universe with numbers resembling those obtained by modern science. According to the Bhagavad Gita, one kalpa or (12-hour) day of Brahma lasts for 4.32 billion years. The Brahma lasts for 311.04 trillion (3.1104x10^14) years overall, after which the universe is destroyed. Hindu texts are very specific and precise in their description of the relevant time intervals. They are also unique in their description of the creation process and of forces of nature in often inanimate terms or, at most, personified in a highly sophisticated symbolic representation of inanimate forces. The means by which the Hindus arrived at this information is equally mysterious. The Hindu monks would purify their minds by depriving themselves of food, and then meditate in silence, in effect inducing a form of sensory deprivation. The belief was that in so doing, sensory input from the outside world would be eliminated, and information from the Universe would then become accessible. Unfortunately, finding the original sources for these beliefs is difficult because of the large amount of original material. Also, most of these ancient writings are quite difficult to interpret, as they are written in a poetic, symbolic language in which forces of nature are personified, and they are full of obscure literary allusions. The end result is that to a contemporary Westerner, these works appear as mostly gibberish. Thus is is no surprise that the Rig Veda, Upanishads, and Bhagavad Gita are accompanied by an extensive commentary, and it should also not be surprising that different commentators derive opposite meanings from the same text. For instance, the gunas (three properties of Prakriti or Nature) are described as fundamental forces of matter in The Bhagavad Gita (as translated by S. Nikhilananda), but as personality characteristics in The Principal Upanishads by S. Radhakrishnan. Commentators often try to impose their own views on the text. The editor of The Principal Upanishads, for example, interprets each paragraph in terms of how similar it is to some passage in the Bible or works by Aristotle and other Greek philosophers. The Rig Veda is generally regarded as the most obscure of the Hindu writings, and consequently is the most misunderstood. Compounding this is the fact that the Rig Veda is a little weak in biology. For instance, one verse says that cows descended from horses, and goats and sheep descended from cows. This is not even taught in Kansas. However, even a cursory reading of the Upanishads, which elaborated and explained the Rig Veda, will reveal that the Hindus had a sophisticated concept of space and time. For example, Brahman is not the name of a deity but is a term for the extended space-time continuum which supposedly has attributes resembling a sort of consciousness. The Rig Veda is also full of statements like "emanating from the unmanifest", suggesting that rather than being about cows and sheep as it first appears, it is actually describing the ancient Hindu cosmological beliefs. There is clearly some physics, or something like it, in the Rig Veda. It is therefore reasonable to ask, whether any other beliefs in this work may resemble theories and facts that have been arrived at scientifically. If so, it would have great significance not only for understanding the people of the Indus Valley region but, if the information is as accurate as their chronology of the universe, may even provide ideas of possible use as hypotheses worthy of scientific investigation.

ANCIENT INDIAN PHILOSOPHIES & SCIENTIFIC BELIEFS #2

ANCIENT INDIAN PHILOSOPHIES & SCIENTIFIC BELIEFS #1

tHIS SERIES WILL TAKE YOU THROUGH A REMARKABLE JOURNEY OF SCIENCE IN ANCIENT INDIAN CIVILISATION. LETS START.

Albert Einstein once remarked: We owe a lot to Indians who taught us how to count without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made”. He was very true in saying this as India is the birth place of all scientific discoveries, thoughts and theories. Indians worked in almost every field of science, let it be atomic physics or astronomy, cosmology or hydrodynamics, nuclear physics or mathematics. From Kanada in 6th century B.C. to Dr. Vikram Sarabhai in 20th century, from Aryabhatta in 5th century A.D. to Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha India has a long list of eminent scientific philosophers and thinkers.
The six schools of Indian philosophy were great source of scientific disciplines. Among them Samkhya and Vaisesika schools were more active in the field of physics.Kanada, the great philosopher put forward a beautiful account of atomic structure. He formulated the concept of ‘anu’ and ‘parmanu’ .He stated that these anu and parmanu are scattered everywhere and are invisible to our eyes.
Anu consists of parmanu and parmanu was the tiniest the indestructible one.
In Vaisesika School Prasastapada propounded sound as momentary .Anandavardhana and Abhinavgupta studied sound as energy. Samkhya School discovered causality.
Vardhman Mahavira, chiefly known for his truth and non violence was an outstanding thinker. His principle of Anekantavada which says that “Truth is relative to our standpoints” revolutionized the basic attitude of philosophers of that time. “Anekanta” is the logic behind the frame of reference problems. Einstein’s theory of relativity has many similarities with Anekantavada and Sapekshavada philosophies of Jainism.
The field of mechanics was not left untouched. In ancient times Shipbuilding was a flourishing industry. Tempering of steel was known early in India and Indian iron and steel were valued abroad.
Astronomy, oldest of sciences and an important branch of physics, was a regular subject of university curriculum. Indians prepared very accurate calendar based on lunar months. Knowledge of astronomy in its practical aspects was of great help to those people who went on to sea voyages.
Indians were excellent mathematicians. India lead the world in the field of mathematics and mathematics is the backbone of physics. India gave zero and nine signs for counting. In fact Indians were first to make use of decimal place value system, concepts of squares and cubes and their roots ,quadratic equation and many other mathematical formulas. Books like Baudhayana (in 8th century B.C.), Apastamba and Katyayini (5th century B.C.) and Lilavati (12th century A.D.) are landmarks in the history of mathematics. Aryabhatta is sometimes referred as the inventor of algebra.
Aryabhatta was father of Indian astronomy and mathematics. He worked a lot in the field of space and cosmology. Heliocentric theory was first projected by him, much before Galileo and Copernicus. Aryabhatta concluded that sun is the chief source of moonlight. He was also successful in eclipse forecasting. His books were translated in Latin in 13th century and were studied and admired across the Europe with great deal of respect.
In 628 A.D., Brahmagupta emerged as a prominent physicist. He made notable advancements in the field of astronomy and stated laws applicable to zero. Some other chief scientists of that time are Varahmihira, Bhaskara-1 and Bhaskara-2.

Indian scientists and astronomers were well known around the world. In eighth century, during the rein of Khalif Al Mansur, a number of Indian scholars traveled to Baghdad and with them they took some books which were works on astronomy, cosmology and other branches of science and mathematics. Thus India contributed a lot to the field of astronomy, cosmology and formed a platform for further scientific discoveries like special theory of relativity and Newton’s laws of gravity.
However, Muslim invasion brought all the scientific activities to a halt. They devastated the centers of learning like Takshashila & Nalanda. Along with temples of worship, they destroyed temples of learning also. It is said that Muslim raiders burnt the manuscripts at Nalanda for six months for warmth in winters.
However, as they say there is always a silver lining in dark clouds, few exceptional Hindu emperors took initiative to rekindle the scientific spirit of Indians. Sawai Jai Singh of Jaipur, in 18th century, was an unmatched scientist and an astronomer of his period. He built big observatories at Jaipur, Delhi, Ujjain, Banaras and Mathura, better known as “Jantar-Mantar”. Learning through Portuguese missionaries about progress of astrophysics in Portugal, he sent his own men with them to the court of king Emanuel of Portugal. Emanuel sent his envoy, Xavier de Silva with “De la Hiris” tables to Jai Singh. On comparing these with his own tables, Jai Singh came to the conclusion that Portuguese tables were less accurate and had several errors. He attributed these to the ‘inferior diameters’ of the instruments used and rectified them. Thus, Jai Singh’s contribution to designing of physical instruments was unparallel.
In the British Era, many physicists worked in the area of modern physics. Sir C.V. Raman was a noted physicist and was awarded Noble Prize for Raman Effect. Dr.Homi Jehangir Bhabha underwent considerable research in the field of atomic and nuclear physics and the cosmic rays. Another Noble Laureate Chandrasekhar put forward the idea of Chandrasekhar limit which helped in understanding many intricacies of universe. Other prominent scientists like Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, who contributed to space sciences and Ramanujam, who along with a genius mathematician was a noted physicist.
Since the dawn of humanity Indus Valley Civilizations has lead the world in almost each and every field of science. Hindu race has thus put in unparallel efforts to discover the intricacies of nature. From zero to numerals, from shipbuilding to cosmic rays and from Anekanta to atoms, there does not remain any branch of science, in which Hindus have not worked. They have given the world a platform to walk upon and march towards the ultimate goal of humanity, the truth.

Concept called GOD

Thousands of debates have taken place & many more will take place to discuss the concept of GOD. However, no conclusion can be reached over this topic as there is no empirical proof to an entity called GOD. There are many streams like monotheism, polytheism, nontheism, atheism etc. which in there way have either accepted, rejected or redefined the concept of God.
Let us do some juggling of these theologies and dervie a logic.
Monotheism: Only one God- Like Islam, Christianity
Polytheism: Many Gods- Like early Greek religions
Nontheism- No personal God- But a State of Godliness- Like Jainism & Buddhism
Atheism- No God/ Godliness at all- Like Communism
Hinduism is the only religion of the world which has a mix of monotheistic, atheistic as well as polytheistic schools of thought. By large, Hinduism is polytheistic. The polytheism of Hinduism is a manifestation of inherent monotheism. Vedas pronounce that there is One God who has manifested himself in many forms of deities. Thus, it's a very unique concept.
There are further two streams of philosophies among montheists & polytheists. Some believe that everything taking place in the cosmos is by the will of the Supreme. Every living being is acting, feeling, gaining or loosing according to His will. Others believe that although, everything taking place in cosmos is by the will of supreme, there are certain sets of principles which govern it. Like belief in the doctrine of Karma- Living beings act, feel, gain or loose according to their karma, He is only a facilitator. Thus, comes into picture the concept of rebirths.
If we carefully examine the first belief of His-will-only, several flaws surface. It's really rubbish that the One, the Merciful God would let murders, rapes, thefts, tensions, diseases, disasters. etc. happen in the world which He allegedly created with such a pain. If He is doing that then he must not be merciful. Some are rich and some are poor, some are healthy and some are pale, some are beautiful and some are ugly. If we say, it's His wish, then he must be partial which again goes against the very nature of the Creator.
Next belief may be given a serious thought. He may be a facilitator. But why do we need a facilitator after all? Aren't laws of nature sufficient enough to facilitate this? And if we say that there is a Creator, then this question arises that who created the Creator. And if no one is required to need the Creator, why somebody is required to create the Cosmos. No creator and therefore no facilitator. Thus, second belief also goes for a toss.
Now let us ponder upon nontheistic traditions. Nontheistic traditions believe in the concept of Godliness & not God. Both Jainism & Buddhism are nontheistic traditions. They don't believe in any personal God. These religions say that Godliness is a state of soul/mind which any eligible person can achieve. When he achieves that state he becomes God. Thus, there can be many Gods. Vardhaman Mahavira was a God, a Jina, a Tirthankar but he was not the only One. There were innumerable others. Siddharth Gautama was a Buddha, but he was not the only One. There were innumerable others. But as earlier said- only the eligible ones. Eligibilty criteria laid down was very much universal: Right beliefs, right knowledge & right conduct. Nowhere it was written or preached that you have to follow only Buddha or Mahavira for attainment of godliness but you have to follow the path of three-rights.
After attainment of Kaivalya, in his second sermon at Rajgrih, Mahavira established his Dharma Sangha. He preached the concept of "Tripadi" to his disciples. Tripadi means three states of matter: It comes into existence, stays for sometime & then vanishes. If we closely examine, this concept, it has a starking resemblance to the concept of Trinity in Hinduism.
Brahma- one who creates
Vishnu- one who preserves
Shiva- one who destroys
Now, this also holds starking resemblance to the three letter world called GOD. Let us decipher it:
G- Generation
O- Operation
D- Destruction
One may conclude that the poetic explanation of three states have been personified through GOD or Trinity. No such entity actually exists. Symbolism has lead to personification.
After God comes godliness. Nontheism define it as that state of soul where it becomes permanently free from the bondages of this cosmos, attachments, desires, vices, etc. The soul enters into a state of perfection- perfect knowledge, perfect vision & perfect conduct. The soul recognizes its nature- eternal bliss, eternal power, eternal peace & eternal happiness.
Jainism & Buddhism, thus, define GOD as the supreme soul, the Jina, the Buddha, the Sidhha, the Veetraga, the Arhat, who has attained the state of Godliness through three-rights: right belief, knowledge & conduct i.e. Samyak Darshana, Samyak Gyana & Samyak Charitra.

Now, its upto the readers to decide which concept of GOD seems logical.